Brinner.

I just realized that I have a post label titled "pancakes." And now I'm hungry for... you guessed it... pancakes.

Time to call Erin & Angie and have some brinner.

So, this one time... in beauty school....

(Please notice my attempt at increased frequency. Or then again maybe don't notice so I don't feel obligated to keep it up!)

I know plenty of people that I talk to these days want to hear my tales of beauty school: what we learn about, what we master, where we are now, when we take clients, etc. It's fun to share, because honestly I never knew these things either before starting school! So, here are some fun facts:

What we learn
hair cutting, coloring, chemical services (perms and relaxers), makeup application, facial cleansing and waxing, nails (natural and artificial)

How the program works
We start out 100% classroom and complete 8-week cycles. Every 8 weeks we move up a step and a new class starts at the beginning: The Circle of Life. The program lasts as long as it takes us to fulfill our required 1550 hours of Cosmo school to become licensed (plus exams) -- there are, however, attendance requirements set by the school so it shouldn't take anyone more than a year to complete unless they take a leave of absence or something. I am "scheduled" to be done on August 24th, but due to planned absences (aka: weddings) hope to be done just a few days after. Will definitely be done by August 31st.

Learning
So far, at week.... 14?...we've covered just about everything. As we learn various techniques, we have a "model day" where we bring in a real person to work on - these have happened over the past 7 Saturdays that we've been in school. Starting at 15 weeks, we take our first paying client (if you're keeping track, that's NEXT WEEK), but still have classroom time 1-2 days a week to keep up on "other" skills that we don't always get to practice on the clinic floor.

How to be a client
Why, what a great question! I'm so glad you asked!! ;-) To be a client of mine, just follow these steps:
1. Call Aveda to make an appointment, sometime within my hours (Tu-Sat from 8:30-5pm)
2. Text/email/FB me to let me know when and for what you're coming so I can get you on MY calendar
3. When you check in that day, say you'd like to request Katrina M #67636 -- I will have notified my instructors that I have a request coming in, so magic should occur :-)

Life lessons at Aveda
1. I wish I had done this 9 years ago instead of waiting
2. ...BUT, I'm very glad not to be 18 and doing this, because those kids just don't appreciate it the same way as we "old folks" do
3. Cosmetologists / cosmo students are not the most intelligent people one might find in the world

And so so so much more.

That's all I have to say for now - lots of other things to talk about and discuss, so hopefully I get readers again soon. And a shoutout to Kelley who happened to check and comment on my anticipated return :-)

...and then it was January.

So, remember back in the day when I used to blog? Neither do I.

A few things have happened since I last blogged three months ago. Most notably - I got new curtains for my living room. And they're beautiful and energy-saving! Yay! Oh, and I do hair now.

School has been good, great, okay, interesting, frustrating.... all those things that school usually is. I enjoy delving into my chosen trade, and the learning process therein. But of course there are ups and downs, high points and low points, days I love it and days I just want to get the hell out of there.

When one comes into my house, there are a few key indicators of life as I know it these days:
1. My miscellaneous "traditional" school supplies - textbooks, my book bag, and items I've used for some of our recent projects (I cut pictures out of magazines in my school... Academia at its finest).
2. Indicators of new study habits - aka scissors, a cape, clips, spray bottles, etc. all from doing cuts and colors outside of school. Not exactly studying, but kind of.
3. A closet full of black clothes
4. A distinct scent of Aveda - it's in my hair, on my face, and all around the house. In my shower right now, one would find ALL of the following: rosemary mint shampoo, smoothing body polish, rosemary mint body wash, carribean therapy body cleanser, carribean therapy body scrub, pure abundance shampoo & conditioner, and black malva shampoo & conditioner. Oh, and soothing bath salts. This doesn't count any of the skin care or hair styling products.

But I've noticed some other changes that I don't love:
1. I've become a communication ritard - you see, I no longer sit in front of a computer bored out of my mind all day, nor am I within reach of my cell phone. I miss calls, emails and texts, or I have just enough time to see that I've received a text, but not enough to actually reply.... and couple that with my awful short-term memory and you get ritard-status.
2. Somehow I'm more of a home body introvert once I walk in my house. There are a few other factors in play, here, but those dig a bit too deep for right now.
3. I spend my day standing in front of a mirror.... you can imagine the effect that has....

And there it is.

It's now 1:00am and I'm over-thinking this blog entry, so I must to bed. Hopefully this is the first in a long streak of blog entries.... and hopefully those future entries are much more awesome than this half-asleep snooze-fest.