Mellow Nights: Call For Artists

Mellow Massage Therapy Center in the East Falls section of Philadelphia is looking for artists for their bi-monthly event, Mellow Nights. Mellow Nights will combine fine art, live music, and massage therapy as a fundraiser for various charitable organizations that support the same artistic endeavors. The first event will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2009.

The chosen artist will have their original artwork featured on the evening of the affair in a “gallery-opening style” event. Artwork will then be required to hang in the lobby and treatment rooms at Mellow Massage Therapy Center for a time period of 2 months.

All pieces will be made available to clients for purchase. Whatever pieces are not sold must be picked up at the end of this 2 month period.

We are looking for art that inspires and/or compliments a relaxing atmosphere. Pieces should be of any medium, however they must be easily hung on a wall. Free standing sculptures will not qualify.

For submission, please provide a link to your electronic portfolio / website. You may also submit 5 samples of your work via e-mail attachment to info@mellowmassage.com. Please note, though only 5 pieces are required as submission for consideration, more may be needed for the exhibit dependent upon the size or the artwork.

You will be notified via email if we choose to display your art. The deadline for submission is Monday, September 7, 2009. All submissions not chosen for the upcoming event will be considered for subsequent months.

Please send questions to Vanessa Hazzard-Tillman at vanessa@mellowmassage.com.

I need...

...to find a very good book to read. Something to make my mind slow down a bit…
This weekend will be the busiest we’ve had yet over at Mellow. Even with the cancelation we just had, Saturday will keep us mega busy. MEGA. I’m excited.

My theory...

... is that if I work my ass off for the next few years, save and plan accordingly, and pray really hard, I’ll be able to get my self together financially so that I can actually spend more time with family and friends in the future. Not sure if it’s possible because of course with age comes more expenses and things. But the concept of living simply and frugally have been on the mind lately and I think the combination of these plus hard work will pay off. For now though I think I sleep less and less each night from all the work.

The list of things to do continues to grow… seems like every time I finish one thing, quite a few more jump onto it. But that’s the beauty of the life I currently choose… so it is what it is.

Had Jury Duty yesterday but didn’t get called. So I ended up sitting in the waiting room for the majority of the day. (We were let go early… around 2:30). Managed to squeak out a newsletter for the mailing list. (Valentine’s Day Gift Certificates are on sale so partake. :) ) Also input some more of the mounting intake forms into the database. So it wasn’t a wasted day.

There’s finally a sign up at Sherman Mills to let people know where Mellow is. Only took a year. It looks really great though. I’ll show pictures sometime.

Best of Philly Party

Last night was the "Best of Philly" Party for the 2008 winners. The event was held in the atrium of the Kimmel Center on Broad Street. It was such an honor to be among the business owners and individuals that have been blessed with the title “Best of Philly.” This is the 100th year anniversary of the birth of Philadelphia Magazine, and also the 35th anniversary of the Best of Philly Awards so the event was without doubt a celebration. Food and drinks flowed freely all night, and though I didn’t network quite as much as I should have, I must say… we had a beautiful time. Winning this award so early on in our journey is such an amazing blessing. The calls have started to come in more frequently because of it. We’re working very hard to keep up with the sudden inflow of clients. As always, things are up and things are down… right now they’re up. And we’re thrilled.

Mellow Wins Best of Philly!

So much is happening… I certainly owe a decent update. I promise to provide one soon.

But in the mean time you should know…

Mellow has just won a Best of Philly 2008 Award from Philadelphia Magazine! Many Thanks to all of our supporters. Please pick up a copy of the August Issue of Philadelphia Magazine and check us out! (pg 132)

Stay Mellow

Mellow has a new blog.
Check back frequently, comment, and ENJOY!

http://mellowmassage.blogspot.com/

Yesterday

East Falls revival may be stirring

Reprint from Philly.com


East Falls revival may be stirring

Developers and cash are arriving, and a new look is emerging.
By Dianna Marder
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER


Clearing the RecordThis article regarding East Falls misstated the relationship between the owners of the Pour House Tavern, 4213 Ridge Avenue, and developer Mark Sherman. Sherman is the landlord of the property; he is not involved in the management of the business.


If a single city neighborhood could lay claim to the only outlet for something as exotic as Tunisian harissa pasta, would that neighborhood be considered chic?

Maybe, but East Falls knows better than to put all its hope into one market basket.
Blessed with proximity to the Schuylkill (river and expressway), this slice of the city gave the world Grace Kelly and a slew of recipes for catfish. Thousands of commuters pass by daily on Ridge Avenue, and on weekends thousands more stroll and cycle by on Kelly Drive.

But for all its potential, East Falls seemed to sleep through the revivals in Manayunk, Fairmount, Brewerytown, Northern Liberties, Port Richmond and Fishtown.

Now the new Marketplace at East Falls is up and running, offering shoppers the Tunisian pasta and a Reading Terminal-style greengrocery. And more development is on the way.

With the anticipated infusion of nearly $400 million in public and private dollars, East Falls is in for an extreme makeover.

"Now there are a lot of pent-up expectations in East Falls," said Carolyn Sutton, who chairs the board of the East Falls Development Corp. "We all feel as though success is just around the corner."

But. In East Falls, there's always a but.

Fallsers, as the locals are known, have heard talk of an economic revival for nearly a decade - even as they watched restaurants open to acclaim and shutter for lack of customers.

The neighborhood's most prominent intersection, at Ridge and Midvale Avenues, still has more storefronts empty than occupied. Intense civic involvement breeds fractiousness that can make progress difficult. And native son Mark Sherman's return to the roost as a major real estate developer has only added complexity - and controversy - to a dizzying development scene.
"We've been waiting a long time," longtime resident Jerry McCormick said last month at a ceremony marking the lighting of the landmark Falls Bridge across the Schuylkill to accentuate the planned gateway.

"I've lived here 26 years," said McCormick, a public school teacher, "and I've been waiting."

Updating a rich historyNestled by the Schuylkill and the Wissahickon in Northwest Philadelphia, East Falls is where John B. Kelly, the self-made millionaire and triple gold-medal-winning Olympic rower, raised Grace and Jack Jr. The Old Academy Playhouse, where Grace got her start, still draws crowds, and Kelly Drive was renamed in memory of Jack Jr. - an Olympic oarsman like his father and a member of City Council.

Gov. Rendell, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fatah, and a cadre of elite city officials whose jobs come with residency requirements have homes at the top of the hill, near Philadelphia University - in a section rich in architecture with estates that attest to a grand past.
There were indeed falls in East Falls - that's what made it such a haven for catfish. But the creation of the Fairmount Dam three miles downriver in the early 19th century ultimately submerged the falls, leaving only a few rocks protruding from the river. Millwork became more important then.

In the late 1800s, industrialists built mansions here that looked down on the lower falls - on their mills and the rowhomes they built for their workers.

But the community seems to split along the tracks where the R6 Norristown Line runs.
Here the streets become narrow and steep, almost tumbling down toward the Schuylkill. This is where workers labored and lived in the 1850s.

Despite recent tensions at Thomas Mifflin Elementary School involving black parents and the school's white principal, the neighborhood's Democratic ward leader, Ralph Wynder, said East Falls was an integrated neighborhood that had not been negatively affected by racial issues.
Mayor Nutter, who represented the area on City Council, called East Falls "one of the most highly organized neighborhoods in the city."

Throughout the 1990s, the community battled the Philadelphia Housing Authority when it wanted to retreat from its promise to demolish and redevelop Schuylkill Falls, a blighted and crime-ridden high-rise public housing project.

The project has been replaced with Falls Ridge and Hilltop at Falls Ridge, side-by-side developments of subsidized and market-price homes, townhouses and apartments.

With that issue resolved, the neighborhood's comeback gained momentum in the late 1990s when the newly formed East Falls Development Corp. adopted a master plan, initiated zoning changes, and began spreading the word that East Falls had room to grow and welcomed callers.
When Gina Snyder arrived to run the East Falls Development Corp. in 2002, she found the neighborhood ignoring its enviable waterfront.

Now, thanks in large measure to her leadership, the neighborhood is determined to reconnect with the river.

Lighting the landmark Falls Bridge has been accomplished. New, well-lit public parking is in place under the Twin Bridges, and the city's Mural Arts Program is committed to making an art installation on the Twin Bridges' 80-foot supports. Across from the parking lot, renovations are under way to turn the remnants of a 1930s-era city swimming pool into a cafe and visitors center. And there are plans to extend access to the river with a pier or boat dock.

At the key intersection where Kelly Drive meets Ridge and Midvale, a gateway will be created, said Snyder, with new streetlights, directional signs, crosswalks, trash receptacles, benches, trees - all designed to lure strollers and cyclists from Kelly Drive into East Falls' retail corridor.
The old Rivage catering hall site facing the river will be transformed, she said, into East Village, a complex with apartments, offices and shops on a protected pedestrian mall with off-street parking and a new through street.

Farther along Ridge Avenue, as it winds toward Scotts Lane, 19th-century manufacturing sites are being refitted as luxury apartments and condos with granite countertops, bringing as many as 500 residents.

On Henry Avenue, the old Medical College of Pennsylvania, site of the world's first medical college for women, will be retrofitted as market-rate apartments; subsidized living spaces and a community center for seniors; a school for autistic children; a production facility for Capogiro, an artisan gelato maker; plus shops, offices and a fitness facility.

The Arthur Ashe Tennis Center has a new 10,000-square-foot home on the riverfront. The basketball leagues that drew crowds and local heroes to Gustine Recreation Center have new indoor courts. The Catfish Cafe, a stalwart from the 1980s on Scotts Lane, is making a comeback.

Marketplace at East Falls
Jeff Baskin and Lisa Berger Baskin, husband-and-wife entrepreneurs, bought a 95,000-square-foot tract on Ridge Avenue in 2001 because it came with city tax advantages. They did not immediately envision a market.

They rented a section in the rear to a sheet-metal fabricator, and made space in the front for a fitness center and the offices of an event planner. With these three thriving, the Baskins courted renters for the remaining 22,000 or so feet.

When nothing developed, Jeff Baskin, who previously owned and operated a produce stand at Pike Place Market in Seattle, decided to create the Marketplace at East Falls.
The historically significant building housed America's first commercial computer, and for the opening in November, Baskin put enlarged archival photos of the 16,000 pound Univac on the walls of his Marketplace.

The market's closest neighbor, the Victorian-era Laurel Hill Cemetery, draws visitors from around the world, so the Marketplace should be easy to find. But it may be difficult to enter.
A median blocks southbound drivers from turning left into the market, and the next opportunity to turn is in North Philadelphia.

Lisa Berger Baskin is working at the city and state levels to get the go-ahead for a left-turn lane.
Undaunted, the Baskins hope to open additional vendor space in 2008, and they say the market's first bar mitzvah party is scheduled in the spring.
"The community has really embraced us," Jeff Baskin said.


Why on a side street?

Not far from the market sits Mark Sherman, the native-son real estate investor.

Sherman grew up in public housing, served as a cook in the Navy, became a roofer, and then made a fortune buying and selling homes in University City. In 2000, Sherman said, he started selling those holdings, estimated at $20 million. He turned his attention to East Falls and now owns a considerable amount of well-placed acreage in much of his old neighborhood.

But he has invested the bulk of his time and attention - and $30 million of his money - into an unconventional enclave on Scotts Lane.

Sherman Mills, the development he hopes he will be remembered for, is an amalgam of luxe living spaces, working studios for emerging artists, event space popular with the corporate crowd, and a cozy cafe where they all can mingle. The Pennsylvania Ballet company is at home here, at least for the next six years.

Sherman envisions his Mills as a venture so unusual it will one day be a stop for the Philly Flash bus tour, bringing visitors from across the country.

This leaves some Fallsers scratching their heads.

They wonder why Sherman is investing millions to create Shangri-la on a side steet, and doing what appears to be the minimal with his properties in the neighborhood's retail core.

At Midvale and Ridge - the spot designated in the community's master plan as a future gateway - Sherman owns the building that houses the popular beer-and-burrito bar Johnny Mañanas, noted for the gigantic chile pepper that adorns the exterior.

Diagonal to that, Sherman owns a hulking Masonic hall that sits empty, awaiting the proper tenant.

One would be hard-pressed to eat in the area without encountering a Sherman property.
He owns the buildings that house two bar-and-grills, Buckets on Midvale and the Pour House on Ridge; Franco's Trattoria (formerly Verge), the area's only white-tablecloth restaurant; and the soon-to-reopen Catfish Cafe.

Critics, among them former Sprigs restaurateur Sally Ferry, wish Sherman had done more to save the eateries that went under in buildings he owns - Verge, Indigo, Sprigs and Well Grounded - perhaps giving the owners a temporary break on the rent. Others say he should lower his retail rents across the board, just to get occupants.

But Manayunk developer Dan Neducsin dismissed that idea. "Rent is just one factor of your business," said Neducsin. "I think Sherman's charging less than I'm getting in Manayunk."
Gila Williams, who owned the coffee shop that went under, Well Grounded, said she couldn't blame Sherman for her tough economic times.

Rising gasoline prices cut into her customers' discretionary spending, she said, and a Dunkin' Donuts opened nearby with off-street parking.

Carolyn Sutton, who at one point owned the successful Borgia Cafe in Society Hill, said East Falls needed a balance of restaurants and retail.

"Every time a restaurant doesn't make it here," she said, "a store won't, either."
Sherman agreed, and said renting to shopkeepers or restaurateurs whose businesses are likely to fail does more harm than good.

"When a business closes," he said, "it is a setback for the whole neighborhood."
So instead of letting his properties languish, Sherman said, he has backed businesses - sometimes to the point of hiring managers and staff - to keep places such as the Pour House, Buckets, and the Cafe at Sherman Mills running until a permanent owner can take over.
That's a help, said Robert Inman, who teaches public finance and urban fiscal policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

But there is a debate among economists, he said, about what it takes to create the snowball effect needed to revitalize a neighborhood.

Inman doesn't buy the notion that one big-ticket venue, such as the soccer stadium planned in Chester, can do the whole job.

"And I don't think new restaurants are enough to turn a neighborhood around, either," he said.
"My sense is that it takes new residents. When higher-income, educated residents move into a neighborhood, they create a demand for restaurants and retailing they can walk to. Once those new businesses develop and thrive, word gets out beyond the neighborhood, and the snowballing builds."

That seems to be where East Falls is headed.

For Sherman, who describes himself as a guy who doesn't like to stay in one place too long, that's good news.

When the time is right, Sherman said, he'll sell his East Falls holdings, just as he did in University City, because he enjoys setting things up more than keeping them going.

"My position in the world is to empower others and then go away," he said.

Room for growthConsidering that it took 20 years for Manayunk to morph from an industrial backwater, East Falls has accomplished much since 2000.

"Besides, we don't want to become Manayunk," Snyder said. "We want the kind of development here that benefits residents - not pushes them out."

Even with all the projects on the books so far, the community will have room for growth.
But at one potentially desirable tract - the site once occupied by the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute - development will be stalled at least three years.

The city's Youth Study Center, which is being pushed out of Center City to make way for the Barnes Foundation, will move to that spot in East Falls while awaiting its permanent home in West Philadelphia.

Small steps, and some steps backward, "are part of the definition of economic development," said Ken Weinstein, the developer who brought the Trolley Car Diner to Mount Airy and hopes to make the old public pool house by the river, Bathey House, a charming cafe.

"Somebody does a project that encourages somebody else and so on. East Falls is getting there, and it is absolutely going to make it."



Contact staff writer Dianna Marder at 215-854-4211 or By Clicking Here.

Read her recent work By Clicking Here.

Find this article By Clicking Here.

Subscription to My Life

I think I’m due for an entry here. It’s much better than doing the mounds of work piling up… Damn pile. It’s never ending.

I gotta say that the more things happen, the less able I am to pull them together into some sort of cohesive written text for mental digestion. That’s why I’m always in and out of blogging… Sometimes I can’t get my thoughts together.

But in summary, we are still convincing people to come in for massage almost to my amazement. They’re trickling in one at a time that’s for sure, but they’re still coming nonetheless.

Had our first creepy-can’t-comeback-ever client too. That’s an experience I don’t want to go through again.

Good reviews are coming in. (woo-hoo!)

AND we’re finally up on Myspace and Facebook. Be our friend. Thanks.

Random Stuff…

Finally sent Sungee’s Cuff back to LA to be sized since apparently I have no idea how to estimate a wrist size. Thanks to Sunny for being so ready and willing to fix it for us so that he can actually wear it. Yay!

Also, added a couple links to the right side over there… Someone has taken the time to list out the things that “Educated [as oppose to just plain ‘ol] Black people like”. It's a response to someone else’s list of the “Stuff that white people like”. Let me know what you think. Do you subscribe to these stereotypes?

And speaking of subscriptions, did you know that you can get magazine subscriptions from Ebay for like pennies? Dude I lie not. I got 5 subscriptions for a total of about $10. Two have started coming. They are current, addressed to me, and very real I assure you. It's insane… Please just make sure to read the fine print so you end up with a new subscription and not a bunch of old back issues. Thanks Jerry.

xo,
G

No Easy Road

I feel like today’s post would be the same as the last. I’m still tired. Maybe even more so… So what else is new?

I IMed my bud Cam at work today saying that I think I’ll quit teaching piano soon since I really need to free up some time.

He replied:

M, C, E says:
keep on pushing

M, C,E says:
when I was in school i used to sing that song

M, C, E says:
I don’t feel no ways tired

M, C, E says:
come to far from where i started from

M, C, E says:
nobody told me the road would be easy

M, C, E says:
I don’t believe he bought me this far to leave me

S, G says:
definitely some good lyrics in that song... thanks

M, C, E says:
no prob


Hmmmm… still might stop teaching. Though the words were helpful.

Tired...

It’s busy. It’s busy and it’s tiring… but it’s good.

The last few weeks have begun to catch up with me as Mellow is struggling to get itself off the ground, piano lessons aren’t slowing down, and class work is almost doubling as the quarter is over halfway through. Let’s just say I totally let my group down on this last project and will need to double my efforts on the next one to keep them from going to the professor and complaining that I’m not “dedicated to the MBA cause”.

I’ve been pulling some majorly long days and most of it I don’t mind at all. Of course I could certainly do without the interviewees that up and decide not to show (even if I confirmed with them an hour or so prior…) It happened twice this week and I just cant muster up enough energy to go all the way to Mellow again for an interview that isn’t going to happen. I still can’t get over the fact that people don’t show up for interviews. It completely blows my mind.

I don’t get it, but instead of worrying about it I’ve just decided not to interview for a while. I love the staff that I have right now and though I don’t have full coverage (which would be 2 therapists available at all times Mon – Sat), we’re almost there.

This last week was our busiest week yet… between Valentine’s day appointments, Gift Certificates, and a hugely busy Saturday from outta nowhere, we ended up with 15 hours worth of massage and Gift Certificates. That’s massive considering we just opened. I’m pretty excited. It makes the completely drained feeling that I have right now seem worth it.

We had a staff meeting last night and that went really well also. There was an ice breaker since most people haven’t really meet each other yet, a little meet and greet, and of course my list of things I needed to tell everyone. That and a couple of large pizza’s made for a fun and cozy night at Mellow for just the staff. I’m really looking forward to working with these folks and it seems like they’re looking forward to being around. At next month’s meeting, we plan to train for Sabai Herbal Ball therapy which is an amazing Thai method of massage that we’ll be offering soon. I’m really looking forward to that.

Be on the look out for the following events

• February 22, 2008 and 23, 2008 – Blue Method at Warm Daddy’s

• March 8, 2008 – Mellow Hosts Traci Lynn Jewelry party. (Includes free chair massage, light finger foods, and lots of shopping)

• March 15, 2008 – Mellow does chair massage at Bloomingdale’s in the King of Prussia Mall!


xo,
G

p.s. My Sungee surprised me with the complete Steely Dan Score book. So now I can play "Caves of Altamira". I love that song. :) He is such the best.

Valentine's Day Special

Do It

I re-did the site. again.
Click Away.
Also, first non fam and friend client today.
Gotta love it.
keep it comin.
xo.
G

Healing Hands

My interest in Massage Therapy became apparent back in 2003 when I started working for Healing Hands in Bethlehem, PA. It’s an interesting little story. I needed a job. My last semester of school had ended but my lease had not, and so I’d found myself living in Bethlehem for at least the rest of the year. In search of a job, I always follow the same routine.

• Dress for success
• Bring lots of copies of resumes
• Hit the streets.
• Stop in any and every place in which people might possibly find work.

And literally, this is what I do. I park at one end of a street and walk. Going in and out of business for days at a time until I find a job. It’s a simple procedure and one that has never failed me. And it’s why I always wonder how it is possible that people can’t find work for months or even years at a time.

Sure it might not be the job that you want. And it may be the case that you have to work somewhere for 2 weeks until you find something better. No one is saying that you can survive with a family of 6 and a mortgage off of a McDonald’s salary.

But what I am saying is that chances are in your favor if you work for it. There is a job if you’re willing to take it… so in theory, you should never be totally without work for to long. It’s a matter of statistics. If you enter many places to offer yourself for work, your chances are statistically better than if you only enter a place or two. That’s definitely another story…

So anyway, Healing Hands turned me down when I went in and asked for work.

I left my resume though and the next day they called and asked if I’d be interested in reception work.

The rest is mostly history. It is here that I learned about alternative medicine, wellness, the power and healing art of touch and massage, internal cleansing and the benefits of practices like yoga… Its not that all massage therapy centers teach you these things. I just happened upon a really great group of people that knew so much and had so much to give… it is after this center that I pattern Mellow. Mellow is growing to be a place of comfort… and a space for breathing. It’s a place to learn and to grow free of judgment. We’ll strive to be the best massage in the city. And we’ll strive to teach the lessons that I learned at Healing Hands.

Perfection Please. Thanks.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a marathon. Never a sprint. I want clients and perfection NOW. But it doesn’t work that way. I am learning to be patient and to do my research. Thoughts about financial implications are almost unthinkable. So to save myself from unnecessary cardiac arrest, I simply think less on these implications. But I do look forward to the day that I will breathe easily for gratitude of a filled schedule book.

Tell your friends to schedule a massage. Ok? Thanks.

More on Mellow Life

Philadelphia is broken into many different neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own history and charm and this characteristic is one that makes the city so inviting.

One of these said neighborhoods is called East Falls and as most of you know, it’s the location that I’ve chosen for the massage therapy center. Located just off of Ridge and Kelly Avenues, right next door to Manyunk and not far from Mt. Airy and Germantown -- it’s a wonderful little section of town. Though East Falls has been somewhat forgotten over the past decade or so, there is much interest in the neighborhood as of late, and many people are working together to give it a fresh face. So much so that I am confident we’ve gotten in at the right time!

Just this past Saturday, SBG and I attended the East Falls Bridge lighting ceremony (also attended by Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell).



Just the immeasurable amount of folks in attendance alone was inspiration enough. After the lighting was dinner at Johnny Manana's with SBG and Sungee... another great East Falls spot that we so very much adore. It’s only up to us to get the word out to those East Falls peeps that “Mellow is here! And it’s Splendid!!”

Sherman Mills, an artist community where folks are invited to “live, work, and play” is the more exact location of the Massage Therapy Center. The mills are just as named… an old textile mill use to be housed here among other industries in the past, and now, the beautiful old stone buildings have been converted into artist studios, lofts, and commercial spaces… one space of course currently being used for Mellow!

So Blessed.

Xo,

G

Planting Seeds

We are advertising now. I call it planting seeds since I’m guessing that’s how these things work. You put out the word that your business is Open! Open! Open! And then you wait a little bit… and wait a little bit more… and slowly people begin to see that it is a wonderful little place… so they start to come! We’ll see how it goes. So far, we’ve placed fliers in many of the local shops, and in mail boxes up and down one street near by. The process is sooo time consuming but until there is more money we’ll have to continue to do this part ourselves.

We did 5 massages on Saturday. All friends and family, but still very encouraging.

Happy New Year!

I finally got the nerve up to move the mellow beta website to our actual address. So now when you go to mellowmassage.com you’ll see this:



Instead of the coming soon page. It’s still a little rough but it does the job for now.

Cookies? Yes Please!

M’s Holiday Cookie Exchange was last night. Who knew I’d have such a good time. AND who knew I could make Oatmeal cookies? Go figure. Actually, M helped me cheat by directing me here for some easy recipes. The punch was exceptionally good so I wanted to share the recipe with you… hope she doesn’t mind! :)

Pomegranate and Champagne Punch

Ingredients
2 cups champagne
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup seltzer
1/2 cup citrus vodka
Lemon twists for garnish

Preparation
Combine champagne, pomegranate juice, seltzer and vodka in a large bowl or pitcher. Serve over ice with a twist of lemon.

Mmmmm so so good!

In Other news, Sungee went to pick up the desk for Mellow… we have a front desk now people!! Unbelievable how far this thing has come… as always promised, pictures to come soon.

And, since he's one of the only people that I know reads this blog on a regular basis,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM!!!

(This is where I'd link to your blog if you had one.)

Cold Rain

It’s a rainy nasty day outside. Not the nice warm comforting rain but the cold miserable kind that is only nice if you can stay dry in your warm bed for the day. It’s making me kinda sad… I’m trying to force myself to get out of the doldrums… especially since there is so much to be happy about.

I handed in my last final for the quarter last night. A case study on the Eastman Kodak Company and why Kodak had such a hard time keeping up with competitors given its once monstrous presence in the film market. So now I can rest from school at least until January.

Chair massage at Swarthmore today… We’re really excited about that because it’s our first college final exam stress buster type event. That’s always been something that I’ve planned for so it will be nice to see how it goes. We are currently looking for more On-Site chair massage business so if anyone is in need of some “good rubbin”(R.M. Sungee), give me a call.

Oh and the maintenance man has FINALLY caulked the window at Mellow so we’ll now be able to keep the heat in. Its about time… we could literally see the outside courtyard clearly around the edges of the window.

Not sure how the handmade gift thing is going to go. I’ve gotten some things that are handmade but I don’t think I’ll be able to find something handmade for everyone on my list by Christmas… so I’ll have to resort to store shopping. At least a little. I’m proud of the artists that I did support though… I’ll tell more after the gifts are given.

And the Coffee thing is going alright too. I’ve definitely still been drinking coffee… but not the $4 Starbucks lattes. My pockets are feeling a bit fuller now that I’m thrifting my way through the coffee crave. Not full enough to buy my plane ticket to Munich though…

I got these in the mail last week.

Please understand when I tell you in all honesty, I AM IN LOVE with these earrings. They are light and beautiful and I have to have them ALL. And the best best best part about them is that whatever silver she uses… I don’t seem to be allergic to it. Could it be that there is no nickel here? Could it be sterling? It’s like heaven. The earrings I’ve been searching for all my life.

· Wood
· Hypoallergenic
· Lightweight (no old lady torn earlobes)

I knew everything was made better in Montreal…

xo,

G