Greetings from Snowmageddon

I am one of the millions of humans being inundated by ridiculous amounts of snow.  I am keeping my fingers crossed, and saying my prayers that we are able to stay warm and safe through all of the hubbub.  I think it has finally stopped snowing but that's about 10 inches of snow later give or take an inch.  The wind is going to be the biggest issue over the next few hours as it makes the temperature drop to dangerously low points for a full day.  Work has been cancelled and we have been cautioned to stay home unless we have to be out.  Believe me I am so not headed anywhere.  I planned on sneaking over the gym this morning and yeah the snow was already making the road disappear so I gave up on that.  I get my one and only workout of 2014 in yesterday.  Spent an hour moving through the ab routine, full body weights and then hit the treadmill and bike until my body said psst lady get the hell up.

I had to hit the grocery store allegedly for one last thing but that never ever happens plus the store was packed to overflowing with humans and barren of staples.  I loaded up on what I could, paid for it and came home.  Now I'm watching Betrayal, mostly because I mightily lust after Stuart Townsend, and I'm hoping these random light flickers are just because I'm tired and haven't really had the lights on this late lately.  We're in and just trying to entertain ourselves until this improves.

I have started my second inversion.  I figured this would be a good time to do so since yeah not sure when leaving the house will become an option.  That gave me time to surf the Sephora website and close the deal on some new skin care products.  Depending on the lighting I can see very defined dark spots on my cheeks which I hate.  They also included a few samples and a skincation kit which had a bunch of samples to use.  I'll see which ones I like and I will review them in turn.  I need to get my skin under control as I'm working on the rest of me too.  I am upping my water intake too.  For ever 1.4 ish liter of V8 Fusion I finish I drink the same amount of Crystal Light.  So far I'm going through a bottle and a half each day or so but since I'll be in the house I'm sure that will increase.  The V8 Fusion gives me a serving of fruit and veggie in each 8 oz serving which is good but the water helps too.

I can say a bit about the Fuzz Off I got the last time I went to Ulta.  It is MUCH better than the Nair facial remover.  My hair is course and the Nair seemed to make it softer but not really remove it.  I don't think I used enough the first time but it did remove the majority of hair I put it on the first pass. The second pass got rid of the rest of it.  The tube itself is great.  You have to turn it to the on position so no chance of accidental spillage (and since its 24 bucks a tube yeah for no accidental spillage).  And there's a lip that could be used to help smooth on the cream but I used my fingers.  That's a good thing because I feel my chin often with the same fingers and it made sure I hit the hairs that like to say eff you Nair.  So far so good on remaining smooth and it's been three days or so I think.  I'll monitor better the next time.

And finally I did have a wash day before the gym.  I think I washed my hair on the 1st after my post.  I let it prepoo over night after detangling with my fingers.  For the most part it was a smooth wash day.  I added the Mizani MoistureFuse and skipped one of my shampoos mostly because I couldn't find it.  I wrapped it and crossed my fingers.  It dried pretty straight which is a minor miracle.  Since I only planned on going to the gym when I took it down it didn't need to be super straight anyway.  I was going to flat iron it in the morning but yeah snowmageddon.  I'll moisturize and seal it when I get up in the morning and figure out what I'm going to do for the day besides eat.  At least I made a ton of new salads so we can grab something easily.

So what is up in your neck of the woods?

2013: An Interesting Year, Time to Say Good-bye

So I wasn't sure I was going to write anything today but figured what the heck.  There are a few reasons to do so and one of them is this.  I started a happy thoughts/good events jar at the beginning of the year.  While I wasn't always great about keeping it up to date when something new happened but when I sat down today I hit 72 separate events that made the year worthwhile.  That surprised me to say the least but it also means I was doing more of what I hoped to be doing in that I was actually looking at the good things and not getting mired down in the bad things.  Being totally honest and transparent, there were some less than happy moments throughout the year but as of this moment I can say without a doubt that the good far outweighed the bad.  If you want to join in on for it next year just follow the instructions on the photo below.

As for my hair and health journeys, that has gone well despite some setbacks.  Like many a human I started 2013 with the goal of getting healthy and shedding 40 pounds.  Well then I lost my job, was horribly stressed, found a new job and then finally moved.  Let's just say my weight was all over the flipping place and I do believe before I started working out that I had gained about 10 pounds from all of the inactivity and funk I allowed myself to get mired in.  Thanks to my willingness to step beyond my comfort zone this year I entered every contest I could get my hands on and won two of them.  I have a beautiful necklace to show for one win and the photo I shared yesterday to show for the second.  Now that win didn't cover the whole shoot but it got me up and active and it got me interested in other new things.  Like makeup and vintage hair styling because she created a look I didn't think I had enough hair to pull off but hey joke was on me.  After hitting shoulder length, the aforementioned stress and bad self care did a number on my hair.  When I finally found a hair dresser here she whacked off at least 3 inches and left me somewhat devastated.  My hair felt better but all that time and energy to just see it gone was heartbreaking.  However, being back on my hustle with the hair care and self care and surprisingly all the sweating made my hair rebound in a great way.  When I went to a new stylist, who had my old relaxer (thank you Affirm), my hair was feeling great again and most importantly I had retained quite a bit of length.

I'm eating better, trying to sleep better, getting to the gym at least twice a week as much as I can and shooting for three or four when I can pull that off.  And like I mentioned yesterday I am continuing to add to that which by default will benefit both my heath and hair.  The swimming is good exercise and the resulting chlorine impact will make sure I tend to my hair as much as I can on Saturday mornings.  I invested in the kit below when I was still visiting because it was used on me during the photo shoot.  I showed you some photos during the update post before I left but I will have to get used to applying it myself.  I grabbed a foundation brush at Ulta when I got back along with Fuzz Off.  Yeah the Nair was just laughing at me and I can't let the hair get long enough to wax because the moment I feel hair along my chin line it drives me nuts.  So I will try Fuzz Off before I have to find a home electrolysis kit and zap those little irritations into dust.  I am also working on new protective styles for the new year.  Flexi sets are fine for a while but not the be all end all once my hair hits a certain point.  I'm also trying to do the braid thing if I can find someone to make it look professional for me.  I still have the day job lol.  And something else odd happened while I was gone.  I nearly completely abandoned my comb.  I really didn't have time to do much with my hair because my nieces were loving on them some Auntie.  So I would comb my hair into a wrap with my fingers and tie it down and they were normally clamoring to pull it down for me in the morning so I would let them.  Well anyway I think that's the high and lows for my year in brief.  Let's see what 2014 has in store!  Happy New Year to you and yours.