Yesterday I went to Sally and got some supplies – rubber gloves, a cute shower cap to put on while the henna does it’s thing, plus a haircolor applicator bottle AND a highlight applicator brush (I heard of people using both so decided to go for broke and have both on hand). I washed and dried my hair, put on an old shirt, and got down to business.

First, I shreddedthe block of Caca with a cheese grater. There are 6 blocks in a bar and I used 2. This part was kind of fun! Once it was all powdery, I put it into a Pyrex bowl and used my hot pot to boil some water. I added boiling water and stirred it with a wooden spoon until it was like brownie batter. I also added a dash of olive oil at this point and stirred it all up again. I took it into the bathroom and sat the bowl on my coffee mug warmer. The idea here is that you want to put the stuff on your hair when it’s hot, but not hot enough to burn your head. So I thought the warmer would keep it nice & hot during the application process. I wouldn’t fool with this again because it didn’t take that long and just didn’t seem necessary.

I tried the highlight brush thing first, but it was a big fail. The stuff is gooey and instead of painting it into my hair, it was falling onto the sink in clumps. I didn’t even try the applicator bottle, I ended up just putting clumps into my hair and rubbing it in with my gloved hands. This seemed to work out best for me. I rubbed all of it onto my head, and though the coverage was good, I would have felt better to have another 1/2 block in there just for good measure.

Now the big question: How long should I leave this stuff on? I heard many different ideas – anywhere from 1 hour to leaving it on all night while you sleep. I decided to err on the side of caution and leave it in for 1 hour. Caca is very gentle and doesn’t have any chemicals, so you can do it several times in a week to achieve your desired color. I put on my foxy shower cap, set the alarm on my phone, and did some drawing while I waited. One thing I want to mention here is the smell. It’s not unpleasant at all (at least not to me), but it’s somewhat strong and it’s very earthy – like wet grass or hay. I thought it smelled kind of nice, but some people complained a lot about it.

When it was time to wash it out, I got into the shower. I was a little nervous that it would stain the tub, but that turned out to not really be a concern. I took a dark colored washcloth in with me and scrubbed off the walls immediately and it came of with zero issues. My hair was another story. First I rinsed as much as I could get out with just warm water. It was pretty gritty, and the water was running green. I used  some cheapo shampoo and washed it out really good twice. The rinse water was still a tiny bit green, so I washed it a third time with the I Love Juicy shampoo from Lush. It’s a special shampoo made for oily hair that the girl at the store suggested I use after a Caca. It worked great, and got all the rest of the Caca out. I washed with the cheapo stuff one more time just to be sure, then switched to cheapo conditioner. I used that twice, then put on a deep conditioner and left it on while I did the rest of my shower bidness, then rinsed that out too.

Once I was out of the shower, I blew my hair dry. I am super pleased with the results. I definitely got a nice rich chocolate brown. There are a couple of spots in my crown area that are still a little bit lighter, but I’m sure that was an application issue, and I know what I did wrong so next time that won’t happen. Plus, it’s not really that noticeable. I could see it, but Mike couldn’t at all. And my hair feels really soft and nice, too.

I’m very happy with the results, and I would definitely do this again. I might even try mixing the Caca Brun with a square of Caca Marron or Caca Rouge next time so I can get some reddish tones. I was so worried that it was going to be messy or hard to do or stain my skin, but it was way easier than I thought it would be. Also, these pictures kind of suck and I’m sorry about that. I think the lighting I was in was, well…caca. I feel like the before and after pics look kind of similar, which isn’t the case. It doesn’t look the same to me, anyway.

We stopped by the Woodfield mall, which is pretty awesome. It’s big and there are tons of stores we don’t have around here. I finally got to check out LUSH, which I’ve heard great things about from lots of girlfriends. I bought a bar of the Caca Brun henna for my hair, and I’m really excited (and a little nervous!) to give it a go. I will definitely let all of you know how that turns out. I was very anxious to check out Dick Blick, an art supply store. I could have spent HOURS in there. It was so amazingly cool, and the staff there is so helpful! I asked a question about what types & weights of paper are best for watercolors and the guy talked to me for 15 minutes about how to prevent paper from warping and all sorts of stuff. Very very cool. They happened to be having a big sale on sketchbooks, so I picked up a couple of drawing pads and a watercolor pad. I have been using my Purple Rain sketchbook and it’s awesome, except that the paper is lavender (which is awesome for a Purple Rain pad, no?) and I’d prefer white. Especially when doing colored pencil, because the colored paper distorts the colors of the pencils. Also, there was some water damage, because I’m a big doofus. I also got some extra HB pencils and a few erasers. Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that Dick Blick RULES. I wish wish wish they would open a store in Kalamazoo.

We also hit the outlet mall in Michigan City, and I went to Bare Escentuals. Oh, how I love this store. They had a really nice kit that had a lip gloss, 2 eyeshadows, a liner shadow, and a blush and I loved it. The eyeshadows were in the purple family with an eggplant liner and neutral gloss and blush. PERFECT! I have been wanting to try more colrful eyeshadows, and with my green eyes I knew purple was a good choice. I even had the girl try all the colors from the kit on me so I could see how to use them and make sure I liked them. Once I got home, I busted open the box so I could paw through my shiny new stuff. Apparently, another customer had opened this box and taken out some of the stuff inside and replaced it with other stuff. The lipgloss was unsealed and used, and the eggplant liner I was so excited about was replaced with a bright teal liner! Ugggh, I was so frustrated. I called the store and explained what happened and asked them what I could do since I live so far away and the liklihood that I will get any use out of bright teal liner is slim. I offered to send this back to them, and also to pay for them to ship me the right stuff. The girl told me that the kits were sold out, so that wasn’t an option. She took my number and said she would figure something out and call me back. She called yesterday and told me she was able to find all of the pieces that were part of the kit and she was going to mail them all to me free of charge, and I could also keep the original kit with the mixed up colors as well. Best. Customer. Service. Ever. I’m so excited to get my eggplant liner!

Mike scored a few goodies too. He got a couple of really cool new t-shirts, and he also finally was able to get a new band for his favorite watch at the Fossil outlet. He also spent some time drooling over the iPad at the Apple store, but we decided to wait on that purchase.

Ironically, right next to our hotel was the RAM Brewery, so we walked over there on Saturday night to try the local brews. It was a pretty cool place, and I tried the flagship beer, the Buttface Amber Ale. It was very good, I actually liked it better than Bell’s Amber. I also tried the Total Disorder Porter, which I also enjoyed. It had kind of a bacon coffee aftertaste, which I really dug. I also had a small taste of the Big Red IPA, uggh, not my favorite. It reminded me of Founder’s Red’s Rye. Hard to drink. I desperately wanted to try the summer brew, Summer of George, but alas, they were all out, so no dice.

We had a stellar time, and enjoyed ourselves a great deal. We loved Schaumburg and would definitely like to visit there again. Good Times.

We got to Canada, and the University of Windsor was literally about 30 feet across the border. We were quite early because we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for border crossing, which turned out to be very smooth. We found great parking right across from the arena  gym, and decided we should keep our spot and explore this foreign land on foot. Hark! A bar about a block away!  It was our lucky day.

They even had “Welcome U Kentucky” on the sign! We were pretty excited, but tempered by the fact that we missed the Friday Halibut. You win some, you lose some. As you can see, Dawn is so excited, she is making some kind of hand gesture. I’m pretty sure she isn’t in any street gangs, so this might be a UK thing.

We went inside, and I really wasn’t prepared for what we found. The place was PACKED at 4 PM on a Sunday, but even stranger is that everyone inside was wearing matching clothes. It was a sea of blue with small patches of white here and there. Oh, and then me – I wore an orange shirt, and everyone was staring at me like I had 2 heads. I didn’t really think this whole thing through, although in fairness, even if I had, I might not have done anything differently. I don’t know anything about sports culture, so I still don’t think I would have figured out that matching clothes was a prerequisite. The other thing is that while Dawn & I trekked a couple hours to Windsor, the rest of these people trekked 5 or 6 from Kentucky to see this game. I did not expect that at all.

We found a table, and Dawn was already giddy to be around so many of her peeps. I was giddy too, but for different reasons. I got a Bloody Caesar! I can’t believe that 30 feet across the border you can get a Bloody Caesar, but they are impossible to procure at an American bar. Anyway, it was so delish! It had a pickle & everything. Dreamy.

We got a bite to eat, had a couple of brews, and mingled with the fans. At one point, a guy decided to lead a UK cheer of  “C-A-T-S, Cats Cats Cats” or something similar. Dawn joined right in (as did everyone else), but I didn’t know what to do. She told me I looked terrified, but I’m not used to people spelling out words as a group. Also, I honestly thought a fight was breaking out, because when people are yelling in a bar, that’s my first conclusion. In all seriousness, though, the Cats fans were super pleasant and the nicest people I’ve met in a while.

We went out on the patio and were chatting up some of the fans. Dawn fit right in and knew all the lingo to hold an intelligent UK basketball conversation. But I was also ready. I had been practicing some one liners to use as my fall back catchphrases if anyone asked me anything about the Cats. I practiced them on Dawn and she approved, so I gave them a whirl on the nice fans. For full disclosure, I did come up with these completely on my own. I gleaned this info from Dawn’s tweets and from watching the basketball draft thingy with her at the bar. I’m pretty proud of that fact.

• Catchphrase #1: “Coach Cal is so great, right?”  This was my go to. I was hoping that this would get the other person talking and I could smile & nod and say “Yeah, he really is great” when they paused.
• Catchphrase #2: “I sure hope that this year’s recruiting class is awesome since we lost John Wall and Boogie.” This one was far riskier because I had no follow up if they questioned me further. This is pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

We were hanging out with these 3 guys and Dawn told them I wasn’t a sports person, and this was my first time around UK fans. I threw out my phrases and they were super impressed. One of them even asked a follow up question – “What do you think of Louisville?” I quickly responded, “You mean Little Brother?” I was a rockstar and everyone knew it. It was lucky that Dawn had schooled me on the Little Brother thing about 5 minutes before.

We had a ball at this bar with the rest of the Cats fans. I think what really surprised me is the experience of being with a big group of people who are all completely different, but have this one big common interest that binds them together in a way I didn’t expect. It was like a family reunion. We could easily chat up anyone and have something to talk about. And more than that, everyone shared the excitement that the game would be starting soon. It was a roomful of giddy people in matching clothes that were all BFFs. And it was kind of awesome.

It was almost game time, so we headed out and got to the College. We got pretty good seats and watched the guys warm up and do the fancy stretches. To my surprise, the game was really exciting. Dawn explained the new kid, Jarrod Polson to me. He is a freshman, and was good enough to get a basketball scholarship to play at another school. But he is from Kentucky, and always wanted to play for the Cats. So he actually chose to go to UK and pay for his own tuition so that he could play for this team. Not having a scholarship and making the team is called a walk-on. With about 10 minutes left in the second half, the Cats were killing the Lancers, so Cal put Jarrod in. This kid is about as cute as cute can get. The program said he is 6″2′, but next to the rest of the team he looks like a 12 year old. As soon as Cal put him in, the crowd was on it’s feet. This kid definitely has the support of the fans. He was a little tentative, and was just passing the ball to other players when he got it, but finally, he took a shot and sunk a basket. The crowd went crazy with excitement, and it was easy to get caught up in it and root for the hometown boy. That was my favorite part of the game, but of course, I am biased by sports indifference.

So that was my super fun experience with basketball. It was a really good time, and I would totally do it again. Dawn says I need to see a real game with dance teams and cheerleaders and all that, and I am in agreement. I also need a UK shirt and a blue wig for next time. Go Cats!!

So here it is: My mom has been having health issues, and that really sucks. The job hunting situation has been stressing me out to the point of not sleeping and being a super foul crankypants. Mike is gone to California for 5 days, which means I’m super sad & lonely. There has just been a lot to deal with, and it has taken it’s toll on my sanity.

On the upside, my family & friends are super awesome, and I don’t know what I would do without them. They have consoled, supported, listened, celebrated, commiserated, advised and so much more for the last couple of sucky weeks, and it makes all the difference. Even if I’m still a super foul crankypants.

Yesterday morning, we hit the road bright & early for the Michigan Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti. Of course, we had to make a stop at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor for lunch, which was fabulous as always. I had a great sandwich, but the highlight for me was the Burnt Sugar Gelato. It was so good! Like the top of a creme brulee. Mike bought some fancy cheese and then we pressed on to Ypsi.

When we got to the park, it seemed like there weren’t many people there. I assumed the turnout was weak because it was supposed to thunderstorm all day. Good thing I brought umbrellas & towels. We got a decent parking spot, then headed to the gate. Oops, somehow we went to the back of the park and were at the employee entrance. We had to walk all the way around the park and down a couple of city blocks to reach the front gate. HOLY SMOKES there were about 568975568 waiting to get inside!! We waited in line for a while, marvelling at the assortment of pretzel necklaces people were wearing. At first we thought this was just a sustenance thing, as drinking on an empty stomach is not a good idea, but much later we figured out that the salty pretzels actually cleanse the palate between samples. Next time we will know better and have our own pretzel necklaces. We also saw a few people with Cheeze-Its and pretzels, and even a dude with various types of beef jerky and cheeses on a necklace!!

About the time we were halfway through the line the sun came out and started blazing. It did not stop all day long!! So much for my umbrellas and towels! Since it had rained so much before the fest, the whole park was a grody mud pit. But nobody, including us, really seemed to care that it was hot and muddy and humid and gross. There was beer beyond the gates, and we had work to do. Here’s a pic of us waiting in line. Mikey took the photo, so he’s not pictured.

Once we got inside, Dawn, Peach Pit & I got our cups & tokens. Mike & Peach Fuzz don’t drink beer, so they decided to camp out in the shady food tent while the 3 of us decided to check out our first brewery. The festival was HUGE, with 54 breweries and over 400 beers available to sample. Where to start was a pretty big challenge. Dawn & I diligently checked off the samples we tried on the beer list included in the program. Peach Pit doesn’t even like beer, and was really only there because he heard there was drinking. We even heard him say things like “Give me the lightest beer you have.” Contrarily, Dawn & I studied our list of options carefully before we got into the lines so that we knew what we wanted before getting to the taps.

There were some standouts for me. I loved Olde Peninsula’s Stout Chocula. It’s a little sad that I had to go all the way to Ypsi to sample a beer that is brewed 5 minutes from my house, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles I suppose. I really really enjoyed the Oak Aged Hatter IPA from New Holland. I didn’t even choose that one, Peach Pit did. I got The Poet Oatmeal Stout from New Holland and it wasn’t my fave so we traded. It was so good, though. Smooth, yet still rich. I also really enjoyed Pickle Tink, a strawberry wheat brew from Schmoz in Grand Rapids. It tasted like fresh strawberries. it was very good. I hope I get the chance to try this again sometime when my palate isn’t hosed by drinking 100 different flavors in one sitting. The big winner for me was Old Hat’s Peanut Butter Stout. It was absolutely delightful, and I have fantasies of an Olde Peninsula Stout Chocula/Old Hat Peanut Butter Stout float with vanilla ice cream. I think I need to make that happen this summer.

There were also a few brews that made it into the “Interesting” catergory. We tried a Margarita Shandy from Big Buck that was not bad. It was different than anything else I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. One of these would be good on a hot day, but I don’t think I’d want more than 1 at a time under any circumstance. I also tried the Short’s Imperial Spruce India Pilsner. This one was definitely different – it tasted very pine-y, sort of like a beer-gin hybrid. I didn’t hate it, but I don’t think I’d get that one again. One thing we were really excited about was the Beer Popsicles at the Big Buck booth. We waited in the line 20 minutes only to find out they were all out! They did have Stout ice cream, so I got one. It was really good and chocolate-y, but I realized dairy was maybe not the best choice so I tossed it after a few bites. They also had a beer Slip N’ Slide towards the end of the day!!

I like a lot of Short’s beers, so I bought a T-shirt, and I got a brewfest T as well. All in all, it was a super fun day. I would absolutely do this again, but I think I’d do the bus tour next time, because poor Mike & Peach Fuzz were pretty bored most of the day. I know they had fun at Zingerman’s, but the Beer Fest itself didn’t have much that was of interest to them, sadly.

Here’s my faorite picture from the day. Dawn took this pic of the 2 of us, but Peach Pit was feeling left out so he had to make his presence known, too. The end result is just adorable.

I also did this. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I love me some sand messages.

On Saturday, the boys went fishing while the girls stayed at the cottage and hit the beach. It was warm, but breezy – a perfect day for lounging by the surf. I slathered on sunscreen but still managed to get burned wicked back on the tops of my feet. Ugh, they still hurt. Anyway, we had a blast, and it was a nice relaxing little mini-getaway. There are lots more pics, and you can see a slide show here.

Aside from that, not too much is going on. I haven’t knit a stitch in quite a while, but I really need to get back on it. Mike’s mom told me last week that the big show in November is definitely on, so I need to get some stuff ready. I am thinking mittens to start with because I can knock them out so fast. I also have a great idea for some ornaments I want to do. They’re not knit, but I think they’re going to be really sweet. I guess I need to get a plan and make some lists.

I’ve been spending most of my time reading. After seeing Eclipse, I got sucked into reading the Twilight Saga again. This time around I read Twilight and Midnight Sun together – a chapter of one, then the matching chapter of the other. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them that way. It was so much easier to compare & contrast the two perspectives while each was still fresh in my mind. I burned through those and also New Moon, and now I’m a little more than halfway through Eclipse. After I finish these, I might need to take a break while I get a jump on some crafty goodness.

I’m stoked for the beer fest this weekend! It’s going to be totally sweet. I’m so looking forward to it because I heart beer and road trips. I also heart Zingermann’s, and I am pretty sure we will have lunch there. Woot! I need to get some fun road trip activities planned. I’m thinking Mad Libs for sure, but I’m open to suggestions, so if you have any, let’s hear them!

After the nomriffic lunch we went to the Rave to see Toy Story 3. GREAT movie, dudes. Like the first 2 before it, this movie really delivered. There were some great new characters. Lotso the bear was a great villain. Plus, Barbie & Ken!! There were so great. I loved Ken’s little fashion show for Barbie. The movie was all around awesome, and the ending was so touching – Mike & I cried like two little girls. It was a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, do so. Skip the 3D, though – I don’t think it really added anything to the story at all, plus it gives me a wicked headache.

Saturday, Dawn, Rachel & I finally went to see Eclipse. While my expectations were understandably low based on the previous 2 movies in the saga, I was still hopeful. So hopeful that I was really scared my hopes would be dashed and I would be disappointed again, only even worse this time. My fears were unfounded!! Eclipse was my favorite of all of the books, and I think they FINALLY got it right. Don’t get me wrong, if I could turn back time (If I could find a way! I’d take back those words that have hurt you….oops. Sorry) I would recast the hell out of all 3 of these movies. Since that is not possible at this juncture, I will say that everything outside of that worked for me in this movie. I was super nervous that my favorite scene from the book would be foiled, but I think they played it off just right. It had the perfect tone and accomplished what the book did. Things I wasn’t crazy about: The new Victoria’s hair, Jacob wearing a shirt WAY too often, and a few other little tiny details that nobody else would probably notice or care about. Subtle things I LOVED: Edward saying “Doesn’t he own a shirt?” referring to Jacob’s abs of fury, and Jacob saying to Edward “We both know I’m hotter than you.” WORD.

Ok, speaking of recasting the hell out of the saga, this guy is my pick for Edward. Justin Hartley, also known as the Green Arrow. This guy would make RPattz look like a bumbling fool. Well, RPattz kind of does that on his own. Anyway, here’s a sample. Type this guy’s name into a Google image search to see even more (READ: shirtless). Jacob is awesome & gets to stay as is. Also, Bella should be someone else. Anyone else, really.

On Sunday, I went over to the SPCA for my volunteer orientation. It was very cool. It’s kind of heartbreaking to see all of the animals caged up and desperate for adoption. And on the other hand, it’s sobering to realize that without this organization, these animals wouldn’t be here at all. I am really excited to get involved and help out in any way that I can. I plan to focus on the cats in Kitty City, but one of my personal goals is to get a little more comfortable with dogs as well. I don’t dislike them, I’m just a little scared of bigger dogs because I don’t have any experience with them. So hopefully I can change that.

After orientation we hosted Crappy Movie Sunday. This week’s feature was Snakes on a Plane. We really did things up with flower leis and fake snakes. Of course, we had an awesome time. I am working on the blog post, and it’ll be up in a few days over at Crappy Movie Sunday.

I’m really really excited that Mike & I are going out of town for a few days! We are heading up north to stay at a cottage on Lake Michigan. I truly can’t wait!! It’s going to be so fun to get out of here for a bit.

The panther is pencil and charcoal, and the parrot is a watercolor. He is actually complete, but the paper was too big for the scanner, so his beak is a little cut off.

We had a nice holiday weekend. We did a little BBQ in the park with my mom and sister and her family. We had burgers and dogs and hung around and chatted. Noah and Uncle Mike had a blast playing with a few boxes of those popper thingies. We did a few sparklers, but it was kind of lame in the middle of the day. Here’s Noah playing in his fancy sprinkler from Grandma.

As for our bird feeder, Mike put the squirrel dome on, and it totally works! Monkey Tail and his chipmunk legions can’t scale the pole anymore, so the birds are free to eat the seed! It’s kind of awesome and we feel very victorious.

I have been having some trouble with some of my plants. The Celosia in the front window box are damn near dead. I don’t think they were getting enough sun there, so I took them out and put them in a pot on the front patio. I planted some purple and white Dahlias in their place which seem to be doing well. My Astilbe in the way back is like, almost totally dead, maybe not even salvageable. I didn’t check on them for like a week and clearly, that was all it took. Anyway, I am trying really hard to nurse them back to health. If that’s even possible. Ugggh, I suck at gardening!!! It’s just really not something I enjoy. I don’t mind the small stuff, like my window boxes, but the big planter out back is just a pain in the butt.