Sunday, April 8, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
April 6: Hair Evolution
I got my haircut today, and I am loving the new style. Before we get to what my hair looks like today, I thought it would be fun to take a journey back to all my (not so good!) hairstyles through the years. It has been a long, long journey so bear with me (and prepare to laugh) as I share some pictures and stories with you.
My hair is super thick and naturally wavy and crazy. Every time I go to a new stylist, I prepare myself to listen to her comment over and over again for 45 minutes, "Wow, you have a lot of hair!" As if I didn't already know!! As kids, both my sister and I had this crimpy, frizzy layer of hair underneath the top layer. It made our already thick hair stick out even more and made it difficult to style and control.
I give credit to my mom, because I think she did her best to try to keep our hair under control. It was just too wild!
I've been looking at old pictures and trying to figure out when the crazy hair started. Here I am at Audrey's age. When compared with Audrey's fine straight hair, I definitely had more volume and body as a three year old! (Thank goodness it appears that Audrey did NOT inherit my hair!)
One of the first tactics for taming my crazy hair was to create layers. This was a good idea (and one that I constantly use now!), but this was back in the 80s. So the layers were taken a bit to the extreme, resulting in this lovely mullet-like hairstyle.
I don't think anyone was a fan of the layers, so the next option was to cut it short. Now, the wind is not helping me out in this picture, but just check out that hair! Having it short and all the same layer only made the thick hair look even thicker!
After that, I think we grew my hair out. The longer it got, the more frizzy it got underneath. This picture illustrates well the crazy, crimpy, frizzy hair.
To keep all of our hair under control, my mom often put our hair in ponytails. Which helped I think, but we still had those extremely heavy bangs that started in the middle of our head!! (that is my sister on the left and me on the right)
When I was in 4th grade, we (really, my mom and her hairstylist) decided to perm my hair. That did seem to help with the crazy crimpiness, but not so much with the thickness. I was such a tiny little girl with such a huge head of hair.
I stuck with that permed hair all the way through high school. How I cringe when I look at my high school hair! What was I thinking?! I was old enough to know better at this point. I usually wore it parted down the middle and tucked behind my ears. It was all one layer, and it was permed. Oh, it's painful!
Finally, before my senior year of high school, we started to get my hair under control! I got it cut shorter and quit perming it. I still don't think I had invested in a straight iron at this point, but it was a huge improvement over the long, permed hair.
I liked having short hair, as it made my hair much more manageable. But my first year of college, my hair kept getting shorter and shorter. I was not a big fan of this super short hair period, but I'm not finding any pictures of that time on my computer.
Later in college, I finally found a stylist who seemed to know how to handle my thick hair, and she introduced me to two amazing marvels of modern hairstyle: thinning sheers and texturizing razors. Where had these things been all of my life? Were they new inventions or did my former hairstylists just not know about them? Seriously, with these tools, she was able to remove so much bulk from my hair! Add in the use of a good quality straightening iron at home, and I started to feel like I had hair like a normal person!
Due to all the years of big, poofy, curly hair, for a long time I preferred to keep my hair straight and sleek and smooth. I wore it at various lengths, but I always wanted it straight...no wave, no curl. That look was possible to achieve, but it required me to completely blow dry and straighten every piece of hair and keep it extremely well cut. The above picture was taken right after I left the salon. I really don't like to spend a lot of time on my hair, so to achieve this look every day was extremely unlikely. Most days my hair just ended up in a ponytail when it was this length.
Recently, my stylist has been helping me to embrace my natural waves. I haven't touched my straightener in about four months. And I think that's a good thing. It is SO much easier to fix my hair this way and usually takes less than 5 minutes. I just blow dry it a little, curl a few pieces and then I'm ready to go! Today at the salon, she cut it a bit shorter and added some sideswept bangs. I'm liking it a lot...so much better than the perms of my childhood!
I'm no expert on hair or style, I rarely wear makeup and I don't like to spend a lot of time making myself look beautiful (though maybe I should, as I'm looking at the makeup-less me in this picture...eek!). There have been several years in my adult life when I only got a haircut once a year.
But the past few years, I have made an effort to, at the very least, get my hair cut every two months. It is nice to feel pretty and stylish, even just for one day! I have also started buying some salon products to use at home on my hair, even though it is a bit painful for the cheapskate inside me. My favorite product right now for creating soft waves and curls is Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Texturizing Sea Spray. It really works well on my hair, and it smells good too!
My hair is super thick and naturally wavy and crazy. Every time I go to a new stylist, I prepare myself to listen to her comment over and over again for 45 minutes, "Wow, you have a lot of hair!" As if I didn't already know!! As kids, both my sister and I had this crimpy, frizzy layer of hair underneath the top layer. It made our already thick hair stick out even more and made it difficult to style and control.
I give credit to my mom, because I think she did her best to try to keep our hair under control. It was just too wild!
I've been looking at old pictures and trying to figure out when the crazy hair started. Here I am at Audrey's age. When compared with Audrey's fine straight hair, I definitely had more volume and body as a three year old! (Thank goodness it appears that Audrey did NOT inherit my hair!)
One of the first tactics for taming my crazy hair was to create layers. This was a good idea (and one that I constantly use now!), but this was back in the 80s. So the layers were taken a bit to the extreme, resulting in this lovely mullet-like hairstyle.
I don't think anyone was a fan of the layers, so the next option was to cut it short. Now, the wind is not helping me out in this picture, but just check out that hair! Having it short and all the same layer only made the thick hair look even thicker!
After that, I think we grew my hair out. The longer it got, the more frizzy it got underneath. This picture illustrates well the crazy, crimpy, frizzy hair.
To keep all of our hair under control, my mom often put our hair in ponytails. Which helped I think, but we still had those extremely heavy bangs that started in the middle of our head!! (that is my sister on the left and me on the right)
When I was in 4th grade, we (really, my mom and her hairstylist) decided to perm my hair. That did seem to help with the crazy crimpiness, but not so much with the thickness. I was such a tiny little girl with such a huge head of hair.
I stuck with that permed hair all the way through high school. How I cringe when I look at my high school hair! What was I thinking?! I was old enough to know better at this point. I usually wore it parted down the middle and tucked behind my ears. It was all one layer, and it was permed. Oh, it's painful!
Finally, before my senior year of high school, we started to get my hair under control! I got it cut shorter and quit perming it. I still don't think I had invested in a straight iron at this point, but it was a huge improvement over the long, permed hair.
I liked having short hair, as it made my hair much more manageable. But my first year of college, my hair kept getting shorter and shorter. I was not a big fan of this super short hair period, but I'm not finding any pictures of that time on my computer.
Later in college, I finally found a stylist who seemed to know how to handle my thick hair, and she introduced me to two amazing marvels of modern hairstyle: thinning sheers and texturizing razors. Where had these things been all of my life? Were they new inventions or did my former hairstylists just not know about them? Seriously, with these tools, she was able to remove so much bulk from my hair! Add in the use of a good quality straightening iron at home, and I started to feel like I had hair like a normal person!
Due to all the years of big, poofy, curly hair, for a long time I preferred to keep my hair straight and sleek and smooth. I wore it at various lengths, but I always wanted it straight...no wave, no curl. That look was possible to achieve, but it required me to completely blow dry and straighten every piece of hair and keep it extremely well cut. The above picture was taken right after I left the salon. I really don't like to spend a lot of time on my hair, so to achieve this look every day was extremely unlikely. Most days my hair just ended up in a ponytail when it was this length.Recently, my stylist has been helping me to embrace my natural waves. I haven't touched my straightener in about four months. And I think that's a good thing. It is SO much easier to fix my hair this way and usually takes less than 5 minutes. I just blow dry it a little, curl a few pieces and then I'm ready to go! Today at the salon, she cut it a bit shorter and added some sideswept bangs. I'm liking it a lot...so much better than the perms of my childhood!
I'm no expert on hair or style, I rarely wear makeup and I don't like to spend a lot of time making myself look beautiful (though maybe I should, as I'm looking at the makeup-less me in this picture...eek!). There have been several years in my adult life when I only got a haircut once a year.But the past few years, I have made an effort to, at the very least, get my hair cut every two months. It is nice to feel pretty and stylish, even just for one day! I have also started buying some salon products to use at home on my hair, even though it is a bit painful for the cheapskate inside me. My favorite product right now for creating soft waves and curls is Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Texturizing Sea Spray. It really works well on my hair, and it smells good too!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
April 4: Audrey's Art Space
Back in October, Audrey got a lot of art and craft supplies for her birthday. Since then, I have been working to get an organized space together that would both serve to store it all and give her a space for creating.
Well, it only took me 5 months, but I finally finished her art space in our basement! It feels good to cross another basement project off my list. Now, I just need to finish up some toy storage solutions, and my basement makeover will be complete!
For this project, I really didn't have any money to spend. So my goal was to create a space that looked cohesive and was still practical for storing all of our supplies only using things I already had around the house. I used to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and I used to have a stamping studio in our basement where I did all of my crafting and taught classes. So, I already had quite a few items that once held my stamping/crafting supplies and could now be recycled for Audrey's craft supplies. I did spend about $30 on this project: about $15 for the Piccaso quote and $15 for the frame on the wall.
This frame is ready to hold all of the "masterpieces" that Audrey (and one day Isla) will create!
The bars and hanging cups and baskets are from Ikea.
Before I started, I took inventory and made a list of every craft item that we owned. Then as I was putting this space together, I made sure that every single item had a specific home. It makes cleaning up so much easier when we know exactly where everything belongs.
I used the free printable labels found here to label everything. Super easy and cute!
I wish that I could get a cute table and chairs for this space, but for now we are just using what we already own!
I wanted everything to be fairly accessible for Audrey, so that she could get out some supplies and "create" without my help every time.
When Daniel made the shelves for our reading nook, he had some good size pieces of wood leftover. So he made two smaller shelves in the same color that we hung up to hold coloring and activity books!
Well, it only took me 5 months, but I finally finished her art space in our basement! It feels good to cross another basement project off my list. Now, I just need to finish up some toy storage solutions, and my basement makeover will be complete!
For this project, I really didn't have any money to spend. So my goal was to create a space that looked cohesive and was still practical for storing all of our supplies only using things I already had around the house. I used to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and I used to have a stamping studio in our basement where I did all of my crafting and taught classes. So, I already had quite a few items that once held my stamping/crafting supplies and could now be recycled for Audrey's craft supplies. I did spend about $30 on this project: about $15 for the Piccaso quote and $15 for the frame on the wall.
This frame is ready to hold all of the "masterpieces" that Audrey (and one day Isla) will create!
The bars and hanging cups and baskets are from Ikea.
Before I started, I took inventory and made a list of every craft item that we owned. Then as I was putting this space together, I made sure that every single item had a specific home. It makes cleaning up so much easier when we know exactly where everything belongs.I used the free printable labels found here to label everything. Super easy and cute!
I wish that I could get a cute table and chairs for this space, but for now we are just using what we already own!
I wanted everything to be fairly accessible for Audrey, so that she could get out some supplies and "create" without my help every time.
When Daniel made the shelves for our reading nook, he had some good size pieces of wood leftover. So he made two smaller shelves in the same color that we hung up to hold coloring and activity books!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
April 3: Isla's Latest Trick
I just love this age when babies are able to do "tricks." It seems that Isla learns a new trick for a while, but then she stops doing it when she learns something new. She was clapping, but she doesn't clap much anymore. Then she was waving, but she doesn't wave much anymore either. Today, Isla figured out how to raise her hands up in the air when you ask, "How big is baby Isla?" It is so cute, and she seems so proud of herself!
And here's another video that shows how she is trying to talk (kind of, not really!) and how she is trying to crawl (kind of, not really!). It really is amazing how she is able to get around on her bottom, because when you watch her, it looks like she is not getting anywhere. Then all of a sudden she is on the other side of the room.
And here's another video that shows how she is trying to talk (kind of, not really!) and how she is trying to crawl (kind of, not really!). It really is amazing how she is able to get around on her bottom, because when you watch her, it looks like she is not getting anywhere. Then all of a sudden she is on the other side of the room.
Monday, April 2, 2012
April 2: Palm Sunday
Last week I bought a new dress for Audrey. We normally have an abundance of spring/summer dresses around here, but not so much this season. So I thought Audrey could use a new summery dress to wear to church on Sunday, since the weather forecast was predicting temps in the upper 80s.
I found one on sale at Target that I liked and bought it. I brought it home and showed it to Daniel. His first comment was, "Is that her Palm Sunday dress?"
I thought about the dates and realized that I was planning for her to wear it on Palm Sunday. Then I looked at the dress and noticed that the bottom half of the dress was covered with flowers and palm leaves!
I felt it was a little cheesy to wear a palm leaf dress on Palm Sunday, and I almost didn't have her wear it. But then I posted something on Facebook, and everyone assured me it was fine. So she wore it. And I think the only people at church who noticed the palm dress on Palm Sunday were the people who read my Facebook post!
Here she is in her dress with the palm branches she made in Sunday School:
Later in the afternoon, Daniel decided to wash the van and he asked Audrey to help. We really thought she wouldn't last long "helping" with the car wash, as she normally freaks out when a drop of water touches her clothing. We were wrong. She loved washing the car, and spent a whole hour washing the car with Daddy. She was soaked when she finished, and she could not stop smiling and laughing!
I found one on sale at Target that I liked and bought it. I brought it home and showed it to Daniel. His first comment was, "Is that her Palm Sunday dress?"
I thought about the dates and realized that I was planning for her to wear it on Palm Sunday. Then I looked at the dress and noticed that the bottom half of the dress was covered with flowers and palm leaves!
I felt it was a little cheesy to wear a palm leaf dress on Palm Sunday, and I almost didn't have her wear it. But then I posted something on Facebook, and everyone assured me it was fine. So she wore it. And I think the only people at church who noticed the palm dress on Palm Sunday were the people who read my Facebook post!
Here she is in her dress with the palm branches she made in Sunday School:
Later in the afternoon, Daniel decided to wash the van and he asked Audrey to help. We really thought she wouldn't last long "helping" with the car wash, as she normally freaks out when a drop of water touches her clothing. We were wrong. She loved washing the car, and spent a whole hour washing the car with Daddy. She was soaked when she finished, and she could not stop smiling and laughing!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
April 1: 10 months old
10 months old!! I just don't know how these babies grow up so fast, but they do! Here are a few updates about what Isla is doing right now, so that we can remember these days while they last.I wouldn't say that she is mobile yet, but she is definitely not still. She is always squirming and wiggling around and trying to reach everything. She is attempting to crawl now, but she can only scoot herself backwards. I really think she is trying to move forward, but she just goes back. She gets very frustrated with this and usually ends up crying fairly quickly.
She is also starting to scoot around a little while sitting up. This makes me a little nervous because our physical therapist told me NOT to let her scoot on her bottom. She is not really scooting the way I have seen other kids scoot, with her legs. She leans over like she wants to crawl, puts her hands on the floor and sits back up. While doing this, her bottom tends to move forward a little bit. She can move across the room doing this, and I often have to go rescue her because she ran into the wall or a piece of furniture.
So even though she is not quite moving in a traditional way, I am happy that she is at least moving! I am thinking (hoping) that she will start moving more and more in the next month and get the hang of this crawling stuff. Though I still am really enjoying these days when she is not constantly moving all over the place!
She is eating more and more finger foods and showing less of an interest in being spoon fed. Some of her favorite finger foods right now are green beans, peas and bananas.
Isla is starting to play little games with all of us, and it's a lot of fun. She likes to play a game kind of like hot potato. I will give her a toy, then she will put it back in my hand. Then I will give it back to her, and then she will put it back in my hand. Sometimes we add Audrey into this game as well. Isla thinks it is so much fun to pass things back and forth. Isla also loves to take toys (or other objects) out of baskets and put them back in again.
Isla is quite vocal these days, with lots of baba, dada, mama kinds of sounds. Every once in a while it seems like she uses Mama or Dada in the right context, but it is probably more coincidence than her actually calling us by name. Audrey also likes to try to teach Isla how to talk. Audrey will tell her to say some word, and then Isla will respond with a "baba" or "dada". And Audrey thinks that is just hilarious! Sometimes Audrey will interpret what Isla is saying to us. The other day Audrey was positive that Isla said chihuahua!Isla is sleeping much better these days. She is sleeping through the night again (most nights) from about 7:30 or 8:00 pm to 6:30 or 7:00 am. She is also napping better, usually two 1 1/2 hour naps per day.
She was still a little nervous about Raggedy Ann in this month's pictures!!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
March 31: Healthier Apple Crisp Recipe
Isla is 10 months old today, but I forgot to take her picture with Raggedy Ann. So check back tomorrow for her 10 month update and pictures and my thoughts on how she is growing up way too fast!
Right now, I am enjoying some delicious, leftover apple crisp, so I think I will share that recipe tonight so you can enjoy some too!
I have already written about how we have been trying to cut out processed foods and eat a more natural diet. We are not super strict about it, and we still eat some processed stuff, but I am making an effort to only prepare our food using real foods.
I suppose apple crisp is more of a fall dessert, but we like to enjoy it year round. My normal recipe is from my grandma, and it calls for 1 stick of margarine, 1 cup of white flour, and 1 cup of white sugar! I thought I would try to make her recipe with some healthier substitutes, and it turned out so good! Seriously, I don't see any reason to go back to the old recipe when this healthier version tastes just as good (maybe better??). A great treat to enjoy and not feel too guilty about it!
(Healthier) Apple Crisp
4-5 cups chopped, peeled apples (but if you left the skin on, this would be even better for you)
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup apple juice
Combine the apples, water and cinnamon in the baking dish.
In a separate bowl, cut the butter in with the sugars, flour and oats until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the apple juice. Spoon this mixture on top of the apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until apples are cooked through and the topping is crispy.
I served this with some vanilla frozen yogurt...which is not a real food product, but it was delicious! (I tell myself that frozen yogurt has to be better for you than ice cream, right? Though I have a feeling that the sugar and amount of processed ingredients in both is probably about the same).
Right now, I am enjoying some delicious, leftover apple crisp, so I think I will share that recipe tonight so you can enjoy some too!
I have already written about how we have been trying to cut out processed foods and eat a more natural diet. We are not super strict about it, and we still eat some processed stuff, but I am making an effort to only prepare our food using real foods.I suppose apple crisp is more of a fall dessert, but we like to enjoy it year round. My normal recipe is from my grandma, and it calls for 1 stick of margarine, 1 cup of white flour, and 1 cup of white sugar! I thought I would try to make her recipe with some healthier substitutes, and it turned out so good! Seriously, I don't see any reason to go back to the old recipe when this healthier version tastes just as good (maybe better??). A great treat to enjoy and not feel too guilty about it!
(Healthier) Apple Crisp
4-5 cups chopped, peeled apples (but if you left the skin on, this would be even better for you)
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup apple juice
Combine the apples, water and cinnamon in the baking dish.
In a separate bowl, cut the butter in with the sugars, flour and oats until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the apple juice. Spoon this mixture on top of the apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until apples are cooked through and the topping is crispy.
I served this with some vanilla frozen yogurt...which is not a real food product, but it was delicious! (I tell myself that frozen yogurt has to be better for you than ice cream, right? Though I have a feeling that the sugar and amount of processed ingredients in both is probably about the same).
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