So what is the secret...?

I am rather organized. Rather is actually an understatement. Restated:
I am...obsessively, compulsively, freakishly organized.

I am not only the 'administrator' of my own life (which is chaotic and very, very tightly scheduled), but my family's as well. I have been told since childhood that I could run a small country (I am also 'rather' controlling; it would end up as a dictatorship. I haven't purchased any countries yet, for the good of the people there dwelling).

I have my schedule all in order at all times, and I wake up thinking about the list of things I am going to accomplish over the span of each day. I need productivity in order to be able to go to sleep at night.

Besides the fact that leadership, organization and productivity are somehow in my genetic makeup, HOW DO I DO IT?

Let me tell you a secret.

**POST IT STICKY NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTERS.**

Over the years I have developed a system, most of it revolving around highlighters, and I stick to it. I have a monthly, 16 by 11 inch calendar, with big squares to write in, that holds my life together. And highlighters somehow make it work for me. Blue for birthdays, pink for work, purple for missions meetings, etc etc. My calendar is more colorful than skittles. If you ate it, you would most assuredly taste the rainbow... *and then maybe die from toxins...

Then there are the post its. They adorn the edges of my 16 inch computer screen, and the surface of my desk at all times. They are stuck to my school assignments and are hanging off the edges of my checks in need of banking. They are mostly neon yellow, obnoxious enough to catch my eye and then glare at me until I take action against them. But also in my possession there are smaller ones, in varied colors, or even with the face of William Shakespeare on them.

I need lists to function. Mental lists are always present, but I much more enjoy them out on paper where I can cross things off and say (in my head) "HA! Conquered you!" There are also those serving as reminders, or listing off quotes or Bible verses. They somehow keep my sane.

What's your method? Am I the only one out there who owns highlighters in every possible shade?

Turtle, turtle, turtle...

In a previous post I did on amigurumi I mentioned that I would be accepting custom orders, if anyone indeed had any.

Shortly thereafter, Elisabeth found my blog and requested a *pink turtle* with big black eyes. I hadn't ever made a turtle before, but was up for the challenge.
Here she is, in all her pinky glory!


**Anyone else out there think they need a custom crocheted somethin' or another? Leave me a comment, or convo me on Etsy! Profits go towards my summer missions trip to Costa Rica!

Quote-ables.

You've probably heard the old saying 'actions speak louder than words.' People pay attention to what you do and how you live, not what you say about how you live.
Last night my youth pastor, Rev. E. Peoples, said something that was sort of a rephrasing of that phrase and it really stood out to me. {he wasn't actually preaching on that sort of a topic, he was actually talking about friendship and he just stuck this line in there. But that is one of my favorite things about Rev and the way he preaches./ }



"...Your life message is your life."


I am a professional people observer. You can learn a lot about a person with out them saying a thing (or knowing that you're watching them. And no, it isn't the same as stalking.). I watch and analyze. I notice things other people don't. I find it an amusing past time.

But on the flip side, I am sure there are people out there watching me, observing how I live. Watching how I act. And it is pretty easy to learn about me by watching; I communicate more with my eyes and facial expressions than I do with my mouth.

Quite frankly, that is scary. I like to watch other people, but I would rather not have them watching me. What are they seeing? Who do they think I am? Does it match who I say I am? Consistently?

Yeah, it doesn't seem so innocent and amusing a past time when it isn't me doing the watching...

What are you saying about yourself?

Who do you say you are?

What does your life- the way you live each day, when people are watching and when people aren't -say you are?

Does your talk match your actions?

Just something to think about...

My ex-attic haven.

Once upon a time there was a girl, who happens to look like, act like, smell like, think like and in all ways be like me (and there is also another girl who happens to be like her sister), living in a rather small room, in the upstairs of a house quite crammed with kiddos. Bunk beds and Brit flags all around.

*for your referencing pleasure, this is it.

Then along came some more kiddos and the parents decided they had to relocate some children. Where do you put children when your bedrooms are full? Well, over-the-garage-attics are nice...when finished...

So, the parents of these 2 girls, who remain freakishly similar to Lacianna and I, hired a hero named Jimmy and he finished that attic up, right quick.

After about a month of painting, polyurethaning, and pillow sewing (and quite a bit of carpet picking, but that semi-ruins my nice alliteration) they moved in.

They've been in there since February and have finally decided to show it to you.

****now switching to 1st person, 'cause the story is over!

Let me take you on a tour of our room.

*this is in our living room. and the trim has yet to be painted...it is on the list of to-do's

*yes, that lamp has no shade. Why? Because I can't find one I like...yet...

And like those curtains? MADE 'EM!

*yep. My room does in fact revolve around a computer, lots of books, means of music and sleep. In that very order.

*last but not least, the infamous couch. This thing is the stuff of legend and dreams...

So, now you know. That's my room guys!

*You didn't get the tour of the closet, but I assure you that it is huge, awesome, and contains Jack Sparrow and clothes hung in Roy G. Biv order.

Boom, here we go again!

<center><a href="http://www.mynameisnotking.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac252/MyNameisNotKing/blogbuttonattempt_edited-1.jpg" /></a></center>

BLOG. BUTTON. BABY!I still don't love the look of that one, but know that I know how to make 'em I'm going to be whippin' them out fast, fast, fast! *special thanks goes out to those of you who provided me with helpful links and tips!

Sometimes things do not go as planned...

Well, I THOUGHT I was crocheting an owl.
But when you use no patterns and just make things up as you go along, sometimes things turn out differently than you originally imagined them to be.
So I didn't end up with an owl. Instead I got a...

Meet Harper.

{She is a baby mockingbird.}

She is on the smaller side of my usual Amigurumi animals at only 7 inches tall. She is made up of several yarns from previous projects (my sweater, and Zatara Bear). She will soon be finding her way onto my Etsy/Artfire shops.

Perhaps do you NEED a little, fuzzy mockingbird in your life?

*still looking for custom orders, if anyone out there wants something. In the next couple day I will be starting to make a custom Pink Turtle for someone who hunted me down on my last amigurumi post. Will you be next???

**ps: if you know anything about blog buttons, check out my post prior to this one and help me out! Thanks!

Button, button...?

Okay, I want a blog button and am rather clueless about how exactly a blogger makes a functional one...

I have this (probably a temporary attempt, until I figure out what I am doing, then I will make something cooler. This one has weirdo font.), but it is a picture with a link... and that is not the same....

Does anyone out there in Bloglandria, with a cool and function button, want to offer me some help as far as creating such a thing? I just don't get how to set it up once I have a little square image...

HELP!

My personal, mini- version of American Pickers.

Anyone, besides me, ever watch "American Pickers" on the History Channel? Okay, well if you aren't a dork like I am, let me enlighten you. 2 guys, going across America, working their way through people's barns, sheds, and other places of antique build up, looking to find some old piece of something that they will then buy off the home owner and resell to collectors.
I find it intriguing. I wish I could roll up to someones house and go through their old stuff.

I got SORT OF close on Saturday morning.

Long story short, my dad knows a guy (know to us as G.N.D, Guy Next Door, because he was next to my dad's old office building) who buys/resells just about anything and he was having a tag sale. My dad and this guy go way back and they have always done business in a bartering like way. When we showed up (at a building he was emptying) we were allowed to 'pillage' for free.
Most of the stuff was 90's type junk, cassette players and the like, but buried deep beneath all of it I found something rather cool.

10 points for anyone who knows what this is.

No guesses? Well, let me tell you.

It is a label/price tag printer--like a little mini typeset printing press-- from the 1950's. Vintage, baby!

When we found it, we had no real clue as to what it did. We could tell it was a printing device and that it was very heavy, but that was all. I mostly wanted it to put in my room and smile at. And it matches my cucumber green couch.

Got home, searched on the Internet and found out just what it was (thank you eBay!), unfortunately it is only worth (or at least according to eBay) about $17 (though mine is in better shape than the one on there, so I could probably get a whopping $20 for my 14 pound green monster.)

Basically you stuck this itty bitty label in the top of it, set up the words/numbers with the teeny tiny typeset pieces and you cranked it around to print the label. My machine has been cranked 749 times (that gray piece has a counter on the top).

Almost all the little typeset pieces are there. And man, are they tiny. The little draw slides in and out of the machine, I guess for convenient storing.

I will never actually be using this thing, but it looks cool on my dresser next to my clock and vintage camera. And I have one and you don't. I love stuff like this. Going to tag sales, thrift shops, flea markets and finding unique, old things.

*this is where my mom is reading and think, "wow, is she my daughter or what?"

*no mom, not quite, I don't take things off the road side...yet...

Pickin' runs in my blood. And I'm only just getting started.

Quote-ables.

I'm a busy girl.

I have a lot of stuff going on between school, work, church, family and other things I do like dancing and singing lessons. I am also working my way towards (and have been for quite some time) writing/editing/publishing a book.

When I first realized I wanted to be a writer at 13, I had NO idea how complicated the whole thing was. I had never really thought about the complex process that was involved in getting all those books I saw in stores and libraries on the shelves. One does not just sit down and write a book. And once one has written a book the revision involved is rather endless. Just when you think you are done...you're not.

Right now I am in the "final" (hahahahaha... there is almost no such thing) stages of editing. I've had a pro-editor read what I have and with her help and critique my manuscript is one step closer to being a REAL book. I am working my way through the Writer's Market, formulating a list of publications to send to and working on my query letter.

But I still feel SO far off.

Even once you get a publisher (and that is HARDDDD), it takes, on average, 18 months before you see that book in print. Then I think about all the other partially drafted things I want to write, and all the stories in my head waiting to hit paper and I just get overwhelmed. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, this faint pinprick sized hole of the sun's glow, when I strain my eyes and look towards the future. I know God had a plan for me and my writing. But it's rough. Writing, or at least good writing, is a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of work. And I'm getting there. Slowly but surely I am plugging away at this thing.

"Genious is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." said Thomas Edison

My favorite author, J.R.R Tolkien, said this;
"A job that is never started takes the longest to finish."

I am already much farther than some. I have a complete manuscript about complex fantasy realm filled with characters who I actually think of as being real. It is on paper. It has been drafted over and over and over again (I am actually almost done, I'm just adding the finishing touches). I am to the point of being ready to send out that beast of 250+ pages and share it with the world. I am even (semi-)prepared to deal with rejection letters (in this world I am about to step into they are a fact of life.).

I am scared. I am excited. This is real life.

I am a writer.

Remember my name. Someday you'll be reading my books.

I, Isabella Kiss, will not be stopped.

Inside of the lines.

Once every so often I color inside of the lines.

Yesterday, after dropping several kids off somewhere, I had an hour to burn before picking them up again. I headed over to a nearby shopping area to kill time. I wound up in Old Navy and I came out with craft project intent.

I hadn't intended on buying anything, but by the registers they had some marked down bags (like the recycle, bring your own bag, go green sort of thing) and one of them was calling my name. And it was $2.49, so I didn't feel too bad.

It was off white, with printed images on it that just looked like they wanted to be colored in (I don't think Old Navy intended that, but I did since I like coloring. And sharpies.).






It is my new knitting/crocheting holding bag. It'll work great, once it stops smelling like Sharpie markers...

All things that pertain to life and godliness.

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, bu which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your you faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are you and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of you Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

---2 Peter 1:3-11, ESV---

Sometimes you have to read a passage of scripture over and over (and over and over and over) again to really get it into your spirit. I've been reading this outloud to myself every day for the past week.

I plan to (eventually) get it all memorized (so many 'ands' and 'fors'!!!) {I used to be a beast at Bible memorization, but in more recent times I have been slacking.}

On top of my computer screen I have stuck a neon yellow sticky note that says, in bold and all caps, FAITH, VIRTUE, KNOWLEDGE, SELF-CONTROL, STEADFSTNESS, GODLINESS, BROTHERLY AFFECTION, LOVE.

What have you been reading lately? Have you, like me, been reading some passage over and over again?

*end note: for those of you who think I am inaccurate at typing at high rates of speed, I will have you know I typed that entire blurp from 2nd Peter, (not copy/pasted it!) while looking down at my Bible. And I did it quickly! HA!

Butterflies and Bears.

Meet MARIPOSA.
She is my latest Amigurumi, and shortly after this post she will be finding her way onto my Etsy and Artfire shops.

Mari is a cat, but her name means Butterfly in Spanish (I just love the sound of that word and she is so colorful and springy that the name fit her!).




Her head and body are made of Rowan Rumor alpaca yarn, and limbs, ears and tail are made of double strands of acrylic rainbow/black yarn. Her eyes are felt and brown buttons and her nose is a vintage pink, faux-leather looking button. She is looking for a home; maybe yours? Profits going towards missions!

And secondly, Meet Chloe's Bear.

My sisters friend Chloe requested a custom amigurumi; it had to be a bear, she liked dark blue and brown, buttons were a like and it had to be cute.

Well Chloe, m'dear. Here he is!



My favorite part about him (or her, I suppose, just because it has a tie doesn't make it male. Especially because I am, at this very moment, wearing a men's tie...) are the eyes; if you look closely they have daisies on them (okay, maybe it is a girl...).

****If any of you out there would like a custom amigurumi, contact me either on this blog, or convo me on Etsy! They usually run about $15-unless you want something really small or really large. Custom orders are actually my favorite! ****

Irish Incognito.

I've mentioned it before, and I will mention it again; I LOVE ALL THINGS IRISH.

There are few holidays which I get excited about (okay, I am not apathetic towards celebrations, it is just there are only a few holidays which make me giddy enough to jump up and down)
Saint Patrick's Day is one of those holidays (along with Christmas, Easter and my personal fave, National Talk Like a Pirate Day). I love it because it is the Irish thing to do.


*disclaimer; I, Bella, am not really Irish. I might be like.0006% Irish, but the majority of me is Italian/Hungarian (+ a little English, French and Blackfoot Indian). However, I like to THINK I am Irish (/Jamaican/Korean...).


I've Irish step danced for the last 11 years. When I was about 7 years old, I saw a video of Michael Flatley, the Lord of the Dance and I obsessed (I am very, very good at obsessing.) about dancing like him (I ran around the house trying to do the fancy stuff he did). Conveniently enough my friend's mom ran an Irish dance studio just a couple roads down from us. My parents, who still describe themselves as ANTI-dance, trying to get me to stop fixating, signed me up for an 8 week summer sessions. They had hoped that would get it out of my system...

Well. No such thing occurred.

I've been going strong for years and still don't want to stop. Because of school, work and other aspects of my schedule I am dancing a lot less these day, but I did years of competing (small 'feises,' regional 'oireachtases' and larger international things like going to Ireland), shows, and even teaching younger kids classes.

Now I look back and laugh at Michael Flately in his 'feet of flames,' sparkly pants, face paint and sweaty, bare chest and say "HA! What a desecration to Irish culture..." But I, in part, owe finding what I love to him. *More ha...

Irish dancing is an amazing feeling. I love it. I frequently say that I do it because it is the closest thing I can get to flying without wings. I have done lots of other kinds of dance and for me, none of them even come close to how Irish makes me feel. Chin up, shoulders back, arms straight, toes pointing, waiting that 8 count before my feet start flying; there is NOTHING on earth like it.


So Happy Saint Patty's, my Irish (or not so Irish) friends!

Quote-ables.

On the incredibly disgustingly rainy Saturday 2 days ago, my dad took sister #1 (aka Faz, Frebreezey, Tralalalala, and several other things), and I to go see ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

I was kind of excited to go see that movie, even though I KNEW Tim Burton would get it totally and entirely wrong. And I knew it couldn't be my new favorite because it had Anne Hathaway in it (and I cannot stand her. At all. Ever).
Somehow that was all justifiable because it was a Tim Burton film WITH Johnny Depp in it; I tend to like those no matter what horrific things they do to good stories from good books.

It wasn't my new favorite, it wasn't even my new 5th favorite, but I did like several aspects. Much of it was humorous, and I thought the costumes were fantastic. (Anne Hathaway, however, was not fantastic...typical.)

But the absolute best part was a quote from Alice at the beginning while they are still in England. She is in a carriage with her mother, who is scolding her for going to a party (at which a creepish, yucky man named Hamish plans to propose to her) without a corset and stockings; it just isn't proper!

Alice responds "If wearing a codfish on your head was proper, would you do it?" and she goes on to say that, to her, a corset is very much like a codfish.

I enjoyed that. A LOT.

I personally like making my own fashion rules, and I do not wear whatever it is that people/media/the mall tell me to wear. I have created the fashion philosophy of "If you don't like how I look, shut your eyes and it all goes away."

Not that my clothing is at all IMPROPER- far from it!- it is actually a whole lot more "proper" than most normal clothing. I don't do normal. I don't do anything with a visible, and well known brand on it. I especially do not do 'little embroidered moose' clothes. And I normally don't even do clothes from 'normal' stores. I don't do it to be different, or rebellious, or to gain attention, I just do it...not to be normal. Plus it is way more fun to dress like me.
And if someone told me to wear a codfish upon my head, I would most certainly decline.

My own little wild thing.

Animal.

I love him.

I grew up watching The Muppets (and a lot of other Jim Henson) and Animal, the drummer for the Muppet band "Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem," was always (and still is) my favorite.

*(I have always had a strong desire to play drums {my parents didn't feel that same desire. No drum lessons for me and I gave up on self -taught because my drum set was so busted it fell over sometimes. Fun while it lasted.} Maybe someday I will learn...)

Anyway, Animal is at the top of my 'all time favorite characters of all of ever' list.
When I "played" drums I had a plastic version of him-an action figure, if you will- (about a foot tall) that I sat on top of my kick drum (he fell a lot too...). I have at least 3 shirts with him on it. I also have earrings. Kinda a fanatic...

But look at him, he is just so AWEEEESOMMMMMMMMME! How could you not love him?


Through the magic of the Internet I came to meet my friend Rowan, of Out of the Frame.
She makes Amigurumi (she has an etsy!) and was my original inspiration for my own Amigurumi creations. She is British, but lives in Bosnia with her husband as a missionary.
On her blog she posted an amigurumi ANIMAL that she had made as a birthday present for a drummer friend of hers. I left her a comment asking if she would make me one.

Long story short, she DID. And I adore him.





He is potentially the cutest thing I own. The mouth, the drum sticks, the crazy eyes, even the chain around his neck; he is perfect! Rowan, you are fantastic!

One-eyed, three-horned, non-flying purple dude...

Last Friday my friend Sam turned 19.
Sam(antha) is an amazing girl who is very artist; she loves poetry, music, thrift stores, and things like finger painting. I love her a lot. Not just any gift would do. Plus she is going to be doing a mission internship in Greece this summer and I wanted to give her something that might be able to accompany her on her travels.


I began thinking Amigurumi.

What could I make for Sam? I pondered slugs (she likes 'em) but couldn't quite figure how I'd make one...(glad I didn't because apparently someone knit her a snail for Christmas) and then I thought perhaps a hamster (she likes them too) but couldn't quite get my mind around that either.


A MONSTER!!!!!!


I would make Sam a monster and it would have one eye and a smirk. And she would appreciate that.

She was very excited upon opening him. He was one-eyed, three-horned, and purple (and doesn't eat people. He is a lover not a fighter/eater).

I'm pretty sure she named him Sven. And he and the knitted snail are going to be BFF's.

Happy (1 week after) your birthday, Sam!

"...Life is beautiful around the world."

I love traveling. A LOT A LOT. I've been a lot of places. I've have had 3 passports in the course of my life; I got my first in kindergarten.

I've been on missions trips to Chile, Mexico, and Costa Rica (going back July 9th!).

I've been on 3 trips in the USA in the state of West Virginia.
I've hit up quite a bit of the USA; I've covered pretty much all the east coast plus a couple other places. I've been to Hungary (added a family member...).
I've been to England; TWICE.
I've danced in a competition, and turned 16, in Ireland.
I've celebrated Columbus day *like their version of thanksgiving* in Canada.

At some point in my life I will make it to Australia or New Zealand. Might need to hit something in Africa (Egypt or some place with really cool historical things and traces of ancient civilizations.) and Asia, just to have done it. Going Antarctica is questionable. Jamaica is on my list. I've been told Iceland is a good time, but I have my doubts. And Italy is a must, but if I go there I will come back 100 pounds heavier, so I might need to wait on that and not eat for 2 years prior to the trip...

Currently, according to the Internet, I have visited 3.55% of the surface of the world.


I obviously need to cover a lot more. *and it says that I've covered all of the US. Lies.

visited 8 states (3.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World




Visited US States Map from TravelBlog


Where have you been? Where would you love to go?

*speaking of people and places, this is YOU. ALL OF YOU! ALL YA'LL!
blog visitors, to date;

United States -1,445
Bosnia and Herzegovina -37
Canada -30
United Kingdom -23
Australia -13
Spain -5
Hungary -4
Virgin Islands, U.S. -4
New Zealand -4
Russian Federation -3
Sweden -3
Switzerland -3
Netherlands -3
Germany -3
Mexico -3
Ireland -2
France -2
Korea, Republic of -2
Philippines -2
Pakistan -2
Kenya -1
Indonesia -1
Peru -1
Argentina -1
Czech Republic -1
Italy -1
Saudi Arabia -1
Puerto Rico -1
Portugal -1

Highs and Lows of Dust Assassination.

I am a dust assassin, for hire.

At least that is what I call myself to make my job description slightly more...edgy.
...I am more commonly known as a 'cleaner.'
I do 3 houses, one tanning salon, and a law office and I make good money doing it.

Believe it or not, I am not just cleaning other peoples dust and grime for the money it brings out. I actually LIKE cleaning. I love to look at a good mess and make it go away; classic before and after. Honestly, my favorite part is that I work solo. I am fully capable working of working for or with people but... I would just rather not. I like to be in control and if I am the only one, I get that privilege. We'll leave it at that and move on.

But dust assassinating isn't all fun and games (actually, there is no fun and no games but, you get what I am sayin'). Sometimes it is an epic battle for cleanliness. Sometimes the dust fights back. More often the tools for fighting the dust fight back; namely, my arch nemesis the vacuum cleaner.

Yesterday there was one such previously mentioned battle. I was cleaning a nice house, out on a lake (a summer home, but some pastors were coming to stay in it so the family wanted it cleaned out) and it had come time to vacuum the hardwood floors with their central vacuum cleaning system.
So I popped the attachment for floors on and flicked the switch which SHOULD have trigger suctioning.

No such luck.

I look into the metal pipe-like thing which connects to the hose; there appears to be a mass of somethin' blocking it.

I go to pull the pipe-like thing off, but it is kind of difficult, so I pull too hard and yank the metal piece back into my face. Minor blood loss followed, and I now have a half inch long cut under my left eye. Dust assassinating isn't for the faint of heart.

Now I am holding a paper towel on my eye and looking under sink cabinets for a pipe snake or something long and snake-esk to clear out the thing so I can vacuum the darned floor.

No such luck again. People must not keep pipe snakes in their summer homes...

I put my Macgyver thinking cap on and look around for something I can substitute. In the laundry room there is a wire coat hanger. Good enough.

I straighten that baby out and start jabbing it down that clogged vacuum pipe. Whoa, the thing has like an inner blockade of unidentified substance.

After more prodding and stabbing out pops a wad of... black hair.

I kid you not, it was like a golf ball of...hair. As if someone had brought a gorilla out to the lake house, given him a good shave, and then vacuumed it up. I was a little surprised but glad that I was at least winning.

I look down the pipe again. Still clogged. I continue with my jabbing and eventually I have about 6 wads of...gorilla hair...on the floor before me.

I still have NO IDEA how in the off season of the summer home (And I cleaned it in December last for some Scottish missionaries, and I did not vacuum any primates), this had managed to occur. Somethings just cannot be explained...

But at the end of the day, I won. I beat that vacuum. And the gorilla fur. And the evil forces of dusty darkness...

Dust assassination might not be easy, but it sure is an adventure. And if you can get out with your eyes intact and only a little blood shed, it makes for a pretty satisfactory job.

In case you ever wondered...

Hair foils.

They always kind of baffled me, but now that I have had some stuck to my hair, I finally have them figured out.
In case you, like me, have ever wondered how exactly they stay there, and what the point of them is in the first place, here is a video to help you.

*one of many videos in the course of our friendship filmed on her tennis court. Others involving movie quoting, Monty Python galloping, Rave Dancing, trampolines, spontaneous singing, and whoknowswhatelse.



One of the many upsides of my cosmetology school- going best friend (who is at a cosmetology convention in NYC as we speak) is that I get a good deal of secondhand information on hair. A lot of it goes right over my head, but I enjoy listening to her share her growing expertise, and I try to retain as much of it as I can.
I now understand foils. And highlighting. I am very intrigued by weaves (the act of sewing more hair onto ones existing hair!). Actually, I mostly just like to SAY "weave"...
And I could talk about afros with her all day long(*naghh*).

Although, no matter how many times she explains perms to me, I may never come to a complete (or even slight) understanding of how they work. I am pretty convinced there are magical forces outside of her control involved and I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Haircoloring in the Great Outdoors.

My best friend Emily Michael is amazing.

She is even more amazing than you might imagine her to be because she is a hairstylist to be (she is 300 hours into cosmetology school).

Today was 55 degrees and to usher in the beautiful springyness we decided to...

...color my hair.

She has previously put maroon/dark red streaks in my hair with "hair paint," but up until today my hair was techincally "virgin" (oh yes, they DO call it that in the professional world.) as it had never had any REAL color treatment in it...

'Tis no longer (prime example of how easily friends can influence you :p).

We, in our flip flip flops and other springy attire, went over to our local hair product store and bought some dye and whatnot. Back at her house we decided that coloring hair indoors on such a fabulous day would have been silly.

So we went and highlighted my hair out on her tennis court.

After much mixing, spritzing, foiling, and other professional type things (as well as a snack of nachos and queso during the processing time) I ended up with highlighted hair.

Goldy/red.

We were going for dark blonde highlights, but because I have natural red undertones to my hair, that isn't what we got.

And I am actually glad. Because red things make me happy. And red things WITH Emily are even better.

Tennis court, smelly stuff, and hands of an artist.

The artist herself, with giant, offical school logo-ed apron and purple glazed hair.

Mixing.

Hair dye. Or mustchup (mustard/ketchup. Long story.). Looked like it, but suuuureee didn't smell like it.

Me and my virgin hair, pre-dyeing.

Test patch foiling.


Magical PURPLE foils. *Not good when windy(rarely in is a beauty salon...). Or at least not easy.

My best attempt at an armshot of my hair post-dyeing.

Em, you are amazing, in case you haven't realized