Before and After

I am a sucker for before and after transformations.

Hence the reason I am addicted to shows such as The Biggest Loser, What Not to Wear, and pretty much everything on HGTV.

Well, this post is long overdue, since I have been open and operating since September...

Here is the story:

We have 2, one car, garages.

I wanted a place at home to do hair...that didn't involve the kitchen sink, and hair all over in my house. The solution emerged.

We transformed one of said garages into... my very own SALON!

With a little (okay, maybe a lot) of creativity,

the genius help of my awesome husband, the support of many clients and friends, and our 2009 tax return, here it is.

Before

(Ignore the nastiness of my existence...and the hat-- I was painting the ceiling!)
After

I was going for a shabby chic, simple, calming atmosphere, with interesting, vintage touches.

We painted the ceiling and walls and did an apoxy floor treatment to start.

The shelving came from Ikea, designed by me and assembled by Ryan.

Lighting was tricky. As you know, garages only have 1 light, and a salon needs a lot. I brought in a touch of sparkle with a fun chandelier...and Ryan creatively ran track lighting, spotlights, and lamps, all through out! The end lighting is great! Not harsh neon lighting, but bright and flattering.

I hid the garage door and storage by running floor to ceiling drapes along the south end.

Most of the accessories are either vintage, thrifted, or from TJ Maxx.

I bought the "waiting room" chairs on KSL when they were a nasty brown hue, and re-vamped them. The awesome gold mirror on the closet door was in my mom's room when she was a little girl! I absolutely love it-- As you can tell, I still need to fill my frames... I'm waiting on custom print orders. I also love the wonderful flower detail on the "J" (for Judd). The tin back splash on the sink was a Christmas gift from Ryan. He slaved all night Christmas eve (after I went to bed, and thought he did too) so it would be ready in the morning-- It is a perfect addition, matching the glass door panels and the silver elements!

I hope this was a fun "Before and After" for you to see--

Feel free to let me know if you want to get the first hand experience and get your hair done here!

The Long Weekend

We headed south to the cabin for the long weekend.

South should mean nicer weather, right?

Wrong. We got snowed in!

(Literally. Charles had to plow the street so we could leave)

It ended up being perfect.

Just what we needed for a brief getaway.

Camden quickly found something to occupy his time.

Who knew that a drinking fountain could be so entertaining?

He really just pushed the button, drank, and played in the water for 1/2 hour.

As all cabin traditions go, we played a lot of games. And ate a lot of food.

64 oz. of peanut butter m&m's...macho macho nachos...breakfast bratwursts...custard french toast...Texas Roadhouse...

After the road out was cleared, we ventured to Cedar City for Sunday Dinner.

Camden got to spend some much needed quality time playing with Great Grandma and Grandpa Judd
Don't you wish long weekends would never end?

Peter Piper

Can you guess what instrument this little guy will end up playing?

Best kid's meal toy ever.
He played with that thing the entire night, and honestly,

he sounded pretty good.

Look at that concentration...

Maybe we should be investing more time into this, and less time into "ball"

too bad he can say "ball" a lot easier than "flute"

Bath time Extravaganza

No need for words.

Just a whole bunch of pictures of some glorious baby nakedness.

Maryland Style

Every once in awhile, husband goes on these

"I love this and must learn to make it"

kicks.

LOVE them!

for multiple reasons:

1) He helps cook

2) the end result freaking rocks

This time, his muse was the crab cakes he had on his mission in Baltimore.

Easy recipe... Great results.We invited Annie and Cliff to be our guinea pigs...

They were well received.

Hooray for Crab Cakes!
and awesome husbands who like to make them :)

Ball Obsession

Ball.

The first word out of his mouth in the morning,

and it continues all day long until he goes to bed.

He must be his father's son...

Now he just needs a little more height so he doesn't need the help of the chair...

Superbowl Party

Every year Ryan's dad throws a superbowl party.

There is usually an over abundance of food, creative games, and good people...

The boys enjoyed them some football.

The girls enjoyed the commercials and 1/2 time with Usher.

The kids...everything, but mostly Papa Judd's pinball machine.

Everyone ate their weight in food.

I couldn't resist the yummy homemade snickers bars. queso dip. and shrimp sauce.

A party wouldn't be a party without some cupcakes!

So Brecca and I made some football themed sweets.

Yellow cake+Green frosting for the Packers.

Chocolate cake+Yellow frosting for the Steelers.

Little brother John (who is on a mission in Brazil),

LOVES the Packers. So, in honor of him, I was cheering them on...

and they WON! Somewhere, across the globe, that mormon missionary is smiling from ear to ear.

Dazed, Confused, and Excited

Camden's reaction to the tent at Grandma Lourie's house.

A little dazed. Not quite sure how he felt about it...
Then somewhat confused.

He kept trying to push the back of his head against the walls--

He does that a lot. (Bangs the back of his head against things to test them out)

This expression may look a bit mischevious, but I think it was a good mixture between that and excitement! The tent had passed and he was now ready to bring in the troops.

The simple joys in a 1 year old's life.

Fail

I was being productive.

(Cleaning, actually.)

When my stuffed nose began to run...you know, when your nose is so stuffed that you have no clue the snot is about to escape and run down your face, until it does.

So, I ran to the bathroom for a tissue...when

I saw a spider on the wall.

I screamed.

(like any normal human being would)

and woke Camden up from his nap.

There goes the end of my productivity.

Fail.

During the storm

A few weeks ago, my mom came to visit.

It was the last week of January, and I needed help with one of my January goals.

Who better to help than my mamacita?

(really, if you know her, there is no one better)

There we were, inside, nice and snug, when it started snowing.

and snowing. and snowing.

We took full advantage.

Camden thought he would try out the fuffy white snow--Rookie.

I only eat snow when it is covered in vanilla and sugar :)
He will soon learn the ways of his always-hyped-up-on-sugar mama
Memo might still hate us for making him ride in the sled...

Best Buds.

A good storm.