wooOoO! Two more inches!

Two more inches and I've reached tail bone length! I had not noticed the growth as I've been more obsessed in having my hair curled/waved or simply pinned up and out of the way.

Due to my work schedule,  I had to change my hair routine a bit. I also noticed i'm using a teeny bit more product than I'm used to so I had to clarify followed by a vinegar rinse. (Protip, those condiment bottles are amazing. So much easier to get the water and vinegar solution to the scalp than just a glass of water!) The bad side is that I lost more dye so now the ends are slightly more pink. Oh well. The good side? Mega soft, super shiny hair..

And since today is the first day in almost a month I let my hair air dry on its own without letting it get 90% dry then putting up in curlers/rags.. I noticed how long my hair is. 2 more inches to tail bone! WOOo!

And what does that mean? I'm that much closer to classic length!!

Hey you

I've been thinking about you a lot the last day or two. Everything I do, see, or hear is you. It almost reminds me of back in the day when I had it bad...Instead of getting depressed about it -- or even nostalgic-- I thought about 'why' I would be thinking about you.

Then it dawned on me.

Happy Birthday.

And as I often do whenever I address anything about you, thanks. Thank you for all the smiles, all the laughter and all the heart ache you gave me.  Because if it hadn't been for all the happiness and sadness You gave me, I would not have recognized Him as the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I look back at our time no longer with fondness nor bitterness or anger, but with the knowledge that it had to happen the way it did. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine. We were young and stupid. You were my best friend for so many, many years that I can't help but miss you from time to time.

After all, you were the biggest life lesson I ever had to have and I am glad it was you who I got to share it with.

I hope you're having a grand time today. I know I am -- busted knee and all.

- Mrs. De La Renta.

October-Nov lateness.

The nautulus. Oh, how I love thee! You're easy, secure and quick to do. Here, it is held by my lovely fork a friend made. :D I adore it. Its definitely one of my favorite toys if not *the* favorite.

I wear this particular bun often. I sometimes wake up, roll out of bed, wash my face, brush my teeth, get dressed and run out the door.Its a look I can do while sitting in the car in the parking lot or at my desk. It looks tidy and professional (except in this picture as it was taken right before I went to bed.)  and I love how the colors blend together.

The red is just more obvious now.

Anyhow, I did good and only did this particular bun maybe four times in the last two months. That's ... a feat considering I was doing it every day for a while.

Dip Dye December

Truth be told, I was getting bored with my hair. And as usual, when I'm bored, I want change and usually ends up involving scissors.

But I resisted temptation, made an appointment with the lovely Alice and let *her* decide what I should do.

I was thinking of going black with streaks of red but she talked me out of it. Knowing how little time I have on my hands and how difficult it is for me to come see her (my employee bumpable services often get bumped for paying customers. To get in to see her by paying services I have to book weeks ahead.) We decided to do a dip dye.

Essentially she painted on the bleach on the ends only with a technique called balayage  where she has full control of the gradient and intensity of the bleach. Once she rinsed that out, she added the color  then I went off to get blown dry.

Usually she does the whole service, but let me tell you. We'd JUST gotten started and she'd put the bleach on the bottom most layers of my hair -- already the section that'd been pre-bleached and treated almost a year or so ago and therefore, the most delicate. Anyhow, she was prepping the medium layer when the freakin' fire alarm went off.

This is why I love her; instead of chancing a false alarm or leaving the bleach on for too long, we did a pit stop by the sink to rinse out what she'd just done. See, she knows how hair obsessed I am. Although I'm laid back and let her play with the color and style of my hair, I WANT length. Bleaching my hair too much would cause so much damage I'd have to get a haircut. That's a no no. I'm already irritated I had to get so many cuts this year as it is in an effort to grow out those fucking layers! >.<

Anyhow, good thing we did too. As we wound up waiting a little over an hour for the all-clear form the fire department. (There was a gas leak in the movie theaters above the salon.)

In the end, she convinced me to stay instead of rescheduling. She put on the bleach, let me process then left me to work on her next guest. She came back as her guest was processing, washed out my hair, put in the red and let me process while she went to her other guest. Then a colleague dried and styled my hair.

I LOVE the look. Too bad I didn't take pictures of the curls. Oh well. I'll make bandana curls on Wednesday and I'll show them.

We left the topmost of my hair untouched so I don't have to deal with grow out and having to come in every six weeks. I deposit manic panic on top of the sections anyway so I'll do that every other month or so. (Its how I managed to maintain the previous dye job she gave me in January to begin with!)