Obama Election Party

I attended a fun Obama election party on Tuesday at a club called Kiss. The club was packed and a lot of people were wearing Obama gear. The DJ was awesome and people didn't stop dancing. It was a young crowd and predominately African American. Every time they posted the electoral votes the crowd just went crazy, screaming and yelling. It was hard for me to really capture the excitement of the evening in photos but it will give you a taste.

As usual, my timing was off! I was in the bathroom when they announced that Obama had won. The noise from the screaming let me know that I had missed it, but I ran out and was able to join in the celebration. I am so glad that I made the effort to be around people for this historic night. It would have been a big loss to be at home alone

Let's all pray for the positive direction that our country is going in. It's going to be a very hard road, but we must keep our optimism and enthusiasm in tack. We truly live in a wonderful country.

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-965-1800, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

LA Visit - Finally!

I finally made it back to Los Angeles. I haven't been back since I left in August 2005. I was very nervous about visiting. I wanted to return the triumphant warrior, financially secure, skinny, gorgeous, with a southern gentleman on my arm, and I for sure have not achieved any of that. But I did return with my head held high and screwed back on the right way. LA has a way of corrupting you. All you ever think about is money and success. You're so busy surviving and trying to achieve material gain that you forget to, literally, stop and smell the roses. I ended up having a great visit. My girlfriend's son had his bar mitzvah and it was awesome to see him on the road to becoming a young man.

The weather was rainy and overcast. I was looking forward to sun, but you can't have everything!

The photos were taken in Malibu on Sunday morning.

My next blog will be chock full of photos taken at an Obama election party. Stay tuned!

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-965-1800, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

Now I'm Sad....

We had a power outage in my neighborhood (some new phone company disrupting all of us who work from home), so I got in the car and drove to my favorite coffee shop called It's A Grind, in Ballantyne Village. I love It's a Grind because it's NOT Starbucks and because I know the owner and the gals who work here know me by name. In the car I was listening to NPR and the amount of bad financial news was just shocking. Lehman Bros. had just failed and AIG had just been bailed out by the Feds. I was depressed and a little scared, but I wasn't sad. I got to Ballantyne Village, parked and walked to my coffee shop, only to find out it was shuttered with a note on the door, "Our Apologies!!! We are Closed". This wasn't a temporary "taking inventory" closure. Most of the shelves are bare, even though the furniture is still in place. And then I became sad. In this 2.5 year old shopping center there have been three major closures in the last few months - an upscale restaurant called Table, a wine store and bar with live music, and now my coffee shop.

As my readers know, and I guess we're down to just Mom now, I try to bring light and happiness and as much optimism as I can in my blog because I think the world is going through some evil turns and I don't want to be a part of any kind of doom and gloom. But truthfully, I can't see much good in someone's dream going bust. I can't help but think about the owner and also the employees who were so upbeat and gracious to the patrons. Where are they and what will they do now?

And I need to think about myself too. I'm no longer doing sales and I need to find some employment pronto. I'm glad I've lived my dream as best I could but this is not the best of times to be looking for a job. I do have an unwavering belief that I will be all right. I always am. I always land on my feet. As I was told, I have a host of angels around me, protecting me. I always sensed it and will be forever grateful that a friend verbalized it for me. But I don't want any one else to be hurting. I want love, light and happiness for everyone!

I can share with you what brings me back to an optimistic state. I go out into nature, like my beautiful mini-forest back yard, or I look at something in my house that puts a smile on my face. I might just take five minutes to watch my cats stalking squirrels or sleeping soundly, and I say "thank you". I don't know what it is about being grateful, but it tends to calm me down.

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

How About Those Democrats!

I'm really enjoying the Democratic convention, except for the in-house band from Colorado. It's sounding a little "Up with People-ish". I think with a future African-American President we could do better than that, don't you think? Where's a little Funkadelic when you need it?

And at first I was disappointed with the choice of Joe Biden for running mate, but I'm starting to warm up to him. Did you know that he was working class? (Do you really believe that?) I know he started out that way, but I'm sure a little bit of the DC jet setting has gone to his head. It's not like he married a factory worker. He went for the glam-doctor. But I don't fault him for that. She seems like a nice lady. She called him honey on stage. That was a nice touch. "Honey, we have a surprise for you", and Obama walked on stage.

Can't wait for tonight's big speech. I'm ready for a change - how about you?

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

Vacation! Finally!

My birthday has come and gone and I was determined to do something different this year. I booked a flight to Dallas to see my girlfriend Rhonda. She and I have known each other about 25 years. Shocking how the years pass, but also very cool! We met in Los Angeles and then Rhonda moved back to her hometown of Dallas, and eventually I left to move to Charlotte. We don't speak very often but we have always stayed in touch.

So, now it was time to visit and get caught up and do something special. Rhonda and her son, Austin, picked me up at the airport and we went to lunch at a Red Lobster. The waiters serenaded me with the happy birthday song and then we headed down to Denison, Texas to drop Austin off at Rhonda's aunt's home. Did you know that Denison is the birthplace of Eisenhower? On the way to Denison we pulled off the interstate to get something to drink (it sure was hot in Dallas!) and that drink turned into Dairy Queen Blasts. Oh my God! I NEVER eat sugar, but in continuing the birthday weekend celebration, I allowed myself to indulge. I'm hoping I didn't set a dangerous precedent. It was so good.

The next day Rhonda and I headed out to Austin, TX. I had brought my trusty GPS, which turned out to not be so trusty. Must be the Texas geography. We kept losing satellite connection. We fought our way around aggressive drivers in pick up truck, after pick up truck, and finally reached Austin. The drive took us through flat, flat land, but as we approached Austin we hit a more pretty, hilly area. The weather continued to sizzle at around 102 degrees, but we were on an adventure and not to be deterred!

That night we hit 6th Street which was a short walk from the hotel. Toward 11:00 pm the street shut down to cars and the freaks began to come out! Goodness. I never thought Texas would be home to something like that. A young woman walked down the street wearing panties and pasties while a very deranged older man stood on a corner sporting a furry, stuffed animal where his pants should have been! I knew that Austin was famous for its music but we kept coming across references to "Keep Austin Weird" so I guess it's just one more thing for Texans to be proud of. Austin weirdness and the George Bush family.

The next day we went to see some caves in San Marcos, TX, expecting something spectacular. Well....not exactly, but we still had a fun time. That evening we were smart enough to ask the concierge for some pointers on where to go and we ended up at a very, dark and cool jazz club, deep in a basement, far from the eyes of tourists. Much better. Wish we had found it Saturday.

So, back to Dallas on Monday. Lots of catching up with Rhonda. All in all, a very good weekend and a fine way to celebrate getting older!

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

Old Enemies - New Friends

For those of you who have been reading my blog over the past 2 1/2 years (Emily, Mom, Donald and Michael), you know all about my cat wars. Sam Abrams vs. Tom Abrams. Sam came with me from Cali and allowed me to introduce little Timmy Abrams into the mix and soon became fast buds with that little rascal. But then, Tommy showed up. Mean and arrogant, pissed at the world. I would feed him and get my hand bit and scratched just as a thank you. Of course after the capture and snipping, Tommy is now the world's most humble and loving house cat. (Big as a house too.) Sam was not happy with this introduction into our happy little home and his sweet nature soon turned about as surly as Tom's prior disposition. He would growl and hiss at Tom and run him into a corner. It was amazing to see Tom, the former aggressor, acquiesce to these rules, but he knew his place and he wasn't about to give up the comforts of the red sofa for the harsh street life. So, this is all a preamble to the photo of Sam (striped kitty) and Tom (black and white), nose to nose on the sofa. Some kind of unspoken cat truce. Here we are, face to face, even level, we'll just have to live and let live.

Next photo - not as long a story. It's been so dry in the Carolinas and we've been waiting and waiting for rain. Tonight I had my Commerce Connections networking meeting and suddenly the heavens opened, the winds started whipping everything in sight, and the rain poured down! Unfortunately, it deterred some people from making the event, but it still was good to see rain again.

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!

I'm Tardy in my Posts!

I guess not much to report. Tons of family in town, my sister, my niece and then my parents (see their photo). Work is good, I'm doing sales for a women's resource guide called Women With Know How.

But the big news is that the quest for my husband continues. We're just about half way into 2008 and I've given myself until the New Year of 2009 so I guess I'd better turn up the heat. I went to an interview for a singles club but it was SOOOO expensive! I'm sure I'm creative enough and innovative enough to figure out a way to meet a man. I need some virtual affirmations out there, so please put out the good thoughts!

I'm going to stop advertising Prepaid and whatever else I've got going on here and just direct people to MySpace. And you know me...I've got some other ideas I'm playing with! All virtual, baby. All virtual. It's the only way to go what with the cost of gas almost $4.00 a gallon and the price of having a brick and mortar store front.

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams

USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com . Thank you!