Friday, December 3, 2010

The State Of The Day (And The Gray)



















Another day, another batch of cookies.  Or several batches, as the case may be.

Yesterday, I managed to get three separate batches of refrigerator cookies made, rolled and packaged in plastic wrap so they could chill overnight for baking today.  If folks want exact recipes for these, please let me know and I will post them as I get time today or tomorrow:

-- Honey Spice Cookies with Walnuts:  This is a new recipe for me this year, and it says it makes 12 dozen cookies.  Given how many rolls of it I have in the fridge right now, I believe them.  The dough smells heavenly as you mix it altogether, because it has cinnamon, cloves and allspice along with 2 cups of honey.  I'll be interested to see how they bake up today.

-- Jeweled Fruit and Pecan Slices:  Red and green cherries and pecan halves, in a tender butter-cookie dough.  I love these as much for how pretty they are on a cookie tray as anything, but they are pretty yummy, too.

-- Lemon Meltaways:  These are amazing with a cup of tea or some hot spiced cider.  They are a really tender cookie, and I always frost them with lemon frosting so you get double the zing.

Today?  I have a couple more types of refrigerator cookies to make so they can chill for baking tomorrow.  And I'm hoping to get a batch of maple pecan drop cookies going, too.

This afternoon?  I have a hair appointment and we're going to talk about what I want to do with the ever-increasing amount of gray in my hair

Plus, the graying has accelerated in the last year or so -- partially as a side-effect from the lupus medication I'm on, I think -- and trying to deal with constant coloring when I'm this busy with life?  It's just not me to have to worry about that regularly.  There are too many other things to do that matter more to me, and I don't want to walk around looking crappy because I don't have time every three weeks (because my hair grows that quickly, I kid you not) to get a root touch-up, you know?

And, honestly, there are things that are way more important in my life at the moment than worrying about my hair.

Since my sister-in-law Amy passed away mid-October, I haven't been back to the salon -- it's been crazy busy catching The Peanut back up with schoolwork, and then running around getting things ready for holidays and school functions and...well, let's just say it's been busy here.  

Which means my gray roots are well and truly grown out on top of my head, and I now have hair that distinctly looks skunk striped (if you could find a skunk with red hair, that is).  Which is completely unacceptable for me -- the gray is one thing, but two-toned hair is just not working for me at all.

So, what's a girl to do?

We're going to talk about that today.  I've been trying to grow my hair out but, frankly, that's not really working for me either.  I'm not much of a girlie girl, and I utterly and completely fail at fixing my own hair.

It may be too much to ask that I have easy-to-style hair that is either wash and go or close to it and that we figure out a way to grow out my gray hair stylishly, with a minimum of two-toned ick, but that's exactly what I'm going to try and navigate today. 

If all goes well, maybe it can look something like this.  We'll see.

Either way, I'll try and post a picture when I get home.  It's going to be an adventure letting this grow out, I'm sure -- and I'm not exactly looking forward to people thinking that I am The Peanut's grandma.  On the other hand, it's a little liberating to think about just letting it go au naturel.  The roots are such a beautiful bright silvery-white, with glints of auburn still in there, too.  It really is pretty -- but will I like it all over?

As Mr. ReddHedd says, "if you don't like it, you can always get it colored, right?"  And that's the thing in a nutshell.  I've got options.  I'm going to try this on for size, see how it goes, and go from there.  What's the worst that can happen?  I've already admitted out loud that I'm going gray, the rest will be a piece of cake.  Right?

So why am I feeling so nervous about this?  (she types in her very smallest, Piglet-esque voice) 

PS -- I took a "before" photo.  You can see the gray coming in at the front and the sides a bit here.  Took this with the camera on my MAC, so it's not the world's most awesome shot, but you can see what I mean about the amount:





















Will take an "after" when I get home today and post it.  Cross your fingers...


(My own photo of an ornament on our Christmas tree.  We got this last year at Disney World on vacation -- it is so cute, and I was trying to capture the sugar-sparkle of glitter on Tinkerbell here.  My new camera is fun.)

8 comments:

Sharon said...

The cookies sound delicious!

I am especially interested to hear how the hair consult goes. I stopped getting my hair colored because of the chemicals (long story), and it is now growing out enough that I remember why I was coloring it in the first place! I am trying to find that balance between looking reasonably good, being as toxin-free as possible, and keeping down the expense and the upkeep. And the "how long" question is always out there, too. So, please, do tell!

Blue Girl said...

I am at the same place, hair-wise. It grows super-fast, and there is a generous helping of salt in the cayenne pepper these days. I will be anxious to see how this turns out for you. I may be right behind you.

PS - I will send you a message on Facebook for the honey-spice cookies.

Thanks!

Christy Hardin Smith said...

Sharon -- I'll definitely let you know. My stylist and I talked really briefly about maybe doing some highlights to even the whole length of hair out, but also cutting it a bit shorter to minimize how much of that we'd need to do. Honestly, though, I don't think I'll know what we'll end up doing until i sit down in the chair and she takes a look at it. I go to an Aveda salon because I don't like the chemical aspect of it either, and their products are a little better in terms of my skin sensitivity.

Lately, though, the thought of doing that much for a lifetime has just started to bug me, and I think that's the bottom line for me. I love my stylist and trust her judgment on this, so we'll see what she thinks. I'll report back for you later when I get back home from the appointment. :)

Christy Hardin Smith said...

Blue Girl -- I'll pop the Honey Spice cookie recipe up later today or tomorrow for you. They smell like heaven just as dough, and I'm getting ready to bake a batch in a few minutes. Mmmmmm...

mbarnato said...

Hair: If it looks like you'll have that lovely bright silver-white, go for it. In the meantime, try a short cut, and do the multi-color streak thing. My sis does that, and I like it on Diane Keaton.

I'm greying slowly like my mom did, but my hair has turned a dull boring light brown. I can still do demi-perm red, which I do myself and will continue doing for a long as possible! I only need to do it every 8 weeks and it doesn't take long, but I still find it tedious... If I had beautiful silvery hair I might consider au naturale!

Molly said...

Christy, the lemon cookies sound wonderful...if you have time, please post the recipe.

RE hair, at almost 68 my stylist says I have very little gray (my mom wasn't entirely gray/white when she died at 82, so good genes). But I'm not a redhead, I'm blonde, so just letting the highlights grow out probably would work. The problem is that my natural color is a dark blond, almost light brown, and it accentuates the wrinkles, while having lighter hair seems to minimize them. I will be very interested in your results!

Christy Hardin Smith said...

I popped a "before" picture up in the post -- thought it would be a good thing to see where things are before I go to my appointment. And I guess we'll see where things are "after" -- here's hoping for something lovely. :)

barbara said...

Christy!!

"The roots are such a beautiful bright silvery-white, with glints of auburn still in there, too. It really is pretty -- but will I like it all over?"

I vote YES! I'm still playing with mine. Take a close look at my FB photo. Beatufiul silvery-white is not my good luck, but it is kinda/sorta curly, so maybe....

You go, girl!