If Not For Coronavirus, Part Deux

In Part One of this unintentional series, I talked about a cancelled Columbus Symphony Chorus concert. Since then, I also should have sung in a Columbus Symphony concert which included Verdi's Stabat Mater (which I've never performed) and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (which I've performed many times, but is still always a joy - see what I did there?).

Immediately after that, I was to travel to San Antonio for the national Craft Brewers Conference. And upon return, I would have gone to see Wicked with a friend.


But also, if not for coronavirus, I would not have experienced this curbside concert a couple weeks ago (or maybe it was just a week ago, I have no idea anymore):

If you're local, check these out here. There are many local artists covering a range of musical tastes.


I also wouldn't have enjoyed the pop-up concert that happened this week in my neighborhood with several local musicians. It was definitely a highlight of this quarantine.


Let's check in on my hair, shall we? I'm now more than three weeks past my appointment date. Ohio doesn't yet have a plan for reopening salons and barbershops, but it's safe to say that I'll be missing my May appointment as well.

I put on some makeup for this photo. Curly hair disguises
roots to an extent, but things are getting rough around here.

And, the short side view.
I will not color my own hair.
I will not color my own hair.
I will not....

At least my nails are fun:

Color Street - the flowered pattern is called Daisy Me Rolling, which I love!
The other two fingers are Oslo and Steady, topped by Dripping in Diamonds.

Until next time, I leave you with this meme that couldn't be more appropriate.

Hair and other thoughts on this week in quarantine

I know I'm not telling you anything you're not all feeling as well, but DAMN, is time dragging or what? Here in Ohio, we have at least another three weeks of staying at home and honestly, while I love my home and I even love alone time, March was the neverending month so April will probably be infinity. But shout out to Ohio's governor Mike DeWine, who actually listens to his director of health, the amazing Dr. Amy Acton, when making decisions about what to do during a pandemic. What a concept!

Just to be clear (Treehouse sisters, you know what to do), I can't complain. People are still allowed to buy beer, and they are buying beer, so I'm still working - from home. Aaron's business is also still able to operate, and he goes to his office every workday, which is good for all involved.

But while I can't complain, if you know me, you know that I'll find something to complain about, and it will be silly and vain. So let's start with hair.

Many years ago, I did a post about my hair evolution as an adult (you can also find links in there to posts with pictures of my growing-up years *shudder*).

I follow a pretty strict schedule of getting my hair cut and colored every 5 weeks. My last appointment was March 2nd. So when the salons were shut down in Ohio on March 18th, I was still in good shape. I should have had an appointment last Monday, April 6th. And so begins the documentation of "just how grey will my hair get."

This is Wednesday (or Gwensday):

I made this my new profile pic on the Facebook. I like it. There's a hint of grey that is visible at my forehead. But the real test will be on the other side:

This is where the grey will eventually get really noticeable. It's certainly not bad just yet. And I can't wait to see how the asymmetrical cut will grow out. Stay tuned. (Also, as I was writing this post Aaron took the clippers to his hair because I told him I wouldn't do it. Hmmmmm...)


I'm super happy that I quit acrylics a while back so I don't have to worry about that. I'm now obsessed with Color Street nail strips (and if you're interested, I got a guy -- well, girl). And since pretty much no one will see my nails in person but I'm still going to do them, here you go:

Other stuff this week:

Fox Sports Ohio has been re-airing last year's first round of the NHL playoffs, in which the 8 seed Columbus Blue Jackets swept the 1 seed Tampa Bay Lightning. We've watched every game, and on Gwensday for game 1 we donned our CBJ gear.

We've been doing well making some yummy meals. Friday night Aaron made these chorizo and potato tacos (and he made the chorizo himself because we already had ground pork). Delish!

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Happy Easter / Passover / Saturday ... It's been so strange this week to not be singing at church every day and twice on Sunday.

Girl Time!

I mentioned on Friday that our niece Jackie is in town. We had some lovely girl time together over the weekend. Friday I had a hair appointment for a cut and color. I go to a salon that specializes in curly hair. Jackie has naturally curly hair but she often straightens it. She also loves to experiment with color and she loves wigs (that picture in Friday's post was a wig). My stylist agreed to color my hair and use my cutting time to cut Jackie's hair. Here's the result:

Friday night we all went to Mike and Amy's house for dinner, where Jackie immediately pulled up a chair to the koi pond and started drawing.

Saturday we went to the movies. I haven't been there all summer, so I finally got to see 22 Jump Street. Loved it, very funny. Then we shopped till we dropped, for real. When we got home, we both took short naps, then watched Mean Girls and Lizzie Borden Took An Ax (Christina Ricci was suitably creepy). Aaron was out, so Jackie and I ate charcuterie which we had purchased from Grandpa's Cheese Barn. Why is it that when you say "I had cheese and crackers for dinner" it sounds so bad but change it to "I had charcuterie" and then it's all good?

Sunday was L-A-Z-Y for all three of us. We did venture out to Ethyl & Tank for brunch, then went back home where Aaron hung out on the couch watching various sporting events, Jackie retreated to the FROG room to draw and then nap, and I went to the bedroom and napped, read and napped some more.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

I'm the kind of girl who...

My fellow Columbus blogger Holly is hosting a link up today, and I thought it was time to throw out a few facts about me, especially for any newbies out there.

I’m the kind of girl who…

• loves my hair. After years of perms I finally discovered my natural curl. Now the color is a different story. Premature grey runs in my dad's family and as soon as I saw my first grey hairs (at age 23) I called my stylist.

• enjoys spicy food and prefers salty over sweet but if it's sweet, vanilla/caramel over chocolate.

• has a steel trap memory for a lot of weird things. I remember what our phone number was when I was little, even though I haven't had that phone number for 36 years. (It was 864-7637.)

• has no problem doing nothing, yet it's hard for me to totally relax my body. I'm hoping that won't be an issue this weekend when I'm in Jamaica!

My motto

• is a girly-girl when it comes to shopping, hair, jewelry, makeup and fashion (although I don't like pink) BUT I also like violent movies and sports, especially football.

• will stay quiet while I'm forming the words I want to say, but once I start talking, look out! I'll be honest and tell it like it is, while still being sympathetic and listening to YOU... unless of course you're being an idiot. ;)

• loves to read, watch TV and movies, and sing. If you're new around here, I sing karaoke on Tuesday nights and on Gwensdays (which I like so much more than "hump day" but I realize that Gwensday doesn't mean as much to people who aren't me) I often share a playlist of what I sang the night before. Time After Time and I Want You to Want Me were duets with my karaoke partner in crime, Kat. Quote of the night from Amy to me: "Killing Me Softly and a fake ID will be your ticket to American Idol." Hahaha! That would have to be one hell of a fake ID.

There's still time to enter my giveaway! You have until midnight tonight (Eastern Time).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You look like that girl...

If you know me, you know how much I love the movie Dirty Dancing. And to remind you of how old I am, I was in college when the movie was released. After a while, I started getting comments like "you kind of look like that girl in that movie... you know, the one with the dancing..."

I tried to find a picture from around that time that would indicate this but I'm not seeing it.

But a few years ago I had posted a picture on Facebook and my friend Trudi said "you look like Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing." You decide.

I also used to hear that I looked like Jennifer in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but I always attributed that to her bitchy demeanor.

Apropos of nothing, that particular picture of me came from this picture from choir tour in college:

Yes, that's Aaron, then me, Jen and Dee. Classic picture, circa 1988.

Of course, then Jennifer went and had a couple nose jobs and I did not, so the resemblance doesn't exist anymore. Ah, well...

And what else could I choose to play today but this:



Do you have a celebrity doppelgänger?

Everyday Makeup

This here's one of those girly-girl posts that I occasionally do. When I posted my 2013 favorite things I was going to include favorite beauty products but eventually decided to give those their own post. So I was thinking of my five favorite products (because five seems like a good number) and then I realized that those five together pretty much sum up my everyday look. And by "everyday" I mean every day that I actually leave the house. Just so we're clear.

1. Dior - Diorskin Nude BB Creme (in Medium 003). If you ask me "what's the difference between foundation and BB Creme?" I'll say "I have no freakin' clue." And I'll admit that this shit is expensive. But last summer while at Sephora, one of their associates put this on me (although it was the tan version then) I kinda fell in love. It gives me good coverage without being too thick and heavy.

2. Benefit - Brow Zings (in Medium). This stuff lasts forever; believe me, because I'm obsessed with defining my eyebrows so I use this every day and I've had it for probably a year. The left side is kind of waxy and the right side is more powdery. Sometimes I only use the waxy side and it works perfectly well on its own.

3. Maybelline - Falsies Big Eyes mascara (in Brownish Black). Here I'm going with drugstore product. I feel like I'm on an eternal quest for mascara, and even when I first tried this one I was skeptical. There are two wands; one for upper lashes and one for lower, and I felt like even the upper lashes brush was pretty thin. But it really extends my lashes and (most importantly) I don't get smudges under my eyes like I seem to with most mascaras.

4. Dior - Dior Addict Lipstick (in Rock 'n Roll). I know, I know. Another expensive item. I never would have picked this shade for myself but I love it. It's got a little shimmer and it's the only lipstick that Aaron has EVER complimented me on (without prompting). Ever. That's over 26 years, people. Damn straight I'm buying it.

5. Kevin Murphy - Undressed paste for hair. I get this at the salon. I tried to find it on Amazon but they had it listed at $64.99 and I promise I don't pay THAT much for it. I don't know what the hell that's about. Anyway, I use this on my hair after it's dry and it defines my curls and defrizzes and softens and ... it's fabulous.


So ... I took before and after pictures and I'm going to show them to you but I must apologize for the quality of these pictures. Quite frankly, they suck, but I think you can still get the idea. The only difference between the two pictures is the above products.

There you have it. I do generally add a touch of blush but that would be six products, not five, and I don't have a favorite blush. Any recommendations?

And to link up with Whitney, here's an appropriate tune:




Have a great weekend!

Hair Adventures Through the 90s and Beyond

Sometime in high school - junior year, maybe - I started getting perms. If you looked at my childhood and teenage years' pictures you saw that my hair was pretty fine and straight, and then it started getting wavy and hard to understand. Enter the spiral perm.

1. 1990 - My mom trying to teach me to knit. It didn't take.
2. Spring 1990
3. 1993 with Katy (college roommate) and Kim (big sis)
4. 1991 on our honeymoon at the zoo in DC
5. Mid-90s - I just liked the picture

1995, before "selfie" was a word in the dictionary. My first view of the Pacific Ocean.

On our honeymoon, Aaron discovered that I had grey hairs. I was 23. I pretty much immediately called my stylist and the coloring phase began. After a while I didn't want to both color and perm, so the perms lost. Thus began a frustrating period of trying to straighten my hair.

Cute kid pictures!
1. With niece Jacqueline at Cynthia's wedding, 1996
2. Nephew Jeremy, 1997-ish
3. Godson Max, 1999
4. Nephews James and Jeremy, 2001

With my brother, 1999

Then one miraculous day, I tried using my diffuser and discovered that I had beautiful curls. Without a perm. I did go through another straight phase but now I definitely embrace the curl!

I had to include this because of that funky curl.

Easter, 2000 or 2001? 

With Aaron and his sisters and their husbands and our niece Lauren, 2001 (Lauren is now 13!)

Tomorrow I'll be recalling birthdays past!