Before (click to embiggen)
After!
I actually love it. It is rare I love a haircut. But I was tired of Ivy fisting handfuls of my hair, man that hurts! And I can't tell you how many times I had to wash spit up out of those long locks and it was constantly tickling her...so I chopped it off! I may even go shorter in a few weeks! But I really am loving this length. Opinions? Like? Dislike?
So back in the good old days of this blog I mentioned a new lifestyle. I was all social justicey and "conscience" and too cool for school. And I am totally failing.
It started out so good, avoiding places that use child labour, not relying on plastics and buying plastics, keeping away from products tested on animals, composting my scraps, recycling everything, buying food grown locally and organically. Doing one of these things is not hard, but doing them all was just impossible. And I would start feeling really guilty when I noticed myself slipping back into consumerism and convenienceism.
I am really just not the activist type! I never planned on picketing outside Walmart cursing everyone for buying child made goods, or chaining myself to some lab monkey shouting "If you stab him with that needle you have to stab me too!" But I thought if just my little family made some positive changes, then we would be helping and possibly encouraging others and yay one family at a time we could save the world! Realizing my delusional fantasies over here.
Holy crap people this lifestyle is hard, but I think I went all OCD on it. That's so not like me. If I wasn't doing all those things completely and utterly in every aspect of my life then I was failing. So after some soul searching I realized I want to do these things because I am aware of certain issues (and I know I didn't even address half of them in my list there, like the diamond industry and the pharmaceutical companies and there is just SOOO much badness out there) and I will try to implement them in my life, but I am not going the let the guilt swallow me up anymore.
So yes Walmart uses child labour, but with our whole not being rich thing (when will that fix itself?) I need to find the lowest prices on stuff, and Walmart just happens to excel at that.
Plastic is evil, and I am doing lots to avoid it, like using reusable grocery bags, I don't even put produce in those little plastic baggies you pull out, which saves the ocean and avoids an embarrassing scene of me spending 20 minutes trying to figure out how the hell the stupid bag unfolds! But if I forget my bags in the trunk, I am not going to stop everyone to run to my car and get them to avoid bringing home one little plastic bag.
I still read all labels to check if products are tested on animals, and I am doing pretty good not having any animal tested stuff in my house. But I have weaknesses, Freebrez being one, Dove products being another, and I give in to those special needs and tell myself it was ugly chickens these products were tested on, not cute little puppies.
Calgary FINALLY has a recycling program, so reclycling is so easy now! So that's no biggy. Composting I have soo been slacking at, but really want to bring it back into my life, but not going to be crazy over it.
Locally grown food....totally given up here. It is expensive and the lack of pesticides and preservatives make produce go bad so quick and blah. I watched that show, the 100 mile challenge and I was all inspired to start eating local again, and then I remembered why I stopped doing that, so hard, so expensive and just to hard with a baby (ohh using Ivy as an excuse, soo low of me!).
A baby? What I have one of those? You mean you don't come to this blog to listen to me rant about social issues and the environment? FINE!
By the way, this juicy baby of mine is measuring at a sweet 12lbs 7oz and 22inches long!
Here is Ivy chilling out to Daddy's tunes (she is the blob on the ottoman over there). She loved singing along to the keyboard, it was quite cute!
Keith had off this past Friday, so we decided to make a date day out of it!
We headed off to Big Hill Springs to go for a hike.
And of course since we were here, and there was a pride rock thing going on, we had to do a little Rafiki and Simba action up on the rock!
"We present to you, animal kingdom of Bill Hill Springs, your Queen! Obey and serve her as if she were your own mother. You will address her as Queen Ivy from her on out, and bees don't even think about stinging her!"
After the park we went home to watch some of "The Office" (have I told how this is the best show ever created? Have I? The laughter induced from this show can heal all grumpiness, fights and boredom!) and then we got ready for the real date!
Please check me out....I am in heels! I have come along way in these 9 weeks since this....
Hot granny pj's I never took off because of the easy boob access.
This time for date night we ate at Joey Tomato's. A safe restaurant, reasonable prices and reasonable food, and you are always in for a little treat with the boob show they have going on in that place! (waitresses are a little on the sluty side).
After Keith's fish tacos and my ahi tuna burger (we both decided to branch out and try a new item on the menu! We were both pleased!) and of course the standard belini (holy crap did my alcoholic self miss this drink! It is all glory in its peach wonderfulness and slushy texture with just the right amount of sangria poured on top...crap I want another one now and its only 9am here).
We then skipped over to Eau Claire Market, where the movie I picked was playing, and Oh my God are we glad we saw it.
Yes that is Jim from the office! Yes I am totally in love with him and even dreamt of him last night. Keith and I have decided that Ivy will marry his child (which is good cause him and Pam are pregnant in "The Office").
But the movie, holy freakin crap my friends does in rock more than anything. Remember I have a passion for movies. There is no counting in the films I have seen, because no one can count that high. Have you played deserted island? (You may notice my new obsession is also the office, because this game is from one episode in the show...we have watched all 5 seasons twice since Ivy was born, so naturally my brain is always close to an episode!) Anyway...deserted island is a game where you pick things you could have if you were on a deserted island forever, one of the things to pick is 5 movies. This is EXTREMELY hard for me, but I can now safely tell you Away We Go is on the list, that is how fantastic this movie is.
Keith and I were creeped out about how many similarities there were between the movie and our lives. It was packed full of humor, drama and tears. It looked at every type of parenting and even spoke of infertility with such accuracy and true raw emotion I was a bubbling mess of tears. WARNING: this whole thing is about the couples journey in her pregnancy and meeting up with friends and families with kids, so if this kinda thing is hard for you to watch then please don't mess yourself up watching this one (but it is totally amazing!).
After the movie Keith and I couldn't wait to get back to my parents house to scoop up little Ivy into our arms and shower her with some love.
We had one freakin fantastical Date Day. Defiantly be doing these often!
AHem. SIncE no PEEps LISten TO meS no MORes wITHout CReaTUre BabY, HEres Wes Are ToGEtheR. NoT HAppeNIng OftenS. ButS WAnted TO TellS yous INTEnetS That ME TISSue iS bEING NEglecTEd of LOVe, PleaSE SEnd Helps ImmeDIATly. THankS Yous my Dear FANs.
