Obviously this is a late update on the Valentine’s Day swap that Andrea organized. Sam and I were matched up and I loved shopping for her! I’ll let her share that stuff.

What she sent me literally had me so excited I dropped my camera. Haha! Really I took a couple of pictures then dropped it on the floor – picking it up I noticed it rattled and now it’s broken and not working very well at all.

But my excitement!

I *love* the teapot she gave me! I never did tell this story ~My Dad asked what I wanted for Christmas back in November or December. I usually say I don’t know (because I really don’t) and he sends something for the kids. This year he asked more then once and I said “I’d really like a Kitchen Aid mixer but they are expensive – so I want a teapot.” My Dad is the king of pawn/thrift store shopping so I figured he’d find me some cool antique teapot.

Then he asks which Kitchen Aid I wanted. And we talked about the price of them, the colors, and how it would get to me. Then one day I got a call for him wanting my address because he was Fed Ex’ing me the mixer.

It took me a while to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Of course this meant I didn’t have a teapot. Until Sam sent me one. And it’s perfect because it is just for me! Noone else in my house drinks tea, well maybe the kids would but I don’t make it for them, and this has a cool drop in tea holder.

She also sent me this great little book (blank pages to take notes), a note on a cute card, tea, perfume samples (oh my gosh I love perfume samples, I’m indecisive that way) and a pocket zen reader. The blank book and zen reader went into my purse immediately and I’ve jotted a few things down.

I love participating in swaps and hope to again, after we move of course. Unless you want to swap moving boxes for something I have, I’m all over that!

Today I got my hair cut like this ~

Mariska Hartigay, Olivia on Law & Order SVU

picture copyright by someone else, not me.

I love having short hair. LOVE it. I cut my hair when I was around 18 and didn’t look back. Except that time when I was pregnant with Alice, my hair was past my shoulders then, and then now. Now it’s touching my shoulders and at the point where I can’t fix it at all and it’s really annoying me.

And it’s been a few years since I’ve had highlights. I blame the military. We have to move so often, I can’t find a hair stylist, or I find one I love and then they move. Or I move and then wait months to find a new one. I finally stopped someone in a store the other day and asked where she got hers cut so I could do something with mine.

And here are the results.

Close to Mariska’s? Close’ish.

Looking back on it I wonder how I’ll feel about the highlights being *so* blond? I was thinking more of a caramel color, which is what I’ll do next time! I do love the cut, it’s short but not super short. And the wings I can see in this pic are odd, but looked so good in person! Overall I’m very happy with the cut.

Oh and the salon! The haircut was $12. You read that right. I haven’t paid $12 for a cut in, geez I can’t even remember when! The highlights were more of course but not nearly what they would have been if we lived in South Carolina or Washington still. The stylist was so great too – I definitely look forward to going back to her again!

Since this year we went with giving experiences for a gift, here is a shot from our aquarium visit.

Checking out the dolphins

My fault we stayed walking around the craft store for so long – we got to the aquarium too late to see any of the events, the dolphin training or bird show. But now that we know when the shows are we are planning on a trip back already. Jake hasn’t decided what he wants to do for his birthday so a stop then is still up in the air. We did get to walk around and see everything, I think, and grabbed a few pictures of the kids with the dolphins and a few of the other animals.

Hurry Mom, it’s hot

There are a couple of statues around that you can stand by or sit by, the kids wanted to sit on this one. It was very windy out (as usual around here) and we had a good time. On one hand I’m slightly disappointed because if we did see everything it means the place is small – on other hand it’s small so easy to stop in and check it all out again. I have a few homeschool plans that will be centered around the aquarium. It looks like we are going to be a very busy family during our time here!