hello goodbye hair

I'm getting self-conscious about my hair. In the last 3 months I've had 3 hairstyles and 3 colors. I've had a chin-length bob in my normal light brown with blonde highlights for maybe 4 years. Like many other areas of my life that are undergoing radical change, I decided my hairstyle needed to change too.

I knew I wanted to go blonde overall and get a shorter cut. The shorter cut idea came from Andy who loves the look of a certain actress from the 60s. And I was game for something different. So a couple months ago I went to my hairdresser. She cut the back a lot shorter and dyed my hair a bright blonde--almost platinum.

It was not what I expected, but I didn't dislike it. What I did notice was stronger-than-usual reactions from people. My mother hardly recognized me when she walked in my house. My sister saw me on skype, said 'wow, you're really blonde' and then asked me 'do you like it?' And the people closest to me at work didn't comment much, which I interpret to mean that they didn't like it.

Andy liked it when he saw me on skype. Not sure how fair that was though, cuz my webcam is not very good with color. Anyhow....

Next visit to my hairdresser I had her tone it down a little to a subtler blonde, but had her go super short layers all in the back and take some off the front--kind of like the style in the photo posted at the top. It does kinda look like this (but lighter) which I think is really cute!

However...I am still questioning it. I'm running into people who haven't seen me in a while. Most of them either say, 'hey, you've gone blonde', not 'wow, that looks great', or they don't comment at all.

I noticed that on my last trip to LA Andy took hardly any photos of me where he usually takes lots. And one that he did take he cropped close in on my eyes so my hair wasn't showing. That's when I got really self-conscious. But all along he's telling me how beautiful I am. I do think he would have a hard time giving me any criticism, so I can't fully trust what he says when it comes to my hair.

When Maria saw me a couple weeks ago (first time in months) she said my hair looked nice, but she thought it was too light for me and it makes me look too pale. I think maybe that's the fairest statement I've received. Everyone else seems too scared to tell me what they think.

So, the weirdest thing about all this is that I like my hair. But because I've gotten such lukewarm reactions I'm going to change it back to a dirty blonde again. And maybe grow it longer in the front again. ???

holy shit!

After an unusually long hiatus (it felt long for me) I thought I'd take a stab at blogging again. HELLO!

What's new? Let's see...I saw a real live rat walking across my deck the other day. That was a holy shit moment. I have never before seen a rat in my (upscale) town. Must be the excessive rain that has driven it out into the open. A big ewwwww!

Chistie has a boyfriend and he's cute. I was telling Andy about the night he first came over and I got to meet him. I mentioned that he was almost as cute as Christie's last boyfriend and Andy gave him the name Scotty Too Hottie. Three weeks later he still refers to the kid by that name. Did I mention that Andy's very funny?

I bleached my hair. It's a bit too Hollywood blonde for me. I get compliments, mostly from guys, and I've noticed some odd changes in people's behavior towards me. They now ask me for money or ask me strange questions (such as what's that hanging from your rearview mirror? can i see it? where did you get it?).

Maybe that 'dumb blonde' perception is really true. People think I'm more gullible all of a sudden. This has been an interesting experiment, but I think I won't be so blonde after my next hair appt. Not so much for the reasons above, but because that shit is horrible on my scalp and has left me itchy all the way down to the middle of my body. Very weird. And kind of scary to accept that I've subjected myself to some chemical reaction. Ewwwww!

This next item is pretty embarrassing to confess, you see only my doctor and you will know. I didn't tell ANYONE else. You see, since I am soon leaving the country of glorious free health care, I have decided to make sure I am in good health before I go.

Part of this task for people *my age* involves checking for cancer in certain dark places. Luckily one can conduct these tests in the privacy of their own homes (bathrooms to be more specific), and very conveniently just hand the nurse/receptionist the neat little SEALED ENVELOPE with the hazardous bodily material contained within.

So really all I wanted to say about that procedure is that it is friggin WEIRD to collect your poo in a container and proceed to dab what looks like a stir stick for your coffee into it and then spread it on a blotter at a time of the morning when you'll soon be spreading your jam onto your toast. That was the biggest ewwwww of all.

Butt...pun intended...it was all worth it. Doctor says all is well in that department. Thankfully no more poo collecting for awhile.