Review: J Romer Salon

I've mentioned this before, but my regular hair stylist, the fabulous Anna Goldstein, works out of Dino Palmieri at Beachwood. Anna has done my hair for 6+ years, and I LUUUURRRVVE her work. Since N and I became west-siders, Beachwood is just too inconvenient to drive out to every 8-10 weeks. So, I've been searching for a closer salon, and decided to try out J Romer Salon (10904 Clifton Blvd, Cleveland), which is a short walk from where we live.

The salon is small (maybe 4 seats), and is an Aveda salon, but doesn't have its own website. So, all I had to go on was this review from 2006, and I was nervous. 

Since I have such a love-hate relationship with my bangs, I decided to follow the reviewers advice and made an appointment to see Michelle Smith. She started off with a head massage, and it was amazing!!  I took a picture in, and talked to her about my hair-issues; she listened to what my big-picture plan was, offered a few suggestions, and then explained how she planned to cut my hair and why. I really appreciated the detail; being a new client at a new salon can be nerve-wracking!! Ladies, you know exactly what I mean!! Hair washing followed, and she decided to straighten my hair and then cut it dry (which is how I've had it done for the past 6 years). The woman is a BANG-GENIUS!!! Happy day!! I'm over my bang-hate, for now!

So, if you're in the market for a new stylist, I recommend Anna Goldstein on the East side, and Michelle on the West Side, especially if you're thinking about bangs.

A semi-ode to snail-mail

Growing up, I was a big letter-writer. I would write letters to my grandparents and my aunt, and I would be SO excited when I got a reply back. At the time, living at my parents house, it was pretty much the only mail that was addressed to me. Funny how things change in 20-something years. Now I get TONS of mail, 80% of which is stuff I really don't really want/care to see, 8% are coupons, and a mere 2% is fun stuff, and that's usually around the Holidays, when people send Holiday cards (sadly, N and I are not one of those people, but we're going to make a SERIOUS attempt to change that in 2011). Anyway, as a nod to my former love for snail mail, I picked this up at The Cleveland Auction Company a few weeks ago:

How cute is that?!?!? Its a little piggy bank!! Reminds me of visiting my grandparents in London! Hmmm, maybe this is time for a new resolution to send more letters, but since that's realistically not happening, maybe I will just send more cards....

So You Want to be a Rapper...

As you might know, I am a HUGE fan of Hip Hop night at Touch Supper Club. If you're not familiar with this SUPERFUN event, the last Saturday of every month, Touch hosts DJ's that play classic hip-hop; the songs we grew up listening to, if you listened to hip-hop back then. I like to sing at hip hop night, but only because I know other people can't really hear me. I'm not a karaoke-r. But if YOU are, or if you like to sing in the privacy of your home, AND you like Hip Hop, you need to invest in this:

JV, Tiff and Michelle own this game, and from what I've witnessed, JV and Tiff really OWN it! Its so ridiculously fun, and dance moves are encouraged!!! The game has a feature where you can record yourself performing, so if you feel so inclined, you could also put it on YouTube (if you do, please, please send me a link; I'd love to see your skillz!)

Preparing for Next Year (or the next 2 months)

If you've been to a department store or the mall lately, then you've noticed that in retail-world, its swimsuit season already. Here in Cleveland, and really, all over the northern US, we're still freezing our butts off. Needless to say, its a FANTASTIC time to buy coats!! Why? Because they're ridiculously on sale, like this J.Crew beauty that I ordered last week.

It was an extra 40% off the sale price when I bought it, so the grand total was a whopping 65% the original price!!!! If you're in the market for a new coat, I recommend taking a look at what's out there right now; all the major retailers are offering huge discounts, and there are some great great deals to be had. I will say, that you're probably "safer" picking out a classic style, or at the very least, something that you absolutely LURVE, and that you're likely to still love next year. In any case, you'll still get to use it until March, maybe even April!!!

Valentine's Day

Are you pro- or anti- Valentine's day? I used to be indifferent, but this year, I'm SUPER pro, but its not for the reason you might think.

Its this little girl's first birthday!!! This year I'm thinking of stopping by Grateful Dog Bakery to get both her and Otto some celebratory treats!

Besides the pups, of course N gets a present too, although I have to confess, I've taken the lazy route for the past few years and I just keep renewing his subscription to ESPN magazine and ESPN insider. Its the prefect, fool-proof gift for the sportsfan in your life!!

Something new

So I don't know if I've told you this, but N and I have been married twice. To each other. With no divorces in between. This may be a little odd, but I wanted an outdoor wedding, which was Wedding 1; a small affair with only about 20 people. However, the Catholic Church frowns upon outdoor weddings and since it was important to his family that our marriage was blessed by the Church, we had Wedding 2, at the Church in Little Italy. This was a slightly larger wedding, with about 150 people. If you've ever been to an Indian wedding, then you'll know that those tend to be slightly large events, and so we had reception 3 when we made our first trip to India as a married couple. Needless to say, I'm a pro at getting married : ).

Now, you may be wondering about the whole dress situation. This was us at Wedding 1: my dress came off-the-rack from White House Black Market, and was an ivory, tea-length dress with white chiffon sash. I had plans to dye it hot pink, but that never happened.

For Wedding 2 and Reception 3, we blended both Indian and US traditions, so I wore a white sari (the traditional color for wedding saris in India is red):

So why am I telling you all this? Because sometimes, when I see a great dress, I'm tempted to convince N that we should have wedding 3!!! Seriously though, if you are newly engaged and haven't picked out a wedding dress yet, you should consider visiting Something White in Independence, Ohio. They are indepedently AND locally owned and carry some absolutely exquisite pieces. This weekend they're hosting a Lela Rose trunk show, so you should should check it out if you're in the market for wedding dresses/ bridesmaids dresses/ wedding accessories.  Check out some of these dresses.... so beautiful!!

Spring ballet

Have you watched Black Swan yet? N and I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not going to give anything away, but I will say that if you're looking for closure at the end of the movie, you're not going to get it. I LLLUUURRRVVEEED the costumes and all the tulle, and while I'd love to incorporate some of that into my spring wardrobe, I'm fairly certain that tulle at work would result in many weird looks. So, I will have to limit my Black Swan inspirations to something more corporate-appropriate like ballet flats. Right now, I have my eye on these:

Born Precious in antique burnished leather, $95 at zappos

I haven't ordered these yet, but I've got my fingers crossed that they're as comfortable as they are adorable!!!