I've had the same hairstyle for most of my life.  I can count on one hand how many times my hair has been dyed.  It's been permed once (and that was one time too many).  It's been trimmed a little, and trimmed a lot.  It's been fixed by a professional when things have gone wrong, and now it's starting to change colors on it's own.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with my hair.  It's very thick and wavy, and while it does have some natural curl, it's at times hard to manage.  It wasn't until I found "professional salon products" that I was actually able to care for and manage my hair.

So this is my hair journey, the good, the bad, and the worst.  Aren't you excited?  You should be.  Here's a little hair evolution:

{Hot rollers.  Getting ready for my first dance recital.}

{Age 5 with baby bangs.}

{3rd grade.  Thick bangs and flyaways.}

My hair has always been super thick.  For the first decade of my life, my hair was long and left to it's own demise.

Around age 10, we (probably my mom and I) decided a shorter haircut would look good.  So, we chopped off several inches, leaving my thick hair to "mushroom" out.  Yes.  I had that haircut.  I'm not even going to show you a picture of that.

I would let my hair grow back out over the next several years, going back to my old look of long and unruly.

{Middle school look.}

{Discovering hot rollers.}

The summer before my freshman year of high school I decided I needed a change, ushering in the first of two phases of "short haircut Angela."  I chopped off probably eight inches for that cute "stacked" look from the late 90's.  Unfortunately, my hair was super thick and wavy so that "stacked" look really just looked messy and wavy a lot of the time.

{Freshman year look.}

What do you do when your hair is short and won't "stack?"  You perm it of course.  True story.  You can use your imagination on this one too.  

You know that girl who has to completely change her hairstyle after a traumatic experience (a break-up perhaps)?  Yeah, I'm that girl.  A few months after perming my short hair, I completely chopped it off into a pixie cut (phase two of "short haircut Angela).  I didn't think of how this boyish haircut would look on my small boyish frame, or how it would look with my expensive Christmas Ball dress.  This haircut would take a couple of years to grow back out.  I learned I'm not a short hair person.  That was the last time my hair was that short.

{The "pixie" after it had grown out a bit.  I can't even.  I just can't.}

I didn't touch my hair again until freshman year of college.  My roommate was coloring her hair at the bathroom sink and I thought, I should do that.  So, I bought 3 boxes of haircolor (because of my thick hair) in a color 4 shades lighter than my own color.  Wouldn't you know it, my hair turned orange.  I mean orange.

{Orange hair don't care.  Also shout out to my college besties.}

So, during Christmas break I had someone "fix" my orange hair and also take a little length off.  I came back to college with black hair that was way shorter than I had wanted.  Hairstylist fail.  I did try to dye my own hair again eventually, this time going a bit darker.  My hair looked no different after, so I was pretty much done dying my hair after that.

{Who hasn't dyed their hair while wearing a trash bag?}

A couple of years later, I was looking for a hairstylist in my college town, when one of my classmates suggested a salon.  I should've known better when the place was called "Mojo Pie."  I mean, what is that?  The girl cutting my hair got to work and all was going great until she cut my hair into a mullet.  I wish I was kidding.  It was short in the front and long in the back.  I cried for weeks and wore my hair in a ponytail for two full months.  Every.  Single.  Day. The only thing worse than having a mullet, is growing out a mullet.

{After the mullet had grown out a bit.}

Don't forget the time I cut my own bangs.

I vowed to never cut my hair again.  I didn't really, for several years.  Luckily I found an excellent hairstylist in St. Louis who kept me looking great, even though I was very sporadic in my visits.  I was probably the worst hair client ever, only coming in once or twice a year.  Enter, the year of long long hair.

{A few months before "the big cut.}

It had probably been 10 months or longer since my last haircut when I decided to donate it.  I would grow it out as long as I could, until I couldn't take it anymore.  Then, I would cut it and donate it.  A few months later, when my hair was getting caught in the waistband of my pants (and my thick heavy hair was causing major headaches literally), I made the cut.  I think I lost 11 or 12 inches in length, and my hair was the shortest it had been in years.  Read about that haircut here.

{Right after the cut.}

Since "the big cut," I've maintained a normal length (for me), my hair has decided to lighten itself (I've got a natural ombre going on you guys), and after having Katherine about half of it fell out (I totally freaked).  Thankfully, my horrendous post baby thinning hair grew back over time.  I will never take for granted my thick hair again.  Probably.  

{Current hair.}

I wish I was brave enough to completely change my hair color, but I'm not that brave.  Plus, I don't want it to turn orange again.

It's been a week of Halloween/Birthday fun around here.  Early in the week, I made Halloween sugar cookies.  They were yummy, but they looked terrible.  The shapes didn't turn out right and the icing was gloppy, but there were no complaints from Katherine, who devoured them.
My mom came over one night to help me carve our pumpkins.  It was the first night of a huge temperature drop here in St. Louis.  Although it was cold, it officially felt like fall.  
Halloween morning, we continued with our birthday tradition and had donuts for breakfast:  Halloween Edition.
For my birthday lunch, we went to Gulf Shores Restaurant.  If you're ever in St. Louis and want a delicious "New Orleans" dining experience, I highly recommend this place!
Like I mentioned before, it got really cold here for Halloween.  We decided to take Katherine trick or treating on Main Street in St. Charles, mainly because it started early in the afternoon.  I wanted to be home and warm before the sun set.  She enjoyed it at first, but then kept saying "cole" which means she was "cold."  We still left with a bag full of candy for our little "Kee Cat."  My mom and brother came to trick or treat with us, so it was a good time.  Plus it was Katherine's first real trick or treat experience.  

{Cold Kee Cat}

{Uncle Zach dressed up too}

{Bye bye Kee Cat}

On Saturday the birthday weekend continued with cupcakes from Jilly's and dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse.  Jilly's is the official birthday cupcake in this house (except for Jason who prefers Wal-Mart cupcakes....I mean what is that about?  I can't.  Whatever.)  

{Most delicious cupcakes.  Ever.}

{Family birthday dinner}

We had a great birthday dinner (except for the fact that Katherine completely freaked out when the chef started cooking), and the best part was my whole family was there.

I spent most of the day on Halloween making sure Katherine's Halloween was perfect that I completely forgot that I turned 31!  What?!

Who's ready for Thanksgiving?

Last year for Halloween, I went all out for Katherine's costume.  She was a Rockford Peach last year and her costume was perfection (because I was obsessed with authenticity).  Read about last year's costume here.

This year, I went simple and created a Kitty Cat costume for her.  I chose this because it was an easy DIY costume (any costume involving a tutu is adorable) and because she can say "kee cat" which added to it's cuteness.  This costume was really easy and she wore it well.  In fact, she's worn it three times already and kept every piece on, even her face make-up.  I just knew she would smear her make-up right away, but she didn't.

{Cat ears and tail set HOBBY LOBBY, black onesie HOBBY LOBBY, costume make-up TARGET, black tights TARGET, tulle and elastic for tutu HOBBY LOBBY}

She knows she's a kitty cat and will tell you so.  I love that she's so excited about her costume this year.  When ever I pick up her tutu she'll say "Oh!  Kee cat!"  I love her so much.

Warning:  I'm about to overload you with adorable photos from our week of Halloween fun.  

We've really been getting into the Halloween spirit around here this week, packing as much fall fun into each day as humanly possible.

We've spent almost every afternoon playing outside in the yard.  Katherine loves picking up the fallen leaves and has started an impressive leaf collection.

{Pumpkin pancakes.  Similar recipe here.}

{Carousel riding is the best.}

{"The park is SO FUN!"}

{"This slide is lame."}

{"It's ok.  I know what I'm doing,"}

{"THIS.  SLIDE!"}

{"No.  I will not turn around."}

{Refusing to smile.  As usual.}

{Walking with Aunt Mandy and getting lots of attention from strangers.}

{Every where we go, we must ride the carousel.}

She really did have fun at the zoo, despite the look on her face in most of the pictures.  And if all these fun activities weren't enough, on Sunday we went to Trunk or Treat.  Katherine had a blast and got lots of candy.  Because I didn't have a chance to wash her costume before Trunk or Treat, she technically went as "Smelly Cat."  By the end of the night, she had half of her cat make-up still on her face and she was covered in Cheetos crumbs and cupcake icing.  I'll be shaking crumbs out of her tutu for days.  

{Photo credit: Kelli Lowe}

After a much needed bath, Katherine passed out as soon as her head hit the mattress.  Is it possible for kids to have a candy hangover?

I'm exhausted and Halloween is still a few days away!  Monday is also the beginning of my birthday week.  Yay!