A Glimpse Into My Life
Hi. My name is Melissa and I’m a Kindlaholic.
Yeah, I know. I have been seriously MIA for most of the month. I have been wanting to write awesome, informative and helpful (maybe even funny) things for you to read but I am helpless to my new addiction. It must be fed.
I have been wanting a Kindle Fire since they came out and when we got our tax return back I hemmed and hawed over actually buying one. Would I even use it enough to justify the $200 price tag? I could buy a bunch of books for that amount of money. The hubby and I went online to look at it and while I was thinking whether I should buy it or not, D clicked “add to cart” and it was purchased before I could even blink! “What did you just do?” And all I got in return was a sly smile.
So I eagerly awaited it’s arrival. When it got here I figured I wouldn’t be able to use it right away, those things always need to be charged or set up or something.
Then one day when I came home from a trip to the grocery store… there it was. In an odd shaped box sitting next to my front door. I put those groceries away in a flash and sat down to open my new toy. I lifted the top of the box and there it was. In a thin plastic sleeve. With a charger and a piece of paper to tell me how to turn it on. That’s it. I am used to getting a thick little book with any device, so I was wondering how I was going to figure out how to use it. Luckily that wasn’t a problem.
I turned it on. Connected it to wi-fi and I was off. I already had a book to read. It was a free book of short stories that I got a while back but never read because I could only read it on my computer. And who wants to read a whole book on a laptop? Not me. I played around a little bit and then I started reading. And I kept reading. D came home and wanted to head back out for something… I can’t remember what, but I took my Kindle with me and kept reading in the car. And I finished that book. And then I went looking for more books.
Did you know there are a TON of free books that you can get? Well, I didn’t, but I quickly learned! I bought a couple of Steven King Kindle Singles because, well, I love Stephen King and the singles don’t come in book form. I will continue to buy Stephen King books (actual books in hard copy) because I have a collection- but we can talk about that later. I looked at the top 100 free books and I was intrigued by a lot of them. So I got them. Totally free. And then I realized that they change hourly. And you can see what the top 100 free books are by category. And then when you pick one Amazon puts all those recommendations on the page and half of those are free, too! Sometimes the books are only free for a day or 2, so if I’m interested, I just get it. What does it hurt, right? If I end up not liking it, who cares? I didn’t spend any money on it.
So that’s what I’ve been up to. Getting and reading free books on my awesome new Kindle Fire. It’s become a habit to check the Kindle store. Wake up, check email, look at free books. They also have a “deal of the day” which is normally a more expensive book discounted to $1. I have almost the whole collection of Scott Nicholson books and I haven’t paid a penny for them. I just keep checking back. If one of them isn’t free now, maybe it will be in a couple days when they change things up. I’ve gotten so many books, the Kindle has already paid for itself a few times over. I calculated the amount of money I’ve spent (for the Kindle, a super cute pink case and a few books) and the amount of books I now own, and it’s like I have a free Kindle and paid less than $1 per book!
Just the other day I found a site that writes posts every day listing free and bargain books for the Kindle. If you sign up, they send the list right to your inbox. If you want to check it out it’s eReader Love. They even have a section for free Kindle games if you’re into that.
So, what are you reading now? Do you all have any suggestions for books I should check out? Please let me know your favorite books in the comments.
Hi. My name is Melissa and I’m a Kindlaholic. Someday I may need an intervention…
My Henna Experiment
Before Henna, My Natural Hair Color
Way back when, before I decided it was necessary to use only healthy beauty products, I was a hair color junkie. I colored my hair every couple of months, if not sooner. I’ve had my hair black, bleached and so many shades of red I can’t even count them! After I figured out how toxic hair dye actually is I stopped. Cold turkey. Once you learn that kind of information, there’s no going back. So I suffered through the growing out phases of my black hair. Luckily at the time I was keeping my hair short, so it was good within a year. I thought I would never again be able to do anything with my hair color. Then I discovered HENNA…
I’d heard of it before. I’ve even had a small henna tattoo before, but I never put it together that people use it to dye their hair. I bought a big container of red henna from Mountain Rose Herbs and started doing some research. I put the jar in the back of the cupboard and I thought about it every once in a while, but had a hard time building up the courage to actually use it. The process of using it seemed rather daunting to me and I just wasn’t ready.
3 Days After Using Henna
Until a few months ago. One of my blogger sisters, Natural Beauty Vixen, decided to dye her hair with henna. I asked her a few questions, and then I figured- if she can do it, maybe I can, too!
I did some more research online, read and re-read the instructions and started. Apparently, you need to mix it with some kind of acid (like lemon juice) and let it sit overnight to release the color. So, I brewed up some hibiscus tea because the instructions that came with the jar of henna powder said it would enhance the red color and I know that stuff is acidic. I mixed it up according to what I read, it’s supposed to be the consistency of a thick yogurt. I let it sit overnight.
The next morning I had to drive the hubby to work, he was going out of town and they had a car waiting for him. It was really early. When I got home I figured, I was awake, I might as well start. So I globbed the henna mixture on my head, made sure everything was coated really well and then slapped on some more. I wrapped my head in plastic wrap and I put some strips of cotton around my ears- I really didn’t want orange ears! Then I sat down to wait.
So I waited. And waited. My head was so heavy with green goo, my neck was getting stiff trying to hold it up, but I didn’t want to lay down and squish all the henna out of my super ridiculous plastic head wrap. So I sat there and kept falling asleep sitting up. Then waited some more.
At one point a delivery guy showed up and I had to answer the door. Oh, the horror! I’m sure I was the topic of conversation with them for the day. “What was on that lady’s head? And what’s up with those weird cotton strips sticking out from her ears?” They must have had a good laugh about that!
So, 6 hours later… I rinsed. And rinsed. And then rinsed some more. And then gave up. Seriously, this stuff was ridiculously hard to get out of my hair. Every time I washed my hair for about 2 weeks after, residue was still washing out.
I didn’t like the waiting or the rinsing, and at one point it started running down the back of my neck and I was freezing all day. It’s really hard not to get it on your skin around the hairline, so I had an orange line. Fortunately, I was rockin’ some bangs, so it wasn’t too noticeable.
However, I LOVE the color! The first day it’s almost shocking how bright it is, but after a few days the color deepens because of oxidation. Kinda like when the inside of an apple will turn brown when exposed to air. The color is so pretty. Unlike traditional hair dye it doesn’t make your hair all one color. It’s almost like a translucent color. You still end up with high and low-lights, just in a beautiful shade of red. I tried to get good pictures, but I still don’t think they do the color justice. Oh, and when I go out in the sun…. it’s like my hair is on fire! It’s so gorgeous! Another great thing is that it hasn’t faded. Yes, it’s growing out, and I can see it, but the color is still vibrant and beautiful months later.
Outside on a partly sunny day (Sorry, I forgot my makeup! Except lip gloss. I always wear lip gloss.)
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Winter Solstice!
Whatever you are celebrating this time of year…
I wish you health, happiness and wonderful times spent with the ones you love.
A Date with The Holistic Chick (and other ramblings…)
A few months back I joined Healthy Beauty Social, an online social networking site for people who love all things that have to do with natural beauty. This is where I met a bunch of great ladies including some bloggers like me- The Holistic Chick and Natural Beauty Vixen.
After chatting for a while we found out that we all live within a few hours of each other. We got along so well online and had a lot in common so we decided to get together in person. We had our first lunch this past weekend. Unfortunately, Natural Beauty Vixen couldn’t make it, but I’m hoping that next time everything will work out and we can all be there.
The Holistic Chick drove up to meet me and a friend (who makes the BEST handmade soap) for lunch. As soon as we started talking it was like we had been friends for years. The conversation flowed with no uncomfortable silences. In fact, there was no silence the whole time we were together! We had been planning this for a while and our excitement was bubbling over. We all had gifts for each other, so we sat down and immediately started trading goodies. There were a lot of smiles and oohs and ahhs and hugs! I was so happy to give some of my handmade body butter, coffee scrub, bath fizzies, etc and in return I was given all the things in the above picture. My friend brought a basket full of handmade soap to sniff and share. We were all in tea and natural product heaven!
It was such a wonderful experience I just can’t wait to do it again!
I want to tell you a bit about the goodies I received. They are all from a company called Owen’s Acres. Laura, the owner, hand blends all the delicious teas and handcrafts all the other lovely products. The lip balm is ridiculous, it’s so nice- super silky and the pomegranate kind smells like candy! The tea is fabulous. It’s herbal, so it’s caffeine free and it’s DE-licious. I highly recommend checking out the website. Make sure you have a few hours- there is SO much stuff to look at!
Now, a little bit more about Healthy Beauty Social. As I said, it’s a social networking site specifically for people to share information about natural beauty. It was created by the people behind The Healthy Beauty Project. You can chat with all sorts of people from all over the world. There are quite a few beauty bloggers that are active in the “community”. One of the most unique things about the site is that there is a list of “approved” (by The Healthy Beauty Project people) beauty brands and you can chat with the people behind these brands. Check it out. It’s a great way to find new products and learn new ways to be a “Healthy Beauty”. Besides, you know you want to chat with me!
Lastly, my “Ode to Owen’s Acres”
Cherry Jubilee tea
a touch of honey
O – M – G !
♥ and thanks to The Holistic Chick!
