Books and Other things

So, I've moved my thoughts on ditching shampoo to a new blog, so as not to make everyone crazy with daily updates and thoughts about my hair (superficial, much?), but so that I can still keep track of it personally, and if anyone is interested in my progress, they can follow it there as well. I will try to post a photo every day at the very least, and any thoughts I have about the process and how my hair feels.

In news that is not related to my hair, I am up way later than I should be considering I have to work at 6:30 tomorrow and really flipping early pretty much all week. Love it.

I'm excited because the second book in a series (I think?) I'm into comes out in a few days. Really it could just be a sequel and it ends there, but either way, I'm excited because the first book was excellent and I can't wait to see how it goes. Incidentally, the book is The Prophecy of the Sisters and its sequel is Guardian of the Gate. I'm looking forward to it.

Alright, to bed with me.

An experiment

I'm attempting the "no 'poo" method on my hair.  By that I mean that I'm ditching my shampoo for a few weeks (at least) as an experiment to see how it works on my hair.  This concept freaks me out a little bit, but the more I read about it, the more I think it will be good for my particular situation.

The shampoo that I have been using has a product in common with dish detergent.  Seriously?  Dish detergent?  That's frightening.  So yea.  I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.  

Finished object!

Topi complete
Originally uploaded by kitenarie

I'm so happy with how this hat came out - it's cute and I love the little flower detail, which was an addition of my own, because I thought the buttons it called for were a little boring. It's a little bit big on my head, but I'm okay with that in the hopes that it won't flatten my hair when I wear it.

Seriously, I'm pretty much in love with this hat and so excited that I was able to pull it off.

Reflection on Adolescence

I had several realizations while going through my yearbooks from middle school after reconnecting with someone that I knew from there.

1. Middle school is a horrible horrible place.
I submit as evidence the following quote, directly from one of the autograph pages:  "you look good in your yearbook picture, but I know you could do better."  Hello, passive aggression.

2. I had a terrible self-image.
I seriously felt fat and unattractive all through middle school.  Now, my hair certainly left something to be desired, but curly hair is very hard to deal with and half the products I use weren't even on the market then, let alone in a price range my mom would have spent on me at that point in time.  But I'm looking at these photos, and realizing how flipping skinny I was!  I don't know what it was that made me feel so fat, although perhaps it had something to do with the "I know you could do better" referenced above.

3. I was incredibly shy and probably unpopular.
Evidenced by the very notable lack of signatures.

4. I really loved the friends I had and I wish I could find them.
But so far no luck.

I may expound on these thoughts at a later time - realizations that occur after 2AM are tough to flesh out.

I have too much crap

I'm serious.  I think it's time to declutter my life.  I don't know exactly where I want to start, but I do know that it's time to look at what I have with a much more critical eye, and think about whether or not I really need whatever it is.  I have lots of things that I haven't used in so long that I've forgotten that I owned them.  This is a problem.  This is a HUGE problem.

I need less stuff.

Of course I'm not thinking about things like my books - those are precious and I will not give them up.  But I do think that taking care of this will make me feel much better about what I'm doing and where I'm going.  Perhaps in my time off from work this week.

OMG! A post about knitting!

Haha, can you stand it?  So this one is actually going to be about the hat I'm knitting for myself.  I'm making the Topi Hat from Knitty right now.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out so far.

This is how it looks so far, and I'm pretty excited that it looks so good.  I will model it on my head as soon as it's finished.  The design calls for buttons on the brim, but I'm thinking I might do crochet flowers instead in one of my other cotton yarns.  I'll have to see how the colors work together.

I just think it is a nice, fun hat that works well for summer (it's cotton).

I'm also really proud of myself because I had to learn a new technique to make it work.  (And I love that you can see my laundry basket back there in the picture).  Heh.

How to be a Good Customer, or Why Your Barista Thinks You are an Idiot

I am throwing this out there for the consideration of anyone who uses a drive thru.  If you are unsure of what you would like to order, the drive thru is not for you.  If you think it is appropriate for your server to describe for you every single juice that we have in the store from the comfort of your car, with other cars waiting behind you, you are out of your ever loving mind.  Stop being lazy.

Though thankfully, I did not have to deal with the crazy lady, I just had the pleasure of listening in, and then watching her ultimately give up and come in anyway, as she well should have.