Hair We Go...

There have been a lot of lavender hair styles on Pinterest lately, with shades ranging from deep purple to pastels... most of which I love. So, naturally, I get the grand idea that I will bleach and then dye my hair myself! You may already realize my flaw, but bare with me, because what is a better learning experience than seeing what someone else does wrong?

Here is the hair color I started with:

I'm a natural light brunette, and about 3in out from my roots there was a lot of red from previous colorings. Turns out, red is not only the hardest color to keep in your hair, but it is also the hardest to get out!

I purchased Splat Lightening Bleach (2 packages)... and after the first go around with bleaching, I was to this:

To me, I looked like Goldie from Sin City...

Tacky. Right?

So then I got another 2 packages, and got to this:

Oh la la face...

Hey look, I'm the Lorax! (just go with it)

Then it was time to try dying it purple! This was finally the exciting part. So here were the steps:

Necessary supplies: cling wrap, conditioner, Kool-Aid of choice, mixing utensils 

I mixed 6 tablespoons of powder with just enough water to make a paste that was NOT runny.

Add some conditioner.

Uncertain face... a key ingredient when dying with Kool-Aid. Plus it looked like I had dipped my hair in oil.

Wrap it up in cling wrap.

For extra caution, I also wrapped an old t-shirt around my head.

I slept on it over night, woke up like it was Christmas morning, rinsed my hair to step out to the same exact super blonde color I had the night before. What the... ? Apparently, I have to actually color it, not just dye it, because I stripped out everything the dye could cling to when I bleached it. Well, shoot.

Guess I'll try something different.

Oh well, for today?

“Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.”

Summer {Music} Lovin'

I went through a lot of music this summer. A lot more than I can probably recollect. But I guess that's what happens when you constantly look for more music and buy albums. Here are some albums I bought and played the hell out of. There are several more artists I wanted to buy but music's expensive! Not as expensive as art though haha. I know not all of these are the newest, but good music isn't always the most recent (actually, it normally isn't)

Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials

Tegan and Sara's The Con

Maroon 5's Hands All Over

Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues

The Decemberists' The King Is Dead

Norah Jones' Little Broken Hearts

Neko Case's Middle Cyclone

St Vincent's Strange Mercy

Kimbra's Vows

And these are probably my favorite songs from each album:

Trying to pick up the pace, trying to make it so I never see your face again. Time to throw this away want to make sure that you never waste my time again.

Norah Jones – Happy Pills

Don't Kill Time... Slay It

And so begins my senior year. It is so crazy to think that 3 years ago I was taking my first college course ever. Has it really been that long??? This weekend I was walking along, being all shocked at how fast the time has gone, repeating over and over “I feel so old.” Then the guy in front of me turned around and snapped me back to reality by asking “how old are you?” He had a good point... who can feel old when they have to reply “21”?

I don't really feel old though. I don't think I'll ever actually feel old. However, it does feel surreal that I am a senior in college. It's just one of those steps, I suppose, that makes you look back as well as forward. It makes you ask questions like did I do everything I wanted? What do I want to do next?

I saw this great quote today on Pinterest.

I've got a life I love, and I don't consider that to be trite just because I'm young. I really love my life, so now is where I step up and live it.

Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. - William Faulkner

Image Roundup: Crafting Ideas

I am in with love crafting, making old things new, refurbishing furniture, and doing things that, in general, enhance a living space. Using a hammer is fun, spray paint can completely change a room, and taking something apart to put something better back together is a huge thrill.

The word “visionary” comes to mind when I think of what kind of people look at some old piece of junk and see how beautiful it could be, either in a perfect location or with a new coat of paint. I find myself cruising the streets of Findlay looking at all the old houses even and thinking about the fresh face I could bring to this city. It's a massive dream of mine to flip at least one house in my future.

In the meantime, however, I will settle for using crafting to bring new life to old things. When I am sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I like to skim through my Crafts board on Pinterest for ideas of things I could be creating. So, here are some crafts I really love from my board that I hope to be accomplishing soon:

DIY Sharpie a stencil on a plate. Bake at 350 for 10 mins = permanent

Piece of wood, 4 legs, padding then staple fabric

 

Painted "wallpaper"- using a stencil

 

The Daily Telecraft: DIY: Mystic Shoe ... diy canvas shoes

Creativity is a drug I cannot live without. - Cecil B. DeMille

Post-Game Recap

As you may have noticed if you read my posts regularly, I did not post Monday or Tuesday. Agh! I have been thinking for the past month that I may have to cut back on my posting come school time, but I thought it would be more of a choice than a necessity. Silly me. Well, I'm less than a week out and already feel like I have places to be and things to do, so on and so forth.

I really can't believe there are only 4 days left until classes start. I feel like this has been the longest summer in the world though so it's not that my break is ending too soon, but it has just gone on so long that it is a little unreal all that I have done and that it's coming to an end.

Recap on my summer of traveling:

Celebrated my 21^st birthday in Ohio with my dad.

Revamped my bedroom and livingroom.

Drove down to Texarkana, TX to live with me mum for a few months.

Visited Miami, FL.

Visited Ozark National Forest and the Cossatot.

Went to Dallas for a Rangers v. Tigers game.

Roadtripped through OK, KS, NB, SD, WY, CO, UT, AZ, NM, hitting up Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Devils Tower, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks.

Roadtripped through LA, MS, AL, GA, NC, TN, WV, stopping in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

He who does not travel does not know the value of men. – Moorish proverb

Favorite Author: Ayn Rand

I don't keep a running list of favorite authors, but if I did, Ayn Rand would be darn near the top. Rand wrote during the 40s and 50s, warning America of the path its government and big corporations would take if we did not begin standing up as the individuals we are, instead of letting socialism run its course. Ayn Rand believed in the power of the individual: both their power to corrupt but more importantly, their power to have integrity.

A writer should make people truly consider their lives, and if a writer doesn't convince a person to change their lives they should at least make said person realize why they chose not to change their lives. When I read The Fountainhead this past year, I changed my life.

The wisdom and sensibility Rand possessed was unreal. If you don't read, which you absolutely should, then watch her interview on YouTube with Tom Snyder.

Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves – or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth. - Ayn Rand

Government “help” to business is just as disastrous as government persecution… the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. - Ayn Rand

It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master. - Ayn Rand

People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don’t sit looking at it – walk. - Ayn Rand

Goals vs. Opportunities

On my big roadtrip through the national parks we stopped at an overlook to take photographs of an amazing red canyon. I have a thing for wanting to capture local vegetation and for wanting to express the magnanimity of a place through showing the small details. So I took some photos and then got to thinking about my approach to photography and how it relates to my approach to life. So here is what I wrote:

Anyone can see the big picture, but it takes a trained / skilled eye to see the small beautiful things. Photography is a perfect example: pictures of big beautiful things can often seem cliché and don't seem to capture the essence of being in a space. However, if you can somehow manage to include a very detailed, small piece of information, you can bring to life the big picture. In life you have to appreciate the moments (this is literally an art term used to describe a small section of a work) in order to really love the big picture.

When I was writing this I was really thinking about a lot of different things. Quite often I see friends get so caught up in their long-term goals that they don't value a single day along the way. I have never seen anyone happy while doing this. Do I think goals are a bad thing? To a degree, yes. If instead of making goals for yourself you make opportunities, I believe the pressure of getting through the time it takes to reach a goal is relieved with the search to make every day an opportunity in itself.

I don't know if I am making a clear point or just hazy blobs, so I will use myself as an example. Last school year I was extremely focused on graduating, getting to a level in networking where I could have big-time shows in 10 years, creating the big work that would get me noticed . . . by summertime I was thinking about not going back to school, I was in a relationship that stressed me out more than helped me, I could not care less whether of not I got in any shows, and I had a minimal amount of work worthy to go in a portfolio.

Then, this summer, I traveled, became single and free, and sorted out some priorities. I'm actually looking forward to all of my classes, whereas normally I start the semester pissed off about my general education courses. I am more excited about what comes after graduation than just getting there, but most importantly every day I remember one important thing: there is no other moment than this; now is all I have.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. - James Dean