I chopped off my hair!

I have been thinking of chopping my hair for quite awhile. Finally, on Sunday, I took the plunge! Here are some before pictures... 

**WARNING: NEVER HAVE I POSTED SO MANY SELFIES IN ONE BLOG POST!!!**

I went to AKS Salon and Spa in Mechanicsburg. My stylist, Sunny, was very good. She looked at some pictures of haircuts I liked and then we talked through what would look the best. Here are some pics right after my cut!

I bought some hair wax for the sides but I'm not sure what it's supposed to do? The next day I tried to style my hair the way Sunny did the day before. Here is what I was able to do with it for work. I'm sure I'll get better at it the more I practice! I like how it's kind of wavy on the sides!

I went back to the salon the next day to get my grays all covered up with a color that is similar to my natural hair. We may go lighter eventually. 

Getting my hair dyed burned... Normally when I dye it from a box it burns/tingles a little bit. This dye burned more than that. I started to get worried I'd have an allergic reaction and I got myself so worked up that I was hot and sweaty. But after about 15 minutes the burning subsided. I was worried! I had to text Susan and Kristina to talk me down because I was at the point that I was going to put myself in a panic attack!

This is my "I'm about to die" face.

Sunny styled it curly for me after I got it dyed. I'm not sure I like it this way!

Here's how I was able to style it for Day #2 with short hair...

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So far most people have been really surprised because I didn't tell anyone but Paul that I was going to do this! But everyone likes it. (Well what else are they going to say!? It's not like someone will tell me I look ugly to my face!) 

It is definitely taking some getting used to but I normally wear my hair in a ponytail away from my face so it's not like I went from long, flowing, perfectly coiffed hair framing my face to a pixie cut.

I also recorded Paul's reaction to seeing my cut for the first time!

If the video didn't show up, click here!

Have a good one!

Have you ever chopped off all your hair?

Does hair dye ever burn you scalp?

Have you ever had a severe allergic reaction!!!???

About last week...

Last week was weird. Paul was gone for most of the week and I was home alone. I didn't tell anyone about it (except a few close friends... you know who you are!) because that's not something I like to advertise! In the past, Paul has been gone for a night or two here or there and it never bothered me. This is the first time it has actually bothered me that he was gone.

Of course I missed him, but mostly I was just scared! I was scared of someone breaking into our house! I took a whole lot of silly precautions that I won't be sharing with you since I don't want it "out there" for people to know about. But let's just say I didn't get much sleep at all...

Monday was my first night alone. I managed to sleep from about 9:30pm until 2:00am, when the cats woke me up. I fed them, went to the bathroom, and then I looked at my phone. I had an alert that the new administration planned to roll back most of Obama's regulations that are meant to combat climate change.

FUUUUUCK!!!

There's nothing like the destruction of the planet and the fear of someone breaking into your house to keep you awake, right?

I laid in bed and practiced my Spanish until 3:00am and then finally I got up. I cleaned the whole house, scrubbed the floors and the walls where Chrissy likes to pee, and ran 6 miles all before 7:00am.

I slept a lot better on Tuesday night. Pretty much from 9:00pm-5:30am straight.

Wednesday night was freaky. I left some lights on during the night and I was dreaming that I woke up and someone had turned the lights off. I kept having the same dream and it was horrible! I was exhausted all day Thursday. Thursday is a bad day to be tired because I teach piano lessons until 7:00pm.

I worried a lot when Paul was gone. I worried about things that I don't normally worry about... and some things that I do often worry about. I basically felt out of control, and when I feel out of control, that's when my mind goes crazy with WORST CASE SCENARIO type of stuff...

The funny thing is, my friend Maren posted an article on Facebook that said 85% of what we worry about never actually happens. Well, that's good to know. Want to know what I worried about this week? Of course you do!

I worried that...

...my house would catch on fire while I was out running (I ran loops so I would pass my house every 3-4 minutes)

... someone was going to follow me into the house and rape me when I'm done with my run.

... someone was going to break into my house while I'm showering. (I took 30 second showers this week.)

... the cats would slip out the door without me noticing.

... the cats would die.

... the cats would fight and injure each other.

... the cats would miss Paul and be depressed.

... my house would catch on fire while I was at work.

... my music classes were going to show up early and I wouldn't have time to finish my lunch.

... an administrator would come into my room the exact minute I sat down at my desk and thus would think I was lazy.

.... I'd be late getting home from work and my piano student would be waiting.

... someone would break into my house while I was at work and then hide.

... I was eating too much food and I would gain weight.

... my plane would crash on the way to CrimeCon... or the way home.

I KNOW IT'S SO RIDICULOUS!!!!

Life is just not fun without Paul. The cats were thrown off too. They were acting a lot more crazy and needy without Paul home to hang out with them all day. Now that he is home, they are back to normal. I'm back to normal too. It's almost like he never left! Except I have a newfound appreciation for him! Not that I didn't appreciate him before... it's just on a different level now!

Do you have any irrational worries?

Are you scared to be home alone overnight?

What's the longest your partner has been gone?

Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Monday!

Here's what we were up to this weekend...

My 6 miler in the morning sucked because my mp3 player was dead so I couldn't listen to podcasts. I need to figure out a way to use my phone. I know there's a way, I am just not tech savvy. (Update: I figured it out!)

Not to brag, but my entire work week was extremely productive. I am proud of myself because there were a lot of tasks I was pushing off and I began to feel overwhelmed. But I am all caught up and I now I feel like a million bucks.

I was a rebel and didn't eat my broccoli for lunch, just my chicken. I am so over broccoli and I need a new veggie!

Friday afternoon was WONDERFUL because I got to see Paul for the first time since basically Sunday night! What a reunion! More about that tomorrow...

That evening we watched some of the shows we normally watch together and shared a frozen pizza. It was a lot of pizza but it was good.

Chrissy demanded his dinner at 9pm sharp. This is his "feed me dinner" stare down...

I was up pretty late on Friday night, but I was so excited to sleep!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't sleep all week due to Paul being gone and me being afraid of getting murdered. Again, more on that tomorrow!

I slept until noon. It was glorious. I clearly needed to sleep as I believe I only woke up once during the night, but other than that, I it was straight through until noon!

My run wasn't that great. I did 8 miles but I was tired and had zero no energy. It was my own fault. I ran around 1:10pm and the last thing I ate was.... at 7:30pm the night before when I had half a pizza. Very irresponsible on my part. The run was hilly and I averaged in the 8:50s. Ugh.

That afternoon, we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday at my brother's house!

My nieces are very special!

Nanny opening her presents.

Clementine plays airplane with Grandpa!

My dad used to do this to me when I was a kid!!!!

I have the best dad!

I can't take how cute they are!

Mom, Dad, and Clemmy

Clark partied HARD.

Tyler and Mom

It was also CHRISSY'S B-DAY!!! My baby boy turned 10 years old on Saturday. I love him so much!!!

What a day, what a day. I slept in, of course, and then I ran. Once again I didn't eat before I ran, but I did 6 miles at a sub 8 min pace! I know why. Because I had Chinese the night before. I always run well after Chinese, I'm serious!

Then I got ALL OF MY HAIR CHOPPED OFF. I'm not even joking. I'll show pictures after I get it colored tomorrow. It turns out, I have A LOT of grey I didn't know about!

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!
How much grey do you have?
Give me a suggestion for a veggie to replace my broccoli...

Weekly Workouts

I ran 33 miles this week. My ITB hurt a little but it's just par for the course. It will hurt for a week and then I won't hear a peep from it for a month or so... No rhyme or reason, that's just my life!

Saturday- 9 (ish) miles at Swatara State Park. My Garmin would not find satellites for this run! I ran the single track bike loops. I described my route to my dad (he bikes there) and he said I probably did about 9 miles. I ran 1.5 hours, so that sounds about right! My hammy did not hurt at all during this run. If it had started to hurt, I probably only would have run for an hour.

Sunday- Lifting back @ home. I was going to go to the gym but then I felt homesick so stayed at home to lift.

Monday- 6 neighborhood miles. Shorts! Woot!

Tuesday- 6 more miles. I ran loops around my house. Paul wasn't home and I was convinced my house was going to catch on fire while I was gone. Oh, this run was done on two hours of sleep. I run fast when I don't get much sleep!

This is fast for me right now.

Wednesday- 6 miles. Again, I just looped around my house. It wasn't a very fun run because my mp3 player died right in the middle of my JonBenet podcast! Then I had tap class at night.

Thursday- Lifting chest @ home. I did something strange where I did all 12 exercises in a row, rested, and then did them again. I did that 5 times. I just needed something different, you know?

Friday- 6 miles in my hood... WITHOUT PODCASTS because my mp3 player was still dead. I need to figure something out, because without my podcast, all I thought about was work. Runs are supposed to be my time, not think about work time.

How were your workouts this week?
Do you think about work on your runs?
Have you ever run loops around your house because you were afraid of something?

Chrissy was a BABY!

Back in the spring of 2007, my friend Maren's cat, Miss Marbles was pregnant. I was promised that I could have one of the kittens! I named Christmas before he was even born. I remember finding out when Miss Marbles finally had the kitties. I was at work and Maren texted me. I was so excited! It would be 8 weeks before I could bring Christmas home, but I could meet him before that!

Here are some pics of the first time we met Christmas...

Chrissy and his mommy, Miss Marbles

Miss Marbles

The whole litter!

This is how Maren describes the day the kitties were born...

"I remember Miss Marbles had the kittens somewhere hidden - somewhere outside. Maybe behind our neighbor's house? Then, one day, we saw her coming across the street with a kitty in her mouth! We held open the front door as she was running straight towards it. She came in and immediately ran upstairs, into my bedroom and put the baby kitty under the my desk!

She ran back another time, bringing a second kitty, then for a third! (I forget which order, because I'd never seen them before then to know who was who!)

Her last trip back was a little slower - she was tired! - and she dropped the last one on her head in the road! (That was Cookie, black and white.)

They then stayed in a kitty house in the garage until they got bigger when we moved the house onto the deck.

All the kittens were especially cuddly, but I remember Chrissy and the other orange kitty were especially outgoing!"

When Christmas was 8 weeks old, I drove up to Pillow, PA to pick him up. He was living outside on Maren's deck and she actually couldn't find him as he was somewhere in the flowers exploring. That's my little boy, right!? She had a little gift bag for me with cat toys in it. I put Christmas in a box and drove him an hour back to my apartment in Camp Hill.

I don't remember much about our first two years together in my apartment in Camp Hill. It's crazy to think I lived there with Christmas for 3 months and then Jelly joined us! I have a couple pictures but not many, as back then, no one had a camera on their phone. Here's two I found...

He always would do anything for milk...

Look how little!!!! But you can tell by his paws he was gonna be a big boy.

I'll talk more about Jelly when it's his birthday, but for now, I want to wish my little Chrissy boy a HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

I know it sounds crazy, but I love Christmas with all my heart. When he looks in my eyes, we have a CONNECTION. 

Here are some pictures of my boy. I hope his personality/silliniess shines through so you can see some of the reasons why I love him!

Tell me about how you got your fur baby...
Or how you got your real baby!!!