hair update

It's been two months since I cut my hair and started taking 1-2000mcg biotin  daily. My hair has grown exactly one inch. This seems pretty normal, and I'm a little disheartened. And annoyed at the awkward hair ahead of me. Today I'm upping to 5000mcg. A lot of people online say you have to take that exaggerated dose to see any results. We'll see.

update 4/30
I decided to leave my second bottle of biotin unopened and bought some Nature's Bounty extra strength Hair, Skin and Nails vitamins instead. They have 5000mcg biotin, 50% daily recommendation of vitamin E, and a wealth of other vitamins, as well as added collagen, calcium, alpha lipoic acid (whatever that is,) and silica. I will be very disappointed if after a month my hair has not grown more than another half inch.

p.s. I forgot to mention, I did notice my eyelashes have gotten a little longer and my fingernails are growing a little faster, so I know the biotin's not been completely in vain.

Drivers Ivy Scally Flat (Revisited)

Dear Crochet Community,

I finally did it.
I finally created a properly shaped flat cap. No crazy, extranneous pieces, no unneccessary steps. Just a nice looking cap of four simple pieces, joined with neat single crochet seaming.

This hat has been years in coming. Those of us looking for such a pattern rejoiced when we found the Lidsville. It had arrived! For many, content, even success, came with lidsville, that Sherlock Holmesy creation. For some, however, (*cough*me*cough) it proved to be a little fussy. (I could never get mine to turn out well at all.)

And so I kept trying. Beginning almost three years ago with a hat-that-never-quite-fit, the desire to successfully produce this hat has stayed with me. Three half-baked attempts (and many hours of despair) later, I think I have it. Behold!

So yeah. I might be a little proud. I haven't seen another like it yet, so let me just soak this in. :)
Love, Caitlin.

Craftiness!

All this free time on my hands lately has afforded me the luxury of being able to do something with them! I've been on this revamp/destroy-things-in-my-closet kick lately. It's fun!

I've had some failures, though. I tried this braided-neck tee DIY (on two tee shirts) and it failed (both times). Alas. I also attempted to straight-up create a shirt pattern, wasting two more shirts-worth of fabric. (Don't worry, it's not really wasted. I'll find something else to create with it.)

Even though they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, the time spent was pleasant, therefore not wasted.

Now, for the successes.

I had this boring old tan scarf that I decided to spice up with some Sharpies.

(before)

I colored a splash of florals in the center, and some geometric coolness around the edges. I went ahead and wore it, but I knew it wasn't finished yet. See all that boring, empty, tan space? The other day I pulled it out and sat down to finish it, filling in the rest of the empty space. Tada!

(after)

I'm quite pleased.

This project isn't as exciting, but I fixed a shirt hem I wasn't pleased with.

 Now, the most recent project: I had this pink tank top embellished with little ruffle flowers around the neck. It looked funny on me. I cut off the flowers and decided it needed stripes. Hello, acrylic paint and painter's tape.

(before)

After a journey through the washer and dryer, the black was a little less striking and had aquired a fuzzy grey tone, which I actually like a lot. Success!

 (after)

Cute, right?

Happy Day

This year for Easter we made the decision to forego worship at a local church to be with family for the day. Fresh faced and neatly dressed, we piled into the cars and set out.

 The great thing about worship is that it's so unrestricted. I may not have been in a church building, but my heart was definitely overflowing with worship.

Oh, to see my name written in the wounds
for through Your suffering I am free!Death is crushed to death,
life is mine to live
won through Your selfless love!
This the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God, slain for us.
What a love, what a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

(Keith and Kristyn Getty - The Power of the Cross)

Some songs just say it perfectly and move me to tears almost every time.

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I am
The King of glory and of grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God!

(Selah - Before the Throne of God Above)

We arrived at Mema and Pepa's house a little before noon. The sun was out, there was a cool breeze, and it was altogether lovely out. We all just relaxed for a bit. I even fell asleep curled up in a patio chair with one of the puppies. It was perfect.

Later, Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Larry, and Jan came over. We all had dinner, then followed through with the Easter egg tradition. We all pitched in to dye them. There were a lot of faces on eggs this year! I love all the colors. I don't think I'll ever be to old to enjoy dyeing eggs.

Nick and Joey hid them. Abby, Emmie, and Ben searched. And searched. And searched. And begged for hints.

I joined them. And the search continued. Nick and Joey aren't allowed to hide eggs ever again. Nicholas hid a huge, yellow prize egg full of money and then absolutely forgot where he put it! Once it was found, it was past time for us to be headed home.

One thing I love about where we live now is that when we drive home in the evening, the sunset is always in the rearview. So pretty.

The End.

P.S. Sorry for the randomness of the pictures. I don't know how to use this thing efficiently. haha

I have the hiccups

That title is completely irrelevant to the post, but completely annoying in real life.

These aren't adorable, tiny hiccups. These are making my throat hurt. Wracking, painful hiccups. I feel like a frog.

But enough about me.

Just kidding. This blog is about me. HA!

Yesterday I was checking my email for the thirtieth time, waiting for nothing in particular, when I got an email update from needtobreathe's people about their tour. I clicked on the imbedded link to see their tour dates more out of boredom than curiosity.

And then I saw it.

They were playing a show in Augusta. 25 dollars for a ticket. April 3rd.

That's TODAY!

Well, yesterday it was tomorrow. I bought my ticket on the spot.

This is NEEDTOBREATHE we're talking about. Only my favorite band ever, whose songs helped me through dark times and piled on extra joy during the happy times. No second thoughts required. So, I dropped the 25 dollars and then found out exactly what was going on where.

It was a benefit concert with Darius Rucker headlining. Needtobreathe was somewhere in the middle of the lineup of other artists, none of whom I've ever heard before. I didn't hear them today, either. I went to hear needtobreathe and then I left (after milling about for 10 minutes, wishing I had the guts to run past the volunteers and gates and pound on trailer doors til I found them and got a picture with them...).

Oh well. I did get these pics! I was standing right by the stage, which was cool. It also afforded me the opportunity to be splashed with Mr. Rinehart's water... baha.I look totally cheesy, but I guess that's okay. I was having a great time.

Speaking of great, Seth Bolt has great hair.

And I think I was the biggest fan there. Not physically speaking. I mean I was the only one singing all the words to all the songs. Except the Johnny Cash cover they did. That was epic, but I didn't know the words.

Basically, the spur-of-the-moment opportunity to see my favorite band was AWESOME.

They're awesome. Their songs are awesome.

It would be awesomer if I could meet them eventually, but I like to imagine that they'll do lots of shows in Heaven and I can be best friends with them then.

I'm ridiculous.

And now I'm drinking coffee to satisfy my sweet tooth, because when I got home I found that my family had eaten all the ice cream.

Anyway, I learned that I can totally survive going to a concert all by me onesie, and that needtobreathe is even cooler live.

The End.

P.S. my hiccups are gone.

a peek at today

Yesterday, on a whim, I bought some beading supplies and started making anklets and bracelets. I got home from the craft store around 3 and sat down at the table. I didn't get up again until about midnight. (Don't worry, Pandora and Netflix kept me company!)

This morning we visited a new church. It was nice. The choir was good. The people were friendly. It made me miss our old church, though. It feels wrong to say, "old church," like I don't belong there any more. It's still my home church.

This afternoon, I kept beading.

Finally, evening hit and I was ready to take a break.
I made an iced coffee.

(Like my neon green nail tips? I'm a fan.)

Then I ate a cupcake.

Then I went for a 3 mile walk. Part of the neighborhood smells like bubblegum. It did last time, too. I don't understand. Is it a flower? Is it somebody's house? Is there a secret underground bubblegum factory? Who knows.

Then I ate a sandwich and watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the kids. 3/4 of the way through I had to dash outside into the deluge to roll up the car windows. It was pretty much too late. The car was soaked through, and as soon as I got back inside it quit raining.

Also, my hair is driving me crazy.

So... there's my weekend. In case you were wondering. :)