Happy New Year

One of my New Year resolutions is to blog more often!

Happy New Year all!

Hellooooooooooooooooooo!

Yikes, it's been so long since I've been on here I forgot my password. Well, actually I forget my passwords constantly so - whatever.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We sure did. I have to say it was probably one of the best. Most definitely the poorest, but we had a great time!

So, what has been going on in the life of Shazza these days? I guess you could say a lot. I've changed careers. I am now a cookie baker! 3 months ago if anyone would have asked me what royal icing was I wouldn't have had a clue. Now I decorated hundreds sugar cookies and created an army of gingerbread men and women and have delighted many folks around the holidays.

It's been a blast!

This all came about in a moment of synchronicity.

Back in the summer I went to a friends bar-b-que. Many of the guest were artists and their spouses. Some I knew...most I did not. It was interesting that I went to this party as I was reading a book my sister gave me called "The Artists Way" by Julie Cameron. I've been trying to get more in touch with my creative self and the book has some really great exercises to help you become "unblocked".

Anyway - at the party I met some really wonderful people. We all sat casually around the table like we had known each other for years. Now normally I am a little pensive at parties with people I don't know, but I felt at home with this group.

Two of the ladies I met were Helen and Kim. Helen is a watercolor artist. You can see here work here: http://www.helenharrispaintings.com/ and Kim was working for a large corporate company that paid the bills and kept them both covered by insurance. (Hooray for Civil Unions in NJ)

It was one of those meetings where you talk and laugh and have so much fun that you didn't want it to end. We had an immediate bond.

We befriended each other on Facebook and told each other to keep in touch.

Then....one day I got a call from Kim. Her job at the company she worked for had been eliminated and she was now unemployed. BUT - she had an idea!

She wanted to open up a cookie delivery place. Bake cookies and deliver them warm to your house with any topping you want. Kim wanted to know if I was interested in helping out.

Sure...why not? I am still unemployed and had the job rejection blues. This would get me out of the house and make some new friends.

Then Kim asked me: Do you know how to bake?

Um...well sure I guess. I've baked cookies and cakes and breads in my life. How hard could it be?

Next thing I know - Kim and her partner Helen found a little store front in downtown Toms River, NJ and created the Cookie Cab! http://thecookiecab.net/ (There isn't much on the website at the moment, they have been VERY busy!)

So, since the end of October I've been baking my little heart out and I am having the time of my life! Helen and Kim are two great ladies, I get to be a little creative finding new recipes and playing with royal icing and we have fun! Lots and lots of fun!

The high school kids have made the place a hang out and even though we were initially hoping it would not be that way, the kids have been great. Respectful and nice. They can plug their iPod into the stereo and play their music. We have a few games around the dining area for them to play and they in turn buy a lot of soda and cookies and brownies and chat with us and their friends.

That is what I've been doing these past few months. The holidays were crazy busy with trays and trays of cookies ordered for office parties and gifts. Our cookies are a bit different than some of the other trays around the area in a sense that we don't bake the same ol' mass production cookies that most of the other bakeries do. We use all fresh ingredients, no frozen cookie blobs and we change our specialty cookies almost every week.

I've gained back all of the weight that I lost over the summer, but I really don't care.

The initial "make your cookie, your way" idea has changed but this is a growing little business and we are adapting to what the customers want. They've given us a lot of positive feed back and ideas and through word of mouth they have really helped us grow.

Thank you wonderful customers!

Now - for my New Years resolution I want to get reacquainted with my blog, because I do miss it and I think I'll have some amusing stories to share about "The Cab" and also because I am wasting WAY too much time on Facebook stalking other people and playing Mafia Wars.

What a time suck that is!

And - I want to get more in tune with my creative side. I finished a painting for a friend of mine and it got the ol' juices flowing and now I have a gazillion different ideas in my head that I hope to work into some kind of reality.

I need to find something to do with all of the paper I've shredded to clean off my desk. A friend suggested paper mache! I haven't done anything with paper mache since I was in the 4th grade so this could be an interesting challenge!

Stay tuned folks - I'm not sure what you will see on here in the next few weeks, months etc., but hopefully it won't be boring!

Happy New Year and peace to all!

And here is a photo of my latest painting. It's called "Sailing Bob" and it's a portrait of my friends father who passed away in October after a very long battle with cancer.

Whoop di do!

It's another new year.

M and I spent a quiet night home as we usually do. We watched a few episodes of Buffy (we're almost done) and started on a jigsaw puzzle, ate crap, drank wine, encouraged each other to stay up just a bit longer, watched the Jonas Brothers on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve celebration and cringed when those kids were attempting to sing. Maybe their voices were distorted because it was like 12 degrees in Times Square, but I didn't think they were all that great.

As for Dick Clark himself - it makes me uncomfortable to see him on TV and I'll just leave it at that.

The New Year came in rather quietly. There weren't too many neighbors shooting off fireworks for some reason. Maybe because it was freakin'12 degrees with 40 mph wind gusts. The fireworks themselves were too cold to go outside.

M and I gave each other a kiss...petted the dogs and went to bed.

I woke up at 9:30. M is still sleeping.

I'm just a bit jealous, but that's OK. I'll take a nap later.

I finally made my way around all my favorite blogs today. It was nice to catch up.

The plan for today?

There is no plan...that's the plan.

It's a good plan.

Maybe I can convince M to go see a movie. We haven't been in a while, that would be nice to do. We would both like to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We can continue on our all junk food weekend which we do almost every New Year and then vow to eat healthier for the rest of the year. The only problem now with junk food weekend is that our stomachs can no longer handle that kind of food. We both get acid reflux if we eat too much crap. Our bodies almost WANT to be healthy. What's up with that?

Whatever.

Daughter C went out for the evening and told us she wouldn't be home. That's fine...she's stayed over friends houses before, she's 21 she can pretty much do what she wants. I asked where she was staying and she kind of slid in there that she was staying at her new boyfriends house.

Wait...what?

The instant conversation that happened in my brain was this: "Ok Mom, she's 21, not a baby any more and probably not a virgin either. This is OK, part of growing up. You can handle this."

I told her I loved her and to have a nice time and to be safe.

She answered her usual: "I love you too, I will...and don't worry."

Then I said it again: "Be safe".

She looked at me and said: "Don't worry, I'm not going to be driving and I probably won't be drinking either." (She's not really a drinker)

M responded: "I don't think that's what your Mom meant when she said be safe!"

C looked at me wide eye!

I looked back at her a little sad, but still with that concerned "Mom" look in my eyes.

Realization hit her!

Realization hit me!

Right between the eyes.

They is all growed up now Mom.

:::sigh:::

This is a weird place. It's not that you don't want your kids to be sexual it's that you don't want them to get hurt. When I realized my son was "doing the deed" my reaction was a little different. I hoped he didn't catch anything. With my daughter I just hope who ever she trusts to make that special connection with isn't some asshole trying to put another notch in his belt.

M and I have met the new boyfriend and he really seems like a nice guy so I feel a bit more at ease, but still...it's a really weird place.

The secret mantra I used to say in my heads when there were growing up went from: "don't do drug, don't do drugs, don't do drugs" to "Don't have sex, don't have sex. don't have sex" and now it is "Don't get pregnant, don't get pregnant, don't get pregnant (or get anyone pregnant in my son's case)".


Ugh - I can't think about this too much. I think I need a nap already.

Happy New Year all!

Welcome 2008

Happy New Year!

We stayed up and saw Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve and both of us cringed every time Dick Clark came on. Some people will look at him and say: "Wow, isn't that great? Even though he had a stroke, he's still doing New Years Eve! He looks GREAT!" M and I look at him and feel uncomfortable watching him...listening to him speak. it would be great for him to be there, in a more ceremonious position perhaps, but it's time to pass the baton onto someone else.

I heard from my children. My son was at Penn's Landing in Philly watching the fireworks. My daughter was trying to make her way to join him and his friends but got lost and was driving around trying to get somewhere - anywhere. She was upset - she missed New Years. I tried to comfort her the best way I could over the phone. I felt for her, I really did.

This is one of the few New Years where I didn't have any alcohol to drink. It's nice not to wake up with a fuzzy head and a sour stomach! I've had some wine/beer over the holidays, but it's lost it's appeal to me anymore. M also wants to stop drinking in the New Year - good for her!

Resolutions?!?! The usual - lose weight, exercise more.

I think I want to change that to: eat better and become more active again. I am starting to understand how eating better affects my over all health and how becoming more active helps with the aches and pains I now have. I also found that I sleep much better even if I only take a 30 minute walk during the day!

M will help me to keep some obtainable goals. I tend to shoot for the moon and I disappoint myself when I don't see the progress I used to see when I was younger and had a faster metabolism and stronger knees.

I want to start painting again. It's been over a year since I picked up a brush and I miss it. It was my escape.

I also want to play more with the photography. My Dad gave me his old Cannon film camera so I can always have a camera loaded with black and white film and a camera loaded with color. I can't afford the digital camera I want at the moment, so this will have to do. I still photos from film cameras are better - but that's just my opinion.

M and I will start looking around for a new place to live in this coming year. We've been in this house for 7+ years now and we both feel the need to downscale our lives. I want small, cozy...manageable.

We have been looking towards Pennsylvania - taxes are lower and there is more room to stretch out and breathe than there is here in NJ. We've romanticised the idea of moving to Philadelphia. To have everything you need within walking distance seems so tempting: Museums, great restaurants, parks, history, art galleries!!! It sounds like fun - but I don't know if that is really what I want in my life right now. I am leaning more towards more open space. I would like to look out my window and see something else other than my neighbors living room! I want a yard to putz around in.

There is time to make this decision. We aren't in any rush. I want to make sure my daughter has a place to go if she doesn't come with us. This gives her time to start looking around.

I am not looking forward to the upcoming presidential elections. I hate the whole process. I don't really like any of the candidates that I've seen so far. I may agree with some of their ideologies, but it doesn't mean I would actually want them as the President. Those are 2 different things entirely.

I wish Bloomberg would go ahead and throw his hat in the ring.

Whatever...let's not go there.

Welcome 2008 and all of the possibilities it brings along with it!

M and I wish you and your families a very happy and healthy New Year!