I don’t know about you but when school starts it feels like a brand new year to me. So when I saw this photo that one of my staff took, I wanted to share with you.   Have a happy and safe school year!

What is our obsession with reality TV shows?

I watch a bunch of reality TV shows including: the Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, Hell’s Kitchen  and the other night, I watched the Jersey Shore.

I can understand a little about why a person would want to see the Amazing Race.  Everyone wants to travel but not many of us get to go to the exotic places where the race takes you. Couples, not only married ones — brothers and sisters, mother’s and sons, etc., compete to win $1,000,000.  There is definitely excitement.  Where are they going next? Who’s going to come in first? What’s going to happen?

A lot of people watch The Biggest Loser to get motivated to lose weight.   I know I do.  I particularly like it in the beginning.  I remember how hard it was to start to exercise and how it felt as though those pounds would never come off! You watch the contestants and feel their motivation.  This helps me get motivated!

I’m not sure if I could understand why I watch Hell’s Kitchen. Gordon Ramsey is always yelling at everyone calling them “donkeys.” It’s actually terrible.  I feel really bad for the contestants.  I guess the intriguing part is the cooking. What types of dishes will they come up with next? Who’s going to win the grand prize of being the executive chef at Ramsey’s restaurant.

And certainly, I don’t get Jersey Shore. The other night I was watching it on MTV. For those of you who never watched, it’s about a group of  eight twenty-somethingers who live together in a house, kind of like “Big Brother.”  On this week’s episode, two of the people are an item and the girl received a note from some of the other girls in the house that told her that her boyfriend was cheating on her.  After that, it was all “drama.” But, I kept watching and I may even watch again this week!

So why are we obsessed? Don’t we have enough “drama” in our lives?  Do we watch so that we can secretly become like them and walk away from our problems?  Love to hear your thoughts about why we love reality TV.

When I first met Richie Schwartz he was taking photos of babies and children.  He snapped some of the best photos of my children when they were little.  I still have the photographs hanging up in my house.  So when I recently reconnected with Richie, I was surprised to learn that he became a pet photographer.  I guess if you can do magnificent work with babies and children, dogs and cats are an easier act to follow? Or, maybe not…

Richie sent me this Youtube video of his work and I thought it would be nice to share with you.  He really does fantastic work and I would recommend him to you if you want to photograph your pet.

The other day, I went up to Mt. Kisco to go race car driving with my Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) forum group. When I got up there, I realized that it wasn’t race car driving at all, it was go-kart racing!

After we got there, we were shown a 5 minute video on what different colored flags meant when driving the go-kart and various safety rules. Then we were brought into a room and were given one piece outfits to wear.  They were not easy to get on with shoes on, so we took off our shoes. Once we put them on, one of the workers told us to take them off.  “It’s way too hot in the track room,” he told us. So we quickly took them off.

The worker gave us each a helmet and neck brace.  He put mine on tight.  I was a bit claustrophobic. We went out to the track and I was given car 25.  When the green flag was waved, we put our feet on the pedals and took off.  Some of my forum mates floored the green pedal and went around the track at the maximum 40 mile an hour speed.  (Let me tell you, 40 miles an hour is pretty fast on a go-kart!)

I tried to go as fast as I could but there were so many winding turns.  They were sharp and steep at times and of course, I got into two accidents.  First Richard, one of my forum mates, bumped me.  I spun out and was stuck.  One worker had to turn me around.  The second time, Morris, another forum mate, bumped me and again, I did a 360.  I was turned the wrong way so another worker came out and turned me around again.

This little race was the longest six minutes of my life.  I’m not kidding.  And the funny part was, we bought tickets for three races back to back.

When the race was over, I was dizzy. I told the guys I was going to sit out the rest of the races.  Morris decided he wanted to sit out the rest of the races too. So we watched as the three other forum guys took off.

Although it wasn’t a race car, which I was hoping it would be, it was a really fun day.

Tell me, have you been on a race car or go-kart?

I never really thought that much about my hair.

I have curly hair and my maintenance consisted of washing, conditioning, a little gel and then that was it. I would shake it out and go. I wouldn’t even dry it, even in the cold weather.

The only time I thought about my hair was when it was extremely humid outside and I was having a bad hair day.  On those days, I couldn’t even look in the mirror!  I would put my hair up in a pony and wait for the next day.

Most of us women, and some men, spend hours on our  hair, trying to get it perfect. But, not me. I’m more of a wash and shake type of girl. So when my haircutter, Edelma, asked me if I wanted to get a Keratin treatment, I shrugged.  “I don’t think I need that,” I told her.

Many times when I would go to get highlights or a cut, she would suggest that I get it done. And I would say, “maybe in the future, not today.

Last Saturday, I took my daughter to get a haircut and Edelma told me she had a few cancellations and wanted to know if I wanted to get the Keratin treatment. “Your hair will be beautiful,” she said. “If you want it straight, you will love it and if you want it curly, it will have soft curls.”

She convinced me and three and a half hours later, I walked out of the salon with stick straight hair. At first I wasn’t thrilled with the way it looked. I felt it was flat against my face and made me look older. But as the hours went by, I liked it more and more.

Edelma told me not to wash it for 72 hours and not to put it back or sweat. “Ummm, Edelma, I exercise every day,” I told her after the treatment was in. “Well, try not to darling,” she said.

For the next two days, I was very conscience of my hair. I couldn’t put my glasses on my head. I couldn’t put it in a pony. And, I couldn’t get it wet. It was making me a little crazy, but I dealt.

Today, I got a call from Edelma on my cell phone. “So how do you like?” she said. “I keep thinking about you and know you were a little skeptical so I want to make sure you’re happy.”

I smiled and thought about how easy it was to make my hair straight today and how natural it looked. “Edelma,” I said, “It’s all about the hair…”