steak, potatoes, beer, and furry things

This weekend I went to my friends' house to watch rocket speedboat. Rocket speedboat is code name for Battlestar Galactica. That what we've been calling it ever since I texted them one day asking if they wanted to watch it. I thought it would be funny to use emoticons to ask. The only ones my phone had that I thought were similar was a rocket (cause I thought it looked like a bomb from battle) and a speedboat (cause I thought it could possibly be a ship).

As soon as I walked in the door there was an amazing dinner waiting for me. Carrots, mashed potatoes, and a perfectly cooked t-bone steak. All with a side of garlic bread and an ice cold Keith's.

The steak was so juicy and flavorful. The seasoning was perfect and the middle was a nice pink color. It was probably one of the best steaks I've ever had. He said it was the first time he's ever cooked a steak on the BBQ but you definitely couldn't tell. I've tried cooking steak on the BBQ a couple times and each time has ended in disaster. It's not as easy as it sounds like it would be to cook it perfectly.

For dessert we had my favorite pie. Pecan pie.

The rest of the night was watching TV with two furry little animals by our sides. Both of them were adopted within the last year from the Edmonton Humane Society. They got their puppy, Haley, last summer. She's two this year.

They got their cat, Imoen, in last December. She's a snowshoe with beautiful blue eyes. She just turned one.

board games and karaoke

This weekend was extremely busy. But I do like getting the chance to dress up, put some makeup on, and do my hair every once in a while. I know that I could put in the effort on weekdays too but for me sleep trumps beauty any day.

You can actually tell that my hair is a different color in these pictures which is extremely exciting! I am so glad with my decision to dye it and I think it's a great shade for me. I've been wearing my hair down a lot more cause I've noticed that you can see the red hues a bit better that way. Notice the little braids (or plaits as Jade calls them). She helped with braiding them for me cause I just couldn't get my arms to twist the right way to get it done myself.

I decided on a bit of blue eye shadow with some black liner. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the blue. I feel like it matched great with the blue pants I was wearing but I thought it took away from the blue in my eyes. It didn't make them pop the way other colors can.

My weekend started with Friday night board games and beer.

I love going to nights like these cause I get to try new games and play the old ones that I love.

A few games we played were:

• Cards Against Humanity
• Farkle
• Five Crowns
• Ticket to Ride

One of highlights though was the puppies that were sitting on my lap and helping me play.

The next night I went out for karaoke. It's only the second time I've gone and another great chance to dress up!

I actually sang this time too. I sang Moment of Weakness by Bif Naked. She's one of my favorite female artists and it's one of my favorite songs by her. I feel like a rocked it at least a little bit. Considering how nervous I was I could have definitely done worse.

When I got home each night both Coconut and Waldo were waiting patiently for me to hop into bed with them. Waldo seemed a little more concerned as to my whereabouts than anyone else.

new hair color. spiced tea

I've only dyed my hair once before. Black. I kept it that way for almost two years. Eventually I got sick of the maintenance and decided I wanted my natural hair color back. Naturally it's a dark blonde or light brown depending on the lighting. Knowing very little about changing hair colors I spoke with my hair dresser for guidance. Black is very hard to change to a lighter color without bleach and damaging your hair. My only solution was to grow it out. I got dark streaks put in to help blend my roots but it looks pretty awful. I chopped my hair off to help it grow out faster.

I desperately wanted to avoid another unwanted hair cut. Instead of jumping in with both feet and randomly picking a color/brand like I did last time, I decided I needed to research my options and what I wanted.

I wanted:

• Something semi-permanent in case I hated it. That way it would fade and be easier to get back to my original color
• Something not too dark so it'll be easier to get back to my original color
• Something relatively maintenance free

After a bunch of research I decided to go with Clairol Natural Instincts because it was reviewed at the best non-permanent hair dye as it didn't fade too much, the color came out similar to the box, and it's ammonia free. Next big decision was the color. I had an idea in my head of what I was looking for. I've always wished that I had red in my hair but I know that would be high maintenance. I decided I'd settle for trying a light auburn color. My shade of choice? Spiced tea. I felt as though it was fitting seeing as how obsessed with tea I am.

With my color decision made and a bubble of excitement in my stomach, I decided that it was the night for me to do it. On my way home from work I stopped at several different stores to find the shade I was looking for. Turns out that spiced tea isn't the easiest shade to find. Luckily their website has a list of stores that carry each shade.

Since Jade always dyes her own hair and is an expert at it, I knew that I'd want her to help me out to make sure it's done right. But turns out she was staying over at her friend's house. She offered to help on the weekend but I knew that if I didn't do it then I'd probably chicken out. To help with the nerves (I have no idea why I was so nervous) I also bought a box of wine.

I took a couple pictures of my hair color before I got started so I could have a reference color if I ever wanted to go back. I honestly did like my natural color but I was looking for a slight change.

I put the dye in. I sipped on some wine while I anxiously waited. And then it was time to rinse. Since my hair was wet it looked pretty much the same as it would have previously. Usually I let me hair air dry and then I may blow dry any leftover dampness. I didn't want to wait that long so I started blow drying. Now to post the results.

Once my hair was dry I went through several different emotions:

• Frustration because I felt like you could barely tell the difference
• Regret because I decided I didn't like it and it made me look pale
• Relieved because when I stepped into the light you could 100% tell the hint of red
• Happy because even though it's a only slight change people like the difference