Halloween meme

randomness...feed your mind and your blog
10.12 Happy Haunting

1. What's your favorite Halloween costume?
~ 7th grade - Sierra Middle School - Susan, Mary and I dressed as Three Muskateers candy bars! We each painted a box to look exactly like the candy wrapper complete with the ingredients and such. We won the costume contest :)

Do you still dress up for Halloween?
~ if I was going to a party, sure I would. As a general rule? No, no, no.

2. Pumpkin Carving, is it fun or overrated?
~ totally overrated! One of my least favorite things about Halloween. How very bah-humbug of me.

3. What's your fav Halloween treat?
~ CANDY CORN! mmm! I had a lively conversation with DJ Big Jim about our preferences for eating candy corn.

4. Do you watch scary movies? If so, what are your favorites?
~ I do watch scary movies ~ Exorcist, Halloween, others I can't think of right now...recently went to Knotts Scary Farm. Boy did that place live up to its name...

5. What's your favorite scary book? Pet Sematary and IT. Those are books to put in the freezer for sure!

Mentoring 2008

When I quit my job as a sign language interpreter/teacher in 2000, I was relieved. I couldn't wait to get a real job with real adults (not the counting-the-moments-until-retirement teachers) and have real conversations about things other than 'Who do you like better: NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?'

So, there I went...off into the real world. And as I went through my day, I felt something missing. Real adults? Check! Real conversations? Check! Took me two years of temp jobs to figure it out - the kids. I miss the kids!

I had been at The Company for a couple of months as the Corporate Receptionist when a group of high schoolers came through with swag from the set of FRIENDS ~ shirts, pencils, mugs, pictures. So, I asked a) where did you get that stuff and b) where did you come from to get that stuff? Turned out the kids were part of The Company's inaugural Mentoring Program. The kids were from A Place Called Home who, in association with Youth Mentoring Connection, partnered with The Company. I would see these kids every couple of weeks, listen to them talk about the program and their mentors; I would see some of the mentors everyday, listen to them talk about the program and their kids (mentees). I wanted to be part of it!

When I had moved into a role within The Company which would allow me the flexibility to participate, I signed up for the Mentoring Program. I was a mentor to Erick for two years; then a mentor to Marqietta for two years. Last year I took a break. In August, I signed up again.

Two weeks ago, all of the mentors and the kids got together for food, games and bowling at Jillian's. The casual environment allows all to feel comfortable mixing and mingling, trying to find out what's what. Such a thrill to see so many kids participating (almost 50)! There were several kids who had been in the program for a few years - and I loved seeing and reconnecting with them. The point of the evening? For the kids to find an adult he/she connects with and vice versa. I was able to meet all of the kids, made connections with most and asked the program directors about one kid in particular. At the end of the evening, everyone gets a sheet of paper and is asked to list the 3 people he/she has made a connection with. No guarantees! Just your preferences. I skipped #1 and #2. On line #3 I wrote - "Boy or girl. You know me. Pair me with the person who will get the most from and give the most to me."



On Tuesday, we found out our mentor/mentee pairings for the year:

Introducing ~ Rissa & Gerica!

Isn't she adorable?! I'm super excited about mentoring and can't wait to get to know my new friend!

Rita Hayworth gave good face

Nordstrom had a make-up event on Saturday morning. I know it's supposed to be exclusive, invite-only type of thing, but seriously - does it have to start at 8:30 a.m.? Egads. I was only fifteen minutes late.

All participants were given a great tote bag which contained a bottle of water *and* breakfast. I know! Berries and a scone/muffin/biscuit thing. Nice touch, Nordstrom.

Videos of each make-up line were played, interspersed with give-aways from the managers of each counter. I made notes on several products to check out and paid special attention to the Smashbox video as I had a 'consultation' (read: put makeup on meeeee!) with them after the event.

First stop - NARS. The account rep was adorable and lively. He danced up and down the runway; and was the only one to come all the way to the back of the audience where I was sitting. His model wore a gorgeous lip gloss called All Night Long. I tried it on, loved it, bought it. No wonder it's voted best by Sephora customers!

NARS Lip Gloss ~ All Night Long

Next on my list was Laura Mercier. I know the brand name but am only familiar with the Stick Gloss (Black Orchid - my favorite). The account rep also highlighted berry lips with a product called Lip Velvet. The color, Cassis, is a dark intense color which I tried on, loved and bought. I am so easy.

Laura Mercier Lip Velvet ~ Cassis

I made my way over to the Smashbox counter - second in popularity to MAC (of course). The account rep was lovely, offering to move my appointment 30 minutes so I wouldn't have to wait around. The woman who did my makeup was great ~ she asked what I liked, blended when I didn't like, showed me wonderful products and was truly helpful. When I hemmed and hawed at some of the products and brushes she was pushing, she suggested alternatives and saved me a lot of money. My favorite product is the waterproof eyeliner in Navy. My eyes looked amazing! I told the gal she had to come do my makeup every day.

Smashbox Cream to Powder foundation ~
excellent coverage, very light,
stayed in place all through my adventures at Knott's Scary Farm!

Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eye Line in Navy ~
amazing product that sets in 60 seconds and won't smudge or move.

Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color Sugar/Spice ~
nothing beats convenience! Lip liner on one end, gorgeous color on the other.
The texture is very nice and smooth - didn't tug on my lips when I used it.




OK. THIS is the best lip gloss I have *ever* seen. It's Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Pur in Black. Yes, black. The host of the event wore it, but I was too far back to see. I made my way to the YSL counter in time to see it applied to a 16 year old girl. It was applied sparingly, so the color was a lovely berry tinged with black - it was very cool. I saw the host of the event putting more on and it was black - looked pretty cool. I'm watching everyone try it out, completely baffled at how different the color was on each woman. Someone tapped my shoulder; I turned to see the national account rep/lead makeup artist with the black lip gloss.

I'm Keith. I want to see this lip gloss on you. It would look beautiful over the color you're wearing now.

Seeing as I'm a girl, at a makeup event, who loves makeup, how could I refuse? Couldn't. Didn't.

Keith applied it, changing my berry lips to a deep dark cherry color. Sold! He only had 25, so I was lucky to get one.

This lip gloss is crazy cool! Sephora doesn't even have it. I can't wait to experiment with it - over liners, over other lip colors, on its own. Yes, Lys ~ it's coming to PhilaPA.

YSL Gloss Pur Black (limited edition)

Mean Girls ~ they're not just for high school anymore

90% of the time, I consider myself a confident person. I stand up for myself, defend my opinions, put myself out there to meet new people and am the first to laugh at myself. Last night, however, I was thrust back to high school and those insecure and inferior feelings washed over me.

Dinner with friends - easy enough. Making the last-minute decision to run home to change clothes would make me late. Not "L.A. time" late, but late nonetheless. Faded jeans, grey sweater over white tank top and black chunky heel loafer shoes - nothing fancy, casual, perfectly fine for drinks and dinner. Or so I thought.

I arrive, greet the girls. Looking fabulous, I admire key pieces ~ Great bag! The patent shoes are tres chic! Those boots are reason enough to have The Surgery!

You didn't have to get so dressed up for us. Looking me up and down.

These are my best faded jeans, I said with a laugh. And I remembered to match my shoes to my bag.

It's no wonder you don't date, Reese. You don't take your appearance seriously. Blink.

Clinton and Stacy wouldn't ambush me on Ventura Boulevard.

They would certainly stop and think twice.

The 'Bash Reese' portion of the show continued for 20 minutes ~ my appearance, my dating record, why I'm not going to the gym, why I stopped wearing contact lenses, my body language. I felt smaller and smaller with every word. I don't know where my confidence was hiding...smaller and smaller, sadder and sadder, feeling more and more like my 15 year old self than the actual 41.

And, tears fell. Not rushing, blubbering, splatter my glasses crying. The welling, the filling and a couple falling.

And, you always wear heels. I don't get that. Men are intimidated by tall women. You know that - you hardly date tall men.

I couldn't retort. I couldn't say anything. I wanted to laugh it all off. I really did! But the words just hit...the sting, the venom, the hurt. I didn't get it, didn't understand where it came from. Didn't understand why I was having dinner with the Mean Girls. And I was completely baffled why I was so affected. I'd had such a great day! The 15 year old self was so beat down by it all...but 41 showed up just in time to save her.

I stood, said thank you, grabbed my faux Marc Jacobs and left. I shook and cried out the door, down the street, in the car and all the way home.

This morning, I have two voicemails, several text messages and a raging headache.

The thing that sticks with me is how easily I was affected.

...but somehow the vital connection is made

:::the Heavens open:::

:::Angels Chorus sing:::

Like the Backstreet Boys, my internet is back. Alright!

Reese was sans internet for 3 weeks. No, seriously. However, after two more phone calls with five different people, I was able to convince AT&T to send a new modem to my work address. It arrived yesterday and I ran home to connect it. All the lights were blinking, but the connection wasn't made. Grrr! I would have stayed, called customer service again and tried to right the wrong, but I had a party to get to at the Hotel Fig!

Sadly, customer service was closed by the time I got home. You can bet I was on that phone once I woke up. And now...I have internet. Glorious internet!

I'm part of the world again. Thank you!

It's been seven hours and fifteen days...

OK. Maybe not quite that long. But, long enough!

I haven't had internet service at home for ten day. TEN DAYS! That's like...an...era or something. Good grief I'm going crazy! It is truly debilitating (okay, a bit Debbie Dramatic, but I'm making a point here, people). I'm in my office typing this...

Started with my modem going belly-up on 9/24. The telephone tech came out, checked my outside phone line and pronounced everything "A-OK!" (Verbatim. Seriously.) He wasn't able to hear my DSL line or any static, so he ordered me a new modem ~ covered under warranty, thankyouverymuch.

Modem arrives on 9/29. Great! Hook it up. Great! DSL light is green. Great! Ethernet cable light off. Not great! I flip the cord, make sure everything is in its place, connect the power. DSL light is green. Great! Ethernet cable light off. Not great! Grrr. I try mixing the cables from the original modem with the new modem. Nothing. Fine. I leave it alone.

On 10/1, I call AT&T DSL customer service. I go through the whole rigamarole with the dude - checking the connections, switching the cables, rebooting. I even endure the "Are you sure your power cord is plugged in?" nonsense. Finally, the dude says "You have a defective modem." What?! Are you kidding me with that?! Defective you say?? Huh. The dude orders me a modem to be overnighted to my home. I kindly request a new modem, not a refurbished one. "We do not send out refurbished modems, ma'am." "Huh. Then maybe you shouldn't print the word 'refurbished' on the invoice in bold capital letters." Just saying.

Not home Thursday. Get home Friday - no modem. Surprise, surprise. I call the DSL customer service line again. Go through the whole rigamarole with Louie, who transfers me to Justin, who makes me go through the whole rigamarole with him twice. "Justin. I just want a new modem please. I've been through this. The cables, the lights, the this, the that. I just want a new modem. How is a girl supposed to set her Fantasy Football team without the internet?" This got Justin's attention, so we talked FF for a minute. Then. Ohhhh, then..."Ma'am, we can send you a new modem but you'll have to extend your internet service agreement for one year, okay?" I laughed. I did! I laughed. "Justin. You looked at the notes, read that a new modem was supposed to be sent two days ago. YOU told me the order wasn't placed. NOW you want me to tack on an additional year to my service plan - by the way, I have no service - so I can get a modem to give me service? You might want to rethink that situation."

So, I'll have a new modem "by Tuesday at the latest."

I also called Billing. Joshua was lovely. He credited back one month's service fee, bundled my phone service options so that I save $35/month and made sure my account was noted with the 'order new modem/send new modem' comments. I like Joshua, he's nice.

In the meantime, I can check email on my cell phone but can't reply. I can send tweets via text, but can only read direct Twitter messages. And, I can check football scores but can't check my fantasy league status.

Oh dear Internet...like Robin Thicke sings: I'm lost without you.

The Surgery

I wear size 12 shoes. Adding insult to injury, I wear size 12EE. That's wide. Pretty damn wide, if ya ask me. I've worn size 12 since, oh...let's see...7th grade. Uh huh. As if being 5'11" at age 12 isn't enough.

Back in those days, there weren't a whole lotta footwear choices. My shoe wardrobe consisted of Nikes - white with the blue swoosh. In the 8th grade, I got a pair of blue Nikes with a yellow swoosh. Ooh, snazzy! Not so much.

At some point during my high school years, my sister discovered a store called Freeman's. It was a huge shoe store in Pomona. Aisles and aisles of shoes stacked from floor to ceiling. The newspaper ad advertised shoes "from 6AA to 14EEE!" Damn! I could definitely find shoes there. The only decent shoes in my size were called 'skimmers' - your basic flat shoe. I got 5 different colors of those skimmers; wore 'em out fast.

As cute as the flats were, I wanted current shoes; shoes like my friends. It wasn't to be. Well, there was the espadrille incident...

It was about this time, that I proposed The Surgery. There were two options to The Surgery:

1. Cut off my toes, shave down some of the bone, reattach the toes. Or,
2. Cut out a chunk from the middle of my feet, reattach accordingly.

It wouldn't take much as I just wanted to be a size 10. A size 10 has no problem walking into any shoe department and finding shoes. Besides, if I went any smaller than a 10, I'd probably fall over.

Times changed, Payless Shoe Sources popped up, plus-size catalogues carried fairly decent footwear in my size and the need for The Surgery waned. Would you believe I was 19 years old before I wore my first high-heeled pumps?! I know!

I've been on a shoe kick as of late...and that pesky desire for The Surgery has popped up once again. I found a gorgeous pair of Prada-inspired pumps online...and wouldn't ya know it, they only go up to a size 10. I could always do the espadrille shuffle...

Sigh.

She's out of my life...

Remember The Purse? The ridiculously gorgeous Christian Louboutin Laminato clutch? Lemme refresh your memory...

Ahhh yes...it's all coming back to you now...isn't she precious?!

I'd been hoping Nordstrom would get her in-store in time for their triple points week, but this was not to be. No matter - she would still be mine. Everyone in the Handbag department knows I've been on the wait list since July and how serious I am about her. I get updates - "Oh, it should be here in August! Or September." I just haven't received the call.

Thursday afternoon, we went to Saks in Beverly Hills. While strolling through the huge handbag department, I saw her. She was right there...in a glass encased wall display. It wasn't actually her - as she is pewter; it's her gold sister.

"Would you like to hold it?"

She's smaller than I thought. She's much more gorgeous than I thought - pictures don't do her justice. The clasp is darling, the signature red lines the inside and she looks good in my hand. Swoon

I've come to the decision to let her go. I know, I know! She is such a gorgeous clutch...she's the special occasion clutch. She's the clutch for the Grammys, the clutch for the holidays, hell she's the clutch for going out with the girls on Saturdays! But she's just not what I need. sniffle sniffle

My obsession is over.

Practicality. That totally bums me out.

Like The Slackmistress. But without Acne.

I love the Slackmistress. She's witty and smart; gorgeous and fun. The first post I ever read at the slackdaily was about her Trader Joe's encounter. Thursday, I had my own encounter.

Vons in Burbank/Toluca Lake is my favorite grocery store, not only because it's very close to Work, but I used to see Bob Hope there all the time. If he could take the Road to Vons, hell - so could I. Thursday night in the produce section, looking for tomatoes, a guy is staring at me.

Uh...do you go to a lot of English Beat shows? Define "a lot" - gimme a number.

Uh...I do indeed. Thirteen shows so far this year. That's a lot, isn't it?

I saw you at the Canyon Club at the front of the stage. And I saw you at the Malibu Inn at the front of the stage. Do you ever get up on the stage?

No! I don't. Hi, I'm Rissa.

Mark and I chatted for a bit about ska, UB40 at the Canyon Club (tonight!), the guys in the band and 80s music. Then, he was on his way ~ See you Saturday night!

It was an English Beat-themed week as I learned two ladies at work had personal encounters of their own in the 80s with the "white guy" in the band. Neither one believed I was a fan of their music and a friend of the band. "Ohhh, a groupie." That term makes me laugh.

Anyway, check out The Slackmistress. She's much more interesting!

music, Michelle and mixed tapes

All of you know I'm a music fan. All music. Period. Jonny Lang to Johnny Rotten to Johnny Mathis. I'm a fan. C'mon ~ Mom is an opera singer; Dad is a jazz pianist who plays by ear. No, none of that raw talent was passed to me, but I digress.

You should also know I am all about the 80s music genre - hair bands, alternative/new wave, freestyle dance, old skool, all of it. As it's the music of my youth, obviously there's a special place in my ears for 80s; particularly the alternative/new wave/KROQ music. I attribute this love to two people ~ Richard Blade and Michelle L from RHS.

Michelle was a year or two ahead of me; I think we met when I was a sophomore - many details escape me. She was a one of a handful of girls I admired in high school, mainly because she didn't follow trends, she set her own. Before Duran Duran really made the 'scene' she had blonde bangs a la John Taylor. WOW! That was huge to me. I couldn't carry that shit off; but she could and did. I remember Michelle wearing the 'John Taylor hat' one day (you know what I'm talkin' 'bout - the hat from the videos!) and I couldn't contain myself. The only hats I saw at school were baseball caps on boys! Again, this was huge to me.

Michelle and I had a class together (again, details escape me); I don't recall much work getting done. I do recall listening to her tales - seeing Duran Duran at a gallery opening in Hollywood (gasp - she went to Hollywood?!), concerts, clubs, music and bands (she gave me the lyrics to Haircut 100's 'Favourite Shirt' which was one of my faves of the day). She talked about videos on MTV, all of this music coming out of England and I was so intrigued!

One day, (I think) I gave Michelle a blank cassette or two, requesting some of this music I'd only heard her talk about. What I got were two of the most awesome mixed tapes ever. Ever. Seriously. EVER. These tapes had music that still resonates in my head, my heart and my ears thanks to iTunes: Japan & David Sylvian "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" was magical and haunting; the original version (and my favorite version) of "Pretty in Pink" and "Run Run Run" by the Psychedelic Furs; "Enjoy Yourself" by the Specials; Duran Duran, of course; "Fantastic Day" by HC100; and a song called "Jackpot" by this band called the Beat. I had never heard anything like it! I wanted to hear more. I wanted to know more about this band, the Beat. Of course, nothing could be found in the local Wherehouse or Licorice Pizza (how's THAT for a flashback?!). It wasn't until later that I discovered the Import sections and vinyl heaven at Mad Platter or that awesome record store that used to be in the Hardman Center in Riverside (again, details escape me).

A couple of years ago, I sent Michelle a message on classmates.com. And, recently, we've reconnected (via a cryptic/creepy email from me - "Michelle L from RHS?" Yep, that's all I wrote).

So, Michelle ~ thank you! Those 2 cassettes brought joy to my ears and that one song by that one band still brings me joy to this day. This Friday will be my 14th English Beat show this year.

:)