JOURNAL REVOLUTION

freaking the hell out

When we bought our house ten years ago, one of the selling points was that it had easy access to the freeway. There are two ways to get to our neighborhood, via a two lane road or via the super busy 5 freeway. The 2 lane road is appropriately named The Old Road and it intersects with the freeway offramp to the left of our neighborhood. If I want to go North (or as I would say, LEFT), I have to go through that intersection. The grocery store I usually go to is at the intersection. The other nearest grocery store is about 3 miles away to the right.  That intersection on the left used to be easy. It used to be a 4-way stop light. Now it is a scary round-a-bout  that is giving me chest pains. The signs leading up to the round-a-bout that nobody in this part of the world knows how to use looks like this:
I am not really sure what exactly is on the diagram they posted because traffic is moving so damn fast that I can't stop and read it so I drew what I think it says.  I haven't actually driven in the round-a-bout yet, I've only seen the sign as I turned right. As I turn right, I look left and try to see what is happening. I can see there are no lights and people are freaking the hell out.
I have no idea how I will ever get to that grocery store again. I will have to have all my prescriptions transfered to another pharmacy because I don't want to die getting my thyroid pills, things with wings, and cookies.
Turning the easiest intersection ever into a speedy nightmare of death at the cost of over 40 MILLION DOLLARS makes no sense to me. Everyone will just avoid that exit, that intersection, and that grocery store because now it's too scary to drive there.

musical revolutions from brave women!

My favorite group of singing sisters is starting their own artful revolution tonight by plastering the internet with the beautiful sound of their voices. Listen to a few of their new songs while you can here.  Their new album is produced by Jann Arden,  who has her own new CD coming out soon. I am so excited about both new releases!
Super brave singer, songwriter and pal of ours Jen Foster has just been buzzing all over the place with her musical response to Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl. Jen's I Didn't Just Kiss Her is now available on iTunes. Way to go Jen! She'll also be featured on Out.com tomorrow.

Thanks to all these talented women who keep giving us great music to listen to while we create!
Now, I just need some friends who bake for a living. I'd be happy to taste-test while listening to new music and making art. Wouldn't that be the best life ever?

+1 day

~Linda and Karen's Company Policy~
14. Cookie breaks are mandatory.

Don't wait for holidays that come around once a year to enjoy the day, the hour, or even the minute! Celebrate being alive on a daily basis by taking a few moments each day to just sit  and notice that you ARE ALIVE.

*This photo is another from sometime in the 80's. I was going to an Emmy show with my brother and back then the designer dress thing was not as popular as it is now. And, I didn't have a fancy dress so I rented a tux. Annie Lennox made the androgynous look so cool and women in tuxedos was the in thing. Now I look at this and think perhaps the cummerbund was too high and I look like I was about to serve the cookies at Life's Cookie Break. And those BANGS! My stylist must've hated me that day, and for many years after.

Thank you so much for all the birthday emails, twitters, facebook comments, flickr pic and gifts that arrived yesterday. My day was perfect.

1 more day

~Linda and Karen's Company Policy~
12. Do what you do well, and graciously accept help from others who do their stuff better than you do.

Life is not a competition. You don't have to be great at everything. Be great at a couple things and share the field of greatness with other people who are good at the other things you aren't so good at. Even Martha Stewart has guests on her show to help her with tasks she's not as skilled with. There comes  power in knowing where your strengths are and when to take a step back and let someone else step in. Don't let your ego get in the way!

13. Don't hire unreliable, untrustworthy people.

If they keep showing up late (or not at all) then say I'll be on time next time, you can trust me... call Human Resources and put up the We're Hiring sign.

*This photo was taken by Karen's daughter on our Nana's patio in Seattle on the last day we ever saw her. I was going to put a different photo here, one from my really fat period, but it was taking me forever to find the one I wanted and then I saw this one. Awww!  I know people tend to get freaked out (or offended) by the word FAT so I'll save those for when I am officially 40 and even less afraid (I'm not sure that is possible) to bother people with 3-letter words. We also have photos from the really bad bangs period but there's no way I will be posting those until I am at least 52 years old. Funny how fat bothers people more than bad hair does. Bad hair bothers us more.

2 more days

~Linda, Karen, and Pam's Company Policy~
This contribution to the policy comes from our dear friend and helper on the project we can't talk about yet, Pamela Detlor. She's always right.

 11. If you don't want to do something - don't do it. It's stupid to go along and be miserable.

 Doing things you don't want to do to get people to like you or change the way they feel about you never, ever, ever works. Hiding your true personality, likes and dislikes to be attractive to someone else will always leave you miserable and unfulfilled and hating life later on when you are stuck doing tons of stuff you don't want to do but couldn't say no because you got in so far over your head that there was no way to dig out. It's ok to say no to things you don't want to do. Remember, you are the boss of your own happiness. JUST SAY NO.

*This was one of my last birthday parties, maybe even my last one. I think I was seven. I hate parties. I hated them back then, too. The only good thing about parties is cake and you don't need a party to have cake. I hate birthday party games, and we were playing one here. Karen was about to spin the poor kid and make her (or was it a him?) pin a tail on a donkey taped to our fridge. I love this photo because Tod looks so cute and I remember that was my favorite dress. It twirled really good.

3 more days

~Linda and Karen's Company Policy~

10. No hiring BORED people.

If you need attention, for Buddha's sake, learn to amuse yourself.  Go read. Go make art. Go listen to music. Go watch tv. Go take a walk. Go blog, twitter, or facebook. Go learn how to do stuff by yourself. Go learn how to not be afraid to be alone with your own thoughts, especially while driving (obey that new Hands Free Law!). There's no reason to be bored, EVER.  And, there is no reason to take it personally that other people are not bored.  Don't rely on other people to make you happy or fulfill your needs. Your happiness is your responsibility.  Being needy and whiny to get attention because you have nothing else to do will not make you more attractive to people. If you really want to be surrounded by people, do what you want without caring if people are paying attention and they will flock to you.

*Sometime in the the 70's. Tod, Me, Karen, and Lee. We had our faces painted at a festival in Pajaro Dunes, California. Tod had an S for Superman,  I think Karen and I were supposed to be princess who looked like mimes (but why did Karen have a hook on her forehead?) and Lee was some kind of scary movie monster (it was a rainy Halloween festival).

stupid tooth

I am about to drive by this cool old tree and find out how much longer I have to have the MO FO flipper. Just thinking about the day I can enjoy a bowl of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch again thrills me. I hope it will be soon. I've gained way too much weight on the soft food diet. It turns out that ice cream and mashed potatoes have way more calories than Wheat Thins and cereal do. Stupid tooth.

*Prints of Still Here are available in my etsy shop.

4 more days

~Linda and Karen's Company Policy~

8. Don't expect rewards or sympathy for acting like a dumb ass.

We're not explaining that one because if you don't get it, we'll violate one of our other policies by taking the time to explain it.

9. Don't respond to questions people know the answer to but ask anyway.

*Photo from 1971. I was putting lotion on my feet and Karen appears to have been making wire hangers at the dinner table. This is kind of what we looked like while writing this list. This is also what we look like when the phone rings and we don't answer it.

due to a certain situation

The publisher of our first two books has notified us that due to a certain situation they found themselves in (uh huh) they will no longer be printing many of their popular books including our two books with them, Visual Chronicles and Journal Revolution.  Current copies of the books still for sale in stores and online  will not spontaneously combust so go ahead and buy them while you can. I am seeing what we can do about getting some books to sell through our site. We will also be checking out other options  such as PDF versions of projects, downloadable versions of the books and, well, just other options for these two books.
In the mean time, amazon still has Visual Chronicles here and Journal Revolution here.  Also, if you want either book and can't find it, please let us know so we know how many to order if we can get some.

5 more days

~Linda and Karen's Company Policy~
6. No thinking every joke is about you.
7. Don't look to be offended or insulted.

"You're sooo vain, you prob'ly think this joke is about you, don't you? Don't you?"

As our friend Julie was blessed to notice in high school, not everybody is looking at you! Most of the time, people are talking and writing about themselves. Lots of times, people say things without thinking anything at all, let alone thinking about you! And so often, a joke really is just a joke. Lighten up! Assume you are not the #1 chore on everyone's list. And if it IS about you, listen with grace and humor, and refer to #5, below.

*At the time (the rip roaring 80's in Venice, CA), our hair was SO STYLIN'! It's hard to tell from this weathered photo, but Karen was wearing a t-shirt in the same shade of tangerine as her poofy hair!  I was wearing a huge shirt in a shade of blue to match my deep purple hair. I always wore clothes 3 sizes too big because I thought I was fat. I'd love to be that fat again! We each had a set of shoulder pads that we wore with everything and our leather jackets had shoulder pads in them, too. Oh how times have changed. This photo makes us crack up!