My hair has been behaving well since clarifying/SMT. Not dramatically better though -I think it means that my hair was doing pretty ok before treatment.

I've been wearing segmented pony as my sleep style for two nights now, and am quite satisfied with it. Somehow, it feels better than braiding.

Today, I tested Mennonite bun that I found from PrayerCoverings site. The bun on the site looks quite ugly, but I used bobby pins instead of small barrettes and a fine hair net instead of the super thick one the model uses. To my surprise, the result was very nice: the big bow clip was completely concealed by hair. The bun ended up being of a beautiful oval shape, fairly (but not totally) flat, and very well distributed. Promising!
I also tested Anais' bun, but didn't have success with it. Maybe my hair is still too short...

But, I had also some work-related stuff to do in Helsinki and had to look professional once again for that. I made a low knot bun with my darkest Blondiesturn fork. Bad, bad idea. I had to redo it twice before getting back home. The fork poked my neck all the time- I suppose it's just not the tool for low styles. Oh well, next time I'll wear LL sticks. Or some other style.

Health: Back with diet. Had to do some extra planning as I was in Helsinki at lunch time. I ended up eating a late breakfast (just before leaving), and had my main meal after I came home. I managed to stay within calorie limit and take my first walk of the week. A good start.

Started the day with a dentist appointment. Not fun, but it was last appointment.  Next year, I expect this to be a lot easier.

When I came home, I found a nice smelling envelope from my mailbox. Soaps from Ida!
I received: two oak soap decks, one bar of each: Rosemary Lavender Aloe shampoo, Rosemary Mint shampoo, Java Orange Mint hand soap, Java Spice hand soap, Chocolate Orange Twist soap and Chocolate Almond soap. Everything except Rosemary Lavender Aloe shampoo and Chocolate Almond soap are new acquintances to me. They all look and smell fabulous. I'm so happy to have a washing day today (though it'll be late evening until I'll be able to wash). I think I'll test Rosemary Mint shampoo right away...

My hair is quite dirty- it always seems to get dirty during the night between 3rd and 4rd day. ??? I'll have to change my hairstyle again before leaving to Helsinki (right now I'm wearing a braid that suffered much during dentist visit). I guess I'll do a French braid/bun combo and just hope that it will last. Gah, though I have cute winter clothes, at this point I'm starting to get really impatient. I want to go outside without wearing a bonnet/ear muffs/hood . Styling will be so much easier (and I'll have so much more variation) when weather warms just a bit. But, that's not really in sight right now- the weather forecast says that temperatures are staying low until the end of the week. I hope that next week will bring a change to that.

Then, more BPAL reviews. I have only one scent left.

Yew Trees
Old sauna in backyard: wet stone floor, a hint of smoke from hot woodstove. Wet rugs and wet old wood, plenty of bubbly plain soap and cool water, wet birch leaves of fresh bathing whisks, clean towels that have dried outside, and freshness of first breath of evening air when you step to a porch from burning hot sauna. When the scent dries, it becomes scent of a dry old sauna: smut, fresh air and sweetness of life itself. All in all, a nice scent...but a scent that is not at its best when taken away from its context. Final Verdict: 2/5. To be worn after sauna maybe?

Sea of Glass
Lily of the valley and sweet orange combined to create a fresh, yet juicy scent, like a glimpse to Plato's world of ideas. Bright and clear like sunshine on crystal, yet deep like blue sea. Scent of human thought at its best: bright and piercing, swift yet deep. A scent full of unexplored potential, laced with a touch of sorrow that inspite of all the light and love. It also has the same side effect that most really brilliant ideas: in spite of all its wonderful qualities, you can't really like it.
Final Verdict: 3/5 pts. I'd love to like this more

Sophia
A floral scent with a hint of musk to deepen it. Nice, ordinary, doesn't annoy anyone. This is the scent for people who want to be like everyone else. They probably imagine that they're expressing their femininity and sensuality while any man could tell them that all they really manage to express is that they smell just like every other lady in the block. A celebration for women who are concerned about looking age-appropriate and whose life is worse theater than 6th graders' school play. Goes well with dark cardigans and white blouses, pearl earrings and a soccer mom haircut.
Final verdict: 3/5 pts. Because, this is a totally nice scent.

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, 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.

Veil
Mild but really nice. As the site says: quiet, calm, soft and enigmatic. To me this smells clean and peaceful, gentle, very balanced yet not boring. This scent would be perfect for meditation or church. Doesn't really smell "perfume-y", only slightly clean and sweet.
5/5 pts. Absolutely lovely scent.

Yet another new style discovery! I've not used any of my Ficcares since I became "French Twist disabled". Yesterday, however, I played with my hair a bit and discovered a way to insert a Ficcare into a knot bun so that it secures it very well. It's so comfy and stylish, and the best part of it is, that it works with even my medium Maximas. That's really great since it's months since I have last been able to wear my Mediums with French twists, and I was even thinking of putting them for sale. Glad I didn't do that! I'm wearing a "Ficcare bun" right now with my matte gold clip, and it's really pretty.
   Which reminds me...a while ago an LHC member had found some gorgeous Maximas-lookalike Fakkares. She ended up doing a group order of them, and of course I participated. Now, two beautiful pearlescent clips, a teal green and a purple are on their way home. Just in time to decorate my newly found bun style!

Health: This weekend is going to be a busy one, so I weighed in early. It turned out, that I have already lost one pound/ ½ kilos, which puts me to total weight loss of 6 kg:s /13.23 pounds. I was so happy that I went ahead and rewarded myself with a pretty pair of earrings (besides hairsticks, I almost never buy myself jewelry).
   Today has been a good day so far. I have taken a walk (extra!!!), and have stuck to my eating and water drinking plan. I'm ready to declare week 10 as a week of wonderful success.

Thanks for your kind words, Angel Spun. 

Since T went out this evening, we decided to have sauna day yesterday. I also decided that it's time to have a trim. So, now my hair is clean and I have neat, thick hemline. I suppose that it's impossible for me to grow my hair super quickly...but then, I really like having thick-looking ends, at least at this point of my journey.
Today was another busy day, and I didn't have much time to think about my hair. I just put it up to a Ficcare bun. After dinner, I have done some experimenting with hair down styles though. Though it's still exceptionally cold, the amount of light is increasing fast and I know that spring is just around the corner...and this spring my hair is finally long enough so I can enjoy wearing it down, at least sometimes. 

Health: Weekend is here, and it shows  ! Today, we had a delicious homemade dinner: cheesy baked chicken breast, rice, feta salad and American apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. It's late, and I'm still full...but content. It's much easier to diet if one can have some homemade apple pie every now and then (not to mention that making that pie from scratch without resorting to "work reducing" appliances certainly burns a few calories)  .
Eating like I have today may keep me from losing weight very fast. Doesn't bother me at all, because I'm all too familiar with trying to lose weight fast and "get it done". I always used to be miserable after a month on a diet, and only once made it to 8 weeks. After quitting, I always changed my diet right back to my old habits I had missed so much, and the weight I had worked so hard to shed was back before the year had passed. I think I've finally learned a lesson from that!
     I've come to the conclusion, that I failed (partly) because I pressed myself way too hard and made too big changes, all at once, expecting that I would adjust to them...for as long as I could make it before giving everything up. I had too little patience and couldn't rejoice of having a week of maintain or even a loss of one pound. After all, my goal was to lose 2 pounds a week, and anything less proved that I was a big fat failure. I became miserable and decided that since I couldn't keep starving myself, I was doomed to fail.
    Now, on days like today, I feel a bit shocked of the things I have written into my meal plan. Of the things I allow myself (when the Plan says so) even though I'm trying to lose weight . But, then I remember that I write goodies into my plan because I'm trying to lose. It has happened to me for a few times now, that I've suddenly got a craving of something "extra good", like hamburgers or pear cake. Then I've gone to my computer and written that thing to next month's meal plan -and the craving has always passed. I haven't denied myself anything. I have essentially just told myself that I can have it- when it will fit into my meal plan. If I hadn't done that, I would have done just what I did before: gone to the fridge and binged. Instead of that, I'm finally in control. (Can you say "10 weeks with Just One Binge"?      )
   And the best part is, that I still lose weight. Not at top speed, but at a steady speed that I can keep going. Already, small weekly losses (or even a maintain or two) have grown into a whopping 6 kg:s/over 13 pounds. In retrospect, it doesn't matter much whether I've lost one or two pound on a particular week- even now I can't recall how much I lost on say, 3rd week of January. All that really matters is what I do *now*, and that at this point I can look back and say that I certainly have lost a whole family of pounds sometime during past weeks, and am still motivated and able to keep going. A failure couldn't say that.

I'm sitting here comfortably, hair drying in Aquis towel turban. Today has been a busy day for me...well, this whole week is like that and after a period of more peaceful life I'm trying to adjust. I wore my hair in a French braid/bun combo style, which is very comfortable and pretty. When I came home it didn't look terribly dirty, but I washed it anyway with Lavender Spice -just because I need to look professional tomorrow. Lots of looking professional for me lately. I'm trying to enjoy it (though I suspect that once this week is over I'm going to enjoy of returning to less professional look again).

Fakkares arrived, but ended up being short-lived. I opened the package, took the clips, and managed to drop them. Both broke.  And I didn't even get to try them. One more reason to remember my old rule: avoid buying cheap toys just because they look nice.

Health: Because I'm in Helsinki every day this week, I have needed to adjust my diet schedule and plan things even more carefully. I have written down to my organizer exercise times (two walks already done, yay!) and meal times. It has really helped, and I have been able to follow the Plan perfectly so far.

Quote:

Awwww        That stinks! 
That means you get to buy replacements, though!   

Weeks' work is done, and I'm officially exhausted. But, I was very productive for a chance. Incredibly productive, in fact.

Hair: Today's hair: third day hair definitely on dirty side since the morning- too bad since the washing time is tomorrow evening. Tomorrow's going to be a French braid day, I can just tell that... But, dirty means also manageable for me, and my hair stayed well in a Ficcare bun all day.
    The weather today was sunny, and (very, very relatively speaking) on the warm side, and so I chose not to wear any headgear. It felt wonderful to go outside bareheaded (though my ears felt a bit cold as the temperature still was around freezing point). Spring is really late this year...

Health: I feel I've behaved like a saint. I knew this week would be difficult to manage since I couldn't follow my normal daily routine even for one day. But, it seems that it only managed to make me extra determined to succeed, and to my surprise, that's just what happened.

Hi Galadriel!  I'm so impressed with your exercise regimen. I have such a hard time keeping to a plan!  I keep having to start over again.  Good luck with it!