Sunday Update...

The fun part of working and going to school is that there is an amazing variety of experiences every week.

This week at work, we were informed that it was almost official that our store's manager's bosses boss was going to be visiting and inspecting the store. Needless to say, we were put to work in getting the store up to snuff.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day on Monday we hadn't quite finished up some key elements like cleaning the restrooms and stocking all of the paper that we'd just had delivered. I took it on myself to do those couple of things that I could after my shift was supposed to end and ended up staying about two and a half hours late.

We didn't end up getting our inspection, but for a few days the store looked quite nice, which was fun. The bad part was that I ended up starting the week on a bad foot: I was exhausted at the start... :P

Tuesday night at school was quiet and relaxed, but with all of the stress at work, I was having some trouble concentrating and ended up pacing between bouts of bookwork. We also received our progress reports for our hours and I'm happy to report that I'm officially at 1352 hours, which means that in two weeks I'll be able to start our baby boards program at Longs Peak Academy.

"Baby Boards" is a training that we have for our Colorado State Board Licensure practical testing. I already have quite a few of the elements, and my friend's have already given me some tips on how to put the kit together that make it easier and a little less expensive.

Wednesday was fun... busybusybusy fun... LOL I had three color services(one was my Mom, one was a regular who had never had color from me before, and one was a color correction), a Salt Glow body treatment, and a Microdermabrasion(3 areas: face, neck and decollete). Having those last three Microderms means that I've officially finished up my requirements for my Microdermabrasion certification, so upon graduation I can do them at any facility that offers them. Hurray!

Actually, here's a lovely before and after of my regular customer:
Before:

and After:


Thursday at work was exhausting, both mentally and physically. We had a "surprise" visit from our manager's boss that involved lots of walking around the store and "trying to give the customer the BEST experience possible" and many other similarly "enthusiastic" and "helpful" suggestions. By the end of the day, I was too tired to think, let alone be "enthusiastic" about work.

School went well, quiet but well... which was good, considering my state of mind and body. That night, after school, I was so wiped out that I decided to call out sick to recuperate. It turned into a lovely day: restful, nourishing to the soul and productive. A wonderful day off on all counts.

Saturday was the busiest that I've had in some time, but it turned out very well on all accounts. Four haircuts, a Salt Glow, two shampoo sets, and I tweezed the dark hairs from a lovely older lady's chin.

Here is another lovely color job from a few weeks ago:

Dance it off!

When I get really busy, and the thought of going on my bike or jogging through the neighborhood seems out of the question, I workout at home.

A new workout that I really enjoy a great deal is to download my favorite dance hits and I dance it up in my bathroom while I'm doing my evening beauty regimen.

Takes me about 5-6 songs to get ready for bed, and I feel both sexy and invigorated by the time I'm done.

Some of my favorites:

Muse "Supermassive Black Hole"

La Roux "Bulletproof"

Rhianna "Disturbia"

Metric "Gold Guns Girls"

Enjoy!

Diversity in Arts...

As a professional in any artistic industry, one of the most common concerns is finding a way to keep things fresh. Fresh for you, and fresh for your clientel.

If you're working at the same thing day in and day out, how do you prevent burnout?

The gurus will say "simplify", but as one of those busybusybusy types, I find that I can't relax each and every night. I have to be doing something, even if its as 'simple' as knitting or cleaning or whatever.

I propose a different tactic:

Break it up... Instead of working five days a week doing the same thing every day, work two days on project A, two days on project B, and one day on project C (or project A again).

This not only keeps things fresh, it allows for things to inspire you in other ways. For example: if project A is a venue such as hairdressing, make sure that project B is in a different arena. If you're a Cosmetologist, perhaps project B would be skin or nail services and project C would be a day of only waxing services.

If you're an illustrative artist who also does music; project A could be the paying job, project B could be music only, and project C could be exploring a new medium (like sculpture or photography and not meant to directly benefit either project A or B, it would have to be unrelated).

The tricky part in this is that the artists brain can become overloaded in any of these arenas. If that becomes the case, a break from one of the three projects could fix that problem. Take that time for relaxing activities like leisurly bike riding or shopping for a new book.

The same tactic could also work for job burn-out. (I do this myself, actually.):
Job A Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri; School Wednesday and Saturday(morning to early afternoon); then, when they need me, I work at Job B on Saturday night.

This helps keep things fresh for me, and helps me to keep inspiration flowing for the times when I need a little more help.

Hope this helps!

Oil Slicks and Extra Hair

Get involved, ask your hairdresser how!

I subscribe to a daily email from www.behindthechair.com and was surprised today to get an email featuring such an incredible idea.

Here's what I received:

"

Help Wanted!

According to Matter of Trust, last year over 2,600 oil spills occurred around the world, and while they all aren’t high profile, each can have a devastating impact on the environment. All reports indicate that the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill will be the worst in history, far exceeding the damage sustained in the Exxon Valdez case nearly 20 years ago.
Spewing nearly 200,000 gallons of oil into the water each day, the spill is threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast. The salon community is never one to sit back and watch devastation like this occur.
So what can you do to help? Donate your hair clippings to organizations like Matter of Trust! They collect clippings, sort them and ship the fibers off to needlepunch factories to make hairmats to use for oil spill relief. These mats help soak up oil from animal fur and coastlines.
Matter of Trust also creates booms from loose hair that is stuffed into nylon stockings which are tied together to surround and soak up oil (as seen above). There are over 300,000 hair salons in the United States, and each salon cuts an average of one pound of hair per day.
Please don’t throw the clippings away. Instead, set aside a designated box in the salon to gather (clean, debris-free) hair, then contact Matter of Trust right away to get involved. They’ll take all the help they can get! Click here to learn more and to see how you can help."

Who knows? Your hair could save any number of creatures!

Bright blessings!

Relaxation

When I wrote that last post, it hadn't yet occurred to me how small a part relaxation has in my own life. Granted, through light meditation before bedtime, I'm able to sleep no matter my stress load or state of relaxation. But its not a natural relaxation, which is what I had in mind from that previous post.

Relaxation is generally considered as a state free of stress. Both the Eu-stress, which is considered positive stress, and the more common Stress, which is considered negative. Note that it does not say "free from stressors."

Stress is one of the epidemics of our age, and as such, is often blamed for any host of illnesses and ailments. Basically, everything from chronic knee pain to kidney stones to migraines.

In a society such as ours, the elimination of stress altogether is not an option. If you leave your cell phone off, an ailing loved one might not be able to get a hold of you. If you don't check your email, you won't have to sift through spam, but the big presentation from your boss will not be given to you.

How do you get around this? Lately, Sean and I have been reading a series of books from a man named Seth Godin. The latest book in his series is called "Lynchpin". It is basically a way of thinking and behaving so that instead of being a cog in the machine, you are in fact the lynchpin holding everything in place.

This is not to say that all the blame for the things that go wrong will be your fault. No no no... it means that though you might be replaceable, you are indispensable. And therefore, the powers from above will not want to replace you.

What does this have to do with Relaxation?

I'm getting there, don't worry! In the chapter I'm reading, he talks about finishing things. Its not that progress is bad, or long term projects either. But, think about it: if something is done, do you stress about it? No. Period.

Mistakes, failures, cutting loses... those are all finished. Done. Moving on from a project that has failed is not reprehensible, in fact, it could be considered admirable. If you realize that hitting a nail with your hand is futile and dangerous, do you keep doing it, or do you go out and get a hammer? You would go out and get a hammer. Or maybe, you have a friend who has a hammer and would be willing to help you!

Pride often doesn't let us let go of our woes. But it is that stubborn pride that sets us up for an even bigger fall, or quite possibly for a nail in your hand(I've done that, it really hurts).

One of the simplest things that I've realized is that if something is bothering me to the point where I can't sleep, I ask myself a few questions about it.

1. Can I really do anything about it right now?
2. Will getting up and fixing it make a difference tonight?
3. Does anyone other than me care about this issue?
4. Could it actually wait till the morning without causing more damage?

Generally, the first question and some light meditation are all I need to fall fast asleep.

The importance of Sleep

I've talked a lot about supplements, natural aides and similar things that will help a person be healthy.

But the fact of the matter is, that unless someone is getting adequate amounts of sleep, all the supplements in the world won't do you any good.

Here are some ways to tell if you're sleeping enough:

When you wake up:

1. You can see clearly.
Generally within 5 minutes of getting up, the excess fluids from in and around your eyes should clear and your vision returns to normal. Ever wonder why your eyes water or you have to blow your nose right when you get up? This is from the fluid that collects around your eyeballs during sleep. It circulates during sleep cycles to clean the area of debris and detritus that you accumulate during waking hours(Sand). It also cleans off the excess protein that accumulates on your eyeballs. Your skin sloughs constantly throughout the day through normal skin regeneration, but so too do the cells on your eyes. Except that they have nowhere to go, so they get cleaned during sleep.
(There are also very small organisms that you're born with that live off of the dead cells on your eyes, everyone has them, but you don't want to hear about that.)

2. Higher brain function.
I'm not saying that if you get enough sleep that you'll be a candidate for MENSA, but studies have shown that if you get enough sleep(and eat right, workout, etc) that your brain functions better. The theory is that seratonin, which is secreated by the glands in your brain produce during active dreaming, effectively clears your mind to aid in high brain function.
Basically, its much like rebooting your computer. When you reboot, the RAM memory in your computer is cleared away and the computer runs faster because it has that active memory for use.

Through the day:

1. This should be a 'duh' sort of thing, but grogginess. Banishment of grogginess is a very telling factor of whether or not you're getting quality sleep. Quantity is all well and good, but if the quality of sleep is poor, then all the sleep in the world won't help you.

2. Lack-luster nutrition. Vitamins (such as A, B, C, etc) are absorbed and distributed throughout the body through water and can be taken any time through the day. Minerals, on the other hand, are digested through fat and are best taken before bed. The reason for bedtime? Simple. Fat reserves are slow moving and require extra energy to process. The simple act of digesting minerals takes longer because of the required fat in the small intestine and liver for distribution to the cells.
Ever wonder why skinny women have such poor bone density? Its a combination of lack of stress(weird, I know) on their muscles and bones, and a lack of calcium absorption. They can't process Calcium and other minerals as effectively because they don't have enough fat to process them. If a doctor tells you to drink whole milk, its not because he wants to make you overweight. The fats in the milk with help you absorb the Calcium.

3. Healthier skin.
Much of the cleansers and creams on the market right now won't do you any good if you're not getting enough sleep. Here's the deal: Cleansers clean your face. Moisturizers help to keep it hydrated.
The bad news? Moisturizers are formulated in such a way that they keep moisture IN. The title is a little misleading in that it sounds like its the thing hydrating your face in the first place. Its not. Your skin receives most of its hydration through your circulatory system(ie your blood). The waste products that each cell produces is then taken away mostly through a system called Lymph. If the toxic waste is not cleared by your Lymph, which occurs during sleep or restful periods when you are laying down, they your skin looks dull and dry. No amount of moisturizer in the world can counteract that.
Also, moist skin absorbs nutrients more readily, making it healthier inside and out.

Hope this helps you choose sleep...

Next time's topic: Relaxation techniques!

Water

Every day, especially in Colorado, it is recommended that you drink around three tenths of your body weight in water everyday.

Meaning, if a person weights 140 then they should drink 32 ounces of water. This works out to about four small(8oz) glasses.

This means that everyday I have to drink around 50 ounces of water. That is a Nalgene (32 ounces) plus a little more than two small glasses (18 ounces).

Between working out and drinking all this water, you'd think I would feel more energized and all that fun, right? Well, sorta. Mostly I'm just hungry.

Speaking of which, time to start breakfast!