A little while ago I saw a note from a certain Shelley Graham Turner posted in the Bead Soup Cafe, asking for people to message her about a special project... curious, I did.
Bam.
Next thing I know I'm eyeballs deep running a secret group dedicated to showing Lori McDaniel Anderson just how much she is loved and appreciated.
One must always be careful when replying to messages on facebook, don't you know ;) you never know what might happen ....
like for instance... answering that one message... did THIS to me...
See that 'duh' kind of expression on my face? That is the result of a couple months of helping organizing this thing, keeping it all a secret, and helping to calm the stressed nerves of members who kept freaking out every time Lori mentioned the words 'color' and 'hair' in the same post >.< They were POSITIVE that some one had blabbed and Lori knew EVERYTHING!! I'd have to go investigate, then come back and let them know it was FINE... *L*
Okay... so yeah, while I did do that... that's not the reason for the terrible expression. I'm just having a hard time lining up the shot in the mirror lol
Here... this one is MUCH better..
Yes... I did it. I had the bottom three inches of my hair bleached and dyed BRIGHT pink :)
ME... the ANTI-PINK chick... has pink hair.
Only for Lori...I swear ... lol
And yes, this was taken back in the first week of July... and I STILL have pink in my hair... I found I rather liked the pink, but still wanted blue or purple... so in August I whipped up some Koolaid 'dye' and did blue... but didn't do enough... and when I went to buy more to finish it off, I found I really rather missed the pink. So I went back to pink... but not this bright lol It's more of a soft raspberry... and needs to be redone again.
I would like to point out that I spent the week this was first done hanging out with my mother... and she said nothing... not even my father, who HATES me dying my hair and ALWAYS has some comment... said nothing ...lol
Here's another shot.. terrible lighting, but you get the bonus of seeing some of my beady mess behind me :D ...I'm wearing a black and white skull-bedecked bandana ... but it slipped off and ended up being used as a glorified hair tie while I worked lol
So my 'going Pink' has hopefully made Lori smile. It's definitely made me smile :D
You know, the original 'plan' was for 'everyone' to dye some of their hair pink. That then changed to include in fake hair clip ons ... then people getting creative with feathers, beads, ribbons, yarn... In the end, we have everything from semi-permanent dye, to temporary dye, to hair chalk, to feathers, to wigs, to flowers, to photoshop.
And some weren't satisfied with just 'pinking' themselves... they nabbed family and even pets :)
Despite the work and stress of being one of the 'organizers', it was a lot of fun. Not that I'm interested in signing up for another 'leadership' position any time soon, mind you ;) lol
I gathered up all of the photos submitted by people, along with little notes they wrote for Lori, and have put them all together into an album that everyone can look over and laugh at online. Plus Lori can come back to over and over whenever she needs a smile :) I've decided to leave it open so that should anyone else feel the need to 'go pink' in appreciation, they can send me their contributions and I'll make them a page and add it in :)
For those of you who are wondering what kind of woman could inspire over fifty people to 'pink' their hair in someway, I'll tell you.
Lori is one of those amazing women, who despite their own troubles, always does her best to have a warm smile and helping hand for anyone who needs it. She's one of those women who tends to put herself last in her efforts to make sure everyone else is happy with things. She's also one of those women who go above and beyond to make something fabulous for people to enjoy. She came up with an idea for a bead swap and jewelry design challenge a few years ago... the 'Bead Soup Blog Party'. People signed up and she visited their blogs, got a feel for things, then paired them up with someone else and the two of them send each other a mix of beads to design something with. She's done six of these BSBP now.
In the course of JUST THESE SIX
- she has visited over a THOUSAND blogs, at LEAST twice during each hop - once to get a 'feel' for the person and make sure the blog is active, and again during the hop itself to comment.
- she has spent COUNTLESS hours pouring over blogs and etsy shops, getting a feel for people to partner them up...
- she has written MILLIONS of emails... LITERALLY MILLIONS of emails... think about that for a moment... THEN... consider the hundreds of Blog posts and Group feeds she has written concerning the hops...
- and I'm afraid to think of how much MONEY she has spent on the BSBP ... The cost of the websites and domain names, the cost of all the beads she's sent out as extra soups to those whose partners had to pull out... the cost of the international shipping for all of those beads... plus this year she had special postcards made and mailed out to all the participants ... thats 400 postcards sent all over the world >.<
... my wallet hurts just thinking about it.
but, for Lori, while I'm sure the cost is something she does consider, in the long run, what's more important to her is that people ENJOY what she does. She's the kind of person who would bend over backwards, no matter how much it hurt... just to help you.
And THAT is the kind of woman who can inspired so many others pulling together to show her some love :)
Everyone in the beading groups I'm a part of has a ' Lori & the BSBP' story... and they're usually the same... being accepted into one of Lori's hop's was the best thing for them... it helped them step out of their comfort zone and learn new things... and introduced them to an entire world of people just like them.
I know because she did the same for me :)
Thank you, Lori ! *Hugs*
Visit some of the others Pink'd people!
Visit some of the others Pink'd people!
Gail Vanderster-Zwang http://angelmoose.blogspot.com
Lea Avroch http://
Leslie Wayment http://www.aabeadsonline.com/
Kelley Katherine Hagerty-Fogle http://
Sheila Davis http://
Amanda Effron http://
Solange Collin http://
Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten http://
Isolina Perez http://
Toltec Jewels www.JewelSchoolFriends.com
Sherri Stokey http://www.knotjustmacrame.com
Mary Howell Govaars http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com
Bee Kuhlman http://
Lynnea Perry Bennett http://
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca
Heather Otto http://www.thecrafthopper.com
Kimberly Flood http://
Courtney White Breul http://
Lisa Liddy http://lisaliddy.wordpress.com
Marlene Cupo http://
Marianne Baxter http://
Mária Horváth http://
Andrea Beth Trank www.heavenlanecreations.com
Heidi Mansfield Kingman http://
Emoke Schmidt http://emoke1.blogspot.com
Sandra MrtzDiaz www.petaloazuljewelry.blogspot
Lupe Meter http://
Tanya Boden http://
Ambra Chicandfrog http://
Kumi Fisher http://
Sandra Young http://blog.gypsyroadbeads.ca
Sandi Marinaro Volpe http://www.sandivolpe.com
Gretchen Nation http://
Mimi Gardner http://
Marian Hertzog http://
Sonya Ingersoll-Stille http://
Terry Matuszyk http://
Audrey Belangér http://
Sandra McGriff http://
Shelley Graham Turner http://
Sally Bohner Anderson
Mowse Doyle http://
Thanks for all you did with this! It has been great fun! I love your pink hair... I may get brave and try it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for organizing this tribute! Pink really suits you!
ReplyDeleteAmbra
LOL, Sandra - that was funny (I am sure painful for you, but the recount is funny, you have to admit it!). Thank you for all the effort! You should wear pink more often - you look good in it (a pink cowboy hat :)).
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ReplyDeleteSandra, you rock! You are such an uplifter! I am so amazed by you, your hard work, your organizing and co-admin of the secret group, and all the fun you've made happen. your tribute is awesome! And your pink hair is gorgeous -- you look great in pink! Thank you for the online keepsake; it is so lovely :) Thank you for all you give and all the love you've made possible for so many as we celebrate Lori!! It is without a doubt the extraordinary tribute to Lori that you and Shelly hoped for and made possible!♥ :)gracias!
ReplyDeletebig hugs & big thanks & big love,
Rita
What an incredible tribute to Lori!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet post. I would have loved to see your father's expression when he first spied your hair, too. I bet he didn't need words! I also, want to thank you for everything you have done to help pull this absent minded group together and remind and then re-remind us all of what we were suppose to do and when, when? oh, then!
ReplyDeletethanks so much and I am happy I have got to know you through this pink adventure!
Oh, Sandra! I love this post! Thank-you so much for helping to pull so very much of this together so we could say a proper "thank-you" to Lori in such a special way! I too would have loved to see your Dad and Mom's faces. They didn't "say" anything, but I giggle to think they may have exchanged glances?! Haha -- but you look beautiful with your pink hair! Wear it with honor and enjoy every minute of it!!
ReplyDeleteCrying. This is so touching. I LOVE the pink on your hair! And my husband's family carefully doesn't say anything about my hair, either!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the hard work -- I had no idea what was going on!!!!
You know Sandra, as far as I am concerned when it comes to you and Shelley and of course, Lori. the SKYE is the limit. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all that you did to make this possible. I'm glad I was able to help out in some small way. I really enjoyed reading your words of tribute to Lori, too,...so well written.
ReplyDeleteSuper sympa Sandra, beautiful post. Thank you so much for such a great job :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post and thank you - this has been great fun! ~~T
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the work you've done! We sure pulled off a wonderful surprise for Lori! It was so much fun to be part of this secret Pink group. Loved your post!
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