Note to self

It's hard to google for Firefox beta if you just uninstalled your only browser. Be more logical next time.

Splitting hairs

I decided that I'd let my aunt to have her way. That I would let someone professional to cut my hair just the way she wants: a lot shorter. I just want her to shut up. I understand her concern but at the same time it hurts me that she doesn't respect my opinion at all. It shouldn't be such a big thing. It's just my hair, right? I don't know why she takes it so personally.

But after that decision I went to a bathroom. There is a huge mirror and somehow I found myself standing in front of it. My hair open, just the way I always keep it. I tried to imagine it shorter, with layers and bangs and everything. I really used the best of my imagination. And you know what? What I saw in my mind kinda freaked me out.

I realized that my hair is not just hair. It's a part of my personality. If I change my hair that dramatically, I would end up changing everything else in my appearance too to make things match. And then it wouldn't be me anymore.

So no. I'm sorry. My hair stays just the way it is. End of story.

Sometimes I go girly

I'm not sure if this is really newsworthy, but I'm wearing a skirt. It all started quite innocently: First I found myself listening to a cute music, then I started to watch chic flicks and now I guess I have even started to dress like a girl. At least for a day. Anyway. Since no one is seeing this miracle I decided to post a picture of it:


My woollen tights itch like hell. Seriously.

Getting back on track

I have completely lost my blogging routine. And it sucks. But now that I have acknowledged the problem I can start solving it. So here is what I'm going to do:

1. I start to sleep more at night so I don't have to spend all day napping. If possible I try not to nap at all. And if I do, I try to keep it reasonable.
   
2. I start to blog off line. No excuses.
3. I write at least 20 minutes every day. No excuses.
4. I try to post at least three times a week. The partition will be this: 2 posts of egocentric babble, 1 post of something useful.
   
5. I start to read English literature while commuting. I will do this to improve my vocabulary, but hopefully to learn some grammar too.
6. I start to read CopyBlogger, ProBlogger, Daily Blog Tips,and Blogging Pro with more thought instead of just browsing through the titles on Google Reader. I will also pay more attention to Daily Writing tips.

Of course none of this is written on a stone but it's still good to have a solid plan written down.

Happy Birthday

Today is J.R's birthday but since he's doing his military service and is therefore unavailable during weeks, I gave him his gift yesterday. And that leads to a thing you probably didn't knew about me: I love to give birthday presents. It's not only because I like to give presents, but because I really love to wrap them.

Gift wrapping has been my hobby for about three years now. It all started on one Christmas when I was reading a newspaper and thought that some of the ads could make an outstanding gift wrap. I've always been a fan of recycling so I decided to give it a try. And to my surprise those gifts turned out really nice when I finished them with paper strings.

It's easy to make an extraordinary gift wrap, so I wonder why so many go for boring printed wrap papers and cheap plastic ribbons instead. You only need these three things to success:

1. Handmade paper. It's not easy to get for free, but if you keep your eyes open you will eventually end up with a nice collection like I do.
2. Paper string: It's cheap, so go get some. And have a little practice to make a nice bow. It doesn't behave like a plastic ribbon so it can be a bit frustrating at first.
3. Some cheap paper that looks like recycled: I personally like white see-trough paper you get when you buy something fragile. Remember to get loads of this when you visit Ikea! I normally wrap the gift with some heavy print first, and then use one layer of this, so the the print sheers through very nicely.

I was a bit out of material when I wrapper the gift for J.R. but I think I did OK anyway. I wrinkled some brown paper (originally from flower shop) to get some texture. Because it was so thin I used some Christmas wrapping paper under it, but I turned it upside down first. The paper ribbon is something very cheap from Tiimari, but I think it works with this look.


Not so much blingbling since this was for a boy.

I also made the Birthday card myself, but I don't have picture of the finished card. But I do have some pictures I took while the process:



I'm not an artist so I like to trace pictures and then to modify them. In this case I used only the ribbon and Tux the penguin. I tried to make Tux to look friendly, but I think it still looks a bit "arrogant" to me. I should have modified the eyes to be more rounded.


Yep. My friend is super old.

This is how the picture turned out. If you click to enlarge you probably wonder if I draw it or paint it. But I did both. When I was a kid I got these super cool Derwent Watercolour Pencils you can first draw with and then wet the drawing with a small brush to make it look like painting:


It's funny how I still use them. It's been like ten years since I got them. Unfortunately I lack the color black, and that's why my Tux was more greyish than black.