Paparazzi Necklace Giveaway

So I'm taking a break from my NBC Olympic rant to do a Paparazzi Accessories giveaway. I've been selling Paparazzi as an Independent Consultant for about 7 months and LOVE it. It's so very easy. All the products are either $5 for adult pieces or $1 for children pieces. You make 45% commission on every piece you sell. I have about 200 pieces in my inventory currently with plans to add more as we head into Fall Festival season. People are always shocked with they see the items because at $5 you're thinking it's cheap jewelry. It's not. It's about the same level as Target or Kohls. We can sell it at $5 because I don't have any overhead. People just go crazy when I bring out my products and I've had friends come over after I tweeted that my new shipment arrived and buy it directly from the shipping box. Parties are always a hit since we make them simple and easy. No presentations to listen to, no order to wait on and at $5 it's all affordable. But less talk more give away.

 This is the piece I'm giving away. It's blue and one of my best sellers. To enter just fill out the entry below. Open to U.S. residents 18 years and over.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you're interested in joining one of the best and fastest growing home based business. Click here to sign up. You can start for as low as $40. My consultant id is #4043.

Here's what you missed part 2

So on to the next section that we here in the states didn't fully understand. Our lack of understand might have more to do with us vs. NBC. It's about England's National Health Service (NHS). First I just want to say something to the people complaining about how England was trying to shove their politics down our throats. Really?!?!? Are you really that simple. That while Danny Boyle was in his planning meeting trying to think of idea's that represented England he was like "Oh let's do one on the NHS cause it will piss off the Americans." I'm pretty sure our political issues didn't even cross his mind. Just like you have no idea what their Parliament is arguing about right this second, I can assure you that the English people care about that much with what our Senate is doing. 


Back on to the subject at hand. The segment in question was called, " The second star to the right and on till morning." which for you less read among us is a quote from the book Peter Pan. Peter Pan was written by Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie. Remember this as I'll come back to it later. The segment was about the English love of the NHS and about the imagination inside all children . To give it some context (without any political interjection by this writer) the NHS  is the umbrella term for the type of health care system used in the United Kingdom(UK).  It's funded by income taxes and covers all citizens, residents and even visitors (under some circumstances) of the UK. It was started in 1948 as the UK was recovering from World War 2.  The British cherish the NHS and that love was put on display in the Opening Ceremony. The scene was hundreds of beds with children being rolled around by nurses in historical nurses uniforms.  There was also a moment with actual nurses and children from the Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Great Ormond Street Hospital is a children's hospital in London and it has a long and rich history of pediatric care dating back to 1852. It's a charitable hospital which relies on the NHS to cover the cost of day to day operations and donations which allow it to be on the cutting edge of children's medicine .  It's also well known for receiving the rights from J.M. Barrie for Peter Pan in 1929 which has given the children's hospital a large amount of funding. That's how those two subjects are tied together for the purposes of the Olympics.  The segment goes on to explore the vast history of English children's literature with everything from Mary Poppins, the Queen of Hearts to even He who shall not be named of Harry Potter fame. 


Now with this added context maybe it was less about politics and more about Britain being British. 




P.S. So if you want my personal feelings about the NHS and how it relates to us as a county then you could watch this. 


  

Here's what you missed.

I'm even angrier about the NBC's hatchet job on the Opening Ceremonies. I was finally able to watch the BBC version of it and things made so much more sense with their explanations. We should have known for a show as British as that was that having a British commentary would have been miles above the inane blathering of the NBC crew. Here's what you missed:

-Kenneth Branagh was playing the part of a historical figure. He was playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who was an English mechanical and civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionized public transport and modern engineering. That's kinda important to understand what what going on with the change from the green, lush landscape with children playing into the dark, smoky landscape with smoke stacks and men in top hats dancing around. It represented the change that England underwent as they entered the industrial revolution. 

-Further along in the show after the pause for the remembrance of the two world wars you see 4 groups enter into the arena. Most people picked up on the bright colored costumes of the Beatles representing the 60's but the other 3 were left without any explanation. The first was the wooden ship. Again more context is needed. The wooden ship represented the MV Empire Windrush. It brought the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after the Second World War. This is important because it the role the the colonies have played on English society.  Second group was the gentlemen in bright red coats. They are the Chelsea Pensinoers. British Army veterans who live at Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement and nursing home.  The third group was the people wearing the black outfits with the white designs (which were actually pearls). They are the Pearly Kings and Queens,  an organised charitable tradition of working class culture in London and who raise money for London based charities. 

And that was just in the first thirty minutes.....

Check back for more explanations.

NBC has lost it's mind!!

As a lover of all things British from their books, tv shows and music I was very excited to see the art that was the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics...that is until NBC got a hold of it. It was horrible. I copied this from the NBC Olympic wall:


Sarah Khan NBc's butchering of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony
10. Repeated derision and backhand compliments of any country not named the United States
9. The repeated reliance on mentioning how war-torn various nations are or have been instead of mentioning their athletes
8. Commenting on North Korea by mocking Kim Jong-Il's alleged 11-holes-in-one golf game after they have already caused a delay in competition after perceived political slights
7. Four-hour tape delay in the social-media era
6. Spoiling the cauldron lighting
5. Inserting Idi Amin into conversation as Uganda was marching
4. Speculating that the Maldives can fight rising sea levels by winning medals
3. Giving zero camera time to Barbados and Ukraine
2. Cutting of the athletes', coaches' and judges' oaths
1. Cutting of the London bombing memorial segment for a Michael Phelps interview

Dishonorable mentions:
* Referring to San Marino as "sort of an island"
* Going to commercial in the middle of a segment
* Insisting on mentioning the deceased Omar Bongo as Gabon marched, over the 1-1 draw with Switzerland their men's soccer team had already achieved
*Stated speculation that Greece will never host the Olympics again
*Referring to Borat as Kazakhstan marched
*Making the Djibouti joke during a major world cultural event
*Spoiling the industrial-era and National Health Service segments right as they were beginning
*Making a big deal over the lack of a minute of silence for the victims of Munich
*Repeated mangling of countries' names
*Making reference to the Falklands War as Argentina marched
*24 commercial breaks

I so agree with everything in this statement.  The NBC coverage was achingly bad. The commentary provided by Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Bob Costas was worthless and many times bordered  on racist. It was like going all the way to Broadway to see a show only to have the guy next to you talk the entire time. I could understand the need for a play by play if we didn't share a common language with the British but we do so their constant need to repeat what we could already hear was pointless. Another thing unless you've been living under a rock or have never cracked open a book in your life you pretty much understood most of the larger culture references from the ceremony which were the only one's they were explaining to you anyway.

Another issue I have with the coverage is there were whole segments of the show cut out. For the life of me I can't understand why as it was taped and rebroadcast. Did your editor not know how to pick up in the same spot as he left off? It's kinda like seeing a movie for the first time after only watching it on tv. You realize that the plot makes much more sense now that you're seeing the film as it was originally shot and not "edited for time". I don't even care that it wasn't live, but why was it edited?

I feel like someone stole the dignity, honor and well ceremony from the Opening Ceremony. Oh and NBC I'll be steaming the closing ceremony live so you can go take a hike. 

Working my butt off

So as most of you know I started selling Paparazzi Accessories in March after I stopped actively selling  mark. for over a year. I made the switch because as much as I loved mark. their prices weren't something I could to afford to keep paying. One of the things that I love about Paparazzi is that everything is $5. When I first signed up I was on pins and needles because I thought how's the quality of the jewelry if it's only $5. I was pleasantly surprised. They are really great pieces. I own several and everyone who's come to one of my open houses has fallen in love with at least a couple of things. I know I'm on to something.

The problem is getting people to see the pieces.  As most of you know, we only have one car, so during the day I can't just get up and go talk to people about hosting an event or a basket party. Everything I do is via the internet. I have a Facebook page and a website currently. Another problem is in my area 90% of the ladies are parents and since they are parents the mostly socialize with other parents.Since I don't have little league or play dates or kindergarten classes that leaves a void. This has been a hurdle to me. How do I find people willing to host an event at their home? I don't want to start cold calling people and I don't want to start guilting people into doing it.

It's starting to make me feel like a failure. I mean I'm reading all these other's ladies posts about all the parties they are having and I'm left wondering what is it about me that no one wants to host one for me? Daniel has been a huge help to me. He tries to boost my spirit and tells me that he knows I can do it I just have to keep working at it. I know that if I could just get some events and have more people see my products that this will take off but as of right now it's an uphill battle.

If anyone randomly reads this any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Yawn

So I haven't written in a while. I honestly don't think I have anything of value to say. No one reads this thing so it isn't like I've got some vast audience out there pining for my next entry.

Nothing new to report. George Zimmerman is still free. My cousin is becoming the next Martin Luther King Jr. My parents are still being old people sitting in their house watching movies and taking naps. Lottie is still off somewhere eating something which she may or may not throw up later on the carpet. Daniel is dropping off stuff to goodwill. I started a business which I may have already talked about. I've put on a lot of weight in the last few months. I'm not watching my niece anymore. Daniel might get promoted to something something level 2. I still have no idea what he does for a living other then it involves computers.  We've got another vacation planned but because of paranoia about burglars I'm not saying anything about it. I'll blab about it when we get back. Florida seems to have skipped Winter and went from Fall to late Spring.


Nothing else to report.

Murder in the evening light.

I got up this morning a little before sunrise and took our dog out for a walk. I live in a townhouse over looking a lake in one of those gated communities. Behind the house is a paved walking trail that leads down to the community clubhouse. I've walked this trail a hundred times before.

But this morning it was different. As I walked my dog around and watched a duck swim towards a pair of geese, I started thinking what if me walking around in the predawn twilight was suspicious to someone? What if they didn't see my dog running around and thought I looked at their patio furniture a second longer then I should?

Then it got me thinking about all the times over the years that I've lived here and the walks I've taken in the cool of the evening to try to shed the pounds. About all the walks to friends houses to say hi. I know I've done some of them in hoodies because as we know I'm not really girlie and they are comfortable.

What if I had stopped to change a song on my Ipod or to unravel my headphones? My father taught his only daughter when you're walking alone to keep looking around to see if any one's coming up behind you. (That's the paranoid Navy chief in him.) What if some yahoo saw that and thought, "That person looks suspicious?"

I remember a time when I was walking with a friend and her friends thought it would be funny to pull up along side of us while we were  walking on a dirt path near the road. My first primal instinct in those first few seconds was to grab my friends arm and run towards my house. As a child you're taught about stranger danger, as a woman you're taught about rapists, you're taught to be afraid of slow moving cars fallowing you in movies and on tv. 

All those things happened to Trayvon Martin as he return from the store to get Skittles for his younger brother and a iced tea one evening. He was alone walking along when he notices a man driving slowly following him. What would you tell you kid to do? Wave and say hi or think stranger danger in their heads? What would I have done? The same thing I did as a teen with my friend, run like the wind away from danger.

It didn't end so well for Trayvon that evening. He ended up being shot by that stranger danger. He ended up dead on a side walk in one of those gated townhouse communities and I wonder if it too had a lake where a duck swam towards a pair of  geese this morning.

Update: If you haven't already PLEASE sign the petition to bring justice to Trayvon's case.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Pro-life

As the vast majority of you know I'm a Catholic and probably the most leftist Republican in the state of Florida.  I'm a fiscally liberal but a highly conservative on social and religious matters. 

The one area that I will die on a hill for is abortion. I'm against it for moral reasons. My personal opinion on the subject is outside of the case of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother I think that an abortion is murder.  My reasoning behind this is that in this day and age with all the different pills, patches, shots, sponges, caps, rings, condoms and sterilization out there, there should be no reason (other then the one's listed above) to find yourself needing to kill your child. If you're having sex you're old enough to understand where babies come from. You then have two choices, be proactive and protect yourself OR live with the baby you created.

Imagine if every time you showed up to work knowing that if you forgot to finish the project that was due your boss got to punch you in the face? I'm pretty sure you'd start prioritizing your day to get your job done. Telling women that they can go out into the world, have unprotected sex (let's not even start talking about STD's and HIV) and if they get pregnant is doesn't matter cause you can just kill your child is DISGUSTING. How are we teaching responsibility? Where does it stop? Oh don't worry about starting that fire we can always just call the fire department.  Don't worry about drinking and driving, I mean it's YOUR body, you should be able to do whatever you want with it. So what you could end up murdering an innocent person.

The most baffling thing in the whole picture is when is it and abortion vs. murder. If a mother aborts her baby it's fine but if someone accidentally hits her while she's walking through the abortion center parking lot and the baby dies it's murder. The outcome is the same, the baby is dead.

I know some people will read this and start in with the well but.....no there is no but...it really is that simple. Daniel and I have decided that we're not having any children. We love them but we'd prefer to be aunt and uncles. So we take steps to make sure we wont get pregnant. And if we unexpectedly do then we'll man and woman up and do the right thing.....and that doesn't involve murder.

Man...I don't feel like a woman.

So I've been thinking the last couple of days about me and my life in general. I'm at the happiest place I've been in a while. My marriage is great and I'm generally happy.

But there is one aspect of my life that I'm left wondering about. I'm not very girly. I don't go crazy for clothes, or shoes. I hardly wear make-up. I haven't changed my hair style since Jr. High. I'd prefer not spend the money on getting my nails done.  I do like purses and scarves but that's about it. My house isn't out of a show room. I have no sense of design. Almost everything we own has been given to us. I don't like shopping. I don't do crafts other then my knitting.

I must have skipped the girl gene line up in heaven. All the hallmarks of being a woman are just not in me.

I'd rather travel. I'd rather cook. I'd rather read. I'd rather listen to music. I'd rather play video games. I'd rather wear jeans and flats. I know I can do all those things and still be a woman but I wonder if one day God will download the girlie software update that I'm missing?