El Condor Pasa

I'm in a constant state of disarray, as of late. It's really got to end. I just have so much to do. I haven't even had a chance to read all your blogs, and that, my friends, is a necessary. Oy vey.

In an attempt to catch up in the ol' Greader, I came across something refreshing. Barry posted an "If I Were" list, and we all know how I feel about lists...

Yeah. I ganked it.

If I could be a month, I’d be October.

If I could be a day of the week, I’d totally be Saturday.

If I could be a time of day, I’d be 7pm.

If I could be a planet, I’d be one we don't know about.

If I could be a sea animal, I’d be an otter.

Need I say more? Oh yeah, image found here. I don't know how anyone gets a shot of an otter. I've tried. They lounge around being generally adorable, until they see you with a camera. Apparently cameras/photographers are the universal sign of spaz to all otters.

If I could be a direction, I’d be left. ( I asked Mr. T, and that's what he said.)

If I could be a piece of furniture, I’d be a book shelf.

If I could be a liquid, I’d be raspberry lemonade.

If I could be a gemstone, I’d be an emerald.

If I could be a tree, I’d be a ginkgo.

Found this image here. Thanks Google!

If I could be a tool, I’d be a pen.

If I could be a flower, I’d be an tiger lily.

If I could be a kind of weather, I’d be snow flurries.

If I could be a musical instrument, I’d be a Whamola.

Yes. A Whamola , and I googled and found this image here.

If I could be a color, I’d be green.

If I could be an emotion, I’d be worry.

If I could be a fruit, I’d be a grape.

If I could be a sound, I’d be puppy grunts.

If I could be an element, I’d be water.
This is a Clark Little shot. Love. It.

If I could be a car, I’d be an all terrain vehicle.

If I could be a food, I’m willing to bet I'd be a noodle of some sort.

If I could be a place, I’d be home.

If I could be a material, I’d be fleece.

If I could be a taste, I’d be sweet & sour. ( It's my blog. I can be both.)

If I could be a scent, I’d be Clinique Happy

If I could be an object, I’d be a paint brush.
Googled and found this image here.

If I could be a body part, I’d have to be the silliest one, a belly button.

If I could be a facial expression, I’d be a Cheshire grin.

If I could be a song, I’d be "El Condor Pasa" (Simon & Garfunkel)

If I could be a pair of shoes, I’d be some trusty old Chuck's.
Found this image at Dirty Chuck's! Gloriousness, I say.

What about you, beautiful bloggers? What would YOU be, if you only could?

Bippidy Boppidy Boo

We all have things that hold magic for us, don't we? Things that make our hearts go pitter pat, and send our imaginations reeling? You know what I'm talking about, right? I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and wondering why certain things bring me inexplicable joy, so I made a small list.

You knew I'd make a list. How could I not?!

Magical Type Things

Bubbles*

This is one of my favorite photos, taken by one of my favorite photographers. You should check out her blog, Curious Illusion.

Lightning Bugs

I googled and found this image here.

Snow
I googled and found this image here, by W. Child

RainbowsFogI googled and found the rainbow & fog images here, where I also found some interesting posts. I'll definitely be checking this one out.

Somewhere during my pondering of these magical-type thingamabobs**, I realized some things. No amount of knowledge and understanding can take away their enchantment. The things that fascinated me as a child are still the things that inspire me today, and I want to share those things. I want to shout them from the roof tops! I believe that they're all careful complex creations of a powerful, loving God and that just makes them all the more exciting to me.

Every time I get all worked up about writing a blog post, a children's book, painting a portrait or even singing a song at church it's because there's something I feel an uncontrollable urge to communicate. I need someone else to understand what that thing, my burden or inspiration, means to me. I want everyone to understand, to be able to relate or join in on the celebration.

Maybe it's in search of belonging? Perhaps I just feel the need to have validation, to know others aren't missing out? I'm not sure. All I know is that there's something magical about that fascination, inspiration and communication.

What say you, bloggers? Do you believe in magic?

*I thought just plain old soap bubbles were magical, but feast your eyes upon these. Oh, and Wiki's definition of a soap bubble makes me happy. I agree 100%.
**I left out love, in order to spare the brave men that venture here the girliest post they've ever been subjected to in their lives. You're welcome, gentlemen.

Brendan ♥s Kate

Today was a busy, busy day. I worked in a frenzy as it snowed like crazy outside my office window. I'd peak out between phone calls and reports to see the court house lawn getting whiter and whiter. I successfully fought the urge to go play in it, until it was time to go home. At which point, I crunched up the back steps to my Jeep, with my head back and mouth wide open for maximum snowflake consumption. It was glorious.

In the midst of my busy morning I received a link from my dear prickly pear, Ari (Wha? The girl loves cacti, and I love pet names.). What was this link, you ask? It was a post by Stevie, about an awesome, unstoppable man named Brendan and the girl with whom he fell in love.

While deployed in Iraq last year, Brendan's unit received a terrible blow. Some men were lost, while others were seriously wounded. Brendan suffered injuries to his head and face, and he lost both of his arms and legs. He's the only quadruple amputee to survive a major American war.

Currently, Brendan is doing physical and occupational therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he met Kate...
Sounds like an amazing guy, right? You wanna know the rest of the story, right? Please go read it HERE (it's short and sweet, I promise). They've entered Crate & Barrel's Ultimate Wedding Contest to win the wedding of their dreams, and they need YOU to go vote for them.

We've got 6 weeks and 5 days to make this happen, and there's competition, folks. Let's do this, shall we? We're The Internet. We can so make this happen!

P to the S: Go now! Tell your family, friends and coworkers. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Go!

What Did You Do?

Let's talk briefly about how wonderful my husband person is, shall we? Oh, lets do. Have you met him? Maybe you've read about him here? If you haven't, you should. His name is Todd, but I like to call him Mr. T. I also enjoy singing excerpts from Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street at him. He does not love it. The thought of peoply meat pies tends to gross him out...for some reason.

Anyhow, this afternoon I was sitting on my favorite floor pillow, checking Ze Book O' Face, enjoying the nothingness and just generally being a mess, when I hear someone pull up in our drive. Wondering who it could be, and how horrendous I actually look, I hopped up to find that a FedEx dude is carrying two boxes onto my porch. I bolt for Mr. T. He's dressed already, as usual.
Mr. T looks a little concerned about our mysterious parcels (Have I mentioned how much I hate the word "package"? Hate it.), but runs to the door to meet Mr. FedEx. As soon as they're signed for, and the door is shut, I plopped my butt down in the floor next to them. Mr. T looked concerned.

After very little prodding, he informs me that he got me a MacBook Pro and a printer for Valentine's Day!!!I think that deserves a few more exclamation marks, don't you? !!! I was in slight shock, and just kept saying, "What did you do?" He said he figured I needed it for work trips and my etsy shop. I totally needed a printer, and who would say no to a MacBook of their own?!

In conclusion, I hate to be mushy and annoying, but sometimes it's just too difficult not to tell the world about the sweetness that is my husband man. He's wonderful *most* of the time, whether he's spending money on me or not, but this was all kinds of spontaneous. He is *never* spontaneous. Ever. So...this is a big deal. I think he's good at it! ^_^

Bamboozled

There are a lot of things I can stand for, but taking advantage of people is not one of them. Especially when it's someone I happen to think is pretty freakin' awesome, like Shannon. The interwebs can be a beautiful thing, people supporting people they've never even met, individuals coming together to raise awareness and mucho dinero for worthy causes, but it can also be a nasty reminder that people really suck sometimes and you've gotta watch your back. If someone as intelligent as Shannon can get bamboozled, you might be next. *shudders* That's why the following post is being passed along. Read the story and be cautious.

I'm involved in this awareness day, because I was one of the unlucky bloggers. One of the unlucky that was scammed by Jess, the previous owner of Delicious Design Studio. {This in no way involves the current owners of DDS}

I loved her style. I loved her blog. I loved her portfolio. I wanted her to bring all of my ideas to life, and I wanted to pay her good money to do so because I knew she could. At the end of 2008, I decided I wanted a blog design done for my birthday in May, 2009. She had all of my ideas and my $112 down payment. At first, everything was great. I watched as names were scratched off of the schedule list, and the time for my design was getting closer. Then, I got an email saying she was going through personal problems with her family (health) and that she promised she would get around to it by a certain date. The end date was creeping up, and I hadn't heard from her. I would send emails asking how things were going, only to get automated "out of office" replies. Then, the final day came where I was supposed to have everything installed and published. I still hadn't heard from her. So, I decided to write her another email.

Hey Jess,

I feel like I bother you all of the time, so sorry! I'm just checking in because today is the final day and I haven't heard from you yet. I'm just anxious to see it! Can't wait to hear from you!

Working on the mock ups to send to you tonight. Just got into the office for the day/evening :)

I got super excited to see that she actually wrote me back herself, and that she was working on mine. Then she wrote me again! She sent me a link to look through her stock images and choose some final touch ups. I was overwhelmed with happiness that she was contacting me so much, and that my design was going to be on my screen for my approval shortly. Then I got this automated email.

Thank you for your e-mail! I appreciate your inquiry and will respond as quickly as possible. :)

::project status//details//notes::
sent mock ups, working on final edits & installations:
kathy, marci, shari, april marie, tammy.

current projects for July 6th - 11th:

(finalizing mock ups for review)
andrea, asmah, karmeka, shannon, summer, michelle, stephanie, katie,

steph, abi, leoni & tonia.
Friendly Reminder: I will be away from my desk Sunday, July 12th - Wednesday, July 15th and not have access to my e-mail.

So now she's out of the office and not going to send me the mock up she had just promised? Since it was July 10th, and I saw she was going to be out of town, I decided the next day to write her this email.
The main goal of this awareness day, is so that it doesn't happen to others. Please tweet about this, repost it, whatever you can to help spread the word. We've been told she's still doing blog designs, but under a different name. Be cautious of who you give your money to! We learned the hard way.

Hello lovely lady :) wondering how the process is coming along. I know you will be out of the office starting tomorrow so I wasn't sure if you'd be finished with my mock up by then or not. I hope everything is going well, I know you are very busy...just checking in :) thanks for your time and always being so sweet!

Love,
Shannon

July 30th rolls around (more than 2 weeks since she had been back from "out of town")...yes I let it go that long.

I don't mean to sound rude, but I was under the impression my mock up was supposed to be sent to me by the 11th this month, and I haven't heard from you at all. Bills keep popping up and it's getting kind of difficult to watch the money sit there. Should we reschedule the date or will it be ready soon? Just let me know. I hope you and your family are well!

Love,
Shannon

Hey Shannon -

I appreciate your patience. I got so wrapped up in my last design that I got sidetracked. Don't worry about the final payment. I will not expect it since this has taken a little longer than expected.. I will finish this up at no charge. :)

Jess,
That would be SO helpful. Thank you!

And like a sucker, I believed it. I got happy again, and was so excited to know that I wouldn't have to pay the 2nd half. As it turns out, I never got my design, or even a design worth at least the money I paid. I never got my money back, and I never heard from her again. I truly thought with so many bloggers I read that had her designs, that I wouldn't get treated like this. And furthermore, how does she choose who she rips off? After all the frustration and disappointment, I was too drained to even try and get my money back. I have recently found out that it wasn't just a couple of people that were scammed by Jess. It's much more than that. In fact, there's reviews written about it here, here, and here. Even a blog site dedicated to it here. That's not including all of the comments left on those reviews by people in the same boat! I understand I should have done this research before hand, so it's my loss. But that doesn't make what she did right.

I hate having something so negative on my blog, and bad mouthing is just drama in my book that I want no part of. However, this is different. This is a crime. $5, fine keep it. $10, $20 even. But money that could have been used to pay a bill if I would have known I was going to get nothing in return? That's just wrong.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm all for getting a mob together to hunt this so called "Jess" down. Wrong-doing hussy! Feel free to pass this along. Awareness is totally the key.