Although, I really liked the cut and thought it was so fun and unique, there was one slight problem. Here in England, the mullet is really popular right now, and I didn’t care for the too-close-for-comfort 1.5 inch tail of hair in the back of my head. I felt like my hairdresser had given me the female version of his "trendy" mullet-styled hair. (We did look frighteningly similar.) When my husband made a joking remark (in addition to some nice compliments) about my mullet that was all I needed to hear.

The morning of August 31st, I got out the scissors and a mirror, and gave myself a little trim job making this stage #5. I was quite pleased with this look and must say it was one of my favorite cuts.

Haircut #4.

But as all hair eventually does, it grew. It became very shaggy and untamed; even my husband agreed it was time for ANOTHER cut. On October 3rd, I was back in the all too familiar haircutting chair. This time I had a magazine picture in hand and was ready to go the final stretch. And so, I produce to you my most recent look.

Haircut #5. Left: A little wind-blown, but you get the idea. Right: The day of the haircut.

I’ve wanted this short look all along and was thinking I was going to get it back in July with the very first cut. Through whatever obstacles such as communication errors, time frames, needing to take the next customer, me settling for the outcome instead of saying I was dissatisfied, etc. I’ve struggled to get the look I’ve been craving. Five haircuts later, I am finally there.

It’s been fun to see the progression of all these different looks over the past 3.5 months. And thankfully two of the 5 cuts have been free, so my recent "hobby" hasn't been too expensive. I hope you've enjoyed reading this entry as I have had a lot of fun writing it. And don’t worry, I’m not considering shaving my head... at least not anytime soon. ;)

Stay classy and have a good weekend.

(P.S.- We are having our first ever UK visitor, Brandon's dad, Bret! Woohoo!! Bret arrives tomorrow! We're excited for his time here and look forward to taking him around and sharing all sorts of neat places with him that we've been able to experience. I may or may not be able to do a blog during the time we have a visitor. So if not, have a great next couple of weeks! Love you.)

A medley of topics for the month of October.

This entry is a combination of several different events. I had some catching up to do so you get a 3 for 1 deal this week.

We start with the Harewood house located not more than 15 minutes from our flat in Harrogate. In my opinion, it is a glorified version of the Hilbert Estate, the mansion I worked at for several years in Carmel, Indiana. However, the house is even more grand and the property is much larger. The house was built between 1759 and 1772 for the Lascelles family, who bought the estate after making their fortune in the West Indies through customs positions and slave trading. The estate is now open to the public and offers tours of the house and grounds, as well as a bird garden, art gallery, walking trails, playground, a boating lake, and a cafe. The Harewood house won the Visitor Attraction of the Year award in 1994 and remains a popular tourist attraction. The Lascelles family still live in the house today and to Brandon and my surprise, as we were leaving the estate, we happened to drive out right behind the owners and saw the earl of Harewood with our own eyes.

Event #2: Hooray, we celebrated my birth on October 3rd. I have now lived in this wonderful world for 23 years. Brandon gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and took me to a nice restaurant called "Room." I also received lots of love and many wonderful gifts from friends and family. Thank you for your kindness. Ahh, I do love birthdays.

Last but not least, we visited Rievaulx Abbey, a famous church in the Yorkshire Dales. The abbey eventually became one of the greatest and wealthiest in all of England, with 140 monks, receiving grants of land totalling 6000 acres. It's big and impressive as the pictures will show.

Thanks for reading, I love you, and have a great week.

The Harewood house built between 1759 and 1772.

A waterfall found in the Himalayan Garden, one of many gardens on the grounds.

The "formal gardens" with statues and geometric flower beds laid out on a broad terrace overlooked by the windows of the house.

Hmm... I wonder if any of these would work for carving? Too bad we can't take one of these unique finds to the grand South Bay pumpkin carving extravaGANza this year.

 

The birthday girl (back on Oct. 3rd that is.)
Me and B happily lounging around after a satisfying dinner.

Rievaulx Abbey, a church the Cistercian monks founded in 1132.
An aerial view of the abbey.
Monk Brandon bows his head in prayer.
A fair amount of the abbey is in ruins, but enough of it still remains to allow you to imagine how it looked in its early 13th-century form.

The place is huge with soaring pillars and graceful Gothic arches.

The abbey almost looks as if it's glowing in the sun's illumination.

Wee tim'rous beastie... Scotland Part II

The requested phone call came right at 8:30 am giving us just enough time to make it downstairs before breakfast ended at 9. The stiffness and soreness that had set in my body from head to toe (from the previous day's adventure) made going down the flight of stairs quite the task. I could tell from the moment I set my feet on the ground this day was going to be rough when it came to manuevering. We filled our bellies with a good Scottish breakfast and Brandon even went as far as trying some Haggis! Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish normally made with the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour. It somewhat resembles stuffed pig intestines and sausages. Yeah, disgusting!

After our breakfast, we headed to the Urquhart Castle. As you will see in the pictures there were plenty of stairs to tackle on the castle grounds. My feeble legs and knee weren't up for the challenge and so my strong, handsome husband carried me piggyback style from point A to B whenever stairs were involved. :) My stuborness sometimes caused me want to resist the help, but ultimately the relief from the pain of trying to do it myself made me cave into Brandon's assistance. I just didn't want to be the wimpy wife who could hardly even walk... (even though I secretly was.) We might have looked a little odd, but that's okay, we made it around fine. There was only one exception, the 5 flights of spiral stairs, that I had to pass on.

Finally, we concluded our time in Scotland with a boat cruise on the famous Loch Ness, a large deep freshwater lake near the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. We were out on the hunt in attempt to find the legendary Loch Ness monster called Nessie by the locals. Something that struck me as quite funny is how the Scottish sprinkle the word "wee" all throughout their daily conversation. Everything is wee this and wee that. Here's a couple quotes from some Scottish folk, "The wee wifey who was in her fifties was on holiday..." and "Wee Nessie is a figment of someone's whisky fuelled imagination." I found it pretty humorous and a little bizarre.

Most scientists and other experts find current evidence supporting Nessie unpersuasive, and regard the occasional reports of sightings as hoaxes or misidentification of mundane creatures or natural phenomena. However, belief in the animal persists among many people around the world. A strong wave of interest in legitimizing Nessie's 1930s-based history began in the 1960s and research continues today. See the pictures below to find out if the monster was or was not discovered on Sept. 17th by the Riggs.

We had a long 6-7 hour drive ahead of us and were on the road by the early afternoon. Ahhh... another successful journey completed.

The Urquhart Castle that dramatically lies on the edge of the loch. (loch=lake)
The home of the Loch Ness monster!

The 5 story high tower on the left is the most impressive part remaining at this castle's site. Although the whole place offers wonderful views of the lake and surrounding mountains.
 

This old couple took our picture probably out of pity as they watched Brandon carry his wife up and down all the stairs.
The crippled girl can't go up so many stairs... She had to stay at the bottom and wait for her husband to go all the way to the top and back down.
Sheep everywhere, all the time.
We're on a boat on Loch Ness zooming by the castle we were just at earlier.

We set off to find the Loch Ness monster, but she didn't want to be seen that day. :( (They refer to Nessie as a female.)Oh, but wait. Look! Brandon found her!! Wee little Nessie doesn't seem so "wee" to me.
I love Nessie!