I was gettin born.
This is 45, hashtag no filter.
However, I’m having a lovely rosacea flare, and going to work, so there’s a bit of makeup there. Sometimes it’s just one pink or red splotch, but the last 4-5 days have been like a scourge of scarlet freckles. Please note the white hair blowing across my nose is my own and not a kitty hair, but don’t think for a moment that I’m not covered in pet hair, cause I am. Further, that is actual snow in my hair.
I bet it’s our sixth or seventh snowfall of the season and finally it sticks some.
Is baby snows.
Look what it did to Blanche’s window.
It did that for me, I’m sure of it.
I really wanted to take a better selfie today, but the light wasn’t in my favor, the skin wasn’t in my favor, and y’all, it was not a good sleep night for anyone in the house. We don’t know. We just don’t know. I got three real good hours between 2am and 5am, Woot!
I continue to age naturally, and hopefully with some grace. I started this at 40 but most of you weren’t reading me then. You can watch me grow older every year, growing being the key point.
I hope to inspire others to embrace the whateverness they’re experiencing as time goes on. In my case, drying, crinkling, the appearance of old sun damage. This year, I notice my eyelids are droopier and I’m growing a substantial fuzz. Ya know what I’m gonna do about it? Hellanothin. Okay, I am gonna try to get more sleep tonight. I should prolly hydrate, but it’s my birthday and I have SODA. I am not alarmed. Try not to be alarmed when your face does the things it’s supposed to. That way you’ll have more energy to put toward truly important endeavors, like filling the house with readers.
joeyfullystated 
Happy Birthday! You’re looking great!
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Thanks so much!
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Thats a damn fine lookin 45. Most women I know my age looked road hard & put away at 30 lol. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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I appreciate that 🙂 I like to think it’s all the ice cream that keeps me young 😛
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Oh Joey. I just love reading you. You are so honest. Happy 45th and may you live to be 100!
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Thank you! I wonder what I’ll look like at 100 — all crinkle, all droop, and probably a HUGE nose! 😀
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Since you started by asking a question, I’ll start by answering. Except, Happy Birthday, and you look fine. I started 1973 in Georgia! (That’s why I wanted to answer). However, at this point in 1973, I was in West Virginia, having escaped Georgia. I don’t know how long I’ve been following, but I’ve enjoyed all of it, and I wish you many more years. I hope you have a better night’s sleep, ‘cuz Tuesday.
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I am glad you were not suffering in Georgia on the day of my birth! Thank you very much for being such a longtime good reader 🙂 I hope I sleep well too. I really need it. I appreciate that wish! I always seem to have client meetings on Tuesday, I don’t know WHY, it just works that way.
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I have a dentist appointment this morning and a 4:00 pm conference call this afternoon. Bad Tuesday.
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Icky Ew. I hope it went better than expected!
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Surprisingly, it did!
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Hurrah!
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Happiest of birthdays to you. You look great. I would not guess 45. What was I doing in 1973? Graduating from high school – so who’s old! I don’t make up or dye and if you don’t like how I look, don’t look. 🙂 I have a few gray hairs which I of course call the glitter effect but we have no snow here.
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I am glad you’re being you and letting you be! 🙂 The glitter effect! Yes! That’s a lovely phrase.
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Happy Birthday, Joey!!! Hashtag you really do have great skin.
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Thanks! Lois, you’re hashtag too kind! x
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You could probably pass for your son’s older sister, and you probably should write a book on how to look 15 years younger than you are. 🙂 As we age, we make sure the body is covered up, but the face is out there, and life has a sense of humor. 1973 – it was a very good year. 🙂
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I dunno about all that, but I do appreciate your kindness 🙂 I am pretty sure the secret is eating heaps of ice cream?
I am glad you enjoyed 1973 — I bet I didn’t. LOL
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In 1973, I was in college. 🙂 Happy, happy birthday to you, Joey. Growing readers is one of the most important things in the world, so keep on keeping on with it. We have lots and lots of snow today and it’s absolutely beautiful, although it’s that heavy snow that can break branches and sometimes take down power lines. Fortunately, we have power and we have all the beauty, too. May your week be filled with beauty, whether from snow or other things.
janet
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We had more of the baby snows today 🙂 I am so glad you’re enjoying a winter wonderland WITH power!
Tuesday sucks, but it’s almost over.
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Losing power is bad but in winter, it’s terrible! Happy Wednesday/Over-the-Hump Day!!
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Oh, good grief, Joey. First I spell your name wrong (it was the wine), then I forget that we had the swim-parent talk. I blame age for every mistake I remember/make.
1973? November (Happy Birthday to you [hear me singing?] and many more) …
I think I was at Mather AFB, CA finishing up flying training. I looked up some #1 songs in ’73: “The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich and “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Both may have been prophetic.
I had rosacea issues at about 45ish. I cudda been a skinny W.C. Fields, but I didn’t drink enough to qualify. Derm doc gave me antibiotics.
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I cannot do the antibiotics because rosacea is the least of my troubles, lol! All the same, I’m glad it worked for you. I rarely drink. It’s not fair.
I liked the way you misspelled my name, as I said 🙂 Sometimes I forget things, and people get all freaked out about it, but none of them more than me!
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As I recall, I had to stop the antibiotics. I forget why, but my sis had same thing from same med. I suppose I outgrew it.
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If only. Oh I can dream!
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I agree, but I’ve been lucky: I always wanted to be a platinum blonde, and now I am. The avatar photo has eyeliner – that’s it. Don’t get too close, of course. But not too unhappy about what was dealt, and have found the perfect shampoo and conditioner to make frizzy old-lady hair feel like when I was 14 – Pantene Ultimate 10, loaded with every conditioner that it can. Much old-looking hair is lack of a decent conditioner. That doesn’t count as fighting aging; it is merely supplying what the hair needs.
You do what makes you feel better, doesn’t steal too much time from life, and doesn’t cost so much it’s ridiculous. Unless spending a lot of money is what makes you feel good. Then I can see some reason for it. We have an actual life to live.
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I don’t use conditioner very often, but I do apply oil, sooo…. I don’t wash my hair much and don’t use regular shampoo, I’m an odd creature, I know. Your hair IS very shiny for any age. Keep it up!
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Oh, and in 1973 I had just started graduate school.
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Thank you for blazing the trails for the rest of us!
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Just wish I had stayed healthy for more than 13 years after – didn’t really get the chance to do the physics.
But I was definitely one of a kind – no other women in my cohort, and only a couple more in the 3-department program.
Got a lot of benign neglect; wonder if mentoring and encouragement would have helped; certainly more than just being sure they could get rid of me, but I would never give them the pleasure of quitting was a minimum only.
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And good for you! I wish you’d had more healthy years. For all any of us know right now is the healthiest we’ll ever be.
I think Moo is headed for STEM, maybe Sassy as well, and my other two already studied the sciences.
They spent a lot of time telling my generation we could be astronauts, and then we all watched Challenger explode and after that, no one said that.
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One of my joys is that, in 1980, I applied to the astronaut program, and was in one of the groups that had a week in Houston being poked, prodded, and considered.
I didn’t make it – my right eye was not quite up to snuff, and they had enough applicants not to need to make exceptions – but I got to try at the highest level, and I’m glad; I wanted to be an astronaut since I was a kid.
Knowing that they wouldn’t even consider my application if I dropped out of a PhD program helped me get the dissertation written, so I still got a lot out of that goal.
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Sounds awesome, and what a silver lining!
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Happy birthday! ❤ ❤
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Fanks!
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Such a cutie pie. Happy Birthday young lady I hope it is ice cream and soda filled and you have 50 more,
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Thank you!!!
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You make 45 look really good 🙂
Keep on doing what you’re doing. It’s working!
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Thank you!
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Eeeee, I hope you had a most excellent, fresh, snowy birthday! I wish, more and more, that there would be more people like you, and me, since I share all your sentiments in this post. You do, you do, “inspire others to embrace the whateverness they’re experiencing as time goes on”. As someone said, what we should do is rust in peace, but it’s a luxury. Ole, ole, ole into the remainder of your forties (HA!).
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I like that about you, too. Keepin it real, Manja ❤
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Oh, and to answer your question from the title: I was three, the world was still young, there was prevailing nature and innocence, and humanity looked survivable. And then we ruined it.
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We were too young to ruin it, and we best hurry before we’re too old to fix it.
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Happy Birthday! You look great and seem to be embracing your newfound joy in aging. And think of it, you’re already halfway to 90. 😆
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Did you say that cause last year’s post? 😛 Sassy does that all the time, she spent all of 15 tellin me she was halfway to 30 and then I’d counter I was halfway to 90 and my mother was like, ‘chuck you farley.’ LOLOLOL
I am definitely embracing all the joys — and chasing them on Tuesdays 🙂
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No, I said it because I had an uncle who always reminded the birthday person that he or she would be twice their current age eventually! It made me smile when he said it, so I say it now. But you know, 15 to 30 is a big step… while 45 to 90 is a mere tiptoe along the garden path. 😎
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True story. Once, someone told me when my daughter turned 9, she was halfway to adulthood and I almost cried! lol
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I hope that you had the happiest of birthdays Joey!!! I’d like to think that in 1973, I was in some “there” or a place between “there” and “now”, but I’m not sure I’ll ever know. 😉 I think that aging naturally and gracefully is absolutely wonderful! So happy for you that a mini-snow came just for you. ❤
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Maybe I knew you briefly in the place between here and there 🙂 Thanks so much!
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I hope your first day of 45 was a good one, Joey. My opinion is that you look like someone who’s agreed with life that the road is pretty damn beautiful, straightaways and big corners both. The selfie is a good one, my friend.
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Such a nice thing to say! I love that, Mark, just love it! Thank you!
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You are very welcome, my friend Joey.
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Happy birthday, friend Joey. I hope you enjoy the baby snows. And I think you look fiiiiiiine…keep doing you!
I was creeping slowly toward my second birthday at this time in 1973. 😊
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That’s so sweet, lil toddler you! I wonder what you wanted at two. I bet I wanted ice cream! Thanks!
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Definitely ice cream. Probably with hit fudge. Do lil toddlers eat hot fudge? I probably did… lol
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My toddlers did 😛 Yes 🙂
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😆
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Happy! Happy! I think you look great, and younger than your calendar screams.
But a cat haired covered selfie sounds about right for 45 I should say. 😉
In Nov. of 1973? I was waiting to turn 10.
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Thank you! I hope 10 was a good time 🙂
Cat hair and kleenex, two things I’m never without!
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Happy Birthday Joey!!!! 45 eh? Pfft…spring chicken. I say age naturally and don’t GAF what anyone else thinks about it. Be healthy, be happy, and share your love and kindness with those who deserve it. The rest is all just window dressing.
Oh yeah, in 1973 I was 9.
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Cool 🙂 Thank you for the wise words!
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Happy Birthday! I know that snow window was for you – beautiful snow, beautiful face, beautiful attitude. I love the “hellanothin” response to natural aging, and I’m not putting on ANY make up today (of course I’m not going anywhere either) though more sleep and more exercise would be good. In 1973, I was in high school, going with my second boyfriend and didn’t leave the house without mascara. Now, mascara makes my eyes itch. Can’t see my eyelashes? Oh well.
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Thank you kindly 🙂 I hope you enjoyed your makeupless day and got all the good exercise and sleep!
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Mostly. 🙂
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That’s a damn good 45, kid! Keep up the good work! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
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THANK YOU!
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Happy Birthday! I was in Chicago in 1973. I’ve given up fighting the aging process as well. Course, I’m a lot older than you!
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You’re a good role model 🙂
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Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!! 🎉
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Thanks!
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Happy Birthday, Joey! You look beautiful, and I would never believe 45!
I adore makeup and played with it practicing long before I was allowed to wear it out of the house. I don’t go outside without anything on. Lipstick is a must! I’m fighting the aging process but, I’m not winning.
In 73 I was in high school. It was a bit of a turbulent year for me I recall. 😉
I hope 45 is a wonderful year for you!
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Thank you! Some of us are really cut out to be beauty queens, and you’re one of them! Such a stunning face, who can blame you for embellishment?
I’ve gone off lipstick lately, need to stock up on some pretty glosses and balms for this cold, before I get chapped!
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You know what my favorite lip balm is? Shhh, I’ll tell ya. Lansinoh nipplecream. I figured if it was strong enough to heal cracked nipples when breastfeeding it must be good and gentle enough for my lips too. Sure enough it is!
The company got smart and figured out a of us were using it on our lips too so they started making it in smaller tubes. Best stuff evah! A little goes a long way so it lasts a long time too.
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You’re brilliant!
Okay, but then pretty glosses… 🙂
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yep, PLUS pretty glosses. Apply nipplecream at night wake up with the softest, most supple lips evah then apply lip gloss for the prettiest, sexiest, softest, supple lips evah!
As a lip balm it’s the BOMB! Try it! You probably can find a big tube at the local drug store. Bonus they have lip gloss! Revlon makes some amazing lip glosses and NYX too!
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I’m on it! Also got some Burt’s in ‘Blush’ 🙂
You know what NYX makes that I lurrve? their sparkle eyeliner chubby sticks things. I have three colors and I’m pretty sure I need them all! lol
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I have to check those sparkle eyeliner chubby sticks out! I’m prolly too old for sparkly though. 😭
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AGAIN, NO. Not too old for anything. I know a lady who wears gold shimmering eyeshadow pretty much every day and she is 58? 59? No matter, cause foxy!
I put it in my water line and along the edge. It makes an incredible difference in a tired face.
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Baby Girl has some sparkly eyeline I’ll try hers and see how it looks. You’re giving me hope!
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At that age, I started my first summer job, running a survey rod in the back country for a rancher who wanted to subdivide his mountain into cabin sites. By November, I’m sure I was back in school. Hope you have a lovely birthday. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
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Nice! You ever see his finished cabins?
I carbed up and went to bed early. 🙂
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They were pretty nice by 1970s standards.
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Belated birthday greetings! You look about 25, you stinker. I’m glad you had soda or pop or whatever it’s called. And that window photo is soooo good. Made me feel cold.
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Thank you! I do not look 25. I have recently spent time with 25 year-olds and they all look 12. lol
It’s 20 here. Maybe lower now that the sun is down. Winter hurried in.
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LOL, yeah right! They act like 12 year olds (in general), but not look. I think they look older than I did when I was 25. But then I was so dumb when I was 25. But that’s another tangent.
Oooh, coooooooooooooold there.
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I was being 8 years old in 1973 and most likely terrorizing the trailer park with my big brother. 😊 45 looks good on you, beautiful Joey! ❤ Happy birthday! 🎂🎉 I been birthdaying here too – sis turned 59 today and mom 82 this past Sunday.
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Thank you! Yay for all the birthdaying! I love it! I hope you’re getting lots of cake to keep your cheek fluff up 🙂
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Happy Birthday, Joey! You look Fab! And, yay for getting a bit of snow on your birthday, even if it is a Tuesday.
Let’s see…on this day in 1973, we were probably still in Germany, courtesy of the U. S. Army. I’d just turned 23, as I have a Thanksgiving birthday.
Hope you’ve had a super fun day! ❤
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Thank you! Seriously, you’re a wonderful role model of honest living and fun and I am so glad you came to WordPress.
My birthday was on Monday and Tuesday suuuuucks, but Wednesday is comin!
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Happy Birthday, Joey! And now I know! You are a month older than my oldest. He’s doing the natural, too. Funny thing is his two-year younger brother is all gray. He tried to color (black–Italian guys don’t look like me, just their dad–all four of my kids!). Age does what it does. I guess I was your age when my kids would spend time after swimming pulling my gray hairs. Now I do color sometimes when I feel I need some energy or let it do as it will. I do love short hair now. So easy, dries fast. But I’ve only done that for two years. You are beautiful just as you are! Enjoy the ice cream and goodies! ❤
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Thanks, Dar! I have been doing highlights for a couple of years and I am ready to stop. I’m not a good candidate for short hair. I tried it once in youth and again in my 30s. It’s just not me. I think this shoulder length do is the shortest I’ve had in ten years.
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It looks lovely on you! I was just saying that cutting my hair was part of me claiming me at this age. It is the first time in my life (the last couple years) that I had short hair. It was always down to my waist before.
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OH! I missed the part about cutting it! I imagine from waist-length to short feels VERY Freeing!
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Scarf hats work for me and don’t choke me in the middle of the night like my long hair used to. I could see the headlines “Old lady murdered in her sleep by her own hair.”
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Oh I can imagine! I have been strangled by my hair too, and it wasn’t even as long as yours!
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45 and still knocking it out of the park! I’m inching up on 48 and the peach fuzz is a little scary but now that I know you’re all WHATEVER BITCH I’m feeling much better… 😆
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Good! One of my girlfriends waxes her whole face and I’m just like, NO. 😛
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Ah, nuts, I missed it! Happy birthday!
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Thanks!
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Happy belated Birthday, Joey! You look great! I developed rosacea when I was in my forties and got a prescription for tretinoin and used it off and on ever since. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
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Thanks so much! Glad you’ve got somethin that works for you! My turkey day was fab, thanks!
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You were getting born in ’73?! Well, now I feel old. 😉 Happy belated youngster!
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Yup
Yeas
And right on Joey
Thanks for keeping it real and may this inspires others to do so too!
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Did I send you a happy birthday on Facebook?! OH NO! DID I?! Either way, happy birthday! I’m sorry it’s late!
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I’m okay, it’s only fair. Thanks! ❤
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