I overheard an interesting conversation this morning. Now mind you, that happens frequently in the hair salon and spa world, but this one hit home.

A man, albeit a little quirky, (but hey so am I!) was lecturing someone about positive and negative electrical charges. There was a lot of science, according to him, about how this all works, and that pretty much went in one of my ears and out the other. My quirky little brain perked up, when he started speaking about the pluses and minuses and the way we crave them.
According to this theory this is why people vacation at the beach, or in the mountains. Your heart and soul crave positive and negative charges. I think he said if you live in a valley you yearn to climb to the mountain tops every so often.

Some EXTREMELY unbalanced people long for the desert, but I'm not one of those. Yay! Guess Im not as weird as I thought. But hey, if YOU like the desert more power to you. I prefer desssert, like chocolate cake but whatever. The color green around me is also much more pleasant than brown, unless its of course, that chocolate cake. But I prefer to eat dessert amongst greenery, no dessert in the desert.

As of this morning, I relinquished myself to the fact that IT IS OKAY that I have to get to Texas and see the water. The positive and negative ions in the world are battling with me! No it is not pretty water, but its where I grew up. Its where I have a gazillion memories, and where I learned lessons and grew into who I am now. Its where I hoped and dreamed and learned how to be the stylist to the stars! Now that I don't live there, I don't have any problems there, like if I'm going to pass my Geometry test. In fact I can drive by the high school and scream vulgar things out the window because there are poor children in there suffering AND IM NOT!!!!! WOO HOOOO!!!!

So I can go South and West on Southwest Airlines to Texas, and have a ball. Sleep when I want. Play when I want. Soak the saltwater into my lungs and let it frizz my hair. I can laugh hysterically with all my friends, and relax and have lots of coffee with my daddy.

I am going to fly off of this landlocked piece of earth I'm on and forget the past couple of years of stress and take a vacation. Like in my favorite movie, "What About Bob?" "A vacation from my problems!!!!"
No actually I'm going because Galveston water has the electricity I need.

This weekend I get to go to the Great Smoky Mountains, and I know those little microscopic bubbles affect a person differently. So I'll have mountains, then be back down on the land for a while, and then off to the water.

Maybe for a few months I'll be more balanced. I love sitting in my pajamas all day on my day off, drinking pots of coffee and trying to be as witty as Barbara Jean on the Reba show by watching episode after episode, but how can I become famous if I don't get fab-i-fied and my energy balanced? I also strive to be Lorelai Gilmore, which I've only told two other people that. I just can't stretch myself to be as tall as either one of these actresses! Maybe I have a height complex...? Maybe I need funny screenwriters to write my life.

So y'all will find me on mountain tops and you'll find me in the ocean in October. You'll find me one year older. You'll be so stinkin' jealous of how happy I've learned to force myself to be, you'll be begging to know the secret. Soon as I figure it out, I'll share it for $5,000 grand a pop. Anyone know how to mass produce dvd's? Wait I hate the way I look.... lessons on cd will be better.....

I'll warn y'all now. This may be a hurried, rough draft, rambling blog. Don't judge my writing skills, and the notion that my book will never get published if this is the way I write. People DO get editors for a reason. I'm hoping my boss's momma will be my editor and my cover artist, but thats another subject.

I have lots of things to hurry up and say!

First today is the day, that women were given the legal right to vote. YAY! Have I ever voted? No. Ya know why? Im too busy just being a happy person, and taking care of everyone to listen to politics. I should be proud to vote but I don't do it. You can be mad if you want. I'm probably not going to start either. For those of you, especially y'all girls, YOU GO!

Secondly, HAPPY NATIONAL DOG DAY!!!!!!!!!!! Hug your doggies!! I already had caffeine/cuddle time with my Dixie this morning. We do that every day. Get up, get coffee, get the blanket and watch the Weather Channel. She hugs me and cuddles with me. I always wanted a BIG BLACK LAB, and now I got one.... with a lot of her German Shepherd Momma in her. Its cool though, it makes her the best dog.... except this hiding under the bed chewing thing. I am so sore I can barely move from spending 45 minutes digging under the bed last night. Apparently it is fun to take socks and books and put them under the bed and chew them up.
Human flesh and fat can be smashed and shoved under a bed, but when my ribs got bruised from hitting metal I got mad. Dixie and I talked this morning though and she tried to understand English... but she's German.....

Speaking of Germany... one of my clients just got back from Russia!!!!! Yes I know. Two separate countries.
They ARE on the other side of the world though, so they have that in common. Anyhow, I got a HUGE gourmet chocolate bar from Russia! It is so prettily wrapped I think I may save the wrapper forever and ever. Amen. They sure write funny in Russia.... the "n"s are backwards. How does THAT makes any sense? "Oh lets just be different and turn letters backwards, and if little American children who are dyslexic and are being treated see it they will be SUPER DUPER confused!" How do you say Super Duper in Russian?

I'll tell you whats super duper. I feel loved by my clients! Mostly they are wayyyyy more than people that see me to get their hair beautified. A lot of them turn into dear, wonderful friends. I learn so much from them and have the most wonderful, deep conversations. Sometimes, we just get a good belly laugh that releases those "happy" endorphins and takes some stress away. The kind of laughs where I have to put my shears down or someone *me* will probably loose a finger.
In the past few weeks, I have gotten gifts galore. Its not so much the gift its the thought behind it. Someone is thinking about ME!!! Little ol' me!!!! I got the prettiest, brightest flowers and enjoyed them every day for almost two weeks! I smiled every time I saw them. I received an autographed book from one of my favorite authors!! Now that is better than an autograph from any movie star to me. I am way more super duper impressed if you write a book. I got the most beautiful wedding invitation today from a sweet "woman" I got to watch grow up. I could go on and on, but what I do all day, is much more than hair. It is me, being a life/hair coach... and the people I see everyday lifting me up, making me laugh, sharing their life through conversation. I would have never known how hard it is to use the potty when its just a hole in the floor, if I didn't come to work today.

So when life is surrounding me, air conditioners break down, cars break down, I worry myself sick about my Solider at war, worry about all of my girls, my parents, my family, my DOG CHEWING UP MY THINGS, at least there are breaks in the day that get me through, and make me a better person.

Evolution not Change

The whole world, your life, my life, plant life, is evolving. It is constant evolution, and I choose that term instead of the word "change." We "change" our clothes, or our hair, but our lives "evolve."
Im sure you can name numerous subjects you are battling or working through right now. You may have the economic pinch, a home repair issue, a job thats taking you no where, bad relationships with family or friends, or CHILDREN.
Recently I've become a mother figure. I gained a wonderful teenager that I watched turn into an adult. I worry every day I didn't do my job well enough, teach her enough, help her enough, guide her enough, pray for her enough. Turning back the clock and having a re-do is not an option now. So I am having to watch her evolve into an adult. I see the child she still is and I see the adult trying to emerge. I see life altering matters, that I have no control over. I have to relinquish the urges to help too much, because who at 18 wants help from someone older than them?
The child who turned into an adult is evolving in ways that we all go through. Then I look at myself and realize I am constantly evolving. Aren't we all? I have to adjust to not having a child to parent, because when I became a full time parent I dove in, took it very seriously, while trying to be fun. I gave it my all, my heart and soul and now after two short years, I have to stop. I have an empty room in my house and I will have to rely on myself for girl items. No more yelling for help when I need green eyeshadow, or help with my bra.
I am also a bonafide step-mom. I have two WONDERFUL stepkids, one who is still a teenage girl and 16. I wish I was with her more and could help her more but she is far away. I love her like she is my own, but feel so far from her. My stepson is 21 and off at War, in Iraq. I mother them, but from a distance because ALL THREE of my kids still have mothers. Great mothers. I am the stepmom, the one who hopefully is young and fun, and they can tell anything to. I had to evolve after I spent a year with my stepson constantly leaving the army base and coming to our home.... and his sister and mom visiting.
I've had a house full of people for two years now, and loved MOST every minute, now its empty and time to evolve.

I made the decision to take this empty nest time to find the new me. To still be there for all of my kids, plus the extra kids who are family or friends and I call my "extra kids." I am a text message away, because who talks on the phone anymore? HAHA! Im choosing to recharge, refresh, meditate, read, write, and evolve, in my ever changing life.

How is your life evolving? What can you do to make your life happy and positive? There is no point whatsoever to live in misery. Sometimes we feel stuck, but there is ALWAYS a way out and way to evolve. I choose to let go of any growing pains and create new-ness. We can all do that with strength and faith. Choose to see what is evolving and choose to evolve with the ebb and flow.



DEFINITIONS:

Evolve-

A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.

The process of developing.

Gradual development.

Development, as in social or economic structure or institutions.
























A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.
The process of developing.
b. Gradual development.

development, as in social or economic structure or institutions.

Y'all

*From Jamie Renee*
I have wanted to write how I feel about the word y'all, for a while. Recently my face turned BLOOD RED with embarrassment (which by the way look for the hidden word in that word) when I was on the phone paying a bill and I said the term "you guys" only to find out my nice person who was taking my payment was a TEXAN!!!!!! I have been in Tennessee too long where too many Northerners have migrated and have actually been sucked into using "you guys" instead of "y'all." The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that y'all is a much more appropriate word and after you PLEASE READ the following article from below you will see EXACTLY what I mean.


**********************************************************

During a recent trip to Seattle, I found myself in the company of students representing schools and hometowns from around the country. Naturally, everyone talked a little differently and-afraid of being stereotyped-I became more careful about my own speech.

No "fixin'," no "gonna," no "ain't" and above all, no "y'all."

Apparently, these words scream "Southern" and "Mississippi" to the world. That's not a problem in and of itself. However, many people think of Mississippians as ignorant and backward.

This leads to wonderful questions that show who really is ignorant, like, "Do you wear shoes?" (No, I bleached my feet and tattooed swooshes on them.)

Or, "Do you ride horses to school?" (Sure do. In fact, I was walking behind one just yesterday and I wasn't looking. That's why the soles of my tattooed feet are so dark.)

Fortunately, nobody at the junket committed such a faux pas. Still, I didn't want to take any chances.

"Fixin'," "ain't" and "gonna" vanished with no problem. With a little conscious thought, "fixin'" and "gonna" became "about" and "about to."

I should not have worried about "ain't." I didn't use it, but the guy from Massachusetts did. Apparently, "ain't" is a regionalism that has grown into a "nationalism."

"Y'all" caused problems.

There I was, sitting in a room full of journalism majors trying not to fulfill the backward Southern stereotype (Y'all is not blessed by journalism's godhead, the AP stylebook). I raised my hand and was recognized for a question.

Against my intentions, my subconscious chose the best word to address my audience. It is not the proper "you," nor is it "you guys" or even "you all." It is "y'all." Defeated by my subconscious, I gave up and use "y'all" throughout the weekend.

Why was I so compelled to use "y'all?" It clearly was not pride. I purged "fixin'" and "gonna" easily enough. On the way back to the airport, I found the answer.

"Y'all" is simply the best word for the plural second person.

English books insist on using "you" for both singular and plural. Naturally, this often leads to confusion.

No other English pronouns suffer from the problem. Clearly, a distinct word is needed for second person plural. Candidates abound, but most have their weaknesses.

Some might say "you guys" is the word for the job. They're obviously scum of the earth sexist pigs obsessed with their own manliness. Or they may just be from Iowa.

Either way, somebody is going to complain about how "you guys" is unfair and try to change it to "you girl/guys," "you persons" or "you beings who may or may not be either male or female, but of indeterminate sex and/or gender." I'd rather just avoid the whole thing.

"You people" has some promise. Sadly, it already has a purpose. It's used to address groups of people who are collectively irritating, incapable or incompetent.

To me, it has about the same ring as "damn, dirty apes" did to Charlton Heston's hairy friends. Being addressed as "you people" makes me feel like a telemarketer.

"You all" is not much different from "y'all." It sounds similar, but it has two syllables, partly defeating the purpose of using a pronoun-laziness.

It also makes moving more difficult. Say, "I'd like you all to help me move tomorrow." Everyone will agree, not show up and lie the next day, "Oh, I thought you said 'U-haul.'"

So "y'all" is the perfect word for second person plural. I will never again be ashamed to use this most excellent word.

It is clear, concise, gender-free and it forces friends to help move the 50-gallon fish tank that looks perfect between the Anna Kournikova poster and the stop sign.

Using "y'all" improves the English language.

There is one more thing. The progressive may wish to use "y'all" not just in speech but in writing. "Y'all" is spelled with the apostrophe between the y and the a.

Spell it any other way and it's backward and ignorant.



http://media.www.reflector-online.com/media/storage/paper938/news/2003/10/28/Opinion/No.Substitutes.For.Word.yall-2537484.shtml
Nathan Alday is a senior aersopace engineering major. He can be reached at nca1@msstate.edu.

First Blackberry Post

Hi people! This is my very first attempt to "Blog from the BlackBerry." If it gets lost in space, I will be angry but I'm sure I really have nothing important to say anyways.
You would find me in a small, one window room, in another city today. Its continental breakfast time. I have TWO drinks cause they are FREE. Let me note they "should" be free.
Where's my lovely coffee from TX I get at my house in Nashville? Where's my Star bucks I get at the salon? What is this thin excuse of caffeine? I did see a Star Bucks while the husband was driving last night. I could very well take the keys and run for it as he is still zzzzzz'ing. I remember Starbucks and a Revolutionary War cemetery and I'd probably end up asking a famous Colonel for coffee and he demanding I drop and give him fifty, from beyond the grave. Annnndddd its raining, the ground is wet, and I can't do push ups at a normal time, let alone BC (before coffee).
No one could tell I'm a famous hair stylist this morning. I'm so glad, I'm not up to signing autographs and handing out business cards 300 miles from home. I shampooed my hair and fell asleep wet headed last night so now it a mess of crinkled cut blonde french fries thrown into a pony tail. Dude with 5 year old dread locks looks better than me. If these people didn't go to the last Big Aveda show they would think my t-shirt that loudly announces "I'm On the Edge" means I'm a crazy hostile person. Especially with this hair.
So fun being incognito.
Its raining or else I'd try and hold my Sunday morning Worship service outside. I'm going to get this dining room of people to gather in prayer for things like our Troops, the U.S., world hunger, and the hope that Lisa Marie gets the rights to her daddy's song back since Michael had em and we know we went bye bye. Ya know what they say! Ya can't take your "stuff" with you when you go.
I must run so I can get em singing "How Great Thou Art" Elvis style OF COURSE, cuz this man is attempting to sweep us out of this room with a broom. Now there's fuzz in my cream cheese and the Spouse called, he's loading the car and I get to go!!!!!!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

****Edit****
My dearly loved Blackberyy TOTTALY didn't allow me any more room than a few texts. So I had to email this to myself and copy and paste it here. Gotta figure out how to blog from the cell!

PRIDE and DANCING

Well I heard from my sweet, sweet Solider this morning. What an awesome way to start the day, and the 4th of July weekend. Through the glory of Facebook and technology we can chat and email and send pictures on a computer from around the globe, during WAR TIME!

Who in past wars and conflicts can say they were able to do that?! Remember poor Scarlett who had to stand amongst a crowd of stinky people (because you KNOW they didn't have indoor pluming and only bathed on Saturdays) just to check to the new list that had come out of casualties. Now I know she was in love with a married man, but she had to go months on end without knowing who was alive and who was okay, and who wasn't.

So when I've spent two weeks without a peep from my kid I get a little worried. I wear his dogtags near my heart every moment. The closest thing I have of him. Yet how LUCKY am I that I can turn on the computer and see he's okay! That I can get an email or instant chat and not wait for weeks on a letter.
Then...... I hear a song on the radio on my way to the salon that was the epitome of all last year that he spent with us. This leads to another point..........
I danced, I had the radio up as loud as it would go. I was so happy just to know Matt is okay. So pulling up to a redlight I see a coworkers van. So with my windows down, and dr. pepper in hand I was just dancing like a maniac and singing at the top of my lungs. I thought she would laugh and enjoy how absolutely adorable I am. Well, I look over, and my very white friend with long red hair was an asian woman with a short black bob who's eyes turned into saucers when she saw the hysterical dancing blonde girl next to her.

Oh well. Ha Ha Ha. Same thing happened in the parking lot of Wal Mart last week after Michael Jackson died.

So the Fourth is starting today... people are off and I notice every flag flying. I'm even more proud to be in America and celebrate this year now that I've realized the sacrifices our men and women soldiers make. Because of knowing my stepson and friends who are Army Soliders, I feel so much more connected to my grandfather who fought in WWII... Who's birthday would be tomorrow and so is my Dixie dogs!!! And I JUST found out last week Dixie's birthday is the fourth. Had NO idea but her human mom that watched her be born told me for a fact. So how patriotic is she that she was born on the fourth of July, and WE named her DIXIE?!?!?! And my Papaw James *who I am proudly named after* loved his dogs so much.... and I'm going to choose to think he sent this special doggy to me, because she is the perfect dog. And I know without a doubt he loved ME so much. And to think of his war efforts, for all of us, and for his grandchildren and their children makes me so proud to be a descendant of the Ticer family.
I just couldn't be more proud or happy and bittersweet today.

And I won't go into detail about Memorial Day and how I cried like and idiot running around at 90 mph in the Natl Veterans Cemetery sticking fallen flags back in the ground at the headstones after a bad storm. The husband thought I was nuts, especially when I saluted SOME of the graves, but I HAD to fix their flags! And y'all don't EVEN know how big this cemetery is. FInally the Indian Husband helped so we could hurry and go eat dinner. And no, thats NOT me going into detail. Trust me.

So this year, I'm going to realize everything that my step son and his friends I got to know so well are doing. And I'll remember the screaming outburts and flashbacks my grandfather had, and know that no one will ever know what those war times were like. Yet I'll be so thankful my Papaw James came home and I knew him for my first 17 years.

And I will be so proud and thankful to be where I am, and safe, and know above all God is watching over every little thing, and my worries should be given all to him, so I can just dance in the car and be happy.


P.S.
GO SCREAMIN' EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New TechKnowledgy and Punky Brewster

YES. I know I spelled the title incorrectly. In fact I will be the first person in your life to save I have ranted and raved about television ads and companies spell things in ways that play on words. I strongly remember my third grade teacher stating the proven fact that "if a child sees a misspelled word or misspells a word it takes 72 gazillion times of them seeing it spelled correctly to get into their little weevil heads so they can hopefully spell the word correctly the rest of their lives. Or until they grow up, stop reading books, and forget how to spell their own name. And sweet Lord help them when they marry someone with the last name from another country, or not from the south, cause they really ain't gonna be able to spell that!!!"
Okay Mrs. Taylor didn't exactly say 72 gazillion times, but it is a lot of times a person has to retrain their brain to spell something correctly. With spell check, I don't believe a text should be spelled wrong. >whistling innocently< Do as I say not as I do.

I just couldn't help my title today though. Hopefully you can all spell "technology," in the proper context.

Moving on to my point.

I have a brand new computer. Yes, Me, and the Redcloud household. I am treating it gentler than a newborn baby. I have never owned a monitor this clear and large and if my desk chair were more comfortable I'd sit and watch movie here and not on the television. Also, a new printer where I can actually print things. Yeah! What a concept! Lets mention how I lied and just agreed with the salesman how I am a student to get 50 bucks off my new Mac and the PRINTER FOR FREE!!! EEEK!!! Then I get $10.00 off my monitor cause the box is dented but they triple checked it worked before I left? I feel good (dah dah dah dah dah dah) (WHY aren't there music notes on the keyboard?! They could be more important than the % symbol. Who cares about % and math anyways.)

So along with technology I have techknowledgy on my mind.
You get "Twitter," see www.twitter,com and you can open yourself up to a world of reading whats going on in the minds of not only friends and family, but FAMOUS PEOPLE.
I have discovered, the character I loved to watch on tv as a child turned out to be cool, just like yours truly as an adult! Yes!! I waited for days on end for new episodes of "Punky Brewster" and just yearned to be just like her. Funky colored clothes. Intellect, excitement, fun friends, and a dog named Brandon. So I tied colored socks around my wrists instead of colorful and funky long material she wore as bracelets. Hey, I was 4, she was older and someone probably took her to fabric store and let her have scissors and needle and thread. Then I used Brandon for my new puppys middle name in 4th grade. See how long Punky-ness stuck with me? Pre-schoool till NOW?!?!?!

So, my point is, years after the show is over I see messages from PUNKY BREWSTER all day long! I'm sure she hates to be called that. Let's say Soleil MoonFrye. Her real live name. What I discovered is
a) She loves coffee, she's a mom, she says things Im thinking already like, "I went to the store in my pj's and people stared and why is that not okay to go to the store in your pjs??!!" (cause you know how many times I've done THAT?!) oh and she loves coffee
and
b) I should not have picked Soleil MoonFrye as a favorite so I'd get sent a text every time she posts on Twitter.com (this is actually called "tweeting") Because Punky who also lovvvvvves sleep and understands what the lack of is, lives on west coast time and goes to bed later than I and still gets up earlier. As much as I care too about pajamas and the grocery store when I've just fallen to sleep at midnight I don't want to here my blackberry *ding* cause then I think someone needs me badly.

Soleil also has her own blog. Way cuter than mine. The basis is mostly about parenthood and kids. I guess she saves her quirkiness for Twitter where as I take up a whole blog for it.

There sure is something way cool about seeing who you wanted to be, you were probably a lot like as a kid. And you grew into a like acting person. Not that I don't stand for being my own person. I just happened to turn out this way too. Uncanny!

Now I'm off to cook eggs, and give my 10 year old cousin coffee. I'm sure Soleil MoonFrye would not do that but I AM okay? Then we're off to waterslide, and swim. I just hope she'll kayak with me, but after two years ago at age 8 she swore she'd never get into any kayak like object with me ever again. I will feel guilty for not spending the day cleaning house, but if I don't work on my tan I won't look as nice and my appearance matters when I'm the stylist to the stars.
So I will swim, and check Twitter some from the Blackberry while I'm there, know I get to come home to this awesome new computer and water slide a lot. All little things to get me through this day.

INTRO!

Initation

We all get up every day. That sounds simple right? It is. Until you throw in life's chaos.
Family members who gripe and try to either tell you how to live your live or try to do horrible things to ruin their own so that you have to tell them how to live thiers.
Work, be it the place we all have to shower and dress for so we can show up and make money to pay for things that we believe we need in order to sustain our lives. Our ancestors worked extremely hard for us to have running water, electricity and the means to live out the american dream. Certain days a week most of us trudge through to make money to have modern conveniences we feel we deserve such as automobiles, clothing not made from flour sacks and flushable toilets.
Pets. A house isn't a home with out a four legged thing or two.... or five. Hypnotizing little eyes that suck you in their world and make you believe you must take care of them. You will be fulfilled and unconditionally loved, if only you provide safe harbor. Until you run out of their favorite food and the cats scream at you. Puppies are precious until the poop on your carpet and then bite your ankles for not playing properly.
There's the never ending cycle of the worries of the world. We pray for those who are starving in third world countries but we still need some help ourselves. Some of us search daily for signs from above that we're on the right path, or even that a path is being laid out for us. Yes we are lucky and if you have a roof over your head, a change of clothes, and food to eat you are roughly in the top FOUR PERCENT of the world's population. How's that for making you feel guilty about complaining? Still we do. Rightly so.
This life thing isn't easy. I try and remember we are "Spritual beings having human experiences." So what I can offer are my thoughts, however you may feel about them, my quirky stories, and some proof that we do keep getting through these days.

**Disclaimer**
As always, thoughts, opinions and quotes are expressed from writers perspective and not to be taken in place of medication or professional help. If you find writer misquoting or not giving proper accolades to originator of quote please feel free to site the source and correct the author.