A Hairy Experience: The Reveal!

And here she is. The new, and not necessarily improved, but quite colorful daughter of mine!


Putting the dye on with the brush from the bleach kit was the way to go! Isn't it pretty?!

The pink could stand to be a little more saturated because she didn't leave it on long enough, but she can always add more dye at any time to make it darker. I've left it up to her what she wants to do.

Wild, huh? And perhaps a bit cheesy, but she's 15 and it's okay. The colors suit her unique personality and sense of style. Andria's a funky girl, no doubt about it.

What do you think? A bit much? Over the top? She LOVES it! Her dad says she'll never get a job.


Doesn't her hair look nice with just the blond? Andria almost decided not to add color to it. I told her she could always add color to it and then let it wash out if she wants to, just leaving the blond. This was one of those self portrait Facebook photo's ... you know the kind .... pouty and brooding ... they all pretty much look the same.


Speaking of over the top . . .while we were at the Mall yesterday I was amazed how many young women I saw with facial piercings. It was almost horrifying! Have you see these fairly new piercings? Of course you have. You just may not have realized how they were held onto the skin. One young woman I saw yesterday had 2 of them on the top of her cheek bone, just below her eye. What was she thinking??? So after seeing all that, I can deal with a little pink and purple in my own daughters hair.

A Hairy Experience! (Preview)

Well I did it. I bleached out Andria's hair. My gosh I was SO nervous! The foils were not easy to work with either, but I think with a little practice I could get the hang of it.

Below are a couple 'before' shots. Sorry but some of them seem to be slightly blurry. Tomorrow will be the BIG REVEAL of how it actually looked in the end . . . with and without color! Stay tuned!

Doesn't her hair looks so nice and healthy? Her dad thought so too. I can tell he is a little disappointed in her choice, but it will grow. It always does.

The foils look more like tin foil BALLS on her head! lol! Some of it I just put the bleach on without foils. The box of Manic Panic FLASHLIGHTENING doesn't call for foils so either way it really doesn't matter. I just thought it might make it easier to keep the bleach from tainting the hair around it. Yes, it was messy but in the end that's the look she was going for. Big chunky bleached out highlights. Nothing too refined.

Oh my Gosh! What have I done???

And a gratuitous shot of her dad back when he had bleached out hair too! Of course he was about 20 or 21 years old in this photo, not 15. Damn he was HOT!!! No wonder I married him! : )

See you tomorrow!

Back to School . . . Ugg!

It's that time of year. Time for the girls to go Back to School.

I can never figure out how 2 girls who are so anxious for Summer vacation to begin can be so excited to go back to class! It's not like they haven't seen their friends almost everyday since school let out in June.

So we pretty much did the shopping thing last week. Goodness knows why my younger daughter needs new clothes since her drawers are already over flowing! But it's a right of passage so we bought more. Since my older daughter will be a Sophomore in High School I finally had to give in to something I've been putting off for a couple years now . . .

UGGS!

Do you know how difficult it is to find the new Grey Uggs in a size 7? And by the way I now know why they're called UGGs, because as soon as I reached the cash register that's exactly what I said! Ugg! Of course Andria had to inform me that I wouldn't find them any cheaper any place else, and some of the girls at camp have 3 and 4 pairs of Uggs. Well la dee da!

Phineas is wishing he had UGGs of his own! In Grey!

Bonus: The box substitutes as a cat bed! Maybe they really were a bargain!

So besides jeans and maybe a new pair of flats for Andria, I think we've pretty much got Back to School covered. At least until I go back to work. Here is a little preview of MY Back to School project for Andria in the next couple days:

Wish me luck!

Shopping with a 15 year old

This past week-end our family went to Portsmouth to view the Tall Ships. So did everyone else.

While Elise was quite interested in taking the tours (fighting the crowds and tollerating the heat) with her dad and my in-laws, Andria, the 15 year old, thought this was the epitomy of 'boring'. She and I headed into to town to do a little shopping instead of shipping.

She's the shadow with the odd hair.

We were able to stop just long enough to take some beautiful pictures of each other! Can't you see how happy she is? Oh to be 15 again and hanging out with my mom . . .

And this is the view I had of Andria as we strolled the cobbled streets of Portsmouth, browsing the shops. Nice, huh? Yup, she loves to hang with her cool mom. Who wouldn't?

Somewhat reminiscent of our NYC trip this past Spring . . .

Finally we stopped at the Odd Showroom long enough for me to catch my breath and nurse the blister on my little toe. Good thing she had her own money since all they sold were used clothing at a hugely inflated price (as is all of Portsmouth). I did love the paintings they had though. Andria found a skirt from the 80's (that even I wouldn't have worn) for only $5. It's destined to sit in her closet until the next 80's roll around. Isn't the sign adorable? I want eye's like that!

And then there's Elise. Always ready for a photo op. Glued to my side. Talking my ear off. Enjoying the tall ships : )

More Picking!

The day before we picked the girls up from Camp, Brent and I took the opportunity to go pick Blueberries one more time (we picked the week before also). This time we went to another local Blueberry farm called the Saltbox Farm. Located along on the main road of Route 33 in Stratham it's an easy find.

One of the first flowers I saw when we arrived were these pretty little pink Sweet Peas growing amid the tall grass. They appear to have spread on their own, mixing in with other varieties of flowers.

You can't tell by the pictures but the Saltbox Farm is quite large! The rows of Blueberry Bushes go on and on. Bob and Irma Goodrich have owned Saltbox Farm as long as I can remember and are the nicest people! Mr. Goodrich was telling me how I missed a good picture that morning of a Heron being attacked by a flock of Turkeys. Quite frankly I'm glad I didn't see that one! He was sorting out Blueberries and putting them in boxes to sell, while Mrs. Goodrich worked in the building weighing up berries customers had picked themselves. Both of them are always willing to chat for pretty much as long as you would like : )

Below are the buckets used for picking. Brent and I made sure to buy some fresh peaches also! Doesn't a Peach - Blueberry pie sound good? Well I didn't make one.

Man he's skinny! Look at his shoulder bones sticking out! Lift some weights will you Brent?

Good thing for Crocs! It was wet and muddy from all the rain we've had.

And here I am, holding all our berries after we combined our buckets. You want to know what all those Blueberries cost? About $7. You can't beat it!

These gorgeous Sunflowers were growing up near the back of the building. You can see how tall they are since I had to look up at them! Of course I'm only 5'2" so I guess that's not saying much.



I don't know what this used to be but it's kind of interesting! The cone is about 3" high so it's not a small flower by any means.


A close up of our delicious Blueberries! I hope to get out to pick at least one or two more times as the bushes are still loaded with berries. With all the rain we've had it's been a great year for fruit. My older daughter wants me to make a Blueberry Pie so she'll have to get her little self out there and pick with me!

Thanks for coming along!

An Evening at the Beach

Since it was such a gorgeous night last Tuesday, Brent and I packed up the dogs, treats, poop bags, and water to drink, and headed to the beach. While Lily remained good as gold, belted in the backseat, Winston (our Pug) sat on Brent's lap whining and crying the whole way there, and part of the way home. At times almost to the point of a scream! All this because he wanted to be on my lap as I drove, which we refuse to allow since it's so dangerous.

Once we were at the beach (about a 20 minute drive) things calmed down and we had a wonderful walk! Low tide is the best time to go!

As you can see, I'm sticking with an orange Halloween theme. I loved this shirt in the store but now it sits in my drawer being bypassed for the most part. I look like a canine Life Guard!

Winston and Brent doing a little exploring

I had hoped to go back to the beach this week, just the two of us, but due to the almost constant rain, we've been hibernating in the house! Summer's not over yet though!

Believe it or not neither dog even likes the water! We walk just far enough away so they can enjoy it from a distance.

BOO! It's Your Halloween Wake Up Call!

~ Felt Pumpkin People ~

I know, you're thinking, "Halloween already?" Yes, already. Sort of . . .


A couple nights ago as I was scrolling through blogs I came across Just a Girl, a wonderful and well written blog by Chris. Going through her recent posts I happened to notice this one in particular, due to the out of season Halloween theme. It was rather shocking though, I have to admit. For most of us August is still a 'head in the clouds' month where one day seems to drift into the next. Before you know it, the school buses start showing up, the the weather is cooler, and . . . oh my gosh, it's October 1st! How did that happen?


Well Chris has been to Martha Stewarts website recently and she noticed there's a spot where you can sign up for the Halloween idea of the Day! From now until Halloween you will receive an email each day with a Sweet or Spooky Daily Treat. And no, not all the treats are food. When it comes to creative holiday stuff, I need all the help I can get! See above and below examples of the last two days ideas.

Candy filled headstones

First you will need to sign up as a member, but it's pretty quick and painless. From there you are given the opportunity to check different boxes for other daily or weekly email ideas such as: Craft of the Day, Cookie of the Day, Organization Tip of the Day (who couldn't use that one!), Christmas Workshop, Thanksgiving Workshop, and more. It really is a pretty darned frightfully good website over there that Martha's talent has cooked up!

Williams-Sonoma Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Wait until you see our old Halloween pictures . . . it's only 2 1/2 months away.

Where's the Glory?

It's been 51 days since I planted the seeds: 'Morning Glory: Giant, Mixed Colors'. Since then there have been a lot of Mornings, but no Glory. At this point I'm wondering if my Morning Glories will EVER bloom. And look at the foliage!


Wanna hear the kicker? The packages says, ' If lush growth but no flowers, stop watering.'


I stopped watering, but Mother Nature has other ideas. In July alone we had 18 days of rain. So far this month we have seen rain 11 of the last 12 days, with much of the state being under a flood watch most of those days. Many New England businesses and students depend on tourism for a healthy income. It seems to be the Summer that wasn't. Yes, I know I'm whining. Currently I'm following an auction for an SAD light on Ebay.


Also in the picture are rather sparse first year Day Lilies

I couldn't post just bad news. Below are a few pictures I managed to take on Sunday while the sun was actually shining!

The Blue Hydrangaes have changed over to their fall colors, though I can't recall the flowers on this particular Hydrangea ever turning white before.

And finally, a Moment of Inspiration: One of several late summer buds ready to bloom on the Wisteria!