At first I didn't think it could be my style.  My good friend Ashley swears by them, but I wasn't convinced.  Could I really wear a Nuu Muu?  What would I wear under it?  Where would I wear it besides pick-up ultimate?  I wanted to support Ashley's new business, but I just wasn't sure.  Then I went to the Nuu-Muu party.

Ashley invited all the girls over to try on the Nuu-Muus.  When I got there, people were already wearing the ones they had picked out.  Colleen and I were in the same boat, in that it just didn't seem like "us".  We tried them all on.  Turqouise, flowered, maroon, purple, grey.  All sorts of color options.  People were showing them off to the others, and you could hear all the "Oh that looks good", "Hmm, I'm not sure about that one", and "Yes!  Get it!" from the other room.  I was listening for opinions from other people as I was still undecided, but I had to admit it looked pretty good with my jeans on.  I wasn't ready to make the decision for myself.  The fabric is divine, slippery and comfortable.  The teardrop neckline is interesting and the armpits don't dig in.  The next moment, Colleen had decided she was getting 2!  "What?! I said, How did you decide already?"  Then Jill walked in and she looked awesome in the purple one and the flowered one; they are just so much fun.  That's when I knew I was "in".  Ok, fine, decision made.  I'll get one...but maybe I'll try that brown one on, since it's on sale.  "Oh, that looks great on you!"  "The brown just works, you have to get that one, Heather, but then again, I did like the maroon one on you also."

So, bottom line, Colleen, Jill and Heather all showed up to the Nuu-Muu party thinking we'd leave empty handed, as we wanted to support Ashley, but it wasn't our style.  In the end, all 3 of us left with not 1, but 2 Nuu-Muus.  Suckers.  

 I have to admit that I wore my brown Nuu-Muu for the next 3 days - to a party - to work - and to the Gym twice.  Then I wore the maroon one to work in the same week.  I also got plenty of compliments on them.  So much for "not being my style".  Join me, and get your own, if you dare,  at www.nuu-muu.com.

I've never had a piece of clothing that I cherished until I got my first Marcia Bloom Skirt.  This is the best purchase I've ever had in the clothing department.  I have a history of buying a new shirt or outfit and then wearing it almost daily for the weeks and sometimes months following (like my Nuu-Muu), but this skirt is special. 

There is a shop here in Bellingham that my neighbor told  me about one day.  She said "Oh, if you're looking for skirts, you HAVE to go there".  It's called "Fun To Shop", and it's inside a courtyard shopping complex in Fairhaven along with a shoe shop, a restaurant, and some other places.  There are teasers of interesting clothes on racks outside the front of the store, and fun, eclectic music is coming from within.  The place is tiny, about the size of our small living room, but every corner and wall is covered with something you can wear.  They have a mix of new and used, but most of it is hand picked for originality.  I could easily go overboard on my impulse buys at this place.  Just when I think I've got waaay more than I should have, I find something else.  

My first time there, I saw this interesting skirt on the rack.  I saw ladies coming in and saying "Are they here?"  And when I started touching the skirt and admiring the oddball combination of 3 or 4 bright fabrics lined on the bottom with black and white polka dot 3-inch elastic, Jaimie came over and said "Yes, this is one of the last Marcia Bloom Skirts we have right now...isn't it fabulous?"  One woman had another skirt on and she was twirling around as Jaime and her mother ooooed and awwwed.  It was obvious she was going to buy one of these "Marcia Blooms", but she was having a really hard time deciding which one.  That day, I left without one, but I did get my name on the list for the next time "they arrived".

It was the week Julia, my soon to be sister-in-law was visiting....she visits like once every 2 years.  And I got a call from Jaimie!  We were already planning on going shopping for a wedding outfit for Julia, so this was perfect timing.  Julia wasn't convinced that she would get one of these crazy skirts....until she saw one.  The first one we laid eyes on was awesome.  Turquoise and white, and purely fantastic.  We tried on all 8 that were in the store, and then Jaime said there was one more upstairs.  As soon as I saw it, I loved it.  Orange, black, yellows, crazy fabric and black lace.  Awesome.  So we walked out of there with huge smiles on our faces, not a care in the world for how much I'd signed away on my credit card, and 2 Marcia Bloom skirts flipping in the summer sun.

It's been about 5 months now, and I think I've worn this skirt at least once or twice a week since I got it.   I feel so happy wearing it, and it's especially nice hearing "I love your skirt", and "That is such a great skirt" from perfect strangers.  I feel like telling everyone to get one.  It just makes everything better.  I'm going today to make sure I'm on the list for another Marcia Bloom Skirt.  I have the potential to get about 10 more.

While looking through many advertisements in my graphic design magazine called Communication Arts, I found several advertisements for books you can make from your photos.  I decided to try out the company with the most promising looking ad, which ended up being Mpix.com.  I thought that if they could offer me a price that was reasonable and if the product was good enough, I would be able to make a book from all of our wedding photos (well not all of them, as there were 1600 to choose from).

The website was quite easy to understand from the get-go, which is the first requirement for someone like me who is constantly striving to make user-friendly websites.  I could see what I needed to click on in order to get started, which made me feel like this relationship might just work out.  Second, I found that the price was reasonable enough that I had to give it a try.  30 pages for $40 and extra pages were $0.25 each.  So I took the next step and downloaded the software for free. 

After opening the program for the first time, I felt like I had a pretty good idea for how the program worked.  It didn't take me long to be creating new pages with backgrounds and multiple photos laid across the top.  I could see myself spending hours and hours on this project.  One thing I learned later in the game was that I should have moved all my photos to my hard drive, rather than taking them straight off of a CD, as the program only gathers temporary thumbnails of all the images you drag and drop in the interface.  If you take the CD out of the drive, the thumbnails in the program disappear.  Other than that, however, it was smooth sailing to complete my books. 

The best part of the whole deal came at the end, however.  Once I had a complete book, I took the plunge to upload the file to the Mpix website.  They make it very easy with a "send to Mpix" button.  I proofed the final PDF of the book and set my computer to upload.  I left the office for a few hours to go for a run, and when I returned, I entered my credit card number into the website and added 4 books to my cart.  Now I just had to wait....for 2 days!  I uploaded the file Tuesday night.  Friday at work, I was chugging along on my email as usual, and the mailman brought me a package from Mpix.  WOW!  Just like that, they had somehow printed my books and got them in the mail within 2 days.  That's service.

I'm a firm believer in making these books now; they're so much better to me than bulky photo albums.  Actually, I ended up making one for the Ceremony and anther for the Reception.  They limited me to 50 pages, but it's kind of nice having 2 books.  I'd much rather have several coffee table books like these than the multitude of spiral photo pocket albums I currently have from the past 30 years of my life.  Give it a try yourself; I think you'll be impressed.

I have Google Analytics peering over this website you guys.  I know how many people are visiting every day.  Not even one single person, however, has ever commented on these blog works of art.  It doesn't have to be a secret.  You can put a comment down and maybe someone else will follow suit.  Come on!  I know you're out there.  Give me somethin'..Mom?  Dad?  uhh...anyone?

By the way, click on the title of the post or click on "comments" and it will take you to the individual post page.  Your coment can be entered below in a form.  Your email address won't show on the front; only the web address if you insert one.  I am the only one that will see the email address.   Below is an example of what it will look like.

~H 

I decided to go "out on a limb" this week and make an appointment for a real haircut....and coloring.  I wanted some cool highlights; something subtle but more exciting on my head.  So I go into the appointment without telling anyone from work, as I expected it would be a regular lunch hour away from the office.  I chose a "flash foil", which I've never had before, and I knew this would set me back $40, but I wanted it anyway.  What I didn't know was that it would lengthen my visit by about 1 hour!  So I sat and read a magazine as I looked like those salon girls I always scoff at for being so "girly".  I was one of them now. 

I proceeded to the haircut stage of the trip and had the suspicion that my stylist with the valley girl, drawn out end to all her sentences, might not be the most confident with scissors.  She worked and worked and worked at snipping the odd piece of hair here and there that would shoot out of line, but I never felt she had control of the cut.  I wanted an angled bob; in retrospect it is called a "Stacked A-Line Bob", which will be a good note to have.  Long story short, it had been 2 hours when she finally finished with the curly brush and hairdryer (which I'm not so fond of), and when I turned around to look at the back....it was a haircut I could have done myself.  Totally straight across the back bob.  Yuck.  I said "It looks prett good" and paid the straight $80 fee with no tip.  I had to get back to work.

Of course, when I returned to work, everyone noticed the haircut but could care less that I had been gone for it.  So I went for 2 days trying to like this $80 mop on my head.  Then I saw the photo of myself with the marshmallows.  That was the last straw.  I called for an appointment for a "re-shaping" the next day.  

On my next visit, I was relieved to hear that the valley girl wasn't going to be working, so I got one of the owners of the shop instead.  I told her what happened and what I wanted and she immediately took to the spray bottle and gathering and chopping and gathering and chopping.  She practically gave me a brand new haircut and seemed to have complete control over my hair.  She didn't do any of the stray-hair-snip that I find is a tell tale sign of an inexperienced hair stylist.  So whallah, I went from blah, self-cut bob to hoorah, interesting angled bob.  There is something to be said for finding the right person to cut your hair and not just taking a shot in the dark.