Enjoying Santa Monica Pier

After, um, helping Papa move into his new office, we spent our Sunday afternoon enjoying the Santa Monica Pier.

Oliver and the brass dolphin became fast friends.

(Each cross represents a soldier who died in Iraq.)

Two Years!

(I know, I know, y’all can’t keep up with all the freaking years and anniversaries and special occasions at our house!  I can barely keep up myself!)

Two years ago today our lives changed for the best forever.  Oliver arrived!

It has been the most incredible, challenging, rewarding, interesting, and humbling two years of my life.  I look forward to the many more years to come.

Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag

It’s official: I can finally share what’s going on in my life without fear of having someone find out who shouldn’t find out before he/she needed to find out.

I’m leaving education and am going back into the hair industry!  (It feels so good to be able to share that with you all!)

I haven’t been happy this year back in the classroom, and if I’m really honest with myself, I wasn’t happy when I was in the Counseling Office.  What made that slightly more bearable was feeling like I helping to lead our school and was having a positive impact on students and staff.  But I still didn’t really enjoy what I did.  I normally didn’t look forward to coming to work and wasn’t feeling fulfilled.  Education is a rough place to be on a good day, but in our current atmosphere of budget cuts, contract negotiations, layoffs, etc, it’s even worse.  Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some advantages, like the wonderful paid vacations, health coverage, and decent salary (anyone who says teachers aren’t well-paid is pulling your leg, at least in the districts I’ve worked for.  And that’s not saying they’re paid ENOUGH either!).  But I’m not feeling fulfilled in an artistic and creative way, I don’t feel like I have control over my life and my job, and ultimately I don’t feel appreciated or valued.

If you’ve read much of my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been restless for quite a while, but haven’t been sure of what to do about it.  I knew I needed two things: 1) to be doing something creative, and 2) to be my own boss (or the ability to one day be my own boss).  I’ve contemplated opening many different sorts of business, including a cake shop, a bakery, a restaurant/deli, and a craft cafe.  But my own personal demons keep me from doing any of these due to my lack of professional experience and education (I’m stuck in the “gotta have a degree to know how to do it’ mindset).  Finally it dawned on me: I should go back into hair!

I graduated beauty school in June 1990 and worked for a few years in a now defunct salon, where I consider myself to have been moderately successful, had a decent clientele, and even did some education and platform work for Paul Brown International (also now defunct).  Then I started feeling like I was missing something by not having completed my bachelor’s degree (which I started right out of high school, although even back then I was considering beauty school was decided against it when my guidance counselor told me I was too smart to do that.), so I went back to school to finish my degree (and accumulated a couple of master’s degrees along the way!  Oh well!).  Even during this time I worked part-time in a salon, helping to augment my income, until I finally moved to California to pursue my Ph.D.

And here I am, with more education and degrees (and the accompanying student loan bill!) than the average person and missing the creativity and energy of the hair industry.

I actually made that realization at some point during my chemotherapy.  But making changes to one’s employment when one is getting pumped full of toxic chemicals paid for by one’s insurance paid for by one’s employer is NOT such a great idea.  So I continued on.

And then I lost my position as a counselor, which made me really unhappy, but retained my insurance.  So I continued on.

And then my employer changed my health insurance company, making me leave my beloved oncology team and primary care provide.

And that’s when I realized that someone, somewhere, was trying to tell me something.

So early in the beginning of this year, I made up my mind and for a few months now I’ve been laying the groundwork to get back into the hair business.  I am in the process of getting my license in California.  My ultimate goal is to own a salon (or two or three), but opening a salon is a difficult task without either a clientele or the money to buy one (neither of which I have).  So I’m trying to find an “in” back into the industry (if any of you know someone who works in, owns, or is otherwise associated with a high-end salon in LA, let me know!).

Towards that end, I attended the International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach this past weekend.  It was so invigorating, inspiring, and educational.  I’m so glad I went (although it meant leaving my sick son at home with Papa!) because I learned so much and really feel like I’m ready to hit the ground running.

And to make a great weekend even better, I got to hear Tabatha speak!

And even got up the courage to ask her if I could take a photo of us together!  (And then stupidly handed my iPhone to one of her underlings who proceeded to take A BLURRY PHOTO!)

And got up the courage AGAIN later in the afternoon when I saw her to ask if we could retake it!  (And took it myself!)

She is my hero and inspiration.  Some people may think she’s a bitch, but I love that she has incredibly high standards for the hair industry, for herself, and for other salons and can just say it like it is.  Her dedication and energy for the hair industry are inspiring.

So there you have it, the cat’s out of the bag!  A toast to moving forward!  Chin Chin!

Three Years Old! & Help!

No, Oliver didn’t land in a time warp and turn into a three-year-old (although if it would get him out of these tantrums, and shh-ing me when I tell him not to do something, I wouldn’t mind!).

My blog is three years old today!

Gosh, we’ve been through a lot in three years, no?  When I started this blog three years ago I was unmarried (but still with Hubby, although I think he was My Partner then), childless, had never been to the continent of Asia, had never had toxic chemicals pumped through my body, and was oblivious to the fact that one of our supposed friends would suck us dry in a couple of short years.  Who knew?!

I would love to say I was doing something to celebrate my blogiversary, but if you all could see my sewing studio right now, you’d understand.  My once spacious and inviting studio is now piled high with filing cabinets, office chairs, boxes, and rolls of floor plans from Hubby’s office.  So needless to say, there won’t be any sewing for a short while.

Aww, heck with that!  I’m not letting that stop me from celebrating three awesome years with you all!

Everyone who posts before Friday (1/29/10) at Noon will be entered into a drawing for A GOODY (notice the perfectly generic title so as not to infer what the prize may be, because I HAVE NO CLUE! what it’s going to be!)!

Now I need to ask you all for help.

Hubby needs help with naming his new business.  As I was trying to help him last night (and came up with the AWESOME name of Interior Passion!, I jokingly said, “Let me post it to my blog to see what they come up with.”

Then a little bit later he asked if anyone had responded and I said, “Are you serious?”  Turns out he was!

So, here are the parameters:

• he does interior and exterior design for both commercial and residential clients from all budgets, as well as space planning (whatever that means, he told me to say that)
• he doesn’t want it to be limited to interior design, but to include space planning, and outdoor design
• I think it shouldn’t use his name, to make it easier to sell in the future
• It should clearly be classy, because he is a classy guy and he does classy work (just look at my house, it’s almost all him!)

And here is the prize:

• the satisfaction of knowing that you helped out a good guy!

So Happy Blogiversary to me and Thanks for helping!

Wondering

Could I pull it off?

(Yes, it says PIMPALA!)

Trying To Make Sense

It’s been a challenging couple of weeks. As I hinted at in my last post, our family is going through a lot right now.

A few weeks ago, Hubby found out that a trusted employee and (supposed) family friend had embezzled a significant amount of money from his company, triggering a chain of events that includes him restructuring his business and us moving out of our house. The worst part of all of this is the sense of betrayal that we both feel.

But we’re both survivors and we’ll make it through this. Cancer didn’t do me in, this certainly isn’t!

So in between searching Craigslist for rentals and downsizing (also via Craigslist!), we’ve been keeping things low key.

The weekend before last we took Oliver for a bike ride at the beach.

Well, as you can see, it wasn’t so much a bike ride as a bike, um, shuffle? But he’s learning. And it was great to get out with my family and have a little fun. And to see this and realize how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful place.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, the clouds in the photo portended our weather for this week: lots and lots of rain! Normally I like rain, but that’s when I get to sit at home in front of the fireplace under a quilt. Not so much when I’m at work, stuck in my classroom at lunch with students EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

The highlight of the week was getting to see some of my cake friends, including Adele (Colorado Adele), who were all in town to compete on Ultimate Cake Off. We got to spend time with Adele last weekend and show her a little bit of Los Angeles. Then her teammates arrived on Sunday and we all got to enjoy dinner at our house (with some yummy eggplant parmesan!). Off they went for their competition and then last night I got to rejoin them for one final visit before they all went their separate ways.

That’s me, Adele, Wendy, Sharon, and Willard. And although you wouldn’t know it from the photo, there was actually very little beverage partaken of!

As you can see from these few photos, I’ve got too much to be thankful for in my life to let the yucky stuff get me down. This too shall pass. In the meantime, I’ll continue to search for the things I should be thankful for, like my husband, my son, and our friends.

SCAMMED!

Welp, I absolutely cannot believe I fell for it, but I’ve been SCAMMED!

Long story short: we are  moving out of our house (long, sad story) in the next few months and are looking for a rental.  I’ve been searching Craigslist for potential leads and found one that was (dare I say it?!) too good to be true (Note to self: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!  DOH!)

$1695 / 3br – EXTRA-ROOMY3 BEDROOM ~ A STEAL! (Santa Monica)

# – 3 BR AND 2.5 BA
# – HUGE BATHROOM W/ WHIRLPOOL BATH
# – BIG WALKIN CLOSETS
# – COMPLETELY FURNISHED WITH PRISTINE FURNITURE
# – PRISTINE SMOOTH WOOD FLOORS
# – MODERN DOORS & BIG WINDOWS
# – FULL-SIZE WASHER AND DRYER
# – NICE MARBLE COUNTER TOPS
# – BRAND NEW SILVER KITCHEN APPLIANCES
# – TALL CEILING
# – PACKAGED AIR CONDITIONER / HEAT
# – A LOT OF UNIQUE DETAILS
# – SECURE GATED PROPERTY
# – FRIENDLY LOCAL SHOPPING AND RESTAURANTS CLOSED BY
# – EMAIL TO SET UP A VISIT FOR THIS PLACE

I got an email back telling me the rental requirements and that we needed to provide a credit report no more than 7 days old when we met her to see the place and providing a link to a site to get a free report.

Stupid me clicked on the link which went to an apparently legit credit monitoring service that offered a 7-day trial period and a free credit report for signing up for it.  So I figured I’d sign up, get the report, then cancel.

So I enter ALL.OF.MY.PERSONAL.FINANCIAL.INFORMATION and get my report.

Then I emailed the supposed landlord (whose email address I did check out and it appeared to be legit) and told her we were interested and wanted to see the property right away.  Then I waited…

And waited…

And waited…

It’s been more than two days and haven’t heard back.  The entire time I’ve had a feeling that something wasn’t right but have been wondering what was the purpose of it all.

Then tonight it hit me!  The link she sent wasn’t the address I finally landed on, it redirected me to another, legitimate site.  Where I entered my information.  Which was probably phished, which basically means that as I was entering my information, it was being recorded.  DOH!

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!

According to the FTC, this information is then usually sold to a third party who then uses it to open credit accounts, mobile phone accounts, etc.  Sigh…

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!

So after freaking out and trying to find out information, I put a Fraud Alert on my credit account, meaning that before any new credit can be extended, the creditor has to speak to me at the phone number provided on my account and ask for positive ID.  Unfortunately this is only a 3-month fix (which can be extended one time), so I’m a bit nervous about what happens 6 months from now.

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!

Fun On The Tundra

Harley is Mom’s 9-month-old St. Bernard. Despite his size (and clear lack of intelligence!) he’s really good with Oliver, as seen here.

Happy (Belated) New Year!

It’s cold, cold, cold here in Central Wisconsin. Like fourteen BELOW zero not including the wind chill (25 below with it!)!

So we’re staying indoors today. But here are some highlights from the last few days.

There’s been lots of knitting to try to finish Hubby’s sweater (it’s further done now than in this photo, but this is the most recent photo I have).

 

There’s been some playing with (and lining-up and picture-taking of) cousins (well, third-cousins really).

 

There’s been some cheesy mall photobooth/drawings. (Yes I’m aware that I look possessed and Oliver looks like he’s hearing voices.  Thanks!)

There’s been some bundling-up to go outside.

There’s been lots of snow-eating, and calf-watching, and Harley-kisses.

 

There’s also been some trying to hide what’s hanging in the tree in the front yard.

 

And ultimately there was the realization of what that was hanging in the tree.

A ‘ding’ (bell)!

We hope you all rang in the New Year with as much fun as we’ve been having!

Merry Christmas!

As you can see, there was much fun on Christmas morning!

And in the meantime I’ve had to keep quiet for fear that I’d spoil a surprise.

See, I was feeling quite down this holiday season because I couldn’t afford to go see my Mom this Christmas. Now that Oliver is 2, there’s mo more traveling with him on out lap (which is a mixed blessing!).

At the last minute The Best Husband In The World surprised Oliver and I with two tickets to go see Gramma (Mom)! I decided to still keep it a secret from her though.

But I’m notoriously bad at spilling the beans, and since she reads my blog, I had to stay off of here!

But as you can watch here, we’ve arrived and succeeded in surprising Gramma!

So now we’re at Gramma’s and the feeling of it being a dream is slowly wearing off. We don’t have much on the schedule, other than spending time together, playing outside with Gramma’s dogs Harley (a St. Bernard as large as a small pony!) and Sadie, her cats, and her three bull calves.

I’ve got Hubby’s nearly finished sweater with me and a shipment of yarn on it’s way to get me started on a sweater for (drumroll please!) MYSELF!

Other than wishing Hubby was here with us (although let’s face it, he’d just be complaining about the cold anyway!), it really has been a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all were equally as lucky!