From 'Blah' To 'Meh'....

Update:

I just got finished with my hair appointment...

I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.


Here's the picture that I sent to show what color I'd like in my hair...

I'd originally wanted to put two colors in my hair [some caramel and some red] but I'd settled for one color after I'd talked to the lady that does my hair. [She said that she could do two colors but I got the vibe that she wasn't crazy about the idea...]

This picture shows highlights in two shades of blonde, so I opted for the lighter color. Not my favorite shade for myself, but /shrug I thought it might be time do shake things up a bit.

Ah, the lovely 'before' picture. Nothing special to see here. No makeup means that I look about 15 years old, but /shrug oh well. I just wanted to take a picture to use as a comparison.


Here's the 'after' picture. Like I said, I'm not crazy about it, but it's not the worst thing that I've had done to my hair either.


The thing that I do find bothersome, though, is that in normal lighting, the color is so subtle that it's almost non-existent.

See what I mean?

Oh well. Next time I'll just get red. It's what I really want anyway.

Aaaaand I just realized that I take a lot of pictures with that weird smirky face. I should probably fix that.

Commitment Issues...

Freaking out a little bit this morning...

I made an appointment to have my hair cut and colored today.

I know I've been talking about coloring my hair for some time now, but I'm still freaking out a little...

I won't panic...I won't panic...I'm panicking.

I think it's because I know that once I let her put color on my hair, that's it. I'm committed. I could always put a dark color over it, I guess...but it'll still take a good 8 months before my hair has grown out enough to consider cutting off the colored bits.

Aaaaand, if I color my hair, it pretty much negates the possibility of cutting my hair into a pixie...for a little while anyway. It would be rather wasteful to spend time and money coloring my hair only to have most of it cut off.

I'd considered calling and canceling...but my appointment is with an individual and not someone that works in a salon. And I know for certain that this lady went out of her to get color and materials specifically for my hair...she sent me a text message saying so!

Ugggggghhhh.

Definite downside to having commitment issues [not that I can really think of any positives, either].

Help Me Pick, Please!

Sooooo....

I think I may be in need of an intervention...[well, sort of...]

As I'm prone to do, I've gotten bored.

I've been toying with the idea of changing my appearance somehow. I've got about 3 ways to do so...feel free to drop me a line letting me know which you think would be best, or telling me that I've lost my mind and shouldn't consider any of them right now!

First, and least permanent, would be colored contacts.

Let me start off by saying that I don't need contacts. I'm fortunate to not need glasses to read or drive, and many people look at me funny when I tell them that I want colored contacts even though I don't require contacts of any kind. But because I'm a silly girl, I love wearing colored contacts. I've had a few pairs of them before. I typically stick with some variation of gray, green, or bright blue...the problem is finding a color that will actually show up on my dark brown eyes.

Both of these were taken about two years ago...pretty sure that in the picture on the right I'm wearing green lenses and I'm wearing gray ones on the left...

What do you think? Contacts, yay or nay?



Another option would be coloring my hair [I think I might have mentioned it in a previous post...]. As you can see in the pictures above, I don't have any issues with coloring my hair. The toughie here would be whether I wanted to drop the kind of money that it takes to get my hair done at a decent salon or if I wanted to be cheap and get a box of dye to color it myself.

Another detail: with my hair being so dark, it's really pointless to try and use any shade of brown and any 'box blonde' turns out orange. That leaves me with reds and blacks.

My hair is very, very dark brown...so I don't ever see myself going with black dye [what would be the point?]...sooo, yep! I always go back to my first hair love, red.

The more subtle shades of red don't really change my hair color much, so the last few times I dyed it myself I went with comic-book shades of red. To the right is a picture from the last time I went red...

I'm a huge fan of the color, but it takes a lot to maintain it. Last time, I wound up putting a box of brown over if before my friend's wedding...but /shrug I probably would have left it red if it weren't for me seeing people that I've known for a decade but haven't seen in 5+ years. Whether it's fair or not, there's a sort of social judgement that comes with having a hair color that isn't found in nature...

Another option: good old haircut.

I got a pretty significant cut a couple of months ago, but I get bored with my hair very quickly. Here's a picture from about a year and a half ago when I went really short with my hair.

Now, I loved the cut. I know I don't have the 'typical' physique to pull off this sassy haircut, but I loved it anyway. It was easy to manage [well...maybe not. I've got naturally curly hair that can get a bit unruly. When it was short, I did have to straighten it everyday I didn't want to wear a hat...but there was much less hair to straighten!]

I know that some people liked the cut on me, and some people hated it...but I'm the one that has to live with the hair, so...yeah.

[I should also note that this is the event that caused me to realize that the guy I was engaged to at the time definitely wasn't the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. This haircut had a purpose. I cut my hair as a show of support for a family member who was having a tough time medically. Knowing the reason why I cut my hair, he told me that I was hideous. I learned that, with him, looks mattered over everything  else...and this was after we'd been together for a good while and I thought maybe he loved me for who I was...I mean, hair grows back, duh. Turns out, damaged relationships don't fix nearly as easily as hair growing back. I'm sorry, but if you are malicious enough to tell the woman that you 'love' that she's hideous and 'it's not like you were a trophy girl to begin with,' you're asking for a break up with a complimentary slap in the face. Just saying.]

Rambling asides aside...I'm not absolutely sure that I want to go quite that short again. But my hair is still above my shoulders, so there's not much else I could do if I went the haircut route.

Lastly, I might get another ear piercing.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is my ear from earlier this year. Since that picture was taken, I've taken out the two upper cartilage piercings. [One by accident, one out of stupidity]

I love ear piercings. They're relatively inexpensive, they're not very painful, and, well, I like the way they look. However, there's always the risk of something not healing properly and all the nastiness that would entail...and the uber-conservative populace [my lovely parents included] frown upon having more than an ear piercing or two.

If I were to get another piercing, it would probably be similar to the picture to the left. [Cartilage, not lobe]

I think it's cute...

Anyway...it appears that I'm nowhere near deciding what I want to do. [not that that's a new thing for me...] So, what do you think?

Tired and Haircuts...

/Yawn

I'm awake! I swear! zzzZZZzzz

I have no idea why, but I woke up absolutely exhausted this morning...I need to find some caffeine!

Don't you just love these kinds of mornings?

I went to bed at a 'reasonable time,' had what should have been a restful night of sleep, and then wake up feeling worse than I did before I went to bed in the first place! /Sigh

It probably doesn't help that I've had an incredibly busy work week. Seems like the appraisal business is constantly in some sort of up/down cycle...the last week and a half or so were very slow, and now we've got so much work that it's overwhelming. Oh well, better to be busy than bored, right?

Elsewhere in Gotham City...

I got my hair cut yesterday. [Note the impressive lack of enthusiasm!]

At the last minute, I chickened out and decided to get my hair cut into a short bob rather than a pixie cut. I showed the lady cutting my hair several different pictures of what I'd like, one of which was this adorable little blonde cut on Chelsea Staub...

Well...the cut I ended up with looks nothing like the picture. Nothing.




Yeah, this little gem on the right is much closer to the haircut that I ended up with.

Okay, I might be exaggerating...but only just a little.

I hate it.

And I'm not really sure what ended up happening either! But I'm going to give it a few days...see if I can make the new cut at least tolerable by styling it a few different ways, or something...but if not, then I'll go back and have the rest of my hair cut off into a pixie cut after all...

I don't think I'd mind it. And maybe that's why I hate this current cut so much, because I know I'd rather have it shorter...

Meh. Whatever...it's just hair, right? 

Progress Reports and Haircuts...

Yesterday, my kiddo brought home his very first progress report card. I really don't see much point in sending home report cards for kindergartners, but I guess it's just part of the whole "getting acquainted with school" process.

Smiley faces are 'good,' right?

I should probably clarify my meaning in what I just wrote:

I don't see much point in sending home kindergarten report cards because there are no grades! Instead of grades, there are a few of the concepts that they're working on and a note on whether your student is performing at a satisfactory/unsatisfactory caliber. Soooo...yeah...

Though, I'll admit that I'm a little bit concerned that my kiddo received 2's on a few of the check boxes at the bottom. He's not quite '3 material' when it comes to finishing tasks in a timely manner and listening to instructions the first go around...

I'm kind of at a loss on how to handle this sort of thing...

As a student, especially in elementary school, I was such a 'people pleaser' of a child, that I really don't remember ever bringing home any progress reports that weren't absolutely dripping with comments on how I was "such a delight to have in my class!" or the "ideal student!"

Okay, my memories may be a little bit biased...

But seriously. What's the best way to handle this sort of thing? I don't think that he's being a terrible student, really, but I know he isn't applying himself the best he can...Ask the kid anything about the Avengers, Spider-Man, or Star Wars! He'll dazzle you with how much his 5-year old mind can retain! But ask him to sit down and do some handwriting or reading and you'll probably wonder if English is even his primary language...

A good portion of me is cautious about being overly strict here...A product of a military father and a "tiger mom," I know what can happen when you press a child too hard. [Love you, mom and dad, but you know I'm right...] However, I also know what can happen if you're too lenient and a child perceives that there are no consequences or no incentives to do their best...or worse, the child can feel like the parent simply doesn't care about how they're doing in school and, thus, doesn't care about the child...

/Sigh Where's that nifty little guidebook that was supposed to come with becoming a parent?!?

Parental calamity aside, I've had another pesky thought swimming around my head a good bit lately:

I want a hair cut!! [I blame my cousin for this!! She mentioned wanting to get one a few days ago, and now I REALLY WANT ONE!]

Why is this a big deal? Because, I don't want just a trim or an addition of a few layers...I'm seriously jonesing to get another pixie cut. I present to you, my options!





Option 1:
I definitely wouldn't go blonde [it just isn't a color that I like for myself], but I like the overall shape of this cut. I also like the medium-length-ish bangs!

Option 2:
Now, this color is one that I adore! I know I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a love for red hair...this picture combines that fantastic red with an amazing cut...yes, please! This cut has longer bangs...more styling possibilities?

Option 3:
As seen on the fantastic Anne Hathaway, pixie cuts also look fantastic on brunettes...pretty sure that my natural hair color isn't the same lovely shade as hers, but it's pretty close...closer than red, anyway. This cut has shorter bangs than the other two.







Option 4:
Yes, I know this one is a bob and not a pixie...but I think it my be my compromise cut. It's still a good bit shorter than the current shoulder-length hair I've got going on right now, but isn't as dramatic. I'm also thinking that not going quite as short would give me the change of pace that I'm looking for without the commitment that comes with a pixie cut...





I'm planning on giving the whole haircut situation a good couple of weeks to think about...partly because my cousin and I have an unspoken agreement to get dramatic haircuts together, and partly because I need to tap-dance around my finances a bit to make sure that I can spare the money required for an excellent cut and color...definitely not a job for Great Clips!

What do you guys think? Which haircut would you choose?

Dangerously Bored...

It's Friday, again! Congratulations on making it through yet another work/school week...I should have a relatively short work day, myself...my parents, the kiddo, and I are headed down to PCB for the weekend. Now, I know that some of you are having those "wow, that sounds awesome! You're so lucky!" thoughts, but I assure you, they aren't warranted.

My parents own a few condo units down there, so our visits are far more condo maintenance and very little actual relaxing. Personally, I always feel like I need a vacation from out PCB 'vacations.' [PCB = Panama City Beach, FL...just in case you were wondering...]

16+ hour audio book?? Yessss!

So there's the drive to look forward to this afternoon...I actually don't mind the drive all that much, I rather like long drives, especially if there's good company. Or if I happen to be traveling by myself, there's not much better than a good audio book or mix list to car-dance along to. Aaaand I know I'll get picked on for saying I like audio books...but there isn't a safe way to play a gameboy and drive yet, so listening to a book is pretty much the next best thing!

So, last night, I was sitting in my apartment just doing my usual over-thinking stuff...and I noticed an alarming trend to my thought patterns...said patterns go something like so:

My actual ear! Before losing
the two upper piercings :(

"Hmm...you know, I really like my latest ear piercing. And you know, it really didn't take all that long to heal and it didn't really give me any problems...it didn't hurt much at all, and I did end up having to take out my other two cartilage piercings...why don't I get another one? Yeah! Why not?!? I should absolutely go and get another piercing!! But what would I get? etc, etc..."

This red is an acceptable hair color,
right?

"It's been a while since I've dyed my hair...how long has it been? At least 6 months...at least. You know, I really like dyeing my hair! Why has it been so long since I've dyed it? Maybe I should dye it again...like today...or now! What color should I do? I really want to dye my hair some funky color...but then I'd get funny looks from all the teachers and parents at my kiddo's school...I don't want him to feel awkward or anything because he's got "that weird mom with the funky hair colors"...so, brown. But brown's so boring! Ooooh! Red!!! Red's not that outlandish! etc, etc.."

Do you guys see what's going on?

I'm bored.

Not your everyday, 'there's absolutely nothing to watch on tv,' sort of bored. The 'I'm not exactly thrilled with certain aspects of my life right now...I need a quick and easy change' sort of bored. The kind of bored that will result in additional piercings, unnecessarily colored hair, short-lived hobbies, and purchasing way too many home decor items.

The downfall of being so painfully self-aware is that I know what's happening, I know exactly what's happening. And because I know what's happening, I am unavoidably obligated to do something about it, which will require me making changes to my daily routine.

"Hey, weren't you just saying a few posts back that you felt like you needed to make some changes anyway?"

Well, yeah...but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to do.

So the question is, where to start? Money management? Eating healthier? Exercising more...or any, rather?

What?!? I'm in my fort, I can't hear you!

I know, I know...I'm an 'adult' and need to act as such. And I will. But...I don't wanna!! /sigh

Anyway...I hope you guys have a good weekend!

/wistfulsigh