I hope everyone reading this is safe and healthy. This year has been a series of unfortunate events and it has caused a lot of us to put our lives on hold. I wish that I had more exciting things to write about, but because we can’t go out and do too much, I’ve been stuck on a constant cycle of work and home. However, in the recent weeks, since Blake and I decided to postpone our wedding, we have done quite a bit.
During the August long weekend, Blake and I decided to have a family BBQ with my parents and brother (Logan); as well as Blake’s parents. Unfortunately, Rebecca (Logan’s girlfriend) and Sam (Blake’s brother) and Maegan (Sam’s girlfriend) couldn’t come. Once Ontario was granted the privilege of increasing our isolation circles, Blake and I decided to include my family into that group of ten. However, this meant that we were unable to add Blake’s family to our social circle. We still visited them, but at a safe distance. This BBQ was the first time in months that we were going to be a normal family again. We decided to have the BBQ on the Saturday, which lucked out because it poured rain on Sunday. Blake and I served a charcuterie platter for an appetizer and served hot-dogs, hamburgers, chicken skewers, zucchini, and creamed spinach for dinner. My mom brought pumpernickel bread and dip to include as a pre-dinner snack and brought her delicious potato/egg salad to accompany the BBQ spread. For dessert, Maegan and Cheryl made individual meringues.
Blake and I had initially planned on having backyard games to keep everyone entertained, but everyone forgot to bring games, so we ended up just sitting around and talking. It was nice for everyone to chat and it was a beautiful day for it. We don’t have too much shade in our backyard so we kept having to move the group further and further over so that we stayed in the shade, but it wasn’t too much of a hassle. When it was time to start cooking, my brother - who has been working in restaurants for the last couple of years - joined Blake at the BBQ to help get everything ready. Once all of the food was set out, we all filled our plates and ate out on the deck together. Shortly after dinner, Cheryl and Mike headed home with Logan in tow, while my parents stayed the night. The next day, they headed home shortly after lunch time and between the episodes of rainstorm.
Blake and I are so grateful that we have such an amazing family and they all get along with each other. It was great for them to get to know each other a little bit more because they are all very important to us. We look forward to hosting more family gatherings and even, possibly, having mixed family holidays in the future at our home!
The next big update is that I have changed my hair. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but I had been growing out my hair for the last year in preparation for our wedding. Prior to heading to the salon, my hair had been the longest that it has ever been and it has been approximately 7 years since I last put any sort of dye in my hair. The ORIGINAL idea was to grow out my hair, have lots of hair to do whatever hairstyle I chose for our wedding day, then completely change my hair immediately after the wedding and prior to starting our family. With Covid, that plan was turned completely upside down and we didn’t know which side was up, but we kept swimming and we are slowly getting our bearings again. ...I’m not sure what I was trying to say there, but you got the point. Our plans have changed. So, I decided that, since the wedding is now just over a year away and I was tiring of my long, one-dimensional hair, now was the perfect time for a change. My only issue is that I have a TON of hair. Honestly, sometimes it feels like I literally have a tonne of hair on my head. Which meant that this was going to be expensive … and expensive it was. I initially was quoted at a newer salon in town, but they were unable to book me in until the end of August. Anyone that knows me, knows that when it comes to my hair, I’m relatively impulsive. I did a bit more research and found a Green Circle Salon in Peterborough called Emporium Hair Studio. A Green Circle Salon is a salon/spa that goes the extra mile to recycle and properly dispose of their products. For example, their hair foils and hair dye are both properly disposed of instead of them going into the garbage or down the drain. This was awesome to me because, over the past year, I have been trying to become more environmentally friendly with my products and daily habits. I checked out their Instagram page and on their story they listed that they had an opening for a hair colour and cut for the NEXT DAY! I snatched that up instantly and it was booked!
When I arrived the next day, I was instructed to stay in my car and notify the salon that I had arrived so that they could screen me over the phone. After I passed the screening, I waited while my stylist finished up with her previous customer and sanitized her station. Once they were ready for me, they called my cell phone and I headed inside. My stylist’s name was Chloe and she was great the whole time that I was there - which was 3 ½ hours, but more on that later. Once a was seated in the chair, we had a mini-consultation to discuss our game plan for my hair. I told Chloe that I was nervous, but she eased my mind. I told her that I was tired of my one-dimensional hair and that I was sick of people always telling me that I had “lovely, black hair”. My hair is BROWN! Gah! It’s a silly thing to bother someone, but it bothered me! I showed her a couple of pictures and she figured out our plan of action. We started by doing a quick, rough chop before she began the colouring process. It took her approximately 1 hour to put all of the foils in my hair and only about 15 minutes for the colour to set. Afterwards, she spent the next - what felt like an eternity, but was only probably about 30 minutes - washing, shampooing, and treating my hair. My neck was so stiff after that process. Then, it was time for the chop. In my mind, I always plan on keeping my hair longer than it ends up being, but I guess I just can’t do the math that when my hair is wet, it’s longer than when it’s dry. Oh well! She ended up chopping, probably about 6 inches off of my hair. Bye bye hair! Also, the colour technique was a balayage, I forgot to mention that.
Here are my before and after pictures! You can really see a difference in the back and, definitely, in this lighting!
Before:
After:
Ah! Where did all of my hair go?! Honestly, it's taking some time to get used to, but I do like it. I'm just not used to being somewhat limited with ways to style my hair since I've been sticking to the same easy updos for the past year. I'll get used to it and my hair will grow back by the time of my wedding, so it's nice to have a change. As my appointment neared it's end, Chloe asked me how I wanted my hair styled. I kept telling her that she didn't need to style it since it was already 9 p.m. and I was headed to bed the moment I got home, but she insisted - she straightened it. If she charged me for styling, I'm unsure, but I think it was included in the pricing. The ONLY negative thing that I will say about my experience is that the salon closed at 8:30 p.m. and I warned them when I booked online that I had a lot of hair and that it would take a long time, however they still booked me. Then, as the time was ticking away near the end of the appointment, I was very aware that the stylist kept looking at the clock. I mean, I was paying a couple hundred dollars (+) for this haircut/colour, the least they could do was keep the salon open a little bit longer or tell me that they would finish it for free another day and have me come back. It made me feel like an inconvenience. Anyways, I ended up tipping 18% because it's a pandemic and I'm a good person, but, in hindsight, I sort of wish I hadn't because it didn't make me feel very good. Anyhow...that's my hair! What do you think?
The last and most exciting thing that Blake and I have been up to in the past month is that, since we had more time to save money for the wedding, we felt that we could spend the extra money on something we really wanted/needed ... a new car! So, we got a new car! More on that in a later blog post, so stay tuned!
Stay Safe Everyone!