Hippy Hygiene

Since grade school, summer has been a time of rest and rejuvenation, a time of vacation and adventure, and most importantly, a time of new experiences and new experiments.

As an ever curious girl, these experiments have to be one of my favorite things about summer.

Experiment #1: Operation Healthy Hair

After years of dying and frying my hair, I have tried many tips and tricks to get healthy hair. I've used special shampoos and conditions, I've gotten trims and tried to eat the proper diet. But now, its time to be drastic. 

1st-- I am going to stop using shampoo.

Shampoos coat your hair with silicons and parabens (waxes) which make your hair feel soft and smooth temporarily and strip your hair of its natural oils. Washing your hair everyday only forces your body to produce more oils, which makes you want to shampoo your hair again, thus creating a never-ending and not-so-hair-friendly cycle. 

Instead of using shampoo, I am going to be using diluted Dr. Bronner's castile soap, which is an all organic liquid made up of natural oils and potassium hydroxide. KOH is only used to saponify the reaction of the oils to produce soap, it is consumed in the reaction and does not leave a wax coating on your hair. Before using this though, I needed to remove the waxes and product buildup in my hair. I did this with clarifying shampoo mixed with a tablespoon of baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice. This made my hair seem extremely dry (because it didn't have any of those synthetic waxes coating it). See below for the solution.

2nd-- I am going to moisturize with coconut oil. 

I will also not be using conditioner for the same reasons above, and will be relying on my hair to produce its own natural oils. To prevent possible drying though, I will be using a coconut oil mask once a week to promote hydration. I did this last night and it smells amazing! 

I simply melted about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and applied it all over my hair, focusing on the ends. I wrapped my hair in saran wrap and then secured the concoction by using my TurbieTwist to keep everything in place. I used my blow-dryer on medium heat to open my hair cuticles and promote absorption of the oil for five minutes then went to bed. After a good nights rest, I unwrapped my head and washed off the oil with my Dr. Bronner's solution (this did require a few rinse-and-repeatings, because the oil is so heavy) but my hair finally feels good!

I know many other cosmetics are not as good for us as they seem, so I am going to head towards an all-natural beauty routine, by washing my face by the oil method, using all-natural deodorant, and using beeswax chapstick!

 I hope this was helpful, and there are further experiments to follow!

Recap: Beaver County Christmas

This is my boy. He's my person. My go-to guy. My love.

/// He's so handsome \\\

And after being apart for a week after constant togetherness on campus, I was dying.

So I drove 4 hours in these conditions to see him:

 It was stressful for the first hour, but then around Mansfield it began clearing up, I found a pair of sunglasses to save my eyes from all the white, and I realized I'd been following this truck the entire way.

See it? Right there? Yeah. He's my buddy.













I was beyond excited to arrive in Beaver County. I was greeted by Mike and suffered one of those ever embarrassing butterfly attacks. You know, where you can't speak intelligently and you just smile a lot?

Friday night we had an amazing dinner and went to Applebee's with friends. It was relaxed and easy, perfect after the stressful drive.

Saturday started early with a few hours of making ladylocks in Sito's kitchen, then Mike, John Jr., Mr. Girata, and I went out to shoot some guns!

The AR-15... It was VERY loud and kinda scary. And I couldn't hit anything with it! It was really fun to challenge myself though! ->

But the 357 Magnum Revolver was SO fun! (And I actually succeeded at hitting two bottles with only a few shots!!)

Mike only hit one... ;) hehe










After shooting time was over, Mike, Grandma, Mrs. Girata, and I went to church. After church, we gathered at Sito's for dinner: fried chicken, TATERs, and coleslaw. YUM! I could eat those taters for days. Once the table was cleared, the real fun began. and I was taught how to play Shanghai Rummy! (This is a very intense game that Mike always talked about. I was prepared to be overwhelmed) But by the final hand, Mike was in the lead and I was the only one within reach of beating him! With spirits renewed, we took on the final hand, and I WON! I'm not sure how happy that made Uncle Paul... But I was grinning from ear to ear. After the game, Aunt Annette and Sito surprised me with their generosity. They bought me Christmas presents! Sito took me back into the kitchen afterward and told me how much she loved me. I almost cried. We hugged. It was perfect.

I really love Mike's family and am so blessed to be welcomed as I am. I wish I could go back to Beaver County right now!

Saturday night was finished with a cozy viewing of the Santa Clause 3 with Michael. I love just being close to him. I always want to be holding his hand or connected to him. That's one of the hardest things about being away.

Sunday morning was filled with more alone time for Mike and I, which was nice. We got to exchange Christmas presents! I love the delicate earrings he bought me and the diamond candle was so exciting!! I got my ring late last night (and I'll admit, I probably dug it out sooner than I should have, but the candle and ring are both still in tact!!)

Isn't it beautiful! I can't wait to show him on New Year's.

Tomorrow is Christmas, and it'll be weird not being able to share it with him, but I'll be counting down the days till I see him again.

Merry Christmas Eve!

xoxo

A Family

There are many times I catch myself daydreaming about growing up. Hoping about having a grown-up job, having a grown-up house, a grown-up outlook, and even a grown-up family. In my head, it seems perfect. I'll be a great cook, have fabulous hair everyday, and wake up every morning with my husband snoozing peacefully beside me (and maybe even a few kids squeezed in between).

Today was not one of those days. Today, I babysat.
And this happened. For an hour.

I had a great time with them Monday, and wouldn't even complain that today was too terrible. But boy! Was it exhausting! And I realize that as a mom, having kids of my own, this would be different. The kids would (hopefully) have some built in respect for me, (hopefully) be nicer to one another, and (hopefully) have an attention span greater than 10 minutes.

(Side Note, aka pure rant. Feel free to bypass: I found out that these kids are allowed to watch TV, but only when mommy or daddy is home. With babysitters, its simply not allowed. I guess as a parent this makes sense, you're not paying someone to sit your kids in front of a screen, but as a sitter all I was thinking was "Wayyyyyyyyyyy to make the morning hours harder." haha These two were zombies. And cranky zombies at that.)

There were many points in my day where I questioned, very seriously, whether or not I'd actually want to have kids or even if I'd make a good mother! Would I be able to balance kids, work, and life without exploding? I do suppose if I can handle PA school, I should be able to handle life.
What if I can't handle it though?

I suppose we shall see as time goes by! For right now, I want to stay in the present.

Braindead

This is me right now...

After 5 hours in the library, two skipped meals, a fire drill, and a few more hours studying by candlelight, I think I may very soon have to say good night. To my brain. Forever. It's going to sleep and I can't help it. 

It's been nice knowing you, silver of intelligence!

Bonne nuit!

Where a Mind Travels

I don't have time to be doing this. To be redesigning a blog, creating a whole other channel of outlet.

I could should be studying for organic chemistry, the course in which I have an exam tomorrow morning. If not studying, I could should be napping and preparing myself to study.

But no, I'm here, typing away. I think I need this new outlet though. I had a previous blog (see: theadventuresofcrazygirl.blogspot.com), but in the past 4 months, I have matured beyond a measure I thought I would. I no longer feel this blog is suitable for me.

I want to make this anew. I titled this the Sage Diaries, because I feel I have grown wiser and simply matured in the past semester, thus the sage reference and I threw in diaries for good measure. (and also because confessions or chronicles just doesn't have the right ring to it.)

Over the next month (after tomorrow's looming OChem final) I'll have plenty of free time to think and update and write, making this a online diary of sorts. I have a lot of thoughts in my head and I guess they could be worth sharing (finger's crossed).