The Book - It Came

Fashion Designer Survival Guide. It's here, inside my apartment. I've got to admit, I'm a little apprehensive about it. There's the girl on the cover, drawings spread before her, rolls of fabric laying behind her, a form standing in the back, an ancient sewing machine in the corner, her fist to her chin, deep in thought and a piggy bank emptied beside her.

Yup. That's what my room looks like. I hope this book is very helpful. The chapters include "The Money: How Much Do You Need?" "Product Development: Know Your Customer" "Fabric and Materials: The Sources" and "Once You Order," "Sales: The Appointment" "Marketing and Branding: Be Your Brand" "Copyrights and Knock-Offs: Fashion Design and the Copyright Laws."

I want to eat these up, but the first words I read are "The fashion business is an exceedingly difficult one," on page 179 (I'm a Gemini, so I skip to the end, and to the bottom line). That is one thing I do know. I also know, that being on the fringe of this fashion industry, I am less intimidated and daunted than I otherwise would be. I never wanted a job in the fashion industry. I just wanted to make stuff. My way allows me to be shy in certain areas, but still go forward. I was obsessed with working for magazines for most of my life. I pored over books on how to work for one, and never did get there. Wasn't in the cards. But that's not the point.

The point is, I like making my own little life out of this, my own little katie james world. I don't want this book to burst my bubble, steer me from my illusions, put me into reality. I like my babysteps, but they do need to be taken with more confidence and knowledge. Sigh. I'm a little nervous. I normally pour over books of the subject I want to rule in. But I preferred the learn-as-you-go, choose-your-own-adventure method. I guess I still am. Just need a little plan, that's all.

Well, I'm going to get back to beautification before we go to Small Manhattan, or whatever it's called. I'm blogging from the bathroom and David wonders why he can't come in, and why I have a computer in here. Sometimes the smallness of the bathroom is a wonderful place to think.

Oh, PS: the jewelry pouches of many colors finally are ready! Pictures to come.

If you want to buy or check out the Fashion Designer Survival Guide, you can do it through the below link. If you do, I get 5% of the sale. In Eyore's total honesty, this wasn't a plug for the book. It was just thoughts. But the marketer in me couldn't not put the Amazon link below. Hope you understand. But if you decided to buy the book, I could get like a square inch of fabric. Or a colored pencil maybe.

Who Wants Fairy Wands??

I do! Fresh from this morning's Daily Candy, let's go get ourselves some fairy wands from Sweet Little Things by Planet Studios!







They have lots of other sweet little things like bumble bee baretts...



...and bobby pins...

Push Presents

Interesting...I was watching Access Hollywood last night (such a guilty pleasure) before settling in to work on a website, and learned about "push presents" which is little bits of jewelry given to moms from the dads to congratulate her for doing such an outstanding job in labor (or through the surgery of a c-section). Moms out there - do you know about these delights? They can be gold, diamonds, silver, blown glass, whatever jewelry makes you happy I guess. I think it's so sweet! Has anyone gotten one? I want a push present!

article about push presents

The Fashion Designer Survival Guide

Check out The Fashion Designer's Survival Guide by Mary Gelhar and a forward by Zac Posen, with chapters by many different people in the field. It's the insider's guide to starting a fashion design label. I've ordered it and can't wait for it to come...I need it! It covers tons of areas that I otherwise discover via sneak attacks, so this will help me remain sane as I develop katie james. It's hard to do this as a one-woman show who is pressed for time, especially a one-woman show with no background in fashion design expect for a few classes at FIT and a life with a mother who reps high end clothing lines and is obsessed with boutiques.




I've already bought and read parts of Trademarking and Copyrighting for Dummies, which was a BIG help. Now I'm ready for a juicy fashion survival guide!

The Chow Chow - Getting Closer!

I quickly took pictures and posted the dog treat pouch on the katie james site last night. We had overwhelming response (ok, 3 people) to name the treat pouch "the chow chow," so the chow chow it is!

Still working on a cute embroidered patch that could be sewn onto the front, perfecting the pattern for the manufacturer, and researching that darn shopping cart so that buying katie james will be a snap. Click here to see Gerdy and Dinah as poster pets for katie james and the new chow chow!

Inventory, Inventory, and Boots

Inventory! Went to the manufacturer today to see a sample jewelry pouch (I want to add a soft lining to make the whole thing squishier and softer), but there was something about his boiler, and something about a fuse breaking, and finally something about a man not coming. So I didn't get my sample, and my order is delayed a day. Ack!

So I started home, and bought some boots. Well, I really went to the glasses store so that they could adjust my new glasses (my favorite pair, the Baby Phats, were making me cross eyed), where the 'doctor' guy/kid behind the counter actually asked me what I would like done to adjust them. Isn't that his job? Again, cool glasses at Cohen's Fashion Optical, lousy service and lousy prices (the kid I think twitched when I insisted that I was seeing cross-eyed, and that the frames needed adjusting, not my eyes adjusting to the perscription). But anyway, it was a grey Monday today, and I needed a pair of black shoes this morning when I put on my black outfit and new black choker I made this weekend to match the day, when what did I stumble upon in my newly adjusted glasses, but a SALE at Bati on boots. So I went in, and I came out with two big bags. Of boots that were on sale, which I kind of am really hearting! I'm going to take the advice of my old roommate and keep them in their boxes, so they can spare the jungle of my closet!




It's amazing that I can lay down cash for boots, but not for inventory! It must be that I know what I'm going to do with the boots, where as I don't know what I'm going to do with the inventory. Will it sell? Who the hell knows. There. Boots justified. Coming home was a wrangle as I first went to the wrong side to get on the Uptown train, had to battle men in business suites coming through the turn style with all the force of my shopping bags (I plowed 'em), and lept onto the train. I shared the elevator home with a neighbor, and she couldn't believe how hot I was on this 70ish and drizzly evening.

Great. LeftHanders Prone to Breast Cancer

First it was left-handers were more prone to experiencing random accidents like burning one's self on the stove because the utensils were designed for a right handed person. Then it was left-handers were probably going to die sooner because of these accidents. Now, according to the British Medical Journal, for some reason, left-handed women who have had a child are more prone to breast cancer. Get the article here.

There is truth in the fact that many things are designed for a right-handed preference, but we really don't notice them (but I do). My things, however, are designed for lefties. :)

Football Saturday

"fixed"

So I forgot that I used to work 4 days, have 1 weekday devoted to fashion stuff, and the weekend to do either fashion stuff, clean the house, and/or go out with friends. These days, I'm not really having that so much, what with traveling to weddings and quick get-a-ways. When David was out of town last week, I eased back into the pattern of eating dinner at 11pm when everything's finished, bumbling around the apartment, bouncing from whatever project to whatever project. But having a boyfriend changes everything when you're trying to start/launch something and you work 5 days a week for a job that you really like and want to do well in, which makes those hours even longer. But I'll add right here, that David is always a good eye with a great logic, so the products always improve when I show them to him. And, the key to having a good boyfriend during all of this is that he has to be supportive and not get jealous of time spent with your computer, or sewing machine, or anything elses that is not him. He understands when I'm in Time Suckage, and knows when to kindly say, "Katie, you haven't moved from that spot in 7 hours. I think you need to eat." Well, ok.

But then came Football Saturday, a guilt-free day of David glued to a TV watching college football! I dated David during college football season, and we moved in together at the end of last year's football season. But this is the first time I get to experience the football obsession from the very beginning. This means that Ohio State still has to maintain its stellar defense, and prove its improved offense, not to mention not having students breaking any rules like accepting major gifts. Then there is Michigan, the arch rival, but you'd want Michigan to win at other games so that the Michigan / Ohio State game will be all the better.

So, with him watching games, tracking scores of all sorts and commentating to his network of fellow college football watchers about fumbles, attitudes, speeches and last year's performance. This leads me to believe I will be able to sail through all that I have to accomplish, which included dashing to the trimming store, sewing a tee shirt, researching shopping carts, researching copyright law for patterns, finishing weekly hours on my client's website, eating breakfast, disinfecting the house after weeks of build-up, vacuuming, fighting allergies, driving Mom to the Newark airport - all without feeling guilty about not spending time with my man on a Saturday.

So, the tee shirt above is what I worked on this particular Saturday for a dog trainer who is going to be going down a runway at a fashion dog show. I can't whip up a new shirt, but I can cut an existing one and sew stuff onto it. Sort of. I was so proud of the sleeve today with the added ruffle, but then saw that the cotton got all stretched out. But there's always Sunday to fix it. ;)

Scram, Ceaser

Tonight it was discussed, over some Chianti and much bread and freshly shredded parmesan, that David doesn't really read the blog, and is Mistaville OK with that. PS: the title, Scram, Ceaser has nothing to do with tonight's post. It was spoken tonight, and I just felt like making it the title of this post.

For those newcomers: David=Mista Boyfriend.

For example, once in a post, long, long ago, I referred to David as my hero, my wrestler in singlette armor. Kidding. But he was my Rent A Wrestler (and still is...sigh). My Boyfriendforhire.com for real. However, David thinks he 'lives the blog' and does therefore not need to read it. He and I have discussed this, and after agreeing that he would in fact read it, I backtracked and told him that I preferred that he did not read it. That way, I could write uncensored of any "you should say..." farfignugan. There. I said it. I told him not to read the blog. But should he listen?

Seperately, David conveniently commented on my outfit this evening as having a "feminine butch" touch. Yes. He said it. The whole thing started when David asked our dinner mates, Pregnant Patty and the Father how they felt about my new glasses. I suggested they made me look a little German. Pregnant Patty thought that I was on the way to looking like a German tourist if I only added red pants and purple boots to the black band t-shirt David got me as a souvenir from a concert he went to. I think I've almost looked like a German tourist for maybe my whole life.

Katrina Doggies

Oh my god! My brother sent me this link to a LA woman who has started a site as a source of information about missing Katrina dogs. Anyway, someone paid to have these dogs flown out of Louisiana. I'm going to chip Gerdy right now. Imagine? How would she ever get back to me, even if she was rescued!! Great that these dogs are getting rescued, but how will they get reunited?



More links to the site:
Link to picture above
More Pictures
About Katrina Dog Rescue
How you can help (according to this site)
Avoid Scams
Katrina Dog Rescue

GLASSES!

They're here! The Baby Phat ones have possibly have the lens reversed, because I'm quite cross-eyed in them. But here they are!

alain mikli
so comfortable. these are my website glasses. i tinker with code and hook up mini google search appliances in them...because they are an 'accessory' frame, i need to wear heavy eyeliner on top...no problem!


Baby Phat
yes! the happy glasses!


Cohen's Optical has irritated me, and now I have to go in for the fitting, plus just learned that they were supposed to measure my face to see what size glasses are right for me, which lead to the alain mikli maybe being too wide for me. if the Baby Phat make me an astro physicist, then the alain's make me a german scientist!

Thrifty Boutique

While we're on the topic of maternity and baby and toddler clothes, let's all take a look at Thrify Boutique. Not because they've included FashionMista in their 'must click' links, but because they are a nifty, thrifty boutique specializing in good deals and showing off cute stuff from my new obsession, indie designers.

Like, who knew that dad needed a diaper bag? There are a couple of Mistas out there that are going to need The Diaper Dude!

available on PintSizeDiva.com (cute site!)

And these...



And THESE delights from HipandLittle.com...



Thrifty Boutique shows lots more than kid stuff...check 'em out!

PS: who's watching Martha Stewart's Apprentice show tonight??

This early evening's links point to:
Thrify Boutique
PintSizeDiva.com

Maternity Clothes in Style

Ok, I'm not the pregnant one here, but can we look at these maternity clothes from Childish, and then the ones for tots? I just finished reading the Childish success story from this week's featured lady on Ladies Who Launch. It's from Skye Hoppus who's married to rock star husband of Blink 182. When she was pregnant with her son, she couldn't find sexy, flattering fashions, so she partnered with a friend in fashion and started her own thing. Like ya do. Since I have all of these pregnant people around me now, I figure I should share the style...

for moms...

for kids...

...and...

...or...


Tonight’s fashion points to:
Childish
Skye Hoppus on Ladies Who Launch

Focus Group: dog treat pouch

Ok, team. Katie James Dog needs your help in deciding on a name for the dog treat pouch. Several names have been tossed around. I won't bias you, but I have my favorite. I need your help in this, so if I get no comments, I will be very depressed. Commonly known on this blog as the "dog treat pouch" made of vinyl that attaches onto your belt loop or comes with a cute tie is revolutionizing fanny packs and 'feed bags' as we know them. It is intended to hold messy cookies of all kinds: chicken, hotdogs, turkey, roasted/baked liver strips, etc. This adorable pouch needs a name, and I'd like to know your thoughts. Or if you have a brainstorm, don't hold back.

The choices:
the chow chow
the feed bag
the dog treat pouch
the bait bag

The Pictures:

Me wearing it plus the 'pocket purse' that holds people stuff:


Discuss.

Boyfriend For Hire - A Hero

As promised, here is a testimony from Jen, an internet savvy New York City girl who contacted BoyfriendForHire.com after reading this FashionMIsta post not for a date, but for a drill:

"You don't have to be desperate to call Boyfriend for
Hire...but I was. I had moved into my new apartment
and realized I had NO floor space. I bought shelves
at Home Depot but three weeks later they were still
stacked on my bedroom floor (taking up MORE space)!I
tried to hang them but I didn't have proper tools (a
powerdrill should be on every girl's wish list!) nor
the physical strength to hold the shelves in place for
marking and drilling. My room was chaos and I
couldn't take it any longer!

BoyfriendForHire was the perfect solution. I called on a Friday
afternoon and my "boyfriend" was at my door less than
24 later. He hung all of my shelving in no time
and there was even time to do other odd jobs. He
brought his own tools and worked efficiently. You
don't have to help your boyfriend but I did and by
watching him I learned a few things too! Their nominal
fee was well worth the piece of mind of having my
bedroom organized and livable. I wouldn't hesitate to
call BoyfriendForHire again and again." -Jen

Ooh la la! I bet even Coupled Girls could call BoyfriendForHire on the sly to get something done that is otherwise not! The price is $75/hour regardless of the work. Jen tipped, but we don't know if that was necessary. Their services really do handyman services, closet remodeling (I think I may need to call them for this), kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling (can they be stopped? the list keeps going!) tiling and flooring, all types of painting and landlord services. Woa! Keep in mind, this is not a paid sponsor. This is really me repeatedly posting on this. I only just now got Jen's testimony in, and had to share.

Here's a sneak peak at the founder:

Kitties in the Well or Dysfunctional Lawyers

Happy Monday!
I got these in an email from a friend. These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts (which I think is the right book), and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters.

The Fabulous Ms. T. will have to confirm if these english blunders really go on! I don't know about you, but I certainly have my Amelia Bedelia Moments (girl who takes everything literally), and am loving these! "Kitties in the Well" comes from one of my blunders when my mom had a new circular rug on the landing of our stairs, and when I stopped to step on it, I praised it with "I love these kitties looking down the well!" Mom, embarassed to have me as a daughter, replied that they were gathered around a bowel drinking milk. Hence, Kitties in the Well.

Here are some snippets:



ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
______________________________
ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
_______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law...

hehe.

Back From the Heartland!

I'm back, the wedding was beautiful and great, many visits with friends and family and babies, along with a fabulous haircut were packed into 2 days.

I've never seen a Shaker Heights back yard look so big and beautiful as this one did. It was clear, so we were 'under the stars,' or under the trees decorated with subtle lighting. An 8-piece band (I think) was the soundtrack for the evening, and much dancing was done among glasses of champagne and a scrumptious drink called I don't know what, but there was peach juice, Champaign and a strawberry slice in it. Yum! It was so neat being in the house, and all I wanted to do was show David where I would sleep over on the air mattress that we blew up with the vacuum cleaner, and the basement where we played hours of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and preformed theatrical lip-syncs to the Beach Boys for an audience of her younger sisters. Hers was the house where I gagged on skim milk for breakfast, played with her sweet dog Hathaway, and evaluated everyone in our middle school class. Al (I'm using her nickname to protect her innocence) was my first best friend when I changed schools to go to private school, and we have many memories outside of that house, all the way to Maine! I fact, we left a blueberry trail one time on our bikes, just so we wouldn't lose our way back...

The bride was beautiful and so happy. Her dog Lucy made an appearance just before she and the groom whisked away for their honeymoon, she dressed in a light brown cotton suit top with a ruffle down the front and an a-line skirt from Anthropology. She looked very Argentinean and glamorous. Her good friend from high school seized the microphone before the night was over and passively forced the bride to play a song for us all on the piano. Al played the theme from Ice Castles - our old favorite! and a huge gulp rose in my throat as I sat on her couch in her old living room. We're talking about two middle-schoolers who night after night called Bob McKay on Light Rock 106.5 to dedicate Wind Beneath My Wings to each other. Once, the whole class took a trip to Cedar Point, a Cleveland theme park, and Al and I went into the record-a-song-booth and recorded ... I think it was the theme from Ice Castles! and I had to hit a high note for a really long time, and Al, to my embarrassment, played that song for the whole bus. It's about time she had her own audience to perform solo for!

The night was capped of with 2 Krispy Cream donuts and a long ride down memory lane as the evening came to a close.

Bloggin From Akron!

Good old Akron, OH. Leave it to the Akron Airport to not have a Starbucks, and only one food station (which is new), and now two sets of bathrooms, and one unprotected wireless access! This is exciting. David and I are in the airport waiting for my mom to pick us up. Already saw one Clevelander on the plane who's also taking advantages of the low fares out of Akron.



As many of you don't know, I do a lot of waiting at this airport. Usually it's for a ride home, but the first time it was on 9/11/01 when I had a one way ticket to move to New York City with a two week cat sitting job and no apartment. I didn't go, obviously, as the attack occurred moments after I arrived at the airport. I didn't come until the following February 15th (and moved right next door to David...only 1.5 years later would he confess his feelings to me in our elevator...).

David says hi to Bloggerville. He's reading the Akron Summit to see what neat things there are to do here. So far there are only maps and things about golf.

Going to the Heartland

Ok, folks. It's off to Cleveland for me for the wedding of my best friend in 8th grade. We would do lots of fun things like have cooking shows, talk shows, vacation shows, you name it. She's a wiz of a graphic designer now, and marrying a webdesigner. Oh the magic!

When not at the wedding, I'll be hopefully fixing my wired haircut and getting highlights (cheaper than in New York), lunch and dinner with grandparents and cousins and godparents, and visiting the car dealership where David bought his wonderful new/old Touareg at my insistence. I mean suggestion.

The glasses are supposed to be overnighted to me there, arriving on Saturday...doesn't it seem like these things just follow me around a lot without making it to my face?

FramesDirect.com - Hello?

omG!!! Why didn't anybody ever tell me about FramesDirect.com??? Are you telling me that I just spent...:quivering:...hundreds of profit driven dollars at a store when I could have bought them onLINE? Oh, I am such a bad shopper. So disappointed. I starting researching prices when I came accross a 'buyers beware' post in Craig's list that I stumbled on when searching for the phone number for the glasses place, Cohen's Optical.

omg. hanging head. i'm just going to sit down and pretend that FramesDirect.com did not have them in stock. I'm going to remember that I do not know the track record of FramesDirect.com. Otherwise, perhaps they could be of service to you in your future glasses purchasing endeavors! :sniff: pictures…:sniff sniff:…to come…as they are supposed to be ready later…:sniff:…today.

Begrudgingly, today's links point to:
FramesDirect.com

David Said That I'm a Nerd

Still on my high from my roll of fabric, I slipped on my dog treat pouch and pocket purse. And as you all know, ;) they slip on via Velcro to your belt loops. I usually have to tight a sash and attach them to the sash to keep then on, so I was excited to just loop then right onto my skirt belt loops. And I felt really together: one pouch for dog treats and poop bag, and the other for my crap.

As I put one on either hip, I pretended to draw fire as if in a gun fight. David doesn't think they are 'decorative' enough, and so is a little opposed to them, I think. So what did he do? He said, as I hyperactively played: "Your kids are going to think you are such a nerd. You are going to be that nerd mom."

Woa! Ok, apart from the weird comment involving kids, let's look at this statement! I am a nerd! And I will revolutionize the fanny pack with my pouches, just you wait! Then even you will want them! They are cute, I promise, and there are lots of nerdy colors.

My First Roll of Fabric

Tonight I bought my first roll of fabric! The girls who help me swatch and cut always say to me: "Just buy the roll!" when I repeatedly buy the same fabric, but at a yard and a half at a time. This time, spurred by someone else putting 'my' precious faric on hold, where I risk losing it forever b/c it's a close-out fabric, which means that the store bought it from Marc Jacobs, and there is no more of it. So, I secured 10 whole yards!

And, at tax exempt at that! I used my tax exempt number (EIN) for the first time tonight. I got to fill out a form, and be on file, and feel wonderful...! It was very exciting. When I carried the giant roll home, the elevator/doorman at the bottom of the building whistled: "you are strong!" as I carried this 60" + roll to the subway over my shoulder. Yeah, strong to last long in this business!

She's So Eeeevil!

A.V. Phibes is the founder, boss and head artist at Evilkid Productions (and retired sideshow performer). She's making a killing on licensing her cell phone wallpaper designs to ___, and is an all around graphic designing goddess. E-cards, stickers, desktop art, original art, IM icons, tatoo art, comix, mugs...the list goes on...is all available at her website. But today we're going to focus on her cell phone wallpaper, because that's where the money is. And who doesn't want to make a cell phone cheerier while earning extra cash?



Q+A goes here


More Evilkid stuff...
IM icon...


socks!


a belt buckle...


and I just loved this...

a magnet...


So go visit A.V. Phibes at Evilkid.com and see the zillions of other designs on her site!

On Glasses

I was just about to leave the office to make a mad dash to the fabric store in the rain when I got a comment in the "D Just Sent Me Flowers!" post about glasses from The Fabulous Ms. T. Rather than muck up that area with glasses information, I thought I should indulge you here, in the wide-open post. As you recall, or maybe I didn't say, my designer glasses that I signed my life to the devil to pay for, were to be ready today, Wednesday. But since they are so special, they had to be sent away for, requiring me to wait until tomorrow, Thursday.

Now then. On to the subject of mad scientists, as was broached in the comment. I, apparently, look like an astrophysicist in my pink pair of new Baby Phat glasses. The commenter, The Fabulous Ms. T., was concerned about looking like a mad scientist. I quite frankly think that as an astrophysicist, I would need more friends to pal around with, so I fully support her decision of mad scientist glasses. The other pair of glasses had me looking like, um, an updated, glasses person, I guess. Can't put my finger on it. But I love them.

The funny thing is, both glasses have much more detail than my current 7 year old Brooks Brothers ones for $280 (including lenses), yet neither take over my face the way my soon-to-be defunct, more 'editor' like brown plastic glasses did, where when I wore them, you really did say to yourself, "Hello, Glasses. Oh, hello Katie."

D Just Sent Flowers!

(D=David=Boyfriend)

Wow! I'm deeply immersed in the site map of our new site at work, and am assigning everyone color coded tasks like a ship captain, and in the middle of a discussion about message boards, a nice man walked in the office with a beautiful vase of white roses, white gerber daisies with pink mini petals, and another white flower, maybe a hyacinth. Oh boy! David's been gone a week visiting his family and comes home today, and I guess was missing me! What a surprise! Love him!

Evite My Heart Out

Why didn't anybody tell me about the greatness of Evite? I had so much fun making an invitation last night for my annual soul food party, that I'm now going to make my Mom an invitation/reminder for her sale (aka traveling trunk show), so to remind her 'ladies' to go to her house and buy clothes from her.

The girls night out themed invitations were so cute, that I'm thinking now of just throwing a 'spa' gathering (aka nail polish party at my house) just so that I can send out the invitation with the cartoon girl with cucumbers on her eyes. Or if I wanted to host a skinny dipping party, I could. Or, this is a fun one for the man in your life. Kidding!

Tonight’s links point to:
Evite

FashionMista - The Button

It's here. The button.

KellyW's Engaged!

Oh, the excitement never ends! I've just sat down to my scrumptious pasta chicken in a cream sauce, having watched As Time Goes By and Keeping Up Appearances and have settled in to watch Auntie Mame the movie, when my little phone rang. David I thought it might be, but KellyW it was! From North Carolina, her dear Adam, of many thousands of years, has popped the question. He designed the ring himself with all sorts of details, like her mother's diamond from somewhere and his mother's that from somewhere, all set in a setting of his tattoo. Wow. When you set your life to change, I guess it does!

See, I told you that September is the time to begin again. Happy New Year!

Garrison!

I almost forgot it was on!

David's out of town (which is the reason I have all this time today for Beautification). While the man's away, the mice will play, and listen to the radio and watch British comedies on PBS! David usually has CNN or ESPN on, so to be home to watch and listen to my favorite Saturday night shows is a real treat (although, we have 2 tvs, so it's not like we compete).

David is at the OSU game (that's Ohio State) playing Texas, and wanted me to go, but I just couldn't go out of town again and leave Gerdy to perhaps parish.

So, I get to eat watermelon without slicing it, make a big dinner, listen to Lake Wobegon and the message from the Ketchup Advisory Board, and, and, well, what more is there to do?

PS: watch out, folks...i'm home alone, so blog posts may be many!

PPS: David is so excited about the OSU game. I'm going to look for him on TV. Matthew Mcconaughey tried to rent the Varsity (OSU's after-the-game bar), and the owner had to go on radio stations all over (oh! the buckey's just ran out of the ball pen, or whatever it's called) to promise everyone that he did not rent out the bar. I'm watching the OSU coach right now in an interview. I just love Ohio accents.

Don't Let Me Out of the House on a Saturday!!

At least not with NYCM (New York City Mouse) anyway. Something about her makes the money flow (as budget conscious as she is)!

I got a cheap but potentially damaging haircut from International Haircutters (nothing that a lot of ocean water (john frieda) and Glisten (mop) won't fix...hopefully...) and then strolled around the upper west side with NYCM half-way hyped on a tall-iced-half-caff-2 pump-vanilla latte. I was on a glasses mission, and NYCM was on an anything mission. Let's just say, we blew our budgets. Or increased our credit rating. Whichever way you want to look at it.

We walked into a glasses place, and for fun, tried on a pair of pink on the top rimmed Baby Phat glasses. The cuteness factor I cannot describe here. The glasses turned us into astrophysicists. The sales lady caught our bug of excitement and pure pleasure over the look, and humored us by showing us more designer glasses under the counter.

Oops! We found another pair. Then the sales lady told us about the 2for1 deal, but that the Baby Phat didn't qualify, but maybe she'd only charge $100 extra for the normally $450 pair of glasses. Then I spotted the "Buy Now Pay Later" sign, and learned that it was health coverage credit with no APR for the first year (we can thank the Devil that is Citygroup for this). This is when the "we" became an "I."

A phone call later to the credit people had me lined up with a chunk of change, more than I needed to buy the glasses. The excitement rising, the Lady Behind the Counter dropped the extra $100 from the Baby Phat and gave me both pairs for the price of one. Yippee!! Never had two glasses at once in my fifteen years of wearing glasses (with the same prescription, that is), and designer ones at that!!

Pictures to come when I pick them up later this week. Pictures not to come of my wierd, lame haircut.

Save A Gerdy

Ok, I just donated to save a Gerdy. I chose the International Fund for Animal Welfare. I gave $25 even though I'm at the end of my money line (must also sneak in a little present of a picture frame for David and have my day of beauty at the hair salon).

My biggest fear with Gerdy is, aside from her being 'saved' by a casual person in the Central Park when she's off leash and I'm not looking, is that when I have to go out of town without her, that the buiding will catch on fire and she and Dinah will be stuck, but hopefully get out at least. Gerdy would take up with a neighbor in a second, but at any rate, that is my biggest fear. I would hope that someone is able to rescue her and dogs like her - and reunite us! - in case of emergency.

Shit. I just realized that I now have to get her chipped. I didn't want to, as it's too freaky. I figured if someone picked her up in the park, they would not think to get her 'scanned' at a vet. But, if in an emergency like this, if my name was on the chip (not sure that it is) with phone number or SOMEthing, that that would help.

So go donate before I grab an emotional picture off IFWA's site.

Too late.

Save Animals After Katrina

Here's a link to the site I'm managing. We put a link to reputable organizations who have launched rescue missions to save pets left behind. One of them even helped a human who had a stroke inside a house. If you've been looking for ways to donate to save animals like dogs, cats, and even pigs, these are good websites:

Katrina Donations for Animals

Can't Get Enough of Your Love

Gerdy and Dinah. What can I say. I can't get enough.

See Gerdy relax - on the bookshelf:

What didn't make it into this picture is my suitcase from Maine, which is very heavy and sitting just above Gerdy on the couch, making a permanent dent, most likely, as I won't unpack it quite yet.

See Dinah's ears - she's eating my arm because I won't feed her Gerdy's wet food anymore b/c they are all getting little stomach sacks aka fat!

Baby Caitlin's Early Arrival!

Don't give this baby anymore coffee - like her mother (not me!), she takes her time and arrives early (a feat I cannot accomplish!)! Oh wait, the proud parents have already made her a Starbucks Baby! Without further ado, may I introduce, the first baby born to any of my friends, long limbs included on this 6pounder/19incher. Caitlin is her name:



She's yawning b/c she had a big day of being a Starbucks Baby, a Watermelon Head Baby, and helping Dad with his Blackberry. So much to do. So little coffee.

Back From Maine!

I know you're in a hurry, and I am too (getting sleepy...but am determined to post for many many fans in Singapore, Portugal, Ohio and New York), but here are the highlights of Maine, the way life should be. My camera's batteries decided to caput on about the prettiest day, so I don't have many pictures of those, or much else, since I had to be very selective:

First of all, our house was taken over by many large spiders - brown ones with claws. It was very scary and they invaded my dreams. They also did nothing to decrease the amount of mosquitoes. I was not impressed.

The first few days were very foggy, so we shopped and cleaned racks of 60% off Nili Lotan (like her site, check it out), a lucky sweater from Laurie B. (can't find her website) and some not-so-onsale stretch jeans from Christopher Blue (not hip-huggers, for once).

And most imporantly, an indulgance in more pottery...

Then, it was men looking at cars...

and men flying planes...


Then I concentrated on getting a good picture of Gerdy, which was very difficult when she played so elusively:
Not going to cut it:

Gerdy running away from my brother who's trying to catch her on film:

Gerdy really running...

The most I could get when teasing her with prospect of cookies:

Big To-Do List:

First day back from Maine, and I've had a very busy day of going to work, going fabricing for jewelry pouch production, organizing everything for tomorrow's drop-off to Mr. Richie who's name isn't really Mr. Richie,

re-heating pizza and taking pictures of Dinah again (she was stalking the little balls of rolled fold-over elastic for the pockets on the jewelry pouch: