The Greatest Trauma A Girl Can Have...

I'm starting with a disclaimer which is always a good sign for a blog.... Please note that of course there are much worse things that can happen. to a girl than the following, and I'm really not trying to compare, just being silly...

I have decided that the absolute worst thing that can happen to a girl is her hairdresser leaving her. It leaves the poor girl alone in a big scary world of false promises and broken hearted hair dreams.

My hairdresser quit hairdressing early last year and since then I've been trying to find a replacement. It's not going well.

So many questions, like one close to work, or one close to home, what do I even want to do with my hair anyway, what am I looking for in a hairdresser etc etc...

The first attempt featured a  return to my old hairdresser who sent me a 50% off voucher to get me to come back. I ended up with a hairdresser who said my dark blonde hair couldn't be made any lighter as any attempts she could make would make it darker. Seeing as I've had blonder hair before, and bleach exists this surprised me. So in response, I showed her a photo of my hair as I had had it before, and wanted now (accepting that it probably would be a gradual change) and it went from being impossible to do at all, to it could probably be done with foils which, I said okay, we'd go with foils (I hadn't really cared either way) and she said "oh no, that would make your hair a lot blonder!" (Yes, hello point.) It ended with me slumped in the chair as she for some reason dyed my whole head of hair but did the top inch of it a different blonde, followed by my hair being cut in a concave after I'd asked for it to be cut straight around. Sigh. Thank god for the half price coupon I had.

This weekend I tried somewhere new, I'd planned to do a bit more research but my hair looked absolutely terrible so the bullet had to be bitten.  I was actually pretty happy to have a hairdresser who was quite nice (but really young seeming) and who listened to me. She gave me a blunt cut thick fringe, a trim around the bottom (couldn't do it as blunt as I wanted thanks to Miss Concave earlier) and my hair is definitely ash toned as I wanted rather than brassy blonde. I did note though that she was just a casual and wasn't guaranteed to be regularly around, and the other girls didn't seem as warm.

So it wasn't too bad EXCEPT I was charged a staggering amount, significantly more than I've ever paid for my hair to be done at to be honest much fancier brand salons, and the cut for which I seemed to be charged about $100 for was a 1cm trim off straight around my hair, and a fringe trim. Of course you can't dispute it once they've actually given you the service, but I just can't justify how that was an appropriate charge.

Also once you've been charged a high amount you want to feel really good.  The salon my hairdresser used to be at was the second most expensive I've been to, but I always walked out loving my soft, shimmering hair. This time my hair feels dry, heavy and tangly, even after conditioning today. It's also got a few stripes in it, where the streak is a lot blonder than the hair next to it, and there are very obvious lines across my head. I've never liked two-tone looking hair or stripes (personal preference) as I like it to look like it's natural highlights. I'm having trouble getting a photograph that shows it, but it's obvious enough for my husband to have noticed and commented. Seeing as other times he's barely mentioned me going from blonde to chocolate brown, his noticing concerns me! :)

I can't see myself going back, I don't mind paying a lot but I want to feel great afterwards.

So the search continues, hopefully it's one that will end soon in a successful mission. If it takes a few more gos, at least their might be some more to blog about!

The Five Year Plan

I often see on extensively researched family education television programs, like *ahem* WifeSwap, that a lot of couples/have Five Year Plans that they plan and then constantly monitor their progress against or work towards. Today Aaron and I discussed what our Five Year Plan would be.

The upshot of our discussions was we haven't even worked out what we're having for dinner, good luck us working out what we'd be doing in 2017.

INTERJECTION - Oh my dear god, I'll be 40 in 2017. *FAINTS*

The discussion did make us think about where what we're planning on doing with our house though. Our house is small, probably a little too small (mostly because we're hoarders, I can't cope with minimalism) but realistically large enough for a couple and a cat. It's an older house that had always been half heartedly renovated, so there's mod cons missing like an ensuite or walk in robe (want!) but we've redone the kitchen and bathroom, it's well airconditioned, and the rooms are laid out well. We're also lucky that we bought it at a very good price and we think we'd be able to sell it for over half again of what we paid for it.

Today though we looked at some display houses, which we usually end up pointing and laughing at, because there's always weird empty spaces or windows that would be impossible to clean etc. But today, was different. Today, there was one I really, really liked. Aaron was a fan too. So we talked about whether we'd consider knocking down our house and getting a more modern one. Obviously having renovated the kitchen and bathroom within the last two years, it wouldn't be something we'd want to do now, but would we want to? Are we happy to stay in the same suburb or do we actually want to move onto a new area etc?

Similar to the 5 Year Plan discussion, the conversation didn't actually come to a real conclusion. I think we know we're both too lazy to ever build, so if we wanted to upgrade we'd move. Which lead to a discussion of where. I have a dream of returning to the suburb I used to live in with my family, but houses there are now close to, or a million dollars. It's hard to realise you can't have your dream, and I really don't want to live anywhere else but there, so anything else would be a compromise, which is hard to get excited about or plan for. It's also hard to look for an upgrade house that's not a family home, that childless us don't need. So what do we look for and where? Aaron has a slightly wider search area than me, so I assume I'd let him pick! It's also hard to think about having a bigger mortgage than the one we have now, one that lets us go on overseas holidays and have the luxuries that we like.

As a result, it looks like we're staying put for a while, and I'm happy. The walk in robe and pantry will be mine one day, I just don't know where or when.

So, a big discussion that lead to absolutely no future plans and a planned blog entry that turned into a ramble. Today's lesson learned is sometimes life doesn't need plans. 

More Plans for 2012

Like last night, I'm writing this sleepy, unlike last night, I'm a happy tired, prone to bursting into giggles or just randomly rambling. So I have no idea if there'll be a point to this blog at all. I just want to keep adding it to it regularly, so I don't do my usual of writing for about 3 weeks and then forgetting it exists.

I've added two things to my "plans" for this year. 

One I'd thought of awhile ago which was, that this is the year I will cuddle a koala. I'll drag Aaron to Cleland Wildlife Park one weekend to do that. (Yes there will be photos.)

The second, I'm going to try and not cut my hair this year and see how long it grows. I've never had hair past my shoulders, and for most of my life it sits in a just below chin length bob. I'm quite adventurous with hair colours (in the last two years, it's been light blonde, light brown, dark brown, reddish auburn, chestnut, and is now dark blonde) but never with the style. I have never (well apart from as a baby) not had a fringe, and my naturally uncurlable hair has always just sat in a bob or a little longer. I've always been jealous of long hair, but have never had the patience to grow it, it gets halfway down my neck, and I find myself racing to the hairdresser to have it cut off. It just seems to get unhealthy and irritating so it goes. I'd been considering hair extensions due to my laziness, but now I'm thinking I should just try again to grow it. So I'm going to try and just let it grow and see how long it gets in a year. I really like the idea of wearing my hair up more often.

(I'm going to guess I'll last at this plan for about a month before I'm at the hairdressers.)

 

So things I'm planning on achieving this year

1. Getting healthier and into a better routine eating wise and exercise wise and cook some different things  (so far eating is better, exercise isn't)

2. Clean my two back rooms out

3. Solve a Rubik's Cube

4. Watch more movies

5. Cuddle a Koala

6. Not cut my hair (except for trims to make it healthy and for my fringe - that stays)

I think 14 days in to 2012 is too early for a status update, but I'll definitely update my progress for each plan throughout the year. 

Oh I should have mentioned my other plan for 2012... to enjoy 2012, it's going to be great.

Of all the things I regret...

When I look back at my life, there's a lot I should probably want to redo, but I guess it's all led to a place that I'm actually quite okay, so I guess I don't regret too much.

Except for one thing, that I will frequently moan about - my wedding dress. I dream of getting to the day where I get over my hatred/disappointment for it. I think I hope that I'll eventually talk myself out of it. I adore watching shows about wedding dresses, I liked wedding dress shopping with my sister in law etc, but then occasionally it'll feel like the wedding dress is stabbing a knife through my heart, followed by random tears. I hate half of my wedding photos, I hate me for being such a useless girl that I couldn't lose weight so I couldn't have a "pretty" dress, I hate that I let an arbitrary budget stop me from picking a dress I liked more that was barely more expensive, I hate that I felt that I needed something simple, when really I wanted to be a princess. I hate that when I knew it sucked, and I knew the designer hadn't given me the dress I wanted (it was supposed to be sleeved and a-lined, which I paid extra for - note it ended up being neither) that I silently cried through fittings, or didn't argue because I didn't want to be a Bridezilla. I hate when it was too big on my chest, so my bra strap showed in most photos, I let them tell me that it was my fault as I'd clearly put on weight since the first fitting. (How does putting on weight make a dress too big? And I'd stayed the same weight the whole time...)

I hate that I spent my whole life dreaming about wedding dresses, and totally screwed it when I had the opportunity.

I hate that such a silly and shallow thing eats at me. My wedding was near perfect, I know everyone says it, and does to be polite, but we really did have people say it was the best wedding they ever went to to third parties. It was a simple cocktail late afternoon wedding. There were touches that I just adored - from the ridiculously delicious cake (complete with Snoopys peering over the top) to a non-traditional soundtrack (any standard party songs/wedding songs were banned - we featured rock and 80s pop, music we love.) We walked into the Star Wars theme etc, left to the Darkness etc. It was great. I just loved it - except for the damn dress.

When we renewed our vows in Las Vegas in 2010, most of it was because I'd always wanted an Elvis hosted Vegas wedding, but also a bit so I could get another shot at a dress. Of course this wasn't going to be a formal wedding dress, but I got a cute 50s style dress, which I liked a lot. It probably softened my feelings a bit. (I know you're thinking "God how emo was she before then!")

This blog is because I'm watching Amsale Bridal and feeling down (I'm tired, I get down when I'm tired.) I accept that there's about 99.9% of the world's population would love to have this as their greatest problem, so I kind of suck.

Maybe one day, Aaron will let me renew our vows again, and I can get the dress I really wanted. I live in hope :)

So...about that trip I keep mentioning...

I'm beginning to worry that the US immigration department is going to start questioning why Aaron and I keep landing on the US's doorstop every year (well only for the last three). The reason is because it's a great holiday. Other people relax on beaches or sipping cocktails by a pool, my way is wandering around cities, indulging in food, shopping and racing around sightseeing. The US is a great place to do it, the food's great, the people are lovely and it's so good at entertaining people.

So in 2012, we're going back again.

We had very seriously planned to go to London and Paris this year and had picked hotels, flights etc when my sister messaged me from her London trip and said not to come as it was already being taken over for the Olympics. If we'd gone before she'd have said come over, but not for our first time. Seeing as we had already put that time aside for leave we decided that we might as well go back to our beloved America. Specifically we decided to go back to my very, very beloved New York City and Disneyland, where we knew we could totally relax. We each picked one other place to go, with Aaron picking Philadelphia (we're history nerds) and me picking New Orleans. Unfortunately for a few reasons, New Orleans didn't end up working out, so it was replaced with Chicago, which I'm really equally looking forward to. I've spent a few hours in Philadelphia and a lazy day in Chicago when I toured the US with my sister in 2002, but neither really count and Aaron hasn't been to either (unless you count being stuck in O'Hare Airport for several hours back in 2010!)

So we have 6 nights in NYC, 4 nights in Philadelphia, 4 in Chicago and 4 in Anaheim. We wanted to not feel rushed anywhere so we decided that three full days was a good space for each place, except for NYC where I could just be forever.

We're working through the itinerary now, trying to find the balance of getting as much organised as we have to, so we don't show up somewhere and find its closed or we needed pre-bought tickets,without locking us into a totally strict regime, and allowing us just totally free wandering time, or sleeping in etc. We also have some things we want to repeat and things we don't or things that we plan to repeat but may not need as much time or like it as much etc the second time. Disneyland for example. I expect to love it again, I hope Aaron does too. (Not to mention I need to once again, destroy him on this Toy Story ride/game)

So, now's the fun planning bit, I probably like that better than the actual holiday!

The Game Is Afoot

I'm kind of disturbed by how domesticated I'm becoming, I got terribly aflutter when my husband, Aaron, bought me a mixmaster for Christmas and yesterday I found myself near crying over not being able to find the perfect quilt cover as we got a new mattress and I was desperate to make the "new" bed look pretty. This is not something I would ever have seen coming. In good news (for me) I'm still far from being a domestic goddess, as I'm lousy at housework. (I should probably work on that!)

That leads me to a couple of my plans for 2012 - I hate the term resolutions - to try and cook a few more things and sort out our two back rooms. I'm one of those people that loves organising things, but is hopeless at organising the chaos around me.

I have two other "plans", one to solve a Rubik's Cube, and the other to watch more movies. I've only been averaging about 2 films a year, and there are so many I wanted to see we just didn't make time for. Going to the movies is something we enjoy doing, so I want to do it more. I think we're not good at "settling" for films, if it's not something we both want to see, we don't, so we probably need to be less picky!

That plan has started well, as we saw Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows today, with my youngest sister. I loved this film, I probably liked it even more than the first one which I thought was fabulous. I spent the majority of the film with my heart in the mouth, except for one moment when, knowing about the Sherlock Holmes "legend", I realised something could happen and my heart sank. It was really great though, Robert Downey Jr is just so fabulous (and rather ridiculously handsome) and Jude Law who I don't usually warm to, works so well as his straight man. I thought Noomi Roopace was a great addition to the cast. I'd thought Rachel McAdams was the weak link in the first film, so to have a strong female character was great. The addition of Stephen Fry as Mycroft for some comic relief (and plot device) was a really good addition too.

Next week we're going to see The Muppets. I am so excited. I have loved the Muppets my whole life.

What's Old Is New Again

After realising in my last blog entry that my other two blogs had time specific URLs, my quest for order and the fact that I missed my old blog title meant I've ended up deciding to start afresh. However, my love for retro has meant that I've actually gone Back to the Future and used my very first Blogger URL again.

I've also realised that I'd rather put my trip tales and my general blog in the same blog rather than keep them separate. I think before I was worried about giving away too much personal information in a blog that would be shared with co-workers etc, but I've realised I don't really post about anything I don't say in real life so it doesn't actually matter. So it's all in here now.

So that's why this new version of my blog is in existence. I'll move onto a new post for my first "real" blog.