Baby Jingles

I got this little gem with the ads on Tuesday. I immediately noticed the fine craftsmanship and attention to detail. Too bad the banana doesn't come with Baby Jingles... for $30 I think they should throw in the banana. Just remember, Baby Jingles is not a toy, it's a fine collectors item.
If only Christmas were this month - I guess I can always hope for next year.

Headshots

I had some headshots taken today by Jeffrey Buras. I wanted to get some done while I'm still blonde. I fear I only have a couple more weeks before my roots become too noticable and I'll have to start going back to brown. I've gotten used to the blonde and I actually like it now. The cut still bugs me once in a while, but I like it for the most part.

ab

cd

ef

Do you have a favorite?

So long...

...to my lovely golden locks of yesterday. I ended up getting selected for a hair show this weekend. I went to the model call Friday night for Wella and made plans to get Beckhamed on Saturday morning. I was also planning on a "halo effect" for my color - blond at the roots, fading to brown, then to red. Interesting, but worth the cash, right?

Saturday morning the "artist" informed me that he wanted to accentuate my blue eyes more - aka go platinum blond. The cut wasn't as short as we had planned, but I was kind of excited to be Posh Spice. THEN he informed me that there would be traces of pink in my hair also, but it would wash out over 6-8 weeks. I reluctantly agreed as all the hair people assured me that I could totally pull off being a blond. They showed me the picture and I wasn't too impressed so I tried to talk them into another 'do, which kind of worked, but I still got stuck with the bangs.

My day began with the cut... about 6 or 7 inches. Then the bleaching, which took forEVER, then the dying, to get the yellow out. The colorist, Cecelia, was from El Paso and she was awesome. I'm so glad she was there to get everything right! She even convinced my "artist" to go with other blond colors instead of the pink, so that was great!

Today I woke up after another semi-sleepless night, cried a little about my crazy hair, and then made blueberry muffins to eat with the boys. When I got to the convention center they put the new colors in my hair and it looked much better. I wore a cool BCBG dress along with too much makeup, and did a good job at the show. Basically you stand on a stage with the hair dresser and they tell the audience what they did with your hair, all the while convincing the people to buy the product. It was pretty fun.

By the way, I really do like the Wella products - my hair is not fried or dry like straw. Their bleaching product was great - no singing eyes or skin like normal. And the other dyes (that go dark) aren't bad for your hair at all.

Here are the pictures:

Before

After Day 1


after the show w/more colors and disgusting makeup

after a long day, side-swept bangs.

I still don't know what I think. It will be fun to be blond for a while. People at the show really liked it, but I'm just not this cool. The cut is so trendy and the bangs are extreme. I think I will try to do the side-swept thing as they grow more. Then, when I start getting roots, I will do some dark lowlights and eventually get back to my brown self. And no, Ben is not a fan, but he's not being a jerk about it.

Things I learned:
*It's bad to shower in hot water - makes your hair and skin dry. From now on I have to wash my hair in cold water.
*Don't let your stylist put you under the dryer when they color your hair - it makes it work faster, but damages your hair. My hair took all day and would have cost about $350 in a salon due to the time/technique.
*Your hair dresser is supposed to be weighing the products they use to dye your hair so they get the right ratio. Most just eyeball it.
*Hair is in bad shape after three years and needs to be cut - the reason some people's long hair looks so drab and yucky. After it gets cut it will grow faster because it won't break off all the time.
*If you're going to model for a hair show, be ready for anything.

Trash the Dress

When I got home last night from my trip, the CD with the rest of the pictures taken at Memory Lane were in my mail box. If you feel like ruining your wedding dress or taking some other fun pictures, call Val and Bryan from Lightwave Foto.

*LINK TO DRESS PICTURES*

Warning: do not try this at home

A few weeks ago I did a photo shoot with some photographers here. It wasn't the typical bridal shoot - instead, it was a Trash the Dress shoot.
A wedding venue in Dripping Springs called Memory Lane really wanted a bride to jump in their pool. So, instead of a real bride, they got me.
It was a cute place and the owners were so awesome. They even cooked us the best shish kabobs, grilled peaches, guacamole and more. It was great!
We took regular pictures at first out of the water. Then when the sun set, we took the picture of me jumping off the waterfall into the pool. We didn't really know what would happen when I landed in the water - if the dress would just float at first and I wouldn't go under, etc. Well, I didn't float. I went under and when I popped up, the train of the dress was over my head. I was ok treading water, but then the dress started getting heavy and it was harder and harder to stay up. As I was trying to free myself from the train, I heard someone say, "Oh my gosh!" and I thought I was a gonner. Luckily, right after that, I managed to get the train off my head and swim to the side... seconds before needing to be rescued. FYI - it's really hard to swim in a wedding dress. I'm lucky I'm a good swimmer or I would have been screwed.

I jumped off a few more times, but didn't have the problem with the train, because the dress was already wet. That night I had trouble sleeping as I relived that situation in my head... I think as a result of being a lifeguard all those years I have a fear of drowning (but who doesn't?).

Here are a couple shots from 300 we took that night. The photographers are sending me a CD with more images, but here are a few for now. You can tell the dress is big on me, but oh well. At least it allowed me to eat my dinner!
This pic was pre-jump. Notice me rocking my cool black shoes!
By the time this picture was taken I was absolutely freezing.

I'll post more pictures when I get them in a few weeks.