Rawr!

So this weekend was the makeover weekend!!! Finally! I was so so sooooooo in need of it in so many ways. So I knew I was getting the tat in RI so I got some local recommendations from a coworkers in our Providence office about where to get my hair and nails did.



First thing was the hair. I'm incredibly inspired by everything about my female punk idol Brody Dalle (Rancid's lead Tim Armstrong's ex-wife), inlcuding her hair. Unfortunately, I dont have raw, overprocessed punk-rock shit hair, so any haircut ends up with KK=Neve Campbell. Not that this is awful or anything, just not really my personality either.

NOT Brody Dalle.

So after some super lucky last minute cancelations I ended up at Christiaan Salon to get my hair done. The stylist totally understood what I was going for, which was such a relief. Plus she was quite pierced herself, so I knew she wasn't going to pull like a madwoman on mine (and she didn't!). For once in my life, I also was able to DONATE my hair, yes, MY hair, to locks for love. So that was extra-awesome too. I thought I *might* be able to, so it was fun finding out that I could. And finally, after a little research I found out that the Goldwell Spruhwaechs (Spray-Wax) recommended to me was animal friendly (aka on PETA's "does not test on animals" list). So I didn't even have to do any crazy shopping.

So this is after two days. The color is awful - I tried henna-ing, but I dont think I put enough product in my mix, so it didn't take well. I'll wait a while and then figure out what to do next.... I need a single color. Maintainence has been really easy so far. The spray wax totally gives it the texture that keeps me more towards Brody and less like Neve. I really LOVE the cut.

Next was the nails. After doing some shopping and getting a really cute wrap dress at Second Time Around, I ended up going to the suggested Studio 1 Nails. That was meh honestly.  They did a mediocre job for $25. I would have rather stayed at the original place where I got my hair done and paid $10 more and had a more relaxing service. That's OK though. You live and learn. I'm missing nails of paint already hahahaha.

Next was tattooo time. I finally got myself some tea so I would be alert. I wanted to remember this. Then I headed over the ArtFreek on Wickenden St. The place had actually been recommended to me buy the finance guy that sold me my car hahaha. But I totally trusted him and it was worthwhile. My artist wasn't quite what I expected. Usually they're a little more talkative and open and friendly. He was really quite....disturbingly quiet even. Kinda reminded me of this guy (prison break, 24, xfiles, etc), but bald and glasses:

He was fun and fine and all, but not what I expected. The other artists there were much more what I imagined. Anyways, he totally worked with me, let me reposition it over and over (big surprise there) and this is what I ended up with:

So all in all, I'm pretty happy about it.  There are a few little things in retrospect (not going to point them out lol) that I would change if I could. But that was part of the point of starting with something simple and plain and so straighforward - there really wasn't a way this could come out that I would hate it. So it's good :) I'm so glad I started with this. I feel so much more prepared and informed and like I know what to expect in the future. It's WAY less intimidating and I know what things to think about that I woudln't have otherwise thoughts about. So good learning experience definitely. Oh and if anyone doubted this would happen, yes, I am totally and utterly freaking hooked. I loved it. Completely freaking loved it. Can't wait for the next one. I was hoping that the summer/sun thing would hold me off until the fall, but now I'm not so sure.

Anyways, that's it! That would be the makeover weekend. And I'm feeling good! Must say I'm strutting my stuff a little lately and getting random compliments left and right. Feels like the sex kitten is on the prowl :)

Conjunction junction, what's your function?

So this would be that random blog entry that goes back to my giant to-do list...specifically, starting grad school. My first step was doing some of my own research, where I think I've narrowed my choices down to:

• North Carolina State University
• University of Idaho
• Kansas State

I would be going back for my masters in Structural Engineering and these schools would hopefully allow me to get it done at a reasonably fast pace and for a reasonable amount of $$$$. I went through the question I could think of, but figured there had to be things that woudln't pop up for me. So my next step was to get a guide for distance learning and see if there were any other points that they brought up that I didn't think of.  For the most part, I got it mostly covered, but here's the stuff I didn't think of.

Places to search online:

• http://www.distance-educator.com/
• www.petersons.com/dlearn
• http://www.collegequest.com/
• http://www.geteducated.com/
• www.edsurf.net/edshack

Places to look for $$$ lenders. I'm not sure that I'm going to need this. Our company gives $5k a year. I'm thinking max I would be able to handle 4 courses a year. At the worst that would be about 10k - 5k = 5k for me to pay out of pocket, which I think I can handle. There's also the idea of building credit too.... So I'll have to do some more research and weigh my options. I could also never be able to handle that much coursewise anyways! So here are the places:

• http://www.key.com/
• http://www.estudentloan.com/
• http://www.embark.com/

Along the same lines, I'd like to save moolah buying books - or even just be able to find them. Besides your normal places (amazon, banres&nobles) and the campus store, some places for that might be:

• http://www.bigwords.com/
• http://www.efollet.com/
• http://www.campusbooks.com/

Finally, there were a few more school listed in the book that I'm not sure I had thoroughly looked through. So here's the list of them. Like most schools I've found, I suspect that they will have *some* courses available online, but not a full masters degree available. Anyways, here's that list:

• Penn State 
• Indiana Uni
• UC Berkley
• Uni of Wisconsin
• RIT
• Uni of Washington

Alright, so not a very exciting blog, and more of a reminder list for me, but maybe it could help you too? In the mean time, I've made contact at the rest of my schools. I intended to ask a bunch of questions (working on that list now- will post later) and feel them out, but I think NCSU is my current front runner. We'll see. If anyone has any experiences that they want to share, please jump in and let me know! I'd love to hear it! Plan for now, harass a bunch of people, probably just start by taking one course in the fall before I'm actually matriculated in a program and then decide if it's right for me or not! We'll see :)