My Change

I have found myself in a hair funk the last year.

I knew this and thought about changing my hair, but didn’t really know what to do. Long story short I had to find someone new to do my hair, now that was not as easy as it sounds. Anyway, I had my appointment booked, it was going to be for the trim and the retouch of the hair color nothing new.

Then I walked into the salon, I was ready for a change and ta-da. Here it is.

The pictures are bad, I am sorry. There was 10 inches cut off the back! It is a mid-length ace metrical haircut, with the right about 2 inches shorter than the back. It felt so good. It is short enough that she had to cut my neckline. It was what I needed. I have to say it isn’t as short as I wanted, and we will get that and some layering issues resolved with my next hair cut.

I had to make sure I liked it before I told you about it, and infact I love it. I had grown my hair out a couple of years ago and it was about down to the middle of my back, but you would never know, because I always had it pulled up. It is so nice to feel like I have a definite style,

Changing salons has really pushed me out of my comfort zone, not only professionally but personally also.

Salon Prices

Kimberly’s Prices

Hair Designer/Color Specialist

Women’s Haircuts $25

Men’s Haircuts $25

Quick Fix Cut & Color $45

All Over Color $25

Full Color Weave $70

Partial Color Weave $55

Perms $30

Special Style $45

The Quick Fix is for when you are tight on time and money. It’s a haircut, plus 10 color foils weaved on top to help blend re-growth until your next appointment, and it will only talk 90 minutes.

Other Ways to Save:

Y Schedule 6 Weeks in advance and get $15 off (excludes Quick Fix)

Y Refer a friend and save $15

Salon move complete

I have had my cosmetology license for over 10 years now, (where has the time gone)? This is something I always did part time, while I worked at other places full time. But being a stylist is what I love to do.

It is so much fun to help people feel better about themselves. To teach them different techniques about styling their hair and helping them make a change is very powerful. It is a part of me; it is a lot of who I am. Wherever I am, I am always looking for new styles new looks, in magazines, on t.v. , movies, for me it is about the hair first. Then when I go places, I am looking at everyone’s hair for what does work, and what doesn’t and I will admit I do pick out the home haircuts, and giggle. I know you think no one can notice, but really they can. I will remember someone’s hair more than the clothes they are wearing. I know I am not the only one who does this.

So a few months ago I mentioned here that I was moving salons, well the move did not go as smooth as I had hoped, but in the end it worked out better then I could have hopped. I am working at a salon in Ft. Union. I would love to tell you the name, but for safe reasons we'll call it Ft. Union Salon here, I plan on being there for many years to come. Anyway, now that I am settled and I know this is the place for me, I am ready to tell you about it.

Ft. Union Slon is a full service salon; they offer every service you could think of. Waxing, massage, spray tan, pedicures etc. I needed this for my clients. It is clean, it is fully staffed, it is bigger. Oh, I just love it.

Plus I have been doing more training on color, color techniques, and styling. So I can teach my clients how to better style their hair. I feel so energized and excited about my work now. Education is empowering!

I want to share what I have learned with you. You know how I like to talk too much, so here is another element/subject I am adding to this blog, I will call it “Hair Talk”.

Someday I will have some pictures of the place and show you what I am talking about.

Still Celebrating the Birthday Girl . . . updates coming

Thanks

Our eyes are full and our hearts are over flowing,

as we think about those hard days

when you changed all of our lives,

with your decision to give your daughter

the best life you could.

We will never forget

and we'll make sure she always knows

her happiness was more important

than your pain.

It would not have happened if you did not love her

as much as you do.

We can't wait to celebrate her first year with you.

Trick or Treat Gggrrhh . . . .

Happy Halloween!!

My first Halloween

All the kids, all the candy

I just can't wait

Do I look scary?

I think I can do this

Charlee Playing

Here is a really small video of Charlotte playing with some cars she found at her Grandma's House.

Don't Complain Here

I was blog hopping and came across this post:

what not to say to birth parents

This is Andee's blog, a birth mother who placed her baby for adoption a little over a year ago.

One of her points was this:

4. If you are married, pregnant and parenting this baby, do NOT complain to a birthmother OR an infertile couple, about your pregnancy.

(I want to add do not complain about being a mom either.)

This really hit my heart, and I felt the tears running down my face.

I hope I can explain all the feelings I have had about this.

What a lot of people don't understand is that for the birth parents and the adoptive parents there is a loss, a true grief about the situation.

Since I was a little girl I wanted to be a mother,,

I wondered about being pregnant about experiencing the birth of my baby.

When I got married I thought about sharing that experience with my husband.

I hoped our babies would have his blue eyes and his cute smile.

You know, all of those dreams you accumulate over the years.

Along the road, we had to bury these dreams;

we had to let go of the expectation our children would be born to us.

This is where the loss and the grieving comes in for adoptive families.

We have to give up a lot of control and accept what we cannot control.

We don't know when or if we will get to be parents.

In talking to many birth parents, over the last 3 years,

I have learned they also have to let go of the dream of being the mother.

They have to morn the loss of being with the baby every day, of being the caretaker.

There loss is HUGE, their loss is a piece of their heart.

Because of the love they have for their child they are able to look past their own hurt

to find what is best for the baby. They are a true parent in every way.

A Birth parent chooses what is the best for their baby, even if it causes them lots of pain.

Sure there have been times when I said, are you kidding?

Charlee just did what

and now I have to stop what I am doing or what I wanted to do to take care of something.

But guess what?

I am always grateful for these moments,

because it reminds me I am her mom,

I get to do this.

I had to let go of the dream of being a mother for awhile,

not knowing if the chance would ever come a long.

So everytime I get the chance, I love it.

I do not take it lightly;

I cherish it because I know this opportunity is a miracle.

One of my friends, Joni,

placed her son for adoption 9 years ago.

She has since married and now has a son that is almost 2 years old.

As a birth mother, someone who suffered the loss of motherhood,

now that she has the chance.

she cherishes it and does anything and everything for her son.

I have never heard her complain about the hard days.

This is true with the adoptive mother and birth mothers.

They have a deeper respect for motherhood,

because they know it comes at a price,

it isn't a burden or a chore; it is an honor

to be able to be a parent.

I know most mom's out there really do respect motherhood,

I am just trying to help you understand

why this is a sensitive subject for us involved in adoption and infertility.

So if you feel like your pregnancy is uncomfortable,

or harder than it should be.

Or if you feel like your children are cramping your style,

or in the way of your goals and slowing you down,

find someone else to complain to.

You will not find any sympathy from us,

we know too many people who would gladly trade you places.

Why didn't anyone say something?

To say the least the last month of my postings have really lacked of pictures of Charlee. No one said anything, I didn't notice. Sorry.

Hello, do I really think you come here to read my stories or to see Charlee, I am not dumb I know it is to see her cute little face. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the last month. She is growing so big, I just can't get over it.

She is getting busier all the time, every thing is something for her to play with

She plays in the cupboard

Charlee plays in the laundry basket

She plays with her food more than she eats it.

And if she can't play with something, she will give you this face.

Charlee loves to play with the tissue box, it keeps her busy for at least 5 minutes, she has even figured out how to sit on the box and still get the tissues out.

She loves to eat what we are eating, but not what is on her tray or in her bowl.

Everything looks better in a basket.

And even though it is less and less all the time, she does enjoy a good nap.

Now, there you have it the latest on little Charlee and how she is growing and changing everyday.

The MINI Van

Okay, so a couple months ago, I told you that we were going to rent a minivan, and how I thought I might die. Well, I am happy to report I didn't, and I have the proof right here. Now, I know there are a couple of you that read this blog that are in love with your minivan. It was a humbling expirence to learn a few good things about the minivan world.

First of all let me tell you we had a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country Minivan that had about 6000 miles on it. So we were set up for a sweet ride.

I will admit there was a lot of nice features of the van that made our road trip to Vegas very convenient and comfortable.
I LOVED how all the doors auto opened and closed with just a push of a button, there was no need to slam the doors, they did it all by themselves.

I LOVED the storage space in the van, since we are over-packers by nature this was a great feature. However I could easily see how if you owned a van there could be treasures lost in the many hideouts that you would never see again.

And there were a couple of myths about minivans that I am happy to report are myths.

The first: Some people can look good driving a minivan, and if you want to look a little frumpy, when you are in the minivan no one is shocked. So either way you are covered.

The Second: THEY HAVE BLINKERS, (signals), you know those lights on the end and side of the vehicles, they aren't for decoration they really do work. I know can you believe it? I was shocked to learn this, since I had never before seen anyone driving a minivan use their signals.

The Third: My Pink CD sounded pretty good in the van, and the speakers spread out further than in my Lancer OZ, and I have to admit sounded good. You can rock out in a minivan. (Although people driving by wouldn't believe it, they would think you were just yelling at your kids.)

The Forth: They can do more than 60 MPH on the freeway. It didn't even kill the gas milage. For real people, are you listening? I am not kidding this is not a joke, I got this bad boy up to 90 more than once by "accident", and he loved it. Don't be fooled by the way you see other people driving, these things do have guts.

To summarize my review, minivans are great for long distance travel. Next time we plan a long distance road trip I am sure we will be renting another. There will however not be a mini van in my name, I need my little car that can get in and out of places fast, I have a reason not to participate in the carpool, (limited space), and I would probably loose Charlee in one of the hundred hiding places. I hope you learned something from my experience, and I promise not to laugh when you tell me you are buying one for your family.