A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks!! I am going to break this blog post up into subsections and attempt to not drag on too long (you're welcome) on any one topic.
Successful Tapestri Fundraiser: As you know from my previous posts, I had been gearing up towards the annual fundraiser for my charity - Tapestri, Inc. The event occurred on Sept. 20th and was super successful. We had a couple of speakers (Jovita Moore - a local news anchor, and a trafficking survivor) and tons of great art for auction (lots from the Sullivan clan). I had a great group of friends come out to support me and Tapestri. And I can't thank them enough for being there with me. I don't have the final tally of funds raised yet, but almost all of the art went home with worthy supporters. I may or may not have had four glasses of wine that evening. Hey! I was nervous about presenting my art for the first time! I needed a little liquid courage. In the end, everyone seemed to love the art. Here are a couple of pics:
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| Me, Gerry and Diane |
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| Me, Tamera, Deborah and Mel |
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| Me and Tamera (before the hair went up) |
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| Quick shot of the event space. |
Mildly Successful Yard Sale: On Sept. 22nd, Lawrence, Rick and I had a yard sale. Rick and Lawrence are moving into a new home in Midtown (just down the street from me!) and had lots of crap to get rid of. I always have crap I need to get rid of - so we had a collective yard sale. The weather has been so nice and cool lately (it's Fall y'all), but, as luck would have it, Mother Nature decided to throw us a total scorcher for the day of the yard sale. Perfect weather for luring folks to yard sales, but absolutely miserable for the yard sale hosts who had to stand in the blazing sun for a good part of the day. Oy vey it was hot!! While we didn't make the millions we had hoped for, we did earn some good folding-money at the yard sale and enjoyed spending time with each other (as always!). Here are some yard sale day pics:
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| Panoramic shot of the yard sale |
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Working into the wee hours of the night
on yard sale signs!!! |
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| Finished!!! |
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Lawrence and Rick surveying
the merchandise |
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| The yard sale gang! |
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| Our "It's too hot, we are tired, can we be done now" face. |
WORSE....MASSAGE...EVER: After a week full of activities my ole body was aching something fierce. At about 5pm on Sunday evening I decided I needed a massage. As many of you know, I am more of a last minute gal, and having no appointment scheduled, I was less than confident that I would actually be able to score a massage so late in the evening. After 5 calls to well known spas, I was about to give up. Then I remembered that before Darryl abandoned me by moving to Chicago we had noticed this place on Ponce called "Heavenly Foot Massage." I figured a foot massage was better than no massage so I gave them a call. When they answered and I asked if they had any open appointments for that night they responded "sure, are you wanting a foot massage?" I instantly perked up and said "do you give other kinds of massages?" "Ah sure, we have body massages too." Ok, I'll admit that I gave a moment of pause at the thought of getting a body massage at a place specializing in foot massages, but I was in a bad way and desperate for a massage so I booked a massage for 7pm. About fifteen minutes later I got a call back from Heavenly Foot Massage and the guy said they looked at the appointment book wrong and my appointment would have to be at 7:45pm. With a tish of annoyance at having my gratification further delayed (no, not that kind of gratification), I agreed to the later time. When I arrived, I had no fewer than three staff members say "do you have an appointment" to me - to which I responded - "Yes, I have an appointment for 7:45." At about 7:55 another staff person came out and stood at the reception desk. She looked over at me in the waiting room and said "Do you have an appointment?" To which I responded (again) "Yes, I have an appointment at 7:45." She looked at me and said "The rooms aren't ready." In my head I said Ok then, I trust you'll let me know when they ARE ready, but out loud I said "Ok." FINALLY someone comes out and gets me and takes me to a room (that is in fact ... now ready). I "assume the position" and the girl at the desk that told me the room wasn't ready comes in to give me my massage. She sighs rather dramatically and says "This is the third massage in a row I have done today." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to respond to that obvious contempt at having to do yet another massage, so I just said "wow" and buried my head in the head cradle. I asked for a deep tissue massage, but was provided with a gentle lotion rub down for an hour. After finishing my back massage, and before moving on to legs, she put one of those rice filled pouches in the microwave. At some point the strong scent of burnt rice (really burnt rice) began to permeate the room. She took the scorched rice pouch out of the microwave and immediately placed it on my lower back. The only barrier standing between my naked skin and a scorching rice pouch was a flimsy sheet. She says to me "Let me know if that gets too hot." I immediately responded "It's too hot." She took it off and moved on to my legs. At some point she disappeared from the room for like 5 minutes. She returned with luke warm towels (I guess she figured I was sensitive to hot temperatures since I didn't enjoy the scorched rice compress). She then proceeded to give me a very rough sponge bath. Now, I've been to many a spa where they will wipe off the excess oil/lotion after finishing the massage so that you are not slipping in your shoes or damaging your clothes. However, this scrub-down rivaled the Korean scrub you get at the JeJu spa. She wasn't giving me a quick wipe down, she was destroying evidence. At the finish of the one hour session a loud alarm clock began to go off. She let it go off for over one minute before lumbering over to turn it off. There was no confusion that the massage was over. She said "Thank you" and left the room. No, "how was that," "make sure you drink lots of water," "take your time getting up." No, just "thank you" - I translated that to be "thank you for making me do my 4th massage in a row you no heat tolerance last minute massage planning bitch." Thank you. She left the room too fast for me to say "You're welcome." They had to unlock the door to let me out. Needless to say I will not be going back to Heavenly Food Massage anytime soon.
Ireland, Chicago and Dillsboro: On a final note, I purchased my ticket to Ireland and will be heading to Union Hall for Christmas/New Years. I had a tish of "buyers remorse" after purchasing the plane ticket, but after mulling it over I reminded myself that I vowed to live a better story when I left the fast paced, stressful world of big law practice. While I might not know what will be happening in December - job wise - I know that I can and will make it work. I miss Ireland terribly and I miss my friends in Ireland. I am also planning on taking a trip to Chicago to visit Darryl and Benji in October and Olivia and I are meeting for a weekend spa/mountain weekend in Dillsboro, NC the first of November. I am excited about all three trips!!!!
