Weekends with Marty.

    When I moved away, Marty and I had big plans that he would get to come visit me more often. With rising gas prices and a long drive, it just made more sense for me to drive home to West Jordan and for him to drive from Evanston to West Jordan every other weekend. That and once we started talking about marriage, we knew we needed to save our pennies! Lucky for me, Marty was able to come spend this last weekend with me in Cedar. His parents were passing through on their way to St. George and dropped him off on the way. Thrilled would be an understatement of how stinking happy I was for extra time with Marty.
     Marty and I have been long distance our whole relationship. When I lived up north, I was able to see him every weekend and sometimes during the week if he was driving down for work or if there was a holiday or something. I had already decided to attend SUU when I met Marty, but we agreed that we could handle distance. It was a hard change even though we were already apart during the week and it definitely took some getting used to. But now, our relationship is really strong and we have developed awesome communication skills.
     Our weekend started late Friday afternoon. I was thrilled for a little break from school. Last week I had two essays due, a fiction story, and a presentation- such an awful week! I was so excited for a little time with Marty after a long, sleepless, and stressful week. Friday was spent making delicious teriyaki chicken, snuggling, and watching basketball and of course... Fox news. In case you're wondering, Marty definitely picked what we watched. It was pretty low key but it was so fun to cook together and spend a lazy evening together.
     Saturday was more eventful. We started our day late because Mr. Marty likes to sleep. A lot. I tried to wake him up with breakfast in bed (which worked until he was done eating) but was not successful. While Marty was asleep, I cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, and did the dishes. When he finally work up, we got ready and had some lunch. We went to a little place called Slurps Up, kind of like Swig although not as yummy. Then I gave Marty a little tour of SUU. I showed him all around campus and inside all of the buildings that were unlocked. It was fun to show him around the place I spend most of my time.  After, we headed back to my apartment to work on wedding invitations. (47 days guys, it's coming soon!) Then we went to Applebee's, our favorite date, and brought it home to watch the games. After, we watched Frozen and made cookies that we ate with ice cream. We had such a fun day full of high calorie food and high quality laughs.

     Sunday was hard, as they usually are when I have to say "see ya later" to Marty. Goodbye's are getting crazy difficult lately. Marty slept in late while I read a little and spent some time on Pinterest. When he finally woke up, it was almost time for him to leave. His parents were on their way and offered to take us to lunch. I was so happy for some extra time with Marty as well as his cute parents. After we finished at Ihop, it was time for goodbye. I've never been good at them, and I hate watching him go after we have had such a fun weekend. I was really sad, but then I started to think of all the reasons why I'm so excited to get married. I began to notice a lot of these this weekend.

1. I will always have someone to cook with or for. I loved having Marty around to help me cook or just knowing that I wouldn't have to eat alone.
2. I will have a grocery shopping buddy. Marty ran to Wal-Mart for ice cream and juice and it was so fun! It was nice not having to go alone and picking everything out by myself.
3. I will have someone to get ready with. It was so fun sharing the mirror as Marty brushed his teeth and I was doing my hair. It was so fun to talk to him while I got ready and to have someone there to tell me how beautiful he thought I was when I was all ready.
4. I loved being able to surprise him with breakfast in bed. Its such a small and easy way to show someone that you love them. I can't wait until I can show small acts of kindness, love, and service to him daily.
5. I am so excited to see him everyday.

Hair Growth Month 2

    Like I promised, I am going to report on my hair growth journey. Not much in my process has changed- I'm still using Mane n' Tail and coconut oil once a week. I shower at night so my hair can air dry and I can skip the blow-dryer. I avoid straightening when possible and other heat tools. I also have only been washing my hair 2-3 times a week. Gross? At first, yes. But as my hair adjusted I noticed a big difference in my hair. The biggest difference I have noticed is the texture of my hair. It is no longer limp, really dry, or stringy. Instead, it has more volume, its lush, and my yucky dry ends are finally healing up. Also, did you know coconut oil is a natural remedy for dry and damaged scalp? My scalp is so much healthier and we all know that healthy hair comes from a healthy foundation. Scalp health is important in our efforts to grow long and luscious locks.

     Many of you have asked how to apply coconut oil to your hair. First things first- don't warm it up! Its super messy if you try to apply liquid oil to your hair. Heating it wont harm the oil and can actually speed up many of the enzymes and nutrients that help your hair. However, I have found that its best to just scoop some of the solid oil out and just rub in onto dry hair. The heat of your body and the rubbing with heat it up enough to liquefy and spread evenly throughout your hair.  You can even use a blow dryer on low heat to heat up the oil on your hair after if is applied. Your hair should be so oily that it looks wet, like in the picture to the right. I usually sleep in the oil and just wrap my hair in plastic wrap or an old towel or shirt. You don't need to sleep in it, just be sure to keep it in for at least 2 hours to reap all the lovely benefits of coconut oil. Also, be sure to use organic and virgin coconut oil as it does contain the highest amount of nutrients and will help your hair the most.

So the results?
2 inches of hair growth when measure from a middle part down to the longest end. I measured barley under 19 inches- like 18.9. Compared to last months 17 inches, this is almost two full inches of new hair growth!

This is huge for me. I have been trying so hard to grow my hair out so a 2 inch growth in one month is huge! I can't say if it is more of the Mane n' Tail or coconut oil but both are helping tons! I also think that less heat and fewer washes is helping the health of my hair.

Healthy Changes

     In the past about 8 months, I have made some pretty significant changes in my diet and activity levels. I went from eating eh, ok and not exercising to eating lots of fruits, veggies, and proteins and running upwards of 5-8 miles a day. Its a huge change but I promise it did not happen over night. A lot of people have been asking me what I've been doing to lose weight but for me, I have learned that it is more important to be healthy rather than skinny. Due to all the questions, I thought I would write a blog post about how I have improved my health over the last eight months.

     First things first, don't starve yourself. In fact, you're just causing more problems. If you're hungry, eat. Ignoring your body and not feeding it causes your body to think its starving so when you do eat, it hoards all the fats and calories more than it would have if you would have just eaten. Just eat- but only until satisfied, not stuffed.  But on that note, eat healthy. Its so important to get good carbs, proteins, fruits, veggies, and so much water all crammed into your diet. Eat real food, not weird weight loss shakes and meals. Doing that is only making you unhealthy and chances are as soon as you quite these special drinks or foods, you will gain the weight back. Changing your eating habits won't happen quickly, it will instead take a lot of time and practice. What worked for me is the 20:80 rule. I know a lot of people only have "free days" once a week but when I was that restricted, I felt restless and wanted bad foods even more. Instead, I ate good foods 80% or the time and used the other 20% for less healthy eating. This also prevented me from splurging and eating horribly for a whole day.
     The next important thing is exercise. Run, bike, lift weights, do strength exercises. All of these are so important in being healthy. I don't know much about ratios of cardio to weights, but I do know that they are super important. I personally run for about 45 minutes and do weights for another 30-40 minutes. Find what works best for you and I promise you will start to enjoy your work outs everyday. I, the girl who hated exercise, now love my time at the gym because its a time to unwind and focus solely on my body. Everyone needs and deserves this. Our bodies are amazing things and they deserve to be taken care of!

Now for the exciting part- the results! I'm timid to post this because I hate that I let myself become so
unhealthy, but it is such a motivation for me to keep going and working hard.

 

     Isn't it crazy what 40 lbs. can do? the top picture was in October and the bottom was in February.

 

 

So..... my secret is.

 

Nothing. Eat well and exercise. Make healthy choices and always keep working, even when you don't see results of feel defeated. Change will come only if you are persistent! Not only will you see the change, but you will feel it! I have more energy and I have more confidence than I used to. I have a better attitude and I am much more able to work through hard things without giving up. Getting healthy is the best decision I could have made for myself.