For Your Enjoyment

I thought you all would enjoy these pics...Tara requested the in between pics. This is right after the treatment. I have to wear the hat when I go outside and I have to wear the butt cream all the time until tomorrow night. (Desitin).

So the treatment was pretty painful. It started out okay...but it is like a torture camp. You know how they say that they drop water, one drop at a time on to people's heads in Chinese torture camps, and eventually it makes them go crazy. So Renee does one zap and at first I'm thinking "this is it?" but then when she does it 150 times, I would give anything for her to stop. Luckily they start with the worst laser first and work down so that as your face hurts more and more the pain lessens.

Mills, PDT costs about 600 bucks, and yeah its a company perk. I had microdermabrasion a few weeks ago and it was pretty good, we have a machine that does it with a SilkPeel so it is putting one of four solutions (based on skin type) back into your skin. The thing about microdermabrasion is that it is a really, really good facial but it doesn't last as long and it doesn't have any "age-reversal" benefits...but then again it only costs 175 so its worth it! (And can you tell that I'm the PR person who writes about all of our procedures all day?! ;)

They say that day 2 is the worst and that some peope are "swellers" and some aren't. If I get a big pumpkin head, I'll show you guys the pics!

If It Doesn't Hurt It's Not Working

Well tomorrow I will be getting a PDT. It stands for PhotoDynamic Therapy and its when you but this aminolevulanic acid on your face and then wait 12 hours and then use 4 different lasers on your face. It reduces pore size, eliminates pimples and acne and any redness, diminishes brown spots (I'm not that old yet), improves wrinkles and sundamage, evens out your skin tone and texture and pretty much brings your skin back about 10 years. And the joke is that it stands for Pretty Darn Terrible.

After putting the acid on my face I will begin to look like a beet. This will take place at about 12 o'clock tonight. Then when I head to work in the morning, I have to wear a hat and scarf to protect my face from the sun, if I am exposed to UV I will get an immediate sunburn and be in immense pain. This includes the fluorescent lights in the office, therefore I will be wearing my hat and scarf until about noon at which time I will be lasered. The lasers feel like someone is snapping rubber bands all over your already sensitive face. If I am not dying from excrutiating pain at this time, I can opt to participate in laser hair removal (anyone who thinks that hair removal is painless is kidding themselves). Then I will be sent home. I will be able to expose my self to the sun without the aforementioned risks, but it will be painful to do so....so basically I will be a shut in until Saturday night. At which time my skin will peel off. Then I will have skin like a baby.

I know it sounds pretty painful, but everyone in the office has done it and they all insist that it works and that it is so worth it and that they would do it again (and they do, once a year). Whenever there are new creams or lotions or beauty techniques and we ask the doctor if they will work she always says "If it doesn't hurt, it's not working" SO basically exchanging excrutiating pain will get huge results...maybe. Not gonna lie, I'm nervous. I prepared myself by getting all the items an agoraphobic would be happy to have. I rented three movies and I have TONS of books. ( I rented Aquamarine, and yes, the guy at Blockbuster said I was the oldest person that he has seen rent it) I also bought lots of food. I thought I would post a before pic so that we can all judge the results...and so that I can post a picture of my beet face tomorrow! And you will also see the stick of death...the acid that I will be rubbing on tonight.

Wish me luck!


In typical "before" photo fashion, I have removed all my make up and I have a stupid look on my face...but let's be honest, if I looked good, it wouldn't be the "before" picture.

Seating for 8 to 12

So on Saturday after work and class, we decided to go shopping at the outlet mall. We went to the Pottery Barn outlet and we found this table that I have had my eye on for quite some time. Ciara, you know the one I am talking about. Anyway, it was everything that we wanted and was at the outlet mall because it didn't have any hardware. No problemo we can buy our own bolts right? So we buy for LESS THAN HALF of retail because they we also having some additional sale. This table is 60" square and seats eight people, two one each side but we don't have that may chairs, twelve with both leaves in. I really wanted a square table. Matt says we won't be able to fit that in the explorer...yeah he was right. So we take the legs and leaves and go back to Alpharetta and try to think of someone that we know with a truck. We end up borrowing our friends truck, this old Nissan. Matt doesn't drive stick shift so I drive it all the was back up to the outlet malls and we get the rest of the table.

The guys who loaded it were having a tough time and as we are driving back home Matt is calling everyone we know to have them help him carry it up. Unfortunately it is Saturday night and for some reason it seems like everyone is out of town, including my family. We get home and we try to carry it ourselves. The thing weighs like 300 pounds I swear and because it is five feet square we have to carry it upright. I still don't know how we got it inside, but somehow we managed. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Then today I went to Home Depot to get the bolts. Joey in the hardware department was really helpful, maybe you're wondering why I know his name, oh that's because I went there THREE times today. The bolts weren't long enough, which Joey tried to tell me, he was right, I was wrong. On my way out this huge black guy started signing part of the BYU fight song because I was wearing a BYU shirt, which I thought was pretty funny. Anyway, the table is together and now we have to find some chairs to match! Here are some photos of the new table. I couldn't really get a good shot without me in it because of the dang mirror.

Movie Reviews

Lots of movies lately. On Wednesday I saw the Lake House. Here's the thing, I knew that it was going to be cheesy, but it was very obvious. I'm one of those people who can never figure out the killer or the bad guy or the double agent. This movie was SO OBVIOUS. Like I get foreshadowing, but this wasn't foreshadowing, this was just telling you what is going to happen within like the first 15 minutes. I would recommend it as a rental, but probably not to actually go to the movies.

On Thursday I saw Cars. Okay this was the best movie I have seen in a long time. It was really funny and cute and whoever did the casting for the voices did an awesome job. I went with my friend Amy and she gave me the Entertainment Weekly tip which is to stay until the very end, even when you think the movie is over. Just thought I would pass that on to anyone who may be going to see it.

Then tonight I watched Friday Night Lights for the first time. This movie has been out for ages but I have never seen it. I don't really think I have been missing anything. I didn't finish it because I got bored and I would rather WORK than watch the end of it. Which to me means it couldn't be that good because I will procrastinate work with anything! I guess I'm not really working now though...I'm blogging.

So send me your movie reviews, we've been picky lately but we are always up for a good movie!

Gorging Good Time

We had a busy weekend and I am just now getting around to posting. I had a video that I wanted to post but I can't seem to import properly so I will post without it because who knows how long that will take. But I have pictures. On Friday there was a BBQ with all of the "young married" couples in our ward. There are eight couples that tend to get invited, there is one chick who always organizes the whole thing and few couples are moving so they were having this BBQ pool party thing. It was pretty fun, the group was spilt into those who have kids (or are expecting) and those who don't. I like the people on my team better!!

On Saturday Matt had his LSAT prep class which seems to take the WHOLE day because it is all the way down at Emory and he doesn't get home until like 3! We decided to go to the movies and see Nacho Libre. I swear that it started at 8:30, well we pull up to AMC and it isn't even showing there, then we drive to UA and it started at 8 so we missed it. We got tickets for the 10 o'clock show and got food at On the Border. I LOVE On the Border. So we went to the movie and there was a baby there. Please keep in mind this is the 10 o'clock movie. The kid is like maybe 18 months. Umm, maybe you want to let your baby go to bed. And then she is running up and down the isle screaming. They kept taking turns taking her out in the hall...maybe they could take her home, she was probably acting up because she was TIRED. Well she wouldn't have been the only one, the movie started and we left after an hour. We were too tired to finish the movie. It wasn't that good. I know it is being compared to Napoleon Dynamite or Zoolander but it really wasn't that funny. Maybe I was just to tired to appreciate.

Sunday was normal and nothing exciting happened so I have to glaze over because this is getting long and I haven't gotten to the most exciting part......

MONDAY! We decided to go hiking with our friends Rob and Haley and we decided to go to Tallulah Gorge to go down the natural waterslide. We left at about 9 and we got up there at about 11 (we stopped to eat doughnuts for breakfast). They issue permits to access the gorge floor..why you might ask...because they have to keep track of the people who go down there in case someone DIES. No seriously. We read stuff online that decribes the hike as "challenging at best, dangerous at worst." And the guy giving the permit is like "this is the most difficult hike in Georgia" "it's a really tough climb."
So this is the first thing that we see once we get on the trail. There were some pretty fantastic views. (Follow along with the pictures) So we have to climb down 567 stairs (the guy told us how many) which wasn't too bad. Then we had to cross over this suspension bridge, which Rob and Haley were bouncing up and down for every one.
Then we get to the other side and climb down 220 more stairs. We get to the end and there is this sign.
The sign implies that there is an actual crossing. There was no crossing... those rocks you see in the background we had to jump from one to another to get across. So we hike along the gorge floor. We are trying to get to the waterslide. It really wasn't that hot but we are all starting to sweat. I cannot explain any better we are literally rock climb over all of these straight up boulders and there is water underneath. We FINALLY make it to the rock slide and it was totally worth it. We were shocked to see other people there, we couldn't believe other people had actually made the hike! This is where my video would have gone of Matt sliding down but instead I'll just post some pics.

(he is the one in the white shirt in the middle)

So it was really, really fun. The water was the perfect temperature. Then we had to hike back and the way that you go back is different than the way that you come. The permit guy had described it as the "most difficult quarter mile hike in the southeast." By this time we had started to believe him. He was right again. It was a 60 degree incline, we were climbing on all fours. We climbed over 800 feet up in just a quarter mile. Luckily it was only a quarter mile!

We stopped on the way home at the nicest McDonalds I have ever been in. They had a glass case with all of their desserts in it. What desserts you may be wondering, the apple pie? NO This McDonalds had cheesecake, DIFFERENT KINDS. It is all swank on the inside and then we look up and YES there was STEAK on the menu. I am not kidding. RIBEYE (well done only please) Yeah it really said that!! And it was in the middle of nowhere. So WEIRD.

Today my calves are killing me. I feel like I am having a permanent charlie horse. My muscles are so tight I have never felt this way before. I can't believe how bad they hurt.

I thought I had a lot of pictures but it didn't end up being that many after I typed all this stuff. Better luck next time I guess. I'll try and get a video going next time.

American Pride

Things have been slow. Over the weekend a lady in our ward wanted us to help out with this fireworks orientation that she was doing. Her dad is the vice-president of TNT and she is over our region or something. Anyway, we helped her out and so she gave us a bunch of fireworks. I had to laugh my head off because the package that she gave us was called "American Pride." I thought of that Simpson's episode where the guy tells Homer to celebrate America by blowing up a piece of it!

I used to HATE fireworks, there was an incident when I was a child, but now I am itching to blow these bad boys up!! I want to go to Alabama tonight and get a bunch of Alabama fireworks. The fireworks in Alabama go higher and have more fire power. The laws there are not as stringent, likely because there isn't anything of value in the whole state.

Anyway, on Saturday we had dinner with our friends Rob and Haley. They are our favorite friends but they are moving in a few weeks and we are going to miss them a ton! At least they are only moving to Augusta so we will still get to see them. They made the most delicious meal. They are real chefs, I have to get some recipes from them before they leave.

Everything else here is pretty low key. Our lives seem pretty slow, but that is the way that I like it!