Shopping Sabbatical Broken Toe

How's that for a word twister? Well, it's happened. I broke the shopping sabbatical today.

It's due to the fact that I broke my big toe last Thursday night. Walking through Balboa Park, I fell down some stairs and as I did to avoid taking out my teeth, I did this weird body twist that in which I rotated on my right big toe in sky high heels and landed on my left hand. So when I stood up, shaken and started walking my toe was throbbing.

We were on our way to Culture and Cocktails. We noticed Jon the Sculptor's limo (yes, he's such a partier that he actually bought a limo so that he and his friends could get wasted and he hires local kids to drive them around) parked out front. No Jon, but we did see his sidekick Bobby. Uggh. After waiting in the extremely long line for about five minutes we were told that since we were so far back in line and hadn't bought tickets in advance chances are we wouldn't get in. So we walked/limped over to the Prado for a cocktail. After a glass of wine and a nosh, we headed out and discovered that it was pouring rain! No umbrella. And of course I had to park pretty much at the zoo because so many people we at the Museum event. So I ran/walked fast to the car in my sky high heels with a broken toe.

Next morning confirmed it was broken, bruised, swollen, not able to bend it or put weight on it. I've been wearing tennis shoes since - I only own one pair of flat shoes. Can you believe that? All my shoes have a heel. Anyway the flat shoes that I own are not comfortable.

And as a side note, I've become disenchanted with my wardrobe. I hate everything I own and pretty much wear the same two tops and pair of yoga pants every day. I decided last week that I was going to use all my gift cards given to me as gifts to get some new clothes.

Tonight, I made my way to the Gap and bought three tops, a pair of jeans and some ballet slippers. It's not so much that I shopped because I said I could use the gift cards on the shopping sabbatical, but I went over the gift card amount. And now when I think about what I have to do to make that money back, I kind of feel guilty. I may have to take the shoes back, because after my toe is better I won't be wearing them and I do have my uncomfortable shoes. I may have to re-evaluate the uncomfortable shoes figure out a way to improve them.

So that's that.

Women Entrepreneurs

Just received an email from Business Week that focuses on women entrepreneurs. I'm taking it as a sign. I've been so jazzed about my current plans to focus on freelancing and my side business, I'm so happy to have something that allows me to be in control of my future. Instead of waiting for some company to offer me a job that will allow my life to move forward. I'm sick of being in limbo and I've just decided to take myself out and move myself forward.

Working for the figurative & literal Man will never allow me to gain the wealth or allow me the freedom and flexibility I so desire. I'll be picking up my business cards next week for my freelancing business and will start littering San Diego with them! And waiting on my side business logo to be developed. I'd love to get an email out to my friends and family announcing that on 3/1. I've figured out how much I need to charge and how many hours I need to bill a week and it's quite reasonable/doable! Anyway, plans are moving along nicely!

But back to the email from Business Week it featured several stories about women entrepreneurs who left the corporate world to start business. It also took me to a story about a program called "Make Mine a Million." The objective of the program is to help female entrepreneurs grow their business to the $1Million in revenue per year mark by 2010. Only a small percentage of small businesses post revenues exceeding $1Million per year. The whole series is very inspiring for me right now. Check it out for yourself!

As I've said many times before, it only takes one idea!

Bitches!

So, tonight, LB and I went to Sushi on the Rock for dinner. We had already decided what we were going to order even before we got in the car to go to La Jolla. LB wanted The Don roll and I wanted the Kitchen Sink. We were seated at the Sushi Bar and there were two seats to our right that were open.

The seats were filled by these two bitchy women; very La Jolla like, carrying their Louis Vuitton bags in their pricey jeans. Obviously these women were hungry, cause they were so bitchy. One, asked the sushi chef what he was preparing and when he said the Don roll for us, LB, chimed in that it's the best roll they make. Then he passed the food to us, LB, showed them the fabulous sauce that comes with it. Then as we are digging in, one of them goes "You girls sure can eat!" My head about swiveled off my neck!

Then the other one said something like "if you are a true sushi fan you only eat rolls." Then they had the nerve to order a Kitchen Sink. I was fully prepared to comment on the amount of food they had ordered, but since I'm such a good eater, I'm not so bitchy.

Flying to San Francisco to attend the Furniture Mart spring show. Lining up some suppliers for my business! Have a great Sunday!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Yesterday was such a busy day for me that I hardly even realized it was Valentine's Day. Which is good, cause the last thing I needed to be doing was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. It took a homeless man wishing my "Happy Valentine's Day" as I walked around downtown to realize what day it was.

I spent a good part of the day taking care of some business related activities. I opened a business account, so I could get my Resale permit, then tried to take care of my tax certificate but didn't and then went by CCDC. I've now got a contact at CCDC to get some data from. I also went out to see my container guy; he's going to give me a nice discount.

As far as my evening goes, I had a nice bowl of pasta and watched some shows I had Tivo'd. It was nice; even seeing BW whisk his little Chiquita off for a romantic dinner didn't damper my spirits. Much better on my own. For sure!

Hope it was a good day for you!

I've been Published!

I've written two more articles for Associated Content:

Hillcrest Thai Restaurant Not the Best Service

Downtown Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Expands

I made a couple of bucks...

Chocolate Frosting

I'm totally jonesing for some chocolate tonight. Ate all of the Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ice Cream that LB had "hidden" in my freezer earlier this week. Last night went with KZ for a drink to Extraordinary Desserts and after enjoying a delightful cheese plate, split a chocolate croissant bread pudding with her and her late arriving husband. So I'm now on a kick. Found some Sara Lee frosting at the back of the refrig and enjoyed a spoonful. With all the chocolate and carb-loading I've been doing lately and lack of fitness I've been practicing I'm growing into a very health girl! I'm going to resolve that tomorrow!

Anyway, trying to figure out what to write about?? And then found this site tonight: Ririan Project. I really enjoyed reading his post on Ten Commandments for Living a Bold Life. Number 5 really struck a cord with me. I was wallowing in the self-pity pool pretty much all late last year and through January. "It's not fair. Life's not fair." Buggh. Really disgust myself sometimes. But I like his take on it. Of course life's not fair. Everyone would have the same things. I can turn this around at any time.

In the process of reading The Secret. A book promoted on Oprah. It talks about the Law of Attraction and how what you put out there you get back. It's a bit new agey for me. Some of it I agree with. I do believe (and have not been practicing very well) that everything you put out there comes back to you multiple times. When you're a bitch to someone it comes back to you with two or three people being bitchy to you. One thing I've gotten out of it is some visualization exercises. So, I've taken one of the business cards that I acquired last week during an interview with a company I'd like to work for and I've crossed out his name and wrote in my name. I've got it right here. Looking at it right now. It's hard, in my mind, I keep going "I hope I get it." When according to the book I need to be "of course I'm going to get it." I found out on Friday that I didn't get one of the other jobs that I had interviewed for and when I got off the phone that's what I thought. "Of course I didn't get that job with XYZ internet security company, because I'm going to get the job with XYZ software company."

Well Grammys are about to start and I really want to watch. So that's all folks. Enjoy. Have a great week.

Business Services

As I delve into developing my own businesses, all sorts of thoughts and ideas pop into my head as "oh, I need to take care of that." One thing I've been wrestling with is taking payment. How am I going to accept payment for services. Obviously, I'll take cash and checks, but what about Credit Cards how can I do that?

Well, I'm thinking of using Advantage Processors. Advantage Processors offers "Merchant Accounts" for credit card processing so that a business can accept credit card payments. They work with both internet and offline/retail establishments. That would allow me to take credit cards: American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover. I think that would be beneficial in my PatioScaping business? Don't you?

I could take a deposit and final payment, via credit card. I think many people would want to pay me that way. Advantage Processors offers competitive pricing and low transaction rates, which is key. There is no reason to take a credit card payment if the majority is going to be taken by the processor.

The other benefit to taking credit cards, is the ability to track payments as far as bookkeeping goes. In looking at my skin care business last year, I have not done a great job in tracking payment or expenses, but with Advantage Processors, I'll be able to track payments against invoices. Brilliant!

I guess there is no reason for me not to just dive into my PS business. Really, what's the hold up?

This post was a sponsored post. Thanks for reading!

New Path... Possibly

So, I'm thinking of abandoning my job search altogether and focus on my freelance business. Yesterday ANOTHER opportunity came to me from my networking. A man I met through my good friend Jeff A. who is involved in the Connect programs. Anyway, this man and I will be meeting on Monday to discuss my capabilities to help them with their fledgling business. All in all that is four new opportunities that have landed in my lap this month.

I'm going to spend some time this weekend trying to figure out how many hours i have to bill in order to pay all my bills, have some fun money, save and pay taxes.

I'm also still working on the PatioScaping idea. A friend has asked me to work on her patio which is fantastic, because I need to build out my portfolio and figure out the process etc.

Stay tuned....

No Fast Food - Lasted 37 days

So, I just broke down - drove all the way over to Chick-fil-a for a chicken breakfast sandwich. I woke up not feeling all that great. I've been so busy over the last week. Mostly just preparing for interviews. Can I tell you how sick of interviewing I am? Last week interviewed with a company, the HR person told me the VP would probably ask me about strategy at company I worked at two jobs ago, in 1999! So I spent hours researching that, talking to people about the company to refresh my memory. Did he ask me anything? No! Then had interview this week with a big company. Was warned they would ask questions like how my electric poles in San Diego or how many pencils manufactured each year. Questions that would demonstrate my reasoning/thinking abilities. Did they? NO! AGGGGGGHHHHH! So over interviewing.

Back to the fast food breakdown. So I slipped once in 37 days. That's great! I'm going to see if I can go till end of March, as that is my original goal. The thing is, if I was going to slip, I wish it had been the shopping sabatical. At least if I bought some new clothes or shoes, I'd have something to show for it. With food, well, the enjoyment is fleeting.