LL sticks (and packages) are always beautiful  , and receiving them makes my day. I'm wearing the Citrus Shine pair right now- it's a perfect pair for early spring.

Today I was at Helsinki again, doing some necessary shopping and continuing to settle in at Department.
I can't really start my research until my university personnel card arrives as I can't get researcher loans from the library without it. But, it should arrive soon and it's nice to have all the other little things taken care of before that.

Hair: Said and done- I wore my new cloth snood on Helsinki trip. I love how comfy it is and how well it sits on my head- I don't recall ever wearing anything quite like it. When I'm wearing I feel like I have the things I liked best about having short hair: hair neatly out of my way without me having to always worry about escaping whispies or any other little things I tend to worry when I'm wearing even the simplest bun. I still think the snood looks very cute, and inconspicuous enough not to attract attention. The best part of it is, that as it's made of thin cotton blend fabric, I don't have to take it off when I'm indoors. It's even more carefree way of wearing hair than my old favorite scarf bun! (though with scarf buns, I do have more color options ). I'm already thinking of getting more of these. Soon.
     I don't exactly know what is it- except maybe my love for simplicity in all matters and ever on-going rebellion against fashion standards and the ever-present "if you got it you got to show it off" mentality, but I really like being now able to wear my hair in such extremely simple, yet neat way. I realized that though my everyday way of styling (make a bun, insert hairtoys and go) is very simple compared to what most people do, I have still longed extreme simplicity. In a way I achieved that when I had shaved head, but as you all know, there are not many other things that favor shaved style! Now I feel that I've regained that ultra simple option for the days I want it. For rest of the time (most of the time), I can enjoy playing with my hair even more. I feel that the last teeny weeny bit of me that liked short hair has been flushed away from my system. 

Health: I think my feeling a bit down and unmotivated has something to do with wetting my feet too many times lately. It's impossible to walk from my home to the train station (or anywhere else, for that matter) with dry feet. I'm still waiting for the sunny, proper spring weather to come and do its job. Until then, I'll continue on autopilot and hope that I won't catch a real flu.


   

It's late, so just a quick update.

Hair: Sauna day, and time to do SMT treatment. I also dusted quite a bit. I should really start to be good again and dust regularly, even if it's just a little at a time. I don't want to discover one day that I have lots of splits again.
    I also had my weekly baking marathon today. Usually, I bake something twice a week, but I try to do most of my baking on weekends when I have more time. Besides making cheese muffins, a week's supply of rolls and a panful of tasty garlic bread sticks, I also tested my new headcoverings. My conclusion about them is, that short veils are just as good in action as the little caps. They look quite a lot like regular scarves, but since the securing doesn't involve knots and pulling the veil tight (they have a small piece of elastic in the nape, and I also secure them with a snap clip and pin on top) , they are much more comfortable.  They cover most of the hair, but do not cover ears. I guess that in future, I will use whatever I grab first. All of my new coverings were good buys. I asked T, which style he liked better, but he said that both styles look very cute. We both agree that black ones look better (which is weird since white is my favorite color), but whites are more practical for baking.

Health: I weighed in this morning. This week I have lost ½ kilos, about 1 pound. It brings me barely below 90 kilos, but since it's just barely, I don't feel like celebrating. Besides, this week wasn't a very good one. I haven't felt good on most days, and have eaten a few extra snacks here and there. I know I'll need to focus better to what I'm doing. I hope next week will be better! I'd really, really like to hit that 10 kg/10% mark soon.

Today I wore my hair in down with twists style. It's a long time since I've been able to do that! Not during the winter coat season, that's for sure. Spring is still advancing very slowly, but I'm hoping that I won't need to wear winter coat any longer. So it's time to take out ribbons and little crocodile clips!

CV soaps arrived today. I can't wait to get to try Summer Sunshine shampoo! So many people seem to like it a lot, and it sure smells nice.

Health: Week has started well on weight loss front- I've followed the Plan with no problems so far.

Summer sunshine shampoo bar is great! It equals Lavender Spice (though I still like the scent of the latter a bit better)- perfect for my hair! My hair is now incredibly shiny and soft! I'm wearing it in a bun, with Dragonfly Dreams pair that suits perfectly for this sunny day.

Health: I have tried quite a few Weight Watcher's recipes, and I have to say- they are very tasty. I recommend! Today I'm making WW lemon meringue kisses for dessert. Yum! I'm planning to go to the gym tomorrow, but the weather today is so great that I'll go for a walk. I haven't been on my old route for almost a month now- it must look very different now.

Health: I lost ½ kilos this week- a normal loss. I'm hoping to be gaining some muscles too... at least, I've been very active this week. I plan to go to gym tomorrow, but won't restrict my eating during Easter- it's the end of Great Lent after all. On Tuesday, however, I'll start to prepare for beach season. Tee hee-this is already third name change for my diet. Feels great to have managed to stick with this so long. 8)

Numbers:
This week's loss: -½ kg:s/1.2 lbs
Total loss: 9 kg:s/19.84 lbs
Weight: 89 kg/196.21 lbs

Hair: Today's washing& sauna day, and my hair is quite dirty. I keep it bunned- mennonite bun for cooking and otherwise knot bun with Citrus Shine sticks. Must wear yellow hairsticks for Easter.

      Easter Menu:
      Lamb with garlic and herbs
      Mint jello
      Garlic in marinade
      Mashed potatoes
      Green salad
      Carelian Pastries & egg butter
      Easter Birdie tart & whipped vanilla cream
     

Thanks, Sakina!

Hair: I'm quickly falling in love with Summer Sunshine shampoo bar- it gives me such a wonderful hair! When I washed last time, I thought the scent was mild, but yesterday I felt as if my shower had been taken to a citrus grove! Maybe it was something with my nose...
  I made a French braid for the gym, and managed to make it so firm that it still looks good. That's rare, especially with first day hair. Rare but great.
   
There's a Ficcare group order starting at Longhaircommunity, and I'm finally able to participate! The new catalog hasn't been posted to the LHC yet, but a member who received her catalog early posted a couple of pages of the new items they have. There are some seriously gorgeous Maximii in there! I don't know how will I be able to restrict my order to a size I can afford...

Health: I went to the gym again. I've been so active this week I can't believe it. And I'm enjoying it!
I decided though, that I will need to concentrate better in not eating little bites and nibbles between meals- that bad old habit has raised its ugly head a few times during the past two weeks. Nothing serious (obviously, since I'm losing just fine), but I want to get 100% back on my eating plan. So, that's my little project for the coming week.
   My this week's project -doing something to boost my motivation every day- went well, and I feel much more inspired and motivated to continue than I did in the end of the last week. Lesson learned: one really needs to work to maintain & strenghten motivation just as hard as with everything else. With these thoughts, I'll start to prepare for beach season!

Hair: This morning I noticed that my hair definitely had some waviness (besides the wave from night braid). Even when I combed my hair for a bun, hints of wave remained at my temples. I guess I'm still 1b, but I've definitely moved from "not quite 1a" to "almost 1c". I've always admired wavy hair, so I'm quite thrilled about this new development.
    I also did some experimenting with different buns. I can finally make a decent high bun (such that there aren't awfully many wispies around my neck). But, it didn't look quite as nice on me as I expected, so I guess I'll stick with my usual "medium" buns and occassional low buns. I like the look of low buns best, but wearing hairsticks is a bit difficult with them. I ended up wearing a low bun with tortoise Ficcare for today.

Health: Today I finally started to rearrange my wardrobe: I took 2 big plastic bags of my old, too big clothes to Salvation Army and bought some new clothes. I was just a bit sad seeing so many of my favorite clothes go, but as I said before- not quite sad enough to keep them "just in case" I gain weight.
The new clothes I bought fit me just barely and are made of stretch fabrics, but buying something perfectly well fitting would have been waste of money...I know I will shrink in no time enough for these to become too big. 8) . Besides everyday clothes, I also bought a new wind suit- something to enable me to start Nordic walking even earlier (or rather, as I planned in spite of lingering cold weather). If weather gets just a bit better, I could take my walking poles out before the week is over...
   Diet-wise, today has been a good day: I've had plenty of walking and have managed to eat as I'm supposed to.

in



FINNISH PHILOSOPHER SEEN NORDIC WALKING - IS THE END OF THE WORLD NEARING?

Järvenpää, Finland- Our sources reported recently, that a Finnish philosopher, known in some circles as Galadriel, has recently been spotted Nordic walking on shores of Lake Tuusula. We sent our inflatable office and a reporter to investigate this strange behavior right at the scene.
        Galadriel was found right on the scene of events, but our reporter had some difficulty in catching her- she walks really briskly in these days! It seems that she has completely abandoned her former slow and dignified manner of walking.
"I have been exercising four times a week for months now." said Galadriel when inquired about her behavior. "I want to improve my health and get rid of my extra weight, so this seemed a logical course of action." she explained to our reporter.

"Not a field test", she says

But why Nordic walking? "If you are going to walk, why not Nordic walk? It's same amount of trouble but almost twice as effective as regular walking." Galadriel assures, that this interest in exercising isn't a byproduct of her recent studies in applied ethics. "Absolutely not. This is not a field experiment of any kind. I'm just concerned of my health." she assures, but adds:"However, I certainly recommend regular exercising and a healthy diet to everyone." When asked, whether this means after all a new development in her ethical thinking, she said that it's too early to tell. "It seems clear to me though, that in the past, I have paid way too little attention to taking care of my body. I suppose these things are more important than I have previously thought." Very well, but how long is she planning to continue this behavior.
"As long as I have extra weight, I suppose." she says calmly. "I have now lost about 10 kgs and have maybe 20 more to go. It's going to take some time."

Beating the famous Paradox?

    Obviously, she isn't at all worried about getting caught in Zeno's turtle paradox (the one where famous Greek runner Achilles could never reach the turtle who started a little ahead of him because no matter how fast he ran, he had an infinite number of tiny distances to catch before he could reach the turtle). "Oh, I'm not worried about that at all. I certainly can lose all the grams that are between me and my goal weight. My goal weight isn't moving anywhere. Besides, the Achilles paradox happens in objective reality whereas my weight loss is very much a subjective matter." Galadriel says. We'll see about that, as readers probably remember that some distinguished professors find this practical view more than a little questionable. "G.M Moore couldn't make everyone happy with his so called commonsensical proof of reality, and frankly, I don't think that Galadriel does any better." says professor El Analitico from University of Nothungham. Galadriel isn't put off by this. "We'll see. As long as my bathroom scale agrees with my subjective experience of losing weight, I'm happy whether or not professor El Analitico likes it." she says.

"Not sure if it's logical, says El Analitico"

     El Analitico is rather worried of Galadriel's thoughts. "I think it's rather sad to see a young philosopher pay so much attention to corporeal matters. I'm not sure if it is completely logical. I certainly hope this isn't a prelude to some weird attempt to assess mind-body problematics."
Professor Aufheebo from Miskatonic University has a more understanding view. "I'm sure that the changes she has initiated in her subjective reality will provide her interesting ideas about objective reality as well. I'm waiting for her contribution to philosophical discussion on these matters with great interest."
    So, in spite of this unprecedented behavior, the world isn't ending after all? "I wouldn't say so. It might well be nearing as far as I can tell. " Galadriel says. "You never know about worlds. I'd simply like to be thinner whenever that happens."

Metaphysics Today will follow Galadriel's progress and continues to report about any new developments.


Yes, my imagination is running a little wild today. Bear with me.