Fred Segal Haircut

I was walking along Third Street Promenade when a girl from Fred Segal Salon approached me. She said that she was looking for a hair model to do a contemporary short runway hairstyle and if I was interested and it will be free. I needed a haircut anyway and it's Fred Segal so I thought why not. I didn't think it would be one of the worst hair cut experience in my life. I had the worst haircut experience in college so I wouldn't rank this to be the worst. It's second from the worst.

The hair salon is totally poshe. They have a beautiful waiting lounge with awesome couches. The hair stylist, Hannah, took me to the booth. washed my hair, and started working on the new cut. There were about seven other hair models in the room. They were all getting the same haircut. Hannah worked on my hair one strand at a time. I was impressed by how meticulous she was but I also noticed early on that the length of my hair on one side was a bit longer than the other. 30 minutes into the appointment, I was already getting tired and my hair was still as long as when I walked into the salon. I was getting frustrated but I guess I got myself into this free haircut situation....

I don't know what the issue was with Hannah but she was not a typical hair stylist. Hannah had bad eye sight. I'm sure a lot of hair stylists do. But I've never seen anyone repeatedly put on and removed her glasses as she worked on my hair. In addition, during the 2.5 hour session, she dropped her comb and her sissors number of times. She would cut my hair every so slowly, and at the end, I got the "runway" mushroom cut! I had this haircut when I was in kindergarten!

This so-called runway cut was a style that's really "in" these days, Hannah said. But she wanted to give me a more textured look. Since I wasn't all that thrilled with my retro kindergarten look, I said ok, go ahead.

So she started chomping on my hair to create texture. 3 minutes into the chomping, she screamed and I saw blood. She cut her finger instead of my hair!!!! Agh! I wanted to run but I was in no condition to do so. She left for 10 minutes, came back to finish really quickly, and I dashed out of the salon without getting my hair dried.

At home, when I got all the gel out of my hair, I got some comments from my family. My mom said, I told you not to do it. My husband said, it's not even. My sister said, it's crooked and it looks like there's a patch missing. My son, since he can't talk yet, he just stared at me with big eyes. Thanks everyone.

I'm too cheap to go get it fixed right now. I'm going to let it grow out a bit, then get it fixed. No more hair models. And what's the big deal with Fred Segal???

nap

I took a nap with Terran this morning. When we take naps, I usually wake up before he does. But today, I fell deep into sleep and he was the first to awake. Until recently, he would cry when he wakes. But this morning, lying next to his sleeping mom, he positioned himself perpendicular to my body and started kicking my stomach. I felt him doing this for a long time before I realized what was going on. When I opened my eyes, his bright eyes were calling for me and his legs moving vigorously.
Terran has changed so much in the past few days. He cries less. When he poops, he doesn't scream or make a big deal out of it. He seems to study his surroundings more. He can stay awake without crying. This morning, my mom was able to get him to laugh out loud! When he's hungry in the middle of the night, he would call me rather than to cry. He's such an awesome kid.

French Women Don't Get Fat

I just finished reading it. The book offers some good advice and interesting, easy-to-make recipes. The authors talks about eating 3 meals a day, without skipping breakfast, moderation is the best way to loose weight, and to eat food in season. Although there are lots of great ideas, I just cannot get over my own idea about the author: what kind of an arrogant bitch is she!? Throughout the book, she seems to often repeat her idea that French women are intelligent and sophisticated, and slim, and you, Americans are fat, couch potatoes.
It's just so unfortunate that her derogatory views of American women and way of life is expressed so strongly, while she shows no modesty for her own ways and for her being French. I am surprised that such a book became a best-seller in this country. How can an American woman read this and not be offended? I not even American and I got super offended. I wish she could have kept this thought to herself and not expressed it so rudely in this very public way.
Her way of communicating some noble ways of eating has totally ruined the book for me. I wish I could have liked this book more. I wish she wasn't such a bitch. And I wish she hadn't portrayed the stereotypical snobby way that the French are viewed outside of France.

The truth about motherhood

I hate being asked "So, how does it feel to be a mom?" People ask it with an dreamy smile, only expecting sweet and happy answers. Even parents with kids ask me this question, as if they have already forgotten their first few weeks with a new born baby.
The truth is that it's terrible. It was nothing that I imagined. Folks talk about labor as the most painful experience. Labor is painful, but early motherhood is even worse.
My pain and exhaustion from labor lingered for at least 3 weeks. I couldn't eat, and I just felt tired. I would drag my feet to go around the apartment. I was slouchy and could only walk very slowly. I hear the baby's sounds and sigh. Even through exhaustion, there was no time to sleep. I would get up to feed him in the middle of the night. On our clock, I would see every hour of the day and night go by. While I feed him, I only pray that I would not be awake to see the next hour go by. I cried often, from exhausting and hormonal imbalance.
After 9 weeks, I have more energy. The baby sleeps better at night. My mom is here and helps me keep my sanity. She and I would go out shopping with the baby in his cart. Strangers peek in and says how adorable he is. Little do they know that he's a tiny monster at home. My husband comes home at night and says how he missed him. I am only too willing to hand over the task. But somehow, I can't completely let go. I sit close by and watch him hold and talk to the baby.
A couple of weeks ago, he gave us his first smiles. It is adorable. When I peek into his crib, he sees me, and hears me, and smiles. I live for that recognition. It feels like he knows that I am his mom.

getty

Ever since Terran hit the age of one month, the three of us (Terran, Mom, and I) have been going out almost daily. So yesterday, we went to the Getty since my mom hasn't been there yet. The advantage of being able to hang out on the weekday is that hardly anyone else is doing it. The Restaurant was only have full so we were able to have a nice lunch there while Terran slept. We walked around the gardens and went into some exhibit spaces. Terran loved lying in the sun but it was a bit too bright for him so I let him borrow my sunglasses....