The Treats Truck! Perfect for Literary Mista's Bachelorette Pedicure

The Treats Truck! Perfect for Literary Mista's Bachelorette Pedicure, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Gerdy on morning walk in Central Park

Gerdy on morning walk in Central Park, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

My Introduction to Julia Cameron at Barnes and Noble

Morning pages. Morning pages are an activity I have done in the form of blogging in the morning, journaling, or scrapbooking while at FIT. To Julia Cameron, and the rest of the generations of Artist's Way enthusiasts, these are an integral part of releasing creative energy, or helping maintain a balance in the day. Perhaps in the way that Martha Stewart drinks a glass of hot lemon water on her way into New York every day (just learned this during a New York Times in-flight interview with her on Jet Blue) to cleanse and refreshen, these people have been purging their minds to make room for whispers of the next thoughts.

I was new to writer and thinker, Julia Cameron, until I went to listen to her for the Ladies Who Launch Speaker Series, which was held at Barnes and Noble at Lincoln Center. And what a great spot to host the event - surrounded by inspirational letters, book covers, stickers, scrapbooks, pens, wrapping paper - a paper lover's delight.

Listening to Julia Cameron was so peaceful. Her life has contained so much, and yet she has led it simply - by listening to her voice, her gut. She was there to promote her new book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size, which we all got copies of, each of which she signed on the spot. While walking (one of her most recommended activities to create sparks of forward motion), she had the most startling revelation: that people in her Artist's Way classes typically lost weight if they were overweight. They looked fresher and more healthy at the end of the class. She attributed this to writing, and to how Morning Pages purges people of clogging thoughts. In fact, after the event, my friend told me that in fact her Morning Pages led her to divorce her husband. When I leave a job I don't like, I have been known to go through a transformation. Twice this has happened, where I leave a terrible job, see my old co-workers, and I look like I've been on vacation. Now that I work for myself, I wonder what I look like... ;)

While she was signing my book, I confessed that I had not heard of her, and that I was so glad to finally be exposed. She just inspires truth. I couldn't not say it. Not a flicker of surprise or delight at a new reader passed through her eyes. She went to the heart of the matter, telling me that this book would help, but that The Artist's Way was the best place to start my teachings. I cannot wait to read her. I am so lucky to have started reading a classic writer in my own time.

Cake Tasting Galore at Sticky Fingers!

Cake Tasting Galore at Sticky Fingers!, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Here I am, tasting wedding cake at Sticky Fingers in Maine. Yummidy yummidy. Each slice is from $4.50-$6.00. My dad was with us, the bottom line budget cutter, so I should not have been surprised when he had a say in what flavor he preferred: The $4.75 chocolate chocolate. Thinking that he just liked the price, it really was surprising to learn that he truly did like the chocolate, and reached over and ate mine!

What will our cake flavors be? All cakes have a stiffer butter cream outside frosting, with the exception of Bonnie Butter which had a super sweet outside frosting. I really wanted the super sweet outside frosting, but the cooks suggested not. Therefore, we will have one chocolate and one vanilla cake. Both will have the butter frosting on the outside, and on the inside, will have a lining of the super sweet frosting. On the vanilla, we will also have a spread of raspberry preserves.

The cake will be decorated with tulle and rose petals. And if rose petals are too expensive, I will cut out circles of dupioni from my silk dupioni collection here in the Home Office. Oh, and maybe the cake will have the Katie James Twitterpaited flower pattern on it!

But stay tuned, because we may go cupcakes.

Yum!

Schitzo Thursdays, and other afternoons

Hi Mistas!
Sometimes when I disappear from this blog, I am in Facebook writing posts over there for different groups. I started a group called Home Office Collectives (notice spiffy "ad" over to the right of this post, in the new column for Sponsors). It makes me miss FashionMista, though, to not share conversations that go over there. Someday soon I will make a blog for Home Office Workers, but until then, here is a post I just put up that some of you may relate to. If you are in Facebook, and work at home or in a shared space, come join our group and play with us over there!

Post:
Here's my day in and out of the Home Office, and then I want to hear about your day:

Wake up late (8am), slow walk Gerdy in Central Park (lovely).

Shower, makeup, curl hair, suddenly it's 10am for a quickie scrambled eggs and coffee, and an attempt to make a quick Mothers Day newsletter for Katie James burp cloths.

Got to go, have a client meeting at 11am on the East side (I'm on the West) and hopstop.com says it's 30 min by taxi. Jump in a hybrid taxi, and learn about why the taxi drivers hate the credit card machines as we cross through Central Park into blocked traffic at 5th Avenue.

Make it to meeting on time, hair still in tact, ready to absorb and toss around ideas. Two hours later, meeting over, search for Whole Foods begins for sudden craving for their prepared foods. Return missed calls while in meeting and leave messages. Call the wrong number for finance and have a conversation that consists of insistent "Hello!"s with a random man who is not finance for 2 minutes.

Eat ham and swiss wrap on subway on way home (with other exotic prepared foods from Whole Foods). Get inside, greet all animals and feed them. Get reminder call from finance that company is staying with us tonight, then get off phone in order to design and send stupid Katie James email that will lead to no sales (sorry, had to insert self-doubt in the day).

Send newsletter and check gmail quickly. Gerdy lays at feet, waiting to go outside since that is the habit once I walk through the door. Gather up Gerdy and checks from clients, David's half of the bills, and partial reimbursement for vision appointment and contacts (YES!), and head the the dog friendly bank.

Stand in line forever, thank goodness for iPhone. Get email from someone at Newsday.com who got the newsletter and loved the burp cloths and dog treat bags and is doing a Mothers Day collection and requests high rez images for webpage. Hurrah!

Walk back home with minimal chicken-bone-eating by Gerdy. Put away food from earlier, look at dishes in sink with disgust, return client call but leave message, then notice the horrid moldy spots on bathroom walls. Horrid moldy spots on bathroom walls have been there for weeks. Company is sleeping over tonight. Oh dear.

Turn on Patty Griffith on iPod speakers. Scrub horrid bathroom walls walls and tub with lemon Lysol and Soft Scrub with Bleach. Pray that none got on designer Paige jeans.

Thought occurs to self that this is the day in the life of a Home Office Worker, because now I must go find high res images of products to quickly send to reporter who may or may not include in her Mothers Day Collection. Today was supposed to consist of meeting, invoicing for April, finishing Bridesmaid skirts, and making a Mothers Day email for someone else. It's 5:30pm. The day is still young.

What's your day like??

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Wedding Wine Tasting: Freakout

Wedding Wine Tasting: Freakout, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Yum! Am sampling the most delicious white wine, Freakout, courtesy of my Uncle of Vintage Point, the Napa Valley based independently owned boutique marketing partner for luxury wine producers in the US, Canada and the Carribbean, so that we may pick the finest wines for the wedding.

What I forgot about is the fact that David is in the prime of his shooting schedule for remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, which means that although he is working in the City, he is really never home! Except to sleep. It's funny how people want to throw you a party, to meet the fiance (David), but the finance can't attend!

And so, I have cracked open the bottle of Freakout by myself (Freakout is one of many brands that was shipped to us), and it's really quite a happy wine. I'm pacing it, though, because we may have a little party on a Sunday in mid June, when David would be able to come, so it would be most fun to have the rest of the wine then. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Freakout is delicious. Here's a list of all of the brands that Vintage Point represents. Here's how Freakout is described:

"freakout, n: an experience of unrestrained excitement.

"Looking to challenge the traditional ways of Friuli winemaking on the Italian-Slovenian border, maverick Italian winemakers began experimenting with new styles of winemaking, creating unique and exciting white wine blends. When Mike Drash, Winemaker for Luna Vineyards in Napa Valley, tasted these exotic white wines, you could say he freaked out. The secret of "freakout" is in the innovative winemaking. Each varietal is treated individually and then married together two months before bottling to create the ultimate blend."

Read more about Freakout...

Yum is all I can say. I think this one will be served at the wedding. Will go nicely with lobster.

Cheap Decorating Tip: Flower Petals in a Bubble Bath Jar

Cheap Decorating Tip: Flower Petals in a Bubble Bath Jar, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Here's a little house decoration I made yesterday because some tiny purple flowers had finally dried out and were ready for the trash. But I didn't want to put them in the trash, and a few had fallen into the clear glass vase they had been in, and I thought: "Now doesn't that look pretty."

I had some other dried rose petals lying around (I know, don't we all?). Another case of me not wanting to throw away flowers. I had carefully stripped the dried roses of their dry petals one by one and placed them into a pretty pottery bowel in the living room.

In this case, I took a pretty jar of Fresh's Milk bubble bath, that I just love, and gently brushed the dried purple flowers into it. I'm not sure what these purple flowers were called, but they wre only $1.50 at the flower store, for a stem that had about 5 bunches off of it. I quickly realized I didn't have enough, so added some of the dried flower petals, covered the top, and gently shook the flower petals so that the little purple ones would get mixed up with the rose petals.

And voila!

Still waiting at Shake Shack; Recommended Yoga Pose

Still waiting at Shake Shack; Recommended Yoga Pose, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Shake Shack: the New York burger Mecca (line is 1mile long)

Shake Shack: the New York burger Mecca (line is 1mile long), originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

How cute is this butterball turkey?

How cute is this butterball turkey?, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Red Gingham Dress for Red Gingham Table Cloth Dinner?

Ha! Would this dress be too much for the rehearsal dinner? Which will be a clam bake with red gingham table cloths? I first saw it in Stylehive, and then found it at Victoria's Secret (and it's $59 on sale...). It would certainly let me be full... ;)



Not sure how I feel about those fly-away-sides of the dress. If you can see a picture here, it's because something is wrong with my DNS something or other, so go to Stylehive or Victoria's Secret to check it out and leave a comment here!

Home Office Making it Into Wedding Registry

I tried to deny myself the home office items, thinking that David and I should get kitchen items (and love money to help build the down payment for a house!). But alas, I cannot deny any longer, and have added more items to the Pottery Barn registry: home office items.

I love the rustic barn look mixed with a finished floor, or nice furniture. Since David and I started looking for a home, it really made us think about what we wanted in a home. While we were considering a fine, totally finished townhome, I started to miss the older, rustic look that I thought I could live without.

Here is an example of a rustic, converted barn look, combined with gloss that I would be happy to concentrate in:

Go see this home office >

The Pottery Barn swivel chair. It never goes out of style, or focused comfort. I did include this chair in the registry, but it's a little pricey for a registry. I did include the cushion. I could always make a velvet cushion cover to jazz it up a bit.

Go see this swivel chair >

Oh...the Project Table. How divine! First of all, I love sitting up high. Second of all, it would be so fun to sit with little projects in bookshelves! This one did not get included in the registry, because it really is out of the price range.

Go see this project table >

The home office organizer. So fun to have on your wall, to contain bills, invoices, to-dos, all at once. Stuff would be off of the desk, and onto the wall. This is in the registry.

Go see this home office organizer >

Yippie!

Overcome with paper goodness at Barnes & Noble...

Overcome with paper goodness at Barnes & Noble..., originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

It was a Saturday, and I can't lie. There were sooo many more journals and binders than I am used to seeing at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble! I totally bought $135 worth of journals and magazines. I bought 2 things of Amy Butler designer paper for scrapbooking, and I'm not even a scrapbooker. But I think I'd like to be a scrapbooker, so bought the stuff. The scrapbook desire came from my desire to build a scrapbook of the wedding planning for David and me. The one I ended up getting was a little too small. I did get a binder thing for keeping reciepies in, but it was already broken by the time I got home! So I will return both, and get a larger scrapbook.

Ok, off to cut some paper!

So I bought a hula hoop...

So I bought a hula hoop..., originally uploaded by KT Flicker.