Bryce Shondeck

[paulchase007]

Never give up. Keep moving and do your best. Hard work pays off.

[bryceshondeck]

If you never give up you never fail.

[bryceshondeck]

It's been a while since I've really posted anything on here. I wish I would mess with this more often because I got a whole lot going on and a lot to say. I'm such a slacker ha but not slackin in real life at least. Anymore I constantly have something going on or something that I need to be doing. It took a bit to get use to being like this, but I think it's healthy for me. It's kind of like Newton's laws of motion that say's something about a body in motion tends to stay in motion. So I that's one way I keep my motivation to keep pushing forward and never wanting to settle, and of course the fact that I'm pursuing a career with endless opportunities and possibilities if you just want it. 

So much has changed, it's wild. My goal is still the same and I'm getting closer  to getting there. The roads just changed paths a bit, and actually a lot of lanes have been opened up. I can't explain it but this hair thing is just clicking right now. So many things lately have just started to line up and fall into place. I'm just going with my intuition and running with it. For once I'm doing something for myself because I love it and it's not like anyone's saying I have to either way. I think I stand on the brink of just an amazing adventure and right now I'm in the calm before the storm.Anyway I look at it I know I live quite an interesting life and no matter what I can look back to these days and would have a lot of stories. 

Check out this pic of  Angela (redhead), myself, and our model Shannatay we did a little side project on for a tutorial video at school. We were talking about videos and came up with the idea of doing a tutorial of a makeover. Our idea was combine our skills together to create a current fashionable spring time look for a girl. Shannatay's got some new hair color, a fresh new cut, then finished with makeup to match her very stylish new wardrobe. I was really happy with how this all came out in the end, I think the hardest part is talking on camera hahaa

[gasstation]

Rooney Mara by Mert and Marcus

[bryceshondeck]

How cool is this?

[samanthablainee]

[bryceshondeck]

Love this cut :)

[bryceshondeck]

Time to get serious.. This dream can become reality..

[bryceshondeck]

Been a year now since my last visit to New York City and I find myself just reading though my trustee "Insight Guides New York City Guide." A great little guide book with wonderful pictures and insights - served me well to say the least. As I read through the beginning pages it already becomes apparent my yearning for the city. 

I want to share a quote I read in there that couldn't scream my name any louder. 

"So many New Yorkers share a biographical tale that it has become mythic itself. With variations, the story goes like this: An able young man (or young woman) feels misunderstood, unappreciated, surrounded by what playwright Eugene O'Neills called "spiritual middle-classers," and yearns to escape from small-town minds, to be among people with a broader vision. Perhaps he yearns to reinvent himself, to shake loose the trappings of his youth. Perhaps he has a dream, an aspiration too great or too strange to realize on hometown turf. So he comes here. Whether or not his dreams are realized even in part, he comes to feel the city has spoiled him for any other place. Despite, or even because of the pressure, the place, and the grime, he has a vigorous sense of being alive."

Who else feels the same? I want to get lost..

[bryceshondeck]

Dream big right?

[bryceshondeck]

Dew Tour - 2012

I'm trying to play a little catch up and so I wanted to backtrack just a tad bit and recap on my experience at the Dew Tour a couple weeks ago.

I was in my theory class when I was pulled out to speak with Dani, one of our admissions ladies. She sat me down at her office and informed me that I was chosen with a select number of other future professionals to represent Paul Mitchell at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, CO. She asked if I would be interested in going and my immediate reaction was yes, thank you! Dani filled me in with some of the info and what was to be expected and needless to say I was totally in and down to go. 

We had a couple meetings about it and I was actually selected to join the group that was going up on the week days instead of the weekend. Kinda freaked me out at first because I have to work during the week, but I was willing to do whatever I needed to do so that I could take this opportunity. Through all my years of snow plowing and having a big 4X4 snow beast of a van that can go through hell and back, I volunteered to be a driver of course ;) I soon was really happy with being apart of the group who went up on the week days, everyone got along so well and the vibe was really good. It was nice to meet other young hungry future professionals who share the same passion. Mrs. Angela Carmela was so kind to get me finally started with my blog so here I am now ha! 

We arrived to the condo and I had no expectations at all, I was just happy to be there and would have even slept in my van and not complained. Well, the condo totally blew my expectations! It was 3 levels, tons of bed rooms, a great living area, seemed like a million bathrooms, and was totally decked out in ski lodge decor complete with a big deck and hot tub. I was just stoked with all of it, turned on the fire place and got a little warm before we went to diner. Loaded the girls up in the van and drove down town where everything was happening. If you've never been there, Breckenridge is like the ultimate little mountain town to dine, shop, and just walk around. It's just really nice, light up really well, and the architecture is really neat - I totally dig it. Micah was so gracious to take care of us all going out to this wonderful Mexican restaurant. I drove up with Ms. Caroline Bonner, she's one of our learning leaders who's in charge of all kinds of stuff in admissions and helping in the social networking department. She's been a huge benefit to my career thus far. I got to know Mitzi, a daytime learning leader who is totally awesome. Both of them really did an awesome job in taking care of us all and just running the show I should say. 

After diner we cruised on back to rest and relax for the next day. I watched some hair cutting DVD's with some of my classmates for a bit which was fun. The Victoria Secret Fashion Show was rerunning so we viewed that before turing the lights off and getting ready for the next day. 

It was an early start, we had to be out he door and to the bus stop to take us to the mountain by 7:30am. We all made it and soon enough were at the mountain. A quick gondola ride up to the actual slopes and we were there. The Paul Mitchell "Man Cave" was all set up and pretty much ready to go. We were introduced to Kalena, the sports marketing manager for Paul Mitchell. Wow, what a really cool lady! She was so kind and happy to help out with anything she could. You could tell she was really into and liked her job. We were given some Paul Mitchell gear to wear and informed a bit on what we were doing. The mens line, Mitch, was what was being showcased. There were samples of the Double Hitter, our shampoo, conditioner, and body wash all in one and our Construction Paste, the elastic mesh hold styling gel. Both are really good products so they weren't hard to hand out at all. Our set up included a few booths for hand and harm massages, a fire pit with benches to warm up next to, 2 basket ball game machines, a photo boot, and lots of music! The mustaches were a huge hit, everyone wanted them. I was pretty familiar and comfortable with the setting of a sports events like this. For years I've raced at the biggest motocross and supercross events, so I had a bit of an understanding for how the vendors and pit area works for all the fans and spectators. It was though interesting being on the vendor side working the event instead of competing, - a little less stressful you could say ahah. 

Paul Mitchell's area had to be the funnest one to be at. We had a constant flow of people coming in to hang and just have a good time. There was tons of music just blaring and lots of dancing. I even danced some, so that tells you it was hopin'. I think I did a pretty good job of representing and informing people on the products. Everyone was really receptive and actually into it. Some of out athletes popped by as well. Colby West came to shoot something for a video on of the days. We needed to style his hair fast so just using out fingers, Construction Paste, and a tad of Barbers Classic myself and Lydia were able to get the job done. 

All in all it was just an awesome experience! I made a bunch of great connections and really enjoyed myself. It's so wonderful to have the backing of such an amazing like Paul Mitchell behind my back. Everything was so professional. It seemed like everything went super smooth and it was a big success. It was almost hard coming back home to reality after having so much excitement the past couple days. This really made me believe a little bit more that I'm bound for great things. If I put my head down and put the work in I know I can be up there and be apart of fun events and happenings such as this. 

[bryceshondeck]

Forever Young - 

Age is just a number.. You're as old as you want to be. Before I started school, I made a promise to myself that I can be forever young. As I grow and go through life I've found that in many ways I can be found true. Two years ago I went to the Peels Fashion Show in Denver, and that may have been on of the best decisions I ever made. I sat in some of the classes and my interest rose a bit more each one I did. It was good for me to be here and see all this. My little world inside my head grew a bit more. It must have been meant to be or something but I sat in one of Phillip Wilson's shows and that changed everything for me. He was this amazing little ball of energy who knew how to keep the entire crow on the edge of their seat! With an incerdibly whitty attitude and passion for teaching he was a crowd favorite. Performing, this guy was sharp as a tack. The way he cut models hair on stage was like a strict machine being so clean, sexy, and efficient. Phillip is a real performer and you could tell he loved being on stage and just cracking jokes and such. Of course he was dressed so sharp, black and white with everything crisp and ironed. To top it off, he had rattlesnake skin boots. I just remember sitting there thinking, "this is the coolest dude ever." What was amazing was that he's not very young, he's got some years to himself. That didn't slow Phillip as he performed more youthfully than any of the other artist there. I was in just awe of how young he seemed for his age and how just cool he was.

That was a big turning point for my decision to enroll in school. I've always thought I could stay young at heart, but it's not always an easy thing. You can get so wrapped up in all the little things in life that you lose can lose it. I saw this industry as a way for me to be young and stay connected. Sure I mature in many ways, it's a constant in my life, especially now. But, I still keep my sense of humor and find fun in everything I do. If you can't do that then life can become numb. I'm an artist, I cannot afford to be old and stern. 

This is what brings me to this picture of myself and my guest from tonight. This kid has came to me before to have his hair colored like this and it's one of the funnest things I have gotten to do. Unlike last time, I actually chose all the colors did all the mixing myself to get this tint, which was a good step in the right direction. I could see a lot of myself in this little dude which is pretty amusing. Something about doing something like this resets me and makes me feel young, I can't even describe it! Putting a smile on a face and getting those feelings is priceless. 

This is why I do what I do.

[bryceshondeck]

Intro:

Hello everyone, my name is Bryce Shondeck and this is my introductory blog post! I'm not a regular blogger; this is very new to me, but for some time I've wanted to have a place where I can share my experiences as a cosmetology student and watch myself grow. The biggest reason I've stalled on creating my blog is because it would be overwhelming to try and catch up on my experiences thus far, therefore I'll try and give more of a synopsis and just move from now on. 

So about myself, who I am, where I'm from, how I made it to where I'm writing this blog this very instance? Well, I'm 24 years of age and I live in Colorado Springs, CO where I attend the Paul Mitchell School. April 2, 2012 was my first day of school. I attend night program because I have to make a living during the day (which is fine because the night program is great), and am expected to graduate around February of 2014. The world I come from may seem polar opposite from the beauty industry; landscaping and motorcycles. I grew up racing motocross and still race here to this day. I've worked in the construction industry for quite some time and just had enough of that. There just had to be a better way, and I knew there was, but didn't know what yet. There's always been a little bug inside my ear that told me this would be a great fit, but I just never thought I could ever really bridge the gap and commit to it. Anyways, I made the decision this is what I wanted to pursue probably a couple years ago but had to wait a little bit till I could get the wheels in motion. 

I remember being nervous and almost sick before my first day in the program. Every doubt you could think of suddenly started to roll through my mind and I really questioned what was to come, my first day of class. I knew a decent amount of the opportunities this industry has to offer and knew the possibilities are endless, but was I willing to let go and submerge myself in this new chapter of life? Luckily, I chose wisely with my decision to come to Paul Mitchell and have only became happier and happier. Before that first day I had pretty much absolutely no technical skills or knowledge in hair, we were literally starting with a clean slate here. At first it was a big struggle, nothing came with ease and I was very slow at everything. I went into this with a good mind set knowing that it wouldn't come just over night, and well then things slowly started coming along. The more I learned the more fascinated I became with everything!

Then one day it really hit me, I was now starting to truly enjoy what I was doing; and it was the greatest feeling I could ask for. Finally something else in my life that I really am interested in, passionate about, and love doing. 

There is so much I could talk about that it would be insane to try and write. I've come so so far from my first day till now, with my technical skills and myself as a person. My dreams are big and to get there I'm going to have to apply myself  the best I can, and I'm really trying to do so. My confidence in myself and in what I do has came around so much, this is what I really feel my calling is. 

Well this is the first entry of many more and I'm still exhausted  from the Dew Tour this week. Paul MItchell The School - Colorado Springs had myself and a number of students go represent in Breckenridge, CO which I'll have to elaborate ! on in another post. So far I like where this journey is taking me and am loving the ride!