its that time again...

ah.... the changing of the seasons, and it feels so good. i love the warm wind, and the smell of pumpkin goodies cooking in the kitchen :) excited to get some baking done with friends.

it is going to be a very busy month... full of parties, classes, you name it. the thing that i am most excited about, though.... taking that certain someone to the pumpkin patch and corn maze, for his first time EVER. thats right folks... he has never been. of course i will be the paparazzi while we go and will load up on pictures of this fun event :)

it is also that time of year again, for breast cancer awareness month!! there are a lot of avenues to donate to the research cause available to us this time of year, so choose wisely! as far as hair stylists go, most of the product lines have re-released our tried and true favorites in pretty pink cans, and donate most of the proceeds!!!

i was happy for the first time to be able to combine both of my jobs in a way. i rallied together a little crew from the salon to volunteer to style hair at Sutter's Catwalk for a Cure. So fun... here are some lovely photos.


believe it or not... could not find the right colored pink shirts this time of year. they were probably all bought out.. so i took it upon myself to dye them in a bucket in the sink.. hehehe!!

ah.... my lovely iron on transfers. i am lucky we have such a simple logo.

the little stack of finished product... so fun!! of course, a bunch of the other stylists wanted them. but, i said NO! special edition only, for those who came to work that day :)

nannette and heidi hard at work... haha those girls look unenthused

some of my messy, flirty handywork. to be worn with a little black dress. love.

refreshed.

well, i was sick on and off for two weeks or so, it feels good to finally feel normal again and have my energy back. for now, here are just a couple of things that i am excited about.

the new collection from MAC. there are 4 different parts to it. this picture is supposed to be animated but it doesn't appear to be working, at least not in my preview window. there is also the evil queen from snow white, maleficent from sleeping beauty, and the villain from the princess and the frog. as a pro makeup artist, i love it when they come out with new collections. i have a class scheduled there next month and i get a $100 credit for whatever makeup i want to buy, maybe i will be able to stock up on these goodies!!

this new little puppy that is downtown in old courthouse square. so cute, will need to go and check it out soon! although, i do think that my favorite one is the one outside of snoopy's ice arena with snoopy and woodstock holding out chocolate chip cookies. i am a HUGE fan.

a wee ball dropping

yep... that sounds bad. but, that is me!!
not doing super on this challenge thing... did really good taking a picture every day for a week and then kind of puttered out on it... need to get working on it again!!! here are a few of the photos that i did take... i have more, but i am just going to load them bit by bit so that the eye candy is spread out :) me and my wingtips, those shoes are fantastic. i have had them for a very long time, they are comfortable. one of my favorite brands of shoes, by far.. the heels are to die for!! check them out... tuk

my tricked out makeup case. ok, it is not really that color.. just messing with the photo editing... the stickers are a green/purple combination, kind of like that spiffy color changing paint.

i do... i really do. secretly, i wish i could be one. why do you think i wear so much eyeliner? haha

betsey johnson... heart heart heart. favorite bag.

por vida!!!!! love having her hanging up in my room, so huge and obnoxious

ALSO, speaking of ball dropping... my buddy Sherrie, who just got two little kittens this summer (from two different sources, mind you) and thought that they were girls... surprise! they are both boys. One is named Jessie, which I guess isn't too terrible... the other is named Khloe... hmm, shall they be stuck with the girly names?? Photos and updates to follow.

a little bit of scholarly love

alright, its that time of year again. already. school is starting up, for all the little kiddies, high schoolers, collegiates, you name it. it is that time of year that the stores are slammed with people purchasing clothes and school supplies. it is kind of sad to say that this is something i do not participate in anymore.

don't get me wrong... overall, i don't really miss it that much. i have an associate's degree, which is more than most can say that hold cosmetology licenses. i'm young, but i spent plenty of time dabbling around in different subjects and professions until i decided what i really wanted to do. hair. something creative.

there was a time when i wanted to be a radiology tech, and the timing was just not right. then, i wanted to be a physical therapist... until i got a job in the physical therapy department at the hospital... nope no thanks. wound care, not my cup of tea. also, neither are the patients who are constipated for weeks and then void their bowels as soon as you get them up to walk them to the scale. because of these disgusting and most of the time ridiculous experiences of mine, i do have a tremendous respect for those in the medical profession... cnas, rns, drs, pts, ots, etc.

i sometimes miss school, homework, just for the simple order of things. taking notes and doing homework assignments, and placing them neatly in their section in my binder.... i like order when it comes to paperwork and such. i was also a really good student, a's, b's... but this is going to sound really terrible, i just do not like to use my brain for this type of thing. don't get me wrong, i am very smart.. but i find it all very boring and hard to focus on, even though i might be good at it. i just prefer to use my brain in other, more creative ways i suppose. maybe i am one of those few who have "a.d.d" but was never diagnosed with it, because it was before the time when kids were being diagnosed with it left and right.

ok so anyways, back to my point here. somebody very cute and very important to me has decided to go back to school. this has happened before, but it hasn't really stuck yet... so yesterday, i set out to battle the crowded school supply section and long lines at target (after i worked a 5am shift, mind you) and put together a nice little care package of school supplies. it feels good to me, to give someone that extra little push. to be a study buddy... nay... more of a study-and-make-sure-you-go-to-class nazi. education is an important thing, and although there are those out there like me who are bored by it, it is still pretty vital in this world. to build yourself a career that you can love, and work your way up in it... instead of just having a job, maybe the same old mind numbing job for years on end, just because you know nothing else.

it is a start, and it is a good start. we will see how this all goes, but i am optimistic... probably because there has never been that evil mary with a hot poker under your butt motivation before.

four simple goals

one of my favorite bloggers, elsie flannigan (http://www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com/) posted this challenge on her blog a few days ago. i have never participated in any little challenges before, so i thought that it would be a little bit fun, and good for me to do. the idea is to pick four small goals, and blog your progess with them. not to focus on the end result. focusing on smaller goals sure seems more rewarding, and will get you there in time :) here goes...
1. build a clientele.

starting out as a hairdresser is incredibly hard, especially in this day and age, with the economy as it is, and there are just so many of us out there. i have been given a great opportunity, a perfect environment to do it in, and a good little bit of talent. so i will work on building my clientele, one client at a time, handing out one card at a time.

here is a little something to sweeten the deal, so pass it around! i am offering first time clients a free haircut with a color service, oooh that is a $45 value! also, i am going to do a referral/rewards program... for every 3 clients that a client refers to me, they will get a free haircut. good way to start out, i think :)

2. take a picture every day

a picture a day could be really fun, i think. it will be a good way for me to bone up on my photography/photo editing skills. plus, give a juicy little interest to my blog, as well as let people get to know me by seeing a little bit more of my day to day, and the things that bring me joy

3. do something creative, on the daily.

right now, this shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. seen here, is the scrapbook project that i am working on. i have been pretty enthralled in this lately, and i need to finish it up soon. will share bits and pieces of it when it is all done, it is pretty deeply personal though hahaha...

i have so many creative hobbies, that it makes it hard for me to pick which one to pull out and do. i sew, i knit, i crochet, i scrapbook, i paint, i draw... so so many things. but i want to keep my brain ticking and challenge myself to do something creatively every day, whether it be doing a fun make-up application on a client, or just doodling a little picture

4. clean up my messes

probably one of the most important.... especially if i am going to be doing something creative every single day!! i moved back in with my parents this year, and my room is almost completely taken over by all of my craft supplies. the pack rat gene runs in my family though, i cannot stand to get rid of things!! it wouldn't be so bad if i would put things away after i am done with them. seen here is my pile of stuff that i pulled out for my current scrapbook project... i've been pretty good about getting it back into this contained pile after i finish my work on it each time, but sometimes i leave it strewn about.

so there you have it. now just to continue blogging about my progess with these things!! should be interesting, no?

feels like family.

we closed down the salon today for some good old fashioned bbq fun. there are 20 of us that work at dd&q... and i have to say that these are some of the best people that i have ever met in my life. it feels so amazing to me how everyone let me in to their family, and they are all so loving and caring. i have only been working there since march, but it feels like home to me already. just a quick group shot... we are missing two in this picture. more pictures to come soon. i kind of sat back and relaxed today and didn't take any photos, because my darling partner in crime kristen had it covered. then, we let heidi's daughter ella loose with the camera... people tend to strike funnier poses for kids with cameras!!! we will see how all those pictures turned out!!

lazy saturday

today is my day off. that one, precious day off that i get during the week. started it out this morning taking one of my fuzzy babies, tj hooker, to the vet. just for his routine check-up/shots, etc. he is good and healthy, aw my sweet little boy. i'm ready to go mommy.

spent a couple of hours arranging my make-up case, yeahhhhh i am a nerd, and yeahhh i have a ton. occupational hazard. i have had the case for a while and was waiting around to get it painted up all custom, but that didn't end up happening, so i said screw it i am goin to get everything set up. i don't think it looked very professional with it all pouring out of a 1980's seafoam green plastic caboodle, and strewn about multiple random makeup bags. i was thinking that this case would be big enough for my collection, and it is for now... but if i get too much more it is going to be a lot harder to organize, i need some overflow room.

and yes, i am a professional make-up artist. but, i hate, hate, hate pallettes. i am super ocd and i don't like it when the fallout from the eyeshadow gets all over the place, and mixes in with each other, ugh. it is kind of like undesireable foods touching each other on a plate, to me. doooooon't like it one bit.

all clean and organized and ready to do the job!!

probably one of the cutest, most adorable things that i have ever done. just sayin. i am probably the cutest girl in the entire world. hahahaha..... they were goooood too. but these ones were special, because i do not like hot fruit inside of my pancakes, yuck.