Curly Girl Update: Week #...I can't remember

Here it is, my new shorter, curlier haircut.

As you can see, it curls a lot nicer. I'm glad that I started the Curly Girl Method before I got my hair cut, because otherwise this would have been a gigantic, frizzy mess. The only thing that's a little bit hard with my hair so short now is drying it with my cotton t-shirt. I don't really have any hair to squeeze the water out of. Basically I just have to hold the cloth on my head for a little bit and hope it soaks up the moisture. Also, I'm not going through conditioner as fast. That will save me a lot of money.

For those of you thinking about doing the Curly Girl Method, I definitely recommend it. My hair has never looked better, and it's never been healthier. Seriously, when I straightened it the other day, I couldn't help but keep touching it because it felt so smooth and it was shiny. It's a definite upgrade from my usual dry frizz.

Why I don't like spring

Usually I love spring:

1. My birthday is the first day of spring (depending on the year)
2. It's the prelude to summer

However, on days where I straighten my hair, walk outside and the sun is shining, so I wear a jacket without a hood, and then after my first class it is pouring rain, I absolutely HATE spring. Why? Just take a look below.

 I had to go the rest of the day with my hair making me look like a hobo. Blast you spring weather!

Got a new do

Guess who finally got a new haircut! That's right me. I went to a local beauty college to get my hair done. My roommate's sister is graduating from the beauty college in a few weeks, so I trusted that she would do a good job, (especially since she has curly hair herself and knows how to cut and style curly hair. As you'll see from my picture, my hair is straight, because she had to blow dry my hair to make sure the layers were cut right. But I absolutely love the cut, and I'm excited to see how it looks curly!

Curly Culinary Corner: Dang Delicious Brownies!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. School has been busy, but I've also been substituting for the teacher I T.A. for. I absolutely love teaching and I love that my job gives me that opportunity.

My hair hasn't really changed since my last update. Still using the curly girl method, still haven't gotten it cut. Hopefully soon though!

This post is a little different. I made some really good brownies last night and I thought I would share the recipe.There were much needed for my roommates and I; we had a single girls' night where we got in our pajamas, ate brownies and watched the last two Twilight movies (one of my roommates hadn't seen them. We thought she would enjoy watching something extremely cheesy and easy to make fun of). I used one recipe from one site for the brownies, and another recipe from another for the frosting. So here is the combined recipe. It's kind of weird because you mix it all together in a saucepan, but I'm telling you, these were probably the best brownies I have ever eaten.


Dang Delicious Brownies with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 cup butter (the recipe called for shortening, but I didn't have any)
3/4 cup cocoa 
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan (I didn't have a 9x13, so I used an 8x11). Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the cocoa powder and stir until well incorporated, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Stir in one egg at a time. Add the flour, baking powder and salt until well mixed. Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Sift in cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add in milk and vanilla, along with about 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar. Mix at medium speed until very smooth. Add additional confectioners’ sugar as needed until frosting is thick, smooth and spreadable. If it becomes too thick, just add a little more milk.

These brownies aren't the healthiest things ever, but let's be honest, if you're eating a brownie, you're not doing it to be healthy. : )

Curly Craft Circle: Wall Tiles

I decided that a little crafty creativity was long overdue and would help me unwind from the stress that is life.

I've been meaning to do this craft for about a year now. I mean I have literally had 75% of the supplies for over a year, I just kept putting it off.

The bigger panels were not made by me. I purchased them at Wal-Mart, but they could probably be re-created with the same process I use for the tiles, just with a bigger base

I bought a four-piece coaster set from my local craft store near the end of 2010. My plan was to modge podge pictures onto them and hang them on my wall as tiles.

I then tried to decide what pictures I wanted to put on the coasters. I love classic films (as you can see). I love the spectacle, the romance, the song-and-dance numbers. So, I got some snapshots from some of my favorite classic films, did a little photoshop magic, and voila! I was ready to get out my jar of modge podge.

Price wise, this is about $10. I can't remember how much the coasters were because I bought them on sale, but the price tag on the container said they were usually $6. I spent a little over $1 to print off the photos, but I get a pretty good deal at my school's copy spot.

Time-wise, photoshopping the pictures took the longest. All I did was take the photo, make a black-and-white layer, and then erase part of that layer to bring back the color.

The modge podge part took about 15 minutes total.

I'm pleased with the finished product, but I think I need to do a few more so that it looks a little better. And I think I want to glue them into some sort of frame. Right now, they are just sticky-tacked onto my wall.

And I do love how they go with my Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe panels.

Photos (left to right): "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "White Christmas," "Singing in the Rain," and "Easter Parade."

Curly Girl Update: Weeks #5-6

Surprise! I'm finally blogging again. The last couple weeks have been crazy busy for me as next week is mid-term. I've had a massive paper due last week and this week have had tests and such. This weekend most of my roommates will be gone, and I have already claimed our living room to lay out all of my remaining assignments and finish them.

I was thinking the other day about how much I complain about school and college life. But then I remember that this is all self inflicted. Unlike public K-12 school, I have chosen the stress and agony of 15 page papers, grocery shopping on a budget, waiting until the last possible moment to do laundry and lousy housing complexes that are out to get you. So I better just suck it up and deal--which should be easy-peasy since I'm graduating in December.

Anyway, I digress, that is why I haven't posted in two weeks. But I have a nice little update for you today.

As you can see, still no haircut. I'm thinking by the end of next week it will be done. But I have to think of what I want to do for sure, and I need to decide if I can trust any hair stylists in town to not give me triangle haircut. Part of me wants to keep growing my hair out. I haven't had my hair longer than my shoulders since I was about nine-years-old. But since then, I can't ever get it past the stupid awkward length it's at right now. And I know that my curls won't be the tight and sassy curls I get with short hair. Oh, decisions, decisions.

The method is still going well. I'm already through my second bottle of conditioner. It's so dry up here that my hair just sucks up any moisture it can get. I also purchased my second bottle of gel. Stuck with the got2b stuff because everything else either had the nasty chemicals in it, or was way way way out of my price range.

All of the websites I have read say that by week 6 your hair should really be showing the curls and not be so frizzy. But I don't think those websites take into account the dry windy air of Eastern Idaho and the need for shorter hair.

Song of the Week: No 'bout a doubt it--Marion Hutton

Over the past two years I have started to get into older, jazzy vocalists. There's just something unique about listening to singers who can actually sing without big production managers like music today. These people have raw voices and it's just beautiful. This song not only shows that raw talent, but also is super cute. 

Having a Good Hair Day...

and thought I would show you all.

Enlisted the help of my roommate to get a back shot.