Making a few changes

The big Peace Corps delay has given me the freedom to make a few changes in my day to day life that I wouldn't have made if I was leaving the country for 2 years in September. Conveniently the big delay also coincided with making some extra money. As a result I've found myself buying new clothes (which I hadn't done in about 18 months), getting new contacts (the PC encourages volunteers to wear glasses instead), investing in a new diet program (not really PC related, but more because I spent all of May in bed with pneumonia and gained a few pounds), and just spending money without worrying as much as before.
I'm still completely disappointed about the PC delay, but I did get news yesterday that my medical file is being reviewed finally! This was a huge surprise since the letter regarding the delay made it clear I wasn't going to get reviewed for several more months (putting me at risk of my medical file expiring, and having to do it all over again). Hopefully this is a good turn of events!
I've been buying new books and reading a lot lately too.
On my list-
















 (Debt Cures is awesome, by the way. I bought it a year ago, put the principles into practice, and in spite of being unemployed for the past year, I am now out of all debt, except my student loans. And I'm well on my way to knocking those out soon too!)









I'm reading a few others as well, like the People Code and No One Can Take Your Place. Are you noticing a lack of fiction on that list? Me too! If you have any great fiction recommendations, send them on over! And if you are a Nook user, add me as a friend!! Let's use "Lend Me!"

I have two more "changes" coming soon as well. (Where is that blog hater who likes to criticize me for claiming to be all humanitarian and vain at the same time? S/He is going to love this!) I'm getting my teeth whitened (thanks to the awesome CityDeals discount), and I'm seriously considering getting a Brazilian Blow Out. Never heard of it? Well, here's a video to explain it-


(Warning, watching these videos becomes addictive as you can't stop looking at the before and after pictures.)

Brazilian Blow Outs or Brazilian Keratin Treatments as they are also known, can be really expensive. The cheapest salon in my cheap town does them starting at $200 for short hair. I have long thick hair, so they quoted me $300! I may be spending a little more than usual right now, but I'm not that crazy. So I'm going to let my mom do it for me (and I will be doing her hair as well!)!! I found that you can buy one of the best brands fairly cheap (comparatively) on Amazon for $69. I'm buying this one (seriously- using the link I'm posting here), and we'll see what happens.













My need for a brazilian blow out extends a little beyond vanity and also into convenience. I'm about to go to Girls Camp for 5 days, and then to Cambodia for a month. The thought of trying to control my barely manageable hair at both events is depressing. No one, and I do mean no one, has ever seen my natural hair. First, I've been coloring it for 20 years, so there's that. Second, my hair isn't curly with cute curls. It is thick, super wavy, and there's way too much of it! It takes me a good 45 minutes to wash and dry my hair, let alone actually style it daily. Maybe I'll do some before and after pictures to show you what I'm up against!
(Here's another brazilian video, but with a blond girl with hair sort of like mine - http://youtu.be/2TNCYSkipwA).

So that's what's going on around here. I'm just making a few personal changes! Teeth, hair, personal improvements, dieting, etc. It feels good!