THE JOOJ REPORT

today was a big day. not so much in things going on (in that respect it was quite low-key) but big in that i am now officially a small business owner. i registered miss pickles press with the VA state corporation commission today and officially became an LLC. wow. such an easy process for what seemed so intimidating only months ago. i am getting a steady stream of orders and feel a good momentum growing. i love it. have much still to do (including start actually profiting) but the train is on the tracks and it's headed for miss pickleville. all aboard.

LLC Love

i just LOVE this. so smart and crafty. i saw this online the other day on poppytalk (great website, btw...go) and immediately started searching for vintage trouser clamps on ebay. i like the notion that i can hang different pieces of art, sketches, notes, whatever from them without making something permanent feeling the way a frame would. and i can switch things out based off of what's inspiring me. i just think it's genius really.

coolest thing ever

so, checking my email this morning (as i normally do before work to see what god awful mess is ahead of me) i came across this LOVELY image, smack dab front and center on the yahoo landing page:

do not get that thing near me

i don't know what has come over me, but i have lost my mind lately for baskets. like, seagrass ones that you can store loads of crap in but they still look nice and organized. actually, now that i think about it, it's not just a basket thing. it's an organization thing. i have been on a rampage lately organizing things. crazy lady hormones? maybe.

oh, sweet basket glory.

my house has been driving me nuts because i feel like things aren't in the right place, ya know? maybe i've been reading too much real simple or domino, but lord have mercy. i just want a house that's beautiful and FUNCTIONAL. i want all of our stuff to be neat and clean and put away. and oh yeah, i want LESS stuff. i have been stopping by the goodwill truck almost weekly purging all sorts of stuff. i think i tossed about 10 pairs of shoes just last week. i am taking three others to consignment. and i still have...ohhh....40 pairs? i have a shoe issue as well. but that's another post. 

a goal of mine this year (which i am sort of continuing from last year) is to be absolutely ruthless when it comes to keeping stuff i don't really need or want. case in point: i received a christmas present from a relative that shall remain unnamed this year that i really have no desire to keep. usually, out of some sort of guilt, i would keep said object around about year, stashed in a closet somewhere (of course, only to discover it a year later). nope. not this year. straight to the goodwill truck it's going. happy trails, marginally tacky present!

ok. that was mean. but you see my point.

i'm off to clean the bathroom.

help. something is wrong with me.

my heart just aches for this girl. i know we hear news stories all the time about horrible things that happen to people, but this one really gets me. i mean, 24, out on a hike on new year's day with her dog in a state park. what a lovely afternoon. and now she's dead at the hands of some crazy wandering man. i can't imagine the grief her family is going through. what a waste. and for what?

first off, please note the time. it is 4:37 am and i have just awakended (or is it awoken?) from a terrifying dream so bad that i laid there in bed and couldn't stop thinking about it and was afraid if i went back to sleep the details would get hazy by morning and i'd lose the finer details. and these details are priceless. this was the WORST. WEDDING. DREAM. EVER. it was the day of the wedding. for starters, i was getting ready all by myself (fun!) and fluffing my hair in a mirror just outside the church sanctuary and applying really RED lipstick. my mom called my cellphone and asked if i was ready to come into the main area to start the wedding. (don't ask me why, but this wasn't weird.) well, i get into the sanctuary in a church that i do not recognize, although in the dream it was right on. it was dark and depressing. the church was old and looked really 70s. nevermind the fact that i am getting married outside in real life. i take my place on the first pew next to my mom and settle in for the beginning of the ceremony. i look to the left and the CEO of where i work that i pretty much butt heads with and don't really get along with is sitting next to my mom in a black tux. okay. i turn around to view the rest of the crowd and it's the sparsest, saddest crowd you have ever seen. people look scatterd, TIRED and like they just threw on whatever clothes happen to be lying around. i look over to find magoo and he is seated like 15 rows back on the groom's side next to his best man mark. okay, i think, so not that many people came to our wedding. disappointing, but not what's ultimately important, right? i look towards the pulpit and jim pitts is officiating, except he is mumbling and i can't make out a word he is saying. he's kind of laughing to himself too like he might be telling a story that only he knows. great. i sense that NOBODY can hear him. so i stand up and say "jim, i can't hear you! can you speak up?" and he talks louder, but then kind of disappears, but not before he asks if the best man or maid of honor have anything to say (HUH?). i look back at jaye and she just kind of nods her "no". suuuper. i look over at mark and he stands up, looks completely like a deer in headlights but starts to talk anyway. he is interrupted by some trashy woman and man seated behind me a few rows back. she says "yes. there is something I'D like to say. i was really offended that me and my boyfriend glenn weren't invited to this wedding here." i did not know this woman and assumed she knew richard's family somehow. she was ranting and raving about how she was upset. i stood up, feeling the need to shut her up and said "ma'am, i'm sorry you are offended, but this is my WEDDING DAY and i would not stand up at your wedding and make such a fuss. please show me the same courtesy." that seemed to do the trick. at that point, i look over to CEO, embarrassed and mortified, and say "who ARE these people?!" he shakes his disapproving head. about that time i look down and realize i still have tags on my dress. oh no! i don't have any scissors so i just rip them off, much to mom's chagrin. i look on stage and there is one violinist crouching behind the piano in some brown metal folding chair. where's the BAND i hired? and i had no idea what they were going to play, we just never discussed it. oh well. grandmother is seated next to her in a blue dress, apparently directing the music and just "keeping an eye on things". about that time, i look over in front of me (there were pews facing me) and beckie walks in about 30 minutes late. she is wearing a black and red lumberjack plaid dress with black hose and honey colored hiking boots that aren't laced up. i think to myself, that's odd. what a horrible outfit. and hey, thanks for being 30 mins late to my wedding! i look over to find dee who came with her – jim didn't make it, didn't feel like coming. okay. again, thanks family. about that time a man in work jeans complete with tool belt stands up in front of me and starts replacing a light bulb in the ceiling. i'm thinking to myself "can't this wait until after the ceremony?" until i realize that it's really dark and dim and hey, that lightbulb really helped brighten things up. i ask my mom if she had a copy of my vows (i think she was supposed to read them?) and she said no. i looked down and all my vows were on fortune cookie fortunes – except they were all crumpled and torn and i had to piece them together and just kind of hand them over in a tattered pile hoping she could make sense of them. then it hit me that these people (the violinist, etc) needed to be paid for being at the wedding and i had never made arrangements for payment. i didn't bring my checkbook to the wedding and sat there figuring out how i was going to pay them. to make matters worse, no one was really directing the wedding and i had no idea how i supposed to get from the front of the church to the back to walk down the aisle, although i had already been seen and had in fact stood up and told some trashy woman to shut her mouth. THANK GOD i woke up. NIGHTMARE wedding dream. i guess this is where they start, right? the everything's-gone-wrong-on-my-wedding-day dreams. this one was too rich with ridiculous, funny detail not to spring out of bed and write down for future enjoyment. going back to sleep. if i'm lucky maybe i'll dream about the reception.

Magoo oooh

i think this picture really sums it up. not the penis flute/pipe/bong/misc woodwind creation so much. but he's just such a damn good sport. like, with life in general.

lord have mercy. we had the best mexican vacation ever. spending a week on the riviera maya for birthday fun and just general goodness was truly delicious. the first couple of days we just lounged around playa del carmen to get the lay of the land. we walked around town, sampled around for the best pina coladas, did a little shopping (read: got harrassed by every street vendor in town) and had some great regional cuisine.

okay, i can be a tough bitch when it comes to certain things. bad customer service, being put on hold for 43 minutes by the cable company. however, i am somewhat ashamed to admit that i lack some serious coping skills when it comes to anything that crawls, creeps or scampers in the house. which brings me to last night. i was nestled on the sofa, watching telly and browsing on my laptop. warm, cozy, content. magoo was out at a meeting, so i had the place to myself.