Winter Swap 2012

Work in Progress --- its too frackin' late for me to do a proper post. I shall have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to update with proper pictures and what not.

ETA: Finally, some quiet time.

I spent all day trying to figure out my minecraft server so Hubby and I can play together and I think my internet is crapping it out. He's to bed superbly late and I'm still left with insomnia. So, here goes.


This is the first Swap I've ever taken a part of over at LHC. I've always been rather leery of taking place with swaps of any sort as I usually end up with the shorter end of the stick. I swear, I've always ended up with shitty presents. One birthday, my male best friend's mother thought it appropriate to buy me underwear. -- Now, any Hispanic that happens to stumble across this very myopic blog and reads the previous sentence,  I assure you gentle reader, they are cringing. It is a custom, nay, a fucking NEED for a Hispanic person to open up each and every goddamned present they're given for any special occasion in front of everybody.  Think of Christmas but for every special occasion. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Holidays. Gift Swaps of Whatever. It happens.

During my freshman year of HS I had the misfortune of being a part of a Christmas swap with my Avid group. I wound up paired up with the Local Jock. As in, I got him and he got me. I was a goth AND a tomboy. I gave him a high end basketball and a cvs cologne. (It was not tacky smelling, it was actually quite nice. I have a nose for colognes and let us just say that while at first he was leery of such a present, he was soon wearing it when the galls ooo'd and aah'd and drooled over the scent.)

Bless his soul, he got me nail polish and a make up set.. in pink and glittery shades. I think his mom bought it for him.

Yeah. Goth me wearing pink and glitter? Hell no. I think I regifted it. Anyhow, these are just examples of how horrible my gifts usually are. (Two Christmases ago was an exception. I got an awesome Secret Santa!)

Anyway, I figured this is LHC, we're adults... I'm bound to end up with something amazing for my hair.

I will not go into the horrible mess that it was to get my shit done for my giftee. Let us just say that I was overly ambitious and forgetful of my carpal tunnel. I'm still paying for it right now and as I type, I am eyeing my brace and will soon put it on at the end of this sentence. (ah.. delicious support!) Let us just say that the only things I did not craft for my Giftee were the materials used and the edibles. I WANTED to make the edibles too but my wrist and elbow were like 'Fuck you, Demise! Attempt that and I swear to the gods I will make life so unpleasant you won't be able to wipe your ass or comb your hair without pain. You will have to have the husband do all this and he already is weird about helping you braid.'

Ahem, pardon the crudeness.

Things didn't get shipped off as soon as I hoped due to the Leech situation. But I digress.

I was drawn up by Sisko.

I received the most stunning postcard of an owl peeking over a snow capped pine branch. ^-^

Her writing is so neat I thought it had been printed out from the computer, but alas, its actually her writing. There's also another nifty owl picture on the back of the postcard. I have to find a way to pull it off the back of the post card so I can tape it up but I'm afraid of tearing it.

She also sent me the most amazing conditioner ever, cone free too! My hair loves it. I believe it may either be the avocado oil in it or the calandula or maybe even both. I do remember Gammy saying something about pressing her own avocado oil and using it for shine so I wouldn't be surprised if this is the magic potion. It smells divine  and it makes me hungry as it reminds me of chocolate mints.

I also got some pretty cool cupcake wrappers. They'll be used whether I bake or not. Sometimes those wrappers are fantastic for separating marinated or steamed veggies from rice and meat. Perfect for bento.

I got a gorgeous silver and blue birds beak which upon looking at the band with the other bird beaks pinned to them is already MIA. I swear this house eats up toys. I haven't seen my wooden fork in ages and one of my black cat beads sticks is keeping it company.

Then there was this amazing lavender and shea butter soap I'm hoarding. xD

And the piece de la resistance, this beauty:

I'll have to post action shots later. I still haven't edited the pictures and most are blurry. Woops! 

Men and Women of LHC

I've decided to join on this fun thread. Woo! 

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!) 

The Nautilus

Argh! I swore I wouldn't wear this bun in a while because its like.. my stand by but today was wash day. Wash day means my hair is loose like 60% of the day while it dries and once its dry enough it goes up.

Well, I'm sick. Have been for about a week now and today was the day where I felt less like a zombie in long enough that I had the strength/drive to wash my hair. I woke up at like 12:30 and it took me about four hours to finally get off my butt to go wash my hair. Its not that I'm lazy its just that I've felt like ubber crap. So, for the better part of the day I had my hair in Dutch braid, albeit a very messy one.

Its like past dinner time, Jouji and I decided to cook our dinner instead of being lazy like we've been so up it went. Into one of the easiest buns I could muster and the only one I could wear this lovely fork with. Its getting to the point where I can't wear it anymore, at all. My hair just spits it out in most buns as its so thick.

-sniff- I shall miss you, Veronica.

Yes. I name my toys. -huff-