Dorothy Hammill Hair

There have been a number of memorable hairstyles through the years: back in the 1940s, starlet Veronica Lake sported a seductive over-the-eye hairstyle that was all the rage. Jean Harlow, and later Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield popularized the platinum blonde look. The bob, ponytail, the pageboy, the Dutchboy, the wedge, the French Twist, the Sassoon cut, the Farrah Fawcett 'do: fringed, feathered, curly and straight, "big hair",  fluffy bangs, or no bangs- parted in the middle, pixie cut, or long, we girls are all slaves to the fashion of hair. I've had several memorable hairstyles through the years, but I don't think I loved any of them as much as I loved my Dorothy Hammill haircut.

It was 1976, and I was finishing my first year working as an advertising illustrator at a large Los Angeles ad agency. I wanted to look cute and trendy, and luckily, I made pretty good money at my first 'big job'. But the best thing of all was that my Mom worked as a receptionist at a trendy beauty salon. I had my pick of several talented stylists, and I took full advantage, getting some great haircuts and perms at the salon through the years.  So, shortly after Dorothy's haircut became the rage, I asked the stylist to cut my hair, and I was thrilled with the results. My straight hair was perfect for the style, and it was nice to get rid of the layered 'shag' I had before.

I was living with my parents at the time, and I posed in front of our big picture window shortly after I returned home from the salon. My Mom snapped some photos of me turning this way and that, showing off my new cut.  I found the negatives from that little photo shoot in my files the other day. It brought back a flood of memories of that time in my life, and how I felt with my new Dorothy Hammill cut.

What was your favorite hairstyle?

The Letter

A couple of years ago, I was online at a genealogy website trying to correct a mistake I made recording my uncle's death date. I received a message from a woman, asking me basically, what the heck was I doing, messing up historical information?  It turns out, she was a second cousin, someone I had never met. Her grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. We began corresponding via email, sometimes sending family history information back and forth, other times just sharing news and funny stories.

Last week, when I was in Utah, I thought it was high time I met Marilyn. So, I sent her an email, and we made arrangements for me to come to her home west of Logan, in Cache Valley. That's where our ancestors had lived, and where she remained- close to the place of her heritage. On a cloudy Monday, I drove north from Draper, taking a couple of detours to Ogden (to see my Dad's home as a young man), and to Brigham City, where my Dad grew up, to take pictures.

It was wonderful meeting Marilyn and her husband Russell. She prepared a lovely lunch, and we sat and chatted about family and life. After lunch, she had her big family history books out, and one more thing. She presented me with a little piece of note paper, encased in a page protector: a letter written by my grandfather when he was ten years old. The date was October 24, 1897.  The letter was written to her grandfather Edward, (who was ten years older than my grandpa) who was serving an LDS mission to the Southern States. Wow! I was so touched and excited to have this piece of family history! It was like a window to the past was opened up just for me! I brought my scanner, and was able to scan a few photos and documents from her, and I transferred some photos and documents from my computer to hers. I love technology!

Marilyn and Russell gave me a tour of their home and property, (including a wonderful barn they have turned into an awesome recreation center), then we drove out to the Smithfield Cemetery, where our mutual great-grandparents were buried.  This trip up to Cache Valley was definitely a wonderful highlight of my vacation!

Houses of Utah

One of my favorite activities when I go to Utah, is photograph some of the fun old houses. My favorites are the old pioneer ones (see here), but I'm not picky. Farmhouses, Victorians, bungalows, brick, adobe, wood.... (ok, not a fan of all the McMansions, but I guess those don't qualify as old). So, of course, each days' photos on my iPhoto during my two weeks in Utah, seemed to have at least a few photos of old houses.  Next comes the challenge of figuring out what to do with all of those photos. Perhaps someday I'll start publishing a book of all my mediocre photos from our trips. But not today! So, a layout seemed in order.

I created the subway art myself. It's kind of hard to compose a sentence or two that can fit perfectly into a shape, and have it come out exactly right space-wise, and still be coherent. This one is mildly coherent, so I'll consider it a great masterpiece. And the houses within the house seems to be a good solution to the neverending problem of how to create interesting layouts every. single. time!

If you are interested in the little subway art house for yourself, just leave me a comment, and I'll see that you get one to use any way you like. For free. (Don't start expecting more freebies now, I wouldn't want to ruin my miserly reputation!)

Spring City

Yesterday I spent the day driving by myself from Utah to our home in California. Bruce and Annie came home last week, so it was a solo trip.  I left extra early in the morning, so I could take a two hour detour to visit historic Spring City, Utah. Spring City is a marvelous old pioneer town in central Utah established in the late 1850s. It's far off the beaten path of the Interstate. Back in the early '70s, when I was studying art at BYU, we used to take sketching trips to Spring City to draw the wonderful old, and often run-down pioneer homes. It wasn't exactly a ghost town, but it was definitely a place that had seen better days. The wonderful thing about Spring City today, is that most of these pioneer homes have been lovingly restored, yet the town hasn't turned into a cutesy tourist town, with trendy boutiques and nearby resorts. There are a few little artsy businesses, but for the most part, the town looks much like it must have back at the turn of the last century.  I wandered around with my camera, taking photos in the early morning light...every time I would turn down one street, thinking I was on my way out of town, I'd spot something else to photograph and I'd be back, circling through the town again.

I hardly saw a soul.. just a few friendly townspeople. The beautiful and authentic homes and buildings spoke volumes.

Here are a few more photos:

Sprinklers

It really doesn't get any cuter than this... my sweet little Jackson playing in the sprinklers.

Bones

Yesterday we took Jackson to the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah. This is an incredible museum. It's brand new, opened within the last year. I loved the layout of the facility- they even had a special exhibit hall showing how they developed and designed the museum. Everything from the concept sketches, scale models,  to the color swatches for the walls, floors, etc.

The highlight of the museum is the dinosaur bones. Utah has to be the dinosaur capital of the world... so they really did it up right. I loved the lighting... or rather, lack thereof. It was kind of dark and dramatic, and made you feel like you were in another world.

Of course, the dinosaurs deserved their own layout. So, here it is!

Ah, Nature!

It's hot and dry here in Utah, and I've been out & about taking photos and enjoying my little vacation. Yesterday I snapped a couple of shots of my surroundings. The first one is a pretty, pastoral scene taken outside American Fork. The second is the raging Pinyon Fire near Harriman, which can be seen throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Pretty scary stuff, but I understand the Forest Service has the fire well in hand.

Catching Up!

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a week since I updated my blog. Much has happened in the past 7 days... after returning home from New Jersey on Tuesday, we left for Utah Thursday afternoon. We drove all night, arriving at my brother's home in the wee hours Friday morning. Saturday was our adorable grandson Jackson's third birthday! It was a Star Wars themed party, and it was epic in its awesomness. (Not sure if that's a word, but it definitely describes it!)

I put together a little collage of photos from the party, not a layout, but something quick that I could post on Face Book:

Then I made a layout, based on the layouts I've done of each of Jackson's two previous birthday parties:

Here are the other two:

Van Ryper Hopper House

I've been a little mum about my activities the past couple of days.. I just got back in the wee hours of the morning, from a trip to New Jersey for a job interview. I'll not elaborate on that little activity, until and unless something comes of it. Suffice it to say, after my whirlwind series of interviews, I found some beautiful things to see and photograph. New Jersey has some lovely areas, full of natural beauty as well as historical and cultural interest. I discovered a little post-Revolutionary War house in Wayne, NJ. I stopped just to take some photos of the outside of the buildings, but I happened to meet Carol, the director, who gave me a fascinating tour of the inside of the Van Ryper Hopper home, as well as the nearby Van Duyne residence. The Van Ryper house was built in 1786, and the Van Duyne was built in 1706.  So, at the airport on the way home, I put this little layout together. I hope you enjoy!