Update

It's been a while since I've updated my blog. My old laptop has finally called it quits and so I went out and bought a new one! Yay... I guess it was a good excuse to go out and get a new one. I bought a little Toshiba netbook. It looks really cool, but it doesn't come with a CD/DVD player so I haven't been to quite get it up to speed yet. So while I'm home, I'm still using Bobby's laptop :-)
Here's all the hair that was collected during the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. A total of 68" from 7 ponytail donors including myself. It's not much, but definitely a good start!
Here's me and Kim Welch (winner of Big Break: Kaanapali) before and after the hair donation.
And then, after I cut my hair, one of the girls from Mexico was inspired and decided to cut hers! So, a couple days later, I was able to cut Violeta's ponytail. I was really quite nervous!
We had a few other volunteers from the Mason/Cincinnati area that donated their hair as well: Katie (with mom in pic with blue shirts), Christen, and Cameron. Cameron had cut off her ponytail last year but didn't get a chance to mail it in, so I was able to get it from her! And oh, another player - Maria, said that she would donate her hair if she made the cut that week. No one would have thought that +6 would have made it, but we both did! And so i was able to make arrangements with the salon (The Mandarine Spa) to cut her hair the following Monday after the tournament. Yay Maria! I think she looks great with her new hair do!










As for some other news around the house, the basil and tomatoes are growing really well! As for the cucumber, well... we've been having some really hot days and both Bob and I were gone and so no one was able to water the plants. It's still kinda growing, but the cucumber plant has definitely seen some better days.
We had also decided to take out the shrubs on the side of the house. Equipped with his new electric chainsaw and hatchet, Bob was ready to go! It looks much better now. We plan on putting our new garden here for next season. :-)
And... what else? Oh! Bobby bought fishing poles for my birthday! We took it to the golf course with us and after 6 holes, we decided to park our cart by the side of the 6th hole fairway pond. And nope, didn't catch anything. I did get a twig from my first cast. Does that count? We could hear the fishes jumping. It was like they were teasing us. Next time...! Next time, I'll get you!!

Busy week!

Who would have thought that +6 would have made the cut for last Sunday!?! I was already quite sure that I was going to miss the cut again by 1... but guess the wind and not-so-nice pin positions on Saturday got the most of the players in the afternoon. I was really happy to be able to play on Sunday :-) And I'm also glad that I did not slam my thumb in my car door (like last year) at the Waffle house!
After the event, I went to visit my housing in Lima, Ohio for a night. It was really good to catch up with Charlie and Janice again, and to see their dog Katie! She's such a cutie! From there, it was off to Angola, Indiana for the Junior Achievement Pro-Am. I ended up playing with the owner of the golf club: Glendarin G.C. and his mom too! We came in 2nd place with a 12-under 60! :-) There was a silent auction and I decided to bid on a Vera Bradley bag... and yup, I got it! :-) I normally just carry a money clip so who knows how often I would actually use the bag, but I told Bobby that it was for a good cause. And speaking of money clip, I was looking through the cards in my money clip and realized that I didn't have my debit card! Yeah... it's not the first, but the third time now that I've left it at a restaurant! ARGGHHH!!!
And after a 10+ hour drive today, I'm finally in New Jersey with my in-laws. I will be hopping on a plane first thing tomorrow morning to fly back to Tulsa. It will be nice to finally sleep in my own bed after 4 weeks on the road.
But nonetheless, the hair donation event went really well last week and has made quite an impact at the course as well as during the pro-am last week. One of the girls on the Futures Tour from Argentina lost a bet (in regards to making the cut, which she did) and so, she donated her hair too! It will be a busy off-week to get all the Thank You cards sent out and hair sorted out so I can mail them in to Pantene. I already have a golf lesson scheduled too for Saturday afternoon. I need to get my hook sorted out... QUICK! :-s And let's hope my computer is fixed so I can start posting some pictures too!

Hair Donation Videos

The tournament organizer - Game Day Communications, has been nice enough to put together 2 videos of the hair donation event. The first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQV6sSRkEo was of me and Kim Welch getting our hair cuts, courtesy of The Mandarine Spa. We were situated right outside the clubhouse, in the pavilion.
The second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aPh4Lbt4PM was of me cutting another player's hair. Violeta Retamoza from Mexico decided she would do it, when I was sitting down at the same table as her last Wednesday during the Meet the Pro's party!
So far, we have 51" of hair - from 5 different people including myself. My lock of hair was just over 16"!! We had a couple other volunteers from the Mason area that donated their hair as well, and we might have another one tomorrow.
As for my new hair do, it's been great! My hair washing time has been cut down to almost NO time and there's no need to blow dry! It's dry pretty much immediately after I hand-dry with a towel. It's really AWESOME! :-) Although, it has been quite hot when the sun hits my scalp. Some people have commented about how much cooler it would be with the buzz cut, but I think it's actually the opposite since I don't have that extra layer of hair to protect my scalp!
Even though there's only a handful of donations, the event has been a success for me personally. My buzz hair cut has made quite statement and has gained a lot of attention, even with all the volunteers here at the tournament! Thanks to Game Day Communications and The Mandarine Spa and the Duramed Championship for making it happen! :-)

Buzzed!

I did it! After all the anticipation, I finally donated all of my hair today to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. Well, almost all of it. I look like a tibetan monk with this military buzz cut!
People were not aware that I was going to buzz all my hair off, so when they heard about it and saw the clippers (courtesy of Mandarine Spa), they were quite shocked! But most of all, they were there to support me. Kim Welch, another tour player (and winner on the Big Break tv/golf series) also donated her hair. She was able to donate 8" of her pony tail. It's unfortunate that more players did not participate in such a good cause. Hopefully, once my hair grows out again (hmm... which might take a while this time!), I'll be able to get more people to participate. A volunteer from Mason, Ohio was able to donate 14" of her hair this past weekend! Hopefully I'll able to meet her in person this weekend to thank her personally.
It sure feels different which so little hair on my head, especially when the wind blows against my scalp! Well, if anything, I won't have to buy shampoo for a while and I won't have to travel with my hair dryer either! :-)

One last night with long hair!

Arrived in Mason, Ohio today. Picked up my sister at the airport in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, she won't have enough hair to donate tomorrow. We do already have a volunteer in Mason that cut off about 14" of her hair for the event!
I finally received my birthday package from Bobby last Saturday. It arrived a day late despite having it expedited by the Postal Service, or so he says. And yes, as you can see, Spongebob band aids and 2 packets of apple juice! It's from an episode of Family Guy. He's so silly!
Anyhow, he said that my real present is back in Tulsa. I told him that it better NOT be a sink, as we do need a new utility sink for the laundry room!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Another year older... sigh! Well, the bad golf yesterday didn't help either! Bob said to shoot 33 on the front and 33 on the back (i.e. my age)... but what did I do? I had 33 putts instead! Ha!!
But nonetheless, I am grateful and thankful for all the birthday wishes and the nice dinner. My host family took me out for dinner at Decatur Country Club, where I had spaghetti and meatballs (don't ask, I just felt like it!) and they ordered a Baked Alaska for me for dessert. YUM!

In the news again!

I was really surprised to see the local papers yesterday - under the sports section. What a big picture! I was interviewed by the local papers yesterday in regards to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. Only 5 more days to my hair cut in Mason, Ohio next week! Another player has stepped up to donate her hair next week, so that's really nice. It will be held at 4:45pm at the Golf Course at King's Island, right after the hot-dog eating contest for caddies. Yup! Hot-dog eating contest! That should be quite exciting too!

205,000 miles!

Somehow, it didn't seem that long ago when my car finally reached 200K miles. I just happened to look at my speedometer yesterday and there it was... 205K miles! Knock on wood - so far so good! We're about halfway into the season now. Still have 9 more events to go! And yes, that's including skipping out Hammond, IN. Not going to go out that way again!

Onward to Decatur, IL from Cedar Rapids, IA!

Shot 76 and 75 this week and missed the cut by 2! I think a few years ago, that would have made the cut easily. But now with all these young rookies playing so well, I really need to step it up a little bit more! Can't make bogeys in those final few holes! Grrr... :-s And can you believe it... the winner won by 10 shots this week!

My housing's son caddied me this week. It was nice to have the extra help, especially with the rain on Saturday. For whatever reason, the tour always brings rain to the tournament site! Last year in Decatur, I remembered seeing corn cobs on the muddy fairways! I'm staying with the Tournament Director here and he said that the course is in great shape this year. Fairways are more narrow and the rough is thick! I better straighten out that driver soon!

As usual, I was greeted with the smell of soy driving into Decatur. Ahhh... yes... that familiar smell. I'm not sure how to describe it. It actually smells quite bad. I guess it smells like burnt milk (not that I've ever burnt milk before!)

Well, looking forward to a good week this week. We need a new shed in the backyard for our riding mower!

The Amish in Iowa

I crossed the border into Iowa this past Monday (from Missouri). I had to pee really bad so I stopped at the Welcome Center. There were 2 horses with small wagons parked outside the Center, but since I had to pee so bad I decided to take pictures later. I walked into the store and there were 3 Amish men sitting in these addirondick chairs. I walked straight past them towards the restrooms.
After I was done (pheew!!) I roamed around the store and bought a couple little knick-knacks. I walked out and the horses and wagons were gone! As I pulled out of the parking lot, I saw one of the horses and wagon on the other side of the street. And then I realized... ahhh... these are REAL Amish people! I was so sure that they were part of the store! You know, like the "welcoming party". Haha... I felt so silly!