Monday, November 26, 2012

Making Dirty Hair Look Clean!


So I have dabbled with different kinds of dry shampoos and ways of making that second or third day of not washing my hair look less icky.  

I have tried:
  • Johnson & Johnson Baby powder - too white looking - can make your hair look gray 
  • Oscar Blandi powder - eh, it was ok, but if not put in properly, can also leave white marks on your hair
  • Tresemme dry shampoo - I bought this two separate times, and both times the sprayer on the can broke on me! PLUS it didn't work that well at all.
  • Just putting my hair up and using a little amount of hairspray for the flyaways...later on in the day the hairspray can end up looking greasier than before. Yuck!
So anyways, this one, the Redkin one is AWESOME! It smells great, doesn't leave white marks and actually made my hair look fresh and clean today! (I ALMOST just typed "so-fresh-and-so-clean-clean" oh boy.  Anyone remember that song?)

Have you tried any dry shampoos before? Any luck?

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Back to PT I go...

So a week or so ago, on the way from Dunkin Donuts to the Heart Walk, I hurt myself.  All over a bagel! Yes, a bagel!

I promised my best girl friends some DD before the Heart Walk in DC, so I stopped there on the way to B's house.  When I started driving away, the bag of bagels was too top heavy and it fell on my seat.  When it fell down, the bagel in the top of the bag went flying to the floor in front of the passenger seat in my car.  When I was at a stop light, I reached over to go and grab it from the floor.  Immediately when I reached, I felt a big stinging pain in my shoulder, trapezius muscle, and upper arm.  It was the exact same pain I felt right after my car accident in April.  The same pain that put me in physical therapy for a month and a half. And it hurt the whole rest of that day!

The feeling of instant regret for reaching for the bagel came almost as quickly as the pain itself.  When thinking back to it, I really didn't do anything crazy as I reached for it, and after talking with my physical therapist I realize that it might have just happened another time anyways because there's a good chance that my original injury from the accident didn't heal completely.
That's one of the main spots I hurt!
Anywho...I'm REALLY not happy about this.  This injury happened the day before I got a call from the insurance saying they had a settlement number for me.  The call I had been waiting for, the settlement that would finally end this accident mess.  Ugh. 

I know that I should look at the positive in this, and realize how grateful I should be that I didn't settle yet, which means that any of my physical therapy from here on out is covered by my accident claims. And to be clear, I am grateful.  

However, I'm nervous that it's really bad this time.  When I went for my re-evaluation after this injury last week, EVERYTHING they did to test me hurt soooo bad!  Last time I was in physical therapy it was more about building the strength in those areas, because I didn't really have any pain other than a few days right after the accident.

THIS TIME it's all about the pain.  Oh my gosh, I felt like such a baby, wincing and whining every time they lifted my arm or pushed on it or asked me to do certain exercises.  I mean, I still did them, but I was not happy about it!  I have pain in my arm, upper back, and trapezius (which by the way, what a funny name for the muscle!) every day! UGH.
So I'm back to twice a week at physical therapy.  There's no way of saying how long it'll be for, but I know from experience that after twice a week, it goes down to once a week, and then a re-evaluation from there.  So personally, I see it being at least two months this time, considering how much pain I'm in.  

I'm determined to do this the right way though.  I'm working on my posture daily now (she said that it could really help me out - and actually could have made my injury worse), and I'm also doing my home exercises several times a day.  

Sorry for such a long post that mostly includes whining.  I don't think it's even the pain or annoying-ness of scheduling PT twice a week again that really bothers me.  It's the not being done with this whole mess that bothers me.  That accident was by far the most horrific experience I've ever had and I am still struggling with driving at night without serious anxiety.  

I have been relying a lot on my faith to get me through this, and pray all the time that my anxiety will get better, and that I stay safe.  It's hard to keep the faith that it will all be ok, when I know how little control anyone has on deer-related accidents, ESPECIALLY during mating season which just recently started.  OH and so did hunting season.  Even better.

I'll get there, I know I will.  It's just hard.  :-/

Have you ever heard this? 
"You can have faith.  Or you can have fear. You can't have both." 

I heard it on TV and I was really interested in this idea.  I don't necessarily believe this, but I think it's a great notion.

So for example,  I should have faith that I'm a good driver and that I am more aware of my surroundings because of the experiences I've had with car accidents, and therefore not have fear that a deer will pop out at any moment and put me in another accident. 

But it just doesn't work like that.  I feel like there's too much gray area in between faith and fear for me.  I have faith that I know how to drive well, but I don't have faith that deer will stay away from the road or not run into traffic because I've seen first hand that they do exactly that.  

What do you think? Can you have both faith and fear? Or do you just have one or the other? I'm so intrigued by the thought of only having one, but I just can't imagine it.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Small Buisness Saturday


Free Shipping all day today if you order Thirty-One with me through my email! Just email me your order and payment information.  For every order that is submitted with me today, you will be entered to win a littles carry-all! It's a great gift idea! You could fill it with bath items, candy, or mini-bottles of wine! 




Happy Small Business Saturday! Email me with your order or with any questions you have: thirtyonejstrunk@gmail.com

Have a great day!



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great holiday! 


xoxo,
Jess


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

I'm back!

Wow it's been a while!

I'm just going to post in list style, because I love lists so much and that's pretty much how my brain thinks, so that's how this blog post will go.

  • Work - This school year has been great so far.  Other than some a little drama with the background politics in teaching, my year has started off really well.  I have a great class and compared to last year, they are a breeze to deal with! In addition to that, I am a mentor teacher! I have a student teacher that I am mentoring twice a week right now in the Fall, and then five times a week in the Spring. It's pretty exciting and I'm really grateful to have an extra pair of hands in my classroom (in addition to my co-teacher and her intern too!)
  •  Grad School - Eh. It is what it is.  The content and projects involved (not including the 60 page articles that I have to read) are actually pretty interesting.  Here's the thing...I just don't care to be a student right now, so I'm not fully into it.  I'm doing my best of course, but I'm honestly only doing it because I have to.  If I didn't have to get a master's degree, I doubt I'd be doing this now. Ah well.  Gotta do it sometime! 
haha!
  • My Man - We're doing really well. We celebrated our five year anniversary a few weekends ago by going to Alexandria, Virginia.  We walked around and explored the boutiques and shops and then had a tasty dinner at a cool Irish Pub.  It was really nice.  We also have our holiday gifts figured out too!  I found this great Living Social deal that was perfect for us.  It included two nights at a cute Bed and Breakfast, and a wine tasting at one of our favorite wineries in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a really good deal, but because it wasn't what I could call "cheap" we decided we would just do that this year instead of gifts.  Plus we always go pretty big on our birthdays, so I feel like doing something fun together for Christmas is a great idea.
D and I at the VT game at Fed Ex Field in October
  • Make-up - So the BB cream I was all excited about in the post below? Yeah, totally returned it.  I LOVED how it looked, however I didn't love how much it made me break out all over my chin and jawline after using it for a week!  Luckily Sephora is really great about returns, so I just took it back.  Currently, I am trying a new one that has been reviewed by acne-prone individuals.  I haven't been using it every day, I guess because I'm apprehensive I'll break out again.  But so far, I really like it.  This is it:
Skin79 BB Cream
  •  Thirty-One - WOW! I'm overwhelmed with how busy I am right now! I currently have 11 parties right now! (that's including online/catalog parties and house parties).  It's awesome, and I'm still loving it. This weekend I have a party on Friday night, Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon.  Whoa! 
  • This time of year - I am so happy during this time of year!  I'm not happy about the declining temperature, but I am happy about the little things that I love about Fall.  Things like pumpkin flavored foods/beverages, apple cider, boots, getting cozy in blankets at night, holiday gift shopping, and Thanksgiving.

I know I have been busy a lot and some of you who still read this like to do so to keep up to date.  I will do my best to try and update this when I can.

Have a great night!  Happy Election Day! It's such an exciting day for our country! I'm interested in seeing what will happen!