Superchick, I could have written this post myself. I cannot begin to tell you how many different paint colors we tried on sample boards, taped to walls, etc., changed and changed again. We were originally going to go with BM Chestertown Buff in our main living area and halls, and it looked so great on the sample chip. But on the walls . . . it was a way too bright yellow for us. We then thought we needed to go more brown and ended up trying BM Gingerbread Man, which was less yellow, but way too orange! I thought we had everything all set to go so the paint lady could get started, and by the time she arrived on site, I was near to tears with complete frustration. She was very helpful, and we ended up going with BM Wilmington Tan, which is one of their historical colors (HC-34). The painter has started with this color, and it looks SO much better than the others. It is a warm beige color, not too yellow, and not too orange. We like that it is warmer than some of the grayer looking beige tones. We are using BM Vanilla Ice Cream for our trim color, and it blends nicely. SW Blonde was another color we were considering, and we are using it in our back hallway. It is golden looking tan on the wall, and I understand about how you might think it looks "icky", but I really think it will look fine once our darker mixed tile flooring is installed. I know many people have raved about this color. Anyway, you may want to check out the Wilmington Tan as an option, by Benjamin Moore, or something like it. It is a little less gold and a little more there than the SW Blonde. By the way, I love BM's cork color as well, but we thought this might be too bright/dark for such a large area of the house. Jan

I used the Clarins Golden Glow Booster last summer for my face (I think they've just come out with a similar product for the body) and I liked it a lot. I'm pretty fair (Irish, blue eyes, blonde-ish hair) and burn easily, so I try not to spend too long in the sun, but I'd love to be tan all the time! I bought the Clarins product to hang on to the color I'd gotten on a trip to Florida and it really worked and looked very natural on me. Every day, I used two drops mixed with my daily moisturizer. It wasn't greasy or slick, and my moisturizer felt like it always did. It's a little expensive ($35 for a about 2 oz. at Sephora) but it lasted all summer. I'm going to buy it again, as well as the whole-body version.

Well ... I've just had another damn haircut! Went back to the guy who cut it last week when I was attempting the messy bob, but found it took too long to get it right before work in the mornings so I was just blowing it out straight, and it was a bit too long to lay right. I'm now shorter on the sides and in back, and very pleased with how simple it is to style this baby into a swinging little bob. I'm done with the changes for now. Only took a month of multiple stylists and entirely too much money to arrive at a style I'm loving. (Eeek. Entirely too much obsession over hair here!)

I had my hair highlighted for about ten years, but I found that to be too expensive after it got up to around $200 or more each trip. I tried to do it myself a few years back and accidentally bleached it white (which I found hilarious). I was letting it grow out and the ladies in the salon would ask to be allowed to fix it and of course, they would lighten all of my hair back to the same point which drove me nuts so I took the plunge and lived with the line until I could cut it all off. I found out my natural hair color had turned almost a light brown after being darker blonde. I'm getting a little grey coming in now, but I'm hoping it will blend ok. I'm not coloring it myself.