And WHICH budget would that come out of????

The call came in from the Board President…if you ever want me to pick up my phone, just use the Board President's cell phone and I will be sure to answer! I KNOW to answer that phone call!!! He is always very direct and asked how many Poinsettia plants I wanted to order for the Art Center for Holiday decoration. HMMMMM….since I provide the weekly floral arrangements (at my own expense), I was very surprised to find that the Art Center bought Poinsettias for the Holidays. And, as I am very FAMILIAR with every line in our budget, never noticed one for Holiday poinsettias! And, not wishing to appear confused on the phone with the Board President, (these are the issues I face on a daily basis!!!!) I decided that honesty would be the best. "I didn't realize that we purchased Poinsettias for the Holidays. Did we do this last year?" (I have found it wise to ask if they did it last year…gives a reference point!) "Well, yes…I am sure we did." Always wanting to provide a more decorative interior for the Art Center, I was thrilled that we did this. However, with no idea how we would pay for it, short of MOI paying for it…decided to inquire further! The Board President went on to say that we had ordered some small ones and medium size ones. O.K.???? "And Which Budget would this come out of???" The Board President seemed a bit surprised that I would be so hesitant to order the Poinsettias. Don't get MOI wrong, I LOVE poinsettias…Jeff loves Poinsettias we all LOVE poinsettias…but, as we all know, the take lots of care, watering and maintenance to look FAB! Plus, they don't like the cold and I could only think of putting them by the entrance, with a door that opens constantly. ON THE OTHER HAND….it would save MOI time, since I wouldn't have to do the arrangements for a few weeks. And let's be honest….I am truly into saving times these days!!! I am like, WHO CAN I PAY TO DO THINGS!!! And it isn't event December yet (I usually flip out at that time of year..this is a little early!!!

We have our Winter Expo Arts and Crafts sale staring in November and running until mid-December, which has put me into high gear a little earlier than usual! The Expo takes over the entire first floor of the Art Center with 85 artists selling their items….so, not sure we would even have the space for those poinsettias. You can see my dilemma…. There had to be MORE to this phone call…You know how that goes with your kids, when you are getting only PART OF THE STORY…it was that same conversation. So….the Board President continued to say that he was selling them for one of his organizations!! Are you Kidding MOI??!!!!

That's better!! Everyone should know that you can't fool MOM! Now, I get the picture. I always order poinsettias for our house from various fundraisers, so I am happy to order them from him! "Here's the deal….we can't order them for the Art Center, but I am happy to buy them for my house." Not quite the response he was looking for, but continued…"Well, how many do you want? They are small, medium and large." CLEARLY, he does not buy poinsettias for his own home. SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE…I need dimensions… "Do they come in different colors?" I always order a selection and like the pink/white combos. "Different Colors???" I could see that he wasn't a happy camper…He just wanted me to say 5 medium ones in red, this was getting to be an ORDEAL…but, hey….if I am buying them for my home…I want them to be right! "Do you have an order form that lists all the info???" This put him over the edge…First the sigh, then he said he had to go, but would drop something off this week. I truly didn't mean to be difficult, but, for a floral arranger, poinsettias are IMPORTANT! Just trying to do my job and stay on BUDGET!!!!

Went to a luncheon for my new group, CWIP – love that acronym! Chicago Women in Philanthropy. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary with a luncheon honoring Desiree Rogers, now the President of Social Networking for Allstate. That is a title for MOI to aspire too!!!!!!! She is an amazing woman and has been a role model for working women, so I was looking forward to words of wisdom from this super woman!! She was dressed in a very Chic and FAB suit! Love that!! Couldn't see the shoes from my seat, but I just KNEW they would be perfect! She received her award and then took the podium to much applause….the room grew quiet and she began. "I really don't like to speak from prepared notes….." Are you kidding MOI!! Here is this super woman, speaking off the cuff…I knew we were in trouble! She spent the first 5 minutes thanking everyone, a nice touch and then sort of "winged it!" As you all know, I am La REIGN of winging it, but not when I am speaking to a group of 500 women! She started talking a bit about the downturn in the economy and how it would be affecting nonprofits…O.K., here we go…..looking for a way to perhaps see if there will be hope for this year ahead! That aforementioned budget will only be balanced, if I make that 25% increase in my fundraising…

She went on to say that nonprofits should look to having more volunteers to help out, since people will have less money to donate, they will give more time.
Less Money..More Time??????

My mind is reeling…maybe a slogan… "We will take your time, instead of your money!" Then, I thought….I really need to see how I can turn those volunteer hours into $$$$$ (if I figure out how to do this, then I will truly be amazing!!). Now, many of us do volunteer to raise $$$ for many nonprofits, but, this wasn't what she was referring to in this speech. I think she felt that we could have volunteers do things that nonprofits pay for, thereby saving us money! There is some merit in this! However, nonprofits truly have become leaner in the past few years, so those fun volunteer jobs have gone away!! The jobs that we need help with are data entry and maintenance! Not so enticing for those volunteers and then there is the little problem of paying for certain services. Artists are very generous people, but if they are teaching classes, they would like to be paid! This is their job! Not sure if volunteers teaching their classes will really make it!

The speech ended and I found myself standing close to Desiree as we were leaving. I thought here is my chance to really get further definition on her Less/More theme…maybe some ideas. I waited patiently for my turn and was about to introduce myself, when this younger woman just walked right in front of MOI! She had on a name badge with her bank listed on it(and one that I KNOW people at!)….I didn't say anything, mainly because I was so surprised that someone would be so RUDE! She introduced herself, chatted and then walked off. Of course, by this time, Desiree had to go, so missed my moment…Heading over to the elevator, the door opened and I got in, the doors were just about to close when Ms. Rude walks in. She looks at MOI (We had 20 floors to go!) and realizes who I was. She turned and said, "I am sorry, that was so RUDE of me to go in front of you, just now." A nice touch, I thought, but I couldn't help myself and replied… "You should really think about breaking into a conversation, while wearing a name tag."

Chic for Less is now everywhere-including an entire section in the November issue of INSTYLE mag! BUY IT!!! TarJay is still hot…People Mag featured many of the items I wrote about last week! Although, some of the items are already sold out online!! See if you can find them in stores and BUY THEM!

For Handbags-check out www.sandraroberts.com some great buys under $100!!! Also, www.shopsueyboutique.com has a great selection!
Check out the bracelets at J. Crew – www.jcrew.com, they are 12K gold-plated with resin and wood beads, so fab and at $95- a great look for not too much $$$
Great bangle bracelets for $30 and $35 at www.emitations.com stack them with your watch or mix them with your bracelets from J. Crew. Keep all other jewelry minimal!

And with SNOW in this week's forecast….Boots are everywhere! Saw some very cute ones form Hogan at Saks…they are motorcycle in style with a round toe, Mid-calf and a small buckle detail…but, on the other hand, you probably will have more fun shopping at this website where BOOTS are FAB at www.newport-news.com

Love the Patent Leather High boots and also the booties with a ribbon detail.
"Luke" faux leather boots by Michael Antonio at www.shiekhshoes.com for $53 are Fab and you won't have to worry about the snow ruining them!!

And as it gets colder some tips for LIPS!

Fab Lip Glosser-for $29 – you will love it!
http://lauragormancosmetics.com/products/lip-toxyl-sheer-starlet

And for under $10 the following!
LanoLip's All-Natural Lip Scrub exfoliates and SMOOTHS with sugar! YUM!! www.lanolip.com $9.99

CoverGirl Outlast Smoothwear lipliner's precision pen lasts all day (or at least a long time!!) $5.99 at Drugstores

Collagen-boosting (always FAB) Sally Hansen Lip Line treatment fills in those little lines around the mouth! $9.95 at Drugstores

Korres Lip Butter in Pomegranate is filled with antioxidants, including vitamin C and E, gives chapped lips a shine and touch of pink! www.sephora.com $9

Vaseline Lip Therapy in Cherry is time tested and FAB for $1.99 at Drugstores.

Green by Nature Lip Shine gives you a shine with a peppermint-oil glaze which leaves your breath smelling FAB too! For $9.99, A 2-fer!! www.greenbynaturebeauty.com

Happy Halloween!!
Love, P

“I’m the Executive Director and this is ......"

Paula, who does everything else!"

WHATTTTTTT??? Did I hear that correctly???

My boss and I were at one of our "Art Collectors" events-this is one of our "exclusive" benefits of membership at the art center (discounts on art classes is the other-although, this past week I was "dialing for dollars" as one of my staff members put it, as I arranged for other discounts at Art Supply and Framing stores…). My boss was welcoming the group of attendees to this event on Friday evening (love these events that go from 7-9 p.m. on Friday evenings!) I had spent part of the day running around to get the food, then set it up and bring it over to the house, unload, set-up and of course, look FAB and be charming to great all our members. Not so sure about the looking FAB part…probably, looking TIRED would be more like it! You know, it is rough to look good by Friday evening without a little time to "freshen up!" I managed to do the lipstick as blush thing as I was driving over. I found a concealer stick in my make-up bag and was working on the under eye area at a stoplight and looked over to see another woman giving me the HIGH FIVE sign!! A SISTER!!!!! I thought, thank goodness, I had that concealer! I could have used some hair goop to make my bangs straight, but had to sort of mush them to the side-thank goodness for the toussled look!! Sexy on some, hiding bad bangs on others!!!!!

Needless to say, by the time folks started to arrive, I was ready to go home!! But, always trying to be cheerful, I put my "party" face on and graciously poured beverages…of course, the Board President had arrived and started to ask MOI something and all of the sudden, the allergies went into gear and I started sneezing…Trying to avoid the food buffet, which I was standing behind, I just smiled and RAN out of the room. The collection was all on the first floor and no place to go…so I headed out the front door!! I stood outside sneezing and now coughing when my boss arrived. "Good God, Paula. What is WRONG with you??" I just looked at him and said "LEAVES!" Finished with my "FIT" and returned inside to apologize to the Board President for my rather hasty departure. Ended up serving everyone and making small talk encouraging everyone there to donate $10K each and then I would be in good shape for the rest of the year!!! IN MY DREAMS!! I was just hoping that everyone had paid their $25 donation for the evening. (the receptionists take the reservations)…I will have to check the list on Monday, since several were supposed to pay at the door and arrived empty handed, but we didn't have name tags, so not sure who paid and who didn't! Have to work on that system!

The program started and my boss came out with that INTRO! I guess, it doesn't get any better than this!

I can never decide if the Fall is busier than the Spring…it is always such a toss up! I did notice when I looked at the projected fall calendar, things would be a tad busy in the fall…but still HAD NO IDEA!! Just so many deadlines all over the place and of course, no control over all the pieces, so one has to work around EVERYONE else's schedules…but, hey, I am a MOM which is, as we all know, perfect training for working with EVERYONE else's schedules and at the same time, trying to fit in a Manicure/Hair Cut/Lunch with friends, if you can!

This past week was Arts Week across the state of Illinois, so we had special events going on at the Art Center all week. Thursday morning was meet your Legislators at a student run artist café located close to my high school. I thought it would be fun to go back to the old neighborhood!!!! It was an early morning affair, so put on the business suit, with beige fishnets and pointy-toed heels. Not so sure what to wear to a Legislator's Breakfast, but they had representatives from the Federal and State, so best to go with the "Corporate" attire. Arrived to see all the Artists were wearing their usual attire….and yours truly, the only one in a suit aside from the Legislators, who all wore suits and the women all had BAD SHOES!! One did her best to show her support of the arts by wearing a very pretty pin from an Illinois artist, but she also had on a necklace and earrings that did not go with that pin. I surmised that she just put that pin on THINKING she could fool this group, but AU CONTRAIRE…little did she know…I was on to her. I am sure she took that pin off the minute she left….You can't fool MOI!! And those SHOES….Maybe I should have given them a few fashion tips!

HELLO…people are looking at your shoes!!! Bad shoes can always be distracting! I guess they are used to speaking behind podiums, so maybe folks couldn't see their shoes-please don't ask MOI what they talked about…I was too busy staring at shoes! Since I live in a different legislative district, I couldn't vote for this folks, but since I try to get funding from all levels of government, I was very curious to hear what they had to say about any additional funding they might provide to the Arts!

They each had 10 minutes to talk, but the time the 4^th person started….I was looking at my watch! By now it was 9:30 a.m. and you know how you get that feeling that things are not going well….like the times you are in the grocery store and you finally find everything you need and you rush to the check out line to see only ONE person checking folks out and the clock shows that you can only stand in line for 5 minutes, check out, BAG your groceries, rush to your car, unload the groceries into the car and then rush to pick up your kids. You are torn between LEAVING your FULL cart and doing this all over again WITH YOUR CHILDREN, or risking the wrath of your children yelling at you because you are late picking them up. It was that feeling! AND isn't it funny, even though your kids are grown….you still remember that feeling!!!! So when the 5^th person started chatting about supporting the arts and her kids were taking dance lessons and drum lessons and how she might have to buy a "real" set of drums….I don't know what possessed MOI, but I said, in a rather loud voice, that I had that set of drums and that we could work out some sort of deal!!! The room erupted into laughter.

As soon as it was over, I rushed out to see 5 messages on my cell phone…. ARE YOU KIDDING MOI?? It was only 10:20 a.m.?? Jumped in the car and started listening to them. The first was from the Board President who said that he wanted to redo a letter that was going out to the Board and he would be at the Art Center at 10:30 a.m. This was followed by messages from other co-workers saying that my Ikebana sensei couldn't be there today, since her husband was sick. Of course, this was the day that we were having an Open House for the public, as part of arts week, and the Ikebana class was the featured class……AND….I also had two deadlines, one for our newsletter and the other for our winter expo event. Oh, did I also mention the call from my boss wondering why we didn't have an article in a publication about our current exhibition. I seriously thought about just driving home and going to back to bed! I had already spent the morning with people of power and influence and done my best to distinguish myself, or at best make a statement. But then, as you all know…I just THRIVE on this kind of thing! Always up to a challenge, however, still felt terrible from my allergies, so not quite 100%, but I had on those shoes and enough coffee for a lifetime..so GOOD TO GO!

Arrived to greet the Board President, and ready to tackle that letter. Called a local florist (thank goodness I spend a fortune with them-I know Jeff would also agree!!!!), and told them I needed WHATEVER they had to make 15 sets for the Ikebana class-AND COULD THEY DELIVER IT?? THANK GOODNESS FOR VISA! Met with the graphic artist who was not pleased that I didn't have all the copy for the newsletter finished, but told her that I would treat her to lunch next week! Met with winter expo coordinator and tried to smooth that one over….Flowers arrived and then to set up for the Ikebana lesson and demo….Folks arrived and the room filled up! GO IKEBANA!!! Finished the course, graphic artist gave me until tomorrow to finish the copy (will have to buy her a NICE LUNCH) and then…miracles upon miracles….at 5 p.m. I went to check my email and there was a message from the editor of the publication I have been trying to get an article in!!! He apologized for being so late in responding, but was sending his best reporter out in the next week and then signed it… "All the best," ALL THE BEST…editors never respond this way…well, I shouldn't say never, but most of the time, I spend so much time BEGGING them to write something…and there it is…ALL THE BEST…

It is so funny…..when things seem at their darkest…the light always shines!

GO immediately to TARJAY!! Or to www.target.com

Oh MY!

Go to the Go International section. Very cute clothes by Jonathan Saunders…they are Junior sized, so you probably need to order up a size or two, but very cute jackets and sweaters…maybe buy the Mini dresses for your daughter, but the tops are FAB!!!

Then…move on over to the ANYA HINDMARCH line. Just buy all the handbags! Here stuff is SO FAB and SO CHIC!!!!!! Love the entire line…Then over to shoes….and lo and behold…SIGERSON MORRISON…it is like Christmas! Her ballet flats are fab!! But at these prices just buy it all! I have ballet flats I bought 5 years ago and they are still FAB!!!!!! And last buy not least…jewelry-the line by Dean Harris may not be your thing, but check out it out! I love the earrings and bracelets! The necklaces are great for layering….many great pieces that look like they cost $$$$!

And once again, you heard it here first! A Victor line (the one from Carson's) sweater was featured in this Sunday Trib's fashion section! I know you already own it!!!!

Have a great week!!!!

Lots of love,

P