Weekend Continued

I'm trying to be all happy go lucky in these blogs, but I will mention that I'm dying a thousand deaths every time I think about the Middle East and all the destruction, every time I hear the news. I feel like I should be over there, but it's not like I would be doing anything to help. I'd just be living my selfish little life over there. Besides, they already have a great Cats & Dogs magazine!

On Saturday Michelle got some free tickets to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre to see K.C. and The Sunshine Band and some other disco oldies (Tavares, Gloria Gaynor and Sister Sledge). She invited Terry and me. I felt like it was a Vegas show, not the real thing. It was fun to check out the venue. I had never been there before, and I'm definitely going back. There's a grassy area to sit on it you don't want to pay too much and then the rest of the area has an overhang but you're outside the whole time. The weather has cooled down and it was absolutely delightful outside. I've got a few photos from that.

That's Sandra and Chi Chi, who's a 9 week old Chihuahua. Very adorable.

Next, I was at a coffee shop on Providence this morning at the Promenade, and ran into Buddy, a 5-year old Cocker Spaniel and his mommy Tina. Of course I had to introduce myself and tell them about the magazine.

And lastly, who says women don't believe in equality. Here's my neighbor's son and his friend. They came over to mow my front lawn and she insisted on doing it, or so he says.... See - there are good people in this world. People who mow other people's lawns. Good old capitalism.

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara Abrams

Fun, Fun, Fun

I might have to do this in 2 parts again since the blog won't accept too many photos, and I took a bunch this weekend.

First off, I must congratulate myself for withstanding 90 degree heat inside my very own house for 4 days until I got my air conditioning unit replaced. I guess I do come from hearty stock. And I must say, all this fear of the Carolina heat and humidity hasn't really happened. Yes, it can get hot, and yes, today it was hot and humid, but it doesn't even come close to the humidity I experienced in Boston, MA. And then after a few oppressive days, the skies open up and the rain comes down in droves and the temperature drops by 25 degrees. Anyhow, hasn't been a real problem so far.

Cats & Dogs of Charlotte had a table at the Chamber's Schmooze Cruise on Tuesday. I had bags made up with the logo and we stuffed them with magazines, sample dog food, some massage certificates and a new animal vitamin supplement. Unfortunately, we only gave away about 100 bags so I was disappointed. I was hoping that we would have about 300 people show up. It was probably more work than the pay off, but it's always good to get out there and meet people and promote the magazine. The photo is of me (looking terrible), Laurie Smith and Cindy Harris.

I've got distribution in two Borders book stores as of today, so that was great news.

On Friday my friend Michelle, and our mutual friend Valerie, went to Gilda's in Noda and they were having a private party celebrating the 2nd year anniversary of a lifestyle magazine in town called Sotac. The rest of the photos are from that.

Continue on to the next blog for more photos of summer in sunny Charlotte, NC. (By the way, the photo of the Mastiff is "Lucy". She hangs out at Smelly Cat coffee shop in the mornings.)

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara Abrams

It's Getting Hot in Here!

Get this. The alternator in my Nissan Sentra, not even a year old, went out on Friday. Thank God it was under warranty. And yesterday the air conditioning in the house went kaput and I have to replace the central air unit. I'd better get serious about making money cause the air thing is a serious hit to the old pocket book. These are the times I wish I were married and there was someone else to help share the financial burden. Alas, it's just me. And even writing this almost makes me ashamed with all the turmoil in the world and the people in Israel and Lebanon losing their homes, their livelihoods, their sanity.

Let's move on! Friday night gallery crawl. Of course all my friends flaked, but I managed to drag my friend Bonnie down to Noda. She had never been to gallery crawl. Of course we went to Dog Bar for a Corona and peeked into the galleries. We seem to always wind down at Rat's Nest. Usually the owner, Brian, is out in the back playing drums while someone else plays guitar and sings, but this time they had a surprise. Brian was nowhere to be found and instead a Filipino Elvis impersonator was singing his little heart out. Bonnie and I sat there enthralled for at least 30 minutes. Check this guy out. He's a good singer and he dresses the part (cape, jeweled belt, gold shoes). You can hire him for a party or an event: www.Renelvis.com

On Saturday Alan Hersh and I went to see Shear Madness. I'm not into plays because I find them very static, and just prefer and love movies, but I must say this was a clever little thing. It's a spoofy, funny, murder mystery, and they involve the audience for a part of it. It's amazing how they manage to have an answer to every question the audience throws their way. They also improv a lot and crack each other up. It was funny to watch them try and keep their composure through some of it. I know you're not supposed to take photos but I snuck one in anyway, just cause I'm such a rebel.

On the way home extreme amounts of lightening crackled across the sky and we got caught in a tremendous downpour. The rain was coming down sideways in sheets. We actually had to pull over and wait it out for about 15 minutes. When we got on the freeway cars were driving with their flashers on because it was so hard to see. The next day it was a nice break from the heat and the humidity, but I must say that the extreme weather is taking some getting used to. In Los Angeles once you hit summer it was just hot, day after day. No storms, no surprises. Except for those nasty earthquakes. Yeah, forgot about those guys.

Okay, that's enough. Please pray, or envision, or chant, or whatever it takes, but send out good thoughts to the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, and let's add Korea in there also.

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara

Here's Part 2

I'm adding a photo of roses that my family sent me for my birthday and that's the end of the birthday notes. I biked 7 miles on the greenway with Terry in 92 degree weather so I guess 50 isn't all that bad. We saw a woman taking a walk with a parrot but I didn't have my darn camera! I'm going to have to take the camera everywhere.

I'm also enclosing some photos of "Andrew" who I met at the Humane Society. He was picking out a kitten for his family. It took all my will power to leave there without one.

And finally! Some photos of clients from Metro-Paws training with their dogs in an agility class. I MUST get a video camera. It was so much fun to experience the enthusiasm of the dog's parents when their dog would jump the steeple successfully. And the dogs knew how good they did! They couldn't stop moving after a jump. They just wanted to keep showing off.

Write to me! I'd love to get some comments from anyone reading my blog. I know my Mom and my friend Emily are loyal readers, but there's got to be someone else out there!

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil (say a prayer for the Middle East).

Sara Abrams

I think this will be in 2 parts

I think I need to do two entries because I've been very behind in my blogging and also because I want to put up a lot of photos and it won't take too many.

Okay, let's start with the heavy stuff. A lot of you know I grew up in Israel and that my family still lives there. So, suffice it to say I'm going crazy right now with the situation over there. It's very hard to sit here and be thinking about Cats & Dogs and la de dah when the Middle East is exploding. I'm not going to share with you my opinions because this blog is not the forum for that, but I will ask that you all pray, send out good wishes, visualize peace, whatever you personally do, to help us try and bring a stop to violence. Not just in the Middle East but everywhere. There are no simple solutions or answers to these complicated issues, but maybe, somehow, someone...will have a vision that will help us all.

Now, back to me. I had a grand 50th (oh my God, I put it in writing) birthday. I had a lousy day because I just felt crappy and moody but my roommate Gary and my friend Diane insisted that we go out for dinner and it ended up being a very fun evening. We went to Villa Antonio in Ballantyne Village and I was serenaded (see photos) and wined and dined.

Then the next day the new edition of Cats & Dogs of Charlotte arrived! They only sent the driver so he and I unloaded 10,500 magazines in the middle of the day in the middle of all the humidity. I was not looking my best after that, but I was so happy to see the magazine and see how good it looked! Grab your copy quick cause these are going to go fast. We've already distributed them to 7 of the Peak Fitnesses, and to the Home Economist on South and other places. I'll have the locations on the web in a few days.

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara Abrams

Pre-Birthday Celebration

First of all, sorry about the blue photos in the first blog. I don't know why it did it and what to do about it, but it seems that this next batch are okay. Customer service has been of no help. Oh well.

So - pre-birthday celebration. #1 - I hate birthdays. #2 - This is a big one. Like, a seriously big one. So, of course, I hate it even more. And #3 - I never bring attention to myself. I'm a true behind the scenes kind of gal. To my surprise, last night at Dog Bar, after some minimal gallery crawl, Terry and Nina surprised me with a birthday cake! I was so surprised, and so embarrassed, that my face turned beet red and the only thing I could think to do was to take some photos... I am a weirdo. But in the end, I allowed myself to enjoy the evening, and soak up some attention and even pat myself on the back for surviving umpteen years in pretty good shape and much anticipation to the next stages of my life, which I hope continue to be as fulfilling as the last year.

Well, I guess that's about all I have to say. Hopefully I'll have more birthday stories on Tuesday, my actual birthday!

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara Abrams

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Repeat

I'm reprinting this entry from yesterday because all the photos were blue... Let's see what happens.

What is up with this weather?? It started thundering again last evening, and then - boom, pouring rain. I guess it's a nice break. It's nice and clean. No mosquitoes yet.

So the big Fourth of July weekend came and went (see photo of the two little girls at the outside concert). I didn't do anything too special. Hung out with Terry and Nina and went to see The Devil Wears Prada. I was disappointed with the story but I did enjoy all the clothes and shoes! The movie was more like a short story than a feature length story. Very flimsy story. I felt that we would have had a better time watching three back-to-back Sex in the City shows. The writing would have been better, although any time Meryl Streep is in a movie, I'm there. We went to Sushi after at Sushi 101 on Providence. Yummy. I can eat tons of Sushi. It's downright embarrassing.

The two guys in the photos are Wayne Powers of Tea Rex Teahouse, and Ray Hall of It's a Grind coffee shop. Tea Rex is in the Southend, and Grind is in the new Ballantyne Village. I think this was on Sunday. I like to go over to Grind to drink decaf and work on the magazine. Ray Hall, the owner, is a sweetie. Wayne was visiting Ballantyne. There was a live band doing jazz standards and it was fun, but it was so hot outside I only lasted for a few songs.

Alan had a barbecue at his house in Waxhaw on the actual 4th and we were able to see fireworks from there. That was a nice evening.

I also feel good because I spent a large part of the weekend making my own website for Sara's Spot, which is my little retail place in Noda. I found a company that pretty much walks you through the building of a website. You don't need any special training or software. I'm not done yet, and it will be a very simple website, but I loved the empowerment of doing it myself and not paying thousands of dollars to someone else to do it.

Went to my SLG networking group this morning and I was the only female. Felt a little strange. What would have been a testosterone filled meeting if we were all in our 20's was more like a constant dueling vaudeville act. About 5 of the men in the group try to "out-funny" each other, and it can be funny, but a lot of the jokes are the ones that just make you groan because they're so corny. Men, men, men.

You may have noticed the Google ads on the blog, and I apologize for it, but I'm trying to bring in money any way I can. The whole technology aspect of what Google does is just mind blowing to me. How do they get the ads to change according to my blog subject matter? Crazy stuff!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow will bring new adventures to share with you. Everyday is a blessing, everyday I will try to visualize peace, not only for myself but for everyone I love, and those living in turmoil.

Sara Abrams