The poofiness has subsided a bit:)

I thought I would add some pictures of what my hair looked like a week after I TnRed all of it. I took two or three showers that week and it settled things down a lot. I'm really happy with it:).

They're staying together for the most part:)

Also, I'm taking up a new hobby! The fires have been ridiculous lately and I haven't gotten a chance to run, so that's being tabled for the time being. Anyways... I was watching someone's dread progress vlog, she was 6 months into letting her hair naturally dread, and had the most amazing young natural dreads I've ever seen! That's beside the point though:), at the end of the video she showed the new LED hoop she had gotten. It was a very large hula hoop. I was slightly confused, so off to Google I went, and I found the most amazing videos of people "hooping!" I got really excited about it, it just seems so fun and really appealed to me. I got on etsy and ordered a hoop from Stephanie, who I found through dreadlocksite.com. She has an etsy shop, Spread It Round Hoops and I ordered a custom hoop from her! I got to pick out the size and colors and she has been wonderful to work with! She's making it this weekend and it should be ready to ship on Monday. By the end of the week I should be ready to start hooping! I am very excited! And to give you an idea of how awesome hooping can be, I will leave you with a video:).

Dreadlocks, C25K, and more reasons to hate Georgia

I was looking through pictures on dreadlockssite.com the other day. Each time I would see a picture of a set of dreads that I really liked, I would go through and see what method they used. Every single set I liked was started by using the twist and rip method, so I decided to take the plunge! Over the last six months my hair has completely sectioned itself naturally, but really only the top layer of my hair was really starting to knot up. Since the look I wanted is normally gotten through twist and rip, I decided I should probably use that method too. I need to take pictures today because after a shower they are not as puffy, lol, but they definitely need some length and weight to them before they'll look really good. Hopefully that will happen over the next 6 months:). Here are pictures from right after I did them all. (The first pic is just after doing most of the front.)

I have no cool way of moving on from the dreadlocks, so here is my awkward transition. Today I did the second day of Couch to 5k (C25k.) I'm excited to get into running, but it would be so much easier if I didn't live in Georgia! In Iowa almost all morning are nice, even on the hottest days, it is still nice in the morning. Here in Georgia you have to get up before the sun if you want to run in nice weather! And that just ain't happenin'. Not to mention it is smoky half the time, because there are constantly controlled burnings. I'm probably going to kill myself trying to run in these crazy circumstances, where it's hot and smoky. Today the smoke didn't seem so bad, so I went running anyways. I have to take the girls in the double jogging stroller, so I'm not so sure I should've gone :/. It's the only workout I can do completely in peace, since the girls are content in the stroller and can't really interrupt me. Plus, if I wait until the smoke rises then it's already too late in the day and it's just torture to be outside at all.

Right now these first workouts are pretty easy, walk for five minutes as a warm up, then alternate running one minute and walking a minute and a half for like 20 minutes, then another five minutes of walking to cool down. I'm not sure how many times I do the alternations because I have a nifty C25K Android app that does it all for me, making a little chime when it's time to switch from running to walking. I have to do this first workout one more time and then I switch to the week 2 workout. I'm really hoping I can stick to it!

And as a little update, I have not had a drop of alcohol since before my post about two weeks ago. I'm really trying to keep it up! Although I've been having a Netflix Grey's Anatomy marathon over the last couple of days and they drink all. the. time. Sort of makes me "thirsty," haha, but I'm staying strong!

I just feel like rambling!

I've wanted to blog for the last week or so, but just don't know what to write about, so I thought I would just ramble and talk about whatever!

My hair has been doing awesome things since the last time I took pictures! I can't believe how much more knotting I've had. I would post pictures, but I promised myself I wouldn't take pictures too frequently, because I figured the more spaced out I take them, the better I'll be able to see progress. I might take some pictures at the 7 month mark, although originally my plan was to wait until 9 months, keeping up with the every 3 months thing. I've also been thinking about making a video, since it's so hard to see my awesome baby dreads with my crappy camera (aka my phone, haha.) It's such a fun experience because you get to see the dreads being born and growing, they have such a mind of their own:). As my hair gets longer, I love it even more, I'm so excited for the months (and years) to come!

Adelaide is 10.5 months old and taking lots of steps! McKaleigh didn't walk until a few months after she turned a year old, so it's really weird to see Adelaide making these attempts! It seems like every day she can take another step than she could the day before, it's pretty fun. McKaleigh and Adelaide also spend a lot of time playing together, which just makes me so happy:). It's fun watching them become friends.

Michael is coming up on orders for Korea, reporting in January. After the holidays, the girls and I will be moving to Iowa to be closer to family. I'm so excited to live in my hometown again. More and more I'm realizing that I'm really not cut out for the military lifestyle, so this will be a much appreciated break from it. I'm going to miss him so much, but at least it's not a deployment!

Overall things have been great for me! The house is messy, but in a manageable way:). I put everything off til the last minute in my class, but somehow still manage to have an A! Life is chaotic and crazy and I'm happy! I love being happy:).

April was a great month...

...and I'm hoping July can be just as great. Looking back through my posts I saw a little spurt in April where I posted more often than I usually do. Then in May and June I posted ONCE each month. I'll let you in on a secret... when I'm happy- I blog, when I'm not happy- I don't blog:/.

I have natural tendencies toward depression. There's a good chance it is genetic as there is quite a bit of depression in my family, but whatever makes it happen, it's something I battle with on a regular basis. Knowing it may be genetic actually really helps me in being able to accept that this is part of who I am. It gives me courage in figuring out what steps to take to live my life to the fullest, anyways. I know that I can be happy, it's just a matter of keeping myself out of ruts, ruts like the one I experienced over much of May and June.

I have found a main culprit in the depressive ruts I have experienced in the past year. Alcohol. Alcohol drags me down into a depression. I mean it makes sense, it is a depressant afterall, but the effects remain long after the buzz is gone. It seems that after a night of drinking I am down the entire next day, and then for some reason I feel an urge to drink that night, and the next night and the next. It is an awful vicious cycle that I have one hell of a time breaking. Then finally I look around at the house and want to cry because I feel so overwhelmed at all the housework I have gotten behind on, because of feeling depressed and not wanting to do anything. That feeling usually lasts for a few days, until something in me snaps and I say "enough!"

Thankfully, I have had my "enough" moment, once again. Today has been a far more pleasant day than the days we've had recently. I feel proud of what I have accomplished today. I don't feel overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I feel capable and strong and in charge of myself and my feelings. It was hard to write this, because society makes us feel as though having these feelings makes us weak, and I hate appearing weak. There is something freeing about admitting these things, though, and if anything I will have this post to refer back to when I feel myself slipping back into a rut. I will have this post to remind myself of how good things can be and how I am in control of my life, I just have to take control of it.