I started writing a post last night about home decorating and improvement from my “empty nester” point of view. But when I woke up this morning, there were reminders of this horrific event that is now 15 years old.
Back in the late 1970’s I worked in the WTC. While I have good memories of working there, I never felt fully “safe” there–the elevators shook and swayed and the building seemed to be a Tower of Babel of sorts.
Probably the most intriguing memory was the morning when Philippe Petit took a highwire stroll across the towers. We all agreed he was a friggin’ nut! But we all wanted him to make it across safely.
Nobody could have imagined the horror that would take place in the future. The mass murder affected many of us. I still get emotional when I see the view of Manhattan from across the river. She never looks as “long” anymore.
To date, I’ve not gone to the memorial. It’s hard because I can visualize the faces with a good number of the names. I don’t want to have a visual of their last moments. It’s too much.
Today, 15 years later, I still get weepy over this. We simply cannot forget. I’m not going to politicize this. There is no need. I just want to repost what I wrote last year without a change.
Thanks for understanding. My humor will return tomorrow!
Anniversaries are reminders of special days. They may not be great reminders and they may be fantastic reminders.
Today is an anniversary of sorts. It has been 14 years since the catastrophic event of the Twin Towers in New York City.
My then-husband was out of the United States on a business trip.
My oldest son, Jake, had entered into his Freshman year at University of Texas in Austin.
Roman was a Sophomore in high school and Oona was in seventh grade in middle school.
I was home, I was getting dressed and just about to sit at the computer.
Ruby, my Yellow Lab, and Dorothy, my Bassett Hound was at my feet.
The TV was on.
I was not watching the TV, but I heard that a plane crashed into one of the two towers.
My first thought was “Holy shit. I used to work in that building”.
I could not for the life of me, figure out how that could have happened.
Then I thought about how nervous I was working in the WTC to begin with. The elevators drifted from side to side because they worked at such an incredible speed.
The building itself seemed to sway in the winter’s wind.
Then—it happened again and we all knew that something was not right.
The Pentagon exploded.
The plane went down in Pennsylvania.
America, as we know it, changed from an innocent and idealistic child of a country into a geographical and historic grown up. We were violated and we were wounded by extremist hatred.
Videos and images of bodies jumping from the towers, videos of the crashes, videos of a destroyed downtown were constantly aired to keep us informed.
Those images were horrific.
Worse than that, were the videos of the extremists who were living in these United States of America, celebrating these horrific events. Celebrating because they are filled with hatred. Celebrating because they are bigoted against Western society, yet they seemed to enjoy living in this society.
I remember losing people I grew up with. Losing people who lived in my neighborhood in NYC.
I remember one of my former playground moms having a son who was a waiter at “Windows On The World”. A while later his arm was found. He was identified by his tattoo.
His tattooed arm was closure.
Another young neighborhood kid was a fireman who went into the building and never made it out.
One of my cousins, a battalion chief for the NYFD, took the morning off so that his wife could go to the doctor. His entire battalion was killed. My cousin, Patrick, died seven months later.
That day, it seemed that the world was on our side.
That day, it seemed like our entire being as Americans were bound together.
We aren’t though.
We still have hatred and bigotry in our own back yard. We have hatred toward the LBGT community.
Hatred and bigotry still live within the confines of our borders in the form of politicians and “Christian” extremists.
People get pissed off because security measures at airports are too strict and those measures cut into their selfish time.
People get pissed off because, in trying to make our beautiful country a safer place for her citizens, they don’t want stricter gun laws.
People get pissed off because they don’t believe that others should be able to love who they want to love.
When will we learn?
I haven’t forgotten. But I certainly am not yet ready to forgive the evil that still dwells among us.
THIS is the image I chose to remember the anniversary of 9/11 with. The cross is hope. It is of a cross that was found at the site and taken to rest at Good Shepherd Church–my old parish in Inwood. Many parishioners were murdered that day…..
There are no words………….
Hope that one day, we will all be able to accept others as they are and the world will be a better place.
Listen. Hope is great…and I always attach a song. Today, I’m still doing that, but it’s a happy and hopeful one. “High Hopes”—because that is what we all need! XOXOXOXO!
We also need to go back to innocence–just like the kids in the video!
It isn’t a typo. I was weak this week. Well, actually I was weak last weekend! Don’t judge! In addition, I’m posting this on Thursday evening because somewhere, it’s already Friday! Oh my friends, I hope you fared better than I did last weekend!
Hey, I don’t even LIKE pizza, but I was such a glutton last weekend I would have walked right up to a slice and slathered it all over me!
Roman came to visit last Friday, and on Saturday evening I cooked up a storm of a dinner for all of us—including Bonaparte’s daughter and her family.
And I had no will power.
Yes. Let’s. Let’s Taco about my weakness when it comes to food!
While out and about on Saturday afternoon with Roman, we stopped at the new Taco Bell by my home. We had to do it because when Roman was in high school, it was one of those places we stopped by all the time. And it brought back memories of when he was playing JV Baseball and I ran to get Taco Bell for him and his team mates. I got into a lot of trouble from the coach for that bad mom move. The good moms brought oranges to the games!
Anyway, while Roman ordered half the menu, I devoured gingerly snacked on a cheese quesadilla, which was 11 Weight Watchers Points. Given my 30 daily point allowance, the 11-pointer was setting me in the right direction.
Yum. Yum. You have no idea how great 11 points can taste! I can’t even drive past Taco Bell because the temptation is too good. What would Jesus have done in the desert for 40 days if there was a Taco Bell? I’ll tell you what he would have done. He would have caved!!!!
Until aperitif time. I’m so weak. I had a couple of aperitifs and appetizers. Then I had a bit of lemongrass chicken but I had quite the portion of my macaroni/shrimp salad. I couldn’t help it. Dessert was the frozen nougatine that I made.
I fared no better in the consumption department on Sunday. We headed into Philly and walked a lot, but I enjoyed nice Bourbon and the spicy green beans that Roman bought.
Just in case you didn’t read my Philly post, I enjoyed a nice shot of Jim Beam followed by a chaser of Diet Coke..
..and we feasted upon these spicy Bloody Beans. To be honest with you, I figured the beans would clean out my innards because they were so spicy and I would lose some weight with the cleansing. My asbestos stomach wouldn’t allow it.
Dinner was another gluttonous event. Right outta the film “La Grande Bouffe”.
Might I suggest watching the film. It’ll change the way you think about a big feast!
Oh. And since Monday was a holiday, there was more stuffing my face drinking and eating.
I felt like a stuffed bird by Monday night!
Yes. This is me after the three-day weekend!
Was I ashamed? No—and I should have been a bit ashamed because I have no willpower at times. But, I was with my son and having a great Labor Day Weekend.
What’s a Holiday weak-end without a delicious burger and all the trimmin’s??
And the 3-day Holiday weekend is over. And I paid for it when I stepped on the scale Tuesday morning. I gained two pounds, bringing my weight to 162.
But—the past few days I went off carbs. Drank lots of water and ate small and healthy portions and am happy to report that my weight is a pound lighter than it was last week.
Bonaparte knew I was upset and he surprised me by making this healthy salad for our dinner last night!
I managed to take a little bit of the leftovers for lunch today. Look at that tomato. This year was an excellent tomato year!
Lesson learned! Have willpower and don’t be weak. And now I’m encouraged with that small loss.
My weight after dinner this evening. AFTER dinner!! Despite my weakness, I managed to lose a pound. I’m pumped!
With the heat index in the mid-to-high nineties here in the Philly ‘burbs, the summer clothing isn’t going to be packed away for a while.
But I want to touch upon something. Dressing while losing weight. I’m not a fan of boxy clothing. Even at my heaviest, I still like a fitted item of clothing. And, while losing weight, I also want to keep the “look” simple. It’s just too hot for accessories. Wearing a heavy necklace would do me in and wearing a scarf would have me sweating.
And today, I kept it hot-weather simple. I wore a simple t-shirt dress. I am so happy that Old Navy brought this dress back for another season. I purchased two last year and three this year. My closet has two black, two gray and one blue of this baby. I paid $15 for this dress and love it. There is a bit of stretch and the bust line has darts to give it a good shape. The sleeves aren’t too short—they are an actually “short” sleeve.
This is a great dress to wear during weight loss because the stretch will kind of shrink as the body shrinks.
Even though I didn’t accessorize with this dress, I wore nude Repetto ballet flats, my watch with the brown leather wrap around band and carried my Longchamp leather bag in the caramel color. See what I mean about being fitted? You do NOT have to be skinny or lean to wear a fitted dress!!
What do you think?
I also cut bangs into the topper I’ve been wearing. It’s too hot for a wig and my hair is in such dire need of a root job–the thinning is worse than ever too. I’m plopping toppers on my head these days. Bangs make it look a bit more natural!
And for my weakness. It’ll pass. All Things Must Pass. George Harrison (RIP my favorite Beatle) said so:
Time to back track a bit. Last Friday before leaving the office for the Labor Day Weekend, I was given a check. At first I was shocked because I feared the check would be followed by “Get the Hell outta here and don’t come back!!!” Instead, I was told it was a bonus.
My inner reaction to that bonus was akin to this! I think I did the happy dance in the parking lot though!
Recovering from the aftershock, I thought “Ohhhhhhhhh…I don’t have to tell Bonaparte about this.” “It can be my secret!” Then I thought about all the good things he’s done for me so I caved in and told him about the bonus.
I was such a fine and decent person that I drove directly to the bank to deposit my treasure. But I did keep a little cash for me.
And when I left the office to drive to the bank, I was contemplating the outfit I wore that day. Since I wanted to be a bit patriotic looking for the Labor Day Weekend, I wore white jeans, a Tory Burch tunic that I purchased online for 75% off (which made me also ponder the incredible markup), navy ballet flats and I carried my red leather Longchamp bag. Yes. Even Liberals can be patriotic! I could hear my mother telling me from the great beyond that I had better put the white jeans away after this weekend.
When I purchased this tunic, I wasn’t crazy about it. But the more I wear it, the more I like it. Cream and Navy make a nice match. And I mean it when I say, white jeans are a better match for cool weather rather than the hazy, hot, humidity we get here in the Northeast!
Sorry mom. I plan on wearing the white jeans in the fall and winter and spring too. The summer weather is just too hot to wear them on a constant basis. And that’s what I find so difficult around this time of year. The mornings and evenings have a touch of cool—but it’s that coolness where you need a bit of sleeve action—and mid-morning to late afternoon are hot—so you really do need the summer clothing.
But the thing is, I’m tired of the summer clothes. I’ll get back to this a bit throughout the post…
Anyway, since I had a bit of time to kill before picking Roman up at the train station, I decided to stop by the brand new Ulta cosmetics store in King of Prussia.
There was nothing that I was in dire need of, but I wanted to see if there were any new products that would catch my interest.
Part of the beauty of the store was the newness. All the products were lined up so perfectly and the shelves were full. It was girly heaven!
These displays are just so nice and organized…
It’s too bad I’m not a fan of bubble baths or I would have gone crazy. My ob/gyn said that bubble bath product can dry out your lady parts. Trust me my outer body is dry enough ….
Silly me. I thought that the fatgirlslim was a diet product. I’m glad I didn’t eat it!
The one item I figured I would purchase—and get this—in a brand spanking new store—was gone. I thought I would pick up iT Cosmetics Hydrating Lip Gloss Stain in the wonderful “Je Ne Sais Quoi.” Even though I have two of these glosses—both in purses I use, I wanted another to keep with my makeup at home. I ended up buying the Lip Vitality in the same color. A third tube. My girlfriend Annamarie Simonetti got me hooked on this. I owe her a lifetime of thanks! Truly, I do–the stain is so natural and the color lasts all day!
I always have my “Je Ne Sais Quoi” on hand but just my luck Ulta was out of the shiny gloss. I’m running out!!
With quite a few foundations in my stash at home, I didn’t even bother…
But I did manage to head over to the less expensive “drug store” brands on the store’s opposite side of the pricier cosmetics.
I thought about buying this mask but my epi-pen expired and I’m allergic to bees. I was afraid I would have a bad reaction!
I ended up with a couple of masks, a gel lipstick from NYX and a palette of shadows and highlighters.
We’ll see how the mask works..
I picked up NYX Plush Gel Lipstick in “Air Blossom”. The color is a true pink that glides on and is very hydrating. Problem is the color wears off within an hour. I fixed that problem with a swipe of the iT Lip Vitality Stain and the color lasted a lot longer! Personally, pink is a great color for older women–it’s very flattering and doesn’t look harsh.
The palette was a great find that I will be using a lot this fall. A lot! By BH Cosmetics, it’s the Carli Bybel 14-Color Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette. The price was $14.50 and in comparison to many of the higher end palettes, it looked pretty decent. It really did—and I have many high-end palettes to prove this!
Although I do not know of this Carli Bybel, her collaboration with BH cosmetics is a winner! This is the display palette. I think from the looks of it many customers were trying it out!
I’ve never heard of BH cosmetics nor have I heard of Carli Bybel. And after Googling Ms. Bybel, I found out she’s one of those makeup gurus on YouTube. She resembles Kim Kardashian. However, she is a prettier version and this palette is nicely pigmented and has great staying power!
And over the weekend, I kept pretty much to a minimum of makeup due to a blend of heat and personal laziness.
But I’m beginning to transition from lazy summer non-makeup to a slightly more made up look. Since I’m working in an office which has far better lighting than the horrific lighting in Nordstrom, it isn’t as much of a challenge to look somewhat human.
Besides—I miss posting about cosmetics and all things makeup. Summer was too busy.
It’s that time of year again. Makeup talk!
I’ll tell you what I used for my work look yesterday. After moisturizing, and applying serum and primer, I soaked my Real Techniques blender sponge (which was basically on vacation all summer), and mulled over whether to put foundation on or take a gander at tinted moisturizer. The tinted moisturizer was the chosen item.
e.l.f’s tinted moisturizer–it’s ok. I like e.l.f. foundation much better but while the weather is still a bit warm hot, it’ll suffice during the transition.
You know—I want to take a lighter approach to foundation and concealer. While I realize that cosmetics companies all state their foundations, etc. don’t look cakey—they do! And mature skin is drier. And has more lines. And has wrinkles. And no matter how you blend, brush, blend some more and buff, there will always be a hint of cake if you use too much. My new “thing” is to just place a bit of foundation on my face where there’s a bit of red. I’m not applying where the fine lines lay.
Now—I’ve never been a fan of tinted moisturizer because the high-end brands that I’ve tried didn’t work for me. Women swear by Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturizer. It dried my skin out more than it already is. Women give rave reviews to Trish McEvoy’s Beauty Boost tinted moisturizer. It didn’t boost anything for me except the fine lines. I rest my case.
I have elf brand tinted moisturizer in my stash. The coverage is so-so. For my skin, I needed to build it up a bit. BUT—it doesn’t make my skin feel dry like the higher end products I’ve used in the past. Is elf’s TM great? No. It isn’t. But it isn’t awful either. The tint wore off toward the afternoon. Foundation definitely lasts longer, but for the three bucks I spent on this—it’s fine.
After applying my Holy Grail,bareMinerals “Well Rested” in the corners of my eyes to get rid of the blue bruised look, I applied the highlighter and shadows from the Carly Bybel Palette.
Building up the eyes. See what a difference brow pencil makes? My go-to is Mally 24/7 Brow Express. Notice the hooded eyes. This has been a gradual ageing thing but I combat it by using a dark shadow in the crease. It helps to disguise it!
And I just realized what is wrong with this palette. The highlighters and shadows don’t have proper names so I can’t tell you which colors I used. I’ll figure it out.
Bottom left–large circle. I used the highlighter on my brow bone and all over. Next was the yellow-ish shadow on the top left. I used it on my top lid. Then I used the middle bottom brown in the crease and lightly lined the rim of my bottom lid with the darker brown to the far right.
Shadows done and brows filled in with Mally 24/7 Brow Express. I’m on my second Brow Experss will soon be on my third. I LOVE this!
Two coats of inexpensive Falsies Mascara on top lashes and NYColor Sky Line mascara on the bottom.
Two coats of Maybelline’s The Falsies on top. I use NYColor Sky Line on the bottom because the wand is great for bottom lashes–and the price is less than three bucks!
Tightlined and lined eyes.
Eyes all ready.
I was so lazy I didn’t even bother to get the blush. I just took my blush brush and swiped blush residue on my cheeks. Hey….don’t judge. I do this when I just want a hint of blush. It works!
Lipstick swiped on and ready to go. I wore the NYX gel lipstick in Air Blossom, and swiped Je Ne Sais Quoi over it. Done!
My roots are so pathetic. I’ve been too busy to get them done. I have an appointment with Adam for this Saturday. Thank God. Anyway, I clipped a topper on and then did a big messy bun. Easy hair do!
Isn’t that lip color great? Look how shiny!
I wore a years-old dress from J. Crew and was off to work.
I also thank God for stretch fabric. This dress stretches with my hips and gut. But all kidding aside. This is a great transition dress because in another month I can wear it with tights and boots. And I don’t care what the “fashun” experts say. I’ll continue to wear shorter dresses–they are more comfortable!
Total time to get ready from the moment I finished my coffee in bed and got my lazy ass off my cushiony comfort zone and washed (I always take a bath the night before) my face, brushed my teeth, did the face and ran out the door—30 minutes!
Oh..and I also discovered that by paring down on the cosmetics, I can sleep 15 minutes longer. And god knows I need as much beauty sleep as I can get!!
As an aside, I had no idea that the heat index would reach 91 today. Thankfully our office is very well air conditioned. Because I was too lazy to shave my legs, I wore a pair of J. Crew pixie pants. I also wore a light weight white linen shirt from J. Crew. I love the simple combo of black and white because it’s a foolproof good look at any time. Also—the light weight of the shirt was excellent for the more summeresque weather!
A truly foolproof ensemble. Black Pixie Pants, A White Linen Shirt, Flats. Wear to work, to run errands–even out to dinner. This is a great transition outfit! And comfy to boot!
I have to say, it feels good to be writing about clothing and makeup again. Summertime makes me lazy –so it’s back to not-quite-normal because I will never be normal.
Did a random song ever pop into your head that you couldn’t get rid of? It happened to me today and I could not get “When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-bobin Along”. Yeah. I know. Now it your turn to listen! Dean Martin makes the song so much better!
As I sit here writing, I am looking out the window and can see that the deep green color on the trees is beginning to fade. In fact, there are a few arrogant leaves that already decided to show their rust and yellow colors. That’s the sad thing about this holiday weekend of Labor Day; a fare thee well to summer as Mother Nature prepares to bring her living things to a dormant stage and then onto hibernation. The weird thing is that summer isn’t technically over yet. It’s still hot, hazy and humid. And this pattern of weather will continue through into late October. Fall isn’t fall anymore.
Check it out. If you look closely at the tree in front of my house, you can see a few renegade leaves that have changed color…
But I’ll continue that subject another time. Today, it’s all about the great, lazy but productive weekend Bonaparte and I spent with Roman!
Due to his upcoming schedule of working on the weekends for SNL, his weekend visits will be few and far between. And on Friday evening after work, I picked him up at Paoli for a couple of days of chill.
Saturday was kind of a lazy day with the running around of errands. Adam cut Roman’s hair—and I’ll tell you, Adam has become our family hair cutter/stylist. First it was Oona, then me, and now Roman. And nobody is ever disappointed.
Next it was on to pick up some last-minute groceries for dinner. Bonaparte’s daughter, her husband and their daughter would be joining us; and from their off to Iron Hill Brewery to pick up a growler of beer for Roman and Bonaparte’s son-in-law. Boys love their beer!
I don’t think Iron Hill Brewery is aware that these empty growlers will be used as decor in my home. I love the way they look! Boys and Beer!
Dinner was lively and enjoyable with a ton of food and sleep was welcomed.
But the real fun was in yesterday’s adventure in Philly.
Our plan was to hit the store “Art in the Age” to replace a pair of Warby Parker sunnies that Bonaparte broke. Then we were going to head over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to put our membership into good use.
If you will be in Philly soon, might I suggest a trip over to Art in The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction? It’s a cool shop!
Things didn’t exactly turn out as planned. We forgot all about the “Made In America” music fest that was taking place in Philly by the museum. Rather than take a “just-my-luck” train of thought, we just shrugged and headed over to the shop instead.
Now. You have to understand something before I go any further with this. I can’t stand going into Philly. And it isn’t necessarily because I hate Philly—it’s because the street parking is so f*cked up. I’m serious. Philly may be the “City of Brotherly Love” but it is also “The City of Parked Vehicle Hate”. Illegal towing is a common practice and the towing mafia seems to be of no bother to the governing officials. The signage throughout the city is ridiculously confusing—at least in Manhattan, the verbiage is more “in your face”. And God forbid if you are three seconds late to your metered car. The Philly meter maids can sniff out a car that is thirty seconds over the metered time the way drug-sniffing police dogs can smell contraband.
AxisPhilly.com got the right idea with this confusing photo! Actually Philly parking signage is even more confusing!! The site has ceased. I hope it isn’t because of it’s expose on the parking…..
I want to love Philly so badly, but the parking issues just won’t allow me to do so.
I DO I really want to give Philly some lovin’–but parking prevents me from doing it!
But yesterday something different happened. As we approached the shop on Third Street, we saw an open space on the street. It was directly across from “Art in the Age…” We studied the sign which mentioned that it was a loading zone. But was it a loading zone on a Sunday during a holiday weekend? And it was stated that two-hour parking was allowed. We took our chances. We parked.
…and then we headed into Art in The Age…
We’ve been to “Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction” once before. It was for Bonaparte to purchase a pair of Warby Parker sunglasses—and I also did a bit of Christmas shopping for the boys.
Art in The Age just has some seriously cool stuff…
This time back had Bonaparte not finding the same sunglasses he original purchased but a different purchase was made. He spotted a vintage lightweight coat for me. Although rust can be a difficult color to wear, I tried the coat on. It fit beautifully. The cut was incredibly basic and simple. Very ’60’s. He said it was the perfect weight coat for our visit back to Paris this November. Sold!
The coat is so basic and doesn’t look like much when on the hanger, but when worn, it looks great. I’m too lazy to put it on with clothes. I’m in my pj’s now. but I’ll snap a pic in the future. I promise…
..in the meantime, check out the details on this basic coat. It was a find!
We walked around a bit and returned to the car because Bonaparte was really concerned about the parking.
We admired the Philly spirit as we flaneured around town…
I’m glad to see this is Hillary territory!
He suggested we drive around and see where the drive would take us. It took us straight into the Society Hill section. We spotted what looked like a spot in front of the restaurant “Twisted Tail”. I swear to God, you have no friggin’ idea what goes into parking in this city. We saw another confusing sign and mulled over whether or not it was an actual “space”. Luckily one of the staff who was serving outdoor diners told us the space was, in fact, legal and she suggested we just move the car up a bit. This took fifteen minutes.
South Philly. Society Hill. Great location. 509 S. 2nd Street. We were lucky to get a space!
Bonaparte headed over to the kiosk to pay. After another solid ten minutes of Bonaparte standing in front of the kiosk, Roman went over to see if everything was ok. It took Roman thirty seconds to figure the process out and we had a couple of hours to kill.
We headed over to the farmers market, Roman picked up some Bloody Mary sauce and a jar of Bloody Beans. Let me tell you, these beans were the bomb! Hot’n Spicy veg..of which I’m sure were Weight Watchers friendly!!
We walked some more and headed toward Penn’s Landing. On the way we stopped for pause at the Vietnam Vets Memorial. It’s a shame there were not more people in this tiny area. All vets deserve more love.
A small memorial for a war that wasn’t even a legally declared war….and war continues…
The space was small but the memorial was a respectful tribute to our veterans…
We also found this to be very moving.
And when we arrived at Penn’s Landing, we were in for the best surprise ever! I had no idea of how great this area is. None. We had a blast! Roman picked up a cold beer; we sat down on a bench in front of a huge ship and under the shade of trees. In between the trees were hammocks that people were laying in and relaxing. Adirondack chairs were scattered for visitors to sit and just-well, just do nothing more than chill and people watch!
I felt as though I was Christopher Columbus discovering a great land. It was a great landing that I didn’t discover!
Roman stopped for a beer at a stand…
Roman said this beer was a good one. I tasted it. It was awful. I hate beer.
We enjoyed the green beans. We enjoyed watching the people.
On the other hand, the pickled Bloody Beans that Roman purchased were Bloody Amazing! I loved them!
People watching and a walk along the boat-lined landing made for a great afternoon. Notice the clear skies. Where’s the big storm?
Submarine from WWII
A ship turned restaurant. Too bad there was an event taking place. It would have been fun to try this out!
We walked the landing and then hit the Punk Rock Flea Market. Roman ended up buying a bowl made out of a vinyl Boz Scaggs album.
This is pretty much what the bowl looked like but I forgot to take a photo. You can DIY following Wiki’s instructions…but…
Black.Vinyl.Fashion had incredibly beautiful vinyl bowls as well as jewelry…
Vinyl cuff bracelets and earrings. The earrings were beautiful and I should have bought a pair. I’ll be back…
Bonaparte purchased a framed butterfly for his granddaughter from Fine Arts A Flutter.
The framed butterflies and bats–yes–BATS from Fine Arts A Flutter were incredibly intriguing.
Bonaparte picked up a framed butterfly–not this one but a large blue butterfly, for his granddaughter. Butterfly love runs in the Lartigue family…
I LOVED the framed bats. I know–it seems a bit creepy, but trust me, these were great. I feel the need to buy a couple of framed bats and hang them on one of the bathroom walls. I’ll be bat–I mean, I’ll be back!
Arthur and Annette, the proprietors were really patient in explaining the whole bat thing. They were very kind to answer our questions and you could tell they were enjoying what they do!!
I also noticed that there is parking in a lot at Penn’s Landing. This means we will be back. Oh yes. We will be back!
It was the best afternoon I’ve ever had in Philly!!!!!!!
Not to end it there, when we returned to the car, we still had some time on the meter so Roman suggested we head into the bar at The Twisted Tale for a drink. Since Bonaparte was driving, he passed. But Roman and I were in the mood for a nice Bourbon.
Still life with Bourbon and Diet Coke. I’m not big on hard liquor but bourbon just goes down so smooth and it so warm. I love it!
The bar at this restaurant is great. I hadn’t been to a “bar” in a long time and I enjoy the socialization that transpires as you enjoy a good cocktail or beverage. Our bartender, Cody, was entertaining and knowledgeable as she explained the story of the Jefferson’s Ocean bourbon that Roman was drinking. My choice was more basic. I opted for Jim Beam!
Bonaparte and I need to revisit The Twisted Tail for some serious cocktails and dinner. It was a comfortable place and not snobby in the least. This is a stellar neighborhood bar in every way!
Armed with our treasures we headed home, but along the way, Bonaparte wanted to drive by the boat dock to have a look at the United States–the ship his sister Isabelle sailed from France to the USA.
The gate was open. So I sauntered in and was chased out by a guard who had a gutter mouth worse than mine. I was so impressed but petrified at the same time. I never got close but the boat yard smelled like old socks. It was awful!
Instead, I opted to take this artsy photo behind a chain link fence. If I stayed any longer my post would have been about being arrested in Philly!
Then it was off to drop Roman off to spend time with Bonaparte’s daughter and her family. We enjoyed our dinner on the deck and both agreed that we need to spend more time discovering Philly—as long as we can figure the damn parking out!
We were able to spend time with our OTHER child–Chippy!
With Roman coming back home just after the most intense college football game aired on TV, the remainder of the evening was filled with stress and excitement. Bonaparte left us on our own while he headed upstairs to watch the more refined sport of tennis.
University of Texas was playing Notre Dame. I’m a Longhorn mom. Jake, my oldest, attended University of Texas in Austin. And he flew there for the game. My brother, Pete, is a die-hard Notre Dame fan. Although my sibs and I are basically undereducated scrubs, a few of my relatives and many friends attended Notre Dame. So it was family v. family!
My brother Pete apres tailgate. He wore Longhorn sunnies upside down. Joke was on him. UT won!!!!
A sea of burnt orange is always a beautiful vista!!!
Happy to report that after a near heart-attack inducing three hours, UT won! It was the best game ever!
Hook ’em Horns! May you have a fruitful and successful football season!
And today, we dropped Roman back at the train station for his return back to New York.
And I made sure to bake a batch of Corn Cookies for him to take home!
Things are back to normal for now. I’m listening to the sounds of those late-summer crickets, there is a small breeze outside. The breeze isn’t cooling me off, and it is strong enough to rustle the leaves on the trees in front of the house, but it isn’t enough to make the leaves fall yet. That’s nice.
Hope your Labor Day Weekend has been a great one…and now we will get ready to welcome fall and the coming holidays……
Due to the nature of last night’s game, and the great backfield in motion, I can only think of one song……… Mel & Tim with the great song Backfield in Motion. Thanks to Oldies But Goodies on YouTube.
As not-really-promised, but tried—here’s the beginning of a weekly post covering the weight loss journey. I know. It’s Thursday evening but I’m afraid I’ll oversleep in the morning and will be late for work and I won’t be able to post so………..
Sorry Oprah. But I’m doing this with my friends!!!
Are you in? Anybody? Bueller? Anybody? Let’s do this together! I you are on a similar journey comment and join in so we can support each other.
Anyone? Anyone? Wanna do this with me?
So—how did this week go for you? For me, I thought it would have gone a bit better.
I started out at 165. Just over a week ago. For my 5’6″ frame, I’m carrying some extra weight. Tuesday night when I weighed myself I was 159. I was thrilled. When I arrived home from work, I got on the scale and the number rose a bit. I was so frustrated that I moved the scale into various places of the house and my weight fluctuated from 2 ounces to 8 ounces on that 160.
Seriously. In different spots of the room, my weight fluctuated!
Look. While I realize it is just a number, it is just frustrating because I’ve been having some seriously stellar willpower. And I’m normally a very weak individual.
Last night I made two Nougatines from the Barefoot Contessa’s recipe. Roman is coming over for the weekend because once rehearsals for SNL begin, it’ll be a while until he visits again on the weekend. Bonaparte’s daughter, her husband and their daughter will be joining us for dinner Saturday evening.
Two of these are in the freezer and I haven’t dug into either of them. I’ll serve one with a chocolate sauce and one with a raspberry sauce…
I WILL be making my Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken for everyone. It’s a dish that I can have!
The kids all love this nougatine. In order to make it, though, a pistachio brittle is needed. And under normal circumstances when I make this delectable brittle, I eat half of it. I had NONE of it. Not one nut. Not one piece of brittle. No licking the spoon. NADA!!!
And I think that’s the frustrating part about losing weight. It just seems that you can literally eat five pounds of food on any given weekend and it’ll show on the scale. However, if you eat small portions, and stick to a healthy diet and no carbs or processed foods, and the numbers aren’t budging the way you want—it’s a very daunting event.
But—perseverance is needed because I know that I’m not alone.
I’ll tell you—even though I’ve been brown bagging it every day, my coworkers remain kind enough to ask me if I want anything for lunch. Lunch every day has been a Boca Burger on an Arnold Sandwich thin and lettuce and a slice of tomato.
My daily lunch..with tomato and lettuce!
My “snack” is fruit. And sometimes low-calorie yogurt that is probably 100 percent fake stuff.
I love that this is both natural AND artificial!
Dinners have been carefully monitored and my food choices have been far better. Actually the Boca Burgers and that mysterious yogurt are the only “processed” foods to pass through my intestinal tract.
I had more tomatoes for dinner tonight–with avocado and shrimp!
The big willpower guns will be out in force this weekend. Labor Day Weekend. Saturday night we’ll be having a lot of food at our house but I’m going to really be good.
Some will be counting down the beers and hot dogs they will be chowing on. I’ll be counting points!
Speaking of which, can you believe it’s September? Where did the summer go? The only beaches I sat my fat ass at were in France and we never made it to the Jersey Shore at all—it’s a shocker for me. My skin thanks me.
Here’s where the beginning of MY summer was spent!
In addition, summer is always movie blockbuster season. We saw two movies. “Absolutely Fabulous” and “Bad Moms”. Where were all the great summer hits?
…and “Bad Moms” was more like a biography!!
Come to think of it, Edina and I have a lot in common too. These were the only movies we saw ALL summer. What’s up with the film industry?
We live in a development. The ice cream man never came by. I’m wondering if people don’t like the ice cream man anymore. It’s very disheartening for me. Growing up we had so many choices: Bungalow Bar; Good Humor; Mr. Softee and my personal favorite, Freezer Fresh.
Believe me. Over the years I’ve enjoyed MANY treats from all of these trucks. My thighs, my chins, my upper arms, my gut and my ass can prove it to you!
When we lived in New Jersey a generic ice cream truck hit our development’s pool every afternoon and the neighborhood streets in the evening. When we lived in Manhattan, the ice cream man made a killing when he parked his truck outside the playground! I guess parents have gotten too healthy.
Sometimes I wonder if young kids are missing the fun my own kids had during those summers in the 1990’s.
The boys played summer baseball and going to their games in the evening was a social event. It didn’t matter that we were getting eaten alive by every bug known to man. Mugginess was cut with many glasses of iced tea.
The neighborhood kids would be outdoors till almost midnight playing “Manhunt” and “Capture the Flag”.
No. Nobody keeps calm while playing Capture the Flag. And that’s the beauty of the game!
When they were young, we would catch fireflies.
There’s no greater summer fun than bending down with a jar full of grass (from the LAWN) and capturing those fireflies before capturing that flag!
But I think my favorite summer activity was stargazing. Every now and then Mother Nature would gift us with a crystal clear night. The kind of night where every star in the galaxy decided to come out to socialize. I would get a huge old comforter, throw it on the lawn and the kids and I would just lie down and gaze at the stars. It was a wonderful feeling and is still a great memory.
I can only hope that my own children stargaze with theirs when the time comes. It truly is magical!
When we lived in NYC, the adults would convene on lawn chairs in front of the apartment building we lived in. My neighbor Diana’s husband would make the greatest Pina Coladas on earth and we would enjoy them while the kids played.
And when we left the city for New Jersey, we had a similar situation. The people on the street that I lived on were always out in the evening, lawn chairs in the driveway or in someone’s backyard. Just enjoying each other.
I don’t think people do that anymore.
So let’s pretend that these weekly weight loss posts will be a neighborhood gathering. Get your lawn chairs out! Or pretend that the chair you are sitting on is a lawn chair and we’re having one big party!
I promise to support you! Hey. Do you like my new topper? It blends well with my hair–well, with the hair I have left!
It’ll be fun as we support each other!
And on this September 1st, I pause to give my dad happy birthday wishes. He’s here in spirit and I’m sure he’s enjoying this day!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! He would have been 87 today and not a day goes by that I don’t miss my dad. He was one in a million. New York’s Finest Cop!! Our Finest Dad!!
Comment on your progress or your frustration or if you need support!!
Today I give you one of my father’s favorite songs of all time. Jambalaya by Hank Williams.
Now that we’ve addressed appearance, let’s move on to the more beefy and incredibly entertaining part of the older job seeker’s journey.
Wouldn’t we all love to say this?
You are led into a conference room. Usually someone from HR or Talent will escort you to this treasure cove of fun. That’s because the HR Princess wants to take a good look at you. She wants to give you the once-over to see what brands of clothing you are wearing. J. Crew, my personal fave, scores high. My shoes score high. It goes well until HR Princess gets to my face. She can tell that I’m….old. I can see a little glimpse into her phony windows of the world.
While I’m thinking I look like THIS….HR Princess thinks I look…
Those eyes are saying “Ugh—when will old bitches like her just give it up and take an overdose of happy pills?”
…like THIS. HR Princess is also petrified that I’ll try to mother her since I’m so old!!! I’m Bette and HR princess is Sarah Jessica–look how scared she looks!
While her brightly smiling mouth is sing-songing “Ohhhhhhhhh..those Tory Burch shoes are so cute. So cute!!!” And she bobs her head to the side and her voice takes on a Kardashianesque nasal tone when she says “So cute!!!”
You will be seated and asked if you want coffee or water. I always say no thank you. This is because my bladder isn’t as strong as it was before I had children. But—I don’t want this viper to know that. It’s bad enough I’m old. OK?
A team will march into the conference room to judge, assess, find anything wrong with you, interview you. Or perhaps it’ll just be one or two people. You need to be very gracious because these are incredibly self-important people.
And surprisingly, some of the team will be older–and they should be ashamed of themselves for giving another older person the dismissal and no word of not being hired!
If they saw you on the street they wouldn’t give you the time of day. In fact, some of them may spit on you. So be charming, engaging and show them that you are the one worth hiring. Even if they think that you are as old as a Woolly Mammoth you still need to bring your best you! *wink*.
OK. Interview Question! Who’s the REAL Woolly Mammoth in this picture? Correct–it’s the old man on the left!!!
I believe they all attended the “Diane-Sawyer-I’m-So-Much-Better-Than-You” School of Interviewing.
(Photo by Ida Mae Astute/ABC via Getty Images)
Just look at that face. It’s the face of HR during the interview and you realize you have no chance in hell of being hired!
And yes, some of the more idiotic questions you will be asked is “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Try not to answer “Alive.”
No. Now is not the time to impress with the obvious!
Don’t tell them you are a people person either. We are past that stage in life where we need to please. We older people just want to do the job!
Um. No. We were professional people people when we were younger. Now we just want to do the job.
And it is daunting. Believe me. I know this. For almost two years I had to be charming and engaging and smile while suffering from hemorrhoid pain. I had to think quickly when I had throbbing headaches. I had to put my “A” game on and had to remember every detail that I told the telephone interviewer so I would not look like a liar at the face-to-face.
I’ve had interviewers look me in the eyes and tell me how great I am, only to never EVER hear from them again.
I did the right thing by going home and writing incredibly well-executed thank you notes—making sure that no two people received the same words from me.
And the worst part is that some of these people never bothered to give me the respect that I so deserved for interviewing. These same “professionals” never bothered to let me know that I was not hired. I had no closure. At all. These are the executives who lack common courtesy. And in hindsight, I’m happy that I wasn’t chosen.
And I share some of these real life interviews with you:
Johnson Matthey: I went there on an interview for an executive assistant position. What started out to be a relatively normal interview ended up to be truly bizarre. I was being interviewed for two administrative assistant positions but would be working for one of two men.
The first man to interview me seemed pretty cut and dry. He traveled a lot and needed a ton of scheduling and travel arrangements. No big deal, but there didn’t seem to be any chemistry there. And that was perfectly fine.
The second guy who interviewed me was a real piece of work. He seemed sooooooo sincere. When he asked me why I left my last two positions, I explained they were due to corporate closures. He looked me straight in the eyes and said “I know how it is. I’ve been there”. “I mean this when I tell you, I will get back to you in record time” “If you don’t hear from me in a week, please shoot me an email”. Oh, and this slimy, self-important narcissist also said “This is between you and me—of the two of us who interviewed you, who would you rather work for?” Seriously, what kind of crap is this?
I walked out of that interview with a strange feeling that THIS was the man who interviewed me. It was creepy! And he lied!
Not only did it nearly kill me to have to send this bozo a thank you note, but I had to “shoot” him an email asking him about follow up. To this day I never heard back from Mr. Sincere. Thank you Johnson Matthey.
Queen Appliance: This is a local appliance company. I had an interview and it went very well. The people were engaging, friendly and seemed genuinely nice. They told me how great I was and also told me that I would hear from them in a matter of days.
I never heard a word from them. They didn’t even email me to see if I needed any appliances! Who knows what they were looking for, but I do know that if I do need an appliance, I won’t be visiting the queen!
The X Financial Company. I had such a traumatic interview that I cannot even remember the name of this horrific place. An agency sent me. The company is in a great location in Berwyn, PA. And is relatively new. The second I walked through the door, I wanted to work there because everything was so spanking new.
“Rebecca” was the woman who I met with. She was rather full of herself and I don’t think it was from the extra body weight she was carrying either. She seemed to be a legend in her own mind. She went on and on and on and on about how important she was and how she did this and did that and how she drove two hours to work every day and blah, blah, blah.
And when it was my turn to speak, she clicked on her computer, and ignored me. While I spoke. At one point she lifted her head and said. “Oh. I’m sorry but my boss wants something”.
The Rebecca who interviewed was definitely NOT from Sunnybrook Farm. She was more like the bottom-of-the-ocean crawler, Ursula. What a monster!
I saw just how important she really was.
When I left that place, I called the agency and went ballistic. Not only did I not hear from Rebecca, but I never heard from the agency again either!
Cross-eyed as I might be, I literally RAN away from Rebecca and her computer. I suffered PTSD for a while after that interview!
Mainline Rehabilitation: Although I never wanted to work in healthcare again, I ended up being interviewed for an admin position. Again, I did my research and was actually excited about this. My excitement was because the Rehab center hosts an Art Ability program in which people who are now special needs exhibit their works of art, which are, pretty amazing.
During the interview, I was told many times “we care so much about people”. Actually, they were really focused on the caring. I guess it was because insurance companies were giving them lots and lots of money. They certainly didn’t care about the people who were being interviewed because, once again, I didn’t hear a word. Not an email. Not a phone call. Nothing.
I should have gone on that interview with a cast on my leg. I would have received more love and respect!
And that’s really the worst part. I’m fine knowing I didn’t get hired—but let me know so that I’m not getting to that delusional point where I am still hoping. That’s what you can expect. I swear it’s because older people are just dismissed. I’m sure the hiring powers that be wonder why an older person would want to work when they should be ready for retirement.
The average 55, 60, 65 + can’t retire anymore. That last economic bust nearly destroyed many of us and our families. But we don’t give up! And that is the absolute beauty of the older generation. We have a drive and a will.
But I’ll be honest. I almost did give up. Bonaparte encouraged me to not give up. And when he saw an ad for an administrative assistant in a small financial company, he suggested I apply.
I did. And I received an email of interest. Then I had a phone call. Then I had an interview. And I almost got cold feet the morning of the interview because I figured it was just another job that would go to someone else.
I showed up and was interviewed by a young woman around Oona’s age. She was not like the others. She was wise and grounded. The interview went fine.
Two days later I was offered the job. I was thrilled!
At almost one month into my new job, I can tell you off the bat that I’m enjoying it.
This is me getting off the elevator each day upon arriving for work. I’m really happy! And I’m wearing a skirt too!
I’m back in the financial genre, which I love because I understand many of the nuances. The company is small. The workers are very diligent and from what I’ve observed, all have an incredible work ethic. They genuinely like and respect each other. It has been a long, long time since I’ve worked with people who ask “Do you need anything?” when they are going out to get lunch or anywhere else.
The environment where I am now is focused on work but pleasant. I actually enjoy going into the office every day.
The people there really work well as a team. Really well. It is the kind of company I feel comfortable in. The President runs a tight ship but there’s a lot of trust. I dunno. I just want to stay. And I take nothing in this life for granted nor do I have any expectations—especially due to the journey it took me to get here.
So don’t give up. It will take a long time. And you’ll have great interviews and lousy interviews. You will go home thinking you got the job and you will NEVER hear a word. That’s the reality.
And then, just when you are ready to give up–you’ll be hired! It’ll be that interview that you walk out of not feeling on cloud nine, but feeling as though you’ve done a good job. It’s hard to describe. Trust me on this one.
Persevere. But do it with a sense of humor!!
Here’s a good pump up song for your drive to the interview. Bachman Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business”!!
Hi all! This is a post that is pretty difficult to write. And when I say difficult, I don’t mean it in a painful way. I mean it more of a “where-do-I-begin” post. I think I’ll start at the beginning and lead up to my new job. (Which I’m very happy to say, I am enjoying to the fullest!)
I also have to do this in two parts because I’ll be rambling on and don’t want to bore anyone!
Since January of 2015, (when I started this blog), I’ve been through Hell and back with the processes of being judged, being hounded with questions of which most were complete bullshit, being asked personal questions, literally being ignored, being patronized and being spoken to as though I were a complete moron. Yes. I’m an old person and I’ve been looking for a job!!And yet, I’ve managed to not give up. And I’ve managed to keep a sense of humor through it all.
A word to the older and wiser. When you see a job posting like this. It doesn’t mean they are looking for a Senior Citizen! They may seek a “Senior” AA, but they want someone straight outta college!
Oh. And all those articles that you read about in seeking employment as an older person— don’t read them. Not one of them gets to the true heart of the issue. AGEISM. The articles should be titled “Hey Man, You’re Too F*ckin’ Old!” And “Nobody Wants You, You Ragged, Shriveled, Old Person, You!!”
Sorry, I’m being snarky. I need to stop. I’ll just tell you about some of my job seeking experience during the past two years. I’ll also give you some incredibly unwanted advice…..
Since we are in a world of Cyberspace, the best places these days to look for a job are online. Many people swear by Linkedin. But those people are the under 35’ers. I’ve had lots of luck with Indeed, Monster and CareerBuilder.com. But it doesn’t stop there.
I think Monster has the right name. It can be a monstrous chore to apply online for a job….
In many instances when searching those sites you will also be redirected to corporate sites in which to apply. This takes time and patience. I also think you are better off if you decide to have a glass or three of wine while completing these online applications because no two online applications are alike.
Applying online for a career position? Better get the wine out! You will need it!
And even though you may “attach” a resume, you will still have to manually enter that same information while completing the online process. My guess is that most people give up due to frustration and “WTF-ness” and those few who actually complete the process stand a chance of being contacted.
And, may I ask, just WHY do these online applications want to know where I went to grammar school? So they want these nuns as personal references?
And even when you think you have successfully completed that annoying online application and you hit the “submit” button. You didn’t have success. A red warning will pop up at any random section instructing you to “correct” the error that you cannot seem to find. And when you correct that section and go to hit “submit” again, the same red warning pops up in another random section. When you figure it all out, you get a message that you’ve been “timed out” and need to start again.
Unless you are a rocket scientist, you WILL be confronted with many red warning signs!
Perhaps now is the time to move on to drinking shots rather than wine.
Now it’s time to bring the strong stuff out. And trust me, you’ll need this more than you will need the wine!
And trust me; this convoluted online process has nothing to do with age. I’ll bet that millennials can’t figure this stuff out either!
So you’ve finally figured out the 1,001 different ways to apply online for a job. Congratulations. Sit back and wait. And wait. And wait. Actually, don’t wait. Get out of the house. Find something to do or else you will go crazy waiting. Times are different now. People do not have the common courtesy to get back to you in a timely manner. And speaking of manners, you will find out just how lacking in manners HR people are. I’ll get to that in Part Two.
Seriously. Get outta the house. Go someplace instead of waiting around. Go to France!
Within a few days, or weeks, your phone will begin to ring. Your email’s inbox will make you feel like you are the most important and popular person on earth. You’ll get all sorts of phone calls and emails about jobs.
…from recruiters. Yes. Many recruiters need to make their commission. Kind of like “Retail Hell” only it’s “Resume Hell”. You will be inundated with calls that have absolutely nothing to do with the job you applied for. You’ll receive a ton of e-mails explaining about a great “opportunity”.
Beware the word “OPPORTUNITY”. If you receive a call telling you that a company or recruiter saw your resume and wants to speak to you about a great OPPORTUNITY, hang up! Receive an OPPORTUNITY email? Delete it!!! They are all come-ons!
The greatest advice Bonaparte ever gave me was to NEVER answer the phone. Let them leave a message then call back.
I’ll add a caveat here. You’ll also be contacted by agencies. Avoid them. The staffing is incredibly young and just cannot connect with a more mature person. I’m not kidding. They are clueless. And I’m not being nasty either. Some of the people I’ve worked with at agencies were really sweet and kind but they just have no idea how to deal with older people who are seeking employment. Especially those of us who have lost jobs due to corporate closures. More on that later.
Recruiters are very young. You, as an older person seeking employment do not want to get the young recruiters upset. They will become very angry and not find jobs for you. You are too old for them to understand.
So it has been a few weeks and you’re becoming a bit daunted, but you are still at that stage where hope overrides any negativity. After all, you mastered the online applications and you’ve had great career positions. You are older and dammit, you’ve been a GREAT employee. It isn’t fair…. I know this. And I hug you. Big hug.
And the phone rings and this time it is either the HR department, the TALENT department (which I find to be incredibly entertaining because what the hell is the talent of knowing how to type on a keyboard. Are we doing this while belting out a song or dancing on top of a desk?) of one of the corporations you applied to or it is a recruiter who works specifically for that corporation. They explain that your resume caught their eye and want to ask a few questions.
I’m guessing that the “TALENT” department of corporations is seeing more of this than how to use a keyboard and computer.
The questions are ridiculous. They will ask if you are currently working. They ask this after calling your home phone number in which you entered your home phone number on the application. If you are tempted, even slightly, to answer “If you called my home number, and I just called you back on that same home number do you think I’m working?”, the phone call will go no further. Just explain why you are home. Better to be honest. Sometimes.
I know, I KNOW you want to answer some of the dumber questions in this manner. Do not. On the other hand………………
They will also start to explain a bit about the company. While they ramble on, you will think “When did I apply for this job anyway?” And while she/he is still rambling on, you run to your computer and start to check files and still come up empty handed.
A pile of just SOME of the applications I’ve filled. And YES, I HAVE combed through this pile while a recruiter was on the phone rambling on and on and on….
By the time you run back to the phone, she’s asking what salary you are looking for. The answer will either have the call ending or you will make it through to the next process. If you are asking for too high a salary, or if you are asking the salary you used to make, the call will end. Period.
You need to take a bit of a spin. Answer the question with another question. Ask “What is the salary range you are looking for”. They will be so shocked at this challenging question that they will tell you. Now the ball is in your court. If you aren’t at the point of desperation yet, you can turn that lowball salary down. Or you can say that it isn’t what you expected, but you are willing to negotiate.
Hey. I speak the truth. This is usually where it ends…..But…sometimes it doesn’t and you will be asked to come in for a face-to-face interview.
This is where the fun and entertainment begins.
Remember, you cannot take these interviews too seriously because 99.9 percent of the positions you, as a person of advanced age, are seeking will be gifted to someone younger. Someone with better fake hair and a majestic fake tan, and—quite possibly, a killer set of fake boobs. You will NOT be hired. Don’t take it personally though. The train of thought on old people is:
They will get really, really sick and die sooner than later.
They will get dementia and forget they have a job to report to every morning
They will burp and fart because they have no control over their bodies
Old people aren’t willing to learn
They don’t use Snapchat or other forms of Social Media
They have no idea what Tinder is
They have outdated cell phones
Old people are a general pain-in-the-ass
Old people dress yucky
Old people smell like mothballs
Old people will try to tell us how to do the job easier
Old people are ugly
They will tell us how great their grandchildren are
They drive so damned slow and will be late for work every day
For the record, we old people DO NOT smell like mothballs….
And we are well-versed in Social Media. See that icon on the far left? It’s the NEW Instagram, I mean, IG Logo!
What they fail to realize is that old people
Have a great work ethic
Stay focused on their tasks for more than it takes for a younger person to Snap Chat
Won’t call out sick on a Monday morning due to a weekend bender of drinking and partying
Won’t call out to work because one of their kids is sick and they can’t get a sitter
Won’t call out because their kids have a day off from work and they can’t get a sitter
Are empty-nesters and work will give them a purpose.
Want to work because it makes them feel good.
Can be a tremendous help with their wisdom
Can have a great sense of humor
Some old people drive faster than a drag racer
They actually know how to answer a phone in a professional manner
They can hold a decent conversation for more than ten minutes
They can refer to important clients by their title of Mr. or Ms.—not, dude.
So you are now ready to prepare. You go back on the internet and study everything about the company you will be interviewing. Dates. People. Places. Every little nuance is in your brain. You are feeling mighty empowered.
You are so knowledgeable about the company that you can date staff back to the 1700’s!
You’ve made up a list of questions to ask. The questions are well thought out, insightful and intelligent. Like “What can I do in this position that would make me the best employee you’ve ever hired?” Simple but good food for thought. Inquisitive but not obnoxious.
You’ve made sure your hair is looking good. Ladies, I find a classic pulled back style works best. You don’t need to keep having your hair fall in your face. Unfortunately, straight hair fares better than curly hair for an interview. I know—it sucks, but as a curly-haired princess I learned my lesson when I was younger. One day ain’t gonna hurt.
Better to wear your hair pulled back..but leave the Walmart hoops at home!
I’m not even going to broach the subject of gray hair. I’m not going there. OK? While I realize it should not be about looks. IT IS. We are in a youth-based society. And as much as we shouldn’t have to try to appear younger, sometimes you just have to put a little effort into presentation.
You also want to be comfortable when you are interviewing. I have seasonal ensembles for interviews. Sorry, but I’m not going to go into an interview only to sweat like a whore in church. I need to be cool—and I mean that temperature-wise.
During cool and cold weather interviews, my go-to ensembles are a blazer, crisp white blouse or a thin pullover sweater. I’ll also either wear a pencil skirt or pants. I’ll wear kitten-heeled pumps. I take my Walmart Hoops off and replace with my little pearl drops and sometimes I’ll wear a faux pearl necklace. That’s it.
I’ll wear a white shirt with this interview ensemble. I also make sure the pants fit perfectly. It’s my cool weather look!
During warm and hot weather interviews, my go to ensembles are a black dress with white piping or I’ll wear a simple navy sheath dress with a scarf. I call the second look my “Air France Flight Attendant” look.
One of my warm-weather interview looks. I actually wore this to the job interview of my present job. This dress is a few years old. I got it at J. Crew on sale!
I call this my “Air France Flight Attendant” look. I love this because the dress cost me seven bucks at Marshall’s and I wear it with an Herme’s scarf. Talk about high end-low end!!
An interview is also NOT the time to wear SPANX or any other body shaping underwear. You do NOT want to be seated during an interview and suddenly the top of the SPANX rides down past your navel, only to expose your middle-aged spread. Trust me, that spread will explode and eyes will pop out. I know this. It happened to me. I did NOT get the job!
During summer I refuse to wear panty hose. Sorry Charlie. Sweat + Panty hose+ lady parts = yeast infection. Please laydees, stick to cotton underwear in the summer. Your lady parts will thank you.
Now you are dressed and ready to impress.
You enter through the corporate doors. You look around and see beautiful furnishings. The lighting is perfect. The air is crisp and cool. Everything is clean and sparkly. The receptionist, who has been schooled in not having any phase of facial expression, blandly announces your arrival.
I went to see hair stylist/cutter extraordinaire Adam today. My hairs were in dire need of serious trimming.
Adam is always happy to see me. I think. Now he has two heads of my hair to cut!!
Yeah. You read that correctly. I did write my hairs.
Adam not only cut my real hair, but he also cut my newest wig.
My newest cap of fake hair. The Seville by Noriko. It’s nice hair but the bangs are just too long!
I’ll get to the point. The hair loss is getting so that I’m done worrying about it. My new solution is to just wear my real hair when it is spanking clean and the roots are colored and I have plenty of Toppik on hand. All other days, I’ll either wear a topper, my extensions or a wig.
I’m also getting tired of doing the LadyTrumpCombover. Besides. My politics don’t blend well with he of the comb over.
Anyway, it seems that I’m spending more and more time “fixing” my real hair. Besides–I’m lazy. And in the morning when I have to get ready for work, I don’t want to take forever to look human. Plopping a wig or topper on just makes my beauty routine a lot easier.
But before I go on, I have to say that I’m really disappointed in the hair color I purchased that was on sale at Sally Beauty Supply. I strayed from my usual Age Beautiful color and took a chance on The Wella Color Charm that was advertised on a BOGO. Ugh. This stuff is garbage. The gray/white started inching out a week after I colored it. My hair looks skunky now. I’ll go back to the Age Beautiful. It lasts a lot longer.
Photo from Zabiva.com. I made the purchase at Sally but this just did not work for me at all…
So I ordered this wig. The “Seville” by Noriko.
Surprisingly, this wig, Seville, looks better IRL because it isn’t as shiny!
I got a great price online at Ace Wigs. After I made the purchase I read that Ace can be kind of “iffy” with orders. I’m sure I started to stress eat after reading that. I had no issues. My wig arrived quicker than I ever expected and it was in great shape. I’ll be reordering with Ace. Since this particular wig was on sale, and there was only one in my color, I was a bit nervous about what it would look like. But as soon as I put it on, I was incredibly happy!
My wig came packaged very nicely and securely in this box.
The only “issue” was the length of the bangs. They were way too long!
My real hair also needed some love. Summer is awful on hair. The heat. Humidity. The sea. The chlorine. It wreaks havoc. And since I didn’t think I would need to have my roots done when I originally colored my hair, Adam didn’t have time to fit a color in.
No biggie. I’ll just look like a skunkfor another week or so!
My skunky roots. I’m so annoyed with the Wella hair color! Perhaps my white roots are just too stubborn for this brand’s color!
And when I arrived to see Adam this morning he was quite impressed at how nicely the Seville wig looked. He definitely agreed that the bangs were way too long and a few snips later, my Seville was perfect!
Adam, deciding if more bang needs to be trimmed…
Perfect! Oh..my fang is sticking out. See to the right? I have a fang that sticks out when I smile. I refuse to have it filed down because it is a part of me! I love my fang! Watch out I don’t bite you!
Then it was on to wash and cut my real hair. He took off a bit more than usual—and that’s fine with me because my hair feels so much better now. He also didn’t think I lost a ton more hair. He said he could notice a bit more loss on the top of my head but with the Toppik sprinkled in—all the baldness was covered!
Another great cut by Adam. He cut off a bit more at the ends but I’m happy he did. BTW, Bonaparte was driving..and I’m becoming increasingly annoyed at my laziness for not wearing a razor-back bra–but I was in a rush.
I left a happy camper. I’m telling you. If you live anywhere on the Main Line of Philly or in the ‘burbs, check out Bleu Mousse Salon in Wayne. I love that salon. Doug, the owner, and Adam are the greatest! I would travel hours to get my hair done there!
And speaking of more fake hair, yesterday after work I stopped at the Hair Outlet in Norristown. I’ve been checking out African American wigs online because the price point is incredibly good. And if I want to “experiment” with fake hair, I think a better price is more of an advantage. This store sells mostly African American wigs, but the brand I was looking for, Bobbi Boss, wasn’t stocked.
Instead I purchased Vivica Fox’s “Shiny” wig (Ugh. What a weird name for a wig—it sounds so….just so fake!). It was $19.99.
This is also a Yaki textured wig. Just what IS Yaki texture? It’s this: Yaki texture is process to your wig that adds a micro kink to the hair strands to mimic Africa-American relaxed hair. The texture fits my natural hair quite well because I have incredibly coarse and porous hair!
I couldn’t resist. It’s a nice angled bob.
I LOVE this style bob. I love the deep side part and it really looks decent…
I took a few strands of my natural hair out of the front to blend in with this wig and it blended really well….
Here’s a side view. It is so full and reminds me of the way I used to wear my natural hair before the fallout!
When I had a ton of hair, I LOVED wearing my hair bobbed. Then my hair left me and a bob was just not working anymore! Now, thanks to this wig, I can wear an angled bob again! And I don’t have to worry about my bob frizzing in the humidity!
Definitely worth the $19.99 pricetag. I should get an auburn one–for old times sake. Yes. I went through a few years of being a redhead and I loved it!
Two new styles. They will surely keep my head warm when the cool weather arrives. Look in the background. Chippy is bored out of his mind!
Seriously. If you are thinking about wearing a wig, whether due to hair loss from an unknown source or as a result from menopause or illness—or even if you just want to change up your look, do it! I’ll also add that as we age our hair isn’t as lush as it was in our younger days–nothin’ that some fake hair won’t take care of!!
One of my blogging friends, Cynthia, has great wig reviews on her blog, “mareymercy“. She gave Seville a great review a while back: mareymercy Seville Review. If you are thinking of going wiggy, might I suggest a look at her reviews? They are detailed and she takes the freakin’ best photos around!!
Ahh..it is almost time to feed Chippy. I think he’s a bit pissed off at me because I’m a day late to National Dog Day. I need to go buy him a toy or something to make him a bit less pissed at me.
Look at that face. He is so upset that I forgot about National Dog Day. WAIT!!! He spent yesterday at Doggie Day Camp with his buddies. I’ll tell him that’s why we sent him there–as a present for Dog Day!
It’s also almost time to start prep work for dinner this evening. Bonaparte is being very supportive of my Weight Watchers journey. He is carefully measuring out my crème de cassis and champagne and not allowing me to have bread. I am wise to his support. The less I have = more for him!
I’ll report more tomorrow!
Who says you can’t change up your look when you are over 60? One day. Three looks!
We were listening to some songs by Dalida, a singer who was incredibly popular in France, while running errands before. One of my personal faves is “Salma ya Salama”. It’s got a nice Arabic vibe to it! Have a listen!
I’ll admit. I’ve been eating like a slovenly pig for the past few months. The stress of working in retail hell had me doing the emotional eating thing. You know the kind of eating I’m talking about. You get all worked up emotionally and go to the fridge and grab anything that hits your eye. It is usually luncheon meat and cheese. A lot of cheese.
That’s right. Plastic ham and plastic processed cheese food. Sometimes I don’t even bother to unwrap that plastic!
Then you make your way over to the freezer and start rummaging through the bowels of the stacks of frozen food items and find that year-old, half-eaten carton of ice cream. It has gunk and freezer burn. And you don’t care. Or perhaps it’s the bags of chocolate chips you purposely placed in the freezer so you wouldn’t eat them. But you eat them frozen anyway.
And if there is no year-old ice cream, pre-frozen dollops of whipped cream will always make your emotions feel so much better. Yes. I DO this. I pre-freeze dollops of whipped cream!
I’ll also (s)lovenly fill my already expanding belly on white AND chocolate chips from the freezer. They are quite tasty after sitting upon frozen meat!
With emotions still riding high, you make your way to the pantry and take out a box. YES. A BOX. Of macaroni and proceed to cook the entire box and slather it in butter and salt and pepper.
And when you are done eating, you don’t feel an emotional rescue has taken place. Instead you feel bloated and disgusting.
And then the pendulum swings. When the kids were visiting over the weekend, it was a food fest. I baked cookies. I baked a flourless chocolate cake to celebrate Oona and Roman’s birthdays. (As if the omission of flour was going to make this dense chocolate cake any healthier!)
Flourless chocolate cake. It IS gluten-free! And look at the pre-frozen dollops with raspberries! A healthy alternative. I don’t quite KNOW what that alternative is…
I made four pounds of chicken for this Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken. There was nothing left..
Lots of aperitifs. Lots of wine. Lots of fun. It wreaked havoc on my body. It was a different kind of emotional eating. It was happy feasting!
Yeah. After a few aperitifs, I was a bit “fuzzy” and took out the “good” stuff in error. Oh well. Fun times!
And another bottle of Margaux. Bonaparte opened it in Oona’s honor!
Ad it didn’t stop there. I took ’em out for some day drinking and brunch at Iron Hill Brewery.
Bad mom never fails. Some beer tasting (of which I did not partake. I was driving.)…and
…wings…
My very first fish taco. Where has this BEEN all my life???
…and the ever-favorite, fried calamari!
I’m serious here. Two years ago my size 6 pants were becoming snug. Now my size 10 pants are a bit tight around the bum and thighs. My ass got fat. I can tell when it widens because my bottom takes on a kind of squarish shape around the hips. The roundness goes on a vacation somewhere under the fat.
I forgot to add, the three of us had lunch last Friday at Shake Shake. I had a “Shroom Burger and it was divine!
I need to get my round back! And I seriously need to drop 25 pounds.
So I had to do something about it. In the past I’ve written about my gluten-free diets, my 21-Day Fix Diet (that lasted for less than 24 hours), my green shakes and any other change to make my eating habits better. Nothing worked.
These are the portion-controlled bins that your food goes into. You eat like this for 21 days. My 21-day fix lasted for 8 hours.
And as I write this, I want to tell you that two nights ago, I pulled the cyber trigger and joined Weight Watchers Online program. It is near impossible to find a meeting in the area where I live. Either the meetings are during the day time or they are at some place that is just not feasible for me to drive to. A few years ago Weight Watchers had a great location in King of Prussia, and I lost about 22 pounds. But I made sure that I attended meetings diligently. I don’t know why Weight Watchers decided to close that location.
But anyway, I’m back on the program. I wouldn’t have joined had I not received a really friendly email from Weight Watchers inviting me to come back. For a fee no less. It was also the last evening of the “special” price on their online program so I rejoined.
Yes. I rejoined. I’m a lifetime member, but I’ll have to pay until I get to my lifetime goal. And only then will I be able to attend meetings for free. I don’t think Lifetime warrants a freebie for online.
Luckily I found trackers in my vast “collection” of Weight Watchers stuff!
And the point system has changed. I can eat more points per day, but I’m sticking to the old and lower points on this.
Ugh. I can look at this two ways. The first way is that I’ve been a complete failure in the past with this program because I lose then I gain. Then I lose. Then I gain. Then I lose. Then I gain.
Lifetime Membership Pocket Guide from way long ago…
But—I’m looking at it in a different light. I’m a success. And I’m a success because I’ve make Lifetime membership three different times. I just need to do it right this time.
Lifetime membership from 2012!
I’ll tell you. Unless you’ve never struggled with eating for comfort, you just don’t know what it’s like. I admire those who just aren’t fazed by their emotions. And I’m especially admirable of those who don’t become hungry when their emotions take over.
Non-lifetime membership pocket guide. I have ’em all!!!
Hey. I’m actually ahead of the game a bit because my massive hair loss has to be at least a two-pound loss! And I have the support of Bonaparte too. I told him that I can only have ONE aperitif each weekend evening. I’m using my extra points well!
I’ll be eating more sprouts of Brussels…
….and liver. Hey. Don’t judge. I LOVE liver–and poached in a bit of chicken broth it is tender and tasty.
And the job—it’s working out quite well. The days go by quickly because there is a ton of work to do. The people are respectful and nice to work with. It is a very healthy work environment. (I’ll be covering more about that this weekend! Stay tuned…)
And. Hopefully I will reach my goal by the end of November because……….
That’s right! We’ll be at this theatre. Funny but in all the years I’ve been in Paris, I’ve never noticed this theatre!
We are going back to Paris! We will be attending an Avant-premiere at The Rex theatre the new film “Demain Tout Commence”, a film written and directed by Bonaparte’s cousin, Hugo Gelin.
Bonaparte’s cousin, Hugo, with “Demain Tout Commence” stars Clemence Poesy (who was great in Gossip Girl) and Omar Sy! I’m so happy Hugo is wearing a NY Yankees cap!
I need to fit back into my small-assed pants and get my flaneur on!!
Do you ever look to food as an emotional rescue? I think Mick Jagger does!
Yes. I am! I love shopping at Walmart. I have been poorly judged on my decision to shop at this ginormous vault of discount goodies and slashed prices. And I don’t care.
Yes. Walmart IS one of my shopping happy places! I’m also proud to admit this.
When I’m in France, I love shopping in various boutiques both high-end and lower-end. I get all excited knowing that I will be shopping at Rondini for great sandals and on the other hand, I can’t wait to get to Geant hypermarche because I am fully aware that I can grab a well-padded bathing suit top for as low at 5 euros.
And my favorite department store in the USA is Nordstrom.
I may have hated working here, but as a customer, I LOVE Nordstrom. It really is the only department store I shop in these days.
Before it went out of business, my favorite department store was B. Altman on the corner of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City.
B. Altman–there was no greater store…
And it was the best store for children’s clothing. I remember dressing like this as a child. It’s too bad that kids no longer wear nice ensembles like this….
Running a close second place was Best & Company, which also met a sad retail demise.
Best & Co. one of my mother’s favorite stores. Why can’t we bring dressing like this back?
And back in those days people held the “Five and Dime” stores such as Woolworth’s, Newberry’s and McCrory’s in a higher esteem than they do Walmart.
McCrory’s was a great 5 & 10 cent store. I loved rummaging around the shop in Ewing, NJ..
..Newberry’s was also epic. I purchased my first lipstick at Newberry’s in Bay Shore, NY when I was 13 years old!
…but the mother of ALL five and dime’s was Woolworth’s! You never knew what you would find for less than a buck!
I’m gonna be straight with you here. The average Walmart employee earns from $9.00 to around $13.00 an hour—depending on full-time or part-time positions.
When I was at Nordstrom, I earned straight commission. However, if I did not make commission, I then received a $9.00 an hour salary. But—I did make as low as $7.00 an hour depending on the amount of returns that were held against my commission.
At least Walmart employees don’t have to worry about commission. So does Walmart really treat their staff that badly? There are worse establishments to work in.
True. None of the employees here need to worry about commission or returns. And that is a great thing to not have to worry about!
The Walton family also may be on the “right” side of the political table, but the Walton Family Foundation built the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville Arkansas. Seriously—if a family loves the arts and culture enough to create a museum for American artists—well, they can’t be all bad now. My politics may be on the opposite side of this family, but their efforts to support the arts brings a certain amount of bipartisanship between them and me.
Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. An homage to the American Artist…
...showcasing great paintings such as “The Life of a Hunter–A Tight Fix” by Arthur Fitzwilliam
That being said. I love shopping at Walmart because I save a ton of money. Yes. The Walton Family helps in contributing our trips to France every year by allowing us to save tons of cash on groceries and basics.
Did you know that I was able to find CLEAR Vanilla extract at Walmart? No other grocery stores in my area sell it—and this is needed to make the Momofuku Birthday Cake! I hit gold. I also get my canned cherries for Bonaparte’s beloved Clafoutis at Walmart.
..and although it may be imitation vamilla, you can’t tell the difference once it is incorporated into the recipe!
Other staples in my pantry, such as rice paper, rice flour, and almond flour can be found at a far less price than at Wegmans.
Less than two bucks at Walmart. I make my spring rolls from this gluten-free rice paper.
Bonaparte LIVES for the white chocolate Magnum ice cream bars. Walmart has the lowest price I’ve ever seen.
Here’s a photo of the groceries and other items we bought at Walmart earlier today. The total bill came to less than $100.00. Had we purchased all this at any other grocery store, the bill would have been about $20.00 more.
I have no issues buying groceries at Walmart. The magic is up to the cook–not the store! These items would have cost a lot more at Wegman’s, Acme or any other local supermarket!
My drugstore cosmetics are a lot less expensive. Look at the Covergirl Outlast Lip Cover. It was $7.24 at Walmart. At other drugstores the price on this lip color can range between ten and twelve bucks. You’re welcome!
I’m a huge fan of the Covergirl Outlast lip color. It DOES stay on for a long time and Walmart not only has the best price, but has a great selection. Mascara and eyeliner are also great buys here as well!
OK–so the display isn’t the most pleasing, but the selection of hair accessories is astounding!
See the macaron on this t-shirt for little girls? It is absolutely adorbs. At a high end store it would be upwards of $25.00. You just know how pretentious those upscale mommies can be. They would kill to have their little girls in a shirt like this. Well guess what? The working class mommies can have their daughters dressed in a more French chic this year at school! Thank you Walmart!
If Walmart had this shirt when Oona was a child, it would have been hers. Oh lalala Walmart!
My adoration for low-end-high-end never ceases. And in order to carry the leather Longchamp bags that I adore so much, I’ll purchase smaller accessories at Walmart.
For example—those hoop earrings that I love so much. Why on earth would I spend hundreds of dollars on them when I can purchase an entire card of hoops for less than five bucks. Believe me. If anyone dares to come up close and personal to inspect my earrings, they are entering into my private space and I will get physical to make them exit my personal space. Nobody can get close enough to me to be able to tell these earrings are dirt cheap.
In addition, I am the queen of misplacing earrings. If I misplace an inexpensive pair–it is nothing to stress about. The necklaces to the left are perfect for vacations because you don’t have to worry about ruining “good” jewelry while swimming or touring!
I don’t care what kinds of people shop at Walmart and I don’t judge. Many Walmart shoppers cannot afford to shop at upscale stores or fancy name-brand supermarkets. So what’s wrong about the Walmart shoppers? Just because they look different doesn’t mean they aren’t nice people.
Personally, I think this older woman’s get up looks no different than those ensembles of the oftentimes “Advanced Style” site. Challenge me if you don’t believe me! And look how happy she is! What’s so bad about the socks and boots on the woman in the photo on the right? Don’t judge a book by her cover!
I actually feel safer in a Walmart store than in a mall. Why? You ask. Well, because if some nut comes in to bang, bang, shoot ’em up at random, I know that somewhere in another section of Walmart, is a guy or woman with a bigger weapon just waiting for their moment to become a hero! I rest my case!
I have never and I mean never come across a rude employee at my local Walmart. The Walmart in Norristown rocks!
I can find inspirational quotes at Walmart.
Now THIS is not only inspirational, but it is a very pragmatic quote!
During the holidays, Walmart has the best stuff! The embellishments for Christmas wrappings are ridiculously inexpensive. In addition, fancy stores are very stingy with their gift boxes. At Walmart, you can get a ton of boxes for next to nothing. What’s in the box is more important anyway!
Walmart is my Christmas wonderland….
…and I load up on the great and very real poinsettias that Walmart has available every Christmas season!
Although I won’t purchase shoes or bags at Walmart, I’ve purchased bathing suits, underwear and some seriously cute shift dresses!
Walmart has GREAT shapewear. Less expensive than SPANX and sucks the fat in!
Walmart has, hands down, the best back-to-school supplies selection and prices. I wish the kids were still in school just so that I could load up on loose-leaf paper, rulers, highlighters and scientific calculators!
I have no idea what these are, but they were in the school supply area, I almost bought one because I like the 88 cent price!
This electronic calculator is eight bucks at Walmart. It’s so …scientific!!!!!
While waiting on the line at the cashier, I can find exotic gourmandise snacks to go with some intellectual reading…
I don’t care HOW long I have to wait on the line as long as I get to munch on a bag of these while reading…..
…..this! Obviously the Walton family are not Hillary fans. I sure as shit hope they ain’t supporting Trump!
I am not a snob. Nor am I an elitist. I go where the bargains are. And they are here.
And even though I usually make sure I look nice when I go shopping at Walmart or any other store…
Whether it is Nordstrom or Walmart, I always like to look nice when I’m shopping. Pearls to look classic. A denim jacket to be on-trend. Neutral makeup…makes me feel good. But…
It warms my heart to know that I can go shopping at Walmart dressed like this and nobody will give me a second glance!
….if need be, I can leave the house like this and know that I can enter through the automatic glass doors of Walmart to get a tube of toothpaste and nobody will think I’m weird–I’ll fit right in! I love Walmart!
And speaking of school supplies, Walmart has the best back-to-school commercial. Whitesnake–can you believe it????????? I got chills! Chills!
It’s too bad I’m not a fan of bubble baths or I would have gone crazy. My ob/gyn said that bubble bath product can dry out your lady parts. Trust me my outer body is dry enough ….
….if need be, I can leave the house like this and know that I can enter through the automatic glass doors of Walmart to get a tube of toothpaste and nobody will think I’m weird–I’ll fit right in! I love Walmart!
