Goodbye blonde!

This is the hair I have known and loved for more than half my life now. This is also the hair that all of you have seen me in for as long as you have known me, since I started dying it back when I was 12!!! Well last night I was doing my regular routine of highlighting my roots and my worst nightmare happened. Evidently I picked up the wrong box (you would think it was my first time but I have done it myself at least 10 since moving here) of color. This is the product of what happened......

ORANGEY YELLOWEY BRASSY AWFUL!!!
This was the picture that popped into my head... I LOOK LIKE CARROT TOP!!!!

I went into extreme freak out mode for sure. Called everyone I knew that knew something about hair to see what to do. Finally my mom answered (who is the one who has been highlighting it since 6th grade) and she said to put more blonde in it.... i dont think she knew how bad it really was ha!

This is what it looked like after 2 trys of blonde. Brassy orange yet almost platinum white. What do I do what do I do? Still freaking out of course but also somehow laughing. JR proceeded to say I looked like Gwen Stefani.... and then he would follow that with GO BIG ORANGE.... haha so funny he is I tell ya!
Here I am this morning realizing that I was about to go in to let the professionals take a try at it. Somewhat prepared that I may come out totally brown, but still in the back of my head thinking they can fix it. I went in at 9:30am and the stylist had this wonderful look on her face when she saw it.. so comforting I though ;) Anyways after stripping it, putting color pigment back into it and then putting on brown and 4 hours later.... Here I am:
The black shirt definitely does not help.. but YES I AM DARK BROWN!! This is my natural color believe it or not... Totally weird huh? NO I do not like it, but yes I am very happy that it is no longer orange and that it didnt turn green or purple in the dying back process (these were all options I had in the past 12 hours). I really cant believe that I still have not busted into tears at this point. I mean come on.. THIS IS DRASTIC CHANGE! and i dont like change ha!
I am STILL at this moment in so much shock and keep laughing as everyone walks by my office and does a double take. One of my good friends even stopped at the front desk to ask where I was, after she plainly saw me but didnt think it was me. Another student asked if I was the Blonde Lindsey's twin sister ha! Yes I am definitely getting A LOT of "Oh my gosh" and "Wow!" today... and still myself saying the same thing every time I see myself in the mirror.
Eventually this is the look I want to go for. I do want to not be AS blonde as I was before now.. it was a bit much. This was the summer of 05 when I had put low lights in it. I think I can deal with that :) Thank goodness I am going home this weekend and my mom can do her magic!!!!

And to think that just last week I was really contemplating on going back natural (with the help of some of my work friends who have been urging me to do so). Hm.. funny how things work?




And just for the record, I really cant believe I just shared these pictures with the whole world! Welcome to my life.. its just Lindsey :)

Movies and Sewing

I am so lucky to have a set up in my "craft room" where I can watch movies while I sew (aka listen to them in the background really ha or sneak a peak while the machine is doing the monogramming). This is pretty much how my entire weekend went: pop in a movie, sew, eat, watch another movie, sew some more, and eat, catch Baby Mama with some friends, etc, etc, etc.

Here are the movies I watched (all good but Baby Mama was especially funny).

And here are the crafting creations I did:

Ashley's new purse (one like it for her mom but forgot to take the pic too ha)

Christina's purses for her mom and mother-in-law for mother's day

baby shower gifts for JR's cousin Chelsey and her soon to be baby girl Navaeh

baby boy goodies for Brandi's girlfriends showers

and i think this one I think is my favorite... Brylee is Brandi's little girl and so therefore she had me make this for her friends little boy since obviously Brylee will be his girlfriend :)


All other orders can expect to be done this week. I am 1/2 done with a lot of them so it may even be tomorrow!!!

Pregnancy Support Services Walk

Saturday morning I joined Jordan and a team of girls from the seminary to help raise support for our local pregnancy support clinic. It was another beautiful day and there were so many people from our community that came out! They raised over $40,000 so that is amazing :) Jordan volunteers there and it is an incredible ministry to the pregnant women in our area.

Spring time picnic

Kelsey took me on a wonderful date for lunch Friday... on a picnic outside! the weather was amazing and in the 80's and she supplied a wonderful meal too :)

cute picnic basket she brought with EVERYTHING including a pitcher of sweet tea!

us being dorks and taking pictures


Thank you Kelsey for an amazing date! I love you girl!!!

Can you believe it?

We are having more puppies!!! We were sure that Maddie didnt get pregnant this time but it was almost like overnight she grew so much that there is no doubt now... babies are coming in MAY!!! We are thinking they will be here in the next 3 weeks so if you or anyone else you know wants one please let us know :) Here is our blog for them: http://10labs.blogspot.com/

More cricut and Philippines Update

Maisy is having her first ballet recital tonight so I made her this card to celebrate :)

Here are many different ways to use the Cricut for thank you's. I have been sending out many of them to all of my wonderful supporters of my Philippines trip. I have raised $310 so far!! Thank you guys so much for your prayers and continued support. Cathy went to get her passport and I am in the process of getting my name changed on mine.. so we are getting closer and closer :)

"I dont want to miss a thing"

9 years ago today.... my how time has flown by! Who would have ever thought that this high school couple would now be where we are today? Definitely not me ha! But oh how thankful I am that God did see that in His plan. I love you sweetie :)

Happy Birthday Katie!!

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Today is Mrs. Katie Farrar Landers 25th Birthday! I am so lucky to call her my bestest friend and I love her so so much! Ever since we met back in 2001 we have been the best of friends. There was never a moment in college that we were not inseparable and even after college we have stayed so close. I am so thankful for her love and support and to know that no matter what she is only a phone call away! Here are some pictures of us through the years for your enjoyment (and pardon the crazy montage.. I was just tired of the plain one ha!) Love you Katie so much!!! Hope you have a WONDERFUL day :)

I LOVE the Cricut!

I am already obsessed with this Cricut machine ha! Have you ever heard of one? I had seen the commercials and my friend Jenny had told me that she had gotten one a year or so ago... so i asked if i could borrow hers! She brought it over last night and I ended up staying up until midnight playing with it! I was able to make this card in about 15 minutes... isnt it SO cute!?!? I plan to play more tonight before I actually start my real project... Amy's baby shower invites :)

3 kiddos!

This weekend JR and I had the privilege of babysitting the Todd children, and this was the first time since they had their sweet baby boy Isaac. I was so thrilled to be able to have a little baby... I know you would never guess that :) We had fun as usual, but I will say that it was definitely different than just having 2 kids. I had it in my mind that I wanted to hold Isaac the entire time that he was there I guess, b/c I just couldn't put him down ha! It was a funny picture seeing me tote him with one hand and try to fix the girls dinner with the other one :) It definitely made my night though when he fell asleep on my chest... I could have sat there forever!!! Of course that did not happen b/c the girls wanted me to paint their nails (as we always do when they come over and so of course i couldn't tell them no). JR was so funny when they kept asking him to do it for them though hahaha.... he would play with them and entertain them as much as he could, but when it came to painted their nails he was having no part of that girly stuff :)

Did I mention that I am glad chooses to give you children one at a time (well most of the time) instead of all 3 or 4 at one time?!?!? I DEFINITELY need a transition period to get used to it haha!

Isaac at 7 weeks old

sweet boy asleep on me

Maisy smile and show me your pretty nails. "I am smiling!" she said :)

sweet uncle Justin even joined in on the nail painting party

Isaac just chilling on the couch watching the ceiling fan with JR

Vision

Something I take for granted every single day: vision. Not only just being able to see but my overall healthy body. I can say that I am thankful for my health, but until you hear the words from your doctor, "You could have lost your vision," you never really understand how truly thankful you must be....

I am always having some sort of eye problem. Having glasses/contacts since I was 8, you have things happen of course, but for some reason over the last 5 years or so it has progressively gotten worse. I am VERY prone for eye infections. From allergies, to just bacterial infections, it seems that I am at the doctor at least 4 times a year, if not more. At the end of February I had went in for the typical routine, red eyes, cant wear contacts, etc and they sent me away with a antibiotic eye drop. Well in the 6 weeks since then I have not been able to wear my contacts again consistently so have pretty much been in my glasses. Anyways, this past week I could tell that my vision in my left eye was blurry. Sitting in front of a computer screen all day this happens sometimes, but it was different. No matter which way I looked out of my right eye, it was blurry.

After 3 hours at the doctor on Friday, and many tests later, they found that my cornea was swollen and therefore causing me to have distorted vision. Sounds like no big deal right? Well actually this "spot" on my eye that was swollen, if not treated promptly and properly, would scar and therefore cause me to have permanent loss of vision in the area. Before finding this place on my eye, they had done a vision test on me (for those who have contacts you know what I am talking about when they say which one is better, 1 or 2, and they flip the little things to see how strong your prescription needs to be). At the end of all of her flippings she put what was supposed to be the prescription that helped me see best, and yet I still couldn't see. She said I was only seeing 20/30. Before she left she asked, "Do you have any questions?" Well of course I have a question ha.. WHY CANT I SEE? She said that something was causing my right eye not to see as well as it should, even with correction. (This is the point where I almost lost it). You know were 1,000 thoughts start going through your head like: I am going blind, I will never be able to see my husband again, I wont know what my children look like, etc... man those are scary! I called JR in the mean time to tell him about the further testing that they would have to do to find out what exactly was going on. He very quickly reminded me that God was there with me, has a perfect plan for me and that everything would be ok. I am so grateful for a husband who I know will always pray with/for me, it really eased my uneasiness during that time of uncertainty. Of course what I wanted to be thinking was "I am only 25, I should not be going blind!"

Sitting in the room while I waited on the doctor to come back in, I thought to myself..... Do I trust God's plan? Would I have been okay if the doctors said, "Lindsey, you are going blind." I know that I am jumping to the worst thing possible, but it is times like this that you do always question. I am confident in saying yes I do; I do trust God's plan. I am so grateful for His plan for my life and I am more thankful that He hears me in my times fear and not-knowing. It would be hard to lose your vision forever there is no doubt about that and I am thankful that it is not the case for me at this time. I know that God taught me many things through this situation, but ultimately I am grateful that I can rely on Him to carry out the perfect plan He has for my life.

My eye is already 200% better and I am seeing just fine now. I only share this story because I do hope it will help someone else like me who is always so so busy to take the time to stop and be thankful for the small things and to rejoice in God's everlasting promises.

Its a...... BABY JACK!

Amy and BJ found out the gender of their baby yesterday, so some of our friends decided to get together and have a party in honor of Baby Walker so that they could tell us all at the same time whether it was a boy or a girl. (Yes I know what you are thinking, I will plan anything to get together with friends, and you are right ha!) Anyways we had a tasty dinner of lasagna, salad and bread and then BJ shared this news with us before dessert.....

Purse

I am so shocked over the hype over the purse.. how exciting ha! If you are really interested they are $25 a piece. Email me your initials and color wishes and I will get to work :) lgriffi2@gmail.com

thanks guys!!!

What is the difference?

What is the difference between these two bags, well besides the obvious colors, letters and that one is slightly larger than the other? Well I am glad you asked :)
The brown and pink one is obviously mine and I love it! My mom got it for me for Christmas and I get SO many compliments on it. Because of that I decided that it definitely needed to be duplicated and since there is a special person's birthday coming up so... I MADE THE ORANGE ONE!!

When Katie came in last weekend I let her pick out her fabric and ribbon and last night I made this for her. I will have to say that it may be one of my best projects yet ha! And that I love to figure out how to make things.. no surprise to anyone I am sure!!

So who wants one????!!!???


Birthday girl~ it is officially in the mail and on its way to you! Hope you like it :) Love you!

New sewing projects

I have been trying to become more creative with my sewing projects and pushing myself to learn new things. Let me just say that I realize it will be a LONG time before I am a real seamstress ha, but I do have fun with it! I made this flag for Kari to welcome home their new baby boy Micah today....

And I also made another apron for Missy to give as a wedding present to one of her friends. I ventured to try to add pockets this time and it turned out pretty good! The only thing I would have changed would be to make the monogram bigger and bolder, but there again I am still trying to figure out that crazy machine ha! It seems that I am into blues and greens lately huh? I guess I am just ready for SPRING!! :)

Wicked Weekend

This weekend I went to Charlotte with my good friends Amy and Natalie. Amy's mom spoiled us all ALL weekend long! We had an amazing dinner at Upstream (Fancy seafood place) Friday night, went to see "Wicked" the Broadway play on Saturday, and stayed in a nice hotel. I just love girls weekends! Thank you Miyoshi and OJ for being so generous to us!!

Congrats to the Akins!

Paul and Kari welcomed their son, Micah Elliot, at 3:19 this morning. He weighed 7lbs and 4 oz and looks just like his daddy! Kari was such a trooper enduring a LONG labor, as she went to the hospital yesterday. I am so excited for Daddy Paul and Momma Kari, Uncles Jon, Tim and Nate, Aunts Anna and Ashley, Grandaddy and Lottie and cousin Maddie too! They are all such a wonderful family that I just love. Congratulations to you all! And I cant wait to meet Mr. Micah soon :)

High School Days

Today my friend Abby and I were talking about the good ole days in high school. How sports ruled our lives, girl friends meant EVERYTHING, boyfriends caused so much drama, etc, etc, etc. We laughed about times of pulling pranks, rolling yards, talent shows, getting WAY too excited about homecoming, slumber parties, birthdays, prom night and how EVERYONE was always at the football game on Friday. I guess I was just naive back then to think that everyone loved their high school days, but I was so shocked to hear people say that they did not like their time in high school and wouldn't go back there for anything! I really did LOVE my high school experience, everything about it!! There are of course some things that I wish would not have happened ( losing my senior year sub state game in basketball by 5 points!!! no i am not holding on to that at all haha) but overall I wouldn't change it for the world. When I think back on high school I remember 3 things: GIRLFRIENDS, playing sports and boys. These 3 things pretty much were my everything back in those days and OH how grateful I am for the girlfriends I did have! I am even more thankful that we have been able to stay close through the last 7 years since graduation. We now all have our own separate lives that go in so many different directions, but there is not a doubt that they are still there for me, ready to go through anything that life brings me. Thank you girls for being such great friends and helping me make the most wonderful high school memories :)



I do wish I had more OLD pictures digitally, but I have to remember there was no such thing back then ha! I will try to look for some more soon!!

we have came a LONG way since Senior Trip 2001 huh?

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Missions trip to the Philippines

I am SOOO very excited to say that Elizabeth, Mom and I are heading to the Philippines this summer!!! We will be joining a Sevier Heights Baptist Church team to go to Central Philippine University in Iloilo this summer. On this trip we will be helping with Christ Emphasis Week sharing the gospel in colleges, high schools, and elementary schools to over 5,000 students. We will also visit several of Sevier Heights’ church plants in the region encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ. Furthermore, we will evangelize in villages, markets and hospitals in Iloilo and use basketball, as it is their country’s premier sport, to do so, which I am of course is excited about too!

This will be Elizabeth's 4th time returning to this country and I am so thankful she invited us to go with her! I am also every so grateful that my mom and I will be able to experience this with my mom.. how AWESOME!!! We are in the process of raising support, as it is $2,100 a person for the trip. I would love for you to join our team by praying for the people of the Philippines. Please also prayerfully consider monetarily supporting us. I never like asking people for money, however I am submitting to God b/c I know He calls us all to participate in the great commission whether by going, by giving, or by praying, so I would be honored if you choose to do so. I am very eager for July to get here and I will continue to keep everyone updated on our money that we have raised. Through it all, I just want God to be Glorified!!! Thank you in advance for your prayers and support!


If you would like more information about this trip please email me at lgriffi2@gmail.com. The pictures below are ones that Elizabeth took while on her previous trips. I just cant wait to minister to these precious people....