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You’ll find a little bit of everything here (:
Books!
I’ve been reading a lot since Onyx Storm was released back in January, and these are some of the series I’ve been enjoying!
This book was so much fun to read- a teenage girl suddenly gets uprooted from her life after finding out she’s inherited more money than any person could conceivably know what to do with from a man she’s never heard of. The catch? She has to live in the family estate for a continuous year with the very family that’s been disinherited from their fortune. There are puzzles that need to be solved, new social dynamics that have to be conquered, and attempts on her life to navigate. I can’t wait to read the rest!
It’s technically a trilogy, but there are two other books to read after the first three and an additional spinoff series containing two novels.
If you know anything about the show, you probably know what this one’s about. Short read, less than 300 pages. I finished it in one sitting- so relevant and good. Highly recommend, I’m waiting on my copy of The Testaments to get here so I can finish this two book series.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
This was another fun one. Six rulers meet on an island every hundred years in an attempt to break their curses and save their realms, only five can survive. Our protagonist Isla must navigate alliances and betrayals as the only competitor without powers to try her best to make it to the end and save her people from destruction.
This is a series that isn’t finished yet, there’s three books so far. I’m picking up #2.
Eragon and Eldest formed by far my favorite fantasy world from my childhood. I never finished reading the last two novels in this four book series however, so I’m doing that. As I type this, I am currently reading the third installment, Brisingr. This series follows Eragon- a rural farm boy, and Saphira- a creature who hatches out of a rock he found hunting in the woods, as they become the heroes their continent needs. There are elves, dwarves, very scary villains, magic and so many twists and turns. Christopher Paolini created not one but several languages for these books, which I find to be so freaking cool. The movie was an absolute abomination and one of the greatest letdowns of my life, but even twenty years later they hold up as masterpieces- at least to me.
Diving into the Sarah J. Maas-iverse was pretty intimidating at first, and I know I’ve just scratched the surface. I’ve read Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight and The Assassin’s Blade so far, and I’m so excited to keep making my way through it! There’s more to Celaena than meets the eye, and even more to her beyond her reputation as the deadliest assassin in the kingdom.
There’s eight books in this particular series, but also two more series that take place in the same world.
Are you a New Year’s resolution person?
I’m usually not. I think often times when I have, I’ve put unneeded pressure on myself at one of the hardest times of the year, and set myself up for disappointment.
This year however, I’m setting small goals for myself. I want to commit to making more time to do the things I’ve been wanting to do, spend more time with family, and finish up some projects I’ve got sitting around the house.
I know I’m a little late to the party- I mean it’s already the 17th. But, seriously, anyone else buy a really cool loveseat about two years ago they’ve been meaning to reupholster that’s still chillin’ in their living room? Have shelves of unread books? Just me?
I want to make more art. I wanna do tons of fun hair. I want to decorate my suite with even more things that bring me joy. I want to stop letting time pass me by, because life is short and you gotta make time for the important things and for what fills your cup. Seems pretty reasonable for the next 365 days.
What are your goals for the year?
I have dark color in my hair, can I still have creative color?
If you just colored your hair black recently, does that mean you can’t put cool colors in your hair without breaking your hair or the bank?
Absolutely not!
Well, kind of. You do have some options that don’t involve pushing your hair to the limit.
Having reasonable expectations is key.
Most creative colors- especially bright blues, greens, pastels and cooler colors- need relatively light hair to live on. It’s kind of like if you took a blue crayon and colored on orange or black construction paper- that blue crayon probably isn’t going to show up. If you take that same blue crayon and color on a white sheet of printer paper however, it’ll show up true to tone. Vivid hair color works about the same way.
Due to social media information about hair care and coloring has become more prevalent and accessible. It’s practically become common knowledge that going from box black to a bright blonde can be nearly impossible and very expensive, that is if your hair can handle it. Every lightening service poses the risks of breakage and damage that we all try to avoid. I’m not the one to compromise your hair for an inspo photo.
While you’re most likely not going to get light enough for a creative color that isn’t deep red or purple in one session from dark hair, if you keep an open mind you can still have some cool hair and hardly damage your hair at all! Use your roots growing in to your advantage.
Lightening and adding color to only the new growth is one of my favorite ways to help my clients grow out their dark color. Not only is it more budget friendly, but I’m personally obsessed with the way it looks.
It’s so much fun to see how much your roots grow in between appointments and each session you’ll have a little more to work with!
I’m supposed to be on vacation…
It’s about six in the morning, I’m visiting family and I can’t sleep. What’s it like getting back into building websites after over a decade? Challenging!
Finally made a few breakthroughs this morning though, and I’m happy to report that this little corner of the web is starting to shape up nicely. I could go on about how back in my day we just simply coded everything and there were a ton of resources around on various other personal websites, and if you spent enough time with it eventually you kind of figured everything out well enough to build your own something. This has been like that, except way different. It seems like everything these days is built with pagebuilders and themes, which is all greek to me. I can’t tell you how many Reddit posts, Facebook groups, Youtube videos I’ve poured over and watched in order to still get everything wrong, but trial and error gets the job done I suppose.
I feel so old saying that it seems like way less people design websites for themselves these days. It’s all business. So much is behind a paywall- information, tools that probably won’t do the job the way you’d like them, and this and that. When I first got into web design in my teens on the early internet there were so many college students and artists that I followed that were more than happy to share their knowledge and art with the world. Everything I’ve found now seems so corporate and lifeless- It’s kind of sad. While I don’t believe social media is going away anytime soon, maybe there is some truth to dead internet theory. I’m so burnt out on trying to get followers and likes, and want to try promoting my small business in a fun way that’s a little different. I’m over trying to compete with an algorithm that isn’t made for humans and just posting to post.
After changing WordPress themes a million times, spending money on templates that are no longer supported, and deciding to buy a year long subscription to Elementor and just go for it, here we are. I’ll be posting what I want here, it’s my blog after all. Expect some great hair content, web design resources, and general random ramblings and the game review or two. Writing is definitely the medium in which I express myself best. I aim to keep this space super relaxed and anti-gatekeepy, so if you’re in check back from time to time. ♥
