Today's hair

Following my idea from the other day: A single braid with a "French" layer.

Going to see how this works as a base for the modified Nautilus bun-idea.

Hot date

...Nah, not really.

Going to stay in tonight, order food, do a Nodosaurus and otherwise do nothing useful at all.

Package

Hehe. Just teasing the yet unknowing recipient. 

Going to send out a package today with some secret contents.

And just for fun, going to add the prettiest candy I've seen in a very long time.

Nautilus bun issues?

Lately I've been having some issues with my Nautilus buns. It used to be my absolute go-to bun, but the last months they have become increasingly irritating. They pull or pinch or slide for me.

The Nautilus bun was never the prettiest or most elegant bun, but it has its good angles.

But at the same time as I've been having issues with it, it also seems like its bad angles have become... well, worse.

The bun formation always had a tendency to get that weird "blob" going on, but it seems to become harder to smooth down.

My best guess is, that I have too much hair for the "inner" bun part compared to the "outer" bun part, where the braid wraps around it. I guess the "inner" bun part pushes and destabilizes the outer part, which makes it lose the nice, flat silhouette?

I got so frustrated with it today at work, that I ended up messing around with it on the toilet.

After a few attempts to push the "blob" back in place, I wrapped it up in a simple cinnamon bun.

And... That looked pretty nice?

Which is weird, because braided cinnamon buns stopped working for me around... hip length?
But now they work for me again?

It did get a little "blob"-formation in the middle, but I think that could be completely removed by basing it on a single french braid instead of an English braid.
Hmm. Interesting!

So that made me wonder: What if I "tied" the braid around my Ron Quattro fork in an overhand knot?

But then instead directed the "leftover" braid back in the same direction to compensate for lopsidedness, sort of like how I did with the infinity bun.

First forming the knot....

...Then wrapping the braid back in the same direction and tucking it under.

That actually got pretty good!

It shows off the slightly thicker part of the braid inside the bun, as opposed to the Nautilus that tends to show the thinnest.

Fairly smooth and flat silhouette with a few slightly less flattering angles.

The difference doesn't look so big in comparison, but I still like it.
Overhand knot-bun-thing on the left and Nautilus on the right.

Least flattering angle in comparison and the difference gets bigger!
Overhand knot-bun-thing on the left and Nautilus on the right.

I think I will be doing this more often...

And I promise a better tutorial for this bun if anyone wants it!

Mildly interesting

The little Bed & Breakfast I'm staying at for work has a few "leftovers" from previous visitors. One of the things is a Garnier Fructis shampoo bottle from Russia. I only know for sure because the only thing I can recognize (Other than "Garnier" and "Fructis") is that it directs to garnier.com.ru in the middle of the cyrillic script.
There is something kind of cool about finding a Russian shampoo bottle in south-west Denmark like this.

A challenge to myself

I have turned my project in. Three days early actually. At this point I was getting no more work out of it, just messing around with pointless, minor details and driving myself crazy over it.
(Today's Danish lesson: This is called "Flueknepperi", literally "f*cking a fly")

So, for better or for worse, I'm done with it for now.
Wow. It feels strange.

I have some busy time at work ahead of me, because I'm going on vacation in mid week 27 and week 28 with Mr Igor, author-friend and engineer-friend.
But after that, my schedule is pretty much just work and free time. That's going to feel really strange...
I have between week 28 and 38 completely free of any other responsibilities than work.

So I find myself wondering what I should do with that time. What do I want to do?
Catch up on TV? Learn something new? Practice a 7-strand braid until I nail it?

There are quite a few challenges floating around the internet: Feel good challenges, healthy living challenges, zen-challenges, self care challenges etc. Maybe I should do something like that?

What do I really want to get out of those 10 weeks?
I would like to spend some time having fun with hubby. Go see some things, experience something new, go on some of the guided tours they offer here.
And I would like to train some more. I'm actually beginning to enjoy it, and it is very good for me.

So... A weekly plan of:
One day out and away with hubby to do and see something fun.
And two days where I visit the gym to burn some calories.

Pretty simple, right?

I have actually semi-planned our "date days" out already. There is 1-3 goals in each day, but there will be room for improvising like eating out and such.

This could be very good for me. I need some time like this. Just focusing on myself, hubby and enjoying the summer.

Feeling good, destressing and having fun carries it's own reward. But maybe I should treat myself to one of the skincare tools I found myself drooling over some time back if I can stick to the plan?

Today's hair

Hmph. I had to run an errand today despite having planned to stay home and study.
Luckily the braids from yesterday held up very, very well, so I could waste as little time as possible on putting my hair up in a bun.
Hairstick is from an Etsy shop called Elk and Iron, that apparently doesn't exist anymore?

Alright, enough whining

I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself. 

So now I have taken today off, cancelled plans with a friend and will spend today and the weekend working on my project.

My favorite lounging-around-the-apartment hairstyle: Two braids with a single "layer" of French braiding. 

Comfy clothes, coffee brewing... 

Time to get this done!

Status report: Tired.

Yep, that's pretty much it. I'm tired.

I know I've been whining about this before, but... Damn.

Work and studies are kicking my ass, more than expected. But I've been feeling tired for months, even before I started my current course.
I think the reason is that we skipped the "usual" vacation around February-ish.

End of January, all of February and the beginning of march is the time of the year I hate the most. Especially February. The cosiness of Christmas and the fun of new years is over, and spring is sometimes very, very far away depending of the weather. It's just cold and grey and nasty and depressing and you can't even tell what time of the day it is, because often there isn't even a hint of brightness in the sky to tell you where the sun should be.
It's a time of the year that just drains my mental batteries until it feels like I'm just running on pure willpower and spite. I hate it.

And this year we made the mistake of not running off to somewhere warm and awesome for a week. I feel like I have just drained my batteries to a point where even summer slowly creeping in can't really refill them.
Or maybe it's the fact that my last actual vacation was back in September. But since it was a family-vacation on Læsø, it really wasn't a proper vacation. Fun yes, and a nice family tradition, yes, but a real relaxing vacation no.

 

(In Danish)

(In Not-used-to-speaking-English)

The last proper vacation was... Back in April 2018 on Tenerife? Yikes.

We have planned a week of vacation with friends in July, which I'm very much looking forward to. And of course there is another week on Læsø with my family this year again.

But what I want is pools, palm trees and fresh fish by the ocean side.

I have learned from my mistake and already ordered next years vacation: Two weeks on Fuerte Ventura in the end of January and beginning of February. It actually fits perfectly in before my next university course, so this is perfect.

I'll see if I can do other little things to unwind before that...

I'm on the hunt for a new spa. I wasn't impressed with the one I went to at all, and they are very pushy to sell your their products. Like, if your products were half as impressive as you claim, I would automatically want to buy them if your treatments impressed me. Duh. So a spa-treatment that should be fun and relaxing, is ended with an annoying and stressful salesman's speech.
Thank you, next.

My skin is really unhappy because I'm unhappy, and that makes me even more unhappy.
Great.
I really should put a little more effort into my skin though. It's a good little unwind-ritual...

At least my hair doesn't care. Good, old hair.

I'm considering getting this LED facial mask: Dr Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite FaceWare Pro
It's very pricey, but it will be a step up from my hacked Neutrogena mask that I use and like. It's a nice and relaxing little treat to "shut myself in" behind that thing and just ignore the world for a while.
There is also a smaller eyes-only mask intended to reduce eye wrinkles, but I'm not so interested in that one.
Does anyone have any experience with either of them?
Most thorough reviews I find seem a little suspicious to me.

Also considering getting this: Foreo UFO
It's funny, I've noticed that one before but found it a little dumb. But now I realized that this is basically made for what I use my mostly unemployed Foreo Luna 2 for: For massaging essences, serums and lotions in.
Hm, why not get the device that was actually designed for doing just that then?

Right now, all of that is sitting in my wishlist, but it got me thinking: I have never really wanted anything ridiculously expensive for my hair.
For tools and toys, I'm such a minimalist that I don't even want the expensive stuff. It's usually overdecorated and not my style at all.
For products, I always find myself being suspicious, because there is only so much you can really do with a haircare product.
I've seen products boasting stuff like caviar, and I always think hah, like that can do something that good old panthenol can't?

But then again, maybe it could be fun to try?
Why not try some ridiculously expensive brand name conditioner?

  

Or maybe a Mason Pearson brush (That I will then never, ever use because I brush maybe once a year, and then only to get rid of some flakes)?

Or maybe a Russian amber conditioner? Or a white truffle conditioner?
(lol and more lol)

 

...Yea, that's not going to happen. 

Today's hair

Okay, seriously messy today, but it's a day off and mr Igor doesn't care. Hehe.

Four little braids to a single mega-Royal bun.