ABC Kayla

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First Haircut

It wasn't as traumatic as some might think it would be. Her new "bob" looks pretty grown up, but then again, so did hair past her shoulders.

The odd layers of baby hair and new hair, combined with the strange piece that hung straight down the middle of her forhead spurred me to make an appointment for Kayla's first haircut. Every girl should have the option of wash & wear I think! :D

Kayla liked the cape (or Doggie bib) that she got to wear as she sat on my lap. She did well while Jodi "combed" her hair. She doesn't really know what it means that she got her haircut, but whenever someone tells her they like her new haircut she say "Jodi brushes". ;)

Contextual Affordances

This summer I took a career counseling class and my professor emphasized the value of "contextual affordances" -basically life experiences. The more life experiences we have, the more varied these experiences, the more we have to offer and vocationally speaking, the more insight we have into who we are and what we want.

I can't help but see things through the counseling paradigm these days! :) I know we have all sorts of things that we should do: organize our shed, thoroughly clean the house, pay off remaining debts, etc BUT I can't help but to recognize the value in traveling and having new experiences.
While living in Evansville, I developed a very special friendship with a colleague at the University of Southern Indiana. Chris and Ryan developed a friendship as well over the years and we took advantage of his recent relocation to Rhode Island to make a visit. Using hotel points and airline miles, we made plans to visit Chris & his girlfriend Sherri early August.

Ryan & I stayed with Chris in Providence and we double dated in Newport, RI our first night. I loved our harbor tour where we learned the history of the many wealthy people that owned the enormous mansions and yachts. Jackie Bovier Kennedy's family had a home here and her wedding reception (for 900) was held there. We saw light houses, ate fresh sea food and shopped little stores with overpriced artsy items which made for entertaining window shopping.

The next day we all took the Samuel Adam Brewery tour and then walked Boston's historic Freedom Trail, learning much of the town's history and significant role in the Revolutionary planning and war. On our own, that night, Ryan and I people watched at a Catholic festival in the Italian district and eventually ended up walking to Feneuil Hall where we ate some Boston creme pie and sipped wine as we people watched. Our last day was spent in Cambridge, enjoying the little shops and restaurants. We loved Curious George's Bookstore, where we wanted to get Kayla every board book we picked up. We ended up with: The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Busy Busy Kitties, Hello Boston and Hippos Go Berserk. That night we did the "tourist thing" and visited the original Cheers bar and took advantage of the beginning of restaurant week in Boston by having a very reasonable 3 course meal at a fabulous restaurant. We loved that we could walk almost anywhere. The houses were fascinating on the cobble stone streets with the gas light street lamps. We both would have loved to live in a big city, but sense the practicality of that being close to none. I guess since we can't live in these fascinating locations, the best we can do is save up some "points", blow off our chores and get out of town to stretch us, enhance us and entertain us. I'm glad we went and thankful for the contextual affordances!