Best Ever Lifetime Movie

Ohhhhhh! The best ever Lifetime made-for-tv movie is on . . . Her Final Fury!

Speaking of Lifetime movies, I am a regulatory attorney. (Meaning, my life is not at all like a Lifetime movie, least of all any Lifetime movie that involves a courtroom.) My most exciting day practicing law until today involved having to hand deliver a piece of paper to the Secretary of State of a different State on New Years Eve, receiving said direction at noon of that day and there was a blizzard between me and the different State. Normally I spend my days reading the Code, and on the web pages of the agencies that interpret the Code. Until today. Today was a Lifetime made-for-tv movie in my office. Ripe for blogging oh so ripe for blogging were in not for that attorney-client can't tell thingy. Darn it.

Okay, I'm signing off. Here's the part where Betty Broderick goes ape shit and flings poo.

Things I Love, Makeup Addition

I love me some makeup I just do. I find that playing with all those little colorful pots and brushes is one of the most relaxing parts of the day. So you would think that I leave the house every morning looking like I am from Texas, but that is not the case at all. I frequently look at myself in the rearview mirror when I get into the car and wonder where it all went already. Sephora, inevitably, is one of my favorite stores, and here are some tried and true products - not just impulse products. I use these until they are gone and then buy more. 1. Benefit Dallas powder. And this isn't just because I love Dallas. This is the best overall color you can add to your face. It's not quite a bronzer, and you can put it all over without getting a mask. It just gives your coat a healthy glow. 2. Icelandic Relief Eye Cream. Oh my sweet little pot of relief. Eye bags are my birthright. As are dark circles. But this little tub does excellent work on both. I use this twice a day and for the first time since I can remember since my 30's my bags and dark circles are almost gone! Now, people get dark circles for different reasons; I researched the heck of this topic. So I am not saying this will work for you. But it works for me. Yay. 3. Stila Eyeliner in Topaz. One swipe of this on your inner lash line and you will look like you had 8 hours of sleep. I always get 8 hours of sleep, so maybe this makes me look like I get 16 hours of sleep. I don't know. What I am saying is that this is sleep in stick form. Sadly, my sephora took there Stila display away. First Estee Lauder sells Stila, then it goes away from my sephora. I am a little worried.

Things I Love to Eat, Random Edition

You know how I got the flu for 8 days and right thereafter my allergies kicked in and I lost my appetite for everything especially anything I ate during those 8 days. Well, my appetite is coming back and I can't get enough of:

1. Slivers of really excellent parmesean cheese. Mmmmm I want some now.
2. think Thin bars
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Laura Bars.
4. White Chocolate Chais.

So, with the exception of the cheese, the theme is sugar. This is disappointing because right before the flu I had gone off the sugar for about a month. A girl has gotta eat though, so here we are.

Things I Love, Random Edition

I have not one but two friends who do jewelry home sales. It follows that I buy A LOT of jewelry via home sale parties. And to this I say thank GOD because back in the early 90s all anybody did was Pampered Chef and after the 50th demonstration of the onion chopper I started to wonder if it could be used as a deadly weapon and if there wasn't possibly an easier way to score some free snacks and wine.

But I like to be supportive. My one friend claims that her home jewelry sales have netted her enough to pay for a Disney Cruise for her family - which sounds like the very depths of hell to me, but the point is, she made bank. My other friend is $2000 in the hole.

Anyway, I tend to end up with random things at these home sale parties. One night I had enough wine that I ended up with a string of faux coral beads with a gold bee, apparently momentarily believing that I was a retiree in the Red Neck Riviera needing some dress-up jewelry for the skillet meal event at the Dennys.

But the other week I got a $40 reimbursement for all the downtown parking I did during my interviews. (So you can see how I could buy something for $40 and it would be free.) I was already going to order a birthday gift for my M-I-L from my home jewelry friend, so I also ordered this $37 necklace. For me, kind of a random style. It's a short leather chain with wee little gold dots hanging off of it. I didn't know when I would wear it because I haven't sported leather jewelry since that one Lalapolooza, but I thought I would try it.

I haven't taken it off for two weeks. I wear it with everything.

Then, on Sunday, my son and I were killing some time at the mall before our movie started. We went into Brookstone. Therein I tried the electronic sweater pill shaver, right on my lovely Anthropologie jersey blousey thing I was wearing. Whereupon the electronic sweater pill shaver made a giant hole right in the blousey thing. I needed a new shirt. My son wanted to walk around Urban Outfitters and there I found a gray sweatshirt with three-quarter sleeves and orange airstream trailers printed all over it. MAJOR SCORE. Its so adorable and comfy.

For those of you who know how old I am - No I am not having a mid-life crisis much. Sheesh.

Franchise Update

Remember when we first started to look for space for The Franchise and I said there was this perfect space but someone beat us to it; that is, there was already someone selling a product like ours in the perfect spot. However, their product was substandard and the store was grubby. Well, they went out of business. And so did a lot of other stores in this one area. People are now referring to the area as a ghost town, weird, may never come back. We looked at the empty space of the former store and my husband and I could not get out fast enough. It just felt wrong. It could have been ours, but it just felt wrong.


So today we are turning in an LOI for a space at an outdoor, free-standing spot. We are really cautious because we first built our business model on being in a mall with mall traffic. In other words, our business plan is based on little build out and a steady stream of people. Now we are facing a full build out that includes, literally, laying down a floor. The space doesn't even have door. They have to saw a damn whole in the front of the spot to show us the space. The point is, we are going to have to build it out from scratch. There are 4 walls, That's it. And we have to move one of the walls. Build out costs are higher than we expected, passing traffic way lower. We have worked the spreadsheets every which way. If we make the same income as the next closest franchisee, we lose money. You read that right. We lose money. But there are good reasons to believe we would do better. Good logical reasons. Also, it just feels right.


I get heart palpitations putting a quarter in a slot machine, so the risk is a bit hard to swallow. But then again, my husband and I still want to do it. We could walk away. We could sell our franchise right and come out relatively whole. But we look at all the risk, and all the work, and we still want to do it.

TGIF - Weekend Plans

Someone recommended Allegra and I just took my first one this morning. You see, I am allergic to this fair city in the Spring. For a good three months out of the year, until everything is done blooming, I am snotty and grumpy and my eyes are watery and I complain and I can't run outside and then I get more grumpy because I can't run outside and I am a runner damnit a runner.

Anyway, how are you?

Have a great weekend! I wish we could all meet up for a happy hour! We are going to the Museum of Nature and Science, to see The Lincoln Lawyer, and to draft a redline of the LOI for the franchise space. That is, maybe we will go to The Lincoln Lawyer - I am 100 pages into the book and I think the book is very good. If I see the movie, I won't finish the book. But then again, I am anxious to start reading My Korean Deli. I read the first chapter in the Barnes and Noble the other day and it a fun fast read.

Hair Straighteners, Ham Hocks and Brain Hurts

1. My husband says that it is only fair if I tell you that I left my hair straightener on for 24 hours yesterday. Between that and the 4 hour broiling experiment, it is a wonder our house is still standing.

2. I am thinking that I have been away from the South for too long as I cooked with a ham hock and I hated it. Never substitute a ham hock for the smoked turkey leg in my split pea man soup.

3. I'm tired. I got this job because I had a unique career path prior to law school, and a legal specialty. Both matched this job perfectly. HOWEVER, there is a learning curve like you wouldn't believe. My brain hurts. I'm happy, but the brain hurts.