Fabulous Wines, Travel Consultants & Hermes Bags

Hello My Lovely's!

Yes, here I am once again, after way too many weeks absent. Although, I notice I'm not the only one. :-) I think about you both so often and miss you terribly, especially when something happens, one of those inside jokes that only the three of us would get. Heavy sigh... June cannot get here fast enough! The great thing is that after the first of the year, it's all downhill from there! But, you know how I am, it want be real until I have those tickets in my hands!

Candygirl... Bless your little sweet heart! I know exactly who you were talking about, when you mentioned CZ, and I can only imagine enduring an evening with that set. I agree, you need to redo your contract and be super specific about what you will and won't do, otherwise people just take advantage of your good nature. It's really hard to be in business for yourself. You want to go that extra mile and give good customer service, but you really do have to draw a line, or people just walk all over you. It's sounds like you need a break, some time away from the job. Even if it's just a long weekend at home enjoying some down time and a Sex and City marathon. Hopefully over the holidays you can enjoy some time with the family and re-energize yourself a little... I sure hope so!

Gypsy... How goes the attempts to be Cajun free??? I'm thinking, by looking at your choice of music lately, that someone is a little twitterpated. :-) Sounds like things at the Inn are going well, I'm so glad you've found something you enjoy doing and I know you're awesome at it! Loved the pic you sent me with the new coral lipstick, absolutely fabulous! So, what's on your horizon for the holiday, will you have some time off? I hope so, it's always nice to get a few days just to relax and do nothing. I was thinking about you the other day, while looking at pictures, are still doing your photography? I hope so, you really have such a beautiful eye.

Life at the C's is hectic as usual, like we all seem to be lately, but things are good. We got to spend some time with the Kiddo's recently, had a really nice family dinner. I went all out and made a special Italian meal. Osso Buco with Baked Mushroom Risotto, and for dessert, Mascarpone Mousse with Balsamic Strawberries and a delicious Italian red wine with dinner, and Port with dessert. It was delicious! I'm back into trying a different new wine once a month, I've forgotten how much fun that can be. We've gotten into the same old routines and nice to break out a little and do something different. Hence the Italian fare, I'm also trying to cook some new things and advance my culinary skills, trust me, they need it! I don't know about you guys, but I find myself making the same thing every week and gets boring. So, send me some recipes of different things you've tried! Did I tell you I've recently applied for job as a Travel Consultant? Had to go through all these interviews and testing, but passed everything. They want to hire me, but because we have the trip planned in June they want to wait until after we return so that it doesn't interfere with the training so, another vocation. I think I would really enjoy working in the travel industry, plus the perks are really good! I'll keep you posted. Can I just say, I really want and Hermes bag, but how ridiculous is it that they cost anywhere from $6,000 t0 $66,000! Good grief, that's a house! Can you say, knockoff??? I really like the look of them, but even if I had $6,000 to blow on a handbag, there is just no way! It's crazy that just because something has a designer name it costs a fortune! I think you can be just as fabulous shopping at Thrift Town! I've found some amazing things there! Wish they had one here! I definitely will be making a visit when we come home. All of our Kiddo's are doing good... B&S are settling into married life and seem really happy. They just got a miniature long haired Chihuahua named GiGi, she came to dinner too. She's so adorable, I wanted to put her in my pocket and keep her. :-) A&C are good, just talked to them, staying busy and looking forward to a break over the holiday. They're planning their trip here for next October. It will so nice to have all our Kiddos on the same continent at one time! B&JL are doing good, still no closer to a proposal yet. B just got a new job working for a mine up north, he'll be doing scaffolding, the pay is really good, but worry about him. Seems like both of our Boy's enjoy the dangerous work. :-( Whatcha gonna do? When they get old enough to make their own choices, you just have to step aside and pray a lot! Well, my Girlies, that's pretty much the jest of life down under at the moment. I sure hope these next 5 months fly by, can't wait to see you both and all of the Family. Give everybody our love and know that my thoughts and prayers are always with each of you.

Love you so much!

TOWFL

"What in the heck am I doing here? " A question I am asking myself alot lately.

Hello my girlies! I am finally back! Wow! Has it been so long? Where is time going?
And as I mentioned in the title - " What the heck am I doing here?" This is a question I have been asking myself so much lately concerning my business. Do you both ever feel like you are working and working and working without alot to show for it and in the process of it all you miss out on the everyday things like sunrises and sunsets ( Most days I am out before one and still in after the other ) and just being able to sit and do nothing and think about nothing and just enjoy a cup of coffee from start to finish without it going cold over and over? I am so sure you both can relate at one time or another. This has been fun at times, rewarding at times, and a huge blessing at times, but it is just soooo hard. I think that I am just not up to the demands of it sometimes. Such as this past weekend.......
O.K...Blondie, you so know the person who hired me for this job....think about the initials...CZ....library...intimidation....rudeness....not one of our favorites...to put it in other words...we would have rather plowed the south 40 that gotten this icy uppity stare...LOL....but, as what happens with most people like this that used to intimidate us, they mellow with age and actually turn out to be pretty nice in the older years...LOL...She actually hugged me! Imagine that?
It was her daughter's second marriage and supposed to be a "small quiet affair at a condo in Perdido Key...about 40 guests at the most....Wellllll....that turned to 55 three days before and actually turned into 80 - 100!!!It was just Ringo and I and we ran our butts off!...and then I was asked to pour wine from the bar the night before which left Ringo dealing with the buffet alone....Help!!!!! It was a beautiful lounge overlooking the gulf that had a baby grand piano and a bar and was decorated amazingly! The wedding took place one floor down in an atrium that you could look down on from the lounge, so the guests could hear everything we said and likewise...LOL...well, during the wedding I dropped a glass lid to a chafer on the marble floor and it shattered to a million pieces just moments before the wedding was over! I scrambled to find a broom and we got it cleaned up just in the nick of time..I am so sure that they heard my Margaret yip in the middle of the vows LOL...the wedding was supposed to begin at two and end about 2:30 - 3:00...it was over @ 2:15!!!! And people were literally scrambling to get up the elevator to get to the beer ( which at this fancy little affair, they drug up in ice chests and was in cans rather than bottles LOL and wine! I didn't even have time to apply fresh lipstick or get pictures of anything! LOL Well, all of these snooty girls and guys started coming up the the bar and asking for wine that I couldn't even pronounce...LOL...Pino what? Chardo Who? The only ones I was familiar with was moscato, merlot, and there was amazingly a bottle of arbour mist thrown in the mishmosh of what they had purchased...LOL LOL..( That actually went home to live with me in exchange for all of the BS indured at the bar, such as a very drunk 65 or so year old man that kept asking if I worked there and winking at me..LOL....And then you had your older socialites, many of whom we remember well that came in the library way back when ( you would have remembered them all Blondie) coming up and asking do you have asdfghj&^%$#@ wine? LOL...so, they simply settled with "no mam, I have melot, moscato, california white, chardonay, sweet red." And of course I got a drawn out Bay Minette-style "oooooooohhhhhh." Well, give me merlot, I suppose." Geez!!!!! I didn't buy this cheap selection! LOL To make it worse, I cannot uncork a bottle to save my life! I always wind up with my cork stuck down in the bottle and cork shavings in the wine when I finally get it out, so I had to keep running to the kitchen to get my Ringo to uncork for me...Needless to say, he was really crabby for having to deal with replenishing the buffet alone and didn't much like stopping to uncork for me...LOL.
So, I believe I need using a corkscrew lessons as well as a crash course in wine...LOL The funny thing is, most of the people from the past that used to intimidate me so just mildly irritated me and I realized that they were no better than anyone else and even though they would like people to think they are all social and well versed, many of them butchered these wine names worse than me and I just wanted to crack up laughing every time I had one of them ask for Pinot Noir and pronounced it something like " Penis Eleanor" or Muscato like " Moosekatoe" and may as well have said mousekateer..LOL...LOL. It was definitely an evening I will never forget! There was not a bit of food left over and just enough to pack up a picnic basket for the bride and groom...We finished cleaning, took out 12 large bags of trash, most of which were empty beer cans..lol..and left them all watching the LSU game on the big screen TV that rose up out of the wall.they were fascinated with that little gadget and kept letting it up and down..LOL..I almost dropped a wine glass when one of them yelled a " Who DAT???" ...who in the world watches a football game during a wedding reception???!!! ( They also were given 10 cases of beer for a wedding present that the Bride's mother was scandalized over that someone put on top of the Baby Grand Piano and she ran frantically to me and asked for something large enough to cover it up with.
All I had was a white silk tablecloth...She covered it nicely with that stomping and fuming the whole time. LOL As with my earlier experience with the Certain Country Club in the woods of our hometown, LOL...You just can't take the redneck out of some people. There are two types...good old country redneck, and uppity redneck...I call them the " red carpet rednecks " LOL LOL LOL
...... And then, I got back up at 4 yesterday morning and had a huge stacked cake and a 1/2 sheet birthday cake due out by 10, as well as cleaning up and putting away from the night before....when I finally got home yesterday, I fell into bed and mindlessly watched episodes of Sex In The City and slept all afternoon. Ringo told me that we both seem to be walking around like Zombies lately with our arms stuck out in front of us- me saying make more cakes...need more icing...him saying more green beans, more potatoes, more meat...LOL...LOL...He is working 12 - 14 hours a day, six days a week on " Salary" that breaks down to be way less than minimum wage per hour and it's really taking it's toll on him. I am worried about how hard he is working and still trying to help me in our business. Maybe it will get better soon. Probably not. Catering is just hard. And it's one of the most
underestimated, thankless, taken for granted jobs that there are. People truly don't realize what is involved and most of the time try to cheap you down on the menu, not realizing that it's not really about the cost of the food, it's the service and work involved. Most of the time you wind up doing many things that your weren't paid to do just to make sure everything goes off smoothly. People just take for granted that they can magically show up and everything will be done, some of which they were supposed to take care of and didn't and of course you don't get paid for it, nor do you get paid for the extra 50 people that showed up that you magically had enough food for. ( I am so revising my contract this week!!! ) And then there are those who are three feet from a garbage can but leave a table full of food, plates, cups, napkins and beer cans and wine glasses and hold up their hand from across the room and expect you to come clear it away for them and when you do, ask you to bring them more beer...and in your head you are having an Ally McBeal moment and telling them, " I am not an FN waitress buddy! Get it yourself! " and biting your tongue, you say, " Sir, the ice chests are by the bar. It is self-serve so you may choose which type you would like. " They glare at you and get up and get it themselves mumbling!
And another question....who in the hell came up with monogrammed beer koozies?!!!!!
Totally redneck!!!!! I wish weddings would just go back to sweet, gentle afternoon affairs with punch, cake, nuts and mints and be classy and elegant and not a drunken episode of Roseanne meets Dynasty! LOL
Geez!!!!! I think I just climbed up on my soapbox again! LOL...I will step down now and go grab another cup of coffee and get a shower and get ready to go in and make 100 red velvet cake balls and wish you both a happy Monday. I so wish you both could be at the shop with me today to drink coffee and discuss these things...LOL...It would be so much fun! And I think it would so totally make me feel better to have both your perspectives and empathy on how to deal with these catering jobs that kick my fanny!
I love you both so much! Thank you for reading my rant! Please type a rant of your own and I will read it with gladness. :)
Candy Girl ( Who is thinking of changing her name )

hearts, stars, love & light

Darlings,

Hope this finds everyone doing wonderfully well. I am busy and have nothing to complain
about really ('cept I miss my baby) but will see him soon.
The weather has turned chilly, but I am looking forward to my winter.
I have also started a brutal D.I.E.T. ! There I said that nasty word....
No sugar, no wheat... AND EXERCISE! I MEAN IT... That means no LIGHT AND CAKE SCRAPS
candy girl :( that's the hardest thing of all. I feel mentally ready for the endeavor.
So if I can have a good few weeks, I will be happy. Not a lot going on otherwise.
The Hotel is going well and is proving challenging in the best possible way. My
biggest thing now is looking forward to New York. We will see what that brings.
Other than that, I have been reading a lot, and enjoying that immensely.
So not much to report here, just missing my girls and wanting to send my love and let
you guys know I am thinking about you. Love and hugs to all the family.

hearts and stars, love and light

Gypsy

Roller Coasters, The "One Life to Live of Cupcakes" & Humble Apologies

Well, My Dearest Darlings, here I am, finally! I'm so sorry for the long absence, sometimes there's just not enough hours in the day. If there is, I sure haven't been able to find them lately. Gypsy mention "the roller coaster" in her last post, yep, that pretty much sums up life for all of us.

I went back and re-read your posts, Candy Girl, look at you "One Life to Live Cupcakes!" I reckon that's some pretty serious compliments! :-) I can totally get the "cupcake craze" there something a bit whimsical & different, I people love that! By the way, I haven't forgot about "Hello Kitty's!" It was good to hear that you, Ringo and the Girl's are all doing well. I've been thinking about Jess, I remember loosing my first patient I had a really similar experience with some cold head Nurse telling me I "better toughen up and learn to detach my feelings." I told her that when that happened, I'd leave Nursing. It's a hard job for someone who genuinely cares about people and has a giving, soft heart, but it's the kind of job that can't be done well without those two vital qualities. So, you tell Jess to never lose that caring, loving spirit! You've been super busy, haven't you??? I reckon that a good & bad thing, good for business, bad for your chances to rest and regroup! I'm glad you're still finding some time for yourself, even if it's just little things, that's so important... And hey, bad Saturday is a necessity! ;-)

Gypsy, I'm glad to hear that things are looking up for you. Sorry to hear that meeting the Representative, or whatever he is, didn't go like you hoped. Why exactly was it "uncomfortable?" I think I need more details on that one. I was really glad to hear your Baby is coming home. I know you miss him so much! I know I miss mine! When exactly do you leave for NY? I know you'll be glad to get your Documentary going. Can't wait to see the finished product. Thanks for staying after me to get back to the blog, I've been away far too long and appreciate the, not so gentle, nudge. ;-)

So, what's been happening "Down Under?" Well, CC finally finished the big job he's been working on for the last 2 months this week! YAY! I've really not enjoyed being here on my own. Life for us is getting back to normal slowly. The Jewelery business is going really well and growing in leaps & bounds! Here's hoping it continues! It's really great, we're dealing with quite a lot of International business, which is pretty cool. Right now, we're just working to keep it manageable. Working hard on our plan to come home this Summer for a visit. We'll work our visit in with A & N's wedding. We've started looking at flights, everything is so expensive! I think we're going to go through New Zealand this time and spend some time with CC family. I'm really excited about this, I've always wanted to visit there and getting to know the family better will be really nice. It's hard to believe it's only 6 months away! Where does the time go??? I still haven't figured that one out. :-/ I'm thinking about applying for a job at the local Library. They have an opening for an Assistant, which doesn't come open that often. It would be a nice job to help out until we make the move back home. I'll keep you posted. Well, my loves, that's the jest of life in Oz. I promise I'll try very hard to never go this long without writing again. Hope this finds you both, and the Families, all doing well. I sure do love and miss you very much!

Talk to you soon!

TOWFL

Confusional flubberings from a Gypsy Gal

Dearest Darlings,

Well we have been remiss in our blogging. Seems as though life is a rollercoaster sometimes and the best you can do is just hang on for dear life. There is so much to tell I dont know where to start. I am grateful for my job and the opportunity to bring this BEAUTIFUL historic Inn back to glory, and that is fun and challenging. Blondie, you dont know a lot of man details like Candygirl does, but BELIEVE me it has been a has been a rough road too. Not really worrying about much now though, just learning the lesson of taking one day at a time and trying to make something good happen. Baby Boy seems to be doing well and coming back home for a couple of days.
Went to the Gulf with the Lobbyist and that was just WEIRD... now there is the NYC Jew DOCTOR...
but que sera sera and shit... Know what I am sayin'?

Gettin ready to go to NYC soon start on my Documentary, and getting to interview my new favorite band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops. They won the 2011 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. They are really incredible look them up on youtube and be sure to listen to a tune called "Knockin"

I have found the perfect red dress that is 4 sizes smaller than my bodacious booty - HOWEVER I have 3 months and the encouragement of Scott, mY gay SOULMATE....LOL..!! Boy oh boy! I am truly the Gypsy of the bunch I guess.

So how are things with my girls? Blondie you have been so way very silent.... s'up wid DAT?

OH BTW, I get a special delivery package and its a beautiful diamond solitaire from Kirby...he said he bought it for me an could never sell it... I said "I CAN".. LOL... but REALLY I think I will have it turned into a necklace or something...

So we are redoing the Carriage house at the Inn and I have a busy week ahead of me. I am way very grateful and finding my way. Miss my girls though cuz people are gettin on my last damn nerve and stuff...

Love you both soooooooooooooooooooo much!!

Gypsy!!

Cupcakes and such...

Hello girlies! I hope this finds you both doing well and enjoying this beautiful Sunday. I have missed you both so very much here! PLEASE post soon!!! Here, after having slept for 12 hours ( LOL Bad day yesterday followed by Bad Saturday ) I am up having my first cup of coffee and trying to decide if I want to stay home and be lazy today or go hunting for pumpkins and corn stalks to decorate the front porch...Hmmmmm....we will see if I can move a little faster in a little while what the day will hold. This morning I feel like I have been steamrolled! Ugh!
I have to rouse MB up soon...I promised that we would make waffles this morning. Do you both remember the story of closet family? LOL I recently on a whim bought a waffle iron as an ode to "Closet Mama". We have had a good time making waffles and remembering the antics of closet family...LOL...Today's will be left over batter from a caramel apple cake topped with apple pie filling...sound good? I hope so. Yesterday, I made the batter for a dozen cupcakes for the sweetest young man. Last year, I made his and his wife's cupcake tower and groom's cake for their wedding. It is their first anniversary and he wanted to give her pearl stud earrings. He called to ask if I could decorate the other cupcakes with pearls like last year and put the earrings in a cupcake in the center of the group for her to find. I just hope she didn't swallow them!!! It was so sweet and romantic! He said she had wanted the pearls for a long time and he wanted to surprise her with her favorite cupcake. He promised me he wouldn't let her swallow them! LOL I love sweet stories.I hope they celebrate many more sweet anniversaries...Another sweet story is that I did another cupcake tower last weekend for a wedding and the bride told me her Grandmother came up to her during the reception and pointed at it and said, " Carla, that looks like something off of One Life To Live! How glamorous! " LOL...That definitely gave me a chuckle for the day. She said her granny was totally amazed that you could get by with cupcakes for a wedding! LOL Cupcakes seem to be the rave lately...I had had girls from the courthouse come crashing through the door this week like Kramer frantic for them and the looks on their face when they saw pumpkin muffins and caramel apple muffins in the case instead of cupcakes were priceless! Like sheer horror! I was out of containers!!! LOL Last week I did about 200...this week starts off with a bang on Tuesday with 60....Geez! Who would have thought cupcakes would be so sought after?
My Jess came home last weekend to celebrate her birthday. I made her a "Starry Night Cake" and didn't get a picture of it! Van Gough would probably have a duck if he could see his masterpiece copied onto cake..LOL..It was definitely interesting to say the least. We had such a good time together. MB ran her ragged with games and concerts and such, but she was so glad to get to see her little sister play. On Sunday, we went homecoming dress shopping for MB and went to R&R's on the Causeway for lunch! I just love their fried pickles!!!
Dress shopping with MB was tiring to say the least! She finally decided on a knee length one shoulder strap dress that was a champagne color and put purple heels and
jewelry with it. She was beautiful and so grown up looking! Like " off of One Life To Live!" LOL Her boyfriend bought a purple tie to match...LOL...He was so proud to give her a wrist band of roses with purple ribbon..He said, " Mama had to do some fancy footwork to get this baby, Miss K." It was so sweet! When they were leaving for the dance, Dana looked at him and did the Guido thing like " I'm watching you, man." He had her home exactly to the minute on time...LOL. Verdict is still out on the boyfriend, but to his credit, he is trying...let's see, MB and Jess told him he needed to prove to us he wasn't a "neanderthal with no shut up filter"...LOL...So, he is really trying to be good while he is around us...Most boys pretend to be mannerly and good during parent visits and they never get to see the neanderthal come out..LOL...I guess we got to see the neanderthal first and manners second...LOL...but, as with all teenage romances, I am not sure how long it will last, especially since MB keeps mentioning a certain little red haired boy who grew 3 inches over the summer and whose voice had changed from soprano to baritone...lol...Hmmmm....Me and his Mama are getting out goats ready...LOL.
Jess has had a tough week at work and had to call and talk it through. Her first patient passed away this week. He was a CF patient that had been coming to the hospital since he was 6 and turned 18 a few weeks ago. They moved him to the adult hospital and he only lasted six months there. She was so upset. She had gotten to know him really well. Alot of the nurses went to the funeral. She said her charge nurse told her she was too emotional and attached and she needed to stop reacting in that way. Something seems so wrong with that comment. I am sure in time she will come to terms with grief over losing a patient, but come on! This young man was her first patient when she started the job and was her patient many times after and they had formed a friendship. A little different from a normal shift where you care for someone and may never see them again. Some of these kids are in constantly and they do form a bond with them. I am so proud of my daughter that she has a heart for these kids and cries when they cry. I know that she is truly doing what God wants her to do with her life.
Well, I guess I should go now and go get MB out of bed...She had a band competition yesterday and came home late, but the scored 1's, and she was totally happy! So proud of my baby!
I love you both and wish you could be here for breakfast with us!
Have a wonderful day!

Candygirl

Hi Girlies! Don't you just love this picture? Simply -------WE NEED TO GET TOGETHER FOR A GOOD OLD VISIT! I love you both and so wish we could all get together over a pot of tea.

Soon?

Love you,
Candygirl