Digital Camera Saga at a Small Company

Me: Our digital camera isn't working.

Controller: The lens is broken. Who broke it?

Me: I'm not sure. Somebody probably dropped it.

Controller: Who dropped it?

Me: I don't know. Can we get it repaired?

Controller: That will cost more than a new camera. Who was the last one to use it?

Me: (inwardly sighing) I really don't know. But I need to take some pictures to send to a client...

Controller: Somebody here broke it. So now, we have no digital camera to use.

Me: (inwardly screaming) Well, I guess I'll wait for one of the other reps to show up and use her camera to send these pictures.

Controller: ok. (hands the broken, useless camera back)

AAAAARRRRGH!!!!!

Shout out to the sexiest girl in Palo Alto

You rock! Thank ALL that is holy that we will never think it's sexy to wear a thong and shake cellulite (aka what she thinks is her hot little ass) in front of everyone at the pool even if the music is mixed by Julio the Wonder Boy Who Dates Supermodels.

The old school Madonna house mix almost made up for freaky cracker DJ, standing in line for 15 minutes for 2 drink orders (and who knows how much longer without the so totally-un-PC- that-I-can't-write-it on-this-blog, new "friend" of yours), drunk gropers, friggin' 70 degree no shorts weather, and the worst.... dearth of hip-hop clubbing (Why is it SO difficult to find??)

Love your kitties (certain aromas are forgotten) and that shy guy!

Coming soon: you and me, the beach and pina coladas!

A Dallasite in Phoenix

My thought process as I stepped off the plane for my layover in Phoenix yesterday:

Phoenix...booooooo. If only I had a Mavs shirt or hat...

Wait a minute. I'm at an airport. Most of these people aren't even from Phoenix and probably don't give a flyin' flip.

Cool, I'm in Phoenix! Must go immediately to the gift shop to get some Cactus candy. Mmmmmm... Yea, Phoenix!

Bikini Blunders???

My latest fashion challenge:

This weekend, I will be at a big MTV style pool party in the San Francisco area. But wait....what shoes do I wear? And jewelry? And..handbag? Do you bring a handbag or a beach bag? How is it that I know exactly how to dress to go out to a club, to a cocktail party, to a wedding, etc., but I am clueless about how to dress for a "pool party?" Apparently, pool parties have changed since the days when you showed up at your b/f/f's backyard pool with a towel and a noodle...

Signs You are Having the Best Birthday Party Ever

• It lasts for 8 hours.
• You dance for 5 hours straight, during which the following occurs:

1. Someone gets the idea to go knocking on neighbors' doors to sell tickets to watch you (if you are a girl) and your friend (another girl) dance together ("do you know how many straight men would PAY to see this??")

2. You get cash tucked in your pants when you stand up on a ledge to dance

3. 3 hours into it, your hair's fallen flat and your make up is melted, but you are still going and telling everyone you're "dancing for (fill in charity of choice)"

• The owner of the house keeps coming in, turning the music down and telling you that you're going to "blow the speaker system." (You ignore him and keep turning it up as soon as he leaves)
• You are wearing a tiara from Libby Lu's (shop for little girls who dream of being a princess) all night long and you find out that the teenager down the street who is having her birthday party is wearing a tiara too.
• The theme and decorations revolve around disco balls of all sizes and all the guests are wearing mini disco balls around their necks and, naturally, making appropriately inappropriate jokes.
• One of the biggest lightweights at the party keeps refilling his drink, takes 3 hits, and wants to look through all the drawers in the house.
• By the end of the party, a VIP of a certain clothing boutique that is very close to this blogger's heart is wearing a gay man's pair of white tube socks with her denim capris.
• The next morning, the married girl can't remember flashing her hoo hoos.
• The word of the night somehow becomes "po po ZOW" (sorry K-Fed, I'm not really sure how to spell that)
• The paper boy delivers the paper before the last guest leaves.

And one last sign... People are still talking and laughing about it 5 days later.

Happy Birthday to me!!

No, I do not want to share a dessert

bebe Me loves some dessert. I know, it's an accepted practice (especially among women) to be out with someone and suggest sharing a dessert from the menu. I've spent my life trying to figure out a delicate way to say, "hell, no!" and how to determine how well I have to know someone to say it. Even if I've just barely met you, you can share my entree, my salad, my appetizer and please share my drink, but leave this girl's dessert alone. I mean, you really don't want to mess with anything that makes a girl's eyes roll back and makes her say, oooooh... do you?

Expensive Friendships

What does it mean if you get almost as many birthday cards from retailers (Happy birthday! Your gift is contingent on your spending more money with us!) than you do from your friends and family?

Friends say the darndest things..

I used to keep a list of my favorite quotes from friends. This is my latest favorite from my favorite Cali girl:

I always thought I paid high california rent in exchange for nice weather. Well this year, I want a REFUND!

Comic relief for the job seeker

During the sometimes grueling and always evolving process of figuring out what you want to do professionally, why not take a break and figure out what you really don't want and probably shouldn't do professionally? For bebe Me, the following come to mind immediately:

• A cab driver or truck driver or any professional driver-- unless it's cool with the client to allow at least and extra hour for getting lost and turning around and sometimes ending up taking the looong way.
• A NFL player-- having my body weight as public knowledge is NOT cool with me. Not to mention the more obvious obstacles..

If picturing myself as either one of those professionals doesn't bring some laughs and giggles, I don't know what will.

There is more than one path to creativity

I spent some time at the Nasher Sculpture Center this weekend which is pretty cool if you've never been there:

http://NasherSculptureCenter.org

Once again, as I read about all the tumultuous details of artists' lives, I can't help but wonder why much of society seems to expect artists (visual, performing and writing) to have exclusive claim on all the world's suffering. Are historians who are writing about the artist's life seeking it out to add authenticity? And with this mindset, how can any artist resist magnifying anything in their life that could be perceived as drama so that they can tap into the furthest corners of their creative powers?

I'm not saying that pain isn't a valid source of creativity because it can be. But as someone who lived and studied in the world of the arts for many years, I have seen great artists who lead (gasp!) average, stable lives

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and jump in..

The future is uncertain..but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.
--Ilya Prigogine

At a time in my life where I really do feel like I'm jumping into uncertain waters in many ways, I am reminded that nothing shapes character more significantly than stepping out of a comfort zone. I always enjoy the process, but I also can't wait for that moment that makes it all worth it..when you emerge from the water, refreshed, energized and alive. That sensation is why we continue to allow ourselves to fall, dust ourselves off and try again.

Oh what they are missing..

Recently, I saw a segment on the local news about what people in Manhattan think about Texas. There are actually people who still think that we live in the sticks with a couple of horses each. Ok, so I haven't been to every little town in the Lonestar state, so maybe there still is some of that, but puhLEEZE. Here's what a girl who genuinely loves NYC, but loves TX even more has to say to them: Y'all need to GET OUT some.

bebe Spring 2006

The new spring collection has arrived and once again, I want to especially thank a couple of very special friends for asking me to model at the premier. Congratulations on your stores' successes this year!

For all you fashion seekers, my favorite store is stocked with sexy pencil skirts and fitted tops, short shorts, denim skirts and warm weather shrugs. Still plenty of sparkle and sheen, chunky jewelry and wedge heels to go around....

Bring on the warmer weather!

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Thank you to my Dad for:

• Teaching me to appreciate all things in nature (rocks, flowers, plants and animals)
• Disagreeing with me and insisting that I really was smart enough to understand math
• Believing that anyone can improve at anything if they just put forth the effort
• Showing me by example that being courteous and saying a few cheerful words to every person you run across (including toll booth attendatns, security guards, etc.) can make them and me smile
• Supporting my lofty dreams as a teenage aspiring violinist, financially and emotionally
• Never saying anything negative about my mother
• Showing me by example than there is such thing as a man who is comfortable with himself, has a backbone and is a good leader while still being faithful to, respectful toward, and supportive of women. (whether I always believed I would find someone like that is a different story, but whenever I'd hear other people say that men like that don't exist, I always knew deep inside that there was at least one)

Oh baby, baby

Yes, I am a woman but I do not automatically love all babies. I will not offer to hold every baby I see, I will not gush over every newborn baby picture, I don't really want to hear every detail of pregnancy, birth, and especially baby room decor. I'm not filled with burning desire to have one of my own whenever I am around a baby. You will not see me jumping at an offer to baby sit. For some reason, this leads many people to assume that I don't like babies or kids and that I don't know how to handle one and that I must be completely uncomfortable around them. I actually like very much to hold those little guys and girls, just not every single one I see. I've known how to hold and play with babies since I was the every preteen girl in America who went through the "I LOVE babies and baby-sitting" stage. Kids and babies are just like any other people in my life. I feel very comfortable with people (and kids and babies) in general, enjoy interacting with most of them (spoiled brats, old and young, are never enjoyable), and suprise, suprise, kids actually like me!

So why is it that if a woman doesn't have an obvious, eager sense of maternal nurturing, then they must be completely clueless about people younger than 18? I actually had someone say to me, "oh, you must be like my sister. She dropped my son when he was a baby."

Would she have said this to me if I were a man? I'm going to guess the answer to that is no.

Move Over Hallmark, it's Valentines Day with bebe Me (Belated)

Anyone that knows me knows how I love anything glittery and shiny, feminine and sensuous and candy and chocolate. So how could I not celebrate Valentine's Day whole-heartedly? Love? Ok, that's cool if you happen to have it and if that's what you want to make V-day about. But love has never been a limitation for me. In earlier years, I got fun little gifts from my parents, but as an adult, I buy myself my own gifts, always frivolous, but not necessarily pricey. I hand out candy, stickers, hand made valentines, all of it. I've heard that some people only celebrate when they have a significant other... Me? The first time I actually and a significant other on that day, I was a little out of sorts....how does this work?

No, I'm not trying to make any kind of statement. I really just love to celebrate the pretty things of Valentine's Day for what they are rather than for what Hallmark says they represent (with all due respect to Hallmark, without which there would be nothing for me to celebrate).

I'm not saying everyone has to celebrate Valentine's Day my way or anyone else's way, but as for me, I'm always here to spread the glittery cheer!

Chain of Fool (yes, I mean fool singular, as in one I met today)

I am not often rendered speechless. But this morning, as expected, watercooler talk at the office was centered around the Superbowl. Women, brace yourself. A female coworker says, "And what about the National Anthem? What WAS that? Who was that woman? Hideous.." I kid you not, ladies. She actually said "Who was that woman?"

I couldn't even talk for at least 2 minutes.

(Just in case anyone didn't know who sang the national anthem, it was only the Queen of Soul, herself, Aretha.)

Show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Superbowl o' dip

We all know the types of Superbowl partiers: the ones who are there to watch the game, the ones who are there to socialize and all that falls in between. But whatever you're there for, who doesn't love the party dips?

Pass the spinach dip, please..

Couple-ditional Friendship

Definition: n. the state of being friendly toward another, but only asking them to do things socially if the other person is part of a "couple"

bebe me's opinion: Yawn. Let's mix it up a little, please.

Tribute to a Woman with a True Musician's Soul

The lovely lady who taught me violin from the age of about 9 -12 passed away this past week. She lived in TX, but would often travel to Colorado to visit her grandchildren who didn't know how to play violin. She would give them lessons anyway.

A woman who loved music so much that she had to share it with everyone...