35

so last sunday [the 1st], i turned 35. yes, 35. i feel old. i am old. it sucks. to cheer myself up [and to get myself out of a rut], i decided to cut off my hair. i've been debating this for the past year or longer, after "growing my hair out" for the wedding. [which, i don't even understand, because my hair, as usual, was pulled back]. so i went to the salon and emerged an hour later with 10" less hair, and possibly 2 pounds lighter. i have very thick, heavy hair. i am donating the ponytail to "pantene's beautiful lengths" hair donation program.



after having my hair straightened at the salon, it looked sleek, swingy and light. i have not quite been able to duplicate it yet. i even bought a new wigo flat iron at ulta to replace my shitty one. i've been whipping out all my hair products and trying them out, but this humidity is killing me. and having naturally wavy hair isn't helping. this morning i let it air dry and it looked like rhona mitra's from doomsday. decide for yourself if that is a good or bad thing ;)

my birthday celebration was low-key, exactly what i wanted. ian and i went to casbah for sunday brunch and, as usual, it was delicious. i had the brioche french toast with carmelized bananas, while ian tried the hanger steak. both were delicious. we also had appetizers of cheese + fruit plates and granola. and mimosas. and complimentary little muffins. its always too much food, but so worth it.

i received some wonderful gifts, including some craft books, some "green books", a few movies that i love but for some reason didn't own, some cute clothes, godiva chocolates, and some random other stuff that i can't remember at the moment. ian also got me some screen printing + block printing supplies as i've been wanting to try out some ideas on clothes that i've made.

we took that weekend off which was really nice, but it meant we had a lot to catch up on this weekend. we resumed work on the patio first thing saturday morning. armed with iced coffees, coppertone, and some wendy's breakfast frescuits, we started working in the 90 degree heat. it took awhile, but once we developed our system things went smoothly. we are using the quickrete walkmaker mold in the country stone pattern. ian mixed 2 bags of concrete with 1 box of charcoal colorant. then we would pour it into the mold and i would level it off and make adjustments while ian would work on the next batch of concrete.





we finished about 1/3 of the patio on saturday, which was maybe 6 hours of actual work on the patio. we stopped when we ran out of concrete. we'll need to pick up some more this week and then get back to work! once we finish setting the patio, depending on how the color finally dries, we may spray a concrete stain on it. then we'll add sand between the pavers and start setting everything up. here's how its looking so far:



i'd like to rearrange the "firepit" so it is lower and not open in the front... more like a pit than an oven. i also need to finish potting my plants and rearrange everything in the gravel area. its alot of work but its going to be totally worth it. for us to enjoy and for selling the house :)

so needless to say, its been a busy week. i'm still bummed about being 35, but i did get carded the other night, so it can't be all that bad. plus, with all this adorable cuteness at home, how can i possibly stay bummed out?