Here's To Us. Who's Like Us?

Damn Few!

BTdubs, that was my grandfather's favorite toast, according to Mom.  

Here's to all of the best blogsters and crafters and friends in the blogosphere - Cheers!

It's a beautiful day here, and I'm so enjoying having some extended time to myself to be creative, but still....I'm a bit blue.    Today is myfriendTeri's birthday, and I have been with her on this day for nine out of the last 10 years and while I'm sure her mom is happy to be with her today....still! It just feels wrong.  We have a group of friends called the New Year's Eve Sliders (sliding/stumbling into the new year together) and this is the first time in eight years that we will not be together in some far-flung location to celebrate.  

Ok, the locations haven't always been flung very far.  How does one flung a location?  Def: flung - simple past of fling. Fling: throw, abrupt moves, take a crack at it, whirl, splurge, spree, discard.  And apparently, there are approximately 16,000 Google sites that will help you answer the oft-asked question of "Who flung poo?"

But I digress.  (See what happens when I have more time and coffee?  If you were looking for something profound, this isn't the place.  Go read a serious blog on some flung website.)

So the locations haven't always been whirled, splurged or discarded that far - Phoenix, Las Vegas, Palo Alto, Calabash NC and a Bahamas cruise, among other sites.  But it's always been fun and I'm going to miss the Sliders this year. 

Here's to you, my friends, with hope that we will make up for this one night, many times over during 2009!

Lulu

P.S. Check out the new OTT adventure on the sidebar - look for more to come, as Ott goes through 2009 with me.

OTT goes to a Birthday Party

So I took OTT with me to the snowy winterland for the holidays.  As you can see, he attended a very important event at Grandma's house.

Oh, the places we went - with apologies to the good Doctor

I am back from the Christmas tour, and have the pictures of OTT in some snowy places to prove it.  As soon as I get them downloaded from the camera and uploaded to the computer and sideloaded to the blog - I think that's how it works, right? - I'll take you on the tour too!

I'm enjoying this extra time at home to be creative and catch up on reading and crocheting and crafting and drinking - oh wait, I did that to get through the tour.  Yeah and working out too.  Seriously.

See you tomorrow!

Merry Happy Something Cheery

So - after working, shopping, cooking, 2 Christmas parties, one employee holiday party, shopping, decorating, laundry, packing, did I mention shopping, making gifts for my employees, traveling 15 days out of the last 25, trying to refinance the mortgage, and various other issues during December - we're ready to blast off to the snowy Midwest to go home for the holidays.

We used to go home for 14 days, then 11, then 8, now down to 4.  If we don't get stuck by the weather and have to stay longer....yoiks.  It's not that I don't want to see my family - I'm just not used to the weather anymore, and because I travel for work, I'm not ecstatic about living out of a suitcase for the rest of the week.

HOWEVER; I'm not stranded, wounded, downsized, injured, sick, bankrupted, laid off, abandoned, or homeless.  

If I get stuck somewhere between here and my destination, I have family and friends and transportation and money and hope - and for all that, I'm truly gifted this year....so take back that sweater/CD/video game/candle/hockey stick/bracelet /book - ok, let me have the book - scarf/pajamas, and save the money for yourself.  

Or spend it, to keep the economy going and to save someone's job.  Or donate it.  Whatever.  Just know that you don't need to give me anything.

I have OTT (see picture) from Angie, and the complete set of Calvin and Hobbes from my employees and I have my Etsy store, my books and music and love and my tens of readers, my wonderful family and wicked smart, funny friends.

I'm good, thanks.  Couldn't take in another byte.*

Best,

Lu

*unfortunately, the one thing I don't have at mom's is internet access, so I'll catch you all on my return. :)

And White Diamonds??!!

So now - added to the Chia Pet soundtrack in my head, is the eyetrack for the White Diamonds perfume ad.  Ummmm.....kudos to Liz Taylor for her life's work and all - but seriously, that ad must have been filmed 15 years ago.  Are people really putting out the $56 for the holiday gift set, especially in this economy?  Is it already time for for the "what do we get for mom impulse ahhhhhhh, she'll go for the Liz perfume buy???!!"

Hmmm.

Well, I haven't actually found a gift for my mother-in-law yet.....

Bad lulu, bad.  Down girl.

Has this been a busy week for everyone else?  Sheesh....I need to go get caught up on all of my blogsters.  Back soon.

Finally! The First Sign of Christmas

What is the first sign???

Of course - it's Chia Pets!  I can finally get into the Christmas spirit, now that I've seen an ad for Chia Pets.  Whewwww.....it's good to know that even in a time of economic crisis, someone, somewhere, is still making a living from these mossy plant growers.  Hey, at least they don't have to be fed, just watered.

Sooooo much to do - we have a neighborhood holiday thing tonight, and I need to make a serious dent in my Christmas shopping/prep this weekend.....merry merry.  Riiiiight....

I'm back from a week out of town on business, to find that Amber from Color of Dawn Creations won Mom-o-matic's Too Broke for Christmas giveaway, and I'm going to be sending her this lovely little Christmas tin from my Etsy store stuffed with goodies and gift cards - OTT to Amber and Mom-O!

I'm not worthy....

...of an award, if I can't figure out how to get the picture on my site???  Check out Angie's blog - she nominated me for an award that was passed onto her, but I might have to pull a Katherine Heigl and decline because clearly the material is there, but I don't have the ability to post it on my site?

So in the meantime, here's a link to both Angie's blog and Manamoon's blog for an explanation.  I'm linking but I'm not picturing.  Thanks to you both - sorry that I'm technically inept!

Does anyone else have a twitchy-eye, headache that started just after Halloween and seems to get worse when I think of 'the holidays?'   Anyone?  Bueller?  No?  Just me? 

Hmmm....I think it's from the head injury that I incurred during the Single Ladies Lulu dance episode.  Or - it could be the economy / job stress / dismal news factor.  Ummmm....or the holidays.  Or all of the creative ideas stuffed in my head for which I have no time to get started.

If it's the creative ideas thing, I'm afraid to blow my nose.

Best Week of the Season?

Is it Thanksgiving?  The actual week of Christmas?  How about the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve?  Post-holiday?

I think it's this week, the post-Thanksgiving week.  Everyone is still zoning on last week's turkey and maybe geeked about some Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals, the weather isn't too bad yet, people are easing into the holiday season and still somewhat cheery to each other.

It's the holiday week..... when hope is still our friend.  We hope and hope and hope - and we believe in our hope that this year will be different or better!  Hope that we can get everything done on the list this year, and that our siblings won't revert to childhood habits this year, and that our friend's husband lives through the year, and that we can still find the perfect gift for mom this year, and that our teenage daughters will still want to decorate the tree and go out to lunch for that mom/daughter tradition, and and and.....hope hope hope believe believe believe.

Because at this point, 24 days away, it still all seems possible.  And the magic of the season isn't tarnished juuust yet.... 

Thank You!

...to my fives and tens of readers, for making me laugh and for supporting me!  Thank you to my friends and family and colleagues, even though I'm not the easiest friend or sibling or wife.

That's it.  Just thanks.  You know who you are, and you know what you do for me.

Oh and - have a happy Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Lu

Single Ladies Dance

So there I was, trying to get in my 10,000 steps for the day - day 2 of THE PLAN - and one of the tabloid shows -Excessive Hollywood Narcissism!!! - I think, was reviewing the American Music Awards and Beyonce's new single "Single Ladies" was on.....so I immediately had to imitate her.

First, view the video - click here.

Yup.  Now visualize me, in my fuzzy Ugg slippers, with my capri sweats and a sweatshirt, singing and highstepping down the hallway...wooooo hoooooo baybay, I'm hot!!

So...of course.  Just at the height of my Danny Terio American Bandstand Dancing with the Stars Dance Fever - I raise my knee too high, try to turn, hit the leather chair, step on one foot with the other foot, my foot slips, my Ugg flies off and hits the tv and I hit the hardwood floors, flat on my butt.

YEAH BABEE!!

So hot.

Exercise! Yay! Pumped Up! Really!

My iPod is all full up with crazy wicked workout tunes, it's cold outside and I'm ready for the gym!  Really!  If I put enough exclamation points into my head, I'll be excited!

Actually, I do love exercise and I really like our gym.  I just need to get back into the habit.  I WANT to get back into the habit.  I want to work it into my daily life and not because I need to lose weight, and not because I need to be healthy - just because I like it again.

Can you tell that I'm trying to use positive reinforcement on myself?

So - I'm off.  Day 1 of Lulu's Workout Plan.  How many days does it take to make something a habit?  21?  Something like that.....

Go Lulu Go!  (even though it's cold outside and you want to hunker down by the fire and craft and veg out on back episodes of Top Chef, which will make you hungry and want to make comfort food which will pack on some more lbs....:))

Because I promised...

Go YoMama Go!!!  Go YoMama Go!!

Click here, you'll understand, all you YoMama wannabees....

...and that's what I do with these three fingers...

...overheard as I walked into a conference room at Huge McNormous and saw this guy holding up his hands and wiggling his thumbs and first two fingers on each...

I think that I'm creative and crafty and fun.  But in my most yearning inner self, I want to be a writer, an author.  A real one, with published bestsellers and massive first printings and and agent and a book tour.  And a dust cover photo.  Retouched.

So my first work?

A coffee table book with the comments that are overheard out of context.  Those scraps of conversation that make no sense when standing alone - and sometimes within the conversation itself.  Called...."Ice Cubes from Lulu's Sandbar."

"Her horns were huge! Not mention those fingers."

"Yeah, I always pluck those out when they get covered."

"Dude, it was all greasy and wrapped around my mom."

Please - join in the fun!  I'll give you credit....you might even make the dust cover.

I think the Pleasantville Housewives Hate Me

Ok, Hate is a strong word.  They're all very nice.   And they don't hate me.

But they don't get me, absolutely not.

Because I'm never around, for carpool and playdates and working out followed by lunch, and bunco and book club and hockey tournaments.  

Because the only kid that's lived here with us was 22 at the time.  

Because I'm not on the committee to plan the Halloween party and the neighborhood garage sale and the holiday progressive party and the Cinco de Mayo party. 

Because my husband retired young to follow my job but works at three different things to keep him busy and I'm the suit in the house and travel quite a bit for my company.  

Because I'm tough to classify when the women and men break into clusters at the neighborhood happy hours that we do manage to make, and the men won't talk business with me and the women won't talk school with M even though he's a teacher.

Because I'm just a big whiny baby who is way too full of myself and the thought that someone might not like me or might actually not be thinking of me every moment but maybe is worried about the interest-only mortgage on their house and so so soooo tired of being home with the kiddos while their husbands are working or out of town.

Hmmm....maybe they DO hate me.

A committee to plan Cinco de Mayo?  Really?  Can't I just put out tacos and guacamole and tequila and a blender like I have for the past three years?

But I digress.

I am truly happy for all moms/wives/women and whatever they choose to do, and I can talk kids/carpool/school/ChuckECheese/books/crafts/finance/housing crisis - whatever - with them.  Why is it tough to connect with me?  (Ok, other than the fact that when they're having wine at night at bunco or book club, I'm usually having a vodka tonic in the airport waiting on my delayed flight.)  But still.

Maybe I'm just lonely for girl talk but don't have the energy to put in the time on these friendships right now.

Sighhhhhhh...

It's the Cheesiest

Because his identity is protected by the shades, I have to show off a picture of the boy that always makes me grin, even on the worst of days.  This was taken when he visited Lulu and Papa this summer for two weeks.

Isn't he great?  That's a big juicy Velveeta-y smile.

He's loving and funny and articulate and smart.  Of course, he's only 4, so he's also often dirty, smelly, obsessed with farts and his personal light saber - you know which one, the 'saber' with which all boys are enamored, big or small.

In short, he's a well-adjusted little boy.

So it's heartbreaking and irritating that he's already been labeled by the school system.  Well, by Montessori anyway, which as I understand it, is some kind of system.  Or cult. 

His mom was sent a 200-item 'report card' prior to Parent-Teacher conferences this week.  Seriously?  200?  Did he pick up the blue crayon instead of the purple crayon?  Did he not show enough interest in the child-sized dustpan?  Did he look away when yet another teacher spoke of the need to 'interact appropriately with his peers?'  Probably...apparently, he's also showing too much imagination because he loves Thomas the Tank Engine.

Really.

This child is lovingly and well-parented by our daughter and son-in-law.  Both work full-time and are very smart/busy/funny/articulate as well.  Yes, they've chosen to send him to this particular Montessori, and would like for him to have a challenging, warm environment in which to grow.  But again - 200???

Here is a quote from the North American Montessori Teachers site "In the calm, ordered space of the Montessori prepared environment, children work on activities of their own choice at their own pace.  They experience a blend of freedom and self-discipline in a place especially designed to meet their development needs."

"...of their own choice, at their own pace....freedom and self-discipline."

I have to wonder.....have these wonderfully earnest Montessori teachers ever stopped to ponder the delicious irony of grading a 4-year-old on activities of their own choice, and freedom and self-discipline? 

 If he's not showing interest in any of the activities - shouldn't he be the class Valedictorian for truly setting his own pace?

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.....

So a Scar is a Tattoo with a more Interesting Story?

...and I thought that title was so original, but apparently, much has been written on this very topic.   Including one site where people have listed their scars and stories in detail and many of them start with "This is so interesting," and end with something about a cat named BooBoo.

Not so interesting a story.  

CAVEAT:  I am not a cat lover or hater - I'm Switzerland when it comes to cats and this post is not about the relative value of cats as pets....I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

I worked in healthcare for 16 years, and most accidents are not caused by CSI-like interesting stories.  They're caused by mundane events - like tripping over the cat while running to answer the phone, or they're caused by anger or passion - like shootings and stabbings, or they're caused by stupidity, like holding a lemon in your hand to cut it instead of steadying it on the cutting board and hitting a little artery in your finger and having to cut in line ahead of the runny noses at the urgent care center and when someone protests, taking the towel off your hand to show off the little pumper.

(Ummm...I couldn't help it - that mom had obviously been sitting there blowing Junior's nose for some time and she was about to give me a REAL injury - or so she said - if I cut in line...)

My point for this post has totally wandered.  

Oh yeah - scars.  New poll (French Kiss totally rocked the last poll).

Are scars more interesting than tattoos?  I'm talking external scars - internal scars are off the table, post-wise.

Let's discuss.

Post-Election Bliss...

Do you hear that?  Can you hear?  It started last night, just about eleven o'clock.  Ohhhhh....it's made me so so happy today....

It's the sound of thousands, millions of............

 -  political ads, heading for the shredder.  Or the studio floor.  Or the archives.

Or - I don't care really.  It's the sound of screeching spokespeople, dancing animated pigs, doomsday voices-for-hire, and robo-calls - many of them ending in "...I'm Sam Politician and I approved this ad," - all SILENCED.

My aching ears are happy.

I don't need no stinkin' batches

Dear Mr. Joke Email Forwarder:

(Who happens to be a long-time good friend of mine, with whom I worked for many years, prior to leaving my home state).  He's a good guy...nice. Niiiiice.  But I have to wonder what he's doing with his time and his computer.

And before I have a mild rant, I just need to put out this caveat.

I enjoy funny emails and good jokes.  I love reading my "Run Scamper" blogs (look on the right side of the blog...ok, scroll down, scrollscroll - there! See them?) and seeing all the great videos and pictures and jokes that you great blogsters CHOOSE to put on your blog.  Yes, you choose.  And then - I can choose whether I simply read your words or also access the videos, etc.  Ok?  Really - love them.  It's all about choice.

But you, Mr. Email Forwarder - you keep sending me batches of emails with big downloads and videos and jokes that I don't really actually, ummmm...want to read.  Batches at a time.  And they keep plugging my email, so I have to delete and delete in order to send out any real email.  Like emails about my life, my friends and family, thoughtful NICE emails.

Here's a thought - if you need to put a note at the top of your email that says - "I know that I probably shouldn't send this, but I just thought it was funny..." maybe you should rethink hitting that send button!  My friends would describe me as liberal, so if I cringe when I read some of his emails - it's not pretty....

Why don't I just block him as a sender?  Because every so often he slips in a decent message, and he's been a good friend for a very long time.  And I wonder if I'm getting old or cranky or my Spanx are too tight because I'm complaining about 'emailers these days..'

Sighhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Ooooo...the Night Before...

....the biggest election in a very very long time.  Let's hope that it's fair, that all the votes are counted, and that my peeps win!  There's already been waaaaaaaaaay too much info about this election so I won't detail my choices - just please get out and vote.

You can't bitch unless you vote.

Plus, it really is very cool.  I still remember every single election I've voted in, including casting my first presidential vote, for an independent candidate (Anderson).  And then I went to Michigan State to a Jimmy Buffett concert, where the fog of illegal smoke hung so heavy over the crowd that you really had to drop, rock and roll to see anything.  Luckily, we'd just come off fire drill season, so I was ready!

Happy voting!

Lulu

MOOOOMMMMM!!!

mom. mom. mom.mom.  MOM.  Moooo-ooom!!!  Raising children is like being pecked to death by a chicken.  Click on the picture to see an enlargement of the inside.

For all of my mom friends - I feel your pain.  Posted this on my Etsy site yesterday in honor of moms everywhere.

Off to view Amazing Race - need to get caught up!  Ooooo....good snarky snark stuff going on.  Yeah, those are official terms.

Lu

OTT!!! Snagged my first Etsy Treasury!

Oh, she's a LULU, she is....!

Check out my first Treasury!  I finally timed it correctly, and can give a shout-out to my fellow Lulu sellers.  

New Votes

French Kiss is still leading, but we have some new entries.  The poll only lets me have four choices, so I'm just going to list the new choices in a blog entry.

So - "Who's Got Mail" - which I did like, because of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks thing.  Also, "Under the Tuscany Sun" - another good choice.

Off to pour myself a Halloween treat - I think maybe, as Kate would say to Luc - a nice red wine - no, a bold wine with a hint of sophistication and lacking in pretension.

Best Chick Movie Ever

"French Kiss"

Yes, absolutely the best.  There are others, I know.  Like, "Hope Floats," and "While You Were Sleeping" and "Shag" - oh yeah.  Also, "Serendipity" and "Sleepless in Seattle."

Yeah, we can debate it.  But when I come across "French Kiss" on cable, it reminds me of when I was driving through the Tuscany region of Italy with my best friend in the entire world, quoting lines from the movie while searching for a little tiny restaurant, and I can recall the look of the sun washing over the buildings....yup.  It takes me right back, and it's just sublime.....

My friend's name is myfriendTeri.   Because for the last 11 years, I've said to family and other friends - "yeah, I went to Italy with myfriendTeri."  Or, "MyfriendTeri is so funny!"  Or, "MyfriendTeri is coming to see me."  They KNOW she's my friend, they've met her, she's shared holidays, I don't have any other Teris in my life....yet, I add this qualifier.

Is it because I'm so proud that she's my friend - pick me pick me! - or because I need to somehow 'splain everything?

Not sure.  All I know is that she rocks, and everyone I know now calls her myfriendTeri.

OTT.

Best ever movie.  Go ahead and debate me though - really.  Let me know your favorites and quote some stuff.

BTW - new blogs on the 'Run Scamper' list - yup - look over there.  On the right.  See?  Get there.  Yo Mama and Bananas and Toddlers and Happy Meals and Happy Hours.  

It's Friday! And I got....

umm. Nothing.  Even less nothing than usual.  Zero. Zip.  It's rainy and cold and gray - I thought I'd given up that weather when I left Michigan - and I have to head to yet another  national meeting for the Huge McNorm tomorrow, then back to HQ until Wednesday.

Honestly, I just want to curl up with some pumpkin spice cake doughnuts until the end of something - time or season, I can't decide which - and read until my eyes fall out.

And then I want to spring into action, my new business plan for HM fully formed, with at least 30 new collage pieces actually finished (not just brewing in my head) and THIN.  

Yes, once again - if I were only thin again.  Everything would be better.  The Dow would go up as my waistline went down, the economy would be humming, and my black dog would be off to permanent doggy camp.

But at least I'm niiiiiiiiice.

Mmmmm.....doughnuts....oops.  Just a brief brain break.

I was reading a post by Gwen at Woman on the Verge about children noise - go ahead.  Read it and then come back.  I'll wait.  She's good.

(ticktockticktock)

You're back?  Ok - so as I was reading it, I was thinking that noisy children don't seem to be bothering me at the moment.....and then a noise from downstairs made me realize that I have my own noisy child - M, downstairs, watching tv.  He has this really REALLY annoying habit that I like to call Swirl, Slide and Crunch.  It involves a big pile of ice in a large plastic cup with just enough water/soda so that he can swirl the ice 4/5/8 times, throw back the cup and slide the whole icy mess back, snag an ice cube, slide the cubes back into the cup, and then crunch the ice really quickly and loudly.

Every 30 seconds.  SwirlswirlswirlSLIIIIIIIDEcrunchcrunchcrunch.  (obligatory caveat - love the man completely, would miss him and the noise if he were gone, shouldn't complain, good guy,  REALLY NICE blah blah)  swirlswirlswirlSLIIIIIIIIIIIIDEcrunchcrunchcrunch.

  Should hydration really be that dramatic?  

Happy weekend everyone!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This gown is so very cool - my girls are grown and I'm pretty sure that my grandson wouldn't wear it, but you have to see it.

Lobster Bacon Sliders

And bevvies.  Lobster bacon sliders and bevvies.  The sliders were so good, I couldn't mack on them fast enough.  Fresh lobster, some kind of saucey sauce, tomato, crispy bacon on a little round slider bun with a cool toothpicky thing in it.   Mmmm  mmmmmm.mmmmm..

That was the highlight of my trip to Huge HQ farther up the east coast a piece... LBS during a late dinner yesterday.  

So I'm back home tonight and have to ask - sans the LBS (see above) - is there anything better than peeling off tights and heels and putting on jammies where I don't have to suck it up or in?

Oh HELL no.

And I'm still myself, even though I had to do the performance appraisal thing, and the dialogue thing and the perpendicular rightsizing corporatey thing and say all the right things to the boss so I'll still get a decent bonus and maybe a raise thing.

So I can buy more shoes and LBS.  Of course, if I eat any more of them and drink more bevvies, I won't be able to fit into my LBD.  

Is there time for me to run for office and get someone to pay $150,000 for a new wardrobe so I can show off how little I know about government, the economy and foreign policy?

Just checking.

When is it ok to be me?

I think I'm creative, even though I won't be featured in the Met anytime soon, nor will I ever hit a record number of sales with my art anytime soon.

I think I'm funny, even though I could never do standup.

I think I'm a good person, even if I have to be Corporate Lulu at work, and some people don't like it when I make them follow the plan...

I think I'm a good sibling and daughter and mom, even though my family life is challenged.

So why don't I ever post how I really feel about politics, or work or my family?  Because my mom taught me that it's best really, to be nice.

Nice.   Niiiiiiiice.  Nissssssse. nicenicenicenice.  A good girl, a nice woman.  Oh Lulu?  Ohhhhh...she's so so nice.

(Ummmm.  Not really, but it's hard to out myself - my mom will NEVER ever see this blog, but I have that fear that someday, someone from work or family will stumble upon my little part of the sandbar and then - they'll KNOW that I'm not nice at all.)

I started this blog to find creative, funny people to talk with, and it feels as if I'm still hiding behind my nice facade, and what I have to say is so uninteresting because I'm too nice.   I also started it to talk about Etsy and art and creativity and stuff, and I find myself more worried about creating ART THAT WILL SELL.

wow...the black dog is shaking me all over the room tonight!!

If only I were thin.  Sighhhh...

Wait - that's another post entirely.

:)

Happy Sunday anyway!  Amazing Race is on tonight, so maybe a good dose of reality TV will cheer me up.

Why is it called Bluetooth?

...because apparently, it's named after Harald Bluetooth, an ancient king who unified warring tribes.  And that's what I did this week - I unified the needs of 950 salespeople at a national sales meeting.

Arguments between warring managers over awards for their people, disagreements with employees kept out of entering work sessions because they were 15 minutes late, discord between Huge McNormous IT employees and the hotel AV staff, disagreement between my feet and the pile of three-inch heeled shoes in my hotel closet, conflict between an inebriated employee and a stack of 30, 2-ft high vases containing circular dahlias - yup, I bluetoothed my way through the week, unifying them all - everyone went home alive and mostly happy.

And I'm happily home, where it's cooler than usual - making it feel like autumn at last.

I need punkins!!!

Shoes Never Make Me Look Fat

I.Love.Shoes.  I never have to suck in my stomach or clench my butt or wear Spanx to wear great shoes.  It is ever so much more satisfying to try on shoes, even when I've just been totally turned off by trying on clothes.  

I will say, that I'm liking the longer length tops currently in style.  So many Pringles and red wine bulges can be hidden under a decent top.

So I'm off to the sales meeting - wish me luck!  As we're cooped up in a convention-style hotel the entire week, I'm hoping that I emerge on Friday to find the Dow back up over 1000, Palin jokes abounding and that today's ND-UNC college football score has been overturned.

Ok, 1 out of 3 will do.

Best,

Lulu

Bless Your Heart...You could use a Brain

"Look at your nails - you should really get a mani," said a woman when visiting my friend at the hospital whose husband has been in critical care for over a week.  To a woman who has watched, nearly helpless, while her partner struggles to breathe while fighting the respirator that's helping him get some sleep so he can be on dialysis.  To a mom who has seen her kids tiptoe up to dad and ask if he's going to live.

And this is from a friend of hers!  She suggested that A. (my friend), would just feel so much better if she put on some makeup and had her nails did.  Because that's what her mama always told her.

Another friend packed up her suitcases and her trunk (I don't know anyone with a trunk who isn't heading for Hogwarts) and drove up from Georgia to 'help' out - and asked where they were going for lunch when she arrived.

A third arrives at the hospital and cries so hard, A has to comfort her.

Bless her heart, as it's said in the South...when you mean, are you f-ing kidding????

A is far too nice, and far too tired to kick their insensitive butts out the door, but I'm incredulous and mean and would like to go Nurse Ratched on them.

So no whining for me tonight.  I had a sale today, I've just read some delicious posts by Mom-omatic, and Angie, and Wendiwinn. and Color of Dawn...I'm good!

Sweet dreams!

Hell Week

Ohhhhh....this week is the prep week for the National Sales Meeting at Huge McNormous, and as the co-leader of a 1000-person meeting with 120 breakout sessions on 37 topics, an awards ceremony and a theme park offsite event....I'm already bezausted.  

It's truly like managing  - at any given time - 1000 junior high or high school or college students, depending on the amount of adult bevvies they've consumed.   And prepping is no fun either....poor poor Lulu. 

Even as I write that I think I'm whiny.  

If I was only thin.  Do you ever think that?  Everything would be oh so much better - if only I was thin.  And of course, I mean, 24-yr-old model thin, not average Jane in shape thin.  Why would being thin make the management of this meeting easier?  It wouldn't.  But - I would be happy/rich/cute/sexy.

Ok, not really - but I think that as women, we torture ourselves with this type of thinking.  I just read Valerie Frankel's book "Thin is the New Happy" and it really made me reflect about all the time I've wasted thinking that I'm not a good person if I'm heavier than I'd like to be or when I was younger. 

Anyway, I'll be posting on and off during the next week or so - I'm hoping that my hundreds...ok, tens of - well.  Ok - my fives of readers are patient.

:) 

Best,

Lulu

And oh yeah?  The earrings from Angie and the ring from Lotta?  So totally rock.

Back in the Windy City with Mother Nature

So clearly, the Sports Illustrated jinx is working again.  The legend goes, that if a sports team or personality is featured on the cover of SI, that team or person will lose whatever game or match or championship it is that he/she/it is competing in or for or to or whatever ( I had to throw in that whatever so I wouldn't end my sentence with a preposition and YES MOM - I KNOW that it's a run-on sentence - my mom is 83 and still teaching English grammar, check out her picture farther down on the right.).

Shwooooooo....

Because - the Cubs just stink right now!  And they were on the cover of SI a week ago.

I'm currently in Chicago this weekend, M and I are visiting daughter 1 / son-in-law / grandson and daughter 2 and boyfriend have also flown in from NY so clearly I have a little wine onboard.  Oh well - nice to share adult bevvies with your kids when they've grown up - so very cool.

So I'm getting caught up on the blog - did anyone watch the finale of America's Got Talent????  I know that some of you have been checking out the crap tv on my behalf...huh, huh?  Good stuff, I know, right???  So my pick - Nuttin' But Strings only got third place - what is WRONG with you reality TV voters??  

Ummm...I must confess though...I never actually pick up the phone and vote for anyone.  But I'm thinking about my picks really really seriously...

Have you seen that ad where the girl gets off the plane and Mother Nature hands her the monthly 'gift?'  Happened to me on Thursday as I landed at Midway....so I really need to gift myself and spend some more of the Tin Can Savings!  

I promise, I will have more to list here soon...!

Lulu

amAAAAzing Race

So - two things for tonight.  First - the original, best, six-time Emmy-award winning reality show, starts a new season tonight.  I'm talking of course, about Amazing Race.  The best, even though not every season has been of quite the same caliber as some - the four-person, keep everyone in the U.S. season - NOT a good idea - still, truly a cool show.

Click here to see all of the racers and to follow them.   

Of course, if I need to get a good cry on, I'll also try to watch the first show of the new season of Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.

And next, is today's Tin Can Savings purchase!  

At the top of my post are some of the items that I've purchased from Inkpainter - seriously cool stuff that I'll use for all new collages and shadowboxes - I have lots of ideas, so keep watching for crafty cocktails from my sandBar.

And last - ok, there's three things for tonight - I also love to catch 'Best Week Ever' on VH1 - snarky, funny, delicious.  

Watch up!  There will be a test later this week.

:)

Lulu

Tin Can Cash Purchases

OK - here are the first two purchases with M's tin can savings....

First up:

Mom-O, I will proudly wear this Walnut Moon Bakelite ring in honor of the full moon under which we all seem to be struggling this fall -  I'm sure it will bring me good karma, and it will never, never get thrown out the car window! :)

Click here for Mom-o-matic's Automat! 

Next, are these very lovely earrings from Angie Kelly Designs - her store is here.

These will go nicely with my new periwinkle blue cableknit dress 'n Spanx - because believe me, there will be no more dresses without Spanx!

Stay tuned....I have to go dig up the tin can for more cash...

Etsy Treasury!!

Woo Hooo!!!  I've just been included in an Etsy Treasury - yay!  "Cowgirl Up" is near and dear to my heart, so I'm excited to see it - thanks gracenapolean!!  Here's a link to her Etsy shop - very cool and very green.  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5992439

Here's the treasury link for 'Cowgirl Envy' treasury, available until Tuesday.

I am inept at trying to get a screenshot of the treasury - if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Yee HAAAA!!!

Tin Can Cash Purchases

I Love Pumpkin stuff!  Here's something I'm going to purchase on Etsy from Mom-o-matic.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15266701.

This is the first of my four-day Etsy spree - check back here to watch me spend M's tin can money!!!

Tin Can Savings

I need some inspiration!  I think about Etsy and my blog during odd moments at the Huge, and then I get home after 7:00 and think - I'm just too tired to gear up for a project that I'll have to put down in a few hours.

See, I think being basically lazy and tired is what has contributed to my love of crap TV.  It's just easier to look at all the great work everyone else is doing and think...I could see that better if I weren't yawning so loud.  So I'll go watch the big screen, curl up into the fetal position and feel my brain turn to sludge.

That, or growing up as a tail-end baby boomer with the TV as a babysitter.

So anyway, M has decided that all of the banks are going to fail, and we need to bury some cash in the backyard.  

Me:  So - what are you doing today?

M: I'm going to Costco...

Me: Oh, ok - we need bottled water, paper plates, check out the specials on-

M: No...for a safe.

Me: What?  We have four file cabinets!  We can keep the  passports and will in one of them - we have plenty of -

M: No, not for documents.  For keeping cash...

Me: What for?

M: You know...it's all over the web and MSNBC and CNN.  They say-

Me: The faceless nameless expert-on-everything They? 

M: Sarcasm makes your elevens* deeper.  Anyway - everyone knows that a bunch of banks are going to fail and how are we going to pay our bills?  We need to keep some cash on hand.  I'm going to take some money out of the savings and keep it in a save in the closet.

(Crickets)

Me:(shoulders shaking, trying to keep sensitive, feeling, Dr. Phil-face on)

M: Well, you'll be happy when you can't get into Paypal and I'll have to cover your Etsy debts! 

True that!

Needless to say, we now have our 2008 version of the backyard tin can in our house.

Etsy on!

Lulu

*elevens - for you youngsters out there, elevens are the wrinkles between your eyes from squinting in the sun for all your live

DWTS

I missed most of Dancing With The Stars (I did mention that I love crap TV, right???) so I need to ask of all y'all - who's the dancer to beat?  Misty May?  Lance, what's-his-name boy band singer guy?  Warren Sapp?  Whooooo??????

This is an unofficial poll....don't make me go to the blogger pollster thing, pleeeeeze.  

Leave a comment.  Just a little one.  I'm pleading.

Ok, it's prolly not that dramatic, but I'm the youngest in the family, we do drama.

Have a great week!  I'll check in after Biggest Loser tomorrow night!

Lulu

BOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo

In honor of Boo Weekley and the Ryder Cup team -- I  had to get this posted up quickly!  For those who don't know...it's team golf, the U.S. and Europe battling it out every two years, and Boo Weekley just put another point on the board for the U.S.

Woo HOOOOOO New Etsy Stuff

Wow...what a looooong day - and I'm not done posting new listings yet.  But I did manage to get three new listings up in between watching the Ryder Cup - go U.S.! - and Notre Dame / MI State in college football...booooooo.  So here's a preview of my new Halloween crafties - check me out on Etsy!

Friday Night Fantastic

Today's fab new blogs - read away!  I've also added to my Run Scamper list on the sidebar.

http://wendiwinn.blogspot.com

http://papercafegirl.blogspot.com

Off to create.

Really!

Bevvies and Addies

I'm back from the land down under....under Georgia.  Yes, I'm back from Disney and my business trip to a workshop/caucus/conference on Motivation.   I have some thoughts on motivation....motivate THIS as we say.

And of course, it's AGT results night.  Ohhhh....the little four-year-old just got voted off.

No offense - she's so so cute and bright.  But again, seriously - a Vegas act?  Nope. 

(As I type this, M is yelling up to me from downstairs, giving me his theories and spreadsheet analysis on which of the top five AGT acts is going to win and he's splitting the country into a red state/blue state format to pick the winner.)  Love that man.

So while I was at the workshop in Orlando, I was using technology as an illusion of work.  Yes, I was crackberrying during breaks, to try to keep up with all that is going on at Huge McNormous these days, and I received a message from another employee that went like this:

"Hey, didn't receive my invite to meeting X.  Please use my work addy instead of my home addy.  I have two addies, please use the right one."

Addy?  Addies?  

You just know that this guy wears loafers with no socks, pleated khakis and a double-breasted jacket with a crest pocket over a pink polo shirt with the collar popped.  And you have to count your fingers when you shake his hand.  And he points at you with both hands forming trigger fingers and makes a clicking noise with his tongue....And...well.  You get the picture.  

So there I am with some members of my management team at the conference and we spent some time in Epcot, which was hot and humid.   We stopped at various venues, trying to slake our thirst, and I showed them the email from Mr. Salesy guy with the addies.

Of course, then we all got addytudes and had to toast his email with adult bevvies.

That's motivation.

:) Lulu

Off to create - see you on Etsy!

A Magical Week and Optional Toe Touches

I'm off to the land of Mickey for a magical week - riiiiiiiiight.  I'm spending the bulk of the week at Disney for a work conference, which makes some people say luckEEEEE, but makes me want to hide at home.    I know that I need to go to these events to enhance my skills and network, and to craft new messages and upsize my potential while delivering on the essence of our corporate vision during the opening of our kimonos and thinking outside the box (that should give a big corporate BINGO shoutout to anyone else who has to use corporate-speak for a living...).

I just want to stay home and craaaaaaaaft.

On another note - I JUST MOVED FROM THE 'UNDISCOVERED' TO THE 'JUST SOLD' CATEGORY ON ETSY!!!!!!

Yes, I'm yelling.  But not at anyone, just to everyone!  I'm absurdly pleased.  One sale.  Let's see....my profit is now..mmmm....approximately - minus $1000!

Optional Toe Touch!!!  Oh yeah - my daughters were competitive cheerleaders in high school, and somehow, doing an optional toe touch (kick your foot straight up into the air with a straight leg and touch your toe) has become a celebratory gesture around our house.

(Please note: obviously, the OTT can only be performed metaphorically or privately while wearing a business suite at Huge McNormous.)

But I digress.

First Sale!!!!

I know that the supersellers are probably thinking..."Pace yourself, rookie."  All I know, is that my husband told me he was ready to spring into action as my shipping and receiving department - (for Etsy, keep it clean) - for all of my future sales.  

And that's gotta count for something.

Have a magical week, everyone.  Be safe.

Lulu

Pretty Woman

I know that it's the most improbable love story ever.  But I still watch "Pretty Woman" every time I come across it on TBS or TNT.

M is still in MI and won't be home until tomorrow.  I usually love having a lot of time to myself and while I'm going to pull an all-nighter - or long-nighter - tonight, to get more items finished so that I can snap the pix tomorrow and post to etsy....I do still miss him!

I am sending information to be posted on Etsy Studios - link to follow!

Have a good weekend,

Lulu

Follow MEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Click on the new gadget in my sidebar called The Cool Table (as in, in the high school cafeteria, duh) - it's very snappy and fun.  Please follow me...

Also, try 'Yearbook Me' in the sidebar under 'Click here - You'll Like It' - too funny!  I will be posting some fabulous shots of me that...ahem...do kind of look like me in past years....yikes.

Velveeta Night

Yippeeee!!

A third night of America's Got Talent, M is out of town, I'm just back in town and home after a partial week at McNormous HQ, and I'm back blogging.  Plus Amber put my Halloween Tin Pail on her blog - a big shout out to my color of dawn creations friend - (see her blog link in my faves).

How can you not love AGT?  I discuss it in depth with one of my employees at lunch every day --  OMG!  HOW could they put the little four-year-old girl through??  She's cute and she knows her songs - but really?  The prize is a headline show in Vegas for goodness sakes.....

Ok.....Nuttin but Strings...c'mon, c'mon..................................................YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shwew, as my niece would say.  

Anyway, this employee/colleague/friend - we talk about AGT, OCC (Orange County Chopper) Jon and Kate Plus Eight (another employee KNOWS them...luckEE), Amazing Race, Miami Ink, The Office...you name it, if it's on TV, we discuss it.  And we're not stoopid couch potatoes, it's just that - when you have to deal with corporate life, large-money decisions, employee and business decisions...it's nice to turn it off and not have to think while you're numbing your mind.

Plus it's safer to talk about tv than to discuss politics.

This is at least a decent end to a really bad week - I had to lay off two employees on Tuesday.   So I'm going to bury myself in etsy life this weekend to feel creative instead of destructive.

I know I'll never be able to quit work for my store - shoot, I might never make a sale! - but it does calgon me.

Be safe on this anniversary date, my remote friends...

Monday Night Moaning

..and NOT in a good way! I had to wear heels today for 15 hours and while I lurve my heels - 3 inches or better - it's not so good to be sitting here in the hotel room all comfortably ensconsed in the sweet sleeper bed with six pillows behind my back and my left foot cramps up so bad that my second toe is curled under - involuntarily. Ewwwwwwwwwwww....

Ok, the pedicure is 4 weeks old too. So that might add to the icky factor. But still, the foot cramp and all....double ick.

TONIGHT'S FEATURED BLOGs -

http://angiekellydesigns.blogspot.com/
http://moonmystic-buriedinbeads.blogspot.com/

All of your words continue to inspire me, especially when I know that tomorrow will be a really seriously crappy day.l

thanks,
Lulu

New Blogs and Crap TV

Ok - when you get totally bored by my blog, run run RUN  QUICK SCAMPER to three new blogs that I've just added to my list.  Not that everyone on my list isn't funny and clever and oh-so-delicious to read, it's just that I have a girl-crush on these three blogs.

http://colorofdawncreations.blogspot.com/

http://mom-o-matic.blogspot.com/

http://borneochica.blogspot.com/

Hmmm.  Maybe, to be more professional, I should just say that I'm featuring them tonight.  Yeah, that's it.  Featuring.  Now I sound like I know what I'm talking about, yeah...

And not for nothing - while I post this I'm drinking Rex Goliath, the 47 pound Rooster wine, and watching a new gameshow on Fox called..."The Hole in the Wall."  And the announcer is very seriously intoning...."Gentlemen, it's time to FACE.....the Hoooole...."

I love crap TV.

Sunday evenings...

Here's the view outside of the studio.  I love sunsets - so cliche, but still.  As you can tell from my work, that whole yellow/orange/reddish coloring is the most consistent color inspiration for me.

I love the fall, obviously, with all of those colors and I particularly miss the Michigan fall season, even though we usually get a similar color combo in late fall here in NC.

Studio - don't you love giving something an upgrade, just through a name?  My studio is actually our media/bonus room on the second floor, and we use it for the office and all of my artwork / craftiness.  So cute that M now refers to it as the studio - he's a believer!

And football season is finally back WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!  Mostly a fan of the college football, but still, the Sunday chorus is back.

I worked on my etsy photos all day, re-editing and reposting.  I finally got to the creative schtuff just before dinner and now I need to add some new listings.

Off to HQ for Huge McNormous this week and I'm not looking forward to getting on that plane tomorrow.  I'm not afraid of flying, it's just so frustrating to travel now and the whole thing can be exhausting.  

Maybe I'm just really not looking forward to the week.  Or it just feels too much like I'm in junior high, and I haven't done my homework for Monday and I have a zit and Zippy (or Biff or Big Football Guy...whoever) doesn't like me....ok, now I'm just drifting.....

But if the work gods are reading my blog (doubtful - still working on driving the traffice :)) - I love my job, really it's great and I would hate to be without it - and the paycheck and the benefits, no really!!

Have a great Monday, all....

Lulu

Laborious Day

Is there any workday more exhausting than the day after a three-day weekend? Especially when your emotions are whipsawed around from pillar to post, politicians to hurricanes.

I just need to take in some cheesy good fun, have a glass of wine and watch America's Got Talent - yeah, I know that as you read that you think, "Ewwwww..." - but c'mon! That's the big block of Velveeta fun! M and I argue every week over who has the most emotional backstory, guaranteed to wring sympathy from the voting public.

So - here's a new post from the Etsy store, and I finally have my Flickr account up and running too. Art is also tiring.

Corporate world at Huge McNormous is tiring.

Sheesh.

I need a nap.

Lazy Daze

So - it was recon day at the 32nd Annual Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival! I checked out every booth for the booth setup and the types of work, the many artists, what is selling, the pricing, etc.

Very informative, as I was looking at the artists in an entirely different manner than when I'm simply checking out the goods. It was very interesting to see how the various artists were interacting with everyone else - not only with potential customers, but with other artists and with the general population flow up and down the streets.

So many different types of booth setups as well. There are sidewalks on the back side of every booth - some artists were making better use of them than others, by hanging work on the back, keeping their director chairs either at the front to sit and chat, or through a small opening into the back of the booth.

Lots of jewelry, pottery, woodwork, photography, fine art painting, glasswork.

I saw only one booth with mixed media works, and it seemed to be pretty busy, with good prices - hope the artist does well!

It inspired me and overwhelmed me at the same time.....just another challenge for the inner artist...

Fear

Fear has so many faces.  This week, my face is reflecting fears on the economy, my job, my siblings' jobs, my team....

I should be working out to relieve the stress because I know that it does help, but it seems that all I want to do is check out my blog favorites, post on Etsy and try to create.  I should be updating my resume and checking out business networking sites, but I work 10 hours a day at Huge McNormous and I don't want to think about it at night.

I'm finding new friends on Etsy and receiving really great stuff - loving supporting the hand-crafted network.  Off to do recon at a big local craft fair this weekend - Lazy Daze in Cary NC.  I want to check out the booths, get new ideas and see what's selling.

Boo Spoken Here!

Get on up for Halloweeeeeennnnn!!!

My favorite holiday - wooo hoooooo!!

It's up and running!  Welcome to Lulu's Sandbar - my new Etsy store.   I'm really excited and anxious and a bit overwhelmed at the same time....

Pictured here is the first completed shadowbox collage, titled, "Cowgirl Up!"

To view this and other items in my Etsy store, please access the "My Etsy" link in the sidebar.

Can't wait to see you there!

Olympics Week, Random Thoughts

Although I'm not in shape at all, while I'm watching these elite athletes I'm feeling like I've been competing in the Olympics this week.  Cutbacks at Corp Huge McNormous are weighing everyone down and it's been an effort to keep the team motivated while I'm a bit nervous myself.

I love the thought of somehow being able to say that I swam 9 hours per day, every day for the last four years....but there is no way I could ever do that, so I think that Michael Phelps deserves everything that he wins.

I really need to get my items together for my Etsy store.  Enough research - get crafting!

How to get motivated?  Thoughts?

Creativity...

....can be defined as the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative and idiosyncratic way which is characterized by a high degree of innovation and originality, divergent thinking, and risk taking.

This also best defines how I feel about life beyond the sandbar....especially, risk-taking.  And to experiment in many new and different types of mediums is such a great feeling.  

I'm still working on managing all of it, though - the day job, the blog, the art pieces, the start-up to the Etsy store - all take so many pieces of time away from what I think of as the creative process.  I just need to realize that the process IS the process!

Trying to Vacation

This is really really tough.  I was so looking forward to having two weeks off, and enjoying our grandson, and getting very creative.

But.

I'm sooo tired!  There's no schedule like that of a 3-almost-4-year-old, and while this comes as NO SURPRISE to millions of moms, it's tough to get anything done!  My creative side is telling me to nap...

We have been enjoying the pool, and his swimming is getting better.  Trying to push him past the sandbar someday in ways big and small.

However, it's very disconcerting to watch the competition among the moms.  Not on behalf of their kids, but amongst themselves.  Maybe I'm just getting older (definitely!) but - it's so interesting to watch how most women will sit at the edges of the pool or in the water, splashing around with the kids....and then there are those moms with the killer abs...who stand in knee-deep water, no matter where the kids are playing.

Yeah, we see you.  You look great.  How about getting - oh, I don't know - underwater with your kids?!  Oh well.  Jealousy is such an ugly emotion.  :)

Back from Weddingville

I am back after a very long weekend of traveling - flying to Chicago, driving to the big MItten for a family wedding, back to Chicago and then a flight out today home with grandson in tow.  He'll be with us for two weeks which will be great....and exhausting.

I'm hoping to get creative, but I will now know what it's like for the moms out there with little guys running around and into everything!

Finally - Getting Started

Sha-whewwwww....as my niece used to say...I'm finally getting the blog off the ground.  I have started and stopped a few times already, trying to get this juuuust perfect.   Huh.  Yeah.  Still thinking that EVERYTHING I do has to be perfect or something bad will happen.

At least - that's what my black dog keeps telling me. 

And this ain't the black dog that's soooo friendly, as in the restaurant, or in the big calm black lab that saves somebody from drowning in the big lake.  No, my black dog is the voice inside my head that tells me I'm somehow never good /talented / pretty / smart / clever enough for ...someone.  Usually me.  Because really?  No one else is judging me as harshly as I'm judging myself.  

But more about the black dog later.  (I think most women have an internal black dog so hopefully some readers can relate).

So, this is all part of the plan to launch a blog and an Etsy site and a website and an eBay store and links to cool sites and favorite blogs.  For my second life as a successful, well-known multi-media artist.

Of course, to have a second life you have to have a first life, which I do - I work for Huge McNormous Corporation, as a Sr. Director of Corporate Stuff.   And most of the time I feel that I'm making a difference.   But looking into the future, I really want to do something that I love - to have that wonder of waking up in the morning anxious to get to work because it's fun, not because I have so many meetings to wade through, or issues to handle.

This will be my story and my journey as I try to create a business to enjoy in the future.