Mid week Updates

Okay so it's really probably later in the week but better late than never.  Plus there's going to be another post today too that has absolutely nothing to do with my hair lol.

I should have taken a photo when I left the house on Monday.  My hair felt great and looked great but it was bouncy and felt like it wasn't set enough to hold up all day.  I was right.  It was mimicking my pre vacation hair by the end of the day and was completely fallen on Tuesday.  I did make it to the gym too so that didn't help at all.  I got the new combs I was waiting on so I used the jumbo rake to comb out the little bit of curl that was left and then M&S yesterday with my Elasta QP and grape seed oil.  I did take a photo this morning of my mid week roller set which is never done with as many rollers as the first one for some reason lol.  If I look tired it's because I am lol.  This week has been interesting at best.

So I have had ridiculous periods since like forever.  The depo provera cancelled them out most of the time and all was well except I'm not at the age where they don't want to leave you on it indefinitely and the options on the other end of the spectrum aren't necessarily so much fun. 

• Option One: deal with it, it's likely I'm perimenopausal now which could last another year or three.  Not the most horrible thing except I'm having cycles every three weeks right now and lets just say that SUCKS.
• Option Two: progestin only birth control pills.  This is an option because my family has a history of high blood pressure and mine can fluctuate.  It would at least regulate the cycle better BUT increases the risk of blood clots.
• Option Three: endometrial ablation.  This would greatly reduce cramps and bleeding and runs the risk of stopping my cycle all together but it also means no kids.  The ablation burns off a layer of the lining of the uterus where eggs would implant.  It doesn't sterilize you but it makes it dangerous to get pregnant.  Now as I have none, I'm single, nearly 39 and would never want to have children with someone I hadn't known at least a year and been married to another year the chances of me having kids is slim to none I know.  But I have spent the last few days second guessing the do I want to have any really before I even go in for the biopsy to make sure I even qualify.

So yeah it's throwing off my mood a bit.  I have time to make a decision so it's not a huge deal.  I just missed my first chance to do it this week but yeah I gotta decide something.  I remember thinking how lovely it would be to be a grown up and do all those grown up things.  No where in there did I see me not as someone's parent or at least fantastic step-parent lol.  Life has a way of throwing us some curves.  I'm still a kick ass aunt though.  And I made my Cinnabon kit and it was quite tasty.  I'm better prepared for round two whenever that comes.  Ok off to the next post.

Fitness Friday

When I originally saw this idea on Saving Our Strands it was at a time I was getting somewhat lazy with my workout routine.  And then I fell completely off the map with working out all together.  I changed a habit here or there but had not stayed consistent or gotten back to the gym before last week so participating while moping about seemed silly.

Last week I was tired but my life was slowing down enough that I felt that I could take the hour I needed to get back to the gym.  So on Thursday and Friday of last week I hit the gym for the first time in months and it felt fantastic.  My old greeters at the gym were still front and center.  I left sore and happy each day and committed to get back there ASAP.  Well I didn't back until Thursday again this week mostly because I was hovering over mom who had oral surgery.  However, as she has started feeling better the gym has become my respite again and while I didn't plan on going yesterday I went anyway to calm down before dealing with the next round of weirdness from the woman who gave me birth.

The last four trips haven't gone much past an hour because I'm not trying to go all out yet but work out as much of my body as I can before I get back to the routine I had worked up for me before I disappeared early this spring.  The gym is back to being empty again and I love it.  I sweat, rock out to my workout mix and leave.  Yesterday I used an easy bun starter instead of trying to get cute to go sweat.  Yeah I know folks do but my brain is so not there.  That was only after acknowledging I was neglecting my hair again.  I'm hoping the next two months off from full time work will allow me to be more focused on both my hair and fitness.  I have taught two classes this summer but don't teach the month of July and well I guess it's not two months off I have to start prepping for my fall courses for the changes I want to make and things I want to get done.

How goes your healthy pursuits?

Post Relaxer and General Life Updates

So it's been a week since my last relaxer, well a week and a few days.  As of right now my plan is it skip wash day until right before my vacation.  Mostly because of my teaching schedule but seriously I love the fuss free moments of the first few weeks posts.  I am moisturizing as needed and I may get my dry shampoo a whirl if it starts to feel gross.  Plus the gray doesn't seem quite as daunting right now.  In the interim I restocked my Moroccan Oil deep conditioner because the other jar is almost empty.  I have already picked up an Organix replacement but I may rotate one or both of them out of the prepoo rotation in favor of that ORS Hair Mayo to see if it's as good as I've heard others describe.

I have not got back on my workout grind but I have been eating better again.  Salads have been back on tap and I actually made it through my week supply without any of them looking pitifully wilted.  This week I'm trying something new as well.  I have a partial obsession with the cucumbers that are in my salad dressing in the jar.  They don't wilt but they do absorb some of the dressing and they are DELICIOUS.  Considering how much I like those I have opted to slice up two jars full of cucumbers and have added my regular dressing (red wine vinaigrette) to one and just some straight red wine vinegar to the other.  Whichever one tastes better will be my go to snack when I want something healthier from now on.  I did restock the lower fat, portion controlled, single serving snack options as well.  And in an effort to cut out some other calories I'm trying to fully give up bread most of the time.  I was eating my salad on bread at Subway.  Seems like it would be even healthier just to get rid of the bread.  I have had a tortilla (mostly corn) since I made that decision but I rarely ever finished bread before it would go bad and unless I was buying a sandwich out I don't have much bread.  I'm still working on the pizza.  I love pizza but don't like the doughy options and rarely if ever eat the crusts.

The only other thing I'm working on now is reorganizing my bedroom space.  I finally got a bookshelf assembled so a lot of the books that are lonely and needing a home will go there.  I'll add another one I'm sure and a few smaller ones so they don't dominate the bedroom but add a bit of storage area as well.  The kitchen floor needs to be done and there's a massive tree we have to get taken down but we knew that before we moved into the house.  Joys of it being my house and not something I'm renting.  What's up in your worlds?

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.