New Year

Well, of course, Anna Gesch got her new years post up before mine... but its whatever.

This year has been really great and really hard. I spent the first four months of it in Quito, Ecuador; which was a great decision for my spanish but was so hard on my heart (you learn to love people and a place and it all becomes a part of you. And then you leave...) Coming back to the states sucked less, i spent one of the best summers of my life living in Chicago with some of my best friends. Its been a slice, really.

Top Five Moments of 2011:
1. My semester in Ecuador
2. Learning how to live on my own. (like for real. Paying bills, grocery shopping, cooking, using public transit- don't lie to yourself about the dorms giving you those experiences. They just didn't son.)
3. Learning how to let people in- even if you're ok "on your own." (apparently it's totally normal to talk to your friends about your feelings. Who knew?)
4. Its a tie between Julianne's wedding weekend and our trip to Toronto (same amazing cast of characters. Quality hijinks ensued with both.)
5. Finally quitting the absolute worst job I've ever had (and finding a really decent new one!)

Hopeful Highlights for 2012 (or a thinly veiled list of "resolutions")
1. I told my self Icould smoke through undergrad. The time has come the walrus said...
2. I'll need to pay off my credit card before things get out of hand.
3. Theres this boy- he takes me out, then he lectures me about credit cards. Next year, I really hope he'll be my boyfriend :)
4. I'm gonna look hot. All the time, 24/7 classy-fabulous ( I'm seriously a deranged kardashian wannabe)
5. Oh yeah, graduate from college and find some kind of job to support myself!

This is how LB and her friends kicked it up for
2012. Pink Champagne ($2.99 at jewel.) #classy.

Done with DIY Decmeber.

Oh hi. This is my blog, obvi. I just have been doing everything but blogging this break. I'm back to work at the Lakeview YMCA and the commute has been taking a toll on me. I'm a baby. I'm over it. 

So the hair. Well, it's not as much of a hot mess it was in the initial stages, but the weird knottiness hasn't gone away. Also, I really don't think it's thicker at all. In short, I don't look like a movie star. Whatever. 

I also dyed my hair Christmas Eve (#ballsy) and it it didn't turn out so well. A few shades too dark and with some super weird streaks in one side. I think only two people honestly like it, everyone else in my life is just too kind to tell me I look like Wednesday Addams.  The dying experience made my hair hella soft and I realize just how much i  missed the "normal" hair feeling. The dye business also helped me to avoid my worst-case scenario of wearing a hat to Christmas, that was a definate relief. 


The big question is am i going to keep doing it? You know, i'm not sure. Probably not. I think I'll just shampoo a less frequently and not freak out about it. It's whatever. Additionally, I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow [the 30th] and I'll know there will be shampoo aplenty. So my first shampoo in a month will be with  a complete stranger, and my head in a sink. Awesome.

The DIY face business was the best decision I've ever made. I would recommend to anyone to wash their face with honey and use Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner. Cheap, awesome and all around fabulous. Do it!


I know you want pictures, but I don't have any super nice ones of the new hair. I have a nasty picture I forgot to post here and I have a picture from Christmas of my friend Nick and I that you can harshly judge. Enjoy.

This was after the breakfast guacamole on my
head fiasco. I had my hair up, after removing the
hair tie, this remained. cute!

Nick obviously loves my hair. I look goofy here but you can tell
that my hair is a darker. This is also in a bar, judge on boys and
girls.

What's on tap for January you ask? No Jumpin' Jammin' or Jugglin' January. I think it will be Just like Before, January. I have a few DIY things I didn't get to post from this month. So i'll do a little of that, and a little more of whatever I feel like.

DIY Family Edition

What up blogosphere? Life was hella busy in da heights with all the finals craziness. But I'm home now. Rolled in to the 18559 club on Friday and the fun just hasn't stopped since...

but before my arrival at my Dad's there was some definite sadness. My roommates (and our plus one!) had to say good bye for the first time- Jacqui's going to Chicago Semester, Sash & I heading to the villagio and it's the beginning of the end of my time waking up with my best friends every day. 

That brings us to DIY family. I have this weird habit of not being able to have causal friendships. For real. I have best friends, that's it. Friends are the family you choose yourself, and I've loaded the ranks with a bunch of lovable weirdos. [disclaimer: I love my bio family more than anything. But sometimes a girls gotta diversify her circles. that's when these people happened...] Allow me to introduce just one contingent of my DIY family, my roommates.

The 210, plus one. 

from left to right: me, calob, sasha, & jacqui

Calob: He's our baby bro. This kid is a total gem. It all started out of his bromance with Jacqui's fiance, Jon... and how glad I am that it did. He's the best and tons of fun, we can laugh, we can cry, and he comes to caf dinner "just for the conversation". We get sick and take of each other, classic friend stuff. We talk about feelings, which gets kind of weird but we always end up laughing. He's also super smart, his latest theory is that lesbians don't get stressed. Ha!

Sasha: This girl. She's the kindest, warmest most geniune person you'll ever get to meet. She dreams big and is still my friend when I try to bring her back to reality. We can laugh until we cry, but she also supports my habit of "surprise crying." She is an excellent listener and an even more talented artist. She's the only person I know who loves Harry Potter as much as me or can match my affinity for vinegar-y snacks [shout out to pickles and mustard with our soft pretzels at the mall.]


Jacqui: PTL we like each other because we spend A LOT of time together. Sometimes we match, but it's ok because, "who we are is just so similar." She's a great roommate and real fun, even if she rarely rescues me from Sasha's weird, snugly embrace. She reads weird morman blogs a ton and single handedly got to me to join Twitter and Pinterest all in the course of a semester. She once called me a "cheating brat", I may never forgive her. She's leaving for Chicago semester [not that far] and then is getting married to Jon [lucky bastard/going far way] & i hate it.

So that's just one branch of my DIY family tree. 

In other news, my hair is fine. Lots of pictures to come!!!
I seriously haven't put any shampoo on my hair in 20 days. I love it. I think it freaks my dad out that I have a big bottle of honey and Apple Cider Vinegar under the sink, but the soft skin is worth it.

DIY away kids.

Breakfast guacamole on yo head.

So i'm really not sure why i do this to myself.

I decided to forgo the apple sauce bath, for an avocado hair mask. Basically because it's more natural blah blah blah.

So did i lil googlin' [totally verb, get over it.] and found a bunch of different recipes that I didn't have all the ingredients for. So i just mixed up some of what I did have. [somewhere in my DNA is a chromosome that reads completely incapable of making a decent decision/ straight up dumb.] Basically the LB avo hair mask consisted of one VERY ripe avocado, a small mushy banana, and some honey. Again I say, STUPID.

It was pretty yucky going on. You can thank my roomate Jacqui for playing photag here. She got some really quality shots chronicling my foray deeper into all natural hair care.

The process was simple enough, slather it onto your hair and let it soak for a while in a warm towel. That sounds really easy until you've put a soaking wet towel on your head. I feel like I was doing curls with my neck for an hour. According to Sasha, getting the towel completely damp and ringing it out was also a work out, but I'll leave that to her in the comments section if she's compelled to share.

To the right you can observe the slathering process. Please try to imagine the smell of honey, avocado and bannanas while i was doing this. My hair still smells like some kind of breakfast guacamole.

So there was that...



.... then I sat in a wet towel for an hour...





And now you'll want to know how it turned it out.

Dismal. Greasy. I look like a junkie coming off a two week bender. Reminiscent of Severus Snape [but not quite that bad.] It was fine last night before I went ot bed, but I woke up this morning to some incredibly greasy, nasty hair. And the breakfast guacamole smell is here to stay, it seems. On the positive side, my hair does seem a lot softer and less brittle, so hopefully that will stay and the grease will dissipate with a few Baking Soda treatments.

I'll leave you with this gem...

I kind of wish i was joking about the back. i have to be in public today.
shit. 

please be nice to me. 

DIY yourself a Merry little Christmas

First things first. The hair update. As you know, the knot situation is out control. I feel like my head could be used as a model for a class on sailing knots. Suffice it to say, it feels like a big dread lock most of the time. Don't fret. I've got pictures. Really, really embarrassing ones.

These are the real deal folks. Top left: day 5, top right: day 7,
bottom left: day 9, bottom right day 11
(just woke up. with hair like that.)

These are the knots. Left, i look naked, but i'm not.
That thing on my shoulder is my hair, ONE BIG DREAD LOCK/
home for wayward guinea pigs and hamsters.
Right top: after brushing it out, greasaayyyy.
bottom right: i am discussed with the brushed out knots, grease
factor and crappy lighting in my room.

So it's getting a little weird. I know it hasn't been the full two weeks yet, I just don't see any marked improvements outside of my hair's thickness. It's coarse and yucky and sometimes embarrassingly greasy. I'll stick it out, only 20 more days [who says no to quality entertainment and free over produced hair grease?- not this girl, that's who.] 

I think i might try giving my hair an apple sauce bath, for moisture. Apparently that's a real thing.  I'll link up what I decide on, not to worry. 

Even though my hair is sick nastaaay gross, it's still Christmas [who knew]. Hasn't really felt like Christmas with the no snow and the helluvalotta finals work, but I've experienced some holiday standby's that always put a little navidad in my vida. 

exhibit a.

Homemade snowflakes. You tried really hard to make them in elementary school and they always looked stupid. Then Sasha taught you the hexagon fold... that's my life story. We put on some Sufijan Christmas tunes [theological disagreements aside] and make it snow on dis room [regrettably we couldn't locate rain or whoes. Hence, snowflakes.]

Exhibit B:

These be Christmas cookies. I created these gems right after the snow flaking and I was raring to go and have some Christmas time fun. The social work Christmas party served up minimal fun, but lots of GFS sugar cookies and real life tubs of icing [read: spoonable sugar + nuclear waste]. I may have gotten a little white girl wasted on sugary products that evening and acted real stupid. [that's a real thing for me. the regular pop, 3 cookies & all that holiday cheer just set me over the edge. I was that weird kid at your third grade class Christmas party that had to be sent home early, from "over stimulation."] So that got a little strange, but whatever. i love Christmas, Christmas cookies and Christmas carols... am I to blame that some of those things don't love me?

not nice knots.

my hair is just nastaaay.[technical terms].

its realllllllly knotty. and dry, and feeling sick.

I will have photo updates soon. but soon is not right now, thanks.

Finals are also happening soon, apparently. People are in an uproar, as if they don't happen every year.

This is an uproar. Keep reading.

Day Five and having your mom do things for you.

Hey. So that's my real face. I didn't touch it up, I don't have an ounce of makeup on. Its weird that it's on the internet now. BUT-- it's to show how AMAZING that honey face wash business really is. I'll put together some comparisons for tomorrow. But OH WOW. it feels as smooth and wonderful as it looks [there's my self esteem.]

As for the hair. that's a story for tomorrow. It doesn't look too bad in that picture, but it's getting rough over here.
...and by rough, i mean hella greasy.

On to DIY December, the Momma installment. My mom is a real nut, but i love her. She's also a pretty nutty DIY-er who puts my abilities to shame. She's not quite on the natural beauty bus just yet, but cutesy-crafty-heartfelt-crap, that's her bag. 

To the right there, that's the Christmas tree at her house. I'd guess that she made or personalized about 40% of the ornaments on it [the rest are Barbie and Wizard of Oz... I'm not kidding.]

True Life: My mom is so awesome. There's this great ornament that is actually a miniature book chronicling my first Christmas. She filled it out completely [props for having the exact same handwriting 21 years later.] and pasted [like by hand] pictures of the whole event. That's dedication. I should have snapped a picture of my favorite entry from the wee little book, it read:
"Baby's First Christmas Gifts-
1. clothes
2. Puffalump animal
3. Bonds
..."

Maybe its only me, but bonds would not have made my top three gifts ANY Christmas [granted I was nine months old, and didn't know the difference...] It probably is only me. My mom didn't even crack a smile when I read the list. Bonds were apparently a super "appropriate" & "normal" gift in December of '90. People also were still wearing shoulder pads at the time, so its whatever. 

Obviously the Christmas tree is awesome, and the baby book ornament is awesome... but, there's more!

My mom also patched my favorite jeans. She performed a Christmas miracle by making the miracle jeans wearable again. PTL.

For real. These were my all time favorite jeans until... the friction generated by obviously super thin thighs causes a major hole right up by the crotch of these super hot jeans. Rendering them, not so hot. 

but look- totally fixed. Now I'll just need to keep my legs together while sitting [not a problem] and far apart while walking [that could be tricky].

I'm so excited.

DAY ONE

ok ok. So i've been doing the honey face wash thing for two days [cheater] and today was my first day going no 'poo. Seriously guys, this is going to be rough...

my hair feels nastaaayyy. Today would have been a normal shampoo day for me, meaning I washed my hair on Tuesday. Basically, I'm rocking three days sans traditional poo. The roommates say it doesn't look nasty, but i can feel it my bones that the slime is on its way. i've been asking my friends for pinky swears and signed pacts that they will continue in our friendship even after the greasiest of grease emerges. [hopefully i won't have to enact those.]

the honey face wash is great. My whole body smells like apple cider vinegar but I really can't complain. I think the volcanic eruptions are starting to clear up.

I'm also on the lookout for non gypsy ways to wear a scarf in my hair. I'm cool with a little gypsy but nothing that will require large, gold hoop earrings. I need a way to cover my hair without wearing a turban a la Professor Quirrel from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Additionally, every idea i find online about scarf hair do's is terrible. Either it's totally gypsy-tastic or it's a nasty handkerchief tied up 2nd grade style. yuck.



that's it. I plan to play all weekend so I'll update with some photos Monday.

no more No Shame November... [shameless sans aliteration.]

A sincere thanks to one of my dearest friends, Kathleen Leahy for this inspiration for the month. [Entirely Glass, or Windowless] and our friend Kelli Schmitz [alis volat propriis] for adding her voice to the November conversation.I loved writing No Shame November, and I heard a few people liked reading it. I guess that means I'm going to give this weird blogging thing a go. But I'll need themes. and alliteration...

December is going to be a doosey [no, that's the not the theme.] I'm doing DIY December and I plan to chronicle my foray into DIY all natural beauty products. [i'm a lil' crunchy hippie sometimes.]

two main focuses this month:
1. switching from 235394870357234 face products [real talk: i'm crazy.] toonly two.
2. switching from commercial shampoos to a DIY baking soda mixture [oh it's gonna get real greasy up in here.]

photo quality is less than poor. i'm new at this, relax.

1. Basically my skin has been a hot nasty volcanic mess as of late. I tried all my usual tricks [putting tooth paste on them before bed, classy.] and I still was feeling like I needed to be on the "before" section of a Proactiv commerical. It's time for a change. When I found this great idea on the pinterest, I was in. Honey face wash, here I come. [let the honey puns commence.] The idea for honey face wash is beautifully simple. Use honey and water to wash your face and remove your make-up, use Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner.

skin, messy bun & goofy face. or- "before"

2. The no 'poo craziness has been rolling around in my little pea brain for some time now. This time last year I was on the verge of getting dread locks, i'm just over my hair. I regularly rock the white girl nat'ral afro [real thing] and the catholic school messy bun [mother mcauley mighty macs, what up?],  I need an intervention. 

I creeped around some more the pinterest [i might need to join P.A. soon.] and found this fabulous documentation of a no 'poo experiment. [dear Crunchy Betty, i want to be you.] So i'm doing it. Just like that. 

I won't repost the entire process here [it's simple: use water and baking soda in place of shampoo and use Apple Cider Vinegar to condition.], but basically everything i've read says my hair will need a month or so to transition from regular shampoo to no 'poo. I will be documenting my grease ball nastiness during the transition period this month [like i'll probably have to wear a hat to Christmas]. I'm committing to see this through, into the new year. If it doesn't help by January 1st- I'm out, but i really really really hope it makes me look a like a movie star [totally reasonable expectations].

There will be before and after pictures, there will be grease, there will be trying to camouflage the grease, there will be funny stories, there will be not-so funny stories, it will be my idea of a good time. 

So, letcho inner grease ball out. 

Anyone up for taking the challenge with me?

all DIY beauty ideas come from www.crunchybetty.com. 

read:THIS ARE HER IDEAS, not mine. 

I'm only wishing to chronicle my personal experience. 

Crunchy Betty approval pending.