Not your average day at the salon

Hello my fellow followers!

The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and it is absolutely beautiful outside.  But nothing is more beautiful then making someones' day.  This past Thursday April 12th, I was part of the Dress for Sucess show at Burlington County College hosted by the Career Services department.  The point of the show is to show other students how you are suppose to dress during an interview, what to say, and what NOT to put on your resume.  All of these important facts are trying to help students prepare for the "workforce". 

All of the volunteers for the "Dress for Sucess" show, like myself.  Are treated to a brand new suite, a new pairy of dressy shoes, and a full makeover including hair and makeup.  On this day,  I went to get my hair done at Rizzeria salon and spa in Voorhees, NJ not knowing that I would be holding on to a rubber band filled with hair and a smile that would not leave my face.

As the 12th "to do" on my bucket list, I wanted to donate my hair.  However, I must say I was hesitate at first, until I got a little push from the director of the Career Services dept at BCC and my friends who were in the show with me.  As I sat in the salon chair at Rizzeria, I was scared to see 10 inches of my hair be cut off, but wouldn't any girl?  Deep down though, I knew thats what I wanted, and at the end of the day...its just hair, right?  

After was all said and done, the next thing I knew one of the students at the salon was coming up to me in tears and told me how much it meaned to her that she had donated my hair.  The next thing she said stopped my heart for a moment.  She continued to tell me how she just overcame a brain tumor, where she lost all of her hair.  To us, it is just hair, but to others its security, confidence, and beauty. 

I will remember that day forever.

A Easter Special

Happy Easter!

A time to celebrate with your loved ones, eat lots of ham, and enjoy the simple things in life that we tend to forget about in our everyday busy lives. 

My mother and I's relationship has always been rocky,  more so worse latley in the past couple years.  However, today I went home to spend some quality time with my family before my mom and her boyfriend left for his sisters house.  In a split second  before she left, I reached out and gave my mom a hug and a kiss goodbye.  In that simple moment, it made me remember how important family is.  No matter how much you may disagree, bicker, and agrue, at the end of the day,  your family is family and it is a unconditional love that you hold ...no matter what. 

A task for you:  Take a moment and think of all the special times you have shared with your family,  reach out to them and give them a hug, let them know how much you mean to them. Trust me, the little things count the most.  ; )

4,400

This number is not relating to people who do not vote, hoard cats or even drop out of school.  This number is a statistic of how many "young people" commit suicide per year, because they were bullied.  It is outrageous in 1,000 different languages, and it is completely unnecessary.  The only question to really ask is ....why?

While being young and having a "childhood" is suppose to be the best time of your life for many, its not.  Going to prom, getting their drivers license, and winning State Champs for the soccer team, would normally be on any teenagers priority list, and it should.  However for some, it is these victims least concern.  Whereas for them, the idea of simply going to school is haunting.  

So what gives me the right to talk on behalf of all of these bullied victims?
Well, I use to be one of them.  

I was in Elementary school, 5th and 6th grade.  I was care-free and curious, but most of all, I was hopeful.  I was hopeful that the next day wouldn't be like today, which was a continuous thought.  However, that "hope" dwindled down little by little with every school day that passed by.  I remember walking to the school bus,  and thinking to myself: "today will be a great day if I don't get bullied."  I didn't know what I wanted out of life, I was only a young girl going through grammer school, but i did know one thing....
                                       I just wanted to fit in. 


I wasn't your tyical "pretty girl".  I had a perm of big wavy curls that was bigger then my head, glasses that could compare to chicken little's and braces that could hold and entire familys dinner in them.  Attractive huh? 


I got it all, the typical four eyes, brace face, and frizz ball, were all daily rituals when going to school, and it hurt. It hurt hard, every single day.  An although I must say, I did not get a percentage of abuse other kids may encounter, I still felt the same feeling of being rejected and not "fitting it". 


It blows my mind.  It blows my mind that one single person, can indirectly take someone's life.  The thought of a innocent 12 year old waking up every day and being afriad to live their life is one of the many reasons why I am such an advocate when it comes to bullying.  To me, a voice is one of the most powerful weapons that anyone can have.  Stronger then a gun or a knife, your voice has meaning.  You just have to use it for good. 

 

A Moment of Motivation

Happy April Everyone!


While I am on the continuous topic of "change",  I believe there is no other month that should have the label "change" next to it then April.  It is a month filled with upcoming spring weather, students college decision letters being received, and of course, my one and only brother's birthday (April 14th).  However,  more importantly, I would like to share with you one of my most achieved moments in my life.  While most would say, graduating high school or getting promoted at your dream job, (props to you if this happened) I personally would say, starting a movement at my very own college.  


I go to Burlington County College, (which by the way, is ranked the #1 community college in New Jersey) and to tell you the truth, I absolutely love it and I could tell you a 100 different reasons why, but we'll get into that another day.  


December of 2010 I came up with an idea to start a "LGBT AWARENESS WEEK" at my college, which involved eye-opening statistics, inspirational speeches by keynote speakers, and many exciting activities  (read this to get the details of how I started it in a article I wrote for the BCC newsletter).  When I confronted 2 other friends of mine with the idea, they were totally down.  After planning for 4 months, April was just around the corner and there it was staring at us right in the face before we even knew it.  Everything that we had done prior was finally coming together for "LGBT awareness week".  


While last year was great and all,  the numbers of supporters were against us, and was upsetting in the least.  This year, I brought up the idea again, and it was an even bigger hit then last year!  I have had so many people come up to me, people I do not even know, and ask me: "How do I help plan for the LGBT awareness week?"  That simple question, in all seriousness, melted my heart.  In my eyes, they were asking me: "How do I help the campus come together and shine the light on what the LGBT population faces every day?"  That to me, is one of the greatest things that I could ever ask for.


It is so inspiring, in which I can not even put into words.   It is so inspiring to see so many people come together and help support and plan in this week.  We have come so far from last year in the progress, that hopefully someday in the future the whole college will be involved!  This year Burlington County College's LGBT AWARENESS WEEK will be held from April 16th-20th, and will conclude on Friday with the National Day of Silence.  Come check it out and these other great events!

OTHER UPCOMING CHARITABLE EVENTS IN APRIL:

Green Your School Challenge      Sponsered by: Dosomething.org      Date: Feb. 1st - April 22

The Water Games                         Sponsered by: Dosomething.org      Date: March 19th-April 13

A Day Without Shoes                    Sponsered by: Tom's Shoes            Date: April 12th 2012


Pet Health Block Party                 Sponsered by: ASPCA                      Date: April 17th, 2012

The KONY Project                        Sponsered by: Invisible Children     Date: April 20th, 2012

A small cup of tea, with a big spoon.

Hi, im Samm.  Samm Fairlie.  Im a 21 year old, small town girl from the heart of New Jersey, and it may sound crazy, but I want nothing more then to change the world. 

I have never blogged before, (unless you count Xanga, my middle school online venting journal)  but until last week when my professor for my Writing for Mass Media class gave us a assignment to write on the topic of Apple (you can check it out below), I realized how much I enjoy blogging.  The thought of unknown strangers reading about your thoughts, opinions, and lifestyle rituals, usually does not strike many as intriguing, but it does to me for some odd reason. 

Let me back track a little, at the beginning I mentioned I wanted to change the world, yeah thats not just a little speedbump you read past.   However, I have a problem.  I don't know how to go about this in a tactical manner (reminds me of this song) which made me think.  Im sure hundreds and thousands of us out there want the same thing.    So here it is, a blog in which we all can come together and share our views about topics, topics that matter.  Domestic Violence, LGBT issues, and Animal rights are just to name a few.  Let it all out. Let your fingers do the talking. Lets hear what you have to donate to this generation.

My friend Becky and I volunteering at a Homeless shelter.

All About Apple Inc.

Why do Apple products change so quickly and why do they cost so much?

We can easily say that Apple has greatly changed the way of technology.

We can easily say that Apple has greatly altered the aspects of technology within our society.  With all the new Apple products that are out there, such as, Ipads and Iphones, we literally have technology at our finger tips.  Including new features and capabilities that come with the product, such as “face-time”, screen magnification, and simplified user interface.  While these are all great tools to have on your handheld device, I ask a simple question, why must Apple constantly come out with new products so often?  I did some research on my own to find out the answers behind this. 

First off, we can look at the more obvious answer to this question, which is money.  Whether we want to believe it or not, “money makes the world go around.”According to tgdaily.com, the average of a new Apple product comes to the market every year, if not slightly over a year.  Most companies come out with new products every 3-5 years.  For example, Nintendo Wii came out in November of ’06, and they still have not come out with a new game console design that is more recent then the Nintendo Wii.  With Apple continuously updating and upgrading their products, they are never overpowered by other companies, such as Blackberry and Droid.  In addition, they are never really losing revenue, because our generation is all about mass media, it is even more necessary that we always are up to date with what type of devices we are using.  They are keeping their customers constantly reminded that (in their eyes) they are the best.

While upgrading new apple products can be exciting and fresh it also (like everything else) has its disadvantages, which can be quite frustrating.  As I was reading some of Apple’s community discussion sites” I came upon this statement.  Which reads: “Apple makes new changes to products without notification to users so better buying decisions can be made? Example, Nano changed from 12 volts to 5 amps, it now does not work with my car audio system and the Bose Sound dock.”    Situations like this need to be addressed, in my own opinion; these changes were not advertised simply because if they were to be it could press the chances of people not wanting to buy the new product, because it does not include the capability of working with a car audio system and a sound dock.  This can either hinder or help the company, which brings me to my next question.

Why does Apple products cost so much?  As much as it is harder for me to relate to this question, because I have never owned any Apple products myself, this question still makes me ponder as it is always a reoccurring topic in every conversation that I have.  As I was researching some of the remarks I saw from community discussion boards, I saw that one of the reasons they are so expensive is because they are “backed up”, “have great discounts” and do not get “viruses” (speaking on behalf of the Macbook Pro).  For me, I am a skeptic about believing a computer can “never” get a virus, as I believe that the only reason Macbooks do not get viruses is because they are still fairly new.  Whereas, "PC's" have been around for ages and are constantly getting hacked into.  Once Macbooks continue to be around for a longer period of time, I believe that hackers will soon unlock the way to get into the systems and they are going to be more likely to then get viruses.   Another reason apple products are so expensive is because is because Apple is their own company.  Unlike large companies that own branches of other companies, Apple is within their own.  They can make, choose, and pick what stores can sell Apple products, how much they sell for, and what the phones should and should not have.  Apple is one of the leading corporate companies out there today,  and its satisfactory products continue to please their customers every day.  With all this being said, this is why we find oursleves paying more then we'd like to for a ipad and updating our apple technologies every year.