Ginger Hair

Lately I've been told by several different people that I'm not a redhead. This saddens me. My red hair is something that I have grown to love and now people tell me that my hair is brown or dirty blonde. I started looking at old pictures last night and realized that my hair has changed a lot over the years, back and forth. Sometimes it's lighter, sometimes darker, sometimes shinier, and then of course some really bad hair cuts over the years. Of course my hair is always lighter and always looks better in summer, but it has changed more than just summer/winter hair.

I looked up a few ways to make red hair redder naturally. I have never dyed my hair before, except for an unfortunate run-in with Sun-In when I was younger, and I'm just not quite ready for that yet. And even though henna is natural, I am not ready for that extreme yet either. I found a suggestion for a mixture of hibiscus tea and paprika. I mixed some of that up sprayed it into my hair and that was my first attempt. I have tried it for a few days now. I can't really tell if my hair looks more red or if it's psychosomatic, but my hair smells really good! Then, today I found that peppermint oil is supposed to brighten your hair. I mixed that up into some of my conditioner because it suggested either that or a spray bottle and I was out of spray bottles. I wouldn't mix it with my hair product again though. Some of the conditioner got in my eye and it burned very badly. I went out and bought another spray bottle tonight. When I was heating the water and peppermint oil I came across another fortunate finding - peppermint oil is very good for your sinuses! I could breathe better than I've been able to in a long time! I put another mixture in the microwave tonight so that I could have it sitting on my counter while I did dishes.

In my searching for how to make my hair more red again, I also stumbled upon this website: http://howtobearedhead.com/ I absolutely love it and I'm pretty sure I will be ordering their book!

He came in a manger

Last night was my first experience at midnight mass. I enjoyed it. Although admittedly the Christmas candlelight service is still my favorite by far. I missed that this year. In the homily the priest pointed out that Christ came in a manger, to one of the messiest places on earth instead of to a throne. He came to a barn with smelly animals and to a bed made of hay. I don't often think of how awful it must have smelled in the barn. Normally we talk about how Jesus was born here because He was born humbly. Which is also true. But the priest made an important new point. We often are afraid of how messy our lives are and are afraid to ask Jesus to be involved unless we have everything all together. We are never going to have everything all together for one. And Jesus made a point by coming in a manger. He wants to be a part of our mess. He wants to help us right where we are at. Bad smells and all.

Proposal

A few months before, I was laughing and Nick said I was like a little hyena. I didn't like that so I told him I was more like a little tiger with my claws up for effect. He now loves calling me his little tiger. We love going to the zoo. We especially have fun watching the baby tigers. Potter Park Zoo was having a wonderland of lights during Christmastime (December 28, 2012) so we had to go. We wandered around looking at the lights and animals and eventually ended up in the tigers den. It was busy in there, but the monkeys started howling, which woke up the lion. He started roaring loudly back and all the people went down to that end. We went to check out what was happening as well, but then Nick brought me back to the tigers. He was holding me close and started to tell me he loved me just as I was starting to say "I love the animals! Oops, I mean I love you too!" He asked me if I would be his little tiger forever and I said yes. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I started tearing up and immediately said "yes!" I am marrying a man who loves me and is always willing to be ridiculous with me.

Summer

This summer I want to repeat many of the things I did last summer as well as accomplishing the things I missed last summer. There are also a few things I want to add to the list: - Mackinac Island - Ludington - Dark sky park

Perspective

I was going through my favorites online today.  Sorting them out, seeing how my interests have changed, deleting the links that no longer work.  And I found one of my friend's deviantart profiles.  I haven't looked at this in a long time.  I love that she is a crazy redhead like me.  And so I loved her picture "Seeing in Red."  I also loved this picture that she titled "Finding Beauty in Dying Things."  And it reminded me to look for beauty all around me.

http://theredrandom.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1bh52a

 

Perspective is everything.

ArtPrize 2012

This was Nick and I's favorite piece at ArtPrize.  (We even agreed on which piece we loved most.)  It is a piece by Dan Heffron.  It received 6th place in ArtPrize and was located right outside the B.O.B.  It was carved from a single black walnut log.  Most artists didn't allow you to touch their pieces, but for this one it was encouraged.  You can read more about the piece here: http://www.artprize.org/dan-heffron/2012/life-in-wood.  Both years we have really enjoyed the art and festivities (interactive art) outside the B.O.B. 

I can't wait to go again next year!  So much incredible art!  So much to see!  We were there for about seven hours and still didn't see it all.  Definitely an inspiring experience. 

Binder Park Zoo

My boyfriend and I went to Binder Park on August 22nd to see the bear cubs!  They were seven months old and they were so cute! 

We also really enjoyed feeding the giraffes!

 

 

Next I want to go see the baby hedgehogs at Potter Park!