Summer Hair Colors

It's Sunday night, I'm not ready to start the week from tomorrow, have been working on bunch of assignments since yesterday but still a lot left and I'm almost freaking out (>.<) So, what do you do in such situation? I decided to give a little break to my brain to avoid nervous breakdown (we'll see later when it happens :-/ ) and write a post on my summer hair colors! (Yes, you're reading it write and I'm weird I know :p)

Anyway, this summer I played the most with hair colors. Started with pinkish purple which I loved a lot. My hair specialist Ursa did a wonderful job with my hair, she's always awesome!! I did Ombré with two colors - caramel and pinkish purple. And it looked like this -

My hair looks so freaking long! (O-O) 

I only wish they lasted forever, I mean at least the whole summer. But the color washed away in almost two weeks. So by the time I started my internship at Oxford it was already faded. I wasn't really planning to color it again soon, at least not while I was in UK. But someone told me it looked nice, so I decided I'll get a new shade. Also, needed a hair trim badly, so thought why not try something new while I'm here!

While I was looking for a nice hair salon in Oxford, I stumbled upon Anne Veck Hair Salon. Apparently it's one of the most popular there. I needed phone number to make online appointment but didn't have any there, also couldn't find any preferable slot online. So I walked straight into the salon to make an appointment and luckily one of the stylists had her other customer cancelled. So she gave me a haircut on that very day, which was lovely!! La la la!! I couldn't get the color done on the same day though. Unlike USA, they do allergy test in UK at least 48 hours before coloring. So I got the color done on the following week's Thursday and it was pink this time.

Well, the girl who did my hair was super excited and others said it was pretty too. I liked it too but it was a bit too bright than I usually prefer. So, I bought a violet die and ended up coloring it deep purple :p

Like all the other semi-permanent hair colors it washed away too. And I wanted to get a red shade few weeks after I got back to USA. So, I went back to Ursa and she died my hair into very pretty shade of red highlights, which looked like this-

Already feels like fall huh?

And the French braid looks very pretty with colored highlights :)

Now, that's gone too and the bleach ruined my hair little bit (T.T) So, I'm gonna get a hair cut soon and need to come up new idea for hair color for fall! :D But for now I really should get back to my work. Will probably write another new post soon when I start to freak out and need to run away from studies for few hours!

Little Acts of Kindness, Little Words of Appreciation

Finally it's Saturday morning! I don't know after how many weeks I'm having a restful, quiet weekend morning at home. But my neural network server was having a downtime, which means I was depressed and all the negative thoughts was causing blackout in my memory lane. And from the book I'm currently reading - The 10 Best-Ever Depression Management Techniques, I knew that I can't let this happen and somehow I've to bring out my positive thoughts. I was going through old pictures, was thinking about all the good things that happened to me and all the moments I was felt extremely happy. So, even though I was supposed to study at least 12 hours today to catch up with all of my assignments, I decided to write a blog post about some small incidents that reminded me little acts of kindness and little words of appreciation can make brighten up someone's gloomy day. 

[About the book- Even though the name sounds like a typical blogpost on managing depression, it's actually a very well-written book on neuroscience with proper scientific explanation on what causes depression, different types of depression and how to efficiently manage negative emotion. I'll try to write a review after I finish reading it.]

So back to the events -

[1] That was the first time I went to the Farmers Market here in Urbana with friends. I didn't have any cash with me and didn't really go to buy anything specific, was mostly hanging out with friends. I randomly stopped at a store and there were those pretty stone-made coasters. There was this super cute one with a little girl holding an umbrella in rain, which I thought totally resembled me (Yes, my name means 'Rain'). So, I simply asked the shop owner whether she accepts cards or only cash and she answered only cash. I didn't mean to make a sad face but I think I actually did subconsciously cause I really liked it. There was this other lady purchasing at the shop who looked at me and said, "You like it? Then I'll buy it for you". I was totally blown away by her kindness but of course I was hesitating to take something from a total stranger without being able to pay off. So I thanked her for her kind offer saying I'll get it later. But then she insisted, "Please don't hesitate, you're young and student and really like this thing. I'd like to gift it to you. You can give me a hug in return" :) Again, I was totally amazed by her generosity but accepted her gift this time.

But the story doesn't end here. I really wanted to return her a thank you gift. So I bought two succulents, one for her and one for myself. And was wandering all around the market to find her. When I almost gave my hope I finally found her and handed the little present. But to my surprise she said, "You really didn't have to do this! You know the shop owner didn't even charge me anything for this." But I told her it doesn't really matter that she didn't have to pay; what matters is that she showed me genuine kindness and offered me the beautiful gift. I said goodbye to her with another hug. Then it was my turn to thank the shop owner who basically let me have the coaster for free. I went to her and gifted the other plant as a thank you. And she said, "I was just happy to be a part of it and I thought it'll be a great memory for you." 

This is the coaster. It's adorable, right? :)

So, I did come back with a pretty gift and a beautiful memory. That was a beautiful Saturday. And again I realized how lovely it is to live in this mid-West town with all these beautiful friendly people. Also, realized again that most people are nice in this world. We just have to be nice in return and appreciate the good things in them. Only if everyone could practice these qualities, the world will actually be a better place.

[2] As I was going through the old pictures I found the picture of the drawing my brother sent me couple of years ago. Apparently we were stargazing together :) Each time I look at this it makes me feel happy and precious. He's such a wonder kid and growing more and more wonderful every day. I'm so proud that he's excelling at painting and actually does it way better than me! I guess one of the reasons I felt gloomy was because I was missing him and my sister. It sucks that I've these wonderful people in my life who love me and make me happy in every possible way but I can't be with them. These are the compromises we make when we leave home... But anyway, for now this drawing is boosting my happiness level :)

Barnu and I are gazing stars! 

[3] This is the last one, happened yesterday. It's nothing special really, I was getting groceries at the super market and a girl who seemed like a newcomer asked me where are the butter. So, I walked her there and gave her recommendation as she asked me. Also tried to overwhelm her with every possible butter related knowledge (well, sign of academics :-/ ). Seemed like I couldn't overwhelm her too much as she thanked me and also said, "You're so nice!" And she said that in such an adorable way that it made me smile even though I was feeling all tired and grumpy after a long week. Also, there were couple of store assistants working there. They looked at me as she said those words and gave me smile. Well, honestly I was little embarrassed as I did nothing but was only trying to inundate an innocent girl with my butter knowledge lol! 

Though it was a small event, I was happy to see the way that girl was appreciative. For me it was natural to help her but sadly enough, a lot of people in real life actually don't acknowledge when they receive help. And I really hope more people learn this quality better.

Okay, this was enough of procrastination for this Saturday. It's already half past noon, which means literally I can't study 12 hours today (T.T). But at least hope the rest of the day will be productive :)