me & my BIG ideas

back from CABO::

Ah, does it get any better than that?  That was the view from my room in Cabo Baby!!!  I just got back from an amazing trip with my family (the Gaines branch:: Dad, Judi, Tim, Chris & Katy).  It was so relaxing.  The weather was perfection.  The Pacificos were plentiful.  And who can beat great time with your family? 

I'm waiting for the picture swap...as I'm not in many from my camera.  But here are some cool shots from the trip. 

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday!

That's my dad and my littlest sister, Katy (who just graduated and is headed off to the University of San Francisco..so proud of you Katy!!)  and we totally {heart} him!!! 

I think it's only as I've grown up and become a parent myself that I've actually realize just how amazing he really is!  We have kids that are just 9 months apart (Katy is YOUNGER than my son, Tyler) so I can relate to him on a parent level as well as being his child.  That's an experience many don't get to have.

I love him to death and I can't wait to see him today...AND to vacation and relax with the whole Gaines crew in Cabo this summer!!  Yep....Cabo baby!!

I don't know where I got my crazy side?? 

(photos are from Katy's Facebook page...sorry about the photo lifting sis...)

AND...today is my other little sister's birthday.  Happy Birthday Lauren.  I love you!

 

I'm lucky enough to get to see her at work everyday.  She's my sister, my friend, and someone who challenges my creativity and helps me stay grounded.  She is much wiser than her (twentysomething) years!  And you should check out her jewelry line on etsy.  It's awesome!!  She made these for me and I love them.

Have a great day.  It's the longest day of the year so make it the best one ever!!

creative gift wrap idea

I have a bridal shower to attend today and needed to wrap two boxes.  But...no gift wrap.  I still don't have all my "stuff" from my move...all my gift wrap supplies are among those things.  What's a girl to do?  Get creative, of course!

I took some of our (mambi) embossed paper and stuck it on the box top, wrapped the top with a coordinating bookbinding tape that I had lying around and then finished it off with self-adhesive rhinestones!

Our company motto is Live Creatively!  This is one example of doing that.  Be on the lookout to see how you can Live Creatively! in your everyday life. 

my SUMMER loves

 

I love SUMMER!  I love the sun shining....it makes me happy.  And the beach is a place of escape for me.  I can let everything go when I'm sitting or walking along the beach listening to the waves, the sea gulls and smelling the salty air.  This little happy collage is a sampling of just a few of my summer loves.  I've already thought of a few more that I left out so there may be a sequel.

1. Leis.  Tuberose and orchid to be precise.  They're fragrant and take me right to Hawaii...one of my favorite places on earth!
2. My ipod nano.  Love, love, love music...ALWAYS!
3. Swept Away Top from Anthropologie...of course.  Classic, feminine, comfortable.  Perfect for a dinner out after a long day in the sun.
4. Pacifico Beer.  I'm a beer drinking girl in the summer.  Something about the warmth of the sun or a baseball game that makes me crave an ice cold beer.
5. Seahorses.  Just too cute for words.  I loved this one from Three Red Hens.  
6. Cute beach bag from ROXY.  
7. Classic black bathing suit.  This one's called Girl Friend's Escape by Miraclesuit.  I would love to wear a two piece again but if I have to wear a one piece...this one's got my vote.
8. Acqua dell'Elba.  I have the men's cologne and I like it for women.  It's made exclusively on the Italian island of Elba and is a really unique and exotic fragrance.  My mom brought it back from her European cruise and I LOVE it!  Because it's formulated for a man, it can be a bit strong, so I spray it in the air and walk through the mist....creating the perfect amount of "smell good". 
9. Metallic Tory Burch flats.  I got these a few months ago and I think I'm gonna wear them out any day now.  I wear them ALL THE TIME.  I did have to break them in a bit but once they were stretched out a little, they were really comfy.
10. Bare Minerals Sunscreen.  Don't like the greasy shine that sunscreen gives your face but know that you MUST, MUST, MUST wear protection while in the sun?  This sunscreen is a Bare Minerals powder built into a retractable brush.  Keep it in your purse or beach bag and your set....and never shiny! 
11. Gift from the Sea.  I won't go on about this again. I talk about it too much.  But it will be in my beach bag all summer....again.
12. Sea Spray from Bumble and Bumble...for sexy, salty, sun-dried, wind swept styles - whenever, wherever.
13. Eric Javits Halo Visor.  This hat is NOT in my beach bag because it's ridiculously expensive..$180. for a visor!  But I'm on the lookout for one like this to shade my fair skin while out in the sun.  I am having several moles removed and will have some scars to pamper.  Be wise out in the sun peeps!

working from home

TODAY::  I'm WORKING from home.  I have piles of paperwork to get through and organize.  Ads to be edited and reworked.  I need to think of a branding concept.  And...give a phone interview for the Lifetime Network's show, The Balancing Act.  Oh yeah, pick up Kayla from school, Tyler's glasses from the eye doctor, drop off dry cleaning, do laundry and then that whole dinner thing!

Sometimes is just easier for me to be alone at home while I power through this to do list.  I can clear my head and think without all the distractions of the office.  Don't get me wrong...I love being in the mambi offices.  We have a building filled with hard-working friendly people but this is a day of DO, DO, DO....Git 'er DONE.

And hopefully I'll have time to do my something CREATIVE for the day!

Oh...I have a movie review...GO SEE THIS!



UP: Movie Trailer - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Do something creative EVERYDAY

...or as close to it as you can get..

My creative brain has been taken over by life circumstances and I don't like it!  I have been allowing the daily to-dos of a working woman/single-mother and the challenges of life to smother the right side of my brain.  And that is not good if you rely on that to make a living!  I understand the necessity of it all....and call me crazy...but I think I can do BOTH!  I'm like most women...I want to do everything I do perfectly.  I want to be the perfect mother, create the perfect product at work, run a perfect household, be the perfect daughter, friend, coworker AND look great in a bathing suit (HA).  And when I don't do all those things perfectly, I tend to feel like I've failed.  I'm pretty critical with myself but I'm trying to see ME & OTHERS in "soft focus" these days.  To not be such a perfectionist as I just keep moving forward.  Learning.  Loving.  Living.  AND CREATING!!!  It's easier the older I get.  (so that's one good thing about approaching 40)

I'm on a mission to exercise my creative muscle.  I need a challenge.  A goal.   I have a tendency to go ALL OUT and start so big that I have a hard time delivering...SO...I am going to try to DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERYDAY and document it (hopefully sharing it here with you).  It may be small. It may be a big project that keeps me up all night.  Who knows.  I just want to let the right side of my brain go crazy.  Wake it up!  Being patient and kind to myself along the way.

AND...I'm RE-reading Gifts from the Sea. 

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know I've already read it about 3-4 times.  I just get something new every time.  Something different.  And it helps me SLOW DOWN.  SIMPLIFY.  CREATE.  BREATHE.  I love it and HIGHLY suggest it.  It's a really easy read.  Great for vacations!

Now I better get up and moving.  Be kind to yourself today.  Think creatively.

 

what are YOU putting off?

For me...it was a trip to the dermatologist for a skin cancer screening. I've been putting this one off for WAY too long.  I don't know why.  Well, that's not true.  I was scared.  I'd just been through two unrelated surgeries in the past year, a divorce, a move and I guess I just wasn't prepared to fight another fight.  But then I realized how ridiculous my logic was.  Early detection of skin cancer is so treatable.  Ignore it...live in denial...find out I have some kind of skin cancer that was undiagnosed...may not live.  Okay.  Enough said.  You don't have to convince me anymore.

I have a responsibility to myself and my family to be a mature adult and take charge of my health.  And so after some **gentle** daily nudging and realizing that my dad had been diagnosed with a melanoma a few years back...I made the appointment.  I have always had moles and freckles all over my body.  My parents would refer to them as my chocolate chips or tell me how beautiful I was because of all my beauty marks.  I never loved them but accepted them as part of me.  Now that I'm getting older some of them are changing and new ones are appearing.  One in particular made me find a reputable dermatologist and got myself in for a screening. 

I had one very suspicious mole biopsied.  The results came back today to show severely changing cells.  Not cancer yet was what I was told.  Good.  I now have to have the entire thing excised and biopsied again.  And since it's on my neck (in the picture it's the one closest to my chin...with a couple stitches) I'll have a pretty apparent scar..which I could really care less about. 

I'll be going back several times to complete the charting of everything and maybe more biopsies.  But I am SOOOO grateful for the people in my life who have been encouraging me to get my butt to the dermatologist.  It may have saved my life. 

What are you putting off?  Go ahead...gather the courage that I know you have....and DO IT!!!  Whatever it is, I promise you, you WILL feel better facing it and getting it done.

That's my Public Service Announcement for the day!  I'm off to pack for the HEAT!  Heading to Arizona to see Tyler & the Bruins play ASU in Tempe, AZ.  I'd better go find a good hat to block all those strong desert sun rays!  :) 

Kal Barteski...I'm such a fan!!

I'm sorry...is SHE not the greatest?!  If there is one blog I follow, just about every day, it's Kal's.  She's so talented!  And this new sketch she posted stole my heart!  I can't quite put my finger on why her art is so special to me...it just reaches a part of me that I am just now discovering.  A person who does not know me.  An artist who is just creating from her heart and it touches someone in another country.  What a talent.

That is what art can do.  Following your heart.  Not holding back.  You will be exploring your own feelings and you just might reach someone else.  Someone you don't even know.  Imagine that.  Really!  Imagine it!  DO IT!  Write.  Draw.  Paint.  Shoot.  BE YOU!  Dont' be afraid.

Price correction

After working the sale yesterday, I saw that rhinestones were being sold for $1 and not .50 as I stated earlier. My apologies. I was given preliminary pricing. What do I know? I'm just the owner! :)

There's still time to save today. We're open from 9-3 today. The merchandise is refreshed as quickly as we can restock it. Amazing values! Think Christmas and birthday gifts. Birthday party activities.

Come see me. I'll be the sweaty stock girl!
Have a great weekend!

my kids ROCK!!!

Mother's day was great!!!  My kids are growing up and boy does it pay off on Mother's day!

Kayla and I were staying in LA to watch Tyler & the Bruins play Cal.  So on Sunday morning, she and I slept in and went to lunch before the game.  I enjoyed a Bloody Mary while my beautiful daughter sipped on her iced tea. 

Then off to the game!  Earlier, Tyler sent me this text::

What a great kid!  So, after the game we drove down to the Santa Monica Pier and ate at Bubba Gump's.  Mmmmm. 

Like I said...MY KIDS ROCK!!!!