What a Wirlwind!

Well, I have just returned to the office after spending the morning at the beautiful Tropical Mist Day Spa being interviewed for the Awhatukee Foothills news. I was joined by Jessica, the co-owner of Three Purple Pigs, Michelle, with Precious Wee Piggies, and of course Gloria of Maternity Keepsakes and Save My Tush. I can't even begin to describe how inspirational it was to meet and be surrounded by these mothers-- entrepreneurs, really-- who have created successful businesses AND are raising amazing families. I am SOO not even in the same league as them! After spending some time with them, and listening to parts of their interviews, I feel like I am suddenly a part of an incredible support system. We all have an artistic longing to create something, and to share it with other women (and their munchkins, too). I am feeling thouroughly encouraged to jump in and start my own business!

Thank you so much, Gloria, for believing in my artictic abilities sight unseen and encouraging me to follow my dream. Slowly, but surely, things are coming together; opportunities are being placed in front of me, and I know that I am on the right path.

Next on the calendar... a Women's Expo, a Children's Fair at the end of the month, my OTHER business venture, Gauche Alchemy {to be explained in detail soon, I promise}, a website (what do we think about MonkeyMine as a business name????? Or MonkeyMine studios?), a logo, business cards and a couple TV spots. Oh yeah, and there are several art projects in the pipeline, too. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas as to how to get more hours in a day?? I'm not sure how to fit this all in. Oh yeah, I've gotta quit my day job. (: Good luck with that, right? If anyone has any fantastic part-time opportunities, let me know!

My computer knows that I'm fat

I mean, it's not all that hard to see, even if you're an extremely near-sighted mole looking at my figure from the 50-yard line in a snow storm. I live with my abundance of flesh on a daily basis, and with the exception of the occasional "fat pants" day, I can honestly say that my self esteem is firmly intact. But, my computer has decided that just being fat isn't enough; it has decided to remind me with every web page I open. A birage of ads with the latest miracle diet regime or pill pop up at me from all sides. The left sidebar challenges me to "lose my belly fat", and attempts to disgust me by showing me a BEFORE picture of a woman's midsection that I could only dream of having. Is it wrong that I find the "before" picture much more appealing than the rock-hard, bronzed "after" picture? Just the fact that I would have to work hard just to achieve the hideous "before" pic says something, right? What, I'm not sure...maybe that Americans need to relax, perhaps take a moment to squeeze some soft, round tushy and see how much more lovely it is than the super firm abs we're supposedly meant to have.