Be Kind to Your Solicitor

Helloooo? Hellooo? Can you hear me?!

Especially since it may be me! If you, or someone you know, is recently engaged, I may have your phone number... and I may be calling. That's right, my lovelies, your friendly neighborhood wedding planner is cold calling asking (just barely with enough dignity to not be begging) you to hold you wedding at Arizona Science Center. In the past week, I have called 148 of you lucky ladies, 3 of you were sad that you weren't really engaged, 1 of you was so old you couldn't hear me correctly, and another said you didn't appreciate me even saying your name and that I should never pick up another phone for the rest of my life *click*. Que Sera Sera!

I have taken on my role of Facility Sales Manager with gusto, selling, planning, coordinating events for as many hours as there are in a day.. and trying my darndest to smile all the way through (when I dropped that prop on my foot, for the second time, that smile may or may not have faded for a moment). You come to me for smiles of your own, and I love to know that I helped put it there.

Next week... Prom season begins! Teenagers scare me so this should be interesting.

How do you say "Interview" in Southern?

Hubby finally has an interview. A phone interview. A phone interview in South Carolina. One million miles away. I have been wanting to move back east for YEARS! The timing is just a little off. I love my little house in Chandler, AZ. I really like my job in Downtown Phoenix. I adore my friends here. I also like adventure and trying new things. I really like grass and green trees and the sweet smell after it rains. I'll miss the extra-fast paced life I live here (not to mention fast driving and faster talking and walking), but I can take it down a notch, and be very happy doing so.

Do you think I can transform myself into a Charming Southern Wife?

Cross you fingers that he gets a job soon!

I don't have time for this, I'm management

Its been a little while since I have communicated with the blogging world. I have taken on my new job as Facility Sales Manager at Arizona Science Center with gusto. I have already learned the building (well, I have learned it enough to make guests think I know what I am talking about), I have booked my first walk-through (wish me luck peeps, if I book this wedding, I will be overjoyed), and am in the middle of creating marketing materials (ie a brochure we need oh so badly). I worked my first event (a resounding success) and have three more this week alone!

What is it that I do, you ask? I book events for the Science Center and then I coordinate them. Weddings, networking mixers, receptions, awards show, bar mitzvahs, quinceneras, sweet sixteens, proms, grad nights, fundraisers, oh my! I am really excited for this new venture in my life and hope I deliver as much as I can. (PS spread the word if you're in the Phoenix-area that if someone wants to host an event, I am right downtown wanting to impress).

Hugs and Love!

Isn't that pretty... I can do that!

Holy Cow! It Could Be, It might Be, Its a Home Run!

The Cubs: They are the Wind Beneath our Wings

Hubster and I spent our gorgeous Saturday afternoon (because I know all you who don't live in sunny climes love it when I do this... it was a breezy, sunny, 79 degrees) at a Chicago Cubs Spring Training game. Happy Hubby is especially happy because I have never seen our beloved Cubbies lose. Ever. Saturday was no exception. Sorry Padres.We took our little blanket and parked it in the lawn seats at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa and soaked up the sun with a little of America's favorite past time. We proudly sported our jerseys (even though his player has been traded) as we lounged. My transparent skin is a nice opaque shad of lobster and my nose has a distinctive sunglass-tan mark, but I was happy getting it.

After the game, we a really awful etouffe I made in the crock pot. Hubby specifically asked that I never make it again.We can't all bat a thousand in the kitchen.

By four o'clock the sun may have been making its way to the other horizon, but our night was just getting started. We hopped into our not-used-enough hot tub for a nice muscle relaxing session. We just didn't plan on staying in until nearly eleven! You cannot imagine the wrinkles covering my body. I may have had as many as a shar-pei. My girlfriends Gina and Kenda stopped by after the sun went down to soak up some subs with us. I hopped out for about five minutes to concoct a boxed wine sangria. Recipe: peel three and slice oranges, dropping segments into prettiest glass pitcher. Unplug Franzia Sangria spout filling pitcher 3/4 full then add in one can diet Sierra Mist. Retreat back to hot tub with iced glasses for girlfriends and a rocks glass of Canadian whiskey for hubby. Finally, relax. Ahhhhhhh.

A couple of glasses and a good-bye later, I was off to bed. I just can't hang like I used to. Grandma Mo-Mo needs her sleep, y'all!

We followed that soggy Saturday with a lazy Sunday filled with lots of tv movies.

It was one of those cast your worries aside weekends.Very necessary.

Moving on Up to Downtown

Downtown Phoenix (via)

Today is my last day in the television bidness. I have bittersweet (but mostly sweet) feelings about leaving. I am ready to move on, to ask for what I deserve, and to make use of my abilities. I will make a difference, I will be challenged, I will be busy, I will be proud and honored by my accomplishments.

"Ask for what you want, and be prepared to get it." I know what I want and I am ready to grab hold of that proverbial brass ring.

But before I re-enter the workforce, I am taking a few days off (ok, two days, any more than that would make me antsy) and pretending I am on a vacation. Tonight is my send-off from my current coworkers. Saturday I am going to my friend, Kenda's, bridal gown fitting and my other friend Bev's, Hawaiian themed St. Patty's Day Party. I will be making my living room feel like Spain on Sunday (playing spanish guitar music, eating my favorite paella, pretending to dance flamenco, and drinking my share of "Sangria" in the comforts of home). Monday Hubster and I are partaking in outdoor activities (I need to get out of the house!) Tuesday will be Spring Cleaning day (if we have to move out of state, I refuse to lug our boxes of boxes and Hubby's 25 old cell phones across country).

I can't wait for the adventures we have before us! Woo-hoo!

Hey, hey.. Hey Ladies!

via

 

 
Happy International Women's Day! March 8th has held the beautiful distinction for the last 100 years as being a day to celebrate the empowerment of women (their political, social, and economic achievements). Yes, years before we could vote, women fought for their rights to have their collective voice heard.Without women where would we be? Well, probably not born, but you know what I mean.

A run down of notable women:

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell: first female physician in the United States (1849)

Ida Wells: founder of the NAACP

Marie Curie: invented radium and furthered x-ray technolgy

Clara Barton: founded the American Red Cross

Bette Nesmith Graham: invented White-Out

Harriet Tubman: famous for her involvement in the Underground Railroad

Stephanie Kwolek: invented Kevlar, keeping our men and women in uniform bulletproof

Eleanor Roosevelt: American diplomat, writer, social reformer, First Lady, and a personal hero of mine

Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen: invented Nystatin, the first antifungal antibiotic

Margaret Colvin: invented the washing machine (as much as I dislike doing laundry, without one I'd be lost)

Sacajawea: the Shoshone guide who led the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804

Anna Connelly: invented the fire escape

Molly Pitcher (aka Mary Hayes): carried pails of water on the battlefield during Battle of Monmouth

Susan B. Anthony: a feminist who spent more than 50 years fighting for women's rights.

Jane Adams: founder of Hull House, a social welfare center, in Chicago

Patricia Roberts Harris: the first African American woman named to a presidential cabinet

Amelia Earhart: first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan: student who overcame tremendous handicaps and her extraordinary teacher

Frances Perkins: First woman member of the presidential Cabinet (Secretary of Labor)

Lillian M. Gilbreth: Engineering pioneer worked to increase the efficiency of workers

Belva Ann Lockwood: first female candidate for President (1884), member of Equal Rights Party  

TGIF, Ladies... and well, Ladies!

It is that magical time of the week, the day we have all been waiting for... Friday!

The hubby is anxiously awaiting my return from the rat race to our (hopefully) immaculate home in the suburbs. He's had his first call back from a potential job to potentially schedule a potential interview. Hooray! By the power of positive thinking, things have taken a more delightful turn. So the firm may be located in South Carolina, so I'll be starting a new job in downtown Phoenix in just over a week, so the commute might be a little rough. Things work out the way we need them to be, whether or not we want them to go that way. 

Que sera sera.

Doris Day had it right. This weekend we are putting worry on hold and having a lovely time. I plan on baking something scrumptious, seeing a Cubs Spring Training game (we've had the tix for a while), cooking a delicious dollar dinner for a girlfriend and myself, then maybe a Sunday picnic or hiking or some other gorgeous weather related activity.

Bonsoir, mes amis!

Just want to go home...

...play with my dog and eat a sleeve of oreos.

It is a very good thing that I do not have any cookies at home, let alone a box of Oreos. 

This is a feelings-eating kind of day.

Just kidding :) That would make me terribly sick.

How is your day moving along fellow bloggers?

When one door closes...

Open door number two!

Oh the delightful stresses of life. We all have the day-week-month-quarter when we aren't being the most positive person we can be. We all experience those times when we feel like things could just be a little better. I am guilty as charged. Like, dead woman walking guilty. My name is Mo, and I have been a serious downer.

Then something happens to make you wake up and realize you are being your own worst enemy. Your eyes open, the fog clears, and the cobwebs are wiped from your mind.I realized a week (plus) ago that I needed a real change in my life. Okay, I admit that I have known this for probably a year, but I just recently became ready to act on the inclination to JUST DO SOMETHING!

I applied for a job, had two interviews, and got the nervous-excited-antsy-glee of anticipation when they started calling my references and then bang...

My husband joined the ranks of the laid-off.

I cried. I updated my resume. I cried some more. I told my boss I HAD to find new new job. Mine alone couldn't pay for our mortgage let alone bills, student loans, cell phones, internet access... LIFE! We are not buying groceries for as long as possible. I will re-start my dining calendar (saves on groceries because I use everything up when I plan ahead). Movies are a no-go. Trips are a no-go. Anything involves the burning of money, a.k.a. gas is a no-go. Limiting use of electricity and especially the heater and air conditioning. Solely the use of blankets, flannel and candlelight in our house! (That is the restrictions I am trying to impose, anyway) We've called the satellite company and reduced our package (they gave us a great discount - Thank you for understanding, DirectTV). We've called the credit card companies (they don't really care at all, actually. Jerks!).

The next day, I was offered the job. I happily accepted.

A new start for me, and soon Happy Husband will be employed again and it will be a new start for him. I will shake off the doldrums and make the most of our time together. I will cast my fears aside. I will push my "practical" and "realistic" side away. It does more harm than good. I will smile and remain positive and cheerful (he needs to see it, if he doesn't feel it himself). I will help him in any way that I can (yes, I will reread your resume. yes, let's take another look at that job board. yes, I will go anywhere with you that we need to go. yes, you are still my knight in shining armor. yes, I love you so much I could explode in a shower of hearts and sunshine. yes, you don't ask for affirmations, but I love to give them to you anyhow).

It has been rough, but smooth roads lie just ahead. While I cannot see it, I can feel the sun lifting over the horizon. Hope is in reach and I am grasping for it with both hands.