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There are numerous ways of adding red tones in your hair and numerous icons such as Scarlett Johansson, Blake Lively, Ashley Simpson, and Ashley Greene are adding hints of red to their hair! Try adding hints of copper or hints of deep reddish browns for a change. Red is a hot color and can do many things for your overall look.
Adding hints of reddish highlights can soften your look and give you a nice splash of color. Or, go for a overall sandy blonde. It looks very soft and natural, giving you that beautiful, sexy seventies look.
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Please join us on Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm. ($5 donation – call Rakestraw Books at 925.837.7337 – Introduction by Newell Arnerich. Proceeds from the special evening will benefit the San Ramon Valley Veterans’ Hall.

On October 25, 2010, Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta became the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the United States’ highest military decoration, and both he and Sergeant Leroy Petry (the second inductee) rightly take their place in the pages of this third edition of “Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.” The book includes 144 contemporary portraits of recipients by award-winning photographer Nick Del Calzo and profiles by National Book Award nominee Peter Collier. First published on Veterans Day 2003, this “New York Times” bestseller has now been updated and augmented to include new essays plus:

- Letters from all living presidents – A foreword by Brian Williams – Profiles of Sergeant Giunta and Sergeant Petry There are also essays by Tom Brokaw, Senator John McCain, and Victor Davis Hanson, and a multimedia DVD with historic footage and recipients’ first-person reflections. The Medal of Honor recipients in the book fought in conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan, serving in every branch of the armed services.

To celebrate the new edition of “Medal of Honor“ and the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Medal, Rakestraw Books will host a special evening with Medal of Honor recipient Master Sergeant Richard Pittman (USMC, Ret.) on Wednesday, 7 December 2011 at 7 PM (Pearl Harbor Day).

Are you into 40′s and 50′s fashion? Check out this great website that has vintage style dresses, bathing suits and much more!!!! www.unique-vintage.com

I am what you might call a product “junky.” I am always excited to try new products and love to learn about the effects of different ingredients. I use a variety of different product lines for different styles and lengths but recently have been testing out the cleansing, conditioning, and styling products of Kevin Murphy, editorial stylist based out of Australia.

I had been exposed to Kevin Murphy Products a couple years back and always enjoyed the different pomades, but  recently was reintroduced to the full product line seeing some of its full potential. Kevin Murphy offers a variety of different shampoos and conditioners for different hair types, including fine, coarse, damaged, and dry. The styling products are lightweight and extremely easy to use. You will be able to easily use these products alone or build them on top of one another without worries of weighing the hair down or effects of it feeling greasy. I have favorite products for different uses but since I have fine, flat, straight  hair my favorite product to use on my own hair is the “Body Builder, Volumizing Mousse.” I use a little bit at the root of my hair when blow drying and it instantly it creates lift and beautiful volume.

I’m excited about this new product line and would love to share some of my styling tips with you through a simple shampoo and blow dry session. Stop in see me, DeLesa B. to learn more. If you have any specific questions feel to email me at delesa@opivu.com!

Recently Danville TV had the opportunity to interview Rashad Harrison, author of Our Man In The Dark.

Q: Tell us about Our Man in the Dark.

A: Our Man in the Dark is set in 1964. It’s about John Estem, a lonely accountant working for Martin Luther King’s SCLC. He embezzles $10,000 from the organization and attracts the attention of the FBI, who have been monitoring King and his associates for a few years up to that point. This is at the height of the Civil Rights movement. J. Edgar Hoover is out to ruin Martin Luther King, and a great opportunity arises in the form of John Estem. Initially, Estem is willing to go along with the FBI, but eventually his own agenda surfaces—one that is in direct conflict with the FBI’s.

Q: How did you come to choose John Estem as your protagonist? He seems like such a bad person. Are you worried that readers may be turned off by an unlikeable narrator?

A: I don’t see Estem as being a bad person…he’s definitely troubled, but that’s what intrigued me about the character. I wanted to explore why someone would commit what, on the surface, seems like such an obvious act of betrayal, but to do that effectively I had to employ empathy, not judgment.  The thing about Estem is that he feels isolated, pretty much marginalized and ignored…from the key players in the movement. He can sense that things are changing, but he doesn’t know what role he’ll play in this new world…and in an act of desperation, he leads himself down a very dark path.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Our Man in the Dark?

A: I came up with the idea a few years ago after reading a biography on Martin Luther King…I just happened to come across, somewhere in the footnotes, that there were actually informants within the SCLC that were working for the FBI. I knew that there were competing strategies and agendas, but I was completely surprised that there were people, that close to Martin Luther King, working with federal agents to undermine the movement. I became preoccupied with exploring “why” and “how,” and doing so in an entertaining and thought-provoking way. Our Man in the Dark was completed and placed with my publisher (Atria/Simon & Schuster) close to a year before the revelation that Ernest Withers was an FBI informant surfaced. Informants rarely confess why they do such things, so I had to use my imagination in creating Estem’s psychological portrait.

Q: How did you become comfortable with portraying a fictional Martin Luther King?

A: Jonathan Ames once told me, in so many words, to never shy away from material that makes you uncomfortable. Some of your best work may come from exploring that rocky terrain. It was a challenge using Martin Luther King as a fictional character, due to the fact that I was so protective of his legacy. My main desire was to explore his humanity. I wanted to show my fictional King as grappling with…a man becoming an icon—that transition. In the novel, we see King through Estem’s perspective, and Estem is also grappling with the transition that Martin Luther King is making from man to icon.

Q: Your novel has been described as “historical noir.” Not many books fit that description. LA Confidential comes to mind. What inspired you to use a dark approach and noir style?

A: Well, look at all of the tactics that Hoover used against King—wiretappings, intimidation, essentially psychological terrorism—it sounds like a dark thriller. Add the complications of human frailty and ambiguous morality, and now you’re entering into noir territory. Historically, noir was great for examining taboo topics—greed, lust, race. It allows you to explore some of the darker aspects of a character’s psychology…and when you look at the desperation that Estem exhibits…it’s quite obvious that he is a noir figure. When you consider that, primarily, at the heart of the genre is the underdog who is grappling with an institutional force only to confront disillusionment and alienation. But I think that echoes the black experience at that time. So I feel that it was a fitting use of theme and style to employ those noir techniques.

Q: This is a difficult time for the publishing industry. What are your expectations for Our Man in the Dark?

A: Well the problem is that there are so many things competing for the public’s attention—across all forms of media—that a lot of great work goes unnoticed. All I can do is to tout the virtues of Our Man in the Dark at every opportunity. This is America’s story told from the shadows. There are many distractions out there, so I want to make the most of the time that my readers and I have together. I want to engage as well as entertain…I want you to look at the world differently after reading my work…than you did before you read it (laughs) Obviously.

For more information about Rashad Harrison:
www.RashadHarrison.com
www.facebook.com/Rashadharrison
Twitter @rashadharrison

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Enjoy!

This Saturday: Santa Skydiving into Buchanan Field in Concord San Francisco Chronicle (blog) Contra Costa County Airports, in conjunction with Bay Area Skydiving and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, are pleased to announce the return of Skydiving Santa.

Read more:
This Saturday: Santa Skydiving into Buchanan Field in Concord – San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

A new book relates the remarkable story of Ian Fleming’s daring commando group during World War Two and how they inspired the story of the greatest spy ever: James Bond. Michael Korda finds his own family story in its midst. read more

via: The Daily Beast