Hair Dye

I don't think that anything makes me feel more brand new than changing my hair color. I've pretty much had it all - whether it be red, brown, blonde, and super blonde. My Aunt is a hair dresser and sleepovers at her house meant waking up in the morning with a new hair style. Lately I'd been feeling bored with my locks, and I decided it was time to do something I hadn't done in a long time. Go brunette.

Since junior year I've been the blondest blonde you can be before platinum. I don't quite know how it got to that much of an extreme, but it never bothered me and I enjoyed being a blonde. As a little kid I had the same color, so it just seemed like a repeat of the past. Coming to college made me want to change my hair. I mean hey, new school new hair right? Needless to say thing after thing kept popping up and my hair stayed the same.

Over Easter break I decided to just do it. I made an appointment with my hairdresser, Danielle, at Ntrigue Salon in Port Jefferson, NY. The area it's in is called "down port" by everyone who lives in the area and it's full of bars, restaurants, and little shops. It's the right on the water and the perfect place to spent a summer day.

Port Jefferson, on Main Street

Anyway, getting back to my hair story, I brought in a picture of Drew Barrymore from one of her CoverGirl ads as a reference. Danielle told me it might not come out like that and I responded by simply saying "It's cool, just do whatever and make me look cute." Clearly, I was very stressed about the whole situation.

It hardly came out like this at all...

After FOUR HOURS of never ending processes and washings, I was done. I love the way it came out! Having dark hair again is refreshing and awesome. I love seeing the reactions of people to my new hair and how different it really makes me look. For now, I'll stay a brunette, but who knows what I'll want in a few months.

Rainbow

My favorite part of family gatherings is the epic desert table that forms by the end of the night. Having a family of over 30 people usually means have at least 15 deserts. Everyone always brings something - whether it's cake or cookies. However, my all time favorite holiday staple is the rainbow cookie.

Mmmm...

These bad boys are my weakness. If you have had a deprived life and have never experienced the delight that is rainbow cookies let me attempt to describe it to you...

It's more of a tiny cake than a cookie. Each different color is made up of a soft, moist almond flavored cake. In between each layer is usually raspberry jam, but I've seen them made with apricot jam too. But wait -  it doesn't end there. Did I mention they're completely smothered in chocolate? That's right. Chocolate. This dessert is everything anyone would ever want in a food. Seriously.

To my delight as I scanned the table this year my eyes landed on something even more spectacular than in my rainbow dreams. What I saw was a rainbow cookie cake. Not only did this mean more chocolate, but I no longer had to be ashamed at the mass of cookie I took from the table. I simply took a "ahem" larger piece of cake. 

Our cake wasn't quite this fancy, but the inside looked identical.

Apparently, to my surprise, rainbow cakes are becoming more and more popular. When doing my back-to-dorm-life food shopping at Uncle G's (whom I featured in one of my earlier posts), I noticed that they too sold rainbow cookie cake!

Our cake, however, was from Alpine Bakery. If you dare to go near Alpine on or near any holiday, not only will you dish out big bucks, but you can also except to wait on a line that wraps around the building. The shop is practically famous on the Island.

But what's the best part about having so many desserts? Leftovers. I happily cut another massive piece of cake before I left. Now half of it is gone, but the other half is still resting in my mini-fridge, taunting me.

Procrastination

On the subject of procrastination, I'm an expert. However, not as much of an expert as Caroline Trezza, a Roslyn High School senior who just won $35,000 for her research project on why students procrastinate. According to her, procrastination is linked to students' self-confident, motivation, and ability. She mentions the psychological harm that putting tasks off can have.

Original Newsday article: click here

As far as my opinion goes, I agree with Trezza. I don't have to research to support my view, but I know from personal experience that I am more eager and likely to do projects I have an interest in or know I can do without much effort. The work I usually put off the most is the assignments that I have a hard time with, or that I find plain boring.

Procrastination is a horrible habit, and I'm guilty of indulging in it. Just like the 40% of sophomore at Roslyn High School, I often regret it when I put things off. A perfect example is my multimedia class. I have a lot of trouble with computers, thus I try to not think about the projects I have due. This leads to me panicking last minute begging my friends to help me edit, record, and add music to videos.

A day in the life of your typical procrastinator...



It really doesn't help that we are constantly surrounded by so many distractions. Websites like facebook, stumbleupon, and tumblr have all contributed to my delaying work. Almost all of my homework requires me to use my laptop. It's so easy to open up a webpage and find yourself wasting time doing random things on the internet. It seems like there's always something to pull your attention away from your schoolwork.

Commercial

This project seemed never ending. After not being able to upload my videos, to getting sick and having to go home, it felt like I would never be able to finish. Luckily my good friend from home helped me while I was home sick. He's really good with computers and helped me with the editing, voice overs, and uploading.

Uncle G's

I love food shopping. That may be a weird thing to say, considering most people see it as a boring, tedious task, but searching through the aisles has always been fun for me. One of my all time favorite grocery stores is Uncle Giuseppe's. I'm not sure if the chain is exclusive to Long Island, but by my house in Mt. Sinai there is a store only a town over in Port Jefferson Station.

Surprisingly enough on their website (linked above) they have a video of my local Uncle G's when it was first opened...



Imagine your typical grocery store. Now take your grocery store and imagine it decked out in every sort of food under the sun -  oh and not to mention the fully working deli, pizza parlor, and never ending free samples available from every department.

Another reason I love this grocery store is because of how good their "take out" is. When ever I'm feeling too lazy to make dinner for myself or for any of my friends, I just take a trip down to Uncle G's and buy one of their packaged dinners. It's far from a TV dinner, it's literally a homemade meal just put into Tupperware.

There's nothing better than going home and being able to make and eat real food again. Pretty soon it will good bye Montgoris cafeteria and hello fresh groceries!

Bubbles

I’m not usually the type to try anything crazy or new. I guess you can say that I’ve always been a rather picky eater and that plenty of foods out there gross me out. However, lately I’ve been more adventurous with what I’m trying.

My mom’s birthday just passed on April 1^st. When someone in my family has a birthday, the tradition is that the special birthday boy or girl gets to choose where the entire family goes to eat dinner. So, since it was my Mom’s choice, she chose to go to a new hibachi restaurant that all her coworkers have been raving about. It’s called Nishiki, and it was delicious. We all sat around a big table with a hot flat grill in the middle. Once our chef came, he cooked all our different meals with impressive speed and skill, shooting saki and broccoli into our mouths at the same time. As if that wasn’t enough, he created giant flames and “volcanoes” on the table for us too.

If you're not sure what I meant by volcano... 

You may be thinking "there's nothing that weird about hibachi..", but it's what I ate there that is unusual for me to try. I don't like sushi, but I love what they called their sweet potato roll. It has no fish, which makes me happy, plus I absolutely love sweet potatoes.

Another new thing I tried this week was bubble tea. Wow. If you've never had the pleasure of drinking it, you need to stop whatever it is that you're currently doing and run - not walk - to Green Lotus and get some. It's amazing. My friend Berenice told me about it and took me to get some. At only 4 bucks for a large I couldn't complain. It is by far the strangest looking drink I've ever gotten, but easily the most tasty.

Yes, those black things are meant to be there. They're tapioca, and you suck them up through your jumbo straw with the sweet, flavored tea. I got the almond flavor (upon recommendation). It was sweet, nutty, and smooth, just like the outside of a toasted almond ice cream bar. Needless to say, I'm addicted. 

Journal

With seemingly endless tests, essays, and assignments, college has been as extremely stressful experience. From having to live with people in a cramped room to being broke, things feel like they're piling up. One thing I've found that always makes me feel better is keeping a journal. Being able to write down things that are bothering me or just venting makes a world of difference.

I guess you could say I'm a newbie to keeping a diary. I never really kept one as a kid or preteen, but I had an extra notebook laying around my desk and figured why not. I write about things like school, work, and friends and more personal things like relationships and what's on my mind. Also, thanks to stumbleupon, I've found lists of different questions that are meant to prompt writing on different topics and ideas.

Besides keeping a journal, I've started to make frequent posts on a tumblr account. It's similar to our blogs, but the posts can be anything you from - even something as small as a quote to a picture. Having that has also given me something to focus my time on instead of excessively worrying about my grades and future assignments.

College is mainly about work, but it has a huge amount to do with getting good marks and learning, but it's also important to have fun and make friends. Having an outlet for my stress has made things a lot easier, me less homesick, and happier.