Fab

I'm having an excellent fashion day. First of all, I got my hair, washed, cut, and styled this morning for only $18! And it's a good haircut, too! I went to the Aveda Institute in City A and got my hair cut by a student. Yes, I suppose it's a bit of a risk to put your hair into the hands of someone who is just now learning how to cut hair, but you get to have your hair washed and treated with the Aveda products (which I love but don't generally buy because they're a bit pricey) and there are instructors there who monitor the students and basically give them a grade on your haircut, so I'm sure if the student was totally botching up my hair I could have begged the instructor to fix it. Anyway, I felt comfortable having a student cut my hair. I'm not all that picky about my haircuts. It's hair, it will grow back. My only requirement about my hair is that regardless of the style it needs to be possible for me to pull it back into a ponytail and I need any face-framing pieces to be long enough that I can tuck them behind my ears when I get annoyed with them. Today I was just getting my hair trimmed, anyway, so it's not like I was asking for anything complicated. I'm in a growing-out phase right now. I go through definite phases with my hair. I guess most women do. All I know is that I'll enjoy growing it out for a while and then suddenly, BAM, I need to chop half my hair off, stat! But right now I'm definitely in a growing-out mood. Incidentally, Victor, the guy that cut my hair back in Hometown, once told me, "I can always tell when you're having relationship problems because you come in here and want me to cut your hair short." He said it wasn't just me, either, that was his theory about all women: when things are going well in a relationship, a woman never wants to do anything too drastic with her hair, but when a woman comes in and says, "I want a change," that's a sure sign that there is trouble in the relationship. I have no idea if that's true of all women (or even true of me, to be honest, even though that's what Victor thought) but it's interesting. And I will admit that while I've been growing my hair out ever since I moved up here, a part of the reason that I'm continuing to grow my hair out right now is that Penn is really obsessed with it and we made a bargain that if I grow my hair as long as I can stand it, he has to keep his facial hair in check this winter and can't grow a full beard all the way up to his eyes, which is apparently what he usually does. So I'm willing to wear my hair longer than usual if it means I don't have to date a hairy mountain man as soon as it starts getting cold. We'll see who breaks their end of the bargain first! Actually, no, I'm sure I'm going to have to break the deal first because I have a very finite amount of patience for my hair and I already know that I'm going to get grossed out with it right about the time it gets chest-length, because that's just what I do.
But anyway, in summary: $18 haircut? Fabulous.

Then when I got off the subway on my way home I walked into New York & Company to see if they had any cute, wedding-appropriate dresses, and I ended up buying this. (P.S.-is it just me or are those shoes really wrong for that dress?) I really like the color, I love how silky it is, and it doesn't hug my stomach at all, which is a nice quality in a dress. I like a dress you can actually eat in, you know? Plus while the color and fabric is pretty flashy, it's cut fairly conservatively, which is good because the bride at said wedding is from an extremely conservative Baptist family and the less I scandalize other peoples' relatives, the better. Oh, but do you want to know something crazy? I bought the dress in a size 2. A 2! And the only reason I bought the 2 is that they don't make a smaller size. Yes, I actually wanted to try on a size smaller but as it was I had to buy the smallest size they sell at the store. What the heck?! I am NOT a size 2, people. Seriously, I'm not. The other dresses in my closet range from a size 4 to a size 8, and they all fit my body so I know various stores have major differences in sizes. Still, a 2? Just so you know that I'm talking about, I will disclose that I am 5'7" tall and weighed 128 pounds the last time I checked (which was when I had to go to the doctor back in March). So I'm thin, but I'm by no means tiny and I am definitely, definitely not a size 2. There are tons of women in the world who are shorter than me and many who are thinner, too. Where on earth do those people have to shop? What is up with this? Is it supposed to make us feel better about ourselves, like I'm supposed to feel proud that I'm a size 2? Whatever. I'm just getting annoyed because this is not the only time this has happened to me lately and I'm tired of sizes being so unpredictable.

Now I just need to find something to wear to the other wedding occurring during Wedding Weekend 2008. Have I mentioned that I know four couples getting married the third weekend of August? I'm only going to two of the four weddings since I'm not completely crazy, but I just think it's wild that I know so many people getting married in the same weekend. And that's not even all of the weddings this summer. One of my friends from grad school got married on Saturday, and another is getting married later in August. Oh, and one of my college friends is getting married this summer as well. That's seven people I know who got/are getting married this summer, and two people I know who got engaged this summer. I guess that's just what happens when you're in your mid-twenties, huh? Everyone decides its time to take the plunge and get hitched. When does the madness stop? Or is it pretty much just one wedding after another until we're in our thirties? I actually don't mind. I really love weddings. What's not fun about putting on a nice dress, reuniting with friends, and getting tipsy on someone else's bill? Still, I wasn't exactly prepared for how big a part of your social life weddings become once you hit 24-25.

Anyway, I should probably just pull a once-worn dress out of my closet for the other wedding since I can't keep buying new clothes for all of these things. But Cas mentioned shopping on the Magnificent Mile and if we do that I may not be able to resist some other pretty shiny thing. I'm so excited about this trip to Chicago, by the way. Cas and I have been friends since we were in 8th grade. She wasn't my very closest friend when we were young, but we always hung out and, at this point, she is the person in my life that I have consistently been friends with the longest. There are other people I've known as long or longer, but none of them have been consistently a part of my life as Cas has been. We stay in touch on the internet and still see each other every time we're in Hometown. I was in her and Jay's wedding when they got married in 2006 and she has been wanting me to come up to Chicago to visit ever since they moved there after the wedding. I'm so glad I finally get to do it. Turns out it's going to be a whole weekend of old friends because Ryan, one of our other friends from high school, is a stand-up comedian now and he happens to be doing a show in Indianapolis this weekend. So we're going to drive to Indy and spend the night there so we can see Ryan's show and go out for drinks afterwards. And, bonus, I get to add Indiana to the States I've Visited list! I'm almost to 30! Anyway, I haven't seen Ryan in four or five years and the last time I talked to him was just a very brief run-in when I was home one Christmas, so it will be really interesting to catch up for real. Other plans include jet skiing (which I have never done but am SO excited about) and eating pizza, of course. Here's hoping that Cas and Penn get along (I can't imagine that they won't, but I guess you never know...) and that it's a fun, safe, and sunny weekend.