Under a Blue Moon

Good gosh, almighty – do I have any readers left out there?  I’ve been so missing in action lately.  Work is at a crescendo at the moment.  Just got back from Colorado Springs where the airport personnel know my goats’ names and that I like mild pico de gallo on my chicken tacos – I’m there so freaking much lately.

It’s also been mentioned, by family members and friends alike, that I only call them when I am sitting in an airport bar, waiting for my connecting flight.  Let it be known that I am there because I can generally find a table next to an electrical outlet in order to plug in my laptop and maybe for a glass of pre-flight chardonnay.  Or two.

Sara says it way better than I can articulate at the moment (this is what happens after a 14 hour work day – you lose the ability to be coherent in thought or voice).

Sara has a lovely, lifelong friend, Becca; who has a lovely mother, Cheryl – and Sara likes to visit them in Eugene a couple times a year.  Each time when she comes back she is brimming with tales of fabulous tea shops, antique stores and home decor shops.  She casually mentioned that she was going in early October, which happened to coincide with the completion time of this big ol’ work project I’m on so I invited myself along.  Didn’t really give her an option.  I’m going to be a fixture in her Austin Mini-Coooper on Thursday morning, like it or not (she was actually very gracious about letting me come – could have been the crazed look in my eye….)

Would you just look at all Sara has planned for us.  Seriously.  Giddy.

I promise many posts and pictures.  I love the Pacific NorthWest.  If I didn’t live in California I would move to Oregon or Washington.  I was smitten with Washington when I went there earlier in the year and could very easily see myself living there if I could only convince the other 25 members of my family to move with me.

Edited to add – the picture above I got from the internet ages ago so I have no idea who to credit it to.  It’s not mine.  But I travel there all the time in my imagination.

This is one of my favorite paintings. I bought a large print of it back in the 90’s and both my Aunt and one of my sisters liked it so much they bought it too.  It is a decorating/lifestyle ideal to me.  I want to have leisurely mornings sipping tea and reading the paper in my sunny breakfast room.

I am heading back to Colorado Springs next week – I’m going to have to start paying property taxes pretty soon, I’m there so often.  But!  After that things should calm down quite a bit.  In fact the week after I get back from Colorado my niece and I are taking a long weekend and we’re going to do some visiting and shopping in Eugene, OR.  I can hardly wait. 

Then I am going to have two weeks of leisurely mornings – two whole weeks off of work where my days will be my own.  Doesn’t that sound heavenly?  It sure does to me.

I have a funny/great customer service story.  I ordered a couple of Rebekah Del Rio cds from CB Baby and I got this email when it shipped:

Dear Andrea,

Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. 

A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packaging specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, September 19th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby.  We sure did.  Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year."  We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sigh…

–Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little store with the best new independent music
http://cdbaby.com

Isn’t that the best shipping notice you’ve ever read?

This is so not a fashion blog.  Anyone that knows me would just laugh out loud at the very notion.  My idea of high fashion is a plain white t-shirt and a pair of comfy velour yoga pants. 

However these shoes are singing their siren song to  me – I lust over these shoes.  Me!  Not a shoe person.  I buy a brand spanking new pair of Keds each May and call it a year.  Shoe shopping done.  I wear flip-flops ten months out of the year (and honestly, I couldn’t stomach spending that much on a pair of shoes).

It doesn’t mean I don’t wish I was more fashionable.  I don’t have a very fashionable body type though.  I’m a little too late for that – I’m more the Rubenesque era (which is LONG over due for a comeback, if you ask me).   I’m lucky in that I’m a good height (5’7" – not too short, not too tall) and I have long legs.  I also have a bustline like a chicken.  Not so good for fashion.

I had a dream last night that I was late for school (standard issue anxiety dream – late for class – when you haven’t actually BEEN in class for, oh, 20 years or so).  I was in the bathroom, trying to get ready when I really noticed my reflection and I had hair exactly like Amy Winehouse (if you don’t know who she is Google her – she has a bee-hive hairdo).  However I also had a very lithe, slender figure like Amy so I was able to overlook the hair disaster and my impending mid-term which I had not studied for.

Long-time readers of my blog remember that disastrous day at the doctor’s office – well since then I’ve lost 12 lbs.  Not bad.  Not great.  Not the amount I need to lose.  I need to lose five more pounds.  Nine times. 

My sister Trish** works at a local hospital.  She joined a group of people at work that each ponied up $50 for a 12 -week diet program.  I’m not entirely sure of the details – it sounded like each person would come up with their own diet plan and the end of the 12 weeks whomever had lost the largest percent of weight would win the pot.  Twenty people signed up so the ‘loser’ will get $1000.  Not bad.  There will be one person that will be in charge of confidential weigh-ins and a photo will be taken at the beginning and end.  Trish has decided that she is going on the South Beach diet.  I thought it was a splendid idea and was all set to start with her today – as a show of solidarity – only I forgot when I woke up and ate two pieces of buttered toast, a piece of See’s candy and, whatthehell, a KrispyKreme donut – all by 11:00am.  I’m not sure, but I am pretty certain that KrispyKreme donuts are not part of the South Beach diet induction period. 

Tomorrow is another day.

And what the heck – shoes ALWAYS fit.

**Edited to add – this is the same sister that back in our early 20’s we came up with a grand, dieting plan.  We decided that instead of swilling down countless calories in beer on the weekend we would make *one* decandently rich cocktail of Kahlua and cream and slowly sip it the entire evening.  Figuring that due to the richness we could make that one drink last the entire evening – thus saving calories.   The morning after we launched this grand scheme we woke up to one empty Kahlua bottle, two missing quarts of cream and little sticky rings around our mouths (not to mention screaming headaches).   I don’t think the Mayo clinic is going to be hitting us up for our thoughts on dieting any time soon.

This is going to be the most random post ever.  Just a few things I wanted to share that are making me happy at the moment.  Little bits of joy.

The card above is by an Australian artist named Christopher VIne.  I love cards.  I have a drawerful at the ready in case I need to send off a note to someone or attach one to a gift.  I was in Papyrus a couple of months ago and every card that caught my eye was by this artist.  It reminds me a bit of my niece and nephew’s wedding invitations.

It’s actually cool, crisp and breezy here today and I have all the windows open to catch the breezes and freshen up the house.  I also have my Henri Bendel Lemon Verbena candle burning.  It’s one of the richer lemon verbena scented candles I’ve tried and it smells heavenly.  Not quite a Fall scent but lovely nonetheless. 

This next item is something that I want to buy for every person I know.  I have the driest skin and no matter how much I lotion up my skin is still kind of ashy and dry looking.  Then I heard about a Japanese washcloth that a friend has been using and her skin is so soft and smooth.

Ha!  You didn’t think I was actually going to put a picture of me in the shower did you?  You can order the Salux Japanese Washcloth from Amazon but honestly  – if you have a Japanese or Korean market nearby you can almost always find them there for about $2.50.  Since I’ve been using this my skin is so much softer and absorbs lotion better. 

And finally – since I tend to get the chappest lips and I have a bit of a lip balm addiction (I have them in my purse, in my car, by my bed, at my desk….) – this is my newest favorite.  When all my standbys weren’t working for me I bought this and in a day my chapped lips were gone (well my lips were still there – just not chapped any more).

I bought it at Longs but I’ve seen this brand all over the place. 

Okay that’s enough consumerism from me.  Other than the candle everything can be had for under $5.