On Red Hair, Glamour, and Anne of Green Gables

I finally got around to coloring and styling my hair a couple weeks back. I decided I wanted to take advantage of actually having virgin hair to work with again (for the first time in a very long time), so I switched things up from the really super bright shade of red I was doing previously. I chose a shade from L'Oreal's Power Reds collection, a coppery color that reminded me of fox fur -- a color found in nature, but still nice and bright. I had to dye it twice to get the level of lift I was after, but it ultimately came out exactly the way I wanted.

I invested in some new cosmetics recently and signed up for a couple of beauty subscriptions, as I want to get back in the habit of taking care of my skin and doing my make-up on a regular basis as well. It's been really fun so far, trying some new products and learning how to put together some different looks. I don't necessarily see the need to get all made up every day, as sometimes I just really like to sit around with a bare face, but I no longer see the point in saving my efforts for days I plan to go out or be around people either. I probably do my make-up more days than I skip it altogether though. I want maintaining my hair, face, and nails to one day feel like an essential part of my ongoing routine just like working out and watching what I eat have become.

I even took a few selfies the day I finished my hair so I could update the profile pictures on all my social media pages. Sometimes I'm really at a loss to explain why I don't take or allow more pictures of myself, because I rarely dislike the way I look in photos if they're taken properly. I'm honestly looking pretty good for an old broad in her 40's, even if I do say so myself. And the longer I stick with all the positive changes I've been making lately, the better I'll continue to look and feel going forward. I'm definitely going to keep looking for ways to stay excited about that, hopefully indefinitely. I think I'm off to a really good start and am super proud of all the progress I've made this year.

........

Amybeth McNulty as Anne in Anne with an E

On a more random note, I'm currently reading the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time ever in my life. I felt like I absolutely had to after Seth got me hooked on Anne with an E on Netflix. I remember tons of my friends being really into those books when I was growing up, but I somehow never got into them myself. My mother definitely encouraged me to be well-read, even as a little girl, but she didn't really like me reading age-appropriate literature -- books that were actually written for and about girls my own age. (The only exceptions seemed to be books that were magical or fantastic on one level or another, like Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz.) 

She preferred being able to tell everyone she knew that her daughter was so smart, she was already reading Shakespeare, and Dickens, and Fitzgerald instead of all the childish books other kids preferred. I recall having to practically beg her to let me read the Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club books that were so popular with all the other girls at my school when I was young for that reason. That said, I sometimes like to go back as an adult and fill in the blanks as far as my childhood reading experience goes. I still love rereading so many of the fairy tales and young adult books I used to love, as well as exploring newer ones that have come out long after I ceased to be a child (e.g. Harry Potter or Twilight). I obviously still read classics, and non-fiction, and biographies to my heart's content, but sometimes I really just want to relax and sop up a really simple, pure-hearted story instead. 

On that note, I'd actually forgotten about the kind of child I used to be before life and my parents' constant pressure to grow up sooner rather than later eventually got the better of me. I was very much like Anne with an imagination that was constantly going full throttle and curiosity to match. I also just loved nature and would sometimes become positively enchanted by things most people might not even notice -- an apple tree in full bloom, or some wildlife happening by, or the way the world smelled after a fresh rain. I did not have Anne's fox-red hair (although I do now), nor was I even a fraction as talkative and extroverted as she was, but I was a misfit like her and I worried a lot about whether I'd ever find a place where I fit in. Anne is even a Pisces like me! These books are reminding me of this in the most wonderful way and helping me to get back in touch with the magical way I used to see the world. Perfect reading for a summer that's already been characterized by change, rebirth, and rediscovery.