New Bird On The Block No. 28 chirps farewell to 2010

Seven Thirty. Collage on paper, 4″ x 4″, 06.10.10, by Randel Plowman

I have long coveted many pieces by Randel Plowman of A Collage A Day. Sadly they are usually scooped up by the time I click over to his site from an email or Google Reader. So I made haste when he announced his sale on orphaned collages (sale priced? with matting? and free shipping? sign me up!). I was shocked to see a few bird ones among the orphans. Of course my favorite was already sold by the time I clicked on it, but after a little digging I found the beauty above and made him mine. He arrived on Wednesday and is sitting in a place of honor on the curio cabinet, awaiting a frame.

With so many blogs and sites to read on the interwebz I am constantly thrilled and humbled that you are here. As we bid adieu to 2010 I wish you a New Year filled with all good things, and when you count your blessings and your friends, may you find you are “the richest man in town”.

A Christmas Trololo

I can’t decide which is more disturbing:

The masks
The audience singing along
The addition of Santa hats

For the original Trololo weirdness (so weird, yet you can’t stop watching) go here.

Happy Boxing Day, grab a shovel

Happy Boxing Day! Here in Connecticut we are awaiting the storm that yesterday blanketed the Southeast with a White Christmas. The weather fear-mongers are calling for a blizzard of 12-18” and 40 mph winds, which of course had people panicked last night. “It’s Christmas! All the stores are closed! I can’t stock up on bread and milk and snowmelt and shovels (how do you live in New England and not have a snow shovel?) and we will be snowed in for months Icannevereverleavethehouseeveragain whatwillIdooooooo?” Fun times! Personally I’m annoyed that the storm will prevent me from meeting up with an out-of-town college friend I haven’t seen in years and from hitting the half-off sales for next year’s wrapping paper etc.

So I’ll be keeping cozy with The Lounging Party, some Christmas leftovers, my Google Reader and a stack of DVDs and books (including this (nerd alert) and this, received as gifts from my wonderful family yesterday). Although I live downtown, my building is on a side street that probably won’t get plowed ‘til Tuesday, so I may have to instigate an impromptu BYOB potluck in my building… I love a snow day!

Snowman Treeclip by CatandFiddlefolk on Etsy.

Everybody knows, some Nyquil and some misteltoe, help to make the season bright

Merry Christmas bloggy friends! I hope your holiday is holly and jolly and free of sniffles. So far mine is holly and jolly but loaded with sniffles and other assorted cold symptoms, but I'm making the most of it by getting cozy on the couch, admiting my tree, and watching White Christmas with The Lounging Party.

You can't tell from the photo, but it is loaded with bird ornaments... ;-) Sent from my iPhone. Testing the blogger email app.

Getting in touch with my roots

Let’s talk about gray hair. I gots me some. I gots me a lot actually. And by gray hairs I don’t mean a bunch of long ones mixed in with the rest of my hair, or in a cool stripe, a la Lily Munster:

And I don’t mean steely-gray-almost-mousy-brown. I mean bright shiny gray. Noticeable gray. You know when you see photos of Jessica Simpson and it is clear she needs to touch up her brunette roots?

Imagine that but with the lights and darks reversed (I’m showing only the top of the image because the rest of the photo reversed is downright creepy):

 

I can go no more than four weeks before my roots need a touchup. In fact, four weeks is kinda pushing it, I could probably do three but I actually pay a professional to do this and when I think about what I already spend annually on my hair… well, I get another gray hair. Come Day 22 or so, I am pretty much relegated to wearing my hair in a ponytail and touching up the hairline with eyebrow powder to hide the evidence. Yes, I am that vain. The roots are so glaring you could probably see them from where you are.

 

My grays started when I was in college. Not a lot, just a few here and there, and I used to (gasp) pull them out. I didn’t believe that old wives’ tale that for each one you pull out, seven more grow in its place. They started growing in a patch just north of my ears and back a bit from my temples. Then they migrated to the top of my head, and just kept on going. Yesterday morning (Day 28) I made the mistake of looking at the back of my head in the medicine chest mirror via my makeup mirror to see how far back they went. I instantly regretted it. The only part of my hairline that is not gray is from the nape of my neck up about three inches on each side.

The Devil Wears No Miss Clairol

At 43 I feel I’m too young for Meryl Streep’s “Miranda” look, but I hope that when the day comes that I am ready to stop dyeing it, my hair comes in this white so I can sport this haircut. I think it would be pretty chic, and very freeing (not to mention cheaper!). In the meantime, to quote my friend Christine (who is very blond), “the grayer you get, the blonder you get”. So buh-bye grays and hello increasing number of blond foils…

Every dog has his day. And then some have owners who do this:

Why America? Why?