Ever since Katty Perry chopped off her bangs (Ok The Fringe, as any well schooled vidalsassoon graduate would refer to them as…) Fringe, short, square, rounded to the check bones, or long swiped off to the side, has been key to the current hair styling.

In my experience when your ready to change your hair cut but not sure what to do. Simply changing your fringe can give u a whole new look without radically changing your hair cut. So whether you want to hide pimples or wrinkles on that forehead of yours consider fringe to be your friend.

My days start like this:

The first person in the household to wake up is Maxi. She spends the first half of the night cuddled up in her little bed next to my bed, wakes up around 1:00-1:30 and usually licks my hand which is hanging off the side. I lift her to the top of the bed and we cuddle, I scratch her tummy let her know that I’m so happy she’s my puppy.

We’ll usually sleep until sometime between 3-4 in the morning at which point we get up. Maxi hops off the bed and immediately does her “Happy to Be Alive” dance: she rolls around on her back, back and forth, wriggles like a snake, and if that doesn’t make you happy…literally, it’s as if she’s won the lottery every morning just because it’s a new day!

What a great mindset to start your day with!

I will get out of bed and turn on my morning meditation CDs, there are 4.  I let meditations and affirmations play throughout the house while I make a lot of coffee, put on hot water and have tea. My first glass of anything is green tea with raw ginger root and lemon juice in it. I take my apple cider vinegar tablets and psyllium husk to try and get everything rolling.

Then I make Maxi some breakfast and start running a hot tub of water; in the bathwater I put 1 lb of solar salts, a box of baking soda, and 6 aspirin.  I take Maxi out and let her talk to nature, run around, check and see if there are any stray cats in the neighborhood that she can chase for bit.
Then I light candles around my bathtub. There are 4, and I say specific prayers for each candle blessing certain things in my life, my friends; one of the candles happens to be a Jesus candle from the 99 cent store…

I don’t denote myself as a Christian, only because in my experience a lot of Christians don’t act very Christ-like. However, I was raised believing in Jesus and my bottom line is that he was a progressive Jewish leader who basically taught the world to love everybody and forgive everybody, period. Love and forgive everyone and you’ll be a happier human being. So I try to lead a Christ-like lifestyle. Although I don’t consider myself a member OR non-member of any organization, I think it’s my duty and life’s purpose to connect with every human being on the planet.

I hop in the tub and listen to ocean wave music as I meditate. I do this for at least 20 minutes and I like to use audible mantras. They simply help me quiet my mind. I go into a space where I need to be impressed, have certain conversations, accomplish certain things during they day. I bring myself to a centered place of truth. I currently use the mantra Sat Nam: inhaling on Sat, exhaling on Nam. I believe it translates to: “Truth is all there is, Truth is all I am”.

When I get out of the tub and commence grooming, I put on Learn Out Loud: Prayer of St. Francis. This plays at least 3 times if not more while I finish up.

I get ready for the gym, drop Maxi off at the salon, go work out…and then I have a brilliant day doing hair!  That is how my day starts!

The truth is, I believe, we all have a Capital within. We all have a Capital that wants to be unkind, be cruel, be unforgiving to ourselves and to other people. So I believe this charges us to give as much trouble to the Capital within as possible… to overcome that unkind creature. To choose kindness. To choose healing others. To choose… just be decent to ourselves and those around us.

Love and Kisses!

~MJ

As most of you know, I am embarking on a new journey in 2012 with the launch of
Project: A Greater Love. For those who haven’t heard, the idea behind A Greater Love
is to provide one woman a month with a unique opportunity to tap into a wealth of
invaluable professional services and resources which will help her build the skills and
knowledge she needs to change her life and become a fully empowered woman. In
exchange for this life-defining opportunity, and in the spirit of “paying it forward”, I will
be requiring these women to first commit to spending a minimum of 3 hours of their time
per week for 30 days giving back to the world; volunteering at a charitable organization
of their choosing. Not only does this help to perpetuate the idea of good will and giving
back, but I believe it will help these women to build self esteem; learning that no matter
how small or insignificant they may sometimes feel, they do have the ability to make a
HUGE difference in someone’s life.

I’m so excited about this project, but what excites me even more is the outpouring of
support I’ve already received from many of you; pledging your time and services to
the participants of A Greater Love. Suzanne Lenz, Beth Garfield, Mary Sala, Susan
Hartlight: These are but a few of the generous professionals who have volunteered their
time and services to helping these women-in-need change their lives. Thanks to these
generous volunteers I will be able to offer these women not only my own services as a
stylist, cheerleader, and friend, but also help with everything from resume building, to job
interview preparation, to speech therapy, to health and fitness, to cooking, to shopping,
and more…but I don’t want to stop there!

I know there are more of you out there who are feeling the same loving spirit that has
grabbed hold of me this year and would like to do something to share that love with
the world. My aim with A Greater Love is not only to help these women to become
empowered to change their lives for the better, but to provide those with the desire
to make a difference with an opportunity to do just that. Every single one of us has
something unique to offer, and there is no better feeling in the world than sharing that
with someone who truly needs and appreciates it. If you want to join me in this one-of-
a-kind endeavor, don’t be shy! Speak up, and help me change the world, one woman at a
time!

“People can only live fully by helping others to live.” ~Daisaku Ikeda

When I get up in the morning, little Maxi wakes me up with kisses on my face and hops off the bed, runs into the living room like someone has left her a freshly grilled sirloin steak and she rolls around on her back doing her special little happy dance, twisting just like a snake, with her little legs and paws in the air and her tongue hanging out of her mouth, it’s like every day when she wakes up, it’s like she won the lottery! I watch her do this and I just think that happiness and joy is just something that can organically occur. So I get to watch her in my house doing that and her energy of absolute joy just rubs off on me and honestly, my life is pretty awesome. It makes me super happy to get up in the morning, look in the mirror and think that I get to be the one one living Michael John’s life and it brings me a lot of joy. So there you go. Happy happy joy joy! I think happiness is a choice, but I think Joy is a state of mind, based on how we choose to think and look at situations and live our life.

What state of mind will you choose today?

Hugs and Kisses Always!

~MJ

I had an awesome time at such a wonderful cause! The picture is of me with Jane Lynch and her wife Laura.

Spring has sprung and Easter is quickly approaching! How do we know? Robin’s Eggs and Mini Chocolate Cadbury Eggs are at the end of every aisle at the grocery store! (BTW the same bag of Robin’s Eggs is priced at 99 cents at the Dollar Store as opposed to $3 at Ralph’s.) As soon as I saw they were in stock, I grabbed as many bags as would fill my cabinet, went to my storage unit, grabbed my pink fluffy Easter basket and headed to the Salon to present and provide my favorite part of Easter to all of you!

On my way, I passed my friend Armando, who happened to be up early (or possibly still out from the night before),  and who graciously agreed to give me a photo op. This lead me to recall my childhood memories of digging through my Easter basket and finding all sorts of surprises left by the Easter Bunny. Some baskets are more of a surprise than others…like Armando’s.

Happiest Happiest Happiest of Easter Blessings- tasty to the last nibble!

~MJ

Today I hope that the Luck of the Irish will be yours! I think that luck is merely being prepared when opportunity knocks!

Be ready to open that door!

Big warm hugs from all of us!

Maxi, Olajide and Me.

Sending you bigger hugs than this post can deliver!!!

~MJ

It has been brought to recent attention that there has been a noticeable drop off in the frequency of my updates that I/Mjhair have been posting… so without going into the gory details, as some of you have noticed that have been coming in regularly, you’ve noticed that every time you’ve been in, there has been a new face assisting me… well since Sterling, there have been 5! So my hands have been unbelievably busy and rather drained at the end of the day so… you can do the math.

Alas, that is the past, so moving forward…  I do however want to share with you what has come to me as I have spent 3 visits to magical Big Bear. You’ve heard the phrase “contempt prior to investigation….” Well, for 25 years I have stayed away from Big bear thinking that its far to small to satisfy a seasoned Park City/Snowbird spawned skier, and how could I ever be comfortable on man made snow?  I was absolutely wrong on both accounts. The runs were plenty long and man made snow is EXACTLY like fresh powder!! So for 25 years I’ve missed out!!!!

My next trip I noticed that the people there seemed to be A LOT nicer than other resorts I’ve been too and after I had time to digest… I realized that 90% of us on the slopes were really DORKY and just doing our best to find our way down the hill without breaking an arm! So there was a level of patience and understanding we all offered each other because of the humbling fact that we were all just finding our way.

This was on Fat Tues… now I personally have never participated in Lent, which requires giving up something you love like sugar, booze or sex… for 40 days no less! Yikes!!! Ok but in the spirit of Lent, Ive decided to look at everyone as my fellow dorks just trying to find their way down the hill of life without breaking anything, even when I’m cut off in traffic or waiting for the line in the post office to move faster than 2 miles an hour… you can fill in the blank…

On my third visit, I pulled into the parking lot to head up the mountain, and my gut feeling was… I don’t know just kinda off. It wasn’t saying don’t, it was just not quite right. Well I had a new pair of boarding pants and a free pass both of which i was determined to take full advantage of. I got off the lift at the top of the mountain and the snow in the shade had a thick crust from what had melted the night before and in the sun it was already slushy. Both of these types of conditions are not safe for me to board on, so i carefully made my way down the hill and that was my day… and a gentle reminder of Gods constant whisper… our gut feeling.

Well that catches you up on the winter! I hope you enjoyed the photos! More to follow!

Love and Blessings, MJ and Maxi.