Fall

I always have mixed feelings on the season. I love summer, I hate winter. Spring is what leads into summer so it's okay in my book. But fall leads to winter. Bleh.

I love the colors of fall. The deep oranges, maroons, reds, yellows & browns. I love the smell of the first fire being lit in a home. I love that I get to pull out my sweaters, cardigans, hoodies, boots, mittens & scarves. I get to enjoy hot chocolate, football games and jumping into piles of leaves. I love the crisp mornings of the first frosts. I always look forward to carving pumpkins (I once carved Shakespeare!) Vanilla chai lattes and bowls of chili help round out this season. Oh, and can't forget Halloween & Thanksgiving, too.

The movie American Beauty has a line that explains exactly how I feel right now...

"...but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life."

Here are some pictures of Kentucky in the fall. They aren't wonderful as I took them with my phone. The colors of fall are magnificent.



<3,
Rose

Anchors Away!

There was some interest in my chest piercing. It can either be called a microdermal or anchor. This isn't going to be the best blog post ever; mainly just explaining it.

You can stay tuned for an awesome post about our Kings of Leon concert night

I've always dug anchors. I think they are totally bad ass. I've always heard that they were permanent, meaning once it's in, it's in for life. Seeing I have no tattoos or anything permanent on my body this of course freaked me the fuck out.

My sister has recently lost a ton of weight and wanted to get her hips pierced. Being a bit of a piercing pro, she asked me to go with her. She originally wanted surface piercings which have a really high rejection rate (about 80%). After talking to our piercer she explained that if an anchor is done correctly, it has a rejection rate of about 2-3%. She also told us that although we can't take the piece out ourselves, we can always come back to the shop where she can remove it. Semi-permanent .... Sounds perfect! She showed us her scar from where she had one (seriously, it looked like a tiny pimple).

She then showed us the jewelry. Below is a picture that shows what an anchor looks like and how it goes into your skin. you can see where the screw actually sits flush to your skin and your stud of choice screws in (we both chose diamonds). The holes (in the top) are for your skin to grow through to secure the anchor and the anchor actually only goes about 2mm under your skin.

My sister went first and winced. She screamed. She squeezed my hand until I thought I was going to cry. She then offered to pay for me to get mine done (which was about $75). I just chose a place I wanted and did it. Live fast, die young..right?

First the piercer pinched my skin over and over to loosen it up. It actually kind of hurt where I had it done because there isn't much skin there. The piercer pierced a hole in my skin (I didn't watch so I'm not sure if she did a dermal punch or with a needle).

As you can see, the the entrance hole and the back and front don't exactly line up. The piercer had to push and pry the anchor down to make sure it was in the correct position. It seriously hurt like a motherfucker. As soon as it was in place, I stood up and had a look.

It only hurt for the first 2 days maybe. It feels fine now and I can touch it (although I avoid doing that at all cost!) I've had it for 2 weeks today. In another 4 I can get the top diamond screw changed (there are colored gems and all that). Although in my opinion it hurt more than a normal piercing, the quick healing time is much worth it.

I actually wished I had chosen to move it up a little higher on my chest. TMI, but my boobs kind of squish together and put pressure on it when I sleep and irritate it a bit and I think it's moved it's placement. Also, depending on the bra I wear, it's placement is different. I sometimes have to adjust my boobs to make the piercing in the middle. I do like that it is hideable though, I actually have my shirt pulled down a bit in all of the pictures.

I like it. I'm not in love with it. I think I would be in love with it if it were a tad bit higher... I think it's cool and I don't know anyone else who has it.

So here are some pictures I know you all want to see. Forgive me for the quality (they were taken with my camera phone), for the inconsistency of the pictures (it's kind of hard to take multiple pictures of your boobs from the exact same angle!) and wearing the same necklace 2 times (but I just LOVE it)

This is right after it was implanted. Note how red my skin is around it from all of the pinching.
I know you've seen this picture, but this is what it looked like during week 1:

This was earlier this week. Maybe Monday?
Today: Sorry it's hard to see, I took this in the bathroom at work!

So yeah. Those are my boobs & that's my anchor. I'll let you all know when I decide to remove it!


-Rose

Threading!

So I know when I mentioned threading my eyebrows it intrigued some of you girls. Threading is a painless, quick and simple way to remove your unwanted hair. I'm not kidding. It always hurts me to pluck and with threading I can't even feel it! I probably wouldn't believe I had removed a hair unless I saw them come out! On top of all that, it works much like waxing and removes multiple hairs at once. (Woah, watch out Billy Mays. I'll be infomercial ready after this post!)

Every time I get my eyebrows waxed I break out and blister horribly. I mentioned this to a girl at work and she told me about threading. It was something I heard of but sounded painful and I knew there was no way to do it on my own. I asked her how much it costs and she said it costs her around $20.00. I thought that was a ludicrous charge for someone to essentially pluck your eyebrows.

I decided I would learn how to do it. I did some research online and couldn't find much. I then went on youtube and there was a jackpot of videos. Some of the videos royally suck and I couldn't figure out what they were doing. It was more so trial and error on my part.

I thought I would share the video that actually taught me how with my lovely readers! Below the video are some of my tips and tricks on how to perfect the art of threading :)

Rose's Tips & Tricks:
--Personally, I think it's very important to make sure you you have down the hand movement before attempting your brows. If you don't have the hand movement down, you'll never get a hair out.

--Try on a leg hair first. That way you can get your hand movement down and be prepared for how it feels before you go on to your eyebrow.
--You will either feel a little pinch (I never have) or hear a pop of sorts when the hair comes out.

--Place the thread flush against your skin. It won't work if the thread isn't touching your skin.

--Sometimes you won't get a hair, but that is okay. Just try again.

--USE COTTON THREAD. No shiny thread. Cotton actually pulls the hair where the shiny thread doesn't pull it out but glides over the hair..

--Make sure that where you are working is dry, not oily and preferably makeup free

--Thread in a well lit area

--The quicker you move your hands the less it hurts. If you pull reeeealllly slow, it's obviously going to hurt more.

--You get a lot of hairs at one time. Take your time and don't go all thread happy. I went threading happy and overdid it a bit.

--To do the middle, hold the thread up and down. This is a bit harder to do, practice makes perfect.

--You can do any hair on your body if you can reach it with your hands. I've only tested on a leg hair and eyebrows.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: If you don't pick it up immediately, try again. If you get frustrated, try a couple hours later. This is seriously something that everyone should be able to do! I taught a girl at work and she couldn't do it at first but then once she got the first hair she was a pro. It took me about half an hour of trial and error before I actually got a hair!

Good Luck & Happy Threading!

Rose