a late surprise...

Remember how I told you I had a surprise, and that I'd show you, but then I never did? Well...it's because I never had any pictures to put up. I was told I'd be emailed some, but I never got them, so these will do! Here's my surprise...a month and a half later...my bad.

Remember how my hair always looks like this?

Haha...it's like this now:

Chopped it. I'd been thinking about cutting and donating my hair since January, but I'd never had the time. Then, one fine day in March, Locks of Love came to BYU. I had an hour between classes, so I sat myself down and had my hair cut off.

16 inches donated. The stylists said I only needed to give 10 inches, but since I had so much, why not go all the way, right? And so I did! It was quite shocking.

You know, my hair was actually shorter when I first got it cut -- it reached barely below my chin. A month and a half later, it touches my collarbone. That's when it's dry and curly. When my hair is wet, it reaches a little bit below that. How cool, huh?

Anyway. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think I'm crazy for cutting off all of my hair. Those are usually the days when I have no idea what to do with it, or it's full of static from working with balloons all day, or I see a girl with waist length curls and miss my own. And then I think about the little girl, or the little boys (because you could probably get two or three short wigs out of my hair -- seriously, it was so thick and long when the girl who cut it handed it to me), who get to have my hair. After all, mine will grow back. But I sure am glad that I was able to do this, and help someone out there have pretty hair to wear. I can't do much, but I can do enough.

love isn't only about romance...

Valentine's Day. It's been a conversation piece at work and school for the past month. You know what? I'm sick of two things about it:

1. People who constantly squeal about how excited they are for it because of their significant other
2. People who constantly complain about how much they hate it because of their lack of a significant other

I used to think I was impartial to this holiday. And then I got to thinking about it more. I don't have neutral feelings about it at all. Despite my lack of a significant other (which, right now, I am so grateful for), I love Valentine's Day. Why? Let me tell you:

There is always, always, always someone who needs to be reminded that they are loved. It doesn't even need to be a holiday to show someone that they are cared for.

I'm excited for Valentine's Day because it's a day I get to show others I care about them. I care that they are alive. The people I know and love and hold dear, they deserve to know that I love them! People I've never met before, people I'll never see again. They're important in this world! Every person is important, whether you personally know their name or not. That's part of what makes everyone so very special: despite the billions on the planet and the potential to become insignificant, no one truly is.

This Valentine's Day, I ask you to think less of yourself and your relationship status. Think more of those who may be struggling less than, as much as, or more than yourself. Be it a single mother, a child in a dysfunctional or even functional home, a widow or widower, a person down on their luck, a customer at your workplace, a teacher, a friend, a family member, or even the dog down the road--all need to know they are loved.

Those who are loved, take some time out to share it with another person. Those who don't think that they are loved, go out and find it in loving someone else.