get the picture

I admit to knowing next-to-NOTHING about photography (Exhibit A...ummm, check out basically any picture on this website) but through blog surfing I found a sort of game played with flickr which led me to discover THIS lady's photographs. Wow. I suddenly wanted to travel to each of these marvelous places and just sit in each scenic vista and write in my journal while I chewed on the end of my pen. I think that just about sounds to being as close to heaven as anything. Although I found something else that was close today. We hired a lovely woman named Shirley to come help around the house a few times a week and one of the marvelous ways she helps is by watching the kids so I can run errands. See how marvelous that is?

But instead of errands today I went and got my hair cut. But getting your hair cut in Asia is not just a haircut experience. It's not even a hair salon experience. It's like going to a hair spa. I sat reading a magazine in my chair while a stylist washed my hair (that's right, just sitting there upright in my swivel chair while a girl with remarkable fingers massaged shampoo around my head and neck for about 15 minutes) and another girl sat to my side giving me a manicure. I felt like Paris Hilton getting ready for the red carpet. (And that is the last time in my life I hope I will ever compare myself to Paris Hilton.) But it was beyond fabulous. I had my hair rinsed out twice (once after the shampoo and once after the haircut...that's right to remove all the nasty little hairs-es!), my head massaged several times, my hands massaged & painted...and at the end of it all I had a cute little bob haircut and felt like a million bucks. I even got checked out a few times as I left the mall. Nothing like a little ogling to make a girl feel special.

But I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed. Maybe I should make this a regular thing, seeing as how I usually haul myself to the salon for a haircut about 3 times a year (a fact Sandy- my awesome punk-grandma stylist in Utah- would scold me for every time I showed up for an appointment). I wasn't going to put a picture of my hair on here, but I had to make up for the horrendous accident that was the Mooncake Fiasco so I can paste my self-esteem back together. Also my mom wanted to see it and we can't seem to connect on Skype while I'm in Asia and she's in Africa. Stupid Skype. (ha-ha, ok, after i posted this i actually connected with mom on skype so it is now forgiven. i'm sorry i called you stupid, skype. what would i do without you?)


Also, some things we are doing to entertain ourselves while Michael is in China this week (he gets back tomorrow - HOORAY!!!):
Practicing for Halloween...surprisingly John's favorite part wasn't candy, it was dressing like "Super John" and learning to jump out and yell "TRICK OR TREAT!" Go figure. (Also, it wasn't until I had cut it out that I realized the "J" emblem looked like the CTR shield. Not sure why I did that. Next time I'll use his Superman jammies for a template.)


I had to post this other pic because it shows the energy level of my 2-year old squirt, who basically never stops jumping up and down, not even for a 2 second photo shoot.


And Emily turned 8 months old!!! To celebrate the special day John helped me bake brownies and we made Emily a purple paper hat that made her look like an adorable little Napoleon.


And here is what she thought of that.