Hair Today, Gone Today

My hair, early afternoon, Wednesday, June 27, 2012: 

Back

Side

Front

My hair, late afternoon, Wednesday, June 27, 2012: 

Back

Side

Front

Amazing, yes?

The last time I had my hair cut was 370 days ago.

(Believe it or not!)

I have continued to be

so very tired

of spending a lot of money to get my hair done.

As a result, I let my hair grow.

And grow.

And grow.

However, it is now really, really hot in Oklahoma.

So, I caved and went to the salon this afternoon.

Samuel Grayson worked his magic on my hair and it looks great.
Cutting away all the length and thinning the remaining hair,
 has made my hair bouncy and perky and lovely.
I should have taken a picture of my hair on the floor.

Oh! My! Goodness!

I love Samuel. It is so peaceful in his salon.

I even made a future appointment to maintain this cut.

How do you feel about how expensive hair maintenance is now?

Do you rebel and let your hair become a hot mess?

Do you think I should continue to rebel and only get a haircut once a year?

Baby Sitting Scenes

The 9 and 6 year old nieces and I babysat each other 

recently for an entire week.

We went to the movies.

We spilled our drinks, our popcorn and our candy.

We were the "Spiller Girls."

We danced in the bathroom after showers and teeth brushing.

Grandma bought us lunch one day.

We swam.

We painted.

The blue bird of happiness came to visit.

As did Lady Liberty.

We were frequently so tired we stole cat naps in the car.

The 9 year old told her parents upon their return, 

"We were good 90% of the time."

Which was true.

We managed to survive without any major meltdowns by any of us.

I love these girls.

Tablescape for Friends

We recently had friends over for dinner. I used the same tablecloth I used for my family the week before.

Instead of red accents for this tablescape, I went the green route.

The green glass chargers were purchased 15+ years ago from a Crate & Barrel outlet. The color perfectly matches my Forest Green Depression glass collected over the years.

I layered on Fitz & Floyd's every day bone china, Nevaeh White.

I love these English Ivy plates. I blogged about them here.

A complete place setting. Note the glass knife rest. I picked up 8 of them at an estate sale. The linen napkin is from my extensive collection of napkins. (I've got napkins galore!)

Araglin Waterford wine glass paired with a Forest Green Water glass. I love the little footed salts. I have six of them, with spoons, from an estate sale.

We had grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes and salad with home grown tomatoes and cucumbers. Yum!

Two Types of Shorthand

I'm always on the lookout for unique, vintage books to resell in my booths. I found these Gregg Shorthand books recently at an estate sale. They sure did bring back memories of my shorthand class in high school.

Gregg shorthand uses symbols for letters and words. I can vividly remember trying to memorize all the symbols!

I wonder how quickly (if at all) this would come back to me?

At another estate sale, I found a Bowdon Shorthand manual. I have never heard of this type of shorthand, have you?

This book was published in Oklahoma City, just down the road from me in Tulsa.

Bowden shorthand uses the alphabet, instead of symbols.

I wonder if this method would be easier to learn than the Gregg method?

I googled "shorthand" and found that you can take classes on the Gregg method on line. One page states that journalists, students, administrative assistants and others still use shorthand. Do you think that is true in this technological age?

Did you take shorthand in school? If yes, did you use it in your career? Was it easy or hard for you?

Tablescape For A Family Dinner Party

The Sister and her family joined us for dinner a couple of weeks ago and I decided to use my United States tablecloths, so we could discuss with the nieces where we went on our recent road trip.

Here is our appetizer station. Grapes and Southern Pimento Cheese dip, served with Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips and celery sticks. My flower frog collection is displayed on two hammered aluminum tiered trays on this table in the summer.

This is the main dining table. I layered my second United States tablecloth over a plain white cloth. I used Fitz & Floyd's everyday bone china, Nevaeh White.

The centerpiece was simple, two hammered aluminum candlestick holders with etched glass globes and a glass candlestick.

The wine glass is Waterford's Araglin and the water glass is Mikasa's French Countryside Ruby goblet, which I won from Susan.

The sterling is an unidentified pattern that I picked up a few years ago from an estate sale. The napkins are from my collection of estate sale linens.

Our menu was grilled stuffed trout, fresh green beans, fried polenta and salad. The Sister brought brownies for dessert.

After dinner the men "retired" to watch basketball and the girls "retired" to the living room to work on our embroidery. How very Victorian of us!

Road Trip 2012 - Day 19 - The End!

Thursday, May 3rd - Natchez, MS to Tulsa, OK

We began our second morning at the Natchez Manor with their tasty breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cheesy grits and butter biscuits. Yum!

We loaded our belongings into the car around 10:00am and started home to Tulsa. Yes, that's right, Day 19 of the road trip would be the day we return home.

Beginning odometer = 37,392 

Remember the bridge over the Mississippi River that I showed you a photo of in the last post? Here's a shot as we drove over the bridge from Mississippi into Louisiana.

At some point, we stopped for a fast food lunch in Arkansas and then continued to drive. We arrived at our home at approximately 7:00 p.m., with our ending odometer reading 37,929.

The Husband drove a total of 2,939 miles during this 19 day trip. I did not drive even one mile. Yes, it is true.

We visited nine states.

1. Arkansas (twice)
2. Mississippi (twice)
3. Tennessee
4. North Carolina
5. South Carolina
6. Georgia
7. Florida
8. Alabama
9. Louisiana

We were fortunate to see many beautiful and interesting places, as well as have a great deal of fun and good food along the way.

We knew there are an untold number of places to see and things to do in this big country and this trip really emphasized that fact.  We are already dreaming about our next road trip.

If you have the opportunity, why don't you get in your car and go see some of the U.S.A.? You won't regret it!

Road Trip 2012 - Day 18

Wednesday, May 2nd - Natchez, MS 


We enjoyed the hot, complimentary breakfast at Natchez Manor. It was delicious. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cheesy grits and butter biscuits. Mmmm good. A great start to a day of adventure in Natchez.

We decided our first destination would be Natchez Under the Hill. We drove under the hill and then up top to see the might Mississippi.

The bridge behind me takes you to Louisiana. Remember that.

After strolling a bit on the river front, we took a driving tour of two cemeteries.

First was the Natchez National Cemetery.

Second, was the Natchez City Cemetery.

One example of the ornate ironwork that can be found in the cemetery. This gate has ears of corn incorporated in the design.

After leaving the cemeteries, we made our way to Stanton Hall for the house tour. It was the epitome of gracious living in it's heyday. Heck, it's the epitome of gracious living today.

Here we are pretending we own the property.

"Welcome to our home."

On the grounds of Stanton Hall, the carriage house has been converted to The Carriage House Restaurant. Of course, we had to have lunch there. Their buttery, silver dollar size biscuits were delicious, as were their chicken livers (I know!) and pimento cheese dip. I drank my first Mint Julep. It was tasty and strong and I had to go back to the room for a nap immediately after consuming it.

After the nap, we took a stroll around the historic district and ended up at The Eola Hotel. We walked into the Peacock Bar & Grill and made the acquaintance of Julie, the friendliest bartender in Natchez. We talked a bit about the historic mansions in the town that are open for tours. Julie told me about the mansion Christmas tours, in particular the Jeweled Christmas at The Towers. I would love to see this display. It is now on my "bucket" list.

Julie also introduced us to Paul, who is a Coast Guard buoy tender on the Mississippi River. It was interesting to hear his story of how an English Major from Chicago ended up in the Coast Guard in Natchez, MS. It was all about gainful employment!

We chatted with a couple of other folks before leaving the Peacock and touring the hotel lobby, where we found these on display.

As much as we liked the Natchez Manor, next time we visit Natchez we will probably give The Eola Hotel a try.

Ending odometer = 37,392

Note to one "complaining" reader of this blog: One more vacation post to go and then I will return to real-time posting of all the important details of our lives!