Overhaulin'

Okay, so I'm guessing you (all 3 of my followers) noticed my new layout for the blog. You like? I needed to change it to freshen it up a bit. It still looks like a BlogSpot blog, but what can ya do?

I'm apparently on a renovation kick, because I also made a huge change - which was referenced in my previous post - and dyed my hair red. I've been blonde forever. I was a real blondie as a kid, then as I got older became a dark blonde. So I've been getting highlights added in for the past 10 years. I've always wanted to go red, since I have some red tones in my natural hair color. And with my freckles and pasty white skin, I figured I could really pull off the ginger look. The problem, though, is that when I've done some red highlights in the past, they fade really fast. Every hair stylist has told me that red won't stick - it will always fade. But *that's* just with chemical color.

Enter: Lush's henna hair dye.

Lush is a fabulous store that carries all-natural hair and body products. A lot (most?) of their products are vegan, too, so that's a bonus. This henna hair dye is completely natural. No harsh chemicals on your hair (therefore soaking into your body). And I could go red with the "Caca Rouge" henna. The names of these products could use some work, huh?

I showed up to Lush in the Tyson's Corner Mall after work one day, pretty sure I wanted to go red. But with henna, it sort of reacts to everyone's hair differently, so it was hard to know exactly how this would turn out. Especially since the ends of my hair were chemically treated (there were a lot of roots happening, too), so they could turn REALLY red. I wanted a Marcia Cross red. So I went to Lush and talked it over for literally an hour with the three girls working that day. In the end, one last phone call to my personal consultant (sister) who said "Why not? Go for it!" and I was sold.

We went with 4 blocks of the caca rouge and 2 blocks of the caca marron. So the red henna, plus the auburn henna would hopefully prevent a kool-aid hair look. They mix it up and apply it for you in-store. And by "in-store", I mean they pull up a stool from the Sunglasses Hut and set me on some newspapers in the mall hallway with garbage bags wrapped around me with a chip-clip holding them on. AWKWARD. Oh, and the consistency and color of the stuff is literally IDENTICAL to that of goose poop. I know this, because I grew up on a hobby farm and had a special pair of "barn shoes" whose sole purpose was to allow me to walk through the slimy green goose poop without tracking it into the house.

Let's document the journey in pictures, shall we?

Here is me right before we started (sigh, I do like my blonde tresses):


Here we are as Evan, the store manager, applies the henna (aka goose poop):



Here is me in my car. AFTER I'd walked through the mall and Macy's to get to the parking lot. And YES, that is saran wrap helping to secure my goose-poop-coated hair to my head and a towel catching the dripping goose poop.



And here is me the next night. Drinking WAY TOO MUCH at The Refuge (a bar) in Minneapolis as a red head:


All's well that ends well, right? I really do love it. The 6 hours that I had to sit on my couch and let the henna work wasn't a highlight of the process (no pun intended), but it was worth it to avoid chemicals and get to that ginger look I was going for!

Like Mother, Like Son. Wait....no.

I just have to share these pictures, because weeks later, they continue to make me laugh outloud.

I flew to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago for one of my high school friends' bachelorette party. I was able to see a lot of people who I haven't seen much since my move out east. It was a great weekend, filled with lots of friends. Here, let's take a look at some of the pictures.

I spent Thursday night going out in downtown Minneapolis with friends from my former ad agency, Carmichael Lynch:



And then I spent all day Saturday with my niece, Charlotte, my mom and my sister (ain't she precious!?):


Then Saturday night was the super fun bachelorette party with some of my favorite high school girlfriends:


Jakers - as with most weekends I'm traveling - spent his time at doggy daycare. I LOVE the place I take him. It's called Dog Paws 'n Cat Claws University (I mean, it's like going off to college -- weeeee!). They treat the dogs so well, he doesn't have to be crated at night, there are lots of staff to give the dogs love AND they get daily walks - which a lot of daycares don't offer or charge extra for. So he really is in a great place. And there are tons of dogs there, so a *normal* dog would have a blast making friends and playing with companions. Here are some pics from their Facebook page of my bundle of joy LIVING IT UP at daycare.

I call this first one "where's the party at?":


Then you have him, clearly seeking out some fun activities with the group:


And finally, making the fellow dogs feel loved and welcomed:


My sister thinks he acts this way to make me feel guilty. Which would be really clever for a canine, right? And it works. But I gotta say, it's not very much fun comparing photo albums after my weekends away.

Thus is the life of a single pet parent...

(Oh yeah, and as you can see, I dyed my hair red! I'll talk more about that in a later post!)

Are We Ever Truly Settled?

Well, it's been almost four months since I picked up and moved from my beloved Minneapolis to the amazing DC metro. I love my apartment and I love my location, so I think I'll be here for a couple of years. Therefore I'd like to make it a bit more homey feeling by painting a couple of walls. I'm thinking about doing that this weekend. Just a couple of accent walls, nothing fancy.

It's weird, I feel like that's the last thing on my to-do list since moving. I've hung curtains, gotten some extra furniture, hung the pictures and unpacked the last box. What am I going to stress about and write lists for once that's taken care of?! I guess I'll have to find a hobby. :)

Speaking of making things homey, let's talk comfort food! I've discovered this great recipe on my friend's (and fellow animal activist) blog. It's a vegan mac & cheese. I'm getting to a point where it's hard to tell how things taste from a meat eaters' palette. I mean, I think this tastes like delicious, creamy mac & cheese. But if you taste it side-by-side with the cruelty-filled version, would it taste strange? It's been over a year for me, so I don't know! What I do know is that I LOVE this version and not a single animal suffers for it!

Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

Ingredients:

Full package of macaroni
1/2 cup margarine or vegan butter equivalent
1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 cups boiling water or vegetable broth
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup (or less) canola oil
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Cajun seasoning to garnish (I topped with a little cayenne pepper, as that's all I had)

Directions:

Begin process of cooking the noodles.

While you're doing that, make the sauce:

Mix the vegan butter and flour and melt on a very low heat until they are thoroughly mixed.

Add the boiling water or vegan stock, salt, soy sauce, garlic, turmeric.

Bring to a very low boil.

Then add vegetable oil and nutritional yeast and mix.

Combine the noodles and the sauce in a large baking pan and sprinkle Cajun seasoning on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

A New Chapter

I can finally talk about this, since it's been made official (aka I gave my notice at work). I have accepted a position with PETA!! I will be their new Advertising Manager. It's a new position, so I think it will be a great opportunity for me to help shape my role, but they of course also know where their needs are and what they'll need me to step in on.

I am SO excited about this. I can combine my knowledge and education in advertising with my absolute passion for animal advocacy. It's such a blessing. I also hope I can help some of my friends and family see that PETA is such a great organization that gives a voice to so many animals in need. Yes, they have some extreme viewpoints, but sometimes the quiet voice gets lost in the crowd.

It also means picking up my life in Minneapolis and moving it out to Washington DC! I am going to miss my friends and family here like crazy. (Although, I will be back for some weddings and the TLOV animal advocacy conference this summer!) But I am moving to a city that has plenty of other friends...and a little bit of family. A lot of my friends from Syracuse have settled in DC. And my brother and his fiance are living there, as well! I certainly won't be lonely. I've already gotten my friend Kristen to look at a few apartments for me...I'm hoping the place she's checking out today is the winner, as I'm running out of time!

I'm done at Carmichael Lynch (my current ad agency) on March 20th and am giving myself a week to move, then starting at PETA on March 30th. I will of course keep you up to date on the progress, but as of right now I have A LOT to get done. I'm still not over my illness, so it's been hard to get motivated. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress in the way of Salvation Army drop-offs this weekend. I want to use this opportunity as a chance to purge my life of some unnecessary belongings....especially clothes! And lighten my load for the drive across country. (Which reminds me, I still need to secure movers....ah!)

Anyhow, so that's my big news. Can't wait for all that is in store for me. :)