Civilization Has Arrived

Kate Spade is coming to Aspen. You have no idea how this changes my opinion of this State. Cuteness has arrived. Which is a welcome break in a place where people dress to be ready for a hike at a moment's notice. I am just a little bitter, as the allergy doctor told me that my daily headaches, itchy eyes, and stuffy nose are just the result of the air here. People have the impression that you come here for the cool, fresh mountain air. In reality, the mountains just hold all the dry, polluted air hostage. It's kind of a strange life predicament to live in a place where you are counting down the days until you can move (10 years minus two and a half months). I moved around all my life, and eventually every place felt like home. I've been here ten years now, yet it has never felt right. I think I might feel better, however, if I joined the really nice gym. After running at the gym at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek on the girls' trip, the Bally's just doesn't cut it anymore.

Book Club

Book Club would be so much better if I was in control. This month the girls have picked Shades of Gray. Huh. This doesn't sound like a book I would like, but then again I didn't jump on the bandwagon either for the adolescent wizards or the teenaged vampires or the Nordic crime solver. Although I could stand behind Daniel Craig. Anyway, the point is, maybe everyone could take their time, instead of reading the book, to source some Florence Broadhurst wallpaper for me.

I'll Take It

As you may recall, my doctor was on at me about taking tamoxifen to cut my breast cancer risk in half. Not being one prone to flowery language, she also let me know that it would give me hot flashes, I would gain weight, and that my lady parts would be affected as well. It is all she said it would be. I, personally, am contributing to global warming with the hot flashes. The lady part bits, well I am not going to get into that on the world wide web. However. I have lost my belly pooch. I have always been 5'1" and 105, but with a little belly. Well those tamoxifen tablets have evened me right out. Hello Kate Spade bikini.

Cozy Weekend

Ahhhhhhhh. Relaxing girls' trip to the mountains.

Step on This

Stepchildren issues. I feel like a doormat. With a little bag of burning poo left on it. I am going away this weekend with a girlfriend. I haven't done this since university, and I was actually thinking I was going to miss my husband and the kids. However. I need my best girlfriend. I need a bottle of wine and my best girlfriend who will commiserate with me and who always makes me laugh. It doesn't hurt that we are going to one of the most beautiful towns in the 48 contiguous States. It is going to be cold and rainy. It is a good thing I just got some really cute rainboots. It will help to get through the poo on my way out the door.

No Slothing

A day late, but let me tell you about my mom. When my mom was sick, she would go to chemotherapy in the morning, we would meet for chili rellenos for lunch because that is what she craved AND THEN SHE WOULD GO INTO WORK AND CHEERFULLY WORK FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. So. I have a very low tolerance for sloth. That is my soapbox for today.

Do We Offend?

Sometimes I wonder if I am an embarassment. I mean, true, I own way, way too many ridiculously patterned Cafe Capri pants from J.Crew. (I embraced them as a solution to my never-ending quest to find pants I didn't have to hem, being 5'1'', until I saw myself in the mirror and realized that what Cafe Capri pants end up doing on me is not so much being capris as being just generally oddly lengthed pants but buy them I continue to do as I have yet to find a good tailor in this town.) And I listen to The Bridge on my Sirius radio despite the fact that I am way, way too young for it. (What can I say. Every time I hear "Harry, keep the change," it makes my day.) And I almost always am off on a new topic before I finish the sentence I am currently speaking, causing people to look at me like they missed something, to which I have to clue them in that they have. We switched topics. But none of this my father or stepmother would know. They haven't been around enough. Yet I have to wonder if my son and I make them uncomfortable in some way. I texted my stepmother to tell her Happy Mother's Day. Oh I know. The former Southern Belle in me says texting is an overutilized and often inappropriate medium for many things (See, for example, previous blog entry wherein store manager quit job via text). However. Both of my stepdaughters texted me today to say Happy Mother's Day. That was all I needed. It was a sweet sentiment that, frankly, hasn't occurred every year since I married their father (different post on that issue). So, taking a clue from their playbook, I texted my stepmother. Who never texted, called, emailed back. So, this leads us to this question. Is it wrong, then, for me to ask for my pictures back. That is, the pictures that I bought on a trip to New Orleans of New Orleans because my family used to live in New Orleans that hung in my bedroom at my family house before my mom died, but my father's new wife took without asking to hang in her and my father's bedroom at their new house? I THINK NOT. My stepdaughter goes to Tulane now. I am sure she would appreciate those pictures in her room at our house.

Humbled, Honored, Forever In Debt

I alluded to this yesterday but it is worth repeating. I have been so amazed at our employees who have stepped up to help out when our manager abandonded us because she wanted to go on one last bender and then check herself into rehab. These are employees who could go across the street and make more money at busier jobs. These are employees who have no place to go with us - there is no career ladder for them. These are employees who make it possible for my husband and I to keep well-paying careers and run this investment as well - that is, employees who would have every right to consider us gluttons and deserving of any chaos that befalls us. Yet these are employees who have volunteered extra time, rearranged schedules, taken on more work, and spent their own money to be there and get things for the store. These are employees who called to see if I needed them, and then told me to get some rest when they didn't me. I am humbled. I do not know how to express my thanks in any way that seems worthy. We keep hearing from our employees that we are nice and that we are good people. Is that all there is? I think that might be all there is. A little nice, a little respect.

Cry or Reboot

At 5:23 a.m. this morning the store manager quit via text. The store manager who was scheduled to make the product and be the front person until the second person got there at 10:00. I cannot leave my law office to rescue the store. No dice no deal not ever. However, this should only ever be an issue if the store had an emergency and (1) my husband is out of town, and (2) the manager isn't available. hahahahahaha. Here we are. I am overwhelmed and, for a blogger, almost speechless, regarding the people who stepped up to help out today, the people who not only answered our call for help, but who stepped up and anticipated where we would be needing help and offered it willingly. My husband coordinated the emergency store schedule from China, and I went in immediately after work with supplies and to do paperwork. We are taking our life in 15 minute increments. I left the store becuase I had to do the uniform and towel laundry ready for 5 a.m. tomorrow morning. As I sat down to have some cereal the phone rang. The entire point of sale system was down. There were really only two options. Cry or reboot. I chose reboot.