Catholic Guilt

My new career as a model

No, I won't be strutting the catwalks in Milan nor Paris anytime soon, but I'll be modeling the fabulous jewelry of Ms. Andrea Bonelli, owner of Plum and Sage.  Ok, only my neck will be seen, but this is my first modeling gig so don't mind my excitement.  Every little girl wants to be a model, hobnob with the rich and famous, date rockstars, eat nothing, exercise 26 hours a day...but I digress.

Doesn't my faux tan look fabulous?  With the help of Photoshop, you too can have a fabulous tan that never fades.

Andrea's creativity and passion for organic design is once again showcased in her lovely new line of Wish Glass Vials.  These tiny little treasures are comprised of a tiny glass vial with precious stones.  Such a unique and elegantly simple design.

Andrea has used items such as pink topaz, champagne and raw diamonds, amethyst and she has more in the works.  So take a peak, you won't be disappointed.

"Love Happens"

I am looking forward to watching "Love Happens" this weekend. I just love chic flicks.

Call me crazy...

...but I want this in my bedroom.  It speaks to my soul, it's slightly tattered, eclectic, unexpected, it's almost 'crazy', yet it's refined and elegant.  It's me, it's who I'd be if I were a chair.

I can picture myself, lounging in it (I'll need an ottoman of course) on a lazy Saturday morning (because I need to work during the week to support my crazy chair habit) wearing this robe...

Sipping a lychee martini because it's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?  Oh yes, it's wonderful living in my world, in Delialand.  Care to join me?

Brows and Fedoras...

It's Friday, TGIF!  I'm looking forward to a fun weekend helping Andrea celebrate her birthday with lots of friends, fun and festivities.  So it's no wonder when I came into the office today and was talking to a coworker he said, "You are just way too happy."  

Well yes, I am happy.  But I also noticed one thing.  I grew up with bushy eyebrows that created a nice thick dark line above my eyes.  No  shape to them whatsoever.  So as an adult, I heard about this thing called waxing.  Well, you all know what happened when I tried that.  Not pretty.  But I discovered, the same sadists at the brow bar that like waxing, especially love using tweezers to create the same desired effect, without the drama associated with waxing.  So Andrea and I hit the brow bar last night in preparation for our weekend.  We want to be pretty, and sans monobrow.  I've gotten used to the pain associated with plucking which is 100x worse than waxing but 10000x better than dealing with a swollen forehead.

Anyway, my point behind this silly brow story is, a shapely brow actually makes you look happy.  Imagine that.  Who knew!?

And as evidence, I submit Exhibit A:   the above self portrait was taken last night after the gals at Benefit worked their magic.  I wanted to see how well the new fedora looked with my shapely brows.  It still amazes me what talent those girls have at keeping me from looking like Groucho Marx.  As for the fedora, well...it's not just for the neighborhood pimp anymore.  See the cool cat above my shoulder?  He's so sly...

x♥x♥x

Broken hearts...

My poor little heart has been broken more times than I care to admit.  It started in elementary school when I had the biggest crush on a certain blond boy we'll call Gary.  Oh how I wanted to be his girlfriend.  I'd watch him play during recess and would swoon as he'd run by sticking his tongue out at me.  It was love, he loved me and I loved him. 

Then in high school, it's no secret, I was madly in love with Randy.  This infatuation started in elementary school whenI sent him secret admirer notes.  I painstakingly dotted my the i's with ♥'s.  Every s♥ngle ♥ had a ♥.  Qu♥te annoy♥ng ♥sn't ♥t.  But alas, he graduated and went off to college to pursue bigger and better things.

Gorgeous broken heart necklace by Idle Hands Design

Each time, my heart would quickly mend as I was easily distracted and moved onto my next victim.  Yes, I was quite the temptress on the playground.   These days, the heart doesn't mend so quickly.  Perhaps that is why I'm fascinated with anything resembling a flaming or broken heart.  It reminds me to continue loving because some day, my Prince Charming will come for me and we'll ride off into the sunset and my heart will finally be mended.

Workin' 9 to 5....

I realize my blog has lacked some photos as of lately, so I wanted to share this most recent photo I took while waiting for my train. I take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into work every day so this is a familiar sight, as I miss the train and curse. Thankfully I didn't break a heel.

Happy Birthday to You....

It's not often I connect with someone to such a degree, someone who puts up with me, someone who understands, someone who I have so munch in common; it's no wonder the cosmos brought us together.

We met online, via our passion for jewelry.   A few years ago, both living in the Bay Area, we  decided to get together to hang out, visit some stores in the city and talk shop.  We had a great time and on the drive there realized how much in common we had.

We were both born on an island, she from St. Thomas and me from the Azores; not too far from one another.  We are the same age, though she'll be older than me in a few days.  (neener neener)  We bear the cross of perfectionism and Type-A personalities.  We are passionate, stubborn and strong independent women.   Oh and don't forget feisty.   And we wear the same shoe size.

At the end of last year, we had a tiff and didn't speak for a few months.  That's what happens with two chicas who are alot alike get their feelings hurts.  I missed her friendship and thought about her often, hoping she was doing well.  I'd read her blog and smile when she was happy, and frown when she was sad.  I celebrated her successes much the same as I'd done when we were friends, and learned from her mistakes.  It's no wonder when we reconnected, it was as though our friendship had always been there.  We picked up just where we left off.

She is a mother to two wonderful children who are growing up so fast.  She keeps an immaculate home and garden.  We even share the same passion for hydrangeas, roses and have similar decorating taste.  Even our sense of humour is dark and misunderstood.  But I understand her...and she understands me.  Often I know what she is going to say, and she understands my thoughts before I articulate them.   It's kind of unsettling sometimes, but we're both accustomed to it by now.

So before I get sappy and creepy-stalker-ish, I'll conclude this post with a thank you to my 'sister from another mister' (ok, no, not really but you get my point) and wish her the bestest birthdays ever.  And oh boy, will we ever be celebrating it this weekend. 

Happy Birthday ♥ Andrea ♥ aren't you glad I didn't post any pictures (I know revenge is a bitch and you'd so get me back)?

Love,

Your BFF! 

Patience and consistency

I've been bad, very bad.  But what's new, right?  By now, you've become accustomed to my irregular blog posts and hopefully you've gotten over feeling neglected.  I assure you, it's not personal, it's me, it's the beautiful summer days, it's work, it's Katie (the dog), it's my partner in crime...they've all kept me busy.

Today as I was rushing out the door, I realized how I can apply the basics of dog training to many things in my life.  Purely by accident, and sheer laziness of not wanting to bend over 6 inches off the ground to fasten Katie's leash onto her collar, we accidentally trained her to get up on the stairs, the second step to be precise, so we can properly leash her.  When I noticed how effective this is, a lightbulb went off and I thought...I can train her to do other things!

We consistently require that she be on the second step, not first, not third, but second, before we 'reward' her by leashing her and taking her for her walk.  And let me tell you, she lives for her walks or car rides so that little nubby "tail" of hers is wiggling away the second we tell her, "leash" and she gets up on that step.  She's actually calmed down, whereas before, she'd get up on the step and wiggle her excited little body making it difficult to leash her.  Pat brilliantly added another command to leash, he has her sit.  Yay, it works.  Now I tell her "leash" and she gets up on the second step and sits! 

So I decide to take this one step further because I need to tempt fate.  After the leashing, she flies off the second step and is a bundle of excitement all over the small foyer.  It makes it difficult to move around her, open the door, etc.  And I like order!  That's when another lightbulb went off.  I want her to sit to the right of the door and wait for me to open the door.  So with the help of Caesar Milan (rules, boundaries, discipline - this also works for the boys, ladies) and Victoria Stillwell (the dominitrix of dog training - this too works on the boys), I began my training.

Every day of  the last week, I gently position Katie where I want her with my foot, then a slight tug on the leash and a command "sit".  Of course she doesn't hear the command because she's busy thinking about the squirrels and the fact she has to go pee real bad to even hold still.  But she knows Mommy requires her to sit now before that dang front door will open.  So with a little more nudging, she'll finally sit.  I then instruct her to "wait" and she calms down a smidgen, eyes the door, eyes me...wiggles cause she has to go pee really really bad now and the door opens.  Usually she gets too antsy and raises her butt 3 inches off the floor and damnit, that front door shuts real quick!  Because I want her to remain seated until I step outside and invite her out.  I know, I'm such a strict doggy Mommy.

So we do it again.  Nudge with the foot, "sit", "wait" with hand command cause I like using my hands, open door, wiggle wiggle, and by the third time it will finally works.  Every day for the last week we've done this without fail. 

Today was different.  Today we leashed as usual, on her own she went to the door, I gently slid her to the right of the door and she sat all by herself and waited for the door to open all the way and even waited for me to step outside the door and instruct her to come outside with me.  Holw cow!  I was impressed.  Patience and consistency paid off this morning!

And a lightbulb went off again...I can apply this to many areas of my life.  Patience and consistency. 

My date....

On Sunday night I went to watch a movie.  I had a date, you've all met her...she's witty, charming, sweet, caring, full of life and totally adorable with her long hair and green eyes.  She laughed throughout the movie ("The Ugly Truth"), which was fabulous by the way.  A story about a girl looking for love and not doing it right.  Much like my self, so I could relate to the main character. 

My date could relate as well.   She's been in the same boat.  But she refuses to give up hope that she'll meet him, the man with expressive eyes, with passion and a positive outlook on life.  He'll cook, because she doesn't.  He's a gentleman and opens doors, simply because he's wired that way.  He understands that she cries at sad movies and reminds her to bring the tissues because he knows she always forgets those things.  He loves her pets as much as she does, and doesn't compete for attention when she dotes over them.  He's her biggest fan and cheerleader and encourages here to continually seek her passion and strive for her best.  He drags her out of the house when she wants to be antisocial, but knows to leave her be when she needs to be alone with herself.  He's successful, has ambition, is intelligent and street smart...because she likes them that way.  He loves nature as much as she does, and encourages her to get fit so they can hike Yosemite together.  Yet he can be a couch potato on Sunday mornings, watching television with her over coffee.  He'll be there by her side, smiling, just happy to be in her presence.

Until we meet this Mr. Charming, my date and I will continue to see each other on a more frequent basis because I cannot think of anyone else I'd rather be with than myself.  ;-)

♥ yourselves...

Delia

Loving yourself...

Through the years, I've tried to continually grow, to learn from mistakes, to remain optimistic that I was making progress in whatever plan God has for me.  I've trained myself to find beauty in all things.  It wasn't easy as I tend to be pessimistic.  I know this might come as a surprise to some, but it's taken me a long time to learn to be happy with myself.   No one else can make us happy, that's our responsibility. 

I must say that with each fall which requires me to pick myself up and brush off the dust, it gets easier.  There's less dust to brush off and the pity party not as long.  So, I know I'm making progress.

For example, for my loyal readers (all 2 of you) who read my blog, share my successes, my failures, you'll know about my relationship woes.  Well, just as I celebrated my four month anniversary with the new beau, things went south.  And boy did they ever.  I went over  to his place for what I thought was date night.  I was thrilled to finally watch "The Ugly Truth" because I've been waiting since I first saw the previews.  But when I arrived at his place all dolled up, he said we needed to talk.  Well we talked our way out of a relationship.   *sigh*  And I still haven't watched the dang movie!

And we know how difficult break-ups can be.  There's the pity party, with the 80's band, for me it's a 90's country western band because I love country, it brings out the tears like nothing else.  There's chocolate because nothing says "wallow in self pity" like Sees candy and an expanding waistline.  And then there's getting all dolled up in a sexy outfit and hitting the town because nothing says, "Look what you're missing!" like high heels, a tight-fitting pencil skirt and a shirt that can barely contain the girls.  Sure, it's all just a very brief moment of euphoria until the next morning when reality hits you that you still haven't watched the dang movie.

I love deeply and passionately, but I love myself most of all.  Not in a conceited, narcissistic sort of way but I can look at myself in the mirror and blow kisses.   Because I love who I see in the reflection.  I see strength which is tempered with the right amount of vulnerability.  I see laugh lines that remind me I laugh more than I cry.  I see a few gray hairs which I really don't mind.  They remind me that I'm getting older and with age comes wisdom and growth.  I see beautiful green eyes that brighten a toxic shade of green at the right moment.  I am happy with myself.

And this weekend, I'm taking myself out on a date, I'm going to watch the movie, by myself.  I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with right now.  Because Hugh Jackman is busy this weekend anyway.

Love yourself...

xoxox

Delia