Last night, out of the blue, I got an email from brand new FOJ Aymee of PainePR in Los Angeles. She's been reading TheTinyJEWELBox (Who knew??). She invited me to a very cool event next week. I'm sooo excited about it. However, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to publicize it, so I'll wait--it's only a few days away..

She DID say that I'm allowed to bring a laptop, so I'll be tweeting LIVE from the event. I think it's going to be fun. In fact, when I told Husband about it, he asked if he could go too!

So Wednesday is sounding like it's going to be a busy day. I have THAT event in the morning, then I have an Examiner event to cover, followed by an author's lunch that I planned to share on TheTinyJEWELBox, a party thrown by Swarovski Crystals, and finally a family thing--the high school magnet fair--Dear Son is going to high school next year and it's time to apply.

I also got a very cool product in the mail yesterday, to review for ThingsinPink. Look for that to post by the end of the week. I'm busy busy BUSY---and for that I'm very thankful. but what about you? How was your Thanksgiving? What are you most thankful for? What's new in your life?

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Heyyyy!!!! I sure missed you guys!!! But it was a crazy week and I'm not sure I could have gotten thorough it, had I had to have written blog posts.

I did a LOT of things this week--I spent the day with Terribly Girly Photography on Tuesday. I visited with the cast of New Moon AND went to the LUCA LUCA trunk show on Wednesday. On Thursday, I was introduced to the MOST AMAZING hair salon in the world (I'm writing about it next week). Then on Thursday night, I met the great fashion designer, Trina Turk. On Friday, I wrote what feels like a million articles for Examiner. You can read them here.

Also, last week, I was notified by the good folks at Working Divas Network that I was chosen as their very first Blog of the Week. Wow, life is good!

I'm honored that Working Divas Network would recognize lil ole me in such a great way, but I am truly a WORKING diva. My blog ventures through both my personal and professional life, as they are so intertwined.

This week shouldn't be as bad as last week, so expect a few posts.

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

So, as many of you know. I've been in a serious rut. My blog words no longer seem to flow as easily as they once did. I lost my MOJO! I was so overwhelmed and actually felt paralyzed, unable to move forward.

Well, I had a very frank discussion last night with a good friend. We talked about my rut, my goals, my fears, and my plan. We talked about the things I am doing right, as well as the things I haven't done so well.

It was actually therapeutic. It was also humbling to have someone, whose opinion I value, take an honest interest in me and my plan. She was able to show me things that I have never seen before, and help me to formulate a strategy. I feel blessed. That's the GOOD news.

The BAD news is this--while I committed to writing my 2 blogs daily, most days I don't feel good about what I've written. More often than not, it seems to be fluff with no substance. I've decided that on the days that I really don't have anything to say, I simply won't write. So, rather tha a daily blog, TheTinyJEWELBox may become a 5 times a week blog, and sometimes a 3 day a week blog, and I'm sure they'll be weeks that there's only 1 post.

I'm not dropping the blog. Oh heavens no!!! In fact, I'm looking at completely redesigning it to incorporate more of my interests. What it does mean is that when I do write, it'll be straight from the heart. And of course, I'm still writing for Examiner.com. Please subscribe to my page there. And I'm always available through email at TheTinyJEWELBox@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

I'm in a rut. I need help. I can't seem to focus. I'm easily distracted. I'm not getting things done. What is the problem??

I've been overwhelmed since Thursday when I had so much to do that I couldn't even figure out where to start. Well, guess what? I didn't do any of it. At all. What is the problem?

Now, it's Sunday morning. I'm still overwhelmed. I haven't done any of those tasks and have a full week planned. What is the problem?

When you are overwhelmed like this, how do you get out of it? What helps? What hurts? HELP ME!

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

Ok. I confess. I watch Dr Phil. hehehe...Anyhow, this morning Dr Phil played referee between two groups of women--Working Moms vs Stay at Home Moms. I had no idea how controversial this was. There was major attitude and at some points, insults were hurled. I thought it might come to blows.

Both groups thought their way was the best and the other way was the stupidest thing that they had ever heard. Whatever happened to doing what's best for you and your family?

I'm a working mother. My mother was a working mother. I never really gave it a lot of thought when I was growing up. Heck, I LOVED that my mom worked, that meant that I ate!!! I also have friends that had stay at home moms. Those moms were cool too. I don't think either option is an automatic "best." Again, folks should do what's best for them. And if you are on the outside, looking in--STAY IN YOUR LANE!!!

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

This morning, I heard that medical science has so advanced that babies born today are expected to have life expectancy of at least 100 years. Wow!

While this is great news, it also came with several downsides. Social Security will go bust--as it can't pay all of the folks expected to collect. Also, few folks will be able to save enough throughout their lives to care for themselves after retirement. That retirement age is expected to be moved up, with most folks working into their 80s.

I guess, just like with everything else, that good news like this is only good until the reality sinks in. On the other hand, I believe that true glory comes in the afterlife. And if that is so, living to 100 just doesn't sound that appealing...

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

On Thursday night, I attended an uber fabulous jewelry trunk show at a local boutique. I covered it for Examiner.com. You can read that story here. But as usual, there's a story behind the story.

Yesterday, I got ready to write the story. I downloaded the pictures and video to my desktop. I logged into the publishing tool and started writing--and the computer CRASHED! It just rebooted itself. I was a bit taken aback, but okay fine--I guess I can live with that.

Windows came back up and just as I got to the Desktop, it rebooted itself again. I think this is where I started to panic a bit. But I tried to remain calm. The pattern started--Desktop/Reboot. After about 5 times, I remembered that I hadn't saved the video to the Flip.

I yelled for my husband. He is always so calm. He said, simply, "Let's take it in." I agreed. Within a half hour, we were in line at Geek Squad inside Best Buy. There a 19 year old genius announced that the computer wasn't working properly. Hmmph..as if I hadn't figured that out. I reminded him that I had stuff in my refrigerator older than him. He said that he thought it could be fixed, but wasn't sure if he could save my data. I walked away.

I walked right over to the new computers. They have all kinds there. Big ones, little ones, black ones, white ones, pink ones... If I wasn't such a brokeaholic, I would have bought a new one. But I am. So I didn't. Boy Genius says it should be ready by Tuesday. All I could think about was FOJ Denise's recent experience with Geek Squad...

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

Last Thursday, I was invited to a great Spa Night event at the Acqualina Hotel in Miami. In case, you've never heard of it, the Acqualina is one of the nicest hotels in the country. I jumped at the opportunity to go. You can read my review of ESPA at Aqualina here.

But what I really wanted to talk about is what you WON'T read in the review. How about I embarassed myself YET again!!!! Here's the story--

I decided to wear a peach colored linen suit with either a black or white tank under. I couldn't decide which. And whichever color tank I wore, I wanted to pull my hair back with the same color headband. One of the elastic stretchy ones.

I kept exchanging the tops and headbands, not able to decide which I wanted to wear. Finally, I decided on the black tank, but then I couldn't find the black headband. I had JUST had it 2 seconds before. I thought it was on the bed. I looked on the bed. I looked beside the bed. I looked under the bed. No black headband. And it was time to go, so i simply switched tanks and put on my white headband and headed out. Mind you, I was standing in front of a FULL LENGTH mirror the entire time.

So anywho, I get to the Acqualina, valeted by car and went in and introduced myself to the very nice man at the front desk. He went to get my contact and while I waited, I took pictures of the lobby. When my contact came, a very lovely young woman named Jessica, she escorted me into the Relaxation Room to begin the experience. I have to say, ESPA was nice! It is probably the nicest spa I've ever been in. It's 20,000 sqare feet spread over 2 floors of pure luxury. The event was pretty swanky too. I was rubbing elbows with the creme de la creme of Miami. It was great.

I was so impressed that on the way home, I called FOJ Monique to gush about it. I told her every detail. I planned to go back next month. I came in to get undressed and THAT's when I discovered it!!!! Do you know that I had that black headband on all the time--AROUND MY NECK????? I was mortified!!!! How could I have worn that around my neck the entire time?? And I didn't even notice how HOT my neck was until I took it off. I had used it for a sweatband!!!! Do you think anyone noticed?? Do you think that they thought it was a new fashion trend?? If you happen to see women wearing headbands as chokers now, please know that I started it.

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

Last week, I eluded to big news coming up. Well, it's official--I've gotten my first paid writing gig. I'm so excited to share this with you. It was only last New Year's Eve that I performed and self examination, as well as a lot of reflection, and decided that what I really wanted to do with my life was write. The very next day, I started this blog. Now, mere months later, I have become the Miami Fashion and Style Examiner for Examiner.com.

Examiner.com is website that focuses on local news, written by local writers. While it's certainly not the Washington Post, I'm glad they bought me on board.

I will cover South Florida from a girly perspective and everytime I think about it, I just giggle! Please do me a great favor and check out my page. There's only 1 article published, as I had to wait for it to be reviewed and accepted, before the page became live. There will be many new articles coming up. While I won't publish daily, I'm required to keep the content fresh, new, and timely.

This is different from my blog in a huge way. While my blog is comprised of my personal opinions, Examiner.com is focused on fact-based articles--more like news. I've added a button on the sidebar to make it easier for you to find me in the future. Let me know what you think!

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I post daily. So that you don't miss any of my randomness, you might want to subscribe by email.

Some exciting things are happening in my professional life! I can't share a lot right now, but I should be making a huge announcement in the next week or so.

If things go as planned, I should be spending a lot more time working from home. And while that can be a blessing, a few years ago I worked exclusively from home, with my office and boss being about 1200 miles away. While I certainly enjoyed the autonomy that such an arrangement brings, I did have a few issues with it.

First of all, I found myself longing for human contact after a few months. I did have a lot of phone contact, as well as client appointments, but most days were spent sitting at my desk, with only my radio for company. Believe it or not, it was lonely. The second issue was that even though I had a legitimate job, earning legitimate income--folks always thought that I had an hour to chitchat on the phone with them or that they could just drop by and I wouldn't be "busy." They didn't seem to realize that even though I was at home, I still had things that needed to get done and I wasn't just shooting the breeze.

Recent studies suggest that employees working from home actually get MORE done than those in the office, contrary to popular belief. I tend to agree--when you go to work, you have set hours and most of your work is done in those hours. When you work from home, you tend to start earlier and work later, as well as many weekend hours.

What do you think? Do you work from home? How productive are you? Do you know someone who works from home? Do you take advantage of their situation, by asking them to pick up your kids from daycare or go check on your sick pet?

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As vacation comes to a close, I must say that I had a great time. There were many things that we always do that we didn't this time. There are also things that we've never done, but have now been added into the rotation. I loved being with family and having a large group around. I hated being with family and having a large group around. It's so bittersweet! And there are tons of pictures so that I can forever relive it.

But now work looms. School starts later this month. College tours start in September. Back to the mundane routine. Summer is over.

What did you guys do this summer? Is it over for you or do you still have some fun left? Share your adventures with me...

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So, we've bailed out the banking industry, we've invested millions into the auto industry--including cash for clunkers, we're helping homeowners. But why is it that in the world's most powerful country, our education system is far inferior to our European and Asian counterparts?

When are we going to dump some cash into educating our youth? Why can't our kids compete in the areas of math and science? Why are public school budgets being slashed to bare bones all across the country? Why aren't we holding our elected officials accountable for these decisions?

What message does it send to the students--are cars and banks more important than them? Are they truly our most precious resource? Do we have "jacked up" priorities?

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Today marks the 19th anniversary of then President George H W Bush signing the ADA. It's the law that protects individuals with physical or mental impairments. It protects them in the areas of Employment, Public Entities & Public Transportation, Public Accommodations, and Telecommunications, among others. It prevents discrimination.

What does it say about society when we need laws to protect the least of us?

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My problem lately has been focus. I have a long list of things that I need to get accomplished and I just never seem to get started.

This week is nearly filled to the brim. So I'm not going to try to pack more into it. But, starting next week--I will plan my work and work my plan. If I am to received all the blessings that I believe are in store for me, I have to put in the work. I simply haven't been doing it.

But the staycation is over. I am back on course. As always, if you are an obstacle in my path--PREPARE TO BE TRAMPLED!

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Yesterday, at a shopping center in Miami, yet another baby was forgotten in an automobile, and died tragically. The mother worked there and simply drove to work, got out, and never thought of the baby again for 6 hours. The temperature in the car is thought to have gotten up to about 130 degrees. How very tragic...

I'm sure she will never be the same. While the news didn't show her on camera, you could hear her wails of anguish, someplace just off camera. It was heartwrenching.

While some might question this mother's ability to parent, I immediately thought of something else. Suppose the woman was simply sleep deprived, working around the clock to pay her bills. Suppose she's short on rent this month, and consumed with thoughts of homelessness. While I have no idea if this was indeed the case, it is certainly a possibility.

I'm just not sure if I'm in a position to judge her, especially as she plans a funeral for her toddler. I'll reserve judgement until all the facts have come to light.

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For more than a week, I have been in turmoil. Someone in my life has betrayed me. Someone did the unthinkable and not only did I not see it coming, I didn't even think he was capable of committing such an offense.

I trusted him. I took him at his word. I knew that he would do right by me. He didn't. Now I find myself going back over the past, trying to figure out if he starting being untrue only recently, or if everything was a lie. I can't figure it out.

I boasted about him. I told others what a good person he was/is, a mensch(a person of integrity and honor). He shattered all of that, in one fell swoop. Now he doesn't talk to me. He thinks I'm angry with him. I'm not. I pity him as I do anyone who, like him, succumbs to the God of Greed.

Things will never be the same. We can't go back. I know this. But how long before I feel better?

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