A recent New York Magazine article entitled Up With ‘Grups’ has me intrigued.

“This is an obituary for the generation gap. It is a story about 40-year-old men and women who look, talk, act, and dress like people who are 22 years old.”

One thing the article doesn’t mention, but something which I strongly feel contributes to this phenomenon is the popularity of 30-40 year old celebrities. The majority of the mega stars aren’t in their twenties. Sure, they may have been in their twenties when they became big, but they haven’t been replaced by the new twenty-somethings. And the new twenty-somethings? They’re all dating the mega stars who are in their thirties and forties!

I also find it very interesting that grups and celebrity grups are having children well into their thirties.

Because I don’t work outside the home, I don’t have need of a lot of clothes. I pick up a few things here and there as needed when the seasons change, but really, I don’t go crazy anymore. I usually get a really bad itch to shop in the fall, and an even worse one in the spring though. This spring has been no exception, but it seems to be hitting me twice as hard. The problem? The new wedge sandals that are so popular this year. I can’t seem to get enough of them! At first, I justified my purchases on our May trip to Florida. I needed some nicer clothes than what I usually wear around here. So there was this one skirt, and shoes to match, then another skirt, and shoes to match, and those cute capri pants, and shoes to match, and those few tops, and shoes… You get the idea. I’m starting to have doubts that all my shoes will fit in my suitcase.

It’s the wedges. There are the gold ones (for my sister’s wedding), the tortoiseshell ones, the white ones, the ones with that wrap and tie around my leg, and the beaded ones. I had to stop myself from buying another casual pair yesterday. (Though I did get a pair of stylish round toe flats and some slides instead. Eeep!) All these shoes, and I still haven’t included a comfortable pair for our three day trek around Disney World.

I just realized, I have all these shoes, but no shorts! How dumb is that?

I’ve been doing a lot of research for my website today. Actually, the past few days. I can’t help but wonder if having my pin sold at the auction has something to do with my inability to stop obsessing about business stuff. Probably.

I’ve spent the past two days concentrating on SEO (search engine optimization), press kits, and press releases. I’ve also read a couple fashion mags this past week to make sure I’m on track with the latest trends. Looks like I am.

It doesn’t look like the site will be ready as soon as I had hoped, though I haven’t exactly communicated that wish to the woman working on my site. Mother’s Day is coming soon, so I should probably work on some ideas for that. I’m guessing it will be the first big jewelry holiday once the site is up and running for real. Not that I have any grandiose visions of the site immediately generating traffic, but it’s fun pretending.

It seems like I’ve been making improvements to the site forever. And yet, the whole time I’ve been improving it, it’s never been fully functional. How dumb. But I really think this time will be it.

Though I’ve technically been doing this for two years, it’s only now becoming real, and quite frankly, I’m feeling a little nervous about it. Excited, but nervous. Until now, it was just this thing I was dabbling in and planning to make a serious endeavor eventually. Well, eventually has arrived, and it’s time to take the next step.

I’ve taken another look at the business plan I wrote last summer. I don’t know if business plan it the right term. It’s basically a list of goals broken into phases detailing the things I hope to accomplish as the business grows. I decided to use phases rather than a timeline to allow myself some laziness flexibility. Afterall, this whole business thing IS cutting into my sitting-on-my-ass time. Because of that, there was a moment of disbelief when I realized I have just about completed Phase I (as soon as the site is functional), and I am already moving into Phase II.

Things have been moving at this sort of slow and steady pace for so long, I wonder if it will ever feel real. You know? Like, will I ever have that TA DA moment? I imagine myself some years from now moving along at this same slow and steady pace and missing the point at which I could call myself a success. I don’t necessarily expect to be successful, nor do I think getting there and missing it would be such a terrible thing. But it does make me wonder…

Would I be able to recognize my own success?

The school fundraiser was last night. We planned on going, but the tickets were sold out before we got ours. Being somewhere near number forty on a waiting list, it didn’t look like we were going. But somehow, the day before the event, a pair of tickets became available for us and we took them!

The main events were two auctions. The silent auction consisted of hundreds of donated prizes lined up on tables. It included everything from tickets to Disney World to free hair cuts, and everything in between. Each classroom collected items from the parents to include in a basket. The dolphin pin I made was to be included in the jewelry basket for Jacob’s classroom.

The live auction was for the projects each class made, as well as some other special items. Jacob’s class painted and decorated a book shelf, and Brendan’s class collaged a giant mural. The other classes had similar projects. Some of the other items included in the live auction were a two day pheasant hunting trip, tickets for a Thanksgiving day Lions game, a week long vacation in a house overlooking Lake Michigan in Traverse City during the Fourth of July holiday, premium parking spots at the school, a plasma screen tv, and… my dolphin pin.

You cannot imagine my surprise to see my dolphin pin listed with twenty-three other items on the live auction pages. We haven’t figured out exactly why it was given such prestige, but I couldn’t have been happier. My pin sold for $150, which I think it pretty good. It’s a bit on the low side maybe, but this seemed to be a difficult year for people, judging by the bids. Neither the silent auction items nor the live auction items brought in as much money as last year. (The bookshelf alone went for $2000 last year. This year, the classroom projects topped out at $400, and even the Traverse City vacation only made $1400.) But overall, I think it was a successful night for the school and for me.

Several years ago, I got a small cough that lasted for eight weeks right around March/April. The cough returned twice every year after that. Eventually, I put two and two together, and realized my recurring cough was related to the change of season. My doctor agreed, and he gave me a prescription for my seasonal allergies.

So I take this tiny little pill once a day for several days in the Spring and again in the Fall whenever I notice the little tickle in my throat returning. A few years ago, my doctor started referring to my condition as allergy induced asthma. To me, that meant seasonal allergies which, if left untreated, brought on asthma-like symptoms. It didn’t really matter to me. I was taking my tiny little pill as needed to prevent the symptoms, and everything was fine.

Then, my doctor dropped the allergy induced part and started referring to my condition as asthma. Asthma. Just plain old asthma. I rejected the diagnosis immediately. Why? Because I don’t have asthma. I have allergy induced asthma. See the difference? When I was in school, asthma was the word tossed around everytime there was hard work to be done and some wimpy kid didn’t want to do it. And they always got to sit out and watch. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. Maybe they truly suffered from asthma. But my experience has led me to associate asthma with people who were fragile. And I have never thought of myself as fragile.

Until a couple of weeks ago when I rejoined an exercise class which is making me rethink this whole asthma business. The instructor told me to keep up with the others as well as I could. Keeping up wouldn’t have been a problem if I had been ABLE TO BREATHE. During the second class, I got so lightheaded I actually had to sit down for a bit. You know? Like those fragile kids in elementary school?

Today I swallowed my pride and met with my doctor to discuss options to manage my exercise induced asthma. And though I’m still partially in denial about having asthma, I’m looking forward to being able to breathe normally the next time I go to class.

I spent a lot of time looking at blush colors the other day. I don’t wear heavy makeup, so I wanted something natural and light feeling. When the sales girl and I got talking about it, we realized that there is no such thing as the perfect blush color. Blush is blush. Just about any old color would work because all you need is something to give your cheeks a little pink.

Though I don’t wear a lot of makeup, I usually wear a light powder to even out my skin tone and eliminate the pink on my cheeks. And the blush? I use it after the powder to add some pink to my cheeks.

Telling your little boy to throw up on the floor of your car instead of his lap because you know how uncomfortable he would be sitting in vomit on the drive home from school.

Stupidity is…

Going to the school to pick up your little boy because he’s throwing up, but never once thinking to grab something to catch the vomit during the drive home from school.

When I sent out the bridal shower invitations, I included both my telephone number and email address for the RSVP. I figured since I would rather email an RSVP, other people would feel the same way. My mom disagreed.

Judging by the responses I’ve had so far, I just want to say…

I WIN!

13 emails - 6 phone calls

I find that the more time I have, the less I get done. I’m not really surprised about it though because it’s always been this way with me. It’s not like I’m doing nothing though. Besides the whole sitting-on-my-ass-in-front-of-the-computer-all-day thing there’s also the… No. I guess that is all I’m doing.

But, it hasn’t been all fun and games. For one thing, I’ve been completely obsessed with trying to integrate an e-commerce program into my website. All the carts I’m finding are set up to use tables, and I really hate tables. And I’m much too new to this whole coding thing to understand how to make the php work with my css. Gah, I’m speaking in computer geek language now!

There have been a few moments I havent’ been in front of the computer. In those moments I’m working on jewelry, or bridal shower stuff, or the project for the boys’ school fundraiser. When I list it here, it seems like I’m doing lots of stuff. But in reality, it feels like I’m doing a whole lot of nothing.

Then again, nothing is boring. And I’m definitely not bored. So maybe I’m actually doing a whole lot of nothing important.