What is beautiful?!

What IS beautiful really?

Merriam-Webster defines beautiful as having qualities of beauty : exciting aesthetic pleasure. So then, what is beauty? Merriam-Webster defines beauty as : the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : loveliness
2 : a beautiful person or thing; especially : a beautiful woman
3 : a particularly graceful, ornamental, or excellent quality
4 : a brilliant, extreme, or egregious example or instance

Not the definitions you were expecting, right? Or were they? Mostly because, we as a society have created a new meaning for what is really beautiful. Curious, I went to Google and searched "beautiful women" under images and got this result:

Hardly any of them had clothes on or were sans makeup. And if they weren't clothed they definitely didn't look like this:

Which picture do you find "beautiful"?

Picture number two wins for me hands down. I might be biased since I have quite the flabby tummy myself :Þ, but she looks genuinely happy. She isn't enhanced or altered (to my knowledge)The first picture seems so... FAKE... Her expressions look forced, her ass was probably enlarged with photoshop and her face looks as though it has seen far too much sun and botox injections. Am I wrong? Who is really wrong?

The extent women go to be beautiful is beyond me. I mean... There are some crazy things people have done or are doing now, regardless of any consequences. Right now I am in intro to cosmetology and we're learning all the history and stories behind it and here are some crazy things that we have learned in class. Some of them I had already known, but some of them are new to me.

In ancient China, the 4-inch "lotus foot" was considered a sign of perfect beauty. The practice of foot-binding involved breaking the bones of the forefoot and folding them forward, then tying the misshapen appendage to prohibit growth.

For ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Persians, sparkling eyes were considered beautiful and they applied the heavy metal antimony to make their conjunctiva sparkle. A woman with a high forehead was considered beautiful during the Elizabethan era, and upper-class Elizabethan women plucked or shaved their eyebrows and top of their hairline to achieve this look. These women also covered their skin with ceruse (lead-based) makeup, which caused peripheral neuropathy, gout, anemia, chronic renal failure, and disfiguring scarring, requiring the application of more ceruse makeup. Chronic users, such as Queen Elizabeth I, acquired a misshapen appearance. Upset over her grisly visage, the Queen banished all mirrors from her castle.

In the court of Louis XVI, noblewomen drew blue veins onto their necks and shoulders to emphasize their exalted status ("bluebloods"). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the wealthy used belladonna eyedrops to dilate their pupils. Users acquired an "attractive" doe-like appearance, but they also risked retinal damage, glaucoma, and blindness. During the 18th century, vermilion rouge, concocted of sulfur and mercury, achieved popularity. Users lost teeth, suffered gingivitis, and (unknowingly) risked kidney and nervous system damage from mercury.

Today, it's all about hair dyes, makeup, corsets, botox, cosmetic surgeries, anorexia, bulimia, meth, heroine, among many other drugs that rid you of an appetite and speed up your metabolism. What are we doing to ourselves?

To some, if not most of you, this is just a ridiculous rant that will lead me to nowhere, and you're probably right. But I felt compelled. In class we were outlining chapter three of our books, which is all about your personal image. I came across a paragraph that contained a few sentences that really rattled me.

First, let me be the first to tell you that I LOVE me some makeup and I wear it almost daily. I will be the first to tell you that I am somewhat unhappy with my body and what I see are it's flaws, and to most women this is also true to them. However, I am surprisingly the most happy about my body than I have ever been. I think I am sexy and beautiful and real. I am learning everyday to embrace my "flaws" and lead a healthy example for my girls.

Okay... Enough about all that... Let me get to my point.

Here is the excerpt from the paragraph under The Art of Makeup.

"...You should ALWAYS use makeup to accentuate your best features, and mask your less flattering ones. With that said, it is VITAL to ALWAYS wear makeup at work. A freshly scrubbed face may look great for a leisurely day at the beach, but it does NOTHING to promote your image as a beauty professional while at work..." (Milady's Standard Cosmetology pg. 29)

WHAT?!?! Did that really make it to print in our book?! Yes, yes it did...

Who are you to tell me that I HAVE to wear makeup to work to make it as a beauty professional? If I'm being honest, most women to me, look more beautiful without all the makeup. I choose to wear it because I feel I look ill or pale without it. Mostly because I am used to seeing myself with it on and that is probably the case with a lot of women. But why would I have to wear it to make a living as a cosmetologist? If I'm good at what I do, that should be enough, right?

I'm done ranting... For now. Most of you will probably not have made it this far into the post, so I'll just zip it.

Thanks for listening... Or reading... Whatever.

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. —Confucius

9:31

Last night after the kids settled into bed Jonathan relaxed on the couch to continue reading his book while I finished the remainder of my homework.

After what seemed like a few hours had passed, I checked the clock, sure to see that it was midnight or well after, only to find that it was 9:31pm. We felt terribly tired and went to bed.

Does this make us old?!

However, once we got to bed we each began to discuss and share our dreams of the future and our ever hopeful and one day successful business. And of course we had to have a most ridiculous argument about women wearing too much makeup and societies stance on what is professional and what is beautiful or not (This makes me want to write another post). We talked about where we would be or how our life would have differed had we not gone back to Missouri after Katrina... We decided that we like the way things are now and would not change them for anything; ups, downs, and everything in between. ☺ We finally ended our discussions with jokes about telling one another to shut the hell up so the other could sleep. =Þ

Eventually the lights were out at 11pm... Maybe we're not so old after all. ;)

Biting The Hand That Feeds You

Joseph is eating his breakfast at the kitchen table and he turns to ask me, "Mom. Does your ring talk?"

"Does my ring talk? What?"

"Yeah, does it do everything you do?"

"What do you mean? Rings cannot talk, Joseph."

"Not ring, BRAIN mom."

"Oh... (Feeling slightly retarded and a little deaf too) Um... Brains don't talk like we do. They....."

Lots of screaming and crying takes place

"What happened?" No answer. "Why are you crying?"

"AHHHHHHHH. SOB. SOB. SCREAM. SOB. SCREAM....."

"Joseph, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

"I... I... *SOB, SCREAM*... I... Bent my thumb."

"How did you bend your thumb, son?

"Not bend, BIT my thumb."

Realizing I might actually need a hearing aid, I ask him, "How did you bite your thumb then?"

He shows me his thumb, which is now dripping quite a bit of blood.

"You bit that good. What were you doing?"

"I was eating my toast." He must have thought he was starving to have bitten it so hard.

Toy Story Band-aid's come out and the tears dry up and he is eating once again, only this time much slower than before.

"Mom, I think my thumb has a broken heart now."

"Thumbs don't have hearts."

"But I feel it's heart beat in there."

I love him.

Nights Two & Three

Warning: You might find this a rather long post. Please forgive me ☺

Night two was not much different than night one. If anything is was more hectic and not much of anything got accomplished.

We received our kits and roll arounds on night two. So we went through the kits making sure we had everything. We got paired up with one of the other students who were already familiar with their kits and what not. I got paired with Kimberly, who was my pin curl partner the first night. I didn't think that it was going to be a bad idea, but it was BAD. Everyone knows how organized and planned I am... This girl is obviously the complete opposite. I wanted to lay everything out on the table and start looking for the first thing on the list and marking as I go. No, she just started grabbing shit from my organized set up and marking it off the list. Then she just started marking shit without checking to see if I had it or not. I was getting surprisingly angry with her over this. She wasn't doing it right the way I wanted. I held my tongue for what seemed like an eternity and snapped. "Look. You're just marking shit off the list and I don't see it here. Half the stuff you've marked off the list isn't what you're putting back into the box." She replied, obviously pissed at me for being such a smart ass. "No, I know I'm doing it right. I do have a kit of my own you know." I was HOT. And for what? I was the smart ass first, but she was being an idiot! She went outside to smoke and left me to myself (Thankfully), low and behold she has marked more than one thing off the list that was not in my kit! Stupid women who think they know everything.

Our kit included a million and one things: A shit ton of combs of all sorts; rat tail, detangling, metal rat tail, wide tooth, taper comb, shear comb, and dozens of each! Six round brushes, paddle brush, scalp brush that is so hard, I would be terrified of using it on a scalp for fear of removing all the scalp while brushing, vent brushes, and other brushes that I have no idea what they are called. Then a roll of brushes and combs. Shears, thinning shears, razor cutters that I am super excited about learning how to use! Different capes, that I cannot figure out the difference in (waterproof cape, hair cutting cape, and shampoo cape) they all look and feel the exact same! Makes no sense. An acrylic set, facial set and brushes, cosmetic kit but no cosmetic brushes, clippers, peanut clippers, clipper guides, spray bottles, mirror, single prong clips, duckbill clips, butterfly clips, double prong clips, curling iron, flat iron, blow dryer with a diffuser, nozzle concentrator and another attachment that I have no idea what it is called, and all the stuff for dying hair and giving pedicures. Whew! Did you get all that?! Wait! There's more! Five mannequins that all have names even. Miss Michelle, two Miss Amerikan, Miss Maria, and the man mannequin named Magnum, and he looks a lot like Jesus; and of course a mannequin stand. The mannequin heads are nasty. Not only do they look drag-esque, but the hair has been super-processed to make it clean. It's grossness. On the upside? We get to decorate them however we want! Helloooooooo Sharpie collection! I'm thinking maybe drag queen. I wonder if I could pull off putting convincing freckles on them? Hmmmm... Unfortunately, because they have been super processed, we cannot use them until their hair has been cut and until they've had a hair dye. Which is two different classes I'm sure and we don't even know when we'll have those classes. Gay!

I mentioned having been missing a few items from our kits, right. First, my mirror was broken, then we were missing single prong clips (which are super important for the class that I am currently in because of all the hairstyles that require them), the clippers, peanut clippers, shampoo cape, and the thermal holder. The students that are in the class with us newbies still had not received the items they were missing from their kits and they've been in school for six weeks now. Not looking promising folks!

By the time we finished with our kits, it was seriously 8:00 and class starts at 5:45. All that time to go through our kits! After all of that we outlined our chapter and started our workbook questions, there are 117 of them. We have our first test on Monday on finger waves and pin curls. Thankfully it's not the practical part of it, because nearly everyone of us would fail! Seems pretty simple and to the point. I got this in the bag! ☺

Night three: On Thursdays and every other Saturday we have a different teacher. Her name is Mrs. Buie (Boo eee). She is an older woman who was a psychologist for years and years while doing hair on the side and decided she wanted to get paid for it and went to school for cosmetology. Because she was a psychologist she had us do a couple activities. One to determine left or right brained-ness, a personality test, and a puzzle. Of course I am extremely left brained. Us left brainers are very organized, punctual, we seek logic and facts rather than instinct or gut feelings. We remember names and we are sequential. The down fall being, we can't figure out why right brainers are the way they are and we don't see "the whole picture" we do it one thing at a time. You right brainers are not organized, you are led by your feelings, have no sense of time and are just random, but you see the whole picture, not just parts!

Then the personality test to determine if we were stringers or groupers. Stringers, simply put, love order and a structured learning environment. They are list makers, plan every detail, etc. (left brained) Groupers are very general. They like to learn a little bit of everything and can easily get distracted by other more interesting subject matter. They plan things in a broader aspect and usually do it all in their head instead of on paper.(right brained) Anybody wanna hazard a guess as to what I am? I am a Stringer.

We did an exercise where the Groupers (5 of them) formed a group and the Stringers (2 of us)(Only had 7 students show up last night) formed groups and we had to plan a vacation. We had to figure out where we were going, how we were getting there, what we were going to do and what we needed to bring.Not unexpectedly, Us Stringers made detailed lists and chose one location (France) and chose many activities (water sports, canal cruises, hiking, wine tours, cuisine, Disneyland Resort Paris (which I did not know about until my partner, the only other stringer, told me about it), Normandy, learning the language, museums, etc. We literally had a million activities planned. We were gonna make it worth it!). The poor Groupers chose 3 countries, 3 modes of getting to them, alcohol (Apparently my classmates are a bunch of lushes =Þ) and one other activity was planned for each location. And it was all listed in pictures. Guess they really are broad-spectrum thinkers, huh? Lol

Then we did a puzzle. Mrs. Buie handed out two pictures of horses and then one picture that had two jockeys. The puzzle was to rearrange the pieces so the jockeys were riding the horses the correct way.Here's a picture of them:

First instinct might be to solve it this way:

But that is incorrect because the jockeys must be riding on the back of the horses, not the underside of the belly. I also tried doing it this way, and that clearly doesn't work either:

 So THIS

would be your solution. It took me a while to get it.

Then we went on break and came back to an empty classroom. Mrs. Buie walked by and told us she was cutting two of her friends' hair and told us to sit tight. What the hell? So we're just supposed to sit here while you cut two people's hair? She comes back with two women and her hair cutting supplies. There were students working on the floor so she had to bring them to the classroom. Both ladies have been getting their hair cut by Mrs. Buie alone for 26 years! I hope to have loyal clients like that some day! The younger woman had really long, heavy hair. She was going to cut it all off! I was super excited! He hair was pretty, but it just weighed her down and made her look old and tired. She ended up cutting off 15 inches! It looks SOOOOOO fucking cute! I wish I had taken before and after pictures! Tee-hee. Maybe Mrs. Buie will be getting another client... ME. Tee-hee.

Okay... This blog is already ridiculously long, so I'm going to end it there. Saturday mornings I have class from 8:30a-2:30p and it's supposed to be all practical work. So pin curls and finger waves for six whole hours! Lovely!

Until next time...

-Jaclyn-

In The Beginning

So... My first night of cosmetology was last night. I am attending Blue Cliff College for Cosmetology. The school has an excellent reputation. The staff seems to be the most wonderful, friendly people alive, minus one of the receptionists... She seems a little snooty... Maybe I can change her? Bwahahaha! The atmosphere is the best and the people there are amazing (I think I already said that, but they really are! ☺).

The first night was a little nerve-wracking. I usually don't get very nervous about meeting new people and whatnot, but my nerves definitely got a hold of me last night. Only three cosmetology students were enrolled at the time of orientation, so I was already confused on how the class situation was going to be. I mean, a class of only three students? I got to the school with only five minutes to spare because I felt the need to spend too much time with Jonathan before I left since he got home almost three hours later than usual since he has to replace a mechanic for the next week. There were four of us in the waiting area, so we got an extra student! Robyn (one of the receptionist, not the snoot. =P) took us to our classroom and there were seven others in there. So we actually have 11 students. Awesome! Then I find out that they're not new students, they started in May. So I got even more confused about the teaching arrangement. I asked Kimberly, one of the older students who actually worked with one of Jonathan's coworkers for quite a few years, and she tells me that they actually took a different class when they started in May, which is supposed to be the class after this one. So far I'm definitely not digging their scheduling/teaching situation, but we'll see how it all works out.

Class started with covering all the legal mumbo-jumbo required by the state and THREE PAGES on attitude! Poems, book excerpts, definitions, everything attitude. I get it already! Sheesh! That took up most of the night. We have not yet gotten our kits yet, but supposed to tonight. They have started a new rule with the kits too. Used to be that you could take your kits home with you the day/night you got them, but now, they have to stay at the school for 30 days before you can. Supposedly it's because of all the people they have that drop before the 30 days when the school gets their money and then the students are not returning their kits, so they're basically stealing from the school. Kinda crappy, but it is what it is.

There are two men in our class of 11. One is Vietnamese, a little difficult to understand, but super nice and rumor has it, great with hair. The other is a tall black man who seems to be rather quiet. He has two daughters (I think?) and is a single father. The women are hilarious and I love every one of them already. We laughed ALL. NIGHT. LONG. It was really great! I can only imagine some of the conversations we'll have. My instructor is a real hoot too. I think I'm going to enjoy this!

With the remaining time we learned to do pin curls. I'm loving this hands-on stuff!☺It's a crazy process that involves LOADS of hair gel and no slip grip fingertips! I'll definitely post pictures when I get good at it! Tee-hee. Since the school does not have a janitorial staff, we have to use the remainder of our time to clean the building. The men usually take out the trash and clean the restrooms while the women sweep and mop the classrooms and the salon and basically any 'housekeeping'. Not as bad as it sounds. Really.

Thus ended my first night in class.

─Jaclyn─

Life Altering Decisions

We all make decisions, some are good and some are bad. Many are quick and some are thought out. Some of us even make decisions not to make decisions. Some decisions affect others, well I should say that most decisions affect others in one way or another. Some decisions are for a lifetime others are daily and minor (learning decisions). Other decisions affect our character (moral decisions). When we are young, we tend to give little thought to the decisions we make and how they will affect the rest of our life. Unfortunately, a lot of kids take the "easy" route and make decisions that cost us a lot as we get older.

Recently I made a life changing decision. I have chosen to go to cosmetology school. Those that I have mentioned it to are instantly asking me if I'm crazy, why did you do that after a year of nursing school? or they're telling me I am finally on the right track!

So... Am I crazy? I've been told before, so... maybe I am.

Why, after a whole year of nursing school? As a child, into my teens and even my adulthood, I wanted to be an OBGYN. THAT to me, is definitely my dream job. However, having a family, I see it as an unrealistic goal. There is SO much schooling involved, as well as internships and residency. I couldn't be away from my family for that long and be happy for the rest of my life with so much stress, both work and family related. So I decided to attend nursing school. I figured it would be the closest to being an OBGYN that I could get. And I was so excited. I had plans for obtaining my masters and becoming an FNP (family nurse practitioner) and way into the future opening my own practice. And the money wasn't bad either. But the more I thought about it and talked about it, the more unsure I was of that decision and the more I started thinking about only the money. I didn't want to just settle for something, because I would not reach my goal of being an OBGYN. I definitely didn't want to invest so much time and money into something for only the money and a life without happiness... (I sound like I'm rambling a lot here.)

I have always cut people's hair. I wasn't always good, but I learned to be good at it. I started having friends ask me to cut their hair, color their hair and do their nails and makeup. I LOVE IT! I am such a girly girl and it makes me happy making people feel good about themselves and feel beautiful. Jonathan told me more than once that he noticed how much I "light up" when I talk about cosmetology school and how I seemed unsure when I talked about nursing school. He was right, I started noticing it too. A family friend has told me for almost as long as I've known her that I was thinking about the wrong profession, that nursing wasn't me. She was also right. I just had to learn for myself.

I don't regret for one second attending nursing school for a year. I made some great friends along the way. I learned a lot about microbiology, and it has turned me into somewhat of a germ freak Lol. I learned to try not to stress so much and just go with the flow a little bit. I learned I am an over studier (Is that even a word?). And I learned to never second guess myself, especially on a test. Every damn time I did, and I changed my answer it was ALWAYS right the FIRST time! I wanted to pull my hair out over that every time. But I learned and it worked when I kept my first answers. I learned SO MUCH about myself, about what I wanted in life, what I wanted for my family, and what was best for me. THAT to me was the best part of nursing school.

Last night I had orientation and I get more and more excited all the time. My first class is Tuesday night. I CAN'T WAIT!!! The only downfall is that because I'll be taking night classes, it will extend the length of schooling by seven months. I will attend my last class on December 24th of 2011. I also have class on Saturday mornings 8:30am-2:30pm. BLEH! But it's going to be so worth it! :)

I'm almost sure I'll invite you along for a ride in a blog or two and you might get tired of hearing me talk about cosmetology so often. So I'll start by apologizing now. SORRY! =Þ

I am so thankful for all of the support I have been given. I am most thankful for my husband. For sticking with me through thick and thin, and for giving the most and best support that even Victoria Secret would be jealous of.

Wish me luck along the way! I love you all!

Jaclyn