Nevergirl’s

There are things in life you don’t have to see to know. For instance, I have never seen cherry blossoms  but I know the sight of one tree in full bloom will take my breath away. I have never swum my way to the middle of the sea (because I can’t swim) but I know it’s one place I can simultaneously peer at the sky and my soul. I have never touched a snowflake but I know it will feel like Christmas to me. I have never smoked Dutch Master cigars but I know they will send me running for the nebulizer. (more…)

I saw the photos from the Bangkok girls (read: the ones who do ALL of the grunt work, like shopping, lugging all the clothes home, picture-taking, and shipping), and this early I have pre-ordered tons of dresses. I know this is bad for business. If we all buy the clothes we sell, what will customers have left? BUT I can’t help it – the dresses are so pretty! Plus, this project really is more like a FUN collaboration rather than serious-ass work. Work is seldom fun. Work is mostly NEVER fun. Work is having to google for Real Estate Job Search and not finding any, or having to wash a five-feet-high pile of plates using Safeguard. Okay, that last idea is just weird.

Anyway, here are some of the dresses. I’m ashamed to confess I bought the three of them, among others. Hahaha! I couldn’t help it, they are so affordable. Price range is from P300 to P500. Cheap, huh?

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It’s list time again! I’m sure Lurchie will be thrilled by this announcement. That woman has a strange love for lists. But, hey, who am I to judge when I classify chocolate as a food group and regularly write letters to body parts?

So, on with the list! Here are six things I’d love to do DAILY, if I can.

1. I love cranking up the AC even though the room ends up so chilly that all of us, even the toddler Charlie, have to go to bed wearing leg warmers. Nope, I don’t do it to jack up the power bill – I am NOT a masochist like that. I do it because I have trouble sleeping.

Freezing forces me to stop tapping away on my keyboard. It forces us to huddle together, even in our sleep. And, it feels a lot like Christmas, too. I don’t know why I equate freezing temperatures with Christmas, but obviously, I want every night to feel like Christmas.

2. I love talking to friends, just not over the phone. One, phone conversations lack the body language and nuance I enjoy so dearly in face-to-face conversations. Two, I hate it when my phone feels hot against my ear. And three, I resent my phone – all cell phones in general, in fact. I don’t find my phone necessary; I find it annoying especially when it bleeps non-stop or rings off the hook. Technology, I believe, shouldn’t be more demanding than our own kids or mothers!

3.  I love eating. I eat when I watch TV (which is very rarely), read books, or get my nails done. I eat when I’m most busy and when I’m most idle. Never mind asking what I eat. I’m sure the things on our menu will appall most of you. I eat when I’m upset, when I’m not doing anything, when I am doing many things, when I’m happy, when I’m unhappy. I eat dinner twice, do you know that? Well, now you do. So yes, I eat a lot… and if we ever get stuck in the Andres, in the winter, with no hope of rescue in sight, I just may eat you, too. I kid! I was just pulling your leg and making a reference to that movie – you have seen it, haven’t you?

4. I love NOT going to my dentist. I realize now my fear of dentists isn’t pain-related; it’s bill-related.

5. I love chocolate. If we ever get us a pet (we haven’t yet because I’m allergic to just about anything), I will name it Chocolate. Or, I might name my third child Chocolate.

6. I love drawing up lists. Lists make me happy – they give my day direction, and my life sense. I admit my lists don’t fix everything. They don’t reverse recessions, they don’t stop storms, and they don’t pay bills. BUT – and this is a big but - they give me perspective, and that’s really all I need my lists to do.

Happy Monday, y’all!

It’s kind of mind-bending how many hours of each day I spend online. I’m an Internet junkie and I suspect it’s a sorry byproduct of all those years I had to use a typewriter, instead of a laptop. I read all sorts of hogwash, too, from make up reviews to prices of used rv for sale to how Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and I’m also tinkering with the soon-to-open virtual shop… and by tinkering, I really mean buying up my own stocks. They’re so pretty, and they’re so cheap — and I sound so shallow. Hahaha!

But, I digress. Let’s go back to the typewriter. My Lola’s typewriter, to be exact. How could I forget that typewriter? It slowed my project completion to a crawl!

What happened was this: a single-page essay took days to make, not because I write slow, don’t have thoughts to write, or can’t react to the film or book we have to make the paper on BUT because I was using a typewriter — and hey, who wouldn’t be slow using a typewriter? For one, I have fingers so thin they end up trapped in between keys. I had to keep reclaiming those body parts. For another, I have to wait til the white ink dries before I can go back and correct erroneously typed letters. And so yes, each paper took days to make. It was a slow process, and one that made me clench my teeth in rage from start to finish.

Still, that typewriter was a mighty fine one. It put up with all the use and abuse I put it through. And, considering how it managed to hold itself together despite my heavy two-finger typing, er pounding, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still around, sitting prim, fat, and proper in one corner.