What a Weekend

I think I’m just getting my voice back. Although the sales at the gallery were very slow, the visiting with friends was in full swing. What a ball I had hanging out all weekend and doing nothing but catching up with friends, without the guilt that I should be working. As much as I stressed over being ready for the gallery opening, I was looking forward to two straight days (actually, two straight weekends) of just sitting still. And it was better than I even hoped. On Saturday we had non-stop guests and the day flew by. We even had our last (saintly) visitors call ahead to see if it was OK to bring us dinner. HELLO! Is this really a question? How amazingly nice it was to close up shop and move the party to the house. Lisa made the best turkey stew and I made my contribution to the meal by slaving over the oven to bake an apple crisp pie. OK, since Penni is reading I better fess up. I sort of warmed up a frozen pie, but it required me operating the oven and I did a good job. Everything was delicious. We talked until 10 PM. What a perfect day.

Sunday was more of the same only less visitors, but they stayed longer. I still can’t believe that my cousins drove an hour and 15 minutes to see the gallery. Since they invested so much time in the commute, I insisted they stay and visit all afternoon. It was their first time to our house and to be honest I never spent quality time visiting with these guys so it was really special.

Everything went very smoothly inside the gallery, minus the near electrical fire yesterday. I sort of fried my computer monitor, but learned a valuable lesson. I have to say, it was really nice to live out my dream and I really enjoyed myself as I sat and painted pottery in my toasty, cozy ‘studio’ with my hounds snoozing by my side. It was the most relaxing time I spent in a very long time and now that I think about it, my shoulder didn’t hurt all weekend.

Thanksgiving Eating Tips from Karlo

This past weekend Karlo managed to sneak a gigantic Belgian chocolate bar into our grocery cart without my knowledge. I have to admit I wasn’t too upset when it appeared on the dining room table after our dinner. Knowing Karlo’s eating habits, and being selfish enough to want to have my fair share of the bar, I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t planning to eat the entire thing all at once (like he normally does). I’ve learned that if I want any food in our house I need to eat it immediately, or go without. I’ll scarf down huge pieces of watermelon when I’m so full I think I’m going to burst because I know if I don’t get some on the spot it will be gone in 10 minutes. I hate having to do this, so with this chocolate bar I was going to set some rules.

I pondered how I was going to tell Karlo that he was NOT eating the entire bar on the spot. At first I thought I should point out that this bar was supposed to be 8 servings, but I knew that wouldn’t phase him. He doesn’t blink an eye at eating 10 servings at one time. So I thought I would re-phase and said, “Karlo, this candy bar is going to last for more than one sitting.” And he happily agreed instead of the protest that I was expecting . . . about it going bad if we didn’t eat it right away. I sat there for a few moments stunned trying to figure out what he was up to and then he says, “I’ll stand up and sit down as many times as you want me to.”

So there you have it folks. Eat as much as you want tomorrow. Just make sure you stand up and sit back down every once in a while because that qualifies you for a whole ‘nother serving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Breaking Him In

Well it's been a whole week with Cooper running around the house. OK, that may be a stretch for what a greyhound does around the house. Maybe I should re-phrase . . . It's been a whole week with Cooper sleeping around the house and I'm happy to report he's working out just fine. Every day he learns new things and is becoming a more polite house guest. It sure is amazing to watch him develop and evolve from a track dog, used to living in a cage, to a loving pet. I'm really enjoying this experience and I often can't wait to get home just to hug him.

I particularly love the weekends because it gives us more time with the hounds. It's getting harder and harder to take our after-work hikes with the sun falling out of the sky earlier and earlier. This weekend we took the dogs to one of our favorite hiking trails nearby. So far Cooper has only hiked the short trails on our property so this was a big outing. We only took him half the distance we normally take Peanut and that was quite enough for him. It's amazing how such a buff animal can be so out of shape. Actually, I can sort of relate to that myself. Anytime I complain about being out of shape I always get the hairy eyeball. The similarities between me and greyhounds never cease to amaze me. We both can 'look' in shape even when we are not. So we're going to have to break Cooper in slowly and let him work up his endurance for some real hikes this winter. But first we need to teach him what snow is. I'm pretty sure this will be his first experience in the white stuff.

Here are the happy hounds during the hike:

And here they are 2 minutes after getting home:

This is Not Going to Work

In an attempt to solve one problem I created another. The problem I was trying to solve was our confusing driveway situation. I always try to make a point to explain our driveway(s) to first-time visitors because being presented with three different options on the road can be somewhat confusing. And in the event that I forget to explain the situation it usually results in our guests having to hike up the hill that separates our backyard from our front door. I’ll never forgot the one couple that had to scale up the slippery rock in nearly a foot of snow because I forgot to warn them about our driveways. After that incident one of us usually tries to ‘stand guard’ watching the back driveway through the windows. At least if we knew somebody was coming to the back of the house we could rescue them.

So how brilliant of an idea was it to buy a gadget that sounds an alarm in the house when a car drives down the back driveway? Not only would this solve the problem of visitors arriving without our knowledge and not being able to access a door from the basement level of the house, but it would definitely come in handy for the gallery. I could sit in the warm toasty house and only run out to the gallery when visitors arrive. I loved this solution!

Karlo set it up yesterday and it worked like a charm. He drove back and fourth while I danced around the house to the sound of the alarm chimes.

But then nighttime came and little did we know that every deer that walks by would set if off. That darn alarm chime went off about 4 times last night. I got so conditioned by alarms going off and falling back to sleep that I didn’t distinguish between the driveway alarm and our real alarm this morning. I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Good grief. Looks like we will have to get into the habit of turning it on and off every day.

Getting Ready For Opening Day

This was the last weekend before the gallery's big opening and we sure were busy getting ready. Luckily I had some help from a friend who did a great job with the displays. I swear that was my biggest challenge. I find it easy to make the jewelry, yet impossible to show it off. The only idea that was mine was making little "jewelry trees" and I was quite proud of them. Everybody (including the hounds) pitched in to lend a hand and I was very grateful for the help.




I think I'm in good shape now and won't need to do too much more for opening day. That should leave me some time to do some Christmas shopping on the dreaded Black Friday. After opening my calendar I realized that after the two upcoming weekends which are 100% dedicated to the gallery, the following weekend is 100% dedicated to work. We have to go away to Florida for work again and by the time we come home I have exactly one weekend before Christmas. Holy shopping problem Batman. If I don't get my act together on Black Friday there will be no Christmas.

Snapshots from Chicago

Ok so I'm a week late. I just got off the phone with Karlo, who is sitting in the airport in Charlotte and it flashed me back to just a week ago when I was in his shoes. Only my shoes were in Chicago. I was thinking back at how unpleasant it is to be stuck traveling alone, wandering around an airport and wishing you could push the clock ahead. It's funny that I was wishing I could push the clock ahead last night and now I realize that I wouldn't want to switch places with Karlo. I thought I had it so hard taking care of the hounds by myself, but as it turns out the job has been quite easy. OK, there was one accident in the crate today, but the bedding has already been washed (along with the guilty dog) and come to find out, it was really Karlo's fault for failing to give me one important piece of dog care information. That's OK. Karlo can make it up to me when he gets up at 5 am tomorrow to let Cooper out.

I think I got a little side tracked. All I really wanted to say was, "Here are some snapshots I took from my hotel room in Chicago last week." One was taken at sunset, one at night, and one just before day break.

A Quiet Night at Home

Boy it sure is quiet around here. Karlo is on the road for a short trip and I'm home alone, out numbered by hounds two to one. I've been stressing about these two days and handling the new little monster all by myself. I was complaining to Lisa that I should be doing everything possible to relieve some of my stress and instead I'm adding to it. But I got myself all worked up and worried over nothing (so far). Cooper has been on his best behavior tonight. Both dogs are snoozing on their beds and I feel like I have a sleeping infant in the house. I don't dare move from the kitchen counter for fear that they will stir. It's so nice and stress-free when they are both laying down. I can rest easy. As long as Cooper is laying down I know he's not going to have an accident in the house. Of course, this is really my only worry and concern. And it's really unfounded because he hasn't had an accident yet. But still, I will be anxious for the first month until I really know I can trust him. So here I sit, as still as can be, watching the clock and wishing time would move faster. How ironic seeing as I haven't been able to catch up on my To Do list for months. I have mountains of work to do and yet I'm happy to be here doing none of it. Maybe this is an ironic twist of fate and I was meant to bring Cooper into my life to make me slow down. Funny how things work out . . .

What Have We Done?

Because one stinky, hairy troublemaker wasn't enough . . . . We brought home this little guy today.


Actually, he's not little at all. He's about 75 pounds and bigger than Bentley was. So far Peanut does not know what to make of the situation. At fist she seemed to like him.

And I even caught her kissing him.

But she has since turned up her nose at him. What's a girl to do? He is a handsome devil. His kennel name was Riff Raff, but I think he looks more like a Cooper, no? Then all we have to do is change Peanut's name to Mini. LOL

We haven't officially adopted him yet. We are just fostering him for 3 weeks. That should give us enough time to figure out what Peanut really wants. Does she want a live in buddy or does she prefer being the only princess of the palace? Hopefully 3 weeks will be enough time to figure all this out.

One Happy Customer

I had such a pleasant customer service experience yesterday that I just have to share. First, let me say that Apple impresses me in so many ways. Granted there are some things about the company and their products that tick me off, but as a whole most of their business sense is pure genius. Take for instance their commercials. It was this one that made me make the decision to buy a Mac in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeOEmrW1cTs

But it's this commercial that really rings true with me now. There is a reason that Apple is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnBzUC1aTM

So here's my story . . . Two days ago I finally broke down and made a sizable investment in a new kick a$$ iMac for home. I was so excited that I had to share the good news with my cousin, who also just happened to buy an iMac. When he asked me if I made sure to use my National Association of Photoshop Professionals discount on the purchase my heart sank because I did not. After his report of an over $300 savings I thought it was worth a phone call to Apple. And that phone call was the most pleasant and easy customer service call I think I ever had. I had a complicated situation, but it was handled smoothly with lots of apologizing for putting me on hold as the rep consulted with managers. In the end I got the free financing that I scored on my original order, plus they issued me a credit for $125. I just couldn't believe how pleasant and helpful the customer service person was. It makes me think back to a service call I placed with Dell that lasted over one hour with a bad connection (to India, no doubt) with a person that I could not possibly understand speaking some sort of Indian-English. And after all that, my problem was still not resolved. I haven't even gotten my new Mac yet, but I'm as happy as can be. I know I made the right choice. I always shied away from Apples because of the cost. They are far more expensive than PCs, but there's a reason for that . . . They are worth every penny.

Making Progress

I haven’t exactly called a doctor yet, but I did seek some advice from a paramedic friend so that is progress in regards to my health. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but I’m working on it.

In regards to my business I took a much bigger step. Last night I shook hands with my new business partner. I offered one half of my YogaDudes business to my friend Sue who, for some reason, was thrilled to enter into a deal that creates all kinds of work with very little profits. Ooops, maybe I shouldn’t tell her that. Anyway, I couldn’t be happier about this partnership. Just knowing that I’m no longer alone in this relieves a great deal of stress. Now I have a backup when I travel and two heads are always better than one.

And speaking of two heads, four hands are definitely better than two. I also hired a very hard-working immigrant last night to assist in some of the dirty work. Once he heard that YogaDudes would be holding its first ever company Christmas party next year he decided he wanted in on the action. So please meet the newest member of the YogaDudes sweat shop:

Something’s Gotta Give

And I just hope it’s not my heart! I am actually getting to the point where I’m starting to worry about my health. I struggled through two months of severe neck, shoulder and back pain and it wasn’t until I got to the beach in Spain before I was able to definitively diagnose the problem as stress. There was a direct correlation between the pain and the day’s activity. Lying on the beach = no pain. Driving in the traffic = pain.

Now that I’m home most of the shoulder pain has been greatly reduced. However, the pain in my neck (not Karlo, the real pain) is increasing and now I have strange sensations in my left arm and fingers. It feels like a blood pressure band (the thing the doctor pumps up to check your blood pressure) is strapped over my bicep, squeezing my muscle. And I’m just ‘getting used to’ the fact that two of my fingers (either my thumb and fore finger, or my pinky and ring finger) are always numb and tingly. I’m thinking this is probably NOT a good sign.

Last year I resolved that I would not live through another stressful 4th quarter. I took actions to ensure this year would be easier. I hired a warehouse to handle the fulfillment of my yoga business orders and made cloth bags to reduce the time spent wrapping presents. Now I’m working nearly full time trying to stock the warehouse, in between getting ready for the gallery to open, and as far as Christmas present wrapping goes . . . I’ll be lucky if I find the time to do any online shopping at all, never mind wrap the darn things.

This weekend my cousin wanted to chat with me online and after I made him wait for 5 minutes while I processed orders, I came back and got on his case because he wasn’t instantly ready to chat with me. His reply was, “Give me a minute, will ya?” And my reaction was “A minute? You want to me to wait an entire minute?” I can’t sit idle for an entire minute!!!! Between my full-time job, my side business, my freelance work, the opening of my gallery, my ‘I’ve completely-lost-my-mind-and-volunteered-my-web-services’ issues and just trying to manage the household stuff, I’m just losing my mind.

So needless to say, something’s got to give. I can’t keep this up and I’m just not sure what to do. I keep thinking that next year will be different . . . if I can just survive until next year.

So Much for Happy Blog Posts

I feel compelled to vent a bit, so we will take a break from my previously scheduled ‘happy blog postings’ to let me do so. As you know I was away last week on a business trip. Getting out of Chicago on a Friday afternoon is not an easy task and as if the stress of the traffic and solo train ride wasn’t enough, I had the huge weight on my shoulders of coming home to face Bentley’s exit. So needless to say I wasn’t in the best mood and maybe that is why I was so crotchety, but still, I need to vent.

The flight was completely full and I was slightly ticked off that I didn’t get a seat in economy plus (more legroom for United ‘preferred’ fliers). I qualify this year for their elite status and normally I get the better seats. But after missing our flight on our last trip and suffering through a 5 hour layover to go standby on the last flight home, I figured I should just shut up and count my blessings that the plane was taking off on time.

So I sit down with my new novel (had to buy a book to take my mind off of Bentley) and I was immediately distracted by the toddler sitting behind me. I could see by the reflection in the window that he was sitting with his legs up, ON THE BACK OF MY SEAT and that little bugger continued to KICK MY SEAT for the entire 2 hours of the flight. I swear to God I wanted to reach back, slap him, and CHOKE his mother. My blood was boiling at how completely and utterly rude it was to let this kid behave like this. As I sat there, not being able to read my book due to the rage brewing inside me I started to think about how Karlo and I were struggling to adopt a new dog. I had to fill out a 4 page application to beg and plead to prove that we are worthy enough to adopt a dog that is sitting in a cage, in a shelter, that might otherwise face death. Are we good enough to save a dog from being killed??? The scrutiny you must face to adopt a dog is unreal. And YET, any complete idiot can breed and have children despite the fact that they have no child rearing common sense in the world. It just boggles my mind. When is somebody going to figure out a system to pre-quality humans in order to allow them to bring children into this world?

Important Announcement

We got through a difficult weekend and now it’s time for some happier blog topics . . .

I’m very excited to announce the grand opening of my new gallery. Remember the “Love Shack?” Well, it will soon be the official home Green Valley Arts, my very own artist studio. I always wanted my crafts displayed in a gallery somewhere, but who’s got the time to scout out galleries and beg them to take my work? It was much easier to just build my own! Cross another thing off my Bucket List – Have my work displayed in a gallery . . . [done]

And the grand opening is in conjunction with Artist Open Studios. What is Artist Open Studios you ask? It’s an event that happens once a year in the Northeast corner of the state. Well actually, these events happen all over the place, but the one I’m participating in is in the “Quiet Corner of CT.” Artists that live in this area open up their studios and/or homes to the public for two weekends (November 28-29 and December 5-6 from 10 AM – 5 PM). It’s a fun event and a chance to visit many different artists and view their works. Everybody, of course, will have items on display for sale that would make terrific and unique Christmas presents. Although the AOS web site is horrific, I will share it in case you want to check it out: http://aosct.org/

I invite you all to stop and visit during these weekends. I would be honored to see you. You can also view my new website here: www.greenvalleyarts.com.

This is a First

Well, this is the first time that I've ever been on the road, alone, and not looking forward to going home. I have to pack up tonight and head to the airport tomorrow afternoon and I'm dreading it. And it's not the crazy Chicago rush hour traffic or the solo train ride to the airport that I'm dreading. It's going home . . . to the harsh reality of what I must face on Saturday morning. That is the dreaded time that we will have to say goodbye to Bentley for the last time. I'm sitting here struggling to find the words for how I feel, but there are just no words . . .

And Speaking of Traveling

Would you believe that I have a packed suitcase in my car and I’m headed to the airport this afternoon? No sooner did I get through documenting our vacation and I’m off on another business trip. I’m not complaining though, as I’m going to my favorite city (Chicago) for totally geeky software training. This means I should be in my glory. The training I’m taking is Mac-based and is on video production. What fun! So between sitting behind a Mac all day and learning cool new things and strolling Michigan Ave at night shopping for cool things, I’ll be a happy camper. I’m just hoping for no exciting travel stories . . .

A Few (More) Words About Traveling Overseas

I can always count on a nice long trip to put things into better perspective. And going to Europe always makes Karlo and I come home with a different outlook on life. The last couple of times we went over we realized just how rushed and chaotic our lives at home where. We swore that we would modify our lifestyle to be more like the laid back Europeans. We promised to change our diet and our mannerisms and we would make a better effort to relax. Well, I’m not exactly sure what happened to all of those empty promises.

This time things were different. This time we got to experience more of the less desirable aspects of Europe. We got forced to use public transportation, drive in heavy/crazy traffic, and breathe in smoggy air. It was during these times that I really had to stop and take notice. Here I was with little patience, annoyed that I had to stand on a moving, loud, uncomfortable train for 20 or 30 minutes. I stopped and looked around at all the other passengers and realized that this was the story of their lives. They probably ride this same train to and from wherever it was they were going day after day. I thought my 30 minutes were so unpleasant because at home I have the luxury of hopping into the cutest car on earth to go wherever I want in pure comfort. I simply could not imagine having to live day in and day out like the locals did.

It’s funny the things we take for granted like our cars or the clean air we breathe. Or here’s an interesting one. We take for granted that most of the people that we encounter on a day to day basis are, for the part, friendly and respectful. That is not something that I ever really noticed before, but after spending some time in Italy (well, Northern Italy anyway) I realize that this is not the case all over the world. I hate to say this (especially considering this is my heritage), but most of the Italians that I encountered were incredibly rude and unpleasant people. Now granted, if I had to live where they live and travel the way they do, I might be a bit crotchety too, but I just found it astounding how rude and unfriendly the majority was. I never encountered this in any of my other travels to Italy so I’m just going to stick with the idea that Milan turns people grumpy. I think the only happy people there are the super rich that can afford to shop.

So this time we came back home with a renewed love for the life we have. It seems like you always need to be away from something (or someone) to make you realize how much you love it (them). Yes, I still love Europe and I will likely continue to travel there, but in the meantime I am going to savor all the beauty, luxury, and freedom that we enjoy on a daily basis. It’s always good to stop and be thankful for what you have. Gee, I should have saved this post for Thanksgiving . . .

Italy Revisited

Well, this is the first post that I didn’t write while on vacation. I guess I petered out with my writing ambition and now it seems like ages since we were there. I will do my best to recap our 2 days in Northern Italy.

We had an early morning flight out of Malaga and arrived back in Milan by noon. This time we rented a car and didn’t have to rely on public transportation. This was both good and bad. Good for the obvious reasons of having the freedom, but bad in that driving in Italy is insane. It’s overcrowded, confusing, and we literally couldn’t figure out how to get gas. I’m not kidding. There are no attendants working at the gas station, none of the instructions on the pump were in English, and did I mention that most of the locals are rude and unhelpful? Thank goodness we didn’t drive too far and had an economical car. I can only imagine what the rental place socked us for bringing the car back empty.

Anyway, back to my story. So we drove up to Lake Como on Saturday. It was a beautiful and stress-free drive up. We stopped for lunch at a great little place overlooking the lake and continued up to Bellagio. We didn’t really know what was there, but it just sounded nice . . . and it was. We parked and walked all over the ritzy little town. We managed to fill our whole day and started to head home in the later afternoon. The drive back did not go nearly as smooth. The traffic got to be nuts, the stress increased, and our love of Italy quickly got knocked down a few notches. As beautiful as Northern Italy is, the proximity to the big, over-crowded and smoggy city of Milan just kills it. Luckily we managed to fight the traffic without any incidents and used our trusty GPS to find the most delightful restaurant near our hotel. This place was out in the middle of nowhere, no English was spoken, but it was the most quaint and elegant place we ate throughout the trip. The food was out of this world and it was worth whatever the heck it cost. Now THAT was the Italian experience that I want to remember.

We originally had plans to travel much further on Sunday, but based on the traffic lessons we learned the day before we decided to stay closer to our home base. We took a much shorter drive up to Lago Magiore instead. We’ve been there before, but there were still new places to see. The day was beautiful and we took a leisurely drive, stopping at all the little villages along the way. The good and bad news was that most of the shops were closed on Sunday. Bad for spending time poking around, but good for saving money. All in all it was a stress-free and easy day of unwinding before our long travel day that would follow.

To see more pictures from this portion of our trip, please click here.