Getting Back to my Roots

Well folks, I’m getting back to my roots…literally. I have chopped of all my hair into almost a pixie cut and what remains is my au natural ash colored hair. Why would I do this? Well, first I look good with short hair. And secondly, I just got fed up with dying my hair.

I suppose my desire to consolidate my spending this year did contribute. Now that I coupon, that impulsion to save money is driven into me even harder. The need to save money is so strong currently that even the access to a very good and very cheap stylist could not sway my mind. (Side note: Thank you Jenny!)

I have been coloring my hair since 7th grade and I had never looked back. I’ve been blonde, black, all shade of reds and browns and each time I think I’ve found the perfect look. But I’ve always been too whimsical to stay with any one look for long, and now that I’m aging and it has come to my attention that gray hairs aren’t so far in the future, I’ve decided to change.

Michael, my silvering fox, is currently plucking out random gray hair. My other half is starting to get gray hairs!!! That makes me feel so old. And I can’t even properly make fun of him because I can’t really say I don’t have grays because my hair has too much unnatural coloring to tell.

So this weekend, I decided to chop the hair off. It was overly needed. My roots were almost two inches long and the dark red had faded to an orange. I just couldn’t walk around feeling so dishelved, the hair had to go.

And I love it! Takes me two seconds in the morning to do. I’ve got a new fascination with headbands and I’m dying to get some earrings that will actually show. I highly recommend giving short hair a go sometime, it feels so good. I’m overjoyed to report that I have yet to spot any gray. So for now, I will rock my natural ash color and leave the coloring for later.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

That House

(Not my house.)

Yup, I will confess. My house is that house in your neighborhood. I am the proud owner of the shabbiest house on the block. It’s not that the house that is in shambles but the yard. The yard is a disaster zone. When we first moved in, I was so excited about the idea of having a yard. I could have a garden, plant some trees, some bushes and just personalize the crap out of our yard. What I have now, two years after moving in, is my cute little garden, which is hardly recognizable with the weeds overwhelming what has dared to bloom. The grass is hardly cut and dry. And I’m thankful for the dry weather lately because it means the grass has grown slower which really translates to only having gotten one notice from the village to cut our grass instead of the two or three we had at this point last summer. My husband and I just don’t have time to give it the attention it needs and when we do find free time, we just don’t want it to be spent in our yard. I miss having our townhouse for this reason alone sometimes. So for the 5% of the time I feel guilty, I say sorry neighbors.

With that being said I figure you got a clear picture of what my house looks like. (And for another reference see picture above, it’s really not far off the mark.) What baffles me sometimes is my neighbor’s behavior. They have a nice yard. They cut the grass regularly. They refresh the mulch around their trees and they even take the time to water it to keep it looking green. Good job neighbors! But the baffling part is that they leave one lawn-mower length of grass uncut for us. Since the moment we moved in, we noticed they do not cut a strip of grass that is attached to their yard. It is on the outside side of our driveway and it looks like where their yard begins. The driveway seems like a clear border between their yard and mine. So I can only assume that it must fall on our property and they leave it uncut. Fair enough. BUT, they see how we are. We hardly cut our grass. So instead of them having a really nice yard, they have a really nice yard with one ugly strip on the side. I wish I had taken a picture before the last time we cut our yard because it’s comical to see. And it’s really a 10 second clip of grass that needs to be cut. It’s not a big deal. But always, they skip it. Though I realize it’s 100% my responsibility to cut that grass (I assume, where are the property lines when I need them?) I can’t help at be annoyed at my neighbors stubborn behavior. We have no problem mowing it if it really is our small slice of yard but being we aren’t the best landscapers, I would just think they would want to spend an extra 10 seconds to make their lawn look finished.

I realize we’re jerks because of this but you can’t be a saint all the time right?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Ode to Harry Potter

(Veronica and I at Hogwarts)

I’ve wanted to write a dedication to Harry Potter for some time, but I’ve always refrained because I fear it will be inadequate. Screw inadequacy! I love Harry Potter. Even if I only convey a third of what I love about the series, that’s still a third of love that I put out there and may or may not encourage another reader. (HP fans: You all know that the weapon we have is love!) Though I’ve been successful in the past in getting others to read (cough Twilight cough), I don’t think I’ve done the same for Harry Potter. And that’s a shame because it is definitely my favorite book series. Heck, I’ve even got a quote tattooed on my shoulder and I’ve seriously considered getting more.

So let me start at the beginning…how I got started with Harry Potter. I understand people’s hesitancy to pick up the series. I myself was one of those hesitant people. To this day, I have a harder time picking up a novel that involves witches, wizards, magic or anything of that nature. Plus throw in the aspect that Harry Potter is only 11 in the first book and you’ve got a whole book about a pre-pubescent wizard. Not so exciting. Ohhhhh…but that’s where you and I were wrong. And I can only more forward with my tale by saying one thing first. Thank you. Thank you Veronica for constantly pushing Harry Potter in my face and not giving up until I had finally agreed to give it a try. It has forever changed my life.

Wow, really? Changed my life? And I think I could say honestly yes. First, like I mentioned before, I’ve altered my body to have Harry Potter permanently apart of it. It has cemented a lock tight bond between me and one of my closest friends. It has provided many late night movie excursions. It has given me a new reason to travel to Florida. It has given me something to look forward to sharing with my son. It has brought nothing but joy and I just thank the heavens for giving J.K. Rowling the idea to this story.

So what’s so fabulous? Everything. I mean everything. I took a rode trip this summer with my sister-n-law and we asked ourselves boundless amounts of would you rather questions. We contemplated sex, marry kill scenarios…but the one and only question I can clearly recall is when she asked me about Harry Potter. She started off by saying “What would you change about the Sookie books?” And I had a ton of suggestions. (Am I the only one to hate the most recent book?) Then she moved on…”what would you change about the Black Dagger Brotherhood books?” Again, there were a few things. And then she asked the inevitable, “What would you change about Harry Potter?” And my honest answer was nothing. It is pure perfection. And part of what I like is that it’s not all happy joy lucky. Harry is an orphan and has had a sad lonely life until he goes to Hogwarts. And he doesn’t just lose his parents but there are significant deaths throughout the series that are awful. Of course those deaths upset me. (I wore a black hair band around my wrist for a week in honor of Dumbledore because I read Gary Oldman did the same. Figure he could show tribute I could too. I’m crazy weird, I know.) But if you changed anything about these sad scenarios the books wouldn’t be the same. Harry would be a different person. The outcome could have been different and I love exactly where the book goes.

So what makes it a good book? Here is where things get tough for me. I fear the inadequacy here the most because when I read a book, I feel a book. The way a book leaves me feeling is a huge factor in whether I enjoy it or not. I’ve always been one of those people who puts themselves in other people’s shoes. So as Harry Potter moves through each year of Hogwarts, so do I. I felt the loss of his parents everytime he thought about them. I felt the loss of his godfather. I felt nervous when he asked Cho Chang to the dance. And I definitely felt the horror and shock when Dumbledore was killed. I felt. I felt. I felt. (Not to be confused with Tom Felton.) And I won’t ruin the last movie but I cried, no wait that’s not accurate enough, I was a giant mess of tears (Cry me a River is most accurate) when it is revealed what “I open at the close” means for Harry Potter. That will forever be my favorite part of the last book. And it is the scene I’m most excited to see tonight at midnight. If there is one thing to get right, it’s this scene. (And perhaps one scene with the most excellent Severus Snape….that one should be a gem too.) I suppose it left me with a over whelming feeling of joy, accomplishment and love. Reading these books is satisfying to your soul. Go ahead, feed your soul. Feels real good.

And though it feels like it’s really ending now, it’s not. It’s been over. (Last book came out in 2007) Though I have enjoyed going to see the movies, it has always been about the books for me. So I need to stop tearing up when I see the trailer because I’m not seeing anything surprising. (Yes, that happened last week when I went to see Super 8….which was fantastic by the way). Because though the last book has been written and the last movie will be over, it will forever be a favorite and I am happily awaiting the day that I can experience these books with Desmond. My torch for Harry Potter is still lit and will continue to be.

Gah, I just re-read what I wrote. I sound spastic and unconvincing. So I will end it with this. If you enjoy reading. And you must be a reader, not someone who dabbles once in a while in reading if a fantastic vampire romance novel is out. (Cough Dayna cough) Then I will say, you will enjoy these books. Overlook the book jacket if you normally find books about magic and wizards unappealing because you are going to find that there is so much more within these books. And if you still can’t bring yourself to read them, that’s ok too. But you might want to get checked out by a psychologist because you’re crazy. Guaranteed. But I still like you anyways.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)