Archive for February, 2009

I’ve decided that I am going to design a giant sign to post at the entrance of my office. It will be not unlike the signs you see at amusement parks that enforce “You must be this tall to ride this ride”. Except mine will say “You must be this healthy to enter this office.”

I am calling this campaign “Don’t be a Hero”. Subtitle: “You have 10 sick days for a reason, how about we use some of ‘em, eh?”

I will come up with a suggested list of when to stay home. These will include but will not be limited to “If you sound like you have tuberculosis, get the hell out of here.” “Whooping cough doesn’t look good on me. So how about you GET OUT OF MY FACE.”, “You know what sucks? The flu. And also you. For having it. AND SPREADING IT AROUND THE OFFICE.”, or “Bury your face in a napkin all you like, I can hear your nasty mucus-y cough from here. IF I WERE YOUR BOSS I WOULD FIRE YOU. Reason for termination: public displays of foulness.”

Seriously though, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this idea is one of my best.

I booked a hair appointment. For today. At a new salon with a new stylist. I’m bored with my hair and just don’t know what to do with it.

So today, I am putting THIS:

in the hands of THIS:

(I totally stole this from your Facebook page, D.)

He’s prettier than me and can work a wig like no one’s business. Let’s see what he can do for my head, shall we?

In case you hadn’t seen on Facebook, Twitter or Flickr …

SO. MUCH. BETTER:

(* Credit due to Susanna and Josh.)

First of all, I owe a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated their time, money, an item, lent their support or showed up and had fun. We simply could not have done it without you!

From beginning to end, Dinkstock was absolutely amazing. Everyone was in a fantastic mood, the bands kept everyone going into the wee hours of the morning, I was still standing – in 4.5 heels may I add (ok barely) – after 13 hours, and we managed to raise MORE THAN DOUBLE of my goal for the evening.

Success? I’d say so. Not just monetarily speaking (which it most CERTAINLY was), but working with and being surrounded by such generous, caring people makes me feel so god damn lucky to be friends with the people I’m friends with and get to meet the people they’re friends with.

I’m sorry this entry took a few days to happen and it’s not exactly full of details (go to Dink’s blog to read her response.) I have been doing triple time the past week or so, with no end in sight (at least in the next few days). Dinkstock was weeks of prep and a long day of complete awesomeness, and in addition to that I took on some insanely awesome and insanely time consuming freelance work. In fact, I took Monday and Tuesday of this week off from my day job to put in 13-15 hour days for that project. I’m crazy, I know. But between that and Dinkstock, it’s all work I love, and work I’d like to be doing full time. Once it launches (projected March 1st launch), I’ll get some links up and let you all decide if it’s good enough to make a career out of ;)

I’m sitting here snacking on yogurt with blueberries and strawberries and am literally surrounded by packaged donations for tomorrow’s Dinkstock ‘09. Yup it’s tomorrow! Looking around, I feel very lucky to know such an amazing group of people who would go out of their way to donate such amazing stuff.

If you’re a follower of my blog, I’m sure you’ve at least stopped by Danielle’s blog, and some of you may already know that as of Wednesday she 100% officially does not have cancer.

She doesn’t have cancer.

Surely that sentence should be in bold type. OR AT LEAST ALL CAPS. With an obscene amount of exclamation points following it!!!! You would have thought I would have been on here blogging away and screaming about how fantastic this is. I mean, after a year of hell, it turns out one of my closest friends in the world doesn’t have cancer!

And what I’m about to say is probably going to confuse the hell out of you or make you think I’m a terrible person: I was not happy when I heard that news.

In fact, at first I didn’t know what to say. And then I was flooded with feelings of both complete sadness and absolute anger. I snapped back at my friends who said “AWESOME NEWS.” with “YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.”

I know, I’m horrible right?

Pretty much the only one who gets my viewpoint IS DANIELLE. I’m not saying I know what she’s going through, and I certainly haven’t suffered and agonized the past year as she has, but starting from the beginning, I’ve been with her for the last year of rushes to the ER, hospitals stays, organ removals. (Hell I sat in the ER and drank some of her barium because, if the rest of this entry hasn’t already told you, I’m weird like that.) I don’t know what it’s like, but I sure as hell know how exhausting and confusing and overwhelming that can be.

Here’s the deal and the reason behind such an insane comment like that: Cancer? Was an answer. Cancer has a checklist of what to do and how to fix it. Particularly the type of cancer (lymphoma) they were so certain she had. Cancer had a timeline and an end in sight. Cancer has treatments and, for this kind, success rates that are sky high.

Lupus, which Danielle was diagnosed with with she was 16, is a far trickier thing to deal with. Lupus? Quite frankly, is an asshole. There are different kinds of Lupus, it affects people in completely different ways and in the simplest way of describing it Lupus is one of a kind for people. No two people’s Lupus is alike. And for her, we’re not talking “Oh I have Lupus and sometimes my joints swell and I feel under the weather.” Danielle’s lupus, which they have determined to be the cause of all this mayhem for the past year, is angry and confusing and painful and life-altering. It is not an easily monitored, simple fix kind of Lupus. But, god, I wish it was.

Danielle is covered in hives. Constantly. She has fevers of 104. Regularly. Her platelets drop and she needs transfusions and complicated treatments. Monthly. She has been to the ER and admitted to the hospital in the past YEAR more times than most people will in their entire LIFE.

Do you know what her doctors have told her they can do for her hives and fevers is? Nothing. Do you know what the timeline for Lupus treatment is? INDEFINITE. Are there success rates? No. Are there mapped out treatments and checklists? No.

Now do you get it? I don’t WANT my friend to have cancer (that’s ridiculous), but I want her to be happy and healthy and I don’t want an illness to be a major part of her life INDEFINITELY.

Dinkstock was organized to help Danielle with her mounting hospital bills. Which she needs, now in this uncertain territory of how to treat this messed up disease, more than EVER.

If you are in the Quincy, MA area and can come – please stop by. The event is from 3 pm – 1 am (3 pm – 8 pm is ALL AGES so bring the fam!). It’s $10 to get in, there is a raffle and silent auction (raffle tickets are $1, buy 10 get 5 free!) (silent auction will be at 9:00 pm).

All the info you need is here: Dinkstock ‘09. If you have any questions, hit me up here (or all my contact info is on that page). If you do stop by, be sure to come say hello!

Let’s pay off some stupid medical debt and rock out, yes? Yes.

Love you Dink!

A while back I made a small investment. In a professional garment steamer.

“Why does someone need a garment steamer?” you may ask. “Why not just use an iron?”

WHY? Because some people don’t pay attention when they are ironing silk party dresses ON THEIR BIRTHDAY. Some people might be all wrapped up in birthday excitement and place a SCORCHING HOT IRON right on that silk paneled party dress.

Some people might be me. Just sayin’.

(Seriously? I am weeping. This was one of my favorite party dresses ever. Seen here in better – and drunker – days. Anyone know a good local person who can restore a silk panel on a dress?)

But the thing about a steamer is not only is it better (and safer) for my clothes, but (don’t be grossed out) I get more wear out of my clothes too. If I wear a shirt out on a Tuesday night only for a couple of hours, I can give it a quick steam, refresh it and wear it out on Saturday without having to full on wash it. Plus? It’s really fun.

Now after doing laundry, I find myself popping in a movie, steaming all of my clothes and hanging them all up neatly and ready to go in my closet instead of hanging them up all wrinkly. It’s mindless stress relieving work and a total time saver in the morning when I’m picking out clothes.

And on the clothes note? Don’t ever let me say I have nothing to wear EVER AGAIN. Mmmk?

My closet. On the left: dresses and blazers. On the right: blouses, skirts and pants.

My two dressers containing underwear, socks, workout clothes, non-wrinkle cotton shirts, sweaters, t-shirts and denim. All packed in.

Oh and feel free to slap me if I say I need another pair of shoes.

Looks like someone tidied her room last night.

Ok that is all. That and save your closet, get a garment steamer.