Anxiety/Depression

I used to be one of those people who thought "quit laying in bed you lazy weirdo. You'll be so much happier if you get up and do something. Serve someone, call up some friends, ect." I didn't think most mental illnesses were real. Joke's on me!! I thought that everything could be cured with just eating right. And I still do think that things can be helped and some prevented by doing so, but there is so much more to it. It's crazy how education and personal experience can affect how we view the world.

A few months ago I thought I was sick. I laid in bed for almost 4 days straight. I didn't know what was wrong with me but it just felt right like I needed to be resting. I was so tired and would sleep most of the day. It took all I had to get up and go to the store or to do anything with my business. About a month later I finally went to the doctor realizing my health was fine, but I was gaining weight like a mad woman and was still very tired. After I had done some blood testing and everything came back normal I was so confused. I went to a different doctor and he said nothing was wrong with me either - no hormone problems or anything. I was finally diagnosed with depression. Really? Me? Not a chance.. that is something I can cure myself! So, I started running everyday. Trying to loose the weight I had gained and to get myself in better spirits. The doctor upped my anxiety medication that I was currently on to try and control it better.

I ran 4 to 5 days a week for a month and absolutely nothing changed. I was still tired and I was still gaining weight. So, I decided that since I still hated running that I was going to quit because it wasn't working, but I joined a gym instead. I've been going back and forth with feeling fine and not feeling fine. It is seriously the weirdest thing. I'm honestly not quite sure how to get back to normal and still working on it. But now that I know what's going on, I am better able to realize that I need to move forward when I don't feel like it.

And I also wanted to apologize to anyone that I might have not been very sensitive to in the past who has gone through something like this.

"Also let us remember that through any illness or difficult challenge, there is still much in life to be hopeful about and grateful for. We are infinitely more than our limitations or our afflictions!" - Jeffrey R. Holland

The Most Life Changing Weekend...

We decided to drive to Denver this year for our Director Retreat. Who knew what a great and powerful decision that would be?

We stayed the night in Rock Springs, WY. In the movie theater we were sitting around talking afterwards. Obviously we were dressed pretty nice because HELLO we are successful awesome women. The girls working at the theater asked.. "Where are you all from?" Simple enough question, so I replied "How do you know we are not from here?" She continued to say "Because you all have your hair done and have purses." BAHAHAHA! Seriously? Does no one do their hair in Wyoming? It was quite the eye opener. :)

When we got to Jan's house we got to eat
yummy pizza, but she was not there. We were told that one of our dear friends and sister sales directors was in the hospital. But we resumed the evening as planned. We knew she would be okay. They ended the evening early (which was weird) and about a half an hour later we were informed that she had passed away.

Game Changer.... in that moment everything changed. It went from a fun filled evening to a life changing event. We gathered as sisters and prayed for the families involved. We prayed for her husband. We prayed for her close friends. What type of business does that? We prayed in a circle in our hotel room, together as sister sales directors. What a powerful experience to have so many women united in one cause.

We went from unbelief to what had just happened to dedication for our future. Dedication to finish what Kristi was not able to. Our Harris Family Area... is going to break so many belief barriers this year. I'm so excited for the change that we are going to be able to instill in other women. We came together for one cause and that changed every person's life at that retreat. About 60 of us. We all love each other and we are all going to DO WHAT IT TAKES to make our dreams happen.

What happened next will forever change my life. The next morning, we had a set aside time to talk about Kristi, her life, her memories. And then we got to work. Talking about how to become a better person ourselves to help others improve. We trained all day on how to make ourselves exceptional. What is the definition of exceptional? "Forming an exception or rare instance; unusual; extraordinary."

That's what we are becoming. That is what Mary Kay is teaching us. Even in times of loss and confusion, you can still help others and you can be the rock that brings your dreams to reality.

This is my lovely and beautiful Future National Sales Director, Jenn Kirkham. She is what our future area looks up to. Last year we did 1 Million in production... Small companies don't do that. We are building an empire. We made a pact that we are going to do whatever it takes to break belief barriers and help women change their lives in any way that they need. 

 <-- And this is the pact that we made. We first made it with Kit Kat bars as a toast and then this on our ride home. I am a part of something so much bigger than myself. I am a part of helping women around the world become who they want to be. I love my sister sales directors. They are the best friends I have ever had in my life. Who knew you could be friends with such amazing women? Women who uplift you and help you become a person who you were always hesitant to even dream about. Always hesitant because you never thought it possible to be that great.

This lady is our current National Sales Director. Full of love and willing to let us into her mansion of a home all weekend long so that we could learn from her. She is #1 in our division. What an honor we have had to be able to know her before she retires. To learn from her and to see her as a person, with feeling, with love, and with sorrow this weekend. But still pushing forward to enrich women's lives. She is STILL showing and helping others achieve the success that she has attained.

Breast Cancer Awareness!

We had a SUPER fun night at Jenn's meeting. We donated 10% of the proceeds to the Mary Kay foundation - which is an AMAZING foundation. Let me just tell you a little bit why. 

• Last year alone we donated over $5 million dollars to cancer research.
• The Mary Kay Foundation was created in 1996, and has awarded $18 million to cancer researchers and related causes throughout the United States.  So every time every you support a Mary Kay Consultants,  not only are you supporting her business but women around the world you don’t even know!!
• Since the Foundation’s inception in 1996, it has awarded $31 million to shelters and programs addressing domestic violence prevention.
• You can find out more at http://www.marykayfoundation.org/Pages/Home.aspx

 We had a lot of fun things in support of this foundation. We did lip personality tests! Super fun and weirdly right on! Kiss a piece of paper and see what shape your lips are. Match them with the personality paper lips and read what it says. If you want to see what yours says, let me know :)


We also had all the guests spin our Mary Kay prize wheel to win free stuff! How awesome is that!?!

 Yummy pink and red snacks were served. We had these amazing red velvet mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were to die for. Some yummy red fruit and fruit dip. I love our Mary Kay nights!

And of course, we always get to make new friends who are positive and uplifting, sharp and successful. You can never have too many friends who have those qualities. NEVER! I love my Mary Kay life. It is never ever something I thought I'd have, but now it's something I will NEVER give up.. EVER.

Mouse Droppings

A couple weeks ago, I opened the pantry to get out the sugar to find some mouse droppings near by. Luckily my mom was wise enough to tell me to put all of my baking stuff in containers. So, the mouse didn't get into anything, but an extra rice bag we had.

To the store I went to find some great mouse traps. I'd never had to deal with a mouse before, but I got a pack of four and put them around where I could see the mouse was hanging out. A week went by and nothing! Nothing in the traps only more mouse droppings. I couldn't figure out where he was. Sneaky little bugger. 

I'm not all that terrified of them. A few years ago I was watching my sisters rental house down in Utah while her family went on a vacation. She told me she had some mice and put up some traps. I was in a room watching a movie when her dogs started making A LOT of noise and barking. As I walked into the kitchen so see what was going on I saw the dogs pushing around a mouse trap with their noses and a mouse stuck inside!! He was still alive and using one foot trying to get away. 

Not knowing at all what to do, I called my mom. She told me to take a glove and pick it up and throw the mouse away. While I was talking to her, one of the dogs actually picked up the mouse and started CHEWING on it! Poor mouse. Still living, I got it away from the dog and took it outside.. he was suffering and it was really sad. 

Needless to say, I don't want to make mice suffer. It isn't fun at all, poor things. So, about two weeks later I decided to make some cookies. I pulled out the oatmeal and the mouse SHOT out and ran behind the garbage can when I immediately moved the garbage and he dashed behind the stove. He had been behind the oatmeal munching on our rice the WHOLE TIME! I didn't see him again until...

I was napping on a Sunday. Great nap, you know those kind when you just feel so relaxed? I woke up to my husband holding the mouse in a towel right in front of my face! In my blurred wake up vision I couldn't tell what it was for a moment. But realized he had seen the mouse in our bathroom and caught it with a hand towel. Crazy! He was holding it and telling me it looked so cute. And I told him he needed to get rid of it. So, while STILL holding the thing he looks on the internet of what to do with it. It said if you put it outside, he'll just find his way back. If we wanted to kill it, we could put it in the freezer and freeze it to death or other torturous ideas. I wouldn't let him do anything like that. He decided to walk a block and a half a way to a parking lot and let it out there. 

We are now mouse free!!! Mice are SO persistent. They risk their lives to find food. Makes me wonder how dedicated we are to what we want in life.

Unplanned Road Trip

I had just moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to live with one of my amazing friends, Jessica. As I was talking to her on the phone one day, she asked if I wanted to come be her roommate. So, I packed up my stuff and moved down there to live with her. Yes, it was just that simple. I quit my job and left.

I had been looking for work for a couple months and was finding NOTHING. Jess worked at a restaurant about 20 minutes away and told me I should apply there. I told myself I would never ever be a server, but I needed some cash. My savings were being spent on my living and I needed something soon.

I went to apply and they interviewed me on Friday. I was to start work on Tuesday. I waited around as Jess was  finishing her shift. She was talking to one of her co-workers, John, about going to California and as we were about to leave she said, "Do you want to come to Cali with us this weekend? We are leaving at 7:00." My first instinct was to say no. But then I thought about it a little more and realized I had absolutely nothing to do until Tuesday when I would start working.

Needless to say, we went home, packed some bags, and met up with John at his house. Questions started to arise like, where will we stay? Where are we going exactly? John got online to talk to this couple who played W.O.W. with him. They were a married couple living in Oceanside. He'd never met them before, only communicated with them through the game. And Oceanside was our destination.

We started driving and Jess got in touch with her friends who lived in Vegas. That night we stayed with them and hung out in Vegas for a while.

They made us the BEST spaghetti for lunch the next day. All I remember was that the girl put TONS of extra stuff in the sauce and made it taste absolutely amazing! The cool thing about Jess' friend and her husband was that she spoke Spanish and would talk only to their child in Spanish during the day until the husband would come home and then English was the language. I thought that was super smart.



We made it to Oceanside and stayed with the coolest, nicest family ever. They took us to the beach and we hung out all day Monday and started driving back Monday night. We literally drove all through the night because I was supposed to start work and we barely made it in time for me to go home, get cleaned up and go to work. Totally worth it.

I miss doing things like this! Thank you so much Jess for the amazing experiences and teaching me to be so spontaneous!

Evolution of Hair (mine to be exact)

Looking back through some old pictures I realized that changing my hair color is just this amazing part of myself that I really really like. There have been some that really did not look good, however. Like the blonde..
Awesome technology these days lets us put a picture up of ourselves and change our hair color without actually having to go through it. What a wonderful idea?? Will I ever go back to blonde.. no way. I actually made a song (back when I was learning the guitar) that has a line about me not wanting to be blonde again. I don't know what it is, but I really don't like it on me even thought it's technically my natural color.

Eww

You can't see very well, but this actually has dark red streaks.. it was really cool
<---

Dark with black streaks :)

If you got to the end of all these pictures, which hair color is your favorite? I'm going to change again soon, so I'll need some advice. :) 

(Almost all hair color and cut by Alysa Garvin Sessions) - not the blonde