It's been a while...

But what else is knew? Just to play catch up:
Christmas was great. We stayed in Ohio and went up to Findlay, where Nathan's parents live, for four days and relaxed and ate and played and slept and ate and ate and ate...good times.

We celebrated the New Year with a bang, okay not really because my body decided to rebel and I had the flu for three days. Good thing my in-laws were visiting so I could just lay in bed, moan, and watch Monk reruns. again, good times.

Now January is coming to a close and I have no idea where the month went. Time seems to fly by faster and faster and somehow I seem to always fall farther and farther behind. Funny how that works.

One drastic event in my life took place over the weekend concerning my hair. Before I tell you exactly what I did I am going to show you the journey my hair has taken over the years.

Since I was fourteen years old I wore my hair long, as least half way down my back, blonde (usually with lighter highlights), and curly. In fact, in high school I was insane enough to diffuse my hair EVERY morning by 6am, before early morning seminary...looking back I now recognize some youthful vanity there, anyways...




This picture was taken when Camden was only a few months old. As you can see, my hair is highlighted, curly, and long.


Obviously not a pic of me but of Camden...wasn't he the cutest?!!


next slide.
In this picture Camden is seven months old and my hair isn't as blonde anymore because my highlights grew out. My natural hair color is a dark blonde but it's still curly and long.







My hair, while still darker(hey, no judging! we were poor okay?! haha) was trimmed shorter since I know had a newborn to take care of but this was the shortest it had ever been in eight years. (and yes, I know I have two chins, I just had a baby and unlike some people I know*cough, Marci, cough*, I tend to hang on to my baby fatness for awhile.)









Then came 2006. That year I had had it with my hair. I never had time to do it so I always pulled it back and then it was just kinked the rest of the day. Comparing high school pics, I looked like I was fourteen even though I was 26 and had two kids. So I decided to chop it. No holds bar, don't care if my cheeks are too chubby; chopped it!


Not bad huh? Definitely a bolder, fresher look. I was daring and crazy and so over being vain about my hair.
And then I just kept going shorter, varying levels of thickness and colors.
When we moved from San Francisco to Dayton, Ohio in June of 2006 my hair was shorter, blonder and somehow my face was as shiny as if someone had rubbed baby oil on it. Nice. FYI, that 's my good friend Emily whom I miss being able to shuffle my kids off to. I heart you Em!




As you can see, my hair had grown out a bit in 2007, was still blonder and I straightened it a lot more. As a side note, my thumb is freakishly straight! Look at that, not even the slightest curve to it. Okay, lets take a poll, who has curved thumbs and who belongs in the circus with me? C'mon now, don't be shy, 'fess up!

I promise this is going to end soon.





Then in Dec. of '07 I cut it short again but this time stacking it underneath to give my curls some volume, a cute idea really but one I had copied from my friend Susan. I still did it curly about 50% of the time and I thought, "Ah, at last, I haircut that I like, that looks good, and is easy to do.

THEN...(ah, c'mon, you knew there had to be some part about my screwed my psyche in here somewhere!)
I become obsessed with changing my hair. I wanted ease, I wanted control, I wanted compliments cuz I'm that vain, and I wanted to look not fourteen. My own lovely analysis of myself is that I cut my hair in a new style every few months because:
#1. I can
#2. I don't have control over any other aspect of my life because I'm a willing and happy slave to my husband's school schedule and my boys' demands.
#3. I can
#4. It grows back relatively quickly
#5. It's cheaper than coloring my hair
#6. Because I CAN!!!

So, there you have it. My underlying, deep need for control and acceptability is taken out on my hair, which leads me back to last Saturday's events. I went to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest all over hair dye I could find, came home and told Nathan that he was dyeing my hair that day.

The outcome?




Revlon #47 Rich, medium brown with subtle red undertones. Oh, and I had it cut AGAIN so that the back is majorly stacked so it lays flat despite my kinky hair and is longer around my face, down to my jaw line.

And that my friends ends the saga of Emily's fantastic, though mildly boring, hair.