February 22nd:

“Betty, Oscar, and Petunia”

Yesterday there was no blog post. It’s true. On Day 53 of my quest to create 60 posts in 60 days, I dropped the ball and let it roll under the sofa.

My excuse? I’m sick again. No sooner did I get rid of my flu named, Paul, I got bitch-slapped by his cousin, Betty. I can hardly stand it! Betty is, so far, just a head-cold, but no less opportunistic than her fevering relative. She brought me to tears of frustration today as she nudged me off my high horse and made me admit –again— that I am mortal. That like it or not, stress, too little sleep, too little water, too high a bar, and too much CrossFit will, indeed, bring me to my knees like every other multi-tasking, red-blooded, oxygen-breathing female.

So, as I lay in bed listening to the neighbor’s dogs bark for hours, I threw myself a pity party and wandered around the dark, dangerous corners of my mind. There, nothing I’ve done is ever good enough and my usually-indomitable spirit is mocked as being grandiose and ungrounded. (Yeah, there are a some bad neighborhoods in my noggin.) I didn’t stay long.

I meandered over to thoughts about the Academy Awards coming up on Sunday and how I used to practice my acceptance speech in front of the bathroom mirror, so certain that I would need it one day. I wonder why I don’t practice that speech anymore.

I thought about the neighbor’s dogs who bark incessantly the second they’re let out of the house and don’t stop until they’re let back in. I would be apoplectic if my dog barked for 5 minutes! Yet this goes on for hours. When I complain, the owners go on the offensive and ask me if I think they should just keep their dogs inside all day. * Sigh* You can always tell how powerless people feel by how quickly they refuse to take responsibility for themselves.

And I thought about Marchez Vous’ extremely successful week at FN Platform in Las Vegas and how it already feels like just another box that needed to be ticked. When, in reality, great things are on poised to happen for the company.

All the while my cat, Petunia, kept up an annoying chorus of soft, whiny meows as she paced around the bedroom and under the bed, expressing her confusion and concern about my being in bed at noon, “Umm… Mother, what are you still doing under the covers?… Don’t you have a job?! Somewhere you need to be?!… Seriously, you’re freaking me out…. At least come downstairs…. Please come downstairs…. Good grief, woman, GET UP AND COME DOWNSTAIRS!!” Just my luck, I have the only cat in the world who doesn’t sleep 20 hours a day.

Despite not being able to rally today, I believe that happiness and optimism speed our recovery from whatever ails us; and tomorrow is all about a blissfully clean slate. So, perhaps I’ll start my day by summoning that indomitable spirit of mine – you know, the one that’s so “grandiose” and “ungrounded”— and practice my Oscar speech in front of the mirror once again.

February 19th:

“The Ladies’ Room”

It was a big day. I’m exhausted. My black eye not withstanding, I had a great time at my interview with the local Fox TV affiliate here in Vegas. They didn’t even ask me about my black eye. Maybe they didn’t dare. LOL! They were lovely.

The Marchez Vous booth at Platform looks gorgeous. Our new sales team is fabulous and lots of people came by to look at the Fall ’13 collection.

And, of course, the ladies’ room is where all the interesting conversations happen at events like this. Such as this one between two foot models:

Brunette model to a blonde model: (whispering) My feet hurt.

Blonde: (whispering back) Mine too!

Brunette: Did you get a callback for that Tampon shoot last week?

Blonde: No. You?

Brunette: No, but the casting guy was, like, totally hitting on me! So I thought….

Blonde: Ohmygod,  me too!! He was so gross! He was hitting on every girl there!

Brunette: Douche.

Blonde: Gross. See you at the cage tonight?

Brunette: Yeah, are you working, too?

Blonde: I’m always working!

Brunette: I hear ya!

True story.