A Birthday + A Surprise

Over the weekend I turned 36 (yay!!!) and decided to take the pink haired plunge that I had been dreaming of. When the time came I had no hesitation to go for the full monty, and was more than a little disappointed to hear that the pink may not stick to all my hair. Turns out because I am a highlighted platinum blonde, and not a full platinum blonde, that to get the look I really wanted I would have had to strip or double process my entire head of hair. Between the bleach and Costa Rica I feel like my hair is already as dry as it needs to be, so I opted to just give it a go as it was and three pink applications later I left the salon looking like this.

Is there a word stronger than LOVE? If there is that is exactly what I was feeling.

One shampoo later it looked a little more like this, which was still awesome. 

What does it look like now? Well, just a lighter version than that. There is still quire a bit of pink, but definitely not as much as I would like. I'm still not willing to strip the hair underneath and destroy my base color so my only option is to go with a strong pink (manic panic) which is REALLY pink. Since it doesn't wash out, I'm not really sure if I want to take that leap. 

Turns out 36 year old me is slightly more cautious than 35 year old me. 

As if the pink hair wasn't exciting enough, the real highlight of the weekend was a trip to surprise my birthday twin, sister-in-law who technically isn't my sister-in-law anymore but in reality is as close to me as my own sisters. Her amazing boyfriend planned an incredible surprise birthday in a private room at The Lion, and given that I was just in the city the weekend before it was a real shock for her to see me there. (A big thank you goes to my husband for making it happen.) 

Despite the fact that the whole trip was less than 24 hours I had the most incredible time and couldn't image a better way to celebrate a new year. 

Here I am with the gorgeous birthday girl who couldn't be more deserving of a fairytale day! 

Blondes seemed to be the theme of the night...the pink going undercover for moment.

My wonderful friends got me that beautiful dress for my birthday which is now my favorite piece of clothing. Did I mention I have the best friends?!?!

It's funny, but the last few weekends have really summed up what I've been feeling these last few years. As I get older the greatest surprise of my life thus far has been how incredibly important and integral my girlfriends have become in my life. Growing up I always considered myself more of a "guys" girl and it turns out that even though I live with three boys, it is the women in my life who make my world go round. 

Cheers to another amazing year!