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Perhaps it is just me.  I can barely understand why a woman in her forties would want to have a baby, let alone a woman in her seventies.

Yup, you heard me right.  seventies.  A woman in India is now the oldest woman to give birth.  Spending their life savings (and also taking out a loan) on IVF, she and her husband had twins.  Twins!  At 70!

Imagine chasing two toddlers in your seventies.

Imagine dealing with two teenagers in your eighties! (OK, now I am dizzy and I need a drink.)

And all this, just because they wanted a male heir.  (Although, if they spent all the money, I am not sure what affairs the boy will have to handle, but what the hell do I know?)

Feel free to pop on over to the BBC to read all the gory details.

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Heinz hired a new ad company to launch their new deli mayo.  The company came up with a funny TV spot, but it has sparked controversy because it shows ….are you ready?…two men…aparantly married and raising children…kissing!

Not making out.  Not having sex.  Just a little “I’m heading to the office, see you later” kiss.

I always forget that there are some people that think “the gays” shouldn’t have families and can’t be “normal,” so this kind of thing always seems like a tempest in a tea pot to me.  As a hairdresser (and a theater major) I may have met a few of “the gays” in my time.  And some of them have families.  So it just doesn’t seem strange to me.  (I am always excited when kids have two parents of any gender because it is WAY HARD to do it alone.)

So, without further ado, here is the link to the silly little video.  Don’t watch it if it is going to upset you.

There.  You have been warned.  And don’t bother leaving any cranky remarks about how gays getting married will be the end of civilization as we know it.  To do so would be assuming that I thought the way things are is good and should be preserved.  Go bark up a different tree.

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One day last week our cute FedEx driver brought us an envelope containing a copy of Short Cuts ( a consumer magazine.)  It seemed an odd thing to be FedExed, so I gave the mag to my client and asked her to flip through and see if she could figure out why this was sent to us.

It took some time, because this is almost at the end of the magazine, but she found the reason.

In their Salon Directory, there were two salons reviewed.  Gary Manuel in Seattle, and little old us.

I only have one question.

Who the hell told them we were “warm?”

I am tired of clients asking me what is new and trendy in haircolor and then dismissing my answer when I give it.

The trend in haircolor is toward the incorporation of colors that don’t naturally occur in human hair.

What ever.  Don’t listen to me.  What do I know?

How about the North American Hairdressing Awards?  Is that a reputable enough source for you?

You may recall that I assisted at a photo shoot for a friend who entered this competition.

I am sorry to say that his beautiful work did not make the finals.  And as I look at the finalists, I can see why.  His work was in a more traditional palette.  No blue.  No green.  No pink.

Click over here to see what the judges found appealing for 2008.

There are 5 finalists.  Clicking on their name will show you their entries.  There are six photos for each entrant.  These are three sets of before and afters.  (If you can’t tell which is the before and which is the after, I will have to smack you.)

If you would like to see the finalists in the other categories (like Student and Master Stylist) click around on the row above the bold HAIRCOLOR heading.

Now, when ever you are ready, we can book an appointment for you to get some of these trendy colors.  And yes, you can just dip your foot in the pool, you don’t have to dive in head first!

Irvine Robbins, the founder of Baskin-Robbins died last week.  I imagine some of you are more informed than I and knew that he attended Stadium HS and that his first store was in downtown Tacoma.

For those of you who didn’t, click on over and read the article in the Trib for more details.

Have I told you that I would rather open a vein than open a restaurant?

While I love to cook and enjoy watching Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, I have no desire to run a restaurant.

There are, however, no shortage of people who find the idea appealing.  God bless them.  If it weren’t for these crazy dreamers, I would have to cook all my meals at home.

Pacific Avenue is home to many restaurants, large and small, and they all have a story to tell.  If you heard that La Costa had closed and re-opened under the name Gringo de Loco, you may have been excited to give it a try.

Well, hold on to your hats, kids, because Gringo de Loco is gone.

Read the whole sordid tale in the buyer’s own poignant words here.

I debated whether to put this under the Come Here So I Can Smack You heading, but I decided it was too sad.  Like many of you, I am shaped a lot like my mother.  And I am OK with that.  It is who I am.  Thank God I am not famous enough to have paparazzi and the attention of The Daily Mail.  I always felt sorry for Sarah Ferguson.  I was once the fat daughter-in-law (my former sister-in-law was a former model and ballerina) and it was never fun to be the ugly duckling in comparison to the beautiful swan.  I thought I understood how she might have felt when she got crap for not being as perfect as Diana.

So, now, here we are, a generation later, and it is Sarah’s daughter who gets the crap.  Very sad that we can’t let people decide for themselves whether they are happy with their body.

Bea, beach bodies and the thorny problem of the Mummy gene …

By AMANDA PLATELL - More by this author » Last updated at 23:49pm on 29th April 2008

Comments (21)

Princess Beatrice emerges beaming from the Caribbean Sea beside her boyfriend, Dave Clark, and the first impression is how in love they seem.

The second thought is how comfortable this comely 19-year-old is in her own skin - so at ease with her curves that she’s happy to be photographed in a skimpy blue bikini.

Thirdly, it hits you that a young woman can run, she can hide, but there’s no escaping The Curse Of The Mummy Gene.

Scroll down for more …

Curvy: Fergie in St Tropez in 2001. Beatrice in St Barths this week

Read the rest of the article here.

I want to smack Miley Cyrus AND Annie Leibovitz.

Miley works for Disney.  Seems like she is old enough to know that she is too young to take her shirt off for pictures.  And Ms. Leibovitz is old enough to know that a child who makes her living appealing to children shouldn’t pose in provocative photos.  Man!

(CNN) — Annie Leibovitz on Monday defended her provocative photograph for Vanity Fair magazine of teen heartthrob Miley Cyrus — aka Hannah Montana — who has expressed embarrassment about the pose.

A photo of Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair was meant to be artistic, said the teen superstar.

“I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,” the celebrity photographer said in a written statement. “Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”

The statement came a day after the 15-year-old apologized to her fans for her participation in the photo shoot, which took place February 9 in Calabasas, California.

“My goal in my music and my acting is always to make people happy,” Cyrus said in a written statement. “For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie.

“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. The pictures of me on the Internet were silly, inappropriate shots.

Read the rest here.

I much prefer the logic of Sophie Simmons on Gene Simmons Family Jewels.  When a photographer came with wardrobe and told Sophie she had something really sexy for her, Sophie reminded her that she was 14 and sexy wasn’t really appropriate.  Thank God some famous kids have their head screwed on  properly.

Another school has banned a kid over a haircut.  Has the whole world gone mad?

Tavis chose the hairstyle himself

A three-year-old boy has been banned from his Tyneside nursery school class for his trendy “tramlines” haircut.

The mother of Tavis Cook was told the youngster’s distinctive hairdo broke the rules of Riverside primary School in North Shields.

Donna Cook has been told to keep her son away until his hair grows back.

Read the rest of the story here.

New suggestions from the American Heart Association state that even if you are not trained in CPR, you should do chest compressions on someone who has collapsed.  So, don’t worry…we’ll pound on you till the paramedics arrive!

Heart group urges “hands-only” CPR in emergencies

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bystanders who see someone suddenly collapse should quickly give the person chest compressions even if they are not trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the American Heart Association said on Monday.

The association urged people not to stand idly by because they do not think they know how to administer CPR while an adult stricken with sudden cardiac arrest is dying in front of them.

In recommendations published in its journal Circulation, the group emphasized “hands-only” CPR — a simple procedure that bystanders can perform without worrying about doing the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation part of CPR.

Read the rest here.

If you missed the airing on Wednesday, you can watch the video here.

It is no coincidence that my name is right in the middle of the word restaurant.  While I do enjoy crafting a wonderful meal, at the end of a long work week I really enjoy sitting on my ass and having someone bring me a wonderful meal!

Our dear friends at the Trib have put together a great resource for us.  The South Sound Restaurant Guide will help put an end to the “What sounds good to you?  - I don’t know, what do you feel like eating?” conversations that always seem to end with a visit to the same old places.

You can search by category or use the map and pick something close.  As an added bonus, you can even read the reviews from the Trib food guy, Ed Murietta.

For the record, the rib eye I had at Asado this weekend made my eyes roll back into my head with pleasure.  The house margerita was fresh and perfectly limey.  The husband had the prawns wrapped in serrano ham (which was lovely, but nowhere near as good as my steak!)

Wednesday March 26 Evening Magazine will be re-running the video they shot in the salon last year.  There is some nice footage of the salon (check out Jonathan’s blonde hair!) and even though the footage was shot in High Definition, I thought they did a very nice job of not making me look too old or too fat.  (Thank you, cameraman!)  Other than the little nit-picky things we all hate about watching ourselves on video, I was very happy with how it turned out.  If you are in the Seattle area, watch it when it airs.  If you miss it, check back here on Thursday and I will link to the online version.  (Watch it here.)

About Evening Magazine

“Evening Magazine” remains a local favorite highlighting the people, places and events that make the Northwest so special. The long-running program has provided a window on the Northwest for more than 3,000 “evenings” since its premiere in the summer of 1986. John Curley is the show’s host.

Program Times

You can watch Evening Magazine on KING 5 in Seattle Monday through Friday at 7 p.m., with replays at 3 a.m.You can also see Evening Magazine on Northwest Cable News from Monday through Friday at 9 p.m.

The show delivers a local perspective with unique and compelling stories. Take for example the recent stories of Tulk-la Massey, a Seattle-born boy growing up as a lama-in-training at a Tibetan Monastery and Boise’s Sally Maughan, raising orphaned bear cubs in her backyard. We follow Seattle’s Dick McPherson as he donates his kidney to a complete stranger, and Bainbridge Island’s Jerilyn Brusseau who’s helping clear land mines in Vietnam. We’ve recently taken you to Hong Kong, Scotland, Ireland and Thailand and “Evening Magazine” made history when we brought you “Alaska: Like You’ve Never Seen It Before”, the first local series broadcast in High-Definition television.

“Maggie,” our Kenmore Air Seaplane, allows us to expand our daily destinations to a 300 mile radius. Once a week John Curley flies off to spectacular locations such as the New Dungeness Lighthouse, where you can be a caretaker, or Jones Island in the San Juans where deer eat right out of your hand.

“Evening Magazine” is the highest-rated locally-produced show in the country and its team has been honored with numerous regional Emmy Awards. “Evening Magazine” is a program like no other for a region like no other. “Evening Magazine” airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. on KING 5. Mark Erskine is the program’s Executive Producer.

If you haven’t seen Split Ends, you need to catch it on the Style Network (watch some clips here).

The premise? Take two hairdressers from wildly different salons and make them swap for a few days. Sample comments? “There’s no assistant? Does that mean I have to do my own shampoos? But I’ll get my rings dirty!” I watched all of the first season and came away with an interesting observation. Unlike other “fish out of water” shows (The Simple Life, etc.) what makes this interesting is that hairdressers are often “pleasers” by nature. If you throw them in a strange environment, they might piss and moan for a bit, but they will more than likely do their best to adjust and fit in.

This is the only salon-based reality show on which our salon would be willing to appear. Yesterday we were trying to convince Jonathan to audition. If you are interested in spending a week working in a salon that differs greatly from yours, click on over here to get the info on how to audition.

Yes, they are going to dig up Pacific Avenue. Again.

Apparently no one checked the soil upon which we built a road and a light rail.

The Tribune has a story with all the details, but here is the schedule: Start digging after the Tall Ships event, finish in November.

We have never been so thankful for our rear building parking and entrance. While the construction will make things unpleasant, it will not cripple us in the same way it would if we only had access from Pacific Avenue.

Downtown Tacoma businesses win bid to postpone rebuilding of Pacific Avenue

JASON HAGEY; jason.hagey@thenewstribune.com

Published: March 17th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: March 17th, 2008 04:44 AM

Score one for the merchants. After hearing from downtown business owners, the City of Tacoma has decided to delay its plan to shore up sinking Pacific Avenue until after Tall Ships Tacoma 2008.Once the ships – and throngs of expected visitors – leave town, work will begin, possibly as early as July 8 but more likely the following Monday, July 14, said Dan Seabrands, a Tacoma public works engineers. The $2.6 million repair of the substructure between South 17th and South 25th streets is expected to be finished by about mid-November, before the heart of the holiday shopping season, Seabrands said.

Read the rest of the story here.

My friend, client and photographer, Eustacia Mahoney, up and moved to Atlanta (to further her career or something equally selfish.)  I image that living a life in the Pacific Northwest does little to prepare a person for a tornado; but ever the intrepid investigative photographer, she chronicled the aftermath in her neighborhood for us.  These photos remind me to be grateful that I live in a place where things like this are unlikely to occur.

Just a quick note with link to some photos I took yesterday after Friday’s tornado.  Living in the South is far from boring.  I’m okay, no damage to my place only some debris to pick up in the yard.  I certainly feel blessed as not all in my neighborhood were so lucky.  My only inconvenience was just over 24 hours without power.  The sound of that tornado coming down my street is certainly not one I will EVER forget.

You can see more photos here.

Why must it take so long and cost so much to campaign?

Every time I read a headline about the latest record breaking campaign fund-raising, I wonder what we could buy with all that money. The numbers have gotten so large that they are obscene, and somehow we seem to be numb to them.

I am feeling a little disheartened by my country and the priorities we have. We (the people and our companies) donate millions to get our favorite in charge and it seems a bit like gambling. There is no guarantee that the candidate that we support will vanquish all the others, but yet, the dollars flow in to try to help.

Sometimes when I have a big handbag, I put more things into it because I have the space to spare. Do you think the campaigns spend so much just because they have it to spare? More ads. More signs. And it’s still the primaries!

I just can’t help but wonder how many months of health insurance we could get for $55 million.

And don’t think for a minute that I am picking on one team more than another. I have enough malaise to spread around equally.

Feel free to explain to me why I should feel differently.

This 16 year old boy is begging for me to smack him. He had a party while his parents were on holiday and it ended very, very badly. He is unapologetic. I want to hurt him.

The latest news is that he is now planning a career as a DJ and party promoter.  I wonder if he ever apologized to his parents and neighbors.

One of my co-workers looks forward to Daylight Savings Time.  She sees it as “extra time.”

I have always thought DST was stupid.  The sun is up when it is up.  There are the same number of hours in the day.

I have struggled to understand why we do it and was always told it was to help the farmers (which really made NO SENSE to me, since the farmer doesn’t care what the clock says, he works with the light.)

So, the Wall Street Journal now reports that DSL actually incurs extra costs to the average consumer.  I don’t believe for a minute that we will scrap DSL, but I do feel vindicated!

One of the blogs at the Trib that I subscribed to is “In Your Neighborhood.”  As luck would have it, there is an entry about us today!  Oh, please click over and read, won’t you?

Monday, March 3, 2008

Tacoma Talk Beauty and Fun: Azarra Salon

I haven’t had a “regular” hairstylist in years; my low maintenance long hair doesn’t go to the hair salon that often and I haven’t found the right person or salon that I wanted to stick with for the long haul. Well, I have now.