The First Cut Is The Deepest

I finally caved. Harper has been asking to get her hair cut for a while now. Until Friday, I couldn't bring myself to do it. 

I'll admit, it was starting to get a little uneven in the back. But look at those ringlets! I definitely did not want to lose those.

I took her to the place that I get my hair cut. I couldn't bear to take her to an ordinary Great Clips (which I do realize sounds ridiculous). I really like Alana and I knew she would do a great job.

This is the before shot sitting in the big girl chair. Not surprisingly, this salon was not really equipped to cut kids hair, but Alana made it work.

The first cut

Harper sat completely still the whole time.

Sometimes beauty is rough.

Putting on the finishing touches

All done! 

And yes, Alana does look exactly like Lauren Alaina from American Idol...

What was the verdict? Well, the ringlets may be gone. I took this picture yesterday.

But, she's still pretty cute in my opinion.

The Inherent Consequences of Blueberry Donuts

I pretty much ate my way through my hometown last week. It was glorious! For whatever reason (namely a large and vibrant Italian community -seriously the greater Y-town area has literally 189 Italian festivals per year), Youngstown has some of the best food in the world. I feasted on pasta and Italian greens and wings and hot chips and Handles ice cream... But my favorite indulgence is always blueberry donuts from White House Fruit Farms. 

These things are a gift from God himself. I literally ate half a dozen over the course of a couple days. Consequently, despite the fact that I made myself go on two pretty decent runs while I was away, my pants were a little snug by the end of the trip (totally worth it, by the way). 

What are some of your favorite hometown foods?

Friends 2.0

This is my friend Katie. We grew up together, were college room mates (that's a picture of us at Miami circa 2000), were in each other's weddings, etc. Katie lives in Baltimore now and I haven't seen her since before Harper was born. That's just not right.

I got to see Katie when I went back to Boardman last week. We were both in town visiting family. And what was even better than seeing Katie, was meeting her daughter, Anna! Harper and Anna were fast friends.

Katie and I also got to see our friend, Mandy. Her little girl, Lydia, is about a month older than Harper. They were two peas in a pod! Lydia graciously let Harper and Anna play on her awesome swing set.

Anna was not too sure about all of the picture taking. But as you can see, Lydia and Harper have done this sort of thing before.

Can I just tell you how surreal it was to watch our girls play with each other while we sat in the shade laughing about middle school and high school memories? (Thanks to the dads, Ralph and Seth, for playing with the girls while us moms sat in the shade!)

The moral of this story is that reconnecting with old friends is wonderful. I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing more of this kind of thing soon.

90 and 3

You would think that taking a picture of my grandma and my daughter would be a relatively easy task. Not so much.

 Come on, guys!

Seriously, I'm as tired of this as you are. 

I guess this is as good as it's going to get. 

Actually, I kind of like this one.

1-2-3

Ohio

Harper and I are spending a few days at my parents' house in Northeastern Ohio. I grew up here and I always love coming back. Every time I visit this place, I feel like my mind is going a million miles an hour trying to incorporate the old with the new. It's all good stuff, but it definitely takes me a couple days to wrap my brain around everything. 

I took this picture this morning. I grew up in that house. Now, my daughter sleeps in my old room and I get the guest room. A lot has changed since I left home. 

Mmmm...Donut

What powdered donut?