I found love in a soapless place.

I'm sure some people may know this but I'm sure there are a good amount of people who have no idea. I have been dealing with hair issues for the past 5ish years or so. I would get out of the shower and immediately my hair would be oily [almost greasy feeling]. At first I thought I just wasn't getting all of the conditioner out of my hair. But after weeks of scrubbing and trying different remedies, I realized it was something completely different. Sometimes my hair would cooperate, sometimes I wanted to just rip it all out. I have tried almost every shampoo & conditioner on the market ranging from cheap Suave products you can get at Wal Mart for $1.99 to expensive products that cost $60-75 dollars a bottle. I know it sounds crazy and a little extreme; but isn't it if you are having a bad hair day, your whole day is thrown off?

I would go to different salons to try to see if anyone had the answer and most of the time they would. "Try this $35 shampoo, it will change your whole world!" "You have to try this at home treatment, my sister-in-law had the same issue and it cleared it right up." "Oh, you just need to use apple cider vinegar and all of your hair issues will be solved." This was all very simple advice that I would spend $40-100 dollars on when they would just give me a simple haircut/color. I tried everything. Nothing seemed to help my scalp. I even went to the dermatologist for it and she said she had never seen anything like this before. So I started praying, "God, what is going on with my hair? I see all of these girls in the magazines with long, beautiful hair and here I am stuck with this oily, greasy looking hair that just does not grow." There were days that I would cry and cry because I just didn't know what to do. I know that seems silly as well, but I hate wearing my hair in a ponytail and I didn't want people to think I didn't shower because my hair looked so oily. After years of trying different shampoos, I realized maybe I just need a water softener. The family I nanny for in Des Moines have the top of the line water softener so I decided to try it. HOLY MOLY. It worked!! Now I just had to shower at their house everyday. (Which was hard on the weekends because I didn't want to bother them.) So I would shower everyday at their house and on the weekends, I would shower with a shower cap on. I could usually go a day or two without washing my hair, but sometimes it was just a pain in the butt. I HATE wearing my hair up in a ponytail so I would avoid it at all costs.

I finally decided to take the leap and get a water softener of my own. (with the help of Jen.) I was SO excited to try it out and get the same results I was getting at the Liss house. The first time I used it, IT WORKED! Hooray! No more issues. But after a few times, it didn't seem to work anymore. So that evening I had an emotional breakdown. Why couldn't I figure out what was wrong with my hair? What was I doing wrong? Everyone was giving me tips on what to do and I had tried them all. Now what? Do I just shave my head and get a wig? WHAT IS THE ANSWER?!

Well... one day I was looking at random beauty blogs (for some much needed inspiration) and I found that someone kind of had the same hair issues and they tried a bar of shampoo from Lush. I didn't understand bar shampoos but I was willing to try anything. I went into Lush and asked for advice and the gal working was so wonderful to help me out. I left with a shampoo bar and a bottle of conditioner. I went back to my apartment eager to try it out. My hopes were really high and Zach told me not to get them up because he didn't want to see my get upset. But it was too late for that. So I used both products..and...THEY WORKED!!!!!!! I was over the moon excited that I FINALLY found something. But then I knew things have worked before but after a few times, they slowly stop working. But guess what folks? It's been 2-3ish weeks and both work WONDERFUL!!! The shampoo kind of dries my hair out a bit but the conditioner helps to get the moisture back in there. I will recommend Lush and ANY of their products to anyone. Anytime. I want to buy stock in the company so they never close because I'm afraid to start over if anything bad ever happens to their company.

So if you have any of the same hair issues as me, definitely go to Lush and they will help you out. (They had a store in Jordan Creek mall and they have a website where they can ship you the products you need every month-6 months.) Everyone there is so wonderful!!

Moral of the story is: no matter how hard the trials are that are placed in your life, you can find the answers if you keep trying and trying!!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. [and sorry for such a long post!]

My superhero, my best friend, my mom.

In lieu of my Mom's birthday today, it seems like a good idea to write a post about her. As some of you may know, my Mom raised all four of us kids by herself. I would say that in and of itself is a feat not accomplished by many. Four kids, by yourself? I can't imagine raising one by myself. This is why she is a superhero. My superhero.

Along with raising four kids by herself, she also went to school, worked full time and had a social life. Things were different for my brother, sisters, and I compared to everyone else. Everyone else had their Dad to coach them in basketball, their Dad to teach them about sports, their Dad to be the "discipliner" and their Dad to spoil them. We did not. But that didn't matter to us because we had someone who loved us more than we could ever imagine. My Mom did everything for us. She gave up her bed to let us all sleep with her, (And yes, all 5 of us did sleep in my Mom's waterbed for a long time. Waterbed.) spoiled us rotten on our birthdays, Christmas, and every other day just because she loved us so much.

Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if our Dad was in the picture, but then I remember we wouldn't have experienced half of the things we did if he was in our lives.

All in all, I'm trying to say that my Mom is the greatest woman in all of time and she deserves the world for her birthday. The gifts that I gave her will never show my appreciation for all she has done for my brother, sisters, and I.

I love you, Mom. No one deserves to have a better day than you.

2014 in review

I can't believe how fast 2014 came and went. It seems like just yesterday that we were ringing in 2014 with some close friends in Boone. How is it that we went to bed at 10:15 on New Year's Eve this year and completely missed the countdown? I guess that's what happens when you get older. :)

Here are some of the highlights of my 2014:

In January, we welcomed Abram Lee Murphy to the family. What a handsome little guy he has become!

In February, Zach and I celebrated Valentine's Day and our 1 year anniversary!

In March, my sister Emily and I got to go to the Matt Wertz concert at the M-Shop! It was so much fun to spend the evening with her and be front row listening to our all time favorite singer.

In April, Penny turned 4! It still baffles me that I've had her for so long and she is still the best dog I could have ever asked for!

In May, Zach graduated from Iowa State University with a major in Kinesiology and a minor is Psychology. As a part of his graduation present, we went to Kansas City to celebrate at Fogo de Chao!

In June, I started nannying for the Wakefield girls again. Little did I know it would be my last summer with them. We had so much fun going to the pool, Adventureland, the park, and on many lunch dates. I miss these girls so much!

In July, Zach, Jordan, Jon, Alex, Barb, and I all headed off to Colorado for a week long vacation. This trip is what has sparked Zach and I's interest in moving to Colorado in August. This is the same month that I got my new car!

In August, my baby sister and her long time boyfriend got engaged! This has been a dream of our family for many years and it was wonderful news to get on that warm August day. Another big thing that happened in August, is that I moved to Des Moines to be closer to Zach. Along with moving, I started a new nanny job with the Liss kids.

In September, one of my best friend's from high school got married, my sisters came back to attend an engagement party I threw for Maddie and Ethan, Zach and I went to the World Food Festival with his family, and I moved into a new apartment in Urbandale. September was quite a busy month for us!

In October, Zach surprised me with a trip to the High Trestle Bridge, we tailgated at a few Iowa State football games, and enjoyed the fall weather.

In November, Zach and I celebrated our birthdays. I turned 26 and he turned 25. Penny had a bit of a rough patch this month. She had a hot spot on her backside & had to go to the vet. Thankfully we got it solved and she is back to normal now!

In December, my sisters & Ethan came back from Kansas to celebrate the twin's 20th birthday and Christmas. Zach and I attended a housewarming party with some of my high school friends, got to spend Christmas Eve with his family and my family, and got to spend New Year's Eve with one another. (Even though we were in bed and asleep by 10:15. Party animals, right?)



All in all, I would say I had a pretty great year. The only bad thing about 2014, is that it's over. If 2015 is anything like 2014, I'm ready! I hope everyone enjoyed my year in review.

xoxo thanks for reading!

Every few weeks..

Don't you just hate it when life gets so busy that even the simplest of things seem so far out of your reach? That has been my life as of lately. I feel like sometimes I don't have anything going on so I can just relax and other times, I am so busy that I don't even know what relaxing is anymore. It can be extremely stressful.

But here is what has been going on in my life lately:

-I got to help these pretty ladies celebrate Barb's baby shower for Tommy! (who is due February 13th!!) 

-Zach and I celebrated our 'two year date-iversary" by going to Fuddrucker's for dinner and finishing the evening watching an ISU basketball game. 

-Zach, Jon, Sam and I ventured to Monona to celebrate Thanksgiving with Zach's mom's side of the family. It was a lot of fun and it's always good to be able to see all of Zach's aunts. 

-My sisters also came back for Thanksgiving so I got to spend that Saturday with them which was a lot of fun!

-My mom got me the iPhone 6 for Christmas and I got to activate it on Black Friday!!

-One evening, Zach picked me up for Panera and Mockingjay. It was awesome to be able to have a date night with him. :)

-Last week, I got to help Alex paint this mural for Barb's birthday. Christin, Zach's sister, HAND DREW this picture! What an amazing job she did too!! So Zach, Christin, Alex, and I got to paint it as a surprise for Barb. It was such a great gift from Alex.

More things probably happened in there but these are just the highlights of what went on in my life and why I wasn't blogging. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season! Only 17 more days until Christmas!!

xoxo

Birthday celebrations

For my birthday this year, my nanny family gave me a $100 gift card to Fleming's and I was shocked. I couldn't believe they did something so wonderful! Then came a beautiful Joules dress, 13 Scratch cupcakes, and lots of birthday hugs. They were all such excellent gifts and I definitely cried a good amount of tears. Zach and I had planned on going to Fleming's a few weeks ago but we decided to save it so we could celebrate both of our birthdays. Then Zach got food poisoning, things got busy, and we rescheduled the date night. After a few weeks of that gift card burning a hole in my wallet, we finally got to experience Fleming's last night. Neither of us had ever been so it was a nice thing to check off our "firsts together" list. We made reservations and arrived promptly at 7:15 pm. We were seated and very well taken care of. We looked at the menu for a while then Zach decided he wanted to try a martini. The waiter brought his martini and prepared it for him at the table. Shortly after, we placed our orders. I got the petite filet mignon, Zach got the main filet mignon, and we split a side of asparagus. I had never a filet before so I was excited to try it out. Let me tell you what, it was fabulous. I highly recommend it! After we finished our dinner, we were getting ready to pay and the waiter knew we were celebrating our birthdays. He gave us each a $25 gift card and 4 chocolate truffles. If that isn't wonderful customer service, I don't know what is. If we ever celebrate a big life event, I would definitely choose Fleming's again. After dinner we decided to walk around the pond at Jordan Creek (the weather was so perfect last night), we went to Scheel's quickly before they closed then stopped by Hy-Vee to grab a bottle of wine. All-in-all it was a wonderful night and I'm so glad we finally got to celebrate our birthdays in style. :)

Plus - how handsome does Zach look in our picture above? It may be my new favorite picture ever!!

Listen

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.