It is pretty bad when your 16 year old sister-in-law knows more about skin care than you do, a late-twenty-something year old.. isn’t it? While visiting my in-laws this past December, I noticed Colleen had several jars and boxes of bath salts like dead sea salt. I had never tried salts before, prior to that. One morning I decided to try out the bath salts and surprisingly enough, it worked. My skin was really soft for the rest of the day and looked hydrated/moisturized. I rarely ever take baths, not since we moved out of our house (I really miss my garden tub) and on most occasions prefer showers but I’m thinking I should do this bath salt thing at least a couple of times a week. I haven’t used them since January.

I guess this is something to add to my shopping list for tomorrow! I want to find some with a sweet or fruity scent or even something like ginger.

For the last few weeks I’ve been toying with the idea of chopping off several inches from my hair. Right now, my hair hair is about mid-back when straight (a bit shorter when I let it dry curly). There are times when I love having long locks and other times when I hate it. My life isn’t too busy for the upkeep of long hair but I just get so bored with it and having to do something to it everyday. What I’m thinking about doing is cutting it to chin length, which will be at an angle from the back.The back will stack a bit too, to add some lift. My hair is really thick and even when short, it’s weighed down unless it’s layered.I’m a little terrified about taking the plunge to short hair though. It’s been awhile since my hair was that short. I just want something new. Something that isn’t so familiar! The two photos shown are old webcam shots from around 2000 or 2001, around the time I started working in finance and thought a short cut would suit me better than my long mangled mess. I’ve only cut my hair this short a few times in my life, once was my mom’s idea when I was 9 years old. I wasn’t too happy about it then but I’ve learned to appreciate shorter hairstyles as I’ve gotten older.The pluses of short hair - less time doing something with it, no more headaches (Like I said, my hair is thick and it’s heavy which tends to give me headaches when it’s long) and I can still benefit from having naturally curly hair by wearing it straight or curly. Jo says he prefers me with longer hair but also likes shorter styles on me. It figures he wouldn’t be able to give a straight answer, aren’t most men like that? In the other photo, you can actually see my natural hair color for once! I let it grow out for over a year before cutting it short once. Do you see the Irish in me yet? My hair is currently dark brown. I’ve been trying to let the color fade and grow out but for some reason, it’s just stuck this color. I’m thinking of having the color stripped but I know that’s going to make my hair cry. Maybe if I do that and let it “heal”, I can have it dyed a color close to my natural color, so that once it starts growing out, the roots won’t show.

What do you think? Short & natural? Long & natural? Short and dark brown? Long and dark brown? What’s a woman to do?

Now, in other news. I’d like to extend some love to one of my all time favorite art communities (heck, websites!) which is run by this awesome guy named Jason. It’s called Phirebrush and it’s amazing! If you’re into art whether it be photography, traditional art, digital art, music or writing, you are going to love it. Feel free to browse the issues, read the blog or even submit your own work for the next release. I’ve been a member of the community for a couple of years myself. I’ve missed several of the newest issues, which makes me sad. I hope to make up for it soon!

Well then! So last week I did the whole hair cut / style, right? Well, last night I decided I’d just put in some highlights which were sort of bronze colored, according to the box. My hair was nearly black prior to doing this! Well, the color didn’t take all over, only from the roots to about 2 inches down. Yuck. All I could do was laugh really, it’s not like it can’t be fixed! So, today I decided I’d take that as a hint and just try something different, yet not new! I went with a dark auburn brown. Buzz, buzz, buzz! That only took to the area that was highlighted, which has never happened before and I’ve done color like this before! It’s always taken in the past but nope, not today! I look ridiculous!! lol!! I guess you could say I have a “hair don’t” at this point! I went back and bought a dark brown / natural black color that I’ll use to cover this mess! I am so disappointed that the auburn didn’t turn out. Pffth!

Did anyone catch Dancing With The Stars? I think Joey Fatone, Ian Ziering and Apollo are my favorites this season! I do miss Emmitt though! :]

So, things with the export on the truck are settled! I won’t have to register my truck in Canada for 30 days after my arrival, thank goodness!! We’re still waiting on permission from our lien holder but customs said that was ok because I would be considered a visitor for the first 30 days anyway! Sheewww!! We are going to be heading out around 5am Wednesday morning! We’re hoping to arrive in Calgary late Friday or early Saturday! I really didn’t want to get there on the weekend because we really wanted to hit the apartment hunting early! We’ve found several that we like but we’d like to see the location and interiors (in person) before committing and such!

I’ll be heading to my mom’s for a few hours tomorrow evening, so I’m not sure if I’ll update again before getting to Calgary. If not, I’ll catch up and check in when I get there! ;]

I wasn’t sure about a subject! This entry will likely be all over the place. hahaha!!

I’ve decided to do something different with my hair! I’m thinking of going a bit shorter. Perhaps somewhere between chin-length and shoulder-length. I’m having my stylist do chunky layers too, since I wear my hair wavy so often these days. The layers will give more wave action. I’d do my hair curly but my hair is honestly a pest! It’s naturally curly, yet wavy in some spots and right along my face, it’s straight as a board. For the first couple of years of my life, I had pure ringlets it was so curly.. of course, it was also blonde back then. haha! From about the age of 5 or so until I was 26ish, I wore it straight. Sometimes I’d roll it or curl it but never styled it as “naturally” curly or wavy. Not until about a year and a half to two years ago. It’s a lot easier to do this way than it is to spend 45 minutes blow drying (my hair is also quite thick!) and another 20 minutes straightening out the stubborn areas with a straightener. I’ve also rarely ever used hair products in my hair, like gel/hair spray/mouse/putty. I guess you could say I’m a n00b, to a degree but I’m starting to master these things. I want something different than I’ve had before but I’ve honestly tried many, many styles. I’ve done the “shag”, I’ve done the “bob”, I’ve done the “blunt cut” and I’ve done the stacked-do that’s short in the back, longer in the front… and several styles in between. The last time I had my hair cut/styled, I went with what they called a “punk shag”. I still don’t understand this style, it just looked like choppy layers and not so much the shag style. Jo doesn’t want me to go too short, neither does my mom. It has nothing to do with not liking my hair in shorter lengths, they just end up being on the receiving end of my tears and “omg, my hair is so short”’s! lol!! I can’t blame them. A bad hair cut can be devastating, well, not necessarily bad but you know what I mean.

I think I’m going to do it though. I’m just going to fly with it because it’s time for a change and what better time for something like this than now! I think I’m going to color it today too. Two toned. Right now it’s nearly black, which is nice with my fair skin and green eyes but I’m thinking of going closer to my natural hair color for a while, which is a medium/brassy/reddish brown. The second color, I think, will be like a honey highlight or something. Then again, I might just leave it as the single color if I like it enough.

Here’s a couple of samples of what I am thinking about;

What else..

I think this “move” has finally hit me. I’m still super excited and happy about it but it’s sinking in that I will not be a hop-in-the-car and just-down-the-road from my family. My biggest concerns with that are with my surviving grandparents, my mom and my nephews. Both my grandpa (dad’s side) and grandmother (mom’s side) are not doing so well. Of course I’d be right back here if something should go wrong but still. My mom and I are really close now, like best friends and it’s going to be hard not having her to hug or having our “slumber parties” anymore, well, not until either of us visit the other. I’m going to hate being apart from my nephews and basically watching them grow up from afar. I’m sure my sister, her fiance and the kids will eventually visit but it’ll be nothing like going 2 miles down the road to hang out. I’m going to be nearly 3000 miles away! Three thousand miles! I know they say that home is where the heart is but how could that be realistic? My heart is in many places! It’s right here, in Georgia! It’s in Newfoundland! It’s going to be in Calgary, as I fell in love with the city and will have my husband and cats with me. But seriously, it’s going to be hard. Especially the first few months.

I joke around with my mom sometimes, saying how this move is going to be the hardest thing.. yet it’s so easy for me to do. Sounds crazy, right? The hard part is letting go of family and friends that have kept me anchored in a place I no longer feel happy with. The easy part is moving on to something better, giving myself and family the things we both need / want. I can’t give that here because the cost of living is ridiculous when you take into account that the job market barely exists in small-town America anymore. I’m going to love being in Calgary, I know I will and I don’t have to be convinced of that at all. I’m going to be near the Rocky Mountains, in a beautiful city with so much I can do and so many photographic opportunities! That’s why I’m excited! I just can’t deny my sadness though.

Tonight, I’m spending hours on end with my adorable nephews Tyler, Landon and Trent. Nikki asked me and Jo to come over for dinner and a movie. Tomorrow, I’m having lunch with my grandpa and then I’ll be going to my mom’s and spending as much time as possible with my mom, Tammy and my grandmother. When I get home, I’ll spend time with my dad and Kim before trying to get some rest for my big, first day of travel on Saturday. We’re going to leave around 4 or 5am. Why so early? It’s going to be my longest travel day. I want to drive as far west as possible on my first day, plus those of you into “Nascar” (not for me, sorry to say!) know that the race is at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I’m sure there’ll be lots and lots of nasty traffic and if you have never been graced with the traffic of Atlanta.. just know this, it STINKS! When I had to photograph my best friend’s wedding a couple of years ago, we had to travel through Atlanta to get to Roma, GA. We were nearly stopped from the Tangier Outlet (maybe 30 miles from downtown I guess) from 4:30pm - 7pm. Worst traffic delay I’ve ever been in to date.

Well, this entry has turned out to be pretty long and started out rather girly. lol! My apologies! haha! I need to get going though. I have so much to do today. I need to cash our income tax checks (we were good and decided if we cashed them, we’d want to spend them haha). Then I need to go get this hair of mine chopped off. After that, I’m going to check out some of the local stores for sales. I really need some pants. Speaking of, why is that places around here seem to stop selling pants the second it heats up? Seriously, people do wear pants year-round! All I could find yesterday was capri’s, which I love but I won’t be able to wear those for a couple of months yet! After that, I’ll be heading to my sisters for the evening / night!

I’m sure I’ll update this blog at least once more before I leave on Saturday but for now, I must sign off!