Join Abacus and Shinsei in the Dallas area as they welcome Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars!

On August 25th, Abacus (one my favorite Dallas restaurants) and Shinsei will hold their inaugural 2009 wine dinner at Chef Kent and Tracy Rathbun’s new 19th Floor Penthouse at the Heights at Park Lane.

(Image of Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars in Sonoma, California -All Rights Reserved).

On a recent trip to Sonoma, Kent and Tracy had the pleasure of dining at Mac McDonald’s house with his lovely wife, Lil. They were so enamored of both Mac and his wines, they knew the next time he was in Dallas, they would love to host a dinner with Mac.

Mac is now coming to town and now everyone can enjoy his wonderful award wining wines.

Mac McDonald Wines

A small boutique winery in Sonoma, Mac’s wines are such a pleasure to drink, you won’t want to miss this event. It will be a very special dinner and very limited in number! Don’t miss out! (more…)

Although most people think of me as a hair and beauty expert, and I appreciate the thoughts, I actually grew up in the world of business and computers.

When I was barely into my 20s I spent a weekend with my feet strapped onto roller blades as I skated up and down long aisles of old fashioned tape drives changing out tapes as the main console posted the latest tape wait logs.

Why you ask?  I lost a bet to the MIS Director (yes, that’s what they were called back then) who said I wouldn’t last one hour loading tapes.  Surprise, I lasted an entire shift although I swore to never do it again.

Most people probably have no idea what I’m talking about when I say loading tape drives, but it was both fun and exhausting.  It also toned my legs.

As my hybrid career progressed I transitioned from monster mainframes to the first generation of PCs.  I worked for a software company in Carrollton, Texas (burb of Dallas) where I was on a pilot project team utilizing PCs for the IRS Electronic Tax Filing System.  I actually watched the first set of returns go through the system.

In the mid 1990s I was one of the first to “surf” while everyone looked at me like I was speaking gibberish about that mystery known as “the web”.  Of course HairBoutique.com was one of the first to launch a hair & beauty information portal on the Internet.

First Glimpses Of Social Networking – Prodigy?

When the first glimmers of what was to become social networking arrived – as Prodigy – I was there.  Ditto for AOL chat and the old talk cities.  I was on MySpace and Facebook the minute I could have an account.  Same with LinkedIn and Twitter. (more…)

Chima is the current Head of Household (HoH) on Big Brother 11.  She won the HoH challenge by memorizing what callers said about the show.

(Image of original Brains Clique on Big Brother 11 – LR – Michele, Ronnie (now eliminated) and Chima (current Head of Household – CBS – All Rights Reserved).

Chima is really making the most of her time in the Head of Household room.  She has been having some long chat sessions, especially at night, about her various beliefs.  To say Chima is outspoken is an understatement.  Not only does Chima have very strong opinions about everything, she speaks them freely and loudly.

Her laugh is very distinctive and Russell has been known to make fun of it.

She and Michele have been spending a lot of time together because Michele is worried about her position in the house.  The two women have been bonding over the shared hatred of Russell which Chima pointed out to Michele. (more…)

The Leadership Vacuum:  What We Lose With The Next Generation

The mass exodus of Baby Boomers from the workplace has already begun. According to the US Office of Personnel Management, between 2006 and 2010 Boomer retirement will have robbed American companies of nearly 290,000 full-time experienced employees.

(Image of workers – by Woodsy – All Rights Reserved).

While the financial crisis has forced some to postpone retirement for a couple extra years, we can’t count on the majority of them to be fully contributing members of the workforce much longer.

Silver hair, pension funds and personal memories of a Kennedy assassination are not the only things our struggling economic engine will lose when Boomers settle into the quiet life. (more…)

A few weeks ago I wrote a Blog where I made a specific point of listing some of my #FollowFriday (#FF) Friends in the Hair and Beauty Industry (more will eventually follow).

(Image from Jana Kollárová – All Rights Reserved).

The reason I wrote a blog instead of just Tweeting about my #FF Friends was because I have more than just a handful I appreciate and want to recommend.

Although #FollowFriday is one of my favorite days of the week on Twitter, there are mixed feelings about the now famous #FF day.

Why?  Some people consider it more like being spammed than helping to share the news about great people to follow.

Talk to ten people about why they are active on Twitter and you will get ten different reasons.  Some Tweeple specifically want to meet new friends, business contacts and have the heightened ability to network with like minds. (more…)

You know who they are.  Every employer, unless they have amazing luck, have had at least one of them pass through their doors.

The “nightmare employees” aka NEs have a hard time arriving on time (and have a myriad of excuses why they can’t), freely use company resources (ranging from company phones to PCs to email services) to make extended personal phone calls to their mothers, wives, husbands, boyfriends, kids, nannies etc.,

They also sneak out early and run their side businesses and/or projects while they are on your time.

They may steal company supplies ranging from pads and pens to food, sodas and water, provided for the rest of the company.

Nightmare employees (NEs) rarely work an honest full day and have to be micromanaged constantly. Even with micromanagement, they take it as a challenge to rebelliously do whatever they want on company time. (more…)

Agents Congregate to Boost Consumer Confidence in Cancun, Mexico
Welcomes Funjet Vacations 500 Club Travel Agents

The Mexico Tourist Board and Funjet Vacations welcomed the prestigious Funjet Vacations 500 Club May 28-31, 2009 at the El Dorado Seaside Suites in Cancun, Mexico.

The appreciation trip was strategically held in Mexico to give agents valuable, first-hand experience in the area. “Funjet Vacations is dedicated to its vast travel agent network.

This trip provided significant opportunities for our top agents to experience the destination and share their business strategies with Funjet and Mexican Government leaders,” said Mike Going, President of Funjet Vacations who was in attendance. “The trip is one piece of the strategy we’ve put together, including incentives, promotions and enhanced marketing, over the last few weeks to further reinforce our commitment to travel agents and Mexico.” (more…)

If you’ve been visiting HairBoutique.com you probably know that the website was founded back in the 1996-1997 time frame.

Yes, we are an original product of the Web1.0 era although we are currently embracing Web2.0 technologies and advances.

(Image from HairBoutique.com Hairstyle Gallery – Hair By Vivienne MacKinder from the Airs & Graces Collection – All Rights Reserved).

The HairBoutique.com site is composed of a wide range of subsections with one of the most famous being our Twitter which over the years has grown to include a wide range of hairstyles for visitors to view, print to take their hairdressers and generally enjoy.

The beautiful Twitter was specifically and solely designed by Jeffry L. Hines, who has been the chief architect and primary web developer throughout the entire history of the HairBoutique.com Gallery’s existence.  Jeff has always been, and continues to be the only architect and web developer for the Gallery section of the HairBoutique site. (more…)

One of the first full time jobs I had right after completing my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Missouri was working for a Department of Labor funded project for the City of St. Louis.

Within a few short months I found myself promoted to supervisor with 10 people reporting to me, all older than me.  It was a little freaky and scary for a 23 year old.

(Image of fire from Martin Vojta – All Rights Reserved)

I asked my father, who had been in supervisory positions for most of his life, if he had any pearls of wisdom.

He told me the most important thing was for me to maintain my own boundaries, personality integrity and operate from a place of honesty and fairness.

I learned many lessons from my hard working dad, including always being on time, respecting my boss and elders as well as always being honest.  He used to say to me, honesty is always the very best policy. (more…)

One of the biggest challenges I have with writing my blog is getting my friends and family to understand that news becomes old very fast.

Which means if I am going to strive to write a timely blog about hair, beauty, celebrity, fashion and TV events, I have to keep my finger on the pulse and report about things as they happen as quickly as possible.

(Image of Spring 2009 Celebrity Apprentice cast – NBC Photo: Ali Goldstein – NBC – All Rights Reserved).

I went through this challenge with my family and friends when the various Award Shows were on the air.

My people did not understand that if I waited to watch an award show after it had completely finished and was on The Tivo, I was already at the back of the crowd and my blog would probably come in number 2,000 in a pack of 2,000. (more…)