This morning.
1. I’m trying really hard not to complain about the weather, but failing. I even looked up cities within an 7-8 hour drive from here to see if anywhere was going to be sunny or warm this weekend. Sadly, I came up empty-handed. Even North Carolina will be cold and rainy. No spontaneous road trip for us. Womp womp. Perhaps we’ll check out the winter farmers market and the maple sugar festival (!) in town this weekend to make up for it.
2. I am on day 2 of my 12 day spring break. Although I toyed with the idea of somewhere in South Carolina for the week, we ended up opting to stay home after an expensive car repair and making plans to travel to DC in May for conference Mike’s attending. Although it’s a bit of a bummer since we haven’t ever had the same spring break before, I’m actually super excited about the opportunity to work for most of those days. Catching up makes me happy.
3. I got a bunch of books from a friend who works at Loyola Press. I picked up Fearing the Stigmata because of its high reviews on Amazon. To be honest, I didn’t really expect to enjoy it. Mostly because reading something with “stigmata” in the title seemed a bit intense. But I’m really enjoying it – it’s funny and light and self-deprecating. If you grew up Catholic, you’ll laugh at his descriptions of squeezing his sister’s hand during the Our Father at mass.
4. I think I want to get Gabe a play kitchen. Is it too late to do that? Why isn’t IKEA closer? He just loves playing with the one at the library so much! I also wanted to get him a tiny broom and dustpan, but the ones at the store were all pink with hearts. Because only girls like to pretend to clean. Only girls are helpful. And, I mean, as a woman, I insist that my broom at home is pink. (Not that he can’t have a girl broom! I’m just boycotting any toys like that. I grew up with four sisters and we didn’t have exclusively pink stuff. Bah!) (Clearly, this is another topic for another day. One that I probably won’t write about.)
5. I am growing out my bangs for summer. Which allegedly will come, regardless of what the snow on the ground is saying. I just don’t want to deal with blow drying them in the summer – or the sweaty bangs situation (I got a taste of it in Puerto Rico.) I think they’ll be a seasonal thing.
A hair hazard.
I was hoping to transition with side swept bangs, but I have no idea what I’m doing there. Do you just…blow dry them to the side?
Have a great weekend! May it be sunny and/or warm where you are! (I know, California, it’s always warm there.)
I have such a hard time figuring out side swept bangs. During the summer, I would cut them, let them grow out, do the side swept thing once they were long enough that they sort of did it on their own, and then when they got so long that they started falling into my eyes, I would cut them back to normal. And then the process would start all over again… I’ve tried multiple times to actually cut them side swept but I think I need to see a professional because I just cannot figure it out.
It snowed last night in Pittsburgh and I seriously almost cried. What the hell, winter? Go. Away.
Amen, my friend. Amen.
I adore you. Mmkay, here are my thoughts!
1. I just found out from a local that we shouldn’t expect “nice” weather for a month yet. My heart sank.
2. DC is amazing. I highly recommend you check out the Library of Congress. There are three buildings but the one behind the capitol building has the exhibitions in addition the the beautiful architecture and you’ll LOVE it (though perhaps over Gabe’s head… but… still…)
3. I grew up Catholic and this is now on my to-read list!
4. Buy them and spray paint them. Boom.
5. How funny, for me I was thinking bangs FOR summer… just because the air is SO DRY here is winter, i am afraid they won’t do my will!
We got our son a $20 plastic kitchen set online just to see if he’d like it. He’s ok with it but not loving it. Glad we didn’t buy the nice wooden ones. I find just because my boy likes to play with things outside his own home, doesn’t guarantee he will like it when it’s in his house. Kids are weird ;).
Yes! This is so true. So much more fun when it’s not at home!
Topher loves baking, sweeping, dusting, and pushing his babies around in a stroller – Nathan and I still argue about whether or not he’s allowed to pretend to do “girl things”, and I’m sure it’s only going to get worse now that he has a little sister! I agree with Ti – buy them and spray paint them :)
My nephew was the same way when he was Gabe’s age and I couldn’t find anything cleaning-related that wasn’t pink and totally girly. (My brother would have had a fit had I gotten him something pink. Sigh.) All I wanted was to get him a broom or a play vacuum because I knew he would have adored it!
I tried to cut side-swept bangs myself by watching Youtube videos but couldn’t figure it out. They do have some good tutorials so maybe check them out? Bangs can be such a fight! Ha.
Living in the Midwest, I have found that I enjoy the seasons more when I just assume that spring will only be one day sometime in mid-June and then we’ll jump straight to summer. I still don’t mind the cold and snow, though I am a bit happier on days the sun makes an appearance. =)
It looks like you are not the only one unhappy with the weather in Ohio. Today’s news includes a tongue in cheek story about Ohio prosecutors issuing an “indictment” of Punxsutawney Phil over his early spring forecast. Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in southwestern Ohio’s Butler County, wrote that Punxsutawney Phil is charged with misrepresentation of spring, which constitutes a felony “against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ohio-prosecutors-indict-punxsutawney-phil-over-early-spring-forecast-seek-death-penalty/2013/03/22/933f092e-92fc-11e2-8e33-9cc6c739d012_story.html
Bummer about the weather — but I hope you still have a wonderful spring break! Sending you lots of sunny, warm California vibes your way!
As for side bangs, I blow dry them in the opposite direction that I want them to fall.
I did a quick google and here is a tutorial — http://www.thehairstyler.com/features/articles/hairstyles/blow-dry-tips-for-perfect-bangs
Also, I totally agree with you about how all the pink kitchen stuff is ridiculous! So sexist and dumb.
My 3-year-old nephew really wanted a play kitchen for Christmas and I found him this one:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3872808&prodFindSrc=prodCrossSell
The side bangs: I have had them for years. I tried to switch to straight, blunt bangs and I can’t do it. I blow dry mine straight down and then pull them to the side and hit with the blowdryer again. Like, hold them over toward my temple and hit them with hot air. I also will use a straightener quickly. I think the key, though, is to get them trimmed to wear to the side. My hair dresser cuts them specifically to lay nicely on the side (a little thinned out at the temple where I wear them), because if you cut them straight and smoosh them to the side, they’ll bunch up on the one end.
This probably makes no sense. 1. Dry them straight first. 2. Have them trimmed to be side bangs.
I have side bangs as well and totally agree with these comments to dry them straight down as if they were blunt bangs and then sort of sweep them to the side. Also to get them to lay correctly, you have to dry them right after you get out of the shower, even if you are going to let the rest of your hair air dry somewhat. And yeah, getting them trimmed a bit to be “side bangs” would help a lot – and usually bang trims are free. Lastly, I use a hair straightener on my hair, but never on my bangs, it makes them look strange, but my side bangs are fairly short, so maybe that works if they are longer.
For Small Hands has several gender-neutrally-colored options for dustpan/broom sets. I also ordered my son a broom from them (blue!) years ago. http://www.forsmallhands.com
MAPLE SUGAR FESTIVAL. This is so Northeast Ohio, & I realllly wish I could go. Wanna send me some maple sugar candy? ;)
Girl MAKE Gabe a play kitchen. We found a nightstand on the side of the road or sale dirt cheap and repurposed it into a kitchen. Cut out a circle and add a stainless bowl for the sink, remove the drawers and add a fabric curtain to hide the dishes and play food etc. We googled ideas online and then painted it to match the nursery, although it found a home in my den. Add some dry sponges and empty soap bottles and let Gabe go to town!
Oh, I love that you want to get a play kitchen for Gabe. My nephew (who just turned three) is totally fixated on kitchen stuff as well… hehe… we took him to IKEA over Christmas and he didn’t want to leave the play kitchen area ;)
Loved your bangs but I can understand they are a piece of work (esp. in the summer!)
I rarely/never comment but if you are looking for ‘cleaning’ type toys that are inevitably always girly, go to a Montessori supply catalog/website/store and they have all that stuff and it is non gender specific. I got my (now five) year old boy a little table top playkitchen via Amazon which my kids still play with; I am not sure if they make it anymore but I saw a similar one on ebay. Love your blog!
Thank you so much! I spent an hour looking at adorable Montessori stuff… :)
DIY has already been suggested but here’s a couple neat examples with instruction from apartment therapy. I remember spending countless hours playing in the basement with my little tyke kitchen set. We even had a bin of plastic food. These usually ended up as projectiles, but it was all part of the fun.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/roundup-diy-play-kitchens-69808