11/13/2018 - History of a Rock

In early October this year, we took a driving trip around several Midwest states. One of our stops was Marquette, Michigan. At the Landmark Hotel, we found this green painted rock (maybe 4" x 2") leaning on the wall outside the lobby door.

So a few days later we went to https://www.facebook.com/groups/PHMRocks/ and reported where we found "our" rock and mentioned that we re-hid it in Wisconsin. It was in full view, but amongst a huge pile of other rocks. We were hoping the bright green color would catch someone's attention.

So today I was checking back and, low and behold, someone found our rock in Eagle River, Wisconsin and reported the find.

We wondered who found our rock. An employee of the Wild Eagle Lodge? A guest? So we sent this message. No answer yet.

What fun. Hope we can follow our rock further.

As of December 30, no more action on the rock.

11/6/2018 - We Love our Stylist

...our hair stylist, that is. She is Amanda of Captain Amanda's Radiance Salon in Otsego, Michigan. The Captain part might sound a bit odd, but I'll tell you about that later.

We started with Amanda because of a GroupOn coupon. That was about five years ago and she was so fantastic that we became loyal clients. Her salon used to be in Richland, Michigan, about 15 miles from our home. Recently she moved to Otsego, a tad bit further for us to drive, but easier because it is mostly freeway.

She owns the building now (actually a converted "antique" home) in this quaint little town. Decor is fabulous with crystal chandeliers and colors done in silver and shades of purple. Lots of good light and plenty of room to spread out.


Amanda cuts both Mike and my hair and does a fabulous job on both. Here is a photo of her at work on Mike's head. She also trims his ears and brows. Yah!!

She has worked with me through ½-inch pixie short to almost collar length. She's always flexible with good ideas because I like to mix it up. She does a great cut, but color is her favorite, although I'm not ready to delve back into that yet.

We've recommended several friends, but one of her biggest fans is 92-year old Inda (mother of our neighbor). She has very fine hair, but with a wave (not shown well in the photo). She swears no one could cut it right to get the nice wave how she likes it until she found Amanda. 

OK, so now about the "Captain" part. Amanda is an avid fisher woman. She has been a lot of places including Alaska to enjoy that fun hobby. So she got inspired to earn a merchant marine license which allows her to captain a ship up to 50,000 tons.

At this time she mostly assists other captains because she doesn't own her own boat yet. She is also a rep for a line of fishing tackle. This poster hangs on one wall in her hallway and she can tell you a lot about fishing...smiling all the while.

She also does driftwood art and rock painting. She surprises me on just about every visit with some new story about her adventures.

So an all around great hair stylist in a wonderful location and fabulous atmosphere. We always share inspiring and educational conversations, chatting about everything under the sun. And did I mention the price is right.