Random - Vol. 8.24

What if this is my last random blog with a Volume 8._ _  Come Thursday, with the beginning of 2009, I'm forced to change my random blogs to Volume 9._ _.  What a trip that's going to be!

Ok, so... yesterday before writing about my bomb weekend, I updated the Hair Journal - a nice picture of my beautiful LONG hair, followed by this new thing we are saying is cute.  I'm honestly not looking for sympathy or comments on this; I'm still getting used to it and not sure if I like it.  I donated my hair, it was the right thing to do... some little girl (or boy) is going to have a beautiful real hair wig because of me - that makes me feel great regardless of how I feel about my lack of hair; I could have it worse.

My car turned over 10K miles last week.  Take away the 1350 miles to MO and back and I'd still be under that mark.. so that's not too bad for 7 months, right?  Or is it.  dammit... gotta research - hold please.
Wow, here's some quick math for you.  I drive RT to work ~70 miles * 4 (times a week) * 4 (weeks a month) = 1120 miles a month just to work and back.  According to many websites out there, the average American drives 12K-15K miles a year.  So, being that my commute is longer than average... I'm not doing half bad!
Wow, talk about a random tangent.

As if you're not sick of hearing about it by now... but I'm just amazed by this tracker I have on my blog.  It has really helped me come up with titles that I otherwise wouldn't have.  That's all I'm going to say about it today.

I got excited for a brief moment yesterday when I went to Subway for lunch.  The Chicken Florentine was actually on the menu, rather than just a advertisement for it with a picture or whatever... I asked if it was going to be a permanent fixture on the menu... they told me no. :(

Last night I was trying to kill time before heading up to the bar for Steve's Birthday, so I thought, what better time to turn on the computer and upload all the pics from my new camera... I go to turn the computer on and nothing.  A bit of back story here: right before I was trying to prepare for my trip to SF and right before my accident, my mom was having computer issues.  Long story short we decided there was a power surge and her computer was fried... being that it was old we trashed it and she bought a new one, not worth fixing in her eyes, I guess.  Well, my computer (my desktop PC, not my laptop) is generally running all the time but since this surge it had been off and I never bothered to try turning it on.  I wanted to get my mom taken care of and worry about getting the hell outta town.
When I went to power it up last night it didn't want to turn on.  I checked the surge protector and the little red light was on stating that it was in face "protecting".  I've never had to deal with a surge protector doing it's job so I didn't know how to reset it.  I googled it and decided to unplug everything and flip the switch... after that, still nothing, red light is still on.  I'm not sure if that means the surge protector is fried and my computer stands a chance or what.  I need to dig deeper into it; I have no idea what steps to take from here.  I didn't want to get crabby over the computer last night so I just walked away.  I'm thinking bad things happen in 3's... what number am I at?

Last topic here because this is getting long and generally people only comment on the last thing I type about...
Do you think I should be putting a 'watermark' or some sort of ... something... on my pictures when I post them here?  So like, if some random person were to come along and fall in love with my picture it would be protected from thieves.  I'm open to thoughts!

Hair Photo Journal

Below this line was written 12.29.08 -

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I don't really have a lot of styles to share this time.  After using product in my hair and loading it up with bobby pins so much I was noticing a lot of broken hairs... so I wanted to make sure my shit was in tip top shape to donate, so I stopped the styles.  I do have the donation update though!

Friday, December 26, 2008 - 

On Christmas night out at the bar I saw Cianna, she's who cuts my hairs, and we gots to talking... I pretty much decided at that point that I was ready to get rid of the hair.  I was thinking I'd do it sometime within the next week and asked what her schedule was.  Long and short of it (no pun intended)... I went on Friday.  I woke up knowing that was my days goal, amongst other things.  I have a picture from before, of the length and one from right after getting it cut:

 Pretty sure it's obvious that I'm kind of nervous about it.  I've donated the hair, so I feel good about that.  Cianna works at Fantastic Sams and not only do they give a free haircut when you donate... they actually take care of donating the hair for you.  So I didn't do anything!  

I feel like I look 12 which, now being 27, isn't a bad thing, right?

This entry... being that I no longer have hair... will conclude that Hair Journal.  I really didn't do as much as I thought or wanted, but it was fun.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Now time to start growing my shit out again!

Below this line was written 12.14.08 -
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 
I decided to do a French braid... which is not easy to do alone with hair my length.. but I managed.  It was really the only thing I did with my hair during the week... it must have been super dry all week cause the static was in full effect, so it was up most of the time; here is the braid:

Pretty lame, but it was the first time I ever successfully did a french braid, so there.

Friday, December 12th, 2008 -
So, the plan was to go out to celebrate my birthday (which is actually on the 16th), and I wanted to do something with my hair, obviously.  So I get the idea to do curls... I search my entire basement for my hot rollers and can't find them, so I go to Ulta and pick up a set, on sale, for $19.99.  I eat dinner and put my hair up in the rollers, leave them in while I do some other girl type things and let them set for at least an hour:

Silly, really... but I wanted to share.
Turns out hot rollers don't really work, or at least not in my hair.  Now that I think about it, curls have never really set well in my hair unless it was a perm.  Here is what it ended up looking like:

I did the zig-zag part for you, Lovi.  I ended up pinning back the top half, but didn't get any pictures before I left, as I was kind of rushed out of my house.  I'll be posting a blog of Friday night out and you can see it then, otherwise there are pictures on facebook (hopefully soon on myspace too).

That's all I've got for you folks... not really anything exciting!


Below this line was written 12.7.08 -
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - 
Since Monday's lame attempt at a work day hair style I haven't done too much.. and being that my weekend has been pretty mellow I honestly don't have a lot to share today. I refuse to wake up early on a work day just to do something with my hair.
Tuesday I modified my ponytail a little... rather than doing a poofy section in front, I did the entire front in a poof then put it in a ponytail.  The other thing I did was wrap my hair around the ponytail holder... something I've seen girls do for a very long time, but never took the time to do it myself; it really adds to the simple pony!  I also took the picture before I left for work, so forgive my tired eyes (I wake up at 5am!):

Turns out I only took 2 pictures and the other was super blurry... so you can't really see the front, basically a whole big poof.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 -
I've had a little hair thing for several years... the longer my hair got the less I could use it; I decided to give it another shot (I cannot believe all my hair fit into this thing and it held up!):

the second picture shows off the zig-zag part ('crooked river' as Bob calls it); I do that quite often.

Saturday, December 6, 2008 -
Last night I met up with a few friends to watch some hockey... I hadn't been motivated all day (was dealing with a migraine Friday), but I got up and got at it... I had an idea that didn't turn out as well as I had hoped because it was just too time consuming.  I ended up with a zig-zag part, a funny little spiral on the top of my head and a unique looking ponytail.
The front:

The Back:

The back, close up:

Basically I put it in a ponytail, divided the pony into 3 sections, twisted them and used bobby pins to pin them up... then just used some hairspray to flair up the ends to create an effect from the front.  The little spiral thing in front was basically just a piece of hair I pulled out before I put the pony up and twisted the hell out of that and pinned it up in a spiral.

I'm running out of ideas... there really isn't a lot you can do with long hair, I'll keep trying.


Below this line was written 12.1.08 -
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For you, Dawn; tonight I begin my photo journal of my hair.  Though, as I go on, I fear I'm going to run out of styles to play with... we shall see.  Let me just say a few things right off the bat: first, You are probably going to get to know my bathroom quite well, because it's the best place to get a good picture of the overall style.  Second, Just know that I already feel like a 13 year old taking pictures to post on myspace... and that is not a good feeling.

Thursday, November 27th, 2008 [Thanksgiving Day]:
I wake up with every intention of pulling the flat iron through my hair and calling it a day (I don't normally flat iron because my hair is straight, but the flat iron gives it a little something extra and on a holiday every now and again it's okay).  I get in the shower and once the shampoo goes in I start playing with hairdos (yes, I have a mirror in the shower and yes, I play with my hair styles, bite me!)... I come up with this crazy swirl on top of my head and became curious if I could really do such a thing.  Well, I didn't have time, so I opted for something else.  I ended up with a braid going from one side of my head to the other (right to left), it was kinda neat, but I have a shit ton of annoying fly-aways, so I had to find a home for them.  Here are a few shots of what I ended up with:

Needless to say, I ended up with a TON of hairspray in my hair and on my face.

Friday, November 28, 2008:
I took the braid out in a last minute attempt to get ready for the evening... no way could I leave with it like that; talk about volume!  I pulled out the bobby pins and got busy, I don't have a super great picture of the style, but here is something:

Basically, just one of those cute little poofs on the top of my head, with a triple barrel iron run through some random spots of the straight stuff.

Saturday, November 29, 2008:

I didn't sleep at home on Friday night, so my hair and make-up were a mess the next day.. but I kind of liked it, so I rolled with it.  Came home to get ready, ended up playing in Photoshop and running out of time... so I end up with the same little poof but tried to add another poof behind it (Amy Winehouse-esque, but not quite as dramatic):

The second picture is after I took it all down... I felt like I popped back into the 80's for a second.

Monday, December 1, 2008:

I doubt I'm going to get too funky on work days, mostly because I'm finding most things are not just a quick process.  I will post as I have them though; todays style (taken after the gym, so it's not quite how it was in the morning) was an attempt to recreate the double poof:

Hard to see, I know... and pretty much destroyed from the workout, I promise it looked better when I first left the house.

I'll post more (and update the date) as I get more creative.. as always, I'm open to suggestions!

Random - Vol. 8.22

My eyes are cross from looking at the computer so much this weekend, but what the hell... you guys are ready for another, right?

Where to start?  How was your Thanksgiving?  Mine was just peachy... nothing outrageous and spectacular but always a good time when family is around!

So... as you may recall, I am cutting and donating my hair soon, after the holidays are over.  I can't wait and I really want to do it sooner.  I've decided to spice things up a bit with some hair styles starting on Thanksgiving.  I used to do a lot of fun random shit with my hair back in the day... I've gotten away from it because of the length... make its hard.  I've decided I'm going to photo journal the styles and post a blog of them, should prove to be interesting.  I'm not sure if I should gather the photos and post them all at once, or if I should post the blog now and just update it as I go.  Oh well, I have time to decide still... just be looking for it, cause it's gonna be BOMB!

My Birthday is coming up; December 16th.  You would normally find me NE at The Palace, but I'm kind of sick of going down there... it's my birthday and I want to stay close to home.  I want to sleep in my own bed [or someone elses bed near mine ;)].  Seriously though... I just found out I'm going to be out of town the weekend after my birthday, so it has to be the weekend before.  I'm really not even sure if I want to go out at all, I'm over the whole birthday and getting older thing... but I do love the attention, so I'll probably do something.  My actual birthday is on a Tuesday... I'm thinking someone needs to take me out to sushi; anyone up for the task?  I'll let you buy!

I got a phone call today from a guy who was interested in looking at my van; he asked where is was located and I told him Andover area.  He was calling from Shakopee and didn't seem all that excited to drive all that way, so I told him I'd be willing to drive and meet him somewhere.  He called me at 2pm and said he had a meeting until 230 and he'd start driving North and that I should start driving South now and we'd meet in the middle... well I wasn't keen on the idea of driving 30 minutes before hearing from him and I wasn't willing to drive that far in general (he wants the van he can drive to it, but I also want to sell it, so I was willing to make an exception).  I decided it was best to wait for his call before making the drive... good thing I did.  3pm rolls around and I'm over waiting, I have shit to do.  I leave for Target only to get a call from him around 315 (45 minutes after he said he would be done and an hour 15 minutes from when he told me to start driving!), and he asks me where I am.. I kindly tell him I hadn't left yet and I was waiting to hear from him first... he sounds disappointed and says "oh... well, it's getting to be almost 330 now, so I guess we'll have to do this another time".  YA THINK?! doh-head... if I would have started driving when he told me to, I would have been past where he lives!

Anyhow - My eyes hurt (I may have been staring at my banner all day), so I'm done for now.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and GO VIKINGS!  We play The Bears tomorrow night, both teams have a record of 6-5; should be interesting!

Random - Vol. 8.20

I love bananas!  Apples are delicious as well... Oh My God... all fruit is the bomb, really.  Think about it... Kiwi (makes my mouth water thinking about it), raspberries, blackberries (no Dawn, NOT the phone!!).  Have you ever tried a Pomegranate ?  I ate them before it was cool.  I remember sitting with my dad as a kid watching him clean them so I could grub!  They are the bomb, if you've never had one, go buy one.. they are in peak season right now - I can teach you how to clean them.
hmmm... grapes, blueberries, strawberries, lemons, limes... and I'm pretty sure the avocado is a fruit as well (I LOVE me some avocado)!  In all honesty though... bananas are the business!

It's amazing to me how people find my blog, my counter tracks the links people are coming from.. like if someone searches a phrase on Google and end up at my blog from it... I can see the words they used to search. I'm pretty sure there are some sicko's out there... searching for girls - after I posted the blog titled Girls Night , it got a lot of hits, once from someone searching "Myspace Girls"... icky.  It really boggles my mind the words people use to search; I bet they'd get a lot better results if they searched different words!  Just sayin'.
It tells me where people are coming from... location wise.  I've had hits all around the world, it's so neat to me!
I can also see if someone clicks on a link in a blog I post... there are only a few of you that do.  Are those links pointless?  Should I stop using them?  You tell me... in the end it saves me time to not have to find a website for whatever I'm talking about... but I do it for you, in case you need to know what the hell I'm talking about.
I've had a lot of hits on my blog talking about donating my hair...

Which brings me to my next point.. I've decided I'm cutting it.  I've been talking with Cianna, she cuts my hair and is the wife of my buddy, and she said start by just cutting the bare minimum to donate... then my hair will still be long and if I want to go shorter, I can.  Going from as long as mine is to super short... that would be a hard thing to do... she's a smart lady.

I finished knitting my hat this weekend... I'll post pictures as soon as Joey has it (I don't want to ruin the surprise)!  I started Friday and finished Monday evening - that's kind of neat :)

Oh yeah, real quick, I wanted to give you the link to my friends blog, her name is Kristi, yes I have mentioned her before, but she writes for another blog as well... for those from the Twin Cities, you may find it helpful the next time you want a new place to eat.  Here is the link.  Check Check Check it out!

So, now it's time to get interactive - tell me something about you.. anything you want; something random, something funny, something embarrassing, ANYTHING!

Hair today... gone tomorrow.

As I stood in the bathroom here at work with my ponytail in the middle of my head, trying to measure the length of my hair alone, I came up with 18-19 inches.
Being a bit more realistic, I moved the ponytail down to the base of my neck, I came up with roughly 17", again measuring hair as long as mine alone is not an easy task.
I plan to get the official word when I have help.

I've been doing some research on donating hair.  Locks of Love was my first thought; though there are many other programs out there.  Pantene also has a program for hair donation - Beautiful Lengths.
Locks of Love (LoL, for short) has a requirement of 10 inches, as does most other programs.  Pantene's required length is 8 inches.  LoL makes wigs for children, mostly children that suffer from conditions such as Alopecia Areata or burn victims and will not be able to grow hair again.  They do make a fair amount of wigs for children with cancer, but being that their hair will grow back eventually, they try to direct their focus on those who's hair will not.  LoL is a non-profit organization and they do sell some of their donations to help with overhead and other costs; they do not hide that fact.  Its hard to donate knowing my hair may not go to the cause I want it to.  They sell to wig makers and places of the sort and then they go through the hair and use what they can... etc.  There are a lot of websites out there trashing LoL because of how they operate.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, I'd rather donate my hair then have it be tossed in the garbage... but if they are just going to toss it then what is the point?

Pantene's program makes free wigs for women who have suffered from cancer.  I like the thought of that.

There are also lots of websites talking about selling your hair and donating the money.  Another interesting idea...  it's amazing how much people will pay for hair!  Some of the lots I looked at sold for over $1000.00 (a few for over $2K)!!!

I decided this weekend that my hair is bothering me.  If I don't wake up in the middle of the night with my hair strangling me, I wake up laying on it and when I go to move I pull it.  When you are more than half asleep pulling your own hair hurts!  I don't sleep with my hair up either for many reason.. so that is not an option.  There is just nothing to do with it anymore, it's too damn long!  I rarely use anything on my hair either; curling iron, straightener, product, etc.  I've also been seeing a lot of cute shorter hair styles on TV.. and it's got me thinking.
I always want my hair to be long again after I cut it, but I feel like if I were to do this for a good cause I wouldn't really have the right to bitch about it not being long.  Right?

I don't know what to do.  Anyone out there know someone who has donated?  Where did they donate and how was the experience?  Anyone have any other advice for me?

To cut or not to cut... to donate or to sell...