I never did like my forehead that much anyway...

I've had long, long hair for an even longer time. Heavy, hanging, a curtain to the world - it's always been a part of me. I've nailed down a routine where I get it trimmed once every three months and occasionally curl it when I find the time. But otherwise I leave it as it is: long, lanky, unlayered, and kind of insane.

Lately it's been getting on my nerves. For one, I'm sick of finding long hairs in my food, in my bed, on my clothes, and worse, on other people's belongings. For another, living in Canada for 5/7ths of my life has reduced the ends of my hair to a pathetic and tangled state. So today, as I walked over to my salon for my usual trim appointment, I made the decision to go for more than just a trim.

Long hair - it can drive a girl crazy!

I am usually a giant wimp when it comes to haircuts and change in general. I quietly ask for one inch to be cut off and sit there crying silently when I see my locks fall to the ground. Also I've always sort of hated bangs on people, lol, for no rational reason. But today I quite contentedly plopped down, flipped my hair out from under my jacket, and told my stylist that I wanted four inches off, lots of layers, and oh, a fringe bang, if you will.

I am quite digging my new haircut, especially the fact that I can either leave it hanging as a fringe or push it aside for a more side-swept look. It makes me feel edgier and more put-together and I don't miss the old mop of hair I used to tote around with me everywhere I went. In these pictures I am not wearing makeup but I imagine it'll go well with some black eyeliner and mascara action for a very "city" look.

Fun at Fernie

I spent my second weekend in Canada in a small city called Fernie which can be found in British Columbia, just beyond the bordering reach of Alberta. Fun facts about Fernie: hitchhiking is prevalent and encouraged by the townsfolk. The population is around 4,000. There do not appear to be any Asians in that population.

The lodge/cabin we were told about turned out to be more like a mansion atop a mountain. Amenities included an outdoor jacuzzi, a fully-stocked kitchen, and two pugs to play with, one of which was blind and would walk into walls and chairs, thereby inducing rounds of simultaneous cringes and "awwws".

I've decided that if and when I ever decide to own a home, the kitchen is going to be by far the most important room. Cooking in this place was, in a word, delightful. I was seriously channeling Rachel Ray as I made myself and a colleague omelets for breakfast on Saturday morning.

The players: green pepper, onion, tomato, Gruyere, bacon, S&P. Yummmm.

We passed the time watching movies (the extended Lord of the Rings films were on the screen in the living room the entire weekend. We'd zone in and out and groan when Legolas said obvious things), stuffing our faces, and playing board games. The first two I'd been expecting...the third, not so much. But as it turns out, one of my colleagues is a complete board game fanatic and had brought a subset of his collection of unique board games. We first played Last Night on Earth, which was a fun struggle between zombie and human players. The second game, pictured above, was called Defenders of the Realm and went along perfectly with LotR in the background - both that and Last Night on Earth were strategy games, similar to Risk but with way more intricacies. The third, Chicago Express, was my favorite. It was an investment game that involved a lot of math (go figure) and sneaky plotting.

We also bought and decorated a Christmas tree for the cabin. You know, to be festive and wasteful with our money, just like the holidays are designed to enable us to be!

I had a superb time in Fernie - it made coming back to work Monday morning all the more painful. I can't picture myself ever living full time in such a small town, but for a weekend getaway it sure hit the spot!

Things that I never thought I'd learn on the job but at which I am now relatively skilled to proficient

- Driving in the snow. Actually, just driving in general...and mostly through trial and error. Due to the nature of consulting/traveling, I have engaged in polygamous liasons with many a rental car, some of which are well equipped for slush and snow, others which are more slippery and slide-y than your mother (zing!). I can now get to work and back when there is snow outside without killing myself or anybody else on the road. This for me is veritably, a Great Success.

- Trimming down my morning routine to 15 minutes on a non-shower morning. 5 minutes to trudge over to the sink and brush my teeth/wash my face, 5 minutes for makeup, 5 minutes for ransacking my closet for something that is not a burlap sack to wear to work.

- Writing fast, snappy e-mails. If I were to take my time and write well thought-out responses, I would be trapped in e-mail hell for the rest of my career. Also as long as I insert a :-) or a "Cheers!" somewhere in there I don't come off sounding like a giant bitch no matter the rest of the tone of the e-mail.

- Taking a 30 second breather. I open up my personal e-mail, Facebook, and sometimes a reddit tab or two and quickly glance through for anything interesting before resuming work. This activity, done once every couple of hours, serves as a good reminder that I have a life outside of the office. Or once had one. I dunno anymore.

- The entire Starbucks menu. I have mastered it as well as found my fallback/default order: a grande Americano with nonfat milk and one sugar. And an oatmeal when they have the nut toppings, a spinach wrap when they don't.

Oh, and a bunch of stuff on how to be a competent consultant/business analyst/communicator/team player/interface designer/product modeler/meeting facilitator, but those are all boring, eh? ;)