One Busy Bee

Last year, we stayed in watching LOST on Netflix and watching Toby for Julia as she and her siblings went out to a club in San Francisco. She ended up coming home that night instead of staying out in the hotel. I guess the club scene isn't all that's cracked up to be. I'm not into it anymore but I do have desire to go dancing every now and then. Anyways, last year we decided to stay in to save money as we had a big financial responsibility we wanted to be prepared for: Our First Home. We were packing and moving in the first week of February. Spending $50+ per person just for cover just to be surrounded by a drunk fest of people didn't sound appealing to us. This year, we're not going CRAZY but at least we are going to be out of the house and we're headed to Tommy T's in Pleasanton, CA to see San Jose-native, Anjelah Johnson. She's best known for her Bon Qui Qui character. I hope DB will find her funny. He'll at least think she's pretty. I...

I have always been a fan of Elvis Presley since my Auntie Annie had every inch of her room covered in Elvis photos and memorabilia. I only caught a few sneak peeks of her room in the family house in San Francisco. I wasn't even 10-years-old when she gave me her hard cover book of Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley. I read it back then, re-read it a few years later and will probably do so again. I don't recall if anyone in grade school made fun of me for bringing a book about Elvis to school to read but apparently if they did, I didn't care enough to remember. My aunt also gave my sister a whole lot of her clippings she has collected over the years of Elvis. I remember going through them and one stuck out in my mind with a headline that read along the lines of "The Last Photo of The King". It was a profile shot of him laying in his casket. He passed on August 17, 1977 at only 42-years-old. My sister also bought a cassette tape of his songs at Kmart and b...

This just breaks my heart. Please read: Christmas letter from a "hard to place" foster dog Among trying to reach my goal of making 20 little girls in need smile with a Stella & Dot gift (which I am no where close to reaching, sadly enough), animals have always been close to my heart. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger but learning how much schooling and funds were needed to get there, plus the many difficult instances of losing an animal, it was just too much. The death of our family cat, Ali, of 22 years, happened when I was a freshman in high school. My mom had Ali before my sister was even born, I believe. She never de-clawed him and he would scratch the hell out of my legs when he leap off my lap in a hurry. We had to put him down because he had some sort of leukemia and he wasn't doing very well. He spent his last night with us in my bed. It was so hard to say goodbye to him in that Concord vet hospital on Clayton Road. I remember which cage h...

I came across this posting on Twitter today and it got me thinking after having a phone conversation with Christy last night. All the while in the drive-thru line at In & Out Burger (I'm bad, I know!), devouring the burger on my 5-minute drive home, having a few bites of fries when I got home (animal style, not recommended), walking the Beeves in the cold, cleaning Mamas' litter box, taking out the trash and wrapping DB' presents and a surprise Stella & Dot gift a friend is giving his wife. As mentioned in yesterday's post, Christy is a hard-working new mom. DB and I joke around that I'll someday be that house wife, that I can quit my job now if I wanted to but knowing me, I need to work and contribute a little bit financially to my household. This article says it is best to have a working mom. Even part-time. Fit Pregnancy Magazine: A Job Is Better For Mom's Health Posted today, December 14, 2011 A previous study put a $122,732 annual price ta...

I am at a different time of life, for sure. My nephew is now 5.5-years-old, I have had two close friends and a cousin give birth this past summer, I have a home of my own, plans to be wed, honeymoon plans are in the works and by next Christmas, I will be pregnant myself. Christmas 2008 I spent some time this weekend with my Maid of Honor and her 4-month-old son, who I call my nephew. She has no biological siblings and she's been my rock though so much in my life. I want nothing more than for her to be happy and for her son to truly think of me as Auntie. We've been friends for over five years but man, a lot sure does happen in half a decade. She's a fantastic mommy and I am happy to see her in a good relationship, extremely happy, possibly up for a promotion and has a partner that works things out well as a couple. I just heard this weekend that they plan on having baby #2 next year. Perhaps we will be pregnant at the same time! I brought along a mutual friend, the on...

On top of my last posting of amazing December offers, this was just announced! Purchase the La Coco Clutch in black or metallic for $148 and get the After The Rain brooch in Gold that you can clip onto the clutch for FREE ! It's a $44 value and completes the clutch. The lucky person receiving this clutch can use it with or without the After the Rain brooch, or clip on a family heirloom to change it up. You can also use this brooch on the La Coco chains also pictured above, to hold together a scarf, on your label or blouse! There are so many ways to use a brooch. Get creative! Shop at Stella & Dot and be sure to LIKE my page on Facebook !

It is the time of giving. Many of my family and friends have adopted a family or a senior citizen this season and is making their holidays a whole lot warmer. A friend I recently reconnected with from middle school, Christina Vela in Stockton, CA, is a Mary Kay Consultant and she is trying to get folks to buy a wrapped Mint Bliss Energizing Lotion for Legs & Feet, with socks and mint chocolate candies for $20 to be given to as many residents at a Senior Center in her community. Please help her make sure no one gets left out by contacting her at vela17@yahoo.com or making a purchase at her Mary Kay web site. Thanks, Christina! You are truly touching and making a difference in people's lives. For the animal lovers out there like me, Pet Food Express is offering 20% off any Kong toys to be donated to a foster pet or a local shelter. Animals unselfishly give us love. What a difference a toy makes to ease some stress for an animal waiting for a permanent, loving home and encour...

I transferred my contacts to MailChimp and will hope to produce a great monthly newsletter for my Stella & Dot mailing list subscribers, customers and former hostesses. I just Tweet ed that the first 10 people to sign up will get $10 off their Stella & Dot order in the month of December. Sign up here! I promise that your information will not be shared or sold to any third parties. Subscribe to our mailing list The popular Stackable Deco Rings, available in sizes 5-9 and only $49.

My favorite band, Los Lonely Boys kept me company this morning as I got ready for work, and on my hour-long commute to work. On their latest album, Rockpango, their Deluxe Edition has a long track of them jammin' and messin' around called 'Outtakes'. You know you're a fan when you have this memorized and it still makes you laugh. They do impressions from Alejandro Escovedo, Van Halen, Elvis Presley, Beyonce, and you can tell they're just having a good time. I have had the pleasure of sitting in on something like these sessions and during sound checks and you can't help but laugh. They're so hilarious it'll make your abs sore the next day. Obviously I have all of their albums so I put their songs on shuffle on my iPhone while on my way to work and I realized 40 minutes into my commute that I was going 85 mph in a 65 mph zone. I was singing "Road to Nowhere". Here they are performing it at Chukchansi Casino earlier this year. Enjoy! Th...

I think this season will be interesting. From my post yesterday, I was rooting for Kori. I thought she was a little spitfire in Season 6 of the Bad Girls Club. She turned out to be the first HBIC for sending the most appealing text. It feels she's stepping up her game to take advantage of the business opportunity that comes along with being on reality TV and she wants to win the game, but possibly like Lea from Season 5 in Miami and the winner of Season 2's Love Games, the winning relationship didn't even last til the airing of the show. That's a shame because Robert seemed like a sweetheart. Kori already kissed 3 guys on her first 'date', talked a little smack, all while Sydney is only spotted kissing one person. While crazy Judi from New Orlean's Season 7, she's already getting crazy with her purse always at her side. After the first episode, I am rooting for Sydney. She left Season 6, wasn't loyal to her boyfriend and is bisexual. When asked by ...

Love Games 3 premieres tonight! This season's cast is Sydney and Kori from Season 6 and Judi from Season 7 of The Bad Girls Club. Tune into Oxygen tonight for the season premiere. I'm rooting for Kori. What about you and WHY?

Ah man, do I regret not taking my BioLean more regularly. Like anything else, I got a little too comfortable with it. I haven't been sick in almost a year and a half and that is a record for me. I would forget to take it in the morning, I'd forget to restock my supply at work, or I would just say that "Oh, I'll take it when I get home." Nope. Too late. Too much procrastinating and I got sick. I had a headache all day at work this past Monday and refused to take anything for it until late afternoon. I took some Advil. I got home around 8 pm, walked Bevo in the cold and immediately came back to the house sneezing my head off. I made my last plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, continued to sneeze while watching one of my new favorite shows, Pan-Am , with DB and kept denying "I'm NOT sick!" I was but it's been so long. How could it be? I had a hard time sleeping, texting my clerk saying I think I'm sick to ensure she'll be at the office...