WOOHOO!

Finally!!! I checked from the mirror. Once, twice, thrice. And it's really true! My hair hangs well on my bra strap when pulled straight (since I keep my hair contained almost all the time, my hair is seldom as straight as it is naturally). I'm so excited! I've been between shoulders and BS for so long that it feels marvelous to finally BE THERE. This is the longest my hair has ever been, and this is also best looking it has never been. I don't think it's a coincidence... I'm so happy! We still have problems with digicam, but I've told T that it needs to be in working order soon when it's time to take my yearly comparison pictures.

And, just in time to put some sparkle to my newly arrived BSL length, a Longlocks shipment arrived.
Gilded Raven D'Or stick pair is my first black pair. Since I started collecting LL hairsticks, I've been hunting for a nice black pair. But, this pair was worth the wait. Vermeil beads are so pretty- and decorated with S-shapes, which is bonus since my real name begins with S .
  Then there is Rare Butterfly SE Gemstix pair that is just too beautiful to behold. I have probably named a ten or so pairs as "one of my most beautiful pairs" so far, but this pair truly deserves to be called that. I'm on cloud 9.

Other hair stuff: Hair is getting slightly dirty, meaning more manageable. Making a knot bun with hairsticks (Caramello) was so easy today.

Health: Week 8 of my diet has started well, and even my scale is cooperative once more, showing once again that I have reached the goal I set for February. My goal was to take three walks this week, and I've already taken two of them...if I have time, I'll probably do one "extra" walk. On eating front, all is well again. My motivation is still high- I know I can do this.

I hope waist length will come soon..very soon

Yay-rah for you!  Man, reaching BSL must be so exciting!  Congrats!   

Jewelry artist!  Fantastic!  I'm sure your designs will be beautiful.  Good luck.

My throat became suddenly a bit sore on Saturday, and I postponed washing until Sunday. Taking weekend easy was a smart move, I think, because now I'm healthy again. There has been a really nasty influenza around (in fact, so far I've been the only person who has escaped it with only mildest symptoms). On Sunday, it was just a quick wash, and instead of deep conditioning I just washed my length with Honey Butter soap.

The clips I've been using to secure my sleeping cap had caused sore spots to my scalp. So, I decided that it's time to take a break from using the cap, no matter how my hair loves it. For two nights now, I've been wearing a new style. I braid my hair in an English braid that I secure with an elastic, then fold the braid in two, and secure the folded hair with a hair hosiery so that it becomes a compact lump. It is really more comfortable than it sounds.  And T is happy. But, I'll keep wearing it only until I come up with a more scalp-friendly solution to secure my night cap.

T is having absolutely horrible stomach illness, and I'm tending him hoping (probably in vain) that it isn't contagious.

Yesterday was a washing day, I washed with Honey Beer& Egg shampoo and Honey Butter soap. No time and energy for anything more complicated.

Today I had a meeting about my research, and in an attempt to look presentable I made a low knot bun with just Amish hairpins. Minimalist look felt so strange, but not bad. Made with Amish pins and hair net, it also lasted very well.
   I've been watching season 4 of Babylon 5 from DVD, and feel like having found a real treasure chest of everyday hairstyles. My most recent promising discovery is double bun: a little cinnabun made from half the hair up to crown and another similar one made low to nape. It looks a bit unusual, but very nice at the same time. I tried it this morning, and liked it quite a lot. I just have to learn to secure it better. But it's a very promising style.

I've also been busy sniffing my BPAL imps.

Here are my first reviews:

Tzadikim Nistarim

Very powdery, floral scent touched with melancholy. First resembles vaguely of fluor paste dentists apply to teeth after cleaning them (yuck!), but luckily softens soon to a pleasant and balanced soft, flowery scent. Scent of a clean bedroom at night, windows opened to let a soft breeze from the garden to blow in. Lasts well.
Final verdict: Totally wearable, pleasant scent, but just a little indifferent so...3½ out of 5 pts.

R'Lyeh

This is great! Spicy, yet aquatic, with a hint of powdery softness. Fresh and warm at the same time, underneath just a tinge of something "not quite right". Beautiful and serene like a forgotten underwater city where dark green seaweeds grow form ruins of ancient towers sheltering small, brightly colored fish...but a city where geometry is strange. Lasts for a few hours.
Final verdict: Enigmatic, enchanting, fascinating and slightly strange. That is to say: perfect! Seems to smell slightly different at every sniff. 5/5 points because I keep sniffing my arms again and again. I'm definitely going to order a bigger bottle of this.

March Hare
Rich, sweet scent, fruits and flowers with a warm undertone, like vanilla sauce. Reminds me of summer.Final verdict: 4/5

Bliss

Smells like milk chocolate. I like it. Certainly not wearable for every occassion, but sometimes, I think, it's good to smell like that. 4/5 points.

Salomé

Oriental scent that unfortunately reminds me of cheap "bazaar" shops: incense sticks, old clothes, patchouli soap and cheap perfumes. Bellydancers and fat men with huge moustaches. Not totally awful, but not something I'd use to anything except to last rinsing water of my bras. Final verdict 2/5 pts.

Magdalene

Wonderful, wonderful scent of a huge bouquet of flowers and just a hint of fine soap and clean linens. Like a summer day in rose garden where noble ladies walk under old oaks and elms in gorgeous cream and pastel walking dresses carrying delicate parasols. A very fine, very expensive-feeling and feminine scent.
I love this. Doesn't last very long.
Final verdict 5/5 pts.

Eos
T loves this one, so I'll go ahead and give this 5 pts, though if you asked just me, I'd give it "only" 4. A nice, floral smell with some depth. Wearable and ok, but, like Tzadikim Nistarim, this one doesn't have whatever little thing it takes to make a scent spectacular (like R'Lyeh for example). But this certainly makes a good "everyday scent" for work and such. Lasts well.
Final Verdict: 5/5 pts.

Thanks, BB! I'm planning to write a novel one day, but so far I haven't had much time to develop the story.

However, in near future I will certainly write philosophy:

I RECEIVED A GRANT!

My very first grant application was successful, and it means that I can begin working with my Doctor's Thesis next month.

Hair: Nice and manageable. I'm wearing a knot bun again, this time with hairsticks (Caramello).

Health: T has still fever and pains, but is otherwise doing slightly better. I'm not having any symptoms (yet!), but am still eating carefully. I haven't noticed any weight loss yet for this week...but I'm not really expecting to have it, and will be totally happy to maintain.      

Last two imps I've tried haven't been as good as the ones I wrote previously. But, here are the reviews.

Magus
Smells like a room furnished with ancient bookshelves full of old papers and rotting leatherbound books, lit with smoking candles...and somewhere under the table there's an old coconut, once necessary but now just gathering dust and occassional fly. And dust, it's everywhere. Stone walls of the room remain cold and moist even in the summer here, two floors below ground level. Cold breezes coming from endless narrow hallways just manage to make the candles smoke even more, but fresh air is just as far as sunshine, almost unimaginable in this kingdom of bookworms. For the bookworms and brown beetles are the true rulers of this place, feasting forever on secrets long forgotten. That is, forgotten by everyone except one man...the Magus.
Final verdict: 2/5 pts. Certainly inspires imagination, but I don't want to smell like that! Would suit well in adding an air of mystery to a potato cellar.

Kyoto
This is the scent of teenage girls getting drunk for the first time. Spring evening in a park, flowers, cherry and licorice liquors -the only, horribly sweet drinks the girls have been able to get their hands on. Hint of powder, mascara and fruity pink lip gloss that must be applied every 10 minutes. Spring flowers are blooming, girls are giggling, the bottles of yucky liquors are slowly but oh so surely emptying. Soon, drunken confessions, tears and nausea will follow. Not to mention angry parents.
Final verdict: 1/5 pts. I don't really, really care to smell like a drunk teenager.