Category Archives: Self Improvement

No Shampoo/No Brush Hair Day 4!

Ok, it is late! I am sooo tired, and I am heading up to bed as soon as I finish this mini post! I promised that I would post some pics of my No Shampoo/No Hair Brush day 4, so here goes!!!

Here it is wet, about 30 minutes after my shower.

Thank you, Sweetie for taking my pics!!! 😉

This is my hair about 5 hours later. I actually got my first complements today!!! YEAH!!! “Have you done something different with your hair? It is looking soooo good!!”, “Your hair is sooo curly, what did you do to make it so curly?”

YEAH!!! That felt good!! 😉

Anyway, I will chat more tomorrow!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Happy Monday!!

How has your day gone today?? Mine has gone pretty well!! I always feel so jazzed when I have gotten the things from my to-do list done for the day, work – check, groceries – check, make dinner at home – check, blog – well, that will be a check, and read some more of my book – check, check!! 😉

I came home after grocery shopping a realized my sweetie has fixed something that has been bugging me since 4 years ago when we moved into this place, and that is, he replaced the house numbers on the front of our place. I always tell you, it is the little things in life that bring you joy!! I am not sure who put them there before us, I am sure it must’ve been the lady who lived here before us, but for some reason the numbers had been painted fingernail polish pink – as in hot pink! They were hard to see, AND they were UGLY!!! I had just been tolerating them there, until I forgot they even existed!! but, my sweetie knew I had hated them and thought it would be a nice surprise, and it was!! HONEY, can you hear the brownie meter going up??? I do!!! 😉

Anyway, I am on chapter two of the book that I am reading, Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less, has really inspired me to start reading about Henry David Thoreau. He seems like a fascinating man, and I have loved all of his lessons that I have heard so far. You see, it sounds like all of the greats had an oasis of sorts to go to center themselves, and rebalance. Thoreau had Walden Pond, Epicurus had his house and gardens, Buddah had a fig tree, where is your Walden Pond?? Where is mine? Good question. I would LOVE to say it is my home, but I think that right now, it has to be the ocean. I always am able to recoup, and get refreshed there. I am going to make it my mission to create my oasis!

Now for that oasis, what would I take with me??? If you were going to be stranded on a desert island. What would you take with you? What could you not living without? Choose for each of the categories below:

  • Two articles of clothing.
  • One food item.
  • One beverage.
  • One form of entertainment.
  • One piece of technology.

What did you choose???

For me my answers are:

  • Two articles of clothing:  A day dress, & my mom’s pink jammies (who would I be trying to impress???)
  • One food item: grilled chicken (I am guessing there is already pineapple, papaya, and coconut there???)
  • One beverage: iced sweet tea
  • One form of entertainment: my entire family
  • One piece of technology: an i-phone

There is soooo much more that I feel I can’t live without, but this will have to be my chosen basics – for now!!!

On to more frivolous matters, it is day 3 of my no shampoo, no brush hair challenge, and so far so good. My showers in the morning take a lot longer than they used to take, but because I am not spending so much time in front of the mirror painfully brushing out my hair, I think the time to get ready takes me about the same amount of time, so that is good! The front of my hair today looks a little greasy, but it feels soooo soft – not greasy at all, that is surprising to me. AND my hair does seem much curlier than it usually is, although it does appear pretty mousy and dull, which I was told, is expected during the first 2 to 3 weeks, so onward I go!!

I am going camping this weekend, so this should be interesting. Not the camping, I know THAT will be a BLAST, I mean the hair care situation there – I will have to keep you posted!!! 😉

Oh, and it has been two days, and I have not purchased even ONE book!! Now, that is not so impressive you say???? Well maybe not, but books are my one weakness and I found that I was bringing between 10 and 20 books a week, I kid you not!! So, I had to have a come to Jesus meeting with myself and put my priorities in the proper order. AND maybe save some money to go on a big trip that I am taking in January!! I am not going to talk too much about that yet, as I don’t want to put a ken ayina hora, a Jewish hex, on it. I will let you know what is going on as soon as I get some more plans finalized on this!! YEAH!!!

Anyway, it is getting late, have a FABULOUS evening!

Life Inventory Checklist!

I am reading this TERRIFIC book!!! It has been in my house for almost a year, but I just picked it up this morning to read through it. This AMAZING book is called ‘Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less‘. I got through the entire first chapter, and spent the rest of the day doing the first assignment – GOING THROUGH YOUR ENTIRE WARDROBE!!! Whew!! That is soooo much harder than it sounds. I spent the whole day doing that, and bagged up 6 bags of clothes, shoes, and other miscellaneous things from my closet!! It was difficult, time consuming, and at times, I thought I would quit, HOWEVER now that it is all done, I am sooooo EXCITED, and it is nice to have taken stock of everything that I own (wardrobe-wise!)

A few more things that I am taking from this book right away are:

  1. I will focus on reading the books I have, and not purchase any books within the next 30 days
  2. I will not use shopping as my therapist. If I’ve had a bad day, I will do something to pamper myself like a mani or pedi; and if I had a great day, I will let that great mood continue on to my evening by playing some fun music and dancing with my sweetie!
  3. The most important things in my life, are not things – they are people and experiences!

Here is an excerpt from the book ‘Secrets of Simplicity: Learn to Live Better with Less‘, written by Mary Carlomagno:

Answer the following questions with “Always,” “Sometimes,” or “Never”

  1. Do I make time to exercise?
  2. Is my home life serene?
  3. Do I have downtime?
  4. Do I take time to deal with incoming mail and bills?
  5. Do I have time to volunteer for charity?
  6. Do the significant people in my life receive my attention when they need it?
  7. Do I keep my appointments?
  8. Do I see my friends?
  9. Do I eat regular, healthy meals?
  10. Am I in control of my calendar?
  11. Are my home repairs done in a timely manner?
  12. Is my pantry stocked?
  13. Do I find time to get out and enjoy nature?
  14. Am I getting enough sleep?
  15. Do I take regular vacations?
  16. Do I work less than 10 hours a day?
  17. Is my work fulfilling?

Total up your “Always,” “Sometimes,” or “Never” responses. Place stars by the questions that surprised you, and think about what they reveal. Are your “nevers” standing in the way of your livelihood, your healthy, your ability to ultimately grow? Has “always” become a burden, leaving you without control, without the ability to make a conscious choice? As you review your responses, think about whether they represent a life of your choosing.

I would HIGHLY encourage ANYONE wanting to find balance in a materialistic culture, GO OUT AND PICK UP THIS BOOK!!

On a side note: it is day two of my new NO SHAMPOO, NO HAIR BRUSH routine from the book I finished reading yesterday,  Curly Girl. My hair is looking alright, a little greasy this evening, not itchy, I am still passing the sniff test – my husband says “hmmm..smells good!” Thanks, Baby!! 😉 I promise to get a picture posted tomorrow!!! My pics this morning didn’t turn out!!

Anyway, I am going to head up for bed!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

It Is Official…I am a Curly Girl!

Ok, so on one of my weekly voyages to one of my favorite places, the book store, I KNOW SHOCKING, right?? I picked up this… no, wait – let me go back to the beginning!

Last week, at the bookstore, I was checking out, and my cashier, who was also one of the store’s managers look at me and said, “Have you ever heard of the book ‘Curly Girl‘? You should get it, it will literally change your life FOREVER!” I lied, and told her that of course I knew that book, matter of fact, I already owned it.

I left, with my purchases in hand, and I went straight to the car, where my husband was patiently waiting for me, ready to go home, and the first thing I said to him when I hopped in was, “Does my hair look bad????” Side note: don’t ever do this to your man, he was looking and feeling like he was being set up for trouble!! HAHAHA! Of course he totally saved himself and said the EXACT THING I wanted to hear, “Of course not, Baby, your hair looks FABULOUS!” GOD BLESS THAT MAN!! Well, I knew that wasn’t exactly true, when I had left the house that morning, I was feeling like I was looking pretty cute, but this was something like 15 hours later, and I had been running around like a fiend all day, so I am sure my hair wasn’t “FABULOUS”. Well, I told Jason what the lady had said, and he told me to just put it out of my mind. Sooooooo, I did EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE!!! I fretted and worried about it all week!

You must know that I have had a LOVE/HATE relationship with my hair since I was a little girl! I have always wanted straight, thick, beautiful hair, but what I actually have is baby fine curly/wavy hair that has a mind all it’s own, and frizzy at the mere mention of rain (Living in Oregon, that is a real problem). Matter of fact when I was a teenager my mom used to spiral perm my hair regularly, combine that with a chin length bob haircut, and I always looked like Rosanne Rosannadanna from SNL. NOT PRETTY!!! I came to realize that I actually had curly hair when one year I was determined to change my look, and I was going to grow at that damn perm once and for all, and I shockingly discovered that that wasn’t a perm anymore – THAT WAS ME!!!!

ANYWAY, I picked up that book last night, Curly Girl and read through it in one evening, and thought I would give it a try. To oversimplify the book, I am going to not use shampoo and I am going to stop brushing my hair for the next 2-3 weeks just to see what the natural state of my hair is. I am hoping that it is curlier than it is wavy, and seeing the results from just day one, I am thinking that it is. I will do my best to post a pic for day two tomorrow!!

It is getting late, I am heading off to bed!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Happy Wednesday!

Today has been a very productive day!! Work, a long lunch with one of my favorite girlfriends, more work, home, shower, jammies, chores, dinner, more chores, take a breath to write to you this evening, do some more chores, head upstairs, do a little reading, bed, sleep!! Ok, so obviously not ALL of that has happened yet today!!! 😉

I am excited about tomorrow! After work tomorrow night, my family is coming over for dinner and then we are all going to go swimming!! YEAH!!! I always have SUCH a GOOD TIME swimming with the kiddos!! They have such a MARVELOUS way of making you feel like a kid again!!! GOD BLESS MY LITTLE KIDDOS!

Well, today was weigh-in day, I am not sure if I told you, but I am on Weight Watchers and am doing my darnedest to lose weight! I am following Weight Watchers, am on a 24 week walking plan, and have a personal health coach!! So, all of that combined with the fact that I have such a great support group around me, I am optimistic that I will be able to get healthy ONCE AND FOR ALL!! I will keep you posted of my progress!!!

OH, you know what has really been on my mind today?? It is called the 100 Thing Challenge. I have heard about this a few times over the past 6 months or so, but for some reason the idea just really intrigued me today, and made me start to think, “If I had to limit belongings to just 100 things, what 100 things would I choose?” Well, right off, I think that would be REALLY, REALLY DIFFICULT!!! Second, there are a few things that I would have to group as one thing, right off the bat, like my library, that would have to equal 1 thing, but really I have almost 1,000 books, So with that in mind, here is a stab at my list…

  1. My wedding ring
  2. My mother’s dresser
  3. My library
  4. My bed
  5. My couch
  6. My dining room table that my mom-in-law found for me
  7. My piano
  8. My artwork – can that count as one thing??
  9. My little black antique leather chair
  10. My cornet
  11. My laptop
  12. My i-pod
  13. My Kindle
  14. My tele
  15. My DVD player
  16. My DVD collection
  17. My pink bicycle, Roxy
  18. My grandfather’s art box
  19. My art easel
  20. My costume jewelry collection
  21. My shoe collection
  22. My clothes (OK, you can see where this would get REALLY DIFFICULT!!)
  23. My CD collection
  24. My game collection
  25. My puzzle collection
  26. My decoration collection

Ok, I am going to stop myself here! I think this might actually be an impossible task for someone like me. Sometimes I just get sooo disgusted with myself because I am such a stuff person. Don’t get me wrong people are more important than stuff any ol’ day, but there is something about being surrounded by my things that make me feel some much at home. With that said, I want to leave with a bit from George Carlin talking about stuff. Enjoy!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

What a Good Day!!!

There is nothing more important than FAMILY!!! 😉

Today has been a very productive day!!! Work was good, home is good, puppies are good, hubby is good. How many days can you say that???

I have started, no let me rephrase, I have RE-started tracking my food on Weight Watcher’s website as of this morning. So I had to do some planning to make sure I had some healthy choices on hand at all times!!! Which means, I spent the majority of my evening cooking and preparing food for my lunches and dinners for the rest of the week!

While cooking I spent a couple hours on the phone with my sisters, which is ALWAYS a bunch of fun!!! I really miss hanging out with them. I often dream that they will all move here, and we can have frequent get togethers a-la-Soul Food, or movie nights, or shopping excursions, or just spending time making memories!! However, most of my sisters think that my city is just too big, and busy, so they will never move north. BUMMER!!! I have already lived in their city, and GOOD-GRANNY, I WILL NOT do that again!!! Their city is a place where old people go to die! But what do I know??? LOL!! I love you, girls – even though you live in hick-ville!! 😉

On another note, I have just been running around like crazy, so anything I can do to shave off some time during my days ALL THE BETTER, and I have to tell you, planning out my outfits the night before work has been saving me SOOOO MUCH TIME!!!! 🙂 I am usually the last one to work, and I have been one of the first the past two days!! I am not getting much more work done, since I am still in the beginning learning stages of my new job duties, but it still feels pretty dang good to get one of the good parking spots and to beat most of my co-workers getting there!!!

Oh, and can I just tell you one silly thing you may not know about me before I go for the day? I am sooooo excited about the new Nanny McPhee movie that is coming out at the end of the month! I can’t wait to go see it!!! It is like a modern day Mary Poppins combined with etiquette lessons – IT’S RIGHT UP THIS GIRLS’ ALLEY!!!!!!

Ok, so I am going to go get ready for bed!!! Mamma needs her beauty sleep!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Heading Out for Another Day of Class!

This is what my "School Bus" looks like on the inside! I am waiting for the disco ball to drop and the bubby to start flowing! 😉

I am up, dressed, primped, and totally ready to go to class this morning, with 40 minutes to go until the party bus gets here!! 🙂

Why can’t I do this at home during my real life???? LOL!!! Probably because I can’t throw on my favorite pair of jeans to head out to work!!! Yes, that is right, I am wearing my FAVORITE pair of jeans, a black scoop neck top, zebra ballet flats, red glasses, and of course my crimson rose in my hair!!

This must be the start of a good day, because today is day 2 where I feel like I am going out looking cute!!! and, may I remind myself that it is only 5 am, my time!?!?!?!?!

Things that I am doing here that I need to adopt in my real life:

  1. Pre-plan what you are going to wear so that it is not a surprise in the morning
  2. Be diligent with your daily skin care regime and your make-up application will go so much faster, because you will have less to cover!! 😉
  3. Get up within 15 minutes of the alarm going off; AKA snooze is not an option
  4. Get up and immediately turn on some great music – not the station you usually listen to with the snarky dj who thinks he’s funny!
  5. Exude confidence!! You don’t have to change a damn thing about yourself in the moment if you FEEL good about yourself!!!
  6. and FINALLY keep your health and wellness a priority!! If you don’t take care of your health, you will take care of your sickness eventually!!!

Alright, I am zipping off to do a little a reading before it is time to go down to catch the school bus!!!

Have a FABULOUS morning!!! 😉

Where’s My Vivacious Bitches??

Tara Stiles AKA my health hero!!Today is slowly coming to a close. It has been a pretty good day, but I am just soooo tired. I think a combination of jet lag, and a long day of sitting in a brain gorging technical class has just really wiped me out! 😉

I have had my dinner, thank you room service people!! (I feel soooo spoiled this week!!) had a burger, spinach salad, and fries – I figured the spinach canceled out the ill-affects of anything bad I could have gotten from my burger and fries!! LOL! My hair is braided, face is washed and moisturized, and I am ready to climb into bed and read a little before I shut out the lights!!

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be healthy, and what I can do to incorporate true health into my life. I already do little things every day, but I don’t do enough!! I mean I did eat a burger and fries tonight! I have spent quite a bit of time on Tara Stiles website tonight. She seems to be the epitome of super-health! Thin, flexible, energetic, vivacious, positive – oh gosh, if I only could add those things to my “Santa Baby” Christmas wish list!!! “Uhmmm…Honey, could you please go to the Health R Us store and pick up a couple of things for your Baby Girrrrrl!!!” 😉 Don’t I wish!!!

Anyway, thank you for joining me on another one of my crazy tangents!!! 😉

My FAVORITE thing that I am taking away from Tara Stiles‘ website is her 5 Habits of Healthy People video:

Her 5 items are:

  1. Drink more water
  2. Eat more fruits and vegetables
  3. Meditate
  4. Practice Yoga
  5. Smile at strangers

and the only thing I would add is incorporate walking easily in your daily life!

These are all so basic, we could ALL easily incorporate these a little at a time into our lives, and maybe before you know it we all could be super healthy vivacious bitches!!!! WHOO! HOO!!

Alrighty, well this vivacious bitch is heading off to bed!!! Nighty-night!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

Quick Post Before Heading Off to Class!!

Good morning!!! Have I told you that it is the butt-crack of dawn right now (I wonder where that awful saying came from?)?? I got up at the equivalent of 4 am, and I am doing pretty darn well, if I may say so myself!!! 😉 Besides the puffy eyes, I think I am looking pretty cute on the way out the door this morning!!! I did my eye make up in a totally new way this morning, and I am loving it! I definetely need to have a vanity, they have just a mirror attached to a wall with a comfy bench in front of it, and I really felt like royalty!!! I should create that same set up at my place!! I will have to get on that!

Anyway, I am heading out! The school bus, yes I said school bus, will be here soon, and I want to make sure that I don’t miss it!!!

Have a FABULOUS morning!!! 😉