PLT: 7th Edition

These pictures were also taken outside, so sorry for the glare on the pages!

PLT: 6th Edition

I took these pictures outside instead of inside like I have been, so there's a little glare on most of these pictures. Oh well!!

PLT: 5th Edition

I have rejoined society!

I finally went back to washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner! It was a difficult decision, because I'd been working on the "no-poo" way for about 3 months, and I didn't want to wash with shampoo and conditioner only to change my mind, because then the three months of working with different solutions would be all for nothing, as I would have had to start all over again.

This was the only day my hair looked good, and that was after washing with boiled water, and this was the second time with boiled water.

I washed two more times after this, and it looked awful.

The final tipping point for me was last night at the Alpine Rodeo (who knew Alpine even had a rodeo?!) and there were 7 million girls with BEAUTIFUL, straight, shiny hair, and mine was in a pony tail because it looked like a rat's used nest. I knew I wouldn't do no-poo forever.. Especially since some girls were telling me my hair might take up to a year to look beautiful again.

I absolutely love hair, especially my hair! It really is gorgeous! But not for the past 3 months! I'd never wanted to shave my head so badly before this experience. 

So this morning, I broke down and used some left over shampoo and conditioner that I had in my bathroom cupboard. I was still a little hesitant though, because my roots felt so soft and clean! But then I turned around and looked at the back of my head, and decided to go for it.

Oh. My. Heaven! If no-poo did nothing else for my hair, it at least got me to realize how amazing the products are that are in the world today. I pumped the shampoo two or three times into my hand, and when I put the glorious concoction on my head, it was like unicorns and rainbows and cotton candy were having a party on my head. I rubbed it in and the party just continued getting better and better, adding gummy bears and puppies to the party list. 

And don't even get me started on the conditioner... Just putting it in my hair felt like I was walking through a world made out of the softest, shiniest silk.. I could run my fingers through my hair (IN THE SHOWER!!) further than 2 centimeters, and it was as if the Hair People (yes, there are such people) were coming to give me a huge, beautiful medal for the softest hair. 

If you can't tell, I'm so excited to be back in this shampoo and conditioner business. I dumped out my baking soda/water & vinegar/water mixtures down the drain, and did a little happy dance.

I'll just let some pictures do the talking now.. And please don't pay very close attention to my face in the first pictures.. I had just gotten out of bed. Also, I took these with my phone (I don't know why I didn't use either of my camera's.. I guess my brain doesn't work in the mornings)

I washed my hair last night, and this is what it basically looked like then too.. Except maybe a little worse.

These are basically huge knots or traps. You can't put your fingers/comb/brush through them for the life of you!

 And like a miracle, I come out of the shower with amazing hair. This was just after I blow dried it. I didn't even straighten it!

My face needed to be put in time out so you could just focus on my hair.

Consider me one happy girl (: My hair smells good (it had no scent for the last 3 months!), I can run my fingers through it, it twirls (picture a little girl spinning in circles with a big frilly dress on) when I shake my head, and it looks much more blonde!! Which I'm happy about, because I can put off getting it colored for a little while longer!


One more thing: If you are doing no-poo, way to go. Apparently it can work for everyone, if they have enough patience and don't mind the transition phase going for three months (yikes!). Everybody's hair is different, and some of you may be having the best hair you've ever had by doing this, but it just wasn't working for me. There are a TON of different options if you don't want to use baking soda and vinegar, but I'm poor right now and don't want to spend money on a bunch of random things (whether they're cheap or expensive) that MIGHT or might not work. 

PLT: 4th Edition

Welcome back, Project Life lovers! It's nice to have you back!

I'm kinda running out of things to say in these posts, so here's some pictures!

I have a confession...

and I might have said it on here before, and maybe you already know this about me, but...

I am really really emotional, and I cry all the time.

It'll be at the most random of things, or the most sentimental things. I'll tear up when I see a dad dancing with his daughter, seeing a truck getting towed, watching a movie, seeing someone trip, hearing a really well sung song, or seeing someone else cry. If I had to make a guess at how many times a day I get choked up, tear up, or actually start crying, I'd say it's at least 10.. And that's everyday. I always thought I was a wuss for being so emotional and that I should just learn to keep it in, but I saw this the other day, and I love it!!

Over the last few years, I've really changed my thoughts about "being emotional" and embraced it more fully. I love who I am, and I love that I can sympathize with other people and what they're going through. I love that I get really into stories, and I love that I know how to be sensitive about other's emotions because mine are so strong. So what if people see me cry?! So what if I cry during someone else's testimony, and I'm the only one in the whole church crying?! I'd rather cry than not, because I've been on the other side, where I'm bearing my testimony or telling a story and I'm bawling, but no one else is.. and sometimes it just feels really good when I see someone else crying because I know that someone else is feeling at least a portion of what I'm trying to portray. 

So there you have it. I cry all the time, and I'm not afraid to hide it.

My thoughts on No Poo

When I started using baking soda and vinegar to wash my hair, it was on a whim and I was curious to see if it would work. I loved the idea of getting rid of the chemicals on my hair that have been building up for the past 23 years, and was super curious to see how my hair would react. It's been about 2 and a half months? (I actually didn't write down when I started, so this is just a guess.) And it's been nothing but a nightmare! I joined the no-poo Facebook group and tried a lot of the suggestions they had for what I thought my hair was doing, and I had really high hopes. I bought organic applesauce and smeared it all over my head, twice, in hopes it would remove the nasty waxy feeling in my hair. It didn't. But because I forgot to clean up the tiny little applesauce drips in the sink, we had fruit flies for a few days. I also bought pure aloe vera, mixed it with honey, and slathered that all over my head to try to achieve some sort of soft hair.. nada.

So on Saturday, I was talking to Cody and was rather frustrated about the results, especially since I was expecting better results a lot earlier. I expressed that I wanted to throw it out the window and just hop in the shower and use more shampoo than ever before, but I decided to post on that Facebook group and ask for help. I was given the advice to boil the water that I was using for the baking soda/water mixture and the vinegar/water mixture, as hard water tends to get in the way of good results. So Sunday morning, I started boiling water and mixing my cooking ingredients in, and washed my hair. I had such high hopes!! I wanted it so badly, and this seemed like the only thing left I could do to get my hair back to "normal".

And honestly, it did make a difference, but not a very big one. I was told to let my hair air dry before I even brushed it, and this is what it looked like after the air drying.

Almost socially acceptable.. I went to church like this.

I'm really grateful I couldn't see the back of my head all day, because it looked worse than I thought it did.

It wasn't all the way dry before we had to leave for church, so this is what everyone saw that day. And I'm pretty embarrassed, except for the fact that for the past two months, it's been a TON worse.. So a public apology goes out to everyone who's had the unfortunate experience of having to look at my hair while I've been trying this no-poo experiment. We came home, took a nap, and when I woke up I decided to brush it out and see the difference it made.

Please excuse my nap face.

MUCH BETTER! But it still felt waxy. I decided to give my hair about one to two more weeks to decide what it's going to do with this no-poo thing, and then I'm going back to shampoo. It's been fun interesting to try different concoctions in hopes of finding the "no-poo nirvana" that everyone talks about getting to, but I was told that my hair might not look awesome for a whole year if I was still going to do no-poo, and I'm just not okay with that! My hair is the one thing that I've always loved about myself.. NOT ANYMORE! I'm kinda toying with the idea of getting low-poo shampoo that has less chemicals than normal shampoo, therefore it's still better. But, that all depends on how much it costs!

I'm really glad that I tried this new thing, and I'm extremely proud of myself for sticking to it for as long as I have, since I kind of consider myself the queen of quitting. This has definitely been a learning experience for me, but I can't wait to have pretty hair again! I'll keep you updated on what happens in the next two week!

I have a tendency to become obsessed...

With songs, memories, activities, pictures, meals.. you name it, I've been obsessed with it before.

I'll find one song and listen to it over and over and over and over (Kaylee, remember this song? Haha)



and for those of you that aren't Kaylee, this was one of the songs that I was obsessed with and listened to AT LEAST 5 times in a row before moving on to a different song when I was living with Kaylee. She wasn't a fan. I even got the sheet music to play it on the piano!

I was obsessed with one breakfast meal (and then another) of two over-easy eggs with salt and pepper on them, eaten with two pieces of toast with butter on them. YUM! Then a little while later, I had a blueberry bagel with mixed berry cream cheese and hot chocolate (very healthy, right?!) and ate that for about 2 weeks straight. No wonder I don't like eating breakfast very often.. I find something I like and eat it to death until I'm completely sick of it!

And the reason for this post.. pictures. I'll find a picture, from our engagements, bridals, wedding day, honeymoon.. whatever, and I'll edit it, and all of a sudden, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. So I set is as my desktop picture, I'll send it to my phone for the background, and I'll put it as my Facebook cover picture.

I loved this picture when I first saw it, but it was a little blurry, the lighting wasn't very good, and it just wasn't amazing. But I loved Cody and I in it, and the feel of it, but I didn't know what else to do with it, other than look at it every now and then and admire the beauty of it. So, it sat in my iPhoto for 2 years, when all of a sudden I got the idea to lighten it, and turn it to black and white...



and BAM! Just like that, I can't stop looking at it!! I'm contemplating ordering it in 11x14 and putting in on our gallery wall and replacing the far left photo of our "first look", because let's be honest, it would look awesome there.

Also, am I the only crazy one that thinks painting our TV would be awesome?!? ...Probably..

But I can't decide if it's a good idea to get rid of that picture because the balance would be off.. There would now be three pictures of the two of us, and one ginormous picture of only me.. but there wouldn't be a picture where Cody was the focus. Do other people think like this too? Or am I just crazy?!

Side note: I think I am just crazy. I do the laundry here, 

and you know how there are hangers with the little hooks 

in them, and then hangers that are just smooth? I felt bad

using all the ones with hooks on them because I didn't think

it was fair to Cody..  Like, I was having a serious issue with it

for about 2 hours until Cody got home, and he told me to stop

 stressing and just give him the smooth ones, because they're
easier for him to get his shirts off, haha!

Anyways, if you have any suggestions, let me know! I'll probably enlist the help of my mom and Jaycee on this one too because, yanno, they're here!!