Happy Halloweenie!

Happy Friday bloggers! Today is not just Friday, it's HALLOWEEN!! We were discussing last night how Halloween is a really huge deal if you are between the ages of 5-12. It's probably the second most anticipated day of the year for a kid.

Proof that some of us never really grow up, here are some hilarious examples of halloween creativity at it's finest!

Couple o' boobs, these two. The one on the right is kinda pretty? No?

This is great! But the toilet dude? He's going to get a serious quad workout tonite. And the other guy?
He's going to catch a serious cold tonite?

Stop it....that is the cutest/funniest thing I have ever seen..

Gross...just gross, but the further I look at it the more I think its genius. Yeah, gross, but genius.

Bwahahahahah! Really? Bwahahahaha!

I gotta give the guy props for creativity. I love it! It may not work so well with the ladies though. It's like he's putting the cart before the horse. You know what I mean?

Now this guy? He's got it all figured out. If he finds any takers he's gonna have a good time tonite. 

AND THE BEST FOR LAST:

I'm sorry, but I LOLed so hard when I saw this. This is so wrong on so many levels but you gotta love it when someone laughs right in the face of life. Imagine the two of them looking at this photo 20 years from now! I just think this is hilariously wrong, but hilarious nonetheless. 

Happy Halloween bloggers! Have a safe and happy evening and take a moment to appreciate this all Hallows Eve, a unique American tradition. 

Book It!

So many places to go and so much to see...

Now that the nest is empty, we decided that a weekend get away is in order. But how much to spend and where to go? On my list:

• New Orleans
• Bahamas
• Florida-but so many choices

Of course price and time are always a concern..especially going into the busy holiday season, so we decided mid-November might be a good time. Now that you can literally be your own travel agent, which sites are the best for deals?

• Travelocity
• Trip Advisor
• Expedia
• Jet Blue Getaways
• Hotwire

Are there any others that you would recommend? Or any other places besides what's already on my list? 

I would prefer warm weather, but I'm open to suggestions...

El Jefe And The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I recently watched the movie "Chef" on On Demand. It was good and I recommend it highly for a light fun movie watch, BUT I will caution you....DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE HUNGRY. This movie is food porn at its highest degree and after viewing it I found myself absolutely ravenous!

Since watching the movie, I can't stop thinking about the grilled cheese sandwich the chef cooks for his son. I have watched the clip below from YouTube about 6 thousand times and I think I got it down, but I'm literally guessing on the type of cheese he uses. I'm thinking the orange cheese is sliced cheddar mixed with some Gruyere, to make that yummy, cheese pulling goodness. It's just about all I can do to not make it grilled cheese night every night in our house! 

I recommend the movie, but the grilled cheese and Cuban sandwiches are the reason to watch. 

And do yourself a favor and have something with you to eat. Something you really like because your are going to need it.

This is the clip from You/tube. I couldn't get it to embed for some reason. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BTfctEmg5w

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This

I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm going to say it anyway...

I'm siding with Gisele today. I know..if you read this blog regularly then you know that Gisele Bundchen is not my favorite person for many reasons. The number one reason: she is married to my boyfriend, My Tommy. Beside the fact that she seemingly has "it"all; good looks, big career, tons of money, and the man of my dreams, Gisele has made some missteps when it has come to press lately. She is more often than not lambasted in the press for comments made about everything.

Maybe it's jealousy. I know I don't like her. 90% of the way I feel is honest to goodness jealousy. Hell, shes got it all-or so it seems. I have other reasons too..like My Tommy hasn't won a Super Bowl since he's been with her. In fact, he's lost 2 Super Bowls since he's been with her. But that's a blog for another day. A day when I'm back to not agreeing with her. Today is different.

Her recent hub bub? Gisele has drawn controversy recently over comments made in The Sunday Times Style Magazine. Her crime this time? Comparing motherhood to the instructions given on a plane regarding oxygen masks in the event of an emergency. The haters couldn't wait to pounce on her. I could hardly wait to see what she had said now..

She said, ""It's very important to nourish yourself, take care of yourself," Bundchen told The Sunday Times Style magazine. "You know how they say on the plane that you have to put the oxygen mask on first and then put it on your child? So, I think it is the same, as a mum, to take care of myself."

Ok, I thought. Is that it? 

She then said, ". 'You can feel a bit guilty - you feel guilty if you do and if you don't. But if I put my oxygen mask on first, if I'm feeling fulfilled and present and good about myself, then I'm going to be a much more patient, loving, understanding mother and wife. You have to fill your glass so that everyone can drink from it. That's how I feel.'

And here's where it gets sticky...I agree with her. I can relate to what she's saying because what she's saying is important. Take care of yourself so that you can take care of your family. I get it Gi, I really do and I agree. Go figure. 

There's an old saying that says, "If mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy". And it is true. 

I can't believe I'm saying this but let's lay off Gisele. She's right. It's important to take care of yourself so that you can be the best mother and wife for your family. That may mean many things to many people, but to her it means being a mother is a most important job. 

And I have to agree with her, as much as it pains me to say it. 

Marcel Is Back

Just so cuuuute...

Price Wars

Being in retail, my ears perked up when I heard about the newest level of price wars between fast food giants McDonald's and Burger King. Last week Burger King announced a dramatic cut in the cost of it's Chicken Nuggets. Burger King is now offering a 10 piece chicken nugget for $1.49. This comes on the heels of McDonald's ultra popular Monopoly game, which has proven to be a traffic driver for the food mecca. So what does McDonald's do? McDonald's "sees" Burger King's $1.49 10 piece Nugget and "raises" with a $5.00 20 piece nugget, plus offers the fan favorite Monopoly game to boot.

What does all this mean?

It means that in the proverbial pie of fast food sales, there are only so many pieces. The loss leader in competitive sales has become an every day thing. So what does all this mean for a little guy like me? It means a heck of a lot and here's why:

• Retailers make 30% of annual revenues during the holiday season. WHAT THAT USED TO MEAN: Shoppers will shop. Period. WHAT THAT MEANS NOW: Retailers need to attract the customer. Even loyal customers.
• For most retailers, the Internet has changed the way we do business. Heck, the internet has changed the world but for retailers that means there is a World Wide Web of competition out there for goods. We must stay competitive to stay in the game. So how do we do that?
• Black Friday used to be the busiest shopping day of the year! Thanks to "Door Busters", Black Friday sales and deep discounts, retailers have to have a strategy to make their numbers and that spells out DISCOUNT. 
• More sales and discounts are a necessity and are now commonplace in a sales plan. And more frequently that ever before.  

It's amazing to me that even the big guys like McDonald's worry about market shares.I'm aware that they, of course, worry about staying on top and I know that we all worry about the bottom line, but I am surprised to find that the biggies and I share a common ground. It's the new age of competitive sales and in this Internet world, nothing is for sure. Service and reputation are a big part of it, but the facts are what they are. If you can't attract the client to your location or your website or your restaurant, you are all done.

The bottom line now means that they won't buy if they don't come. 

Ebola Thots

I'm sorry to make a joke about something so serious, but I hardly know what else to do.

 It's all around us. It leads our news casts. It captures front page headlines. It's shared on social media and it's sprinkled into casual conversations so it's safe to say the world is not safe. 

I worry about my daughter. Studying in London and has already been to both Germany and Paris this month. The biggest problem she faces right now is what pub will she go to and how much it will cost? She thinks my warnings of being aware and being cautious are silly. How can I protect her? I worry about my son. Traveling on an airplane this weekend, domestically to come home, yet  part of me wants him to stay put. 

I thought about myself. I work with the public everyday. I apply makeup to people which requires close personal contact with them. How do I protect my staff? Myself? My clients? Panic is not our friend so collectively we apply logic to try and fail-safe measures and we listen to the experts. We don't need pandemonium.  The government is already scrambling. The experts are speaking and the medical professionals are putting their lives in jeopardy for the greater good. 

Punch "Ebola" into a Google search and see what you get. What do you believe and what do you follow? The CDC is talking to a ravenous public and we are listening, hanging on their every word and Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller are arguing about Dr Nancy Snyderman violating an Ebola isolation agreement.

All we can do is watch and wait. And wait and watch what happens and how it all plays out. All the while,  maybe not willing to admit we are concerned, that there is a slight frenzy over the outbreak in our own back yard. 

I'm going to do my part and admit, I'm concerned.

 

Into God's Hands

I lost a member of my family yesterday.
While this woman was not very close to us in recent history, she was at one point someone we cared about.

There was no personal reason for our loss of contact in recent years. No horrible tragedies or awful disagreements, but only that she became the victim of neglect and she didn't deserve it. She became a forgotten, inconvenient soul in the end and for that I am sad. Her life was a cautionary tale and I wonder if in her advanced years, sort of gave up. Falling victim to the cancer we surprisingly found out about in the end. There will be no memorial, no services or finger sandwiches and coffee with memories. Just silence for her soul.

I speak of her today so that she may know that her memory lives on in me. And the love I once felt for a family member meant something. Love is real, but never logical. Love is the only thing we know to be true.

I want you all to know that she mattered and that she was loved and anyone to else that reads this too. So she will know someone cared.

Friday Funny Flashback

*This is a re-post from The Daily Dandy, April 2010


Roger left for work on Friday morning. Friday was payday, so instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend partying with the boys and spending his entire pay packet.

Finally, Roger appeared at home on Sunday night, and obviously he was confronted by his angry wife, Martha who castigated Roger for nearly two hours with a tirade befitting his actions.

Finally, Martha stopped the nagging and said to Roger, 'How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?'

Roger replied grimly, 'That would be fine with me.'

Monday went by and he didn't see his Martha. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results.

By the Thursday, the swelling had gone down just enough so that Roger, he could see Martha a little out of the corner of his left eye.

Have a great weekend bloggers and try think before you speak.

Cuz H's are EW!

I define myself in many ways; mother, wife, entrepreneur, and friend to name a few. But there is a part of me that lives on inside the woman that is all which I have described.

That part of me is still a 12 year old girl.

That's why I think this is so funny, brilliant, endearing and SPOT ON accurate!
It also makes me an even bigger Jimmy Fallon fan...like if that's even possible..like really.

This is the latest from the EW! franchise and I fricken love it.

Bright Eyed And Bushy Tailed

Ahhh, fresh off my "mini-cation" and I feel great! Nothing like a few days of R&R, good friends, shopping, laughing and eating to your heart's content! I tell ya, I could get used to this empty nest thing!

A few observations on the weekend:

• I love my blogger buddies! MarkD60 even though we have never met, I'm pleasantly surprised that you know me so well and that's awesome! You win the prize on where I went!

• Nothing like a Florida sunset, the open ocean, a couple of drinks and the love of some great friends. The foods and drinks taste better when you are with people you love, don't you agree? The gorgeous backdrop doesn't hurt either. 

• My Tommy! YES! My Tommy silenced the critics and everyone else who wanted to spew poison and spread crap about my boy and his commitment to his team. OK, so we won a big one. I'm not a romantic fool. I know that the team's problems are a lot bigger than anyone really knows, but I'm also not one to question it. For now, I'll happily take the momentum and move forward to Buffalo. You go Tommy!!  

• Funny, on Sunday afternoon, when we were sitting out at the beautiful bar on the beach looking at the sunset having drinks, we were chatting with the fun people sitting next to us. They were from Cincinnati and they were talking serious trash about how they were going to kill us in Sunday night's game. Believe it or not we took it! We bowed our heads and agreed that this may not be the Pats year and that there were serious issues with the team, with Brady-hes not happy, blah, blah, blah. We quietly and uncharacteristically agreed with the trash talk.......I couldn't help but think of them halfway through the first quarter of the game. 

• It always takes my dogs a good hour to re acclimate to us coming home. I read once that it causes stress to the "pack" when you separate dogs that live together. They must have been stressed this weekend, because they really take their time about getting right back into the family routine when we get home. It's like they are pissed at us or something. 

•  Happy are those who come home to rest their heads. As fun as it is to get away for a bit, it's always good to come home. That goes for here too bloggers! I'm happy to be back!

No Place I'd Rather Be

I'm taking a little magic carpet ride this weekend!

A much needed little get away, because my mind is on overload these days. I know we are all busy and crazy with our lives and work, but lately I have been letting it get to me. Stress is a silent killer. I carry all my stress in my upper body. My neck and shoulders are the bearers of stress for me and occasionally I come up with a stress headache. And right about now I could really use a massage.

I'm so much smarter that that. I need to learn to let it go...

Now that I've got all this time to myself, instead of taking it slower I seem to be gearing up and trying to conquer the world. But I'm learning fast that you can't take on the world with out psychical consequences. So I've decided that a small respite, a cocktail, some warm weather and some me time is just what the doctor ordered.

I will be gone from Friday, Oct 3rd 2014 to Monday, Oct 6th 2014. I will return to the bloggersphere on Tuesday, Oct 7th, 2014 and hopefully I will have some hilarious situation that happened over the weekend that we can all opine with our fabulous wisdom.

Have a great weekend bloggers, and please...try to let it go. You know what I mean?