New Delta Wines Onboard!!

Last week Delta had a wine tasting on our campus. They are chosing the new wines that we will be serving on the planes and although my office wasnt invited to participate in the offical tasting, we were able to clean up afterwards!! It was like a dream come true (for me...I LOVE wine!) There were hundreds of bottles to choose from, we were able to take as much as we could carry! I was like a kid in a candy store!! I got the only Malbec left (my favorite type) 2 Bordeaux, 1 Sauvignon Blanc, 1 Chianti, 1 Cabernet Sauvignon, and finally 1 bottle of Port. I would have taken more, but there was one small problem....they were already corked, so they all needed to be drunk in the next couple days (the reds at least.... the port and whites will keep longer) Any way, it was still great because we were able to do a little wine tasting at home. I could easily become a wino!!

Countries Visited

There is a really cool site that will list all countries and you just check off the ones you have been too and they make this map for you. Its not the best map, but gives you an idea of the areas you still need to cover. Me? Asia and Africa are much to WHITE for my liking:)

They also have one for the states. Check it out:
http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

Clintonville Arts Festival

Saturday, before Joanne's weddng, Treffry and I set up at Whetstone Park for the Clintonville Arts Festival. It was just a one day show and unfortunately it rained, but suprisingly we still managed to make a nice chunk o' change.....thanks to one of our repeat customers who came by and spent over $700!! I LOVE her!!

Although we had quite a few successful shows this year, we were also turned down for several that we were really looking forward to participating. We have been getting a lot of feedback from other artists and we believe it may be our booth picture that we submit for applications. (hopefully it's not our jewelry!) We have heard that jurors really dont like see tables with tablecloths just draped over them. The want to see a very professional setup, and they really like to see jewelry display cases. So we have beeen thinking of revamping for a while, but love the overall look of our booth, and didn't want to change everything about it. We always recieve great comments from the customers that our booth is so "fresh" and that they love how we display our jewels on the silver tree branches. It helps them remember us too:)
Ken and Treff worked really hard on Labor Day weekend to come up with a new "look" for Pluma's booth and what they came up with was a great compromise of the original. Take a look at the before and after shots!

BEFORE.....

.....AND AFTER!!!

It is definately a cleaner more professional look. They pulled black vinyl tight around the bottoms of the tables and VIOLA.....now they look like cases!

We thought this might be a good shot of us together for the website...What do you think?

Joanne's Wedding Weekend

6pm at Franklin Park Conservatory. What a perfect setting, it was in a tropical greenhouse. Joanne looked beautiful and she was BEAMING!!!

Her daddy walked her down the aisle.

I have never seen her so happy.....and we have been friends for 9 years. Really it all started when she started dating Rick a few years ago. He is such a great guy and he swept her off her feet. He taught her how to windsurf, they go sailing, camping...always doing something active! She is actually a step-mom now too. She had been waiting for a long time....but good things come to those who wait, right?! I cried at the ceremony, because you could just see how in love they are...I'm such a sucker for the sweet stuff!! I am so happy for my friend!

Rick, Joanne and me snapped a shot during the reception Of course it was another occasion to wear my beautiful gown:))



Ernesto rented a car and also booked a room at the HYATT downtown (and offended Treff for not staying at their house) It was actually really nice though, we were on the 20th floor with a great view of all the skyrises from our bed! (which by the way, was sooooo comfortable....I love those feather pillows) After Joanne's reception we parked at our hotel and walked over to Martinis for a Cosmopolitan. You can see in the next picture how close it was. Ernesto and I used to go here alot. It was where we went on our 2nd or 3rd date.

MARE MARE

Look at that face....my little mare mare

Nester recently put Rare on house restriction. She's allowed to come in to eat and cuddle, but then she has to go back outside. He found some poop under the bed and "flllipped out" (imagine Jerry McGuire). I know I should just buy her a litter box. At first we didn't because we didnt want to commit to a kitty. But really she is very easy to care for........she is a hunter, so when we dont feed her she is catching rodents in the back yard, which I don't really like to see. I will just feed her!

She found this unusual spot to lounge upstairs. Ayy little mouth!!

Pricing Pool Party

It's all about team building at Delta and last Friday we did just that!

We planned a team cookout/pool party

hosted by SWARTZY......at his house in Peachtree City and we all brought drinks and food!
Leo, the tequila man
Mangala and Melanie chowing down...my ceviche was a hit!

Everyone Had a OO7 pic taken....

...some more convincing than others..These guns were much more effective..one squirt and you were soaked...there wasn't a dry person at the party, bathing suit or not!
This may be the jump that caused Scott to sprain his ankle....and caused me to be bringing him ice 3 times a day for the next week!!
"How the hell did I get stuck cooking??"...and serving Cindy drinks all day??" (notice in the background) Things got a little crazy in the pool for a while..the guys made up a game with a yoga ball??

I know what Modica was thinking....
"I can't believe I have to sit here with these idiots outside the office too!"

Oh NO, Bad Show !!!

I guess it had to happen....I had such high hopes for the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival . I thought for sure it would be big money for us, and I cant believe we did this, but we didnt even go back for the second day. Of course that means they will NEVER invite us back, but we made an executive decision that we would not want to do another show in Atlanta in August. It was MISERABLY hot and although grant park does have huge trees, (hence the "shade festival" name) we happened to be positioned between 2 big trees, so for the majority of the day the sun was BEATING on us.
If we would have been selling left and right we may have forgotten the heat, but it just wasn't a busy show. We only sold 6 things all day! The next day we felt a little guilty and questioned our choice....but at 4pm when it started pouring down rain, we KNEW that we did the right thing. Oh well, doing shows is really a learning process. We weren't really upset. It wasn't that people didnt like our stuff, it think the heat just kept people away from the show. That or there wasn't much advertising done?? We are doing another show in Atlanta in one month. It is the first year for the Atlanta Arts Festival, but I know it will get a lot of press. It will be in Piedmont Park September 15-17 and weather will be perfect!! Come see us!!!

The Movie"El Cantante" Reviewed

Last night Ernesto and I went to see the new movie El Cantante staring Marc Anthony and J-Lo. I must say I was expecting a lot more salsa dancing:(

I give the movie a C- but the soundtrack gets A+. I will be downloading it!!

I agree with everything in Roger Ebert's Review below:

"El Cantante," the life and death story of Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony), the godfather of salsa, retraces the same tired footsteps of many another movie druggie before him. He lies, cheats, disappoints those who love him and finally dies, although even the movie loses patience with the dying process, and cuts out before getting to his years with AIDS (from an infected needle). All along the way, he is enabled and berated in equal measure by his wife and sometime manager Puchi (Jennifer Lopez), who is our guide to his story in black-and-white flashbacks.
The end of the movie is a foregone conclusion, and Hector's inexorable descent is depressing, although interrupted by many upbeat musical numbers. Indeed, there seem to be two films here: A musical, with Anthony doing a terrific job of covering Lavoe's music, and a drugalogue. The soundtrack album would be worth having. But there is nothing special about Lavoe's progress toward the grave: Just the same old same old.

Kathy Griffin at the FOX

Boy did I need a laugh. I was having a HORRIBLE week when Smita invited me to see Kathy Griffin at the FOX Theatre Friday night. I have only seen her on tv a few times and have always found her quite annoying. But Smita had a couple tickets given to her at work and I thought SURELY Kathy would have something funny to say during a stand-up routine.......and she did NOT dissappoint!! We were rolling! She sold out 2 shows that night, each seating over 4,000 peeps. Apparently she has a huge gay/lesbian following...and it was in midtown?! She was helarious!!

EAST LAKE GEM FOR SALE

Here is the flyer for the house....which went LIVE Monday August 13th.

check out the virtual tour