Of Leis and Luaus

This time next week, I'll be flying across the Pacific.

I'm pretty excited about this, as I haven't been to Hawaii in 6 years. Last time we went, we visited the island of Kauai. Unfortunately, I was newly pregnant with my son, Max, so I spent two weeks throwing up and in general feeling miserable. But the last time I was in Maui, why that was way back in high school! I'm sure it has changed considerably.

My family used to go to Hawaii (or another exotic location) for every Christmas break. We had to escape the darkness and 50-below temperatures of Alaska somehow! We'd always come back to school with all kinds of exciting stories about our travels and bore our friends to tears with endless photos and recaps. (Hmmm... some things never change, right?) Back then, I knew the islands pretty well. Today, not so much.

Number one on my list is adventure! I am hoping to go surfing for the first time ever. (EEK! Just thinking about it gives me the best case of butterflies.) I'd also like to do some stand up paddle surfing and maybe even go scuba diving. I can't wait to teach my children how to boogie board and watch them swim in warm ocean waters.

Don't worry! There will be plenty of R+R by the beach, too. Coupled with Mai Tai's, flowers and fresh fruit. Maybe even a spa visit.
Ahhh... I can't wait!

{If you have any suggestions for us, please share.}

Credits: Palm Tree Sunset, Vintage Hula, Surfer Girl, Plumeria, Guava, Snorkeling, Edda in Lei, Aerial Maui, unfortunately I lost the other credits when my computer crashed. 

DIY: Dye

For most of my life I've been battling the age old Betty & Veronica syndrome -- and by that I don't mean fighting over Archie! I'm talking about the debate between Blonde vs. Brunette.

I've been alternating between the two since my junior year of high school up until about two years ago, when I decided to take hair care into my own hands. I was going through a lot of changes at the time, editing nearly every aspect of my life. It was definitely a bittersweet decision (as I'd been going to the same stylist for over 12 years.) But I realized that I was simply not the blonde that I was in my youth. Besides the fact that it wasn't good for my hair, doing a full highlight every six weeks was incredibly time-consuming and expensive. Veronica won in the end and in an effort to time and money, I began dyeing my own hair.

Now I realize this post isn't for everyone. In fact, I reckon that very few of my regular readers have any interest in abandoning their hairdressers. Instead, this is for all of those people (like me) that Googled "dyeing your own hair" and mostly found horror stories or biased reviews.

I spent the past 22 months trying nearly every kind of boxed dye that Target offers. (Most were used at least 2-4 times, unless I really disliked them.) I wanted to write about this way back then, but it was important for me to do my research. Honestly, nothing drives me crazier than people that write hasty product reviews. "I tried it once, so you should buy it!" UGH. That said, my journey hasn't been all too exciting. I never had a really horrible experience with any one particular brand. However, I did find my favorites and I'd like to share them here.

{For a little background: I have thick, wavy, full of body, medium-long, dry hair. (I can go 3-5 days between washings.) Ideally, I wanted lasting and even color, complete grey coverage, a little tonal variety and the least damaging product. Last but not least, I was going from Golden Blonde to level 5-6 Brunette.}

Here is what I discovered about BOXED hair dye:

BEST FOR COVERING GREYS: Hands down, L'Oréal Excellence Creme Hair Color was the greatest at keeping my grey hairs disguised the longest. This is one of the most important factors for me. I don't have a ton (mostly in my part line), but let's just say that I'm not interested in embracing grey just yet. No other boxed dye camouflaged them as long as this one.

BEST TONAL COLOR: John Frieda Precision Foam Color. Truly, this dye left me with the loveliest,  multi-layered range of color. Using foam was a little awkward at first, but after the 2nd or 3rd try I was used to it. The only downside was it didn't cover my greys well enough. Kind of a bummer really! It would've been my favorite otherwise. Féria would be my second choice for this category.

BEST SMELLING: They all smell pretty horrible to me, but I found Clairol Perfect 10 to be slightly less obnoxious than the others. Ammonium-free Clairol Natural Instincts wasn't bad either, but since I need permanent color, I couldn't really count it as an option.

FASTEST: In my experience, the 10 minutes dyes only lasted about 10 days, so keep that in mind. However, if you are looking for speed, Clairol Perfect 10 was also my favorite in this category. In addition, I tried using root touch-ups, which were fine for a temporary fix (especially for those months where the color seemed to fade faster) but not something I'd want to use on a monthly basis.

MISC. FINDINGS: Almost every dye had faded substantially by week 3 (some earlier) and by week 4 it was always necessary to cover up those pesky greys again (some as early as week 2.) I didn't mind the fading color so much, because some of my natural gold and auburn highlights would show. I never found that any dye was more or less damaging to my hair. And unlike other "bad" reviews I'd read, I didn't have a problem with the ends getting substantially darker than other parts of my hair. I always left the color on my roots the longest and then pulled it through to the rest of my hair at the end. Like I said, pretty uneventful. I wouldn't say I'd reached salon quality, but it was good enough.

Stick with me now... after saying all of this, I've discovered something even better.

BEST OVERALL: Two months ago, I finally got even braver and went into Sally Beauty Supply. With the help of an associate, I purchased a Wella Color Charm dye, a big bottle of developer, a squirt bottle and a box of black gloves. Then I went home an dyed my hair like a beauty school dropout! YEAHHHH. All kidding aside, I've used this method twice now and despite my earlier disclaimer, I already love it most of all. But since it's still new to me, I am wary of raving about it too quickly. The color was the richest and most salon-like. The greys were covered the best and the color lasted the longest. My hair felt slightly less damaged and even though it sounds funny, the whole process felt a little more "legit." This past month I also tried Ardell's Gray Magic and Neutral Protein Filler. Both seemed great, although I definitely want to experiment with them more!

For now, I will continue to dye it this way -- that is until I start to get antsy and wonder if there is something better out there. Until then.... I hope that someone out there will find this info helpful.

The summer of...

Travels: OK, I've been traveling year round -- but this summer we had a perfect mix of cool, green Alaska, surf + sand in California, nearby desert adventures and chillin' at our cabin in the mountains. I'll never tire of seeing the world. In fact, I've got an exciting trip coming up later this month. More about that soon...

Salads: I cannot stop eating this salad that was posted on Design Sponge a few weeks ago. You must try it! Love. Love. LUHVE.

Cocktails: Oh friendternets! What would I do without you? First, there was Alice and Jora's Zuni Aperol Cocktail. Then I enjoyed a bunch of Orange + Herb Negroni's courtesy of my girl, Giada. And to round it off, Casey's spectacular St. Germain Sangria. I won't tell you how much I drank of this on Friday night, but I will say I'm making it again today!

Dessert: Hands down this Strawberry Shortcake is the clear winner in my books. Growing up, my mother used to make Strawberry Shortcakes with those horrid pre-made discs and even worse, Cool Whip. I never liked them. But this Orangette beauty that the lovely Miss Jora made for me (when we visited in July) was everything those were not. I hope I didn't horrify her friend Chris when I insatiably shoved every last crumb of this dessert in my mouth. (To be fair, I think we both took down the crumbs... but still!) Scone-like cake, sweet strawberries with fresh whipped cream. Strawberry Shortcake that is sexy! I know.

Songs: I feel like this has been a great year of music, don't you? Right now, I'm listening to Gotye, Washed Out, Peter Wolf Crier, the new Beirut album. Ahhh... so many good things. Plus I'm laying the tracks to the next Modern Mixtape right now!

Instagram: ADDICTED. I'm embarrassed to say that I've barely lifted my DSLR except for work. Instagram is seriously the coolest thing out there. Not only have I networked with other amazing photogs, more importanly I've been able to be creative on the fly. It is so freeing to just whip out my phone. (Maybe not the most professional choice but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.) If you want to see an online album of my pics, click HERE. (Thanks for the link, Desi!)

TV: Louie. If you're even later to the party than me, check it out stat.

Planning: I've spent the better part of this past month planning out the rest of the year. Between homeschooling, children's activities, upcoming travel, photography work, running a home, the fall garden, exercise, food + cooking, uhh.... I'm not sure how it's all going to work out. But for once in my life, I feel (almost) organized and ready to take it on. And in any spare time, ahem, I've got several blog posts in the works, photos I'm posting to my portfolio and updates to the oft-forgotten Bird + Worm Homeschooling blog.

And with that... I'm gonna stop laboring for a few hours and head up to the mountains for a hike. Have a great holiday, my friends, and feel free to share your summer faves.

{PS. Thanks for your obliging comments on my silly, little video. If it weren't for you, I would've probably taken it down.}