The Short Hair Chronicles (Episode 1?)

A few weeks ago I had a migraine. Not only that, my head felt like it was on fire. My neck hurt, too, for some reason. I quickly deduced that it must be that my hair is too long.  When your hair is down to your bum it can feel quite heavy. Frantically I opened drawers looking for scissors. I called to my daughter to bring me some of her scissors. When she asked why I responded that I was going to cut my hair.  Sensing I was about to make a horrible decision….she ran off and got them.

Yeah, it was kind of like this.

Using geometry, I figured that putting my hair in a high pony tail on my head and then pulling it to the front and away from my face about 5 inches would get me the desired results. This angle would make the hair in front shorter than the hair in the back.  I bent over the trash can and began hacking away.  When I was done I pulled my hair out of the band and shook my hair. “Cool! You should be a barber!” exclaimed my daughter.  I didn’t feel like correcting her, I just ran to a mirror.  Not bad.  It did look layered in the front, but the back was slightly uneven.  Plus my hair still felt heavy.

I started harassing everyone I knew that had good hair for the name of their stylist. Finally, I got one.  His name was Israel and he works out of Haute Innovations. If you’re in the DFW area you should check him out.  My friend gave me his link on Schedulicity and I set up an appointment. Since he does not take walk-ins this would ensure that I would be his only focus during my time there.

I then perused the interwebs for celebrities that I look nothing like.  Google searches for “Eva Mendes Short Hair”  “Penelope Cruz Long Bob” and “Selena Gomez Thick Hair Bob” began to take place. I settled on 3 different looks and printed them out and went to bed.

Twinsies!

But I couldn’t really fall asleep.  What if it didn’t look right? Will it be elementary school all over again?  You see, I had a bad bob back in the day.  Maybe it was a good bob, but at 10 I didn’t know much about styling or controlling frizz.  I consoled myself with the fact that technology in hairstyling tools and products has come a long way since the 80’s and 90’s. No, this is going to be a good thing. I will pull this off.

The morning of the cut was like the first day of school. I even dressed up. I worked from home that day so my usual uniform is yoga pants and a band or superhero shirt.  Not today, my friends.  Today I was going in dressed professional and even did full make up.  I meant business. 

I walked in and felt so at ease. Talk about hitting it off right away.  We talked and talked and talked and I had confidence that it was going to go well.  When he was done he spun me around and I absolutely loved it! I was just what I needed because I was in a rut.  My hair was long, one length, utterly boring.  Now it had some flair and went with my personality.  I hugged him and thanked him.  Also I didn’t want to leave, lol, we had such a good time talking.  I really wanted to call in and tell my boss I wanted the rest of the day off. I just wanted to stay and talk to Israel all day.  Working at home keeps me from socializing a lot as you can see.

After work I sent pictures to my mom and family. I also kept walking by mirrors and turning my head swiftly so my hair would shake with my movements.  So I have a cut and style that I liked, the real test is how well I would style it after I washed it. I won’t keep you in suspense. I handled up and styled it! Although, I did forget my hair was short when I took a shower and I accidentally poured a huge blob of shampoo.  I do love that I’m saving money on products. But it’s weeks later and my hair grows super-fast and I need a cut again.  Argh!!!!

I love it this length. Don’t get me wrong, I plan to let my hair grow out as soon as life slows down and I can go back to spending an hour on it. But for now, at this busy point in my life, it’s perfect.  If you want to take a look it’s on my Twitter profile pic. @TheTrueSandy

It Gets Easier

Today I was remembering a time back in the day when I had an infant and a toddler at the same time. It was just the three of us.  Even then, I felt compelled to help out the community in some way.  I’ve had this desire to give back and I think it happened when I had children. Before them, I was selfish and all about me, me, me.  During this time we lived in some really rundown apartments. But it was the constant thought of “how can I help those doing worse than me?”  Because no matter how bad we have it, someone is always doing worse.

I remember a school supply fundraiser happening and I wanted to do something to help, anything really.  I signed up and was assigned to stand on a median with 3 others one Saturday morning (you have to have a permit to do this, by the way). I paid a friend to watch my children and began the exhausting day of gathering donations.  In the end, I realized that what I received was around what I paid for a babysitter.  A friend had watched my children and, even though she would have done it for free, I wanted pay her. 

"Because no matter how bad we have it, someone is always doing worse."

This might seem like common sense but I suspect there are other people out there like me. We want to help, we want to get involved but we also have small children. There were a couple of times where I was guilt-tripped into volunteering.  But I had to realize that it’s okay to say no; a time would come when they would be older and I could help then.  It’s okay to focus on just my kids.  They’re only little once. I could see if a volunteer opportunity came up where I could take my little ones, but that’s extremely rare.

There were other times where I solely wanted to talk to other adult. I ran into another mom who currently  has a similar situation as I once did. I assured her, it gets easier. I know its tiring doing everything for two little people, but they get older. In the meantime, enjoy it.  Before you know it, you’re sending them off to school.  And then if you volunteer for anything you can bring them with you! lol I’m glad I took a step back when they were little because now I’m so involved with their schools, our community, and signing up for so many other things that we are extremely busy.

Now it’s better because they can help out alongside me and I want to show them that we have to take care of each other in this world.  So if anyone reading this was in my shoes and you feel lonely and tired, I just want to say that it does get easier….. until they’re teenagers. ;)

Movie Review: Man of Steel

Movie Review

Man of Steel

Rated PG-13:
Sci-fi Violence
Destruction
Language

I saw Man of Steel yesterday and wanted to share my opinion on the movie. I’ll try my best to keep it as spoiler free as possible.

In a nutshell, I loved it. Was it flawless? There was one teeny thing that bugged me; I may put it in the comments in case anyone doesn't want to know.

Going into the movie I was a little upset at a few changes so I was ready to be the first to say I didn’t like it, but then I became sold on Christopher Nolan’s vision. For one, they removed the red briefs he wears over his suit and it proved to be a good move. I guess I was  just wanting classic Superman. Secondly, the “S” on his chest was his Kryptonian symbol for “hope”. I also liked that change as well. To bring Superman into modern times these minor adjustments were needed.

I love the fact that they made the character manly. As a child he wasn’t “aw shucks” and as a man he chose some odd jobs that fit a character that wanted to lay low. (I loved that they didn’t make Henry Cavill shave his chest, I thought it was sexy.) There were some aspects that reminded me of Smallville. The fact that he had to come to grips with who he is and who he is meant to be weighed heavily on Kal-El. They stayed true to Superman being a golden boy and never wanting to kill anyone. And Nolan did it wonderfully.

Henry Cavill nailed the character and I’m glad because I had a few reservations about him. I can still picture him in “The Tudors”. He was actually perfect for the part. Amy Adams as Lois Lane was another choice that I wasn’t sure about. I think it was the hair color that threw me. As I watched the movie, I was glad that they focused on her being a hard hitting journalist.  She wasn’t this annoying damsel and she wasn’t this vixen either. She was just Lois and her feelings for Clark were slowly revealed instead of instant love.

I can’t say enough about how great Diane Lane and Kevin Costner were as Martha and Jonathan Kent. I’m really pleased that they were added to the franchise. Basically the movie had awesome casting.

I am reading that “critics” are writing unfavorable reviews and the conspiracy theorist in me says that they must remain loyal to Iron Man 3 or lose their jobs. Lol. But seriously, if we must compare, I had several issues with IM3 and Man of Steel absolutely blew it out of the water.

There you have it. To summarize: I loved Man of Steel, I think Henry Cavill is hot and manly, and I wish critics would stop with the DC/Marvel comparisons.

World War Z is next on my movie agenda. Here's the trailer:

ZOMG. Did you see that at 2:05!? Just crawling over each other super fast! Is team work part of the disease!?!?

A Haunting Past

A while back I was at work having a pretty good day.  Then suddenly a memory hit me out of nowhere.  This was not a good memory, mind you, but one that brought on shame, regret, and sadness.  From there, I went on to remember more mistakes I made in the past until I was beating myself down mentally.

I posted something about needing a hug and got some awesome, uplifting responses from my friends.  My friend, Ed*, texted me to see what was wrong and I told him my past failures and mistakes were getting me down. He replied “All that made the smart woman you are today”, which cheered me up a little. But I was still sad.  Like I wanted to embrace the sadness or something.  As I replayed scenarios over and over in my head, I kept thinking what I would have or should have done differently.  A part of me wanted to hold on to those negative feelings because that’s what made me learn and grow. They were those young, dumb lapses in judgment that we make and I have no intention of repeating them.  I want those bad memories because I became wiser. I just wish I could have not gone through a few experiences to learn what I have learned.  I think it’s okay to hold onto the past for purposes of reflection, but I wasn't just doing that, I was also reliving them and cringing inside.

I had to tell myself that I’m not that person anymore.  I've come a long, long way and even though I still have a ways to go I’m hoping the next phases of life have more to do with listening and heeding advice from others so I won’t have to go through anything based on bad decisions.

I don’t ever want to forget where I came from but I’m not going to let the past define me.  

*Because his name is Ed.

Flying (And Doing Other Things) Solo

I’m just going to open with the fact that I’m still not ready to date. I’m a late bloomer in that area, I guess.  Or maybe I just missed the first window.  Since I had kids early, my first window was early. And before we move on, I just want to say that these windows are something kind of ridiculous that I made up and apply to no one but me. The first window for me would have been when the kids were older than 3 but still not a teenager or in middle school yet. Now that my oldest is both, it would be weird to have and teen and then there would be me in love and going on dates like a teen. That’s just gross to me. And I can’t traumatize my children. Or myself.  So while I wait, I consider myself “in training”. I want a check list of things to do alone. This is what I have so far:

1. Dine alone
2. Go see a movie solo
3. Travel alone  (mastered that one a while back)
4. Have a weekend getaway for just me
5. Go to a museum by myself
6. Go to a formal occasion alone
7. Show up to a book reading

I can’t think of anything else. Usually when I’m alone I rent movies the kids can’t watch and order Chinese and spend the night in. How I relish it. Sometimes I forget that I can up and go wherever on those evenings. 

Oh and sorry I haven’t been on in weeks. Everything was crazy busy for weeks at a time. I hoped my TV recaps sufficed. I just don’t like to write on life when I can’t put my heart into it. There were some periods of reflection there. Sometimes I take on too much and I get physically, emotionally, and mentally tired. There will be more posts on that coming up. Until then, be happy where you are in life. J