i am a woman and i like milk

Today, I truly entered the realm of womanhood. I survived my first real visit to the gyno. The kind where you wear paper and use stirrups. It was not NEARLY has uncomfortable as I thought it would be. And was also quite short. I don't know why had I envisioned it taking longer.

Also, I really love this stuff. You should try it out.

And speaking of milk, although of the dairy variety, I still want to know what you all are paying for it. So scroll down and tell me. Thanks.

PS...(Added for clarification) I am not pregnant, just relieved to have had a positive doctor experience. My doctor was so nice and appropriately chatty that I felt oh-so-very comfortable.

fun with clippers

My little brother Nick, age 15, let his friend dye his normally brownish hair a sickly yellow blonde. The incident occurred while my mom and sisters were in Utah last week. To show you just how hideous his hair looks this color here is a picture taken a few days ago after we arrived in New Mexico.

We all wanted to just buzz his head, but then decided we may as well have a little fun. So we did this.


And ended up with this.

It's still yellow, but at least it's not bushy anymore. Way to sport the mohawk, Nick!

***If you'd still like to weigh in on my next hair cut, scroll down.***

summer walk

We enjoyed a cooler day (90 degrees) by taking a long walk. Here's some of what we saw and did along the way...

Climbed trees

Decorated Mummy with a new fashion trend--tree branch hair accessories

Visited the bell tower

Saw some little duckies


Had a couple pouty moments


Walked along the creek


And then played by the fountain...


until Daddy came to drive us home!

The end.
Happy Friday the 13th!!!

here kitty, kitty

Jared and I are house/cat sitting for Jared's professor. They have three cats and live in this really cool house near Duke University campus (more on the house later). Yesterday we had quite the scare. We came home from school/work and couldn't find Thomas the cat anywhere. He is the friendliest of the three and has greeted us each day in the kitchen. Upon conferring, we realized we hadn't seen him since Tuesday morning. We searched everywhere with no sign of him. I called his name and went through every room. I was envisioning having to drive up and down the street looking for a dead cat along the side of the road. Tom likes to escape, and the cleaning lady had been here the day before, so I was afraid he had gotten out then. But Jared came inside having talked to the neighbor who told him Tom hides in closets when the cleaning lady comes. Sure enough, that's where Jared found him. The poor thing had spent more than 24 hours in that closet and didn't make a sound. He came running down the stairs and started gobbling up his dry cat food. We decided he deserved the good canned stuff and here he is scarfing it down, poor thing. He must have been so hungry. Jared, being the wonderful guy he is, cleaned up the mess Tom made in the closet.

nothing like a new haircut

I love that fresh from the salon feeling of getting a haircut. I love the smell of the salon products. The silky-smoothness of the professional blow-out that I can never quite get at home. All this is enhanced by the fact that I always wait until I am completely desperate and absolutely despising my hair before I make an appointment. I hold out as long as I can. This time I waited longer than I have since adolescence--6 months! I didn't even get my haircut before my wedding in March!

So, Tuesday when I went to Hair Expressions in Chapel Hill to freshen up my neglected mane it felt like heaven. The stylist, Carol, was a hoot. She is several years past middle age, a single mother to two adult daughters, and a bit of a hippie. She had a picture of her "guru" framed by the mirror and spoke of taking frequent trips to Florida to learn from him. I never found out what his exact philosophy is. Carol was also full of stories from living in San Francisco and studying a type of massage therapy that is supposed to release suppressed memories from one's muscles. I have no idea how that works, but it sounded nice. As for the haircut, you can see for yourself that it turned out well. My only complaint is that it took about an hour and half. Carol was not a fast cutter, which made it a very good thing that she was so darn fun to talk to!

Parineeta

That's what I am now--a married woman, which is what parineeta means in Hindi. Its the title of one of my very favorite Bollywood movies. A must see.

I am back home in North Carolina after a week in sunny Florida for our honeymoon. I'm now attempting to get our house back in order. So fun. I mostly wanted to post a couple pictures I have.... for those of you who made it to the wedding, you saw these there. I am still waiting on the rest of my wedding and bridals. But if you'd like to see a few more check out bellephotos.com/photoblog. My photographer is amazing. I highly recommend him.