Donating toys with purple hair

Speaking of purple hair, this weekend I went to Target to buy toys to donate for my local children's hospital. Wow, July is a good time to buy toys! Lots of clearance items. A true girly girl at heart, I spent almost all my time in the Barbie doll isle and became inspired about toys again! I was excited to get these with the purple hair and purple outfits of course..

I know there's a lot of controversy over Barbie dolls over the years and present-day for being unrealistic bad role models for children, but I grew up wanting to own a Barbie doll, and it did not influence me in getting plastic surgery, nor spending my money on figure-tight clothing, nor having low self-esteem in comparison to my own image. I just love Barbie dolls because they have cool hair to play with, one can get creative with her outfits (use of arts and craft skills), imagining fun stories of the places she'll go with her makeover, and just appreciation of fashion and beauty. Barbie dolls are pretty, and when I see something pretty, it makes me happy! There is a saying..."a thing of beauty is a joy forever!" - John Keats

Trending ombre purple haircolor

I'm usually a lazy all-natural girl who grimaces at resorting to chemicals to maintain my outer appearances, but there is one thing I dream of trying when I'm old and graying...to dye my granny hair PURPLE! Thanks to the inspiration from this old-lady character (Mrs. Slocombe) portrayed by actress Mollie Sugden in Are You Being Served? on the PBS channel that I grew up watching. I had no clue what the show was about, but I enjoyed seeing the changing hair colors from this old lady:

I was also re-inspired when I saw this picture on Instagram recently from one of my favorite fashion blogger, Ella Catliff of La Petite Anglaise. Her friend with the gorgeous purple ombre hair! Perfection!

Discovering the purple cow

As I was perusing the July 2015 issue of Bon Appétit Magazine with the catchy blueberry-purple title font...

...I came across this tiny blurb on soda ice cream floats, particularly the words "Purple Cow". 

Wow, of my 33 years in life, I have never thought of or seen grape soda ice cream floats. Yes, I've had root beer floats and whatever-soda-one-has-on-hand with vanilla ice cream...but not grape (or any crazy colored soda come to think of it.) Well, probably because I'm not fond of the artificial grape flavorings. But man, I've been missing out on the wonderful color it would create in a tall icy crystal glass. My next goal in life is to attempt this Purple Cow! 

Some interesting tidbits I've come across while searching on "Purple Cow":

• Purple Cow Restaurant in Little Rock, AR - purple theme decor and famous for their purple ice cream floats; a trip to Arkansas, anyone?
• Welch's Purple Cow recipe - instead of unhealthy artificial soda, try real grape juice with Welch's. I remember Welch's use to have the cutest kids for their tv commercials too. 
• Serious Eats ranking of best Grape Sodas - sodas to keep in mind for my home experiment with the purple cow...future post to come!