Chemical Free Sun In DIY For Hair

So in one of my first posts I talked about using lemons as a natural sun, in instead of the chemically made stuff, as a healthier more environmentally friendly lightening alternative.  Not to mention when you compare the price of 2 lemons at about 50 cents a piece to that of a bottle of Sun In that's about 4 bucks or more a bottle you're saving some money as well as getting a fabulous new look.

So here's what you need:
A spray bottle with a mister setting
2 lemons
Water
Bowl

So this DIY is super easy once you get everything together. First take a lemon and smack it into the table or hard surface and roll it around to get the juices flowing (great stress relief huh?!). Then cut it in half and squeeze the juice out into a bowl. Be sure to get as much of it as you can the lemon juices are what do the lightening! Next repeat with other lemon and pick out any seeds that fell into the bowl. Pour the lemon juice into your spray bottle, then fill the rest of the way with water. It's that easy!!!!!!!!! Now just spritz in hair, brush and go out and enjoy some sun! (BE SURE TO WEAR SUNSCREEN!!!! ^~^)

Here's what it looks like when it's done, you want it to be a bit yellow looking, if it isn't you need more lemons because your's is too diluted! Good Luck and enjoy, plus post pics if you use this and get some good results!!! I'm testing mine tomorrow when I go workout.

Venus Transit

So today Venus is in transit across the sun, according to the news this wont happen again for another hundred years so this is a pretty huge celestial event! Everyone should get the chance to enjoy it, but remember keep your eyes safe. Here I put on 2 pairs of sunglasses and 2 layers of welding lens to look at it. It's just starting here in Ohio right now, but I still saw the teeniest little black dot on the corner of the sun!!! Pretty sweet when you think about that little dot being a planet!

For those who can't see it, check out this website they have live streams from all over the planet! Take advantage, unless you think you'll actually be around in 2117!

http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/

Back After A Long Year of School

So it's been a long long year of school, sorry I pretty much didn't post at all while I was there, but I have been a busy little student bee. However it's summer now, and I'm starting to get settled into a work schedule so I hope to be making posts again!

To start off here's some 100 photos I took today when I went on a little sunset walk. I love taking photos at sunset, the colors are beautiful! Some are a little blurry, but I hope you enjoy non-the-less!

http://s460.photobucket.com/albums/qq326/kittyskatie/Sunset%20Walk/

YSU's 15 minute Blizzard

So I went to Mcd's for dinner today and about 20 minutes into eating it turned into a total white out. There was crazy wind, thunder, lightening, and lots of snow. We got almost an inch in those short minutes, then almost as quickly as it came, it was gone. The sun came out from behind some clouds, and all the snow was a pretty orange and blue color. It was so neat to see because the wind had been so strong almost everything was only white on one side! All the trees and bushes looked like they were covered in cotton balls, but it didn't feel that way when the snow fell off the trees down into my jacket. Brrrr!

I snapped some pics on my cell phone and edited them a little on photobucket, check it out.

The last two are my favorite, I just love the way the light looks in them.

Let's Talk Weight

Ok so, I happened upon this article on a friends facebook page today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2085226/PLUS-Model-Magazines-Katya-Zharkova-cover-highlights-body-image-fashion-industry.html

It's talking about how media, especially fashion media, portrays women in an unrealistic, unhealthily skinny body weight and that the plus size models in fashion have gone from being sizes 12-18 to 6-14! I don't know about you, but the last time I checked size 6-14 were the "norm" for most women, and hardly "obese" or "plus sized." Anyways, this isn't really news, nor what I found fault with. Do I think it's a good idea to promote a greater range of size models in the industry? Yes. Do I think it's a good idea to promote being comfortable in your own skin, no matter what your size? Yes! But, what abosolutely digusted me were the comments following the article.

Instead of focusing on what the article was trying to say, most of the comments are focused on a weight debate. It's all either, I'm skinny and healthy you people need to stop glorifying being fat and work out and eat salad, fought with I think the woman in the picture is sickeningly skinny, six pack women aren't healthy, curvy women used to be considered the most beautiful and attractive. Then there are alot of comments like this, I'm a healthy plus sized woman, who's even more active than her skinny friends, I do excersize and eat healthy and I'm still overweight so stop berating plus size women everyone is healthy at a different weight. Which I agree with. Everyone has their own weight that they are healthy at, noone, especially not this article, is trying to glorify "being fat" or "plus-sized." What the article is trying to say is the first step to being healthy, and being happy, is being comfortable with the size you are, and to encourage media outelts to promote this!

You can't tell me that you look at the fashion magazines and runway shows and don't feel just a little sick, even if you are healthy, because you don't fit what the media is trying to portray as sexy or normal. Heck just this past weekend I went to an outlet mall and one of the stores I looked in literally had sizes that ranged from XX0, XXS, XS to L, which is absolutely rediculous! The clothes were adorable, that was half the reason I went in, because I liked the look, but they made it seem like if you weren't a size 6 or smaller you didn't have a right to wear the clothes they had. Now sure there are articles that feature plus sized models, and certain magazines, but they are usually only catalogues from stores that cater to plus-sized women. Which goes to the point this article is trying to get across, media needs to stop idolizing the super small and embrace the real. Real women are all different sizes, real women all have a different weight that is healthy, and real women are all beautiful from small to plus sized and the sooner they realize that the sooner women will realize it's health that matters not waist size. I'm not trying to put down the skinny or the large, what I'm trying to say is stop trying to convince everyone else your weight is superior and just be happy with who you are, and what size you are, end of story.

Sally Dyes Sea Shells

So like I said the other day when  I was down at our towns local construction site, they're rebuilding one of the old bridges and because of that part of the river bed got dug up. I found a couple shells that first day, but I went back a few days ago, armed with a bag and some wet paper towels to wipe my hands with once I was done. I came home with 110 shells, 3 pieces of quartz, and 3 pieces of polished glass.

Heres a group shot of the whole lot:

Some of these are absolutely amazing:

What I really need to do are take pictures of these mother of pearl pieces again because since I took these I have cleaned and polished all the shells so they look alot whiter, pearlier, and silverier...

Anyways, I was a tad bored the other night, probly because I was being a horrible blogger and not keeping up with my posting, but I decided to try and dye some of my shells. I figured they're about the same material as egg shells, so I should be able to acomplish this using food coloring and vinegar.

If you would like to try this yourself, you'll need:

Shells

Food coloring

Vinegar

Boiling water

(Note: for my shells I just used vinegar and dye, and this seems to actually dissolve some of the more delicate shells like the curly snail shells, so I would follow the box directions and use vinegar, plus boiling water, the dilution may eliminate this issue)

So mix the dye as the food coloring box directs for egg dyeing, I used some of the combination colors for mine, stormy blue, apricot, mint green, dusty rose, and neon purple. (Not necessarily pictured in that order)

Get some of your shells, I used only about a palm full, I didnt want to lose to many if it didn't work.

And place them in the dye! I left mine in for a couple hours, it's pretty much just like egg dyeing the longer you leave them the darker the dye color will be. Here's how they came out!

As you can see, some of the curly shells are a bit ate up and holey, but the mollusk shells held up great, and took color the best. Now that I have some dyed shells I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm thinking maybe some windchimes, or hanging decorations....but I guess either way you'll just have to wait and see!

Busy Busy Little Bee

Sorry I didn't make a post yesterday, but I've been pretty busy the past couple days. Mostly shopping and not finding anything to buy, which is probly good because I don't really need to spend any money. What I have gotten done in the past two days is, finish a leather chord necklace, crochet a new hat, get food poisoning, and dye my hair. I was a bright blonde (as you can see in my profile picture) now I am a reddish chestnutty brown color. Did not intend to go this dark, but I think I like it still. Here's me and my new hat (and yes its supposed to be a picture like my profile one, I figured since my hat and hair were opposite it'd be fun).
Before:

After:

BTW I love making slouch hats, and eventualy I plan on making a quick tutorial on how I make them!

Super Easy Open Faced Chicken Sandwhich

This is an idea I came up with myself, by combining some stuff I had laying around the kitchen, and idea sparked by my best friends chicken sandwhich's.

So here's what you need:
1 can cream of chicken soup (any brand is fine, I usually use Wal-Mart brand)
1 large can chunk chicken (again I used Wal-Mart brand)
1-2 microwave mashed potato bowls (1 if its just you eating, but this makes enough to for 2-3 people so 2 bowls if you have a friend over) (If you're making this as a family meal just use a packet of instant potatoes that makes like 3-4 servings)
Bread (any kind you like)

Here's 2 ways to make the chicken part of the sandwhich

Microwave:
Empty the can of cream of chicken soup into a microwave safe bowl (do NOT add water or milk or your gravy will be to runny!). Then open the can of chicken and drain the liquid. Shred the chicken with a fork by stabbing, twisting, and pulling at the chicken with the fork. Add the now shredded chicken to the soup and mix thoroughly. Then microwave for 4 minutes (or until hot) stirring halfway through.

Stove: Put the soup in a pot (again do NOT add water or milk), shred and drain the chicken like above and mix it in the pot. Then heat on about medium heat stirring often until soup and chicken are hot.

To make the open faced sandwhich, lay a piece of bread on a plate, microwave the mashed potato bowl as directed, then spoon ontop of your bread. Take your chicken and soup mixture and spoon that ontop of bread and potatoes and there you go! A super easy open faced chicken sandwhich that takes only about 10-15 minutes to make!

If you're at work making this for lunch, skip the bread and put the chicken and soup right ontop of the potatoes in the microwave container it comes in! (after you've microwaved them of course) I love making this personally, it's cheap, filling, and easy to make, so let me know how you guys like it!

My Favorite Beauty Tips and Go To's

So we all have those favorite little secrets we use to keep ourselves pretty and fresh feeling and here are some of my favorites, from lots of places.

From Glamour Magazine and Glamour.com/beauty:

            For nails: Try wearing flesh/skin toned colored nail polish to make fingers look longer and thinner. Wearing a shade that’s close to your skin tone adds length to your fingers which also makes them look thinner, not to mention it’s a very simple chick look that’s perfect for both office and a night on the town, also try rubbing Vaseline into your nail beds to soften cuticles and give nails a healthy shine and glow.

            For Skin: To even out skin without scrubbing yourself to death with exfoliator try rubbing a cut lemon on rough areas, the acid will soften the rough spots and lighten dark areas (Lianne Farbes, TheMakeUpGirl) Also make sure you moisturize, everywhere! The best time to do this is right after you shower because the lotion or moisturizer holds in the moisture your skin has already absorbed from the water.

For some more Glamour tips check out this link: http://www.glamour.com/beauty/2008/11/13-diy-at-home-spa-tricks#slide=14

DIY Beauty Fun

While browsing my favorite craft site (craftgawker.com) I came across this amazing foot scrub recipe by Julie Ann Art (http://www.julieannart.com/2011/03/homemade-foot-scrub.html), that’s not only completely easy to make, but amazingly cheap too!

Here’s what you need:

 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond oil (can be substituted for olive oil)

(Note: I used olive oil when I made this and it worked great!)

Then just mix everything in a large bowl until consistency is even and scrub away, then rinse with warm water and don’t forget to slap on some lotion or moisturizer to keep those feet smooth and sexy after all that hard work!

Want an even easier all over scrub? Just mix raw sugar with water to make a thick paste, then scrub on damp skin and rinse off, it’s one of those hand me down tricks, like using lemons and sun to add natural highlights to hair. For that all you need to do is juice a couple of lemons add a ½ cup water spritz on hair with a mister then go for walk or sit in the yard and read a book (wearing proper sun protection of course especially if you plan on being outside for more than 10 minutes) anywhere between a half an hour to 1-2 hours should be plenty of time, then rinse hair with water and presto instant highlights! Plus since lemon juice and water isn’t nearly as bad for your hair as dye you can repeat as often as you like until you get as light as you want. Like I said though, make sure you wear sunscreen! (Note: this tends to work better in the summer though since the sun is out a bit more, but we won’t go into the science of seasons here.)

Another easy at home way to improve the look of skin is the old steam open, shock closed trick. Take a nice warm steamy shower which opens up pours (and sinuses!) so you can wash out dirt and irritants, then rinse in as cool of water as you can stand, the colder the better. This shocks pores closed to keep dirt and oil from getting back into them, and improves blood circulation at the skins surface giving skin a more youthful look. Pretty neat trick huh? Plus it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than those miracle creams, who thought a little blood flow could do all that?

And there you have it, those are some of my favorite beauty tips, and hey another bonus most of those won’t break your budget either, so we’re still on track with that save money resolution! So what are some of your guys favorite beauty go to’s?

Killing Two New Years Resolutions With One Stone

It's the first of the new year, so naturally everyone is being really good about sticking to there resolutions so far. (Well being the first day of the year, one would hope you haven't fallen off the bandwagon yet.) Like many of you I made some of the typical resolutions, lose weight, declutter my life, give back, save money, and I've found a great way to do some of those things all at once.

A great way to declutter is to do a little closet/dresser winter cleaning. We all have those outfits that we save because we absolutely love them, and we convince ourselves year after year that we can still fit in them or will if we diet enough, but let's face it, it's gonna take a while to get back down to those ideal weights, so...pull those beautys out of the closet and throw them in a bag. Keep count of how many shirts, sweaters, pants, etc you clean out and then take them all down to the local GoodWill or Salvation Army. By giving your clothes, and old possessions like glassware and jewelry you don't want or need anymore to these charities you're not only making a tax deductable donation, but you're also clearing way in your closet for that new wardrobe when you do lose all the weight you want to. Talk about good motivation, an empty closet full of possibilities for when you reach that goal. Plus you just did a whole days worth of excersize cleaning that stuff out and carrying it to the car, and then into the store.

So let's see thats actually 4 resolutions in one: declutter, give back, donation = tax deduction = save yourself some money on taxes, and excersize! Looky there we're on a ball then with these resolutions, best advice now then is don't lose that steam, find a way to keep yourself motivated, and dont forget to treat yourself for a job well done every now and then. Also don't forget that treat doesn't have to be food! Treat yourself to a facial, an expensive haircut, home mani/pedi, a day off from the gym to go window shopping, a trip to the craft store to get supplies to craft whatever want, rent a movie, read, write, or whatever else you can think of that may be a treat to you, as long as it makes you happy, otherwise its not really a reward for all that good work.

Me personally, I plan on taking lots of walks in my shape ups, it's like reward and excersize all in one! I get to go out and see what's happening in town, window shop, or walk through the park, yet I'm still getting excersize. Doesn't sound half bad when you put it that way huh? Want another way to help stick to those resolutions? Get an excersize buddy, studies show that people who have an excersize buddy are more likely to be motivated to stick to their goals and achieve them! (Don't ask me where I found that though, alls I can remember is it was in one of my Mom's magazines.)

And with that I'm done rambling on about ways to stick to and achieve those resolutions, now it's up to you and me to get them done. So Good Luck to you all and wish me some too!