It's my birthday...It's' my birthday

and if I remember correctly....Katie just had a birthday. Happy Birthday Katie!!!

We went to see Eddie Izzard last night....he was great!! We had 4th row center stage seats!! The show was ~2 hours long and he went non-stop. You can tell that his mind works in strange and mysterious ways to come up with his material. He talks about history...and just bends it and makes you laugh.

Today I am just kicking back. Plant a few flowers. Make some jewerly. Work on some PMC. Lou wanted to take me out to dinner but I have a cold so I asked him to make me a spaghetti dinner tonight. One of the best things I've done is to teach him to make spaghetti...he kicks me out of the kitchen when he does it.....which is OK by me.

Later.....

Why are doctors such asses???

Yesterday I had to Fed Ex a package to a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins. He provided me with the mailing address. Today I got an e-mail from him which started with ..."I told you to send the signed documents to my address which is clearly listed below" He continued to tell me that I left off the room number and the package has been delivered to his building that houses over 1000 people and that now he doesn't have this important document.

So.....being the person that I am...I hopped on to the Fed Ex site to compare the address I put on the package with the address he provided. He never provided me a room number. So I sent him his original e-mail and pointed out that there was no room and that the mistake was his. I also let him know that he was lucky to get the package because I left work so late last night that I had to drive it to the airport and practically put it on the plane myself.....well...not really. But the jets were parked right behind the office where I dropped of the package at 9PM last night.

I have a lot of doctor friends....but at times they are such asses!!! They need to teach them social skills when they go to med school.

It's a bird...its a plane...it's lightening fast

It's broadband. I finally have broadband...and it wasnt' easy. I signed up on line and the company sent me a modem. I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday from 4-6PM. So I took off work early and....nobody showed. I called about 7PM and the girl told me she would send the technician a flash message...but no call back. Lou called, Mom called, but no technician. 10PM the phone rings...it's customer service telling met the tech is tied up and won't be available for an hour. I started laughing....maybe it's me but I don't want a stranger in my house at 11PM. so we resheduled for today. Nice guy...showed up....hooked everything up but they couldn't activate it because they didn't have the modem in their inventory. After many calls and asking me numerous times how I got the modem....Hello.....I signed up on-line with your company and they sent me the modem. So the tech was told to install one of his modems. I was told to send my modem back and have them send me another one that is in inventory and then when that comes...hook it up...call for activation....and take the modem that he installed and call the company to have them pick it up. WOW....now that's customer service. Wouldn't it have been easier to just give me his modem and taken mine back. Too wierd. But I am up and running.....quickly. The real test will be been I try to upload pictures.

That was fast. This is Notre Dame in Paris which I can't wait to get back to this fall.

Later....

Why am I so happy??

I had to stop at Target tonight to pick up a few things. As I walked to the checkout the clerk remarked that I looked happy. I guess I am. I thought I was going to have to stop at multiple stores to find what I needed...but I found it all at Target....and a pair of shoes.... and National Treasure 2 with Nicholas Cage.

Plus....I am going to take Friday off for a 4-day weekend. Most of my time will be spent making jewelry. Now that's a Holiday weekend!!!

Plus.....It's only 10 days away from the B&B show in Milwaukee. I take great classes by great teachers, get to pal around with great friends from all over the country and I get to be creative....for an entire week. A 180 degree turnaround from what I normally get to do all week long...which is crunch numbers.

Plus....on Sunday I got a call from Michele ....she's so cool. If you are coming to the B&B show you have to stop at her booth to see (and buy!!) her beads. I am going to be her booth helper on Thursday when the show opens. Check out her website. Michele and Stephanie are going to be teaching bad ass jewelry making at Hacienda Mosaico in Mexico. That would be a great class (and trip) to take.

Plus.....I got into Celie Fago's bronze PMC class at the PMC conference in July. BRONZE...it's going to be so awesome to work in bronze.

Plus....my birthday present came today. Lou is in Germany but he told me I could open up the package when it came.....he got me a purse from Sundance. I love purses.....and he buys them for me on special occasions. This one is huge, a buttery yellow and the leather is as soft as suede.

Plus....we have tickets to see Eddie Izzard on Friday night. My present to myself.

Plus....I am just grateful to be alive for another day with so many things in life to look forward too.

Paris is On!!

I have found an apartment in Paris in the Saint Germain area. It won't have any grand views as it is on the ground floor....but....it does have it's own private garden. It has a patio with lounge chairs and a table and the bedroom is on the other side of the garden. The garden is treated as another living area. So I booked it. We will be going the beginning of October for 2 weeks. I don't think that I have ever been away for 2 whole weeks. This will be an experience. I don't imagine we will be bored :)) There is sooooo much to do in Paris. There were so many things that we didn't get to do last year. I want to see Versailles and send an entire day at the Marche aux Puce (flea market/antique market) in Saint Ouen.

Ah but that is months away and I have the B&B conference coming up the first week in June. I can't wait to see my friends Cris and Michelle. It is so much fun to meet up every year. Once I get back I have the Hathaway Brown Show in Shaker Heights. It will be a very busy month. Once the HB show is over I can get back to design work and just generally taking care of things that get pushed aside when you get ready for a show.

I have tons of things to do so I'm off.........be back later

O...O...O....Oprah

Oprah was in Cleveland on Monday and spoke at my hospital. On stage with her is Dr. Roizen (in blue) and Dr. Cosgrove (in grey). Roizen is the co-author of You: The Owner's Manual and a number of other "You" books. He is our Chief of Wellness and has been on Oprah's show with Dr. Oz a number of times. Dr. Cosgrove is our CEO.

Man...can Oprah talk. Cosgrove and Roizen didn't even need to be there. She talked about growing up in the church, her support of Obama, the school in Africa (and the lessons she learned there), and generally about helping people. She is extremely articulate. I'm always impressed by someone who can be completely at ease talking to a group. I'm always tripping over my tongue.

Doing some more PMC work this week. Firing up some copper/PMC medallions and stringing some more jewelry. I have to order some more rubber cords from Rio....I love these. They are relatively inexpensive which means you can stock up on them and not break the bank like you do with silver chains.

I have a bunch of stuff to take pictures of....soon. I am finally getting broadband. The equipment is on order and hopefully I will have it installed by next week. I can't wait. Dial up is just painful.

It just can't be May already

Where does the time go?? It's just a matter of weeks before I head to the B&B show. I can't wait to see my friends. I need time to totally disconnect from work...both my day and night job. It has been non-stop for months now and the show coming up on June has added extra pressure, so I can't wait to get away.

My drive to and from work takes me through the inner-city. On the way home the other day I came to a dead stop when I saw this.......

The intersection of Cedar and E. 55th has been closed because of a sink-hole. The drop in traffic through this area gave BAK a chance to do this.

Then...back in white-bread land...this is a photo of the front of the house with everything in bloom.

Gotta get back to work.