Blast it! Thwarted again!

Yeah...remember that goal of mine to walk 2 miles a day? Hasn't happened. The treadmill was flanked by a piano that we are storing here for my sister and I couldn't get around it to plug it in. Plus, I've been taking it slow this week. This week was kind of a rough week with my fibromyalgia.

Today, lo and behold, my brother-in-law and his brother-in-law come by to pick up the piano. And take the treadmill, too. I whine to my father about how I was going to use that and he tells me to use the bike he bought (he purchased a recumbant bike). Yeah, but it doesn't burn as many calories and it's mind numbing! So, now I get to use the recumbant bicycle to exercise instead. I was going to just do yoga in there (works great for my fibromyalgia, btw, doesn't make me sore), but the bike takes up all the room in there. So ride the bike I will! Good thing I got myself 2 iPods (long story) to keep me entertained while I'm peddling away!

Oh, yeah. Fair warning to my fellow curlies: Until my hair grows out and I can wear it curly all the time again and until I get back into school, this blog is going to cover just about whatever I want to talk about, which lately, seems to be fibromyalgia, since mine is acting up. Sorry, Charlie! Keep checking and I'll let you know from time to time how the hair is doing and when I'm back in school!

For your information, I recently purchased some curly hair products from CURLS. I tried the trial size of CURLS Gel-les'c (the products I purchased can be found at www.curls.biz) and my hair seemed to like it, which it doesn't seem to like anything I have in my very extensive arsenal of products. So I ordered the Children's version of most of the products as they're cheaper and seem to be the same product. I bought the cream cleanser, coconut conditioner, hair tea, moisture spray and Gel-lec's (pronounced Jealousy...lame, I know). I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I think it's time for a protein boost. Might do that tomorrow followed by a DT. I've been neglecting my hair lately, gotta get on top of that!

So...bottom line. Exercise starts Monday. Recumbant bike for at least an hour. Maybe for the duration of a movie, depends on how out of shape I really am. I know I'm severely overweight, but I think I'm still pretty fit. Guess we'll find out!

Halloween

I'd just like to state for the record that I really don't like Halloween. I think it's a lame holiday and usually just crash that night (hence me posting on here instead of being out at a party). This year, working for a new company, they celebrate Halloween. I mean, celebrate! We had a potluck lunch (soup was provided, chili and clam chowder, yum!), where everybody brought something (had way too much food, btw) and people dressed up. They were giving away prizes for most authentic and funniest costume.

So, I figured I'd dress up. I had an idea. I have a weird obsession with Marie Antoinette. I don't know why, but she fascinates me. And it doesn't help that I have a French woman in my office who tells me more about French history, it's great! Anyhow, I had an idea...my sister has a Marie Antoinette-esque dress that she bought when she was going to get married the first time (called it off and couldn't ever sell the dress). I text her and ask her if I can use it. She says it probably won't fit. I say I want to at least try on the dress. So her husband drops it by the house and I'm able to try it on. Yep, it doesn't fit, BUT it laces up the back. I have a nude tank top that I can wear that actually matches the gold embroidery and we can lace me up without zipping it up. Brilliant, right?

So I start searching for wigs. They're all sold out. Then I realize that my cousin had a Marie Antoinette wig from a Masquerade Ball from a couple years ago (maybe 2?). So I text her and ask her if she'll send me the wig. She did and I got it Wednesday. It's perfect, exactly what I wanted!

Since Halloween was on Saturday this year, we all dressed up on Friday. It was a pretty unproductive day and I lived to rue my choice of costume.

First of all, this is a wedding dress. It's heavy as all getout! It has a hooped skirt (which was interesting trying to get into my car and drive), and it's too long, since my sister is taller than me. It has a train that we tried to pin up with a couple safety pins. This did not last, so I ended up dragging the train around me and feeling like Scarlett O'Hara when I would get up to go anywhere, because I would grab one of the hoops and lift up the skirt of the dress to walk.

People were awed. People told my I was insane (which I realized about the time I got in my car), but I was determined to win one of the awards! So I went to work with a sideline trip to a grocery store where people were awed and said my costume was awesome (I did not have the wig on as yet). My arm movements are restricted and I'm laced up a little tight (thank goodness I did not live back then and have to wear a corset!). This is going to be an interesting day at work.

Have you ever tried to sit in an office chair with a "Gone With the Wind" hoop skirt and 30 pounds of dress on? No? I have! It's nigh to impossible! Once I got in my seat, I pretty much stayed there. The safety pins on the train popped and started poking me in the derriere. We tried to fix it, but they just couldn't hold the weight of the material. So now I'm walking around with a train. I put on the wig as everybody starts to drop by and man, is it hot! I start to sweat, which makes my makeup start to wear off a bit, so I take off the wig until pictures.

Management comes around and takes pictures of everybody who dressed up. If I can get a copy of them, I'll try and post those, too!

Around 12, my mom arrives with my contribution to the potluck (cornbread muffins, in case anybody was wondering) and a change of wardrobe. So my friend unlaces me and I am now comfy-cozy in a pair of jeans and a button-down men's shirt and a hat (the wig totally ruined the hairdo).

The good news is I totally won one of the awards! A $25 gift card to Applebee's. When I texted my cousin to let her know what I won, she replied with "Well, let them eat cake," a famously quoted phrase that Marie Antoinette allegedly said to starving French people. There is huge controversy as to whether or not she actually said it, but I wasn't witty enough to actually think to say that when I got my prize!

So, to those who wanted to know how the costume turned out, I give you pictures. I was going to paint my lips, too, but they were all chapped and it just wasn't going to happen. The necklace is real, a gift from my grandmother. I thought it an appropriate accessory. I was going to wear all my rings, but forgot them. Oh, well.

Job, Hair and other boring happenings in life

Yes, that's right. My life has been pretty boring. Mostly because by the time I'm finished with work, I'm so mentally exhausted I literally go home and crash out. Now, this job isn't hard, it just takes so much mental energy to remember all the rules and I'm dealing with 15+ different rules and regulations each day.

I do have a friend that is amazing and makes work so much more fun and we have a grand old time. Thanks to Julie for keeping me sane when I'm about to lose it!

Work is going great. I've had a few unavoidable absences, so they're giving me a probation before being hired on. That's fine. I deserve it. I need to prove that I can be at work and be productive. They deserve that proof. I've got pills to help me over most of the issues that prevented me from getting to work before, so I'll take my pills and get myself to work.

I've made some very interesting aquaitances at work. I wouldn't quite call them friends because we just go out on smoke breaks. Yes, I take smoke breaks with the smokers. Otherwise, I don't get breaks. And it turns out to be the most hilarious breaks ever in existence! I love my smoke break buddies, they're just too fun!

There is a lady at work who is from France. I love her. She is so funny! I wish I had more direct contact with her. She's across the way from me and every once in a while, she'll drop by just to chat. I love that about her. She's actually interested in me and my life and will genuinely talk to me for the few minutes until I have to get back to work. She's amazing, too! Love her!

Did I mention that I really like my job? It's exhausting, just because the fibromyalgia tires me and I sit all day looking at a computer. I don't get up a whole lot like I used to at old jobs, so I get stiff, then everybody asks me if I'm okay. I admit, this transition has been hard and days have been rough. I think I've come in to work without makeup more often that with. I need to get it together.

So I have a plan:

Exercise. Yup, the best help for Fibromyalgia is exercise. Imagine that! We have a treadmill at the house, have for years. Do I use it? No. Rumor is my sister is going to take it to walk on while she's pregnant, but it hasn't disappeared yet, so I'm going to use it. My goal? 2 miles every day. Yes, it's very little, I know. But I have to be very careful not to overdo. I will increase as I feel like I can handle what I've got.

Next, Hair. My hair has been a nightmare. It's still toasted from the bleach. So I went to my stylist that I met at the school I had been going to and asked her to do whatever she could to get as much damage off as possible. She tried a very sharp a-line, but it just wasn't working, so she cut it into a very trendy asymetrical very short bob. it's like a long pixie cut in back with my hair coming to a point just in front of my ears. Very cute and everybody says it looks cute. I can wear my hair curly again (thank the heavens!), but it's a little wild yet. I might try straightening it and seeing how it goes. I love the cut, though. My stylist (Chelsey at Landis Salon in Bountiful) did an amazing job. I'll try and style it tomorrow and post the pic. It's really fun and when I actually where makeup, it's edgy, which is very fun for me, since I've always been quite conservative.

Last. Boring happenings. Nothing much going on, except for work and trying to get my hair back to normal. I'm reading a pretty riveting book that got me hooked off a TV Series. I'm not even sure what channel it's on or if it's even aired in the US. I know it's filmed in New Zealand. The bad guy in the TV series is actually one of the elf lords from The Lord of The Rings movies. This book series is 12 books! Holy commitment! I'm on the third book. Turns out the TV series is not so much like the book. I'm hoping I'll find the connection in further books. For those of you interested, the TV series is called The Legend of the Seeker. And the book series I believe is called the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (I think). Very intriguing, but not for young adults.

So...Sorry for not posting more often, but after staring at a computer screen for 8 hours a day, the last thing I want to do is come home and look at a computer again! I'll try to be better about posting.

Slowly, but Surely

I realized I am very remiss in my blog. Part of this is because bleaching the henna out of my hair killed my curls. I have been working at repairing my hair (as much as possible with all the damage I did to it). I have been using the Kinky Curly Midnight Miracle and must say it works pretty well. It does make your hair feel soft and it's nice to put it in at night and just rinse it out in the morning.

I've also been trying to keep protein in my hair at some points, knowing it'll help strengthen my hair and stop breakage. I found a PIMP protein treatment, though it's not CG approved and it comes in individual packages. It's called Malibu 2000 Miracle Repair Conditioner or something similar to that. It perks of the undamaged curls and gived the bleached ends a little more curl.

My PIMP new stylist, who is amazing and cheap agreed that I just need to get all the damaged ends cut off to get my hair back to the way it used to be. Duh. When I first bleached it and colored it, I ended up getting about 4-5" cut off. I let that grow until it was buggin', then I went and got it cut by my current stylist (who was a student at the place I used to go to school and just went to an Aveda Salon). We decided that we would cut off as much as possible without cutting above my chin in the front. So I ended up with a pretty steep a-line. The back portion has almost all the damaged parts cut off and curls great. It's just the front, where I had to leave it longer that still doesn't curl great. I'm back to wearing my hair curly and not straightening. The less damage I do to it, the better off I'll be.

True, the front looks a little scraggly toward the ends, but where the undamaged regrowth is, it's curling like it did before! I've taken to pulling the front half up in a clip so people don't see the scraggly and only see the curls in the back. Hooray! I think in 1-2 months more, I can get the rest of the damage cut off and I'll be a happy curly again!

In anticipation of this joyous event, I have been greedily eyeing all these products I want to try! The Curls line is enticing, as is the Curl Junkie line. I'm currently poor, so those hopes will remain a dream for a while longer. I mean, it's not like I don't have enough product right now! Only 4 shelves worth on a bookcase. Yes, I realize I have a problem. Do I care? Not a lick!

So that's what's up lately and hopefully more posts will be coming as my curls return!

Remiss in my duties and Birthday antics!

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging duties probably because work is wiping me out and my hair was back in a ponytail or 100 bobby pin updos because I couldn't do anything with it. It's still a big fat mess from my bleaching fiasco and the roots were beginning to grow out, giving me a very unattractive tri-color stripe as the roots at the time of the bleaching kept the red tinge of the repigmentation we went through and the rest of the hair took on the blonde color I was going for.

Since I finally have a job again (hallelujah!) and have money again (Amen and a hallelujah!), I decided it was time to do a demi-permanent Paul Mitchell PM Shines treatment as a personal birthday present to myself. So I went to the beauty supply store and bought some stuff for a friend and a guy I work with and ended up blowing $150 in the store. Yeah...that's right. $150. I bought my demi-permanent dye in nutmeg (A light brown color with slight red undertones), the developer that goes with it (PM Shines has it's own special developer since it's a deposit only hair dye), found Hempz brand face wash and moisturizer, then I found the tanning lotions. So I bought two of those! Then I went home and found 3 bottle of tanning lotion staring back at me on the shelf. I think I have enough now!

I colored my hair last night and ended up with brown hair. Not light brown with slight red undertones. Like brunette. Silly me...I didn't account for my hair's extremely porous state since the bleach and it absorbed the color and went much darker than it should have.

So today, for my birthday, I treated myself to a haircut so I will stop wearing my hair in a pony tail and actually try to look attractive at work. The girl was fantastic and I'm definitely going to her again. She wanted to try to style my hair curly, but it just isn't curling again yet. I still have yet to cut off all the damage on the length. The back has almost all the bleached portion chopped off (thanks to a very layered stacked graduation in the back) and I'm not the proud owner of bangs (or fringe if you're in the hair business)! I haven't had bangs for probably 15 years.

I'm extremely happy with the haircut. I feel attractive again (always a bonus when you leave the salon feeling hot!) and even put on makeup to go to my nephew Bryson's birthday party. I even got a special cake because it was my birthday (I had to share space with one of my sister-in-law's sisters, but I like her, so it's cool). I told my nephew that since his party was on my birthday, he had to share half of his presents with me (He's turning 8, btw). He said he wouldn't share his presents because I had my own cake. I Guess that's considered a fair trade in his mind! We had good mexican food and I ate Carne Asada to my heart's content!

Earlier in the day, my dad asked for assistance in setting up his new "toy," a canopy. Don't worry, because the destructions were cryptic at best and we don't do destructions as a rule, so we were trying to figure out how things worked. I am proud to say that I figured it out! I am also proud to say that my dad was a smidge frustrated because I figured out the mechanics of what we were doing before he did. He's the visionary and if that fails, then logic trips in to save him. I'm the logic before visionary. I can't stand illogical people, they drive me batty!

My dad was also super sweet by taking myself and my mom out to "breakfast" (At 11:30 am, btw) at a local old-timer restaurant. I had 2 eggs, hashbrowns, 1/4 lb sausage patty and a scone. I ate everything but the scone. It was heavenly! That was my birthday present from my dad. His love language is by doing things for people. It's his way of showing he cares and it's so sweet to see. We talked about his side of the family and I realized that I come from the most jacked up, disfunctional family lineage ever!

So I'm now exhausted from my not super-busy but not planned on day. I was expecting to crash out and sleep the day away, my preferred method for spending my birthday (I hate my birthdays).

Oh! I can't forget...I also cut my mom's hair today. It looks great. I'm quite proud of myself. And while I was cutting my mom's hair, I got a call from my brother Kim. We're probably the closest siblings and he lives down in Texas. My phone was in my room and I was cutting my mom's hair, so it went to voicemail. On my voicemail was a message from my nephew Conner (I don't ever spell his name right, so it's probably wrong...sorry Conner!) Saying "Happy Birthday, Keri! I love you!" Of course, my brother was prompting in the background, but soooo sweet. Then my brother called my parents line and I talked to him. That was great. He's in the hospital with their younger boy. They thought he was doing better, but his heart stopped beating today, so if you're reading this novel...keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Another long stay in the hospital for the Texas Beams! At least they know everybody and are part of the "family" there. I wish they were closer!

All in all, a good birthday full of love and well wishes. I also received (right on time, of course) a birthday card covered with frogs from my loverly cousin Ashlee wishing me a happy birthday. Made my day! It's going in my cubicle at work!

First Day of Work

Yesterday was my first day at my new job. We'll be training until the end of next week. I woke up so nauseated from anxiety I thought I might not be able to make it, but new I had to. So I took some Dramamine 24-hour (great for nausea people, Bonine is the same thing), an anxiety pill and lay in bed until I started to feel marginally better.

I had planned on showering, but dealing with the anxiety was my first priority and my hair wasn't greasy. So after laying in bed (luckily, I didn't have to be to work until 9:30 that day) until I felt somewhat better, I got up, washed with a washcloth and got dressed. I brushed my hair, which was still up in bobby pins from the zoo the day before and I left it that way. My makeup was still on from the day before, too (technically, I wear mineral makeup so I didn't wash my face the night before after an exhausting day at the zoo and then dinner at Golden Corral with about 30+ family members), so I just went to work.

I must say, I'm a little overwhelmed and woke up again this morning with nausea and anxiety, though not as bad. I was gonna shower again, but dealt instead with my nausea and anxiety first, then washed with a washcloth (makeup still working after 3 days!) and got dressed. Now, I'm off to put my hair up (still not greasy) and off to work!

I think I'll enjoy the job, though it's a little overwhelming right now. It's basically data entry, but there are so many rules and regulations to learn, it's a challenge. But hey...I did Financial Aid. If you can figure out the Federal Education Loan guidelines, you can learn anything, I say! I think this will be an excellent position for me and I'm liking it so far!

Meeting of the Curlies

Yes, that's right. We had a meeting of the curlies! There are roughly 3 curlies involved in the Naturally Curly Forums that live in Utah. And lo and behold, we got a private message from another curly (who has personally been very helpful in my journey with curly hair) who was coming to visit Utah and wanted to meet up to have lunch! We're always psyched up when we meet up to go to lunch and swap products like the true junkies we are, so we were super psyched to be able to meet another one from out of town!

We dithered back and forth about where to eat to give Laurabeth33 the best Utah food experience and were having a hard time coming up with something that is intrinsically Utah. We finally agreed on a local but very famous (with musicians mostly, they have a wall full of musicians and celebrities that have been there that have signed the wall and left pictures). The restaurant is called The Red Iguana and it has pretty authentico Mexican, which I appreciate highly thanks to the many family parties at my brother's house whose wife is from Mexico. I looooooove authentic Mexican food, particularly Carne Asada. Yum. But I digress.

I was late (not usual for me, but I decided to take side streets instead of the freeway because my car has expired registration and has since December) and everybody was already seated by the time I got there. I was pooh-poohed because I had worn my hair straight, then I reminded them that my hair won't curl because of all the damage I did to it about 2 months ago, then they were very sympathetic.

Two husbands ended up coming along because of the place we were going and it was sooooo much fun! I love going out with friends and just being able to talk about anything! We exchanged products like the junkies we are. Laurabeth, who is a product tester came with so many trial sizes I felt guilty that she didn't end up getting anything else from us because she couldn't take it on the flight home!

Overall, good times were had and it was a great time for me to get out and about! I loved it! Thanks guys for getting me out of the house and into some good food and company! It was a blast!