Walking the Downward Dog

For many of us, weekends are what we live and work for. And I'm not ashamed to say, I'm one of them. I struggle through my work week. By Wednesday morning, I'm ready to sell my soul just for an extra hour under my warm sheets. But being pushed into the work force has taught me a thing or two about waking up, dressing up and showing up. It does not matter whether its summer, winter, spring or fall. Waking up at 5:30am is never pleasant. Neither is working for 10 hours straight. But we do it. And I believe its essential that you love what you do. If you dont, then you learn how.
And after just crowning myself Queen of Mastering Merry Mornings two seconds ago, here are 5 things that have made some of my toughest weeks lately bearable and dare I say enjoyable. They might work for you. But if they don't, I hope you find just 5 things that will give you a little touch of happy to whatever it is that makes your day so exhausting.

Here are my 5 happys for 5 crappys:

1. Starbucks Coffee: I will start with one of the first things that inspired this blog. My Monday morning pit stop is always joyness in a grande cup. When I say joyness, I mean energy to bring one foot in front of the other in succession and keeping walking. I get there at exactly 6:43 every Monday morning (and any other morning that requires extra ammo).One of the Starbucks guys always jokes in the morning. "You know, its not too late to go back to bed". No its never too late. But I'll be damned if taking the first three sips of this crap makes me excited about my Monday.

And I have learnt to drown out the voices of reason about Starbucks being soooooo expensive. If you work 10 hours a day and have to deal with crazy lunatics all day, then I think you're entitled to a $1.79 cup of decent coffee.

2. Prayer: Its Monday morning. You start to remember phone calls you didn't make and forms you didn't fax on Friday because you were too damn lazy and anxious to get the hell out of the office. You hope to God your boss does not ask you about what you did not do on Friday. Because trust me, with your luck, she will ONLY ask about things you didn't do.
Yes, I hope to God my momentary Friday laziness does not bite me in the ass on Monday morning. While most people do not believe in religion, or God or a high power, or whatever other name you want to give God, I can tell you from personal experience, nothing else calms me down like a heart to heart with the Big Guy in the morning.

3. Battle Studies: I highly recommend listening to John Mayer's new ablum "Battle Studies". All of the songs on this album are amazing and along with Paolo Nutini and Jason Mraz, John Mayer has been my staple morning commute companion.

The first time I listened to this album, I unconciously closed my eyes in bliss. And this was at 6:50am, before I even had a chance to sip my coffee. Mix Mr. Mayer with Starbucks and you just made your own day.

4. Paul Galloro: Paul is my fabulously flamboyant yoga/pilates instructor. I wait all week for Thursday. The moment my bus hits Finch Station at 7:10pm, I run homebound, change and grab my yoga mat. I decided to try Paul's BodyFlow class on a whim and after an hour, it felt like I was given the most relaxing massage.

Mind you, the class is ridiculously intense. Paul maybe a super nice guy but he makes you contort your body into painfully unnatural positions. Too many downward dogs make you end up wishing Paul would just die a slow and painful death.

But boy.... what a great end to a stressful week!

5. Co-Workers: Whether you realise it or not, your co-workers either make or break your week.

And I don't know about you, but I'd rather them make my week. And from working for the last 6 months, I have learnt that we make our work lighter my making others' work lighter.

I love my co-workers, I hate my co-workers, I laugh with them, I bitch about them, they drive me crazy, I drive them crazy. But at the end of the day, the five of us are all in this together, and despite our differences, I'm grateful that there's a mutual understanding of that.

And so, those are my fave five. What are yours? Do you suffer from crazy work/school/study weeks? What makes your day? My suggestion is figure that out and inject it into your crappy weekday. Because no one else knows what makes you happy better than you do! Your day will still probably be far from perfect, but we do what we can, right?

So here's hoping you have a happy weekend...and an even happier week ahead!

Philosophy from a Grande Expresso-Coffee

Do you ever wake up some mornings and the sky is absolutley gorgeous? You stretch out with the delicious feeling of knowing you have this entire beautiful day all to yourself; you cannot think of a single thing to complain about and you try and plan out how you are going to spend the next wonderful 12 or so hours as you blissfully sink deeper into your warm sheets.

Yes my friends, today was definatly NOT one of those days.

Its all a blur really but I think it went something like this:

I stumble out of bed at 5:30am with sick dread. Today is Wackjob Wednesday, and boy oh boy!...today had a very impressive lineup of crackpots.

In order to prepare for today's battle, I decided to equip myself with the essentials: my vitamin pills, a bottle of Advil, a rosary, some red lipstick, and an expresso. Now, I dont know about you, but I hate ordering something that I'm not sure of at Starbucks. Ordering anything other than a regular coffee makes me nervous. But I had to have something stronger than just coffee today! Today was special!!...in every sense of the word. I bravely walk up to the counter and the conversation goes something like this. The green bits of conversation are words that were not exchanged but I'm pretty sure they were thought of.

Karen: "Hi! Can I get an expresso?"

Starbucks Guy: *looks dumbly at Karen* "What? Do you just want a shot of expresso?"

Karen: "Emm, no. Can I maybe get a shot of expresso with something else? Like, what can I put the shot in?"

Starbucks Guy: "Who are you? Why are you here? Why don't you just go to Country Style Coffee, you ignoramus?" "Well I suppose you could put it in...." proceeds to name all the complicated unpronounceable Starbucks drinks.

Karen: "Oh" *and after a brilliant burst of inspiration* "Can I put it in regular coffee?"

Starbucks Guy: "Why of course, Ms. Sharpest-tool-in-the-shed" "Yeh"

(Author's note: Can I officially change the name from "Wackjob Wednesday" to "FML Wednesday"?

I fell asleep drinking my expresso coffee in the bus. It wasn't until finally at 9am when I realised I was carrying the ultrasound machine in one hand, the laundry basketket in the other, all the while cradling the phone between my head and shoulder booking an appointment, that I realised the expresso had finally hit. My heart rate shot up and I was unstoppable. Words cannot describe how absolutley exhausting today was. I think there might have been a point where some of the patients were so inconsiderate, rude, insulting and childish that I began to rethink whether I'm really cut out for this kinesiologist bullcrap. The laundry was piling up, patients needed to be taken off the machines, the phones are ringing, while I'm a mess running around like a headless chicken wondering what I should attend to first.

And then something happened. Something so small and yet so powerful and calming, it changed how I dealt with everything and everyone for the rest of this crazy day. One of my 80 year old patients, who had been complaining incesantly about her pain, the government and the weather came out of nowhere and gave me the biggest hug in the world saying "Thank you for giving me something happy to look forward to on Wednesdays"

The expresso did finally wear-off on the bus ride home. And when it did, I crashed and burnt. No more expresso for you, little girl! But as the sun peeked out on my way home, I was convinced more than ever that there was a greater purpose as to why I did what I do. And though I had the most frustratingly long day and smelt like old people and feet, the fact that I made someone else's day just made mine.

And just for that, I think I'm one of lucky ones who have a job that absolutley kills them...and yet somehow makes them come alive.

Double Crossing Monday Morning

So folks, its Mix-crap Monday again and of course I have my usual spaztastic stories for your Monday evening entertainment. Today's involves:

- An age old Catholic tradition.

- My love-hate relationship with the damn 77.

-The gas station bathroom from hell.

None of these things have anything in common but just for kicks, I will attempt to tie them in together in the end somehow.

As most of you know, I ride the 77 every morning to work. To be honest, the 77 is slow. One sees turtles, snails, dead bugs and other seemingly lifeless objects trudging along faster. That being said, I thoroughly enjoy my morning commute. There's nothing like riding along, listening to some great music, being one of the first to witness the sky lighting up for the day with the caffeine drug of choice in hand. This morning was no exception, except that today, I did not get my usual seat next to the pleasantly plum Indian lady. Courtesy of my usual Monday morning Starbucks almost-had-a-heart-attack run (I never learn), I got bumped down to economy class (the back of the bus).

Once my bus hits Promenade Mall, (this is roughly the mid point of my journey) I bust out the rosary and pray my heart out for various things like world peace, a good day for my bus buddies, family, friends, and of course for me not to do something foolish and/or idiotic at work that would get me yelled at or fired. Today though, I did not have the warmth and comfort of the pleasantly plump Indian lady and the chattering little Filipino ladies around me.

Today I was surrounded by mean looking, weird smelling construction workers all shooting me judgemental looks everytime I almost dug out the rosary. Making the Sign of the Cross was another ordeal. I could not bring myself to do it. With every ticking moment, I panicked. Cross yourself now! Think of all the people your not going to have time to pray for if you dont. Think of world peace! I decided I will do this for world peace and made the most pathetic Sign of the Cross.

The day went without a glitch. Work was a breeze! And when the clock hit 3:45 I happily began to pack up...when alas! Some woman walked in, insisted I spend 20 minutes talking to her about socks for cold feet and booked her a thousand appointments. By then I had missed my bus. I caught the 4:30 and got off on the highway to take the 77 home. I waited. And waited. I finally get on after half an hour.

Fiften minutes and 20,000 more people on the bus later, we hit the worst traffic in the history of traffic. We crawled along for another hour. In that time, I got hit bad by the pee monster. I was in serious pain and we were still on the highway with no end in sight. Fast forward to another 45 minutes when I got off the bus HALF AN HOUR before my stop almost in tears and limped to the gas station before my bladder burst. I dance around frantically until the man inside was done, got in and looked around horrified.

Lets just say this bathroom made bus station bathrooms in India look and smell like God's garden in paradise. I peed for what seemed like forever. I then reach for the toilet paper only to find a piece of gum stuck in its place. GROSS! Not to mention, I was literally piss out of luck on the toilet paper.

I touch every thing with my sleeves, wash my hands and ran for my life out of there.

Forget swine flu or H1N1 or whatever fancy names you kids give the flu these days. I think I may have caught something even more deadly that evolved in the 3 minutes I spent in there.

No zumba class for this tired little toilet-paperless girl today :(

Now as I sit here typing this in my warm bed, sipping on some not-so-delicious Cranberry tea, I look back fondly on my day with the words "good riddance" swimming in my head. Let me just say this, next time I feel shy or weird or downright embarassed to make the Sign of the Cross, I will try to remember that along with world peace, end to hunger and to not be a fool in life, I will also need time to pray for a bigger bladder, lesser traffic and bountiful toilet paper. Maybe I'll even do a double cross...just for good measure.

And might I say, kudos to you for making it to the end of this long rant! ;)

Wedge-out Weekend

If you are in any way like me and foolishly did overkill workouts at the gym this week with a super intense zumba, yoga, tai chi, pilates classes and crazy 1 hour runs/jogs, then this is probably a Saturday night stay-in for you too. And of course, I did what anyone who's too sore to move would do.

Cooked a nice dinner (because no one's too sore to eat), settled in with a glass of wine, watched a movie with the roomate and put Paolo on loop.

Could this get any better?

Its raining on my Zen

Working in the health care field means that you constantly deal with people in pain. Some more so than others. Most conversations at work go like this: "Hey! How are you doing today?"

"Oh terrible! I'm in so much pain!" "My insurance isn't paying for anymore treatments" "I lost my job" "I can't sleep" "I'm depressed"

As much as you may psych yourself up with positivity and good feelings at the begining, by the end of the day, it really gets to you. Paolo Nutini and Jason Mraz sound completly different at 6:55pm than they did at 6:55am.

Every so often though, you get a patient that's different. Someone who reminds you why you are here and how what you do makes a difference. One such patient, who we will call Ms. Wise did just that.

Ms. Wise has multiple blood clots in her lungs, she's completley blind in one eye and losing it in the other. She takes 10-15 pills a day. She is visibly in immense pain all the time.

Considering this, she drives her Jeep to her physio appointments, she reads books, goes shopping, drives up to her cottage with her girlfriends, takes care of her late husband's best friend who has Alzheimer's and loves going to dinner at the Red Lobster.

She does a whole 45 minute work out with cardio and muscle strengthening at physio every Wednesday. She hates the pain but loves life too much to give up on it. She enjoys coconut soup and says she likes to buy her underwear at Victoria's Secret. Ms. Wise also tured 82 last Sunday.

I deal with Debbie Downers and Walter Wet Blankets for about 8-10 hours a day. Then I get to go home, enjoy my Zumba class and forget all about my day. Ms. Wise does not enjoy the same priveledge but her music still sounds as vibrant as it did in the morning.

Today was one of those days where I really had to dig in deep to see good. It was a cold, wet miserable day and my three men for good zen were nowhere in sight. In my search of the day to find positivity and good, I thought of Ms. Wise and here's what I came up with:

Although I just couldn't get out of bed this morning to go to work, I was very grateful to have a job to wake up for.

• Although it was pissing rain outside this morning, I was very grateful that some kind woman shielded me with her umbrella while we waited for the bus.
• Although my boss is very demanding sometimes, she is also extremely kind, understanding and always willing to help in whatever way she can.
• Although I am not currently in the best of health, I am still able to thoroughly enjoy the little things we take for granted like a good appetite, a good night's sleep, my super intense Zumba and Pilates classes and my morning commute.

And although today left me completley drained, exhausted, cranky and in tears, I made it to the end, sat with a very decent looking guy who smelt like heavenly goodness on the bus(which is VERY RARE when you are on the 77 or public transit in general) and had the most amazing yoga class. So I guess everything is okay in the end. And if its not okay, then its probably not the end.

What were you grateful for today?

Terrible to Terrific: Three men that can make your Tuesday!

I once heard on the radio that Tuesdays by far surpass Mondays as being the crappiest day of the week. It has something to do with the fact that everyone's so tired, lethargic, lazy and stupid on Mondays that most of Monday's work gets piled on to Tuesday thus making Tuesday quite dreadful, to say the least.

For me, Terrible Tuesdays are always my longest day. After many sick-with-dread Tuesday morning episodes from the past, I made a decision . I was going to make this Terrible Tuesday morning a tolerable experience. Not only would it be tolerable, I would somehow invent at least an 80% success rate formula at starting up your Tuesday morning bright eyed and ready to take on the world. So here's what worked for me. I call it "three men for good zen" :

The First Man: Jesus. Most univeral formulas won't work without some sort of constant. Guess who's the constant in this equation. This day wont be too great without checking in with the Big Guy first.

The Second Man: Paolo Nutini. My friend Aleks introduced me to Paolo Nutini singing "New Shoes" two years ago. Honestly, how can you not relate to waking up cold on a Tuesday feeling tired and sick? The fact that Paolo's solution to a bad day is wearing new shoes makes this song the happiest 3 minutes 48 seconds for your morning commute. And ladies, I looked this up. Paolo is not gay. He just happens to think new shoes make everything alright.

The Third Man: Jason Mraz. I played all the songs off his album 'We Sing, we dance...". It was like reliving his past summer concert! And what an experience that was. I forgot how well Jason Mraz is able to put any one in a good mood. Yes, between Jesus, Jason and Paolo, I was probably one of the few on the bus who thoroughly enjoyed their morning commute today.

And so there you have it folks! My own formula to a good start. Maybe it might work for you too. For course though, this formula unfortunatly only gets you to work and not through it. Once you get there, you're on your own. But I think sometimes its not about being there, it about getting there.

Sometimes what you really need is the to wake up on that cold, tired dreadful Tuesday and not wish to the highest heavens you could just call in sick. Sometimes you need to make it fun even when its not. And as with most things in life, this Tuesday too will pass. And tomrrow will be another day. Another chance to invent ways on how to give your day a little touch of wonderful.

Verdict: Addiction

Contrary to the title of this blog and the numerous references to Starbucks, I actually don't drink that stuff too often. Twice a week at the most...and even then, the second was probably beacuse I was having a super bad day (read: Wackjob Wednesdays)

But Monday mornings, by general rule is Starbucks day. If there is any day where you need a pickmeup, I can't think of anything better than the begining of your inevitably crappy work week. This Monday was no exception. However, this morning was the epitome of risky...all for that vile cup of caffeine.

For those of you who don't know me (well), I'm not much of a risk taker. I consider jay walking living on the edge. Kiddy rollercoasters almost make me vomit. You get the idea. Today though, I engaged in some riske happenings. I woke up on time. But I procrastinated like a college kid on facebook the night before an essay deadline (I speak from experience). So here was the timeline:

6:30am: Ready to leave home

6:31am: Couldnt find my keys. Found them a minute later. They were in my hands.

6:35am: Couldnt find one sock. Cursed a little. Found it in my roomates boot.

6:41am: Out the door running, jay walking on all the streets in my way. I'm so bad.

6:44am: I reach Starbuck, pay for my poison. I then proceed to lid up and jet. It is then that I realise that some FOOL switched all the lids. I couldnt find a single lid for my tall cup of joe.

6:52am: I reach Finch Station, half running trying not to spill when some nice old lady held the door open for me!!!

I'm supposed to be opening doors for nice old ladies!!! What just went wrong with the world?? I got over it 2 seconds later though. Its 6:55 on a monday morning! We're all in this together! We all open doors for each other! God bless us all!

6:57am: I think I have a heart attack while power walking to catch my 6:55am bus. I make it just as he is about to pull away. I almost cry and mentally scold myself for almost missing my bus.... or worse still spilling my coffee.

The real icing on the cake was when I got into the bus, EVERYONE had a Timmy's coffee in their hand. I took my usual seat embarrassed. I was a Starbucks girl who almost had heart failiure on a Tim Horton's bus. If I just bought myself a nice humble cup of Timmy's, none of this would have happened.

The question is, would I do this crazy nonsense again? The answer is what made me believe that I was barely a few weeks away from crossing over to the land of Starbucks junkies.

Well, at least theres coffee on the other side.

I can't seem to find my weekend

So I've been recieving tons of wonderful comments on this blog. First off, THANK YOU! I've also been told to "keep writing" (that seems to be the general concensus across the board). But funny enough, as much as I enjoy getting so many encouraging words about writing, and as much as I enjoy writing, I actually have nothing to say tonight.

I suppose you could chalk this blogger's block (a term I just made up) down to the Sunday blues. You know, that feeling you get on Sunday evening while you're packing away your lunch for Mixed Feeling Monday and you stop and wonder where the hell your entire weekend ran off to...or whether it was even there to begin with!
So tonight, I will leave it to St. Francis to do the talking. For the dreamers out there, I hope this quote inspires you for the rest of the week. For those of us more practical folk, I hope this at least tides you over till your caffeine hit tomorrow morning. After that, you're on your own, friend.

"Begin by doing whats necessary, then by doing what's possible and then suddenly, you are doing the impossible" St. Francis of Assisi.

What a lovely day to have a slice of humble pie

In between jumping around three patients at one time, ultrasounding Frank while booking an appointment, having a splitting headache, and the toilet breaking down, I came up with fond nicknames for everyday work days.

Needless to say, Terrible Tuesdays don't have the lustre of promise and optimism of Mixed Feeling Mondays. My morning God interaction on the bus wasn't too intense. Probably because I fell asleep mid conversation. Centre Street hottie didnt show up either. Just as well because I was falling asleep again. (might as well see the positive)
I think I might have even fallen asleep with sheer exhaustion on the walk home. My personal discovery of the day however, brought a smile to my face. (an invisible smile)
Somewhere between Mixed feeling Mondays, Terrible Tuesdays, Wackjob Wednesdays, Tricky Thursdays and Finally Fridays, something happened and I started to really enjoy my job. Even if that meant that on somedays I just enjoyed having a job.

No pictures today. Think of being up for the last three night drinking and then going to work on the fourth day. You get the picture ;)

Coffee with God

Today was like no different Monday. I woke up with that familiar Monday morning anxiety. In order to eliviate some of this stress, I showered, put on some magic hair potion (read: Morrocan Oil, which I devoted an entire blog entry) and makeup. The wonderful thing about leaving for work at 6:30am (when I'm in the mood to be in awe) is that you see the first rays of the sun bursting above the horizon on Yonge Street. The morning seems so full of promise and optimism.

Unfortunatley, this picture is as good as it gets with my buddy, Olympus. Trust me when I say this morning had a heck of a lot more promise and optimism than that.

Unlike most Mondays however, I bought myself a Starbucks coffee for successfully dragging my ass out of bed at 5am. The good thing about Starbucks coffee is that its soo vile and strong that you are forced to drink it really slow. I decided to try a different prayer routine on the bus. My usual rosary mostly consists of me hurriedly trying to finish it, all the while staring that the hottie who gets on at Centre. He's not really hot, just cuter than the rest of the working class on the 77 at 6:55 in the morning.

No, today was different. Today held warm weather, Morrocan Oil, Starbucks and a real conversation with God. The kind that felt so good, I cried.

This Monday went great. Tomorrow we do the same drill. Minus the Starbucks and Morrocan Oil.

I had the best day with you today

So my day of adventure has come to an end. The result: I did not get to throw in a workout but I did have probably one of the best exploration days I've had in a while. Its amazing how you feel when you have a TTC day pass, a camera, sunshine and ALL DAY. It all started off at Yonge and Eglinton.

Eglinton:

It occured to me that Toronto is not only a beautiful city, it had lots of beautiful people too. And on this beautiful day, I was one of them. I had the biggest smile on my face. It pretty much stuck on for the rest of the evening.

Pretty buildings everywhere. My camera sucks at taking pictures. Fortunatley for me, Windows Photo Gallery (affectionatley known as WPG since 2 seconds ago) counters camera suckiness.


I was very obsessed with inside streets. I stopped at almost every in-between street just to have a mental debate about whether or not this would make a good picture.This one made the cut. Note however, that those cars shouldn't have.

These doors made my favorite picture of the day. I love even more what WPG did with this. Maybe I've been reading too many interior design blogs (read: Lisa Canning and Plush Palate) becauseI think I was a little TOO colour happy. Whoever said colors only truly come alive on an overcast day obviously had their eyes shaded too much on a sunny day.

St. Clair:

St. Clair was quite uneventful. Some nice shops. Of course, the main attraction for me was the house of my everyday commute companion 97.3 EasyRock. I took a picture and wondered what the temperature was right now at Yonge and St. Clair.

Summerhill:

Summerhill was very pretty. I enjoyed the walk. I was also surprised (pleasantly) at how many Starbucks existed in Toronto. I should have counted.

Apparently, Toronto Jesus also resides in the beautiful Summerhill. Whats not to love about Summerhill!

Rosedale:

Next was Rosedale. Rosedale brought Petko to mind. I wondered what he was up to. It was beautiful as well, but of course my camera was not able to really capture much. Here are a couple of gems WPG maganed to rescue.

The lighting obvisously has been tampered with but I love capturing fall. It occured to me, the trip could have been made early October and maybe I would have had more gems like these.

I don't even know what the heck that was, but I took at least three of these hoping I would be able capture how cute it really was. From the looks of this, I failed.

The rest of Yonge street until Dundas:

It was getting a little tired from this point on but couldnt wait to blog this day up.

This was a cool display window. The scarf on the left was so picture-worthy colourful yet something I highly doubt I would wear. The bags are cool though.

The Cook Book Store. I silently gave Toronto a warm hug back.

The coffee giants peacefully coexist.

There are tons more unblog-worthy photos I took all down Yonge Street. It occured to me that if I drove up this same street for about 25 minutes, I would be home. I savored this delicious thought to tide me over for the next week.

Until next time...

Morrocan Dreams

Speaking of great hair, I think the beauty gods were smiling down today because after years of searching for that one product that makes the top of your head hair-commercial worthy, I found this little gem.

Its called Morrocan Oil and makes your hair smell and feel divine. Its like a little piece of heaven on your head. I cant help recommending it to EVERYONE!

For those who were curious about where to find this product, you can find it at any Beauty Supply Outlet stores in Toronto. It retails at $34.00 per 100ml. Pricey potion but it lasts you forever. And did I mention its totally worth it?

Well done you!

Since I've moved to sanity, there are several new experiences I've had/ new discoveries I have made about myself in the past couple of weeks:

• The feeling of having my own place and joy I feel when my bus home hits Yonge Street and I realise that this is where I live now. In a matter of two weeks, my life and my postal code changed. When God wants something to happen for you, he gives you the most perfect circumstances, prepares everything without a single missed detail and does it in a matter of seconds...or two weeks, but who's keeping track really.
  
• I find that going to work makes me eat better and healthier by forcing me to pack substantial meals and snacks. I also realised that if I get enough sleep and eat the right foods, waking up in the morning at 5:49am is really not asking too much of a human being. (opinion on this one is subject to change)
• I am getting dangerously close to an addiction to Starbucks. I blame its close proximity to me and my early morning hours. The other day I had a chocolate truffle expresso and I felt incredible. I wanted to take over the world. Yes, dangerously close to an addiction. Ironically enough, this uncomfortable epiphany came at the very moment I read the words "well done you" on my Starbucks cup, congratulating me for buying fair trade. Well done, me indeed.
• Perhaps the most interesting thing from all of this was the lesson my hair taught me. A couple of months ago, I decided to color my hair. For reasons that are incomprehensible to me now, I thought that changing my hair color (dramatically) would make me feel like a new woman. A different woman. Not only did I hate the way I looked with my copper brown mop, I felt even more like crap considering that my new hair did not make my problems go away (surprise) AND I had shitty looking hair to top it off. After I moved, I went to Fio's and brought it down to a dark mahagony...my old color. Its amazing what that did. I felt like my old self again. And I never felt better to be back. Turns out I did not need to change myself to feel new. I just needed to blow off the dust from my old self and give it a shine.

Now thats worth the move (on), if nothing else.