As I mentioned in my previous blog, I got 5-7inches of hair cut off when the max I wanted off was 3 inches. Just get rid of the dry ends. My stylist has known me for about 2 years and couldn't have possibly have thought that I'd be OK and/or happy with hair a few inches longer than my shoulders.
Last night I kept waking up from odd dreams and immediately feeling a sense of distress and depression over my short hair. Bah.
I bought Super Biotin vitamins today at GNC. So, day 1. I hope I see a significant growth within a month. I'll be sad if it takes a year to grow back the length I had.
I got a Fine Featherhead extension put in today, so I'll easily be able to gauge my progress.
I'm going to order DS Laboratories Rivita shampoo. I googled where I could buy some in the Houston area. One place. 8181 El Mundo St. AHH. It was scary. In an apartment complex which was next door neighbors to a complex surrounded by barbed wire. Bryce wouldn't let me go in to ask if they sold the shampoo. If Bryce wasn't there I would have gone in. Girl on a hair mission. Ordering tomorrow.
A few people have also recommended prenatal vitamins. I suppose I can research how Biotin and prenatal vitamins may work with one another.
In any case... I'm not cutting my hair for a year. And I'm going back to being super anal about how and what people cut of my hair.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Review: Clean & Clear morning burst facial scrub
Clean & Clear claims this product is good for daily use. Hmm... The first time I used it, a few weeks ago, I thought it was fun and worked decently. The beads sure did exfoliate my face and there was a sense of "waking up" and nice citrus. Bryce hated it from the get-go. He said the beads stuck into his beard and he was pretty frustrated by the product.
There is far too much exfoliation in this product for someone to use daily. I can't even imagine someone with extremely oily skin liking this. To compensate for the dry and flaky skin I was starting to get in my more sensitive areas of my face I had to use a heavier moisturizer.
The actual cleanser of this product doesn't seem to make my face "squeaky clean" like my normal products do. I honestly felt like I had a cheap anti-bacterial hand soap on my face with added granules and beads. I had 4 blemishes in the time I used the morning burst. Normally in this period of time I may have 1, if that.
The morning burst beads lost their 'fun' quickly. I noticed that beads would stick to the bathtub, so every time I'd get in for a bath I'd have previous used beads covering my ass and legs. Extreeeemely irritating and uncomfortable!
I will not be buying Clean & Clean's morning burst facial scrub again. I was really disappointed with the lackluster cleansing ability aside from rubbing off the first layer of my face. I got sick of the gimmicky burst beads after day 1. I wanted to give this product a fair test, but my Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel and Daily Microfoliant are back out and in use.
There must be drugstore brand that does a great job!
PS I got at least 6 inches cut off my very long hair today. I'm sad my hair is gone. It's cute cut. It's all healthy now, but I won't cut it for a year! My next mission is to find the miracle hair grower. Bryce always used to want me to cut my hair, but now says it should be long. I have an average girl's hair cut now. I have the Rachel. :(
Monday, March 21, 2011
Convey Sushi
One of my favorite things to do in Tokyo is go to sushi-jins with conveyor belts. The chef puts assortments of different sushi on plates and as the conveyor belt rolls you grab the sushi that appeals to your hunger. It's good for a quick bite or can cause you to get a wee-bit out of control if you're like me and just impulsively grab, grab, grab!
Convey Sushi is run by a half Japanese and half Greek guy named Kevin. His restaurant is located at 801 Congress St. Parking is downtown is always a horrible bitch, but Bryce and I got lucky and found parking just a minute away. When you walk in, it seems there is confusion as to whether you wait to be seated or seat yourself. There is no sign, however, you're supposed to seat yourself. You have the option of sitting around the conveyor belt or at a table. You can tell that the place isn't 100% finished. It seems like a rough finish. It can be made a lot nicer. The bathroom was quite shocking to me because it was so simple with the toilet paper holder/dispenser(?) positioned in an awkwardly position in the middle of the bathroom. Needs major work.
The owner was very nice and welcoming from the get-go. Asked where we'd heard of the restaurant. He took our drink orders, Blue Moons, and offered us hot sake on the house. Sweet!
The plates range from $5, $4.5, $4 and $3 (I believe). The way you know is how it's colored. Pink plates are $5. You can grab off the conveyor or place an order. BUSINESS IS TOUGH! Kevin's normal waiter was out sick, so he was scrambling around the restaurant trying to keep up but failed on a few occasions. They were out of cucumber, asari (clams) and I believe out of something else because I kept getting "we're out of that, too" response. They need to better stock up on Saturdays!
The same white fishes, plate of tempura and a specialty roll went around on the conveyor for about 20 minutes. I got to the point where I was pretty pissed and told Bryce that after I was done with my beer I was asking for the check unless other sushi started getting added the the belt. Especially since he went around getting everyone's requests earlier, but nothing was appearing! He was very apologetic when he asked me if I was "still good?" and I told him that I was just still waiting on other items, since the same things had been going for 20 minutes. We'd placed an order for a specialty roll, which we'd not received either.
Maybe 5 more minutes passed and finally there was more salmon, eel, tuna, and seared tuna. The cuts were generous. I love salmon. Even though it wasn't the absolute BEST, it was still pretty good. Bryce enjoyed his eel. We ordered spicy scallops and squid. The rice was undercooked. Bryce liked the spicy scallops however. The squid was good, but slightly dry. I'm guessing the squid sat for too long. I ordered agedashi tofu, which was pretty good! I liked how they were cut into smaller, bite-sized pieces, because normally they seem to be served in two large blocks where everyone just breaks bits off. Seared pepper tuna was delicious. And so was our specialty roll. I was extremely impressed by this roll! It was called the Congress, I believe. It had garlic, asparagus, daikon sprouts, seared rib-eye beef, avocado and scallions. WOW, was this delicious or what! It was very "green" tasting. The beef did not take away from the fresh tasting veggies in this roll. The daikon sprouts really made this dish, in my opinion. I'll definitely be ordering this every visit.
The owner gave us the hot sake and agedashi tofu on the house and our beers at happy hour prices since he was sorry for the "kinks" that needed to be worked out.
-Needs a faster kitchen. There were 5 men back there, it was inexcusable that the same fish was on the belt for about 20 minutes.
-They need to pay attention to what items have sat for too long. Those same unwanted fish were on the belt when we left, about an hour and a half plus. Bad.
-Need to make sure they have everything in stock on Saturdays.
There were many shortcomings with Convey, but they have been only open for 6 weeks and I believe that they're going to work on the kinks and I hope this restaurant gains some success. We'll be going back in about a month to see if it's progressed and HOPEFULLY the waiter will not be sick! Poor boss.
Convey Sushi is run by a half Japanese and half Greek guy named Kevin. His restaurant is located at 801 Congress St. Parking is downtown is always a horrible bitch, but Bryce and I got lucky and found parking just a minute away. When you walk in, it seems there is confusion as to whether you wait to be seated or seat yourself. There is no sign, however, you're supposed to seat yourself. You have the option of sitting around the conveyor belt or at a table. You can tell that the place isn't 100% finished. It seems like a rough finish. It can be made a lot nicer. The bathroom was quite shocking to me because it was so simple with the toilet paper holder/dispenser(?) positioned in an awkwardly position in the middle of the bathroom. Needs major work.
The owner was very nice and welcoming from the get-go. Asked where we'd heard of the restaurant. He took our drink orders, Blue Moons, and offered us hot sake on the house. Sweet!
The plates range from $5, $4.5, $4 and $3 (I believe). The way you know is how it's colored. Pink plates are $5. You can grab off the conveyor or place an order. BUSINESS IS TOUGH! Kevin's normal waiter was out sick, so he was scrambling around the restaurant trying to keep up but failed on a few occasions. They were out of cucumber, asari (clams) and I believe out of something else because I kept getting "we're out of that, too" response. They need to better stock up on Saturdays!
The same white fishes, plate of tempura and a specialty roll went around on the conveyor for about 20 minutes. I got to the point where I was pretty pissed and told Bryce that after I was done with my beer I was asking for the check unless other sushi started getting added the the belt. Especially since he went around getting everyone's requests earlier, but nothing was appearing! He was very apologetic when he asked me if I was "still good?" and I told him that I was just still waiting on other items, since the same things had been going for 20 minutes. We'd placed an order for a specialty roll, which we'd not received either.
Maybe 5 more minutes passed and finally there was more salmon, eel, tuna, and seared tuna. The cuts were generous. I love salmon. Even though it wasn't the absolute BEST, it was still pretty good. Bryce enjoyed his eel. We ordered spicy scallops and squid. The rice was undercooked. Bryce liked the spicy scallops however. The squid was good, but slightly dry. I'm guessing the squid sat for too long. I ordered agedashi tofu, which was pretty good! I liked how they were cut into smaller, bite-sized pieces, because normally they seem to be served in two large blocks where everyone just breaks bits off. Seared pepper tuna was delicious. And so was our specialty roll. I was extremely impressed by this roll! It was called the Congress, I believe. It had garlic, asparagus, daikon sprouts, seared rib-eye beef, avocado and scallions. WOW, was this delicious or what! It was very "green" tasting. The beef did not take away from the fresh tasting veggies in this roll. The daikon sprouts really made this dish, in my opinion. I'll definitely be ordering this every visit.
The owner gave us the hot sake and agedashi tofu on the house and our beers at happy hour prices since he was sorry for the "kinks" that needed to be worked out.
-Needs a faster kitchen. There were 5 men back there, it was inexcusable that the same fish was on the belt for about 20 minutes.
-They need to pay attention to what items have sat for too long. Those same unwanted fish were on the belt when we left, about an hour and a half plus. Bad.
-Need to make sure they have everything in stock on Saturdays.
There were many shortcomings with Convey, but they have been only open for 6 weeks and I believe that they're going to work on the kinks and I hope this restaurant gains some success. We'll be going back in about a month to see if it's progressed and HOPEFULLY the waiter will not be sick! Poor boss.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
More Hello Kitty Nail Decals
Meow!
Nicole by OPI: Miss Independent.
In person it looks more silvery than pinky with silver. I actually like the color with the Blackberry's camera better because it looks pink and you can see the nail art. Cute.
I ordered a cute coat from Betsy Johnson the other day, and it was pending in my bank account, but suddenly the transaction wasn't there the next day!!!! I checked the ruelala.com to make sure they didn't cancel my order, which they didn't! So, I'm not sure what's going on! I'm planning on taking it with me to Chicago in 3 weeks. So, I hope it arrives! And I hope it fits well. It's kind of a cut that typically is cut and/or looks good with small-breasted women... :\ But I'll see if/when it gets here! I hope it's as cute in the picture. If it's a success I'll take the time to paste a photo into my blog.
A review coming soon...!
In person it looks more silvery than pinky with silver. I actually like the color with the Blackberry's camera better because it looks pink and you can see the nail art. Cute.
I ordered a cute coat from Betsy Johnson the other day, and it was pending in my bank account, but suddenly the transaction wasn't there the next day!!!! I checked the ruelala.com to make sure they didn't cancel my order, which they didn't! So, I'm not sure what's going on! I'm planning on taking it with me to Chicago in 3 weeks. So, I hope it arrives! And I hope it fits well. It's kind of a cut that typically is cut and/or looks good with small-breasted women... :\ But I'll see if/when it gets here! I hope it's as cute in the picture. If it's a success I'll take the time to paste a photo into my blog.
A review coming soon...!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Nails-- Hello Kitty
Meow. I finally used my Hello Kitty nail art that I purchased from sephora.com a couple of months ago. VERY CUTE!
When went on my affordable beauty shopping I got many new polishes! The one photographed above is Essie's Turquoise and Caicos. It's a soft turquoise even though my Blackberry camera captured a sweet mint color.
I painted my nails on Sunday. Let's see how long it'll be before I get a chip. So far good. I'm sure I'll have to spot touch once or twice before I change out my nailpolish this weekend. I think that I'll try to use more of my Hello Kitty nail art! EXCITING!!!!... ;)
My mother, Bryce and I are going to head out for oysters soon, mmmm... Delicious. I smell payday coming, too... Tomorrow? It'll be my first payday at the new salon. Pretty excited... to crunch numbers and all that geeky jazz.
Good evening!
I painted my nails on Sunday. Let's see how long it'll be before I get a chip. So far good. I'm sure I'll have to spot touch once or twice before I change out my nailpolish this weekend. I think that I'll try to use more of my Hello Kitty nail art! EXCITING!!!!... ;)
My mother, Bryce and I are going to head out for oysters soon, mmmm... Delicious. I smell payday coming, too... Tomorrow? It'll be my first payday at the new salon. Pretty excited... to crunch numbers and all that geeky jazz.
Good evening!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Affordable Beauty Haul
I've decided that I need to find beauty products that are more affordable and accessible. I don't plan on cutting out all high-end products, but I definitely want to mix in great products at a lower price.
What I bought today was:
Clean and Clear Morning Burst Scrub
St. Ives Apricot Scrub Invigorating
Garnier Anti-Puff Eye Roller
St. Ives Vitamin E Hydrating Cleanser
Sonia Kashuk Eye Make-up Remover
Conair Volume Rollers
Cotton Pads
Several nailpolishes (OPI, Nicole and Essie)
NYX Felt Tip Liner in Jet Black
NYX Mega Shine Lipgloss in Sweet Heart
I'll try to test out each for at least a week before I form an opinion!
Watching Australia with Bryce. Ciao!
What I bought today was:
Clean and Clear Morning Burst Scrub
St. Ives Apricot Scrub Invigorating
Garnier Anti-Puff Eye Roller
St. Ives Vitamin E Hydrating Cleanser
Sonia Kashuk Eye Make-up Remover
Conair Volume Rollers
Cotton Pads
Several nailpolishes (OPI, Nicole and Essie)
NYX Felt Tip Liner in Jet Black
NYX Mega Shine Lipgloss in Sweet Heart
I'll try to test out each for at least a week before I form an opinion!
Watching Australia with Bryce. Ciao!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Second day of work
Had a great day at work. Felt more independent. That was a nice feeling. Being able to handle things on my own all on my second day.
After work went to the Hobbit Cafe with Bryce, Jessica and her friend, Juan. Ate a Shire sandwich with NO mayo. Mayonnaise is puke-inducing! The sweet potato fries were tastier than normal, not sure why.
Went to an art show with several local artist showing pieces. Many mediocre, a handful pretty cool and a bigger handful of very shitty. I still can't get over the 5th grade looking art that was accompanied by frames. Someone thought the work was worthy of frames? Really? If I had photos of it, I'd share so you could share the perplexing situation. Juan's work was really nice. My taste: surreal.
I'm home and going to cuddle up with The Dark Side of Camelot.
NIIIGHT!
After work went to the Hobbit Cafe with Bryce, Jessica and her friend, Juan. Ate a Shire sandwich with NO mayo. Mayonnaise is puke-inducing! The sweet potato fries were tastier than normal, not sure why.
Went to an art show with several local artist showing pieces. Many mediocre, a handful pretty cool and a bigger handful of very shitty. I still can't get over the 5th grade looking art that was accompanied by frames. Someone thought the work was worthy of frames? Really? If I had photos of it, I'd share so you could share the perplexing situation. Juan's work was really nice. My taste: surreal.
I'm home and going to cuddle up with The Dark Side of Camelot.
NIIIGHT!
First day of work (yesterday)
Yesterday was my first day at the new salon. I loved it! Everyone seems really nice. I came across familiar faces, which was nice. They seemed very happy to see me, so it felt good. I am pretty amazed at the differences from the other salon:
-Focus wasn't on menial things like the breakroom needed to be spotless (when other things need to be done)
-No owner running around like a chicken with his head cut off and trying to make everyone do "busy-work"
-The entire staff was very personable and sweet with product reps.
-No bitchiness
-I can wear heels because I don't have to stand at the front desk for 8+hours
There are more, but I'm pressed for time. I'm liking the fact that it seems the entire female staff loves Anthropologie, which reminds me of an old co-worker who I think would fit in SO perfectly at this salon and love it, but I know big changes like that wouldn't be easy. This salon uses macs, which I'm a PC gal! :( But I guess I'll have to get used to its backwardness, haha.
Okay, need to throw on my heels!
Have a great day!
-Focus wasn't on menial things like the breakroom needed to be spotless (when other things need to be done)
-No owner running around like a chicken with his head cut off and trying to make everyone do "busy-work"
-The entire staff was very personable and sweet with product reps.
-No bitchiness
-I can wear heels because I don't have to stand at the front desk for 8+hours
There are more, but I'm pressed for time. I'm liking the fact that it seems the entire female staff loves Anthropologie, which reminds me of an old co-worker who I think would fit in SO perfectly at this salon and love it, but I know big changes like that wouldn't be easy. This salon uses macs, which I'm a PC gal! :( But I guess I'll have to get used to its backwardness, haha.
Okay, need to throw on my heels!
Have a great day!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Day 10-- Laser Hair Removal
This is for those who absolutely hate to shave and wax!!!! I've always been interested in getting laser hair removal done, but always squashed the idea due to the ridiculous cost of it! Full Brazilian (everything off down there) you're looking at around $330 per session. You need 6-9 sessions. So let's round it off and say you're looking to spend $2,000-3,000. Most places will offer you package deals where you save about $100-200. I happened to come across a deal, on Groupon.com, of $150 for 3 sessions on an area of your choice (not including legs). My mother bought me the package for 3 sessions, too. I chose my Brazilian. I wasn't too thrilled of the actual spa, since it was a house made into a spa and the treatment room where I bared it all on a table had a window 3 feet away from me almost identical to the house next door. Nice. Also, as being someone who works at a front desk in the same industry I have a pretty high expectation of how the front desk should be run in terms of catering to customers. They were sweet, but slopping. For example, I could be waiting there with three staff at the front desk chattering about, waiting for them to check me in or even acknowledge me. Another example being staff eating fast food right by the stairs that clients have to go up in order to get to certain treatment rooms. I once even went down after a treatment to book my next appointment and leave gratuity, but no one came for at least 3 minutes. I left. ANYWAY!...
I was pretty thrilled with the results since I was seeing a great change in hair growth. I could feel how smooth most areas were, but I began to think the technician was getting careless with her work. She would talk a lot and fail to tell me she was switching sides, so it left me with not having the correct leg bent to where she could access everything for proper zapping and she would just zap away anyway and not get the same areas on those several treatments! I suppose I was too intimidated by this lady to actually speak up, so I used all 6 sessions and still had areas that really bothered me. The thing that I was most annoyed about was the fact that I didn't start off with that much hair or that much stubborn hair, so I was sure I'd be done in those 6 sessions.
Having the sweet boyfriend that I do, Bryce got me another 3 sessions for $150 on Groupon.com for another spa. My first treatment at Metropolitan Laser Institute was great. I let my technician, Ashley (who I recommend), know that I have had 6 previous treatments and I wasn't happy with the experience because how sloppy I felt the other girl's work was and I was dealing with the same areas that have had hair for the last 3 treatments. She was extremely thorough! 40ish zaps compared to 8!!!! I was pretty shocked, but happy that I mentioned how unhappy I was with my previous experiences. She said I should wait the 6 weeks to see if I would have any growth, just because I had so little hair left and she didn't want me to pre-book without knowing. Unfortunately there were 3 tiny areas which I actually pointed out to her today and she went zap happy on me. I'm excited to see how this session will turn out. I have my next and last one set for 5 weeks, I hope it'll be for next to no hair! :)
I have recommended a few people to the Metropolitan Laser Institute, in particular, a client at the salon I was working at was interested in laser hair removal for his back but had missed the deal on Groupon.com and I suggested he call or go up there to mention getting in on that deal or getting some other kind of deal. They were more than happy to do the 3 treatments for $150.
Things I've learned:
*The zap sensation only lasts in the moment and is more 'painful' due to anticipation of pain.
*You cannot wax or tweeze when going through laser hair removal treatments (that's a bitch to go back to shaving)
*Groupon.com saved me over $2,500!
*I need to speak up if I'm unhappy with results and I'll likely get what I ask for.
*Livingsocial.com also has these good deals!
Have a great evening! I need to wake up early... start my new job bright and early! I'm beyond excited for this! :)
PS I've realized I somehow missed Saturday. So... I'm a day off. Oh well. Ha.
I was pretty thrilled with the results since I was seeing a great change in hair growth. I could feel how smooth most areas were, but I began to think the technician was getting careless with her work. She would talk a lot and fail to tell me she was switching sides, so it left me with not having the correct leg bent to where she could access everything for proper zapping and she would just zap away anyway and not get the same areas on those several treatments! I suppose I was too intimidated by this lady to actually speak up, so I used all 6 sessions and still had areas that really bothered me. The thing that I was most annoyed about was the fact that I didn't start off with that much hair or that much stubborn hair, so I was sure I'd be done in those 6 sessions.
Having the sweet boyfriend that I do, Bryce got me another 3 sessions for $150 on Groupon.com for another spa. My first treatment at Metropolitan Laser Institute was great. I let my technician, Ashley (who I recommend), know that I have had 6 previous treatments and I wasn't happy with the experience because how sloppy I felt the other girl's work was and I was dealing with the same areas that have had hair for the last 3 treatments. She was extremely thorough! 40ish zaps compared to 8!!!! I was pretty shocked, but happy that I mentioned how unhappy I was with my previous experiences. She said I should wait the 6 weeks to see if I would have any growth, just because I had so little hair left and she didn't want me to pre-book without knowing. Unfortunately there were 3 tiny areas which I actually pointed out to her today and she went zap happy on me. I'm excited to see how this session will turn out. I have my next and last one set for 5 weeks, I hope it'll be for next to no hair! :)
I have recommended a few people to the Metropolitan Laser Institute, in particular, a client at the salon I was working at was interested in laser hair removal for his back but had missed the deal on Groupon.com and I suggested he call or go up there to mention getting in on that deal or getting some other kind of deal. They were more than happy to do the 3 treatments for $150.
Things I've learned:
*The zap sensation only lasts in the moment and is more 'painful' due to anticipation of pain.
*You cannot wax or tweeze when going through laser hair removal treatments (that's a bitch to go back to shaving)
*Groupon.com saved me over $2,500!
*I need to speak up if I'm unhappy with results and I'll likely get what I ask for.
*Livingsocial.com also has these good deals!
Have a great evening! I need to wake up early... start my new job bright and early! I'm beyond excited for this! :)
PS I've realized I somehow missed Saturday. So... I'm a day off. Oh well. Ha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)