Before and after

So, I did it. I waited three weeks for my haircut, looked at a gazillion pictures, and went in fairly informed with what I did- and didn't want. She was excited to do something totally different, but was quick to help me realize what I did and didn't like about certain styles. I brought lots of pictures, including pictures of past haircuts I did not like. Anyway, in the end, it wasn't drastic. It was longer than I expected. She recommended either chin-length, or a few inches below the collarbone if I didn't want it to bubble up like a curled under bob (which I did not). I love that Ashley, the girl who cuts my hair, doesn't try to sell me anything. She respects the fact that I'm allergic to practically every hair product out there, and is willing to use my own stuff to style my hair. I forgot hairspray, so the picture below reflects that.

The one thing I did learn from looking at pictures, is that there is no end to the "hair crisis." Even beautiful women get terrible haircuts or styles that are so unflattering to even the best-looking celebrity. Women change. Hair color changes (either on purpose or naturally over time). Weight changes. So I don't need to worry about finding a style I can stick with for 10 years. It's hair- it grows, and that's part of the fun, right? :)

And here's a 19-week pregnancy shot for you as well:

I'm off to bed so I can greet all those early-bird quarter-carrying garage-salers in the morning.

movin' movin' movin'

So challenge #5 from Lea's site, is to make something from scratch. She created an adorable poster (email her if you want the pdf to print). Since we are allergy-ful over at our house, that is a non-optional way of cooking for me. I can't think of very many things I buy prepared...I still buy pasta (regular and gluten-free), and coconut milk in a can. Oh, and tomato paste. Never tried making that homemade. However, I was a total failure at last week's challenge, so I would do well to put all my energies into continuing to pursue an evening routine and TRYING to get to bed before 11:30pm. I feel so much better when I do those things.

However, we are having a garage sale, or as my friend Jonesey likes to call it, The Annual Baring of Our Soul on the Front Lawn. It all started after our trip to IKEA, when we bought a more compact dining room table and needed to store our big beautiful table in the basement. We hope to add on a dining room to our current eat-in kitchen, but not right away. So what innocently started out as making a little room in the basement turned into an all out purging session. At that point we realized it would be easier to have a garage sale than list it all on Craigslist (although we did that, too, it will just be easier to have every interested party here within two mornings).

Everything is priced, the signs are up, and today's agenda includes picking up some extra tables and making two batches of Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls. To sell. A $5-7 investment for about 100 cinnamon rolls @$1 each, the kids have something to sell and keep them busy, and I will have one very happy husband. A good deal all around! (I'm sure I will be sick of seeing all that yummy goodness by this evening!)

Off to do some baking- hope your week is going well!

Five on Friday

1. Documentary Recommendations- click here
My friend (in real life, or my former life), Kate reviewed two documentaries last week on food. I had time to watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix and I thought it had a lot of great points. I'm not convinced I need to adopt a vegetarian diet, and I thought they left a lot of questions unanswered (were the studies done on raw milk? what quality of meat were these people eating who seem to get so many diseases?) but the overall message I got was that we need to include more raw veggies in our diet. Not a bad thing.

2. Haircut makeovers - click here.
Oprah.com had a six-part series with before and after pictures and wow! These are all just regular women, so it was more convincing than those haircut makeovers that start with supermodels who have long faces and perfect features. All the new haircuts aren't improvements (just being honest), but it was also good to see that they didn't give everyone a super short do. What I learned: most women over 25 look better with some sort of bangs and/or some framing around their faces. This seems to be the big difference between looking like you have hair vs. a hairstyle. Younger girls can pull off almost anything. I am far from old, but I am not in that category anymore. And folks, I was totally kidding about the shab. I do like the layers and the length, but anyone can look like that picture- just rub your dry hair with a towel to create frizz (and "lift") and voila- you have her look!And yes, Sarah :), she was THE ONLY one who seems to be sporting the hottest hair of the summer.

3. Bedskirt tutorial at Trends and Traditions- click here.
I have been putting off this project for Adeline's bed, and I think this will make it go faster. However, I priced out velcro, and it is far from a cheaper solution!

4. Homemade Almond milk- click here
Kimi, at the Nourishing Gourmet posted a simple tutorial for creamy homemade almond milk. I can't have milk right now, and the store-bought stuff has chemicals in it I also need to avoid, so I'm looking forward to trying this. We've been drinking goat's milk from the store, but it's not raw, and it's a whopping $4.50 a quart. Yes, a quart. So I am also avoiding goat's milk. :) I'll have to price this out and see how it compares.

5. The truth about Facebook-  click here.
Thanks to Abraham, of 22 Words, for this good laugh (although most of his stuff is hilarious).What's really funny is that 419 people "liked" this comic on their FB page.

Hope you all have a great weekend!