the beginning of october

1. My brother turned fifteen. He's diabetic, so I tried making up a cake that was acceptably sweet that my mother would also let him eat. I came up with a sugar-free box mix for Devil's Food Cake, sugar-free chocolate pudding to add to it, strawberry frozen yogurt in between the layers and fat-free whipped topping mixed with cocoa powder for the frosting. The entire thing was placed in the freezer and became a diabetic-friendly ice cream cake. Tommy has since requested about five more.

2. We had one of our first date nights in awhile. Marcus is becoming a sushi person. I'm really proud of how far he's come in terms of culinary adventurousness. Would you believe I could never get him to eat anything besides plain pizza or chicken nuggets?

3. Surprise--another sweet experiment for Tommy's benefit. My mom won't ever let him order anything from Starbucks because of the sugar, but he loves the strawberries and cream blended drinks. After spending awhile sulking about it, he gave up on asking for them anymore. I was playing with smoothie ideas and decided to try replicating the drink with strawberry frozen yogurt, almond milk and some canned whipped cream. He's deemed it acceptable and asks for these special drinks most nights now.

4. I ordered this beautiful dress from eBay--I really am coming to love Bernie Dexter's designs. This dress is a particular favorite of mine because it combines Tudor roses with a vintage silhouette. Unfortunately, when my package finally arrived it contained the wrong dress. It's currently on its way back, so I'll update you when my other one gets here!

5. My hair is getting long enough to play with a little bit more. I dyed it brown after something like five years of keeping it auburn. I like it better so far, and now I'm just anxiously awaiting more growth so I can experiment with my curls instead of settling for keeping it up all the time.

6. I started a new job (more on that later), and while I was hunting for important work-related documents in my garage I found this little jar I made for my mom in first grade. We have it on the fireplace now--I used to be really annoyed that she never ate the chocolates I put inside. When I found this and showed it to her and my aunt, my aunt exclaimed, "of course! No mom wants to compromise a present like that by eating the candy inside!"

7. I may have also finally gotten my hands on the long-awaited skeleton dress. It glows in the dark and I am in love with the collar. I need to get better at getting real outfit pictures instead of just the ones I use my phone for in the mirror. The full effect is usually a lot more fun! It came just in time for October to start, but I'm thinking I'll be breaking this out even when Halloween is over.

8. In my moments of free time, I occupy myself by rearranging things and keeping the house clean. Our pantry used to look like a tornado had hit it. We buy from the bulk bin at Sprouts for snacks, and somehow the food always stays inside those plastic bags. Nobody could find anything! I finally got impatient and made a trip to Target for several mason jars. The snacks ended up in the jars, and now we can see how much food we actually have. Thank God. (We have pea soup now, too.)

9. We've had family popping in and out for almost a month. I really enjoy watching my mom and aunt together. She's supposed to be coming back next week, so I'm excited to see her again even if the circumstances aren't ideal.

Finally, I'm sure everyone (meaning all two of you) are curious about how my grandmother is doing. She has her on and off days, but she's coming home soon. We don't really know what will happen from there, but anyone who's met my grandma knows she isn't about to go down without fighting.

We love her tons, and, as evidenced in this particular favorite photo of mine, we're all cut from the same cloth as she is. 

In the meantime, I hope things get better. Some family members have really come through, and others have revealed themselves to be largely unsupportive. Strange how these times show you everyone's true colors, isn't it? The family drama has been so insane I could probably write a soap opera about it and retire from the income. 

Well, for now I think we'll just focus on the positives. Within a week or two, my grandmother should be home! We'll just go from there. 

pictures and movies

The more lovely pictures I see from becoming familiar with Blogger, the more I realize I completely stopped taking any of myself! I was actually kind of surprised--aside from every couple of days when I use my webcam to snap some quick hair growth progress pictures, or maybe using my iPhone to take shots of clothes I'm trying on and need to send to friends for opinions, I don't really take that many pictures of myself anymore. It's certainly been months since I took the time to take any "cute" pictures! (I use that term really loosely.)

It was a slow day today, though, so I thought it'd be fun to take a couple of new pictures this afternoon. I've shared my favorites with you, though I have to admit I'm even a little bit self conscious about these! Is anyone else ever kind of surprised by what they look like on camera, even if you've seen it before? I'm always a little bit unsure of what to think. This was fun, though! My mom and I had a really successful shopping trip a few days ago and she bought me this adorable shirt from The Limited as a little present. We scored a 50% off coupon together, so it was a great deal! Now I can't wait to go back! I have a huge chambray thing right now--I don't know what that's about! Something about the soft blue just seems so classic and comfortable to me.

In other news, Marcus and I had a date night! Of course, I forgot to take any pictures (I think I'll have to start getting better about that if I want to have a regular blog) but it's okay! I had fun being in the moment. Besides, it's pretty hard to take pictures in the movies. We love going to the theater together, but not a lot's come out lately that really piqued our interests. Yesterday was kind of a down day for me, so we got the idea to find the worst-looking movie out there and have fun watching it anyway. After watching the trailers, Marcus picked Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (I sincerely apologize to anyone who loved this movie, but the entire theater must have had the same idea because everyone was giggling a little bit!) I think it's sometimes hard to take some of the dialogue they come up with in these teen paranormal romance movies seriously. We had a blast watching it, though, and we went for some coffee afterwards. We hadn't done any of that in awhile! Now that Marcus is working and I'm looking for a new job, hopefully there will be a little bit more opportunity to go out and about together.

We like spending time at home with my family too, though, so that's nice!

Oh--and one last thing! I made my first sale on Etsy! I'm so excited!! I'm going to make my first made-to-order bow this weekend and ship it first thing after Labor Day! I hope that maybe getting a few good reviews here and there will maybe boost my store's ratings, and who knows? Maybe someday I can make lots of bows for lots of people!

How do you feel about taking the time to get some new pictures of yourself? For me, it feels almost like a fun treat! What are your favorite ways to keep your pictures interesting and fresh, even if you have limited space to work with? And, of course, has anyone seen any good (or awful) movies?

:)

a small documentary on hair growth

I am very much of the impression that every woman should do the short hair thing at least once in her life.

And I'm not talking about the whole "let's go from waist-length to shoulder-length and flip out about how all my hair is gone" situation.

I'm talking full on pixie.

Over the course of about a year, my hair gradually became shorter until one day I decided it was time to try something a bit different. Okay, if I'm being completely honest, the last haircut I'd had was a complete disaster. The stylist had essentially grabbed my hair, twisted it at the top of my head, and hacked it. The new person I promptly started going to informed me that my hair was pretty damaged, and that it would take about as long to grow out that monstrosity into something decent as it would to get a shorter haircut and start over.

So, I said, let's do it!

That is the face of someone who is not unhappy with their haircut.

Later, a couple of my friends complimented me on it and mentioned that I could even afford to go a little bit shorter. I was going through a huge flapper phase at this point, so I was only too happy to go back and request a couple more inches off.

I was pretty sold.

The trouble began when winter break came along, because I decided I'd get a trim that would be a little bit shorter to last me through the long vacation. The stylist assured me that she understood what I was going for. Then this happened.

I was trying to be a good sport.

I kind of cried when I got home. No, I'm not proud of it, but at the time, I was horrified. I had asked for a little extra trim, not a complete pixie cut. I had no idea what to do. For awhile, I was just really sullen. Later, I sort of came into it a little bit. Playing around with different things was pretty fun! Here's a little snippet of the last several months, for anyone who's interested.

It was waving again! I'm not sure what's up with the face, though.

I was actually pretty okay with this. As an aside, how cool is that Aladdin sweater?

This must've been during an awkward phase or something, because I do NOT look happy!

I wasn't a huge fan of my birthday hair, because it made me look a little crazy...

This was all right, too. The thing about short hair is that it goes through phases.

And this is a little before/after picture. This was taken several weeks ago, and it's actually grown a fair amount since.

Here are a few positive things I've learned about short hair.

• My big one: it forces you to accept what you look like. When your hair is cropped that close to your head, forget about hiding behind it. It makes you come to accept and appreciate the features you have.
• It can be a huge confidence booster. From what I gather, quite a few people have the curiosity and the urge to try a pixie cut, but few want to commit to getting rid of a foot of hair to do it. It's nice to hear about how bold you are for taking the plunge, even if it was accidental.
• Personally, I got a lot of fairy comments.
• Despite the awkward phases, watching it grow is kind of exciting. If you decide to keep it, then you can experiment with fun styles and hair accessories, but if not, it's a whole other journey back to growing your hair. Since my original intent was to grow back damaged hair, I ultimately decided not to keep mine that short.

However, here are some other things to keep in mind if you decide to go for it.

• Short hair is a commitment. Cutting off your hair takes all of two seconds, but growing it back can be a longer process. I originally cut mine in December, and I'm just now reaching what I hope is shoulder-length territory. But describing it that way is being very generous. 
• The awkward phases are a little maddening. It literally felt like one week I loved my hair and the next I couldn't stand it. 
• If you're the kind of person who loves to try out lots of styles, you might get a little bit bored. Personally, I was a little dismayed to find that my hair was now too short to be wavy. On top of that, there was really only one way to wear it. However, that can really work for some people, depending on the look they're going for and their hair type, so that's entirely based on preference. 
• Trims get a little pricey. That was a main reason I ended up deciding to continue growing it. The particular style I got--sort of a mini-flapper-bob--had to be maintained about every 4 weeks or the style completely grew out. I don't know about you guys, but as a college student, that wasn't happening, and I certainly wasn't about to attempt cutting it myself. I've done that once--it didn't end well. People notice. Not in a good way.
• Mullets. I don't know how everyone deals with it--probably different, depending on the person--but I just left mine there. It's only vaguely starting to look like regular hair again.

Still, ultimately, I'm glad I did it. For most of my life, I'd wondered about what chopping it all off would feel like. Liberating, for sure. Cold in the wintertime. And, as it grows, I can take note of how it looks at each length. If I ever wanted to cut my hair off again, I'd have a better idea of what did or didn't work for me.

Currently, I'm enjoying seeing my hair hit little growth spurts. Little DIY treatments at home like rosemary rinses or egg masks feel indulgent, and even if they do or don't really affect hair growth, it keeps things fun while I wait. 

I'll probably post more as time passes, since documenting hair growth is actually pretty neat. Sometimes when you feel like it just refuses to get longer, pictures can really give you a reality check. I'm hoping by the time my brother goes back to school in August, I'll have grown it enough to get a trim and finally eliminate this overgrown bob shape! (It's not a great look when it's months and months grown out.) 

See what I mean? ;)

I'm still glad it happened. :) Try it sometime, you will be, too! I've seen people rock a pixie WAY better than I ever could, and it's such a cute look for some of the styles floating around these days!

Who knows, someday I might end up doing it again. ;)

PS: <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9977429/?claim=4g9v2umg2qb">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>