Welcome to Chaos !!

A friend discovered some gray hair on my head when I was 18 and she was playing with my hair while we were in class. Well, I'm not 18 anymore (technically but physically and mentally I am). The gray hair spread throughout the years and I've been coloring it to blend it in with my natural hair color whenever I feel it is necessary. Usually every other month or so, it's a boring process that I rather not bother with too often. I'm waiting for a miracle pill that will eliminate gray hair and restore the hair back to it's original color. I read that Jennifer Lopez started graying at a young age also and she dyes her hair every two weeks or so. That's like a full time occupation! But she is supposedly completely gray, I am about 30% gray a hairstylist recently told me after she looked at my hair. So I only color the regrowth and most of the gray is in the front around my face and especially in one spot. When I first started coloring my hair I used box color. I didn't know what I was doing and it took a few tries to find the right shade.
The first time it got too dark. Another time somebody that was working as a hairstylist colored my hair at my house and she did it way too light. Even professionals can get it wrong. I'm not going to go to a salon to color my hair when I can do it at home. I'm not putting in highlights or lowlights or trying to bleach it or do something complicated, all I'm doing is coloring the gray. Well, after the box color I started experimenting with other colors that I would get at Sally Beauty Supply. I started with Clairol and then I tried One'n Only Argan Oil color. I would mix two and then three different shades together. It was good enough for me. Although now I'm back to using box color. I think that the One'n Only Argan Oil was too strong, the developer or something. I noticed lots of breakage and my hair got dry. I don't think my hair was breaking from the box color, it's probably gentler on the hair.....that is my guess but I don't work with hair so I don't know for sure. The last time I colored my hair, which was last week, I tried Garnier Olia. I was a little nervous that the shade was going to be wrong but it turned out OK, so I think I will stick with it for a while. Now I have a bunch of Clairol and Argan Oil colors at home, I can open up a salon here and start coloring some hair. Me with hair color in. You have to leave it in for about 45 minutes, perfect for some selfies and the rest is boring time.




I also lost A LOT of hair since about October or November. That's when I started noticing.
And when I say a lot....I mean a lot. To me it seems like a third of my hair fell out. Of course I was worried. That's why I had my thyroid checked and I also did a complete blood panel when I was in Vegas and everything came out fine. So it could be stress. I live a fairly calm life I think. I do not like a lot of drama, please spare me your drama and psycho episodes.....thank you. There were two people that added some drama to my life last year. Awful.....ugh. Or it could be the natural growing and shedding cycle of the hair. I guess hair has a resting phase, a growing phase and a shedding phase - anagen, catogen and telogen. Again, this is something I read about. OR it could be another thing that caused the hair loss. Last year I wanted to moisturize my hair the natural way and read about people using coconut oil on their hair and scalp. I thought that sounded like a great idea and coated my hair with coconut oil and massaged it thoroughly into my scalp and left it in for over 24 hours on three occasions (that I can think of). Then I read some more about it and found reports of people that noticed a significant hair loss after using coconut oil like that. Well, the coconut oil clogs the hair follicles and that might cause the hair to fall out. So now you know, do not rub coconut oil into your scalp. It didn't work for me and my hair didn't feel noticeably moisturized afterwards anyways, not more than usual after using a good conditioner. Now I REALLY regret using that coconut oil on my hair and scalp (I'm sure it works for some hair types but not on mine). To me my hair is now thin. Long and thin. That looks bad. I still have a lot of hair (compared to some people) but NOT like before. So now I'm sad. 😥 Well, I could also be losing hair cause I'm getting older, some people do experience hair loss when they get older. Now I'm even more sad! 😥 😥 Then of course there is one more possible explanation.....some evil and jealous Baba Yaga might have put a curse on me but I am sending the same curse back at the Baba Yaga tenfold.
I like to try new products for my hair all the time. So I recently tried the Mane'n Tail shampoo and conditioner, I have the leave in conditioning spray but haven't tried it yet. I got an Aveda shampoo that is supposed to exfoliate the scalp. It's from their new Invati product line for thinning hair. I also found some serum Phytocyane by Phyto Paris that you are supposed to massage into your scalp for about a month. You open up a vial and rub in the contents two-three times a week, again I'm lazy but I will give it a try one of these days. It's for temporary hair thinning due to stress, fatigue or pregnancy. I got a leave in conditioner called It's a 10 that I have been using a few times now. I was curious about the Wen products so I got a leave in replenishing treatment spray that I tried and a moisturizing mask that I haven't tried yet. And some other deep moisturizing masks from L'Oreal. Plus whatever other products I'm already using......it seems like a lot but it's really not. I wash my hair every three or four days, less if I'm lazy and don't work. I use shampoo, conditioner and sometimes a deep conditioning mask. Leave in conditioning spray as of lately. I did experiment with the coconut oil, never again. I also mixed egg, olive oil plus a bit of honey and put that in my hair a few times this year and last but the egg made my hair feel weird (the protein in the egg I suspect). Then I color the grays every other month or so and that's it.
No straightening, curling, spraying, blow drying, extensions.....I spend 0 time on that stuff.
I air dry my hair and comb it. That's it. Hopefully my hair will grow back fast ( but since it's long it will probably take a while).

I did some shopping in Anchorage too. I found a pair of jogging shoes, love the colors.
I wanted two new pairs and I did find another nice pair at REI but I was not 100% convinced that I needed them, those were Brooks. These new ones are Under Armour and I found them at Sports Authority, never tried that brand before. Then I just had to get this cute wind breaker jacket, the colors are so me and it will be perfect for Burning Man at night, if it's windy. I also wanted a pair of simple jean shorts for Burning Man and found what I wanted at Forever 21 for only $ 17.80. Cheap. And then a pink tie dye looking sports bra that looks super cute on, perfect for Burning Man too. I am very happy with the shopping. Oh.....and a tin box that says "Art Supplies" on it and has a picture of a girl holding a bow. I love it and gave one away for Christmas and have been wanting one for myself since then and now I finally do.



I was texting with Mandy last night. Sometimes we text about work and money (scandalous stripper talk) and other times we text about food (proper house wife talk). She told me that one of her fave things to eat is tomato, mozzarella, cucumber, some fresh ground pepper and balsamic vinegar. That sounded so delicious so that is exactly what I got when I went to the store today (already had the pepper and balsamic vinegar at home) and I enjoyed that meal to the fullest today. Thank You Mandy!

A visit to Anchorage is not complete for me unless I visit Anastassia for a facial. Her place used to be called Anastassia's but she changed it to Adagio Day Spa a while ago. It's located on 404 K Street.



She also opened another salon inside the Captain Cook Hotel. Esthetics European Skin Care. Good for her! Captain Cook Hotel is probably the nicest hotel in Anchorage.



I love Anastassia's facials, I have been a loyal customer for years, she is very good at what she does. But she can be unpredictable and I don't really like that.....at all. One facial might last 90 minutes, whereas the next time it might be close to two hours long, which of course I prefer. Most of the time she includes an absolutely heavenly and long face massage but sometimes she skips it. She used to give a neck, arm and hand massage during the mask on the face time, lately she has been skipping that too and leaves the room instead. I'm not sure what to make of it, I will continue going to Anastassia because I think that the facial she delivers is high quality but I like consistence in the treatments. I will explain the lack of both the face massage and the neck/arm/hand massage this last time I saw her with that she was busy and stressed out a bit due to the new salon opening that same day.
Here I am getting steam blasted on my face. The steam opens up the pores and allows for a thorough and deep cleaning. Even though the extractions can add up, it felt like she squeezed out gunk from every pore in my face this time.....you never leave the salon with a red and irritated face. Anastassia pampers your skin with nutrient rich masks that smell like essential oils and herbs.



I wish I could have one of those face massages right now. It would be so nice to have a personal esthetician and a massage therapist on call 24/7. I would keep them busy, because going to the spa is one of my favorite things to do. I would probably have twice weekly facials and a full body massage everyday. Bliss!

The fire is still raging on and spreading here in Kenai. Last night ashes were falling from the sky and when I drove home from work, the air was hazy and smelled like smoke. My friend Sharon had to evacuate her house last night, she has horses and dogs. Her house probably burned down, I don't know yet, I haven't been able to get a hold of her today. Some houses already burned. It's crazy. And they think this fire.....which is huge, was caused by a campfire that wasn't put out properly, at least that is what I heard a few days ago. And I heard on the news yesterday that about half of the forest fires in Alaska are caused by cigarettes that people just throw outside. Whether that is true or not, you don't throw your cigarettes outside....I can't stand it when people throw their nasty cigarettes outside, or any trash for that matter. Disrespectful and nasty. And there you go, that kind of lazy behavior causes fires that destroy people's homes, burn up trees and vegetation and probably kill a bunch of animals. Think about that next time you roll down your window to throw out that cigarette you dumb fuck. The fine for that should be $ 1000. Ashes on my car this morning.



To a different subject, the flowers are starting to appear along the roads by my house.
Very pretty.

Today I picked up another package. My nice fans from all over the world send me things on an almost weekly basis. All I do in return is send them a piece of paper with my autograph. Life is good! Well, actually I ordered some stuff from Amazon last week and all the stuff finally got here. BUT, somebody did give me a few gift certificates for Amazon and that somebody is a person that reads my blog.....Thank You again P for your kindness! 🙂
So a few days ago these fringe boots arrived. I am apprehensive to ordering shoes and clothes online. Will they fit? What do they look like in reality? But I really wanted some fringe boots for Burning Man and in general, I think fringe boots are sooooo cute. And I like the hippie style, I have been calling myself a neo hippie for over ten years now. What's a neo hippie? Someone like me. Love these boots, they fit and they were really cheap! The fringes are long and I might attach some colorful beads to them.



And in today's package, another pair of fringe boots. These shorter and on a flat sole, plus they are PINK and have wood beads. Same here, they fit and were cheap - so I am very happy with the buy! Now I have cute shoes for Burning Man, I wasn't really prepared last year and ended up wearing flip flops in the daytime (perfect) and my Hunter boots at night (not the best choice).
Also in the package, some new books. I heard them talk about Dead Doctors Don't Lie on Coast To Coast AM a while ago.
The mosquitoes are aggressive now. Yesterday I got bit and had two large red welts on each thigh. Today I got bit on each butt cheek and it looks really bad, like I have some giant zits on my butt. I'm feeling very itchy. Annoying.

I was debating with myself whether I should make an appearance at work last night but in the end Chhaya and staying at home won. I went for a run, I amazed myself again over my own abilities. Isn't the body a fantastic machine, for a lack of a better word? Then I took a long bath and went to sleep early and got up at 9 this morning. A latte from Kaladi is today's plan so far.
So the reason I went to Anchorage earlier this week was to do a photo shoot. You don't have to be Gisele Bundchen to be in front of the camera you know......although in my head I am, almost. Ha Ha. So the photographer wanted to shoot by the waterfall I already took pics by almost two years ago. It's a beautiful waterfall in Eagle River, so I thought it was a great idea and had visions of the amazing images we were going to create. And I brought Chhaya too. Well, the shoot was.....awkward. One of my top three most awkward shoots.
You never know who this person might be that you are meeting up with and you don't always have good chemistry together. Some photographers I work well with and the results are really good. This guy, although nice is what we call "A Guy With A Camera". And there is NOTHING wrong with that, you can still (hopefully) take great photos and everybody has to start somewhere, obviously. There is more stuff involved than just aiming the camera at the object you intend to photograph and pressing down the shutter button. Lights, focus and angles are crucial, even Gisele could look not so fab in the wrong angle.....or could she?
But his communication skills were kind of lacking (at least the communication with me) and I felt annoyed and frustrated a few times. Oh well. That's how it is sometimes.
And you never know, it's very possible that we got a few good pictures. And I am hoping! I had Chhaya pose for some pics, so at least I got a few good ones of her. She is definitely a super model. The waterfalls are a short hike in through the forest from the parking area. They are rather big and very beautiful. Definitely worth seeing.









This is one of the pics from my last shoot I did at the waterfalls. That photographer was a real professional and we understood each other. It was September and my feet were completely numb when we were done and we worked fast.



If you want to see this place, look up directions for South Fork Eagle River Waterfalls. You can go up to the viewpoint or be down by the water. To be down by the water, make a right before the bridge and after a short walk through the forest (some climbing involved) you can enjoy the scenery.