Question Certain Perfection?

Change of a Dress...

2009-04-22T16:15:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, I've officially moved to wordpress.
So if you are coming here through blogger, please redirect to www.graciefabulous.com by clicking there...

If you follow me in a google reader or something similar, you'll have to delete, but please remember to add me back!!!

Nothing really will change about my blog except the formatting,ect - all backstage stuff!

Wearing Mascara dot com giveaway

2009-04-20T21:44:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone, head on over to www.wearingmascara.com and check out her 200+300+WordPress switchover giveaway ... she's super funny to read and does a great job at updating her blog early and often!

Here's a peak at the prize...

Smashbox Cosmetics Master’s Class Vol. 4 Rescue Beauty Set:

Sweet right? Smashbox always amazes me with their products, innovations, and value (this set is a $175 value!).

Switching to WordPress

2009-04-19T22:34:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm trying to switch to housing my blog on WordPress... so {IF} my site goes down for a bit please bear with me!

If anyone has any pointers, that'd be great too!

I've transfered everything and registered my name and all, but can't get it lead to the new format.

Thanks!

Race for the Cure 2009

2009-04-14T23:07:00.002-05:00

Have YOU registered for the Ozark Race for the Cure {if you live here that is...}?

I've registered, and YOU need to too.

It's so easy - just go right here: http://www.komenozark.org/ and sign up!

Race Day is one week from Saturday = April 25th and YOU need to be there to run, walk and cheer on the entire crowd as everyone races toward the cure for breast cancer...

This is your one free pass to quit reading my blog {but do come back} and go register!

If you have registered, either here in Northwest Arkansas or anywhere else, let me know...

Bunco Etiquette

2009-04-14T16:55:00.002-05:00

According to the World Bunco Association[1], Bunco began as a progressive dice game in England, later being imported to the American West as a gambling activity. It was not until after the Civil War that it evolved to a popular parlor game. The Association states that during Prohibition, Bunco as a gambling game was re-popularized and the term "Bunco-Squad" was born, referring to law-enforcement groups that busted up Bunco Gaming. Bunco as a family game saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1980s. Although re-released in 2005 with a tagline reading "The game that's sweeping the nation," sales were initially low though senior citizens and young adults alike have found interest in the game[
In recent years, the game has seen a resurgence in popularity in America, particularly among suburban women. As it is played today, Bunco is a social dice game involving 100% luck and no skill (there are no decisions to be made)[2], scoring and a simple set of rules. Women who are part of a Bunco club take turns as the Bunco hostess, providing snacks, refreshments and the tables to set up the games. The hostess may also provide a door prize. Small amounts of money can be involved as well. The object of the game is to accumulate points and to roll certain combinations. The winners get prizes (provided by the hostess or pooled from the club resources) for accomplishments such as the highest score, the lowest score, or the most buncos. Prizes frequently center on themes associated with the game such as fancy dice, dice embedded in soap, t-shirts featuring illustrations of dice, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunco

So there’s your brief history of Bunco...

I’m not saying our group is better than the definition, but we roll a pretty good dice game once a month. The hostess normally has a theme which the prizes are part of, and we have 3 prizes – Winner, Loser and Travel – which is the last person to roll a full bunco of a predetermined #. And she ALWAYS has alcohol…

I’d now like to address a few etiquette “by-laws” if you will:
It’s always polite to “pass the dice” to the next person in succession at your table. This is a pretty subtle move, but a gesture to let the next person know “hey, it’s ok to grab the dice” otherwise you’ll probably get your hand slapped. It’s very much similar to the black jack dealer showing that all bets are in and the next portion of the game is beginning – if that makes sense… it does to me.
Another politeness is that the other 3 at the table should count along {out loud} the number of rolls/points the roller is up to – and it helps to do it in a sing-song fashion, the cadence helps when Bunco becomes Drunko. We’ve also determined to that this will come in handy if we ever have to teach a toddler to count… to about 6 – we’ve got that covered!

{thanks to AB for highlighting these "rules"}

I love going to Bunco each month, it’s fun and relaxing and as you read in the definition, there is no skill nor thinking involved which is great! My mom played Bunco when I was little {like 3 and 4}, it was a huge ordeal when she hosted, she always made perfect little party treats and I always got to taste them! The highlight of the evening was that my dad and I got to go out to eat Chinese food which NEVER happened since my parents were pretty poor back then. In hindsight, however, Chinese food in Southeast Arkansas probably wasn’t such a treat, might should have been scared of that…

What did the Easter Bunny bring you?

2009-04-13T21:44:00.002-05:00

Pretty sure he brought me 5 more pounds - seriously we ate all day long on Sunday - it was great! =)

After Mass we went to brunch at Savor with my parents and sister, I had crab cakes Benedict and dark chocolate creme brulee - it was so very good! Then not 4 hours later, we went to eat at MZ's parents house with his parents and his aunt and uncle from Florida, we had a ham and all the fixins' - again another tasty meal and I just can't say no to home cooked meals - so of course I did not.

It was such a dreary day on Easter there wasn't much else to do except eat and take a nap and we sure could scratch both of those off our list!

On Saturday, my mom and I worked at the M&N Augustine Foundation 16th annual Easter Feed for the homeless and hungry. As expected this was the biggest year ever - we served over 5,000 meals between those who came in to eat and the meals we shipped out to those who would not have a hot meal over the weekend like the Meals on Wheels recipients, the women's shelter and the jails.

It's such a rewarding event and I love participating each year!

A very Danish 30th Birthday Party

2009-04-10T19:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we headed north to Kansas City to celebrate AD's 30th Birthday. It was a blast. I never pick to go to KC but always have a blast when I'm there. I love the theory of the Plaza and all the open air shopping and patios in bars and restaurants. We stayed right on the plaza and the weather on Saturday was gorgeous - a bit windy, but so nice to walk around and people watch and grab a beer or two at few local places.

That night we headed out to Mexican food at exactly what AD wanted - cheap fast

and GOOD - it was all of that with great margaritas!

After dinner we headed to the Power and Light District where there were some fabulous bars, we started out at Fire Fly, which is considered a modern day "speakeasy." You had to go down a long hallway to get to the main bar - no passwords required but still... We go there just in time to secure some of the best seats in the place and our entourage took over! After a couple of hours, we moved on to 180 which had a great martini called the Grapes of Wrath - here's a pic of me and Courtney enjoying what is probably well after our first one...

It was a tasty blend of Ciroc Grape Vodka, white grape juice and champagne - and those are not olives (EWWW) they are frozen grapes! Yummo! Also ironically appropriate as MZ thinks just buying a bottle of white grape juice and pouring vodka in it would be cheaper than the wine I drink - I'm not sure if that's mathematically accurate, but after that martini - I'm sure willing to try it! I think the trick is to get everything uber-cold!

MAYBE SOMEBODY READING THIS WILL GO AND MAKE THAT HAPPEN...

Here's a couple more girly pics and of course a picture of MZ and me...

Sunday was bitter cold in KC - quite a drastic change from just a few hours before because I sure didn't remember it being that cold when we left the bar - but I also couldn't tell you where that bar was... anyway - the Plaza was dead so we were excited about our chances on getting into Cheesecake Factory for brunch. We tried to have snacks there on Saturday afternoon and there was a 30 minute wait for just the two of us, even at the bar! uh no thank you...

There was absolutely no wait and we had a delicious brunch of eggs Benedict with grilled tomatoes and spinach and MZ had bbq bacon burger, and we had to get cheesecake - we just got it to go from the start, had a few bites and hit the road. When we were leaving KC it was SNOWING! Very hard to believe we were in shorts and tank tops and sandals the day before.

It was a great weekend and I'm so glad we all could get together to celebrate!

Sex and the City Movie widget

2009-04-07T18:01:00.001-05:00

Snuggie - more like an August blanket

2009-04-05T19:35:00.002-05:00

A while back I became enthralled with the Snuggie, also the combination of the Snuggie and the ShamWow = a SnuggieWow (that didn’t take off though...yet!)

I resisted the urge to “call now” and even passed up the offer of the free book light, but then I found the “as seen on TV” aisle at Walgreens... I bought a Snuggie - bought one for Lindsey too. I was so excited to get it home and snuggie up on the couch.
So that evening MZ and I sat down to watch TV and I to try out the Snuggie. It was a total let down. It’s so thin and flimsy and pretty much worthless. It's also a very ugly blue color - Walgreens did not have the maroon, although that color would have been even more like the chanting monks.
I deem it only appropriate as a light throw potentially to be used in August with 93% humidity.
MZ just pretty much made fun of me unmercifully (and still does) for my very silly purchase, and I actually have to agree with him. It was an impulse buy I totally regret.

BACON! You need it.

2009-04-01T23:36:00.006-05:00

I haven't written about a work adventure in while... so here's something we've been up to!

BACON BACON BACON!

Wright Brand Bacon to be exact!

Here are a couple of breakfast creations designed and orchestrated by Aaron McCargo from the FoodNetwork, he's the host of Big Daddy's House and he also won The Next FoodNetwork Star last season.

He was here to do some video shorts for our websites this week. He made a bacon stuffed french toast pocket and bacon egg cups with mushrooms and herbs as a few breakfast options, 2 of the other recipes was a chicken roulade and hamburger roll both of which are of course wrapped in bacon... proving the well known fact that you REALLY CAN wrap anything in bacon. Try it - you'll be amazed!

I love doing the videos, there is so much prep work that goes into them and the attention to details is something I really LOVE! Setting up each table setting is probably my favorite part, that and saying ACTION, QUIET ON THE SET & THAT'S A WRAP!

If it ain't broke... don't break it just because you can

2009-04-01T21:22:00.003-05:00

I sometimes wonder if some people just pick something to "call out" or change because they feel like they should put their 2 cents in on a decision. I can't say I'm not guilty of this, but there's a strong change that at times some people take this power way overboard!

I've been in meetings where a group is reviewing concept designs and after everyone has gone around the room and given feedback, someone feels the need to say something totally off topic or something that goes against the entire groups thinking. I know - it could happen, that not everyone agrees on an idea - it should happen, but the moral of the story is don't wait until the very end. Voice your opinion early and constructively.

The same goes for complaining just to complain, I'm more guilty of this than the above noted.

So, with all that said, I'm hoping by getting back into my blog and writing more that will help with my own complaining. I know I'm very blessed in my life. I have a wonderful boyfriend - who gets the most of my complaining and I can't be appreciative enough for his listening to me. I'm very grateful to have job in this economy, especially knowing that my old team at my previous company was eliminated - things do happen for a reason. I have really great friends of all walks of life that definitely keep me grounded and learning every day. I'm lucky to have my entire immediate family in such close proximity, even though that streak of luck is not always so evident.

New Computer Day

2009-03-31T19:22:00.002-05:00

Woo Hoo!

Today I got to pick up my new computer! I got a new MacBook and I'm so excited about it.

I've always been a fan of macs and am very happy to be a proud owner of something that can drive all my gadgets more efficiently.

I'm also hoping that this will help to boost my inspiration (if not readership) of my blog here - hopefully with my a renewal in writing if will expand in many ways!

I'm going to try and post something at least 5 times per week - that's my goal...

Now off to set up the rest of my programs and transfer files and music, etc.

The next reality show, right in my back yard – Can you survive as a Walmartian?

2009-03-30T17:19:00.001-05:00

I’m watching Running in Heels on styleTV – if you haven’t seen it, it’s an intern group competing for a position at Marie Claire magazine in NYC. There are some bitchy contestants and daring and crazy stunts disguised as tasks to test the gusto of the competitor/ applicants. Pretty good show all around and glad to see that Nina is breaking out of the Project Runway bubble. Lots of glamour and travel and fun and partying – makes life in the real world in a real job seem like that’s what it’s all about. Stressed to these girls is whether or not they get invited to the red carpet event of the afternoon, whatever!
New idea – do a reality show job interview at the Walmart home office in Bentonville. Bring a slew of “qualified” applicants to a dry county in Arkansas and have them work 12 + hour days in the retail behemoth that is Walmart. Everything that goes on in that building is amazing and has a lot to teach unsuspecting jobbies! There wouldn’t be the glitz and glamour, that’s for sure. So if for some reason, anyone reading this has any pull in the realm of reality shows, I’d love to pitch the whole of my idea!

Breakin’up is hard to do…

2009-03-23T13:49:00.002-05:00

Neil Sedaka was so right – it is hard to do, but I feel it has to be done.
I must break up with my hair girl! Unfortunately, she does a stellar job so I can’t fault her there. The problem is that I NEVER EVER know how much she is going to charge me.

6 weeks ago I had my hair done and she put a bit more brown in it, did a quick razor cut to thin it out but not cut any length off it and waxed my eyebrows, for all that she only charged me $70. I just figured since I didn’t get a full cut and “style” change that was the reason for the lower price. Well I went in last week and asked for the VERY same thing, telling her how much l loved it and about the compliments, I got from the original cut.

So she did the same thing sorta, it’s a bit lighter, so not really what I asked for but not something that was worth complaining about because it looks super good. No length cut off, nothing fancy. $109???
Yeah I was shocked! I couldn’t believe the up charge. A $10 difference might be one thing, but $40 is a lot of money!
I’m sad – I don’t know who I’m going to go to now – I really trust her with my hair, unfortunately I do not trust her with my finances!

Wait, is that Walt from LOST in that commercial?

2009-03-05T12:33:00.001-06:00

It sure is! Malcom David Kelley (aka Walt from LOST) is in my new commercial. Again, not really MY commercial but I was there for the entire process, so I feel fine in saying MY commercial. See previous posts…

Here are what some people are saying about it as well…
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=11904024
http://boards.ign.com/lost/b8147/176834073/p1/
http://forum.lostpedia.com/showthread.php?s=339bf816e7733fa12e066f6d07ca955d&p=1250012&mode=threaded#post1250012
http://www.thecoconutinternet.com/showthread.php?t=7562
http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?showtopic=2323232

You can see my commercial linked here:
GRACIE’S AWESOME COMMERCIAL!

Super Star Conference Call

2009-03-02T07:35:00.003-06:00

I can’t really quite say who yet, but I just had a conference call with a someone who I consider to be quite the star – but remember, I’m a bit of a nerd.
It would be a real treat to work with this person and I think it was really cool of them to actually be present on the conference call and express their equal excitement to be able to work with us.
Sorry that this is pretty vague – well I guess it’s really extremely vague but if I told you who it was, I’d probably have to kill you – or at least it would ruin a future blog post since I don’t want to (legally bound not to) mention their name just yet.

Something to think about in the land of CPG marketing…

2009-03-02T07:30:00.002-06:00

As CPG/ Big Box teams get leaner on the inside of corporate walls, do agencies benefit? Are they getting more business and thus hiring more people? Or are they just piling more work on their account teams, therefore creating stagnant design and ideation?
So who really suffers? Do consumers – the end result of all marketing campaigns suffer because they aren’t fed the mega-multitudes of commercialization that they are used to? Do the agency team members suffer because they are working on the same brands with no new ideas? Does CPG branding suffer because no matter what is “launched” it’s not going to move the needle in the mind of the consumer because they aren’t told to love it? Consumers are so used to being told exactly what they want to hear and need to love – I sometimes wonder if anyone can really think for themselves when it comes to products, etc – not at all pertaining to life choices and things of that nature – purely commercial and often frivolous impulse items. Don’t get offended – I still think we’re all capable of making intelligent choices – but it’s an interesting study to see what purchases impulse marketing actually creates in the minds of consumers. Trust me, I’m just as guilty when it comes to impulse buying! I’m drawn to shiny objects and flashy packaging just like anyone else.
Another thing to consider on the flip side… If there are less marketing dollars available in the land of the CPG, less internal marketing talent, then does that equate to less talent available in the agency world? If you can’t pay for the exquisite marketing we are all accustomed to, then what happens to the agency team that isn’t going to create the elaborate campaigns any more – you really do get what you pay for, product wise and creative wise!
Further thought... Do the CPG/ Big Box unemployed now become consultants for projects they were once working on? So that expands their portfolio and creates a broader knowledge base for everyone involved, including probably their former employer – wonder if they ever realize the talent they let go?It’s an interesting time in the marketing world – just as it is with any job group. The things that are happening in the marketing worlds are really crazy – it seems as if so much is going back to smaller budget ideals that are now costing an arm and a leg to create that “home-done” feel. I’m very eager to see what the recession does to so many marketing campaigns going forward – people still need to create ideals that are going to sell sell sell but at what cost to the companies and to the consumers.

Day 5 of no shopping (for myself)

2009-03-02T07:29:00.000-06:00

Well I’m still alive… the lack of shopping has not cause my internal organs to explode or my wallet to brutally maim me, so that’s a good thing! The hardest part so far has been when I check my mail and get all those shiny coupons and flyers about sales GOING ON NOW and so forth. My co-workers are pretty happy, they are now the recipients of all the coupons and reward things I receive in the mail. I think it really won’t be as bad as everyone makes it out to be – and yes, most people were overly shocked when told what I was giving up for Lent – comments such as “we really will fall deeper into recession now, are you going to survive, etc.” were made in my general direction. Whatever, I can do it! It also helps that there are clothes in my closet that still have the tags on them – so it will still be like new clothes – new to you (if you see me out) at least.
I did have to set foot in a retail establishment this weekend – I had to pick up items for an upcoming video shoot. So I went to Pier 1 to pick up some plates and place settings. There is some RANDOM stuff in that store for sure! For instance, there were these chickens that when you squeeze them, a thing that resembles and egg expect to find in Pier 1 – the gal at the counter said they were extremely popular. I vote no on that… that’s just gross!

Coke Lite and Manolo Blahnik

2009-02-26T13:28:00.005-06:00

http://www.shoeblog.com/blog/manolo-blahnik-for-coca-cola-light/

http://www.coke-light.de/

www.shoeblog.com

Happy Mardi Gras!

2009-02-24T12:34:00.002-06:00

Today is a day of indulgence, of care free-ed-ness, of partying and whatnot… Since tomorrow starts Lent where everyone and their dog normally “gives up” something as a statement of sacrifice. I know it’s always something we’ve participated in in my family – my mom always gives up something like chocolate or wine or carbs – the things that keep her sane and we’d actually prefer she stay on those as that what she considers self-medicating. My dad (not Catholic, not even religious) gives up drinking from Monday through Thursday, and then makes up for it on the weekends. And I’ve never really kept up with what my sister gives up. I normally give up cokes --- however this year is different!

I also think that Lent is a good way to redeem yourself if you’ve already f’d up your New Year’s Resolution. So if you were going to quit smoking, were going to start exercising more, blah blah blah, now’s the time to do it all over again.

So this year, I’ve decided to give up something that is going to be really hard for me!you may want to sit down for this…..
I’m going to give up shopping! No shopping for me for 40 days. No online shopping, no going to the mall, no browsing at Target – no frivolous, unnecessary shopping! This also means that when I go to wherever to get groceries (which I’m going to try to keep to a minimum) I will not succumb to impulse buys … no I do not need the newest hairspray, no I do not need the newest mascara and so on and so forth. I’m going to try and not even set foot in the HBA section. Nor do I need to buy the newly advertised CPG item in the grocery section – simply the basics will be bought off my grocery list.

I had my own laissez bon temps affair last night at Sephora – I had to return a few things that sure didn’t look the same in normal light than the did in the uber crazy Sephora light, and then I added a few things to my basket. I think that beats the heck out of getting smashed on hurricanes tonight!
I’ll try and keep posting about my adventure in non-shopping, unless that further depresses! I hope to get a lot of projects done around the house that I’ve not done or have half started and I also hope to save a ton o money!

Let the good times roll!

CUPCAKE giveaway!!!

2009-02-19T14:36:00.002-06:00

Check out this give away and her blog!

Great read - makes me miss Dallas for sure!

(click on the image)

Thinking about making a change

2009-02-17T21:44:00.003-06:00

I'm thinking about changing a couple things in my social media world.
1. I think I'm going to delete my myspace account.
2. I'm condsidering moving my blog to word press from blogger.

The first is pretty much a no-brainer, I never ever check my myspace and pretty much everyone I know is on facebook now and I like that forum much better. The only thing is that I have so many pictures on myspace, so I would have to transfer them all over to facebook - or not - I guess it really doesn't matter. I just like to have access to all my photos and that's a great way to always have them available!

Switching to word press from blogger is a bit different. I don't know that much about blog publishing to begin with and I had quite a tough time just taking off the .blogspot that I'm a bit hesitant to make such a leap. it seems like everyone I know who uses word press really enjoys it and the pages look better overall. If anyone out there has any suggestions one way or the other, that would be most helpful.

I'm gonna think about both for just a bit longer and see what I come up with, hopefully any blog changes won't be noticed outwardly...

No Smoking in the boys room – or anywhere else, if I had my way

2009-02-17T17:15:00.003-06:00

http://www.arcleanair.com/brochure.html
It’s state law in Arkansas that you cannot smoke in restaurants or other public indoor places and I’m totally OK with that. The law also states that you are not to smoke within 50 feet of an entrance to a building that is designated non-smoking, unless otherwise stated. I’m not sure about the laws and regulations for allowing smoke breaks in the work place so there is only so much I can say about the amount of time spent outside the entrance to our building at work with people puffing away less than 50 feet from my face.

I never got into smoking, I tried, I failed, it’s probably better that way. I know people that are social smokers and only smoke when they drink, I know people that smoke all the time – that’s fine, whatever your choice is. However, I choose to be around those people when they smoke and I know they are all very courteous in their smoking and everyone appreciates it!

Amendment/Addition thanks to Kirby at GGI (find her here: http://goodgalsinc.blogspot.com/)! She left a comment that reminded me I had not finished my entire thought process here!

When I lived in Dallas, everything was smoke free, even the bars! You could get a ticket for smoking in the bar - which I personally think is a phenomenal idea! It was always hard to come home and go out with friends, that was when smoking was still allowable anywhere in Arkansas. Now it's so weird to be out of state and be asked "smoking or non-smoking" at a restaurant! I can't imagine...

That is one of the reasons MZ and I tend to hibernate in the winter and not go out. It's fine to go out to the bar in the summer when all the doors are open and there's some sort of ventilation but when everything is shut up in the winter, it's no fun to come home and smell like lung cancer - I'm assuming the combination of heavy cigarette smoke, stale alcohol and crowds of people is what lung cancer smells like!

But I have to come to work, I guess I could walk the mile around the building to not enter through where the smokers smoke, but I don’t think I should have to. I’m also curious as to why at 8 am they are already taking a “smoke break” from work? Then again at 10, lunch time, 1 and 3... it's like clock work!

That also brings up the constant battle of do people who don't smoke get slighted because they don't have a need to take a smoke break? Seriously, I've have meetings be held up because people were finishing a cigarette!

Anyway you can clearly see how I feel about this. I don't care what you do with your body, but it does seem to bother me that you do it on what is considered to be my time.

New G Commercial

2009-02-16T10:00:00.002-06:00

We all know I’m a Coke girl – but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new G commercial (Gatorade - parent company Pepsi). I do enjoy Gatorade most, when it comes to sports drinks and you just can’t beat G2! We found that Sam’s Club had the lemon lime (fave) cases on sale this weekend for $6.16 – super steal, especially when the competition was $18.46 for a case!

They used sports stars and put them in the characters of Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail. It is toooo funny, and I’m very impressed by their marketing prowess here with this new ad. We saw it when we were watching SNL on the TiVo and actually rewound to watch the commercial and then watched it again! Genius! I sure hope that it get some airtime in primetime.
Here’s the extended version, and to learn more about the campaign and search for the holy G, please visit www.misisong.com.

Happy almost Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T13:34:00.001-06:00

25 + things...

2009-02-09T23:56:00.004-06:00

I hate this sort of thing for the most part – let me start by saying that much – everything in my life is random – I planned it that way! But it seems like this is the new “IT” thing to do on FaceBook (and I'm tired of getting "tagged") and AV put hers on her blog to go for double duty – smart cookie!
And in true over achieving form, I’ve listed more than 25 things – HA!

1. I have different groups of friends, and I actually don’t think they’ve ever met for the most part. I have my friends from the more educational side of college, the friends from the party side of college, my BenCo friends aka the baby mammas, the dry county girls or the Bible Study Buddies, my friends from football aka THSC girls, my friends from the Dallas years and then MZ’s group of friends that I have somewhat assimilated into and then a few random friends sprinkled throughout.

2. I have 2 belly buttons – or at least that was my super fun party trick when I was about 5… When I was born, my esophagus was not attached to my stomach and I have immediate emergency surgery and was then affixed to a feeding tube directly inserted into my stomach so the scar looks like another belly button and this is totally what I would tell people when I was little – also what my parents would tell people as they had no clue what to do with a baby – no seriously, my dad loves to tell the story of when I was about a week old and my mother awoke asking “what’s that sound” to which he replied – I believe it’s a baby – oh shit –it’s our baby – my mom asked well what do I do, make her stop crying –he said she should feed it…. And there began my constant struggle for attention.

3. I love to travel but HATE the security line. Flying is not the fear, I’m terrified of the security line I don’t know why, I’ve got nothing to hide but they aren’t always very nice and I need about 4 more arms to hold all my stuff I have to take with me…

4. I actually really liked working for Walmart in my 5 years there– there’s something about being able to say “I’m Walmart, that’s why.” I don’t regret that I’m not there anymore, but I did enjoy my time there.

5. Contrary to all my friends’ beliefs – I do want to get married and have kids some day, just not today, maybe tomorrow... Their kids are plenty and I love to be able to give them back. I will love my kids but I do not have to love random misbehaving evil children I see out and about – that’s their parents fault they act like that. If you have bad kids, don’t leave the house till you figure out what to do with them to make them act somewhat decently.

6. I’m a pack rat, but I’m getting better – really. I realized that some people are bigger pack rats than I could ever dream of being when I had a garage sell this past summer and made over $1000 – I got rid of so much stuff and I actually felt like a burden had been lifted. So I’m going to have another one in the spring. I tried to sell some of my clothes to resale shops recently but have realized I’d rather give them away than get screwed at some place that is just going to jack the prices up.

7. I love fresh flowers. I love to go to the farmers market and get fresh flowers and bring them home and just look at them –it instantly makes your house seem cleaner and a better place to be.

8. I love my blonde hair – that’s really no secret though. I honestly did have blonde hair till I was about 20 years old… then it turned brown – I probably have some grey now too, but I’ll never know and I plan to keep it that way. It never fails, whenever I meet people that I have had some type of phone/email business relationship with, most people are always quick to say: “You’re blonde?” as if to say, you seem smarter on the phone. It’s also normally followed with “and you’re a lot younger than I thought.” I take this a compliment – it’s always interesting what people think you look like – I do the same thing – but thanks to Google and FaceBook – it takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. I’ve gone a bit browner this time and might keep it for a couple of months, but you know as soon as summer gets closer – back to blonde in a snap!

9. It seems like I’ve gotten this question a lot lately– how did you and MZ meet? We met in a bar… it’s a great story actually, I’ll tell ya later!

10. I love to be in charge – again, nothing new there. Nevertheless, I really like to be in control of things, which I guess is actually different from being in charge (although I like that too). I just like to know what’s going on and what’s going to happen next. I also love to drive - no matter what. MZ is proably one of the few people that doesn't make me nervous if I'm in the passenger seat (which is most of the time). I totaled 3 cars in an 8 month period so I'm a big gun shy when it comes to car wrecks.

11. I love love love Dave Matthews Band and am sad that MZ does not – that’s one of the few things we don’t agree on. So I guess I’m actually really very lucky that we do agree on so much and have quite a bit in common. I had been to at least one DMB concert every year since I was 19 except for last summer.

Are you really reading this –there may be a quiz!

12. I love the smell of fresh cut grass and dirt; I also love the feeling of washing my hands when they are really dirty. I mean washing ones hands is good on all counts but really a good feeling when they are super dirty from working in the yard or something.

13. I’m obsessive about people’s birthdays. I love birthdays all the time and think they are very important to celebrate. I always make sure to call or text or email or send a card for your birthday if I know when it is. If I don’t know, then how can I celebrate it? I also LOVE to celebrate my birthday – some may call that selfish, but its one day a year that’s all mine so too bad. And I’m really super glad that MZ doesn’t mind all the celebrating for me, he’s a great sport about it!

14. I’m also equally excessive about thank you notes – a written thank you note means so much!!! I write thank you notes for everything – it might sometimes be too much and I hope it doesn’t weird anyone out, but I think it’s very important to write a brief note at least to say THANK YOU for something someone has done for you or given you, no matter how small.

15. I know nothing about wine except that I like super sweet wine – Moscato and Rieslings tend to work out well for me. I actually would rather just have a gin or vodka tonic anyway. But sometimes I do feel pretty inadequate when I don’t know what to order. MZ and I have gone to the Wine Tasting event at the Walton Arts Center for the past 2 years, but I don’t think I’ve learned too much except that I keep on drinking the same things…

16. Sex and the City is the answer to everything. You really can literally relate EVERYTHING IN LIFE to Sex and the City. We had a fabulous party to celebrate the movie and now that there’s going to be a sequel, I’m already starting to think of even more fabulous ideas for the next party in 2010!!! My very most favorite episode is from season 6, episode 9: A woman’s right to shoes (aka no shoes, no service). It’s the once where Carries shoes get stolen at the baby shower and she registers herself for new Manolo’s. “… and what, if I don’t get married or have a baby, I get bupkis?” I feel like that a lot of the time. I also like when Harry says “you know what we need to bring back in this house: cocktail hour."

17. I love to cook, but hate to clean up after myself. I'm a pretty darn good baker if I do say so myself, and I was making cupcakes before cupcakes were cool.

18. I have an odd obsession with stationary and pens and especially Sharpie Markers. MZ once bought me a whole slew of Sharpie Markers at Sam’s Club as a prize! I have more note cards and post it note pads than I could ever use, no matter how many thank you cards of nice little notes I write.

19. I’m very glad I started my blog, and yes, I’m going to promote it – duh, have you met me? So for more info, check out http://www.graciefabulous.com/. I started it when most all my friends were starting their blogs about their weddings and their kids, I started mine just because I had something to say, nothing against babies and husbands but that’s not what makes one’s life complete, only an added bonus.

20. I’m very judgmental about marketing campaigns: TV, digital, print - whatever. I would love to work on so many accounts, because yes, I honestly believe they would do better if I was on their team. Unfortunately, that is not the market that exists in Northwest Arkansas, and I don’t see myself moving away anytime soon.

21. I love old school country music – it reminds me of my childhood and going to my uncles and grandparents farm. It normally makes me sad whenever I hear it.

22. I would love to start my own party planning business, I have a ton of fabulous ideas and I do love to host a party! However, I feel the market is pretty saturated right now and people aren’t nessisarily looking to shell out money for someone else to plan their party. I love to have parties for my friends, wedding showers and baby showers and everything in between, clearly I would never charge them, but I’d love to expand and do it full time. And I already have a partner for cake baking and decorating! Someday...

23. Halloween is my most favorite holiday followed by St. Patrick’s Day and the 4th of July. I love creative costumes and creep decorations at parties!

24. I like to go to sleep with the TV on and now I’ve pushed this habit on to MZ – sorry baby.

25. I took French for almost 5 years and might be able to barely survive if thrown in the middle of France, but probably not. I should try and pick it back up and I should really probably learn Spanish…

26. I’ve had my writing published in national journals and a few pieces have actually won awards. Also, I was the youngest student (at the time) to attend the finals of the Arkansas Sate Geography Bee – can you say mega nerd?

27. I’m Catholic and I plan to raise my future children Catholic, but I don’t really like some of the newer things going on in the church right now. I went to mass every day of my life in grade school and there have been so many changes, it makes me think: What's the point, why make so many drastic changes, what was so wrong that you had to switch it up? That’s one of the reasons I don’t go to mass as much as I should – but I feel like I’m OK with my relationship with God.

28. I love NYC and Chicago much more than I think I could ever love LA. I like Santa Monica a ton, but will probably never make enough to actually enjoy living there. I think I could enjoy NYC or Chicago more, no matter how much I made.

29. I’m a severe coke addict – coca cola that is…

30. TV jewelry commercials make me gag – they are so sad and depressing. I hope anyone out there, male or female does not think that because it’s on TV the recipient of your piece of jewelry will like it – chances are they won’t. Any type of jewelry should be a statement or expression of sentiment, not mass-produced! Especially time marking pieces like engagement rings and wedding sets – they should be special and classic and mean something equally to both involved.

31. I could probably live out of my desk at work, but don't know it - I’m prepared for anything – really … anything! Try me.

32. I rip the pages out of magazines and organize them into groups. It’s better than saving the entire magazine… I have all types of pages saved into different segments. It’s just like having great big storyboards if you lay them all out. I also create shopping lists from them.

33. I collect all things Absolut (vodka) I used to have my dining room wall covered in them in very neat rows – it looked awesome – I was also in college so we were enamored by all things alcohol, but it’s stuck with me.

So, that might be more than you ever wanted to know about me.

Off to NYC and other ramblings from the 2 hours and 38 minute flight...

2009-02-09T14:08:00.002-06:00

Dear who ever makes (and abides to) the rule to take away my UNOPENED water bottle at the airport fully knowing that I’ll now have to go and repurchase the same damn thing at the pitiful excuse of a “restaurant” for more than 3 times the initial cost:
I am not fond of you!
I’ve been allowed to bring in unopened bottles of water before, hell, at LAX I got made fun of because I thought I had to toss my newly opened Coke bottle – apparently I could have taken that with me through security with no issue.
I understand there are rules, I do – that’s why I take painstakingly arduous efforts to make sure all my mini items of product are well labeled and fit EXACTLY in my specially purchased clear plastic zipper bag – I just can’t bring myself to use a Ziploc back each time – they rip and then I just have to throw them away. Therefore, I got a lovely heavy-duty bag at Sephora – aka the store that sucks you in worse than Walmart or Target.
Sincerely,
$3 poorer with less water

I’m off to NYC for the 3rd time in about 5 months – I do love NYC! This time I’m going up to help out with another media tour for one of the product lines. Robyn Flipse will be promoting some healthier recipes using some of the products that not too many people know about and we are hoping to create more of a buzz around. So if you live in any of these TV markets, look for her Tuesday morning on your local news: Lubbock, Savannah, Huntsville, Lincoln, Topeka, Cheyenne, Flint, Atlanta, Roanoke, Baltimore, Wichita, Alexandria, Phoenix, Albuquerque – or if you ever catch the nationally broadcasted Daily Buzz… you’ll find us there.

P.S. – Dear small toddler on the plane 3 rows in front of me: Thank you for not screaming the ENTIRE flight, 1/3 of it is just the right amount of blood curdling screaming.

Valentines Day Flowers --- it's a Saturday folks!

2009-02-09T14:06:00.004-06:00

We’ve been debating this topic at the office and among other social settings.
Will there be a strain on the business of Valentines Flower Deliveries since V-Day falls on a Saturday this year?
It makes sense that there might be – OR will there be a mad rush of last minute calls and rush orders to get the flowers in on Friday during the workday?
Just a topic to think about – so make sure you plan accordingly if you plan to order flowers.
If you live in the Central Arkansas Area, make sure to call Ari at Little Black Dress Brigade (see link at right) – Mandy and she will be creating spectacular arrangements and they are providing free local delivery with a $50 order. They do flowers for everything, not just Valentines Day so keep their info handy!

Leslee's Baby Shower & Saturday night

2009-02-09T14:06:00.001-06:00

Saturday night, a bunch of girls met at Noodles for a surprise baby shower for our friend Leslee. She thought she was just coming out to dinner since most of the girls husbands are in Vegas on their revenge trip they planned while we were living it up in NYC back in December.
She was so surprised – it was too cute. We all went together and got her a super cute diaper bag and the a few other items as well. I got her a pair of Heelarious Baby’s First Stiletto’s. I know, they are completely useless – babies can’t go to the bar… but they are freakin’ cute! They are basically like little infant shoes but have about a ½ inch heel on them. The ones I picked out were Zebra print since I heard that Leslee and Marty are doing an animal print theme for baby Shayne’s room. I can’t wait to meet her! As I’ve mentioned many times before – I love other people’s babies, for a few hours at least.
After dinner, a few of us girls went to the Wine Cellar for a drink or 5. Then we further split up and went our separate ways to meet up with other groups.
It was a fun evening and great to be able to share in Leslee’s glee of her baby shower. She is truly the sweetest, most gracious person I know and her little daughter will be just like her, I’m sure of it!

Saturday: Shopping, running and 1 non-sprinting dog

2009-02-09T14:04:00.000-06:00

I went shopping at the Promenade in Rogers on Saturday. It was gorgeous weather so the open-air mall was really nice –and not toooooo crowded. Lauren went with and we did some serious economy supporting. I’ve found it useful to keep lists of things I want to buy (thanks iPhone feature). So, I have a list for Sephora, the shoe store and other trendy items I may be looking for at a bargain steal, etc. This way I hope to avoid too much impulse buying. So on my Sephora list I had Makeup Forever Smoky mascara, which I came to love a few months ago when they had the trial package of about 10 mini mascaras. This is great item for a couple of reasons: you get to try out all types of mascara AND then you have travel appropriate sizes of your faves.
We headed to Sephora with the hopes of not being sucked in by a sales person with their pretty and shiny trickery of testers and samples! Well shit – I came out with way too much stuff – all of which I HAD TO HAVE AND WOULD OF COURSE CHANGE MY LIFE FOREVER! Or at least until I ran out and I went back to get my fix and they have discontinued the line but have something even better and more expensive so it must be good– I swear, Sephora is like what I imagine crack cocaine or heroin is like! Glad Sephora doesn’t leave track marks – although I’m sure they’d be happy to sell me some type of concealer for it!
I also scored some other fab finds at Francesca’s and Forever XXI. We also picked up baby shower presents for the upcoming evening. I also got some super cute clothes for baby Milo and not-baby Stella. I got Milo a rocker shirt and some overalls which are too cute and a good way to relate to Milo’s grandpa’s (MZ’s dad) caretaker Jack – he always wears overalls!!! Although I heard he wore shorts and t-shirt the other day. For Stella, I got a super cute and very preppy pink and green plaid skirt and sweater set. She will, of course, be adorable in it! Hey, that’s what pseudo-aunts are for!
After shopping and lunching at PF Chang’s – and knowing that I’d eat a big dinner I HAD to go for a run on Saturday afternoon. So Presley and I set out for our normal path – we’ve added an extra loop around the lake and have now taken to attempting to sprint what I claim to be the last quarter mile straight and flat stretch. Presley is NOT a sprinter. I literally have to drag my 60-pound dog down the street. She tries so hard, and then looks at me with disgust as if to say: I hate you mother – I prefer to remain fat.
We almost caused a woman to run off the road she was laughing at us so hard. I did determine it might be partially to blame on the nerd harness I make her wear (the dog, not the woman driving the car). Sunday, I hooked the leash to the front of the harness rather than the top so that it doesn’t make her legs drag… we are a hoot to watch run – I know… I can only hope that it either gives all onlooker s a good laugh or makes them realize that anyone can “run” or at least attempt it.

Hi, I met you a few years ago, would you like to go on a date with me?

2009-02-09T14:01:00.002-06:00

It’s been a stressful few weeks, especially for MZ. His parents still do not have power, they have been staying at his house, and no one can accurately tell them when they might get their power turned back on. Also, MZ was in Kansas City most of last week for the Sam’s Club year beginning meeting, so he has definitely had his hands full – and his house.
Friday night he called to ask me out on a date, it was so very sweet of him! We went to dinner and movie and had a great time! He was very proud of himself, as he should have been! It really is the little things in life that make people truly happy!
It was great to just get to sit and talk about the week since we hadn’t seen each other in what seemed like forever! We decided that date night was a fun thing and we should do it more often and that sitting in the house realizing that we don’t have any food and then going to dinner out of necessity did not a real date make. Another thing we established was that we are both way too old to go to the movie on a Friday night. WOW, I guess I was too sheltered as a teenager, as I SURE wasn’t allowed to go to the movies that late at night, not even when I could drive myself. There were some kids there that could not have been more than 12 years old…. And that made me feel super old!
Those darn, pesky kids….

But I was very happy to be out of the house by ourselves, it was a great treat. He’s been so patient with his parents being at his house and abiding to their routine, I’m so impressed. I know I’m a brat and can admit that I don’t always make things easy and sometimes I just give up. I realize it’s way too easy to take things for granted and just get mad and take my aggressions out on him, and for some reason he still puts up with me! =)

I hate you Punxatawney Phil

2009-02-03T00:02:00.003-06:00

Dear town of Punxatawney,
Yep, I said it, I've had it with your beloved rodent and his handlers with their top hats and tuxes? Really?
I can not, will not, handle 6 more weeks of winter. I want and need spring to be just around the corner.
Although I know either way, it's really the same thing but still, this BS about seeing the shadow or not - it's a sham I say.
I'll take a sunny, warm patio please!
Get it right next year.

Thanks,
gt

Dear town of Punxatawney,

Yep, I said it, I've had it with your beloved rodent and his handlers with their top hats and tuxes? Really?

I can not, will not, handle 6 more weeks of winter. I want and need spring to be just around the corner.

Although I know either way, it's really the same thing but still, this BS about seeing the shadow or not - it's a sham I say.

I'll take a sunny, warm patio please!

Get it right next year.

Thanks,

Timbbbbbbbbbbbberrrrrrrrrr.........

2009-02-02T23:12:00.007-06:00

Saturday I sadly watched as ALL the trees in the yard were cut down. It was absolutely WILD to watch. With all the destruction, there were tree "specialists" literally trolling the streets in their big trucks with chainsaws and ropes in the back ready to work, and for a very high cost for sure.

It had to be done though... some of the trees could not stay up in their precarious position and there was no way any person without super human tree scaling capabilities could get on top of them with out go-go gadget extensions!

These guys just hopped up in the trees and started cutting away. They were more careful with the ones that could be saved but the ones that had to come all the way down - they just chopped away. It almost looked like they were cutting the trees out from under them and jumping down till they got back on the ground.

Also on Saturday afternoon, I went with my mom to bring food to some of her students families. She teaches ESL (English as a second language) and knows that most of her children and their families are very poor. So we went to Walmart and got some milk and cereal and sandwich stuff and some fruit and canned vegetables and took it around to their neighborhoods. It was amazing to meet the kids and their families. Some of the kids had suggestions of who else might need some food and they offered to share what was being given to them with others and hopped in the car with us and led us to where they knew there were people in need. It was very humbling and amazing to see the compassion of these 6th and 7th graders even in their own time of their families need. Even though I still didn't have power back at my house, I instantly became very grateful for the wood burning stove and gas range and the ability to cook and heat up water if I wanted, and took away all the boredom that I had felt for the past few days...

The remainder of the day light hours were spent learning the true origin of the game pick up sticks, as that is what we did... for a very long time! The city will be picking up all the debris but first it has to be stacked up on the side of the road. Here's the fort I made... it's super tall, taller than me for sure and as wide as the entire property line. And this is JUST the from the front yard.

It seems as if most people have their power back, about 30,000 people in Northwest Arkansas still do not have power. MZ's parents are in that #. They are at his house, it works out well because he's in Kansas City for the Sam's Club Year Beginning Meeting for most of the week. I know they are very ready to get back in their house and their routine. I pretty much hit my thresh hold of powerlessness after day 4... I would be freaking out right now without power. I finally had to give up and take a shower over at Zack and Lauren's house. I had had enough with boiling water to wash my hair and then sitting in front of the fire place to dry out...

Super Bowl XLIII ~ 2009

2009-02-02T22:36:00.004-06:00

MZ and I went to one of the best Super Bowl Parties yesterday and it was one of the best Super Bowls I can remember as well.
Danielle and Randall had a couple of groups at their house, Tailgating folk and Work folk... Such a great crowd all around.
Nothing could beat the great food either - Randall is a superb cook, he made yummy grilled chicken, chicken wings, pork loin sandwiches with a super tasty oniony peachy something sauce and appropriately coined "heart attack" potatoes - they have cheese and bacon and all kinds of other artery clogging additives - YUMMMMMM! There were about 6 kinds of dips and chips, etc. AND AB made "Death by Chocolate" which brought all the goodness together! I didn't really care who won and didn't have any loyalty to either team so I wore my Bears shirt and my Cowboy boots with the rationale that neither Arizona nor Pittsburgh played the Bears, so of course the Bears would have won it all, and well I have to support the Cowboys, why not? There were some pretty passionate Steelers fans and then some pretty passionate fans who would have cheered for anyone but the Steelers, I can't say that anyone there REALLY REALLY wanted the Cardinals to win because they cheered for them all season long, they just wanted to see the Steelers get crushed. Oh well...

And really, everyone knows I really only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials! I was a bit underwhelmed this year. There were some good ones, but nothing I was super excited about. I did LOVE the Miller High Life 1 second ad and the Careerbuilder.com ad with the screaming woman and the Koala bear. Budweiser had some good ads as well, a fetching Clydesdale and then the circus pony one... the 3D ads were pretty cool too!

What was YOUR favorite ad?

All in all, no matter who won, after the week our community has had, it was so nice to all be together, warm and with electricity!
Thanks to R and D for hosting a great gathering!!!

Paint the Town Red '09

2009-02-02T22:21:00.004-06:00

Two weeks ago, MZ and I went to Paint the Town Red, a local fund raiser for the American Heart Association. It's a great fundraiser for a great cause and I personally like it because they have vowed to never move the event to Benton County! I will always go to anything that makes that type of promise to me!
Zack and Lauren joined us at Paint the Town Red as well...

One thing MZ and I have decided to this year is to go to more fund raiser events rather than just going to a bar, this is good for a few reasons:

We would spend just as much money going to a bar, so it might as well be going to a good cause - especially if they are "open bar."
I get to play dress up which is ALWAYS fun!!!!!!!!!!
Neither of us smell like lung cancer at the end of the night.
It's a good networking .... uh network.
Most of the local fundraisers also showcase local restaurants so we get to try all kinds of local food!

So, I'm planning out the rest of the year and trying to find some good fund raisers to attend!

Even more exciting, almost $120,000 was raised which is 30% more than last year. That's quite an accomplishment considering the state of our economy.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

2009-02-02T11:21:00.001-06:00

I never really gave a full recount of Christmas. It was a very nice holiday season this year. My mother was elated because my sister is finally home from Chile and so now, we can start celebrating holidays again. Secret yay for me since we didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving… MZ and I went to a few parties. I am sad that neither or our offices had work parties – those always make for a good story.
Here's a recount of some of the those more social events...
One party we went to has a tradition every year of playing Dirty Santa with Alcohol – where everyone brings an alcoholic gift and then we play the mean swapping game with all the libations. Last year we were supreme winners in that MZ got a bottle of Glinlivit and I got a rather expensive bottle of rum. We acquired the Glinlivit because the guy who brought it wasn’t quite told the full rules of the game and he thought he was more bringing it to drink and possibly share, not to be stolen mercifulessly from someone … but after our calculated rounds to make sure we were the big winners MZ still shared the bottle with everyone. I should say that last year we brought a bottle of Pucker and something else equally atrocious. Therefore, we totally came out ahead on that one. This year I would say we faired pretty well again. We came away with a bottle of Hypnotic and a bottle of some sort of whiskey. We came with some type of off brand Jaeger – yes, it was equally disgusting when shot alone; and I actually don’t remember what else we brought… oh well.
Our Jr. League New Member group had an ornament exchange Happy Hour one evening at Hog Haus. It was a great time and good to see everyone and relax since December was so busy. I really wish more people would have come, it was a great time!

Ice Storm '09

2009-01-30T15:17:00.004-06:00

Since there is NO ELECTRICITY… I’m updating my blog until my computer battery dies: via MS Word then can cut and paste when the power comes back which will hopefully be very soon, but I’m afraid it may be days.
Ice storms are bad. These are not like snow storms, no pretty white fluffy snow to play in – just ICE – everywhere. I have lost every single tree in my yard. And we’re not talking little new trees – these trees are at least 40 years old and they are gone. Its so sad.

Don't know why some of these are upside down.... but here's a just a snippet of destruction!

I lost power on Tuesday morning and still don't have, they don't know when it'll be back on either.

A couple of weather letters

2009-01-27T10:53:00.007-06:00

Dear weatherchannel.com and Weather Channel iPhone app:

Why are you so different?
In this case, opposites DO NOT attract - they irritate us all!
Yesterday as I was tracking the pending ice storm, I was getting totally conflicting reports. wc.com said that there was only a meager 4% chance of precipitation at 4 pm while the iPhone app for the weather channel stated a whopping 80% chance of precip - ice, sleet, freezing rain... basically threats of armageddon actually, yet the computer base forecast was light and airy...

Please get it right going forward, especially as we move into TORNADO season here in Northwest Arkansas!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear channels 5, 7, 8 & 9:
THANK YOU!!!
Of all my years here in NWA, this is one of the few times that you all agreed AND you were all right!
NWA was ready and prepared and you are definitely to thank for that!
Good Job!
Here's hoping to even more shared and complete info agreement going forward!!!

Fabulous Friday!

2009-01-23T16:19:00.003-06:00

Friday is always oh so fabulous but this on is especially fabulous because it's been one heck of a week!
So the goings on are...

there is apparently a dancing albino Scottish pony troupe in town... probably won't attend that but ya know... maybe some one will - if you do - please let me know how that one goes.
Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boy's will be making a 2nd appearance at George's Majestic Lounge Saturday night... and we will miss it for the 2nd time
Drumline is at the WAC
OZARK POETS AND WRITERS COLLECTIVE: Begins its 15th year featuring local, regional and national wordsmiths and providing an open mic for community writers. Readings are held at 7 p.m. the last Tuesday of every month at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville. Admission is free, but a hat is passed to support the artist and to defray expenses for the monthly event. The open mic is limited to four minutes for each performer. 443-2080 - this could be super fun!
The Hogs take on Auburn - dear goodness please let us win a game...

Those are a few of the things happening, for more info check here (Fayetteville Free Weekly) or here (Fayetteville Flyer).

Friday:Arsaga’s Crossover: Scott HarrisonBoom Boom Room: Elise Davis BandFroggy’s: Randy Crouch, 1 oz. Jig, Ringo Alcoa BandGeorge’s: Lucero, Cory Branan, Eoff Brothers, FOS Project,Goodfolk: WheatfieldGypsy: Joey Farr and the Fuggins Wheat Band, TastebudsSmoke & Barrel: Lucio’s Grown FolksSpeakeasy: DJ GregTangerine: DJ JuxTeatro Scarpino: Salsa/Swing DancingWalton Arts Center: Drumline

Saturday:Arsaga’s Crossover: The Philly JoesArsaga’s Gregg: Scotty WaltersBoom Boom Room: Bob Kramer IncidentFroggy’s: Black Water, Bombay BlackGeorge’s: Mixmaster MikeGypsy: Pope County Bootleggers and Deadman FlatsSmoke & Barrel: Matt Smith and GuestsSoul: JazzSpeakeasy: DJ GregTangerine: DJ JuxTeatro Scarpino: 70’s Dance Night

Sunday:Common Grounds: Nathan Hancock, DJ SoulFreeDickson Theater: Drag ShowGeorge’s: Ben Miller BandGoodfolk: Eliza GilkysonGypsy: The Bling Grenades, The Inner Party, Lethal Red, AugerPesto Cafe: Shannon WurstWalton Arts Center: Brian Regan

Bring your ID

2009-01-23T13:52:00.001-06:00

I take my ID everywhere I go – mainly because I always carry my purse – I just feel naked without it and all my crap. I don’t yet have an entourage so I just have to make sure I have a lot of shit to follow me around – that’s my rationale at least – HA! Laugh… I’m not that shallow… that was funny, please laugh.

My sister (23)and my mother (50)apparently don’t have the same feeling about their belongings… they never ever never bring their id’s or purses or debit cards or anything with them if they go out. They don’t feel the need, but I say, what if you’re in a horrible accident and you are not immediately recognizable – then potentially if you have your ID on you, it might be easier to contact your “next of kin” or something - assuming it survived the firey hot mess. I know it’s morbid sorta but these are the things I think about!
I guess it normally proves to be in their advantage because I can’t remember the last time either of them picked up the tab when they were out with me…. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm? Note to self – free beer may be better than being recognized after a fiery crash.

TOPIC CHECK (who hasn’t taken her drugs today) – so we went to dinner as a “family” a while back, my dad orders a bottle of wine for the table. The snarky little hippie waitress demands to see everyone’s ID – uh oh – this WILL NOT END WELL! Feisty mom retorts back with “really, no you don’t” waitstaff disliking father pops off that well he will just vouch for my sister – I immediately crawl under the table and enter the fetal position, but I left my ID on the table – I figured I’d need that wine super soon! Well the shithead waitress says that NO ONE drinks until she sees EACH ID – really? Power trip much? I have my ID – I’m legal – give me my f-ing drink! Crying sister feins alcoholism and is escorted back to the house to reclaim her ID (if she can find it…) and …………… it gets better! Hold on tight!

Scene: me, mom and our good buddy silencio sitting at a table in an Italian restaurant – yeah the song goes a bottle of red a bottle of white – what’s missing from the equation? My f-ing drink!
ME: “She’s gonna check your ID.”
Mother: “NO, she’s not!” emphatically and might I mention loud.
Waitress: “YES, I am” oh she shouted across the room… I can feel my teeth grinding down to my gums…I text my sister to ensure she also grabs my mothers purse…
Father and sister return with both ID’s – wine arrives, W checks “the ladies” ID’s – then GRAVE mistake, she does not even check for my dad’s ID – my mother gets up, dislodges his ID, chases W down and slaps it on the counter… CHECK THAT BITCH!

I started praying a novena that there might only be one bodily fluid in our food and not multiple….

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!!!

2009-01-23T08:09:00.002-06:00

I know, I know – I’ve been a very bad blogger this week! However, don’t feel sad, my blog is not the only thing I’ve totally ignored most of this week – I haven’t shaved my legs in longer, so there…

What a week it’s been! I can’t yet blog about the Inauguration of Barack Obama, for I’ve not even watched the Inauguration yet… yep, that’s how behind I am! I can say that I got an officially “signed” Barack Obama Sharpie® today at the BlogWell Conference in Chicago from the Sharpie® lady – who was super cool even before I knew she had free Sharpies.®

More to come on the BlogWell Conference in a separate post… but I tweeted about it so if you need instant grat – twitter search #BlogWell and you can read the entire days entries from all the participants – I will say that the internet reception in the venue was much less than desirable, especially since this was a conference dedicated to digital and social media.

On Wednesday, Robin Miller of the Food Network was on-sight to film some short video segments for some upcoming items. It was a great day, but very busy. Segment shoots are always very tedious and make for a super long day, or few days as they all roll into one. I should start by saying that instead of watching the Inauguration live, I was out shopping for items to create a “homey” looking kitchen and other items that would make a good quick change as well as pretty plate presentations without looking super dated in 6 months, because I hope to keep using these segments for a long time to come!!! Here's the before and after... it doesn't look all that exciting in still but the shots look great! Also, the flowers are from BLOOM in Bentonville - a fabulous local florist!

Tuesday evening I had a delicious meal at Shogun with a few of our agency team and my boss. No, the immense amounts of food and butter and rice and noodles at Shogun is so not on my diet plan, but I’d been running my ass off in the cold and super tall boots all day so whatev… I ran extra Tuesday night and Wednesday morning so I feel like I made up for it.

Back to the shoot – we had the Corporate Marketing team there – all 2 of us and 2 agency team members, along with Robin, a local makeup artist, camera crew and kitchen crew including a food stylist. The last thing we needed was more “directors” especially those that referred to themselves as such. Nevertheless, we managed, even literally with too many cooks in the kitchen to wrap 10 minutes ahead of time! And I yet again got to over use my favorite phrases “Quiet on the set” “ACTION” “CUT” I also had to revert to a few “Shut the hell up’s” too … We shot about 8 segments in total during the day. When we broke for lunch we had the joys of utilizing our in-house chef team, which did a fabulous job! It’s so nice to have our very own version of craft services just a few feet away at all time! By the time 5 o’clock rolled around I was beat – I don’t even really remember making it home and up there stairs but I woke up about 7 pm and feeling refreshed, went for a run.

We’ve got another Robin Miller video segment shoot coming up in a few weeks and I really hope it goes just as smoothly – she’s such a joy to work with! I’ll also be going to NYC with her in just a very few short weeks for a project!
Interesting little piece of trivia – she loves her some ghetto rap and hip-hop! I will totally be making a “mix tape” for the next shoot. I was not aware of her music taste so I wasn’t prepared – I do have to say that Pandora and Slacker came to the rescue – such great (& free) iPhone apps with unlimited access to all types of music any time of day!

Get out your Razors!

2009-01-19T12:24:00.000-06:00

This is a friendly reminder to all the lovely ladies out there to get out your razors (or wax or whatever else suits your fancy). For Monday, 1/19 is the LAST DAY OF BUSH!

Must give partial credit to AD for this, she sent me a reminder text a few weeks back.

On a more serious note:
I hope everyone plans to watch the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. It is an amazing time in all of our lives and I hope you are able to share it with those in your life!

Little Black Dress Brigade

2009-01-15T08:35:00.006-06:00

I thought I'd do a little promoting and PR today for my very good friend Ari and her business partner Mandy.
They live in Central Arkansas and have a great "full-service" boutique design company that specializes in floral arrangements and wedding planning as well as some super swank party creation and orchestration!
Their company is Little Black Dress Brigade, here is their latest newsletter as well. If you can't read it, just simply click on it and it will take you straight there!
I wrote about their talents in a previous post... LBDB did some beautiful things for JC's wedding in April.
They are very fun gals and great to work with so I've heard, although I've not worked directly on any events with them, I've had the pleasure of attending plenty. Please check out their site and subscribe to their e-newsletter!

This is a prelude to a new chapter on graciefabulous.com - I'm going to start FABULOUS FRIDAY's - showcasing all things I consider fabulous going on in the local/ semi-local area. Not to say that everything else on here isn't truly fabulous, but I want to be able to focus on some local businesses, events and happenings that are truly FABULOUS!

LA Commerical Shoot: swimming pools... movie stars...

2009-01-14T17:01:00.004-06:00

One of the fun parts of my job is that we make commercials – well I should say we work with lots of groups and pay lots of people lots of money to make commercials – but I totally say I MAKE COMMERCIALS… So in December (yes this is a backdated post), after about 2 months of planning and organizing and WAY TOO MANY meetings, we headed out to LA to shoot our commercial for a new/semi-new product launch!
As I’ve mentioned before, there is absolutely NO JOY in flying out of Northwest Arkansas – it is nice only because there are only about 5 gates so there’s no worry about gates changing or getting lost. However, EVERYONE who works for Walmart (or their thousands of vendors located here) JBHunt, or Tyson uses that one single airport.
So, me being terrified of security – not flying, just security lines, I got the airport super early! 6 am out of XNA to Dallas, then on to LA – all smooth flights, no breaches of security! We landed in LA where it was cold and rainy, hmmmmm just like what I left at home, albeit 20 degrees warmer but still cold for SoCal.
We were staying in Santa Monica at the uber swank Viceroy, where I had high hopes of seeing famousness… we checked in and then headed straight to the studio to meet the cast and crew and review the next couple of days. We had our meetings on the original set of the I Love Lucy Show, which was cool, except we saw absolutely NO STARS – bummer. We went through every step of the process and every frame of the commercial, which took a long time actually – for a: 30 commercial. After many hours at the studio, we headed back to the hotel in the fog and rain to get ready for dinner.
We went to a brand new spot in Venice – AK. A Swedish fusion restaurant. I know what you’re thinking – really? SWEDISH – don’t they pickle everything? I had the same reservations, I’ve been to Sweden, I’ve eaten the “cuisine” and of all places available on my first trip to LA = this probably would not have made my top 100 for sure. However, it was really quite tasty! We had about 20 people at dinner so we had chef treatment and the food and wine and wine and wine just kept coming!
The next day, we actually had quite a bit of down time. I had brought my running shoes with great aspirations to run on the beach, especially since I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean.
On a side note, MZ travels to LA quite a bit as his HQ is there. He’s always talked about how it sucks because you stay on central time, no matter what. Surely I thought, I could beat it! I’m invincible right? I totally figured that since I stayed up too and had a full day, my internal clock would adjust accordingly.
NOPE! 4 am (6 am CST) wide awake! So I watched TV until the sun came up, said HI to Robin and Diane on GMA, snapped some pictures of the sunrise over the ocean and headed out for my beautifully anticipated run. It was about 40 degrees out which was pretty warm for me, so I was peeling off layers of clothes as I passed SoCal locals running literally in their ski gear. I giggled and continued on my way to Venice Beach. It was so pretty on the water. I ran back to the hotel through the little neighborhoods and all the gorgeous beach houses. I made it back alive and emailed my boss who made fun of me to begin with for emailing her that I was leaving and where I was going – ya know, in case someone got me.
That afternoon, I met up with my team and we went to lunch at the famous Lobster on the Santa Monica Pier. I had a lobster BLT = fabulous! Then we met up with some more of the agency team and drove around for a bit of site seeing – we drove through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Then we headed to the shoot location to make sure everything was moving smoothly. It was crazy – the crew had completely taken apart someone’s house for this commercial – just a regular person – turned out their kitchen was for “rent” so to say for needs such as ours… We were only there for a couple of hours – not bad for a full day in LA! That night we went to dinner at Capo which was right across from our hotel – it was a wonderful steak place and we all had a super tasty dinner!
The next day was shoot day! We were up early (yes I even ran before) and headed to the location where craft services had already been for a few hours with the rest of the crew – it was great to have them all set up there fixing whatever anyone could want for breakfast – I had an egg white omelet, nothing better than an omelet made out of the back of a food truck! Shooting went ALL DAY LONG! And it was super cold – all the crew were wearing their ski gear all day, it was wild! Finally one of the guys on set lent me his jacket because one we were out of the sun, video village was down right frigid! We wrapped about 8 pm with about 30 cans of footage and lots of new catch phrases: Quiet on the Set! ACTION!!! And CUT IT! All of which were said with delirious glee for quite sometime after. That evening we just hung out in the Viceroy bar, again hoping to see some celebs, apparently they don’t come out in the cold – or they all head to Aspen or something because even on a Friday night – NO SIGHTINGS! I had a super early flight on Saturday – 2 flights (connect in Dallas) of which I did not have a confirmed seat on… fun times the Saturday before Christmas let me tell you. However, I made it home all in one piece with no worries and a few bottles of wine from SoCal.
The commercial should start airing soon, so I’ll be sure to post it for all to see – but YOU will see it on TV as it’ll be in every market. One spoiler though – Walt from ABC’s LOST is in MY commercial – although he would never tell me what the F is going on on that damn island… trust me, I tried to pry it out of him.

Welcome to the Gracies!

2009-01-14T12:52:00.003-06:00

I'm doing a lot of projects that revolve around Internet search terms so I thought I search myself - this is the coolest thing I found! The Gracie Awards - named for Gracie Allen... "Say Goodnight Gracie." I've attached the link below so you can find out more about it as well!

For 57 years, AWRT has served as the voice and resource for women in the electronic media. And for more than three decades, the Foundation of AWRT has been a leader in celebrating and honoring programming created for women, by women and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the industry. The Gracies strive to encourage the realistic and faceted portrayal of women in entertainment, commercials, news, features and other programs.

And here's what I would look like if I were an award... I think it needs a bit more sparkles, but it'll do! =)Other sites I found were:
www.graciefilms.com - producing the Simpson's - I always love when the Simpson's is over because I love the tag line for the Product Company!
www.goodnitegracie.com - a jazz and martini bar trio in Michigan... who knew??

Down a weight

2009-01-14T10:10:00.003-06:00

YAY! I'm very excited to write about this - I've lost as much weight as I work out with if that makes sense!

It also puts me into a new weight category - 1 .... blank.... 9 - I'm very glad to quit looking at the 1 blank 0 on the scale!!!

Water Update

2009-01-13T09:32:00.003-06:00

Again this morning, I have my full 2 liter jug thing of water filled to the brim ready to be consumed throughout the day. I noticed that everyone seemed to be congregating around the fridge, so I stuck my head out my pod fully expecting to see Jared Leto or someone because their commotion warranted some Jared Leto... nope - they were all staring at my jug of water with cucumbers and lemons in it. It's really not that strange looking. I'd take a picture of it but then they'd know it's mine and at this point I'm not ready to reveal that. They were all freaking out about who it belongs to... "who's is that?" "who has time to make that?" "what's in that?" "I bet its some super diet water..." seriously that went on for about 10 minutes - all with the fridge door wide open...

Well it's mine, ladies - I have time to make it because I get to work early and have all the ingredients prechopped in a bag and dump them in the jug and fill with water - not so much time consuming, definitely not as time consuming as standing there in a group gawking at it.

I'm wanting to find something super weird to put in the fridge tomorrow to keep the onlookers further entertained and intrigued - I will soon become the woman of mysterious fridge finds... stay tuned!

Baby Milo

2009-01-12T14:45:00.003-06:00

Here are pictures of MZ's new nephew - Milo Joseph.

Everyone is home now and healthy!

Welcome to the world, I can't wait to meet him in person - I love other peoples babies! =)

I've been robbed ... already ... at 8:26 in the am on a MONDAY!

2009-01-12T08:26:00.003-06:00

I am pissed!
This morning I made this cucumber water stuff that I read about last week on "le petite blog." I bought enough supplies for a weeks worth with the thought of slicing and dicing the ingredients before coming to work and mixing it up in a little container to keep in the fridge not 10 yards from my desk. I was very successful in actually dragging my fat ass out of bed this morning, running 2 miles, doing my weights and abs AND had time to shower (bonus for you!) and cut up my concoction - I even put my make up on at home rather than in the car ... and drum roll... I was AT WORK at 7:15.

So... I made my drink mix while my oatmeal was heating -I was super industrious this morning.
About 10 minutes ago I hear someone (whom I don't care for) say "who's cucumber crap is that" - it's a shared fridge - I have no problem with vegetable water occupying it -much better than the stinky sour kraut that was in there last week (not mine). Then I got up to get a refill on the oh so tasty***sarcasm*** water - HALF GONE!!! The lovely questioner from 10 minutes prior decided to help herself...
REALLY? REALLY? (thanks Seth and Amy for that sketch)

Today is a good day!

2009-01-09T10:04:00.007-06:00

Today is going to be a good day! We have all made it through the first full week of 2009, go ahead and pat yourself on the back and your neighbor and/or pet (whatever) too!

It's going to be 60 degrees here today in Northwest Arkansas, I have a cute outfit on today and I have managed to drop 4 pounds this week!

MZ is back home from LA and we have a super laid back weekend ahead of us. Hopefully he'll have exciting news coming soon!!!

My project I've been working on since August will OFFICIALLY LAUNCH on Saturday-ish! Wahoo!!!! Don't want to jinx it so I'll have to keep it a bit of a secret but it's exciting, for me atleast.

If you notice to the right - the link to Blogwell 2009 - I'll be there in a couple of weeks - for work, not my own personal blogging, but I hope to learn tons. Anyone else going? If so, let me know!

On Wednesday night, the stars aligned and Lynn and Lindsey were able to meet me for dinner. Despite them making fun of me because of my "jaw" issue, a good time was had by all.

Happy Friday to all, and to all a great weekend!

Don't drink the water...

2009-01-08T11:45:00.003-06:00

I got the cutest dress last night at Francesca's to wear to Heather's baby shower this weekend!!!

And speaking of baby showers - there was quite a lull among the group - most people remained pregnant-less for a few months. Well apparently every one's New Years Resolution was to have another kid... because this year, baby shower season is going to come close to rivaling last years!!!!!

MZ's sister had her baby boy on Sunday 1/4 so he is now Uncle MZ to little Milo Joseph!!!

That's all the baby news I have for now...

Lord, it IS hard to be humble...

2009-01-07T12:56:00.002-06:00

... when you're an Arkansas Razorback Fan!!!

I went to the Arkansas - Texas basketball game last night, what a great game!!!
We all know the Arkansas - Texas sports rivalry (see previous post here... from football season)

Quick, short post - sorry - but great video! hehehe!

All I wanted for Christmas...

2009-01-05T08:29:00.004-06:00

...was a Snuggie made out of a ShamWow...

...alas, all I got was a silly iPhone.

Just kidding - well no, I really got an iPhone - but it is far from silly! MZ definitely surprised me with this and I totally love it. I though it would be hard to end the love affair with Blackberry. HA! NO! Done and done.

I have had some issues getting ALL of my contacts over but other than that, I've adapted very well and am absolutely loving it. MZ is the best present giver ever!

So back to the Snuggie made out of a ShamWow - you have to admit, it would be kind of handy. And if you don't know what either of these are, then you clearly didn't watch any football over the past week because they advertised for these items endlessly! So much so, that now after anything that's said, it's always followed with "it's made in Germany, it has to be good." That's the catch phrase for the ShamWow. I'm not certain that there is a catch phrase for the Snuggie except that creepy family at the soccer game that all look like those Gregorian Monks off that CD from the early 90's. MZ also feels this is a dual purpose necessity for me, as I'm always cold and walk around with a blanket and let's just say I'm just a tad bit clumsy - for instance I spilled ketchup on the carpet the other day - straight from the bottle - no one still quite knows how it happened - very mysterious!!!

Welcome back to reality everyone. This is going to be my first full 5 day work week since well before Thanksgiving!!! Wish me luck!

Resolutions Schemzalutions

2009-01-02T10:30:00.004-06:00

This is the first thing I saw when I opened up my google reader today - I LOVE IT!!!! Not sure where "Sasha" got it but it's hilarious and unfortunately true for me.

So some of my New Years Resolutions are as follows, I'll probably think of more:

visit my Grandmother more, she lives in the same town and I only see her on holidays because some of my family can't get along - that is not my problem - I get along with them just fine and should not be influenced by their bickering.

drink less, I can't say that I've ever really had heart burn but after the 2 bottles of wine I put away on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I think I may have experienced it - not cool... so for that and other reason (one being MZ "teasing" me about being an alky) I'm going to drink less. My first step is that NO I do not need a glass of wine while getting ready to go out and henceforth drink more...

on the flip side I would like to somehow find a better appreciation for "real" wine... I love me some cheap sweet wine - such as Moscato. I would like to be better educated if nothing else - I hate being at dinner and not knowing what kind of wine to order and not just the rule of what goes with what, because I honestly think one should drink what they like not what is "etiquette appropriate" but I don't really even know what's out there and what means what....

Read more - at least read one book more than what I'm supposed to read for book club.
Become a better conversationalist - I'm just no good at asking questions of others - yes I know I'm a brat. But sometimes I really feel like people only ask "how are you" or "how was your weekend" because they feel like they should - most of the time they don't care and I hate just saying "good" just to provide an answer and then starts the back and forth - most of the time I really don't care to share or care to hear, so now you'll know if I ask you a question - I genuinely mean it, I do really want to know... hey it makes sense in my head.
Run more

So that's some of my resolutions - I think they are achievable.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T20:35:00.004-06:00

We had a few options for NYE this year, but we decided to keep it low key so we could actually enjoy our day off the next day - that is a SURE sign of "getting-old-ness."

We went to Ruths' Chris with a majority of the THSC and a few new faces and then went back to the Barnes' for a champagne toast. It was really quite nice not to worry about feeling like crap the next day or trying to remember what I said or if I made a complete ass of myself. And I was also super excited to wear my NYE dress and sparkly shoes- this is definitely only a dress that can be worn on NYE or if on the off chance I go to Vegas or a cruise in the near future... My mom kept calling it the "upgrade" dress because she thought it looked like the dress in the Beyonce commercial about upgrading something -I can never quite remember what that commercial is for but now I have the song in my head and probably so do you--- sorry about that.

We had a great time with friends and family and are looking forward to a fabulous 2009!!!

Here's to you (yes, that means you). =)

Merry e-Christmas!!!

2008-12-24T14:37:00.000-06:00

Sunny California my ass...

2008-12-19T12:48:00.001-06:00

Blogging from the set here... FREEZING my ass off.
Our little tent has so many portable heaters we are for sure a fire hazard!
However, I'm very glad we are not shooting in NYC with the blizzard coming.

It's a HEAT WAVE

2008-12-16T11:34:00.002-06:00

Yes, today the high is 27, so so much warmer than the high of 19 yesterday.
Sunday, it was 70 degrees in the afternoon, (I had the fire place turned on anyway though) then the wind started to blow about 6 pm and by 8 pm it was 24!!!!!!!!!!!! 24 degrees = craziness.

No worries though, I'm heading to sunny California for a commercial shoot for the rest of the week. Wahoo! (notice the non-use of woooo!) I'll be in Santa Monica till Saturday, then I come back to the Ark-tic fundra of Fayetteville.
But fun times do await - I get to cash in my birthday present and MZ and I are going to see SpamALot Saturday evening and probably to Theo's to eat. YUM!

I can not believe Christmas is a week away! It does not seem like it's time for Christmas yet at all. I did start making Christmas cards this past weekend - hopefully I'll get them mailed off in time so that they actually arrive PRIOR to Christmas. But, ya know, the Christmas season lasts until January 6th so ... maybe they'll be Epiphany cards instead. Hence the 12 days of Christmas.

woooooooooooo!

2008-12-16T11:20:00.002-06:00

OK so I laughed extremely hard when I saw this epidode of "How I Met Your Mother" but beware... and I've come to notice more and more how this is not always the best girl to be... still fun none the less but I think there may come a certain point in yours or my life that, well, WOOOO girlyness may need to be toned down a bit... just FYI.

What I DO NOT want for Christmas...

2008-12-16T11:05:00.002-06:00

But I do laugh everytime I see this...

MZ was this for Halloween last year, I was a gold digger...
LOOKING FOR PICTURE STILL...

All good things must come to an end...

2008-12-11T22:21:00.003-06:00

Since Saturday was our last night in the city, we thought it would be good to go out – because clearly we hadn’t done enough drinking! =) Jennifer wasn’t feeling too good so she opted to stay in and watch football and order Chinese take-out – that was really fun to do too!!! I’m glad we were all still there when it arrived!
The rest of us got dressed up to go dancing and what not… Our first stop was Nick’s apartment (Ari’s brother). And Nick’s roommate Ben. Nick was a wonderful host and had beer, wine and even a few snacks for us! It must run in the family – being an excellent host/ess that is…
We decided to have sushi that evening and made reservations at Sushi Samba in the Village. When we were leaving to go to dinner, IT WAS SNOWING!!!! It was so pretty and we were glad we got to see it snow and even more glad that it had stopped and was gone by the time we finished dinner. Dinner was great, we had an awesome corner booth and ate all kinds of sushi! They had a signature “drink tree” that has 12 mini wine glasses full of tasty libations! Yummy! 6 people 12 drinks $60 bucks – what a steal! We’ll take 2 please.
After dinner, most all appropriate pictures ceased, and we walked a few blocks to a bar called Fat Black Pussy Cat – hmmmm – well it was just fine and had alcohol, so what – who cares what it’s called. As we were all digging out our ID’s to go in, Brittany realized that she did not have her purse! Fortunately, Nick still had the # to Sushi Samba in his phone and he was able to track down the purse and they went back to get it. We had a few rounds of drinks and then went to some other bar that no one can remember the name of – but we ended up staying way late after hours and dancing dancing dancing!!!
You may be thinking – WOW these girls sure know how to have a good time, and you would be correct in that thought process. You may also be thinking – is this trip EVER going to end? Oh yes – we had a car picking us up at 5 am Sunday morning.
HOLD ON – dancing after hours you say? – how is that going to end up? Actually – all very well!!! We stayed up all night long – left the bar about 3:45 am caught a taxi home, packed in a fury no one could ever beat, showered off the bar funk AND had all of our bags (evenly weight distributed) down stairs along with our happy drunk faces and our hog shirts by 4:57! Just in time to say bye to the door man and hop in the limo.
I personally think that’s the way to go – no risk of over sleeping – you can sleep on the plane – that’s my motto – right after a nice refreshing cran-apple juice!!!

We made it to the airport in time and actually got on an earlier flight - yay, go us!

Now, if you are reading this and have not read the previous posts then you need to scroll down – there are too many stories prior not to miss – so scurry on down to the post that is titled Nerd Packing 101 and then work your way all the way back up – it’s worth it, I promise!

Tiffany and beyond!

2008-12-11T22:19:00.001-06:00

We didn’t have much of a plan for Saturday, we got and had breakfast in our spacious dining room and talked about some options. Catching a matinee was an option, shopping on 5th Ave was a must – going to Tiffany – a MUST MUST! So we got dressed and headed to 5th Ave!
We tried to go to FAO Schwarz but there was a line wrapped all the way around the building. We headed straight to Tiffany. We all split up to cover all 4 or 5 floors. After about 30 minutes Amanda caught up with us and said we MUST go to the 3 floor where the sterling silver was, so up we went – and we took the stairs – eek! We all headed toward the charms and Amanda suggested her and Ari take a picture by the grand staircase, so Brittany took out her camera, she actually started filming. Amanda pulled out a lovely Tiffany Blue bag out of her coat and handed it to Ari – you see, Ari’s husband had arranged to have a gift card waiting for her at the store so she could buy her own Christmas presents there instead of ordering online! It was so sweet and so wonderful that it’s on camera. As soon as I get the video, I will post it!
We walked some more down 5th and watched all the tourists – it’s amazing how crazy it was and how much people were spending, especially since we consider our country to be in a recession!
The other 4 girls had decided to go to a matinee showing of Mary Poppins. I wanted to try to catch up with MZ’s sister so we split up after a tasty pizza lunch off Broadway.
I walked down to Bryant Park and then back up 5th Ave all the way back to the apartment – that took about 3 hours. I got in so much people watching and so much walking that afternoon! It was fun to be by myself and just kinda get lost in all the crazy.
I even was mistaken for a local (I guess) a few times, people asked ME for directions, then I opened my mouth and they knew damn good and well that I was not from the city at all. Oh well – it was cool while it lasted.
I headed back to the apartment alone and talked with Todd (MZ’s brother in law) and we eventually came to the conclusion that this was not the trip to catch up since KZ is 8.75 months pregnant. With that being said, MZ is going to be an uncle and maybe we’ll get to go back to soon to see them and the new baby!!!

Quality Meats and Whiskey Park

2008-12-11T12:41:00.005-06:00

After the show as we were beaming from ear to ear we started to walk back to our apartment with the thought of stopping along the way and getting a quick bite to eat then moving on to, you guessed it, drinks.
We stopped and asked a door man for suggestions and he suggested Quality Meats on 58th Street between 5th and 6th – well that was funny – we were staying on 58th Street between 5th and 6th and we had seen some place (and of course made fun of) called Quality Meats full well knowing that just that phrase alone would make our husbands/boyfriends giggle with boyish oddness… and we thought it was a butcher shop. Boy were we wrong. It was so great. One of the best parts was our waitress – she knew everything and so we pretty much just let her order for us. So much for our quick bite – we all had filets and a huge assortment of sides AND we split 3 desserts among us.
On our way out, we stopped to talk to the managers and let them know how awesome our waitress was. Somehow it came up that we had yet to see any celebs and then it was revealed that our waitress Robin was actually a celeb in her own right – she played Simba’s mom in the Broadway production of The Lion King AND she played a lawyer in 2 episodes of Lipstick Jungle – which we all love!!! I couldn’t find her on IMDB but if she turns up, I’ll be sure to post it.

After our delish meal, we headed across the street to Whisky Park Bar – which was only a block away from our apartment and right across from Central Park. It was a very swank bar and we were lucky enough to get a great table by a window. They had a fabulous drink list – so we all got different drinks to pass around. Ari’s younger brother lives in NYC and he and his friend Geoff came out to meet us – we all had a great time reliving Wicked and our wonderful meal! This was probably my favorite night!!!!

WICKED was wicked awesome!

2008-12-11T11:57:00.005-06:00

Friday night we had tickets to Wicked – it was truly amazing! We had all been listening to the soundtrack that Brittany made for us and knew all the words to every song – POPULAR is the group fave – who’s surprised? But words (or soundtracks) can not even begin to explain how awesome the show was. It’s coming to Tulsa in July and I’m probably going to go again!!!

During “halftime” (bc everything should be referred to in football terms) Amanda and I got up to use the facilities. Well the Gershwin Theater was not equipped to handle that many women at one time and as you can imagine, there was a LONG line for the ladies room and NO line for the men. So we waited and waited – then as we were about to give up, a couple of girls our age and one older woman headed toward the men's room and started escorting all the guys OUT – so we did what any girl should do – headed toward the men's room! It was clean – no worries there. While we were actually inside in line a guy walked in to use the urinal, everyone turned around so as to have our backs to him. He just laughed and said “girls, I’ve been married for 17 years, this is the most excitement I’ve had in a long time and I can’t wait to tell my wife!” We all got a good giggle out of that one.
We made it back to our seats just in time for the second act!!!

You will have to go the ATM.

2008-12-11T08:59:00.000-06:00

After our stop at Rue 57 I went to Duane Reade to pick up some SF Red Bull and some other drink mixing accoutrement while everyone else headed to the apartment to start getting ready for the evening out. As I walked into the lobby and said hi to the door man, Amanda was coming off the elevator and didn’t look too happy. Well it seems as if the door to our fabulous apartment was stuck – as in the lock was broken. Not a good thing. The door man was little to no help what so ever except to tell us we were pretty much screwed since the super had already left for the weekend. He suggested we call a locksmith – o yes, because I have a 212 locksmith on speed dial on my phone. So he was kind enough to call one for us and tell him to hurry it up. So here we were all running around in towels and pj bottoms and tank tops with half applied make up and hair in rollers and towels and anything else you can think of and there’s some random man whom we believe to be a locksmith standing in the door way with tools spread out everywhere and baracading us in.
He “fixes” the lock and we tell him thank you very much, blah blah blah, just thinking that of course he’ll just charge it to the apartment owners or the building or something. NOPE! He says it’ll be a bit less than $500! We tell him we don’t have that and go round and round with him about taking a card or a check – no he must have cash. So we all dug into our “secret” stash of shopping money and paid the man. The best part was when, as we were all heartily discussing the situation and telling him we didn’t have that kind of cash, he just looked at Brittany who had her name monogrammed on her towel wrap and said uh…. Brittany, you will have to go to the ATM.
Door fixed – drama over…
Got dressed, left apartment, no deaths of the door man or the locksmith.

guccifendipradatagrolexyouwantigotisellcheapyouneed.

2008-12-10T16:38:00.004-06:00

Friday oh Friday morning how we hated you…
Our Big Plan for Friday was to hit the Today show and of course get on TV. Well that didn’t quite happen, but we were up and moving and out the door by 10 am.
We also moved homestead locations on Friday – we moved into a PHENOMINAL corporate apartment right of 5th Ave and Central Park – literally a block a way from both! OK, so now that you’ve had time to catch your breath and get over the envy you must feel I’ll get on with it –
We dropped off our bags in our uber spacious and swank apartment – 2 huge bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, dining room, full kitchen, gigantic living room and balcony! We just could not get over how awesome it was that we were able to snag this. Brittany totally wins best hook up of the year award since it was only because of her that we were able to get the apartment and for free!
After we dropped off our belongings we had a great breakfast at the café around the corner. It was the best fried egg sandwich I’d ever had. Then we set out toward Canal Street in China town where we shopped till we dropped! We didn’t take any pictures, no need to incriminate ourselves further. I will say that haggling on Canal Street was, for me at least, extremely addictive! I love a good bargain and I found plenty!
We did ride the subway (and lived to tell about it) back up to our apartment. That’s the thing about traveling with 5 girls, legally we couldn’t all fit in one cab, so it was double cab fair where ever we went.
Once we got back to MidTown we needed a snack. We went to a great French restaurant Rue 57 which was only a block away from our apartment. One of the best things about the place was the french fries – they were o so tasty and came in the neatest tin. We all reviewed our day and talked about how excited we were for the evening – for WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carmines! Texas and Trinidad... all from our center booth

2008-12-10T09:48:00.004-06:00

One of the things on “THE LIST” was to eat at Carmines – known for their family style service and fantastic food! Well we tried to get on the list, however the earliest we could get a table was Monday night… well that just wouldn't work! SO after all we had done in just one evening, we thought we’d just pop in to have A drink – simple math, science and physics and every other law tells you that 5 girls on vacay can not have just ONE drink… We got a great table upstairs and had a really funny waiter –Trinidad. He sure got a kick out a bunch of Southern girls. The upstairs floor manager was from Texas and also had a fond appreciation for us! Any time we would need something we would just yell for either of them and they’d be at our side, normally already with drinks in hand! They were fabulous! So drink after drink after shot after drink we stumbled back to our hotel and learned all about some green olive sandwiches from Brittany – fyi those consist of mayo and green olives on a hot dog bun and they must be washed down with a Dr. Pepper! Our plan for the next day was to hit the TODAY show and get on TV … but it was about 3 in the morning and we were going on no sleep in 24 hours…

Top of the Rock

2008-12-10T08:36:00.003-06:00

After our trip down to the tree we started the trek back to our hotel and were in need of something to warm us up (read more drinkies). One of the things I was told was a must was to go to the top of the Rainbow Room at the NBC Building and have a drink and enjoy the amazing view. SO since we were right there… that’s where we went – all the way to the top. However first we were told we’d have to wait in line –WHAT – we wait in line for no one, no thing, no how – and where was this line this elevator spoke of? HA! No waiting allowed – well except for like 5 minutes. Then we whisked to the top, checked our coats and ordered drinks. The bar area is beautiful and we actually presented the Rainbow Room a prize – most expensive drink we’ve had to pay for – ever. $27 a martini! (Note the part about us having to pay for them) Apparently the winner prior was the Wynn in Las Vegas, but I wasn’t there for that so not sure the exact context of that. No matter – we were on vacation! We had one drink, Brittany had an entire bowl full of nuts and we got some great pictures and headed back down the elevator! ... and on to our next adventure.

2008-12-09T22:53:00.003-06:00

so this'll be the last post for this evening ... I'll be back soon.

I leave you in the middle of our first night in NYC - Thursday night - much much much so much more to come!

This is my most favorite picture - I'm so glad Amanda took it for me!!!

Oh Christmas Tree!!!

2008-12-09T22:50:00.004-06:00

After dinner we headed which ever way Times Square is from where ever we were… yeah it made about that much sense to us as well but we made it to the tree by golly! The tree had been lit on Wednesday night, so thus we weren’t there for the actual lighting but we figured it was for the best as they got all the kinks out prior to OUR arrival! It was truly beautiful and we got yet another great group picture with the angels. We stopped a few times for some pictures along the great white way…

Drinks, stat... etc etc

2008-12-09T22:17:00.004-06:00

We asked our great door man at the Paramount for some suggestions for dinner and he suggested etcetera etcetera which was a few blocks away from our hotel in between Broadway and Hell’s Kitchen. So we called to get reservations and then just headed out to see what we could find. We found an Irish Pub right next to our restaurant so of course we went in – we needed a drink!
The pub was great and the drinks were STRONG! We also had some great seats in the front of the bar right by the window and the Christmas tree – can you say photo op boys and girls. I know I was really glad that all our waitresses were never at all bitchy about taking our pictures, then letting us see if it was good and the potentially retaking it – so thank you to all the nice waitresses that obliged our vanity!
We downed our drinks and headed to dinner – such tasty food and fortunately for us Ari has a good appreciation of wine – and could order like a PRO for us! Let’s just say this was only the beginning to eating and drinking very well for a few fabulous days, so it was a good thing we had all been running our asses off – no really … true story.

Here's your sign... and your hot dog!

2008-12-09T21:52:00.003-06:00

We had briefly talked about getting a town car or limo to pick us up from the airport. I mean really, who doesn’t like seeing their names on a sign held up by a fat little guy in a black suit and funny hat? I do!
We never made solid plans as a group, but Ari said she “knew a guy” which meant she had something up her sleeve. We rounded the corner to baggage claim and there he was – our very own fat little guy holding up our very own sign THSC Girls!!! What a great welcome to NYC!
We headed into the city in swank Cadillac Escalade style. Thursday night we were staying at the Paramount Hotel right off Broadway. We got the hotel and dropped off our belongings since the room wasn’t ready and we headed out in search of things to check off our lists – one being HOT DOGS!!! Yummy and even yummier because we were starving! We walked around for a bit after the hot dog, got our bearings and then headed back to the hotel to get out of our flying funk clothes.
Our hotel was great, a boutique hotel that as someone said had furniture reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland – the high back chair definitely brought that to life!

Cran-Apple Plane Ettiquette in the friendly skies of mid-America

2008-12-09T21:30:00.007-06:00

So Thursday morning we actually made it out the door only about 5 minutes late, which I consider a huge accomplishment! We got to the airport – check – bags checked – check everyone's back under 50 pounds – almost check … Amanda’s bag was 51 pounds but the nice woman at the counter let her slide “this time” and immediately a plan was made to redistribute boots and jeans for the trip home – just in case. No worries though, Brittany’s bag was only 37 pounds – she packed nothing apparently. Find a Starbucks inside security – check – board plane – check –
Finally find out the true meaning behind of the mystical cran-apple juice – check. WAIT what? Cran-apple is not it’s own fruit – I kid you not – and neither did our awesomely snarky flight attendant. He very graciously explained to the plane full of people bound for Chicago that cran-apple juice was a blend of cranberry juice and apple juice. He also told us he would be glad to get us whatever we wanted as long as he could do it from his seat as it was only an hour and half flight and he was not a morning person. Ari should have offered him some of her mocha espresso with more than humanly contrived amounts of espresso! That would have perked him right up.
Conincedentally, it's since been suggested that our signature drink going foward be cranberry juice with apple vodka - or the other way around... I think it works either way!!!Sitting next to me was an older woman in a fabulous velour sweat suit with some BIG HAIR – I mean BIG – especially for a 6 am flight. She was on her way to NYC as well to meet up with her girlfriends- she told me this was the 15th year in a row that they had all gone to NYC for shopping and fun with the girls. It was really cool how she told me all about it – I felt a bit bad for secretly making fun of her BIG hair.
Make it to Chicago – check. Get more espresso mocha truffle – quintuple check! Track everyone on Loop – check. Loop is this neat little application for your gps enabled cell phone so that you can track all your friends, also known as a husband tracker apparently. It was cool though because Brittany’s husband was actually in Chicago and because of Loop, we knew exactly where in the windy city he was. Cool tool, you should download it.
Finish off coffees and bits of McDonalds check – and as you can imagine – pee…. lots – check!
Board plane for NYC – check!!!!!!!!!

NYC here we come - after a stop in Little Rock

2008-12-09T21:01:00.004-06:00

On Wednesday night, after I FINALLY got off of work, I picked up Jennifer and we headed to meet up with Amanda and Brittany. Of course that was the afternoon I was scheduled to present to be in a presentation with a senior management audience and they just wanted to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. Normally never a bad problem to have, however I was very ready to be officially on VACATION!!!
We hit the road to head south to Little Rock to Ari’s house. We were super ready to fly out on Thursday morning even though it was super early – just meant we started vacation earlier in the day! We got to Ari’s in record time, even in the rain and promptly popped open a couple bottle of champagne to celebrate not only the start of our first annual THSC Girls trip but also to belatedly celebrate Ari’s birthday. It was great way to start our trip and a wonderful way to celebrate Ari’s birthday all at the same time.
We went to bed relatively early so that we could catch our super early flight!!!

So let the story begin….
I'll try to keep the events in some sort of chronlogical order, but I make no gurantees - as you'll see toward the end... time gets a bit lost!
Wahoo!

I made journals for all the girls to take with them. I thought it would be a good idea and everyone could use it for many different things such as making lists of things they wanted to accomplish or writing down memories or keeping track of all the excitement. And also so I wouldn't forget anything to post on the blog.
JC took it to a new level – she illustrated! It was great, she’s quite the artist! I had no idea she was so talented. I think we all learned a little bit more about everyone on this trip.

Nerd Packing 101: Packing for NYC

2008-12-09T20:58:00.001-06:00

I always pack way too much when I go anywhere – hell I probably take to much with me to work everyday in my purse. So with this trip I was determined not to over pack for a few reasons 1) I would have to haul it all around with me 2) If your bag is over 50 pounds they charge you an ass ton of money and most importantly, I wanted to have lots of room to bring back all of my pre-determined shopping extravaganza finds. So I employed a nerd packing spreadsheet outfit tracking CHART! As you can see, I planned out what I would wear – an average of 2 outfits per day and then I listed out all other necessities such as make up, accessories and hair fixin’ stuff.
It was extremely helpful in my packing adventure. I also suggest having a fashion show prior to packing or while packing – this way you know exactly how each piece can fit together and if you can wear things in different pairings. I happened upon AB’s house as she was packing and got a sneak peak at what she was bringing – a mini fashion show of sorts.

I'm back!

2008-12-07T16:08:00.005-06:00

We had the most amazing trip!

So much so that I've literally not slept in going on 30 some odd hours!

Here are some of group shots! Obviously so much more to come!

Off to NYC!!!

2008-12-03T13:38:00.002-06:00

Well, it's T - 4 hours until the THSC Girls® are on the road to being to the airport to fly through Chicago to get to NYC!
I'm very excited!

I made a very handy "nerd spreadsheet outfit tracking chart." It came in very handy while packing and was essential in preventing me from over packing and leaving plenty of room for SHOPPING!!!!!!!!

Sorry I will not be able to blog from the road - can't figure how to do it from the black berry - that's another reason why I kinda want an iphone or maybe just an ipod touch...

Anyways, if you are my Facebook buddy - check out the right side if you want to be... I'll be uploading pictures there as we go!

I'm super also excited because I made fun little crafties for all the girls too - but no pictures - don't to ruin the whole surprise. But I think everyone is too busy with last minute errands and packing to read blogs this afternoon.

Look for lots of fun updates and pictures next week. Also too, I hope we don't get hijacked by pirates - it could happen ya know!

Do you want some of what this is?

2008-12-01T23:04:00.001-06:00

That was the quote of the night - I'll have to upload pictures, but you can probably guess how the night ended...

A few of the things I am Thankful For

2008-11-29T14:06:00.003-06:00

1. The things my mother has somewhat unknowingly taught me-kindness and carin, going the extra step and doing the little things to make other people smile.
2. My father’s humor, wit, and sarcasm. That I always be his friend, not just his daughter
3.Presley – the smartest dog in the world and my best confidant – she can't talk back to me and never judges me, and she runs slow when she knows I'm tired and fast when we're almost to the end of the road.
4. Happy friends who always share their happy lives with me
5. My friends babies, who although precious and sweet, may very well be the best form of birth control available.
6. Wine and Vodka, although not mixed.
7. Chocolate!
8. My great groups of girlfriends that are so fabulous, lovely and classy and who care for me like family, who are comfortable enough to call me out when needed, cry with me when the drama gets too out of control and hold my hair if I puke.
9. All the friends I've made this past year with all the new happenings in my life.
10. My new job – that I was lucky enough and persistent enough to keep my head up this past summer when things weren't looking too good.
11. Razorback Tailgating and all it's glory!
12. MZ – he's a great boyfriend (of course) but he's a great ally and friend to me and wonderful support not only for me but also for his family and friends whenever they need him. AND he puts up with all my crazy!

addendum to the thankful list - I'm thankful that my parents are who they are and are still together after all these years. I know there are many of you out there who are also thankful for your parents the love they have for you and your own special relationship. So no matter your inspiration for thoughts and words of thanks - remember what it's really all about.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

2008-11-27T21:39:00.004-06:00

I sure hope everyone has had a wonderful Turkey Day!

I've had a great day aside from almost burning down MZ's parents house, but hey, ya know - is it really a holiday meal with out a little fire drama?

I also had a very enlightening conversation with my aunts, uncles and parents about tarantulas.Then when MZ and I had to leave said first make-shift family gathering to which we weren't technically even invited (and knew nothing about nor the fact that my aunts and uncles were even IN TOWN) so that we could make it to MZ's parents house on time -as we were actually invited and welcomed there - my aunt thought it should be her duty to tell my mother (and everyone else) why we had to leave and why their dinner was an hour late - even though my mother was sitting right there in the room...

AHHHHHHHHH, family for the holidays!

I'm becoming a hermit till Patio Drinkin' Season...

Don't forget to wave to Santa!

2008-11-26T11:16:00.003-06:00

Because everyone knows if you don't wave to Macy's Santa at the end of the parade, you won't get any presents!

I used to actually believe this! Just another instance of my mother brainwashing my sister and me as small children. But now I instinctively find myself watching all the Macy's Day parade and waving and making everyone watching it with me do the same.

SO make sure you WAVE at Santa!!!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Why I dislike personalized spell check or rather idiots all together…

2008-11-24T14:40:00.000-06:00

SOOOOO I’m emailing back and forth with this “sales rep” today at work. She’s been bugging me for about 3 weeks and I’ve been avoiding her as I don’t care to buy the crazy she’s selling. I know I need to go ahead and renew said wares but I’ve been waiting quietly and patiently for her to drop my rates down since I think I deserve that!
Anyway, clearly she’s trying to end out her quota for the month and apparently is leaving today until the end of the month. Well that’s not my problem, but she really wants my commitment today. At this point my hands are tied because too many people up the line that have to sign off on what I ask them to are also subsequently on vacay till 12/1.

So the issue lies in the fact that she’s been emailing me pretty much every hour on the hour and each time today she’s misspelled my name…
Thusfar today, I’ve been called:
· Tracie
· Cacie
· Laciy
· Tacy
No Gracies in the mix. She’s been emailing already so I know she knows my name… what is going on here! She’s not helping in her quest to meet her quota – let me assure you of that!

Happy Birthday Danielle!!!

2008-11-24T13:16:00.003-06:00

Ok, I'll have to update with words later but... here are just a few of the pictures from this weekend, most of the ones that can be shown in public! =)
Let me tell you, there was a lot of WOOOOing going on!
More to come, check back later.

... and no, those aren't strippers, they are real marines...total randomness!

Approachin' 1 YEAR

2008-11-20T22:32:00.006-06:00

So I'm coming up on 1 year of blogging... what should I do to celebrate? You can start at the beginning if you'd like from here.....

Should I do some sort of give-a-way? Any tips on how to conduct one?

Like Birthdays, I think Anniversaries of all types should be celebrated - they are important!

Also, all you out there with blackberries - can you post from them? I can't figure out how...I kinda want to be able to post a few things while I'm in NYC in a couple of weeks so it's not a HUGE list of posts when I get back. Any tips would be great.

Have a fabulous weekend!

A good problem to have... I guess: a theory on commercials

2008-11-20T22:17:00.003-06:00

When I went to Charlotte, I watched people in focus groups who watched a couple of animated options for some new commercials. They were very beginning stages of creative so they were basically flip books of cartoon characters. But even at that stage, they were so much better than those stupid commercials that remained cartoons - I hate those!!!
Anyway, it was a very interesting experiment in people watching which is one of my favorite past times. It was about an hour long session of moms watching the options then talking about them in full detail. I did learn alot about the ways "moms" think, but I also saw how the economy is really taking a toll on people - during breaks most all of them talked about how they could get into other focus groups and how they could do multiple studies a night to make a few extra bucks.
It came down a draw in the research - there was no clear winner and both came out with very positive reactions over all. You would think that would be super exciting, but really it just proved that we had two good commercials and neither was extremely strong. So today our team came to a decision all on our own. I must say I am VERY pleased with the choice but I feel like there may some "I told you so's" should this commercial not drive sales the way some people want - of course then, how would we know the other options would have been any stronger? That we will never know.
So look for a new commercial coming soon - unfortunately I will not be staring in it - if I were an option in the mom groups you know damn good and well there would be no question that I would win - DUH! =)

In this world of Tivo and DVR I know most people don't watch commercials. MZ is totally one of those who does not. However, I love commercials and often don't even fast forward through them.

What are some of YOUR favorite commercials? Past or Present and WHY?
When it's produced and cut I'll make sure and show it!!!

I'm soooo becoming a PIRATE... arghhhhhhhhh

2008-11-20T11:39:00.003-06:00

Somali pirates pocket at least $1.67 million! Hijackers have reportedly demanded a $25 million dollar ransom for the release of the oil tanker Sirius Star, anchored off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27820573/

Seriously! I do not understand how there are still real live pirates! The sad news here is that the $25 million ransom was rejected by the British Navy. Shiver me timbers! Maybe we should focus just a few of our military deblumes on stopping these scallywags from pillaging oil tankers and what not on the high seas!
If you want to translate anything into Pirate speak in preparing for your live swabbing the decks and jumping aboard unsuspecting ships go to this site: Pirate Speak!

Store Closing - Gift Card Buyer Beware

2008-11-20T09:15:00.003-06:00

Good morning! I'm up so super early so I though I would going to do a post about all the retail stores that are closing... and then I JUST got this email that ties all together.
So check out this list of stores closing around the country and beware if you buy gift cards to these places that may not be used before the stores themselves close.

Everyone knows I am very liberal when it comes to my political views but I definitely believe the retail sector of the world drives a majority of our economy. (Nothing new there really...) I have always worked in some sort of retail whether it's been actual sales or in marketing - my paycheck depends on YOU buying stuff I promote in some form. I do think our markets are extremely saturated and that consumers are getting confused more easily these days and so they just give up. I know I do that - just the other day I had a minor freak out in Walmart because there were 93 types of toothpaste and I can never remember which type I buy so I had to look at each one. It was disastrous.
Anyway, not just with items but also with the stores too, for instance we have 4 Gap stores here - we don't need that... promise. I don't think our local economy is the peril that the rest of the country is facing - after all, we are in the heart of Walmart world. That being said - I do like to shop at local stores and eat at local resturants and it's always sad when a locally owned establishment has to close up shop.

But back to the point, here is the list of stores closing nation wide.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards
around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be
honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after
Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though
the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them
from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankruptcy
Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be
cautious about.
Here’s the link http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp

· Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
· Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
· Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
· Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
· Cache will close all stores
· Talbots closing down specialty stores
· J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbot's)
· Pacific Sun wear (also owned by Talbot's)
· GAP closing 85 stores
· Footlocker closing 140 store s mo re to close after January
· Wickes Furniture closing down
· Levitz closing down remaining stores
· Bombay closing remaining stores
· Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
· Whitehall closing all stores
· Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
· Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
· Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
· Macys to close 9 stores after January
· Linens and Things closing all stores
· Movie Galley Closing all stores
· Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
· Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
· JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
· Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
· Wilson Leather closing down all stores
· Sharper Image closing down all stores
· K B Toys closing 356 stores
· Loews to close down some stores
· Dillard's to close some stores

It's Wednesday!

2008-11-19T13:01:00.003-06:00

Yeah, I just realized that... and I'm so glad for it too!

So in celebration here are some funny charts I found on GraphJam. It's amazing what google takes you to when looking for graphing tutorials.

Ironically, I pay Google LOTS OF MONEY to direct people to the digital media (job) I create and work on - apparently no one cares enough to actually lend a helping hand in the formulation of neat-o graphs!

Turkey Day Traditions

2008-11-18T22:43:00.002-06:00

I have a pretty odd family and we do some strange things often times but we do have some fun family traditions that I thought I would share...

Ever since I was very little, all the kids in the family got their own little pot of dressing. Mainly because some of the grand kids didn't like all the ingredients so Nana would always make each of ours individually. So now, my mom makes special pots for all of us since she has taken over cooking for the entire family. So even though we are all grown, we still get our very own pot of dressing. She also makes special dishes for each of us, for instance, she makes flake mashed potatoes for Aaron because that's what he likes. She makes spiced sweet potatoes for me. She makes two kinds of gravy because Zack doesn't like what the rest of us like. She makes 3 kinds of rolls to appease everyone and she always makes deviled eggs for my sister because for some reason that's what she likes. She also would always make about 5 different kind of pies so that everyone could have way too much dessert. However, Katie is in Chili this year so no deviled eggs - actually not much of anything... our family is all going separate ways and so I am kinda sad because lots of our traditions will not take place this year.

We normally always have our big Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday night. This is for many reasons, while my sister was in school most of her friends would go home for a long weekend but some would stay so my mom would host a ton of people for Thanksgiving Eve.
It became an event for my friends as well as they were all making their own family traditions here in NWA, they still enjoyed a big home cooked meal, especially since most of them couldn't cook - their husbands loved my mom because of that!
It was also handy for me because while I was working for the evil empire, I always had to go into the office on Black Friday to watch sales come in - really? Do lots of people buy private label food on the day after Thanksgiving? Yeah, I didn't think so...

Another tradition is to watch Letterman on Thanksgiving because Dave always has his mother on satellite and they play "guess the pie" - I know it's silly but it's fun.

What are some of your traditions for Thanksgiving?

Happy Birthday Kenny & less than 15 days til' NYC!!!

2008-11-18T09:35:00.004-06:00

Saturday night we went out to celebrate another year of Kenny. The evening consisted of lots of yummy sushi, a wine bar learning adventure and lots of “that’s what she said” jokes compliments of KC! It was also a fun filled game of figure out the supplier and can we stay here? You see – Kenny works for a certain CPG company that has rather strict rules about consumption of the competition. SOOOOO…. we either had to ask and risk having to leave the establishment OR just lie to him and tell him everything was OK. Lying tended to work out for the best!

As promised, here is the Kenny montage of pictures – had to steal some from Kodak Gallery collections. A great time was had by all. However, there was a Wii injury from the evening. I thought it would be a marvelous idea to play my new Dancing With the Stars Wii game when I got home at 1:30 in the morning – I cha cha cha’ed right into the coffee table, now I have an AWESOMELY gross yellow green bruise on my leg – it’s hot, let me tell you. No pictures of that though – sorry. No one wants to look at my gross leg.

Also, here’s 4/5’s of the THSC girls: me, Amanda, Brittany and Jennifer. In other news, only 15 days until the THSC Girls take on the Big Apple – look out NYC, you aren’t gonna know what hit you!

Charlotte bound

2008-11-13T00:12:00.005-06:00

I'm headed to Charlotte today for some focus groups! I get to be the gal behind the double sided mirror watching people watch my commercials and noting every single detail. Jealous?

Double sided mirrors are creepy! When I was in college, I worked at a tanning salon that shared a space with a movie rental place and there was an "adult room" that had a double sided mirror in it. You could see in said "adult" room from the managers office. When ever someone ventured in to look at various oddities, one of the movie store employees would have to go "supervise." Some of the stuff that was escorted out of the adult room, well you can only imagine - but hurry erase that from your mind because it's gross. There was also the occasional token wierdo wanna-be porn star couple that would ask if a) they could tan together and b) if they could watch their adult movies while tanning -- double ewwww and very bad for the eyes.

Anyway, so I'm headed to Charlotte which as we all know (or at least common, no child left behind geography tells us so) is EAST of Arkansas, yet I have to fly to Dallas first (WEST of Arkansas). There used to be a direct flight to Charlotte, but I guess someone finally realized that not too many people go straight to Charlotte from Walmart, JB Hunt and Tyson. Oh well. Can we have the direct to Vegas and Miami back please? So I'll wave at Presley when we fly back over.

I do hope to get some awesome people watching pictures in Dallas - always a good hub for that! I need to figure out how to update the blog from my blackberry? Anyone know how to do that?

Have a fun rest of your week!!!
FYI only 41 days until Christmas!
ps Happy Birthday to Kenny! Look for an awesome Kenny montage coming soon, if I can dig up the appropriate inappropriate picture, and I'm pretty sure I can!

Hurry - you can win from This gal!!!

2008-11-12T16:40:00.003-06:00

Wearing Mascara is one of the random blogs I read - she's HI-LARIOUS!

She just hit a milestone of 100 posts and is giving away some fun Sephora finds... check out her blog and you may just win a great prize!!!

Check it out HERE: Wearing Mascara 100th Post Giveaway

Just in case you missed it 12 hours ago...

2008-11-11T23:13:00.001-06:00

It's 11:11 again on 11/11 - rewish... and go!

It's 11:11 on 11/11

2008-11-11T11:12:00.001-06:00

I sure hope everyone made a BIG wish!!!
I know I did, well more like a few little ones, that I'm sure will all add up somewhere down the road!
Happy WISHING day!!!

I love Global Warming

2008-11-10T21:41:00.004-06:00

Ok, so that may be a bit harsh, overly dramatic and probably greatly offends my uber-hippie parents. But have you met me (or at least read my blog)! But seriously, I'm so over winter and it ain't even really winter yet for more than a month! GROSS! I hate the cold, I hate the rain.

MZ loves the cold - brrrrrrr - I only like to wear his over size jackets and sweat pants, which I know, I should quit doing, but they are so comfy! I do like being able to have a great excuse to cuddle up on the couch and watch movies because it's too cold to venture out, but eventually, we will both go stir crazy. So I'm slowly, VERY slowly getting better about it, but not too fast mind you.

There really is nothing that is good about this weather! It hurts my skin, it dries out my contacts, my dog even hates it! It adds to the fact that I'm going to potentially gain back the weight I have lost because I come home and immediately put on fuzzy sweat pants which of course have elastic waist bands - if you're trying to lose weight - get rid of all elastic waist bands NOW, they help you not, it's a false sense of hope - no one ever says "yeah, but I can totally still fit into my sweatpants I wore in college on Sundays when I was trying to find the remains of my liver swimming in the Vodka bottle and inhale as much taco bell as possible" - Have you gotten rid of your sweats yet? I'm also pretty sure it contributes to my future in skin cancer. I get so cold and miserable, that at lunch sometimes I go and nap in the tanning bed - best 20 minutes of the day for sure!

I'll let winter hang out during the Christmas season - it's nice for about 2 weeks, cozy and what not and then it should be back to Patio Weather! The cooler weather is nice for the occasional tailgate and football game - but home football games are over here in Arkansas so there goes that theory!

But until this happens - winter can kiss my toasty tanning bed ass!

House Warming to Waffle House... and everything in between!!!

2008-11-10T21:10:00.004-06:00

It was a crazy busy weekend!
Saturday morning I woke up and went for a brisk run with Presley. When I got back home I attempted make Hog game watching plans, which at this point in the season is more like beer drinking plans, as the Hogs aren't going to win... we've accepted that, it's a "rebuilding" year.
Anyway, before the game I was going to head up to Benton county to check out some sales with Michelle. On the way, I got flat tire! BOOOOOO! So there I was, in my cute little game watching outfit, consisting of my new tall brown boots that I actually wore over my jeans and my little hog t-shirt and my tight jeans - NOT at all the proper attire to be standing on the side of the interstate to change a tire! But no one, I repeat NO ONE stopped to help me - I'm pretty sure I do not look like an axe murderer, but I guess I'm wrong. So, by golly, I just got out and changed the tire my damn self! I really did it - I was very proud of my self. I rewarded said victory with a mini shopping spree at the Promenade - YAY me!

I finally made it back to Fayetteville about the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the game - I met up with Allison and Ryan and lots of Ryan's friends - that neither Allison nor I knew. Allison was decked out in her Auburn Orange and we just sat and chatted about everything while the game went on without us - and by us I mean not only us two ladies, but without the Hogs as well - we suck. We suck so much that the announcer didn't even realize that Nathan Dick was in the game to replace Casey Dick - yes, don't even get me started on the fact that we have the brothers' quarterback. much like the brothers' Grimm, the Dick boys might be better at writing fairy tales than playing football. There was an almost brawl on the field - that was fun - we got to yell at Steve Spurrier though the magic of tivo over and over again.

After too many Bush Lights - hey now, they were free - with all the tire drama I didn't make it to the beer store to buy more appropriate beverages. Thanks for the beer Ryan - I owe you! I went home to take a much needed nap.

That evening, KC and Joe (aka Johnny and June from Halloween) had a house warming party for their new home! I LOVE their house, it's just fabulous. It's in the historic park area and they are both so talented and have superb taste in decorating! I couldn't stay long though, Staci and I had a 30th birthday party to attend! That one got a post all to herself... see below! So we headed north to Benton county for my second time in one day!

Staci and I came back to Fayetteville to do our own celebrating on Dickson Street - so we headed out in below freezing weather in our cocktail dresses, too tall shoes and fake eyelashes because at that point in the binge drinking that seemed TOTALLY appropriate! It was a blast - or so I was told. It apparently was so good, that we ended up at Waffle House! I can not even recall the last time I was at WH - it's been over a year I'm quite sure.

Like I said, it was a super crazy busy weekend, but it was all a lot of fun - however, only fun I can inflict upon myself and my liver maybe once a quarter...

Happy Birthday Cheryl

2008-11-10T20:10:00.005-06:00

This past weekend, we celebrated Cheryl's 30th birthday! It was great party and of course Cheryl looked FABULOUS! This is one of the few parties where this group has been together where no one was pregnant, pretty much everyone farmed their children out for the entire night and since the party was at a hotel bar, you can only imagine how that worked out = lots of crazy drunk parents!

I've known Cheryl for about 8 years. We met when she moved to Fayetteville from Dallas and worked at Bath and Body Works with me. She and I actually didn't get along at first... but we both got over that! =) She was part of our super fun group of girls that went out too much and had WAY too much fun. She was one of the few that were supportive of me when I up and moved to Dallas. Now she is a an awesome mother of two perfect little girls and also has a wondeful marriage - one most everyone should try to aspire to have! She has led our girls Bible study group for many years and has really been a solid bond within our group of friends! I am always amazed at her energy and her spirit and her fabulous style!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, CHERYL!!!

I must also share with you my shoes I wore just for Cheryl - I knew she would totally appreciate them!!!! You'll have to imagine them with a black and silver accented flower rather than the all white and black straps. Actually, there were quite a few picture taken just of my shoes, but they have yet to surface.

Office Ettiquette: Bitch of the Day

2008-11-10T17:25:00.001-06:00

So I’m pretty short – it must have been the milk man because everyone else in my family is 5’10” or above – me – I lie about being 5’4” on my drivers license. Therefore, I almost ALWAYS can be found in heels. I also walk pretty fast, so you can imagine I click click click down the hallway. It’s ok, I always say “well, you may not see me coming but you sure can hear me!” I love to say this in my most Southern Sweet drawl whenever I get glared at by passersby.

Anyway, with this in mind, I was walking toward a meeting, making my way through the corridors and there were two women walking side by side in front of me. Very sl_o_o_o_wly...We have a weird complex – its 3 “towers” that were all built in totally different decades by way different designers and they are connected by very weird hallways, some wide some narrow… which makes people think they can walk side by side by side down the hallways!
SO back to the point, I really wish people would be more considerate of those behind them, there is no need to walk through the halls aimlessly and chic chat - you should have some place to go, and if you don't get out the way, becasue I do!
Don't you know who I think I am?

Thursday Night what-nots...

2008-11-06T23:05:00.005-06:00

Rick Astley won some sort of what not award at the MTV Europe award! ROCK!!!

And in other news - I've have a SHITTY SHIT-tAy week! So, my new good buddy Allison pulled me (all but physically) out of the house and we all went to Theo's for drinks and other whatnots including playing fashion police!

Here are the quotes of the night, both from Allison soon to be Mrs. De'Jay!

"There is now a small country that is out of bleach." RE: a VERY blonde gal- too much blonde even for me - and, well, that's hard to do! HA!

"There's so much crotch showing in this bar, honey, no one's even noticed your bow!" RE: said shirt dress/shirt-without-tights gal who asked if her bow was tied straight - NO ONE CARES! No one noticed - except me... I'll take one eating disorder please...
DOUBLE HA!!

I really wish I would have thought of those! Genius I tell you, genius!

My only quote of the night, all I could muster was - damn it! there's beef on my Mexican pizza - and if you defer back to a very first post of mine - I do LOVE my Mexican pizza with no meat (cow, moo - whatever works for the drive thru operator) NOR red sauce from Taco Hell. If you need a refresher on that, check out the link to a very first post of mine - just click on the hyper link thingy!
It was a good night... I'm very glad Allison took me out!
And alas - I have an 8:30 (yes in the morning) presentation with some uber important people - I hereby call it a night early... BOO!
Happy Friday to all!!!

Could it be!!!!!! MORE SEX AND THE CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-06T15:51:00.003-06:00

Could I BE any more excited! and if for some reason you are in disbelief of this statement ... click here (it's a brief synopsis of literally how far I went for the first movie this May)

More ‘Sex’ on the way, Cattrall says
LONDON - Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte will return in a sequel to the hit big screen version of “Sex and The City,” according to Kim Cattrall.
During an interview on Britain’s “The Paul O’Grady Show,” the actress told guest host, and frequent Access Hollywood correspondent, Mel B, “We will do the sequel next summer,” the BBC reported.
Cattrall noted that it has been “difficult getting everybody who’s so incredibly busy all together at the same time.”
Regardless of their busy schedules, Cattrall said she and her co-stars are excited to visit the famed characters again.
“We wanted to the first time, and now we’re hopefully doing it again for the second time,” she said.
Cattrall also squashed any rumors of any “Sex” strife on the set, saying, she “loved those women.”
Sarah Jessica Parker told Access’ Billy Bush back in April that doing another movie was up to the “Sex” addicts.
“We’ll see,” Parker said. “We are back because of the good graces of the audience. They really are the determining factor.”
Parker and Cattrall aren’t the only ones excited about the reported return of NYC’s hottest ladies — HBO, the network which first aired the series, wants to see it on the big screen too.
During the network’s annual TCA Press Tour in July, top HBO execs said there is “enormous interest” by all studios behind the hit movie to make a sequel.
“They’re trying with our help to put that together now,” HBO’s programming group and West Coast operations president, Michael Lombardo told reporters. “When that happens, how long between, can’t say. But there’s absolutely interest.”
And an older, wiser and married Carrie Bradshaw won’t be the only thing “Sex” fans can toast their cosmos to — well, at least their virgin-cosmos to!
“Sex” author Candace Bushnell told Access in September that she has signed a deal “to write two young adult books about Carrie Bradshaw’s teenage years.”
And who would Bushnell like to see step into the role made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker if her new “Sex” prequel book was to be adapted for TV or film?
“I don’t know … Miley Cyrus!” Bushell said.