It's a Mad Mad World

So, I don't watch much television. Chalk it up to the different tastes of my husband and me, or the fact that my studio space is tv-less, or the fact that I can't be sure I will tune in each week on a specific night, but whatever it is I don't keep up with the media world. Sex and the City? Saw it about four times. Seinfeld? Mmm, yeah, I am pretty sure I missed your favorite episode. I am not a tv snob, I don't not watch because I think it rots the brain. I am just busy or distracted or I forget.

But last year I saw a few episodes of Mad Men. Yeah, I know everyone is jumping on the band wagon for this show. The costumes are fabulous, the acting is great and the soap-opera story line is addictive. I saw the first episode (accidentally) and saw a few of the subsequent ones in bits and pieces. Now, post season 2, I am re-watching (or watching for the first time) season 1 courtesy of my husband and his downloading ways. He placed the entire season on my laptop and while I am working on book projects in the studio (really, Terry, I am working on the book!) I am watching Mad Men.

This show does not make me want to dress like a 50s secretary or house wife, as many of the writers at Vogue magazine would have you think. It does not make me long for a pre-feminism, Mom-in-the-kitchen lifestyle. It doesn't even make me want a great old IBM Selectric typewriter. I watch it and, frankly, I want to start drinking heavily*. Not drinking in a post-yoga and Whole Foods kinda way ("oh, I can really taste the terroire in that wine" and "is this organic sugar in the Mojito?") but drinking in the pour-me-another-it's-only-4:00 sort of way. I also have a desire to see my husband in a suit. Something tells me I can get my hair to do that swirly headband flip before the G man is going to give up his Adidas and jeans and wear a suit daily*. The drinking, I guess I could actually manage that. Would my business change if I got a sleek, moderne sofa and a bar in my office and started pouring drinks around noon? Why does no one on the show look like a puffy, smelly alcoholic? Is it the cigarettes? Is it the suits? The girdles and curlers? I am going to work on this problem as I work on the book and maybe, just maybe, I will have an answer for both at the same time.


*relax, folks. The fact that I have a rag-tag collection of actual alcohol in my house prevents me from acting on this urge at 2:00 a.m. We have some cheap-but-interesting wine and Ouzo, Goldschlager, Vodka and Cranberry Liquor. Oh, and a lot of hipster beers. Thank goodness the North Carolina legislature in their infinite wisdom decided to make ABC stores NOT 24 hour operations. Can you imagine if I could get a hold of a fifth of whiskey at this hour? The jewelry would go way downhill.

* #2 G used to work for IBM and when he started it was still a suit-and-tie daily kinda place. We bought a week's worth of white starched shirts and dark wool suits when he got the job and then, two months into the work, they decided to go all Casual Friday, all week. No dice, I said, you have the nice stuff, you will wear the nice stuff. To this day he is pretty sure that is why he did so well there. His co-workers at IBM immediately decided to start wearing wrinkled khakis and old golf shirts and since his wardrobe was either suits and ties or concert tee-shirts and ripped jeans he kept the ties on. I think it was the right choice.

Putting out fires...

I spent a good chunk of today putting out a few fires. That euphemism always struck me as overly dramatic, but for some reason, today, it is just right. Our trunk show that was supposed to happen tomorrow and this weekend isn't happening. The bead gypsy is still in Africa. This is the second time that has occurred. The last time a different African bead trader failed to show up when scheduled*. I also spent way too long in one meeting and way too little amount of time in another. I called back a customer who is upset because of a miscommunication. I called back a customer who felt that I was ignoring her. I called back a friend I have been ignoring. I chased down a vendor that isn't doing the right thing by us. All of these fires needed fought today, no waiting, but now it's the end of my work time and I still haven't done the fifteen, non emergency, tasks that I wanted to get done today.

That is the problem with fighting fires. You don't get to do the less urgent tasks and they just sit and simmer until one day, boom, they might just be fires, too. That is a big challenge in being a business owner, knowing what can simmer for just a day or two more and what needs paid attention to NOW. Then again, sometimes things that weren't even simmering (like a trunk show that was scheduled months ago!) all of a sudden just explode.

Luckily, I like the dramatic.

*Yes, a totally different guy. Somehow, this does not seem to be out of character for bead gypsies. There must be something about traveling the country in a van full of beads that makes you a tad bit less responsible and organized than is optimal.

I'm in Skirt! this month

Check it out! I was interviewed by the talented Faith Dwight for Skirt! magazine's 24/7 column. I had a lot of trouble answering all her questions. I don't actually have a theme song and the first thing that popped into my head was Never Say Goodbye from Bon Jovi*. That is so NOT my theme song, there is just a line that makes me laugh every time I think of it. I was never a BJ fan, and I am not ashamed to admit I was a fan of some pretty embarrassing musical choices. When it comes to Great Musicians from New Jersey I am more of a Bruce Springsteen type of girl, or maybe, honestly, Gloria Gaynor. On second thought, maybe I should have chosen that song...just to make you say 'what the heck?'

So, the photo is nice and small because for some unknown reason I wore PANTS. What? And sat with my legs like that. Cripes. What WAS I thinking? At least I wore my favorite-ever GIANT African horn beads. They are like something Wilma Flintstone would wear, if she was allowed to change her accessories. Faith showed up to take my picture in boots and a great prairie/babydoll dress that made her look like a stylist from L.A. Oh, she was also carrying the largest tripod I have seen in a long time. Very womanly.

So, read my full interview in the print version of Skirt! It's everywhere, just pick it up and skip all the filler, my photo and all are on the inside back cover. I am going to send it to my dad in the mail today.

*the line? "I lost my car keys and you lost more than that in my back seat." That has to be one of the cheesiest 80's song lyrics EVER, right?

New class, with a project from the book!

I am teaching this class at Ornamentea on November 20th...mmm, Paisley!