Things Lately

Listening to the soundtrack from Ever After.
Avoiding the veritable mountain of homework I have due tomorrow.
    Life this past week got interesting. That's the best word I can think of to sum it up. Some of it was bad, but it wasn't all bad. And some of it was really wonderful, but it definitely wasn't all wonderful. For example, Friday was Friday the thirteenth. But because I'm non-conformist and not superstitious, I celebrated early with an awful Thursday the twelfth. The day started with my alarm being set for 7:30 pm instead of am, and ended with a parking ticket. You can just fill in the blanks from there (but I will say that in the middle somewhere I was told that "being independent doesn't make you special, it makes you less feminine," and that I "shouldn't even be called a lady").
    That night, I also received a call from my bffl Suzanne with news of her dad, whom I affectionately call Horace. He's been dealing with some heart problems recently - I would say "struggling" with some heart problems, but honestly, a month ago when it all started, it rather miraculously healed itself, so that part wasn't really too much of a struggle. Now, though, because he didn't get into surgery soon enough, he's been paralyzed from the waist down. Now, I've known Suzanne and her family since the fourth grade. We've been best friends for twelve years now. Her big sister is like my big sister, and her parents like my second set. I know it seems overdramatic to be so affected by this news - after all, it's not my dad - but it really did throw me. It doesn't seem to have thrown him, though. I spoke to him (and Suzanne, of course) on the phone on Friday, and I couldn't detect the slightest note of sadness in his voice. There will be sadness, and dark times, I'm sure, and Suzanne says every so often she can tell he's down, but overall, he's taking it so well. The whole family is. He told me on the phone, "Today, I put on socks, which is great! And," keep in mind, he's in the hospital, now, "Maybe next week, I'll get to put on pants, which is even better!" I mean, he's just so positive. Suzanne said he told her that he sees this as God, as our shepherd, breaking his legs (as shepherds do) and throwing him over His shoulders so that he must depend more on Him. Which is just so inspirational. I have to say that I'm so proud of him, of all of them.
    For those of you who recall my mom having surgery a few weeks ago, a little update. She's healing really well. It's difficult for her, seeing it every day, and not noticing too much change, but really, it's healing so much faster and more smoothly than I expected. Her forehead bears just a faint pink line now, and the skin on her nose (at the bottom, the top still has the skin flap until this Friday) is blending perfectly, and she doesn't have too much lasting pain. She does have a headache that's been an issue, but only because of the tightness in her forehead and the bruising. That will all go away. I'm so proud of her for going back to teaching so soon after it happened, too!
    Lastly, I went to a wedding Saturday night! It was Corey's dad's fiancée's daughter's wedding (hard to follow, I know). And it was beautiful. Of course, because I can't go to important events without screwing something up, I went to the wrong wedding first. Turns out there was another wedding going on at the same place at the same time - just a different building. But their decorations looked lovely, and their guests were very nice! It was only when I asked if anyone had seen Amanda yet, and they were like, "Who?" that I realized this was not the right place. Thing was, I only knew two of the guests personally who weren't in the wedding party, so I wouldn't have recognized anyone going into the wedding anyways. That was embarrassing, but whatever. I got there just in time and the ceremony was lovely and sweet, and the reception was possibly the most fun I've ever had at a wedding - and I've been to a lot! I spent the whole time with Brett (Corey's brother) and his girlfriend Robin, who are two of my favorite people on earth. We celebrated until about one in the morning and I danced until my feet hurt, and then kept dancing. The only downside was that Corey couldn't make it (thanks, USMC) and it was sort of depressing watching everyone holding their significant others close for slow dances while I sat in a chair by the dance floor. But the groom, Nick, did ask me for a dance towards the end which was super sweet. He was on the trip when Corey proposed and it was very considerate of him and Amanda to think of me missing Corey on their big day. Just shows you what a wonderfully sweet couple they are. And I know they're going to have an equally wonderfully sweet marriage.

I know this was a long post, but for those of you who were interested enough to read to the end, thanks. I realize it may not have been what everyone wanted from a Monday post, but I've got more on my mind than the next pointers post or tutorial. Sometimes I just need to get out what I'm thinking so I have room to think more.

Loose Waves

Listening to Surfin' Snoopy by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. This is just a thing I do. The slightest hint of fall and all I listen to is Vince and Ingrid.
Missing Corey. He's in the field for the next week.
    So, now that I'm in school again, I don't have much time in the morning to do my hair all purty. Normally I'm lucky if I get it dry, but I've been doing better about waking up on time, I swear. My favorite "quick-but-it-looks-like-I-spent-time-on-it" look at the moment is this loose and wavy look. I've found that if I curl all my hair towards my face and then brush it out, it lends itself to a very put together but chill wavy style. The catch is that right side. Cause technically you're not curling it under you're curling it up - supposing you're right-handed that is. Lefties do the opposite.

1.  Start with clean, dry hair. Use a heat protectant or style prep spray to avoid damaging your hair with the heat.
2. Separate your hair from the ears back and pin the top out of the way. Then using a small flat iron - preferably one with a curved edge - begin curling 1-inch sections on the left side under. (Lefties, curl the right side under.)
3. When you finish the left side (or right) move to the opposite side and curl it up.
4. Take down the top half and repeat steps one and two for your respective sides.
5. See how the curls curve toward the face? This does a lot towards preventing the look from going to 70s.

1. Note: On the right side, you curl all the hair up (or down, for Lefties)...
2. However, if you part your hair on the left and have a sort of swoopy fringe like me, curl the fringe under. (Lefties, curl it up and sort of flip it back.) If you part your hair on the right, curl your fringe up and back. (Right-parting Lefties, curl it under.)
3. Give it all a good spritz with your favorite hair spray.
4. Brush out with a brush, or tangle teaser.

    And you're all finished! See how loose and easy that looks? I love it. I know that was a lot of Lefty and Righty instructions, but it's for your own good. I don't want to leave out Lefties or give them instructions that will result in a different look. I'm here to help, yanno?

What's been your go-to style for school mornings? Tell me below!

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Products Used

• Aussie Mega Finish Hairspray
• Revlon 1" Stay Smooth Hair Straightener



Keeping Classes Organized

Listening to The Vince Guaraldi Trio
Preparing for ten days of zero contact with Corey
    I am so ready for fall, guys. I want that crisp, cool fall air, and the leaves blowing around on the breezes. I'm tired of being hot all the time. And I'm really tired of my car breaking down (four times now, in the past week) and the air conditioning not working. I want sweaters, boots and scarves. That's why I'm listening to Vince Guaraldi. He wrote all the Peanuts music, and I listen to him all autumn and winter. I'm breaking out the Trio so that cooler weather better be on the way!
    I'm pretty proud, though, y'all. Three weeks into school and I'm still organized! I've started procrastinating a little, but I finished a whole book for Tuesday yesterday and I'm pretty happy with that. I've been doing something different this semester as far as my notes are concerned, too.
    In previous years, I'd take notes on loose leaf paper, stuff it in that first flap-sleeve thing in the front of my binder, and then forget about it. Then, when the test came around and I desperately needed all my notes to cram (usually the morning of) I had to frantically search through a two-inch-thick stack of papers to find the notes for the right class, then spend ten or fifteen minutes attempting to put them in chronological order so I could keep all the info organized in my brain. (There are, like, special codes for remembering things in my mind. Chronological order seems to be one of them.) This wasted at least half an hour of my early-morning cram time, and we all know how important that time is.
    This semester I'm doing things differently. I have one two-inch binder with five dividers. I have two spiral bound notebooks in which I take notes. I title each page with the class name and the date so I never have to worry about "which class was this?" and "what day did we talk about that?" I don't worry about organizing it during the day because typically, professors start talking as soon as I sit down and I don't want to waste time between classes when I'm normally booking it to my next class. I don't even think about which notebook I'm using. I just keep both for the heck of it. Any loose paper that's handed back - tests or quizzes or papers - I put in that inside flap-sleeve in the binder.
    That sounds like a modified version of my past rifling and huge pile of papers, but here's the catch. I don't leave it like that. First thing I do when I come home at the end of the evening is sit down with my notebooks and binder and tear out all the notes I've taken. This is a great time to go over what I wrote down, think back to the lecture or discussion, and do a quick run-through of the class. That means less study-time later cause I've already gone over it once. It's good to do this the day of the class while it's still fresh in your brain.
    Remember all those papers that were handed back? I take those out and go over them, too. If it's a test or quiz, I look at what I got wrong and the professor's comments. If it's a paper that needs revision, I do the same thing and may even make a few cursory notes to myself for later. Then, I hole-punch them and put them in my binder in their respective dividers along with all the notes I tore out of the notebooks that day.
    It sounds kind of time-consuming, but so far it's really helped me. I've already remembered much more from previous lectures than I have in the past, which gives me hope for my coming exams.

Do you have any systems for keeping your notes organized? I'll take all the help I can get!