It's My Birthday (also: Braids)

It's my birthday.

Tada!

How am I going to spend it? many of you wish to know.

Pack. Clean my room. Maybe wash some dishes and write. Go to a hotel two hours away and commence a weekend retreat and constantly be on guard for unpleasant "surprises" from well-meaning "friends". (Or not so well-meaning.)

I know. Lame. I already raked dog poop this morning. Then I ate the last of the ice cream. And I was awake by 8.

I was awake by 8 mostly because my phone kept buzzing with facebook notifications because people were posting "Happy birthday!" on my wall. (My phone is demonic, because I turned off the facebook notifications and I still get them.) Thanks, guys! You're awesome.

We aren't doing any huge celebration A) because we aren't big on over-the-top party celebrations, and B) it's kind of a bad day for us because Dad works and I have to leave this afternoon and my youth pastor's sons will be over (which is why I need to clean my room (and by "clean my room", I mean "put away most of my clothes, organize my desk and night table, and shove everything else into my closet")).

So that's the plan for my birthday.

Be jealous.

Ever since I finally taught myself how to French braid my hair a couple years ago, braids have been one of my favorite hairstyles of choice. Diverse, able to be dressy or casual, and fairly easy. One style, however, I have not been able to master: the milkmaid braid.

Yesterday, I found a video tutorial on how to achieve such a braid. (Did you know it is possible to get "addicted" to Pinterest without even having an account. Indeed. I know.)

It was easy. Like "oh, duh" easy.

I used to think the only way to get this look was to braid from one side of your head, by your ear, to the other side. Maybe French braid it. And I just couldn't do it that way.

This method has you do two normal braids and pin them on top of your head.

Duh!

(Yes, I did misplace the video link.)

I tried it yesterday. I had to. Finally, I had a hairstyle which completed my "bookish" look.

Okay, make that more like dorky homsechooler trying to look indie or something. If the stares at Wal-Mart are any way to judge....

Yes, I am very self-concious. I wanted to slap those boys. With a belt. And then hand them the belt and explain it's proper use and their need of it.

(Why, you may ask, were you worried about the opinion of that kid of person? I don't know.)

But it doesn't matter, because after my trip to Wal-Mart I babysat, and the kids loved it. And also my feather earrings. The little girl kept blowing them while we were reading books. These kids also presented (with their parents) cupcakes for my birthday! And they sang to me. So I was happy.

Whatever. I'll try again and again until I find a way to make this style a little more...something. And in the meantime, my plan is to use it when I'm spending all day in my garden in June and want my hair off my neck and out of my face.

I will also never again sleep with my hair still styled this way. 1) It's a little uncomfortable and 2) my hair is a disaster this morning. I unbraided it and poof. (Jessi, it was kind of like you sleeping with mousse at Youth Conference. Only not quite.)

Well, I should go. I don't know when those boys will be here and I still have boxes to shove and clothes to pack and dog hair to vaccum. And then perhaps I shall read a book.
(Also, I'd be pretty freaked out if my day went anything like Rapunzel's.)

November and Playing with My Hair

It's November now. I'd like to be well into the first day of NaNoWriMo, but between not having my own computer and being in the middle of two stories, I'm not. Ah, well.

It's freezing cold. Like, barely 50 now. Cold enough to warrant snow, which we still don't have. (By the way, I said I wanted snow, and then along came Sandy. That wasn't what I had in mind. We ended up getting freezing rain and lots of wind.) And I can't find my good pair of fingerless gloves. So my teeth chattered while I waited for Heather's car to warm up when I ran errands.

Mom and Wes are on a trip, and the girls have a youth retreat coming up, which leaves Dad and me for routes on Saturday and Sunday. (Our subs are the youth pastor's family, and they'll be at the retreat.) I'm just oozing enthusiasm. Not my idea of quality time with Dad.

Anyway!

For a while I've been looking for ways to curl my hair. It's not that I've always dreamed of having curly hair. Okay, for a while I did. Now, however, I am perfectly content with my hair color and type. I rarely use a blow drier (unless I've been moving slow and don't want to go to work with wet hair) and never use a curling iron. I have a hard time styling my hair because I'm not big on messing with it, like ratting and gunking and hair-spraying.

But once in a while, it's nice to change things up. Jessi learned this new way of curling her hair, but I don't think I have the patience for it: constantly twirling my hair while it dries isn't for me.

There's always the whole putting-my-wet-hair-in-curlers-and-sleeping-with-them method, but usually I style my hair for church, and I am not a fan after doing that last year for the Christmas party (especially doing routes like that).

Yesterday, I saw the hot curlers Mom got a while ago and figured, "Why not? It's worth a try." I'd just taken a shower, and to use the curlers my hair needed to be dry. I gunked it up with my favorite styling cream (Noodle Head, if you care to know), and scrunched a little. Then I mopped the kitchen floor. (Sadly, mopping doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.) I ended up doing it Cinderella-style.

My hair was still a little wet, so I added more cream and blow-dried. And didn't brush it. I have a hard time letting my hair get messy like that.

Then I added the curlers. I was going for loose waves, but for some reason I couldn't manage it. Maybe I left them in too long? While they were in, I mopped the entry way floor. Then I took them out.

Not loose waves. Try tight, bouncy ringlets. Like, my hair was almost to my shoulders, and straight it hangs down to the middle of my back (or thereabouts).

Add some hairspray, finger-comb, pull back a little, and swish in front of the mirror for a good 10 minutes giggling like an idiot.

I don't normally do much with my hair; a fact that got it chopped when I was fifteen. I prefer long hair, but it takes more effort to dress it up. I've learned a lot of ways to do braids. However, I don't do a lot of loose, hanging styles. Curls are a nice compromise. Now I just have to figure out how to use the curlers so I get waves.

Allenna saw me when I had finished making faces in the mirror, and I offered to try it on her hair. She has shorter, finer hair and layers, so it took some work, but we finally figured it out. We both were actually quite dressed up for church.

I didn't brush my hair before bed, and when I woke up some of the curls were still intact. When I managed to brush it all out, it was a poufy mess. Braid it is!