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Renée with her daughter Sadie

I met Renée twelve years ago. Almost exactly.  She did my long tresses in an undo for CeCe’s wedding.  She’s been making me feel beautiful ever since. Plus, she makes me laugh.  That first time I sat in her chair, she told me she had a real live ghost in her apartment.

“For real,” she said, her blue eyes wide, looking at me in the mirror.  Besides, she calls me a genius. How can I refuse to love Renée?  She makes me beautiful and she thinks I’m smart.

Renée is funny and she’s brave and she’s good.

Just a few months ago, she left the Big Name Salon where she worked for almost 18-year career, and ventured into a smaller salon. Sure, Big Name offered security and health insurance, but her new home, Salon Coccolé, offered something more important: freedom to pursue what she wants to do and a chance to grow and learn.  Her friend, mentor, and boss Donna Gentile encourages her to do that. For the first time in her career, thanks to Donna, Renée went to a Beauty Show where she met Ted Gibson Nick Arroyo of “What not to Wear” fame.

“Adela, you won’t believe how nice he is,” Renee’s blue eyes popped in the same way they did when she told me about her ghost. “He’s smaller than I thought he’d be, too.  He does cool makeovers.  He knows

It’s gratitude Monday and It’s CeCe’s birthday.  My gratitude is focused on her today. Today’s NaPoWriMo challenge: Wright […]

A week ago Loved-One helped me load up the Prius, hugged me good-bye and waved as I set off for BAM in Nashville.

I texted Love-One at home,  and his sister, Mary in Nashville,  along the way.  (#1 So you know where I am and you don’t worry; #2 In case I disappear and you need to worry.)  No one  worried.

As I followed Tweets and FaceBook posts of cancelled flights and disappointed bloggers, I was happy I decided to drive.  Until…

I am thinking about the value of one person’s life as I prepare to say goodbye to a […]

I love to camp.  I camped since, well, maybe since before I was born.  Mom camped as a […]

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Doreen McGettigan offered to share her book with me in exchange for an interview.  I came out on […]

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Camille often wears a wig to hide the effects of her Alopecia.

Every once in a while, I meet some one who sticks in my heart.  Camille Paddock is one of those people.  To look at her, you’d never guess at “Almost 16 year-old,”  she’s been put through the ringer by people who claimed to be her friends. She came out on top as a spokesperson for the underdog and beauty pageant queen.

When Camille was eight years old, she began to lose her hair. Not just a few strands; she lost handfuls of hair, until by the time she was in fifth grade, only a small rim of hair remained. Doctors dismissed. Camille’s condition as stress.  One even told her

Who dated George McGovern’s daughter, met Louis Armstrong, had a father who owned a radio station, is a detailed sculptor, and knows that if it weren’t for lips, the tongue would push the teeth out of the mouth? He lived in Iowa, South Dakota, and Illinois; he had homes on farms, in small towns and big cities. He dabbled in politics and aspired to be an artist. Who is creating a bust of President Abraham Lincoln, capturing his character and his Illinoisan visage, in a labor of love?

Who has so many intelligent thoughts begging to be set free that they sometimes tumble over his tongue, and lodge momentarily between his teeth? It’s Marengo, Illinois’s long-time dentist, Dr. Jim Sweet.

I got a chance to meet this interesting fellow, and my-oh-my,

It’s almost Mother’s Day.  I learned a lot from my mother.  I learned a lot from being a […]