That time I was a hair model

 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to get a free haircut as a hair model at a local salon. A few days ago I had found a request online for people with curly hair who wouldn’t mind going short as part of a training program. I answered right away! My former hair stylist stopped returning phone calls a while ago and getting in touch with her was so difficult that I had started cutting my own hair. This was fine, but not great, so I jumped at the chance to get a new cut and possibly find a new stylist.

There was great potential for this to go wrong, but I was very lucky — my stylist in training, Mel, not only had plenty of experience at other salons, but she had also learned from someone who had special training with curly hair. As you can see, my cut turned out fantastic! I look forward to visiting Mel again in the future after she passes her training program with what are sure to be flying colors.

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Vacation in the Adirondacks

Last week we had no preschool because I was out of town soaking in this beauty:

View from the airplane

New Skete Monastery in the Fall

On a hike

Stacked stone wall in the woods

Wayside Country Store, Vermont

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Halloween

I had the great pleasure of spending Halloween with my 3 year old goddaughter today. We had a grand time! Here was our day on Instagram:

We started in the morning at Yellow Dog Bread Company. I ordered her a pumpkin hand pie and myself a chocolate croissant. She ended up eating the chocolate out of my croissant and I had the rest of everything.

Our next stop was the NC Museum of Natural Sciences because I had heard they would have some Halloween activities going on. We didn’t see anything, but we did have fun with the dinosaurs. We also caught an Animals at Night program where we got to see a hedgehog, a black rat snake, a salamander, and a hissing cockroach (which she touched!).

 

On our way back to the car we noticed that a few of the trees around the parking lot had amazing leaves, so we gathered a few. This is probably the best year for leaf color that I have seen in Raleigh in the 15 years I have been here.

While she napped I decorated the front of the house for the night’s trick-or-treaters. The pumpkins were from a carving party we held over the weekend, and the ghost is a tablecloth hanging on a bird feeder.

It is pumpkin week in our little home preschool, so today we carved a jack o’lantern and turned my roasted pumpkins into pie. (I used this recipe and it turned out great!)

 

At night she joined the rest of the kids in my neighborhood for their annual hayride. The kids get on the trailer, ride for a bit, then get off and trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. It is a great way to make sure that the kids get to all of the houses in our little lake neighborhood without the small ones getting too tired.

After a little while her mom came to get her and I sent her off to her next adventure. Halloween with a 3 year old is fun!

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The best part of vacation

Followed by:

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Birthday!

Today was my birthday! Yesterday we had a great pool party for Memorial Day, but today was just me and my husband and a day on the town. I posted my day on Instagram. Here are my photos:

We decided to park and take the free R line circulator bus downtown. Along the way we also discovered the awesome real time updates on their web site. Check it out!

First stop: coffee and a waffle at Benelux. There is Nutella hiding under that whipped cream.

While we walked around downtown we saw a poster for this bizarre upcoming symphony show. Radiohead + Brahms = what?

Then we stopped in at the old Raleigh City Museum, now the City of Raleigh Museum. I worked there way back in the early aughts while I was in grad school.

Then it was time for the main event — the new Star Trek movie. The 3D was fabulous!

After the movie we grabbed a sidewalk hotdog and wandered around downtown.

It was a beautiful day!


We had a good wander but we were getting a little bit warm, so we ducked into the state capitol building for a peek around. This is the most patriotic photo I have ever taken.

Then we had sushi for dinner! One of those rolls has beef on it. Yum.

Now it is time to follow this advice on my husband’s birthday card. Thanks for spending my birthday with me!

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Zoo trip!

Bear, a photo by ambermae on Flickr.

We took a trip to the North Carolina Zoo today. Check out my photos here.

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Welcome Spring

Today it finally feels like we’ve turned the corner on spring. I thought the winter would never end. Some photos —

Rainy cardinal:

 

A carolina wren sounds an alarm:

 

 

Pine siskins:

Kitten antics:

And squirrel antics:

Dinner for ten:

 

 

 

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Squirrel and spring flowers

 

I knew that I wanted a wildlife shot for my baton day yesterday, but I hadn’t taken the camera out in a while so I wasn’t sure what I would get. I stalked the windows and my deck for a while but didn’t see a single bird that wasn’t too far away or moving too fast. Instead, I brought the camera with me while I walked out to the mailbox to get the mail.

This squirrel ran away from me all the way down the driveway. He then took refuge in a short cedar and climbed as high as he could, but soon discovered he was about eye level with me. He panicked and ran away before stopping at a safe distance to eat. Fortunately for me his safe distance was still well within the range of my camera and I was able to get several shots of him eating this spring wildflower right in front of a patch of daffodils.

According to Google and my best guess the flower he’s eating is henbit. I need to better educate myself about the plants growing on my property.

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RDU Baton

Today I had the great privilege of running the RDU Baton family of social media sites. Here are all of my photos in case you missed them:

Click on the photos to read their original captions.

Are you considering signing up for the RDU Baton? Do it! You can find their open days here: RDU Baton calendar.

I’ll post that squirrel photo soon.

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Snow Day

Oh the weather outside is frightful.

But the fire is so delightful.

And since we’ve no place to go…

Where’s our snow? I only see ice.

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