December 2013 Goals

#TBT: When Ryan and I went to Elendan Gardens on Halloween of 2010. This was right before he proposed!

During November, I didn't make a list of goals and unfortunately I didn't accomplish much at all in October. My anxiety has been going up and down a whole bunch in the past few months, but I'm hoping that in December I can channel that energy into completing the stuff on this list!

Keep up with a normal sleep schedule
So far, it's not so good. Along with not accomplishing much, my anxiety has also been negatively affecting my ability to sleep (more than usual). I was told by a friend that I should pretty much just sleep when I'm tired and eventually my body should be able to regulate my schedule again. That's now my plan. I may change this goal to "revert back to a normal sleep schedule," but for now I'll keep it as is.
Bake
I really do enjoy baking, and what's a better time to do it than the holidays?! I'm thinking cookies and pies, for sure.
Organize hallway closet
Our hallway closet is a mess. We pretty much just have bits and bobs thrown in there, but since it's a super large closet with shelves and everything, it's going to get overwhelming soon if we don't figure out a system for it. I figure this will be at the end of the month when we need to pack up our Christmas stuff.
Decorate the apartment
Hooray for this being our first Christmas living in our own place together! We can't really go all out like we'd like to because of budgeting (since we literally are starting at zero Christmas decorations), but even just stringing up some lights, adding a wreath to the door, and putting together the tree will do!
Plan a giveaway
I've been storing some things away for my next giveaway and I'd like to do one before the end of this year!
Blog more often
Again, this is something very much affected by my anxiety. I've been planning out posts and taking pictures of things, but I need to get everything together. I'm working on a bunch of holiday-themed stuff for Kitsch Vixen right now though! (It hasn't all been my anxiety! I've been having trouble with lighting in my pictures, my skin acting weird, the skin tag under my eye, and still trying to perfect close up shots without a close up lens for my camera. This month will be better, I'm optimistic!)
Read a full book
I might cheat on this goal since I'm expecting a few cute holiday books. Depending on how many things I plan to do for the blog and how everything pans out, I may not have the time to get through a full length novel (I'll also blame the fact that I'm marathoning Charmed). If that's what ends up happening, I'll definitely still read a book, whether it be a super short one or a makeup book that I'm partially through already!
Decide on my next hair transformation
I'm debating whether I should keep on with the pink and blue or change it up the next time I go to get my hair done. Half black and half white has really been my dream hair for years, but I know from experience how much of a pain black can be to get out of hair if/when I want to change it up again. What do you guys think?!
Marathon the Die Hard movies again
Yep. I think I know what I'm doing on Christmas Eve! Haha.
Curl my hair
This and the previous goal are both from my 24 Before 25 list. I think that Christmas would be a great time to actually style my hair instead of just quickly brushing it and throwing it into a bun like I always do.

So, what are your goals this month?



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Review: La Riche Directions Hair Dye

I had been wanting to dye my hair again for (probably) over a year and decided to wait until my hair grew out a little more and I had at least started looking for a job in Japan. I was finally able to get it done 28JUN13. I went back and forth with the color choices because I'm awful at making decisions and also really wanted to do half white and half black, but ended up choosing to do half pink and half blue.

After the color choice was made, the dye brand was next. I had been used to using Raw the most in the past and Special Effects occasionally (hooray for working at Hot Topic!), but wanted to see if there was a better brand out there. I was thinking about Manic Panic and a friend suggested to try La Riche Directions. I ended up with (surprise!) La Riche Directions in the colors Carnation Pink and Lagoon Blue. The picture above is pretty true to color.

Now, here is my hair the day after I got it done:
29JUN2013

Not too bad, huh? I was mostly happy with the way it turned out.

I noticed when rinsing my hair, a lot of color seemed to wash out. A lot. Much more than I'd been used to. Even when my hairdresser was rinsing the conditioner out after the dye, she said that there was a good amount of color coming out. Either way, after all was said and done, my hair looked pretty good.

During the first several days of July, my hair had faded quite a bit, and just as an FYI, I went at least a couple of days between each wash. The pink started fading into a rusty orange color and the blue became more of an odd greenish color. I think I was more bothered by the way it was fading because, to me, rusty orange and odd greenish doesn't look too great together. If I didn't do my hair two-toned I still probably would have been pretty upset with how quickly my hair changed color, but I would have felt much better since it wouldn't be paired with a color that has no business being paired with it. Haha.

This is my hair now... not even two months later:
13AUG13

All in all, I probably won't be using La Riche Directions again unless I specifically want this result, though I don't see that happening any time soon. I just got my hair re-dyed yesterday with Joico colors, so I'll see how that brand works for me.

Just like in all of my reviews, all opinions are my own and my experiences may be different than others. Not everyone's hair will react the same way as mine did and what works for me may not work for you. Just a little disclaimer!

Have you had any experiences with La Riche Directions hair dye?
What hair dye works best for you?

xox