Bride Two

Last time I wrote, it the story of two brides.  I liked one; I was complaining about the other.

Yesterday was the wedding of bride number two, and I have to say, I actually had quite a bit of fun.  I don't have a clue what the girls had or hadn't been told, but every single one of them was a blast.  As the outsider looking into their ring of friendship, it was easy to see that not only had they been together for quite some time, but that they cared deeply about each other.  Everyone was relaxed and nobody was uptight about anything.

Actually, they were thrilled with the results we delivered for hair, and I had a couple of ladies ask for my card for future reference.  One of the ladies, we'll call her Shar, was so excited about her hair she almost started crying.  She's got unusually thin hair, and in the past, almost every hairstylist has made it look like she's balding.  I put my best efforts forth to make sure she looked like she had gobs of hair, and was rewarded with a big hug and a smiling, super-giddy, newly-pregnant woman for the rest of the morning.

Smiling Shar!

The back of her undo that she was SO excited about.

The whole while I was doing everyone's hair, I couldn't believe that I had been so stuck on the prices.  I mean, yes, I have skill, but is it worth getting upset over a difference of $100?  No.  At least, it shouldn't be.  I feel ashamed I reacted the way I did.  The more I digest it, I think I was more shocked and surprised because it came up last minute.... I'd already had my mind set that things were going to go a certain way, blah, blah blah.  Apparently I don't deal well with last second changes.

The upside is, now I know this about myself, and next time it happens, I can just have a little pep talk with myself before letting it rock my boat.  Plus, now I know what changes I need to make to my system to make sure things like this don't happen again.

Everything turned out beautifully and I'm really happy that it ended up working for me to do their hair for the wedding.  Here's a few pictures!

I was in love with this girl's hair color!!

The little girl was adorable, giving the bride kisses, telling her she looked like Cinderella.

The bride, taking a break before the ceremony started.

Three of the bridesmaids and the bride.

What I'm "Worth"

I've had the chance to work with the Detroit Glam Squad as a hairstylist now for a few months.  I love it!!  The girls I work with are amazing artists in their own right, and it's a lot of fun to share a creative vision with someone and then execute it.

This past week I've had the opportunity to work with two brides.  And WOW--I don't think they could be any more different!!

The first bride was a joy!  She was a little indecisive at times, but whenever dealing with a bride, you expect that.  They want their big day to be perfect.  We had the opportunity to do hair and makeup for her, her mother, and her entire bridal party.  They were a blast!  Everyone was upbeat, positive, trying to make sure that everything went perfect for the bride, and extremely appreciative of our skills so that they too, could look awesome on the bride's big day.  I'd do these ladies again in a heartbeat!

Bride number two has been a different story.  She's been all but non-responsive until the last minute for absolutely everything.  I'd sent an email three days prior to confirm the trial date and didn't get a response until FOUR HOURS before the trial was supposed to happen.  Then, after the trial, there was a dispute about prices.  Mind you, I sent the bride a copy of our contract about three weeks in advance.  Over a month before that, I gave it to one of her bridesmaids, who was the original contact.

Apparently nobody read it.

We charge $65 for bridesmaids, $75 for the bride.  I did research before setting these prices because I wanted to be competitive and fair.  These costs match what people in this area pay to get their hair done in a salon--except if you hire us, we travel to you.

Turns out the bride was given slightly lower prices originally.  She'd been told $50 for bridesmaids, $65 for the bride.  No big deal, I can work with it.  Because she'd had my contract for about three weeks and didn't bring the discrepancies to my attention until the day of the trial, I did feel she was trying to bully me into lower prices, but I wasn't going to abandon her because of it.

It gets better...  Alongside both sets of the prices, we offered a 15% discount due to her party size.  Somehow, the math was done wrong and she'd told her bridesmaids we were charging $33 post-discount.

Let me see.... $50 x .85 = $42.50.

Maybe it was $50 x .15?  Nope.  That's $7.50

Did she do $50 - $15?  Hmm... still comes to $35....

Uhhhh........  I have no idea how it got to $33.

So now I've got a non-appreciative, cheap bride who wants me to work for LITERALLY half price because of her mathematical error.  I explained that I'd have to have her sign the contract at full price, because that's what we charge, but I would talk to the girl who originally gave her those prices and if there was a reason behind it, we might honor them.  She signed, wrote a check for the deposit, and I headed home.

When I called back later that day to explain the pricing options that I could let her pick from (NOT $33), she told me that she's not sure everyone is still going to want their hair done and that the number of people in the party may shrink due to the price.

Excuse me?  You JUST signed a contract.  Did you not read ANY of it?  There's a number of things that you should have paid attention to, but the biggest would be this one:

1. You are liable for the full amount on the contract, once signed.  (The only time this would be swayed is if we feel we've messed something up and want to make amends by lowering prices.  I was clear in saying that we MIGHT lower them.  Not that we would.)

Did I mention that this is a party of 11, and that both myself and the assistant I've hired are taking a Saturday off at Nordstrom (which is frowned on because it's retail) to do this wedding?  Did I mention that I'm paying the assistant?  Did I mention it's 45 minutes away?  Did I mention the bride's disorganization/non-responsiveness has been a pain in the butt?  Did I mention she wants me to stay for an additional two hours so that I can give her a second undo before the reception? (Which I had agreed to do for free before the price conversation came about)

I'm frustrated and I feel bad that she's gotten herself in this predicament, but I'm pretty sure it's not my fault.

"Encouragement"

Truth be told, I think I've gotten lazy.  Either that, or there is no definitive end to when my body will be "recovered" from chemotherapy.  Some days I think it's a mix of both.

Regardless, I'd like to try and push myself out of this rut that I'm in.

There are a lot of days where all I want to do is the bare minimum--which is NOT my style.  I'm usually at the front of the pack, trying to accomplish far more than has been asked of me.  I've been an over-achiever since birth.  And yet I find myself extremely un-motivated to do anything.  To get involved with anything (or anyone).  To go to work.  To hit the gym.  To clean.  To do laundry.  To cook.  To do anything at all.  I feel like I'm living on repeat from day to day.

I was talking with Lindsey the other day and we were discussing how we both really want to put more effort into getting back into shape.  So we're trying to figure out how to motivate each other--even with over 700 miles in between us.  We exchanged lists of what resources we have access to, and then based on the list, we created challenges for each other.

Her challenge to me was this:

1. Work out at least 3 days a week.
2. 45 minutes of cardio
3. 2 sets of: jumping jacks, full-body planks, mountain climbers, squats, crunches, and flys.

Easy, right?

Not so much.  I'd be dying from the cardio session if it weren't for the fact that I just finally got the a-okay from my ENT to swim.  For months, I've been waiting for my ear tube (from my previous ear problem) to fall out, and it's finally gone!  I can't walk uphill for 45 minutes without heaving like a sick horse, but I can swim like a fish for a long time, no problem.

Oddly enough, the loudest voice in my head encouraging me to finish these challenges successfully isn't my own.   It's Travis Pierce.  

Travis is a friend of mine from back home.  We both attended Surefire Boot Camp for several months, and when we attended class at the same time, he was usually the person that I would try to beat out.  Sometimes I did, and sometimes he cheated.... and occasionally, he would beat me honestly.  No matter where we were in the workout though, I could count on Travis to trash talk encourage me.

Now, whenever I need motivation at the gym, even though I'm hundreds of miles away, one of the first things that comes to mind is Travis, saying, "C'MON BREKKE!!  IS THAT ALL YOU GOT??"  So I push harder and fight longer.  The memory of him taunting encouraging me helps me keep going.

And although it will be quite some time before Travis and I can go head to head again at Surefire, when that day comes, I need to be ready.

Because I don't like to be the cheater.

So bring it on Travis.

See you "soon."

Anna

This past weekend I was working at Nordstrom, like usual.  I had made a bunch of really cute foundation samples and was handing them out in the aisles when my manager pulled me to the floor and asked me to help a customer who was searching for a good foundation.

Of course, I happily took on the task, since matching people in foundations is one of my favorite things to do--right up there beside giving people complete makeovers.  There is an artistic aspect to doing this that requires a keen eye for color, and my eye seems to have developed quite well in that area.

My customer's name was Anna.  I've helped her find a mascara before, but hadn't ever had a chance to sit down and talk with her for more than a couple of minutes.

Anna is a beautiful Philippino woman.  Her natural hair color is a soft charcoal that fades in the popular ombre style toward a mid-level caramel brown on the ends.  It lands a little past her shoulders and I've noticed she likes to wear it curled in a wave.  Her eyes are a deep brown that glint gold when the light hits them, and you can tell by their shape that she smiles quite a bit.  Her skin has a strong gold tone with very few imperfections, which I found amazing once I learned about the last few years of her life.  Most people wear their stress on their face.

Before you start thinking I'm a creeper, know that these are the things I pay attention to when I'm searching for what color to use on people.  I can tell you these details about almost any person that I've put foundation on.  I'd probably also be able to recall the depth of color and thickness of their brows, if they had any distinguishing marks on their face, and if they had strong cheekbones or not.

Somehow we got on the topic of cancer.  I think she thought I'd noticed her scar on her neck.  Being someone who has a scar from cancer, I can tell you that sometimes I'm self-conscious of it and sometimes I think people notice it.  Oddly enough, though, I don't usually recognize them on others.  I mean, I'll notice them, but my mind doesn't stop and think, "This person has a scar.  I wonder what it's from?"  I guess I my assumption is that everyone is scarred, but only some of us have them on the outside whereas others carry them only on the inside.

Turns out she's had thyroid cancer.  She was diagnosed a few years ago and has been through several surgeries and multiple rounds of radiation.  Her journey has been long and difficult.  During one of her surgeries, one of her laryngeal nerves was clipped, and consequently, her right vocal cord is now permanently paralyzed.  Did I mention she's a professional singer?

At one point, she was completely unable to speak, or even whisper.  In her book, My Lipstick Journey Through Cancer, she talks about how she had to grieve the possibility of not being able to sing again.  Possibly ever.  However, she's been in therapy for quite some time now, working on restoring strength to her working vocal cord so she can continue singing.

Every time she's visited the cosmetic counters at Nordstrom, Anna is always smiling.  Always.  I was thinking about it while reading her book, and I hope that I have a positive effect on people like she does.  I hope that I am a little ray of sunshine for people who meet me on a daily basis, that I smile, and that people feel a little more cared for and respected because they met me.

***Update, 3/16/13: Anna isn't doing so well now.  It is believed that the cancer is coming back and has spread to different areas, but she has no insurance to pay for a PET scan that would reveal more.***