Friday Five: the hair, goals, JK Rowling and more edition

1. Okay, some of you wanted to see a few examples of my changing hair styles, well... here you go! (I won't be offended if you don't, feel free to scroll down to the rest of my random thoughts.)

I only went back about two and a half years, because this is going to be "pictures of Sara's hair" overload. Just warning you. That's why I added some with my boys, they are waaay cuter than I am. And SHH is waaay hotter than me. So, yep. (SHH, for those who missed that post, is "Super Hot Hubby.")

Here we go (and I skipped quite a few stages, that were different, but not drastically) :


March 08: natural color (almost), side bangs, pretty long!


September 08 (22 or 23 weeks pregnant, hence the strange pose hehe): highlights, LOTS of bangs, cut off about 4-5 inches.

October 08: cut off even more, darkened the highlights (often when I change my hair, I take "new hair" pictures to send to friends/family because they're always afraid--ahem, I mean EXCITED -- to see what I've done...)

December 08 (month before I had my second son): totally darkened it, with some red highlights, minimized the side bangs, just a trim since I didn't want to change too many things right before the hormonal craziness of having a baby.

March 09 (two months after baby): went WAY dark, no red. Almost black. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I wanted to post it because I have an exciting #2 thought that pertains to this photo. So the montage isn't over but:

2. I am with some of my friends at Julie Berry's signing at TKE in this picture. The exciting news, is that her new book SECONDHAND CHARM and her "boy books" THE SPLURCH ACADEMY just released, and she's coming back to UT for some more signings! Come out and support her. She is the most wonderful, kind-hearted person and SO talented. I loved THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT, and can't wait for her new book. I'm also going to get THE SPLURCH ACADEMY books for my boys. Yay! The signing at The King's English in SLC is on October 20, so don't miss it!


Okay, back to pics...

A little bit better shot of how dark it was, plus it shows my natural curl. And also, isn't my baby so cute? (He's 2 months old. I can't believe he's going to be 2 in January! Where did that time go??)

Summer 09: (I got professional shots done by my amazing friend/aspiring author/incredible photographer Erin Summerill at our critique group). My husband said if we're going to pay for me to get my hair done, I should do something drastic. So, I did! I hadn't cut my hair this short since third grade (because I hated it back then). But I kept toying with the idea and finally just went for it! It was a fun change, but I decided I didn't love my curly hair short. When it was straight I liked it more, but I still decided to grow it out. I also hadn't been this blond in a long time. The shadowbox was fun (light on top, dark underneath) and I kept it in varying degrees of lightness on top for over a year.


September 09: I started growing it back out and darkened the blond a little bit.

Spring 2010: Another awesome picture by Erin Summerill. My hair is getting longer and darker again...

My newest "professional shot" taken by my insanely talented hubby in August. A little longer, a little darker...

Present 'do: cut straight bangs, all over dark again, still letting it grow out.

So there you go! I change my hair a lot, huh? But it's fun.

3. I want to be J.K. Rowling. Or just steal her brain. Or at least her writing skills. It would be my dream come true to meet her. I think she's a genius. Watching her on Oprah only made me want to meet her even more. I think we could be best friends. Really, I do. Okay, not really. That makes me sound like a stalker, and I can't even afford a ticket to Edinburgh, so no worries Jo. You're safe for now. But, I do think you're amazing and I can only hope to have 1/10 of the talent you have someday...

4. I am running my first 10k tomorrow morning. My training hit a few snags (those lame heart troubles, my running partner [my cute mama] fell during one of our runs and hurt her knee and couldn't run for a couple of weeks, etc.), but I'm determined to do it and finish the race, and so is she. I will definitely not be vying for the top spot, but I'm excited to accomplish this goal. Many times life is like that, isn't it? We set a goal (or dream) and start on the path to accomplish it. We may think we're going to cross that line first, but hit some bumps on the road. Or major cliffs. You just never know. But as long as you keep going and reach that goal, does it really matter if you were first? As long as we finish with dignity and a sense of accomplishment, that's what counts, right?

5. I love fall! Curling up with an awesome book (or a laptop to keep writing what I hope will become an awesome book), a mug of hot cocoa, and a fire crackling behind the glass cover on the fireplace as the gas feeds it instead of wood... ah, a perfect evening at home on a crisp fall night. Except, I wouldn't mind a real fireplace, but hey, they're messy and who can beat the ease of flipping a switch to get fire? We finally got some real fall weather this week, and I'm loving it. I actually got to wear a sweater today! Now I just hope the fall weather can last, and not nosedive right into winter.

What are your thoughts on this beautiful, fall Friday?

Change... or be changed

Or something like that.

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "the only constant in this life is change." So better get used to it, right? Can change be a good thing? I like to think so. Some changes are hard, some are even devastating. However, some are exciting and fun. Like my hair. (You thought I was going to be all deep and stuff, didn't you? Ha! Fooled you again!) I love to change my hair. I get nervous about cutting it too short, because it takes FOREVER to grow back out (since it's naturally curly). But I even tried a short 'do last summer. I was brave. And when it comes to color, or variations of style/bangs/etc, I'm all about the change. I thought about posting a whole bunch of pictures from just the last two years to show how drastically I have changed my hair (over and over again!) during that time, but eh. That's probably not interesting to you. Or is it? I can if you'd like. It's almost funny to see what I've done. But anyway, I digress.

So what does this have to do with writing?

Thanks for asking! Let me tell you. Change is good. When you're stuck in revisions, or when you've written yourself into a corner, try changing something. Have the courage to do something drastic if necessary. Even though it might be scary, it could end up being the best decision you ever made.

The thing is, when you change your hair, you know it can easily be fixed if it turns out badly. If you don't like the highlights, get the dark color put back in. Badabing, badaboom. If you try the big change in your manuscript, and end up hating it, you can just change it back to how it was. Delete. Copy and paste. Voila. It never hurts to try, and you might be surprised at what a huge improvement the change might make. At the very least, you'll know you tried, and won't ever wonder, "what if I'd had the courage to ____."

So, what do you say? Any big changes you've been to scared to make, that you're ready to do now after this little pep talk? Come on, don't be shy. And don't be scared. What's the worst that can happen? Besides this: