Comments on my hair.....

(pre-hair cut )

So as you all know, or maybe don't know but will now, my self-esteem is directly proportional to how my hair is looking. And lately, my hair has been pretty bad. I wish I had documented all my bad hair days with pictures, but I didn't-it would have been pretty funny though.

It all started a month ago when I decided to cut my own bangs after watching The Thomas Crowne Affair on A&E. I love Renee Russo's bangs and I thought I could re-create her look in myself. Of course this was after working 3 nights in a row so I was fairly sleep-deprived but apparently that's when I think I get all my good ideas. Unfortunately, this was not a good idea. The bangs were completely uneven, so I kept cutting. You can just imagine I'm sure how it looked.

Then I noticed that my hair wasn't really curling so well. This is a problem with naturally curly hair. Basically I looked like I had a bad perm and lived in Payson. Sorry to all you who live in Payson-but I spent a lot of time there growing up d/t family friends and I feel like I can say that. I tried straightening it but even the power of the Chi could not help my situation.

Then I would look in the mirror and I could SEE multiple gray hairs wiring around amidst my grown-out red highlights. I think that's when I stopped doing my hair altogether-running around letting my hair air-dry (never a good idea).

The worst is that I had my driver's license picture taken at the tail-end of the hair disaster period. Don't worry-as soon as the license is mailed to me I'll post it for comments.

So I made an emergency call to a salon just a few minutes from my house. I love the place I was going to in Provo but I've been having a fit about all the driving I've been doing lately so I thought I'd try someplace new. Luckily they had an opening, and I'm back to my nice dark color with no grey hairs showing, my hair has been completely thinned out (i literally lost a pound in hair I'm pretty sure) so I no longer have what I lovingly called 'hermione hair', and the curl is back. Thank goodness.

(post hair-cut)

Comment on my new favorite store.....

So lately I'm all about REI. And when I say I'm all about REI I mean I've been there at least weekly for the last several weeks. I've joined their 'co-op' so that I can get 10% back on my purchases. I've discovered the website (http://www.rei.com/ ) and that I can make purchases online, have them delivered to the store up the street, and not have to pay shipping! It's such a situation! I don't even want to say how much I've spent in the last month at that store. It's kind of embarassing. However, I have been purchasing mountainsmith bags that I haven't liked and had to take back. I'm waiting for my fourth to be sent to the store next week, this should be my last purchase for awhile.

Here are some pics of my sweet purchases:
These are the Keen's, they are pretty sweet-so comfortable! I can wear them to work with socks, I can wear them traveling, I can wear them hiking-I mean they are fantastic.











This is my Mountainsmith Travel Lumbar pack-aka the medium sized bag, or bag #3 if anyone is counting, and I am. I ordered the smaller one online, thinking it was actually bigger than it was. I thought it would work, but it was a no-go. I took it back to see if they had this size in the store-and luckily they did-I had one lady running all over the place trying to find it. I thought it would work but realized I want to be able to put books in it when I go to work. So that's when I ordered bag #4, the day trip lumbar pack. I will return this to the store, but not the same Sandy one-I'm too embarassed. But I figure if I am going to spend this much on a bag I need to have what I want.

This is the Garmin 305-it's a GPS watch with a heart rate monitor that is SWEET. It's for running-it maps out where I've been, keeps track of my speed and my heart rate and my calories, and does a bunch of other stuff that I haven't totally figured out yet. I can download the info on my computer to keep track. It's completely revitalized my outdoor running-I've always liked running on the treadmill because I can keep track of all that stuff-and my friend Rachel told me about these watched and I was like holy crap I am in. So it's my new favorite gadget and it's helping me train for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon in August.
So as you can see-REI is like my own personal crack habit and I think I might need rehab. If anyone has any suggestions on how to break the REI spending cycle I'd greatly appreciate it-as would my budget :o)

Comment on Chocolate Fountains....

In an effort to foster unity amongst the NICU, and with the goal in mind of keeping the night shift nurses all high on chocolate, we decided to have Chocolate Fountain Night a couple of Saturday nights ago. Jane volunteered to provide the fountain and the chocolate, and we had sign-up sheets for people to bring dipping items. It was a great time! Tons of food was brought by everyone to dip in the fountain: pineapple, bananas, strawberries, apples, rice krispies, oreos, pretzels, etc. It was so great! Anyway here are the pics from the event:

Emilee, Molly and Danette getting the goods ready

Jane adding more chocolate Emilee and I are ready to get in on the actIsn't the fountain beautiful? Seriously everyone should want to work Saturday nights from now on!