Shower Gifts

I don’t know about you but I’m not exactly the biggest fan of showers…the wedding and baby kind, not the ones you do alone with a glass of wine or a cold bottle of beer.  Although both of those things also make the others better as well.

While buying a baby shower gift a couple of weeks ago I wandered past an adorable sweater and decided I needed to buy myself a gift…like a reward for going to yet another shower. I gladly found my size and added it to the pile of baby paraphernalia and a new tradition was born. Every time I buy a shower gift, I get to buy myself a gift too. Whatever I want.

So when I get to the shower and have to create small talk with women I don’t know, and answer the same questions from the women I do know, I don’t seem to mind as much. I’m actually sort of looking forward to my next shower…there’s a pair of shoes I really want:)

Now that I’m interesting…

It’s no secret to anyone (who reads my blog) that you’re not really interesting until you’re 30. I should probably wait to make a final assessment on this until I’m at least 31 but for now, I totally agree.

Basically I turned 30, got a new look, started shopping regularly and apparently now enjoy large crowds of people. Keturah 3.0 is obviously very interesting.

I majorly failed on the final days of my previous blog “Before I’m 30″ to recount all the adventures of the final days of my 20′s. I had high hopes to blog every day for a month and do things like sky dive, swim with sharks, and get my Ph.D. but then I realized those were all very interesting things and needed to be saved for a later time in life. That time is now…or 10 years from now cause I’ll still be interesting.

So I’ve updated my name and plan to recount all the interesting things I will do…which is pretty of everything now.

Golf

I miss these guys. They don’t get to come out and play much anymore.

I picked up golf when I was 23 or 24 and to everyone’s shock actually kept playing…until about 2 years ago when I decided they just looked better in my trunk.  I’ve only played once since school started. Lame.

Cut an Afro

I’m barely making my time to get this blog in today. It’s only my second day and I almost failed…almost.

A couple of months ago I had the joy of trimming my first afro.  This is my friend Alvia. He’s pretty rad.

We met the night I played washboard for his band at Detroit Bar – we’ve been friends ever since.

He called me one day and asked if I’d ever done African American hair.  I said no and he asked if I wanted to…uh, yes.  Turns out I’m not so bad at it…

He told me it looked like a microphone…just like he wanted!

Then he bought me frozen yogurt, the only real payment I need.

The Home Stretch…

I have 29 days left to be 29…29 days left of my 20′s…only 29 days until I’m interesting!

I think I actually became interesting on February 21st but I decided to just wait till my birthday to be sure.

My life has been anything but boring since starting school so I have plenty to talk about from now until May 8th…mostly covering the past five months since I last blogged (lame).  My “goal” is to blog every day between now and my birthday. We’ll see…

To kick things off, let’s start with my new look. Keturah 3.0 (3.0 like 30, get it?). I decided I needed a new look for a new decade. Here was the first attempt…

I fell in love with the asymmetrical and had so much fun with this look I decided to take it a little more drastic, a little more edgy, a little more 3.0…

I LOVE IT…especially when I wear it like this

Caryn also helped me with a new makeup look but we’ll save that for another day…I have 28 more.  Chances are you’ll be reading a lot more from me soon…and probably seeing more pictures of my hair.

Preaching, Whale Watching, and Mountain Adventures!

I have actually done a couple of other exciting things since getting an iPhone as well …Like celebrate my half birthday, get over 3,000 hits on my blog and stuff like that!  This whole 29 thing is working out well for me.  I decided to combine a few adventures since I have a limited amount of time since starting school.

Preaching.  I did my first Sunday morning back in July at Harbor Christian Fellowship in Costa Mesa and recently shared at Palm Harvest Church as well.  I really enjoy public speaking and it was an honor and blessing to share at both of these churches.

(Mom: here is the link to the message:)

Whale Watching. Punky and I went whale watching a couple of weeks ago and it was rad.  I wasn’t actually expecting to see whales, which seems kind of weird for a paid whale watching tour but I was skeptical.  We headed out on an overcast Sunday afternoon and hit the whale jackpot!

If you look closely in this one you can see the water coming up out of the whales, it was rad.  We probably saw 10-20 whales and a lot of dolphins!  I have more pictures but they all sort of look the same.

This was our trusty boat!

And a shot of me and the pacific ocean:)

It was a lovely day and definitely an adventure to remember.  Thanks mom!

Mountain Adventure: Idyllwild.  For Punky’s fall birthday adventure we headed to Idyllwild, CA.  Like all good adventures, we started at Pei Wei!

It wasn’t quite as cold as we wanted it to be but it still felt like fall.  We saw pretty leaves…

Drank good coffee…

Hung out with bears…

And saw a whole lot of this…

Whale…that’s all for now.  It’s time to get ready for school:)

Get an iPhone

I’ve finally entered the apple world and I’m obsessed.  My diehard allegiance to Bill Gates still stands but it was time to take the plunge.  In recent months all 3 of my siblings bought iPhones and I became the lame sister with my stupid phone that shall remain nameless.  It was a weird feeling and I didn’t like it.  I was hours away from switching carriers when I heard the news that Sprint was indeed starting to carry the iPhone.

So on Friday, October 21st at approximately 3:47pm I purchased the new love of my life.  It’s actually not fair to call it love, more like lust or my latest obsession, but it feels like love.

Instagram was my first app to download just so I could snap this picture and post to my facebook from my iPhone.  I love technology.  Luckily Saturday Morning Breakfast doesn’t start till 10am so I had plenty of time to lay in my big girl bed, drink coffee, and download hundreds (or 6) of apps.

If you need to get a hold me there are several ways to do so now – all of which are at my fingertips.  Talk to you soon!

29 & Single

After laughing with Sue (my mom) about it she suggested a blog post recounting a recent event…

A couple of weeks ago I found myself alone on a Friday night drinking a glass of wine and watching the end of “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

Welcome to 29 and single:)

Coronado, San Diego

Yet another lovely adventure with Punky.  This time we headed south for some fun in the sun…Coronado.  I thought it was an island until I found out it wasn’t.  Although it was more interesting as an island I still found it quite lovely as a peninsula.  Being 29 and not interesting myself, I understand how it must feel.

Here’s Punky and I starting our adventure at Pei Wei – where most of our adventures start.

The main reason I wanted to go to Coronado was to drive over the bridge.  Everything else was just gravy – as they say:)

Anna and the captain…

Our adventures always include frozen yogurt.

…and clocks.

Love these pictures of Punky.

What the fork?

And then the bridge took us back to the mainland and home:)

It was a lovely day.

Start Hair School

Today marks the fulfillment of a dream come true – start hair school!

It doesn’t take being around me for long to know that I love hair, especially mine.

There were 3 things I consistently wanted to be when I was a little girl:

An astronaut

A ballerina

And a beaushican (I had a little bit of trouble with beautician)

Once I realized I probably wouldn’t be accidentally launched into space during Space Camp and I’m not smart enough for NASA , I gave up on that dream.

And there are several reasons the ballet was never going to work out…so now I just enjoy watching the ballet.

That leaves me with hair.  I’ve never had a reason to let go of this dream and the passion has only gotten stronger as I’ve gotten older.  I’ve never held onto something so tightly and so loosely all at the same time.  I’ve spent hours daydreaming, praying, planning, and wondering about it.  Over the years I’ve always just released it to God and trusted that if it was meant to be it would all eventually work out.

Two and half years ago during Seminar 1 of my Arrow Leadership Program we were posed with the question, “Is there a vision burning inside of you?”  I was waiting for some new revelation or noble passion to emerge but instead all I could think about was one word, HAIR.

On that day I felt permission to dream about it again.  It never seemed to make sense how it could fit into my life without changing everything I also loved.  Over the last couple of years I have continued to trust in God’s timing and allow him to deepen the vision he’s given me for an eventual salon in my neighborhood in Costa Mesa.  The vision and the dream is exciting but none of it can happen without first going to school.

Today I start at Paul Mitchell The School in Costa Mesa, another dream come true.  I wanted to post a picture in my first day of school outfit but technology isn’t on my side right now…I’ll just have to do a school outfit photo shoot soon.

I got to go back to school shopping this year.  Rarely do I get to legitimately say, “I need to buy more clothes” and especially, “I need to buy new shoes” but my all black dress code called for some new threads.  My fall look is entitled “Fall Mitchell” (thanks Punky:).  I’m sure this won’t be the last of my blogs about hair school, before long it may even turn into a hair blog…I have to think of something after I turn 30.  And since I’ll also be interesting by then it better be good…

FAQ’s:

What about your job at Mika?  I will continue full time as the Director of Operations at Mika.  I love my work and my community and plan on staying with Mika through school.  I will be working 7am – 3pm starting today.

When can I come in to get my hair done?  I should be on the floor somewhere in the range of December…

How long is the program?  The part time program is 20 months, I will graduate June 12, 2013

When do you have class: Monday – Thursday 5-10pm

How do you anticipate performing in compared to your classmates? I plan on being valedictorian (yes, it’s possible, I already asked)

Are you going to do crazy things to your hair, get more tattoos, and wear dark eyeliner?  Only time will tell…

Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way!!  I’m so excited!