What do you think?

...do blondes have more fun?
I don't necessarily think so.
But I do like having some blonde in my hair.
Not all the time, of course...but as it turns out, I have embraced highlighted hair several times throughout the last 10 years or so of my life.

I can remember the first time -
I must have been 16. I was not at home. My childhood best friend Sterling has grandparents that own a bed and breakfast. OH! What fun we had spending time in the different rooms...the "bird" room, the "lace" room, the "blue" room. Honestly, what kind of kid doesn't want to have a sleepover in a mansion?! It was the most awesome place with an East and West wing! Each room had it's own bathroom and television! We'd have privacy, our fair share of free chocolate hersheys nuggets (with, or without almonds), and every morning would be welcomed to join the other guests to a steak and eggs breakfast! Yum!
I can't seem to recall which room we were in on that particular night, but it was one of the larger ones with a gigantic king-sized bed where my sister Elizabeth, and my friends Gencina, Sterling and I slept.
For whatever reason, that night we decided we wanted to put highlights in our hair. Probably because Sterling's grandparents did not really supervise us the way parents do. ;)
We bought 1 box of do-it-yourself highlights and shared it among the 3 of us (Gencina gave in to her mother's threats).
The kit we purchased was the kind of highlights that you "apply" with one of those specialized 'brushes' they put in the box.
I know NOW (after having gone to beauty school) this is NOT a good method of highlighting.
I think my sister only did a streak or two...carefully following the directions as any first-born big sister would do.
Sterling and I did a bit more.
We also didn't followed the step-by-step directions for application.
What you should do, (if you still feel compelled to lighten your hair this way) is take the piece of hair you want lightened...separate it from the rest of your hair...scoop a small amount of product on the comb, and gently apply it from top to bottom.
What you should NOT do - is scoop an extra large amount of lightener on the brush and rake it through your hair...starting from your bangs to the back of your scalp.
This will give you one giant skunk streak down the middle of your head and you will not achieve the look you desire.
Naturally, I did the second.
My mom was not pleased.
She was mad enough that I dyed my hair. I was told that I should "be happy with the hair God gave me." Ironically, she's the one who gets her hair highlighted every month to "cover the grays."
Of course, "that's different." ;)
Sure, it is.
Anyway...fast forward many many years, with a degree in cosmetology and my wits about me, I
have yet to mess my hair up quite that bad. I've had my share of extra shorty-short bangs and perms that didn't take (but yanked my hair from the roots)...but nothing I couldn't hide.
I'm actually not really a daredevil with my hair.
Odd that I went to beauty school, I know...but the knowledge that allows me to be able to change my hair on a wim, also gives me the knowledge of what happens to hair that is overworked and overprocessed.
One day in beauty school a girl came over from the "advanced" side...to the side where I was being taught as a "basic" and busted out crying to our teacher. After she calmed down, she pulled down the towel that was covering her hair...and we all gasped in horror to see a head full of light gray hair that was hinted with lavendar!! I have seen green hair, and hair that has fallen out in clumps.
So while I appreciate the cutting edge hairstyles...I happen to think "bald" is not a look I ever want to sport. ;)

But pregnancy tends to change my outlook a bit. I mean, my body is changing...at a drastic rate, and for WHATEVER reason my nose gets bigger (or at least I think it does)...so I feel like I need something different. Something to draw people's attention away from my ever-growing belly and my tired eyes.
When I was pregnant with Cale I got over 12 inches cut off. My hair was way down my back. Only one other girl and I had long long hair, and we took turns rolling each others hair in curlers, big and small.
Here's my hair about the time I pregnant with Cale:
But, about 1/2 through my second trimester, I had it chopped and cropped to give it the "stacked" look.
And here I am, pregnant with Cale...shorter hair with a bigger nose. :)Was I nervous? No. And I didn't cry (as I know so many who do with that kind of length cut off). I always think about my hair for about a week to make sure I'm ready before I actually do something to my hair. I was ready.
But since I had gone almost the entire year of beauty school without allowing anyone to change my long locks, everyone was stopped dead in their tracks, surrounding me as I sat in the chair for my appearance change. It was pretty fun.
Well...I'm in my second trimester again....and my nose is looking quite a bit bigger in pictures, so I changed things up.
I love highlights, but I hate when the roots come in...so I have taken my skills to hide some blonde under the brown so as not to showcase the brown roots when they come in.
Voila!I know the blonde isn't that obvious, but when I pull it back, you can see it alot more. Plus, I'm totally digging the look, and I know that over the next few months I'll be adding more to it, so I didn't want to start too strong. (See what I mean about my nose?)

Oh! And as an added bonus that day, I found one of my many missing earrings. This one was particularly awesome for me, because I got those earrings in Ethiopia, and I lost them the first week I was back! (I've worn them every day since. ;)