Hair

After five months of letting my hair grow I finally dragged myself to the salon last week. My Mum has been asking/telling me that we should get a family photograph taken during Thanksgiving because she wants to put a copy in her Christmas cards to far-flung relatives across Canada and the United States. It was then I realized I had to take action and get my roots highlighted and hair trimmed.

It was my husband who introduced me to the concept that there is only a week or two between a bad and good haircut. Basically, do not plan to get your hair cut the day before a major event in your life. Padding a week or two between your appointment and the event gives you time to figure out how to style the new cut and the highlights will look less 'stripey' and more natural. Great advice.

Five months ago my regular stylist was eight months pregnant when I last had my locks highlighted and cut. The colour was great with a full head of foil highlights, but the cut was not her best work. Perhaps it was the hormones, or maybe her feet were hurting, but she cut a layer at the back/crown of my head that was much too short considering the length of my hair. I didn't say anything because it's hair and it grows. Before I left she slipped me a card with the name of another stylist to use the next time (from the same salon) as well as the colour and toner she uses on my hair.

Because of that much too short layer at the back of my head I put off getting my hair cut as long as I could. The new stylist was awesome. The highlights look natural (partial head foil highlights) and the cut is the best I have had since going to my Hair God in Uptown Dallas. She even mentioned about the layer being too short at the back! Then she explained that it really shouldn't be that short considering the texture and length of my hair in case I had asked the other stylist to cut it like that. I explained that I had not asked for the layer to be that short and blamed it on the other stylist's pregnancy hormones.

I really love this new stylist and I will make another appointment with her to get my hair done in the future. Although I do feel bad about the other stylist, I am so happy to find this new one who really understands fine hair. Just hope it stands the test of time in the family photo shoot this weekend.

P.F. Chang's & Nordstrom Coming to Canada

With sleep in my eyes and coffee in hand, I turned the tv on to Canada A.M. to find out the local weather forecast. Yes, that's about all I watch it for and the local headlines streaming across the bottom. I almost spit out my coffee when they had a segment about P.F. Chang's restaurant opening a restaurant in Toronto. My prayers have been answered. Well, almost answered because who knows how long it will take them to open restaurants in other Canadian cities. I am still waiting for a J.Crew store to open here.

The other news is that Nordstrom's department store is planning to expand into Canada. The retail mecca will be taking over several Sears locations. I really miss Nordstrom's. Here's hoping they can bring their excellent customer service into Canada.

Scary Times

This week has seen some scary stuff take place in Canada. Yes, it is not everyday that Canada Post delivers a human foot to a postal address. Oh, and that postal address happens to be the Conservative Party Headquarters in Ottawa. (Did the postal carrier not notice the smell and blood oozing from the package???) At first I thought it might have been a stolen foot from a medical school cadaver. Then CTV Montreal was reporting that a human torso was found in a suitcase thrown in a dumpster. After DNA testing the foot and torso were linked as well as a package containing a human hand discovered at the main Canada Post sorting station. Yikes.

The emerging details of the alleged killer paint a dark picture of a narcissistic psycho. An individual craving fame so much that he filmed himself murdering and butchering another person, and then proceeded to upload it to a website. Who would do such a thing? Obviously someone striving for notoriety. Because of this I refuse to mention that monster by name. Apparently he flew to Europe the day after the murder and is on the run.

All of this makes me question what, or who, created such a monster. Was his childhood marked by severe abuse or neglect? Was he trying to prove himself through the new social media where every action is documented: I post/upload/tweet therefore I am. Maybe he believed his existence only had meaning if others noticed him.

Sometimes Canadians are smug about how safe it is in Canada, but the events of the past few days have scared us all. Oh, and there is NO WAY that a severed human foot would have made it to the Republican or Democratic Headquarters in the United States. Obviously this has highlighted how relaxed security is here and hopefully it will be taken more seriously in the future.

Coldest Day of the Year

Weather forecasters are calling for a high of -18C today, but with the windchill it will feel more like around -30C. Of course, being the coldest day of the year (so far) means that our furnace has decided to go on strike. Perhaps it is too cold, or maybe our furnace is trying to tell us off because we didn't get it tuned up in the fall, either way a sensor is being wonky. We have phoned the 'furnace guys' who checked it out 14 months ago but we are still waiting to hear back from them. Luckily it has been working since 11am and here's hoping it will continue through the night. Now our Arizona spring training trip can't arrive soon enough. Oh, to be in the desert at this very moment. Visions of cacti will be in my dreams tonight.