The candles are officially out!

I should be writing proposals and taking care of the items that keep me from prospecting for new business during the day. And I did some of it. Not as much as I should have but I did something. And I wrote my speech for my next big event coming up in October. I really wish I had a speech writer to help me out. I just suck at writing. It’s horrible. The reason I wrote the speech so early is I plan on giving it at the sales meeting tomorrow as practice and to get some feedback to make it better. I think that’s a good plan. We shall see.

Today I went out to dinner with my mom and dad and Lisa. Poor little Bo stayed home and waited for the leftovers. Why did we go out to dinner? BECAUSE MY PARENTS FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY LAST WEEK! Well, not really. They remembered I was turning another year older, they just forgot to sing Happy Birthday and get a cake with candles. Believe me, I didn’t mind one bit. I did think it was odd but I figured that’s what happens when you turn 34 and I wasn’t bothered at all. I’m not sure when it struck my father but he and my mom were really upset that the tradition was forgotten and they told me that they would make it up to me on Sunday. And so we went to Sweet Lucy’s and ate too much BBQ and then we went home and I got a cake with candles and they sang Happy Birthday. It was really sweet.

This has been a really nice birthday. Thank you everyone!

A Post for the Ladies

I have two words for you: Bare Escentuals.

Lisa bought me the Get Started Kit for my birthday and although you have to use a lot more than what the instructional DVD says, it really works amazingly well. What I like the most about it is that it’s very gentle on my skin– I am not pulling or tugging at it– it’s just goes on very lightly. And it looks very natural. My mother just gave me the Get Started Eyes Kit which I have yet to play with but I feel very confident it will be just as wonderful as the foundation/blush.

So that’s a plug. Give it a go if you are looking for something different for your face. But here’s the thing– I wasn’t looking for anything different, I was totally happy with my normal routine– it was Lisa who just kept gushing about these women at work and how the difference in their faces was like night and day and we had to try it out. So maybe give it a go if you can afford it. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Caveman music

Here are the top 7 songs I listen to according to Rhapsody. I know you really don’t give a crap but I found this funny since it is completely true. I listen to these 7 songs over and over again.

1. Ace Frehley – New York Groove
2. Katie Melua – I Cried For You
3. Katie Melua – Just Like Heaven
4. Rainbow – Since You Been Gone
5. Cher – I Found Someone
6. Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles
7. Chris Norman – Stumblin’ In

AND GUESS WHAT??? Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are coming to Philadelphia!!!! Yes, I have tickets. Lisa bought them and I am already feeling tingly inside! If you don’t know Nick Cave and you tend to enjoy deep-voiced, kinda melancholy music that explores death, religion, love and violence, I would suggest you check him out on YouTube.

Rosie in the Kitchen

I just submitted probably around 5 recipes to Rosemont College’s upcoming Rosie in the Kitchen cookbook. I am trying my darnedest to forgive Rosemont and I am trying to support them but dammit, I have problems with the name of the cookbook. 1. It sounds like that cookbook Oprah did back a bunch of years ago when she lost weight the 32nd time. 2. Why not ROSEMONSTER in the Kitchen? I really don’t know why they refuse to embrace that nickname. Probably the same reason they forgot why they were a woman’s college and how they refuse to embrace their history, tradition and founder’s ideas and philosophy.

Somewhere along the way, they lost it. Makes me sad.

No Strawberries

I am so crotchety in my old age! I called up Acme’s Customer Service department and complained how their Acme Rice and Wheat Flakes with Strawberries HAS NO STRAWBERRIES! At least in this one box I recently bought. Of course I was real nice about it. That’s why they are sending me a 10.00 gift certificate!!!!!!!

Last day

I am 33-years-old. Tomorrow I will be 34. My Rolling Rock Year has come to an end. 10 years and 1 day ago, I turned 24. In 10 years and 1 day from now, I will be 44. I’m sorry. I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around this milestone. 34 used to seem so old. I am not now what I used to think of as a 34-year-old woman. In my mind I pictured a soccer mom with short feathered hair and a bedazzled sweatshirt driving a minivan. Maybe this is why I feel like a robot chanting, “Does not compute! Does not compute!” Whatever, it’s a number. I have spent 34 years on this earth. It’s been a good ride for me and I feel like I’ve come a long way but I still got a lot more to accomplish. I need to sit down and figure out what else I want and get moving on it. I’m beginning to realize this crazy world just keeps on spinning and these birthdays just keep on hitting. And it sure as heck ain’t slowing down.

Oh my freakin’ GOSH!

HULU HAS EPISODES OF IT TAKES A THIEF!!!!!

I LOVED this show when I was in high school! (Please note it was in rerun then!)

Unfortunately they don’t have my favorite episode starring Michelle Carey, Nice Girls Marry Stock Brokers. There was a line in that episode that I loved loved loved! You see, Michelle is faced with some competition in wooing Alexander Mundy. The rival asks to borrow Michelle’s lipstick and Michelle hands it over and says, “Smother it on, friend, because that’s the last thing of mine you get!”

I wonder if Hulu will ever have Run for Your Life starring Ben Gazzara? I loved that show too! Ben plays a man who only has two years to live and so he decides to pack as much life into his remaining years as possible! It was a fantastic show. Ran three seasons. I don’t think he died at the end. I don’t remember him eventually succumbing.

That’s Life!

Over the last few days I’ve been feeling a sense of dissonance surrounding me. I think it’s that I have closed everything in my pipeline and my August has been horrific and my September doesn’t look much better. I need to get back into prospecting mode but I am struggling. Does this make sense to the non-sales professionals out there? Sales is such a wacky job. You fly high and then crash, over and over again. You are only as good as your current month. And when you are riding high at the end of the month and everything is great, the next month comes and the clock resets back to 0. And when you are crumpled into a tiny ball, with an empty pipeline and no prospects, you are frightened that you’ll never get back up. And if all that isn’t horrible enough, your pay comes from what you bring in so if you aren’t selling, you aren’t earning. Of course there are some really nice parts about sales. You are in charge of what you make and so when you do well, you earn more. It’s nice to know you are directly responsible for the revenue of your company. Sales people are typically left alone and manage themselves. I guess it all balances out.

I was flying high in June and July. Now I gotta climb back up.

Weird Coinky Dink

I really did love the movie, Mama Mia! The other day I watched Passion of Mind which starred Demi Moore. She plays a woman who is leading two very distinct lives, one in France, the other in NYC. When she goes to sleep in one place, she awakes in the other. And vice versa. I was surprised to see that her lover in her France life was one of Meryl Streep’s lovers in Mama Mia! I’ve never heard of or seen Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd prior to Mama Mia. This evening I was slumming around Youtube, watching videos of Björn Andrésen (the pretty boy in Death in Venice), when I found the oddest video: snippets of the movie, Den Enfaldige mördaren. Björn Andrésen plays an opera singing angel who apparently instructs a poor, simple-minded man to kill his boss. And guess who played the simple-minded man? Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd!

Seeing Björn Andrésen dressed up like an angel, I can’t help but think of other movies that include man-angels.

Here’s a couple I came up with:

– ORLANDO – Fast forward to about 4:30. Check out the floating, golden, man-angel singing in a high-pitched voice!

– BARBARELLA – Pygar was a tall, tan, loin cloth-wearing, man-angel who explained that Angels ARE love! And I do apologize to all patriots for featuring a video containing Hanoi Jane Fonda.

-Der Himmel über Berlin – I am not really sure this counts because I don’t think Damiel, Cassiel or Peter Falk are ever shown with wings. In Wim Wender’s universe, angels don’t have wings but rather wear wrinkly trench coats.

That’s all I got. Can anyone come up with other movies featuring man-angels???? More points will be given to those who find man-angels with crazy wings!