Hair

Slowly…

Slowly…

I’m slowly beginning to feel like my old self again.

Can you believe that you and I have been meeting here for more than five years, chatting about makeup, reality TV mayhem (when we started, it was Flavor of Love!), men — from males of the feline persuasion (Tabs), to bat men (Christian Bale) and men with beautiful abs (Ryan Gosling) — Mango Bars, Nutella, cupcakes and, of course, cats. Both yours and mine.

I feel very close to you now after all these years, and I think you understand how people have good times and bad. Both swings are inevitable given enough time. Sometimes you’re up, and sometimes you’re down. It happens to the best of us.

Between turning 37, wondering if I’m ready to have kids, worrying about friends and family and the usual things that happen in life, and trying to figure out my next steps…I’ve felt burdened lately, like my metaphoric wings have been weighed down by boulders.

Then, last Thursday morning, as I was sitting here at my desk trying to write a review, something clicked — the switch that makes the tears start falling — and I realized that I just couldn’t do it.

So I took a few days off. And cried a lot. A ton, actually. Buckets on Thursday and Friday, maybe a quart or two on Saturday, but by Sunday, yesterday, the storm had finally passed (cue the herald angels singing!).

I didn’t experience any profound revelations or anything like that, but I spent some time just mulling things over, ruminating, cooking, cleaning, walking my cat, and I also got in some exercise, which usually improves my point of view, even when it’s the last thing on earth I want to do.

I even started crying a couple times on the treadmill…and now that I think about it, it must’ve looked pretty ridiculous, but no one was watching. 🙂 The mix of tears, snot and perspiration combined to create a powerful Potion of Catharsis.

Annie Lennox has also been keeping me company over these past few days. Have you ever heard her Diva CD/album?

Get it, get it, get it, ASAP.

It’s among my musical must-haves (especially the songs Little Bird and Primitive). My goodness, the lyrics — sometimes I forget how much music can influence the way I feel, and then I hear a song like Little Bird and remember that other people have felt everything I’m feeling now.

I’ve just got to put these wings to the test…
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Throughout the non-English speaking world, she’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, even though she doesn’t have any tattoos at all and vows never to get one.

Noomi Rapace, born Noomi Norén on December 28, 1979 in Hudiksvall, Sweden to actress Nina Norén and Rogelio Durán, a Spanish Flamenco singer, knew early on that she wanted to be an actress, starting with a minor role in an Icelandic film, In the Shadow of the Raven, at the ripe old age of 7.

But her career didn’t really start heating up until 2007, about 20 years later, when she played a troubled teen mom in Daisy Diamond, a Danish film that garnered her some critical acclaim.

Two years later, though, she won the role that would make her a global superstar, both in Europe and in Hollywood, playing the original Lisbeth Salander in all three Swedish/Danish films of the Millennium series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.

Her first English-speaking role was in last year’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, in which she plays a French gypsy alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

Since then, she’s been out of this world. In fact, you may recognize her as scientist Elizabeth Shaw from the Alien prequel, Prometheus.

I wasn’t crazy about the movie (seriously, it made no sense), but I did like Noomi’s performance. I thought she and Tabs were two of the best things about the film.

For her role as Elizabeth, Noomi sports a very cute short cropped ‘do, but she’s no stranger to long hairstyles, too.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Even before her big box-office break as the cranky, red-haired assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, Emily Blunt (born Emily Olivia Leah Blunt on February 23, 1983) was gracing small and big screens across the pond.

She won a Golden Globe in 2005 for her performance in the British TV drama, Gideon’s Daughter, but it was her scene-stealing role as Emily in Prada that fashionably thrust her into the spotlight.

She recently starred in the The Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segal, and now she’s in another comedy, this one called Your Sister’s Sister, which hits theaters June 15.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen