Monday, January 16, 2012

Lashing Out

A darling girl I'm privileged to call a friend graduated from the Paul Mitchell Academy in Rexburg Idaho just a few months ago.  She was married just several weeks before that, and somewhere in between, just three weeks into marital bliss, her husband, just 24 years old, was diagnosed with Cancer.  They moved back into the Sacramento area where his parents live, and where he is insured, to undergo chemo.  The medical bills are piling up, but their faith and optimism remain strong.  A job with regular hours is hard to keep when you are sick or the primary caretaker for someone who is.  Luckily Christina can make her own appointments for haircuts and for applying eyelash extensions.  The lashes sounded like a fun thing to me and an easy way for me to help support this sweet couple. 
 Christina took before and after pictures of my lashes when she did them for me last week.  Here's how they turned out.  They last 6-8 weeks and you can get them filled after that.  No need for mascara any more and I love the way they look! 
 Christina lives in Davis right now and comes to Fresno every few weeks to visit family and meet with clients.  So all of you ladies in the Woodland and Sacramento area, and my Fresno and Clovis friends, if you've ever considered adding a little lush to your lashes, let me know and I'll get you in touch with my girl.  She did 5 of my girlfriends just this last weekend and all of them are thrilled.  Help out my sweet friend and look FABULOUS for it!

You can check out her blog here

Friday, January 13, 2012

Down and Dirty

Jason couldn't have known what he was in for when he volunteered to drive Miss B Haven for all the girls on our mud run this October.  He brought his camera and other than acting as our personal paparazzi for the day, he tried to just blend in to the scenery.  He's that cool.  
Loading up Miss B full of friends for the our second annual mud run wasn't quite enough for us.  We had to get her all decked out for the road trip too!
Other than the colorful windows we might have looked like a regular bunch of moms off on a shopping trip or a ride to the airport
but on the inside we were all business!
Tutu making was in full effect and the stereo was keeping beat with some of our favorite tunes from the 90's just getting us warmed up
We promptly took over a Chipotle upon our arrival in Folsom
 A quick look into our ice chest is all that was needed to comprehend the energy level in the bus
 
All it took was one of these 
and Kristie and I were raising the roof to some T Pain!
Not to worry we weren't the only ones having fun! Ashley was missing her baby...
These sisters couldn't stop giggling
These new friends were bonding
And these two very similar looking ladies were getting to know each other and discussing the fact that one of them dated Jason in college and one of them married him!  Oh yes we were a lively bunch!
When we arrived at REI to pick up our registration packets that included these super cool buffs, everyone was murmuring to each other, who are these girls and how did they get their own bus?!  And then we were followed in by our Jason/paparazzi, and totally left em guessing!  Ah we had a good time with that.   The Tutu Chicks were famous that day!
We were also more than a little silly...when we arrived at the Folsom outlets for a little pre race retail therapy, we couldn't hold back from doing some crazing posing outside the bus.
Our little photo sesh had us all in stitches!
45 minutes and a few hundred dollars later we arrived at my aunt Michelle's house in Granite Bay to get all prettied up for the mud run.
Makes perfect sense right?!
Tara and I couldn't get over seeing our mom in a tutu, let alone that it was pink! She even gave us her girliest pose.  Who knew our tough granola hiker of a mom had it in her! ;)
After all the injuries at the warrior dash last year I opted to wear knee pants save the knee socks for elbow sleeves!
These girls looked much cuter, but I definitely felt like the smart one! ;)
Out front we put on our racing bibs
and our game faces
And showed off our mud run swag 
 On the bus we busted out our neon glow sticks 
And tested out our required head lamps
At the race the Tutu chicks came in 2nd place in the costume contest, behind the hairy lumberjack guy
But ahead of the teletubbies!
 who wanted their picture taken with us before the race...stand in line Tinky Winky!
I have some dang cute friends!
The music started and so did the dancing, all the way to the starting line!
 One last glimpse of the tutu's  and the shoes before they met the mud...
We climbed under the dusty cargo nets
Over the 16 foot fences
Through the freezing cold lake
introduced our shins to a few beefy rocks
climbed over the greased wall using only a rope and our amazing biceps
 And of course through the mud!
Some of us even ran an extra mile on the poorly marked course, but in the end still came out smiling!
 Okay so I stuck out my tongue and then smiled, but still, I was smiling!
We all were...mud beards and all!
The after shot of the legs wasn't pretty, but we sure felt tough!
 After posing for a few more glamour shots we were able to rinse off with a garden hose and a nozzle of ice cold water.  At first we were just glad to get the mud off of our faces and out of our eyes,
And then the cold settled in...my face says it all! And look at the pretty lady behind me, bet she was FREEZING!!!
We got as dry as we could and loaded back into the bus.  Michelle and Steve were kind enough to offer hot showers at their house before we made the drive back to Fresno.
 We didn't make it too far before we just had to stop for 4th meal.  Of course everything was closed but the drive thrus and Miss B was too tall to fit through them...
But don't worry, Tara was wearing mascara, so they totally let us order on foot anyway!!! After that we were ready to snuggle up and hunker down for the drive home.
 Somewhere between Modesto and Chowchilla the girls got the giggles...and all I can tell you now is that Kristie and the rest of the Whitecotton gang cannot  count by tens...10, 20, 40, 30 or more...
And if you ever need a good laugh just ask Kristie about the foxes and their holes...
 Seriously though, this day like the mud run the year before, has gone down in the record books as one of the most fun I have spent.  We shopped, we played, we ate, we danced, we ran, we laughed, we slept and none of us will ever forget it! Down and Dirty Mud Run was a blast, but next year its back to the Warrior Dash!  Bring it!!