New Hair, New Clothes, New Age

This past weekend was busy!  


Friday began my "day of makeover," beginning with my hair.  I had wanted to cut my hair short for about 6 months, but wanted to wait until my face wasn't as round.  I held off until the end of the challenge so that I could grow it as long as possible in order to donate my hair to Locks of Love.  I ended up getting about 12" cut off total; I am really happy with the cut!  I added some highlights and color, but the hairstylist put a little too much red (I'm talking Ronald McDonald red) coloring in.  She said that I could go back for her to correct it if I didn't like it-I'm going back on Friday!

Ta Da!  Here's the new 'do!

Afterwards, I went shopping with my mom to buy some new clothes!  I was super-excited because I NEVER buy myself new clothes.  Money seems to always be an issue, but I wasn't too excited trying on clothes in the size that I used to be, either.  It was a lot of fun putting on pants and shirts 3 sizes smaller THAT FIT!  I could even wear an XL in the "normal people size" section!  I thought to myself, "If I'm this happy in the size I'm in now, how happy will I be when I reach my goal weight?!"  I had an outfit in mind that I wanted:  a long sweater over leggings or jeggings (jean leggings), with knee-high boots.  It took me until Sunday evening to find it, but I finally found it at Avenue.  Woo Hoo!  I will post of pic of me in it soon!

On Saturday, we went to Ben's final flag football game.  He scored another touchdown!  It was so exciting-he's scored 4 touchdowns this year, and I was there for every one of them, luckily!  My work schedule kept me from going to about half of his games, which was a HUGE struggle for me.  His team didn't win a lot of games, but they gave it their all!  



Later that evening, we met up with my family at our favorite restaurant, Outback, for Mark & I's birthday dinner.  Our dinner party was even better because my Aunt Karen was here from Mt. Vernon, OH to visit with my cousin (her son) Josh, his wife, Heather, and their adorable daughter, Beatrix from Lexington, KY (they met in the middle).  It was delicious, as usual!  We had 10 people at one table, so it was loud & chaotic.  I always feel sorry for anyone who isn't used to eating dinner with us (in this case, my Aunt Jessie & Uncle Larry) because they always have this exhausted look on their face by the end of the meal.  It makes me realize how used to noise and interruption I am...  

There was a woman making balloon animals for the kids.  It always seems like a cute idea until the kids start fighting over them and knocking things over!

After dinner, we came back to our house for some cake & ice cream.  Mark turned 34 and I turned 32.  It's tradition in our family that you get your favorite kind of cake for your birthday.  My favorite is spice cake with cream cheese icing and Mark's is chocolate with chocolate icing.  Mmmm...