$150 vs. $9

For a long time I have spent a lot of money (too much money) on a good hair cut and color. I have always known that you get what you pay for when it comes to hair. However, in order to save money I decided to take advantage of a sale at Great Clips. I was in and out in 20 minutes, and it looks like it. My right side is shorter than the left and even Cony noticed.. so you know it must be bad.

I want to continue to do simple things that will help save money, but this is ridiculous! So I'm asking.. if you have a great stylist and they aren't out of this world expensive.. please let me know!

My Lovely Family

Isn't Cony hot?!? Mm mm mm mm mm


Over the past few years I have learned to love good photography. If I'm bored that's what I do on the internet.. look at photography. So I was super excited to have a photo shoot 2 weeks ago with Clairissa and the people I love the most.

The End for Me...

So this past weekend we were at SIRA in Oak Ridge, TN. For those of you who don't know, SIRA is a big regatta! I knew going in that it would be my last with Georgia State University. I have mixed feelings about this... I'm sad but I haven't put a lot of thought into it, so once fall comes and I'm not involved with the team, I'm sure it will hit me full force.

My boat did not do well and seeing how close we were to one boat and not beat them.. is NOT easy for me to deal with, especially since I walked away with a medal last year. But I will say that our boat came together and had great bonding moments. We painted our nails with blue panther paws, Jose drew tattoos on our arms and we had matching head bands. So even though we didn't do well, we had a great time!

Weekend We Didn't Want to End

This weekend was great! Friday was one of the longest days known to man for me, but I woke up Saturday when Cony went to work and I started cleaning the apartment. Which I love to do, it's such a stress reliever for me.

Then my family got together for a family photo shoot with Clairissa Cooper (trying to make that a link, but can't figure it out) and it went so much better than I expected. I can't wait to post the pictures!!!! Go to her blog and you can see McKinzie, Clark's oldest, in a sneak peak picture from the shoot. www.clairissacooper.blogspot.com

Sunday was a little bit on the emotional side, so after church Cony suggested we go on a picnic down by the Hooch. We ate and read the Ensign about journal keeping.... which is something that I have been kicking myself to do. Usually I'm really good about it, but I have not written one page in my journal since Cony and I got married. How awful is that??? So it's my goal this week to start something, even if it means I'm typing it on the computer.




Also want to mention a talk that was giving in church yesterday. It was about music and it was given by a woman that I have grown to really love and I have never spoken to her. She a teacher in Relief Society and they are some of the best lessons I have ever heard. She talked about how powerful music is in such a different way than most. She apparently worked for a tv music station in Texas a few years and she produced a program that showed music from a scientific perspective. There were a few stories she told that I will do my best to convey...

She met a man that was a composer that had been in a accident where he died for 3-4 minutes. When he came back all he could remember was the music that was played. He composed what he heard and took it to a convention for people who had died and came back (they have this annually) and everyone there that had died said 'yes! That is exactly what we heard.' So she is making a copy of it for us and we can't wait to listen to it.

There was another story that involved a friend of hers that was a musical therapists who had asked her to come and witness one of her clients. This client was 65 years old who had been bed ridden for over a year and couldn't walk or talk. So this musical therapists listened to all her body rhythms and made a musical tape that she could listen to... she was walking within 45 minutes and 4 months later with no help, when someone is sick or why people are sick- is because all the major body functions are not in the same rhythm, and that tape helped her body come back into sync. I just really loved the talk because I personally know how powerful music is and can be in ones life.

the Longest Weekend

I realize that my blogs are mostly pictures. The truth of the matter is, I feel I do not write well and I'm afraid of looking like a complete ding dong.

However, this weekend brings me to say a few more words than I normally do. It was the John Hunter Regatta hosted by Georgia Tech. It's a regatta that gets us ready for SIRA and they are both in Oak Ridge, TN. We leave early Friday morning for a 4 1/2 hour drive that turned out to be almost 9 hours!

It all began when everyone got in traffic downtown ATL because of a fatal accident right before the toll booth. So instead of leaving at 10:30 it was 11:30. We get on the road and stop after an hour for lunch and gas. We try to leave the gas station and one of the vans won't start because the wheel was locked up and the key wouldn't turn. After sitting an hour and half we finally got a shoe and hit the key 3 times and what do you know? - the key finally decided to turn.

We get on the road again and not 5 minutes later I find myself jumping out of my skin. I usually drive in one of the back vans, but this weekend Doc (coach) and I had somethings to work out for the team. So I'm in the front van that tows the shells on the trailer. Chad the driver starts saying something (something I can't repeat) and is looking to the back of us. He says that he just saw a tractor trailer tip over. Doc immediately freaks out. We stop, I get a phone call confirming yes, one of our vans did get hit. So we run, I mean run to where they are, which is a good quarter of a mile behind. I would like to just make a note, that I have never seen Doc so concerned nor have I seen him move so fast!



So here's what happened.... It was raining and the back van was slowing down and the big truck behind it slammed on his brakes, hits the van and tips on it's side. Holding traffic up for miles and miles, close to 2 hours. The only real damage to the van was the window shattering. Amir, Lawson and Danica could have been seriously hurt. And this is what brings me to writing such a novel.

Remember when we stopped to get lunch? When we were loading back in vans, Teala had asked if I could switch her with someone else. Other side note, crew has a TON of drama! My first instinct was to switch Killer and Teala. Than without a second thought, I saw Jackie and knew I needed to switch her with Teala. I knew I had just killed two birds with one stone. Is everyone following me?

It didn't hit me until after the wreck how important that one little decision I made had been. See, if Jackie had stayed in that van that got hit, Danica would have been in the very back of the van lying down to stretch her back. But with Jackie gone she was able to get a seat to herself and saved from the glass shattering on her. How fortunate the truck driver swirved to miss the van like he did too. I'm not even going to say what could have happened if he hit the van head on. So... thank you Mr. Truck Driver!

And this was only Friday.

Saturday was a whole other story that just doesn't need to be told. Two words though... BAD day!