11.11.11.11.11.11

It's Veteran's Day and my favorite part was seeing the flags lining the streets of our neighborhood. The flags looked beautiful as they fluttered in the cool breeze and were framed by golden trees in the background.

It was also an date that only happens once in a hundred years. We got our photos of Nov. 11th at eleven minutes after 11 o'clock. Scott was at work and told his patient that he had to go take the picture and the patient followed him into his office to watch. Scott's sister Mary who works for him was the photographer. (Mary just got home from watching her son and his fiancee run the New York Marathon!)

I was home and had my camera all set up to take a self-timer photo. I decided to hurry and put on lipstick and somehow took too long and it was 11:12 when I got back to the clock. I was so mad - but then realized I had another chance. Tonight Scott took the picture and made sure even the second hand was on 11.

camera ready for Nov. 11 at 11!

I love the photo challenge idea that Liz Kartchner's doing on her Dear Lizzy blog (that's her in the picture). She's suggesting her readers take a photo tomorrow at 11:11:11. I suppose it could be morning or night. Then go to her blog and post your photo to the link gadget.

I've been thinking and Googling some ideas for the photo. I could hold up a calendar with the date circled. I could write 11-11-11 at 11:11:11 on a sign and make Mike hold it while I take the picture. I could take a picture of the clock at the exact time. (Could be tricky.)

I can't wait to see people's creativity blossom with this challenge!

< dressed up >

I just love that I get to oooh and ahhh and giggle over the grandkids costumes instead of having to dress up my own kids. Being a grandma has many advantages! I get the biggest kick out of these two grandsons & four granddaughters looking adorable for Halloween.


Emmett just HAD to be Winnie the Pooh. His mother, Becky, has had a lifelong LOVE of all things Winnie the Pooh starting with watching the original "silly old bear" video over and over when she was a pre-schooler. And when she was a high-schooler. And have I mentioned that she worked at Disney World after college? Yeah, she's a Pooh girl. I didn't know if Emmett would actually wear his costume, but he did! He and his parents and their two-year-old neighbor boy went trick or treating through the whole neighborhood. We were all so surprised and happy about it.

And this little six-week-old sweetie looking so cute in her Minnie Mouse costume.

Here's baby Claire dressed up as a little ladybug. She just tagged along through all the Halloween activities of her three older siblings and smiled that cute little baby smile.


Little Carter, age 3 1/2, started telling me he was going to be Batman in July. He wore his costume constantly until the big day. He painted his pumpkin to look like Woody.

Bailee was a darling little devil all dressed in red. She thought up the idea to paint her pumpkin like candy corn and was excited to do it.

I'm always surprised when the kids start planning their costumes in the summer - their mom is organized that way - none of the last-minute rush for them. Brookie saw her Twister costume in a catalog and then figured out how to do her cute make-up to match.

Yup - those are our little munchkins. We got to see all of them the day before Halloween at Emmett's birthday party, and it was a treat even better than chocolate!

{ hope }

Ohhhh, I just have to show these photos of my cute little granddaughter. Her mom said I could...because seeing the baby in her first Halloween costume means so much to me.

I mentioned on my blog in September that Suzie's pregnancy was an unbelievably long, anxious, never-ending nine months for me. (Yes, I know, it was for Suz and Winston too, but this is all about me lol.) I was so worried; I just wanted this baby to be born. I, along with the whole family, was overwhelmingly grateful for the joy of Suzie's pregnancy after several years of infertility stress, difficult treatments, and disappointments. My impatience seemed to get the best of me, causing me to get all tied up in knots.

One day I opened an email newsletter from the author of "The Secret," a book I read a few years ago and liked and casually agreed with. In the email, there was a quote which said,

"The tighter you try and hold on to something that you are afraid of losing, the more you are pushing it away. Those thoughts are filled with fear, and if you continue to persist, what you fear the most will come upon you.

Fear nothing - just think about what you want. It feels so much better."

The words hit me pretty hard. I needed to quit thinking about my fears. I needed to have faith. And so I focused on one thing. I didn't tell Suzie this while she was pregnant - or anyone - because everyone might think I was slightly wacko. But, it helped me so much.

I thought about the new baby in her Halloween costume!

Would she be a little yellow duckie?

Would she be a cute orange pumpkin?

How about a little fairy princess?

Or maybe a ballerina - that's what her mommy would love - with a pink tutu.

I saw costumes at stores and said to myself, she will be cute as a little bee!

Or a hula girl, or a flower.

Every time my mind would worry, I'd think of another costume.

How about a cowgirl?

A monkey? A ladybug?

Never once did I think of Minnie Mouse.
And isn't it the cutest costume of all!?

Suzie made the costume with the help of Becky who visited the week before Halloween.
Suz crocheted the little cap with mouse ears and added the red polka dot bow. She made the polka dot skirt (with lace trim) and little white collar. She put it all together with the red onesie, black tights, and little white shoes that Aunt Jill made. Talk about cute!

And look at that - her first time trick or treating with her Dad. Wow.

scrapbook kits from ADORNit

Since I work for a company that creates and sells products for scrapbooking, I've had people ask me if scrapbooking is slowing down as a hobby. I guess the answer is yes, a little, (this is to be expected considering the economic downturn and resulting closure of many small scrapbooking shops and businesses). And yet, there are still lots of scrappers out there and tons of fun stuff going on in the scrapping world.

ADORNit has a very nice line of scrapbooking papers called Long Live Vintage which you can see used below. The projects in the pictures are for the monthly Busy Women Kits which are complete kits that are put together with ADORNit papers, fabrics, and ribbon and sent out as a subscription. They are sent six times per year - every other month (or a one-time purchase if you wish). The projects - two scrapbook layouts and a bouquet of fabric flowers were made by my friend and co-worker Janet. She's good at everything she does and careful and creative. You can see how Janet used both fabrics and papers from ADORNit, and it's so fun that they all mix and match together. The photos are of Janet's darling daughter and adorable and smart granddaughter.

The writing under the photos is from the ADORNit blog post explaining this month's Busy Women Kits and written by company president Georgana Hall.

Today at the warehouse Janet is shipping out our October Busy Women Kits. The kits make it so easy to mix up your regular scrapping routine. I love everything about this kit but my favorite has to be the adorable fabric flowers (yes, fabric & instructions are included in your kit!). And I have to add that Janet created the cute projects for the kit.

We started our Busy Women Kit Club a few years ago because as a scrapbooker I needed something simple and that came all coordinated together. I needed something that I didn’t have to fret and worry about. I love that the kits come loaded with product AND ideas. This way I can sit down at night when the kids are asleep, pull out my kit, and enjoy my time scrapbooking. You can find out more about our Busy Women kits by clicking here. To subscribe for six months and save $2.00 per kit, click here.

~ working it out ~

This story starts with me on the treadmill at the gym.

I was totally bored because I had forgotten my headphones and was drearily watching the clock. Then I saw my friend Corlee and her sister walking to the room where classes are held. "They're going to Zumba Gold???," I asked myself. "How can they do Zumba, let alone the gold class?" I got off the treadmill and followed them through the door. Oh! It's gold as in g-OLD. It's the Zumba class for oldies...not gold medalists. Duh. And I joined in.

Besides my introduction to Zumba Gold, a few things have come together to get me back to the gym.

First of all, it's time to renew our membership. I have to prove to Scott that I use the gym and it's worth the money. If I had a graph of the days I exercise over the years, I'm sure my frequency would always go way up during renewal month.

Second, last Sunday, as I put on some really tight, super control-top pantyhose, I could hardly pull them up. I felt weak in the arms. It shocked me. And scared me. I can't pull up my pantyhose!! What????

I've always struggled with consistency in exercising - it's so easy for me to find fifty million other things to do.

But when I go, I like it. It's not bad really, and I don't notice the "lost" hour at the end of the day.

I remember I used to say to myself when I was doing really good on exercise, "Of all the things you do today, this is THE most important." And I believed it...until I forgot.

A month ago I got back on the bandwagon and went to the gym. I saw two people I know who go regularly, and I cheerfully said to them, "I'm back!" And then I didn't go back.

(I don't HAVE to go to the gym to exercise; I do walk outside sometimes, and Scott and I ride our bikes on occasion, but I believe I get a better workout by going to classes at the gym. As far as exercising at home, forget it. Too many distractions. You know, burnt cookies and all.)

So what am I getting at here. Well, this is very embarrassing, but I've started going to the Silver Sneakers and Zumba Gold classes. Silver Sneakers classes are the classes for the elderly where they sit in chairs and lift two-pound weights.

Guess what. I'm stiff. I'm tired...you know the good tired that you feel when you've exercised.

I'm looking forward to class next week.

Instead of being the old lady in the step class filled with twenty-somethings in shorts and sports bras, I'm the young lady in the seventy-something class. Instead of being the lady who could only use one step instead of a stack of three, I'm the lady with the eight pound weights in my hands. Instead of going left when the whole class is going right, I'm getting every aerobics step with ease. I'm the gold among the old : )

:: sew week ::

I'm in the mood to sew lately and it's a good thing because I've been sewing a lot. If holiday sewing is the best kind of sewing, then I'm having lots of fun! In the past week I've worked on Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine's Day quilts.

It started with an email I got from the new quilt shop in town, My Girlfriend's Quilt Shop, telling about their Christmas mystery quilt. I've always wanted to try a mystery quilt, and when I saw the quilt shop's Halloween mystery quilt I knew they were good at this kind of project. So I signed up. And loved every minute of it, although I was always (and still am) behind schedule. What you see above is the blocks I have finished but not put together - so it's not really how the quilt will look, just how I arranged them for the photo. I'm about half finished with the quilt...ahem...the ladies who stayed on schedule are all done by now. I'm not worried because it's on its way, and I vow that it will be hanging in my front entry starting the day after Thanksgiving. The black squiggly line you see is my embroidery floss - not quite done with the backstitching that will say " 'Tis the season to be merry." There are lots of elements left to make - cute yo yos and more embroidery and bows and holly leaves and more pieced blocks and appliqued words (joy, of course) and the borders and binding. I don't mind any of that, because I love the fabric and could just stare at it all day - it's mostly from Moda's French General "FaLaLaLa" collection. So pretty.

I love his photo - I put it on Facebook when I finished stitching the quilt top. I get a kick out of the combination of my Halloween decorations next to the Valentine's quilt that I've been making out of ADORNit's new "Happy Hearts" collection of fabrics. This quilt is almost finished - it now has three big hearts appliqued on it, and it has lovely quilting with little hearts and swirls (quilted by my next-door neighbor Carol, bless her HEART), and it will soon have a black pin-dot binding. The quilt is going to Houston Quilt Market in Carolee's suitcase on Wednesday.

Here's another project that I've been thinking about since I picked up the pattern over a year ago. It's called Pumpkin Walk by Julie Popa a quilt pattern designer who lives here in Cache Valley. Her company name is enough to make me want to buy her patterns, Sunflower Hill Designs. I love the modern edge that the pattern has, though the fabrics I'm using won't give it much of a modern feel. Still, it's going to be great on my counter as a type of table runner...actually a counter runner.

I've had these fall-colored fabrics for a couple of years and have finally found a project to use a bit of them on. (In my photo, they're just arranged in the way I'll use them - I haven't cut or sewed anything yet.) I think they're perfect for this pattern. The darker one that looks black is actually purple with orange dots that are little pumpkins. There's a fall feeling without being overly theme-y, and that's a look I prefer. The dark brown gingham is a fabulous Moda check that just gives me chills. No, I'm serious.

{ afternoon walk }

A gorgeous Saturday afternoon and I couldn't resist loading myself up with camera, iPod and headphones, sunglasses, watch (it took me about a half hour to round all this up then find the right shoes, socks, pants for the temperature, etc.). It's hard work to be a walker.

It was worth it to walk and shoot the colorful scenery. (When you're a photographer, you don't take pictures, you shoot. I always grimace when photo/bloggers talk about shooting their kids...but that's the lingo.)

The trees haven't changed color yet in our valley, except for a select few and they stand out like ______ (good simile* needed here).

*A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as", or "than".

This doesn't look like much, but this hill kicks my bu... ooops, I mean, as my nephew Derek would say, kicks my trash every time.

These flowers are at the end of their summer glory, but still look beautiful to me.

I wish I could take you all to see this huge purple flower mound. It was covered, I mean covered, with bees and butterflies. I can't wait until Scott gets home from golfing because we're making a beeline :) to see this wonder of nature. Look closely and you can see a couple of butterflies.

And when I got back to my house, I walked around the yard to shoot a few photos of the beauty here. It's sadly lacking this year. The photo above, honest to goodness, is our tomato plant and our one tomato. We've been watching it grow all summer.

I've read a lot about Steve Jobs, read his speeches, and even watched (I'm not much of a watcher) one speech. I want to include something

about him on my blog - because I, like you, love my i-stuff. I want to honor the creativity and energy that brought it to me.

I

remember when Jobs introduced the first iPad; I was wowed, and I knew then and there that I wanted one. Scott, being an "early adopter," jumped on my request shaped as a birthday-gift idea and got one for me. I love love my iPad. With my iPad in hand, I can endure long plane rides, and all-night childbirth labors (not mine, of course, but my daughters'), insomnia, and church (just kidding, I don't take it to church because I'm distracted enough).

This article by Eric Jackson from Forbes.com sums up what I want to remember about Steve Jobs:

The wisdom he shared with us at every major speech, or on an earnings call, or in a casual chat put up on YouTube will seem 10 times wiser because he’s no longer with us.

So, let’s pause today and try to remind ourselves of some lessons Steve Jobs has taught us all — if we’ve been willing to pay attention:

1. The most enduring innovations marry art and science – Steve has always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all the other computer (and post-PC) companies through history is that Apple always tried to marry art and science. Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry. That’s always been important in making Apple’s products stand out. It’s the difference between the iPad and every other tablet computer that came before it or since. It is the look and feel of a product. It is its soul. But it is such a difficult thing for computer scientists or engineers to see that importance, so any company must have a leader that sees that importance.

2. To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups – There is a school of thought in management theory that — if you’re in the consumer-facing space building products and services — you’ve got to listen to your customer. Steve Jobs was one of the first businessmen to say that was a waste of time. The customers today don’t always know what they want, especially if it’s something they’ve never seen, heard, or touched before. When it became clear that Apple would come out with a tablet, many were skeptical. When people heard the name (iPad), it was a joke in the Twitter-sphere for a day. But when people held one, and used it, it became a ‘must have.’ They didn’t know how they’d previously lived without one. It became the fastest growing Apple product in its history. Jobs (and the Apple team) trusted himself more than others. Picasso and great artists have done that for centuries. Jobs was the first in business.

3. Never fear failure – Jobs was fired by the successor he picked. It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business. Yet, he didn’t become a venture capitalist never to be heard from again. He didn’t start a production company and do a lot of lunches. He picked himself up and got back to work following his passion. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he only had a few weeks to live. As Samuel Johnson said, there’s nothing like your impending death to focus the mind. From Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

4. You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward – This is another gem from the 2005 Stanford speech. The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life. What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now. You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future. This is all part of the plan.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

5. Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Most of us don’t hear a voice inside our heads. We’ve simply decided that we’re going to work in finance or be a doctor because that’s what our parents told us we should do or because we wanted to make a lot of money. When we consciously or unconsciously make that decision, we snuff out that little voice in our head. From then on, most of us put it on automatic pilot. We mail it in. You have met these people. They’re nice people. But they’re not changing the world. Jobs has always been a restless soul. A man in a hurry. A man with a plan. His plan isn’t for everyone. It was his plan. He wanted to build computers. Some people have a voice that tells them to fight for democracy. Some have one that tells them to become an expert in miniature spoons. When Jobs first saw an example of a Graphical User Interface — a GUI — he knew this was the future of computing and that he had to create it. That became the Macintosh. Whatever your voice is telling you, you would be smart to listen to it. Even if it tells you to quit your job, or move to China, or leave your partner.

6. Expect a lot from yourself and others – We have heard stories of Steve Jobs yelling or dressing down staff. He’s a control freak, we’ve heard – a perfectionist. The bottom line is that he is in touch with his passion and that little voice in the back of his head. He wants the best from himself and everyone who works for him.

7. Don’t care about being right. Care about succeeding – Jobs used this line in an interview after he was fired by Apple. If you have to steal others’ great ideas to make yours better, do it. You can’t be married to your vision of how a product is going to work out, such that you forget about current reality. When the Apple III came out, it was hot and warped its motherboard even though Jobs had insisted it would be quiet and sleek. If Jobs had stuck with Lisa, Apple would have never developed the Mac.

8. Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – There is a misconception that Apple is Steve Jobs. Everyone else in the company is a faceless minion working to please the all-seeing and all-knowing Jobs. In reality, Jobs has surrounded himself with talent: Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Peter Oppenheimer, Tim Cook, the former head of stores Ron Johnson. These are all super-talented people who don’t get the credit they deserve. The fact that Apple’s stock price has been so strong since Jobs left as CEO is a credit to the strength of the team. Jobs has hired bad managerial talent before. John Sculley ended up firing Jobs and — according to Jobs — almost killing the company. Give credit to Jobs for learning from this mistake and realizing that he can’t do anything without great talent around him.

9. Stay hungry, stay foolish - Again from the end of Jobs’ memorable Stanford speech:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

10. Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – Although he’s the greatest CEO ever and the father of the modern computer, at the end of the day, Steve Jobs is just a guy. He’s a husband, a father, a friend — like you and me. We can be just as special as he is — if we learn his lessons and start applying them in our lives. When Jobs returned to Apple in the 1990s, it was was weeks away from bankruptcy. It’s now the biggest company in the world. Anything’s possible in life if you continue to follow the simple lessons laid out above.

May you change the world.

linked here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/09/19/the-top-ten-lessons-steve-jobs-can-teach-us-if-well-listen/

unabashed creativity

I limited my Wall Street Journal reading to the Travel and Review sections. Buried in the Saturday/Sunday issue was a feature about Italy, and there I read a spotlight about a 68-year-old Italian designer and innovator who just kind of inspired and tickled me. Isn't she cool....

Rossana Orlandi

Rossana Orlandi. © Domingo Antonio Robledo.

Posted by yellowtrace on May 18, 2011 at 6:00 am.

Since transforming an abandoned Milan factory into her eponymous Spazio Rossana Orlandi showroom and gallery (rossanaorlandi.com) in 2002, Ms. Orlandi has become a tastemaker and a champion of contemporary design, selling everything from no-nonsense aluminum cupboards to whimsical chicken-wire giraffe sculptures. The scion of textile industrialists, Ms. Orlandi, 68, started out as a fashion designer herself before turning her attention to promoting innovative product and interior design. A fixture during the annual Salone del Mobile design week in Milan, Ms. Orlandi, 68, spoke to us while preparing a solo exhibition of the designer Nacho Carbonell, whom she will showcase in November.

photo by Kazunori Hataguch

o

Alessandro Mendini's Scivolavo chair

The one design object I'd never sell is my miniature brass Scivolavo chair by Alessandro Mendini. I can't separate myself from it.

My three essential wardrobe pieces are: a very thin white Aspesi rain jacket that I can keep in my purse, a light bag and comfortable shoes—Repetto ballerina shoes in summer and Ugg boots in winter. I admire shoes with amazing heels, which I think of as sculptures, but I really can't wear them.

Every living room should be comfortable and warm, with furniture that you can get up from easily. And ideally it should have a beautiful view. If you don't have a good view, photography or trompe l'oeil can give the effect of a beautiful vantage point. A great option is modular wallpaper made by the German company Bless, which has enormous photographs of creative rooms in Berlin.

Filippo Bamberghi for The Wall Street Journal

Inside Ms. Orlandi's bedroom

In decorating a bedroom, the most important things are bedside tables, lighting and music, preferably Mozart, my favorite composer.

I wish I could find better headboards for beds and round table designs, in any size. Designers have overlooked the importance of these items, and there just hasn't been enough research and thought.

In the kitchen I have to have a knife that cuts well. The brand doesn't matter.

The most overrated design trend right now is eco-design. I'm very disturbed by claims that everything is sustainable, which I think is often not the case. Companies are exploiting that idea.

What's missing in the market is intelligent bathroom design for disabled people.

CalosAlamye

A

A peony, Ms. Orlandi's favorite flower

My favorite hostess gifts are white and black grapes that I grow in my arbor, and give as gifts in the fall. In the spring, I bring peonies. I have a marvelous garden of peonies. I adore flowers.

My style in dressing is very simple and minimal, but I always like to add interesting details and accessories. In decorating, I do the same, and always with a sense of humor.

To add humor to a home, you have to have courage in your choices. Mix different periods, do it with your own sense of style and taste and even add a few things that are "kitsch." You have to be daring and to find things that make you say "wow." It's important not to be driven by architects' rigidity.

When I travel, the most important thing is to see my friends, and to experience a foreign city through them, not as a tourist. I have favorite places but I always want to go somewhere new.

Close

Luchsia, by Johan Carpner

My gallery keeps itself fresh just because designers know they're always welcome here. They drop off their things without my asking. Last week, the Swedish designer Johan Carpner dropped off his lamp, Luchsia, which combines different textiles. It's extraordinary.

Story Vase by Siyazama Project + Fronts

My ideal weekend is spent in my country house, 30 kilometers from Milan, with my year-and-a-half-old grandson Giovanni, cultivating my flowers.

When I think of Italian style, it's very varied. Italians are extremely curious and very well-informed. Milanese style is more closed—the Milanese are less curious and more conformist, with less wish to find new things.

The secrets to working well are elasticity and simplicity. It's important to be really open to all ideas, and to be able to organize events without much warning.

My work space is organized chaos. In my desk I put everything I need—magazines, newspapers, things that designers are suggesting to me. It's a great chaos, a great efficient chaos.

—Edited from an interview by Jackie Cooperman

At Salone del Mobile, some designers exhibit in spaces outside of the regular fairgrounds. One such space is Spazio Rossana Orlandi. A master of engaging environments, Rossana took over this former tie factory in 2002. What she has created here includes a green courtyard where you could easily spend an entire day soaking in the creativity, plus galleries and a store. Her goal: to forecast and promote young and upcoming designers, from all over the world.

- home again -

We're back home from a wonderful time in Las Vegas with Suzie, Winston, and their cute new baby. I should say I'm back home, because Scott flew from Las Vegas to New York to be with his family for the wedding of his sister Jill & Ron's son, Brandon. They are having a grand time - Scott and his four sisters. I can imagine that there was a steady stream of loud laughter in their rental van as they toured the Syracuse area yesterday.

Oh, it was hard to say good-bye to that sweet granddaughter - but we will make the trip to Vegas as often as possible, and they'll come here too. I'm so glad for digital pictures, videos, Skype, and phone calls. They melt time and distance and make it easier to keep in touch.

I heard an interview on the radio yesterday about a company that was very successful despite the economy. The president said that he thought one of the keys to their success was "over-communication." Because his employees always know what's going on, they try harder to do their jobs and contribute. I thought to myself that it could be the same in families. I think you can create more closeness with "over-communication," and (my kids are probably cringing right now), I'm going to try to do that.

I came home to a wish-list of things I want to do in the next month, and also a stack of newspapers and mail including a week of Wall Street Journals, which I love to read. It comes with our local newspaper every day, and I have to discipline myself to not sit down and suck an hour out of my morning reading it front to back. So now the conundrum is whether to just carry the pile of WSJ papers straight to the recycling bin or to glance through each one. I decided to check out the Friday edition only.

Of course, I was rewarded. There's a 3/4 page article about make-up expert Bobbie Brown and her picks for the best products for face and body. Though I cringe at the price of this stuff, it sure is fun to read about it. Glad I didn't miss that! I also read through some of the op-ed articles and a few articles in the finance section - because the WSJ writers make them interesting not dry. And I looked for the sports column by my favorite sports writer Jason Gay. He's a master at tongue-in-cheek writing and sports metaphors that totally entertain me. And an ad for an interesting new book that I immediately downloaded to my iPad. Arghh...more reading!