House Stress!!!

They're telling me this is normal, but I'm freaking out. We were supposed to close on the house on Monday. The bank is requiring some conditions to be met before we close and now it seems like we're not closing before next Friday at the earliest. I had some items on my credit report from when I was in Argentina (I admit I was irresponsible about letting everyone know where I was so there were some late payments). Now I'm having to scramble to prove to the bank that I'm not some sort of deadbeat and to keep our lovely rate. Arrrgh! I'm getting an ulcer from this experience. :( I'm told that soon though I'll have the house keys in my hot little hands and this will all be a distant memory. I hope so. I see myself sunning in the back yard right now. I'm just going to focus on the end and not sweat the process. Easier said than done, but I'm trying!


My body will soon be sunning here.


My welcome mat will soon be in front of this front door.

More Argentine Jewelry

These are some of my blown glass pieces from Argentina. I was really excited by these pieces when I found them in the designer market in Palermo Viejo. The designer's name is Claudia Spinali.

"Dynamite" Hand Blown Glass Earrings -- $30


"Dynamite" Hand Blown Pendant Necklace on Red Argentine Leather Chain -- $45

8/8/00 -- Vietnam

I am starting to pack and prepare for the move to my new home. As I was cleaning out my trunk I found an old journal. This is the journal I used as I traveled around South East Asia in 2000. I thought I would share one of my entries.


I'm on a plane to Denang. I'm thinking of the vignettes of Ho Chi Mihn City -- Saigon. The street food vendors outside of our hotel who changed every hours. You'd walk out the door and see breakfast - Pho (a delicious broth of beef and noodles) or baguettes. Go out for a walk, return and see another vendor in their place selling something which smelled equally delicious. Go upstairs, nap, shower or change and he or she'd be replaced by someone else -- it was a constantly evolving, but repetitive cycle. It seemed like the sidewalk was a kaleidoscope.

I will also remember the children on the streets. "Would you like some chewing gum, madam?" I'll remember the little girl who gratefully kissed my hand after I bought a 3000 dong pack of gum from her and gave 1000 dong to her friend. It meant so little to me. I feel bad begrudging the children, old women, crippled men begging for some charity when I run out of stores clutching bags of fine silk. I spend hundreds of dollars and don't want to give 14 cents to someone who's hungry. The problem is that there are so many who are hungry. Buying from one does not make the others go away. Rather more come crowding around, crying louder "some chewing gum, Madame?" "Some postcards?"

At first it felt like they were pirahnas who'd first tasted blood. They sensed a full foreign wallet, a sucker waiting to be bled dry. Now I'm more sympathetic. They're just responding to hope. There's always a chance you'll buy more.

I still can't give to everyone. I should give more. My lesson for this trip should be charity -- generosity for a land my country helped devastate.

Anyway, I have more vignettes from Saigon. There were so many sights. The city is a hodgepodge, a blast of sights, sounds, and experiences -- cyclos, conical hats, noise, pollution, energy. I wouldn't want to live there, but I feel like a better person for having seen it.



Statue of Ho Chi Mihn


Saigon View


Don't I look Vietnamese?

I went to the social security administration office today. I misplaced my social security card a few years ago. I never replaced it because I didn't need it before today. The mortgage company wants to ensure I'm who I say I am evidently. Well, going to the social security office made me happy (yeah really!) because the first thing the lady behind the counter said when I sat down was "I LOVE your necklace!" I'm kicking myself because I didn't give her my Hip Girlz business card right then and there and say "Hey, I'm importing these from Argentina. You should go online and buy them." I didn't because she CAN'T yet go online and buy them. Argggh! I'm getting there though. Still, I love that the jewelry is so well-received (even by older bureaucrats).



This is a picture of the necklace. I call it the "Sassy Glassy Rose" Necklace. It can be yours for only $75. :)

Fun with eggs

Last Saturday I had Jill, Ilyse, Kelli, Dilek, and my sister over to dye easter eggs. I tried to be creative by gold leafing an egg and ended up gold leafing myself. In the end we all had lots of laughs and the eggs were passable. Thanks to Jill who took and sent these pictures to me. Muuuaaaaah!

This is some of my newest jewelry:

"Fancy Tango" Bracelet



"Red Cosmos" Necklace






"Water Lillies" Necklace

Owning a Slave Just Isn't Hip

So, more on this Craig's List posting. In addition to getting a reply from R., my soul stalker... er I mean "mate," I got a reply from a guy offering to be my slave. He's a 25 year old jewish guy and seemed cute and normal enough from his picture. He just asked for the ability to do whatever I asked of him to make me happy. I could ask him to do anything from having him drive 40 miles to fetch my favorite tea at 3 a.m. to having him lie prostrate on my floor as my human toilet to cleaning my house in the "outfit of my choosing." I would not have to pay him; being a woman's slave is just something that he loves and has been doing since he was in high school.

I was too intrigued. I wrote him back to see if this guy was serious. He is. He says he lives to serve women and make them happy. I have to admit that I considered owning this young man. He says he's also a personal trainer and a masseur. It would be awfully useful to have a not bad looking, personal trainer, masseur, dry-cleaning fetcher, maid, errand runner at my beckon call. Hmmmm... I am looking for a man who lives to make me happy... Just kidding. I can't do this, but I have to admit I thought about it for a second or two. What if I don't call him a slave, but a really, really devoted friend? ;)

Glamour Girl

My latest necklace design

Confession and Coincidences

I have a confession. I am addicted to Craig's List. I love going on there to check out furniture (for my new house) and pets (to dream about my future dog). Mostly though, I go on to check the personals. I love them. First of all, they're super affirming. At least as a woman, no matter who you are and what you want someone is looking for you. You can be 400 lbs and 82 years old... someone wants a "mature BBW." If you are attracted to blacks, whites, purples, whatever ... they want you too. Every fetish, every type is represented there. It's really fun in a sociological kind of way. Anyway, to continue with the confession, every once in a while i'll put an ad up myself. I'll date some of the guys, but generally I just enjoy reading the responses. So many good and interesting dudes out there (at least according to them). Again, it's super affirming. There are so many guys that respond. It's craziness!

Anyway, I hadn't done that in a few months and the other night I came home from a dinner and had some excess energy. I put an ad up -- "sbf seeking ltr." One of the first people to respond was R. It was really strange in a not so surprising way to see his face staring out at me from his picture. Though, not surprised I was too freaked out and embarassed to actually respond.

R. and I have a very strange relationship. We just keep bumping into each other in the most random ways. We met in his classroom (he teaches in a high school). I was teaching a special class there. About a month later we met again in an LA Tri Club meeting. We saw each other a couple more times in those meetings. Then in June I went to Las Vegas for my sister-in-law's bachelorette part. We were a bunch of girls and had rented a Limo Bus (the Limo Bus rocked my world, but more about that at some other time). We stopped at a grocery store to get some liquor for the Limo Bus. I don't know if you've ever been to Vegas, but if you do you NEVER go to a grocery store. Well, I'm walking through the aisles searching for booze and who do I bump into? R! We chat and remark about how strange our meetings are. A few months later I went on a business trip. At LAX waiting for my bags who do I bump into? You guessed it! R. has just come back from a trip.

At this point I'm getting really strange but, I don't see R. for quite a while. I move to Buenos Aires for a year. I return back to the States and am back for about a month. I go grocery shopping with my friend Corinne. We're walking through the aisles and who do I see? That's right. At this point, I'm not even surprised to see R. When we part, we say "I guess I'll be bumping into you soon." I now expect to run into him at random occasions.

Well, it was about another year before I bumped into R. again. I decided to train for another triathlon and joined the LA Tri Club. I went to my first Tri Club social. Who's there? R. Funny thing... he hasn't been to a meeting since 2001 (about the time I was last there... 4 years earlier). Coincidence that he comes back the same time I do? He said that he half expected to see me.

So, it was a little strange though not that surprising considering our history when I get an e-mail with R.'s picture in response to my ad. Perhaps I should write back and try to go on a date with him. I'm not really that attracted to him, but the Universe is doing everything it can to have us meet up. If it's meant to be, I'll see him again. I've got enough men in my life right now.

Speaking of other men, I went out with M., the massage therapist today. It was a great date. He called me a goddess. I already know I'm going to like him. Tomorrow I see the PhD student. I brough him back a bottle of Argentine wine and promised him that we'd share it. I haven't seen him since we had that talk about him and the other woman. We've talked on the phone a lot though. I asked him about her once, but the subject has been more like the big elephant in the room. We can't help but notice it, but we pretend it's not there.

Belly Dancing

One of my goals is to become a much better belly dancer. I've been taking classes once a week for the past two or three months. I'm trying to step it up to 2 classes a week, which I did this week. There's something about belly dancing that makes me feel super feminine and just super sexy. It's pretty potent stuff. Last night we went out dancing for Kelli's birthday. The DJ was playing hip hop, but I decided to try out my belly dancing moves. I was in the corner practicing my hand rolls, various figure eights, hip swings, and shimmies. Whenever I threw out a couple of moves, the guys came running my way. It's such fun power.

Goals

With Jill's guidance (www.jillslivingroom.com), I went on to a website for setting goals. It's called 43 things, but I've come up with 21 immediate goals. Oooh... I just thought of one more. If you want to check it out go to: http://www.43things.com/people/view/monickpaul. It's the cat's meow. Rrrrroow!

Hip Girl's Guide on Temporary Hiatus

I've decided to table writing the Hip Girl's Guide to Buenos Aires for the time being. I am focusing on moving into the Hip Headquarters and on selling the Hip Girlz jewelry.

The Hip Girlz jewelry has been getting a fantastic response thus far. It's all been very exciting. I need to make sure that the website is up soon. It's frustrating to have people go to my website and find a blank page. Yuck! Evidently people have found this blog by looking for the webpage.

On the positive note, people have been stopping Cookie (my sister and model) and I to ask about the accessories. They are fun and original and I'm feeling better and better about selling them.

The Work Retreat

It's Sunday morning and I'm recovering from a work retreat in Palm Springs. I am in no position to complain, but I'm tired after a weekend of heavy schmoozing and slightly too heavy boozing.

On Thursday afternoon, Susan and I, got into my trusty Civic and headed out to Palm Springs. We stopped at some est. 1952 Mexican place called Lupe's on the way for some moderately satisfying Mexican food (they did have great salsa though) and then also stopped at the outlets in Cabazon. I promised myself that I wouldn't do too much damage, but that I would buy something for the new place. Also, I'd found $60 in a purse and I felt like it was a gift from my past self to my present self. Susan and I put ourselves on a "strict" time limit of 75 minutes and we were off. I ended up doing a fabulous job at Club Monaco -- one dress, one skirt, and one blouse for $62 -- and at Crate & Barrel's (one night stand for $40, down from $169). There's something about sales. I'm going to have to put all my Hip Girlz jewelry on sale. If you think you're getting a deal, it's hard to resist.

I came back early (left yesterday afternoon) and went to the KCRW Sounds Eclectic concert. I discovered a new amazing band -- Cafe Tacuba (I wasn't as impressed with the other bands I saw) and was absolutely amazed by Cold Play. They're fantastic in concert.

I need to get ready for brunch, but wanted to talk about Friday night at the firm retreat. The retreat committee had set up a talent show. Various attorneys went onstage to sing and play instruments. They also had a hysterically funny emcee (a stand-up comic who's appeared on Leno and Conan O'Brien among other places). Anyway, everyone in the audience was half-expecting the Gibson people to suck really badly and to be an embarassment to themselves and to others. The title of the show was "Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, An Embarassment of Riches" after all! Actually though, everyone ended up being super good and just so incredibly brave. The show went over fabulously, and left me with the feeling that I should be performing. I kept asking myself, "Would I have had the courage to get up there and sing?"

Later that night at the hospitality suite I discovered the karaoke machine. Joel invited me to sing a song and even offered to do a duet with me. We sang a rousing rendition of Love Shack. Well, I'm not sure how rousing it was. The funny thing about karaoke there was that noone appeared to be listening. It was like singing in the car or shower. Few people showed any interest, so I ended up singing most of the night. It was great fun and has renewed my motivation to sing again. I'm talking with someone about getting voice lessons. Yeehaw!

The future Hip Headquarters... located in up and coming SoHaPa (South of Hancock Park)

My dating woes

Mike told me that he's been dating other people (which I knew and so have I), but he's torn because there's another woman who he's been dating for almost 6 months. They have a very good personality fit and she's told him that they need to be exclusive or she's gone. He's debating what to do. I think he should try it out with this woman. In the meantime, I'm single and feeling a little untethered. I felt like things, though far from perfect, were progressing nicely with this one.

Anyway, I have faith that the right one is out there for me too.

Went out with Jeremy last night. He's cute and interesting, but he doesn't drink. Is it bad to not like someone who doesn't drink? I'm hardly an alcoholic, but I like drinking. Hmmm. I also had a fantastic headache during the date. It started about an hour beforehand and I never went to get painkillers. By the time the date was over (only a short date to get a drink ... he had cranberry juice), I was about to faint. He had made other plans for dinner with a friend (I wasn't happy about that because he'd said we might have dinner) and I went home and ate a 6' turkey sub from subway. I fell asleep fully clothed with the lights on at 9:45 and woke up this morning at 6:30. I should run and go to Agape.

It seems like a dark hour in my dating life. I am being so friggin melodramatic!

Oh, we're in escrow on the Lomito place. I'm going to be a homeowner! I can't believe it!!!