JUST A FABULOUS CELEBRATION . . .

Felice Festa della Donna a voi!!!



I received a chat on FB this morning from one of Meagan's friends in Italy who I met during my trip last year (yes, blogs and pics forthcoming one day *sigh*). Deejay is Italian and his chat was sent to wish me "Buon 8 marzo a voi" which translates to "Good 8 March to you." So very sweet that he remembered meeting me but "Good 8 March to you?"

Pardon my "duh-ness." Um. Yea. I had to go to my trusty-dusty Wikipedia.

It is International Women's Day today or, in Italy, The Festival of Women! This day is celebrated throughout the world . . . though not in the U.S. I find this interesting considering that several historical U.S. events projected this festival from a medieval tradition to a contemporary observance. Guess we have Valentine's Day, which is really commemorating a massacre -- what? And Mother's Day. I'm a mom. It's a tough job. We deserve to be honored for it. However, in the U.S., it seems, that is certainly enough woman celebrating. Is it time for kick-off yet?

There are relatively few sites (go figure) I found regarding this event. Modern festivals are held across many European countries and it is recognized worldwide as a day. The ancient festivals were dedicated to women and the new season/year -- spring -- and occurred around the end of February, beginning of March. The celebration's modern theme found its place on March 8 due to several historical events, primarily the New York textile factory fire of 1911 that killed 146 garment workers (most of whom were female Italian and Jewish immigrants). These women were locked in their building (with fabrics and GAS lamps) each day by management to assure their labors were completed. This event, resulting in the deaths of so many, prompted the formation of the first female union in the United States and was a catalyst in organized work place safety reform. The "Festival of Women" morphed into "International Women's Day" during this era.

Just another factoid: The Mimosa flower figures prominently in this celebration from it's ancient roots (HA! A pun!). It is the flower most often given to women on this day by the men in their lives. I think an Americanized version would certainly include the Mimosa!

Read more about the "Festival of Women" and "International Women's Day" here, here and here.

Soooooo . . .

. . . next year I will invite my fabulous and beautiful bosom (HA! Another pun!) buddies over for a celebration on March 8 to honor ourselves as women, complete with Mimosa's and Mimosa's!


Screw Valentine's Day!!!

JUST GOT HOME . . .

. . . after two, 12 plus hours, days drive through five states of snow! FIVE STATES!!! No black top to be seen for over six hundred miles across I-94, then down I-29 and the Kansas Turnpike.

My thoughts?

"Yo. Dudes. The road is still there under all that white. Seriously. It's there. NOW. MOVE. YOUR. COLLECTIVE. ASSES. I want to get home before summer."

Their thoughts? (as I imagine them to be)

"Texas plates. Um. Yea."

It's really, really good to be home. H-Town baaayyyy-bbbbeeee!!!

=)

JUST ANOTHER PLACE TO GO . . .

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1650253064&ref=profile

Come see me!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST . . .

Well, it happened over two weeks ago and is one of the reasons I can't manage a decent coordination of thoughts much less type them into something lucid and possibly entertaining . . .

Another one bit the dust. Clerk. That is. She left in the middle of the night. No sign of her the morning after but for a handwritten note with some BS story in it. Hmm.

A week later, through the seismic grapevine, it came to be known she just "didn't have enough 'her' time." Hmm.

Make no mistake, this is not an easy job. You're away from home a lot. It's a huge responsibility to admin a 100 man crew, multi-million dollar projects and all the accounting that entails. You get paid well for it.

Point? You get paid to work 12 hours a day -- not to have "me" time for 8 of those hours.

GRRR.

Subsequent thought: Why is it people expect to get paid very well and have to do absolutely nothing for it? It is a source of endless amazement to me . . .

I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.

However, not my company at the moment // more later on that one. The only thing I have been able to write is a blistering draft of an email that no one in their right mind would ever send to their "superiors" (scoffs) about the direction they are taking the company and their methodology that spells B-A-N-K-R-U-P-T-C-Y . . . can't go there today, can't go there today, can't go there today . . .

Except to throw out that I may head to Angola for some International experience and to get away from it all . . .

Thinking . . .

Thinking . . .

Thinking . . .

Hmm.

=)

ZERO TIME . . .

I've had zero time to blog but lots of thoughts to blog about . . . grrr . . .

Hopefully this situation will rectify itself by next week when my new clerk gets some training and is able to take over a few of the daily duties.

In the meantime, I have a MySpace too (no new blogs on that either!)

www.myspace.com/j_phoenix

NEW TO BLOGGING . . .

Very new. =)



One of my New Year's resolutions was to begin a blog. DONE! The other part of that is, of course, to regularly post on it and it's not going to be easy for me. I work A LOT. I am away from home for months at a time and staying close to family and friends is difficult at best. Even the shortest phone conversations are interrupted by work almost as soon as the phone is dialed. I'm lucky if I get a chance to check my email every third day. So, in an effort to keep in touch and keep all informed of news, progress and even location, I figure a blog suits the situation perfectly.



Another resolution (there will be a posted list of these soon) is to post more of our photos for family and friends to see. I am chewed out regularly for not having my pics available. See, Leon and I went to Italy May of 2008 and I have yet to even yank the photos off the cards . . . about 20 gigs worth. I have two beautiful daughters to talk about and four adorable poohs -- very few people have seen our most recent rescue, Oliver. We are always somewhere interesting, beautiful and/or charming at work and I have a crew full of wonderful people I work with. There is a wedding in the making, a house being repaired and remodeled, and a new build "to be" going on in South Dakota . . . all of which I would love to share and have a "historical accounting" of. We are all over the central Northern states and meet a lot of fabulous people that I would like to stay in contact with too.



I love reading blogs (see the ones I follow so far), I love other people's perspective on life and I admire their ability to write. I think it is a terrific venue for keeping abreast of family, friends and meeting new folk and that is why I'm here.



Hi there! =)



OK then -- welcome to my blog, such as it is and will be.

IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE! . . . . IT IS MINE!!!

It is so beautiful . . . I saw it in Red Lodge, Montana -- sadly the boutique had sold all they had (3 of them -- ALL SOLD!). Marti still had them in the shop though and she let me try one on . . .

It was LLLLUVVVV at first touch and now . . .

IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE! . . . . IT IS MINE!!!

See . . .



and the back . . .



Phoenix Spitfire!

Yea baby!!!!!

PS: Since there are several pieces I covet from the designers of this jacket, I am committed to quarterly purchases -- there are two more jackets I definitely slobber over and at least four belts. Magnificent design, workmanship and the lambskin is OH-MY-SO-SOFT! I'm weak . . . . LOL!