Birthday Update

So, my birthday was this past weekend. We won't go into my age as I don't feel that old, at least not today. I opted to celebrate in style...I did this by taking Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off work. Here is how I spent my time:

Friday:

• I slept in, well as late as Devil Dog would allow.
• After I got up and had some icecream for breakfast, I shooed DD out into the yard and went up to my studio and finished work on a growth chart quilt for my friend Angie's boychild. (I have pictures of this but have not gotten them off of the camera, so that will be posted at a later date.)
• I then got myself around and packed up to go visit Angie and her family.
• On my drive over to Angie's, I stopped at a liquor store to purchase a gift for her husband. Sadly, the town in which I live is dry, so I needed to figure out where to stop on my way. Thank goodness I can count on Sara for her quick research as she was able to direct me to which exit to take. However, the liquor store that I stopped in looked as if they were going out of business as their shelves were bare. I found this to be odd since it was Friday afternoon and I would think they would be fully stocked in preparation for the weekend (they did say the truck was on its way, but not in time for when I was there). I grabbed a bottle of Captain Morgan and went on my way.
• I had to return to my house as I forgot to pack my skydiving DVD, which was one of the primary things that I was supposed to bring with me.
• I eventually made it to Angie's house where we spent the afternoon/evening hanging out and visiting.

Saturday:

• We all got up and headed out to Scarborough Faire. Angie and Seamus, her husband, have season passes and do the full dress. Since they are full dress people, I too opted for the full dress for this visit. Here is a picture of me in costume. Okay, so not a full picture of me, but you get the idea:

 

• Great fun is always had when I'm out at a fair with these folks. Primarily we do lots of walking and people watching and just generally nothing, but it was great because we were out doors and enjoyed the fresh air.
• Once we were finished at the fair, we stopped at her folks' house for dinner and then headed back to their home where I spent the night.

Sunday:

• On this morning, we got up and hung out. Angie and I had some more really great conversation and visiting time.
• Around noonish I headed out to my sister's to meet up with the family to celebrate my birthday.
• While at my sister's we watched my skydiving video (good thing I went back for it) and looked at my niece's prom pictures (can't believe she is a Senior and graduating).
• Because I'm such a high maintenance person I required much work on my family's part for the meal.... Marti had to call Mama's Pizza and place the order and Chief had to drive there to pick it up.
• We also had cake and since it was my birthday unwrapping presents.
• Mid to late afternoon I headed down to my parents' house to spend the night down there. We sat out on their back patio for a while just enjoying the breeze and watching hummingbirds and butterflies. It is always so relaxing and enjoyable to just sit outside when over at Mom and Dad's. We also scanned through my London and Rome travel books and talked about things to do on my trip.

Monday:

• We, Mom, Dad, and I, slowly got ourselves around. We had a leisurely breakfast, after they sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and completed our crossword puzzles (oh yeah, I did the New York Times one almost completely on my own).
• We then headed down to Grandbury, TX to wander around the square for a bit and have a bite of lunch.
• I then headed back to my own home.
• Sara came over to celebrate my actual birthday dinner with me. She brought Double Dave's and bubbly for dinner. We topped it off with cupcakes that my dog walker made and left for me in the fridge.
• Sara and I also expanded our minds by watching two weeks worth of Biggest Loser.

Tuesday:

• To top off my 5 days of visiting, I decided to pamper myself.
• I started my day with cake for breakfast, I mean if I have it I might as well partake of it, right?
• I then went for an hour and a half massage.
• After the massage, I did a little shopping for things that I didn't really need, but I had a coupon and a gift certificate so heck why not go for it.
• I then went and got a new cut and color. I went for a really short style this time as I want to have very easy hair while on my trip. I don't have a picture, but will post one as soon as I do.
• I finished the vacation off with some mind numbing television watching and playing with DD.

All in all, I had a really great birthday weekend.

Hair-story

After two and a half years, I finally decided my hair was long enough to donate and get chopped. Of course, this momentuous occasion had to be properly documented and I'm finally getting around to posting about it.
Before - Hair down, see long....

After - One big swipe with the scissors and it all goes away.

After Part 2 - Dead pony tail...now off to Locks of Love.

Final - Not as short as I was originally thinking, but short enough for now.

Hair....

Gimme a head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer....

The above is lyrics from the musical "Hair".

I'm trying to grow my hair out. I've been doing this for awhile now. Initially it was growing out solely so that It would be less messy when I worked out and took a cap off. Now, however, I've decided to let it grow out and then donate it to "Locks of Love". The thing with donating my hair is that it has to be 10 inches from the point that it is cut off to the end....that will take a while.

Luckily, I have pretty decent hair. It has some curl to it for when I want to go curly. It styles nicely. My stylists have always told me that it is thick, or rather there is a lot of it. However, it is really fine, so it gets fly-a-way pretty easily.

Unluckily, I'm lazy when it comes to my hair. I've always told my stylists that I don't really care how they cut it as long as it is cute, in fashion, doesn't make me look too masculine (being a slightly bigger girl, this is something I think about), and is easy to care for. I'm a little ADD when it comes to styling my hair. I don't own a curling iron. I don't own a flat iron. I want to be able to dry and style my hair in the length of time for a song to play on the radio, which means less than 5 minutes from turning on the drier to putting the final spritz of hairspray. Longer hair takes slightly longer to style than short hair, and this is something I'm trying to deal with. This morning I realized that I was spending a lot of time round-brushing my hair every morning and then turning around and pulling it up into a pony-tail. Why do I do this? Going forward, there is going to be a lot less round-brushing going on.

I figure at the rate that my hair grows I'll be able to cut it all off this time next year, if not earlier.

Annoyed ABBA

I know I go through this a lot, but here is my latest list of things that are annoying me:

• Everything in my closet. I hate my entire wardrobe and changed clothes three times this morning before I decided I didn't look like a complete goob. I still look all schlumpy but that doesn't really matter since nobody actually ever sees me.
• Hang nails and rough spots on my nails. What causes these?
• The jerk that sat there, in reverse, and didn't bother to pull out of the parking place until after I had passed, even though I was sitting at a stop sign waiting for him to pull out.
• The fact that my check engine light came on as I was driving in this morning, even though I just took my car in 2 weeks ago for a complete, factory authorized, 75K mile check up.
• 90% of the people that I work with.
• Letting my hair grow out. It is getting to one of those funky stages that I can't really do anything with. It is too short to pull into a barrette; just long enough to tuck behind my ears, except for the bangs; and HUGE. I have giant Texas, the bigger the hair the closer to God, hair going and it is going to be like this until it gets long enough to tame a little better.
• The lady that I work with who asked me, in front of my whole team, if I would make a quilt for her daughter's school art auction. Did she ask the other co-worker, who paints, for a picture? No. Does she think I can just pull a quilt out of my ear? I don't even like this person, so why would I make a quilt for her daughter to cut down on her private school tuition? I will make quilts for auction for charities that I believe in and I make quilts to give to kids in the Ronald McDonald House or in a homeless shelter, but not for something like a school auction.
• Wearing a name tag. Okay, actually a name badge, but I still hate it. The thing hangs from my neck and just seems to get in the way, so I take it off and then when I have to go to the restroom, I forget to grab it and then I get locked out of my office.

Between the hair, the clothes, the co-workers, and the badge....maybe I should just start staying home from work more.....