FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.) News from the job search - more and more employers are looking for bilingual employees, some days it seems like ALL the jobs are asking for it! Mostly for Spanish speakers (not surprising being in CA) but also Chinese. So get your kids serious about those language classes!

2.) Ally received her first paycheck. Tom helped her open a bank account with ATM card access and a savings account. We advised her to automatically deposit some of each paycheck into savings, and she did.

But she was just so excited to have that money! She went out to eat, she went to many movies, she shopped and shopped and finally bought the cowboy boots she has been dreaming of. She is now so broke that she is scrounging change and asking for paid chores (which she'll gladly do tomorrow for the money today.) So far she has left the money in the savings account alone, but it is another week until she gets paid...

3.) Update on my complaint to Ikea - I have had two responses. One from the corporate office and one from the store manager offering to send me a gift card. I was thinking about suggesting she could offer me a job, but I am not sure I want a 3 hour commute for a retail job...wonder if they offer benefits?

4.) We are having a BBQ at my sister's house on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day and my mom's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday. So we have 3 dads and 2 birthdays all together - now that is efficient!

5.) Last but not at all least. A few years ago when I first started checking out the internet to see what the hell a blog was, I found Mrs. G at Derfwad Manor. I don't know why I was so lucky to have found this wonderful, funny woman out of all the zillions of blogs out there, but I was just that lucky. I immediately had a girl crush and checked frequently for new posts and was excited when the Women's Colony was started and aspired to someday be a good enough writer to be published there.

And now it is over. She has closed it down. I am crushed. I will miss the Colony and especially Mrs. G because most of the other contributors I can read on their own blogs - but Mrs. G ...well, she is one of a kind and I can only hope she will grace the internet again because I will miss her so much.

PRIZE SHOES

I had the great good fortune to win a giveaway from The Woman's Colony a few weeks ago. It was a $200.00 gift card to Piperlime, an online store for shoes, bags and clothing.

I made that money stretch to cover 3 pairs of shoes!

These peep toe flats show off my red toes, but are they too long? I'm thinking when they loosen up, my toes will move forward a bit.

These giraffe patterned shoes will go well with my brown dress and, of course, all my black. I just love the texture.

These black shoes have a bit of a heel and are leather, suede and patent leather. Very elegant.

I looked at every shoe on the site, and believe me, I had about 10 of them in my basket and took a lot of time before I made the selections. These are the perfect additions to my summer flip flop collection and winter Merrills. I drooled over all the gorgeous pumps my feet no longer allow me to wear and the darling boots which make no sense in California. I hope the ladies of the Colony approve of my selections...