Hello Short Hair (Again!) & Misc.

 Before we get to the massive hair cut of 2015, there are a few other photos. 

First up, Ranger. Of course, the dog child is always first. We took him on a walk a week or two ago (he hadn't been on one in a while), and he did so good! He watched Nick and "heeled" with him the whole time. He did pretty well trying to contain his giddiness and with all of the distractions we encountered (kids, people on bikes  people walking close to us). He didn't bark once! Woohoo! Here, he wanted to jump around and have fun, and he started to break the rules a little. 

Here, he put his game face on and was ready to go.    ;)

 (do you love his "farmer's tan" too? Haha, he's never in the sun, so that's just from wearing his sweater so much this winter!).

 We had my aunts and uncle in town recently too and loved spending time with them! I always love the gardens and was thankful for beautiful weather that day to explore the gardens & enjoy lunch on a lovely patio with them. 

Flowers from my sweet hubby last week! I talked about these on Instagram too. I'm so blessed by Nick! 

On with the haircut of 2015. Here's a complication of images from Pinterest I added to a word doc and printed to take with me to the hair salon. I never know what my hair is capable of, so I wanted to take a variety to help show her what I was going for. I knew I was cutting off enough to donate, and wanted it to look nice after it was cut too. 

Here's my before. My hair had gotten so long after not making efforts to get it cut very often. I liked it long, but once I thought about donating it, I got excited and was just ready to go for it. I started to pray for the person my hair may bless and hope I can think of them whoever I miss it. For me, it's just hair that can grow back, where it may be something so much more to someone who needs it. 

I love it! I think the gal did a great job and it's such a fun cut. It's definitely short in the back:) the nice thing is, since it's still longer in the front, I can get it into a ponytail and have lots of cute options of wearing it half up, pinning the front back, straight, wavy, etc. 

My pony tail! It's about 10 inches or so, ready to ship to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. If you're considering donating your hair, check them out. I had read some not so great things about other hair donation companies, and am hoping Pantene will put this hair to good use.  

This is the salon I went to, from a friend's suggestion. Is this not the cutest salon ever?! 

A little look at the inside of the house from the waiting room. So cute. 

Test #1 of the new hair was trying to style it Monday. I was so proud of myself! I dried it using a round brush, and straightened it. I usually just wear my hair wet with a little product and go, so this was a lot of work for me. I did it with the wet look yesterday, and that worked pretty well too. So far so good, friends :) Thanks for all of your love and compliments about this cut - you are all the sweetest! 

For those of you who have been reading this blog forEVER, you may remember my first "hello short hair" post just 9 months into our marriage. Let me refresh you and point you to this post. :) I must say, I like this hair cut much better. 

Today's Pinspiration:

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Catching Up

Hey y'all! Sorry about my month-long absence! I found out our blog-hop is no longer, and then things got busy. Whew! So today, here's a quick glance of some recent happenings. 

Since I last posted, we also had Valentine's day. I love date nights with Nick, so any occasion for a date is fine by me! We went to PF Chang's and the food was SO good. I'm so glad we went there! Since I stopped eating dairy 3 (three! Isn't that crazy?!) years ago, and gluten 2 and a half years ago, I've had so many salads. Sometimes that's fine, and sometimes I just want some delicious food I don't have to make:) and PF Chang's has a great gluten free menu! The main thing I'm aware of with Chinese food, is that they need to use a GF soy sauce. They do on the GF menu and I'm so thankful. That's why I love Pei Wei so much too (owned by PF Chang's I believe) since they have great choices too.

I'm always thankful for extra time with my man! Life can get so busy and it feels like we hardly have a chance to ask how each other's day was some days. And we don't even have kids yet. Haha! I'm always thankful for extra time set aside. Quality time is my top love language!

This is from when Ranger was sick in the past few weeks. He wanted to snuggle right up to my neck, like he usually does when he doesn't feel well. He has had on and off symptoms of not feeling well. Breaks my heart when he's sick! We're exploring options to see if we can help him not get sick like this so often. 

We had two weeks back to back with snow and ice, where I was snowed in for at least a day. I so appreciated the extra down time! 

This was one of my snow days:)

Ranger doesn't love getting his nails trimmed. This was once we were done - he avoided eye contact with me, haha! Nick has to help hold him still while I clip. Ranger even screams when I get close to his nail with the clippers. He's so funny! 

A sweet friend gifted me with this beauty as a "happy Monday" with a sweet note. This was the flower one week later! I've been so thankful for the joy it brings on my desk every day. 

My assistant and I;) before an online oils party I taught Thursday night. He was mid-yawn. He yawns when he's nervous and this photo op must have been one of those times! He laid by me for the whole event (and slept on the job!). 

Also-- Go ISU! Love my Cyclones. 

Today's Pinspiration:

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Time to BE You

Happy Saturday, friends! The sun is shining bright here, and I am so thankful:) Today, our topic for our blog hop is Time to BE You (it says January since I'm a week behind;)).

I think being US has gotten harder. I don't know if it's just me getting older, or the social media world taking over, but everyone else's life looks pretty great, right? Perfect family photos, delicious and healthy meals on the table, clean homes, beautifully decorated, etc. Surely they never deal with headaches, clutter, and bad hair days;). I think for many of us, we can feel a lot of discontentment with our own lives and just being US isn't so exciting, compared to what it seems like "everyone else" has. 

As I think of how we solve this, I really think it comes down to knowing our identity in Christ. Knowing who we were created to be, and resting in that. This is an area I want to grow in this year - reconnecting with who He made me to be, and feeling confident in that. We are enough! There seems to be so much comparison, and we know comparison is the thief of joy. Really think about that for a second. We may be content with and thankful for our job, then see someone else get a promotion, or a new job that all of the sudden, makes us feel like we aren't satisfied with what we have. That comparison can steal our joy so fast if we aren't careful.

I went to the eye doctor this week for a checkup and am getting glasses! I've been adjusting to this idea all week (really truly, grieving a little!), and am a little anxious to get them and get used to them. I keep looking back at this selfie I sent Nick when I picked out frames Tuesday, trying to get used to this face! I'm sure like everything else, I'll adjust to them after I give them some time:) 

Reflecting on this week and this topic today, I realize how absorbed I've been comparing my new glasses to photos of my friends and other people I look up to in their glasses. Trying to see if mine look like they "should", feeling self conscious about my frames choice, etc. If I hadn't looked at ANY of that, I'm sure I'd love my choice! Once I start looking at all of the others, I start to compare, and feel less confident about my own. This can happen so very easily today, in SO many areas of life. This discontentment can get a foothold on us and start to cause some major shifts. I'm going to try to recognize when I start to do that, stop myself, and speak words of truth and affirmation to myself. 

Here are some affirmations I found to use to encourage myself. Let's pull these into our self talk! Write them on our mirrors, tape to our desk. Send a friend a note, with these affirmations about them. How beautiful and uplifted will we feel, if we remind ourselves of these things when we feel discontentment creep into our minds?

God has a good and perfect plan for my life. (Jer. 29:11)

I love me. (Mark 12:31)

I am beautiful. (Gen. 1:27; Ps. 139:14; Eccl. 3:11) 

God has blessed me with all I need to fulfill his will for my life. (2 Peter 1:3) 

God loves me and I have his approval, and that is all that truly matters. (2 Tim. 2:15) 

In Jesus I have the victory; therefore, I cannot lose. (1 Cor. 15:57)

I will pray for change and not complain. (Ps. 37:8-9) 

Who can you uplift with some encouragement this week? 

Today's Pinspiration:

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Thinking Big{ger}

Hey friends! Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I'm watching the commercials as I work on this post during the game. Ha! I have a new blog hop post for you all - the topic is Think Bigger. 

It's easy - can be very easy really - to get lost in our little world. We can get consumed by the details, appointments, recipes planned for dinners this week, crossing everything off our list by the end of the day. It's easy with all of our responsibilities to keep blinders on, focused only on ourselves. To me, thinking big is reminding ourselves that for one, God is our Savior, that we are here on earth to glorify Him and fulfill the life He's given us. For two, to serve others. We never know what's going on in someone else's life. I think of this often at stores I go to - some people get so snappy with cashiers, etc., and I can't help but think - you don't know who she is, what may be going on in her life outside these doors. Maybe it's great! And that's great - but maybe it isn't. Either way, she deserves respect and kindness, even if you don't agree with her companies policy, or how fast she's checking people out. 



Basically, pausing to remind ourselves we serve out God and His people while we're here on earth. Trust me, I'm not perfect at this. I'm a pretty empathetic person, so I do think of how things make others feel fairly often, but it's easy to get so distracted in my own mind and not see it. 

Let's love our God and those around us! It's cliche, but how great could this world be, really truly, if we smile more to others, give ten compliments per day to people, PRAY for those we come in contact with, those we don't get to see as often as we'd like. Those people may in turn do the same, and we can make a difference with these simple things. Let's be aware of it this week! I'd love to hear in the comments, on Instagram, on Facebook, or commenting on this blog post, ways you like to do this, or ideas you have.

Psst- In case you missed them, I've posted some videos to the blog of how I use essential oils for tension related head pain & when I feel winter crud coming on. If you already have your oils, I hope these vids help you use them! If you don't have your oils yet, what are you waiting for?! ;)

Today's Pinspiration: 

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