…not to be confused with Mambo Number 5…

Tomorrow I’m running my third 5K—Pacer’s Love the Run You’re With 5K.

And unlike my first 5K and my second 5K, I actually feel prepared for this one. Although admittedly, this 5K is throwing me a bit out of my comfort zone:

1. For one thing, it’s not a tiny little hometown 5K with less than 100 participants.
2. And this is the first 5K I’m doing by myself—no sister, no friends.
3. Finally, the weather is going to be no joke tomorrow. Less than thirty degrees! My nipples hurt just thinking about it.

I went down to Arlington today to pick up my bib this afternoon. I had the option to pick it up tomorrow, but I figured the less things I had to worry about in the morning the better. I also wanted a chance at practicing the drive to Arlington. My GPS hasn’t worked in a while, so I felt like I was in the Stone Ages and google mapped my directions and wrote them on an old envelope. Old school, bitches. Of course I got lost anyway and ended up in DC a couple times…

Can I just say the only time it absolutely sucks to see awesome monuments is when you know it means you’re lost?

I eventually found my way to Pentagon Row and picked up my loot.

I love that this 5K comes with a blanket instead of a t-shirt. I have too many t-shirts.

In other news, I dyed my hair today. While I was getting my hair cut from hell, the hair dresser asked me if I dye my own hair. I told her yes, and she said “I can tell. I have 37 years experience coloring hair. You want hair colored, come to me.” Hmmm…. $14 hair dye job or $100 hair dye job? I think I’ll just do it myself.

Before:

After:

Sidenote: What is it about my web cam that makes me take the absolute douchiest pictures? I do not know.

In other OTHER news, I also made homemade drop biscuits this morning (gotta carbo load for those 3.1 miles tomorrow, right?)

I mixed 2 cups flour, 1.5 teapsoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, 3/4 cup soy milk, and 4 tablespoons melted butter and baked them for about 12 minutes. I ate them with sausage gravy because my brain is that of a 500 pound woman.

Ok.

My nipples still hurt.

Bye.

Remember my hair story? It’s about time for an update.

We left off with my hair being black:

And then I got straight across “fat girl bangs” and red highlights… which kind of ended up looking a little more orange than red.

After this, I decided for some reason that black and orange hair wasn’t very professional, and that I was about to graduate and needed to look professional enough to get a job. So I had the black stripped off my hair and attempted to get my natural hair color back. However, the result was definitely somewhat gingery.

I quickly grew tired of people mistaking me for a red head. But rather than let a trusted professional color my hair, I did what any cheapo would do and dumped some dark brown hair color on it.

Then, to be honest, I didn’t do anything to it for a very long time.

It was long.

It was versatile.

It was overall really ideal.

And for reasons that I’m not entirely sure of, I referred to it in this state as my porn star hair.

Unfortunately, 9 months without a haircut is pretty rough on your hair. I had tons of split ends and my hair was constantly getting really tangled. I knew it was time for a trim. And since I was supposed to go back to Pennsylvania this weekend, I made an appointment with my trusted hair stylist from back home. But when the time got closer to make the drive back to PA, my parents expressed concerns about driving the SmartCar in the snow through the mountains. I cancelled my trip and my appointment, but I knew I really shouldn’t wait until my next trip to get that haircut. So I sucked it up and made one at a local salon in Germantown, MD.

Let’s just say the experience wasn’t exactly ideal.

I told the hairstylist that she could take 2 inches off the ends, trim up the layers, and shape my bangs. I left the salon feeling bald…

The hair that I used to refer to as porn star hair now looked more like preschool teacher hair.

The hair that used to make me feel like a sex god now made me feel like a 1990′s girl next door.

I left feeling like I had just been given “the Rachel.”

I left feeling like I needed a new wardrobe consisting entirely of turtlenecks to match my conservative cut.

I left feeling like I looked about as hot as Miss Honey in Matilda. AKA not hot at all.

I might have even cried for three whole minutes.

What bothers me the most, perhaps, is I feel like I’ve had this exact same haircut before…when I was in high school.

Since then, I’ve calmed down a little. It’s not like I look terrible. I just find myself trying to compensate for the lack of sexy hair.

So we end part 2 of my hair story on a not so happy note. But the good news is, I now have a reason to re-incorporate spinach smoothies into my diet to speed up my hair growth.

Longest post title ever.

Anyway, I’ve always been jealous of long, luxurious curly hair.

And I can curl other people’s hair like a mother bear, but I’m like some sort of amputee when I try to do my own hair.

What’s up Shirley Temple???

The only way I can even come close to looking like I didn’t let Edward Scissorhands curl my hair is to use a set of hot rollers. I put em in, I sit around awkwardly for a half hour, Tom makes fun of me, and voila! Curls.

When I was online shopping on JCPenny.com today, I found two sets of hot rollers that are way cooler than mine.

I mean, you can’t go wrong with pink…The curlers I have now are Conair, but I lost some of the clips and mine also don’t come in three different sizes. These are definitely way better.

These are also pink and beautiful. They come in two different sizes. Also, Remington is the brand of hair straightener I use and I love it. I would definitely trust Remington for my hot rollers, so these are an option too.

Should I add that they’re both on sale and that with Ebates you can currently get 12 percent cash back at JCPenny?

Ebates allows you to get cash back and other bonuses for shopping online at certain stores like Sephora, DSW, Gap, Petco, and many others. This link is a referrel link, meaning I get bonuses if you sign up using my link.

I know what you’re thinking…

Lexie, you’re unemployed, why are you online shopping and also, why do you need curled hair to sit in your pajamas watching America’s Next Top Model all day…

Well, I’ll have more on that this Wednesday

Lol just kidding.

Hey boo boos.

Since we never do Pilates in my Pilates class, I wasn’t surprised whenever we didn’t do it today. I was surprised that we did yoga, however.

 I was a little nervous, because I’ve never done yoga and because I heard it makes you have to fart… lol.

But I ended up surprising myself with how flexible I was. And by the fact that I didn’t fart. Haha.

I definitely need better balance though.

It was super relaxing and I want to do it more often.

I’m looking into getting a yoga DVD. Weeeee!

Also, I got a hurrrr cut.

I have straight across bangs with red highlights.

Nighty nights dear.

Lexie

Back when I was a young chunkster, I had really disgustingly long hair.

sophomore year of high school

Two years later, the number on the scale was a lot lower. I thought it was because I lost weight, but it was probably more likely from getting a hair cut for once in my life.

senior year of high school

And it got shorter from there.

Freshman year of college

Aaaaand then even shorter.

Freshman year of college

Getting my hair all chopped off was a fun idea at the time, but it got awkward to grow out… My friends decided that dying it strawberry blond was the right thing to do…

sophomore year of college

But that wasn’t ridiculous enough. So my friends decided BRIGHT RED was the right thing to do.

sophomore year of college

After many disturbing months, my mom tried to get rid of the red.

sophomore year of college

We then attempted extensions, which ended up looking like a mullet.

sophomore year of college

Then I had my first dark experience

sophomore year of college

The next year, what started as a few blonde highlights (I’m on the right)…

junior year of college

turned into a lot of blonde highlights (I’m on the right).

junior year of college

(I’m on the left in the next one)

junior year of college

junior year of college

junior year of college

And then I was ready for a change. Dark brown with red and blonde highlights, to be specific.

junior year of college

I’m on the right in the next one.

junior year of college

And here we are present day. Black as night, black as coal.

senior year of college

I’m sure it won’t stay the same for long, so stay on your toes.

What look have you liked the best? What look have you liked the least?

Lexie

Hello everyone!

I’m towards the middle of my finals week, and can you belive I have a cold!?!?! I went like all year without being sick to get a cold when it’s basically summer!

On Saturday I went to the gym with Tom and he taught me how to do deadlifts. I only did it with an empty bar, but still, it’s like 45 pounds. I could probably actually do it with more weight on it. He was surprised by how well I did. I also did bent over rows with a 20 pound bar (I could also do to increase the weight on this) and assisted pull ups with around 76 pounds I believe. Tom said I should be able to go down about 10 pounds each week, so I’ll be able to do a pull up in around 2 months. We shall see, we shall see. I followed this with 30 minutes on the elliptical. I hear that it’s good to do strength training first because it increases your ability to burn fat during cardio. Thoughts? I hadn’t run in a while and wasn’t in the mood. I definitely want to get back into it though.

Yesterday was my first day of work during finals week. I work in the Disability office of the University, so disabled students can come take their finals at our office so they can get the accommodations they need for their disability. During finals, you can either go pick up the tests, proctor the tests, or deliver them when they are finished. I decided to deliver. Yesterday I showed up to work in gym shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes with my hair in a pony tail. This will be my fourth finals week with the office, and I have experience with just how much running around you have to do. I ended up delivering 22 tests yesterday to different buildings on campus. I wish I would have worn a pedometer!

So today I actually have to work on my research paper due Friday and my take home test due Saturday. My week last week was actually way more hectic than this week. The wonderful thing about finals week is that there are no classes. Unfortunately, I am still required to work 20 hours a week.

Are you wondering about my chinchilla, Margaret Thatcher? He’s doing pretty great. You’re not supposed to just let them stay in their cage all day, you have to let them run around your room. Right now he’s actually sleeping on the keyboard drawer to my desk. Chinchilla’s like to be cold, and my desk is glass, so I think it feels good for him to lay on it.

He absolutely despises being held, that is if I can catch him in the first place!

Oh and btw, I’ve been rocking a different hair color for about a week.

It’s supposed to be soft black. I can never get my hair dark enough though! It’s already fading back to brown a little bit.

Okay well I think I’m going to try to make it to the gym today. I imagine it’s actually pretty empty during finals week. I’m not looking forward to working out with a cold though :(

Have a great day everyone,
-Lexie