Halloween on the Hill.

Today was the annual "Halloween on the Hill" trick-or-treating extravaganza for the churches and businesses in Park Hill.  Kids come from near and far to trick-or-treat, and they come by the hundreds.  This was Katherine Grant Salon and Spa's first year to be involved in Halloween on the Hill, and we had a great time dressing up and seeing all the cute kids!

The candy squad.



Several of our clients came by.



An owl and a kitty.



Herb and his grandson, Ironman.



Who's that lady? Mark, our massage therapist...



The kids thought Mark was hilarious!

Tonight Gary and I stayed at home and enjoyed some time together.  We cooked dinner, continued our tradition (4 years strong!) of carving a pumpkin, and roasted the pumpkin seeds. This year we carved the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.  This has by far been our most ambitious jack-o-lantern to date, and we were very pleased with the outcome!

What a fun day we had today.  I'm worn out now! Hope you all have a fun, safe Halloween.

New do.

I'm in the process of trying to grow my hair out (for like the 1 millionth time), and it's getting to that beloved, in-between stage, where all I want to do is cut it off.  Being a hairstylist (who's job is to have hair on the brain 24/7) doesn't help matters. 

So, in order to keep myself from cutting it, I had Laura change the color and trim my bangs for me today.  I'm loving it.  This is the darkest my hair has been since December 2007.

None of the pictures do Laura's beautiful color job justice, but there are some auburn highlights and dark lowlights in there. 

What do you think? Blonde or burnette? Short or long?

Our Whirlwind Weekend.

What a weekend!  Saturday morning Gary drove Bekah and I to Conway for the Soaring Wings Half Marathon.  I ran the race just under my goal of 2:20, so I am pleased.  The course had lots of hills, and my legs are a reminder to me of the race's level of difficulty this evening.  I stayed with the 2:15:00 pace group until about mile 6, where I began to loose steam and contemplated walking a few miles.  I kept pushing, but swallowed my pride, and admitted to myself that running the hills was wearing me out too early in the race.  So, for the second half of the course, I power walked the hills and ran in between.  When I came to mile 11 and saw Gary on the sidelines cheering for me, I kicked it up a notch and  finished strong.  What a feeling to push your body to it's limits and accomplish something you thought seemed impossible! 




mile 11



At the finish line!



My biggest fan :)

After the race we headed home, I replenished the 1300 calories I burned, watched the Hogs take down Ole Miss, took a short nap, showered, then headed to Arkadelphia for Tiger Tunes.

My mom rented a cabin at Iron Mountain for the weekend and she, John Allen, and Jessica were there waiting on us when we arrived in Arkadelphia.  The town was packed with family and alumni in town for the homecoming festivities.  After checking out three local restaurants and finding a long wait at each one, we settled for dinner at Chicken Express.  Following dinner, John Allen took us to see his dorm room.  (It still blows my mind that he is old enough to be in college!)

Tiger Tunes was wonderful, as always, even though I no longer recognized any of the students on stage.  My Tri Chis and Kappa's placed, and the ETAs took home 1st for the first time in Tiger Tunes history!  After the show we ran into lots of old friends, but the storm outside cut the usual fellowship time short. 



Mom and Jessica at the show.



Gary and I with Justin and Kirt after the show ( my hair was ruined by the rain).

Gary and I stayed the night with mom and John Allen at the cabin Saturday night.  I enjoyed soaking my sore joints in the the hot tub on the back porch, hearing John Allen tell us familiar stories about OBU college life, and staying up till 2am eating gas station snacks while watching Rosanne reruns on the couch.

This morning we checked out of the cabin and had a quick breakfast with mom and John Allen at the Arkadelphia Waffle House before heading home.

When we arrived back to the home front, we collapsed with exhaustion and slept for 2 hours. 

This evening I have been hard at work on our Halloween costumes for next weekend's "Halloween Spooktacular" at the Harrison's.  Can't wait to show you pictures!

That was our whirlwind of a weekend, looking forward to getting our house back in order tomorrow before a busy week at work.  Hope your weekend was as fun packed as ours!

Ready to run!

So tomorrow is the big day...

The day I've been training for since June...the Soaring Wings Half Marathon in Conway! 

I've been getting everything ready tonight since we need to be up and on the road early tomorrow morning.  Gary took me to Carinos for dinner, so I could load  up on carbs for tomorrow.  I had the "chicken bow tie festival" and lots of bread. Yum!

After dinner I had to go grab some "Gu" at Academy.  It's a gel you can eat every 45 minutes to help put some calories and energy back in your body throughout the race.  The taste is nothing to brag about, but these little packets make a world of difference to my stamina.



Yesterday some clients/sweet friends brought a goody bag to the salon to wish me luck on my race.  It was filled with water, energy drinks and tablets, antioxidant enhanced drink mixes, and joint health twist tubes for soreness.  It really made my day to know I have friends and family cheering me on!

So, I think I'm all set for tomorrow. Wish me luck!  Maybe this race will spur me to train for a full marathon some day soon...

Old to New.

We've had an eventful week, but also enjoyed spending some down time together this weekend.  Saturday Lola went to the "beauty shop" to get all cleaned up.  When I picked her up, they had a cute Halloween bandanna on her. I can't get her to wear anything, so I was obsessed with how cute she was and proceeded to have a mini photo shoot.  Here's one of my favorites (she was worn out from her spa day):

Saturday night I gave our china cabinet a make-over.  This china cabinet was given to me by my parents when they downsized to their new house this past August.  They had this antique china cabinet in their home for years, however, at their house it served as a humidifier for my dad's cigars, rather than a home for fine china and crystal.  I was thrilled to take it off their hands when they moved, because now all of my beautiful wedding gifts can be on display in our dining room! 

One problem: the antique look didn't quite match our modern kitchen table.  I debated painting it and changing the hardware, but I couldn't bring myself to destroy its original look.  So, I decided to Mod Podge a print on the inside walls of the cabinet to give it a modern twist.  I'm very pleased with the outcome:

old.

 

new.



This new twist has brought added intrest and sentimental value to our kitchen.  It was easy and best of all, cheap!

On Sunday I went for my last "long run" before the race. I made it 10 miles, now I just need to squeeze out 3.1 more on Saturday... I'm hoping to finish in 2:20.  I plan to let my legs rest until Saturday, so I'll be nice and fresh.

Yesterday I followed my mom to Conway because she had to take her car to the shop.  While they were working we shopped to pass the time.  I got 2 new tops and Gary a new shirt, but my most exciting purchase was this pair of Toms:

In my line of work, I spend long hours on my feet, so comfy shoes (that still have style) are a must! I've found my favorites are Toms and Uggs.  And, the best part is they were on sale!

On a more serious note, I've been going through a new Bible study with 3 friends on idols, called "No Other Gods."  Tonight we met to discuss this past week's study.  1 Peter 2:9-12 was one of the many passages we looked at this week.  In this passage, Peter refers to his audience as "aliens and strangers in the world."  This really convicted me.  Our study pointed out:

"he is saying we will be strange and alien-like because our lives [should] stand out as so breathtakingly good in comparison with others.  As a result those around us will want to glorify God.  Not a goodness that comes from self righteousness or legalism, but a goodness that is the fruit of obedience.  I would love for it to be said of my life: The goodness of Jesus Christ burned so brightly in her that people glorified God; she almost seemed from a different world.  That's the kind of stranger I want to be." 

That's what I am wrestling with as I write to you tonight, updating you on all the silly details of my small life.  I Thought maybe someone out there reading this might find it as convicting as I did.  Tonight I'm praying for goodness that stems from an obedience to the Lord.

Home Improvement.

I've been on a home improvement kick lately.  I thought I'd share a few things we have been working on the past couple of weeks. 

1.  Cleaning/sealing the grout in our kitchen:

Apparently in the midst of rushing to remodel our house before we got married, we forgot to seal the grout in our kitchen.  The grout was a light color when we moved in, and over the course of the past 4 years it soaked up all kinds of dirt.  I tried to scrub it clean with a toothbrush on several occasions, but it got to be such a time consuming job that I eventually just gave up on fighting it. 

A friend of ours recently tried a product called "Refresh" on her grout and got amazing results.  So, I got inspired to take care of our dirty grout once and for all.  First we had to clean the grout with a toothbrush.  Once most of the dirt was removed, we painted Refresh on the grout.  Refresh paints and seals the grout.  It was quite a job! Once you paint it, you have to go back and scrub the tile to get the extra off of the edges.  It took working every night for a week to finish, but it looks SO much better!



Before

After

2.  New light fixtures:

When we bought our house, I was finishing my last semester at OBU and Gary was working in Norman, Oklahoma.  The house needed a major makeover, but we didn't have time to be too involved.  So, my dad offered to oversee things for us while we were away.  He had to pick all kinds of things out for us, and he did a wonderful job.  However, as time has passed, our style has evolved.  We have taken a more modern approach in our decor, and recently got a new kitchen table.  When we got the new table, our kitchen light fixture wasn't centered over the table (which was making me crazy).  So, last week I ordered a new, more modern, light fixture on Overstock.com.  It makes our kitchen feel more "like us".

Our next project is our bedroom.  We have been using my furniture from my bedroom in high school since we got married.  Recently we moved that furniture into the guest room.  So now I have an excuse to buy a new headboard for our bedroom! One that better suits us.  I'll keep you posted on what we choose.

Fall Open House.

Last night Katherine Grant Salon & Spa held a fall open house.  We wanted to have the chance to do something nice for our loyal clients, family and friends, as well as draw in new business.  We had food and wine, our TIGI rep did make-up demonstrations, a client sold her cute fall clothes from Arkansas Apparel, other clients showed Artistry skin care, Mark gave lots of chair massages, and Carrie and Susan let people try the new Gellish manicures.  It was a huge success!  We had lots of clients and friends drop by, as well as several people in the Park Hill community who just wanted to check us out. 

Our Staff (minus Laney).

Me with Laney.



Napkins.



The cute cookies Laney brought!

Our sweet friends from church stopped by.

Mr. Kirtis wore purple to show his salon spirit!

A good time was had by all.  Thanks to everyone who came by, and to all who helped!

So... Friday Little Rock got an Anthropologie!  I know, moving on up, right? Meghan (it was so good to see her/catch up on life) and I headed over to check it out Saturday afternoon.  It is super cute, and I could make a wish list a mile long, but I'm too cheap to actually buy anything.  A girl can dream though...

Tonight was bunko night.  I won 3rd place and got a cute zebra print scarf.  Now if it would only get cold enough for me to wear it...

I'd like to give a shout out to blog reader, Linda, in Kansas City.  She came across my blog, liked my hair in the header pic and called the salon to find out the color formula.  I was so very flattered, it's made me wonder if I should go back blonde? (Thoughts?)  Anyhow she was getting color today, and I am hoping it turned out well, if you're reading you'll have to let me know!

It's been a busy past few days for us, I'm gonna sleep good tonight!

October Craft Night.

You probably thought my blog was going to be stuck on the "fall decor" post for another 9 months, huh?  Nope, I'm still here, just been busy.

This morning Laura and I stopped by the annual "Inviting Company" paper sale.  It was my first time going, and it was out of control! We did get some cute things on the cheap though, including napkins and cups for the salon's fall open house Monday night (Oct. 11th drop in from 5-8, do come!).

Tonight we had craft night.  This time we met at our house. I cooked chili in the crock pot, using a  recipe I found online, and we painted pumpkins.  There isn't much to explain, the creativity just flowed, and here is what we produced:

Kate's creative hands at work.

Amanda's pumpkin.

My pumpkin (w/Kate's help).

Another Kate creation, she's so good!

Laura decided to carve her pumpkin, loved it!

In other news:  We have been cleaning and sealing the grout in our kitchen (before and after pics, coming soon!), I am training steadily for the half marathon on the 23rd- made it to 9 miles on Monday, and  we FINALLY booked the trip we have been dreaming of taking for 3 years- Europe here we come- April 2011! 

TGIF!