Taking Stock

So It's that time of the year. Time to take stock, so to speak.

Seriously, these next couple of days have got to be the most anticlimactic. The hustle and bustle of the holidays is over. The purpose of going out to run errands has taken on new meaning and the sight of a credit card receipt makes even the wealthiest person wince.

It's also a time to take inventory.

Inventory of the past year, inventory of your life and time to look ahead into the new year, 2013. I hate taking inventory...

But it's necessary.

I'm going to take stock of my store first.
Then I'm going to take stock of my kids next.
Then I'm taking stock of my finances and my life...

And then, ugh..I'm going to have to take inventory of me.

I Was Just Thinking...

• That "Two Broke Girls" is one of the best shows on TV. That, and "The New Normal". I haven't seen "Glee" in weeks and no time to watch "XFactor" any more. I haven't even watched "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" this season. Too busy.

• I started out my Fantasy Football league going 7-1. Total domination. Then I lost the last 6 weeks. IN A ROW. Someone's getting suckered. It's pissing me off. I should have known something would go awry with ELI MANNING as my QB. Ugh. I'm not eve sure I'll make it to the playoffs. 

• Speaking of Sports-(cue the Taps music) Youlk just signed for one year with the Yankees. A travesty. It's unnatural, not normal, awful and bizarre. 

• I haven't started my Xmas shopping yet. I can hardly blog these days on a daily basis, you think I have time to shop? And my tree isn't even up yet. Oh, the horror. I'm not complaining, tho..the store is doing quite well moving into week 4. Thank goodness for the Internet. I'll start shopping today. Any suggestions?

• Get this: My Guy is in Las Vegas celebrating the wedding of one of his closest friends whom he has a strong familial bond with. He left yesterday, they are getting married today and My Guy comes home tomorrow. I am DEVASTATED that I could not join them. I can't, I cant leave Frack and I can't leave my staff yet. I'm really upset that I couldn't somehow pull off a 3 day jaunt to Vegas to celebrate this joyous occasion with them. Is this what they call sacrifice? It doesn't feel very great.

• The cold that is going around these here parts is dangerous. People are hacking and coughing and sneezing to the left and right of me all day long. I've got to keep this sucker at bay, I had a touch of it a week ago, and I'm not interesting in hosting it again.

• Even after I've complained about all these things, I need to tell you that it's beginning to feel like Christmas around here. I love the magic of the season and I can feel the excitement of the next 11 days. I wish you all a bit of that cheer as we head into the season.

Like Taking Candy...

So you might have noticed lately that I've kinda been a sucky blogger.

I'm sorry. Please accept my sincere apologies.

You see, I've been busy with a project, and today I get to reveal why all those days were spent working and not blogging.

I've been working on my new store.

The Candy Bar located at 20 Church Street, Wellesley, MA is finally finished and today I open the doors for business.  I couldn't be prouder.

















I spent the summer searching for my favorite things.

Things I think you'll like and things I know you'll love, and I brought them all together under one roof.

Of course, my old friend Kevyn will be there.

And I've got a few new friends too.

And don't forget about the BLING...girls love BLING!

And when you need to get styled for that special occasion, The Candy Bar will take care of that too.
Welcome to beauty paradise...

Oh yes, and there's one more thing.

We sell candy too, because there's nothing better than that kid in a candy store feeling!


Today I feel like the luckiest person alive. That little girl who loved to play "pretend store" is all growed up.

The love, confidence and support of my family has brought me through to today, and I thank God and them for all the blessings.


I'm living a dream and yes, they really do come true.

Candy Coated Dreams

Like a kid in a candy store.......

Does the sight of this make you go all giddy and weak in the knees?

I took this picture in Paris, France in 2009 just outside a movie theatre and I remember the excitement of the prospect of being able to put together a whole bag of wonderful. I still feel the same way about candy and right now I'm putting together all my favorites so that I can bring that kind of joy and excitement to my clients.

For me, it goes back to my childhood and a place called, The Dover Country Store, in Dover Ma. The Dover Country Store was a musty antique shop located on a railroad track that my mom used to take us to. Now, one would think that the store, loaded with old antique furniture and goods that were musty and piled atop one another in an old barn would not be a place that a carload of kids would stampede into with joy. But the Dover Country Store also had one of the greatest penny candy shops for miles around and back then the candy really was a penny.

Nothing was greater than hitting up the gorgeous, colorful display with a pocket full of change needing nothing but my imagination and my taste buds. The small brown bag of candy that was mine was then lovingly carried off to some secluded area of the shop, usually where all the rugs were piled atop each other, for further inventory and careful inspection. It was truly the start of "retail therapy" for me. That little brown bag was torn and tattered by the weeks end, from moving it to different hiding locations and from it's rationed and dwindling contents.

Like a kid in a candy store.....

I know that's how my grown up clients feel when they enter The Candy Bar, and now they will be able to re-live some of those precious candy memories from childhood. Maybe their kids will make their own Candy Bar memories, or they will bring someone a Candy Bar gift of candy to make them smile. The option will be theirs and it will be my joy to offer them a little slice of wonderful.

Help me out bloggers! Share your candy favorites and memories.

Sloppy Joe's

So I've been working on this project lately and I'm noticing that more often than not, people in the business world just can't seem to get it right. Like, when did doing a good job become a task? Why is it that customer service has now become an audible sigh*, and a snippy attitude for a mistake made on their part? And I'm seeing this all over the board...not just with one company, but multiple.

My mom always taught us this mantra, "Do a job, big or small; do it right or not at all." Even my childhood friends will repeat it back to me and tell me that they always remembered it. I just don't get it. I'm not insinuating that I am perfect, because I'm not. Far from it. But I do take pride in my work and when I make a mistake? I'm on it and apologetic till it is resolved. It's a better model for efficiency.

I'm dealing with large corporate companies, but the mistakes, and stupid little sloppy mistakes, have been a constant with almost every company I have dealt with. I find that I spend way too much time, chasing down the rep who made the mistake to correct it then refund me the money and then get me the product I originally intended. And all with this audible SIGH*... Like I'm the pain in the ass?

Do your fricken job, and I'll do mine. Believe me, I know what my job is and I do it well.

Yeah, I screw up. We all do. But the difference is I am accountable, and my customer service is paramount to the success of my business. If I made my customers feel like they were being a pain in the ass? I would not be in business today. Period.

Do your Goddamned job.!! It's that easy, and don't take it out on me when you screw up with my MONEY.

Cuz I'm on to you and I'm taking notes.

Work In Progress

I'm working on a project.

I'm going to be doing some construction today and I'll be getting down and dirty. I'm going to be using tools like an electric drill and other big ass tools like that. This should be good. I am actually looking forward to it. I have absolutely no experience, but I love being totally hands on when working on a project.

Wish me luck bloggers and please pray I don't break one of my nails.

She Hates Everybody

I'm a Joan Ranger.

I love Joan Rivers. Yes, I know, she's crass, mean, insulting and mostly inappropriate, but she's hilarious and she always leaves me laughing.

She is currently starring in two shows; one reality show on WE TV called "Joan and Melissa" and "Fashion Police" on E.

On "Fashion Police", she is incredibly funny yet politically incorrect in her impeccably timed Joan Rivers way. She commands the floor with her panel of fashion "experts", but make no mistake, Joan is the show. It's well worth the watch.

I became a fan a couple of years ago when I came across the documentary "Joan Rivers. Piece of Work." It released in Jan 2010 and was filmed during one year of Joan Rivers life when she was 75 years old. It followed her through her crazy, schedule of appearances and performances.

This lady works. I gained an incredible appreciation for her work ethic. She was non-stop. Joan makes no bones about the fact that she has to work to support her opulent lifestyle, yet she admits to needing the work to boost her self esteem.

Notorious for her abuse of plastic surgery, Joan admits quite openly to being very insecure. She does it all too. At the time of filming, Joan was still working every day, attending several personal appearances, doing comedy shows and regularly traveling across country. A schedule that would have made even a younger person, question why. Yet Joan seemed to revel in it, and she hardly complained.

This lady is no dumb blonde, either. Fresh off her "Celebrity Apprentice" win in 2009, "Piece of Work" showed Rivers the business woman for the shrewd artisan she is. Her jewelry line is one of QVC's most successful sellers to date and that is just one of the many projects that Joan is attached to.

I hope to God that when I am her age, I have half the stamina that she has. And that's not something you can buy from a plastic surgeon. You gotta have hutzpah! Forbes has estimated Rivers net worth at $290 million, and that's a hell of a lot of hutzpah.

Say what you will about her.
She's probably already heard it and incorporated it into her act and made it ten times funnier.