Category Archives: whatnots

It’s Official, It’s Been a Helluva Week

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I was trying to recall just why it is I didn’t seem to get around to posting in any of my blogs. I managed to start a couple of posts in each, but never got around to finishing them.

Then I remembered the week – keep in mind, in between all this, I was working on various projects…

Friday: drive down to Temecula for a pre-dinner meeting

Saturday: biz meeting in Fallbrook, drive back home

Sunday: different biz meeting in LA

Monday: 2-3 hour doctor appointment

Tuesday: business lunch and evening networking event

Wednesday: only day with nothing planned and dinner at home – worked on finalizing ’08 taxes

Thursday: LWL event

Friday: date night with hubs (still talked business)

Saturday: avoiding the intense Valley heatwave and headed out for two movies &  dinner with a friend

Today: relaxing day at home, in the AC avoiding all the smoke and ash from the nearby fires

La Canada Fires

La Canada Fires

This week, I’m happy to say, is much more low key and I’m really looking forward to it.  Now if we can only get the cooler temperatures we had a couple weeks back and get rid of those nasty fires then all would be good.

Best Laid Plans and All That

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So here I was Friday, posting about how important it is to remember to put ourselves first and focus on some self-care.  Would you believe that I never actually got around to any of that?

See, I wrote that post on Thursday so I could be free to run all my pre-out of town errands on Friday.  Next thing I know, I’m heading home from dropping the dog off at the boarders for his sleep away camp (man, he loves this place!) and my husband calls to tell me that he’ll be home shortly. Um, at that point, I hadn’t even packed our overnight bag.

So yeah, not only did I go to not one, but two extended business meetings (one in Temecula and one here in LA on Sunday), with embarrassing grey-studded hair, but I also never really got around to taking care of my brows.  Heck, I was rushing to pack our bag that I even forgot to pack mascara and the shampoo and conditioner.  At least if I’d have had mascara I could temporarily cover those grey hairs.

How embarrassing.  The good news, it was pulled back into a ponytail, so for the most part, it wasn’t visible.

Needless to say, I’m not so sure I can wait until right before classes begin for all this.  In fact, I’m thinking I need to book things ASAP.

And write my damn syllabus already!

Ugh!

Let’s Get Shallow: Making Time for Personal Care

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Threading
I don’t know about you, but sometimes, time just seems to get away from me.  Heck, sometimes LIFE seems to get away from me.  One minute and I’m on track and working my butt off.  All is good.  The next minute I look in the mirror and I’m a mess.

How did I let that happen?

I know we hear all the time that we should remember to make time for ourselves. You know what they say, if mama ain’t happy, ain’t no body happy. But I tend to think of all that as making exercise or yoga, or meditation or whatever a priority. You know, remembering to work free time into your schedule. Not getting a haircut or getting my brows done.

Well, I don’t have much of a problem working free time into my schedule (the joy of running your own business). I remember to schedule time to visit with my friends and colleagues. I even manage to remember to take a vacation day or sick day from time to time.

Apparently, what I can’t seem to remember is to get a haircut, touch up color or fix my brows. It’s bad enough I cut (not trimmed…CUT!) my own bangs a couple weeks ago.

Man, when did I become such a sight?

For the past couple of weeks, I kept telling myself that I would just get it all taken care of before school starts up again. You know, before I have to get back into the public eye. But judging from the look of the alternatively colored hairs I’m seeing popping up, I don’t think I can wait much longer. Let alone wait another 3-4 weeks.

The good news, at least for me, is that I do my own color. So I just needed to run out to the nearest CVS and pick up a box of Fabulous Brunette #5 and get to work on those unruly brows while I’m waiting and I’ll be good to go.

Good thing too since we leave later this afternoon for a business meeting down San Diego way. So all this self-care stuff got me thinking…I can’t be the only one here. What do you tend to let go of or put off when you get busy? Or are you the type of person that keeps all your self-care and maintenance scheduled at all times?

I just need to schedule a facial and an adjustment and my self-care, remember to take time out for me time is complete.

Heading Out to Get the Cars

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In case you missed it last week, we had some automotive challenges in our home.  Trust me, Thursday wasn’t a fun day to be me.

Luckily, by late afternoon Friday, our cars were ready to be picked up. It only took three buses, a late lunch at the Apple Pan, a couple of blocks on foot, $1000 for both cars, an emergency gas station visit for (expensive) gas, and four hours of my day.

Here is how our journey played out…

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And so begins our ride across town

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Hanging at the bus stop in Griffith Park

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I'll admit it, this was my first time on an LA city bus

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Thankfully it was clean, cool and there was very little traffic

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Lunch at the famed Apple Pan

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...and half a slice of banana cream pie

And the Results Are In…

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My fabulous doctor called while I was out last night (yes, she truly is fabulous and I can’t recommend her enough and yes, that call was afterhours at 8:30PM!). She had the results from Monday’s CT scan.

Get this…no polyps, but I apparently have a sinus infection! Yes, you read that right…as sinus infection.

No, I don’t feel like I have a sinus infection. But I guess, kinda like I’ve been saying all along, that my head is still all congested and something is still going on in my sinuses. Guess that would explain why my ears always clog whenever I drive up any sort of incline.

So the next plan of action is to see an ear, nose and throat doctor. My doc mentioned something about “getting scraped” and well, that sounds kinda scary. I mean, I may be wrong here, but I don’t any sort of direct passage to my sinuses. And well, that just sounds a bit painful. I’ll learn more at my appointment next week.

I just know that I’ll be thrilled to not have to deal with all this damn congestion any more. I’m sure it will cut down on the sinus pressure-related headaches I seem to get as well. Woohoo!

And speaking of all this sinus crap…I do seem to be a bit fuzzy headed today and I think (after my successful teleseminar) that a nap is priority #1.

Caution: Mentalist at Work

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mentalis_filming
It sure was nice to take last week off from blogging (outside of the one Michael Jackson/Forrest Lawn photo post).  Better still to have taken the time off on all three blogs (and the contests).  Granted, it wasn’t something that I actually planned to do, but it still felt good.  I refused to let myself feel bad about it either.

I basically spent the week working on my upcoming teleseminars.  After having spent the week before recovering from yet another damn sinus infection, I needed to get focused pretty quickly.  I got a lot done, even if I made some mistakes here or there.  Or more to the point, I discovered some mistakes that I made with some of the stuff I was working on.  Either way, still feels good.

Now I need to just create some time to catch up on some friends’ blogs.  When I finished teaching in mid-June, I thought I’d have so much time to finally catch up with work, with blogs, with life and still have fun.  Well, as I seem to have learned (again and again) those damned sinus infections kick my butt physically and make it so challenging to even think straight.  And they seem to take just as long to recover from.  But trust me, you will see me posting comments on your blogs again!!  I promise.

And speaking of those damnable sinus infections, I finally had my CT scan today.  I think I honestly spent more time talking about the CT scan and researching what to expect, than it actually took to have the actual scan.  I honestly didn’t know that it would be quite so quick and painless.  I look forward to getting the results and figuring out what might be the reason I keep getting such nasty (and painful) infections.

As for now…well, now I think it’s time to get started on dinner.  Cooking in this high-90’s heat is always a challenge – whether I’m feeling 100% or not.  Wish me luck!

Let the Holiday Weekend Begin!

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Sometimes half the fun of an extended holiday weekend is to have nothing planned. So in that case, I’m ready for this weekend.

Mind you, the husband is gone for the day. He headed out not too long ago to spend the night catching up with an old friend. So the boys and I are on our own tonight.

The weekend is off to a great start!!

Wishing you all a safe and festive holiday weekend!

I’m Not a Numbers Person…

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…but I love what you can learn from website analytical and statistical information.

You not only get the basics like pageviews, but you get the down and dirty specifics….the keywords, the when, the where, the IP addresses, if they’re logged in from work, how long they were on each page, the how someone found your site, the last page they were on before they visited your site, the page they left your site to go to, as well as what’s been copied, cut or downloaded.  We’re talking full disclosure here.

And if you’re a numbers or data geek (I’m so not either), then it can offer up a lot of personal information. Before long, you can’t help but see the patterns.  And well, if you know anything about websites, servers, hosts and the whole package, you could actually track a person down if you wanted.

When you come down to it, no matter how hard you might work at creating that false sense of anonymity, a witty user name, putting everything behind some sort of private access wall, shortening URLs (the whole point of those services is to make the link trackable as well as shorter), or well, just trying to stay anonymous…you just can’t do it.

It always amazes me to think how much time, energy and effort people can put into their false sense of anonymity and the security they think they have.  Many people don’t seem to realize, that unless they’re a hacker and can bounce their IP around from server to server, they can’t remain anonymous.  It can’t happen.

Which of course is why I always suggest that my clients use a good analytical/statistical program.  Quite often, it can give you a glimpse into what your customers are searching for, where they found you and where they are located.  This is very usefull information when you’re in business.  And you never know when you might have to turn some of that personal info over to lawyers for whatever reason (we’ve had to do this a few times already for various sites).  Much like insurance, it’s part of the price of doing business.

How often do you check your stats?  Or do you check them at all?  What’s your favorite feature?


Every Gal Deserves a Night Alone From Time to Time

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Tonight the hubs is heading off to somewhere in the Inland Empire to connect with his youth.  He’s heading out to see the reunion show of the band he used to roadie for back in his long-haired, late 80’s.  As much as I’d love to meet the guys that played such an important part in his life, I’m still a bit under the weather to be up for a long and loud night (with music I most likely won’t enjoy…shhh!).  He’s heading out with one of his oldest friends instead.

In the meantime, I thought it would the perfect night to attend to some beauty rituals…touching up my roots; scrubbing for the self-tanner; hanging out touching nothing while wearing self-tanner; and trying out a new face mask (I love facials, but rarely get around to applying masks at home).  It should be a fun night.

If only I had something appropriately chickie to watch.  Or a good, non-business, chick-littie book to read *sigh*  No worries, I can watch Clueless, Valley Girl, the Sweetest Thing or Pracitical Magic…again!  They never get old.  They might get dated, but not old.  Classics I tell ya!

Now I’m craving fruity cocktails and decadent desserts…uh oh!

So what do you usually do when your signifigant other leaves you home alone for the night (sick or not)?

Looking for the Perfect Eye Shadow

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eye_shadowI’m on a quest.  Much like I was looking for the best drugstore mascara not all too long ago (found it…Maybelline Stiletto).  This time around, I’m looking for the perfect all over eyeshadow.  You know, that one shadow that you can wear daily that doesn’t necessarily look like you’re wearing shadow, but just kind of makes you look put togther.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve just used the same blush that I was wearing as my all over color.  Then I started to add a highlighter to my browbone.  Now that I’m working again (and networking and doing speaking gigs), I feel the need to look a bit more polished day to day.

I have two MAC colors that I picked up, but I’m not completley happy with either.  The one is goldish and well, has a bit of sparkle.  The other is pink and matte, but I think it’s just a tad too dark.

So I’m wondering, if you wear shadow and just use that one, all over kind of color, what do you use?  It can be drugstore or department store (since the shelf-life is so much longer than mascara I’m okay spending a bit more).  What works for you?