Chop,Chop, Chop

I got my hair all cut off on Thursday. It was *kinda* spur of the moment, as in I hadn't really talked about it to many people, but my hair had been on my last nerve for a while. So I decided to spend my day off in pursuit of a less pissed off lifestyle.
I checked out the internets for some suggestions of places close enough to walk to that would not make me look like a 40 year old woman (which, as most of you know, is exactly what I am) I settled on Platinum (no real website to speak of) mostly because the reviews I saw of it online suggested there were multiple gay men who worked there. It's been far too long since I've had a haircut from a gay. So I ended up with an appointment with John for 1pm.
Thursday, like most of this week, was way too fucking hot for the first week of October. Seriously, I am over it. Remember how excited I was about sweaters and backyard fireplaces and mulled cider? I can hardly think of those things now. I am laying around in a puddle of my own sweat at night. Over it.
Anyway, Thursday I tried to dress stylishly so that the gay man could be inspired to create something fabulous for me. The walk to Ellsworth took only about 10 minutes, so I looked in some expensive and boring boutiques, and then decided to give Coco another try. Again, I was disappointed. Their frosting just tastes like butter. Now, I am INTO butter, no doubt, but I expect more from a frosting. Especially on a little cupcake for $3. I don't think I'm going to give them another chance, although I suppose I should try the vegan cupcake to see if THAT tastes like butter.
Finally it was time for my appointment and I walked down to Platinum. Everyone was busy in the back with shampooing and coloring, but the receptionist/shampoo girl did come out and acknowledge me. I waited for a while, listening in on the conversations between wealthy shadyside women of a certain age and their gay hairdressers. It was delightfully stereotypical. Finally John came out and introduced himself to me and asked what we were going to do. I told him I wanted it all cut off, and I wanted something totally new and exciting and yet carefree and able to spend most of every day under a kerchief and still look fabulous. He got very excited---apparently he doesn't get to do much "creating" there in Shadyside. So he asked me some questions, and in the course of the conversation about ME he managed to work in the fact that he is 48 and single and has a dog and a cat who are in love. I knew I had made the right choice.
Eventually I got a shampoo from the HOTT shampoo girl/receptionist, and then John got to work. He did have a good time, and I was able to watch his idea change as he went. This had a lot to do with the fact that about halfway through the cut we started talking about new wave, and then I think he felt a lot freer to go wacky with the hair. I'm a little bummed that he didn't leave me more bangs, but he said he wanted it to be carefree in the kitchen. Nice. He of course put all kinds of shit in it and made it a mile high before I left, which was fun. It was great to walk around shadyside looking like that. I asked him about the grays and he said that at 40 I should not concern myself with weekly touch ups. Ha! So I think I'm just going to let it go natural for a while and see what happens. Apparently my hair looks a lot lighter just because all the old stuff got cut off...layers of red and black and brown. I'm down to my "natural" color, which is not nearly so odious as I thought. Still, with a kicky do like this it's hard not to go purple or something.....
Other than the haircut, I've been working a lot. A lot. This week and next I'm on 6 days and then after that is the last and final wedding of the year (so far) Whew. Can't wait for vacation. Besides working I got to hang out with lil D and Jen, and give D his six month present of a plush hammer with breaking glass sound. He thought it was delicious. As was my collar and my finger. I also got him what I think is an ingenious baby invention---a blanket with rubber corners for teething. And, a loop attached for the binky. I hope that thing won some kind of baby design award. It is also covered in anthropomorphised cows, which is a nice touch. Jen called a little while ago to tell me that D is in the hospital for some tests---he's got a nasty cough. Poor kid. Hopefully everything is fine.
My final excitement for this week--no wait! I have two excitements!--the penultimate excitement for this week is that I made a fucking delicious roast in my tuscan oven again. This one started out as a "london broil", which a butcher will tell you is actually a top round roast. So I threw it in the tuscan oven with some saurkraut, apples, and leeks, after marinating it over night in some apple cider that was about to turn and cloves and peppercorns. Good lord almighty was that delicious! I made some mashed taters to go with it, and we feasted even though it was 80 degrees. It tasted like fall, at least.
The real final excitement is that rebby spent all morning working on the washer and she FIXED IT. She did not need to get a new $80 part--somehow when she took it all apart and put it back together, everything worked itself out. Again with the Travis W Redfish.....