Paul and I were in Southern California on a business/mostly pleasure trip for the past five days. We stayed on his brother’s sail boat in the Marina del Rey harbor and it was absolutely the most relaxing and wonderful respite from a busy, hectic blended family life.

Paul and I both love the ocean, marinas and sailing and on this vacation we got to experience all three. The whole time we were gone I couldn’t help but think, “This is how we do it! If we didn’t have this time alone, we would never survive.”

For the last year I have been developing a business based on a passion of mine, my love of the ocean. It is called SeaweedArt. I have designed printed greeting cards created from images of my pressed seaweed collages. I am selling the cards in 2 assorted packages of 6 designs each with matching printed envelopes.  I am donating 10% of the profits to charitable organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting the ocean and marine habitats.

SeaweedArt is a dream come true for me because I am doing what I love in a rewarding career fully utilizing my talents and skills. I am very proud of what I have accomplished in the last year. It wasn’t easy working full time, going to graduate school and raising five kids. It is so gratifying to finally realize my goals.

This was taken at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. A canal with gondolier rides. I hear there is also a hotel with an ocean. What’s next? The Grand Canyon?

Paul and I just got back from a business trip to  Las Vegas. It was our third  in the last two years. As always, I was in jaw dropping awe of the massive size of the Las Vegas convention center, which always seems to act as a metaphor for the over-the-top enormity of the town itself. I can only imagine the obstacles and objections early developers faced when pitching investors of their plan to build a town that at the time seemed inconceivable. Whoda thought? Read the rest of this entry »

Ian, our rock star tenant, aka Jonny Prynce, is moving. His band, Dirty Penny, broke up and he has decided to make a go of it, living the hard scrabble life, in another band in New York City. He left today. We will sorely miss him.

Ian has been a welcome addition to our family for the past 2 1/2 years, occupying the studio apartment at the back of our property, teaching Mark guitar lessons and occasionally joining us for dinner. He also works part time for us in our family business, as a draftsman. (Perhaps someday he will go back to UCLA and finish his mechanical engineering degree.) In addition, he supplements his income teaching guitar lessons and voice lessons. One of his students, James Durban (his real name and not sure of the spelling) has an amazing rock star voice. He does great impression of famous singers like Joe Cocker and Steven Tyler and we would often hear him singing and be blown away by how incredibly talented he is. James was here yesterday to say goodbye to Ian and told us he made the top 40 finalists on this year’s American Idol!!! Needless to say, we’ll all be tuning in to watch and root for our hometown rock star. I’ll keep you posted on both fronts: Ian’s new band and James’ status on American Idol.

Paul is away on business and just left me a text that he pulling out of the gate and on his way home. This is his third trip this month. Even though we stay in close contact, talking and texting several times a day, I still really miss him. Don’t get me wrong, we have a ball when he’s gone. We order take out and watch chick flick movies in bed. It is nice to have some separation every once in while, especially since we both work from home and are together a lot. Still, we’re pretty attached to each other and living proof of the old adage: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I barely have time to write these days because I am so busy  finishing up my master’s degree. I am 3/4 of the way through having just completed my 9th class. Choosing to go to grad school and majoring in Internet Marketing was the best decision I have ever made.   I am so grateful I have a loving and supportive husband and family and that I was able to do this. The best part of all of this is that Paul and I are both so excited about the business opportunities we share and have before us.

If ever there were a poster child for getting your groove back it would have to be me. Let me explain.

Many, many moons ago, in my pre-soccer mom kid days, I was a mega star in the sales and marketing world. Every where I worked I was always at the top of my game, the top seller, the biggest producer, an up and coming media star. I often managed to get my name in the news, I was interviewed on TV and on NPR, my clothing line was featured on national talk shows and I was even mentioned on Page 6 of the New York Post. And then something happened. I got into a funk. I lost my courage and my confidence. I forgot who I was.

It all started when my daughter Eva was born 14 years ago and  I quit my job to stay home with my children. At least that is what I said I wanted.  I’m sure my ex-husband will remember things differently, that I made the choice of my own free will. But that is not how I saw it. As a mother of  an infant and a toddler married to a work-a-holic husband with no family support nearby, I really didn’t see that I had any other option. I just couldn’t see myself working all day and then coming home to care for young children while my then husband worked 80 hour weeks. I was tired of fighting him for help and attention so I just gave in. And then five years later, just when Eva was starting kindergarten, we got divorced. As a means to reignite my former self, I started a small business which was a modest success, but it could have been so much more. It was a struggle working on it alone as a single mother of small children so once again, I took the Mommy track and settled for less than what I knew I could produce. I laid low. I licked my wounds. I lost my groove.

But not anymore. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul and I are on a business trip in Reno, NV, a town that bills itself as the biggest little town …or… the smallest big town. I can’t remember. Something like that. Unlike their sister city, Las Vegas, also a gambling town, Reno has a more comfy, Wild West feel to it. (Note the Italian restaurant named Romanza. Is that a cross between romance and Bonanza??) It is closer to our home so we drove the five hour trip  past snow covered mountains through Truckee and Tahoe. We are here for a conference in which both Paul and I were guest speakers. More on that later. First I have to tell you about the hotel. If I were searching for words to describe it, ” tasteful” would not be one of them. However, this place is a riot and we are having a ball.

The casino, with its  tall ceiling, flashing neon lights and  popping sounds of slot machines can best be described as  walking through a life size pinball machine. That was the image that came to my mind. The Oceano Restaurant, complete with hanging jelly fish chandeliers has to be experienced in order to be fully appreciated.  The hotel room itself, however,  conjures an entirely different image. There is  a large Jacuzzi tub (for two)  in the center of the room with mirrors on the ceiling, naturally, and get this… there is a double strand of rope lighting  surrounding the perimeter of the ceiling that when lit up in the evening resembles an airport landing strip. Who designs these places I want to know? The trip was very successful but I am anxious to go home. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I miss my children.

One of the many swimming pools at Bellagio.

After my wonderful four days with the girls touring colleges, shopping and sightseeing  in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, I headed home Tuesday night only to unpack and repack to head out to Las Vegas with Paul for a business conference. We stayed at the opulent, over-the- top hotel, Bellagio.

I had only been to Las Vegas once before, a year ago, which was also a work related trip. From a business perspective, the trips were both  huge successes. From a personal perspective, I have to say, Vegas is not my cup of tea. Or martini, or vodka tonic or whatever they drink in Sin City.

The town simply offends me on so many levels. I don’t know what bothers me the most, the manufactured ambiance, (fake oceans for instance), the cigar/cigarette smoke everywhere (Paul requested a non-smoking section in a restaurant and was informed there is no such thing.) the over-stimulating excess (re-touched posters of Cher) or the Frank Sinatra/Julio Iglesias/Celine Dion music blaring from the sound system.  Just in case you haven’t heard, Frank Sinatra was a member “the Rat Pack” and he and his buddies, Dean, Sammy and Joey, used to play a lot of gigs in Vegas. Lest we forget, his image and voice are everywhere. So are impersonators of Marilyn and Elvis. The best comparison I can make is to say  visiting this town is like sitting through a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show … on steroids.

But I was never a party girl. I like dressing up for maybe an hour and then my feet hurt from the high heels and I want to kick them off, put on some sweats, crawl into a club chair and read a book. OK, so I’m boring. I missed my kids. We are already planning our next college tour.