my down-home hair salon

This may sound arrogant, but I think I found the coolest hair salon in Dallas. Notice, though, that I did not say "the most upscale hair salon." The upscale salon is probably easier to find in this rich metropolitan city. My salon is only about a 7 minute drive from our apartment. It has a fun, family atmosphere where everyone seems to know each other; somehow, even though I know no one and should feel out of place, I feel strangely at home. It's a comfortable little salon with no pretentious decor. It's probably more likely that the furniture all came from a second-hand store down the street than a fancy Dallas store. That's what I love about it - it has character. All the stylists are Hispanic, as are many of the patrons, so there is very often a lovely mixture of Spanish and English coversation floating around. It seems that the majority of the customers are elderly women getting their weekly or bi-weekly hair setting. I think they're adorable! I love to just sit back and watch from my conveniently centered perch. And then there's my stylist. The first time I called for an appointment, not knowing who to ask for, she was the one with an open time slot. Her name is Rosie, and she is a hip Hispanic mother of 2 children. From my first apppointment with her, I have appreciated her ability to cut my hair quickly and exactly how I wanted it (that's a feat because I struggle to communicate exactly what I want). In fact, this morning I went in for my normal 2 month cut, and I walked out 15 minutes later completely satisfied with the result!

It probably was a combination of the early morning coolness and the wonderful fall smells that put me in such a great mood. But I still love everything about my hair salon - even the dirty floor, water spotted ceiling, and furniture with cracking paint. But especially, I love the people that I get to come in contact with; it's easier to believe that they are real people with real problems than any of the upscale mansion owners that I see.

tag, you're it

Apparently, there is a grown up way to play tag that is less, shall we say, physically demanding. I have been tagged by my friend Kelly. The rules in this game are such:

For each letter of my middle name I must:
- share 1 unique characteristic about me and
- tag 1 person for each letter of my middle name.

Here goes....
my middle name is MARIE

M usic lover. I can't get enough of it!

A rtist wanna-be. Read my first post to find out more about this...

R eader. For lack of anything else interesting about me...I love to read all sorts of books.

I ntrovert. By this I mean that I would prefer to spend quality time with a few close friends than go to a huge and crazy party.

E xpert Nerts player. It's a two or more player very fast game of solitaire.

And now I am supposed to tage 5 people. The problem with this is I only know of about 5 people who are blogging, so I apologize for any double-tagging that may occur!

I choose Greg H (it's been awhile since you were tagged), Karen, Jenna, Emily S, and Keenan (you'll have to start blogging!).

(That was much easier than chasing kids around the blacktop and potentially falling, as much fun as that is.)

the texas state fair

I know, it's been a long time since I've written anything here. In my defense I have been extremely tired as I've been putting in some overtime at work, and my creative juices just have not been flowing - lame, I know. But it's the truth. I'm sure some of you mothers out there are thinking, "Oh boy, how is she ever going to make it being a mother?" (I wonder that myself!!)

In the not-so-recent news....Heath & I went to the Texas State Fair on October 13th. It was a big deal for me as I had never been to a state fair. Last year I was quite disappointed that we weren't able to go with all the moving expenses. So this year, I decided to start a State Fair fund months in advance to make sure we had enough cash to cover the exorbitant cost of just parking and walking in the front gate! Not only were we able to go, but it turned out to be beautiful weather - sunny with a cool breeze.

Highlights of our day include:

* being some of the first people there in the morning

* visiting the animals in the barns - especially the baby goats!

* eating corn dogs & loaded nachos

* seeing the Cotton Bowl and Big Tex

* tasting free food samples

* marveling over the biggest sand sculpture I've ever seen

* enjoying it all with my wonderful husband