Ah-Mazing Weekend!

Wow, time flies. Yes, I am still her LOVING Oklahoma! Even after a few hurdles, working on opening the business, and all in all enjoying life. But I must tell you about my most recent adventure.

Last weekend my husband and I went down to Dallas for a romantic, relaxing art and city filled weekend. Yes, living out in the country, every once and a while we feel the need to get out city fix.

Well, anyway, earlier, my husband found a great deal at The Fairmount in Dallas for an Art package. The Fairmount being in the heart of the Dallas Arts District. The package included a suite! A tour of the hotels gallery with their curator, and an art lesson with their artist in residence.

Ok, so we get to the Fairmont. A beautiful hotel, and since I work under neon lights all day after we put our bags down in our suite, we headed to the pool. Like any weekend, the Fairmont was hosting a rather large wedding, and they were all at the pool. I got the skinny on this wedding from one of the wedding attendants at the pool, the Flower Man, yes, it was a BIG family. And when I commented that my husband and I could never have afforded such a big wedding at such a place he looked at me like I was from another planet.

After the pool, we set out to meet the artists in residence MK Semos and Hugo Garcia-Urrutia, an awesome husband and wife couple who do amazing mixed media of photography on reclaimed objects like window shields and wood. (We especially liked the one done on reclaimed gym floor.) We also got to some other great works from their gallery in New York, www.decorazongallery.com We had a great time talking, drinking wine and beer and making art. They were such a great couple, I swear we would be friends with them anywhere. Well, we drank wine while my husband had a beer, how cool is that the hotel sommelier brought my husband a beer because he doesn't drink wine. I think that is very accomodating and great

customer service. And MK and Hugo were such a great couple, I swear we would be friends with them anywhere. After that we chatted with curator of the Ross Akard Gallery at the hotel, Bryan Embry. Another great person who really knows his art and, yes, we would also and did also have a beer with him in MK and Hugo's studio.

I highly recommend that if you are ever in or near downtown Dallas you head to the Fairmont and check out the Ross Akard Gallery and inquire about the current artist in residence. It is worth the trip.

After our art it was time for dinner. Included in our package was a 5 course tasting dinner with wine and beer pairings from the hotels chef and sommelier. It was the best meal we have ever had! 1st course was a roasted potato and watercress soup with morel mushrooms, followed by grilled melon with mint, frisee lettuce and watercress. Next, tuna with ponzu sauce in a beet "sphere", with the main course being a heavenly thai curried duck breast with peanuts and green curry sauce. For dessert, coconut milk panna cotta with cardamom cherries. As each course and served and wine and beer poured the chef, Andre Natera and sommelier Hunter Hammett came out to explain each one. We really felt special and like we were on "Iron Chef" (Chef Natera wond).

I would love to say that my husband and I are late night party animals and stayed up until the wee hours crashing the wedding reception but we didn't. We were stuffed and full of booze so we went up to our suite and watched The History Channel in bed.

Even still, it was a wonderful weekend filled with wonderful talented people and food. I would defiantly do it again.

Settling in

When moving to a great town it can take awhile to settle in, one of the hardest parts about moving to a new town and settling is finding those services and service providers that you trusted in your last town. Like hair stylists. Yesterday, I did just that. It was time, I was due.

Before I left Las Vegas I asked my trusted and beloved Belle to put more brown highlights in my hair because I didn't know when I would be able to find a new stylist and I didn't want a bunch of blond with dark roots. Unfortunately, my brunette color of choice is much lighter than my natural hair color so it was time to find a stylist. Like most women, finding a stylist for me is as important as finding a lady doctor. You have to like them and their technique. You have to like the facility they practice in and feel comfortable.

So after some driving around, I thought I had found a place. It was across from where I have my business mailbox and their Facebook page looked pretty good so I called to make an appointment. I have to admit, I should have listened to my gut as they seemed confused as to what I wanted. Highlight, color..... How confusing???

Anyway, I went, the environment was stale and a bit unfriendly, just a few rows of chairs facing the work stations. There was one older gal working in the corner and when I walked in another stylist who looked (maybe just acted) like she was 12 said "Can I help you" I gave her my name and said I was here for my 12 o'clock. I honestly can't remember if she said anything else, she just went on working on her client and smacking her gum. The gal she was working on was busy cattily gossiping to the gal next to her like they were high school mean girls. It really just gave the place a bad energy. After a few more clues and my gut yelling at me to get out, I left.

I remembered there was a place downtown that looked promising so I went. I had my kindle so I was prepared to wait, since I was a walk in. I did just that, I walked in, the gal up front was doing nails but very friendly asked me how she could help and I simply motioned to my head my need for root touch up. Turns out, there was a new girl there who could take me right away. And I have to tell you, I LOVE MY HAIR!!! She did a great job! It is the perfect color golden blonde and looks terrific. We had great conversation and the energy in the salon was positive and professional. I will definitely be going back again. And since this girl is new (New to the salon, no new to hair.) I will happily give her name to anyone who needs a good hair stylist. Her name is Marcy and she is at Le French Quarter Salon in Downtown Ardmore. So go see her. Just remember, they only take cash.

So now I'm happy, I have a great stylist, I'm settling in to my new town and I am also learning to trust my gut. Because when you do anything, that is the voice you need to listen to the most.

Getting Scary Now

Ok, this is the scary part of starting a business, having to ask for money. I am at that point now. It is very exciting, that this is where I am at. But the other day I had a meeting at the SBA about going to the bank to ask for a loan and it was kind of a "Come to Jesus" about how hard it can be to get a loan and that the banks will ask for everything, including your first born. Now normally that wouldn't scare me, but I'm not exactly financially well off. My credit score is better than what it was (I was laid off 3 years ago and got by on credit cards and spent the time after that recovering) I also bought a house right before the worst recession in history (hence the lay off) in one of the hardest hit areas in the country. So its not like there is a lot of money there. Other than personal debt that still outweighs my net worth, all I have is a good idea and a promise to pay it off.

Oh and if you are asking about grants, there aren't any, I checked. And the fact that I am a woman owned business doesn't really help that much either.

Oh well, time to lay my financial self on the table and see what happens. Personally, I am proud of my finances, they show that I actually have come a long way and if I were a bank, I would give me money.

Getting Excited!

So here we go. While at Wal-Mart today, on impulse my husband suggested I get that fancy new printer I have been needing/wanting for my business. So we got it. I do need a printer after all. OK, office equipment aside, things are moving along on the business front. I have some vendors in place and a pretty good draft of my business plan going along with some other fun money type spreadsheets for bankers to look at so they can give me money to start this thing.

Now my only really question is. What came first? The chicken or the egg? Should I get my business license and incorporate first or get the loan first? I think I should incorporate first so the bank knows I'm serious. Plus, they aren't going to give me a loan, they are going to give my company a loan. So I'm going to have to have a company they can give a loan to. Then we are off! Well, we pretty much better be off once I get incorporated. But once I get the loan, I can get my website up, get a phone line, and get inventory and start advertising.

But you know what's really funny, what I am looking forward to most at the moment? Buying funky pretty office supplies. Not boring ones, but pink ones and sparkly ones. You know why? Because I'm the boss! Yes, I will be the boss! Like Mark Zuckerburg has on his business cards, "I'm CEO...Bitch!" Yea, OK, that is the exciting part. I will be the boss, I will be the only one I have to answer to and yea, I'm CEO Bitch!.

OK, enough of the power trip. But it is very exciting none the less.

Culinary Adventures - 2 - Two fabulous places to check out

Ok, here are two great places I must report on that I have found during my exploration of my new town.

The first is "Burgers and Fries" A little drive up burger place walking distance from my house. They have much more than burgers and fries though, the whole front side of their building is their menu. They even have breakfast. On my first trip there (yes, there will be more) I just had the burger and fries. YUM! Just your typical burger and fries, but yummy. It's kind of fast food, greasy bag style, but I would take this over McDonald's any day. And I couldn't get enough of the fries, they had big pieces of salt all over them. Other items they have on the menu include, down home favorites like catfish and chicken fried steak. I may have to try either sometime. And yes, they are a drive-thru/walk up. Really no place to sit, unless you count the picnic table, but that is more for just waiting for you order.

The second place is called "My Brotha's BBQ". It used to be a gas station! And their outdoor area, is just a table built around the gas meters. And you can still get your pop from the coolers. They have everything and everything is delicious! I got the fried catfish and potato wedges and some jalapeno hush puppies. Bob got some shredded beef, half a roast chicken and potato wedges and mashed potatoes. And we got samples of some of their famous sides, like the Parmesan dressing. so good we bought a jar, that is one of those things that you can and will put on EVERYTHING! It is so good. And their pimento spread, I think I live in the South now and like it. I may have to buy me some, and their chicken salad was almost, ALMOST as good as my moms. So anyway, back to the real food, we took our dinners home and WOW, I had never had catfish before and now I know why it is so popular, it is really good, it doesn't even taste like fish. And with the Parmesan dressing, it is even better, Bob's shredded beef and roast chicken was flavorful and moist even without any sauce, but I did try the mild sauce it came with that was delicious. The hush puppies were yummy, with just the right amount of bite from the jalapenos. And the mashed potatoes were creamy and yummy in the white country gravy. Even the potato wedges, which normally I am not a fan of (too much potato for me) were good, they were seasoned perfectly.

Bob and I already have our next order planned when we go. The full slab of ribs. And some pimento spread for me. And maybe some more hush puppies.

Happy eating all.

Culinary Adventures - Ten Star Pizza Kitchen

I know, 2nd blog post in a row, but I just had to tell you about this amazing pizza place in my little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.

It's on Main Street, and its called Ten Star Pizza Kitchen. It is delicious. The pizza is like a regular crust and lots of cheese and really great toppings. Fresh veggies and yummy meats. My husband and I first went there last Friday and split the "Bob" it is their meat pizza. I has all the pizza meats, sausage, pepperoni, ham. It was very good, we also had some bread and oil, they gave of a variety of FRESH BACKED rolls. Yummy. I also went by myself yesterday, I was walking around downtown checking the place out and looking for jobs and I popped in for lunch. I had a small, "Don", the small, by the way is perfect for 1 person. The "Don" is their veggie pizza and is delicious, get it with jalapenos, it makes the pizza although you may want to order a side of ranch to cool it down. The veggies are very good and fresh and consist of black and green olives, onions, green peppers and tomatoes, and like I said earlier, lots of cheese. For the crust lovers among you, the crust is somewhere between think and regular, but it is good and exactly what you need.

Honestly, I'm really only telling you people that don't live in Ardmore, because everyone who lives here already knows about it. Both times we have been in there it has been packed.

But if you are ever in town, check it out.

Looking for work

Ok, here goes, I am here in Oklahoma and need a job. I need something to cover the part of my mortgage that the rent from my tenant doesn't, I have credit card debt and student loan debt that I need to also pay off. Yes, I am starting my own business, but lets be honest, business can take up to 2 years to be profitable. So I need at least a part time job in the mean time. The thing is, I'm really hesitant to find a job. My last job sucked. It was horrible, I feel like leaving that job was like leaving a bad relationship. I was just glad to be free of the binding that that job caused. Not just a crappy job but a job that ate away at my soul. I was contantly having to build myself up saying that I was the great and awesome person that I am. Only when I go to work to be torn down again by my boss, co-workers, and other crappy drama that went around. I honestly did hate it.

And now I find myself in a position to find work once again, and here I am, 29 years old and afraid. I know that I need to leave that crappy job behind me just like every other crappy job I have had and move on. I will find a wonderful job here, where my boss is great, co-workers are great, clients are great and there is no drama.

I am looking, I have my resume out and have asked around. The right job will come in time, I know it will.

Also, I really like sleeping in, but I guess that may have to be the sacrifice I need to make in order to have a paycheck.

Oh well.

Working Working working

Sort of. I am working, I am actually very busy, if it didn't look like rain was eminent I would be planting in the garden. However, its kind of cloudy today so, maybe I will let the rains come and then go outside. I also have to CLEAN! Our new house is all hard wood floors and its amazing how much stuff and crud just fills takes over the floors. So a good vacuuming and mop is in order. Dusting, all the window sills and blinds. OK, who I am kidding, this cleaning will not take place all in one day. Probably over the course of the week, since I also have to look for a job! I'm broke and need some source of at least part time income to pay off my credit cards and student loans., because lets be realistic, it may take awhile before I can make any money on my business Although working from home would be awesome. I could work while I sit in my jammies. Like I am now. But we shall see.

As for my business, I need to work on my business plan. I have some market research that I need to incorporate and I need to go to the SBA this week, today or tomorrow and get help on it an see if I can get some grants and get my business going. I am also supposed to have my logo sometime this week and need to work on getting the website up and running. I need to make a checklist of everything I need to get done before I can even think about opening. Wow, I can hardly breath there is so much. But it is so exciting! This could actually work.

Wish my luck and stay tuned.

Accomplishment

So I am really proud of myself. All the stuff I that I said I was going to do yesterday, I got done. I even found that research I was looking for and plan on reading it today.

I really didn't get to explore the town much or even take my walk around the neighborhood but I did go to Wal-Mart. Man people are so nice here, and it genuine nice, not that annoying nice that puts me in a bad mood. When the gal at the check out asked me if I found everything alright, I actually replied back with a more than a yes. I told her, I got a little lost because I really haven't shopped at Wal-Mart a whole lot in the past. I told her I just moved here from Vegas an mostly went to Target. She said she had never been to a Target! OMG! I was about to take her on a road trip. She doesn't know what she is missing. Target is my favorite place in the whole world. If I could remake my favorite movie I would call it "Breakfast at Target" because nothing bad could ever happen to you in a place like Target. But anyway, the gal at Wal-Mart was really nice and the Wal-Mart here is really clean, which makes me actually want to shop there. I think I spent a little too much money. I got caught up in the fact that everything was so cheap.

Today, more unpacking and cleaning and getting ready for tomorrow. IKEA!!!!!!!!! I love IKEA! So excited, we are getting storage stuff and probably some little furniture stuff. YAY! IKEA!!!!

And Sunday, I want to go to Lowe's and get some lawn and garden stuff, because we have this big beautiful front yard and it is covered in weeds, crab grass and clover. With a few dandelions pointing through. So I want to fix that. I want some roses and peonies and a vegetable and herb garden.

Wish me luck, my thumb is a little more black than it is green, but hopefully with the right advise I will be OK and get a green thumb.

I will keep you posted and hopefully post some pictures.

Busy setting up my new life

I am so busy, I don't know why. Well, I know why, and the weired thing is that while I am busy and have TONS to do. I have plenty of time. So why do I feel overwhelmed? Probably because I feel like I need to get it all done at once and I want to do it all at once.

I want to work on my business, I need to set up all the licensing and legal stuff. I need to research. I need to find all my research materials that are still packed up.

I want to finish putting contact paper in the cabinets and finish unpacking.

I want to explore the town a little more.

I want to go Wal-Mart and pick up some groceries.

Ok, it doesn't really seem like that much and if I just sat and breathed I could get it all done. So here is the schedule. Work on the business for about another hour. Take a shower and go to Wal-Mart. Come home and finish up the cabinets and unpack for a bit. And then maybe read and relax. I will explore the town tomorrow or next week. Mostly because I have a feeling that after I am done unpacking I will be to tired and stinky to go anywhere. Maybe I will go for a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon though.

I just feel busier than I actually am, but like I say, I really don't know why. I have plenty of time. Maybe I should lay off the coffee and get to work.

My Blog is a mess

So here a I am, back at blogging and my blog is a mess! I re-did layout and background but there are these silly little things on my blog that I don't know how to get off. You know what I'm talking about, that cutest blog logo and the photobucket thing. I don't use the cutest blog anymore and I have no idea how the photobucket got on there.

If you know how I can get these off, can you please let me know.

Thanks. :)

In other news, the moving and packing is going great. I'm about 98% done and waiting to pick my husband up from the airport. Tomorrow we are getting the U-Haul and loading it, getting rid of the couches and furniture we don't need and then bright and early Friday morning, OKLAHOMA bound! Still my only worry about this trip is how the cats will do. I hope the Benedryl works well enough that they fall asleep and I can get Suki in the car. Sammy won't be a problem getting in the car but he will cry. He doesn't like car rides and this is a long one.

The house right now isn't even that messy, its a little messy but it will get clean and there really isn't a whole lot to do.

Ok, time to go pick Bob up. Talk to you all soon.

Long Sabatical and Now I Am Back

Ok, it has been awhile, I admit. But I have had a lot going on and have just decided to wait in the wings. So here I am. Big announcement. I am moving! And starting a business.

More on the business later, I am overwhelmed with this whole moving thing. You never know how much stuff you have until you have to pack it up and move it.

I can safely say I am about 90 to 95% percent packed. I am going to pack the rest of my kitchen today and my closet. So after today, I can no longer cook in my kitchen and I will have 2 outfits. Plus Cleaning. I need to clean, even though my property manager is bringing in a professional crew after I leave, I guess I am kind of that person that cleans before the cleaning lady comes. Plus, my microwave is a mess. Something exploded in there and I'm not sure what. I guess its time to get out the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I love those things!

With all this packing, we are not moving everything. I have 2 couches I need to get rid of. My cats have used them as scratching posts and they are destroyed. Well, if you are into re-apholstering, they would be great, other than that..... I know of a big Goodwill warehouse by my house but I need to get some help getting them there. A pick-up and a strong guy or 2 would be perfect.

And of course, not to put to much pressure on me, but I really need to get this stuff done by tomorrow. Which I'm pretty confident it will happen. Without any missed sleep or missed TV time this evening.

Ok, yes, with moving to Oklahoma, I am beginning a new life, a new job, being with my husband and yes, I am very much looking forward to it. I will find a job, but I am also starting my business, finally. I don't want to reveal to much, but there will be a blog devoted to just that, as well as a twitter and facebook page. I am getting a logo and when I get to OK, I will go to the local SBA office and get some help financing and starting it. Yes, I am very excited!