Thanks, G_L.  I hope so too, but working things out is really hard. It really takes all my energy, and also T is taking sick leave from his job. It's that hard...

Sooo...today I went to Helsinki, to take care of some graduating bureaucracy and to buy knitting supplies. It was a gray day (whole November's been gray here), but I found walking so nice that I visited some more shops than I had planned...and of course, in the end my feet took me to Accessorize. I still think that the hairtoys they sell are quite expensive for their quality, but they sure are prettier than toys elsewhere! I bought a pretty flower clip and little gold sparkle crocodile clips. They did improve my mood a bit!

I also think I'm finally mastering the use of Mamacat hairsticks. They are great sticks and hold very well, but the tight spiral makes them a bit difficult to insert- or rather, they need to be inserted differently than my other hairsticks. It also seems that Amish hairpins are going to become mandatory if I want to keep my cinnabuns flat. But hey, it must mean that my hair is growing!

Paid my Ficcares to Dvips. Ficcare hasn't sent them to her though so getting the clips will take some time. But the main thing is that I'm getting them- without Dvips it wouldn't be possible as Headgames doesn't carry fall colors. I'm going to look sooooooo special. I'm still drooling for gold/topaz Maximas clip from their new catalog...see if I'm going to afford that.

Hair is doing well, except being very clean again. I'm wearing a low pony with velvet scrunchie right now- it's been my favorite home hairstyle since I got the scrunchie.

I've just read about the problems you and T are having.  I'm sorry to hear it, and I hope you work things out for the best.

Thanks for the hug.  I agree- no matter how much this sucks, it's good that this didn't happen after the wedding. That would have made things even more difficult.  But, I'm happy to report that there has been some progress during the past few days. We have also decided to spend this Christmas a bit differently- we have usually spent it with T's relatives, but as we expect that this situation will be still going on in Christmas, we decided that it's better to spend it in quiet. So we, two pagans, are going to the most peaceful place in the country to spend Christmas -Orthodox Monastery of Valamo. I believe that absolute quiet (and good food, the place is famous for that!) will be just what we need.
   
Mamacat sticks are so nice, but I agree that she must have a ton of orders- I ordered my hairsticks early and just got them. She must be really overwhelmed. I hope that she'll survive and will start her Ebay auctions soon.

In the interest of improving my and T's relations, I taught T today, how to S&D my hair. He liked doing it, so I'm hoping to be one step closer to having a hair minion. Today's a sauna day. I suppose that my hair could do with a deep treatment, but I feel too tired, so a generous dose of XZ deep conditioner will have to do.
Wore today my Hibiscus Tea hairsticks. I was hoping that a carved design would help with my cinnabuns that have become a bit awkward, but no such luck. I'm even contemplating an option that I would start doing braided buns or something for a while. But then, my cinnabun problems might just be growing hair combined with lack of practice in handling such hair.

There are actually two: Valamo monk monastery and Lintula nun monastery. Both are very small though, and as far as I know, no other religion has monasteries here. We have actually relatively large orthodox population as especially Eastern Finland and Carelia has been centuries in close contact with orthodox Russia. 

Hair is nice (I suppose that it really appreciated its XZ deep conditioner dose), and I decided to wear it down with twists. It hasn't stopped to surprise me that I look good that way yet. I'm wearing that new flower crocodile clip I bought from Accessorize last week. A cute little thing really.

Seems that there's something strange going on with my LL inbox. I didn't receive BB's secret santa pm and couldn't respond to her via pm either. But, fortunately there's email backup available and I can still participate.

It really seems that my hair has entered first major transition stage since I was first able to put it up.

It's grown enough so that I'm clearly losing styles- there's no doubt about it anymore. Like I posted a while ago, I've at least temporarily grown out French tucks (French loop isn't working yet). Making neat French twists is exceedingly difficult. And even my big favorites, cinnabuns, are transforming from quick and nice updos to something that requires quite a lot of effort (and hairtoys) each time.

On the positive side, today I tried figure 8 bun, and to my great surprise, I could make one. Just barely, but I could make it!  I'd post a picture if that digicam battery wasn't still missing. It is fairly secure too, held with a hairstick (Rose FuturiStix) and two Amish pins. It was also much easier to make than regular cinnabuns have been lately. I'll probably lose the ability to do this
for a couple of months once I trim, but for now, I'm quite happy. I'm also experimenting with braided buns, and haven't given up cinnabuns either. Others with very long hair can make them just fine, so it must be just a matter of learning to do things a bit differently from what I've used to do.

Another thing is, that I'm not quite so sorry about losing a tiny bit of length with trim- I'll consider it as buying some extra time to figure out how to replace the styles I'm losing or have lost entirely, and how to make styles like cinnabuns in a new way. Life is pretty much about changing and coping with changes anyway, and I've once again been reminded of that my hair life is no exception.

After the storm, weather has turned colder again and that has among other things meant bonnet weather again. I think I'm finally learning the secrets of successful bonnet wearing, which is great because I've started to like my bonnet really much!^^

Washed my hair with Carrot Milk& Honey shampoo bar. I haven't used that one for a while - I remember liking it less than my other shampoo bars. Now it seems that sitting in shelf has done something good. My hair turned out great and the geranium smell was much milder than I remember. Today I've worn a scarf bun. I remembered it while trying to remember quick and easy styles that might still work. I'm happy to report that it worked just fine.

So, as I promised, I went today to Helsinki to do some hairtoy shopping. Hair friendly toys aren't certainly easy to find, but I managed to find something for my Secret Santa person. I hope she'll like it. Just a little packing to do and tomorrow I'll be able to ship! 
   I also bought some velvet ribbon and a nice hair clip for myself. If everything goes well, I'll graduate in less than a month...so it's hight time to think of what will I wear in the little ceremony we have, and most importantly, how am I going to wear my hair.  Right now I'm planning to wear quite normal clothes: white silk tunic/jacket, gray pants and white silk/wool shawl.
A bun with hairsticks is a strong candidate for hairstyle, but lately I've been thinking of wearing herringbone braid/pony style with ribbon. If I bun curled my hair just a bit to get nice ponytail part it might look mighty cool...

Still waiting veeeery patiently and hoping that Christmas rush hasn't begun on post routes of the world: more Amish pins, TLC pads, Ficcares, de Renaudin comb.

Galadriel, how are you doing with the Mamacats? It works MOUNDS better to "screw" them in, rather than "inserting them". It's how they scoop up your scalp hair effectively, and essentially sewing the bun to the head.

Anais

I was trying to look form mamacat's website, but I couldn't find the URL.  Could you give me a link?