went for a walk

Hi again!

So, we loaded up all our stuff and drove to Aiken Saturday. I think it was Saturday. I don't remember. Saturday and Sunday and Monday are all a blur of roads and boxes.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are a blur of boredom and boxes. I never thought I would miss my job. I don't really miss the job itself, just having a specific place to be at a specific time. As much as I love freedom, I also enjoy having somewhere to be.

Last night I jumped up, declared, "I'm bored. I'm going to the library. Where's proof that I live here now?" and left. Got a new library card, checked out the library and a book, came home, and read til 3 AM. It was nice.

This afternoon I jumped up, declared, "I'm bored. I'm going for a walk. Maybe I'll end up at the library. I can't find an umbrella! Bye!" and left. It didn't rain. It was lovely walking weather.
The walk downtown is nice, once you run across the highway to get to the sidewalk. There are lots of stately brick walls, mysterious gates, and quaint doors and fences.

I did, after all, end up at the library, but only after a detour in Hopeland Gardens. When I passed this pretty, locked gate I decided I should go inside and see it from the other side. It makes me think of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (This picture is from inside the garden.)

I found a labyrinth, too, but not the patience to complete it.

Hopeland Gardens is really pretty. I almost said enchanting, but I'll save that for when there are leaves on the trees and the fountains are working. It used to be someone's estate and personal garden, which I think has a kind of historical romance. I'll probably be spending a lot of time there.

Eventually, I walked on to the library where the girl behind the desk recognized me from last night. Yay!

Anyway, not very exciting, but since I came back and all, I thought I'd update on what I'm up to. Now you know! Aiken is pretty. I like it here.

Packing

Hm. Not feeling so creative with the titles lately. Title inspiration has disappeared.

So has a lot of the stuff around our house.
We're keeping busy boxing things up, throwing things out, shuffling things around, and scrubbing things down. (Phew! I had to think about that last bit for a minute. I wanted to round out my prepositions with "down," but I got stuck. haha.)

It was a good moment for me when I rounded up my coffee mug collection for a final count before packing. I think the total was 25 mugs, 1 teacup, and 4 travel tumblers. Could you call that a collection? I think yes. Call me a collector.

Aside from coffee mugs, I collect teddy bears. I can't part from them. They've all just been hanging out in this large packing box since the last move. Yesterday I realized that bears are pretty flexible, and would probably be fine with sharing their space, so I added some stuff to their box. Space efficiency and all, you know. Easily amused as I am, I took a picture of the label when I was finished. I find the assortment of contents entertaining. Maybe that's just me.

(I got a wok for my birthday last year. Woks are difficult to pack. Who knew!)

In sorting my nightstand drawers, I came across a couple magnificent pieces of art that my aunt sent me last year. I wish I knew how old I was when I made each of these cards for her! Not very, I'm sure. I never expected to get them back, but I'm so glad she sent them! Just look at that majestic Christmas reindeer! Those meticulously detailed wristwatches! A lot of passion went into those cards. I actually remember cutting and pasting each little turkey feather, being so pleased with myself at the finished product.

Ehm, this has kind of turned into show-and-tell. That was always my favorite part of preschool.

Anyway, turns out packing isn't all bad. Rediscovery is fun. Boxing up books is like playing Tetris, and that's fun. Blogging about it is fun.

How do you feel about packing?

And so, the journey begins again. I cut my hair off, mess with the color, cut it some more, then grow it back out. It's what I do. What you nice people missed while I was away from the blogosphere was this:

The platinum pixie!
I've always thought platinum would be fun, but I didn't think I could pull it off. I tried it anyway and LOVED it. It was a pain to get it the right color, but it was worth the pain. Plus, with my mom being my stylist and doing it all when I wanted, how I wanted, for absolutely free, it was no big deal. ;-)

Anyway, I went to give myself a trim the other day and ended up cutting it down to an inch and a half. The only platinum left is at the tips of my non-bangs. So, I've decided since I'm back to healthy, non-damaged hair, it's time to start over and grow it back out.

I heard biotin was the way to go for encouraging quick, healthy hair growth, so I ran to Walgreens and got some. Some people don't notice any difference when they take it, and some say it's miraculous. I've started taking 1,000mcg a day. A lot of people take way more. Some say less is enough. Time to see whether or not it works for me.
Hopefully it'll grow quickly! Now that I've decided to be done with the short, platinum look I want my long curls back immediately.
(Incidentally, I'm wearing the same outfit in both of these pictures.)

If you have any hair growing tips, or experience with biotin, I'd love to hear about it!

Stay tuned. Next post will be an update on the big move!

I'm Back!

Hello, Blog Land!
It's good to be back. I only had 10 posts last year, most of which were in January. A lot happened in the past year, but we'll let bygones be bygones and just roll on forward.

Things are 'bout to get crazy around here, and I've had an itch to write, so here I am!
I've got two journeys going on that I thought would be fun to document:
1)My family is moving to another state in the next week or two.
2)I'm growing my hair back out. (I know, I know. I never leave it be, do I?)

So! There should be some fairly interesting blogging up ahead. Maybe. Anyway, There's my intro. Let the fun begin!

rainbow cupcakes!

I've been admiring other bloggers' rainbow food for quite some time.
"I can do that!" I thought.
And then I did it.
I'm pretty proud of 'em, gotta say.