meet Linus

Meet Linus. Our 9 week, mostly deaf, boxer puppy. Don't ask me how it happened, it just did. For awhile we weren't sure if we would be able to keep him. We can keep him and we are thrilled about it (for the most part). The potty training, chewing, and just plain puppy-hood are really taking us back to when Lucy was a puppy. Harder than we remember! Lucy is starting to really like him. love it.

Sorry about the picture overload, but if you have seen this video, you know you should never hold out on puppy pictures. Be a human being and look at these pictures of a puppy.

hiking

Summer has come and is going, soon to be gone. If I am to be really honest, then I will have to admit that I am not too sad. While I do love summer in the beginning, by the end I am so so ready for fall and winter. I love the corn on the cob, the watermelon and well all the food that comes with this hot season, but what I really love most is being outside so much. Hiking is one of my favorite parts about summer. What is not to love? Gorgeous views, fresh air, exercise and it is the best way to get your thoughts in order. We didn't go on nearly enough hikes this summer. We still have a couple more weeks, maybe we will sneak in a few more before all the leaves change colors.

how I ruined my hair (and subsequently my life)

This story is a sad one, that I am sure happens to girls all the time. It is a story that needs to be told with lots of pictures, so one can understand that true tragedy. Ok, here it goes. Once upon a time I had ridiculously long locks. I had them long for quite awhile and thought it a good idea to chop them off and donate them. Making sure to keep my hair long enough to put into a ponytail still. While I won't say this was a huge mistake, I sort of swore that I would never do it again.

 So I started the process. You know the one. The one of growing out your hair. I made it past the dreaded "barely hits my shoulders" or "wear it up everyday" phase and I was finally loving my hair again. See here I was on the 4th of July, perfectly happy with my hair. Then the dreaded happened.... I became bored. I wanted a change. NO!! Don't ever let this happen to you!!

The first thing I did was tell my hairstylist I wanted a change. Oh no. Since I had never gone red before, this was what we did. A subtle strawberry blonde shade. I was happy with it. I got tons of compliments, people telling me "you make a great red head!"

What? What's that you say? I make a great red head?! Ok then, full fledged henna dyed, red hair it is!  I am sorry to say that the picture below was not just temporary for halloween. I had put the most permanent, flaming red dye on my hair and it was here to stay.

Now don't get me wrong. I loved it. I absolutely loved having flaming red hair.  I have the right complexion for it, people always complimented me on it. The only problem was that my hair grows at lightning speeds. I was having to color my roots every 4 weeks. And if you have ever used henna, you know that this is no easy task.  So after about 6 months of the red I started the dreaded process of going back to my natural color.

It was no easy process. The first time I went I stayed at the salon for 8 hours. I had no idea I was taking on a new full time job. While the first picture is a little terrifying, it ended up being ok and I left the salon with soft brown color. Again 4 weeks later I had those bright white roots growing in. Not ok.

Some time later we went a little blonder like you see below. That dang red would just not go away. Apparently red is harder to get rid of than black? Who knew? I think after this picture we tried one more time to get me to my natural color before we headed to New York.

It was in New York that I decided it was time. It was time to cut off my hair. It was so damaged at this point that there was no point in keeping it. Yeah, it was long but it was not cute. Giant fluffy blonde pony tail = not cute. 

So that is how this....

Got turned into this...

18 inches. gone. Do you have any idea how long 18 inches is?! I can't remember the last time my hair was this short. I thought it would be so nice. Let me tell you, it's not. It sucks. No more pony tail. boo. I can't even pull half of it up. double boo. It is the same style every day. And the only time it looks good is if I blow dry and straighten it. No thanks.

So while it looked cute after my stylist did it, most the time I let it air dry and it looks somewhat disheveled and not so pretty. As pictured below. All you people with short hair that claim it is so great, now I know what you are really thinking, "Man I wish I could pull my hair back".

So while being red was fun and I loved every second of it. I would never do it again because in the end I had to chop it all off and it left me longing for the hair pictured below.  So while I didn't really truly ruin my life I most certainly did ruin my hair. I can say with absolute certainty that I won't do that again. At least not for a few years... Now grow hair, grow!!

Please note, this was right after my mission, which explains why I look like I am storing nuts.

the ferry

The nice Hispanic gentleman that took this picture didn't tell us if he had taken the picture or not, hence the confused look on my face.

This was one of the last things we did in the big city of New York. It was fun to see New York from the outside looking in and of course to see Lady Liberty herself. I know we gave the idea to most that we didn't love New York. While we know we don't want to live there we did have good times there and made memories to last forever.