My hair is red.

My hair is, indeed, red. Not naturally, no...unless henna is natural. Yesterday I had a splurge day where I had my hair dyed and went shopping. Vegan shopping. Mhmm! This can be difficult. When I go to a normal shopping mall I have to read every label on everything. I can't decide to just like something and try it on--well, sometimes I do--but before I buy, I read. Sigh. It's similar to going to a restaurant and eating vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free: three choices. But Portland has vegan stores. And restaurants. And I made yesterday a very vegan day! First: henna.

Silk and Stone on Belmont is a beautiful place. I had my eyebrows threaded there (which I recommend, much better than tweezing or waxing) and saw that they do loads of henna. Traditional henna designs and also henna hair-dye. Now a few months ago I had my hair dyed red at a salon and loved it, but I wanted to try something more natural. Once I bought henna dye and tried to do it myself and it just smelled bad and didn't do much. As the above picture shows, the people had slathered my hair with it. All they did at the shop was mix and apply the henna (the hardest parts) and then wrap it in plastic. Three hours later I was free to shower it out, which took a while. It smelled a bit, honestly. But now my hair is RED. Naturally.

I don't often smile when I take pictures of myself. But, see? Red! Red red red! Once my head was all wrapped in plastic and then a headscarf, I went to the Sweetpea bakery on Stark. It's a vegan bakery. They serve Stumptown coffee and their scones are delicious. Mmmm. And next door to them is Herbivore, a vegan clothing store. When one is used to making a decision from, say, three items, having a whole store of options can be overwhelming. Luckily Herbivore doesn't have many things that are my style. However, this time I finally found a vegan bag that I love. And unisex shoes that made my day. See, I like the look of leather. I like how soft it is and how supple. But I don't like that it is dead creature. But many vegan bags are fugly. And about the shoes? Lately I've been drawn to androgynous items. And I've wanted moccasin-esque shoes for a while. But they're leather. But these! They were on sale! They had both men's and women's sizes on the box! YEAH!

There they are. And although I always feel some guilt buying clothing/accessories new, I feel alright about these. I have been searching thrift stores for a while trying to find a bag, with no luck, and shoes are one of those fence items that seem somewhat unhygienic to buy second-hand. Justified!

Home, or something like it.

I'll be moving to NYC soon, very soon. Actually, I need to buy a new plane ticket; school starts on an earlier date than I thought! Last Thursday I drove up to Walla Walla to see some of my friends there for potentially the last time in a long time. I stayed on a couch, I worked in a garden, I danced, I cooked, I laughed,I made new friends, I had wonderful conversations... ...and now I'm "home," back in my current living space, and I feel sad. Sure, perhaps I should find some grandiose words to describe the hole I have, right in the center of my chest, that radiates out in THAT way. My emotions have a habit of creating physical manifestations of themselves and I FEEL sad. There's also that guilt creeping in for not associating "home" with "family." I'll blame that partially on living away from home most of the year since my junior year of high-school. This FEELING of sadness, however, makes NYC bittersweet. I didn't want to leave Walla Walla. I want to go back, drive the four hours tonight, or hitch-hike, anything! But I also want NYC and all its opportunities. And I'd love for it to feel like home, for me to be able to take my heart there, but there's something about Walla Walla that holds my heart in a life-lock.