Category Archives: beauty

In Which I Don’t Miss Being a Blonde

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Except I kind of do, only when I see a blonde with awesome hair.

I’ve been a brunette (my natural color) almost a year now, and I have been loving it.  Mostly.  I like that it’s me, a feature that I’ve had since practically birth (okay, I was blond when I was born, so since I was two or so). I do like that I can go to the salon once every three or four months as opposed to every 6-8 weeks for highlights. I like that my hair no longer has the consistency of straw and is longer than it has been in years.

People still ask me about my hair color. A coworker came up to my cube last week and said, “Wait, you’re not a natural blond, are you?”  I put on my Patient Jenny Face.  I’ve had to answer this question many times, and when I’ve had the same color for nearly a year, understandably I get a little tired of answering it.  ”No,” I replied, “brunette is my real hair color.”  Then he made some comment about how he thought so, since he’s been seeing me with the same color for so long!

I nodded politely.

So yes, I normally don’t miss being blond, except when I see something like this:

It’s so fresh and pretty!  If I haven’t been trying to grow my hair out for the past year and a half/trying to save money/attempting to be a responsible human being and save instead of blowing my disposable income on my hair, MY HAIR WOULD TOTALLY BE THIS COLOR.

10 Unimportant and Relatively Uninteresting Things Going On In My Life Right Now

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1.  Do you like the song “Extraordinary Machine?”

Fiona Apple said that she wrote it as a pep talk to herself. Every couple of years, I find myself in that place where I get nestled into my comfort zone and am loathe to venture out of it.  My best experiences, though, have come from swallowing my fears and going outside my comfort zone. I realized that I have lost my sense of adventure.  I haven’t had a decent “outside the comfort zone” trip since Philly and my marathon.

This is not to say that I have any exciting trips planned (I wish).  I just want to embrace new challenges with acceptance.

2.  Speaking of Fiona Apple – WHEN IS HER ALBUM COMING OUT?  BECAUSE I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.  Apparently she released a single and I am just finding out about it now. WHAT.

3. I painted my fingernails sky blue and my toe nails forest green. Because I can.

4.  I am breaking out on my chin and it is so unattractive.  Not just one blemish, either.  It’s this gross pizza chin and WHY, GODS OF CLEAR SKIN, WHY?!

5. I really, really want this hair.

Except that summer is approaching in Texas, meaning I will be miserable with heavy bangs coating my face.

6.  Speaking of summer coming in Texas, I have been running again but I am not in the condition I was six months ago, i.e. I am horribly out of shape and a once easy 4.5 mile run has been reduced to agony.  I went running the other day and it felt SO HOT and I was saddened to realize that it was only 85 degrees.  I say “only” because the temperature will jump at least 20 degrees within the next two months.

7.  I have to work this weekend, which really, really sucks.  I am not sure if I can see the Avengers but I want to, but mainly because of this man:

8.  I have the show Charmed on mute in the background, and I am instantly being reminded of fashion from 2001.  Super frilly, pink Britney Spears-type sweaters, cheeky hats, bold lipstick.

God, I feel like this show has been on for the past two hours, WHEN IS IT GOING TO END?

9.  My shoulder still vaguely hurts at night and it’s still a little stiff, even over two months after hurting it.  The doctor confirmed last month that it is healing nicely and that the most I could do with it is physical therapy, if I wanted to. He didn’t sound concerned with it and is unsure if I even dislocated it; he said he has no way of confirming it since he didn’t see me after my injury (all I’m saying is I FELT IT POP BACK IN.)

I guess my dad is right; it will never be 100% normal again, or maybe it will after a long, long time.  That’s okay.

10.  Goals for this month – actually learn a song on my guitar, actually learn a couple of songs on drums, actually finish a book.

Thank you for reading these 10 Unimportant and Relatively Uninteresting Things going on in my life right now.

Three Things: Things to Make a Monday Cheery

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It’s always tough to return to work after a relaxing weekend off.  Here are three things that have made my Monday tolerable.

1.  Sunny, awesome weather

Texans relish spring weather because it will be the last comfortably warm days we’ll have until, like, November . It’s especially pretty around here, because all the spring flowers are blossoming, which means BLUEBONNETS!

Ok, so I totally just took a stock photo from the internet, but it looks like this.

I went for a walk in the park this weekend, and I passed by at least four or five families taking pictures of their adorable children among the bluebonnets.  It was already a cliche by the time I passed the last family.

The walk in the park was quite lovely, too. I saw snakes swimming in the water, cardinals, ducks, a goose, lizards, and anoles.

2.  Mad Men returns!

I didn’t watch Mad Men last night, so was eagerly anticipating it today.  It’s okay so far.  I think 2 hours may be a little long for a premiere, and some of the more interesting characters haven’t appeared yet (i.e. WHERE IS BETTY DRAPER?)  But the makeup and fashion is still a treat.  For instance, we must talk about Megan’s hair:

Want her hair, WANT WANT WANT. Hi Don.

Like, if I haven’t been trying so desperately hard to grow my hair for the past year, I would totally want this hairstyle.  Except while it makes her look sophisticated, it will probably make me look like a prepubescent girl.  I’m glad her hair is so awesome, because now I won’t miss having blonde hair whenever Betty Draper comes on screen (WHERE IS SHE?)

3.  Sweet Leaf Iced Tea

I’ve been living in my beloved city for four (!) years now, and one of the cliches I’ve picked up is loving the shit out of Sweet Leaf Iced Tea.  I first tried it at ACL back in 2008, and I remember I wasn’t too impressed with it.  I tried it again last year and thought, “Okay, this is not too bad.” And then like many things I’m initially lukewarm about, I started liking it.  And by liking it, I mean ADDICTION.

SERIOUSLY, I COULD DRINK LIKE 10 OF THESE A DAY IF I DIDN'T HAVE SUCH SELF-CONTROL

My fridge is well stocked with Sweet Teas.  The other flavors are decent but none holds my heart like the Mint and Honey.  If you have the chance, TRY IT.

DO IT.

Okay, I guess I’ll watch the end of this season premiere.  SERIOUSLY, BETTY, THIS SHOW COULD USE SOME OF YOUR AWESOME BITCHINESS RIGHT NOW.

A Completely Vain, Meaningless Post

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One of my coworkers came to my cube to discuss future field work.  She smiled at me, saying,  “I really like your hair. It looks really good like that.”

In the realm of womanhood, hearing this stamp of approval is meaningful, since this particular coworker has the prettiest hair ever.  It is black and flows all the way down her back.  When I had short, fried hair last year, I had serious hair envy whenever I worked with her.  After field work, we’d go out to eat, and her hair would be flowing prettily down her back, while mine was shoved in a short, sad ponytail.

Now that I’ve stopped changing my hair color eighty times a year and have been taking a break from coloring my hair, it’s FINALLY GETTING LONG, Y’ALL.

YAY.

Yep, reading this entry is 30 seconds of your life that you can’t get back.

An Apologetically Vain Post About My Hair

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When my cousin and I were shopping in Brooklyn last week (last week! sigh…), I selected a frilly, midnight blue top to try on.  It was one of those shirts that looked pretty in theory but ended up looking ridiculous once I actually tried it on.  I turned to my cousin, who has an amazing sense of style.  “Amanda?” I said. “I don’t think I like this.” “It’s not a bad top,” she said, looking at it critically, “but it’s just not you.  This shirt is for someone who is high drama and wants attention, and that is just not your personality.”

Keeping that anecdote in mind, where I provide proof from a third-party that I am not an attention-seeking individual, please excuse this post where I talk about…my hair.

I know! It’s so stupid and vain.  But y’all, I don’t know what it is lately – EVERYONE seems to be commenting on my hair.  Back when I used to dye my hair often, I could understand why people would comment on it (and my coworkers ALWAYS had something to say about it).  But I’ve matured, and I’ve had the same hair color for three months now – dark brown, more my natural color.

It’s not even amazing-looking hair.  It’s stuck in that frustrating stage where it’s neither long nor short.  The best thing I can say about it is that it’s not fried anymore.  I guess the only thing I’m doing differently is trying to change hairstyles every once in awhile.  I am not doing any award-winning hair styles here. I just got tired of my stupid ponytail/bun/straight hair combo and just try to mix it up by actually making it look like I’ve spent more than three seconds fixing it.

Maybe that’s it?

Okay. Yesterday a coworker came up to me and whispered, “Can I ask you a personal question?” “Uh, sure,” I said, bristling in preparation.  “Is that your natural color or is blonde your natural color?” she asked.

Then today, I took my car in to get fixed.  The agent at the front desk always recognizes me and asks about my drum playing.  I’ve seen him at least twice since I changed from blonde to brunette, and still he mentioned something about my hair.  “It’s my natural hair color,” I said – I’ve had to say it so often to people that it’s become some sort of automatic response.  I could be in a coma, and if someone said something about my hair, the first thing I’d say waking up is, “IT’S MY NATURAL COLOR.”

“Natural is good,” he said.  I ignored that comment.

Then hours later, I was at work when a different coworker approached me in my cube.  “Hi Jen,” he said. I said hello.  He got kind of shy and said, “I like your hair.”  “Oh, thanks,” I said.  “That’s all I wanted to say,” he replied.  (Said coworker is also married).

I think my favorite response to my hair in the past two days happened yesterday. One of my coworkers returned to the office after working 11 months in another state.  I was happy to see him, since I had missed working with him.  When I heard his booming voice down the hall, I walked by and waved hello to him.  He responded in a very non-enthusiastic fashion.  I brushed it off, thinking he was busy, and went to talk to another coworker.

On the way back from my cube, I heard someone saying, “Jen!” My coworker approached me, saying, “I didn’t even recognize you when you walked by!” Then I remembered that when he had left, I’d still been a blonde.

I guess I should just enjoy the compliments, but I’m more amused than anything.  Maybe if I had hair like, say, Angelina Jolie’s, then I’d be more understanding of the attention.

No.

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My hair has started this really disturbing trend of being all, “Hey, you’ve dyed your hair so often that we forgot what our natural color is supposed to be…we’re guessing WHITE.”

An Additional Hair Inspiration

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I forgot to post another one of my hair inspirations yesterday.  Frances Cobain’s hair made me decide to go for a change, but seeing this picture of Mila Kunis last week first made me start thinking of going darker:

I love this entire look, even though that dress (is that a dress?) may not be the most office appropriate… But most of all, I covet her hair.  Gahhh I want long hair.

Hair Inspirations

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I’d like to think my capricious and impetuous nature died along with my long-held teenage angst, but a part of it still exists.  For example, yesterday, I decided out of the blue that I really, really needed to do something about my hair.

I get bored with my hair very easily.  Naturally, I have the reputation in my office for always changing it.  But I hadn’t done anything to it in five months, which is the longest time that I can remember that I’ve left my hair alone, probably since early college. But yesterday I looked in the mirror, saw that it was at least five shades of brunette and blonde and thought, oh no. I need a change.  THIS isn’t working anymore.

I’m very naturally persuaded to change my hair by outside forces.  In 2005, I dyed my hair red because my favorite show at the time was Desperate Housewives.  Marcia Cross has such awesome hair and I coveted it.

That was a very, very bad decision.  It turned out orange, and when my dad opened the door and saw me for the first time, he turned around and left without saying a word.

Back in 2009, I had dyed my hair reddish brown after a year and a half of being a blonde.  I was okay with this decision, until August, when I first started watching/became obsessed with True Blood.

Damn it, Sookie has amazing hair.  And after watching several episodes, I thought, “I need to be a blonde again,” and then stayed a blonde for the next year and a half.

This time, I knew I wasn’t going back to being blonde (oh, I still wish I had it every once in awhile though…too bad it murdered my hair).  But I thought I’d grow my hair out a little longer before going back to my stylist.  Then I saw this:

If you don’t recognize her, that’s Frances Cobain (I hardly need to tell you guys who she is).  She’s ridiculously gorgeous.  I wish I were that badass at eighteen, or even at my ripe old age of 27 (and I love the fact that she has tattoos of Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” on her arms.  Of course she would have a great taste in music).

But after seeing her photos, my supposedly mature outlook on my hair (“Let’s wait until next month, after you’re done with field work”) totally digressed into, “HER HAIR. I WANT HER HAIR.  TOMORROW.”

So I dyed it again, and in my defense, it’s the closest to my natural hair color that I’ve been since I was probably nineteen.  My natural hair color is nearly black and that’s the shade I’m sporting now.

I love it!  On the outside, I’m this quiet, introverted person, but on the inside is a rocker who would just be happy listening to Deep Purple all day. And I feel like my hair finally expresses this, as opposed to the “LET’S GO TO THE BEACH YAYYYYYY” vibes that blonde hair gave me.

I feel like I will be satisfied with this hair for at least the next several months, at least until I see another hair inspiration that may make me think otherwise.

EDIT:  My lovely blog friends have asked to see a photo, so here I am cam-whoring it up.

I promise I am really excited about my hair, but smiling and posing for the camera seemed kind of ridiculous when you’re already taking pictures of yourself :D

Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Gloss

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Once upon a time, my shopping days at Sephora were destructive. I would walk in just to look, or needing some more foundation.  Then I would walk out with various eye shadows, face cleansers, and other little items of beauty, feeling a mixture of excitement and deep shame.  I’ve totally rehauled my shopping habits since and now when I leave Sephora, it’s usually with nothing at all, or a maximum $10 purchase.  It’s all very responsible and boring.

I went in yesterday to get my birthday gift (as part of being in their Beauty Insider program) and picked up their $10 Bare Escentuals Bright Stars kit.

I like all the products in the kit, but LOVE LOVE LOVE the lip gloss, Dolly.  It feels tingly on my lips and gives it a nice, soft, natural finish.  I don’t like wearing bright lipsticks or any completely obvious color on my lips; since my lips are naturally plump and my eyes are rather small, I play up my eyes to make them look bigger.  (We ladies all know that the cardinal rule of makeup application is not highlighting both your eyes and lips, or else you will look like the Joker).  But this lip gloss is so natural and defining.  I think I like it enough to get the actual size once my trial size runs out.