Ten Years Down the Road

The Suburban Princess gave me the "You're Going Places" award. Love that it has a picture of Mr. Bogart. I finally watched Casablanca for the first time a few years ago. Almost time to watch it again, and that's an honor I do not bestow lightly. Tommy Boy and Staying Alive - also worthy of multiple watchings.
Anyway, this award requires me to state where I will be in 10 years. So here goes:

1. The franchise agreement is for 10 years. We will be coming upon the decision whether to keep running the franchise. Isn't that crazy? We just signed the agreement!

2. My son will be 19. Holy Crap.

3. My divorce decree requiring me to keep my son in the same metropolitan area as his father will no longer apply and we will be free to move anywhere. (Seattle? Charleston? Water. There will be water.)

4. I will live in a house with a walk-in closet so large that I could serve dinner in there. The rest of the house can be tiny. I once house sat in a house with a closet so large that I slept in it. It was my happy place. I had just purchased my first pair of Kate Spades and I wanted to be with them.

5. Hopefully I will not have gotten any shorter than 5'1''.

That's all really egotistical.

On a serious note, I hope that the franchise will be going well enough that I will have the time and the resources to help women and children running from abusive relationships.

Ten years is a good time frame to think about because it's far enough away that it's a mixture of fantasy and reality. And you?

Closing Out Summer

We were in Keystone this weekend for our last summer mountain trip of the year.

Once ski season hits, the scene above will contain thousands of people wielding large, heavy objects such as skis and snowboards and poles. Finding a seat to enjoy a hot chocolate (or an Irish Coffee) will require an eagle eye and lucky timing. The masses will be loud and hungry and tired.

But for a weekend in the summer, Keystone Village can be all yours. It's really quite perfect. I'm already looking forward to the first mountain weekend next summer.

Not incidentally, the best taco soup in Colorado is at Dos Locos right there on the main drag.

Weekend Treat - Brandon Flowers Doing Bette Davis Eyes

perezhilton.com has a clip of Brandon Flowers doing Bette Davis Eyes and it is absolutely divine. Dare I say, better than the original.

But best of all, Brandon Flowers is smiling and looking like he is having a good time.

Yes, please.

Advanced Crock Potting Goes Underappreciated

I'm a big fan of Allrecipes.com. I just pick a general category of food and look for something that's been heavily reviewed and has a good rating - usually I can't go wrong.

I love it when I read a review for something like, say, grilled eggplant, and the review goes like this:

"I give this five out of five stars. I did change the recipe a bit. For example, I did not use the eggplant."

The other day, pushing fall because I am sick of it being 99 degrees, I decided to try something from the crock pot section. I decided on crock pot chicken and dumplings. I figured that this would get me lots of cred with the husband and kid. The husband is from South Carolina, so how could he not like chicken and dumplings. The kid is a kid, so how could he not like chicken and dumplings. The reaction from both of them - meh. The thanks I get for putting things in a crock pot. And this was advanced crock potting. I had to add the refrigerated biscuit dough at a separate time from everything else.

That's it. I'm going to make them the grilled eggplant - and use the eggplant.

Home Depot, A Sequin Free Zone

Our rental house needed a new window and I am more than happy to oblige because (1) I am no slum lord, and (2) the renter is interviewing to manage my favorite pho restaurant. Let us not underestimate the power of a real oxtail pho.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that I was probably the only person in the Home Depot today (and by that I mean every single Home Depot on the planet) in sequins. Unless RuPaul was also there picking up paint samples.

Sequins are another one of those things that seem like a fashion forward business decision at the J.Crew but that, in reality, look ridiculous when you are sitting in your cube. Ditto for the white keds with the black business suit. Perhaps this would all work out a little better if I was taller. (I am roughly the size of an Olsen twin or Tom Cruise).

You should have seen the looks I was getting from all the contractors this morning at the Home Depot as the only female there. And it wasn't contractor cat calls either. It was more, "Oh honey, no. Even we know that sequins before noon at the Home Depot are a no."

What I Like About Being My Age

A few days ago I got a call out of the blue from a young associate at one of my former law firms. The partner that I worked for was jumping ship and he wanted to take her with him. The associate had heard rumors that this partner was hard to work for, and she wanted to know what I thought because she had never actually worked for him. She was seriously considering the move because he was offering her a really good deal - emphasis on the really.

Phew. No red flags there.

I navigated my response with honesty and professionalism. I have a lot of respect for my former profession and I don't want to burn any bridges. [I once let it fly in an exit interview and let's just say that they had no interest in speaking with me after I got laid off from the next firm]. I balanced that with the fact that she was making a major life decision and I felt that I owed her some honest, appropriate answers. I explained that I found the partner's reputation to be accurate and that he was extremely difficult to work for.

I also encouraged her to speak to his past two associates before me. All three of us worked for him for less than a year - two of us were laid off and one of us was smart enough to ask to be transferred to a different department before it could happen.

Today I learned that she that she jumped ship with him.

Here's what I love about being my age:
(1) I have learned that I am not going to be, and nobody else is going to be, the one person that can work with or change another person.
(2) I have always made the wrong decision when I have based that decision on money.

Apparently you can't explain that. You just have to live and learn.

Let's Get It Started

Franchise Update . . .

We are now in the process of negotiating for space. We have identified three different spots. There is a clear first choice, and distant second and third choices. Because the landlord at our first choice is being difficult, we are pursuing all three spaces at this time. There is also always the possibility that the first choice won't offer a commercially reasonable lease because they heard through various channels that their space is our clear front runner.

Of course, your reasonable next question is, "Well, why aren't you playing it more close to the vest?" I KNOW. When you negotiate for space that is owned by certain large, multi-state commercial landlords, they only work through brokers. I have very little control over the actual communication that goes on, including the negotiating.

You have no idea how hard it is for me, a former lawyer, someone who has already signed the contract to own and operate the franchise, to be still sitting in a cubicle working this crazy job so that I can afford to pay a broker to negotiate something on my behalf.

However, having signed the actual franchise contract, I am now privy to lots of new information and figures and details. Let's get it started! (Read, of course, to the tune of Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas.)