Christmas Decorations, French roll and some dress ups

Ahh what a weekend! I decided to re-educate myself in the lost (well to me) art of actually taking some photos of my day to day activities in order that I may blog about them -shocking I know...but guess what - it works! This weekend was a rather big one in the Bowznstuff household....it was...da da da dum - mmm sounded a bit spooky....try drumroll please...deocrating weekend! This was a bit of a depature for us. We are Christmas nuts in this house and typically decorate the first weekend in November - early yes, but then we don't have Thanksgiving here to celebrate so we just sort of rush headlong into Christmas come November. However, last year I found myself not enjoying the 'decs' as they are affectionately known in the house - as much....I had...along with some other family members, lost my Christmas mojo. By the time Christmas had come I wanted to rip them down and just about did...completely unlike me I assure you. So this year in order to avoid such a violent overreaction to what is after all supposed to be a feel good time of the year, we made the drastic decision - and in a house of creatures of habit, it was let me stress, drastic, to postpone decorating weekend until nearer the end of November......the 'decs' went up without in a convivial atmosphere with only one dummy spit by moi over my inabiliy to deal with the Christmas train which has no flexibility whatsover for any sort of gradient. Hmmmph! Another pleasant result of decorating weekend was the rediscovery of a box of old ballet costumes in the shed. I had been vaguely wondering about their whereabouts for years, obviously someone snuck them out there whenI wasn't looking, because in my book, costumes and sheds do not mix but no harm had come to them, and it added the comical side effect of having a parade of characters, helping us with the decorations. Here's red riding hood at work on the tree - the matching pleases me :)

And Alice in Wonderland come renaissance Princess surveying the damage.
I'll share some finished pics when we are all tidied up :)

Ah but the energy does not end there - I also have a hairstyle for you! The French Roll. Now growing up I always feared the Roll.....thought it must be really really super hard. But ya know its really not. Well let me rephrase that...a messy French Roll is not hard to achieve - I imagine that a truly slick French roll would be challenging - especially for curly girls but then I don't really like the true slick Roll, it can look a bit like a growth on the back of the head. So instructions....

Start with the hair down and then grab it into a a low pony and twist.


Sorry about this next photo, blame it on my one handed photography but I think you get the idea. Flip the twist up onto the head where the French Roll will sit.


Now you may find yourself with some hair popping out at strange angles. I find it actually easier to start twisting with the hair pointing down and then keep twisting as you flip arranging the hair as you go. Just give it a few goes and you'll get the idea.

To secure the roll there are a number of things you could use..a comb..yes remember them combs! Or the holy grail of combs, the French roll combs - which I dont' have but apparently it makes French rolls a dream! Or you can use one of those big teeth butterfly clips but you will obviously see that. I, however use my fav bun pins. I use the same technique as for a bun. Pop the pin in on this angle...


and then slide it in on this...I used 4.

With the top you can tuck this under and pin it in place or you can leave it free which I like best. If you are working with straight hair you could give it a little tease or quick curl.


And voila!

And seeing as we had such a fancy do....I took the opportunity to snap some pictures :)