Doing the Side Stroke Upriver

We are so boring.

Seriously.

Brother Isaac always used to make fun of me for it and I would just laugh, but now, it's getting serious.  Or, rather, more serious.  Basically, I work.  And basically, Isaac Jordan studies.  And eats Skittles from the five pound bag that Mom sent him...

My non-salon job is going better.  I don't feel that I'm probably the best sales person on the planet, but I do what they ask of me at 200% effort so nobody can say I don't try.  The biggest thing that amuses me about my job is the type of expectations people can place on a facial cream.  I was on the phone the other day with a lady for over an hour and a half discussing which skincare regimen would benefit her the most.  She wanted hydrating, lifting, tightening, firming, wrinkle-fixing, de-puffing, pore-shrinking, acne-curing, dark-circle-ridding magic.  I ended up telling her that if things are really headed that far south, the best product would probably be a face lift.  Creams and serums can only do so much.

Things are going along pretty well at Ken Paves Salon too.  We're having an event on Sunday, April 1st to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I figured since so many people went out of their way to help us when we needed it, the very least I can do is donate what I can and encourage others to do the same.  The relief that we felt once the financial burden lift during chemo was immense.  I didn't even realize how heavy it was until afterward.

Here's a flyer for the event, in case you hadn't seen it yet:

Mom and Jessica will be coming up for it, which will be really sweet.  They're going to be our greeters, welcoming people in with warmness and smiles and asking how they've become connected to the event.  We hope to do lots of makeovers for women who are currently in treatment or who have recently finished treatment.  There is something therapeutic about putting your makeup on every morning.  Especially after chemo.  It's kind of... stabilizing.  If that makes sense.  Like.... even though everything else in your world has been shaken, at least you can still take a shower and put your makeup on.

We'll also have wigs for women who have gone through treatment and lost their hair.  Ken was super sweet and has not only offered the wigs, but has given us full and complete support, which is awesome.  We're hoping to be able to raise over $5,000, and honestly, I'd be thrilled if we could hit $10,000.

I would probably cry.

Anyway... I've got to sign off for the night... I open tomorrow morning and I need to be rested so I can put 200% in all day again tomorrow!

Enjoy your life.  Every day is faster than the next and at some point, you run out of days.

C'est La Vie.

Work, work, work.  That's what this past week has been.

The funnier part is that the amount of work I did wasn't even really that much.  I used to put in anywhere between a 40-60 hour week without thinking about it, but this week 30 was pushing my limits.

I know I'm going to get a lecture from my "cancer moms" telling me that I shouldn't try to push too hard, too fast.  But believe me, I've already picked up on that.  When I'm tired after working for only 7 or 8 hours, I have no other option than to believe it's a residual effect from the chemo and radiation.  'Cause normally, that'd be no problem.

Some women I've talked to told me it might take up to a year for me to get "back to normal." Whatever that may be.

For now, though, I find myself yawning at 8pm.  Granted, I rarely go to bed that early because there is still a part of me that feels like coping out that early is just wussy.  And I don't like to be a wuss.

The plan for today is to make it out to either Lakeside Mall or The Somerset Collection to hand out my cards and strike up deals with the pretty faces behind the counters so that I can get my name out there.

I was talking with one of the girls that I work with last night and asked if she wanted to go with to hand out cards at Somerset soon and I'm not sure I understood her response.  It seemed she was worried that we would be stepping on someone else's turf or that maybe we were inferior to the resident mall salon.  I was confused.  Actually, I still am.

Either way, I'm not worried about it.  If their work is better than mine, it will show and their clients will stay.  However, if it's not...  well, that's how the game goes.  I won't badmouth another stylist or salon to gain their clientele, but I'm not going to sit back and just hope people appear in my chair, either.  I'm going to get my hustle on and let people know that if they'd like, I'm here: talented, able, and willing. (And in a lot of cases, more budget friendly, too!)

The ubiquitous "they" say that if you gain about 50 clients in a year, probably expect to lose about 10-20% of them in that same year.  Some people just like to jump around, while others die, move, go off to college, etc...  Regardless, your client's lives are not static, so they won't be either.

Anyway, that's enough of that.

Isaac has been studying like a madman, making sure that he's ready for everything that his Cardiology class can throw at him.  He's definitely a little bit stressed, but I suppose a little fire under everyone's behind does some good.

I've been getting little love-notes from him recently, which I adore.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm working a little bit now.  Or maybe it's because I've been conscious for a couple of consecutive months instead of doped up on the chemo drugs.  Whatever the cause is, I'm a fan.

I've been enjoying my time at Nordstrom so far too.  It's a very interesting place.

Dad got home from Africa today!!  I haven't talked to him yet because I think everyone is together hanging out, talking about how the trip was over lunch and stuff, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to chat with him soon.

It's weird, not being home in Iowa for his homecoming.  I can picture in my head what's probably gone on and I can remember what the emotional atmosphere was last time he got home, but it stinks, not being able to be there and share it with them.

I've been having weird dreams, too.  Really weird, and REALLY vivid.  Almost every night.  Even weirder, Jessica and I both dreamt that I was pregnant a couple of nights ago.  Glory, I hope not.  I know, I know, His timing is perfect.  I have complete trust in that; I just would be extremely curious how it would work with our present life situation.

C'est la vie.

Well Hello, Sir!

So.

I've just about peed myself several times this week.  I don't even have a good excuse for that kind of thing anymore since I'm not in chemo, but hey, it still happens... right?

The first time I almost wet my pants was when I got a Facebook friend request from Ken Paves.  I had kind of wanted to add him since I was working in his salon, but I didn't want to be a creeper, so I didn't.  I figured I should probably wait until I meet him someday and then I can friend him.  So now we're Facebook friends.

It came as a complete shock to me, so of course I had to capture the moment in a screen shot.

Then, Nordstrom (I've been officially notified that it's inappropriate to say Nordstrom's) called and offered me a part-time position as a rover, which means I'll be getting paid to play with makeup all day!  I really can't think of a better way to pay off student loans--except for doing hair, of course.

THEN, I got a call on Saturday morning from the manager at Ken Paves Salon asking if I could come in for a meeting later because Ken was going to be in and would like to chat with everyone.  That, my friends, was when I literally almost... you know.

Immediately, I asked if his parents were going to be in early because I had a couple of things that I wanted to talk with them about before the meeting.  They were, so I hopped through the shower, put my face on, and out the door I went.  In my head I'd been thinking that it would be ideal to talk with them about the position I'd been offered and see if they'd be willing to work with me so far as scheduling and such and I also wanted to talk with Ma Paves about doing an event we'd talked about previously to see if she was still considering it.

Ma & Pa Paves were already there, working away in the office when I stuck my head in to see if they had a minute to chat.  Usually they do.  They LOVE to chat.  Which is good, because I like chatting with them!  Anyway, I went to take a seat to talk with them when Ma asked me what Ken was doing.  I was a little confused because in my head I thought he wasn't coming in until the meeting.  Turns out he was already there.

Again, surprise!  It was cute to watch how excited she was that he was there.  It reminded me of Mom and Ike.  Apparently there is nothing that makes a woman smile more than getting to see her son and give him hugs and bathe him with her motherly love.  It's so precious!

I had the opportunity to chat with him for a while and thoroughly enjoyed the entire conversation.  He's a very insightful guy with a big heart.  I'm really excited that he'll be pushing us to do better as stylists and artists and is generous enough to allow us access to some of his resources to do so.

Those close to me already know that I love working, but it seems that it will be even more exciting this year!!

If your'e interested in checking out the work blog (I'll be keeping my personal life out of there) click here!  'Til next time!

Business, Business

I had my PET/CT scan this morning.  I think it went pretty well.  The biggest upside to the immediate experience is that I only had to get poked with a needle once!  Hallelujah!

Tonight Kim and I are going to pretend that we're really fancy folk and go to an event that is being held at Partridge Creek at J. Barbaro Clothiers.  It's a high-class (or at least, high-income) men's store that sells pretty nice ties, shirts, suits, etc. for a pretty penny.  Isaac and I happened to wander in there last Sunday after church while we were mall-walking because he was hoping to get ideas for clothes for when he has to start dressing up for clinical rotations come this next school year.

It was a little bit comical, in my opinion.  Neither one of us were dressed nice, my hair looked all crazy, and Isaac is in dire need of a cut himself.  The sweet lady at the counter either must have been blind and didn't realize that "no, we can't pay $125 for a tie," or she did a killer job at following that rule of business which states that you should never assume your client's income or spending habits.  Either way, she was leading us all around the showroom putting together combinations of shirts, ties, and jackets in hopes that I would "get ideas" for Isaac for Christmas.

As we were heading out the door, she stopped us at the counter and invited me to attend a ladies' night later on in the week.  I'm not exactly sure what those events look like, but she led me to believe that it will be cocktails and snacks of some type.

We left and as we neared the car, I told Isaac that I was considering going to the event, simply because it would be a good networking opportunity where I might get the chance to hand out my card.  Plus, I'm assuming that if the women attending this event are going to pay $125 for a tie and upwards of $195 for a button-down shirt, they're probably not going to be all that opposed to investing some good money in their hair.  We'll see.

I had to create a new temporary business card (partially for this event, partially for my own sanity) as well because the one I was handing out didn't quite portray what it is that I do.  To me, a business card is something that, if executed well, will draw in new clients to you almost on its own.  Here's what I ended up doing:

Back side of original card

Front side of original card

New card front, back is empty

I got some tips from a friend on how to hand my card out in a non-tacky way as well.  I've never really had to hand a card out to someone I don't know, aside from college students, who are generally very un-scary, and so I'm a little nervous.  Plus, I'm not sure if there are business card hand-out faux-pas...

Anyway, Kim and I will be attending tonight and I'm sure I'll have some interesting stories about our experience.

And in even cooler news: I get my port out on Monday.  I'm super psyched!!  YES!!

Job Situation

I've been searching for a job since a couple of weeks after chemotherapy.  I applied absolutely everywhere--and I mean everywhere.  Food service, retail, salons, hospitals, nannying... you name it, I probably applied for it.

Then, about a week and a half ago, I got a call back from Helen at Ken Paves Salon.  She was willing to offer me a position, so long as I was aware that they wouldn't be able to provide me with a clientele; I'd have to build up on my own.  That's alright by me!  I've started from the bottom before, and I'm a firm believer that doing so helps you to appreciate where you get later on.

(For you Michiganites that are interested, I'll be in the salon Tuesday and Thursday from 4-9, Wednesday from 2-6, Friday from 2-7, and Saturday from 9-2.  Call 586-416-8600 to schedule!)

However, because I don't have a clientele yet, I still need a second job that will pay the bills.  I'd kind of been giving up on finding one until this past week, and then, as usual, when it rains, it pours.

Last week I received a reply on an application I had placed for a nannying position.  Then this morning, I got a phone call from Macomb Community College to interview for a position as a Student Activities Coordinator.  About an hour or so later, a restaurant called to see if I could make it to open interviews tomorrow for a hosting position.

I always have a hard time making a good decision when I have so many options.  That's why I'm hoping God narrows this down for me.

He already started by making the restaurant interview impossible.  I had a fever, chills, sore throat, and severely achy hips last night, which led to me deciding not to go back to Michigan today.  The plan had been for me to head back this morning, be a "patient" for first year MSUCOM students, then pack up and head back to Iowa City with my husband and Kim for Thanksgiving.  However, since I wasn't feeling too hot last night, I decided to revisit that plan.

Isaac had sent me to Iowa with Zicam, which proved to be a good call on his end.  I started taking it yesterday evening and have been taking it every three hours throughout the night and thus far into the day today.  It seems to have helped with the fever, chills, and sore throats, but my hips still ache like crazy.

I tried ibuprofen, but that didn't seem to help.  I was talking with Isaac about it, and he recommended trying Tylenol instead, which I did.  I'm still not really noticing a big difference.  He thought it might be my body trying to re-adjust to producing its own white blood cells still, since this is the second time I've had achy hips and it just so happens they've occurred when I was typically getting my Neulasta shot.

Whatever the cause, I'm not a huge fan.

So.

I've been taking it easy.  Chilling on the couch by the fire, reading, napping, watching TV, and chatting with Court.  It's frustrating to still not be at one hundred percent and be able to run around doing what I'd like to do, but I am thankful that I don't have chemo anymore.  Or radiation.