Back to Brown We Go

I'm a brunette again. I love the magic of the hair salon where you sit in a chair and 50 minutes later emerge as someone you barely recognize. SO wish I could have that experience with the bathroom scale.

The truth is, I never meant to go blond in the first place. I agreed to some "gentle highlights to brighten up your face" and left the chair resembling Malibu Barbie. ('Tis okay. I love Malibu Barbie.) I enjoyed my summer blond but as we settle more fully into the pasty stages of winter, I thought it best to return (literally) to my roots.

I had a blast at the salon last night. At 5:30 PM, I was one of the last clients. My stylist--who I've been friends with for years--asked if I cared if she touched up her roots while we were waiting for my color to take hold. "You can do jazzercize while we wait, for all I care," was my reply. So she splated some color on her scalp. Then the two young shampoo girls decided they wanted to color each others hair. In the end, all of us were walking around with foil and hair dye--ho, ho, ho.

Blair and I grocery shopped for our ALL VEGETARIAN holiday meal yesterday. If you look up the definition of "good sport" in the dictionary, Blair's picture will be beside it. We are making the cover meal of the Nov/Dec. Vegetarian Times issue -- mushroom strata, garlicky mashed sweet potatoes, green beans with crispy shallots, and spicy sausage stuffing.

We were going to make the Cranberry side dish, but as we started to gather ingredients (crystallized ginger - $7.95) we realized this "simple" side dish was going to run about $25. Thank you, I'll just pry open a can and plop some cranberries in a dish like I do at Thanksgiving...

Cooking healthy is expensive. Which is fine if everything turns out well and leftovers are eaten. But I made a rather pricey chicken-less chicken pot pie the other day and while it was...okay... it wasn't a taste we cared to revisit and I threw about a pound of perfectly good food away. I hate that.

Pies and cookies and chocolate-dipped apples are pouring into our home from neighbors who--God love them--use REAL butter and sugar when they cook. I need to become one with the treadmill this week.

Right now I'm sitting at my desk looking out the window at a sunrise full of dark pinks and blues--stunning. Great way to start a Tuesday.