Beauty

Captured this image today, an older ward member caught the same subway car as us. She proceeded to play counting games with my daughter. She also happens to be a matriarch of Mormon feminism. Seeing her with my daughter was...simply beautiful.

beautiful NY spaces

Let me clarify that I am mostly not into coveting. If I were into coveting, I would definitely covet the apartment I was lucky enough to hang at today with summa the ladies from my congregation. But I think sometimes it's good for us to look at our reality and say, "hey, I'm a student. I like that I'm a student. But that also means I get to live in a student's apartment." or "yeah, I'm an almost-thirty mom. And that means I have an almost-thirty mom's body." You get the idea. Maybe it's good for us to face reality, accept it, maybe even learn to like it, and just be happy for people who have a different reality right now (with their own assembly of setbacks that come with it. trust me, there are some).

As soon as I walked into L's apartment for ba-runch I started snapping photos. The way she had worked her living space was inspirational in an I'm-not-trying-too-hard-this-decor-just-makes-me-feel-happy kinda way. Let me walk you through the spaces and point out what I love. Also, huge confession, I uploaded each of these photos to Instagram so I could manipulate the images because, as it stands, my plain-old phone camera did not do justice to how it looked in real life.  L was nice enough to give me permission to post these pictures on my blog. Ready--oo!

Walk-in space. First off, I love this brick wall. I love the light highlighting the brick wall. I love the hanging blue bike. The bookshelf is in an accessible, but not obstructive locale. Oh, and she actually has cool books on her shelves. Even better, yes? Something I like about living in New York, with its crazy real estate, sky-high rent, and generally small spaces, is the way people learn to make efficient use of the space they do have. L has really mastered this I think. Way more than that, she makes do with less (this is HUGE actually). Her entryway is used, but uncluttered.

  

Kitchen/hallway. Like so many people here, L has a kitchenette. Which means next to zero counter area and smaller-and fewer-cupboards. She has partially solved this problem by using a small roll-around countertop which I didn't capture here. But you see the way she's solved the storage issue. By using her hallway to hang her kitchen aids.  I love this.

 

 

Living Room. Uncluttered. Functional. Comfortable. Eclectic. Artsy. Interesting. Colorful. Old meets New. Mortar and Pestle on the DVD player? I'm in love.

Living room/ Stairs to rooftop. Winding stairs will get me every time. Especially if they lead to a NYC rooftop. A part of me likes the low-key color, but another larger part of me wants to paint it turquoise. Your thoughts?

  

Roof.  Decked out in second-hand furniture. Bees buzzing (!). Potted plants.  Of course, if this were my rooftop the pots would be full of tomato plants. Oh well.

 

 

View. Can you spy the Cathedral of St. John the Divine down the street? There's also a view of the Hudson if you turn to your right. 

  

A huge plus: L is extremely likeable, which makes it easy to be happy for her for having such a rad apartment. She's an American who grew up in Austria because of her dad's work with the UN. I knew her decor had an international flavor.  I also knew almost instantly that she was some kind of designer. And...nailed it! Graphic design.

So the takeaway from this for me is: declutter. less is more. use space creatively and efficiently. be as colorful and eclectic as you want to be.

Things that don't bring happiness:

Fancy toys
Stunning good looks

Two stories here:

Story one, fancy toys, takes place back in Provo, Utah. Lissie and I were playing in the front yard. She was collecting sticks and these nifty seeds that dropped from the tree bordering the sidewalk and the street.  Down the sidewalk rolls a hefty kid and what appeared to be his little brother in a two seater toy car.  It was the shiz.  Nice plastic parts, and it even moved at the pace of one of those motorized chairs you see not-so-healthy people sitting in sometimes. With such a magnificent ride, you'd think those kids would be grinning ear to ear, right? Umm, not exactly.  In fact they looked, I kid you not, totally miserable.

Story two, stunning good looks, took place today on the 1 train between the Financial District and Times Square.  On walks a woman who obviously has a career in modeling.  This woman truly was in possession of stunning good looks. That is to say, she was effing gorgeous. I wish I could have taken a picture so as to send readers on a hunt to find what mag she poses for.   But did she and her metro boyfriend and their perfectly groomed Boston Terrier hanging in his doggy sling look exceptionally happy? Hrm, no. Not really.

I know both stories are anecdotal.  Some of you may be thinking I may have missed some longitudinal details, or that objectively, what does happiness look like anyway? I will say in response to the latter that I know happiness when I see it.  And some of the happiest people I've known in my life didn't have exceptionally fancy toys or stunning good looks. I'd like to be more like those people. 

What happy people do you know that don't  fit the marketer's image of happiness? I bet you know some. Tell me why you think they're so happy, if you please.Okay, so maybe these (<) questions are a little too cute. Fine. Answer your own best question about happiness. 

Bold, Bald and Beautiful

I think pretty much everyone who knows me knows by now that I buzzed my head afresh in order to participate in Cat Palmer's latest art shoot; a project including a dozen or so women who, like me, also sport shaved heads. I had gone back and forth, uncertain if I wanted to have a buzzed head for a longer period of time, but when I considered the importance of Cat's message, I just couldn't say no. Her message is simply this: women can be beautiful, sexy and powerful without hair. A very timely message, considering that we're in a month highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness.

I think some people became confused with the message. Much of the news coverage we received conducted interviews between shots of the women getting their makeup done and some viewers felt this was antithetical to our message. However, our message was that women could be beautiful sans hair; that without hair, women are able to focus their own idea of beauty in other places. Because of this, I wasn't bothered at all by the seeming "contradiction". Cat's goal was to have us look feminine so that anyone simply walking by the gallery would know without a doubt that these were women with shaved heads. Thus, we wore sundresses and sported a very light amount of makeup.

A very funny, intense picture of myself post-makeup. Honestly, I'm so glad I participated. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience...or so my parents hope :)

Almost ready for the shoot. This is a friend I made during the shoot, Alana. Behind her is the owner of the furniture store we were shooting at. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her bathroom. On second thought, a photo wouldn't do it justice. She had political cartoons, old-school advertisements and other bits and scraps of newspaper articles literally papering her walls. Very cool looking, regardless of your politics (she was an unabashed Obama-supporter/ Bush-hater). I thoroughly enjoyed the hours I was able to spend lolling about in her store.

If you haven't seen or read some of the press coverage, you'll find the links below.
Fox 13 coverage.
Channel 2 coverage.
An article by IN magazine.
I am excited beyond words for the gallery event which will take place November 19th at the Hive Gallery in Trolley Square from 6-10pm. This is your offical invitation, if you're able to make it.

How I feel a week later

It's been a week since I shaved my head. How do I feel?

Ecstatic.

Despite the fact that a few people (and only a very few) have disapproved of my drastic move on grounds ranging from the aesthetic to moral, I remain unmoved and unremorseful. Why? Here are some of my own reasons for loving my new 'do:

Delighted.

(Is Squirt sneezing, laughing or just plain delighted? We may never know.)

• I can put my swim cap on at the gym without Mandi's help and without feeling like I'm ripping my hair out every time I put it on or take it off.
  
• Do you know how refreshing it is to never worry about your hair getting stuck on your lip gloss? I put it on and never have to think about it again. Lovely.
• I now laugh at the idea of wind-blown hair.
• Derrick now says bye to me with a kiss and a sweet little head rub.
  
• Is it just me, or are people nicer? Cashiers, people in lines, people in elevators, complete strangers. Last weekend I also got the best prices I've ever managed at my local Farmers' Market. Hmm...It seems that looking like you may or may not be undergoing cancer treatment is a big incentive for people to not be jerks. Don't get me wrong. I get the occasional stare, but generally when I catch people staring they smile back at me or look away politely.
• I can literally get out of the shower and be done with my hair. Why don't more women do this? I have no idea.
• With a lively almost-toddler often in my arms, the absence of hair pulling is a reason in and of itself for a shaven head.
• One of the best things about new experiences such as a shaven head is the additional new experiences it can lead to. My friend, Kjell (who also shaved her head), and I are both candidates to participate in a photoshoot in September for a professional, award-winning photographer based out of Salt Lake. Check out her site here. All because we are two women who dared to shave our heads.
  

Proud.

Mormon Woman Shaves Head for Good Cause(s), then Blogs

So many Americans (and others around the world) have watched with powerless horror at the disaster occurring in the Gulf with the BP oil spill. That's why I was pleased when I read about an NGO collecting hair from salons, pet groomers and private donors in order to make what is called "hair boom" - nylon stuffed with animal and human hair - which is then used to soak up the oil. The NGO is Matter of Trust, based out of San Francisco and they have really energized many dismayed people into action, including myself!

Salons in virtually every state are collecting the hair leftover from a hard day's work, stuffing it in plastic liner and shipping it to Matter of Trust's designated sites where it is then stored until it can be turned into hair boom. How brilliant, using a renewable material to clean up a big mess.

Photo courtesy of matteroftrust.org

I must be upfront about something, though. The truth is, I've always wanted to donate my hair - and buzz it. You may think I'm strange, but it's always been on my bucket list, though something I'd been saving for a "future day". When I read about Matter of Trust though, I really felt motivated to finally check this to-do off my list. I had a rough few days, one of exhilarating highs when I was definitely going to do it and depressing lows when I heard that BP was going to use oil-based commercial booms to clean up their mess (go figure, huh?). However, further research into Matter of Trust's site assured me that if I did donate my hair it would certainly be used. Communities all over the coast are requesting hair boom and the NGO has been extremely professional in putting oil-exposure in the hands of trained individuals. Additionally, they have a very organized system for boom-gathering (after they've absorbed as much oil as they can hold) that is in accordance with their various city and municipal regulations. It was a nerve-wracking decision, but after a depressing day where I'd called the whole thing off, I realized I was too far involved and I had to do it or feel miserable.

On Matter of Trust's site, a list of participating salons is readily available. One such salon is the Aveda Institute of Provo. In addition, they give free hair cuts to people donating to Locks of Love, a cause I also deeply wanted to contribute to.

Walking into the salon. I look much more confident than I feel!

My anxiety-ridden sister-in-law. Supportive, but anxious nonetheless.

She's holding my sweet baby. We call her Squirt.

Discussing how to go about doing this. They also wanted to make sure I was committed enough to not chase them down with a shotgun after all was said and done :)

Some play time while getting everything ready.

After measuring my hair, the students at Aveda determined that much of my hair was long enough to donate to Locks of Love (10 inches). To ensure this, however, it needed to be sectioned into little ponytails. The parts lacking in length, in addition to the clean-up buzz, were donated to Matter of Trust.

Finished ponytailing.

Buzzing off the first pony. Note the intense look of concentration on my face. Deep breathing definitely came in handy.


Ultimately, we found it too difficult to buzz underneath the ponytail, so we used some scissors instead. Still doing some deep breathing :)


We drew quite a crowd.


Mandi, discovering her true vocation in life.

My friend, Brittany, doing what she does best (she's a hairstylist).


Lawn-mower head. Cleaning this up was the next step.



Even the Squirt wanted to help. Look at her face!





The final product! What an awesome team we all made.

Goodbye, beautiful hair.

I am a proud woman.

How wonderful that my hair could contribute to two such important causes: wig creation for cancer patients, and the cleanup of a terrible disaster. I feel great and fail to be self-conscious of my new hairstyle. My husband has been wonderfully supportive and the baby still recognizes me, so that's great too. I highly support this movement. If you are so able, please locate a salon near you to find those contributing to this effort. You don't have to buzz it all off...unless you want to.