unfrown.com

Decided today that umbrellas are one of man’s greatest inventions. I sat in a DC cafe watching them go by with fascination. Some were predictable (Burbury coat lady with paisley; Football jacket guy with stadium size) and some were not (beefy guy with rainbow swirl; little old lady with devil design). Everyone in the bustling city was beneath their own little self-expressive cone of dryness. And it struck me as cool. 

Back in March, I had the occasion to spend a morning with my sister-in-law, my sniffly nine-year-old niece, and my healthy three year old nephew at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum.

We had lunch, saw butterflies, rocks, animals, and generally had a fabulous time.  Before heading home, we decided to get some ice cream. My nephew was eating his, and decided to take a taste of his mom’s flavor.  He then went to try his sister’s but was rebuffed by her pulling away, and his mom saying, “No Josh, she’s sick.”

For the next five minutes or so, the conversation shifted to the things we had seen at the museum and what we liked best.  Josh’s ice cream eventually started dripping, and my sister-in-law reached over with her spoon to try to help him out.  He pulled the ice cream away, and blurted out, “No!….  I’m SICK!”

Kids.  Too funny. 

Over the past few months, life got in the way of my posting to this blog.  You see, I took a short-term job that completely engulfed me.  Don’t get me wrong — it was a great job.  One of the best of my life, in fact.  But it was one of those things that if there were 80 hours in a day, you’d need every one of them to get things done!    I was hired to replace two people as the company was downsizing; my contract ended when the division closed up shop for good.

What I wanted to write about today, though, was how I got that job in the first place.  I know a lot of you are looking for work.  And it’s a crazy competitive market out there.  So how do you make yourself stand out above the crowd?

My story started with a bit of luck, in that I met someone at a networking event.  His wife was a VP of Marketing for a small company and would soon be needing someone to do a little bit of everything — from tradeshow management to writing to graphic design.  I sent him my resume and was contacted for a phone interview the next week.  It went well.  Then I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  My breakthrough came when I attended a job fair, and learned about a guy who had written a free analyst report for a prospective company and later got the job.  Aha!  I went home that night and wrote up a proposal for my prospective new company on a couple of possible marketing campaigns in their new brand.

I immediately received a return email asking if I could come in the next day (Saturday!) for an in-person interview!  Portfolio in hand, I went in and had a great meeting.  I sent a thank you note, included a design concept for a tradeshow booth executed to one of the two proposed marketing campaigns, and waited.

Monday morning, the phone rang!  I was asked to come in Tuesday morning for another meeting.  At the end of the meeting I was asked to stay, and ended up working 10 hours!

The moral of the story — do what you need to do to go after the job you want.  Provide free advice and free reports — no strings attached.  Taking the initiative shows a prospective empolyer that you are serious and motivated; it also gives them a current and relevant example of your work.  Good luck out there! 

Last weekend, on the way home from a three-hour school festival, out of nowhere, my 3-year-old nephew stated emphatically…. “Mom, I’m happy today.”

Upon receiving an, “Awww, that’s really nice, Josh” from his Mom, he realized he was on to something.

He then turned to me and said, “Auntie Liz… I”m happy today!”

It made me smile.

He tried to engage his sister, but she ignored him.  So he tried again, “I’m Happy Today!.” And he kept repeating it during the entire 15 minute trip home.  Sometimes to his Mom.  Sometimes to me.  Sometimes to his sister… and sometimes – to no one at all.

And hearing a tired little boy proclaim his happiness to the world was a truly joyful thing.

I’m smiling even now. 

My car can talk.

No, really. It can.

But it’s taken me two years to notice.

I got my 2007 Sentra exactly two years ago this month after my beloved 1996 Altima bit the proverbial dust. I’ve never really bonded with the new car; for one thing, the blind spot is huge. For another thing, the computer is hypersensitive.

One “feature” of the Sentra is its ability to detect when keys are locked inside and respond by unlocking the doors. At least that’s what it’s supposed to do. But nearly every time I lock my car and walk away — the computer beeps and unlocks the doors. Because it’s so hypersensitive, it can sense the keys in my backpack or pocket from 5-10 feet away… and it still thinks they’re inside the car.

It also doesn’t like the cold. If the outside temperature drops near 32 degrees, it displays a constant warning, “Icy.” If the temperature drops below 20 degrees, the computer freaks out thinking that its tires are going flat, and issues me a dire warning that the car is unsafe to drive. I dutifully fill the tires with air, but the car doesn’t believe me. So it keeps the warning light on for a few days just to see if I’m paying attention. Then, when it decides it’s tired of playing with me, it turns the light off.

Like I said… I’ve never really bonded with my car.
But something changed last week.

I bought a new cell phone that has Bluetooth capability. My oh-so-hypersensitive car can actually detect when there is a Bluetooth phone in range, and — get this — it BECOMES a phone!

Now how do I know this? My car told me.

I can push a button on the steering wheel, and say “Call.” The car (yes the CAR!) then replies, “Please say a name, a number, or dial last number called.” Sweet! So, of course, I had to give it a try. After she asked for a name or number, I said “Mom!” …but apparently, my car doesn’t speak English, and proceeded to re-dial the last number called. Since that was the guy from the ATT store who was testing my system, I quickly hit the button on the steering wheel and tried again.

This time I recited my Mom’s phone number. The car prompted, “Say ‘dial’ or continue saying numbers.” I said “Dial.” And the next thing I knew – the car was ringing… and I was talking to my mom! Her voice came through the car speakers, and mine was transmitted through a tiny little microphone in the ceiling.

It was the coolest thing.

I’m starting to look at my car a little differently now. It’s kinda’ like dating someone for a couple years and discovering that they can make a fabulous flourless chocolate cake when you didn’t even know they could cook!

My hypersensitive little car can talk. How cool is that?

So, if you’re ever in the DC area and you see someone driving with both hands on the wheel and no earpiece, talking non-stop to no one in particular… that might just be me. Having a great conversation with my car.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been feverishly creating new designs for my CafePress shop for Valentine’s Day.

But until now, I haven’t had a really great way of showing them off.

Over the weekend, I started a small gallery on Zazzle. Zazzle is another print-to-order company that hosts merchant shops and galleries. It’s smaller than CafePress, but has some very interesting products.

What totally made me smile, though, was the product carousel feature that they provide to their shopkeepers. I created maybe 10-12 products… and they magically put my virtual products on a carousel so I can show them off! Check it out:

The designs are the same ones I have in my big shop on CafePress, but you can get them on slightly different items at Zazzle. I think their two-toned mugs are pretty darned cool! You can click here to see the beginnings of the Lizart Design shop on Zazzle.

Another really cool thing about Zazzle is that as a shopper, you can find a design you like, put it on an item you like, and even write your own text to be part of the design! Or you can upload your own artwork. Among the more crazy (and cool!) items you can create are custom sneakers, skateboards, silk ties, and postage; they also have the usual assortment of shirts, mugs, bags, buttons, stickers, notecards and posters.

And what if you find a design you love, but you don’t like the product that it’s shown on? Well, you can select the product, then “customize” it!! So, for example, if you love the Hippie Heart design, but hate baby doll t-shirts, you can click on the Hippie Heart baby doll tee, then choose a completely different shirt style or color! The system seems to be pretty cutting edge and flexible to give you exactly what you want.

They also have a feature that allows you to become a fan of the LizArt Design shop on Zazzle. If you visit the shop and click to join the fan club, you’ll be automatically alerted when new products are posted!

I’m still learning how things work, but so far, I’m pretty darned impressed!

During my recent travels, I dined out a lot.

I had some fabulous meals and some not-so-fabulous ones. Waitstaff ranged from the most attentive and courteous to the downright rude. There was one restaurant, though, that deserves special mention — due to their combination of superior customer service and fabulous food.

The restaurant is in the town of East Greenwich, RI. It’s a little Thai place, called Herbs and Spices. The ingredients were incredibly fresh, and I had a fabulous lunch.

But I’m getting ahead of of myself.

I have some crazy food allergies, and the craziest is an allergy to soy.  This often makes dining out somewhat of a challenge.

I love curry and I really love mangoes, so I was intrigued to try their signature dish of mango curry.  I don’t usually have issues with Thai curry, so I ordered with confidence and didn’t question whether there was soy in the dish.

The waitress (to whom I had mentioned my allergy upon arrival) went back to the kitchen, and took it upon herself to  examine every ingredient the chef would use!  She returned to the table carrying two unopened cans of curry paste – one yellow and one red.  She noted that the yellow paste appeared to have soy in it, whereas the red paste did not.  She offered to have the chef substitute red curry paste for the yellow, which I gratefully accepted.

All I can say on so many levels is, “wow!”  What great customer service!  It was a great catch on her part, and I learned something new about red and yellow curries.  As for the dish itself?  It was absolutely the best Thai curry I have eaten in recent memory.

If I were an official restaurant reviewer, I’d give Herbs and Spices five stars.  I can’t think of another thing they could have done to make our dining experience more pleasant.  I definitely plan to return for another meal the next time I visit RI. 

As you probably know by now, I love color.

Earlier this week I began the process of creating Valentines Day designs for my CafePress shop.

One concept that I considered was that when you’re in love, everything looks like it’s made of hearts. Naturally, flowers and butterflies came to mind. I played with it for awhile, and created the below graphic. The caption that seemed to suit the final image best was “Love fills the world with color.”

You can see this image on tshirts, sweatshirts, childrens clothing, boxers, briefs, mugs, bags, pillows, journals, pet products, ornaments, framed prints, notecards and much more here in the LizArt Design store. Additional designs will be added to the Valentines Day section in the coming weeks.

Since this particular design seemed appropriate for unfrown.com, I thought I would share it with you now.

I hope your world is filled with the many colors of love.

To my readers: This post is not like the others on this site. It is not designed to make you smile. I learned recently of my ex-mother-in-law’s passing, and this is my goodbye.

When I was in North Carolina over the holidays, I received some sad news. My beloved ex-mother-in-law had passed away on January 14, 2008 — a year ago today. I didn’t even know she was ill.

I met Leni Friedman in the summer of 1992 when I was dating her son. She immediately welcomed me with open arms. She was a warm and loving soul with boundless energy. In so many ways she reminded me of an older version of myself, or at least the me that I aspired to be. In her presence, it was okay to be myself; I was not judged. I was simply loved.

Leni had had many careers in her life — following one path until boredom and inspiration suggested another direction. She was an artist and a musician. An animal lover and a birder. A daughter, a wife, a mom, and a grandmother. And most of all – she was a role model and a friend.

Towards the end of my marriage, I saw a Mothers Day card that read, “Things grow better in sunshine and light,” and I bought it to give her one day. But life had other plans.

When my marriage ended, my ex-husband feared that my bond with his family had grown so strong that they “loved me more.” So he asked that I have no contact with them as he healed. Although it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do (knowing that they wouldn’t know why I simply disappeared from their lives), I complied with his wishes.

I hoped that the pain would get better with time. But even 12 years later, I still get shaky and teary when I think back on my departure.

Leni’s passing has left a gaping hole in my heart. I always assumed that somewhere down the line enough time would have gone by that I could reach out past my embarrassment over what she might have thought of me for leaving. I held onto that Mother’s Day card because I assumed that one day I’d be able to give it to her, and thank her for opening her heart to me.

So Leni, if you can read this from where you are – I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left so abruptly. I’m sorry I was too embarrassed to come back after a few years had passed. I’m sorry I didn’t know you were sick. And I’m so, so sorry that I never got to say goodbye. You touched me indelibly – as I know you did so many others. Your life was a life well lived. I will never forget you, or how it felt to be in your presence. By your example you taught me about unconditional love, and I will carry that in my heart for the rest of my days.

To everyone reading this post, I implore you…let your loved ones know what they mean to you. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Life is short. There’s simply no time to leave things unsaid.

And to Leni — I miss you. I love you. May you rest in peace.