No, I'm not channeling my inner CCR, but that song did bring a little smirk to my face when I heard it on Friday, the 13th of June, 2008. Irony, perhaps? I live and work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and you likely heard about the mighty flood that took out a lot of our town on that day. My salon was located in the Czech Village neighborhood of Cedar Rapids and, when the water crested, our salon took on a little more than eight feet of flood water. Our historic area of the city was all but destroyed by the water.

It's been quite a journey since the water came up and the water came down. We've spent the past two and a half weeks cleaning up the damage in our neighborhood and helping our neighbors clean up. It's an absolute daunting task. We are waiting patiently for the City to decide if we will be allowed to rebuild, and we are looking forward to returning Czech Village to the wonderful little neighborhood that it was.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to help or said a prayer for our City. We are looking forward to rebuilding and I look forward to sharing the rebuilding process on this blog. My heart goes out to everyone that has been touched by this event, but I have to say that I'm proud to be a part of this community. I have seen a lot of generosity, selflessness, and hard work go into saving and restoring our homes and businesses. I'm proud of that.

Today is Father's Day, and I just want to say "Happy Father's Day" to my dear ol' Daddy, and share a little story about my dad and hair.

My dad is the proud father of four, yes four, daughters, and the even prouder grandfather to two bubbly granddaughters. He also has four sisters. So, needless to say, girls and their hair has never been a foreign concept to my dad. However, like most dad's, my dad had a way about things.

When we were young, we spent a lot of time with just Dad. Dad liked to do things methodically and I will never forget, after our baths at night, Dad would line us up like soldiers, and with this big comb, slick our hair straight back on our heads. I suppose to him, it seemed to be the best way to quickly comb these kid's hair and keep it out of our face.

It was always fine until morning. When it dried. Our bangs would be sticking out straight and all crazy like, and well, we sported some fun bed head. This might just explain why Dad always liked ponytails in our hair! I suppose it minimized the bed head.

To this day, by force of habit, I often slick my wet hair straight back on my head! Of course, I quickly straighten it up and comb it the way it's supposed to be combed! But it makes me laugh a little to remember my dad, "the hair stylist."

Happy Father's Day, Dad... and to Dad's everywhere!