|{ Purple Shampoo }|

I've been lightening my hair for a while now and I think I may have hit the point where I'm okay if it doesn't go lighter. I am loving the platinum blonde!

When I got my hair done this last time my stylist asked me if I was using purple shampoo. I had NO idea what she was talking about and she told me to just go to a beauty store like Ulta and get purple shampoo because it would help to my hair keep the platinum rather than going yellow.

I took her word for it and walked into the store. "Uh, I need purple shampoo...?" I felt so silly but the sales associate simply smiled and walked me right over to the shampoo.  I grabbed a bottle and felt happy that I had accomplished the task.

It wasn't until I actually used it that I decided that having this hair color ROCKS!! I get to use the coolest shampoo!! I didn't realize they meant it was actually PURPLE!!! (And it smells good too!)

(Not sure where this photo came from, do you?)

|{ Little Hand Prints }|

After our get-together this weekend to celebrate my graduation/watch the Michigan football game I found these little hand prints on our desk cupboard doors.  You can't even see them unless you get done to their level.

I know you might think I'm crazy but they just melted my heart! I can't wait until it's my children who are making little hand prints everywhere!

|{ Certified Massage Therapist }|

Yesterday, September 8th 2012, I graduated from the Ann Arbor Institute of Massage Therapy!!

I'm a massage therapist for real now!! I can't believe it!! I got a job about a week ago at a place called Vibrant Touch.  I'm helping out a lady who has a private practice and needs help with her clients! I can also use her room for my own clients (which I will soon be working on getting! :) )

Graduation was amazing! It was surprising emotional, there were lots of tears knowing that we won't get to see each other again and that we've all been such an integral part of each other's success.  I gave a short speech which I think went pretty well, if your lucky I might post the video sometime...if your very lucky! :)

There was a lot of laughter and inside jokes as well, it was an all around amazing experience and now I'm a massage therapist!!! WOW!!!

Here were some of my favorite photos! I'm so glad my hubby was able to take lots of photos! :)

We get to put our hand prints on a canvas when we graduate!

I put an orange heart in Michelle's print and she put a pink one in mine!

|{ The Day I Turned 24 }|

The first thing I want you to know...my husband is AMAZING!! I don't know how I got so lucky but he is absolutely incredible and my birthdays are always so much fun...until his birthday comes around and then I just feel guilty because I cannot replicate his awesomeness!

Secondly, I want to apologize for the lack of pictures.  We just didn't end up taking many. *shrug* Oh well.

So, first thing in the morning we got up and went to breakfast at Angelo's, which is a popular restaurant in Ann Arbor and is on the medical school campus.  We got our favorite things to eat, mine is an omelet with ham, cheddar, and avocado and Jon's is Eggs Benedict! SO yummy!! Then, after breakfast Jon gave me this:

"Please don't hang me on this tree, I do not want to die you see! 

If I survive, guess these words three, I'll take you on a Shopping Spree!!"

It also had a few papers with directions for a random address and a note that said that I had an appointment at 1:00.

So, we played hangman at the table and I did NOT want that little dude to die so I took my time.  I never hit that moment where I knew what the answer was and Z was the last letter I had to guess! It was pretty hard!! So I finished the puzzle and it was not helpful.
Me- "What is that?"
Jon- "The place we are going shopping!"
Me- "Ok cool! I've never heard of it..."
Jon- "Yes you have! It's your favorite place!"
Me- *Looking confused at the paper* "Oh! H&M?!?!"
Jon- "Yeah, I definitely had to Google that one."

So, off to H&M we went.  I asked Jon what my budget was, he said I had a little over an hour before we had to leave for my appointment, that was my only limit! WHAT!? Awesome!! It was really fun to walk around the store knowing I literally could get whatever I wanted!! And I did, and it rocked! How cool is he?!

Jon's original plan for my birthday present was going to be a surprise.  In the room that will someday be the nursery for our child there is wood paneling on all the walls and it's all painted this weird gray-blue color.  He knows I hate it and was going to put up drywall in the room and paint it and then surprise me on my b-day! Aww!! But there were complications and our landlord doesn't want us to do that, so we'll have to come up with a new plan instead. Oh well, it's the thought that counts! :) He's so sweet!

Anyway, so after shopping we headed out to my appointment.  He refused to tell me where it was we were going or what the appointment was for but about 45 minutes later we ended up at the dentist...on my birthday... I looked at him and glared and he just laughed.  The appointment ended up being a consultation to put an implant in so I won't have the space in my teeth anymore!!! YAY!!!!! I am so excited!!! I have always been self-conscious about the space and now we are finally getting it taken care of!! I have an appointment on Sept. 25th to get the first of 4 appointments done and it's gonna be the big one where they do all the surgery. I'm a little nervous but excited! The ONLY downside is that I've waited too long to get it done so the roots are starting to grow towards each other so I have to get the tooth behind it pulled and get 2 implants, which means that for a few weeks I will have a bigger space there until the implants actually get placed, but it will be SO worth it!! I can't wait!

Wow, this post is getting long, so let's summarize the rest.
After that we went home and got stuff ready for dinner. We were having people over to make sushi!! It was so yummy and so much fun! We always love making sushi!! Then after that we had more people over and had brownies instead of cake (Triple Chocolate Ghirardelli brownies)! Then Jon got liquid nitrogen and we made homemade mango Dippin' Dots and raspberries! It was delicious and so much fun!!

It was an AMAZING birthday and I have my incredible husband to thank for it! I could not be more blessed!!

|{ Do Blondes Have More Fun? }|

I had the most lovely day yesterday! I went and got a massage (because it's a graduation requirement) and actually felt good results afterwards!! You would think that being in massage school would mean I get massaged all the time, which is partially true. I do get massaged, just not nicely. We're just bodies for other people to work on so our issues are not actually focused on, so it was nice to get a massage where and how I actually needed it for once! :)

Then I got to go and get my hair done! I REALLY needed to touch up my roots and I wanted some bangs too.  I also got my eyebrows shaped, which I have never done at a salon before, so that was cool! I have been working towards going lighter and lighter and this is wear I am right now. It's such a cool color! I really like how light it is! :)

I saw this photo on Pinterest today and I can't get enough of how awesome that color is!!!!

|{ The BIG Test }|

Since before the first day of massage school we have been hearing about the dreaded NMT (Neuromuscular Therapy) exam that is at the end of the year! It's no surprise that the whole class was scared out of their wits! Honestly, if the teachers wouldn't make such a big deal about it and keep any actual info about the test a secret until it's almost there then it would NOT be so scary!

Anyway, I took this big test which included writing the attachments for a routine of my choosing, doing said routine, writing down the attachments for 10 muscles that I pull out of a bag, and working on 6 extra muscles that are not in my routine but are giving randomly by the tester.  The only thing I really had a hard time with was the attachments of the 10 muscles.  They were ALL really hard for me!! There was only 1 that I even sort of knew.  I really should have studied harder! BUT, I PASSED!!!! You have to get 75% to pass, guess what I got???..... 76%! BOO-YA!!! Haha! I don't even care, I'm just glad I passed!! Especially considering that my tester was the school director! Yikes!

Now I just need to do a few more clinic hours and tie up a couple of loose ends and I'll be ready to graduate from massage school!! How crazy is that?! I can't even believe it's been a whole year!! WOW!!

|{ Amore }|

My husband is so sweet! I came home from school the other day and found this on the bathroom mirror!

(The picture looks blurry but it's actually the double reflection of the writing)

It's been a weird week.  We have lost a few wonderful people and it has made me realize how grateful I am to have my husband around. I don't know what I would do without him.

Also, my mother! I love her so much and I can't imagine a life in which I couldn't call her whenever I wanted. She is always there for me and I miss being close enough to visit with her!

|{ 50 Followers! }|

I just got my 50th follower!!

Welcome Mandy!!!

I love Mandy's blog Baby Dupree!! You should definitely check it out!! She is a little more than half way through her pregnancy with a baby boy! Her blog is so adorable and I am so excited for her and her family!!

|{ Time Flies }|

I cannot believe that it is almost August!! WOW!!  I take my last test on August 16th for school and then I just need to finish up my student clinic hours and then graduation day on September 8th!! I really need to study more than I am doing but I think I should be able to pass my final just fine! I just can't wait for it to be over, it's going to get here so fast!!  The first weekend of August I am learning hot stone massage with my best friend from school Michelle, so that will be tons of fun.  


I did find the one down side of not being on birth control anymore, breakouts. So irritating! I never even realized that the reason why my breakouts stopped was because I got on birth control, so that was a fun surprise when I got done. Oh well, the benefits WAY outweigh the down side! :)


I was at the craft store today and was simply delighted to find out that they just put out their Halloween stuff!!!!! I am way to excited than I should be! Haha!! The best time of the year is definitely from my birthday on August 29th until New Years!  Four months of pure BLISS!!! I love it!!! There is actually a bit of coolness in the air today, that's a nice change.  Summer is NOT my favorite season, probably my least favorite actually.  Right now I'm listening to the 'Halloween' station on Pandora! :)  P.s. Marilyn Manson singing 'This is Halloween' is pretty creepy....

The reason I was at the craft store was because I have about 3 pairs of pants that the zipper is broken and once it happened to my favorite pair, I refused to throw them away.  So I spent a LARGE portion of my day trying to fix them.  I don't have a sewing machine so I had to do it all by hand, BUT they are fixed!!! Yay!!
And I found the ribbon in the Halloween section! :)

Thank you Pinterest!!

|{ The Time Our Family Came To Michigan }|

At the end of June we got a visit from Jonathan's parents and his little sister, Angela! Their decision to come out was kind of sudden but we couldn't have been happier that they were finally going to come to Michigan to see us!! They drove all the way from Utah, which took them 2 days, and they stayed for about a week and half!!

We had such a great time with them while they were here! We went to a few big parks and took walks.  It is cool that there are places like that even right in the middle of town.  One of things I love about Michigan is that I can feel like I'm in the middle of the woods right in the middle of Ann Arbor.  We had a campfire one night and made tin foil dinners and s'mores, as well as had a good time with some masked visitors.  We went to the Henry Ford Museum.  We even took a trip up to Palmyra, New York to see some church historical sites like the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove.  It was really special to see all those places that we have always only heard about.  I'm really glad to have finally been able to see it!

Little tiny turtles at Geddes Park

Making paper airplanes at the museum

All in the same position, haha!

Teasing his little sister

Now tell me that is not the cutest face ever!

On the 4th of July we went up to Jonathan's aunt's parents house and spent some time with his uncle and cousins.  They live on a lake and we were able to go out on the boat! Jon went water skiing and even stood up once! :)  It looked hard and I'm scared of being in the water in lakes...too dark... I did go tubing though! That was a lot of fun!!! That evening we bought some fountain fireworks and did them in the front yard.  I was really grateful to Jon for making sure we did fireworks.  I LOVE the Fourth of July!!

At the Hill Cumorah

Palmyra Temple

In front of the original painting

Tubing, I did NOT want to fall in the water, haha!

Other things we did:  Catching fireflies with Angela, ate lots of pizza, went swimming at the hotel in Palmyra, played Plants vs Zombies, and had a lot of fun with our family!!

Thanks for coming out guys! It was so great to see you!!

Also, my parents just bought a house in Arizona!!! They are so excited! I am so excited for them! I love Arizona!! They are planning to be heading down there by the end of the month!! CRAZY!!! I can't wait to go and visit them down there!!

Jonathan has officially decided to take this year to do research and to continue with school next May.  He is working in a really great lab that should be able to help him get some papers published, which will be great for when he applies for residency! I am so proud of him! He is super busy but he still takes the time to do things with his wife! :)

I am in the last stretch of school.  We are currently learning Neuromuscular Therapy and once we are done with that we are DONE! It's crazy!! I'm starting to realize how much I am going to miss my classmates! It's really incredible how close you get to people in only a year! I take my final on August 16th and then, assuming I pass, we have nothing to do until the day of graduation on September 8th! I am planning on getting certified in hot stone massage in the beginning of August and then in prenatal massage at the end of September and then I just need to take my National Certification exam and I'll be ready to rock and roll! Though I am planning on trying to find a job before I graduate!

So, life is sure busy, but it is GREAT!! Things are just wonderful here in the Peterson household!!

p.s. We are babysitting this little dude for the summer! His name is Kyle and he is so adorable!! :)