The Gurly Life

A Christmas miracle

One of my signature moves is to totally blow off Christmas shopping until 30 minutes before I'm supposed to drive over to whatever Christmas celebration I'm attending (and by "whatever Christmas celebration I'm attending," I really mean Willow's, because that's where I go every year).

The result is usually some last minute online gift card (bless the internet) or the hurried wrapping of a dead plant or random book off a shelf. What? Like you haven't been there, done that.

I blame this phenomenon not on the fact that I'm a bad friend with other redeeming qualities, but on the fact that stores start the Christmas plug earlier every year. It irritates me to the point that I end up boycotting the whole thing. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

This year, however, the Christmas assault did not start in September. Or in October. And in most cases, not in November yet, either. I think stores are starting to Christmas things up now, but they're starting slowly. It's as if the corporate grand poobahs got together and asked themselves, how can we get Elena in a Christmas shopping spirit this year? And then they came up with a radical idea: back the hell off! (Alternatively, they might be thinking that immoderate materialism might not be appropriate given the political climate. Either or.)

Well, gentlemen (I assume they're men in suits because, you know, The Man), it worked.

It is now about a week before Thanksgiving, I have not seen a ton of Christmas decorations, I have not been assaulted by Christmas music, and I have not been subjected to an overwhelming number of ads for Black Friday. In fact, I have seen none. In fact, I am interested in what Best Buy is doing on Black Friday, and I can't find any info about it. Sweet. Of course, I TiVo through the ads, but when they're everywhere you can't really avoid them.

As a result, or for other reasons that may be unrelated, I am starting to feel the Christmas spirit. I look forward to playing Christmas music starting after Thanksgiving, I fully intend to decorate over the long weekend instead of on Christmas Eve eve, and I have started purchasing Christmas gifts. THIS YEAR'S Christmas gifts, not last year's. I'm just going to give up on last year's at this point.

All y'all should prepare for very public and very inappropriate displays of affection. It can't be helped. I have the Christmas in me.

Memories by Michelle

One of my best friends has taken the plunge and has decided to follow her passion and turn it from a hobby to a profession. This amazing woman is my friend Michelle. Normally, she prefers that I don't use first names on the blog (though since she's on Twitter, FB and has several blogs, I'm not sure if that rule still applies), but since her own professional site is called Memories by Michelle, I think she will forgive me.

Michelle is a photographer. A budding and extremely talented photographer, who specializes in portraits. Each new session she does she gets better by a factor of about 14. Maybe 16. Ok, fine, 17! OMG, you're so pushy.

She lives and works in the Sacramento area, but she is also an avid and unstoppable traveler, so I'm throwing out there that she is not difficult to convince to go where her subjects are. The other thing about that is that she takes portraits of her people where they are comfortable, which is often near or at home. Michelle is not the kind of photographer that makes you wear a corset and a hat you wouldn't be caught dead in.

To promote her new website and budding business, Michelle is running a competition. That's right - YOU COULD WIN SOMETHING! A free session. It's really easy to enter, you don't need talent, there is no essay to write, there are no multiple choice questions to answer. Just go to the Memories by Michelle blog and follow the very easy instructions. You can enter up to four times. Oh yeah.

I have entered, of course, because I would love for her to take my photo. So, really, what I want you to do is go to her website and hire her and NOT enter the contest so I can win the session. No, no, enter the contest, anything to plug my friend's new business, but DON'T ENTER because I want to win, no I don't mean that but go away NO NO GOOD GRIEF ENTER THE COMPETITION, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. Don't make me yell.

Sigh.

It's hard being a good friend when my selfishness knows no bounds.

You can enter to win the session until December 31. This post will be at the top of the blog until then. Be sure to scroll down for new posts until Friday.

L.A. Creative Woodworks

Last night I was leading an introduction at Landmark Education, and one of the people assisting gave me his card. He does woodwork. He's very talented, so I'm plugging his work. If you like this sort of thing, you can see photos of decks, fences, pergolas, furniture, etc. here. His name is Arian Harwell, and he can be contacted by phone or email, on +1 (310) 601-6616 and lacw07@yahoo.com.