Recently Greg and I went to the Foothill Aids Project fundraiser. It was held at a beautiful restored hacienda home in Upland. I would love to live there. One of the booths was a woman who did airbrushed tattoos. In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we got matching pink ribbon tattoos. I won three hours of the artist's services in the silent auction. I talked to her and she is going to come and do tattoos at the Power of Pink party 2010. Should be fun!

Michele

Curly Hair

I recently reconnected with a friend from St. Emydius on FaceBook. She posted a picture of me and another classmate on her wall. I very vainly PhotoShopped out the classmate so I could focus on me. I am standing by the wall of the gym. I remember this little girl. She was mischevious and about 7 years old. Recognize the Jackie O style of her dress coat? Her curly hair was the bane of her mother's existence. Every morning her mother would brush her hair and if it was Sunday or a special event, add a headband. If if was a school day, she would put it in a ponytail or in pigtails and brush the tail around her finger, forming a ringlet. And everyday, the little girl would come home with her curls having broken free. Her mother used to say that she looked like the "Wolfman" when she came home.

I hated my curly hair, especially as we got deeper into the '60's and early '70's. The style was long straight hair with a part in the middle. In foggy San Francisco, that style was just not happening for those of us with curly hair. My mother would not let me straighten my hair or iron it. I had to do my best to straighten it by setting it on orange juice cans or the largest rollers I could find. I would brush it out and put on a scarf, tying it as tight as I could. Just before I got to school or church, I would whip off the scarf. My hair would stay straight for about 15 minutes. Then the waves started to appear. After about an hour, the ringlets had taken over, heading off in every direction.

Decades later, I have come to accept my curls. For many, many years I did my best to discourage them by wearing my hair short. My hair is now the longest that it has been since high school graduation. Two years ago, when I thought I was going to have to have chemo, I had my stylist LaMonte cut my hair very short. I was blessed not to have to undergo chemo and other than trims, I have not cut my hair since. My hair and I have finally made peace. It still has a life of its own but I enjoy its freedom. Two weeks ago, I was at Victoria Gardens with my friend, Lianne. I saw a fun plum colored headband with a large suede rose. It looked great nestled in my curls. I modeled it for a while and then put it back, thinking I didn't know when I would wear it. The little girl in the picture would know when to wear it: anytime she felt like it. I hope it still in the store when I get there.

Copic Certification

This past Friday I got to do something that I had really been wanting to do. I became a certified Copic Marker Designer. That fancy title means that I went to a daylong training and learned to use Copic Markers. The training was held in Anaheim, so that folks who were in town for the CHA Trade Show and Convention could attend. I got up early and toodled down to Anaheim, arriving a little before 9:00 a.m. I was alone, but not for long. The group of women at my table were very friendly and fun. I kept thinking that three of them looked very familiar. They were the owner and two workers from Stampers Warehouse in Danville, CA. It turns out that we took a Tim Holtz class together at another trade show that I went to with Cynthia in April. Another one of the women works at Scrappin' in the Hills, a scrapbook store in Anaheim Hills that I went to with Cynthia and Suzanne when we did the ShopHop. One of my fav customers was also there. I ate lunch with her and her friend. Some of the ladies brought cards that they had colored with their Copics: great work that gave me inspiration.

It took me over two hours to drive home from Anaheim, a trip that with decent weather and traffic usually takes about half an hour. But despite the bumper to bumper traffic in inclement weather, I would do it again. I came home and ran to the table to play with my Copic markers.