theNines, A Love Story.

I n the last couple weeks I've had a number of small maintenance issues at the shop. I fancy myself capable of doing some of it but it seems to me that if I wait just long enough, Joan Martodam, a local carpenter (The Wood Woman Carpentry, 306-883-8826. She's done a lot of work around my house and is responsible for the beautiful renovation the salon underwent two summers ago) will be in for a hair appointment and while she's here, Taylor and I can pretend we don't know how to fix something and, fed up with our whining, fixes it for us. I guess I have ulterior motives to making sure her hair appointments are pre-booked every six weeks but if you happen upon her, don't tell her I said that. Last week when a friend popped in to bring us some mid-day ice cream, he pulled the handle off the screen door. Even though we  insisted  (kind of) that it was already loose, he insisted on walking three doors down to the hardware store to get a new one and instal it for us. W

W hat are the things that make us feel most like ourselves? Tonight I attended my first Spiritwood Grand Ole Opry ( http://townofspiritwood.ca/event/grand-ole-opry-4/?instance_id=604 ) These talented people get up on stage and sing in front of a crowd of people and I absolutely cannot imagine doing that. But if you're musically inclined, I suppose the opportunity to do that would make you feel alive and whole and I admire and fiercely respect that. I used to say that when you turned a hobby into a career, all of the fun wore off and whatever it was becomes mundane and tedious. I'm not exactly sure when that changed for me though. It wasn't after my first stint doing hair at a salon on Broadway avenue in Saskatoon. Even though I learned a lot, it still ended up feeling tedious. It wasn't after my second stint doing hair at a great little salon in Spiritwood. I was busy, I apprenticed under a woman who had done it for years but still, the spark wore off for me. I to

Ice Makers & Scarves L ast evening I was at community event where I ate lasagna. It was delicious. For dessert, some members of the Filipino community in Spiritwood made the deserts. I ate one of the most interesting deserts I've ever had and it was damn good. It was called ginataang bilo bilo and here's how Celeste Noche describes it on her blog: "Deriving from the word “bilog,” meaning, “round,”  bilo bilo  contains chewy rice balls mixed with cooking bananas (saba) or plantains, a root vegetable (such as ube, sweet potato, or taro), coconut milk, jackfruit, and tapioca pearls." You can find her commentary on some other must-try Filipino desserts at  https://food52.com/blog/17101-12-filipino-desserts-you-need-to-know-about-try .  The bilo bilo was served warm last night in little cups and it was explosion of textures and flavours that was bizarre and wonderful.  Spirtiwood has a growing Filipino community and what a community they are! They are often fou

Let's talk Scrunchies!  T he year is 1984, the leaves are falling gently from the trees (that part is embellishment. It might have been shit weather. I didn't ask my mom the details), a beautiful baby girl enters the world. Fast forward ten or so years to an early stage of puberty, frizzy haired, tragically uncool Rachelle, not hip enough for Dr. Martens, Club Monaco Sweatshirts or anything else.   After a 1987 patent was granted to Ronny Revson  (the scrunchie was invented by Philips E. Meyers in 1963 but wasn't patented), t he scrunchie took the world by storm. All of the coolest people were wearing them. In my state of uncoolness, I was not one of those people so I had very few scrunchies and the ones I did have, made very little impact on the fashion world (or rather, on my few friends). The scrunchie retreated into obscurity for a couple decades and was even the target of ridicule during some of those cruel years. Then in the 2010s, it made a comeback and no

I can always remember when I opened my business 'cause I got the keys to start renovations on a my 27th birthday. Based on my math, it looks like I'm sneaking up on 8 glorious years in business, come this September. Maybe I should have started this blog on my 9th anniversary of business being that the salon is called theNines. But right now feels right. Let me introduce myself, Reader. I'm Rachelle. I'm the owner and operator of theNines salon in Spiritwood Saskatchewan. My salon is a Paul Mitchell Focus Salon and as such, you'll only find us using, selling and colouring hair with Paul Mitchell product. If you'd like to see the shop on the Paul Mitchell Focus Salon locator, check it out here  https://locator.paulmitchell.com/locator.php?zip=%20spiritwood%20saskatchewan . Periodically I like to just look up my own salon 'cause it makes me feel cool. If I've kept your attention so far, let me tell a bit more about why I'm writing this love sto