Emerge Esthetics

After much soul searching and consideration, I have decided to start my own skin care business- Emerge Esthetics! The last week has been a whirlwind- finding a location , getting equipment and product, setting up a business with the state, setting up accounts, etc. But I got it done, I signed my lease yesterday, and I have my first client tomorrow morning! Oh my gosh! I am actually booked for this week already. I decided to do this because it is what will work best for my family, and I knew that I eventually wanted to have my own business, so I decided to take the plunge and just do it now. My studio is in Gilbert, so it's close to home and pretty central for my current clients. In addition to permanent cosmetics I will be offering customized facials, microdermabrasion, epidermal leveling, waxing, PCA peels, lash/brow tinting, and professional Image and Rhonda Allison treatments. I am so excited, this is exactly what I had imagined for myself. My website is being built, and once it is done I will put the info on here. So everyone who would like to have some treatments done, give me a call at 480-628-4314!

San Diego

Macey, Heidi and I had a great weekend in San Diego. It was so fun to take a little road trip with them and spend some time together. I was a little worried, because I got my first "Are we there yet?" about 30 minutes into our drive. But we survived the drive and they were so excited to get to their cousins' house. It was so fun that my mom was visiting SD, too!

We had some jacuzzi time:





A tiny bit of relaxation time:

Some Balboa Park time:




Some awesome beach time:





And some Wii Fit time (our favorite was Hula Hooping):




This little trip was exactly what I needed to relax and take a break from the craziness that has been going on the last couple weeks (I will post about that later today!).

We made it!

It feels like so much has happened since I last updated my blog! It's all good stuff, though. I passed my practical and written exams- YAY!!!!! I was so nervous, I have had several friends fail their practical and have to re-take it. I had to wait 8 days to get my results, and when I saw the letter in the mail, I wasn't sure if I wanted to open it. You can imagine my relief and joy when I saw "Pass" on the results page. Whew! The written was pretty straightforward, but I finished 110 questions in about 20 minutes, so then I was nervous that I had rushed through it too fast! Luckily, I only had to wait about 15 minutes for those results. I got my license in the mail last week, so now I am official and ready to go! I just need to find a good job!

I also did my permanent make-up certification class a couple of weeks ago. That was one of the most fun but exhausting weekends I have ever had. It was four days in a row, get up and get ready, drive an hour to the class, tattoo or get tattooed for 11 hours straight, drive an hour home, and then get up the next day and do it all over again. It was a blast though, because my friend Chakeia and I did the class together. I performed and received several procedures, and got a nice start to my portfolio. I want to get a few more pictures for my portfolio though, so if anyone is interested in getting any permanent make-up, I am going to do just a few more procedures for a drastically reduced rate (just to cover my supplies). I have a couple of people booked already, so get in touch with me quick to make sure you get a great price. This is definitely something I can see myself doing for a long time. A lot of people would probably think it is monotonous, sitting there for a couple of hours doing very detailed work on such small areas, but I already have a passion for it!


Macey and Heidi have had a great summer already. They have had tons of play-dates, swimming, and sleepovers with grandparents. Next weekend we are going to have a girls weekend, and the three of us are going to go to San Diego to visit my sister Summer and her family. I cannot wait to get some alone time with the girls.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

The definition of torture:

...Is having to wait 7-10 business days for the result from my state board practical exam! It feels so good to have it finished, but I won't relax until I get that piece of paper in the mail that says "Passed" on it. I feel pretty good with my performance, but you never know if you forgot something that the examiners are looking for. I really really hope that I passed and that I don't have to go through that again! I have my written exam on Thursday, but you get your results from that as soon as you complete it. Thank goodness for that, or I might die from anxiety.

I have been working on the cutest gifts for Heidi's teachers for the end of the school year. I am making them class cookbooks. I sent home cardstock with each of the kids to write their favorite recipes on and write the teacher a little or or draw them a picture. I have gotten some of the cutest and most creative recipes back. My sister Lisa and I worked all weekend to make these books super cute, and this is the final product (the pictures are the outside cover and the inside first page):






You can't see much detail of the glitter, but we glittered all of the tiny details all over the pages. By the time we were done we had major hand cramps! I think that Heidi's teachers will love them. They have all been awesome teachers, we will miss them next year when Heidi goes to Kindergarten.

One down, three to go!

I have been slacking on my blogging! Just when I think things can't get any busier, life proves me wrong. The flu that we had stuck around for almost 5 weeks. Marley, Jenna, and Ryan kept passing it back and forth to each other. It has been about a week now since anyone threw up or had a fever, so hopefully (knock on wood) it is gone. Over the last week I completed my 40 hours of didactic for my medical laser technician and laser safety officer certificate. I took my test today, and I got a 98% on it! I never thought that I would ever need to know so much information about wavelengths, light, the electromagnetic spectrum, and everything else that comes with medical lasers. We didn't just learn about hair removal lasers, but also Photo Facials, fractionalized lasers, all the different IPL treatments, and too many others for my fried brain to recall at this minute. It feels so good to be done with this part. I take my practical state board exam on Monday, my written state board exam next Thursday, and then next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I have 12 hour days for permanent cosmetics. So in 2 weeks from now, I will be completely done and ready for a vacation. This going to school with 5 kids stuff is exhausting!

I have also been slacking on my picture taking, but I promise that I will get some on here soon.

Woo Hoo!!!!!

I'm done! I'm done! I'm done! I can't believe it! It still seems pretty surreal. It was very anti-climactic because I had the flu this week so I didn't get to go to my last day of school. Ten months of hard work and I didn't get my last hoorah. It is going to be very strange this week to not have to rush off to school. I will actually get to cook AND eat dinner with my family, tuck the kids into bed, and have some relaxation time with Scott. My next steps will be taking the state boards, finishing up my laser certification, and taking the permanent cosmetics course in May. It is all so exciting!

We have had the absolute worst flu-bug in our house the last couple of weeks. Everyone got super sick except for Scott. He claims he skated by because of all the fruits and veggies that he juices everyday, and he is probably right. But the rest of us wanted to die. Heidi and I had it at the same time, and we were both in my bed, each with a bowl right next to our head because we couldn't even roll over by ourselves, let alone jump up and run to the bathroom in time to throw up. It was miserable. Everyone is feeling a lot better now, Ryan seems to be holding onto the germs a little while longer than the rest of us. Hopefully by next week everyone will be all better and we can all celebrate that I will not have to go to school anymore!

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Here are a couple of videos of Jenna "reading" The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In the second video you can hear Marley's sweet little voice saying, "I love you, too."