So, my new haircut.

I haven’t shared any photos yet because, to be honest, 1. all of a sudden I feel really stupid that I even posted a before shot 2. I don’t actually look that different.

But a couple people have expressed their desire to see the new do, so without further ado,

here she is,

before                                                               after

Can you believe it?

It’s me.

With the SAME haircut I always get.

I feel like Goldie Hawn.

She has had the same hair-do for the last 30 years.

(three decades, same do)

Don’t you just want to tell her, in the kindest tones, that she needs a new look?

Well, you can’t tell her…but you could tell me!

(if you do want to tell me this, please use your kindest tones)

Last year when we were in England there was a family picture of our Dawson family which had been taken when we still lived in the UK. I had never seen it before. As I looked at it I realized that I was still sporting the same haircut that I had 8 years ago. I thought to myself, “You are Goldie! You need to do something new.”

But alas, when I go and sit in the salon chair and they wrap that black cape around my shoulders, I ask for,

BANGS with L O N G  L A Y E R S.

But I have to say that I love the good people who give me those bangs &  long layers. Elise from Steur & Friends for the cut and Christian at Figaro for the color. They Rock.

I like these current bangs. I think they are the best bangs I’ve ever had.

But to be honest, the truest before and afters are these photos –

This is how my hair looks most days. Ah, “The mommy pony-tail”, long may it reign! It’s a scraggle-fest.

(for some unknown reason I had two rubber bands on last night when the photo on the right was snapped. Man, do I know how to rock the mommy pony-tail, so good I had to band it twice, straight up awesome!)

That’ s all I got, my friends.

Oh, no wait, I got ONE more shot of the new hair-do.

(Look at me – I’m concentrating so hard here. Are you thinking “Lize, why not smile?” Because a smiling is worse – when I tried to take a self portrait  AND smile I looked sinister and down right creepy. It’s weird. I don’t have much experience in iPhone bathroom mirror self portrait department.)

Over and out.

It’s me again.

Yesterday when I heard the news of your resignation I felt devastated.

I’m guessing you are in pretty bad shape. I’m sorry. I really wish I could send you that iPhone pinata I mentioned in my last letter to you. I’m sure it won’t make a real difference. The truth is I just wish I could DO something for you.  You’re a “top drawer” kind of person, I bet my sisters Bette and Tess would invite you to their party. I can tell you more about that some other time. You have got a lot on your plate right now.

I’ve been thinking about you all day.

I wish I could just look you right in the eyes and say,

thank you.

You have given the world so much.

Today when I was at the mall we walked past one of your stores. This is what my daughter did and I almost lost it.

It just moved me in a way I can’t fully explain.

(BTW, I was able to capture this moment using one of your devices – ye olde iPhone. Kudos, my friend. Kudos to you.)

My husband wrote this about you and your awesome company. Tonight he did a phone interview with some radio station in Australia and gave his take on what’s going down at Apple. He is an analyst, you see. He’s got a great brain. I bet you’d like him. I’ve noticed that people with great brains tend to gravitate towards other people with great brains.  But it’s not just his brain that is great, he’s got a great heart too. While I was writing you this letter someone just contacted him and asked him to comment on what your competitors could do to take advantage of this situation (read, “kick you while you’re down”) – he didn’t respond to them. He said he thought that was “crass.”

Keep your chin up.

I know you have to absorb a lot of craziness right now. I bet your wife is really worrying about you. But if it’s possible, I hope you can feel the good vibes we are sending your way. Vibes of gratitude. Vibes of courage. Vibes of confidence.

You can do whatever is required.

You can do it. I just know it.

We’ll be thinking about you lots.

Love,

Lize

We went to the salon today and our stylist was there!

She was worth the wait and the fiasco.

BEHOLD,

(here are the before shots as a refresher)

And here she is “after”!

Clara “before”

And “after”

They look pretty darling.

I love these UT cuts!

Man, do I love ‘um.

I find that I often have to stop myself from gushing about my mom on this here blog. I think I could mention in almost every post how much I love her. She is such a super star and she helps me so dang much.

This morning she let me sleep in (just one of the many kind things she did for me today) and when I woke up I found my girls, happy as little clams enjoying their very own,

HOMEMADE TENT

Made just for them by their wonderful grandma!

Isn’t it cool?!

You see those soft quilts? Millie and Grandma are snuggled into them, sleeping under the stars tonight.

Life just doesn’t get any better!

I love you, mom! You’re the best!! Thank you for all you do for us!

Where the heck are you?

I have been looking all over for you, but I can’t find you anywhere!

The other day mom put this plastic object up to my ear and I could hear your voice but I couldn’t see you anywhere.

I’m lonely without you.

Mom is nice, but she doesn’t know what she is doing sometimes.

Take this morning for instance. Apparently she had to take something called a shower. Whatever it is it sounds overrated to me. She left me with the girls. Millie said she would look after me. For a few minutes she put her face right up to mine and said over and over, “You are a big little man!” It wasn’t long before Clara joined her and poked me in the eyes a couple times and told me I was cute. Dad, can you explain to me what is up with that?

Anyway before I knew it they had carted me off to a room I’ve never been in before and then proceeded to throw a gigantic ball at each other.

They were having a blast.

But me?

Well, they put me next to this GINORMOUS woolly creature.

This set up was actually pretty satisfactory until Clara came over and dropped a microphone on my head.

Come home soon, dad.

I can’t trust these women!

Love,

Ellis

Ever watched, “Wow, Wow, Wubbzy”?

Have you heard the song they sing that goes like this,

“Too much, too much, too much of a good thing is not a good thing for anyone.”

(I think he was referring to candy consumption)

But in our case the song could be sung about the Dawson girl’s hair!

The little girls are in the market for a hair cut…

…but it is the mother of the house that is REALLY really suffering from “too much of a good thing”

HOLY SMOKES, THIS GAL HAS GOT HERSELF A LOT OF HAIR!

I must be one of the few women on the planet who is looking forward to menopause when this mop atop my head will start to thin out a bit.

But really I could just get some of it cut off. No need to wait until I’m sixty.

Listen to this awesome logic:

I am very picky about hair cuts. I really, really care who cuts my hair and so I only get my hair cut in Utah. I think they are superior hair cutters, thankyouverymuch. This means that my hair only looks decent about three months out of the year and for the other nine months I look like a slob. So ultimately, the one who looks like a slob is the one who cares THE MOST.

Huh?

Usually I get my hair cut every six months (when I come to UT) but when I was last here, in December, I was four months pregnant, I was fat, had bad skin, and a few bad outfits. I couldn’t stand the thought of going to a place where “image” is everything and then be forced to stare at myself for several hours while making small talk with a petite and perky stylist.

The result?

No haircut for me and A LOT OF HAIR.

It has been one year since I got my hair cut.

(I learned that my “default” expression while taking Iphone self-portraits is down right SCARY! and no, I am not auditioning for Madonna’s “Vouge” music vid from the early 90’s. I am just trying to keep the image a.k.a “myself” in focus)

Perhaps you are thinking, “Lize, you don’t look THAT bad.” But you see, I never wore my hair this way.

THIS is how I have been wearing it the past nine months:

Ah, lovely.

Isn’t the half-pony tail a feast for the eyes? And my bangs! WOW!

WOW.

WOWIE.

WOW.

I don’t want to set myself up for failure, but over the next week I will be getting my hair cut & colored and the girls will be getting their hair cut, so my plan is to post a few “after” shots.

You’ve just seen the “befores”.

The “afters” will follow forthwith.

(the suspense!)

Till then, keep it real.

Monday morning we had plans to go raspberry picking with Lindsay & Co. but

ALAS,

there were no berries! (What the?)

Seeing as it was 7:00 in the AM and we were dressed and ready to go we decided that we would head for the hills…

The hills did not disappoint.

There is a magical spot in the mountains, about three miles drive from grandma and grandpa’s house. It is called “Bridal Veil Falls”. I love this place. In the mornings it is cool, and the air smells sweet!

When Clara heard that we weren’t going to be able to pick berries she cried. She’d made plans! (Don’t make those EVER if you want to be happy) She had her “little red riding hood” sweater on, and her basket in hand. She was going to pretend to be Red Riding Hood as she picked berries to her heart’s content!

I told her, that she could wear her sweater, take her basket and collect ROCKS. (She wasn’t going for it)

Rocks that she could throw into the waterfall. (Wait a minute)

Her eyes lit up. This was something she could get behind!

And we were off!

Hey Dad, check out your little man in blue jeans! Doesn’t he look like a college student?!

I have a rule: never put jeans on a child until they are one. Jeans are not baby clothes. They are big kid clothes. But, someone gave these to us and they were the only thing I had, while I was packing for this trip, that Ellis could wear if he needed warm clothes. So, I chucked my high minded fashion ideals out the window.

He must be the third kid!

Do you know how sometimes the pictures we take are better than reality? They can make things seem 10 times more romantic and wonderful than how things really were.

In this case the pictures can’t come close to capturing the fun we had. The girls threw rocks, splashed around and played together for two hours. It was heavenly! Moments like these are what I would like to FILL my kid’s childhood’s full to the brim with.

I love you, Bridal Veil Falls.

We are currently in UT.

Last night I sat down with my mom to plan out the following day, as in today, July 30th 2011. This is what was going to happen:

Wake up, video chat with Jan, walk up the Canyon, haircuts for the girls, come home and play, go to home depot and meet with a kitchen designer.

well — the video chat had to be put off until later, we couldn’t hike up the canyon because it started to rain, when we got to the salon the stylist wasn’t there because she thought she had the day off, and that night when we went to home depot the person who we were scheduled to meet with didn’t exist.

Go figure!

Oh, well.

What can you do?

How about go to the toy store…

Looks like fun, don’t it?

Later in the day we headed down to the BY to see Justin Hackworth’s 30 Stranger’s Exhibit.

It was a neat show.

Then, these future co-eds headed up stairs to the library with their grandparents and aunt Betta to get a few books

After Home Depot was a bust we went to this hole in the wall, super authentic Mexican restaurant for delicious tacos.

So, even though it didn’t go the way we planned – the day was pretty swell.

In the fall of 2001 I sat in a darkened movie theatre next to the cutest boy in my ward.

He was wedged in between me and another girl.

I was sure he liked the other girl.

I could barely concentrate on the movie I was so excited to sit

next

to

HIM!

I had only been in London for about a month, and had been invited to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone with a big group of people. There was this guy who I had my eye on (as did several other girls) and lo and behold he was in this gang of people who’d come to see the movie.

I was so excited to sit next to him.

(did I mention how excited I was?)

He was a dream!

Fast forward 10 years, and 8 Harry Potter films later — last film of the series, different continent, smaller theatre,

same

darling

boy.

Only this time we held hands during the movie.

As we walked home I listened as he analyzed the film.

Now I am the mother of his children.

Awesome, no?

I think so!

Thanks J.K. Rowling. We have enjoyed the ride.

“What?

A party?

A DNA party, you say?

I love parties!

Am I invited?” I ask.

(baby Eliza 2 months)

“Ummmmm,” replies Jan,

(baby Jan, 2 months)

(our children at 2 months)

“NOPE!”