A big surprise -

Hi. :) 

So I bet some of you are going to scroll down and see what the surprise is before I finish this sentence....and since I know I can't stop you, I'll tell you what it is. :) I got my hair cut. Short. 

Hahahahahaha. Ok. Go ahead and scroll down if you want. Then come back up for the story. ;) And it's kind of long. As in longer than an essay for college long. Because stories are rarely short with me.

A few months ago, I was messing around on Pinterest (big surprise....not) and I was skyping with my sweet friend Meredith. She was talking about wanting her hair short and we were looking at short hair styles....and I told her I had this photo I loved but I'd never have the guts to do. I told her the first time I saw the picture I cried. Ie: I had tears in my eyes because I loved it so much.

See what I mean? I pinned it and would go and sigh over it and sniffle and think "mine won't work".

Source: deluneblog.com via Jean on Pinterest

Here's the whole post with her hair. STUNNING.

So I told Mer - "I LOVE THIS, but I don't think mine would do it. And what if it was terrible? I'm not brave enough to do it." and she told me if she was cutting hers, I could cut mine. haha. :)

That was months ago, and then in January, my hair was getting ridiculously long. Like....the last time it was that long, I trimmed it because there is only so much patience I have when my hair is longer than my arm and I'm trying to comb it and it's a huge bother. I was going to make you guess, but I'll tell you. It was 6 inches below my hips.

And so I knew it was either: cut it super short, cut it medium, or trim it until I had more guts to do it. And we were having this wonderful January summer, and I knew I wanted it short before this summer (the real one), because of swimming and the beach. Swimming with it long and having mermaid hair is glorious....until you get tumbled in a wave and come up with it wrapped around your neck in a vise. Yeah, not so great if you are working on breathing oxygen instead of sea water. Hah.

So those were a few reasons, plus, it just had gotten to where even though it was lots of fun to try a bunch of new hairstyles....most of the time it just went on the top of my head, to stay out of the way. :) And there are other reasons too, ones I didn't realize affected me so much. Ie: every time I put my hair in Heidi braids and looked in the mirror, it took me straight back to the day we said goodbye and laid Avery next to his sister. And so many other sad moments when I vividly remember my hair being long and whipping around me like its own red veil at funerals...things I didn't realize I had internalized so much.

I was so ready to have it gone. I was so ready to let it go.

There was only one thing holding me back - I wanted long hair "romantic" photos. Old-fashioned ones.

So I wrote Lauren: aka the ONLY PERSON WHO KNEW ABOUT MY HAIRCUT. hahahahah. And she was cutting hers, plus, the Brits were comin' (Rach and her sister, Rebecca) from England, and she thought "How GREAT would it be for us both to show up with short hair?!!!". We thought it was genius. Only problem is, my hairstylist was out on Mondays. So when I called at 11am on Tuesday (hyperventilating), she didn't have anything till the next Tuesday. So no surprise for everyone that week.

Which meant........I had to keep the appointment, the intent, the idea, the excitement quiet....for a week. FROM EVERYONE (except Lauren......and her family (she got so excited, she told them, haha). I didn't say a word to my family, my friends....gah. IT WAS TORTURE. I kept writing Lauren, freaking out, and telling her how hard this was. She's a super secret keeper. She laughed at me. ;)

In that week, Laurie all of a sudden was like "I'm going to cut my hair" in a g-chat conversation....oh boy. You should have seen my brain. It was like fireworks going off. HAhaha. It was so hard being all laid back and still trying to feel out the waters....without giving the secret away about mine. ;)

So I had the appointment, and then the Monday before I made the appointment (but already had made up my mind), I took long hair photos. Romantic, old fashioned ones. :) (like this one.)

and like this one. :) and about 400 other ones...mostly because it was with the tripod and remote. hah.

I had the best light and the greatest time (shot all in RAW-woohoo!) and they are probably my favorite pictures in several months. So I wrote Lauren ALL GIDDY and sent her some, and felt so ready to have it cut. Only problem: I had to wait 8 days. And guess who couldn't sleep at nights because she was SO DOWNRIGHT EXCITED. Yes. Me. And then I'd freak out because as we all know.... ok, all us curly heads know..... if you don't cut it right you become triangle head. I've been it before.

Here. I'll give you proof.
Me: "My worry is that it won't be curly all over and will be straight or something...or curly at the bottom but not the top AND THEN...PYRAMID.
Lauren: "Yes! Hey, it's TRIANGLE HEAD! hahahahahaha!"
Me: "shut up." .... "I don't want to be triangle head!!!"
Lauren: "Don't worry, you won't. Your stylist has you covered."
&
Me to Lauren: "I couldn't sleep last night I was so excited about my haircut. And then I couldn't sleep because I was terrified it would go wrong and I would be Triangle Head for months. And then I was so excited about surprising everyone. I didn't get to sleep until 3am! gaaaaaaaahhhh."

So Lauren was my mainstay for sanity. And encouragement. And laughter. :) Thanks, bestie!

But then the last day of January, I found this blog, via Pinterest (oh, how I love thee), and I screamed quietly. Because this girl actually had RED. TEXTURED. CURLY. SHORT. HAIR. And it was then that I believed it would actually work. I was soooo over the moon excited. I printed off photos to take to my appointment and created a secret board on Pinterest, hahaha. It was exactly what I wanted.

The girl with the amazing hair also has freckles and runs a fashion blog: Feathers and Freckles.
(Crazy thing: she just posted about her hair in her newest post. An inverted bob! :) )

And then Saturday, I had to keep it a secret around everyone....and when we took pics on the Savannah, I looked at Lauren and said..."Should I take my hair down?", so everyone is thinking "what on earth.....", and Lauren took a few pics. Hahaha.

Monday night (before the haircut), I was praying it would work. And hyperventilating. And then squealing in excitement. And then praying again. And then hyperventilating some more. hahahaa. We had played volleyball, and I was washing my hair, and having a mini-pity party with myself.

"Look how pretty and long it is." "I'm going to miss this. Maybe I shouldn't cut it." ..... and then I went to comb it, and I was like "NEVERMIND. I TAKE IT ALL BACK." HAHAHahahaha.

So Tuesday morning, I tell Mom and Kim I'm going "Out shooting" (camera), (which, really, I was ... afterwards), and drove off to see my hair stylist, who has been cutting my hair for 18 years. Her and only her. haha. She is also a redhead, vivacious, ballroom dances, hysterical, wonderful, and I love her. I get there with my photos and tell her what I want, and I kid you not, she was more giddy than I was, she was sooooo excited. She knew exactly what it was. An inverted bob. And I was going to be adorable, she said. It will be perfect, she said. You will LOVE IT, she said.

We pulled my hair back, she cut it off, everyone in the salon went "nooooooo", and I shook my head and laughed in excitement. It was short and I loooooved it. Oh my lands. It felt SO GOOD.

but you should have seen the ladies faces when I walked into the waiting room with my hair hanging from my hand......they looked at me like "How could you?!!!". hahahaha. Then I started thinking: "Maybe I should put this in my purse or something.....". 

Ok. So if you've made it this far, you deserve some chocolate. C'mon over. I have truffles. ;)
Here are photos!!!

Before ... in my car.


Hahahaa. 


After: YAY! I was sooooo happy. Still am! 


The back. 


It is longer in the front, and goes up in the back, layers everywhere! 


I have no idea why my eyes are that blue, must have been the light. I didn't edit them that color, I promise! haha. 


At the river, enjoying my new hair that blows everywhere. :) 








I just love it. It couldn't be better. 
























I love it when my hair is blown by the wind, and so I stood there and let the wind pull it across my face, and I closed my eyes and felt FREE. It was a wonderful feeling and a neat moment. :)


aaaaaaaand this was Mama's face when I walked in. Pretty much the same expression on Kim's face and Dad's too!!! HAHAHA! It was worth aaaallllll the waiting to see their shocked expressions.


Dad kept looking at me and saying "Shocking! Simply Shocking!" in a British accent. hahaha.

And the next few days, I had THE best time skyping with friends and showing them my hair, and seeing their shocked faces too!! Hahahaha. It literally made my week. And then I told FB....slowly, drawing it out, making them riot, hahaha (not really), and here.....11 days later, I'm telling you! ;)

Honestly, it's been wonderful. I thought maybe I'd miss it a little bit, but I don't. Not at all. And guess how long it takes to do my hair? Two minutes. 2. And it takes less than that to comb it. Instead of 45. It is so carefree and I've already beach-tested it twice and I adore it. I'm so glad I got it cut!

and for those of you wondering, I'm not donating it this time. :) I'm selling it instead. Yes, just like Jo in Little Women "Oh Jo! How could you? Your only beauty!". Yes. Just like that. :)

Love you all!!! Have a wonderful weekend.
~ Jean Marie ~