I recently had my hair done by the great Kaylene (who seriously needs to get herself a computer. . . how do people survive without one these days?) and went a bit darker, a bit redder than I was the last time. I really like it, but as she mentioned, red hair is really hard to keep up. It just fades so fast. I look in the mirror and I feel all hip and in-the-now and full of moxie and though I don't even know what that word means, I'm sure it has something to do with being ultra modern and cool with flaming red hair to boot.
Have I ever detailed on my blog the time I went blonde? Err, I mean, tried to go blonde. I'm not talking about the highlights that I've had off and on over the years, I am talking blonde blonde like 3 yr old tow-head blonde, Paris Hilton blonde, blonde I've been living on a beach all summer long wearing nothing but a speedo and a smile. Oh wait, strike that from image from your mental warehouses.
It all stems from the fact that my loving, fully accepting, always supporting husband of 9 years (at the time--we've now been married almost 11 years) decided husbands of blonde wives have more fun. Well, no, he didn't word it that way, but it was all his idea. He wanted me to go true blonde, like Allison Mack (Chloe) in Smallville.
I mean, no pressure right? First of all, she's gorgeous (and I think is wearing leather in this picture, so she gets extra points from the male point of view right there) and second of all, she's pretty darn blonde. Afraid I'd look like an albino scarecrow if I tried this, but ready for a new adventure in hair color, I bought a box.
Yeah. . . that was my second mistake. I bought hair color at the good ol' supercenter {do not do this}, slathered the stuff all over my head {do not do this}, and watched the clock. In fear. {again I stress: do not do this!}
When the timer dinged, I carefully rinsed out the peroxide mix and quickly started styling. It didn't take long to figure out that this plan had gone horribly horribly awry.
First of all, on the top, my hair could only be described as being freaky comic book yellow. I mean, Pow! Smash! Bang! Batman character yellow. The ends were a nice buttery blonde. Probably livable. But in the middle heaven-help-Brittney-Spears it was a horrible splotchy orangey concoction. It was horrid. Scary. Humiliating.
Well, what does one do when suffering through a hair emergency? I cried of course. I put a hat on and sobbed to my husband that I had ruined my hair and it was all his fault and being that this was all done on a Friday afternoon, it was too late to find a store open to help me fix it or dye it back. I even called the 1-800 # on the box and their suggestion was: go somewhere and have it fixed professionally!
I did some quick calling around and found a lovely salon nearby that was able to help me during my Disaster Of The Tresses and fix it. I'm pretty sure I was the cause of much giggling behind magazines that afternoon as I came in and meekly took off my hat and said, "Yup, I am she who hath ruined her hair. Please fix me."
Ladies, please leave the bleaching and the dying to the professionals. They ain't joking when they say: Don't try this at home.
In the end, my hubby was sorry that he'd asked me to turn into someone I am not. He was graciously OK with our forking out $87 that day to make me presentable. And he's never offered a hair-related opinion since. I told him I'd find some leather outfits a la Chloe to make up for it.
Ah well, you try something new...sometimes it works, sometimes it costs you $87.
I was recently asked by M&M's to try their new M&M's brand Premiums. Being that I'd just gotten off my cabbage soup diet for one week, I was more than a little happy to get my hands on these bite-sized tidbits of joy.
I love my job. I kid you not, I said this outloud when Mr. Fed-Ex delivered this box of chocolatey goodness into my hands.
Summary of the 5 flavors they had me taste-test (and I promise you I did not eat each and every one of these four-servings-per-box containers. I didn't. I really really didn't. Honest. I shared.):
Raspberry Almond: because these are wrapped in dark chocolate, they are naturally high on my list. They're good--just the right amount of raspberry in that it's not overpowering--you can still taste the chocolate, and there's a good sized almond in there too. They're so good that I had to give the remaining half a box to my neighbor once I got started and couldn't stop.
Chocolate almond: I actually expected to like these the best--however, after just a few bites, I personally felt (and a few others agreed with me) that the almond bite is pretty overwhelming and you don't get enough chocolate. Plus, you get thirsty real fast...not so much after scarfing down half a box of the raspberry ones for some reason. Maybe the dark/milk chocolate difference has something to do with that.
Triple Chocolate: These actually ended up being my favorite. I can plow through these like nobody's business. Though taste testers agreed we couldn't taste the three different chocolates, this flavor is still really good. And you don't get thirsty as fast so you can eat more. ;)
Mocha: I'll admit that I only tasted one of these, decided it tasted too much like coffee (which I don't drink or like the smell or taste of) and gave away the entire box to my son's teacher. She said they were good. Having a happy 1st grade teacher is always a good thing, so my job there was done.
Somehow, I didn't get pictures of the mint ones, but again, I didn't even taste them. I am not a fan of mint and chocolate together, but I have plenty of friends who are. Bad news: they did not care for the mint flavored Premiums. Too minty, too overpowering, reminiscent of a junior mint, but not as good. None of my friends said they would buy these if given the choice.
The pros: The packaging--very cool and fancy looking, and I love the actual design of the Premiums M&Ms:
You can see they almost have a metallic sheen to them--very neat design. And they're much larger than regular M&M's, a bit bigger than the peanut variety even. Also on the pro side, the different fancy flavors and colors. These would be great for baby or wedding showers, in fancy glass bowls and decanters.
The cons: Almost everyone who tastes these said they missed the trademark hard candy coating that regular M&M's have. These are much softer candies. Due to their size and fancy nature, they will obviously be more expensive than their M&M ancestors, and sadly, most people admitted that they wouldn't purposefully buy these unless for a fancy party or something. 9 our of 10 surveyed preferred original M&M's.
I applaud M&M's for trying something fun and different!
So what new things have you tried that did (or didn't) work out the way you wanted? What adventures have you taken, what spontaneous moves have you made, what stylistic choices have you purposefully selected only to have them either not quite work out as you had intended or end up a total success despite your trepidation?
M&Ms is sponsoring the following contest: All you fun, spontaneous, adventurous, and confident women out there, leave me a brief story in the comments of this post, detailing a hairbrained idea gone wrong. Or right! The crazier the better--anything to get the focus off of me and my tri-colored mop top.
Your prize will be an M&M sponsored gift basket full of all kinds of nifty neato presents including:
The prize pack:
1 carton of M&M'S® Premiums Raspberry Almond
1 carton of M&M'S® Premiums Chocolate Almond
1 carton of M&M'S® Premiums Mocha
1 carton of M&M'S® Premiums Triple Chocolate
4 M&M'S® Brand Martini Glasses
1 pack of M&M'S® Premiums Wine Charms
To enter, leave me a comment below and share your story - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. (PST) on Monday, February 9th, and will end Sunday, February 15th at 11:59 p.m (PST). Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct. (And your e-mail address will remain private.)
Rules:
- No duplicate comments.
- This giveaway is open to U.S. residents.
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
- You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
- See the official rules for details.
Please check out other BlogHer M&M's reviews here. Go here for official rules to this contest. And, you can learn about M&M's Premiums on their web page.
I'd love you to drop by my main blog at Life with the Boys. Stop by and say hi. We can talk chocolate, boys, and scrapbooking. I consider myself an expert at all three. Or not.
PS: this doesn't have to be about hair! Although I am enjoying all your hair emergencies!
