Beauty Shop

This is an extra-long post, because I'd like to take today to explore a few things about what Just the Girls: Real Beauty is about....and what it is not about.  I've been reading another beauty blog about 'natural' beauty.  I like that blog.  It explores the natural beauty of women and I agree with a lot of what it has to say. The bloggers expose celebrities when their photographers slim their size 12 bodies into size 0's, and they are enemies of the toddler beauty pageants.   But I disagree with plenty, too.  'That' blog is down on everything that is not 'natural'.  The bloggers are down on make-up, hair extensions, eyebrow plucking, and the magical erasing of wrinkles our photographers do.  They don't want women to cover our grey hair or use eye cream.  I'm not sure how they feel about armpit hair....but I have a feeling they are 'for' it!

Just the Girls is about Real Beauty.  It's about women who are strong, funny, smart, and confident.  Just the Girls is not, however, only about natural beauty.  We love make-up.  We're ok with getting our eyebrows waxed (well, we're not OK with the pain, but we like the results).  We're also ok with erasing wrinkles from a photograph, unless a woman tells us specifically not to.  Our photographers also sometimes whiten teeth and brighten eyes, and they might even add a little lip color if a woman forgot her lipstick that day.  Real Beauty doesn't have anything to do with the little things we do to make ourselves look different than we looked when we rolled out of bed this morning. Real Beauty comes from INSIDE us, and on the outside we can do whatever we want.  If we decide to put our hair in a ponytail and let our brows grow bushy ala teen Brooke Shields, that's fine.  Or, if we want to pluck our eyebrows out and draw them on or tease our purple hair as high as it will go, that's fine too!  It DOES NOT CHANGE the beauty we possess!

  Aubrianah and Faith recently got to spend a couple of hours at our favorite place for shampooing, head massages, hair cuts and color, and eyebrow plucking, Sage Tryall Salon.  But the girls weren't there that day to get washed, plucked, or colored, they were there to photograph the fabulous Sage ladies.  I've included several pictures here, but they got loads of great shots that you can find on our Facebook page in the next few days!  The gorgeous Sage ladies are always made up, they all have cutting-edge hair styles in every color, and their outfits are fabulously funky.  They are BEAUTIFUL!  Owner Suzy Tryall is a funny, sweet, talented Beautiful Girl who loves to wear vintage-style dresses and big flowers in her hair.  She is the leader of the BEST beauty crew in Lynchburg!  More importantly, every member of the Sage team cares about you and how you want to look.  They'll make you laugh, and they'll help you de-stress, because   they are talented, smart, creative, funny women!    All these Beautiful Girls, and Suzy's Beautiful Guy, Todd, will make your day an experience you will want to tell your friends about. You'll come away from Sage feeling relaxed and empowered and, well, beautiful!

Thank you, Suzy, for allowing Aubrianah and Faith to hang out with you and your team!  They had a great time!

You can find out more about Sage Tryall Salon, including their contact information so you can book an appointment with ANY of the fabulous Sage ladies (or Todd!) on their Facebook page here:  http://www.facebook.com/SageTryallSalon?sk=info  

You Can't Catch this Beautiful Girl!

When I look at Rebekah, I see energy.  I think I have a lot, but she has more energy in her left toe than I have in my entire body.  I think I’m a runner…..HA…..she runs ULTRA-marathons.  Some of her accomplishments are listed below. 

Past winner of the following races:

• Catoctin 50K
• Holiday Lake 50K
• Mountain Masochist 50 miler
• JFK 50 Miler
• The Groudhog Classic 50 Miler
• Rattlesnake 50K
• Uwharrie 40 Mile Mountain Run
• New River Challenge (Bike, canoe and run)

Finisher of more than 75 ultramarathons

One of four women to complete The BEAST ultramarathoning race series

Women's record holder on West Virginia's 302-mile long Allegheny Trail (7 days, 6 hours)

Tri-holder of the women's record on the South Beyond 6000, a nearly 300 mile long run across five mountain ranges with the summit of forty peaks in excess of 6000' feet elevation (6 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes)

First American and 2nd overall woman in the 250 km Jungle Marathon in equatorial Brazil

I’m tired just looking at this kind of mileage!  A 302 MILE race – that’s just insanely amazing. 

I’ve been friends with Rebekah for years.  She and her husband were our Sunday School teachers for a long time.  She has such a heart for the Lord, and it is evident in everything she does.  Her boundless energy is used to reach others for Christ.  She has written a devotional book called Pace Yourself.  It is awesome!  In her preface, she writes:  “Too often we want a dramatic theological breakthrough but fail to see the lessons in pulling weeds or watching a simple sunrise.  So take a run with me through 366 days of normal, ordinary life.”

Rebekah also has a blog that I highly recommend.  I don’t just recommend it; you need to read it!  You will be inspired, encouraged.  She has a way of writing that draws you in, and I love reading her posts!  The link is below.

http://rebekahtrittipoe.blogspot.com/

I like this, taken from her website:

Ever wonder what makes someone tick? Why would a reasonably sane woman traipse through jungles, climb mountain after mountain, and run up to one-hundred miles at a time?  Good question.

She really isn't that strange.  She is a long-time wife and the mother of two grown boys. She is a house cleaner and dust-bunny gatherer, grass cutter, grocery getter and chief cook and bottle washer.  She works at a lot of things and cries all too easily when it becomes too overwhelming. Sometimes she lies in the dark, her heart aching over concerns. But sometimes she leaps for joy at the new day and the pleasures a noisy dinner with family can bring.  She really is very normal--if you don't count the running thing.

“She really is very normal—if you don’t count the running thing.”  That is so funny!  God has gifted her with this incredible talent to run these awe-inspiring distances, and she has used this gift for Him.  Again, please visit her blog to learn more about her – you will not be disappointed!

Serving Up Beauty

We talk a lot here at Just the Girls: Real Beauty about having a servant's heart.  A lot of our Beautiful Girls spend  a lot of their time serving others.  But what does that mean, really?  Millions of women serve others every day, what makes these particular women's service beautiful?

  Servant beauty is all in the attitude.  See, we can serve all we want, but the minute we complain about it, or make ourselves out as martyrs because we do so much service, or make the people we are serving feel below us, we've lost the beauty.  This is something I am working on myself!  I caught myself feeling high and mighty because I made myself available to substitute teach the children's Sunday School classes at my church.  Teachers would ask me, and I would complain and roll my eyes and sigh, just to make sure they knew how much I was sacrificing!  What a dummy I was!  At one point, I had gotten so bad that the teachers didn't want to ask me any more.  They'd ask anyone else they could think of, then come to me as a last resort!  If I cooked for a church event, I let everyone know how much time it took and how many times I'd gone to the grocery store and how much money I'd paid for the ingredients.  If I cleaned the church, I made sure to put on my Facebook status how messy everything was and how long it took.   If I took out the trash at home, I'd make sure to remind my son that I'd done his job.  I'd make sure my daughter knew how many miles I'd driven her that week.  I was serving, but not beautifully!

When I look at Kristin, I see a real, beautiful, servant's heart.  Kristin doesn't really think about serving as SERVICE, she just does it because it is who she is.  She doesn't talk about how much she is sacrificing, because she doesn't think of it as giving something up.  She also has a hard time sitting still, so she loves to fill up her day with things to do!  She also doesn't wait to be asked, if she sees the need she just serves.  However, if someone does need to ask for help, they aren't worried that Kristin will roll her eyes and sigh and complain like I might...she won't.  It's more likely that she'll thank them for asking and set about it with that beautiful smile on her face.  She doesn't need thanks, she doesn't need affirmation, she doesn't even need us to know she did it.

  I sometimes still have to make a conscious effort not to sigh an "I guess"  when I'm asked to serve.  I do want to serve, I don't know why I feel like I need to make a federal case out of it!  I'm learning from Kristin, though, how to serve beautifully!  Eye-rolling is never beautiful, so put  beautiful smiles on those beautiful faces and serve, Beautiful Girls!  The more you and I do it, without complaint, the more second-nature it will become!