30 Days, 30 Ways: Days 29 and 30

The tail end of the project!!!

Day 29: French Knotties
We used: A brush, two elastics, and a heck of a lotta bobby pins
Ella's verdict: "This is weird! In a good way!"

Day 30: Twisted Braid
We used: A brush, and an elastic
Ella's verdict; "Is this the last one? The really last one? Yes!"

40/52

40/52: When she's sick, she sleeps in. This blasted cold's been hitting everybody lately.

40/52, Sunday: She's still sick, didn't make it to church today. But check out her socks :)

30 Days, 30 Ways: Days 27 and 28

Ya'll know the deal.

Nearly there!

Day 27: Combination upstyle (another one)
We used: a brush, and an elastic
Ella's verdict: "I like the twisty styles, Mom."

Day 28: Funky Knotties
We used: a brush, and a LOT of bobby pins. I'm talkin' a LOT, you guys.
Ella's verdict: "That's a lot of buns!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 26

We're nearing the tail end of 30 hairstyles in 30 days.
Yes!!!!

Day 26: Partial knotties
We used: A brush, one elastic and 3 bobby pins
Ella's verdict: "At least it's only half a bun. It is pretty though..."

30 Days, 30 Ways: Days 24 and 25

Ella's in the process of growing her (already very long hair) to donate next year...we're always looking for cool hairstyle ideas...we found some right here and are nearly done with the 30 days!!!

Day 24: Twisty Bun (combination upstyle)
We used: A brush, an elastic, some clips, and bobby pins
Ella's verdict: "Another bun? Aggggh."

(to be fair, it's been buns, buns, buns)

Day 25: Pinwheel Bun (yep, another bun)
We used: A brush, an elastic, one clip, and some bobby pins
Ella's verdict: "Even though it's a bun, Mom, it's pretty cool."

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 23

One week left!

Most of you know about Ella donating her hair, and about the awesome site where we found these styles  ( here)...

Day 23: The Braided Bun
We used: An elastic, and two clippie things (and a brush)
Ella's verdict: "This makes me feel like a princess!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 22

Admittedly, I'm not the best at the zig-zag parts...although this did turn into a lovely talk with my daughter about the fashions and fashion trends of "my day", and why you should never wear a pair of sweats with "Dance" written across the butt.

Day 22: Zig-Zag Part
We used: A brush (because I couldn't find the dang comb I was going to use for this) and two (mismatched) elastics
Ella's verdict: "This is kinda cool, Mom!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Days 20 and 21

My apologies for not posting yesterday. I was out all day with a friend and by the time I got home, I was just so tired I didn't want to do ANYTHING.

You guys know all about Ella donating her hair and the cool hairstyles we found right here...

Sooo....

Day 20: Twisty Rows
We used: A brush, detangler, and some clippy things
Ella's verdict: "This is really cute!"

Day 21: French-is, Totally Crooked Braids
We used: A brush, elastics and the very last of my braiding skills
Ella's verdict: "It's okay, Mom, you tried. And I still like them!"

39/52

39/52: She's always climbing something. Ohhhh to have that energy!

39/52, Sunday: Found the dress in the back of the closet...a Gymboree find a while back. Still love it!

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 19

I'd like to preface this with an apology for my poor braiding skills today. It's been one of those days.

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago and she is planning to donate again next year. Her hair is pretty (okay, really) long right now, and we're always looking for new styles.
Thankfully, we found this site and now we are almost 2/3 of the way through the 30 days.

Day 19: The Fish Bone Braid
...or something like it.
We used: A brush, and an elastic
Ella's verdict (despite my crappy braiding skills): "Mom, I love it!" Or maybe she was just being nice.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 18

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago and she will donate it again next October. We're always looking for cool new hairstyles and thankfully we found this site which is full of them!

Day 18: The Princess Twist
We used: A brush, detangler, an a clear elastic
Ella's verdict: "This is cool!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 17

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago and she is set to donate again next year. Her hair right now is really long, and we're always looking for fun new styles (thankfully, there are a bunch of them right here)

We've committed to trying 30 ways in 30 days, so here we go!

Day 17: The Messy Bun
We used: A hairbrush, detangler, an elastic and 3 clippy things (because I'm not about to use a million bobby pins when someone's getting ready for school)
Ella's verdict: I like this one! A lot!
My verdict: Why the heck does her messy bun look like that and mine looks like Miss Trunchbull's hair from Matilda?

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 16

Most of you know that Ella donated her hair two years ago (you can read about it here) and she's set to donate again next year. Right now, her hair is very long and we're looking for cool new things to do with it (we're trying awesome stuff from here ).

We're over the hump! More than halfway done!!!

Day 16: Two Flippy Buns
We used: A hairbrush and two elastics
Ella's verdict: "This is cute! I like it!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 15

Yep, I missed posting yesterday, but we did do the hairstyle. When I came in from work, I was exhausted. It's been a very long week.

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago (you can read about it here) and she's donating again next October. We're always looking for cool new hairstyles, so we were glad to find this site with lots of cool tutorials.

We're officially halfway through!

Day 15: Knotties
We used: a hairbrush, some clips (the tutorial called for bobby pins, but ya'll, I was TIRED) and an elastic (for the ponytail in the middle of this mess)
Ella's verdict: "Thumbs up!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 14

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and she's set to donate again next year. Her hair right now is pretty long, and we're always looking for new ways to style it.

Lucky for us, sites like this one exist just for that purpose. We found 30 ways of doing hair and by golly, we're gonna try them all.

We're two weeks in!

Day 14: Accessories
We kept it simple and all we used was a hairbrush and this flower clip
Ella's verdict: "Whew! That was easy! But I bet you're gonna mess with my hair more tomorrow..."
You got it, baby!

38/52

368/52: Tree hugger :)

38/52, Sunday: The last of the summery dresses and a Sphinx photo-bomb :)

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 13

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and she is set to donate again next year. She has some REALLY long hair right now, and it's only going to get longer, so we're always on the lookout for new styles.

Thankfully, this awesome site has provided us with 30 different hairstyles for 30 days, and we are going to try them all.

Day 13: Half up with a (very small) bump
We used: A comb, a brush, detangler, bobby pins, and hairspray
Ella's verdict; "Mom, why did we have to tease my hair? It's not nice to tease, I'm not a bully!" (Wild laughter as she runs off)
Ah, kids.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 12

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and is set to donate again next October. Right now, her hair is pretty long, and we've grown bored of the up/down/ponytail/bun/braid styles. Thankfully, we found a series of great tutorials on this blog and we are determined to try them all out!

Day 12: Side ponytail
We used: a brush and an elastic.
There may have been instructions to have a ribbon tied around it. I may have blatantly ignored those instructions.
Ella's verdict: "It's really, really cool." Then again she's always loved side ponytails.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 11

Most of you know that Ella donated her hair two years ago, and that she is donating again next October. As it stands, her hair is pretty long right now and we're bored of the same old, same old. We found some great ideas right here and we're in the process of trying them out!

Day 11: The Flippy Bun
We used: A brush, an elastic, and about 20 seconds.
Ella's verdict: "Well, that was quick. Can I go play now?"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 10

Most of you know that Ella donated her hair two years ago, and that she is set to donate again next October. Right now, she's got some pretty long hair and we're always looking for new ideas to style it.
Thankfully, there are some great ideas right here and we're going to try them all out!

Woohoo, we are one-third of the way through!

Day 10: Braided Bangs
We used: A brush, a clear elastic, and a little clip
Ella's verdict: "I like this! This is really cool."

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 9

Most of you know that Ella donated her hair two years ago, and is set to donate it again next year. She's got pretty long hair now, and we're bored with the same old, same old...good thing there are a bunch of lovely tutorials on this site and we're committed to going the whole 30 days.


Whew! What a day. We literally just did this style. Yes, after 8 p.m. (Eastern time). But guess what? My "easy work day" turned out to be not so easy after all, and that's just the way the cookie crumbles, guys.

Day 9: Tiny Buns.
Well, bun. The way Ella's bangs fall, it's more flattering with one bun.
We used: A brush and some bobby pins.
Ella's verdict: "This is awesome!"

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 8

Ok, Ok. You got me. It's after midnight in the great state of NC. I've had one heck of a day (just busy, nothing bad...) so this is when I have a moment to breathe and post.

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and is set to donate again next October. As it stands, her hair is pretty long right now and we're in need of new hairstyles, stat. Luckily, I found a great bunch of tutorials right here and we're committed to trying them all.

Day 8: The French(ish) Braid
We used: Detangler, a brush, two elastics, some hairspray, and major prayer on my part.
Ella's verdict: "It's so pretty!" Also, we got lots of compliments on this hairstyle today, from friends to total strangers while we ran errands this evening. This did a lot to boost my confidence, as I am a little (ok, a lot) afraid of complicated styles like French Braids.

37/52

37/52: When you're away on a work-overnight with Mom, you just can't do without a good-night phone call from Dad :)

37/52, Sunday: You can't see them that well, but that dress has silver maple leaves on it. It's our homage to Autumn coming in 4 days.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 7

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and she is set to donate again next October. That's a loooong time for a girl with already very loooong hair. So, to beat the hair blues we've decided to try a different hairstyle every day for a month. We found the tutorials here and as of today, we've made it through a week!!!!

Day 7: Two Twisted Buns
We used: A comb, some elastics, bobby pins, and some little clips.
Ella's verdict: "YES!" (I'm guessing she likes the buns)
Side note: The lower the buns are positioned, the less of a chance you have of looking like Princess Leia.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 6

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and is set to donate again next October. Right now, her hair is pretty long, and we're on the look out for some cute ways to style it that are not the basic ponytail/braid/bun/blah.

Luckily for us, there are some pretty awesome hair ideas right here and we're nearly a third of the way through. I think that they start off simple and get progressively harder as the days go on...yikes!

But, we are determined to see it through!

Day 6: Wrapped Pony

We used: Detangler, A brush, an elastic, and a bobby pin
Ella's verdict: "I love this one too!" (I'm hoping her love of these styles won't change too much as we get into the harder ones, I'm going to need her for moral support!)
Gram saw her hair today, too, and she loved it as well.

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 5

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago. As it is right now, her hair is pretty long and we're always looking for ideas for cute hairstyles.

We found an awesome bunch of tutorials here and are now making our way through the 30 Days, 30 Ways.

Day 5: Simple Braid
We used: A brush, some detangler, and an elastic. Easy!
Ella's verdict: "As usual, I love it!" (I think she was just glad it was simple)

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 4

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago, and she is set to donate again next October. As it stands now, her hair is pretty long, and we're in a hair rut.

Thankfully, I found a great bunch of tutorials over here, and we're determined to make our way through them!

Day 4: Twisted bangs.

We used: a comb, some bobby pins and a big flower clip (that came from Family Dollar in case anybody wants to buy one).

Ella's verdict: "I love it!" (and as you can see, she's totally getting into the posing for the pictures, ha)

30 Days, 30 Ways: Day 3

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago. She's set to donate again next October. As it stands right now, her hair is really long (and wild), and quite frankly, we're bored with the same old hair routine.

I found a spiffy group of tutorials called 30 Days, 30 Ways and we are determined to make it all the way through the 30 days, no matter what!!!

Day 3: Teasing for the Bump

We used: A comb, some bobby pins,  some hairspray, an elastic (it called for a clear elastic, but Ella's hair snaps those in half on the regular) and a headband.

Ella's verdict: "I love it! Even the creepy little bump!"

30 days, 30 ways: Day 2

As most of you know, Ella donated her hair two years ago. She's set to donate again next October. As it stands right now, her hair is pretty long.

To deal with hair boredom, we found an awesome tutorial group on a blog. The group is called 30 Days, 30 Ways and we're determined to follow it all the way through. Wish us luck! 

Day 2: Center part, side twists, criss-crossed bobby pins. 

Ella's verdict: "It's pretty, but I don't usually part my hair like that. Also, hair gel is weird!" (Amen, honey, Amen!) 

30 days, 30 ways

As most of you know, my daughter Ella donated her hair two years ago. She's set to donate again next October...right now, her hair is pretty long.

It's also hard to know what the heck we're going to do with it on any given day. Right now, it's: down, up, ponytail, bun, braid.
Yawn.
We found a lovely bunch of tutorials on a blog called 30 Days, 30 Ways  and we are all in! We may give some of these a creative twist, but we are in!

I'm not going to write out the tutorials, just take a picture of the hairstyle and give Ella's verdict on it. (After all, this has to be done somewhere between school and work, and neither of us has time for more than a quick snap)



So...day 1: Loose curls

We used: a curling iron, and a hairbow

Ella's verdict: "I like it! A lot!"

An Open Letter to my Fellow Mamas...

Dear Mama:

You're weary. You're tired. Your clothes are probably rumpled and the laundry is probably piling up. If you're like me, you're avoiding said laundry like the plague. The dust bunnies are running rampant, and you just want a cup of tea, a book, and an early bedtime.

It's hard, this Mom Life. You're constantly running around behind the scenes, making sure everybody is loved, and fed, and cared for. Meanwhile, you're living on Cheerios and coffee and sometimes, you're running on empty.

It's so easy to fall into the trap of "nobody appreciates what I do, nobody loves me." I know. I've been down that road many, many times. I have an amazing husband who's put up with me for nearly 12 (12!!!!) years, who I know for a fact DOES appreciate what I do (because he tells me all.the.time), but I have moments where the self-pity takes over and all of a sudden, NOBODY loves me and NOBODY understands.

Last week, I was having one of those weeks. I'm constantly overworked, both at home and at work. One morning, I sat down to devotions and thought, "Nobody loves me." Not surprisingly, nearly every verse I read reinforced the love of God.

God loves me. He loves you. We are precious to Him. The love He has for us is incredible. Immeasurable. Nothing else compares.

You know what else, Mama?

God created US to love, despite our grouchy days and less than perfect attitudes. Us Moms are wonderful, and nurturing, even though we don't always feel like it. And we pass that love unto our kids. And they love us in return. They show that with every dandelion picked, every little pebble they pick up on a walk and hand to us.

So, Mama...
when you are down and weary...
when it seems like absolutely nothing is going your way...
when you feel like nobody loves you...

You are precious.
You are loved.

36/52

36/52: Front porch sittin' :)

36/52, Sunday. You probably can't see it, but I trimmed her hair yesterday. It's gettin' wild!

35/52

35/52: On an evening walk

35/52, Sunday: Her prairie girl dress :)

34/52

34/52: A delicate balance :)

34/52, Sunday: *Sniffle* She's growing up!

Slices of Sanity

Sometimes, things get out of control crazy. Busy. Busy. Busy.
Work. School. Homework. Housework.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

So what keeps me sane in these mountains?

Little things. My daughter. The garden. Cats. Jumping in puddles.
What keeps YOU sane?