My friends and I are going to a fancy dress party on Tuesday and, since one of my friends has incredibly long hair, I jumped at the opportunity to give her a fancy up do to match her dress. Of course, I have to practice before Tuesday. So, out came the dolls!
First step: take out the braids in Addy's hair.
Second step: Dutch braid it. A Dutch braid is a normal braid, except instead of braiding the strands over top of each other, you braid them underneath each other. You also add in strands like a French braid. If that made no sense, here's a Youtube tutorial (if the lovely people who did this tutorial ever see this post: thank you SO much for teaching me how to Dutch braid!):
Third step: Stand back and admire your work.
For this particular hairdo, I did something called a "Dutch flower braid." Again, apply to Youtube for further instructions.
I hope you enjoyed!
Even though I've stayed at home all day, I still wanted to dress up as someone for Halloween. So I chose an easy costume, that doesn't even look like a costume!
Today I was dressed as Amy Pond from Doctor Who. I kind of mitchmatched two of her more popular outfits... Jean skirt, with a plaid long-sleeved top, and leggings.
(Sorry it's sideways... I can't fix it!)
You can see my new haircut too! On Saturday I got my long hair chopped off shorter than it's ever been!
Before:
After:
(Yes, I did turn into Geordi LaForge for this blog post.)
Anyway... I've been busy editing and formatting and doing After the Twelfth Nightish things today. If all goes well, I will self-publish tomorrow! I'm not sure whether that will be in the morning or evening... or even if it will happen at all. So far, we're on schedule, but you never know what will happen.
NANOWIRIMO! It starts TOMORROW! I can't decide if I'm excited or nervous. I am excited about Saturday when I'll hopefully be able to a regional event nearby! AKA, go write with a bunch of other NaNoers.
So what is my NaNo project?
The second book in my spy series. The plot for this one is that Daniel and Varina must go undercover and uncover a diabolical plot to destroy the government (though, personally, I think the government is doing a pretty good job of destroying themselves. They don't need anyone else... But hey, maybe in Daniel and Varina's alternate universe, America is headed in a better direction? You never know!)
More on it later... Tomorrow, or Saturday... or some other time during November.
Today was an important day for the Netherlands (also known as Holland). Not only was it Queen's Day (a holiday for the country) but Queen Beatrix, who has been queen over the Netherlands for 33 years, abdicated her throne. Her son, Willem-Alexander took over as king. He's the first king Holland has had in a century!
In honor of this, I've been wearing an orange ribbon in my hair all day (you can also see my new glasses!):
I've been decorating everyone in the house with pieces of orange yarn as well (because orange is Holland's color. The royal family is "the House of Oranje" (the House of Orange).
Rosey was not very happy that I tied so many things onto her fur. But they are all still in and it has been a few hours... she must have forgotten about them.
I was also inspired to do a Holland-themed photoshoot with Kirsten.... but more on that at the end of the blog post.
First, my top nine things that come from Holland!
8. Hans Brinker (or the Silver Skates).
A children's book about Hans and his sister who skate in a contest to win a pair of silver skates. I read a condensed version of this a few years ago (I didn't know that it was a condensed version) and need to pick up the adult version, which is sitting on the bookshelf.
7. Stroopwafels (and other delicious goodies).
Mmmmmmm.... Two thin layers of batter with syrup inside.
6. Windmills!
5. Cool names.
Such as Jaap, Engalina, Luitzen, Jan, Pieter, etc...
4. Tulips!
My favorite flower.
3. Corrie Ten Boom and her book The Hiding Place.
This is a wonderful book. It tells all about how Corrie trusted God when she was brought to a concentration camp during WW2. A true story and a wonderful, wonderful read. I highly recommend this book.
2. GOUDA!!!!!! (Pronounced gow-da not goo-da. Or, if you want to say it in Dutch, how-da.)
The best cheese in the entire world.
1. My Grandparents and all my other family members/ancestors that have come from Holland.
(My Grama)
So there you have it! Now a few of my favorite pictures from the photoshoot I did with Kirsten. Her dress is from a second hand American Girl store which I think is in Iowa.... It is a traditional Dutch dress from either Gelderland (where my Grama is from) or Groningin (where my Grandpa is from).
(Reading from the Dutch cookbook... which is in Dutch.... therefore, we can't actually cook out of it. Maybe someday.)
(Dutch shoes: klompen.)
(With a book of Psalms - in Dutch!)
(Dolls in Trees! And Rosey all ribboned up.)
In other news, I finished Camp NaNoWriMo last night! I wrote 4,500 words last night just to finish... I hit the 50k mark just before 10:00 and then spent the next hour writing the ending - which was only 800 words. Hip hip! I'm finished! Now I don't have to look at it again for 10 years.
And finally some exciting breaking news.... Next jaar sometime mijn oma, mijn vader, mijn moeder, en Ik, zal bezoek het Nederland! (next year sometime my grama, my dad, my mom, and I, will visit the Netherlands! I only had to look up one word. =D)
Lang zal ze leven! Hiep hiep hoera! (Long may she live. Hip hip hurrah!)
Camp NaNoWriMo started today. I have 3,286 words already! Of course.... 1,800 of those words were written last December so.... Yeah. I didn't exactly start at 0 but I figure that's alright.
My novel is, as I've said before, the third in my spy series, though it is written second.
It's working title is Partners in (Solving) Crime.
Here is the synopsis:
When the Big Boss is kidnapped, Daniel and Varina decide to try find him - without orders! Their search takes them from New York City to Seattle where they find out that the Big Boss might not need as much rescuing as they had originally thought.
Now I'm sitting in the chair watching Mulan ("Dishonor on you! Dishonor of your cow!") and trying to do an eleven-strand braid in Josefina's hair. So far it is an eight-strand braid.... I'll finish it real quick and post a picture.
I like this braid. It's kind of complicated... But it was fun (enough). I didn't have to start over very much, which is good.
This is how you do it:
You separate the hair into three sections. One big section in the middle and two little sections on the sides of the head. Then you do a five-strand braid with the middle section. Then, with one of the side sections, you start doing a regular braid, but then you intertwine it with the five-strand. You do that with the other side as well... Then you have an eleven-strand braid! It really isn't as hard as it sounds.
Now I'm going to try french braid Linda's hair... I can do eleven-strand braids, but not french braids!
I have three.... First off is the completion of the re-write of my novel. Is it strange that right as I finished, the song "It's been a Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles started to play?
Second, my room is much cleaner, although not completely clean yet.... I'm glad that I got all my dolls dressed and put on their shelves where they belong. But I'm even MORE proud of myself for getting rid of half of my stuffed animals! That was a huge undertaking as I have many stuffed animals and most of them are very dear to me. However, in the end I have gotten rid of about half of them. Some are going to the local children's hospital and some are going to the thrift store. Now I'm gonna go work on all the Barbie stuff that has been sitting in the attic for the past few years....
The third thing I am proud that I accomplished recently is a five strand braid on my AG doll's hair.
I watched THIS video to find out how to do it and now I will teach you! (although the video is better if you actually want to do it on a doll or a person).
Ahhhh!! Is that Cousin Itt?
Oh no... It's just Kaya and her crazy long hair!!
Before you start doing a five strand braid... before you start any hairstyle on an American Girl Doll, wet her hair with a squirt bottle filled with water.
Then brush the hair out. If the doll has longer hair like Kaya or Kanani, brush small sections at a time, starting at the bottom and working your way up.
Now to start the braid. Separate the hair into five sections.
Take hold of the five sections as best you can (it's tricky... I can't figure it out...). Take the strand to the far left and put it over the next strand and then under the middle strand like so:
Do the same thing to the right side. Take the strand on the far right and put it over the next strand and under the middle strand, which was the farthest left strand. Continue doing this, left, right, left, right, until the braid is finished! It should look something like this:
I had so much fun with the first braid that I did a second one on Josefina! This is more what it's supposed to look like I think.....
Anyway, I'm dying to try it on a person. Someone out there try it on a friend or family member and tell me how it goes!
