Drastic changes...

I decided to color my hair dark...I'd been thinking about it for a while. My friend really want to do it for me that day, before Aveda took over. So we got all the color in, and I hadn't told Will anything about it at all. I'd left my phone at home by accident that morning, so I emailed him and told him if he found it to let me know. Unfortunately, he didn't get my email in time, but instead found my phone and brought it to me at school. It took him a few minutes to find me, and when he did and I saw him, I stared at him for a second, said "uh-oh" and then started laughing. The girls all around me recognized him and knew that I hadn't said anything, so they all freaked out a little bit. But yeah, it was fine! He likes it a lot. I'll go blond again no doubt, it's a nice change for a while but I don't think I'd like to keep it forever.

Christmas

Will and I had a great Christmas. His day off was Christmas Eve, so we opened presents from each other that morning. I attempted to make chocolate waffles with caramel syrup like my mom used to make sometimes, but...unfortunately my syrup didn't work out so well. I cooked it for about as long as they said, but it got rock hard. Then I tried to get the wooden spoon out, and it broke. Maybe next time!
We went over to Will's parents' house at around 6 for dinner, and opened our gifts that evening because Will had to work from 8-3:30 the next day. We both got some clothes, Will got a soldering iron and I got a necklace with scissors on it (that one made me laugh, I can't help but wonder where you would find one of those), some dishes and a few other things, but the most exciting thing we got...was Will's Wii back, and the Wii Fit!! It gets very good use around here. I'll say now that the Wii Fit is one video game (if you can call it that?) that I don't mind at all if Will plays a lot, hahah!! On Christmas morning, we all woke up at 6 and got our stockings, ate a small breakfast and then everyone else opened the rest of their presents. Will left at 7:20 and called at 8:40 - they let him go home early because no one was calling in! So that was a VERY nice surprise.
For Will, I did a "12 Days of Christmas" thing for him, starting on the 14th and ending on Christmas. I wrote 12 poems to go with each day, explaining the gifts. I had a hard time deciding whether to post this or not because it's awfully goofy, but maybe someone will enjoy it...

I tried to catch that partridge bird,

But higher and higher she flew.

Then I found this handy tool,

Hope it works to get her down for you! (Bouncy ball)

I looked up and down at every store,

I couldn't find them, such a chore.

Turtledoves are so small and rare

That I had to improvise, I hope you don't care. (Turtles and Dove chocolates)

Flying to France took quite a while,

To find those French hens, just to see you smile.

But when I got home I was starving, it's true,

I can only hope that you're hungry too. (Chicken pot pie)

The four calling birds flew to my window,

They were quick and soon had to go

But they sang to me these songs just for you

Flew away and they were gone (Christmas CD)

The cost of gold rises every day,

Not to mention so many other things we must pay.

And what would you do with those pointless things?

So instead I got you these delicious rings. (Donuts)

The geese-a-laying already flew south,

But left a gift for you - or rather, your mouth.

These are quite unique as you can see,

Chocolate eggs for you and me! (Melted white chocolate with an M&M in the middle)

The swans are swimming and having such fun,

But soon winter comes and they have to be done.

Their feet get so cold, they can't swim in a storm,

So here are some socks, to at least keep your feet warm. (Socks)

I found the eight maids-a-milking in Belgium,

But they were too busy, and couldn't come.

They gave me this as in despair I wiped my brow,

I guess they must have been milking brown cows? (Hot chocolate mix)

You'd love to go dancing and learn from 9 ladies,

And take out your wife in the new Mercedes.

But working all day, now you feel like a mess,

Here's something to wear so you look your best. (Tie)

I discovered the lords the other day,

Leaping and bouncing and hopping away.

When all of a sudden, I had a thought,

They leaped to the stars, and for you, this they brought. (Starbursts)

I called 411 to ask, really I pled,

To book the 11 pipers for piping.

They heard me wrong and sent instead,

To my dismay, 11 rolls for wiping. (11 rolls of toilet paper)

I found the drummers drumming booked 12 years in advance,

Begging and pleading didn't earn me a glance.

But as they drove off, they threw this my way,

And I filled it with things for you on this the twelfth day. (Small drum filled with kisses, hugs and 50 reasons why I love him)

Piano, Lights, School

Will's parents just moved here to Provo a couple of weeks ago, and had a lot of things that they didn't want, need or have room for, including a beautiful old upright piano. Two of the other daughters really wanted it, as they both play the piano very well...however, I came out lucky because Will and I were the only ones that had enough room for it. I'm so excited to have a piano again!!!

Last Wednesday, Will and I made a trip up to Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on temple square, as a celebration for our two-month anniversary. It was pretty funny, as on that day we'd been married as long as we were engaged and as long as we knew each other before we got engaged. It was cold (around 0), but it was a lot of fun to walk around and see all the lights. Some of the trees there are just incredible and have thousands of lights.

Things at school are going well, I'm making a TON more tips now that I'm a senior, mainly because we actually get clients!! I usually have one or two a day instead of maybe two a week. I'm really excited for my break though (the 23rd - 4th). Someone actually just bought the school and things are going to change very dramatically. It is going to be Aveda Institute, Provo, instead of Dallas Roberts. I think it will be a good change, but it's going to be hard to adjust to, especially for some of the girls there that always do whatever they want and get their way. For example, a lot of the girls don't come on Saturdays. When Aveda comes, if you miss a Saturday you pay $500, and you can miss a maximum of 2 for being sick or whatever. Like I said, I think it will be a good change, but the more I hear about Aveda the more glad I am that I only have 3 months left!! I feel bad for the guy that just sold it, our owner, because everyone gives him SUCH a hard time about everything, and says "He just doesn't care" behind his back when they're not happy with the school. But he explained to us why he sold, he said it was because he wasn't able to give us what we deserved, after having 4 back surgeries he just didn't have the time and energy to keep up with it. So I think they need to lay off and give the poor guy a break. This picture is my nail that I entered into the Christmas nail contest. I doubt it'll win (not to be pessimistic, but I never win anything, hahah), but it was fun.

Christmas and Kitty

  A couple of weeks ago, Will and I decided that we needed an animal - perhaps not needed, necessarily, but...really wanted. So we decided the cheapest, least needy animal would be a kitten. So the Saturday before last we finally found a pet store that actually sold pets (it's incredible around here, everyone has fish and lizards, maybe a hamster if it's a really big store, and nothing else), and bought Jasmine. She's about 2 months old and a little terror, but she's fun and according to Will I've been in a much better mood ever since we got her. Maybe we did need her after all. :P We also got our Christmas tree the other day, and she helped us set it up. Or rather, climbed up it and jumped out the side a couple of times.

Are all women created this way?

"Fashion Notes"

A couple of months ago at school, we started planning for our annual fashion show at the Scera Theater in Orem. The theme was music, and we separated into groups of music genres. They told us we had to find models and recommended we weren't models ourselves because we all had to work on one, and being one and working on one is a lot to do. A couple of weeks before the show, my friend who was in my group, which was Oldies, asked me to be her model because hers broke her arm and couldn't do it. I really, really didn't want to, but for her sake and the sake of my group, I agreed. I was Lesley Gore - think "It's My Party". We had to come up with some sort of routine for our 5 minutes of time on stage, so with all of our sub-groups in our group everyone got about 50 seconds. I was in charge of getting the music ready (cut and put together so it was the right amount of time for each one), so I made mine a few seconds shorter...I had no CLUE what I was going to do on stage all by myself. I am no dancer, and that's basically what I was expected to do. We never even ran through the thing before the day of the show. On that day, we got to the theater and found out the music wasn't working. Something went wrong with my burned CD, which I still haven't figured out because it worked on everything else, and I had to run home and get my laptop so I could give the DJ the original file. By the time I got back, it was too late for our practice and we had to wait. When we could finally run through it, it all went well till my song came on. In the middle of it, the DJ accidentally made it stop, so I didn't even get to go through the whole thing. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about going onstage, dancing in four inch heels and having no idea what I was going to do. It ended up going well though, I faked my way through it and didn't even trip!! I'm kind of excited to see the DVD later, and kind of...not...

This is me trying to get my updo out that night. The girls at school ratted and backcombed it until it was a giant mess, and the whole time sprayed the strongest hairspray we had into it. It was difficult.

Saturday

Being poor gets difficult sometimes. I wanted Will to hang up some Christmas lights before it got cold, so here he is doing that. We had to get a little creative, because we don't have a ladder and for some reason it was easier for Will to move around some furniture than call someone and ask to borrow one. Luckily there were only a couple of places he needed it, so he wasn't in this dangerous position for very long...

We also didn't particularly want to go buy big garbage bags for leaves, and had to get creative in another way. After me finally getting Will to call someone in our ward and ask to borrow a couple of rakes, we raked up all the leaves and had to put them somewhere. We ended up just crushing them into our garbage can. (No wonder the wheel is broken on that thing...)