Sisters On Sojourn

Alert!! Alert!!

In an effort to make life easier, I am condensing all of our blogs into one. We will be posting only at the journal revolution/visualchronicles blog now. If you are reading this post via a livejournal feed, please use this feed instead. Or, visit us at typepad.

If you got here via a link on someone else's blog or a bookmark, please visit us here.

they're back

They are back. And this is the back end of one of the pooches as it made a quick escape back into its own yard- through a new hole the beasts made last night.  My beloved husband and I were going to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary a day early, but instead we'll be mending fences and scooping up dog poop from dogs that aren't even ours. How gross. I will admit, though, that the little dog stuck in the fence really is very sweet. And cute. But still, if I wanted a dog I'd get one. I want a backyard that isn't swarming with flies and poop. I'd like to sit on my own patio furniture without asking the neighbor's dog to get off of it first. Is that really asking so much? That should be a new acronym, I say it all the time. ITRASM?

finding love

For the last year and a half, every day we have clicked over to amazon to see where Visual Chronicles is on the charts. Amazon best-seller charts pretty much mean nothing, but to us, they are a sign that people still love us. It became a comforting spot in our day and it was double comforting knowing that we were both checking so it's not that only one of us is a weirdo freak who has to find love on an amazon chart. Visual Chronicles was always somewhere between 1 and 4 on most charts and that was great.  Ahhhh...people liked us! YAY! Thanks, you guys! Well, most people did. Some people really, really hate us. But, that part is funny, so it is ok.
This morning I made my usual clicks and  had the fright of a lifetime.Visual Chronicles was not number one, or two, or three. I felt like I'd been dumped by a really good boyfriend and nobody would ever love me again. Our Revolution knocked baby number one off its comfy spot on the chart. It was the weirdest feeling ever. It's weird because it's new and we just have no idea what people will say about it. Journal Revolution is so different from Visual Chronicles, yet very similar because it's still ours, in our voice and our style. I haven't really shown any of the journal pages or projects in Journal Revolution to anyone and that makes things harder, too. What if people laugh AT us instead of WITH us? What if people don't get our jokes? What if people are still mad that we like Coach purses? What if our publisher published the book with an error on page 108? What if nobody comes to our book signing? What if, what if, what if?
It's funny how when people worry, they worry about everything that could go wrong. I am changing my ways. I am changing the questions I ask myself. What if people relate to my journal pages and feel better?
What if people read Karen's words and get it? What if people read our book and feel empowered? What if people read our book then GO MAKE ART?
These new worries are so good! So, so, good.

dog parties

The other day I was sitting in my backyard reading and I noticed an unusual amount of flies buzzing around. And dog poop. We rarely ever have flies in our backyard and we pretty much never have any dog poop because we do not have a dog. So, I decided all the poop was either because the universe really is crapping on me or that raccoons poop like dogs and raccoons do keep visiting us at night. Either way, if we had a dog, it would be my husband's job to clean the poop, so I left it for him to clean up. I am such a good wife. Yesterday, I told my husband about the way too many flies and piles of poop in our yard and he just kind of looked at me like I was exaggerating.  Ok, whatever. Why would we have fly attracting dog poop in our yard?
This morning I took a shower and got dressed and then  opened the curtains to  let some sun in and  survey the amount of flies. Imagine my shock when I saw this looking back at me:

This wasn't the only one. There was also a big scary German Shepherd and a weird scary wolf looking thing. All three dogs were not only swarming with FLIES, but they were running all over my yard leaving calling cards.

I took these photos through the sliding glass door because I was afraid the big dogs would bite me to death. They are the dogs that never stop barking that live next door. They'd bitten and clawed a hole in the fence between our yards and were living it up on our lawn. The hole was hidden behind our lemon tree and I wonder now how long these dog parties have been going on. It doesn't really matter. It just matters that I was right and my husband was wrong and that now all the dog poop is gone and the broken fence is mended. I don't think our neighbors are taking very good care of their dogs. They all looked mangy.

I wonder if we should take the neighbor's dogs acting crazy and Karen's cats hiding under a table as signs that there's going to be an earthquake. Just to be safe, we better stock up on diet coke and nutter butters.

screams of embarrassment

The curtains dance a minuet
Autumn plays the music baby
Come on hold my hand
Leaves are fallin' velvet splash
Only u and I can under
Only u can understand
            -Prince

There are only 19 days left until Journal Revolution comes out and deadlines for other articles and books requiring thought, planning, and actual art and writing loom. I feel like I have been sitting here for 5 days working while life is going on without me. It's been 5 days of me not answering my phone or emails while Karen and I have been instant messaging back and forth with great speed. About half of our messages to each other are work related, a quarter of them are about family stuff, and the rest about about things that matter more than anything. Totally important stuff. Important things, like that Karen's air-conditioning broke. That's very important. It's 112 in the shade here.  And one other very important thing: I found the video for one of our favorite songs from 1985 on youtube.  I still listen to Screams of Passion all the time while I am on the treadmill. I love this song. I don't really like most Prince songs but since Prince doesn't sing this one, it is ok.  I mean, it is ok until you see the video. I didn't remember the lead singer guy ( St. Paul?) looking like Barry Manilow with Steve Urkel's pointy, elbowy body in a flowy bathrobe until I saw this. It all came back to me. Watching his dance moves as he wiggles then bends left and right real fast behind the keyboard make me die of embarrassment for this guy. I shouldn't be the only one  watching this.

not even turtle

It is hotter than hell here today in So. Cal. While Karen spent the day being a lawyer, I spent the day working on art for some clients and working more on our press kit...only a few more weeks until Journal Revolution lands on a shelf near you! One way authors promote their books is by getting other authors (who write books on similar subjects) to review their books for them and give them a little quote. It is really strange to me. But, it is hard to get newspapers and magazines to review books that don't have blurbs, so we are playing the game. It ends up being a fun game because it's like a test of confidence. Will we crumble if some authors we worship don't love us? Of course not. But, we will cringe. And laugh. So, far (with Visual Chronicles) we have only been turned down once...and it was by a MAN! When we first met this man, he held his hands out to me and asked to  feel my energy. I just stood there and kept my hands at my sides and hoped Karen would know how to respond. Maybe he only blurbs authors who let him feel their energy. Yuck.
Typically these requests for review are sent to the authors by the editors, publishers, and agents of the requesting authors so the authors can save themselves embarrassment (and requests for energy feeling) if the other author wants to  decline.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, I am sure you know where we are going with this.  These seesters are doing it for themselves! Unfortunately, we don't have Ari Gold on our team when we could use him the most. We don't even have Turtle.

Since it is so important to give love as much as you ask for it, we want to shower some love on a few people:

1. Go visit Roben-Marie Smith. We triple love her and her rubber stamps. I use her rubber stamps every day and you can see evidence of that in our book. You can also see her journal pages in our book!
2. The other day I found the blog of 15 year-old Idan Asinely. He lives in Israel and is an artist and scrapper. When you go to his blog, be sure to scroll down and see some of his art. I love his simple style. He totally gets it. His personality and confidence shine through and he doesn't need 8 million layers of stuff to make his point. Way to go, Idan!  Isn't his NAME cool?
3. The art of the business card. If you are out of Ambien, go here for sure. I could spend hours looking at all the cool cards.

Tomorrow we'll share our fantasy Blurb us, Baby! list with you.

a good friend

Yesterday, my view of the ocean was obstructed by a man in a Speedo. Really, I can't believe men still wear them. It's hard to see in this photo, but it is a POLKA DOT Speedo! Blech. What a way to ruin polka dots. What a way to ruin the view. I wonder why Polka Dot Speedo's buddy didn't tell him to put some real shorts on. A good friend should not let you out into the world with your bits showing.

feeding the ghosts

Best Brownie Mix EVER: Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies

We seesters are rewarding ourselves this weekend because we're breaking out of habitual patterns that have not served us well the last couple years. We're making changes and speaking up and not being too worried about what everyone thinks when most of the people we care about protecting do not care that we are not happy with things as they continue to be (fucked up). Making excuses for other people takes way too much energy. How silly of us.  As Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche  used to always say* to Pema Chodron: Live your life as an experiment! We're experimenting. We're changing. We're feeding our ghosts.

*uh, he may have also said this to the many women he slept with. Jerk. His wife wrote a book about it.

redemption

We just love the people at typepad. They fixed the error and now our mystery sister, Nancy, has left the building. This is the first time ever my name has been fixed to be right! Is the tide turning? We kind of hope not because then life would be way less funny and surprising. Thank you, typepad people.

Karen and I are often confused with each other, not just in press. It happens in our family, too. Our grandfather, Poppa Cy, was deaf. He read lips very well but you really had to be right in front of him while speaking and even then, you'd have to repeat yourself a few times. Some voices he heard better than others. He could hear our brothers and Karen very well but he couldn't really hear me. I see now that many people we grew up with had a hard time hearing things and it wasn't because they were deaf- though he certainly was.  We didn't live near Poppa Cy, though we saw him often on holidays. His secretary would write letters to us on his behalf and we'd write to him often. Phone calls were difficult because back then they didn't have great phone services for the hard of hearing. When we did speak on the phone, we really had to YELL. I am pretty sure his secretary was at his side repeating what we'd say or would write it down for him.  I am also pretty sure his secretary was performing other duties for him that secured her a good spot in his will. Perhaps Nancy is our secret cousin.  So, one day Poppa Cy got some new hearing aides and a new phone and he could hear his callers better. I'd always felt like we never had good conversations  and I really wanted to have one with him before he died. I called him and we chatted for about half an hour about life and the furniture business (it was his passion) and everything. I was so happy. As the call ended, he said, "Thanks for calling. I love you. And tell your sister, Linda, I said HELLO!"
See?

So while we still have some of the typepad spotlight, we want to shine it on some other typepad blogs by friends. Our college roommate, Julie, has finally gotten her blog, RANTIDOTE, up and running. She's got a lot to say about  politics. She's got good things to say about life, too...she just hasn't blogged those yet.
Kimberly Kwan IS a scrapbooker and she loves pink and she swears really good, but not in her blog. Perhaps she wouldn't want us to tell you that, but what the hell. She's cool. I wish people would out me as a swearer so I could do it more.  Carol Wingert and Tena Sprenger look like us and we love them. Thanks to Carol, I get room service at every hotel I go to. Both of our brothers are also on typepad. Visit  Tod Goldberg and Lee Goldberg  at your own risk. One of them is bound to offend you or make you fall off your chair laughing. Tod could make a sailor blush.
For other blogs we love and frequent, visit the list down there on the right side.

seeing inside

If you go to amazon, you can see inside Journal Revolution!! I love that feature! Our books are lovingly designed by the AMAZING Marissa Bowers. It can be really hard to hand your art over to another artist and let them go to town with it. It's even harder when it is your journal...your life. But, Marissa does right by us and we love her. Journal Revolution will be shipping from Amazon on September 20th. It should be in stores near that date.
I remember right before Visual Chronicles came out  wondering what it would feel like to have a book. For the most part, it feels really good. And really funny. There are also parts that are full of frustration and annoyance. There were times when we would just look at each other and wonder what the hell was going on...because we're us and we attract stuff. Great stuff. Bad stuff. Silly stuff. Last time, I didn't keep a journal dedicated to the things associated with Visual Chronicles. I kept all the press stuff, mementos and made journal pages on loose sheets that went into a  box. You can see some of those pages in Journal Revolution. This time, though, I decided to make a Journal Revolution (or as the cool peeps in Canada say: J-Rev) journal. I am going to fill it with my thoughts and feelings and whatever is on my desk at the moment I am making the page. So between now and September 20th, I'll share some of the pages with you (just as soon as I get started on it).