worst hair trial ever

I knew this day was going to be bad when I merged onto the highway into a sea of parked vehicles. Traffic was moving at a crawl and there was no way I was going to make it to my appointment on time. I called the salon and gave them a heads up that I'd be late due to traffic and that I was getting off the highway to take backroads. But guess what, the backroads were just as bad. Long Island is notorious for horrendous traffic but this was like nothing I've ever seen before. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to the salon when it should've taken only 15 minutes! Not only was I 45 minutes late to my appointment when I arrived but my hair stylist informed me that she would not be doing my hair because she would be on vacation on my wedding day. But she assured me another stylist would do my hair and that it would be perfect. OK. This is what unfolded next:

I meet the stylist and show her these pictures:

I tell her that I want my hair to look exactly like this, with the poof in the front, the finger waves on the sides, and a bun in the back. Ok no problem, she says. She sets me up at the station next to her and tells me that someone else will set my hair. Ok fine. Assistant #1 sets my hair in curls then assistant #2 attempts to do the finger waves. Halfway through the finger waves the stylist informs assistant #2 that she's doing it wrong and she should do it another way. Assistant #2 continues on without changing anything. Great. Then she finishes but the stylist is still doing another client's hair so she sends me over to have my make up done.

This is the picture that I give the makeup aritst:

I tell her that I want a bold eye but not a dark eye, with neutral colors and pink lips. And what I got was exactly that. My makeup came out perfect so when it was time to go back to have my hair styled I was a bit more optimistic.

The stylist took down all the curls and then yelled at assistant #2 again for not setting the finger waves properly. Then she spent about 10 minutes "styling" my hair and said "I did it a lot looser than the picture because I think it looks better that way." Ok, I'm open to artistic interpretation.

So I put my glasses on to check it out and it was actually very pretty but NOTHING like the pictures I showed her:

I think I was kind of in shock and bewildered because I just said thank you, paid a whopping $125, and left. Then looking back at the pictures later and thinking about the whole ordeal I am really not happy with how my hair came out. So now I'm terrified that on my wedding day my hair is going to look horrendous. But she'll also have 3 hours that day to get it right, and she better because there's no way I can go back for another $125 trial.

shower time

A big thank you to my lovely bridesmaids, mom, and aunt for throwing me a wonderful shower! The company was great, the food was great, and most importantly the presents were great!! I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it is to throw away all of my (and Matt's) crappy kitchen stuff and replace it with brand new, 1000 times better, kitchen stuff!
Here are a few of my favs:

Oh yeah, and the cake was delish!!