Actually, that would more accurately be represented as Hair Yesteday, Gone Today. Yes it’s true, I finally bit the bullet and chopped off my locks for love.
This was sort of a momentous occasion for me, made more nerve-wracking since my usual hair dresser moved to Austin, TX while I’ve been growing out these locks this last year (I had no idea!). So today I had to take my big, thick, curly mane to someone totally new. She came highly recommended by a friend but since her salon was destroyed by the Nashville Flood this last May, she’s working from a small little studio on Music Row. Walking up, I learned it is not the kind of shiny salon I’m used to at all and I prepared myself for the worst. But then I realized that getting a bad haircut in no way, shape or form comes anywhere close to what it must feel like for kids with cancer to go through treatment, lose their hair, and feel sick most of the time. With that, I schlepped myself right in there and went for it!!
Here are the locks before:
And here I am after:
(My hairdresser was egging me on with that last one.)
It’s super short! But I’m happy with the outcome and I strongly suggest that anyone steal this idea. You can check out more here. Especially in these tough economic times, it’s an excellent way to make a huge difference in someone else’s life by using the resources you have on hand, or errr … on head.
This Saturday is one of Nashville’s most time-honored traditions. It’s the 69th running of the Iroquois Steeplechase to benefit the Monroe Carrell Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. And although the event raises tons of money for the Children’s Hospital (over $8M over the 26-year relationship), I was still feeling a little funny about putting on a sundress and hat and sipping cocktails while my fellow Nashvillians are cleaning up the wreckage in their homes this weekend.
(Image courtesy The Enabler from Flickr)
So my hubby and I decided to take one small step to funnel some good to our flood victims from Steeplechase day. We’ve asked our guests to pack a little extra folding money when they meet us for this weekend’s festivities. As we always do, our little tailgating crew will draw horses out of a hat and place small bets. But this time, Will and I will match the winning purse up to $100 and donate the proceeds to the winner’s flood-related charity of choice. We’re encouraging our guests to donate their winnings as well. We figure maybe it will make the betting a little more exciting if dollar amounts are increased and do a little good to boot. You know how it is, a little booze and a bit of excitement and all of a sudden the charitable donations start to flow. Just ask anyone who has ever chaired a live auction for charity!
I thought I would share this idea via my blog in case others want to jump on the bandwagon. If you are thinking of supporting flood victims through your Steeplechase festivities this weekend in other ways, please let me know and we’ll post those ideas here. I’d love to hear from you!
Giddy up, Nashville! We’re going to be ok!
Ashblue, a fabulous locally-owned gift shop here in Nashville, sent me a postcard week before last inviting me to check out their annual egg decorating party (thanks, Mary-Michael & Marrah!). But this event far-exceeded the typical egg-dying party for three reasons:
1) the blank canvasses we were handed were OSTRICH eggs
2) the decorating supplies went way beyond the usual dyes and stickers
3) Faith Hill and her daughter were there bedazzling with us!
My mom, mother-in-law and I all attended last Saturday afternoon. We thought we would spend an hour or so … but two and a half hours later we were finally paying our bill and walking out with our prized creations. There were young kids, older kids (some who were serious artists and really making some amazing things), and adult kids like us. All were having an excellent time.
I made this which I was really quite pleased with …
Rubber bands created the curved lines in the center when stretched around a naked egg. I used blue painters tape to tape off the ends while I dyed the center pink. After a trip under the hairdryer and removal of the tape and rubber bands, I found that some of the pink had seeped though to the ends. Although it wasn’t what I was going for, I decided to embrace the marbleized look and I taped off the entire pink center band and used highly-concentrated dye and a paintbrush to accentuate my previous “mistakes”. After some more time under the hair dryer I decided to go a little glam and I added the gold paint and jewels.
My mother in law, Karen, made this …
Since she was flying back to Savannah after her Nashville visit, she assumed that the ostrich egg would not make the trip so she dedicated it to my husband and I with a monogram. The monogram and fun pattern on the back were made with crayon. Here’s the back:
Then she dyed the whole egg in yellow. Next she added some clear glitter that makes the monogram look almost frosted. Then she glued all of those cool little flat, glass pellets into each circle on her crayon’d pattern. Pretty cute huh?
My mom made one too but I don’t have any pics. In bright greens, pinks, and yellows, we decided it was Lily Pulitzer inspired. She’s using it as the centerpiece of her breakfast room table for the Easter season.
I think these are both going to be heirlooms someday. Can’t you just hear future generations fighting over the ostrich eggs that grandma and the great-grandmas painted??
I have NO idea how you might source your own ostrich egg if you wanted to replicate this project for yourself. But Nashvillians, if you are interested, Ashblue has offered this fun activity for the last 5 years. It’s $32 per egg and it’s a ball. You need to reserve your egg in advance … but don’t worry, I’ll remind you next year. And even though Easter is over for 2010, you should run on into Ashblue anyway because they have some great looking stuff. My favorite is probably the DIY succulent gardens … so cute. Get on over there and hoping you and yours had an eggcelent Easter!!
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