Pretend Ballerina

I totally never published this! This was last week, but you can pretend it's new.

Sweater - Avenue, Cords - Simply Be, Shoes - TOMS.

So, in my pretend ballerina world, I like to stand in fourth position. Obviously. And look sort of bitchy. Yesterday, I was overwhelmed with static from both my sweater and the dry heat inside, so I decided that a revamp of my current slapdash hair method (shampoo with unscented baby's Dr. Bronner's liquid soap and use hair oil) was needed. New hair trial: the cheap trick version of WEN (which is supposed to be sent from the gods). The cheap trick version, of course, is to simply use no shampoo and a good conditioner. I don't use any product except hair oil, so I might wash it once a week or if I use anything else. I'll let you all know how this works.

Tank, Cardi, and Boots - Simply Be, Socks - Sock Dreams, Leggings - Walmart.

My parents (mom) have started asking what I want for Christmas. I'm thinking of asking for socks from Sock Dreams. Because my feet like fancy socks, but it's hard to pay $8 for socks when I can buy a pack of crappy socks for that. It's weird what we justify spending our money on. I'll wear socks more than anything but underwear, but those are the two things that I have to force myself not to cheap out on. Just because other people don't see them, doesn't mean they can't be nice and high-quality! It'll make life nicer and they'll last longer.

Yay! I'm a Christmas Tree!

Sweater - Roamans, Jeans - Simply Be, Shoes - Dexters, Socks - Walmart.

I knew I looked like Christmas yesterday, I even knew it when I picked out my outfit the night before. I just couldn't bring myself to change it. It's gotten so cold that I wanted to be warm and cuddly, and the added pretend warmth of a red sweater was just too tempting. Do you have clothes that make you instantly feel warm, regardless if they actually make you warmer, temperature wise?

I've talked about how my sister jokingly calls my thick hair 'obese', but I don't know if I've talked about how my mom talks about it. She braided my hair yesterday and when she braids my hair...she's ticked off at it! She just sighs in an annoyed tone and says repeatedly, "You have so much hair!" or "You have too much hair!" It's her family's fault, so I refuse to take any real responsibility. Her father had a full head of thick hair when he died at 92.

Sweater - Simply Be, Pants - Lands End, Shoes - Target, Socks - Sock Dreams.

Create a butt!

Cardigan and belt - Target, Pants - Lands End, Shoes - TOMS.

 I figured out how to visually fool people into thinking you have a great butt. Now, I have awesome hips, really. Child-bearing, hourglass, Marilyn Monroe type hips. And I have a relatively small waist in comparison to my bust and hips. As for a butt? I'm pretty flat back there. However, if I belt a long cardigan...it magically makes people, EVEN ME, think that I have a butt. The visual of an hourglass figure, plus the slight bit of excess fabric added when you belt a cardigan will equal the illusion of a butt! I went on a few dates with a guy who was convinced that I had a great butt. I had no idea why, until I realized that the first time we met I was wearing an obi belt over a empire waist top and fitted pants. It was a visual butt illusion. PRO TIP: belts can equal better butts.

January 19, 2012

So, my hair grows really fast. In 9 months, it's gone from the above photo (chin-length) to the photo below (several inches below shoulders). And this is with several trims to try and keep it all one length, since the whole layering fiasco didn't work as planned. I do think that my hair "styling" has something to do with it: aka I don't use a hairdryer, curling iron, anything like that. All I do is shampoo, condition and use hair oil as a my sole product. (I have switched lately from homemade shampoo to the Yes to Carrots line, since I'm lazy.)

September 19, 2012

Big hurrrr

So, some people were interested in seeing a pic of me with my big hair. This is somewhat faux big hair, since I had it in two french braids all day yesterday, then just took it out this morning. It was just so impressive, I figured it needed a good photo! My hair definitely says that I'm a Leo, right? I always forget whether the rest of it matches up or not, since I don't really care, but I definitely have a lion mane of hair. I had a lovely weekend, with a nice date. :) How about you guys, how were your weekends?

Shrug - Avenue, Tank - Simply Be, Pants - Denim 24/7, Shoes - Dexter.

Have you ever seen Joe Versus the Volcano? It's one of my family's favorite movies. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (in 3 roles), back in 1990, so they're both all baby-faced still. A fable-type of movie with lovely (if strange) story, I've seen it hundreds of times. My favorite bit might be the opening, though, just because of the song, 16 Tons, sung by Eric Burdon, and the great/depressing imagery that goes with it. I convinced my voice teacher in college to let me sing this song during lessons, due to it's awesomeness. Take a look.

Pantyhose are the devil.

Untidy belt is untidy.

I need to wash this dress to see if it shrinks up any. But for now, a lace-trimmed camisole will do to cover up the edges of my bra. Also, why are pantyhose evil? Seriously, I have a knee length pair of "shaper" shorts that I'll wear instead of panties under skirts in the summer, and they feel just fine: no muffin top or unnecessary pain of squishing. But pantyhose are the devil - regular or control top. They end up too tight, too short (on my short little legs!), and they always roll down. I give up. It's leggings or bare legs. And it was too cold this morning for bare legs.

Plain honey as a conditioner is working well, although it is harder to comb my hair. I just have to go slower. My hair is perfectly soft once it dries, it's just not as slick when it's wet now that I'm off the chemicals. My hair gets a little bigger in the afternoons, but...people seem to like it. I'll have to snap a picture sometime of my huge hair.

Dress - Simply Be, Camisole - thrifted, Leggings - Walmart, Shoes - Dexter, Necklace - thrifted.

Beads and hair stuff!

Happy Mardi Gras! I wore beads for you and everything! I have them knotted up underneath the cowl, because otherwise they come down to my belly button. I borrowed the necklace from my mother, and it's supposed to go around your neck twice, but that wasn't what I wanted with this neckline. So I improvised. My sister has been very jealous of my hair lately (mainly because she's growing out a pixie cut, the hardest cut to grow out), and also because I have a super new hair oil. I got a sample of Orofluido Elixir in my last Birchbox order. It's worked so well, that it's the first actual full-size product that I'm ordering from them. It makes my hair very shiny and easy to work with, and fairly non-frizzy. I can also just smooth it over my hair, comb it in fully and let it dry and the waves come on out to play! I figured this was definitely worth it, for easiness alone (since I am completely lazy).

Sweater - Roamans, Pants - Lands End, Boots - Viva La Diva.

If you want to join Birchbox. you can use my code and give me some points!

http://www.birchbox.com?raf=h5whx

Cantata Sunday

Yes, these pictures are from all the way back on Sunday. We had our Easter Cantata (Yes, I know it was a week after Easter) and I wore my choir robe the whole service, so the focus was really on my hair. And didn't it end up nice? I'm so glad it's getting longer; there for awhile I couldn't hardly do anything with it. And you can see my nice silvery-white hairs that have popped out! Evidently, I'm going to go silver, not gray, and I'm doing it early. It's driving my mom to distraction, but my sister and I think it's cool. My grandmother has the most beautiful white hair, and has had all my life. I dyed my hair various shades of auburn (and a mistaken black) for a decade, from 16 to 26, but this is so much neater. How about you guys? When your hair turns silver/grey/white, will you dye it?
  

Cheerful

10-8-10 (aka Friday)

Yay!  Another Avenue outfit!  (You can count on me saying this for weeks, so get used to it, chickies.)  What I really want to talk about is my hair.  A while ago (August 10) I got my hair cut in a salon.  And because it seemed like it would fix some of my problems (super-thick hair = often frizzy), I got it layered even more than the little bitty layers my sister had cut in.  The layers were supposed to thin out my hair some so it wasn't so overly full.  Unlike other salon experiences, this did not make me cry.  But as time went on, I noticed something.  All those curls and super waves that had popped back into my hair when I cut it so short up by my chin?  Those were gradually disappearing.  And that frizz?  NOT disappearing.  How it was possible for my hair to be both (for me) rather flat but also poufy and frizzy was a mystery.  Particularly since I was using more products to style than I ever had before.    So I got my mom to cut a little (she'll generally do anything to my hair I want, after dire warnings that if I don't like it, it's my own fault).  I asked her to cut the back where it was about an inch or so longer than the rest of the unlayered hair.  Essentially, I'm growing the layers out.  My hair might get poufy again, but damnit! my hair will be curly and all the same length!  Instead of all these crazy wild layers fly in my face and make me insane.   

Jewelry shot!

Do you have a bad hair period that made you crazy?  A hairstyle that SHOULD have worked for your hair, but didn't?

Shirt - The Chic Tunic Top - Avenue
Jeans - Petite Boyfriend Jeans - Avenue
Shoes - Crocs
Bracelet - Maurice's
Earrings - Craft fair
Necklace - upcycled from bits and pieces

The short hairs

Hair.  The final frontier...Wait, it was supposed to be space, right?  Or repressed homosexuality in space?  Something like that.  Anyway, my topic is HAIR, basically my own hair.  I have a lot of it.  I know you're thinking, "No, LibraryGirl, your hair is actually pretty short."  Okay, let's get specific.  I have very thick hair that is wavy, not curly and not straight .  My sister , in that lovingly jealous tone sisters get, says my hair is obese.  I tend to spend less than 5 minutes fixing my hair in the mornings.  These two hair characteristics (thick and wavy) dictated the way I wore my hair since high school.  In high school, I went to (different) hair salons twice to get my hair cut.  I explained to the stylists that I don't spend any time on my hair, and that I was sort of bad at it anyway.  And both times, I ended up crying after the cuts.  The second time was notable because I got a truly hideous haircut.  [Pre-offensive comment explanation: I have lots of gay friends.  In high school, I actually knew every out gay student at our h.s., and a good amount of the closeted students.  But really there isn't any other way to describe it.]  Apparently, the woman who cut my hair decided that what I wanted right before my junior year started was a big ole 90's dyke haircut.  Yeah, I said it.  It was a sort of female mullet type number that was truly hideous on me.  So I cried afterwards, my mom trimmed it into as pleasing a cut as could be done, and I waited for my hair to grow.    Notice there is no picture of this.  I want you all to still think of me as pretty, mmkay?  This began the long hair period.

Sometime in college, I think.  A pretty picture for my parents.  Notice I am still smirking somewhat.  Hair- very heavy and down to my bra strap in back.

This was August 2009, on our yearly trip to the beach.  It's wet, so it's longer, but dry it was around my shoulders.













I kept getting my mom or my sister (the only people allowed to cut my hair) to trim it up little by little, until it was a little above my shoulders, shorter than it had been in years!  And then...

Shorter...shorter...adding layers....oh, the thrill of it!  I'd always been staunchly against layers.  Maybe because the ones I'd seen looked so obvious. 


But Jen cut lots of crazy layers in, not blocks of layers, but snippets of layers strewn all over my hair.  It's only as thick as a normal person's hair now, which is crazy for me to experience.  It got a little addictive...

YES LAYERED HAIR I MUST HAVE YOU NOW!  I got a trim today after Easter lunch, because my hair grows fast and was getting a little bushy and untidy.  Isn't that a lovely picture I took, with my mouth open like I've lost 40 IQ points and I think the camera might have stolen them?

So, similar stories?  Addictions to the scissors?  Horrifying haircuts?  Discuss.

This is how it works...

I am so TICKED off at my camera!  How could the batteries die right before we got a shot of the back of my hair?!  I've got it up all messily pinned with a bajillion bobby pins of different sizes and styles.  The front looks okay, but oddly enough, I'm more proud of the back.  I did manage to get a picture of my outfit and of the front of my hair.  You can see my new Lane Bryant wrap, the one that looked so blah on the floor, and it looks much better on me.  You can also see how the two front panels are almost a hand's length longer than the rest of it.  Strange, but I like it!  It's very soft jersey, too, so I'm all snuggled in.  I think I need Jen to whack around at my hair again, though.  Just for fun.  Now that I finally have them, I'm liking layers.

How do you like the new blog layout?  I think it's loverly!  (Since I didn't design it, I can say that without sounding like a big old boaster.)

Edited to add photo of back of head, thanks to lovely student worker Jess!