Hair, views, and odd translations

The past week I've had the chance to do a few things here and there. I always feel guilty admitting that more often than not, I am inside the apartment doing a whole lot of nothing. I don't go out and explore and even though its probably seen as a little lame, I don't because I hate spending money.

Not just the money, the time. It takes a lot of time to go somewhere and by the time I get there, my shoulders are killing me from lugging my heavy bag with my camera and before I know it, I have to come back to start dinner before G-man gets home from work.

I told you it was lame.

I went to my hair stylist three times last week (we're developing a nice friendship) and she's an hour away and my old self was pooped out from that. But let me tell you, she did a fabulous job. I wanted to go lighter, for the first time in 10 years, and she delivered like no one I think would have. It took four hours, but it was worth it. 

So you can get a full grasp of what my hair (and GREYS) looked like before, this will show you. Plus the amount of foil it took to cover my entire head. She leaves them flat so its two foils to one (small) section of hair. I can't even describe how heavy all that foil was.

G-man and I set up and decorated the tree over the weekend as well. With one strand of cicle lights and one strand of normal white lights, we got very creative and hung them up around the living room. Though we certainly won't be winning any awards for best decorated, we think its charming in a "wow, that's really bad" sort of way.

Feel free to notice the "tree skirt" is in fact a pillow sham and the transformer on the ground that keeps all the American electronics running smoothly. Keeping it classy over here.

This is where I wait for my trains whenever I want to go anywhere. This one passing is headed to Kanazawa-Hakkei where I would get off to get onto the limited express to Yokohama. As it was that day, I was waiting to go to Yokosuka in the other direction.

G-man and I went to Landmark Towers in Yokohama to see the city from their highest floor. They have the fastest elevator in Japan going 28mph. Ears were popping and the views were beautiful.

Afterward, we were looking for a place to eat, and would you believe we passed this place up?

I know, I'm sure you can't imagine why. 

That nearly rounds out all the happenings with me this past week.  Well, except the fact that while I'm in blogger, everything is in Japanese. Whenever I'm writing out a post, the page is constantly translating back and forth from English to Japanese, and because of this, while I'm typing, its nothing for it to completely delete an entire sentence mid sentence. I'm constantly retyping my sentences. Its odd and funny, and just another little quirk with being in Japan.










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Around here

Last week since not having to keep my nose in the computer for school, I got to help out with my sister’s church’s VBS. If you’re not familiar with VBS its Vacation Bible School that lasts a week and is at many different churches throughout the summer. My sister’s husband is a pastor, and they asked me to help out at their church, so I did.

I ended up having a lot of fun since I helped out with volleyball-my most favorite sport. The girls were great especially since they all agreed to call me Coach Awesome. Anyone who willingly calls me awesome gets an A in my book. It was exhausting though. Not having played in a long time, or being so active around a bunch of kids, left me beat every night. Regardless of that, I’m really glad I got to do it.

For the first time in a long time, I’ve picked up a book. I’m actually reading, for fun, and not listening to an audio book. Feels good, but I can tell I’m so rusty. I’m reading Shogun, and I thought it seemed appropriate given all my trips to Japan, and finding out the little town I stay in is the actual town the white shogun (who the book is about) lived! And is buried. What are the odds?

Have you read Shogun? I’m only a couple chapters in, but I’m finally getting to the point where I want to read it vs forcing myself to read it for the sake of doing something.

Since I haven’t officially stated it yet, and I’ve had quite a few people ask me, I’m back in California again. I got back over two weeks ago and it feels like an eternity. Mainly because I worked day and night the first week on the math class, and the second week at the church that each day felt like three. I admit, when I realized I had only been back for a week at one point, I was so discouraged, it really felt like three.

That’s been my emotions lately; up and down, which I’ll divulge in another post at some point, but its been a roller coaster over here. Some happy though, if not comical, is my crazy hair experiences continue to happen, though I had yet another happy ending.

Stopping in Los Angeles at a hair salon before driving home, I had a stylist trim my bangs. That’s all I wanted, was a bang trim (and a dye job), and she did this. (I won’t even tell you how much she charged me either!)

Yes, that would be only half my bangs being trimmed. It was bad. What was worse was her not even seeing she only cut half of them (badly at that), so I kept my mouth shut, waited a few days and found another stylist who made them perfect. At some point, I’ll stop having horrible hair experiences. It’s a wonder I’m bothering keeping these bangs.
My mom picked her first carrot of the season. We were so excited and thought it was the cutest.

I babysat my sister’s kids and while her son and his friend were hiding out in his room, I took the opportunity to have a girls secret ice cream treat. This is what being a girl is all about, in my opinion. They were quite excited to have something, just for them, and this was my first experience with Its It ice cream sandwiches. If you’ve never had one, I highly recommend them, they’re delicious!

So, a little snapshot sampling of what’s been going on here. There was one day I had some fun with my camera. Another thing I haven’t gotten to enjoy in a very long time, and it was nice going back to what I used to do-take pictures of fruit trees, and I have to say I loved it. I should be sharing those later this week.

I hope your weekends were nice! Happy Monday!

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Japanese hair stylist

Last week I took a big leap. Mainly because I was desperate and fed up but it was a risky move for this hair scared girl. I went and saw a Japanese hair stylist to cut and color my hair. Normally for the first ‘meeting’ with a new stylist, I’ll have them cut it only and make them straighten it so I can see every last bit of my hair in case they need to fix it.

I’ve been known to make many stylists fix my hair after they thought they were done. I’m not in the habit to walk out unhappy… unless of course we discuss the time back in November, but that was an extreme case of ‘the more it was “fixed” the more it got worse.’ Any way, I’m happy to say, it’s been growing back quickly, and November was just a blur now.

My desperate measure came after G-man and I went out to dinner and my bangs that hadn’t been touched since the beginning of December were flat in my eyes. Most annoying thing ever (in the hair department). Oh, I take that back and add incredibly obvious gray roots to the top of that list…and head. har har

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Most of you (just about all) didn’t know that I was expected to go back to the states last week, but as is typical, I canceled my flight to stay here through cherry blossom season. Japan is known for their cherry blossoms and the idea that I would have missed it is deplorable. Staying meant though, that I wouldn’t get my hair cut like I planned. After a quick search for my area, I came across a Japanese stylist who spoke English (major bonus) and used to cut hair in California and New York (extra bonus), and she was only 30 minutes away by train (that was high five worthy). I called, made the appointment for the next day and was ready to dive in.

It ended up raining all day that day, but I wasn’t deterred from getting my hair done. In fact, it made for a one-on-one experience in the salon which was quite nice. And let me tell you, this was the best experience I’ve ever had in a salon to date. The service was unmatched and you’ll soon see why.

I was greeted by Ana, her assistant and after she took my coat, scarf, and umbrella to hang, led me to the chair. After taking pictures of my “before”, she prepared me for Yoshiko, the stylist. From there, we spent the next forty minutes discussing the cut and color I wanted with pictures, color books, magazines and explanations, before fully feeling like we understood each other. Yoshiko spoke English, though it was still very thick with a Japanese accent, so we made sure we were both on the same page before she even came close with scissors. She cut my hair dry and once done, began coloring. But before she did, they placed ear muffs on my ears to keep the color from getting on them. Imagine mini shower caps on my ears. Raise of hands how many times a colorist got color all over your ears? I thought it was such a smart idea. After the heater was put over me, Ana came back with a list of beverages to choose from and after choosing hot tea, she left me alone until the timer went off.

Immediately, Ana brought me to the shampoo station where she spent the next 25 minutes washing and massaging my head. 25 minutes! But what was impressive was she placed a light washcloth over my face to protect me from splatters. (I can’t tell you how many countless times I get soaked because the person is carelessly splashing water all over my face.) Throughout she gave the best scalp massage I’ve ever had, and when I thought she was winding down, she lifted my head up, and placed a hot rolled up towel under my neck to soothe my neck muscles as she continued to massage my head. I almost stood up to hug her right then and there. A few minutes more of washing and massaging, she sat me up but told me to stay seated. She then began patting my hair dry with the towel, and continued to do so until it was no longer dripping wet. Do I need to ask how many of you are told to get up and walk back to your chair with sopping wet hair? This was the first time it was ever thoughtfully dried before I moved.

It was obvious to me at that point the attentiveness was beyond anything I ever experienced. Ana led me back to my chair and immediately began massaging my neck. She just spent 25 minutes on my head, and now she’s doing my neck! This woman, I love. She moves to my shoulders, and then lightly pushes me forward and massages my entire back! I did everything possible to keep a blank face like this was a normal experience, but I was freaking out inside over this treatment. >clearly easily pleases< She continues massaging my neck, shoulders, back and eventually moves to my hands and arms as Yoshiko comes back to look over my hair. Ana keeps massaging as Yoshiko and I talk things over. I just want to close my eyes and enjoy everything at that moment.

Soon they began drying my hair. Did you catch the “they”? Both of them; one on each side with dryers, worked on my hair. At that point, I had to begin documenting, and not so discreetly took a picture.

As Yoshiko begins styling it, Ana becomes her accessories. Yoshiko doesn’t use clips for the hair; she uses Ana to hold the hair. Ana is there for whatever Yoshiko wants of her.

Finally, everything is complete. I’m beyond pleased with the result and happily pay. It was a little expensive, but the beauty of Japan (and I’ve been meaning to write a post on this) is you don’t tip. So I paid a flat rate with no pressure, and after they pointed me to the bus stop, I merrily walked back into the rain.


Taking a chance with a Japanese salon was risky, but my hair is so much happier for it. And what’s amazing is they could have given me the worst haircut ever, but I would still have raved over them because of their customer service. It’s a wonder to me, salons in America (or at least the many I’ve been to) don’t take the thoughtful approach and time out for their customers. I know we can get into the fact they rent spaces, and this and that and how it’s so expensive for them, yet, giving your client that extra special treatment goes much further beyond the dollar. Or at least this client thinks so. And because of that, I now proudly add Afrodita in Yokohama, Japan to my list of salons to frequent.

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A little of my life

Hi.

I’ve climbed out from under my rock to say I’m still kickin’. I am officially done with school, my finals were yesterday, and it feels really good to be done. Grades haven’t been posted yet, but I’m confident I did well. Now I have 5 weeks of nothing, and I’m scratching my head with what I’ll be doing with my days now, until school starts up again.

I attempted to blog once just last week but you’ll be happy to know I didn’t finish it. It was filled with a play by play of a whiny day. Do you ever find just writing something out helps you move on from it? No one needs to see it, but to be able to get the words out of your head, onto paper or computer, really help in freeing your mind of the thoughts that consumed you up until that point?

I got a haircut. A major one, and what I hoped would be like how I wanted, wasn’t. And I was angry for a good 5 days after. Couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror, it had me that upset. Now, 2 1/2 weeks later, I’m ok with it. I did see a second stylist to fix it, and actually plan to see a third in a couple weeks, after it grows out more, but as of right now, I’m ok with the cut.

The cut actually helps with my 20’s outfit I’m wearing tonight for my friend’s birthday party. A long bob and all, but at least it fits in with the 1920’s theme. I’m pretty excited to reveal the dress! I’ll most likely post first on Instagram, if you want to follow @emilygrapes It’s nothing short of gorgeous! Today kicks off what will be a trip filled month. I’m at my friend’s house now for the party, relaxing before I need to get ready, then within a few days I’ll be in Napa sipping some wine, followed by a snowy trip to Utah, and ending with some fun in Vegas. I don’t know what those trips will bring, but hopefully they’ll end up good. God willing.

Friends, this has been me. I’ve been very quiet, not just in blog world but in everything. Transitions can be hard to go through sometimes. Finding your position in this little space you occupy, looking to make sense of it all.

1 Timothy 5:16-18 comes to mind
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

That’s me these days. Lots of praying.

I hope to pop in again soon. Maybe with a recap of the party if I can get the photos from it. But if not, I’m wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas.

I’ll leave you with the initial cut…which is kind of mean for you and for me, given it looks a lot better now, but I don’t have any recent shots, so we get this before and after.

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Ha-gee-may-mahsh-day

Guess where I’m going??

I’M GOING TO…..

before I say where, I have to show you the after!
I’m dark! With a slight {accidental} ombre think going with my ends. And lest you think I’m really that white (though, I am really that white). I moved a little to the right and look at that! a little more color in the skin. Not so ghostly.

Before and after side by side since I was told its subtle.

I’m really loving the dark. It has a lot of dimension to it and even my old color comes through a bit and offers a little highlight here and there. Only a few people actually noticed at work so it made me think even more that it wasn’t as noticeable but every time I’d walk in the restroom I’d see myself in the mirror and think how obvious it was.

Speaking of work, today is my last day and I couldn’t be more relieved. If there ever was a long week in my life, it was this week. It drug on. It didn’t help that I thought it was Friday on Wednesday AND Thursday. Talk about a moral killer. Another killer is them believing things will fall apart once I leave so they’re piling on the work so I can get it all done before I go. Only thing is, its work that isn’t due for another 2 weeks that they think I should do.

Needless to say, I’ve been busy and pretty upset (since Tuesday) where I almost walked out without returning. I only stayed because I like the people in my office and I didn’t want to leave them in a lurch, but if I were in the main office, I would have walked out without looking back. I’m doing everything in my power to be kind and do as much work as my office is asking me to do, but its proving more and more difficult as I ruminate on Tuesday’s events.

I’m so thankful its over after today. That’s all I’ll say on the matter before letting it rest.

…back to where I’m going.

JAPAN!!!

I leave tomorrow!! I can’t even tell you how excited I am. It’s my first time there and I’ve been attempting to learn anything with the language and it’s proving harder than I thought. Ha-gee-may-mahsh-day, Emily des… is Nice to meet you, I’m Emily. …and well, that’s about as far as I’ve learned.

I cannot wait to see as much as I can about this culture. Just listening to the podcasts and videos to help learn has me so intrigued. I should be blogging while I’m there and I’m so eager to share the trip with you.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Did you think it was Hawaii?

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To the dark side

It wasn’t until I had photos taken last week that I knew just how bad my roots were. I was in shock and felt all sorts of gross that I went so long without taking care of the stark contrast of my roots to my hair color, so I called upon my friend to come over and color my hair.

She’s a box color pro, having done it for many years on her own hair, I knew I was in good hands, though I was a little nervous because I don’t think I’ve done box color in over 10 years. As you may remember, I’m more than willing to spend $250 on a color (provided they do it right)…and yes yes, it didn’t go quite right, but that’s beside the point. Given that I quit my job, I don’t exactly have $250 sitting around..not to mention the $400 flight THERE to get it done, so a box was the next best option.

I trusted the Ulta girl’s recommendation and picked up the color. Last night my friend came over and after some girl time, we went to work. The before:

Its light, with a hint of red (a lot when out in the sun) and the roots are a darker gray/brown. Not exactly the look I’m going for.

Mid-way through, after my friend commented on how much hair I had again and again, I remembered how all the stylists would say the same thing. How halfway through they run out of color and have to go make more. This didn’t cross my mind when I bought the box, and true to my hair, my dear friend had to run to the store to buy a 2nd box of color.

You think it’s thin. You think there’s not a lot there, but the moment you touch it and handle it, you’d be amazed at the amount. Its very deceiving.

On a side note, I think this is why I’ve had some headaches and sensitive scalp, its so heavy it weighs my head down.

Any way, she finished up and while the color was brewing on my head, I made the chocolate sandwiches for her. I’m pretty sure its going to be a staple in my family. And naturally, she loved them.

I showered and I have to say, the color {wet} looks pretty good. Now given that we finished very late, I wasn't really inclined to dry and style my hair, but if you follow me on Instagram, I can say with confidence, I’ll show it there first. If not, check back here tomorrow. I’ll take care of you.

I also wanted to say a big thank you to all who prayed for me for the testing yesterday. It wasn’t at all what I thought it would be and it threw me a for a bit a loop, but I’m doing everything in my power to trust God with the outcome and not let the answers I know I got wrong get me down. That’s one thing I’m really working hard on doing, not focusing on the negative of things, rather the positive, even if they’re small. It’s a work in progress to say the least. Pin It Now!

Shocked

I’m shocked my $2 didn’t produce $600,000,000 for me.

I guess I’ll have to go on my with daily life. My yard sale also did not yield me $600,000,000, which almost disappointed me more than the actual lottery. In fact, it was a downright bust that left me quite defeated, and a little guilty for taking up my friend’s weekend since I borrowed her front yard to have it.

When I say it was a bust, I mean it couldn’t have gone any worse than it did. I take that back! no one showing up would have been worse, rather than the 10 {maybe} that did who bought things over the 2 days. It was weird, and unusual and discouraging taking almost all of my stuff back home with me.

When I said I was ‘afraid’ to have it Friday, it was because I was afraid of the hassle to price everything that night, but that was a breeze compared to the crickets I heard for 2 days straight. On the plus side, it allowed me to spend time with my friend that I never get to see and sit outside on a porch to enjoy the 2 beautiful days that we had and finally picking up a book to read. I can’t tell you the last time I read a book. It was so enjoyable, friends.

So though I didn’t make bank like I was really hoping for, it got me outside, with friends, enjoying the cool breeze and a good book. Nothing wrong with that.

Saturday, after packing up early, I raced to a baby shower, a baby shower for Callie, if you remember, I helped shoot her wedding last year.

My ‘table’ of friends.

If all goes right and I can make it, I’ll also be photographing her birth. That’s right! I finally found someone who’ll let me.. and is eager to let me no less!! I’ve very excited.

I had to cut the shower a little short so I could make my hair appointment and I was excited and nervous for this one. Its been an ongoing battle to find a stylist who I think is a good fit here and I was giving yet another girl a chance. Even though she beat up my head with the roller brush and attempted to rip out every single strand of hair while brushing and drying it, she gave a pretty darn good cut and this girl is pleased.

a moment in between the pain


Can you really tell I got a cut? No, but it feels lighter, softer and healthier and that’s all I needed.

I hope all of you had a nice enjoyable weekend…and perhaps one that was a little more lucrative than mine.

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When “warm” doesn’t mean brown

When you hear someone say they want a “warm hair color” what color do you think of? Do you immediately think “red”? If you do, you’re in the 99 percentile. That remaining 1%?…. would be me.

I got my hair done yesterday. This would be the cut and color I went on and on about that would cost $300 that I deemed justifiable a month ago. The same cut and color I knew would be amazing and perfect and completely worth the money. I have good news for you… it only cost $200. Amazing, right?? Is that a better amount to swallow? It was for me when he told me the amount was under $200 before tip!

I’ll be honest though, the appointment wasn’t the smoothest of appointments. We each had pictures of the color I wanted. We discussed for 20 minutes the coloring, what I wanted, how I wanted to look and what the end result would be. I said “warm” a lot. She said “red” a lot and we agreed I wanted “warmth” that would have some “red” tones in it…

I was incredibly excited as she mixed it all together while I waited.

She began slathering it on and I began taking note of the color drying on my scalp. Red.

I told myself I wouldn’t freak out. Its only the “dried” color, it won’t actually look like that, but couldn’t hold in me commenting on the “red” I was seeing. She assured me not to worry and said to wait until it was all washed out. So I calmed down and sent a sneak peak to Instagram thinking I’d trick everyone into believing I was going red!

Little did I know, I was actually going red!

After it got washed out, I went into their dark restroom and noticed parts of hair poking out of the towel and forced myself to wait until I returned to the brightly lit chair to see if what I was seeing was real, before truly freaking out. I sat down, the towel gets removed and I begin to freak out.

Its Irish copper orange!

I wait as she starts blow drying on the chance it magically darkens when I couldn’t take it anymore and blurt out, “It’s ORANGE!! It’s Irish copper orange! Like I’m from Ireland!”

She immediately shut off the blow dryer and asked if its “too warm”. I’m staring at her with my eyes bugging out, wondering how we went so wrong and what the heck does “too warm” mean! She has me jump up to take me back to the sink where she put a toner on to darken it up. I’m not laughing anymore. I’m tense. She keeps reassuring me it’ll work out and soften the warmth considerably so I’d be happy with it.

I’m back in the seat and staring hard at my hair in the mirror. Its darker but still quite red. I never wanted red! I wanted a dark brown. A warm brown! A brown that I thought meant having red undertones but an ultimate brown! She dried the roots and asked how I was feeling, and I didn’t need to respond, my eyes did all the talking. They showed panic! At that point, we talked about what I was truly wanting. How warm to me meant a rich dark brown and warm to her meant red.

We thought we were on the same page the entire time. It wasn’t until we were 2 hours into the appointment that we were truly on the same page, and that meant the third coloring of the day…dark brown. I still couldn’t relax and it was obvious she was freaking out too with how much I was freaking out.

After the last rinse, I stare in the mirror and see just small traces of red. She dried it and I began to relax. Its just what I wanted. The “rich dark warm brown” I envisioned in my head. We’re able to laugh and joke about it as she began cutting my hair to perfection. Fixing all the mistakes made by past stylists, giving me exactly the cut I’ve wanted for months.

The formula for the 3rd color was written down and saved. We now both know what I want and how I want it without even needing to discuss it any further. I’ll be able to walk in, say I want it just like the last time (minus the freak outs) and sit back since I know it will be done right.

My favorite stylist didn’t disappoint. She did what she thought I wanted, fixed it twice when it wasn’t, until it was right and gave me the best haircut I’ve had all year. I walked away a very happy customer.

And as I got into G-man’s truck (did you know I’m with G-man??) the first thing he says is, “its BROWN!”. Clearly he expected red after I told him it would be “warmer”.

What do I know!?

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My way or the highway

Can I just say, it pays to speak up. When the stylist does something you don’t like, or is “done” and you’re unhappy with it, do you say something? Do you tell them to fix a problem that you see or do you say it looks fine, pay and go home unhappy?

She was half way through with styling and I wasn’t happy. My rule is to make them straighten my hair so I can see every possible issue. It makes for a fairly boring hairstyle but I don’t care. I want to see how it’ll look as if I styled it. I questioned a spot and she fixed it and continued straightening. She “finished” and I still wasn’t happy and she fixed 2 more spots. Finally I was satisfied.

I know if I walked out of that room without saying a word I would have nothing but negative things to say and would have complained for months as it grew back out. But now, I’m content with it. It put the bounce back in my hair, that I was desperately needing.

Now! My fun friend, Katie is doing a September weekly photo challenge that I love! She gives you 3 subjects that you can choose from (for the week) or gives you the ability to do all three. Whichever tickles your fancy. Then every Thursday, we all get to link up to show what we did. Today is the first week’s challenge! Fun, right?!

The 3 this week are:
Me
Now
Details

Since I brought my camera to my hair appointment, I thought what a better “now” and “me”. One thing about this salon is its all individualized. Where each and every stylist has their own private room with doors and they’re allowed to decorate it any way they want. I’ve never never been in a salon like this before. Have you!? I kinda liked how she closed her door to give us the ultimate privacy! As you can see that woman loves pink, and apparently dresses every single day in hot pink.

Mine chose more of a vintage 60’s theme, as you can tell. With a vintage hair dryer, chair, pictures on the wall and furniture.

Because we know no post is complete without public restroom mirror pictures, I felt it was only right. Ok, truth is, I kinda felt she was ready for me to stop taking pictures in her room, so I jetted off to the restroom to continue. Weird? Akward? Maybe…but I succeeded.


I’m looking forward to the next few weeks of her challenge. If you want to play along, you definitely can! She’s keeping the link open throughout the weekend, so hop on in and show us you..or what’s going on now…or the details of it all.

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All in one day

Whoa guys!! I can’t believe your amazing responses to my new design. Thank you a thousand times over for being so sweet!! I know its not at a web designer level, but I’m really thrilled to have done it myself and can’t thank you guys enough for being so kind!

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I have to say, there’s nothing better than a productive day. I didn’t have to work yesterday, so I made sure to schedule a haircut first thing in the morning so I could actually be productive, rather than sit on that spot that’s starting to sag a little more each day on my couch.

{{you know that spot}}

Off I went to see a new stylist. I don’t like finding new stylists. It always makes me so nervous….aaaaand, even though she’s super nice and sweet and seems like a great all around person, I’m not completely digging my hair.

If you see it, you wouldn’t think anything of it, but I guess I’m comparing it to my hair stylist in HI who does a phenomenal job, and well…they cut differently. But THANKFULLY my hair is once again healthy. It cried tears of joy with each fried/dead/split end getting chopped chopped chopped off. I can’t even tell you how much lighter it feels…or shorter…

In the middle of this haircut, I get a call from a lead manager from work (in regards to that top secret thing I’ve been mentioning) and its in the works FAR sooner than she thought it would be. She’s getting a wee bit of pressure from above, so I might be starting my new position very very soon.

{nervous fingers crossed}

In other news of the day, the ever so smart and clever Lindsay at Delighted Momma, made this FANTASTIC tutorial for making your own nail polish. Since I A. don’t have clear polish and B. don’t have funky shadows, I had to hit up the beloved Target to score me some cheapies. Once I got home, I did everything (made quite the mess) and bam! I have my very own turquoise nail polish. Something I’ve been wanting for a long time.

{{I kinda felt like I was preparing cocaine…in case you wanted to know}}
                        
There’s some sediment in it (cause I didn’t stir/shake enough), and I bought really cheap polish, so I’m ‘paying’ for that, but otherwise, I love this!! And I think my nails turned out great!! I can’t wait to do more colors.

All in all, I saved about $3 vs. buying an actual polish. I’m sure if I hit a cheaper store next time, I’ll save even more!

So, what should the name be? I’ll leave it up to you to decide!

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I’m thankful for 41

Happy Cyber Monday!! This is my shopping day. I thrive on this day. I despise Black Friday and would far rather sit in my comfy home with my laptop in my lap and click away my savings. Besides, who wants to get pepper sprayed by an idiot for a stupid video game!? No thanks.

The last time I did Black Friday, I was standing in line being shoved from behind by a woman repeatedly…and well..in my ‘not my finest’ moment, shoved her back with my back, turned around, made eye contact with her, and that was the last she touched me.

That was 7 years ago.

So today, on the last Monday of the month, I’m thankful for:

- my bluetooth. I’m serious. This is the best bluetooth ever. I can’t believe I used to hold a phone to my ear to talk. When this puppy’s battery is low and I have to hold my phone, I want to cry.
- safe travels to Hawaii. I actually had a great flight. The flight attendants were so friendly, as were my seat buddies. A rarity.

- great times with my love all week.With the impromptu trip to Kona, it has made this trip all the more wonderful. Can’t wait to show you all the trip!
a sneak peak of the view from the room

- my haircut. I’ve been waiting and waiting to get back here to get a cut. I know no one can tell, but it feels great. I even texted the before and after picture to G-man and he was confused why I sent it to him.
I do look oddly chesty in the before picture. I promise, I did not stuff.

- seeing all the Christmas decorations everywhere!! I love it. Can’t wait to see how everyone will decorate this year.


- seeing Jupiter. People, this has to be the best picture I’ve ever taken. Please take note as I’ll never take anything as good as this, evah! I made sure to watermark this picture too, because I know many will attempt to claim it as theirs.

I’ll explain more on this experience another day, it was great.

Do you have a bluetooth that you just love and can’t live without?

Who’s finished with their Christmas decorations already?
I can’t wait to get back home to get my decorating on!! G-man only has so much at his place but you can bet your sweet fanny I’ll be decorating his place too.

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