hair show 2013

every year at my school we do a hair show. and all the money we raise for it goes to the YWCA. it's definitely a rewarding, incredible experience. (and also a bit stressful.)

i was able to do hair show twice. last year the theme of our hair show was broadway shows and my segment was grease. this year the theme was movies and my movie was mad max beyond thunderdome. haven't heard of it? check it out here.

for the hair show we have to find up to 8 models, build hair pieces for them, get a costume for them, get food/money donations, choreography... and i think that's it. it's amazing what people come up with for head pieces and how they build them. 

my partner for hair show this year was my friend sari. and we picked a character from the movie to go off of and had our friend suda sketch out an idea for a head piece, this is what we came up with:

the character we picked obviously doesn't have hair so we just made up a head piece to go with it. it was fun to come up with it. we built the hair piece off of a headband with wire. and it was a heavy thing of hair. we originally designed this head piece for a guy. but once we attached the tail of hair to it, it made it way more heavy than it already was and made it look really feminine. so considering hair show was about a week and a half away, we decided i was going to model for the hair show. i've never modeled before, but after doing hair show last year it looked really fun. i was excited but instantly got butterflies in my stomach as soon as we decided i was modeling. 

the day of hair show finally came last week (4/18) it was an early morning (especially since sari and i had been up late the night before at the bon jovi concert) we got to the school at 6:30 a.m. and got right to work.

we had decided to corn row the short side of my hair (sari did amazing at it) and have my long side be a part of the head piece. we had to add fake hair to my hair in order to corn row it. we also sewed the corn rows to my head so the fly aways didn't stick out. 

we had our first run through at the expo center at 11:00. after that we went back to the school and it was crunch time on getting everyones make up on, costumes on etc. at 3:15 we were back at the expo center attaching head pieces and getting ready for our final run through before the show at 7:00.

attaching my head piece was... painful. we had to attach it with bobby pins and we also sewed it to the corn rows. (i now know how i made my model feel last year.) but it was worth it. it was fun to be on the modeling side this year.

we had fun taking pictures back stage to kill time while the hair show was going, we were the 3rd group to go so there wasn't much to do til it was over.

we always have a few photographers come and take professional pictures for us. so while the hair show is going it's the perfect opportunity to go get those pictures done. i've never in my life have had professional modeling pictures done, so the photographer had to tell me what to do. they turned out good and it was fun to see how the turned out.

once the show ended we all went out into the audience so people could see our head pieces and get a closer look at them. i met up with nick and my mom and sister. i'm so glad they were able to come.

but now hair show has come and gone. it was such a great opportunity for me to be able to build hair pieces and to be able to model. i love that my school has so many amazing opportunities like this and i wouldn't trade them for anything.

bon jovi

on wednesday (4/17) night last week, i went to the bon jovi concert. i have had these tickets since the day they went on sale, which was in december last year. nick isn't a huge concert person, but he is ok to go to them if they are in big arenas, not little venues. so he agreed to go with me to this one.

april quickly approached on us and about a week before i reminded nick about the concert and that he needed to get work off. unfortunately, no one was able to cover nicks shift. so he was unable to go with me. luckily my friend sari my neighbor/school friend, was able to go with me. despite waiting outside in the freezing cold waiting to get inside, we had so much fun! i told sari that i buy a shirt at every concert i go to. so as soon as got in i looked to my left and just said "is that the merch table??" it was huge and not a very long line so i just ran over there. we both bought shirts and right as we finished paying we could here bon jovi getting ready to come on. so we hurried to find where we needed to go, and we had to run up the stairs... not fun. but we made it. and it was a fun concert! 

a copy of the set list 

we had really awesome seats for being in the upper bowel. we had a "rear view" but they had a big screen that showed everything, and thanks to my awesome camera i was still able to get good pictures of him on the stage. 

it was seriously an amazing concert. bon jovi knows how to put on a good show! thanks again sari for coming with me!

i want to ride my bicycle

nick and i both took our bikes to a bike shop right by our apartment. they both needed a bit of a tune up. especially nicks. he needed pedals and a seat... kind of can't ride a bike with out those.

nick has been so excited to get our bikes back. he is excited to be able to ride them around the city and to work a few days a week. 

now if only the weather would warm up!

#usetheinternetforgood {my story }

al fox. tattooed mormon. her story is absolutely incredible. she definitely has been an amazing example to many people. i just listened to a podcast with her and richie t. from the cultural hall. you can listen to it here.

nick and i love the church, we know it's true. but moving around a lot has been hard and going to church wasn't a priority at times. {this is hard to post about, i haven't been very open about this to anyone} 

each ward we have moved in to we would go introduce ourselves to the bishop and let him know we were ready to serve. the bishop would ask us how long we were there for and the past few places we weren't really sure since they were temporary places to live. and they would just pass us on like we weren't really there. we did not feel welcomed at all.

i came from a ward in draper that has been there for a very long time. i grew up in that ward. so it was very hard for me to adjust to a new ward. so being treated the way we were was not ok for me. i am a sensitive little person so i probably took it the wrong way, but it's just how i am. it became very discouraging.

so nick and i a little over a year ago, moved into a house with some friends. we were all so excited that we would be in the same ward and we could all go to church together. nick and i did really well for the first while. nick even got a calling. it finally felt so right to be where we were at. we were on the right path again. nick got a calling as the ward mission leader. a perfect calling to help us get back into church. but as summer ended, nick went back to school and also got a 2nd job. i was going to school full time and working full time. we never ever saw each other. it was wake up, say bye, come home, go to bed. the next day we woke up, and same thing all over again. nick was unable to fulfill his calling. he was starting to miss meetings and other things. at church the bishop wouldn't even really look at us, wouldn't talk to us, nothing. it was hard, i felt like he should had asked if we were ok, if there was anything he could do. so we talked about it and nick felt like he needed to talk to the bishop about it. so he met up with him one sunday, nick asked to be released. it was hard, but it was what needed to happen. it was a short meeting but, the bishop was very understanding and nick was released. but then the next few sundays came, we have never ever been so cold shouldered before. it was almost as if the bishop was mad at us. it was the same thing he was doing before nick talked to him. i didn't understand, i was so discouraged. i didn't feel like we did anything wrong. so we were back to where we were. not going to church. but that didn't feel good either. i felt so empty, not happy, and definitely not myself. and i ended up just becoming content with this way we were living our life. 

so one day at school, my cute friend shanelle showed me a girl she met at a baptism the night before. and that girl was al fox, the tattooed mormon. shanelle told me to go read her blog. at the time i wasn't really interested. i was content with where i was at. i was so used to how nick and i were living, i just didn't really care anymore. all i did was go to work and school. i loved my job, my job was kind of a place of relief. but then i realized how i was acting there. not myself, i found myself being "in the crowd" there. nick noticed it as well. so on my day off, i decided to check out al fox's blog. she had posted a youtube video of her "3 year anniversary" it was of her and the missionary that had baptized her. it was so inspiring. she was so amazing, she had such an amazing spirit. she was so happy. i instantly started crying. that was happiness that i hadn't felt in what seemed like forever. i knew i could feel that happiness again. i wanted to feel that happiness again. i immediately texted nick and told him i wanted to go back to church. i knew we needed to and i knew that the time was right. 

i ended up emailing al. i told her i read her blogs and ended up telling her about my situation. i was excited to hear back from her. but it had been a few weeks and i still hadn't heard back. so i kind of just ended up forgetting about it. 

my work was still an issue for us. it wasn't a good place for me to be. i wasn't happy there. so around this time nick and i knew we were moving to salt lake. so i ended up putting in my 2 weeks.  it needed to happen. and i am glad i quit. it has made such a difference, i am so much happier. nick and i are happier. 

so now nick and i are all settled {well, almost all settled} into our new apartment. we have gone to our new ward, and i got a reply from al. it was a few months later, but she is busy and none the less i was so excited to get a reply. she told me she had just barely posted a blog about her story of being converted and moving to utah. her email said:

this makes me think of a post I just barely wrote yesterday:

  http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com/2013/04/tattooed-mormon.html

"When those times arise where you have to make that same decision I did, think to yourself, ‘is this worth giving up my eternal salvation?’ Is that comment your ward member said to you worth giving up your eternal happiness? Is that look someone just gave you worth giving up the profound, indescribable blessings Heavenly Father has to give to you? Is it worth stopping yourself from returning to live with Him again? Is it worth your exaltation?"

Al 

so i went and read the whole blog story. it is amazing, please read it. that quote has stuck with me ever since she emailed me back. my work, and those friends there are not worth my eternal salvation. they are great people, and i am forever grateful that i met them. but my happiness, nick, the church and heavenly father come first. i wrote her back and let her know how i was doing:

thanks so much for your reply.

My husband and I once again have moved, this move was definitely for the better and we couldn't be happier where we are at. We are now living in downtown Salt Lake, and it is amazing. We have made new goals, and have started going to church again. What a world of difference it has been!! We are both more positive and so much happier. To think that we let the church slip away from us for a while is something I don't want to ever have happen again. But I know we had to go through that trial for a reason, that reason I do not know yet, but I'm sure I will find out sooner or later. Thanks so much for you inspirational stories and words. You are without a doubt an amazing example to so many people. 

Thanks again for you time

Denise

How neat to hear! this put a big smile on my face!

Al Fox

what an amazing girl. she is an incredible example. 

this is a something i never thought i would blog about. but i know someone might need to hear it besides me. 

the church is true. so true. i know that nick and i went through this trial for a reason, i know going back to church is the right thing to do. i know that nick and i are so much happier because of it. 

thanks for reading this lengthy blog post, i love you all.

ps i am so incredibly grateful for all the wonderful people i have in my life. my family, everyone at my school {literally everyone, i have made some incredible friends there that i can't even imagine my life without.} and my wonderful hubby. 

a little bit of deutschland in salt lake city

so about 3 years ago, pam, one of the member's from nicks mission came here to the states a few months before we got married. i was so excited to meet someone from his mission. we chatted on facebook for a while before she came so it was nice to be able to get to know her a bit before i met her in person.

since then we have kept in touch, keeping up on our lives etc.

a few months ago nick and i found out she was coming to the states again during conference. we were pretty excited! i instantly asked her if we could make spaetzle, my favorite german food. *spaetzle is a type of noodle*
 she said yes and also told me she had already bought some of my favorite chocolate to bring me.

so finally the week of her arrival came and soon it was saturday, spaetzle day! i went to school and came home to pam, nick and my sister in law erica! we were all ready to start cooking! except for one thing... i didn't have enough flour for the spaetzle. so nick went to the store and me, pam and erica stayed behind. while nick was at the store i was able to cut pam's hair. by the time i was finished nick got home and then this time we really started cooking the spaetzle. except for one more thing, we didn't have our hand mixer anymore and a spoon to scoop out the noodles. good thing we have awesome neighbors and we just went across the hall and borrowed some. in return, they got amazing chocolate from germany! :)
ok now we are rollin, we are ready to make spaetzle now!
i didn't have everything we needed for the spaetzle, so we made americanized spaetzle. cheddar cheese baked into a casserole. but it was still amazing. homemade spaetzle is so much better than that stuff in the bag that you get at pirate o's.

we had a fun night eating our delicious dinner and just catching up with pam. it was so nice to be able to spend the evening with her, and i'm so glad that both nick and erica were able to hang out with us as well. 
thank you pam for the fun evening and making us a delicious dinner! until next time! :)

2000 hours

so as most of you know, i am currently in hair school. and my journey there is soon coming to an end. i just have a little over a month and a half there and i will finally be a licensed cosmetologist. <after i pass all my tests of course.> 

today i really realized how fortunate i am to be at the school i'm at, and how grateful i am that i chose this industry.

we had an awesome guest artist today, she was a past student at taylor andrews and she won the matrix spread the love competition. it's a great contest for newly graduated cosmetology students, and only 6 people win. i thought it was so awesome that someone from our school won. so her and her spread the love partner came to our school today and gave us a great motivational class. i love getting classes like this, it really lifts my spirits and gives me an extra little push. 

i love hair. i am passionate about it. i know i can be successful. my school has definitely helped me so much. i really did choose an amazing school to go to. i have had so many incredible opportunities there, just to name a few:

*Nicholas French, world renowned hair stylist. had 2 classes from him.

*Charles Marcus, motivational speaker. 

*Kati Wheat, Redken coloring class.

*Mark DeBolt, Wella coloring class.

*Christopher Belmont, motivational speaker.

*hair show, as much as i complain about it, i am so glad i got to do it twice.

*The Teals, hair cutting class.

*Lunatic Fringe, cutting class and motivational speaking.

and there is so much more. i am incredibly grateful for this past year. i have learned so much, not only about hair, but also about myself. i chose an awesome industry to work in, and i cannot wait to see where i end up when i graduate. 

thank you to larry and all my amazing instructors, i'm going to enjoy these last few weeks at taylor andrews and kick butt on my last hair show, lets do this!

the move to salt lake

i have been asked many times why we decided to move to salt lake. that's a very good question, why did we move there?

well as nick tells people, we wanted a change of pace. and he told everyone in priesthood that our first sunday here, and one of the ward members said to him "want a change of pace? have one of these." and points to his little one. haha good one. not quite yet. our change of pace was just wanting something new and different than what we are used to. and salt lake seemed like a good place to go. 

moving here kind of just fell into our hands. nick works at a rec center in west jordan. his manager there has a brother that owns several apartment complexes in salt lake. and nicks manager was just about ready to move to salt lake and manage one of those buildings. the one he was at was in the avenues. perfect. right in the downtown area.

we went and looked at it and can i just say, skeeeeetchy! i was not comfortable at all there. something didn't feel right. so we left and as soon as we got in the car i was instantly on my phone looking at other apartments downtown. i did not want to give up on the idea of living in salt lake. as we  got on to the freeway we got a call from the couple that just showed us the apartment and told us they have an available apartment in the building they lived in. it was a fourplex by the capital. so we quickly turned around and took a look at it. walking in there was just a total different feeling than the other building. it was still old, but definitely not as run down as the other one. it was a good size, good space, and a good location.

so we talked it over at dinner (it was valentines day) and decided that was where we wanted to live. so nick gave the manager a call and told him we wanted to live there. and so we got everything set up, got our move in date and everything was set in stone. 

so here we are now in our new home (a home that we will be in for a while, i don't think i can handle another move til we buy a house!!) we couldn't ask for a better place to live :)

new start

i decided i neglected my old blog far too long.

so i thought it was time to just start over with a new one.

so this is it. :)

we are the barfi.

and we have a new life in salt lake city.

we love being in salt lake, it's so much fun and we are so close to everything.

i love this new chapter in our life. it's just so refreshing. it's just us and our kitty.

so i hope you all enjoy our blog, i will update it more frequently. 

:)