Two years ago, after a haircut that could have seen me donate 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love  in honour of my girlfriends that were diagnosed with Breast Cancer, I decided that I would continue to grow out my hair with minimal trims until I had enough to donate.

This summer as my hair was long and flowy I knew that I had reached the desired length.  I really enjoyed my long hair this year, but I was starting to feel like I needed a bit of style back.  With Fall approaching, I knew it was time to just do it. Even though I intended to cut my hair off it is still a hard thing to do when you have been living with it for two years.

I tried to get an appointment for my hair at two of my usual salons but they were both booked up. Recently on Twitter, I was hearing a lot about a salon down on Dalhousie called Texture.  Since I knew one of the ladies that had her hair done and loved it, I figured it was a pretty safe place to go for my cut.

In addition one on my photographer colleagues, Vanessa Dewson, offered to come down and capture my hair cut for me.  So not only did I cut my hair, but I have fabulous photos of the whole process.  Since I am the one behind the lens most of the time, it was a bit nerve wracking for me to be in front.  I know why I am behind the camera most of the time, but I sucked it up for this special day.

Meet Chelsea, Chelsea was my stylist. We had some great conversation where we shared stories of tattoos and no tattoos, thresholds of pain and awesome movies that actually mean something.  Chelsea was fabulous and funky and I really enjoyed sharing this time with her.

And then there was the cutting.  Chelsea asked me my story, why I was donating my hair.  Then she combed and measured my hair.  I talked about the style I was hoping to get back and how I wouldn’t be doing this again soon, but it was a fun thing to do.  We divided my hair into two braids to get as much as we could into the donation and she was off with her scissors.  I didn’t shed a tear, which was amazing.  Others in the salon wanted to watch the cut and what was going on which was really touching.

My braids measure 12 inches, which means I was able to donate a good two inches more than I had originally anticipated.  I know that my small donation will only be able to make a third, if even, of a wig.  But, if I can share my hair with someone so that they can feel great at a time when they might feel at their worst, then my job is done.  I know that both of my girlfriends looked fabulous in their wigs and it gave them some freedom to feel normal at a time when they felt anything but.  It is for them that I did this, it is both of them that inspired me and continue to inspire me.

With this under my belt, it is time once again to get back to training.  I will be once again running the CIBC run for the Cure on October 3rd.  But, this year I will be running with a team, and in this team are my two girlfriends who inspired me to run in the first place.  If you would like to sponsor me and my run please do.  My hope is that one day we won’t need to run, we won’t need to donate hair, we won’t need to do all these things because there will be a Cure.

A huge thank you to Vanessa for taking such fabulous photos.  She did an awesome job and I am so thankful that she captured this day for me.

I cannot wait for the craziness that is this Summer to end.  Fall arrives in two weeks and I hope that all will be back to normal, well as normal as possible by then.

Saturday we celebrated Apple’s third birthday.  I was asked to shoot a wedding with CL Buchanan Photography on Saturday and just didn’t want to pass that opportunity up.  Hubby and I decided that Apple wouldn’t really remember me not being there and we would have her party on Sunday.  So really, she got two birthdays.

We served her cupcakes for breakfast after having present opening in bed.

The plate hadn’t hit the table and the candles were out.

She had a fabulous day as did I. Sunday we had the Grandparents and cousins over so she got to have a whole second day of presents and cake, which was what it was all about.  Well that and singing Happy Birthday over and over and over again.

Move over Birthdays (for now) and hello to first day of school. J was excited as was Apple.  She really wanted to join her big brother but we kept telling her that she had to be four.  One more year.

J was handsome as ever and eager to see who was in his class.  He thankfully got a class inside and not in a portable and one of his best buds is in his class, for that I am thankful.  He loves his teacher and is enjoying having gym every day. So far so good, he is loving school.  I just hope we can keep that momentum going until June.

I hope you have all been keeping up with your 100’s?  Workout Wednesdays aren’t done, just haven’t had time to blog about it.  Either I get to exercise or I get to blog and well, my gut says I need to exercise right now. Keep going with them, I will have a new challenge for you next week.

It would also be terrible of me not to acknowledge that today is my Sister’s (40….something…) birthday!  Happy Birthday big E!  Love ya.  And without Mom and Dad who have been married for 44 years today, we wouldn’t be having birthday wishes for any of us.  Love you Mom and Dad. 44 year who would have ever thought?

Life is Good…