October in Review

Since I am so far behind maybe we should do a Month at a time. Shall we? 

We begin with . . .

 

Happy October!

As usual, the XANGO Halloween party is the biggest event of the year. We had skary-oke and to make sure that others would particiapte, the culture team started things off with a cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns and Roses with yours truly on Axl Rose lead vocals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between sessions of LDS General Conferenence we went up the canyon as a family to do a little leaf gathering. Unfortunately, the colors were not great and we had a rough time finding all the reall good colors. We did gather a few to bring home and press in our book nonetheless.













Maddy has decided that she loves Japanese food. Scratch that, she loves steak and fried rice and the cooking at the table that comes with the Japanese restaurants Tepenyaki and Benihana. I can support that because there is nothing better than their onion soup, salad with ginger dressing and ham fried rice. She is also getting to be fairly good at eating with chopsticks.
















It is clear that I am no good at cutting a straight line when it comes to bangs. So, Maddy and I tend to take quick trips into the salon together for a trim. On this occasion, since I was getting color,  she needed it as well. Theyobliged by put a stripe of pink chalk in for her. She is in love!

The best part of the whole trip was when she laid down at the sink and they started to run water over her hair and she let out the most adorable, contented sigh I have ever heard. I thought "yes, that is exactly how I feel when I get my hair washed and massaged at the salon!"

What a girlie girl Maddy is becoming.  

curls for the superbowl?

As you know, I'm finding quick ways to get curly hair without spending an hour curling my hair with a wand or a curling iron. Last night I tried another Pinterest trick - The Headband Curls. The website sent me to this youtube clip to figure out what I was doing.

Via

Super easy, after I showered last night I dryed my hair until it was basically dry. You know that point when it looks and feels dry until you step out into the cold air and your hair feels cold to the touch telling you that it wasn't actually quite dry? Yeah, that point. I tucked my hair up and around the headband like the video and did my best to make it not too tight in the very front as I didn't really want super tight curls near my face. Slept very comfortably last night and. . .

 

The result was a good one I think. Can't wait until Maddy has longer hair and I can try it on her.

 

And in honor of the game.

Go 49ers.

Here is a great Youtube video to get you in the mood.

"Hey, I'd love to get you a Mai Tai. Come on, I'll make it myself."

bun heads

Today I was a few rows over listening to a co-worker explain something. Halfway through his explanation I had to tell him to stop and repeat what he said. I admitted that it was because I had heard my name and was listening to hear what they were talking about. It was about my bun! For some reason, my hair has been the topic of conversation several times today. I feel a bit self-conscious because I can't tell if this attention is good attention or bad attention.

I think I like it. . . the bun, not being the center of attention.

You see, I have not had long hair since I got married 10 years ago.  Now that my hair is past my shoulders I've not really been sure what to do with it other than blow it out straight or pull it back into a ponytail. My nieces have long lovely hair and often have it curled so prettily. Lately on Pinterest I've found lots of people pinning hair ideas. So I've been in search of ways to get that curly/wavy look, without spending a lot of time in the morning.

I found this website while browsing Pinterest. Her hair is so perfect!! And she did this with the help of a sock? I was intrigued.

(Source)

Take a sock and cut off the toes to make a long tube then roll it down on itself to get a doughnut. Then you make a ponytail, hold the sock at the ends of your hair and then wrap your hair around the sock and roll it in toward your head. I can't explain it well so see the link for good pictures and a much better explanation.

 

My attempt at the sock bun didn't create the lovely curls that hers did (bummer), but I decided that maybe I could just wear the bun. It's definitely a different look for me (hence the comments around the water cooler).

The one drawback? Every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror I feel the urge to do a pirouette or jeté. I of course suppress the urge as I certainly don't want me doing ballet moves in the bathroom to be the next topic of conversation. 

cookie cutters

Maddy got her hair cut a month or so ago. In and of itself, that's not a bad thing - but it was cut by a 3 year old. For several weeks I told myself "we can live with it" so we didn't have to cut her hair. It's true, we could live with it. The bangs were untouched so really, as long as I pulled it into a ponytail or half ponytail, I really could hide it ok.

I decided though that at some point, I'd have to cut it so that it would be even and decided that maybe it would be better to do it now and let it grow out in a style that was a little closer to normal than it was. So, since maddy won't stay still for me, and because I wasn't ready to tackle a real haircut (I just trim bangs, and not all that well) we headed to Cookie Cutters - a great little place that costs too darn much but that caters to kids way too well!

She looks cute and I only miss her long hair when I look at pictures. I'm finally used to seeing her little face behind the bob after only 2 weeks.