Hey guys and gals. I know I have been missing in blog action lately, but I am going through personal life changes and my computer not working. Hope you all are doing well. Look for me to be back in blogland in a month or so.

Lots of love: Miss3H

I have debated, weighed the pros and cons, pondered, basically changed my mind at whim…why? Yep. It’s 10-year-reunion time. I’m going (I think?)…but not without fear(s).

The Fears
1. My husband. Although I have a very handsome and (in my eyes) successful hubby, he will not be able to attend my high school reunion. I’m sure he is glad to get out of it…lol…but I feel like my security blankie has just been flushed down the toilet! PLUS…hubby is a soldier and I absolutely do not want my reunion to turn into a political debate. Might kinda put a damper on the “fun”. I plan to take lots of pics of him and my cute doggies for people to see. He exists! I swear! lol

2. I’m no longer 110 lbs. I know I still look alright, but seriously, in high school I was super thin. Kinda hard to not look fatter than 110, ya know? So far I am on track to be at my goal weight by September (no…not 110), but I still feel very self-conscious about going.

3. People are judgemental. So I’m a waitress. Yes, I make much more than people might think…but like I am gonna go around telling everyone how much I make! It is just silly that those who do not work at all might look down on my profession. *sigh* I imagine running into a former bimbo telling me she is now a rocket scientist for NASA and then smiling with perfect veneers and asking, “So what do you do?” I’m just gonna have to suck it up and deal with it I guess.

Despite all these fears, I want to go to the reunion. I had lots of friends in different circles. So even though my best friends might not attend, there are plenty of others that I would like to catch up with. Many I have only contacted through myspace and not seen since ‘98, so that is the fun part.

So did you go to your 10 year reunion? And if not, why? If so, how did it go?

Today my co-workers and I celebrated “Bastille Day”. I work in a French restaurant and Bastille Day is basically the French Independence Day. We had so much fun! We had a pool party where everyone brought something: burgers (royales with cheese…seen Pulp Fiction? lol), hot dogs or “chein chaud” in French, fruit, cheese, wine…it was a French/American feast!

We just relaxed by the pool for a few hours. It was a great way to reconnect with my co-workers and just chill out on my day off.

Happy Bastille Day everyone!

Move studio where I take dance is having a contest…and I WANT TO WIN! hee hee hee

Basically the contest is this: They see how many classes you took in the past month. The person who increases their Move Studio class attendance the most in the next month (beginning July 14th) will win a FREE UNLIMITED MONTH PASS!!! Now that is what I call “healthy competition”! It is just the kick in the pants I needed to start going to 6 classes a week instead of 2 or 3.

For anyone who cares–here is the schedule I intend to keep at Move Studio:
(all are one hour classes)
Monday “Pilates Basics” at 9:00am
Tuesday “Cardio Latin” at 9:00am and “Dance Fusion” at 7:30pm (my favorite class)
Wednesday “Dance Fusion” at 6:00pm and “On the Ball” at 7:20pm
Thursday “Core & More” at 9:30am
and possibly Sunday “Pilates” at 12:40pm

So by my count, if I do just the six classes per week (and forget Sunday pilates), I would double my attendance. Even if I don’t win the contest, I will still win by having fun, losing inches, and gaining self-confidence.

The instructor of my “dance fusion” class yesterday (Renee) made such an interesting comment. She loves to dance, but she said yoga is the key to her success. It keeps her flexible and she said it has taught her to remain unattached to people, places, and things. I tend to think of yoga as “new age” but this is very inline with Christian thinking.

I think as people we do tend to worry a lot and get very attached to our loved ones and possessions. I think there is a level of attachment that is okay to God: love, caring, and wanting people in your life. However, when we allow a certain person, place, or possession to ruin our day, I think we are not pleasing God.

I’m thinking of taking a few of Renee’s yoga classes. It seems relaxing and I could use the lessons in flexibility as well as some stress relief.

Have y’all taken yoga? What did you think?

They say cleanliness is next to godliness. Well, I’m not sure I believe all that…but it does feel good to be clean and organized. My house has been a wreck for a few weeks now. Last week I did actually get some gumption to at least clean the kitchen after admitting to a friend that it was ridiculously dirty in my house. Today, I have been cleaning the rest: bathroom, floors (including steam cleaning), laundry, the whole she-bang. This weekend I will just have to work on filing the mail that I allowed to pile up.

I’m not sure that being clean brings you closer to God on its own, but with some work, it could! I mean, you could put on some praise music while you clean and even sing along. And you will feel obedient after the work is done because God certainly must be disappointed in my recent pity party and laziness. I pray to thank Him for strength, good friends, and motivation.

–> What the bible says about laziness:

Proverbs 19:15 says, “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry.”

I think this means that being lazy only breeds more laziness. I mean, as your mess grows, so does your comtempt for having to clean it up! It seems more and more futile to try to get it clean. However…

–>What the bible says about hard work:

Revelation 2:2 says, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.”
Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

So I guess cleanliness is pleasing to God. It requires hard work and perserverance. It brings a profit of the pure joy of accomplishment.

Do you guys read The Fly Lady website? She is really funny and motivating. I need to start reading her site more and following her advice.

Gottta go clean more! I hope you get time to do some de-cluttering of your own life this week. You’ll be surprised how much stress you can relieve by getting some things done that you have been putting off.

First, some background information. Many of you know, but since childhood, I have always had a strong urge to cut my own hair. And I did. And dye my own hair. Highlight my own hair. 95% of the time, it turns out great. People have no idea it is a “home job”. However…I fear today was my last “home job”. It is with sadness and a new-found outlook that I am giving up my habit of home-hair experimentation. I am going out with a bang though…

This evening, I decided I wanted to go blonde again. I have done this before, twice at home and once in salon. I kind of chickened out though, because the color I used before was no longer available. So I decided I would go lighter brown and highlight blonde over it. Since I am a true home-highlighting pro, I thought this to be a snap. Ha!

Let me begin with the first try of the evening. This box of $10 color was full of promise. It was to lighten my dark brown hair to a lighter brown with no “brassiness” or red tones. Perfect. I also bought the highlighting kit that I have used at least 20 times. No prob there. I go home and put on the light brown magic. I wait the 25 minutes. I check it. Hmmmm, seems nothing has happened. I wait 10 more minutes. I don’t want my hair to break off at the root, so I wash it out anyway. I figure after drying it will appear at least 2 shades lighter. Um, no. It looked like I washed and dried my hair with absolutely NO CHANGE. Seriously? No change? Believe it.

I go back to the store, very confused and a bit cynical at the boxes that had seemed so sure to save me that $100 in salon fees. I grudgingly pick another. This one assures me it is for brunettes only. Lightens hair 3 shades, again, no brassiness or red tones. At this point, I’m hoping for any change in tone, so what the heck. I apply the second box of color, and go read some reviews of hair colors online. Uh oh. I see one about the exact color I am now wearing on my head. It says, “No red tones? What a joke!” Hmmm, perhaps I should have read the reviews BEFORE now. Still, I am full of hope. Some of the reviews are good. I wait the 25 minutes. Wash, condition, dry, repeating the same process. This is no longer fun. I look at my head. OH NO. This is when it hits me. The good Lord made me a brunette and I should have just let it be.

My hair had indeed changed in tone. The roots were light brown on the extreme reddish side. The highlights that I had a few months ago and are now growing out…welll…..

Some of them were turned… GREY. What the HECK!?! Not only that. Towards the ends of my hair, it got darker and darker, some of the ends appeared black. This is not a good look and certainly not a salon look-alike.

I pony-tail it and go BACK to the store. Now I really, really wish I had listened to hubby and just waited to go to the salon on Tuesday. My stylist would have talked me out of blonde, but at least it would have been a color I could wear in public. I get yet another box of color. This time, just a medium brown shade to hopefully hide the hideous mop that is my hair. I am still hopeful it will turn out and I can highlight over it. All would be well with the world.

The end result is not bad…but I will be going to the salon on Tuesday to get my brunette glaze put over this medium brown on the very red side head of mine. The Lord made me brunette, but it can be a little shinier and I won’t have roots, right? Right. Plus if you can believe it, she charges less for the glaze than I spend on my 4 boxes of color. Way to save money, huh?

I am finally ready to just be me. I don’t need to work so hard to be a blonde or anything else that I’m not. Improving myself is one thing, changing myself constantly to fill a void or avoid being bored with myself is another.

P.S. My highlights are still a little grey/green if you look close. Here’s hoping I don’t scare anyone at work tomorrow.

This article was very interesting. It basically claims that research shows that 60% of your happiness is set by the time you reach 16 years of age. If you didn’t have an ideal childhood, your happiness could have taken a hit. However, there is that 40% that we can control. It gives tips on how to do that, as well as a link to test your happiness.

Check out the article on ABC News.com .

A huge “thank you” to Joanna who had this awesome idea! Her mother-in-law is in a group and she thought I would like to join. Boy, was she RIGHT!

I don’t have 100% of the specifics but here is the gist of it:
It is a sewing group. They meet every Thursday and one Saturday per month. They sew newborn clothes with donated fabric. The clothes are then donated to the local low-income hospital for those who are in need. I love it!

I did have to admit that I have only sewn aprons and some 100 or 200 scrunchies in the 1990’s. lol
No problem. They are gonna show me the ropes. This will be so fun and rewarding. I can’t wait to get started! There will be many updates on this in the near future. I’m going to my first meeting on Thursday. I’ll keep you posted on this!
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I am out of my funk. Pretty much. I did finally clean up some around my house and this sewing stuff has me very excited. Next month I’ll be starting more classes too, so I am bound to be busy. It’s still hard, but I’m trying to keep my chin up. I like making things for others when I am down. It keeps me so busy and I love how they treasure the gifts. It is a true win-win situation.

I did not have a huge b-day bash. That was ok. I had a great 28th none-the-less. First, I went with Joanna (Wilder Mom) to Wilder’s dance class. He was adorable! They got me a nice plant and a very sweet card. Then we all three went to lunch at La Madeline. After that, I went to Hobby Lobby to get my new sewing machine needle. While in Hobby Lobby, she had a great idea! (See above post!) It was VERY cheap for the needle and upon arriving home I fixed my machine without a hitch, finishing my sister’s apron just in the nick of time. However, I accidentally deleted the pic! LOL. Oh well. She loved it.

When I got home from lunch, I found that something had been delivered to me and was left in the office of my apartments. My hubby had sent me this (even though he is out of state right now)!
The note was so sweet, too. I could not have asked for more…after all -he did let me get my sewing machine too (which I am now OBSESSED with….lol).

Then I went to dinner at Carino’s Italian with my sister and her hubby. We had a nice meal, then to Starbucks, Blockbuster, her house. We watched a movie in the midst of her “dog ranch”. This is my affectionate term for homes of people who have more than 3 dogs. I truly want a dog ranch one day myself. hee hee.

Here is a pic of the cute dogs after they all finally stopped licking me, quit playing around with each other, and got tired of being jealous over which one I was petting –and pooped out.

My mom sent me a gift certificate from “giveanything.com” for $150. I got a down alternative comforter to go in my duvet cover so far (from Linen’s and Things). Thanks, Mom!!

It was a great birthday and thanks to everyone who thought about me or spent time with me.