Haircut and Other Things

We haven't been all that busy since coming back to Hometown, USA. Yesterday AJ and I went on a little Mama-Daughter lunch date and got some real, honest-to-goodness, hometown food. It was wonderful.

AJ has been waking up super early for whatever reason, so we're all a little tired. She was so tired yesterday that she almost fell asleep in the car on the way to lunch. I'll tell you, I did not have high hopes for how lunch was going to go with a sleepy toddler, but it was great. We were there early enough that it wasn't very crowded, plus its not a sit-down restaurant, so we didn't have to wait around forever for a waiter to come and take our order, bring us our food, etc.

We had another early wake-up again this morning, so when I noticed AJ was laying down on the floor with her blankie watching TV, I knew it was about time for nap. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with how well she's been doing since she is so tired. I guess I'm kind of hoping that this will continue through until next week when we make the drive home. Maybe she'll be so tired by that point that she'll nap the whole way home. Wishful thinking.

As for me, I'm excited. We have a big, fun, busy weekend planned! I'm starting things off right by getting my first haircut in a long time(since AJ was a newborn?). I think I'm going to do something drastic. I'm ready for a change. Plus, anything other than a trim would be drastic based on how long my hair is now. After my hair cut, we're heading to the in-laws for dinner. Tomorrow morning AJ and I have a breakfast date with one of my roommates from college who lives in the area. We're going to the best breakfast place around, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

I'm planning on getting my hair cut like one of these ladies below. What do you think?

I like the length of LC's cut without the bangs, though.

Heidi's hair looks great, but mine will never stay styled like this.

I like the way Jenn has her's styled in this picture.

Gwyneth's hair is most likely what mine would end up looking like. We have the same hair "type."

My sister is also making the trek home for the weekend so she can spend some time with us while we're here, even though we'll see her next month in sunny FL. The plan for Saturday afternoon is to take AJ to the Children's Museum now that she is actually old enough to enjoy everything. Following that, we're going to order pizza from the neighborhood joint infamously known as "Little I." (Short for "Little Italian.")

Sunday we have another busy day planned, we're going to hang around in the morning, but then after nap we're going to head into the city to go to the Auto Show and then have dinner at my cousin's house. He and his wife have a baby who is about 8 months old now and the last time I saw her, she was a newborn! Crazy how time flies, especially with little ones!

That's the big excitement around these parts! I'll be back Monday to update on the weekend, hopefully with lots of pictures (if I remember to charge my camera tonight) of everything, including the new hair cut!

My Hair Dying Experiment

I recently announced my intentions to save a buttload little bit of money and dye my own hair. So about a week ago I dyed my hair from a box. I haven't really ever done this before (aside from the mishap during my college years) so I was a little unsure about what kind of hair dye I should buy. I have seen all the commercials for the various products on the market and that is approximately where my knowledge of hair dyes ends.

Sorry this picture is so blurry.

I went to the PX and purchased a box of dye based on what the model looked like on the front. You might be thinking that this method of selection is not the best way to do things, and you may be right. Who knows? All I know is that my hair is approximately the color that the box promised it would be. I consider that to be a success!

This is what I looked like during the process.

Yep. I'm wearing a garbage bag. D thought it would be a good idea so I didn't ruin one of my super nice t-shirts (dripping with sarcasm). Anyways, it took a really long time. I thought that it would be quick and after the recommended minimum of 20 minutes I would be able to wash the dye out. Not so much. I think I left it in for almost an hour before it became obvious that we didn't do a good job getting it on everything evenly. I washed it out and sent D back to the PX to buy a second box to do the touch-ups (read: roots).

This is the close-up of the shoddiness of the first round.

In the end though, I am happy with the way it turned out. Immediately after, the contrast was a little intense for me. I was afraid that I looked ridiculous, but after it faded a little bit I ended up liking the outcome and will most likely attempt to dye my hair myself again.

Before

After

Hair Experiment...Or "Me: Being Frugal"

Some of you may look down your noses at what you're about to read. I'm okay with that. I have put some thought into my decision and I am fulling willing to live with the consequences, whatever they may be.

With that being said, I have decided to dye my hair. At home. From a box.

My hair is naturally light brown/dark blond (depends on the day). I'm really sick of paying an a$$load to get it highlighted at the salon. I have long hair. It takes forever and costs a lot of money to get a full head of professional highlights.

Going along with my decision is the fact that D and I had a discussion about our current location the other day. The gist of the conversation was, "there is nothing to do here and no restaurants to eat out at. We should be saving an a$$load of money while we're here." You may remember me talking about how we're going to buy a house at our next duty station. (You don't? Read about it here.)

Given our location (the middle of nowhere) and the likelihood that I will be able to find a decent salon (slim) I have decided that frivolous hair treatments can be one of the ways that we supplement our savings account.

So, I'm letting you all in on it. I have purchased my box of dye (yay PX!) and plan to take the plunge this weekend. Some of you who know me IRL (in real life) may remember the last encounter I had with boxed hair dye. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of meeting me (yet) here's a little teaser:

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but my hair is blue. Well, it was really more of a periwinkle than full-out blue. My poor friend, Lindsay (on the left) was the one who did it. I actually kind of liked it and honestly, it was my own fault. I was trying to go dark and bought the dye to take black hair to a medium brown. As I mentioned above, my hair is light brown/dark blond.

Here's a recent picture of me so you can have an idea of what the "before" looks like.

I'll update you on how it goes, but in the meantime, wish me luck!