New hair and movies

I only get haircuts about 4 times a year. I justify splurging on my expensive lady since I don't go all that often. Last weekend I decided it was time for a cut and color.

(Pardon the non-showered, weekend grungy me)
Before:


After:


It was lovely to have 3 hours to myself at the Salon. I cut off a good amount and lightened it up with some highlights. I'm liking the results, although next time I do highlights I think I'll have her go a little more dramatic. I don't color often because I'm lucky to have blonde hair that naturally lightens in the summer, so it will likely be next fall before I dye again.

After getting my hair done B took me to see Waiting for Superman. We'd been really looking forward to seeing it. If you haven't heard of it, it's a documentary about the education system. I looked forward to learning a lot. Instead, I walked away feeling totally depressed. Parents, stuck in shitty school districts due to finances, put their kids in the lottery system for limited slots in charter/magnet programs. All but one kid (the one who was already in a good school) didn't get in (one did end up getting called from the weightlist). It was as if you knew in that moment that these kids were likely destined to live in poverty forever. The movie offered no suggestions for improving the system and was an all-around depressing bust. It was riveting though for sure as you waited to see if the kids would win the lottery.

I'm also back to being two-footed! 6 weeks in the boot are complete, and my fracture has healed. Hooray! Mostly I'm happy about just getting in the car and not having to take off the boot, put on a shoe, and put the boot back on at my destination. I think B is happy to have his walking buddy back too. Now to decide if I'm brave enough to walk to work in Portland fall/winter.

Alaska Part 3: Glacier Bay

Yikes, I forgot about my blog for a bit there! I'm always in awe at the people that manage to blog every day. I can barely remember to blog more than once a month.

Glacier Bay National Park was the highlight of our trip. Although it was the 3rd day on the boat, it was exciting to finally have "real" Alaskan scenery. The usual cruise route goes partially in up to John's Hopkins Glacier and then partially up the neighboring glacier (I'm blanking on the name).

Our captain wisely decided to spend the entire cruising time in John's Hopkins and get reeeeeallllly close. It turns out that Johns's Hopkins Glacier is the location where 80% of the harbor seals in Alaska birth and raise their pups, so late September is the only time cruise ships are allowed to get close. Lucky us! The park ranger that joined our ship said it was the closest he'd been to the glacier in his 25 year career!

We started off the day in the Crow's Nest, which was the bar at the top of the ship with stunning views.


Although it was pretty cold out (we saw a few flakes of snow), the weather was actually pretty good. I'll let the photos mostly speak for themselves.














Glacier calving (pieces breaking off). Interestingly, John's Hopkins is one of the few glaciers that is growing - by about 10-15 feet PER DAY! Of course, there are pieces breaking off too, which was fun to watch. It made a huge booming sound that was quickly followed by a whole bunch of "oooohs" from the cruise crowd.








I think we'd all agree that the cruise through Glacier Bay was the highlight of the trip. It was stunningly beautiful, and it was amazing to be so close.