Talk To Me – This and That

Friends, please share your thoughts, comments, and or opinions on any or all of the following items.

1. Blueberry Muffins.

I am looking for a good blueberry muffin recipe.  I made the one from Ms. Betty Crocker, and well they were not that great.  First, they needed lemon zest.  Second, they were bland.  Third, they were dense, and I want something lighter and cake-i-er.

Do you have a good recipe?  Would you want to share?

2. Books.

I am looking for some good books to read.  GASP!

I know. 

If you know me at all you know that reading for me is skimming through a food magazine or skimming through a child’s book.  However, I feel like my brain is turning to MUSH.  More now than ever before, my brain is failing me and I think that perhaps reading books will help my brain become more active.

So any suggestions?!  What are YOU reading?! 

For the record, I tend to like sci-fi books. 

3.  50 Shades of Red.

So I have been seeing red lately.  Why, because I want to color my hair red and I am trying to figure out what shade to go with.

I know I will go with a semi-permanent color as it fades away nicely without leaving me with drastic roots.  Plus, I am not the kind of person who can commit to one hair color other than my own for a long period of time.

Now I know it all depends on your skin tones, but what are your thoughts on going red.  More so, what shades do you like?

Here are some examples.  I could go more copper, light red, dark red, auburn….so many choices!  

What color do you like?!  If you have an opinion, what color do you like for me?! :-)

#1

#2

#3

#4 

(I don't think I am brave enough to go this color red!)

#5

#6

 #8

#9

#10

Talk to Me – I Need A New Hair Style

 So after I had Henry I noticed I was shedding a bit more than normal.  However, it keeps getting worse and now it seems my hair is falling out by the handful.  I take a shower and it looks like we have an animal in the shower**.  And there are hair balls/clumps (ew) all over me, the house, and Henry!

What sucks, besides the fact that my hair is noticeably thinner, is that Henry seems to get my really long hair stuck in his hands, and we don’t want that. Every night before bed it is an appendage check. Any hairs wrapped around his fingers, wrists, toes, penis….because he had a hair tightly wrapped around his thumb once and it scared us so we check everything!

So I am seriously thinking of cutting my hair shorter.  Not really short, just shorter than what it is now (which is probably still a good 6+ inches).  I don’t know what I am hoping to accomplish by this, maybe I think that a shorter cut will make my hair healthy again or maybe it is just that I am sick of my long hair.  I am always pulling my hair back and have yet to find a style I just love with my longer hair.  Seriously, it just feels like if hangs there…ok, yes that is what it is suppose to do, but look how sad my hair looks:

I am leaning towards a medium length bob-ish cut or some variation of that. I like it because it is not too far out of my comfort zone and not a drastic change.  I think I do need some change and this may very well be just the right amount of change.  Plus I can still pull it back.

Examples:

 (Except not with short bangs)

What are your thoughts: long or short?  Any other suggestions for hair styles? Any products/supplements I can use to stop/reduce all this damn shedding?!?!

**only a slight exaggeration

I Love – Hair Styling Tools Edition

So before the Holidays I bought this little gem, the Bed Head Wave Artist styling tool.

I have to say I looooove it!  It is not too often I get to talk about beauty/hair products I enjoy as I hardly wear makeup and wear my hair up 98% of the time.  So needless to say I was excited to share this!

I love the "wave" look.  I love the messy, I just got out of bed and am not even trying waves.  The ever so subtle, barely there waves. The very much there pageant queen waves.  And my favorite, the hair up in a wild bun with hair all over the place crazy waves. Yep, I love the look.  I do have naturally wavy hair, however my hair can very easily go from cute to frizzy in about 10 seconds even getting anywhere near a window or the outside.  And if I add product then I just have crunchy 80's hair.

But no more....not with this product!  In just a few minutes I can create as defined or as subtle waves as I would like.  See, this is me experimenting the first day I got it.

Full on view....

Getting closer....

...and closer.

This is even me right after I woke up the next morning and I did nothing to my hair (I promise)!  Love it.

 I have even been messing around with styles and sometimes just do a few strands here and there for just a couple seconds to give a little body as well as some cute and casual "updos".  (No pictures...sorry)

Now I used this on my sister's hair who has finer hair than mine. (Mine is thick) And while on my hair I got very distinct curls quickly (holding for the count of 5) like in the top pictures, I had to hold the iron alot longer to get a more distinct curl for her.  And even then it was a slightly looser curl....kind of like the picture when I just woke up.  So basically, if your hair holds curl well or has natural curl...beware as just a few seconds is all you need (don't want to look like a puff ball!) and for people with finer hair that may not hold curl as well, you will typically get a loser wave.

However, I must say for me.....I looooove this product and highly recommend it for anyone who likes that wave look and wants it done easily and quickly!  It is $30 and you can find it at Amazon, Meijer, Target and Wal-Mart.

Also, before I ever curl my hair I use Silk Elements Megasilk Olive Heat Protection Spray from Sally Beauty. LOVE this stuff and just a little bit works wonders in protecting your hair from heat damage. It is about $7 a bottle.

So if you want hair with waves get the Bed Head Wave Artist!

Pros: Heats up fast. Made of ceramic to help control frizz (which it does very well). Easy to use. Curls quickly.

Cons: No where to really hold the product while you are squeezing it shut. Large.

Holy Crap…..I Have Red-ish Hair!

So I have wanted red hair for a long time, but my lovely husband said I would not look good with red hair.  Pssshht. I would tell him I have a very fair complexion and light green eyes so it may work with red hair, to which he tells me nope and that I don’t have the right features. Whatever.

So of course I did what every good wife does…..try to prove my husband wrong by dying my hair red!  I decided to go with a light red brown hair color from Sally’s Beauty instead of pure red. (I use Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Crème….LOVE it.)

Here is the dull mousey brown hair that I so desperately wanted to get rid of. (Blech, really bad picture! Love the circles under my eyes and crap two-tone hair....how do people let me go out in public this?!)

Here is the noticeably different Auburn hair I went with. (Very red in this picture when it is straight around my face.)

Slightly different look to the color and looks a bit better styled back like this.

It is very different, and I am still getting use to it….but I have to say I am liking it. It turned out more auburn, which is what I like and really wanted then straight up red.  I think what I like most is how my eyes seem to pop with this color hair. Seriously, I have no makeup on and haven’t changed a thing other than my hair color from the before and after pictures, but my eyes seem a lot brighter and more noticeable (especially in person). Love that!

I still haven’t decided if this particular color is the one I want to stay with or if I want something with more brownish or maybe lighter. I am up for suggestions.  But I am happy that I will not have to wear a hat for Thanksgiving this year to hide a bad dye job!!

Something Seems.......Different.

I would first like to preface this by saying my hair is a bitch. Yep, my hair does what it wants, when it wants and there is really nothing I can do about it. (I am sure there are many others out there who have this same problem!)

So for as long as I can remember my hair has parted naturally down the middle. I have tried many a times to “train” it to part to the right or left and even hairdressers have attempted to get my hair to part to the side, but it always wants to go back. When it is parted on the side it looks “OK” but not great, I think b/c my hair just doesn’t want to be there! I have accepted this and moved on.

So of course you would understand my surprise this morning when I woke up and my hair was parted to the side. I just thought it was morning hair and tried to put it back to the center….but it wouldn’t go! Today it WANTED to be on the side! I have to say it feels SO weird, but I likey the change!

It does feel like my head is leaning to the left though :)

A new store to love! (And therefore had to write a lot about it!)

This weekend I checked out Sally’s Beauty Supply Store – and I have to say I love it!!

I wanted to put some reddish/brown low lights in my hair for the holidays but didn’t want to (A) Spend $100 to get my hair done at a salon – it typically costs that much with a tip b/c my hair is so thick they use extra stuff – and (B) I don’t want the uncertainty of using a box brand and ending up with who knows what color on my head – I have been everything from orange to black with that box stuff!!

So I went to the above-mentioned store, which I had never been to before. I have to say I love it! I was a bit overwhelmed at first b/c I didn’t know what stuff to get and didn’t know what would work for me, but I asked one of the ladies working there (who was also a beautician) and she helped me find the right color and explained how the coloring works! And it is SO easy!!!

And the prices are very reasonable! You don’t have to be a member or a beautician to use the store but I did buy the $5 year long membership and ended up saving $5. 20 on my first purchase! If you think you will keep going, like I know I will, that is the way to go! If you have the membership most of the products you get a certain percentage off. But even if you don’t take the membership the products are still very reasonable. I got a very good hair color product and it was $4.99 for the cream and the solution to mix with it was $2.99. I also bought all the start up stuff like the brush to apply the cream, the little mixer bowl, the measuring cup, the cap and gloves…and my total bill was about $17.00!!! And when I do this again, I will only have to buy the hair color and solution!

They also have tons of other stuff there, but didn’t get to see everything as I was all about the hair color!

Thanks to my mom and sister for doing this for me! It took about an hour and half total and was so easy! This will definitely be the new way I do my hair!

Side note, I am not at ALL thinking what beauticians do is easy. I could never do the stuff they do, and I needed help picking out the right color for my complexion. But I do think that if you can get the right color and have someone who wouldn’t mind helping you out for a couple hours, then the coloring process itself is easy!