Another Corrector

Yay corrective color!! A massive challenge for all hair dressers. The scariest thing is that you have no idea what is under all that color. Most of the time the client is not telling the truth. 

Last week I had a really cute girl name Maria come in for a consultation. Maria was 30 minutes late which is a really bad first impression, and makes me nervous in general and can really throw I the schedule for the rest of the day. Luckily she was booked incorrectly, so I had plenty of time to meet with her. Maria came in with ombré hair. It was coppery on the ends and a burgundy color on the mid shaft and she had a natural brown root. 

The best thing that could have happened is that she came a week before I had to tackle this beast. I had 7 whole days to think about how I would go about giving her the "honey blonde" color that she was looking for alá Jennifer Anniston. I warned her it would not be even close to perfect the first time, but I assured her that I would do my best and that she will be happier than she was at the outset. 

Maria was on time today. Joy!! I sat her down and decided once and for all that I would definitely need to strip her hair. Which means I basically needed to bleach it. Getting red hair color out is one of the hardest things to do. So stripping I did. I used a board and 35 volume bleach starting in the back and working my way forward. I knew I didn't have to get her super blonde, just light enough for a level 8/sandy blonde base color. 

This is what she looked like once all the lightener was applied. 

This would be the product of bleaching red hair color out. Notice the pout. She was not too pleased. 

I then followed up with giving her a fairly heavy highlight, including end lights and I mixed in Redken color Fushion 8AB and 7AV for her base color at the root only. After I applied her base color I immediately put Shades EQ 8N, 9N, and 9GB on her ends, combed everything through and let her sit for another 20 minutes or so. 

It was pretty messy, but all good things are, right?

After getting her shampooed we gave her a quick 10 minute glaze with 9T, 9N, and clear. FOUR HOURS LATER (which for those of you that know me is an eternity) we had what must have been the closest thing to a perfect color correction in the history of Katie Brandon doing hair. 

Needless to say, I was extremely happy and so was Maria. She was a trooper and so was her brother that waited up front the entire time!  Thank you to our assistant/stylist in training, Portia, helping me out in the end! 

Now for a break!

Married Life

Nearly a year since my last blog entry. It's definitely been a pretty chaotic year. About a month after last entry, Derek and I got engaged! Since I am a crazy, I already had a wedding date in my head and was determined to have it. 

With six months to plan our wedding I began a quick spiral into becoming what some may call a bridezilla, but what I call a determined 30 year old woman who knows exactly what she wants and will have it. I did not have a wedding planner. I already had a theme for the wedding in mind so all I needed to do was execute it. We decided to have the wedding on my father's property since it is so beautiful, against the water, and large enough to accommodate my massive family. 

After a lot of arguments, bargaining, some tears, and finally some compromise we had the most beautiful and fun wedding anyone has ever been to. 

I am so proud to call Derek my husband. He has been such a trooper through the past year. Even though we argue ( a lot) we always come back to each other and he has been my biggest supporter since day one. 

We are constantly asked exactly two questions. The typical one: When are you having kids? And the other typical one, I suppose: How's married life?  Here are your answers. When we decide to have kids we will let you know. Until then, mind you own business hugs and kisses and sweet smiles. To answer the second question, married life is regular. It feels great, but the same. And we are totally fine with that. If anything, there is the lovely sense of calm. As calm as I can be at least. 

What I think is funny is that before we got married, everyone kept telling Derek that I would be letting myself go. I would be farting, no makeup, sweat pants all the time. All he could do was laugh at them and say, ummm she already does all that. Yeah, I was in a relationship for 5 years where I farted once and was ridiculed so I never did it again. I promised myself that would never happen again. So yeah, the tooting began pretty early. I eat a lot of fiber. What can I say?

Sorry Derek. 

Anyways, I am on my way to completing my second nutrition certification and enjoying life as an old married lady. Life is great. 

I'm gonna try to be more regular about this thing again. Talk soon!

Post Season Regret

Hello, hello. It's been far too long since I have posted! Whoopsies.

I have my reasons though I swear. Derek and I bought a house! We closed two weeks ago and it's amazing. Such a good feeling for it to be over and to know that it's ours. We were (by we I mean I) going a little crazy for the last two months planning for the house and saving. I couldn't be bothered with focusing on anything other than the house. Done and done.

So now I am trying to get back on track and get back into my nutrition studies and back into the habit of eating right. I know in my last post I was bragging and giving you all crap about not eating too many sweets and not falling into the traps of loved ones and their delicious food. Well, I gained 5 lbs. I know it may not seem like much, but it was gained in a matter of weeks and after working as hard as I did to lose weight in the first place it's a little disappointing to see the change on the scale.

If the same thing happened to you please do not be discouraged. Chances are it can be shed by simply getting back into your good eating habits. I went back to my same routine. Healthy breakfast of either old fashioned oatmeal with almond milk and fruit, or egg whites with veggies. My lunches are all basically salads. But I use either spinach or darker leafy greens. And top them with more veggies and some goat cheese. Dinner is more or less of the same. I will allow myself to have a little more fat but mostly lean meats or beans with veggies.

My favorite new meal that I have been making is home made fajitas. Derek's loves them too so that is encouraging. Here is the recipe...

Two orange peppers (I HATE green peppers)
One red onion
One bunch of asparagus
1 lb lean pork or chicken
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Salt&pepper
Tomatoes
1/4 jalapeño pepper (gloves)
Whole wheat medium sized tortillas
Fat free sour cream
Fat free shredded cheddar (or low fat if you can't handle it)

The first thing I do is cut the meat into strips and place them in a big ziplock bag. Then I pour about 2 tbsp of olive oil and about 1 tbsp white wine vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. Close the bag up and get the air out. Then mush it all around to make sure it's all coated. Set aside.

I make an extremely simple salsa to go along with this dish. All it is is tomato, 1/4 of a jalapeño, and a little red onion. I crudely cut them and put them in my mini food processor and chop it. Set it in the fridge to cool.

While the meat is marinating start cutting up the veggies. Slice the orange peppers (or any pepper of your choosing) length wise. I slice the asparagus into 2 inch pieces and then cut each piece lengthwise again. Slice the onion. You will probably only want to use half the red onion. Feel free to add more if you want.

Heat up a large pan and put a bit of olive oil or Pam in. Add the veggies. Sprinkle with salt an pepper and sauté. In a separate pan start cooking the meat. Once the meat is 90% cooked add it to the nearly cooked veggies. Let all of the food finish cooking together and absorb each others flavors.

That's pretty much it. Keep everything in the pan and put it on the table. To serve I put a little sour cream on the tortilla then the meat and veggies. Then the salsa. Then the cheese. Wrap that shit up and gorge. It's so tasty.

As always, if you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to leave a comment!