I am Thankful for....

My Family

Dollar Store + Walmart = Cheap Gift!

I LOVE to give gifts but it is starting to get expensive

and with a couple of weddings, bridal showers and
birthdays coming up wasn't sure what I was
going to do until today!

I went to the handy dandy Dollar Store with my
mom on Saturday and hit the jackpot!
I love movies and popcorn so
I am Super excited when I found these CUTE
Popcorn bowls for a $1. So, I bought 10 of them. I really wanted to
buy more but I stopped myself. I also grabbed some filler and the
shrink wrap with a bow.


Who knew I would love the
Dollar Store as much as I do...

anyone who knows
me well knows that has never been my
personality but it is now.
I LOVE IT!

I then couldn't decided between Walmart or Target
( I Heart Target, a LOT!)
so I started with Walmart
{since its first on my way home}
and hit the Jackpot AGAIN!
One of my ALL time FAVORITE movies
for $5 (YES...Five Dollars)
so I had to get it then hit the candy isle and then the popcorn isle.


Now that everything has been purchased and
put together I have spent a total of $12 bucks!
How AWESOME is that!
I love giving Pretty wrapped gifts
I hope every one enjoys as much as I enjoyed giving!

Happy Cheap Gift Giving!

Give Thanks!

Tis almost the season to be grateful, I decided to start a little early this year. Oh so much has happen this past year and every ounce of it I am grateful for. As I was reading one of my amazing sis-n-laws blog it made me think about everything. She was talking about mental pictures, and I loved it. What is a mental picture? To me it is something that only I saw and now cherish. We all may see the same thing but we all interpret it differently.

Just in the last month I have a handful of mental picture that make me grateful for so much.

First, Elder Gurr turning around with a great big smile before he went through security! That smile was priceless. I can’t wait to see it again, but that smile gave me several things to be grateful for…that my heavenly father Loves me, that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the true church, Missionaries who are spreading the gospel all over the world, that families can be together forever and that 2 years isn’t that long (we’ll be back at the airport waiting for that GREAT BIG SMILE, before we know it.)

Second, this adorable little boy who was visiting my ward on Sunday, he might be around 8 well he was visiting because it was the primary program and his cousin had a big part so the whole family came to watch, they were sitting a couple of rows in front of me and I couldn’t help but watch him. Then I was able to help out in my old sunbeam class and he was in primary and we was so eager to answer all the questions and to help whenever he could, we sang “Hello, Hello” to him and his sisters and he stood there with a smiled from ear to ear. That smiled touched my heart and I will forever be grateful to know that we are all Children of God and that he loves us.

Third, the moon tonight about 7:30 was beautiful. It was low, so it was huge with a bit of a yellow tint. It makes me grateful to know that there is a great big world out there that was created by a loving heavenly father. My dad has a favorite primary song that comes to mind whenever I am sitting in the forest or on the beach, watching the sun come up or go down, whenever I am looking out the window of my house because it’s too hot to go outside or looking out a tiny window of an airplane. The song is…

“My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

How perfect is that! There have been times that this song has brought tears to my eyes, (which really isn’t a surprise, considering I cry at everything) but it reminds me to be grateful for the small things.

So, here are three of this year’s mental pictures, they are dear to my heart and had some serious impact on me, as I ponder each day before I read my scriptures and say my prayers, the first two just keep coming back to me, was I suppose to learn something from that little down syndrome boys smile or from Elder Gurr’s eagerness to serve the Lord , I don’t know, but what I do know is that it has reminded me of how much my Father in Heaven loves me and that I am not alone even though it feels like it sometimes, I have an amazing family who I love and they love me, I am a daughter of God, the Savior atoned for my sins so that I can return to him someday! I have so much to be grateful for why wait until Thanksgiving to say it!

PS…thank you Brittney!

Operation Redecorate

I have a friend from that I met at BYU. Well, she has started a blog called

Keep Home Simple, she has such great ideas and

has inspired me to redo my room.

I’m not the kind of person who does cheap but I am now!

I am so proud of myself,

I went to a thrift store for the first time on my own.

Yuck! I have to say I loved it!

I found a chair for my desk for $8,

I painted it purple and recovered the

seat with burlap and the best part about it,

I did it all by myself!!!

For years I have thought that it is time

I move from cheap, no style bedroom

to a more grown-up sophisticated bedroom.

I am no longer in my twenties (Shhhhh…) so,

I needed to stop having a mismatch

of color, fabrics and furniture.

Since I have the Raddest dad ever,

I was able to get an even better

headboard then the first one I saw.

I am so EXCITED...I absolutely LOVE IT!

For christmas this year I recieved

bookcases that are Awesome!
My brother Blake and my dad made them.

They are Perfect and I love them.

My curtains are UNBELIEVABLE.

So, my sister found this amazingly cheap Idea

somewhere and I decided that
I would try it. Not only did they cost me 15 bucks,

They are Amazing.

I purchased a drop cloth at Home Depot 2 for 10.

I then washed it a couple of times with
bleach and downy so it was softer in texture and color.

Then painted 6 inch strips with white paint,

I had to buy it because

I didn’t have any but I bet if I had looked a

little harder at my parents house I would have fun some.

(just because you’re painting on a drop cloth doesn’t mean it won’t soak thru to the ground,

I had white strips in the garage. Thank goodness for brothers and power washers.)

My pillows I made, all of them but 4 the 3 purple ones

They were a fabulous find at Home Goods,

Ralph Lauren $20.00 on clearance and

the round ivory one came from Kohl’s a couple of years ago.

The floral ones were my inspiration for everything.

I knew I wanted to do Purple, so

after many fabric stores, Mesa Sales is the BOMB!

They have so much to choose from.

Then I wanted to use Burlap, because everyone is doing and

just for fun I added some animal print.

I think it looks pretty Great!

So, after years of being boring and mismatched I am finally an adult.

Who knew it would take til my 31^st Birthday!

But I really don’t care because I am so in love with my New Bedroom!

Its so pretty and makes me oh so happy!

I am so Lucky and Blessed to have a Dad and 3 brothers that are

So talented and can do anything with wood!

I'm All About Giveaways!

So, my last post was about a giveaway

and so it this one.
I do love the Sea Bags, and still want one
but I think I love this one more.

My friend Kellie, sent me an email today about this blog
Deals to Meals
(dealstomeals.blogspot.com)

It is a fun blog it has all sort of recipes
and fun hints on saving money while you grocery shop.

There giveaway is a BOSCH
and I really really really want to win!

My mom has a Bosch and I love it,
I want one so bad.
It can do everything,
and it makes it all so easy.
It has made making bread a piece of cake
and my favorite rolls are fabulous when made in it.

Here's the recipe to the best rolls ever!

Crescent Rolls
(Easiest recipe you'll ever find and they are out of this world)
1 cup of warm mashed potatoes
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup soft butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
add about 7 cups of Flour

Mix on lowest speed (#1) for 4 minutes
Divide dough into 3 balls
Roll the balls into circles and butter.
Then cut into triangles with a pizza cutter.
Roll into crescents and place on buttered cookie sheet.
Let rise til double.
Bake @ 375 for 15 minutes (approximately)

You will love them and never go back to your old rolls again.

Thank you Kellie for the Blog info and
thank you everyone for putting
up with yet another giveaway!

I did make cupcakes last week with my mom,
that I will post pictures of later.

Sea Bags

So, a couple of weeks ago I saw these

super cute sea bags
in a magazine while I was standing in
line at the grocery store.
They are made out of sails
that have sailed around the world,
then recycled and made into bags in
Portland, Maine.
When I got home that night I goggled them to see if I was
able to by one here in Arizona.

I did come across a blog, That I read everyday.
It's The Willow Home & Garden
I love it.
This is the cutest store I have ever seen.
It's here in Phoenix and
as soon as I have a
free day I want to go, if anyone wants to make plans to
take an afternoon and go let me know!

So, now to the important part...
on the blog I found, she is doing a
SEA BAG Giveaway
and I really really really want to win it.
To be entered multiple you have to become a
follower of the blog or
post a blog about it or
tweet/facebook about it!
Now that I become a follower and blogged about it
hopefully it will help increase my chances
because I really really really love love love
these SEA BAGS.

Now, I want to go to Portland, Maine
just to see where they
are made. Maybe Blake will get his mission call
(which we should know in less then two weeks)
then that will give me
an excuse to go there and shop.

The Color Wheel of Red

So I have this client, Janelle and she has crazy red hair.
It's Bright, Vibrant, and oh so shiney!
I loved it!

(Client)

The first time I did it in January I wanted
something crazy
like it but I was way to scared to do something like it!
So for the past 3 months i have been trying to
figure out what I could do.

(Marcia Cross)

I knew that I wanted something on the
Copper side like Marcia Cross.
I was reading in Behind the Chair
(hair magazine)
and there was a picture of her and her color formula.
I was in Luck!

I thought about it for 4 more days and
finally did it on Wednesday!
I am still a little stressed about it
but I am starting to love it!
It's browner then I wanted so next time
I will change the formula just a little,
I need to add more copper but it's a great start.

My mom likes it and that's a first!

Happy Anniversary Fantastic Sams!

The Salon has been open for a year, It's been so much fun, so stressful...

you name it I have probably felt it!

To celebrate we had a Luau! Here are a few pictures of the day!
I was so busy with clients that I didn't get to join the party
but it looks like they were having fun without me.

I have a fabulous Stylist.

Corn On The Cob or Cupcakes?

It's a Cupcake! I know, Cute!

As many of you know, I enjoy baking.
I really like to make cupcakes.
I think my fascination started when I had my very first
Sprinkles Cupcake
and fell in love. It was moist, rich, the frosting was fabulous
and I loved the way they looked. So Chic!
Last year sometime I was in Barnes and Noble
and saw this adorable cookbook.
I didn't buy it right then but I
thought about it days and finally decided that I had to have it.

It's called Hello,Cupcake!

Isn't it so cute and very clever???
And yes, some are difficult but with practice and patience
anything is possibly, Right?
Well, after $40 bucks,
running around town trying to find
chocolate covered sunflower seeds and white circus peanuts,
(which I never found, so I had to use orange ones
and dip them in white chocolate)
tons of green frosting, and almost no sleep
(because I wanted my first attempt to be perfect)
I made the cutest little Bunny Holes.

(they are definitely not as cute as the picture
in the cookbook, but they're cute! If I do say so myself.)

After all of this, I have decided that I want to do
the whole Julie/Julia girl and make everything in the cookbook.
Only problem, it's going to take me forever
with there being several things for
Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
I can only make so many cupcakes
and with it costing as much as it did,
I would rather spend the money on shoes or something,
not cupcakes. (I am still trying to get in shape,
that many cupcakes would not be good for me)
That being said I am totally going to do this, it should be fun.
Maybe by the time I am done doing this I
will be ready to open my own Bakery/Cafe.
Now, that would be fun!

My, how time does fly...

I cannot believe that it has been almost been a year since my last update.

A lot has happened but nothing that is life changing,

that will be posted at once. Ha Ha Ha!

I turned 30, oh my gosh that was hard. I cried, I'll admit it . It was a lot more difficult then I excepted but at least I had Lindsay to do it with!

As I reflected on my twenties I realized that I didn't do half of the things I wanted or thought I would do. So I decided that

I would have my bucket list of things I want to accomplish

before I turn the dreaded age of 40.

This year I have made two goals.

First, I want to run a marathon by the end of the year. I don't know why,

I just want to be able to say I did it and it will help me

get into shape. So, I started to run 2 times a week in January.

For February I want to run 3 times a week and by March I want to

be running 4 times a week. By June I will be up to 6 times a week and be right

on my way to that goal.

My Second goal is to write my first novel. It is something that

I have always wanted to do so this is the year.

I haven't decided what it will be about but probably the ups and

downs of a single hairstylist with a little bit of mystery, drama, romances and of coarse a happy ending! We'll see. If you have any ideas let me know.

So, as the year progresses and I progress with my

goals I will update my blog more often.

Promise!