Breaking out of a rut...

Is it just me or has the last month been kind of a no go? Maybe because I've been on winter break and haven't seen a lot of my friends lately, or maybe its because I've recently cleaned a lot of the friends I had last year out of my life but I've just felt...off lately. Kind of alone, a little bit sad, and very isolated.

This doesn't suit me. I'm the kind of girl who needs to be doing things, going places, trying stuff. I can't be a mopey sad sack all the time. Then I just end up in a perpetual spiral of sad and boring.

With that being said, I'm working really hard to try and break out of that rut by trying new things. My first plan is to start up yoga. Under the recommendation of my chiropractor, I really need to get into some form of exercise to help out with my consistently sore lower back and shoulders. Since yoga is supposed to be relaxing and I am inherently a little ball of stress all the time, I figured that would be the best possible form of exercise for me to get into.

Apart from that, I don't really have any specific plans to get my life out of the rut other than trying things outside of my comfort zone. Dance classes, maybe new foods. Maybe I'll get a haircut, and I already have an appointment for new coloring. We'll have to see. Certainly I will be going out and doing things with my friends instead of sitting at home with Amazon Prime night after night. There's only so much you can binge watch old television show.

Breaking out of ruts is all about switching things up and trying new things and that's what I intend to do.

Let's chat about Hart of Dixie, shall we?

For those who don't know, Hart of Dixie is Rachel Bilson's latest project on the CW. It centers around Zoe Hart, a cardio-thoracic surgeon from New York who moves to Bluebell, Alabama after not getting the surgical...I think fellowship...at her hospital of origin. Anyway, she moves to Bluebell to "get in touch with her heart" as a GP. We're in the third season now. A lot has happened and a whole lot of character development has occurred and the reason I'm writing this is because I can't get over Annabeth Nass. 

When the show first started she was the best friend of the main character's arch nemesis and really didn't have much personality to speak of at all. But over the last two seasons she has become one of my favorite characters on the show.

Annabeth is the sweetest firecracker of a Southern belle one can hope to meet and her relationship with mayor Lavon Hayes is such a huge part of why the show is so great. Between her friendship with Zoe Hart and being involved in some silly scheme or other, I'm really tuning in to see Annabeth every week, not Zoe obsessing over what her ex-boyfriend is doing and waiting for her current weirdo boyfriend to figure out what's going on and dump her already. Annabeth's story line has intrigue and interest. Zoe is predictable as a sunrise. 

After the first episode of the season....which yes, I just watched tonight 2 days late, I can't wait to see what this season has in store of Annabeth and Lavon and the possible annexation of Bluebell to their archenemy town, Fillmore. Let's be honest, as much as I love Rachel Bilson, Zoe is just getting too boring for me to care anymore.

Striving to be "cool"

You know, friends, my entire life or at least most of my life thus far has been spent in the pursuit of being quintessentially cool. You know, trying to like the bands that all my classmates liked, wearing Abercrombie, needing to have Betsey Johnson this or Juicy Couture that. None of it was necessarily me, nor was it something that made me any happier. Over the course of the last year however, I've decided that I don't really give a crap about how cool other people think I am or how much money they think I have. Maybe it is a product of making more money than I was used to at the hotel or maybe I'm just getting older and realizing that other people have absolutely no bearing upon my own worth. Regardless, I feel like over the last year I have definitely come into my own and am no longer trying to craft some kind persona for myself to wear around like a hat or mask. 

Regardless, I just wanted to talk a bit about that. I mean, we spend the formative part of our lives trying to make friends and be cool, and if we're not cool, it's practically the end of the world. Except is it really? I mean wearing Abercrombie jeans and shirts didn't make me any cooler. Nor did buying a pair of Vans. You have to see (and accept) your own inner radness. What makes you, you, so to speak. Spending all of your time concerned about the point of view of others brings nothing to your life but stress and self doubt and realistically, how good are those for you, exactly? 

I'm totally fine with myself in my 20's. I'm a big dork. I watch My Little Pony AND Sons of Anarchy. I like ripped jeans and I love wearing fitted knit jeggings. I read and I watch movies. I'm a conundrum and I'm totally fine with that. Isn't it time you were, too? I mean after all, its 2014 for crying out loud! Whether you're 13 or 30, accepting yourself for who you are will always be cool. 

Just something to think about on this grey Monday night...

Cheers, 

People, lemme tell you 'bout my best friend...

...or at least my hair's best friend, that is. Headwraps from Monroe & Harlow. The one in the picture is called "Hendrix" which automatically meant that I needed to own it, but that's beside the point. 

I discovered this online shop months ago through one of the many bloggers that I follow and have been faithfully ordering ever since. The proprietor of the shop is a young mom that handmakes every single one of the headbands that she sells. 

She's just the sweetest lady and I love the quality of all of the headbands that I have...(which totals 7 after Hendrix came in the mail today). As you can see, they're all different and they're all super cute and unique. No one else I know owns them which doesn't normally matter to me but I kind of love being the only one who has them so far.

From top left: Coney Island Sweets (knot bow)*, Freebird (boho turban) *, She's Electric (celtic knot), Harlow (classic turban), Breakfast at Rosies (knot turban), LA Grunge (knot turban), and Hendrix (boho turban). The "*" indicates styles that are no longer available in the online shop. 

Honestly, I'm just looking forward to Summertime when I stop actually styling my hair and just spray it with salt spray, scrunch it up and go. At least with some kickass headwraps, I can take my beach bum hair and make it a little bit cuter than it would have been otherwise. No one notices what a mess your hair is if you have cute accessories to distract them from it, right?

You might think I'm kidding, but my Instagram will be full of pictures of my lazy butt with messy, crazy hair and a headwrap thrown on top just to keep the poof down. Prepare yourselves internet, my hair game is gonna get real ;)

Welcome to 2014, I don't do New Year's Resolutions.

I just don't. I've tried, I've failed, I've given up. At this point, I just set goals for myself. Not as resolutions, just as things to get accomplished. Often, they're on a monthly basis, or a weekly one, just starting small in the hopes of making them routine. With the first week of the year almost at a close, I figured I'd chat about some goals I have for this month.

For example, starting this month, I'm TOTALLY cutting out dairy. Now, I'm lactose intolerant so I have been doing that anyway, BUT the reason I say I'm totally cutting out dairy is because living at home means I have other people cooking for me too. Other people who frequently forget my limitations when it comes to digesting dairy products so every now and again, I get stuck taking a lactase pill, and dealing with the consequences. That is not going to happen anymore. Now I can't say there won't be slip ups or poor planning, but I can say that the three of us will be working on it a lot harder than we did last year.

I'm also totally cutting out soda. Again, I already do this but I have been known to every once in a while drink ginger ale a little too much if its in the house, or suck down Diet Coke like they'll stop bottling it last month. I allow myself the little slips, but since I'm whitening my teeth professionally this month, I can't ingest soda and therefore am going to use that as the reset button on my no soda thing to start it over for 2014.

My major goal is still going to be to read more. I used to really love reading and thus far I haven't actually sat down and read anything that I've been planning to. I've watched a TON of old TV and napped a lot, although that comes from getting over a cold and also working a TON really early this week, plus an unpleasant amount of back pain. I've been pretty miserable this week and in a lot of pain. But the cold is gone and I'm redirecting for next week. With any luck, I'll get enthralled with Allegiant and be able to finish that and start my next book immediately after.

Those are my goals this month. What about you guys?

My Tried and True Products: Haircare

This post may be more correctly named: Taming the Beast that is My Hair: Struggling with a Lion(ess) Mane.
I'm going to be totally honest here, I'm about as fussy with my hair as I can get fussy about anything. I have some pretty wild hair. I'm Irish and Portuguese mostly which means I have some solidly Western European hair. For those playing at home, it's thick, coarse, and really curly/wavy. It's keep you warm in winter, make you wish you were dead it's so hot in summer kinda hair. Except that it has no real curl pattern to speak of: some of it is curly, some of it is wavy, and for some unknowable reason, some parts are straight. Needless to say, if not handled correctly, it can be an absolute nightmare. BUT I've actually found some products that make it pretty easy to deal with and I thought I would share them with you in case there are some other girls out there who are struggling with the same hair and are looking for some help.

To begin with, considering the fact that I have more hair than is humanly necessary, I wash my hair twice a week. Once on Sunday, once on Wednesday. I used to use dry shampoo on the in between days, BUT after doing that for almost a year, I find that I don't need it anymore. My scalp has acclimated and I don't get greasy for at least 4 days, usually 5.

Now, as far as shampoo and conditioner go, I'm pretty easy going. I  make sure whatever shampoo I use is sulfate free (with the exception of the dandruff shampoo you see above. That was for an obnoxious case of flaky scalp...and didn't work) and the conditioners are thicker and have a moisturizing focus, rather than something like volumizing. As you can see, I have a few shampoos that I alternate between, depending on the condition of my hair when I want to wash it.

The one product I SWEAR by is the Redken Nature's Rescue Refining Sea Polish which is on the top shelf of the picture you see. Yes, it's a mouthful, and it's honestly one of the weirdest products I've ever used but it's fantastic. It leaves my hair soft, smooth (normal people could probably get away without conditioning if they used this)  and is the only high end product I'm willing to splash out on as far as hair is concerned. It is an exfoliator for your hair. Yup, that's right, your hair. I use it once every two or three washes, just to give my hair a bit of a refresh. Try it out, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Now, once I get out of the shower is when the real work begins. Styling crazy hair like mine is all about the products that you use and I've finally found a set I'm super happy with.

NOTE: After reading this, you may think, "Holy crap! That's a lot of stuff she's putting in her hair!" I have very thick, very coarse hair that tends to be on the dryer side after color treating it for nearly a decade. My hair can actually take this much product in it without looking greasy or gross. People with fine, thin hair should absolutely stay away from this routine. 

First, while still in the shower, I gather my hair twist, just to get the excess moisture out. Then, I do that again with my towel when I get out (my hair is literally a cham-wow Just when you think you got all the water out, there's more!) Then I comb my hair out.

Once I've gotten most of the water out of my hair, I spray it from root to tip with the Paul Mitchell Color Lock UV Protection Spray. I've found that it works really well for protecting color treated hair from fading. I notice my color lasting a lot longer when I use this.

Next, I spray just my ends with Macadamia Natural Oil's Detangler. Now, I tried not doing this a couple of times, assuming that the three products I put in my hair after would do just fine. That was a mistake. My hair didn't look any worse when all was said and done, but I noticed a distinct lack of softness to my hair that I typically have when I use all five. It just adds a little more moisture to my hair and helps my ends stay conditioned.

At this point, I comb my hair through to make sure the two sprays have been evenly distributed throughout my hair...or at least distributed where they need to be distributed.

These last three products are things I've discovered since I started going to my now regular salon and have really made the most difference in my hair.

Adore Salon, as I've referenced before is a full service salon in Folsom that exclusively uses Aveda products. From hair color to hair products and makeup, they carry Aveda products which are plant and mineral based and are generally better for you and for the environment. Thus, as you no doubt guessed, the last three products I use on my hair prior to blow drying are Aveda.

After the detangler, I put about a pump and a half of Aveda's Smooth Infusion Style Prep Smoother into my hand and rub them together to evenly distribute the product. Starting at my ends, I run the product through, using whatever is left over for the roots of my hair.

Next, I take about a penny sized amount of Aveda's Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener, rub that between my palms and starting again at about my ears, I run the product through my hair. Again, once I've done this, I comb my hair through just to make sure that everything has been evenly distributed through my lioness mane.

Finally, I use about...6 drops of a brand new Aveda product, the Dry Remedy Daily Moisturizing Oil ( or as I like to call it OMG! MAGIC PRODUCT) and run that through the ends of my hair. Now, this stuff is absolutely amazing. I've used hair serums in the past and my hair pretty much just drinks them like a milkshake, meaning I end up having to put more in my hair between washes to maintain the smoothness of my ends. This oil however, has visibly transformed my hair. I've been using it for about two weeks, so four washes (in sample form since it literally came out on December 27th) and I had to go and buy the full sized product. It has made my hair so much softer, smoother, and it smells like fresh ginger so it was a total win for me.

One last time, I comb through my hair and then I wrap it in a cotton t-shirt to dry. I debated about telling you about that step because you look ridiculous when you do it. But I think for those of us with crazy hair, we should share these tips with each other so we can all benefit. Instead of a towel, which can cause breakage and more frizz, a cotton t-shirt simply absorbs the water in your hair without all the damage and fuzzies.

So, I wrap my hair in a turban in a t-shirt and let it sit for about 2 hours...maybe 3 depending on my schedule before I blow dry my hair. I usually end up quickly running a flat iron over my ends and the front of my hair near my face and then we're done.

Yes, taking care of crazy Irish hair may seem like an ordeal, but once you get it down, it really isn't too much to deal with. It just seems like a lot of work once I write it all out.

Hopefully this helped any of my fellow lioness haired ladies out there. See you soon with the body care post!

Let's Read a Book, Shall We?

Anyone else out there a total bookworm? I was a little book NERD back in the day but between middle school and now, I've had less and less time to sit down and read as my life has gotten more and more full with real school and work and a social life.

In recent years, I've started books and had them sitting for MONTHS before I get a bug up my butt to finish them. When I was younger, I would be reading 4 or 5 books at a time. The state of my literary life is just downright depressing. And I would like to change that. 

Now, in 2014, I've made it my goal to read one book each month. I'm working right now to finish up Veronica Roth's Allegiant, the third installment in her Divergent series. For some reason, with her books, I start them, put them off for a couple of months and then devour them whole out of nowhere. Couldn't tell you why. I just can't get into it right now. So while I'm putting that off, I'm watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman online. My goal is to start the book up again on Sunday since it is a truly free day for me, and then read it by the end of next week.

We'll see how that works...shall we?

Next on the list though, I'm reading The Geography of Bliss. I can't remember which celebrity's Instagram that I saw it on, but I saw it and well, I had to read it.

Here is the summary from Amazon:

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Qatar, awash in petrodollars, find joy in all that cash? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

I thought it sounded like a pretty solid book to start off the new year, right? 

I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm really hoping my little plan is going to work out well. 

Starting the new year off beautifully...

...now as you've already been informed, I am not what you would call a particularly girly girl. I have my hair up in a bun more often than not, and if I could get away with not wearing makeup all the time, I would. However, I do prefer to be a well groomed individual when it comes to general appearance and cleanliness, and that makes certain things a necessity. If I'm not going to wear makeup or do my hair, I better at least be presentable to go outside without it. It also means that despite being pretty lowkey on the beauty front, I still have certain pet peeves about my looks and a desire to fix them. Some, like the baby hairs around my hairline that refuse to be straight for longer than a day, are really just something I have to live with. Others, like my yellowed adult teeth, I can absolutely change.

See, I had braces for two years, and I ended up with not only yellow teeth, but de-calcified spots on my front teeth too (which for those playing at home are the little white marks on teeth that often appear after wearing braces because you can't actually brush behind the brackets. As a result, I've had yellow teeth with little white marks on them for years, and as far as insecurities go, that's pretty much my one.

I had an appointment today at Adore Salon in Folsom, aka my regular salon and the only ladies I now trust my hair with, to get my teeth whitened. I decided that since I also decided that 2014 is going to be a banner year for me, I need to start it off right. So, after doing some other girly things today, I headed to Folsom to get my teeth fixed once and for all.

First of all, did you know you can't brush your teeth before you get them whitened? You can brush your tongue, but not your teeth. Yuck! To the poor people who had to deal with me prior to my whitening appointment, I'm sorry.

The company who does the teeth whitening is essentially a woman named Karen who used to be an independent contractor with dental offices where she would come in and whiten teeth for their patients. Now, she is working independently. You can check out her website for more information.

The procedure is fairly straight forward. You come in, she checks what level your teeth are at before she whitens them. I was a 20 or 25? Something like that. Anyway, the matching little teeth that she measures your teeth against were the 6th and 7th ones down on the strip when she showed me. You use one of those Crest portable toothbrushes (remember Rip, Slip, Brush, Ahhhh? Same thing) to dry off your teeth, then put vitamin E around your gumline to protect your gums from the peroxide. She gives you a prefilled tray, you place it in your mouth (luckily, her trays have a barrier for your lips so she doesn't have to use cheek separators) and sit for 25 minutes with the tray in your mouth under an LED light.

It's boring, I'm not going to lie to you. But for $49 when dentists charge significantly more, I'm gonna say it's worth it.

Once you're finished, you rinse your mouth out with warm water and put more vitamin E on your gums. Karen checks how white your teeth are after your session to see what kind of progress you made. I went from the 20 or 25 to 10 or 15 so the 4th and 5th little teeth. I'd say that for my first time ever whitening my teeth in 21 years of having teeth, that much progress is pretty solid.

Here's a before and after picture. The before is definitely a little dark. I took it this morning and there wasn't such good lighting.

What do you think? I definitely see an improvement! And not just in the photos. I mean in real life, too. 

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts about my beauty favorites that I want to share with you guys. We'll be talking hair and bodycare favorites. Get excited!!