hairy hair

I need a haircut. My hair is WAY too long and it's super tempting to sit at my desk and pick at my split ends all afternoon, when the office gets quiet. Can someone please donate $75 so that I can get a good haircut? And why does it cost so much!? I get that it takes 90 minutes to cut my hair, but that's $50/hour! How much do good hairdressers actually get to keep of that? Or is it going to support the fancy salons that tend to employ good hairdressers?

frustrated [rant]

I'm bored and frustrated with looking for a "real job" and therefor avoiding the internet and blitz cleaning our apartment some more. Also practicing viola again without having to worry about a "viola hickey" AKA practice mark, or having short stubby fingernails in photographs again! Oh, and skiing too; I plan to do a lot of that over the next few days. Thank goodness for Loveland.

When I've recovered from my internet aversion, I'll post more wedding recaps. In the mean time, I leave you with a photo of Ronya, the beloved daughter of our good friends, Miri and Dan. They were taken while I was getting my hair done. Miri (Dan had to work) dropped a VERY fussy Ronya in my lap, where she instantly calmed down, while she went to set up the video camera to record the ceremony for us. [We were afraid we would be too adrenaline high to be present and want to be able to go back and re-listen what Rabbi Marc said. In retrospect, I wish more that we'd been able to video tape the bideken! Oh well.]

Getting my hair did

Rachel, from ZING, did my hair. She was great. My hair stayed put all day, and she was very calm and quiet while doing my hair. I don't remember her once asking me to do anything other than look up/down/to the side. Plus, my head didn't ache at the end of the day like it did after my trial!





There were a LOT of bobbie pins in my hair, but look at that shiny pile of curls!



At that point, I had to get up and stretch. I think this was also when Miri came in and dropped off her baby for me to snuggle.



And the crowning touch, my tiara!

Also, did you notice a difference in photo quality there? The first photo is with my old point-and-shoot and the later ones were with the new camera we received as a wedding present. Andrea used both to take some photos of me getting ready and of the bedekin/ketubah as well.

While Rachel was fussing with my hair, Amanda, from Kokoro Photography, took photos of many of my accessories and details. Her mom and partner, Debi, took lots of photos of Ben (I'll post those tomorrow).

I know that my mom thinks that these photos of what I wore are excessive, but I appreciate them! I spend all that time and effort gathering them, it's nice to have that documented. Plus, now you all can see them! Would anyone like to borrow the veil, tiara, shoes (size 6.5), or earrings? I suppose I could just pass on those accessories, and they can make their way through the world. Especially the veil, when can I ever wear that again?! I suppose it'll just stick around as a future dress-up item if no one else wants it.

I'm sure I'll find other reasons to wear the earrings and shoes again, the brooch is my great-great grandmother's (or her sister's) and is in my mother's keeping, the pearl bracelet is from my grandma via my uncle Richard. Everything else is new.

hair, hair, long, beautiful hair

Sunday morning..... After fielding the phone call about where to have the ceremony, it wasn't too bad. Andrea and I got up, ate roomservice breakfast, picked things up from my parents' hotel room, and started getting my hair done. It was amazing how everyone came together to help me prep for my big day. I hope Ben felt as much love and support as I did!

Mrs. Jones and WAJR came by to visit help by darning my sweater, Andrea and Becca were my personal helpers, and Miri let me snuggle her baby to keep us both calm while she went to set up the video camera.

Plus, all the people we hired were awesome too, when I was running behind no one made me stress over it, they just wanted me to know and then helped me get ready a bit faster. I never felt rushed, a bit behind, but not rushed. I suppose you could call me a zen bride, it's not like anything could have happened without me!

Things that  helped me feel pretty all day (as opposed to people):

my hair is like Hillary Clinton's

because it doesn't move! There is a LOT of hairspray in my hair, I'm going to have to remember my allergy eye drops because the hairspray is scented and kinda makes my eyes itch a bit. Though it could also be the start of ragweed season. Either way, I'm going to have to remember my allergy eye drops.

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the curls will be smaller, so there will be more of them, my part will move further out, and there will hopefully be more volume. 4 hours later and my hair still looks the same, but my head is starting to hurt a bit from all the bobby pins holding my hair in weird places. I need a haircut, not just a trim this time, my hair is getting so long as to give me headaches when I wear it pulled back!

My hair gal also works p/t at Sephora, so tomorrow she's going to play dress-up with my face! She'll be applying my makeup too, and doing a trial run while she's at her other job (so it'll be free!), I just need to buy some mascara or something (which I need a new one of anyway).

After all that freaking out about finding a hairdresser, I hit the stylist jackpot! A lovely, young, Jewish woman will be doing my hair and makeup at the hotel the day of the wedding, for what some stylists were asking for just a full trial!

I'm trying not to obsess

The only details left to fuss about are personal appearance. I blogged the other day about trying to find a stylist, and I tried calling a few places, but no one was very helpful on the phone. So, yesterday evening I took to Peal Street armed with business cards. I wrote what I needed, when and where on them, and dropped them off at every salon on Pearl Street with the receptionists. I did find one place that I made an appointment at, but they get VERY mixed reviews online, and I didn't get a warm, relaxing vibe when I was there (I just didn't feel funky enough to fit in). Hopefully, someone from a more traditional/relaxing salon will get back to me and I can cancel my trial on Monday at the funky salon.

HELP!

I'm going to call today and try and schedule my lesson with the makeup artist from the Groupon I bought in June. I also have an appointment at the Clinique counter tomorrow, it's free gift week at Nordstrom! Their new redness reduction foundation is amazingly effective, but a bit too heavy for me. I wonder if I can return the foundation I bought a few weeks ago and get the powder.....

11 AM update:

I got a phone call from a salon that I would go to if it were open on Sundays, but they have an extra $100 travel fee! EEK! Is my hair worth $250 (plus trial), instead of $160 at the funky place (including a trial run)?

I have everything but a hairdresser

To look the most awesome I've ever looked for our wedding, I have everything but a hairdresser. Originally my cousin was going to do my hair, but I'm not OK with her doing it without a trial. Sadly, the hotel's salon and spa has been booked from 9-4 for an entire wedding party (a wedding that isn't even taking place at the St. Julien!). Ugh. I'm f'ed you guys. Who is going to do my hair?! I don't think what I want is TOO complicated, but I can't do it myself. WHAAAAAA!

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Thankfully I have everything else figured out: dress, undergarments, bouquet, shoes, sweater, and most of my jewelry (mom, WHERE THE HECK IS MY BRACELET? IT HAS NEVER BEEN IN COLORADO!)

Oooh, I need to schedule my makeup lesson!

I also need to figure out which antiperspirant actually works, because I'm a sweaty beast. Any suggestions? Secret clinical strength is crap, FYI. And Degree clinical strength doesn't work any better than the regular one after about noon (but I'm sweat free when I wake up and all morning).

Goal for the next -3 weeks: find an f'n hair dresser, book makeup lesson, find antiperspirant that works, avoid stress (AKA sad tummy and pimples), go to bed early and get lots of sleep, drink lots of water.

Have I left anything off the list (other than finishing craft projects)?

items left to order: TWO

Kippot AKA yarmulkes (little hats for the men) and benchers (song/prayer books for after a meal).

That's it. Oh, and to pick up the water bottles and potato chips for the welcome bags.

Seriously. That's it. I sent the contracts to the DJ and the brass quintet (for the ceremony) last night. Every vendor we're hiring has been hired! All that's left is to do/finish all my crafty projects, finalize music selections, menu selections, floral decor, get our clothes tailored, and find someone to do my hair (I can do my own makeup).

We also have to talk to Rabbi Marc about our ceremony. A peer from synagogue (who is also a friend of a friend) got married about a month ago and Rabbi Marc was the officiant at her wedding too. He had just returned from a silent retreat and found out that his dad was quite sick and was in a weird/meditative head-space. Apparently, he threw everyone off by asking if they had any thoughts or wishes that they wanted to share with the bride and groom, to be spiritually sealed into their ketubah before signing it, no one was prepared for this question and there were 3-4 minutes of awkward silence (which my friend said felt like 10 minutes because everyone was just looking around like a deer in headlights). I want to go over everything with him, step-by-step, to make sure that there are no silent surprises like that at our ceremony. While Ben's family may be OK with the touchy-feelies, mine isn't. We're more of the silent WASPy types when it comes to emoting than the huggy ones.

woohoo! I'm a princess!

I just ordered a TIARA! Yeah. Me. Wearing a tiara. It was 1/2 off because it's a sample. Oh darn. Someone wore my tiara to a photo shoot and it's not virgin jewelry, the shame! Pfff, it was on sale! Seriously. I wouldn't care if someone wore it to a funeral. You're talking to the girl who fell in love with sparkly shoes from the DSW clearance rack. If I could find a used dress I liked as much as the one in my head, I'd probably order it too.

Oh, and don't worry, it won't have any rhinestones at all. I'm not that southern, actually I'm not southern at all (take that you damned Red Socks groom [Yankee would sound better, but then I'd have to endure a tickle and/or sock war once he reads this]). I was born in The District and DC was the capitol of the Union, you know.

So, there you go. I now have everything I plan on wearing to our wedding but my dress and there won't be any rhinestones on that either. I'll have to make my short fluffy veil now so that I can play with the placement of the veil and my rhinestone free tiara. Good thing I've had the supplies sitting in the laundry closet for a few months now.

hair idol

Carrie Underwood, yes, the country pop star from American Idol (which I've NEVER watched more than a few minutes of) is my hair idol. She probably has really f'n expensive extensions to have all that volume, but I want it for my wedding hair. Boo. Can bumpers and teasing it out with hairspray do that? I've got baby fine wavy hair = not a whole heck of a lot of volume.

PS- I wouldn't mind having her personal trainer, and wardrobe people either...