Freedom to Love . . .

So I’ve been a busy nut this past however long since my last post. I bought another business, moved, made new friends and sent myself on an emotional rollercoaster of a learning experience . . . not all in that order, of course. It seems the lesson I keep learning over and over is that somewhere along the way we’ve lost our freedom to love. Bear with me as I try to paint the pictures in my head with words -

Do you remember being a child and making/having friends without thinking about it? Other kids were just automatically friends . . . .if they were in your class, on your playground, living next door, it didn’t matter. There was no effort put into making friends – no thought about will they or won’t they like me? It was as simple as, “Hi Mrs H. Can Mikey come out and play?” There was no issue with gender, size, or color.

Imaginations ran wild and it was awesome. Cops and Robbers didn’t involve toy guns – just your finger pointed in the appropriate direction with whatever noises you felt like making. Playing house didn’t involve dolls to vicariously live through or real tea sets . . . you could just imagine it.

So what happened to all that? At what point did it become to real for most folks to handle? Why do we care any more if someone doesn’t really like us for who we are . . . it’s not like there aren’t millions of other kids to play with. When did the physical interaction of a hug become inappropriate or awkward? Especially between the opposite sex? When did we become so judgemental? Who drew the lines that we have to follow now? They obviously didn’t go to the same art class that I did . . . I think we need to change that.

 

Another Starbucks

This was probably one of my favorite shops so far. Someday, I’ll look back and try to find the store number to give the shop the credit it deserves, but for now, I don’t feel like it. I didn’t interact with the staff too much because I was too enamored with the rest of the shop. The store itself was set up so great with obvious area separation that left the shop feeling orderly and spacious. My only complaint is the same for all Starbucks shops: folks hover around the bar area instead of taking a seat and waiting patiently so it creates a cluster by the main entrance. But while I got stuck there for a few moments, I met two ladies that I ended up chatting with that were just so entertaining.

I LOVED the way the tables were all connected in 3 rows. It gives the impression of everyone having their own table but it also forces people to sit close enough to be somewhat social if they chose. After all, it is the Holidays. We should interact with our neighbors more . . . those that are around us. Besides . . . you never know who you’re going to meet! The lights above the center row were a great modern/contemporary design and gave just enough lighting to the row that didn’t get enough natural light. The cushioned seating area was AWESOME. I didn’t want to get up. The seat I was in was SO comfortable . . . I wanted to take it with me. And of course, the husband wanted to take the table with us. I swear he asked me to stick it in my purse.

Speaking of meeting strangers – the two gals I met are Mary Kay Reps. When I told the Husband, he said, “Of course they were, I could have guessed. They have the personality for it.” Which is a funny thought to me . . . because I think we all SHOULD have that kind of personality. The warm, welcoming and friendly demeanor is so great to come across. And one of the gals had the BEST hair do . . . short and silver with spikes of bright purple. LOVED it. She said it was pink last month (for Breast Cancer Awareness). How cool is that? I love funky!

I didn’t get a picture of the patio (because we were too busy rushing to get back into the warm truck) but it was a great space; lots of room with plenty of seating and a sprinkling of umbrellas for shade. But in this weather, I would gladly take all the sun warmth I could get!

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Photographer . . . I am not. Yet.

I have the privilege of being related to my favorite photographers (Check out RAW Photo Design) and also had the extreme luck of making friends with the photography professor at my last school. I was in his class one day because one of the students was working on some of my items for me (I get the photography and she gets the experience) and his lecture that day was about “staging.” He commented that the creative styling is sometimes the hardest part of being a successful photographer. Coming up with ideas and concepts to photograph is a lot harder than it looks when you’re starting at the beginning and looking for motivation.

Of course I had to speak up.

That part is hard? The students there that day were trying to pick back drops for a customer’s albino hedgehog (seriously, it was awesome and I WANT one) and were just standing there. Not a one of them was trying anything. So I went to their studio and grabbed a bright purple feather boa. Stellar. Then I had one of the gals take off her chuck taylors and we tried everything to get that spiny little hog to sit inside of it. Awesome. I asked for a jar full of skittles or colored paper clips but they didn’t have that. So I grabbed a couple over-sized stuffed animals. And some fake flowers. Done. And even better.

So that got me thinking about staging a photograph and what MY perfect picture would be of. And I’ve got it. I know what I want a picture of. But I’m telling you because you’ll fall in love with it and do it before me and then I wouldn’t be happy. But I can tell you that it involves the color green, a tutu and bubblegum. Hmmm . . . do I smell a contest? I WOULD LOVE to see what each photographer comes up with for their interpretation! YAY! Let’s do that! Tell your friends. And send your pictures to heidi@heidibundy.com. I get to pick the winner. Because its my contest and my idea. I’ll even send a $25 Starbucks card to the winner. How do you like them apples?

So here’s the contest: Submit one image (along with your name & email) to heidi@heidibundy.com by January 31, 2011. The image has to have all of the following elements included and all will be posted & shared (with credits to each of the photographers and links to your pages if you have them):

• Include a bright green theme. A happy, bright green. Like fresh spring grass. That’s been freshly mowed. None of that weedy crap.
• A tutu
• Bubblegum

The winner not only gets incredible bragging rights to my awesome “I’m just somebody with a random idea” contest and $25 to Starbucks (who of course is in no way affiliated by this contest – I’m just an addict), but also will get posts on both this blog and featured all over my personal and business FB pages.

I’m so excited for my next life. I’m totally coming back as a photographer. But in the meantime – I’m really excited to see your pictures!

 

Remember, driving is still a privilege!

I was just driving across Howard Franklin to get home from school and heard that there was an accident and they suggested you find a different route. Of course I hear this when I’m already on the high way, can’t turn around and no other exits to use.

I’m tooling along, see the hump in the bridge, and figured, “Yay! They cleaned it all up again!”

Psych.

Just over the hump, everyone is screeching their breaks and coming to a complete stop. There are two vehicles in the middle of the highway. The car in the middle of the highway has a girl wearing things that are obviously pulled from a much younger & smaller child’s closet, chatting on the phone, laughing and tossing her hair back. Seriously – I didn’t realize the middle of the highway with about 900 angry drivers behind you was a good place to catch up on your conversations. I never got that memo. The truck that she very obviously rear-ended was in the right lane and the guy was just kind of standing there. Like he wasn’t sure what to do next. And in front of me was a dark red pick up truck with a VERY animated driver with all of his actions focused on the two stopped vehicles right in front of him.

I start getting pissed because he hops out of his truck, blocking the 3rd lane of traffic and pissing off the rest of the drivers even more and I start to get a little scared. Since when does this kind of behavior, animation, and obvious high-society appearance of people ever turn out to be a walk on the beach? But I’m stuck and can’t help it. So might as well see if I can be somewhat amused before things get REALLY hairy right? So I turn down the radio, quit my bitchin’ and roll down the windows. Just a little.

Well, shame on me for not writing down this guy’s license plate and hunting him down to give him a medal. That’s right. A MEDAL. Or some cookies or something.

He hops out of his truck and is YELLING at the gal on the hood of her car to get off the phone and help push her car out-of-the-way of traffic.  She gives him the stink eye, hangs up her phone and says, “I don’t have to push it, it still drives just fine.” I swear I thought this guy’s head was going to explode when she said that . . . he dropped about a half-mil more expletives and told her to get her car over to the breakdown lane. Then he starts to work on the guy in the truck although he didn’t need to be nearly as pushy with him. That guy was just looking for someone to tell him what to do – like it was his first accident ever and he was scared beyond belief.

All this goes down in a matter of 30 seconds, he hops back in his truck and takes off. Seriously . . . it was REALLY that difficult for the folks involved in the accident to have enough common sense to get out of the road?? So to anyone that actually cares enough and is reading this – take note. If you and your vehicle is movable after any kind of fender-bender/accident, blah blah blah, get it off the damn road. Not only for your sake, but for the rest of the drivers, too. If you’re blocking traffic like these two winners were, how is help ever supposed to get to you if you need it? And how can you put THAT much more faith into all the other drivers paying attention to your accident enough to avoid you and not making things worse? And if you can’t do any of this – remember, driving is A PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT. Feel free to sell your car and buy a bus pass. The rest of us will thank you.

 

YAY for Bruxism (insert sarcastic tone here)!

Yet another upside (still using the sarcasm) to Bruxism (otherwise knows as grindin’ yo teeth), is that my teeth fit together like a puzzle. It’s actually pretty weird. Because I grind so hard, I’ve ground right through 3 night guards (the dentist made ones that are supposed to survive atomic bombs) so far, but I now have the most amazingly sharp teeth for grinding through meat with the gusto of . . . well . . . a meat eater?

So at our latest 5 Guys visit (it’s a more often occurance than it should be), while shredding through the most delicious burger ever, the bottom half of my face got in the way. I bit a hole through my lip. A serious hole. Another couple layers, and I probably could have put a ring in it.

So now I have this hole in my face, and I’m starting to tear up and my wonderful husband says, “are you going to cry about it?” He’s awesome and obviously compassionate about the little things.

So because it happened while eating, the hole in my inner face is in the perfect place to constantly rub against my razor sharp teeth and gets in the way of EVERYTHING. Facial expressions, eating, teeth brushing . . . it’s all painful.

So my advice of the day is that if you are a fellow night-time teeth grinder . . . stop it. Figure it out. It’s not healthy, it’s not good for your teeth, it causes massive headaches, and it’s annoying to anyone else sleeping in your house. And when you figure out how to get it to stop – let me know. Because I am SERIOUSLY over it.

 

2010 Christmas Cards? DONE!

This year was super easy! We went to see Santa (we’re milking the whole “Santa is watching” dealio for all it’s worth this year) and when we purchased a package of pictures, we got a $20 gift card to Shutterfly. So, of course, I came right home and set to work to use it. I uploaded the picture, did a little crop job, picked out a template, used a link from Ebates (it’s actually my start page now when I bring up the ol’ net) and a few short minutes, and 4 template changes later, we have our Christmas Cards. HOORAY! Yours can be just as easy, too! Here’s what we ended up with:

Giggles And Grins Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

 

Now THIS was Customer Service

I’m a big fan of customer service, in case you haven’t been able to tell. I just wanted to take a minute and brag about the experience I had at Bill Currie Ford last week after the debacle to my poor Stella at Lowes. Bill Currie Ford is the ONLY Ford Dealership in Tampa Bay (yes there are more than 1) worth going to and trust me . . . I’ve been to them all.

If you read about my last visit to Lowes, you’d know that I had to get an estimate to repair a scratch on Stella’s bumper. I have an extended-superstar-cover-everything-you-possibly-can warranty on Stella and I take her to the Dealership for EVERYTHING. I know a lot of you would argue with that . . . and guess what? I buy my cars brand new, too. And I’m not sorry. I know it’s not the “fiscally responsible” thing to do, but I like the POM that comes with knowing exactly what has gone on with my vehicle since the day it was driven off the lot for more than a test drive. But I digress . . .

I swung by Bill Currie and found the collision & repair center in the back. I walked through the door, kneeled down to tie my shoe and by the time I stood up, one of the shop guys asked how he could help me.  I told him what my problem was and what I needed and he offered to take a look real quick. He was hopeful that the damage could be buffed out but I promised him that it couldn’t. I’m sure he was doing the typical “she’s a girl, she doesn’t know” bit, but I do know a couple things.

He went outside with me, took a receipt out of his wallet to write down my VIN (I saved him the trouble by handing him my registration card), we went back inside so he could get to his computer to type up an estimate and before I knew it I was back out the door and on the road. At the end of the day, the estimate to fix the scratches is $450 and that blows. But getting the actual estimate was the most pain-free process of this whole mess. So thank you, Bill Currie, for continuing to offer me great service.

 

What happened to Customer Service?

This past Friday, I went to my Lowe’s to pick up a grill for my husband and father of my child and best friend to celebrate Father’s Day. I had all the plans in place to make it a surprise so he wouldn’t see it until Father’s Day and was SO proud of myself for not letting it slip.

But the management at this particular Lowe’s location ruined it for all of us.

We are a Lowe’s family. With all of the work we’ve done on this and previous houses and both of us having particular hobbies, Lowe’s has really become our 2nd home. With a Target right next door and a Chick-fil-A across the parking lot, really, what more could you ask for?

When I decided to get the grill for my husband, I didn’t shop around. I just headed straight to Lowe’s, knowing full well they’d have something that would fit the bill. And they did. I picked it out, paid for it and was waiting for it to be brought up front and the tanks exchanged all within 10 minutes.

When the grill was brought up to the front, I was asked what kind of vehicle I drove. I responded and drove Stella up to the curb to see if they thought it would fit. I was told that the fit “wouldn’t be a problem” and 3 employees proceeded to load the grill into the back of Stella. It didn’t fit. Keep in mind, we’re in Florida. So while this is going on, its bright & sunny, about 95 degrees and 2462% humidity. So they took the grill back out, we stood around for about 7 minutes while the salesman runs inside to grab a screwdriver, they removed the top, and reloaded. We’re still not in all the way, hanging off by maybe less than a foot, but I only have a couple of miles to go. I told them I’d tie down the hatch, I’ll drive carefully and I’ll still be happy. I happened to look down though and noticed this time, however, upon reload, they managed to scratch Stella. Not a huge scratch by any means (maybe an inch?), but a deep one. Through the clear coat, through the paint and down to the base metal of the car. They also managed to mar up my protective plate in the trunk and make another long scratch along the bumper.

I was upset, but I wasn’t angry. I take care of my property very well and when damages occur, I get them fixed. Things like this happen, right? Lowe’s is reputable, they’ll make good on it and we’ll all be happy. Enter Manager Chad. Eventually.

It took Chad about 10 minutes to finally get outside and say “Yes, How can I help you?’  The words weren’t horrible, but his tone was incredibly demeaning. I felt like I was a toddler that just broke a vase all over again. Except this was MY vehicle and LOWE’S EMPLOYEES caused the damage. So I took a minute to explain the problem and show him the damage and he says, “Well, I will apologize for the scratch but the inside protective plate, you have to expect that . . . well, if this were my vehicle . . .” I couldn’t let that slide. I interrupted him with, “but it’s NOT your vehicle” which seemed effective enough for him to realize just how serious I was AND that I wasn’t going to just walk away.

Chad then proceeded to tell me that I ” . . . should have rented a truck. Or used a friend’s truck. What was I thinking trying to get the grill into the back of the vehicle?” Again, the pompous attitude offended me because I DID mention that I had a truck available and could pick up the grill the following day. When I said it, however, the employees continued to load the grill anyway. Knowing where they work for a living, I gave them the benefit of the doubt in knowing what they were doing. Shame on me.

Chad called out the store liability guy . . . the one with the digital camera. I was actually happy to see that Lowe’s is prepared with having this guy and the equipment on site ready to document any accident. While he is photographing the scratches, Chad proceeds to tell the employees to tie down my hatch with twine and anchor it to my rear windshield wiper. Seriously. This suggestion came from a Lowe’s Store Manager. That was not going to fly. I objected and the Lowe’s Risk Guy says, “actually, we’re not allowed to tie anything down. As the vehicle owner, you can do it yourself, if you’d like. But our employees are not allowed to tie down anything and we relinquish any responsibility for damages that may be caused.”

Chad then decided to jump on Lowe’s Risk Guy’s wagon and says “actually, our employees are not responsible for loading anything into your vehicle. It’s not something we regularly do.” So I told Chad exactly what he needed to say to me. All I wanted to hear was, “I am SO sorry about the damages and I would like to take care of the bill for repairing them. In addition, to compensate you for the extra time you now have to take out of your day to fix a problem caused by our employees and in a gesture of good faith for your future business, I would also like to have one of our employees deliver the grill to your home for you.” When I told him that’s what he should have said, he scoffed and said “there’s no way I’m taking care of the delivery. And if you bring me estimates for repairing the damage, I’ll see if there’s something I can do.” Something you can do? Really? I politely asked him to remove the grill from my vehicle and issue me a full refund. With that attitude and abhorrent customer service, there is no way I’m giving that store credit for the sale.

So while I waited for all the employees to take their time coming back out to the car to unload the grill, I took care of unloading all the parts, accessories and propane tank. Now, it’s 2 days before Father’s Day, I’m sunburned from standing in the parking lot, hot and miserable, staring down the barrel of unknown lost time due to having to get a quote that *maybe* Chad will cover to repair the damages, then having to go back to the shop to have the repairs done, and I still don’t have a grill for Father’s Day.

I’m not so unrealistic that I’ll curse Lowe’s and vow to never shop there again. It really is our 2nd home and this is just one bad experience over the hundreds of positive ones. I really do hope that Lowe’s can come up with something to take this extremely sour taste out of my mouth.

 

Farmer Moose

Moose and I unleashed our inner-farmers this weekend. The husband had to work so it was just me and the Moose that got to enjoy Goose’s 4th birthday party. What do you think of when you hear “4-year-old birthday party?” I think of Chucky Cheese, Movie Theatres, Bounce Houses, Duckpin Bowling and parks. But what about Farms? No? Me neither. But it was A BLAST.

Noah’s Ark Farm in Odessa is full of wonderful animals and the party was hosted by Farmer Ben, the owner of Noah’s Ark. The kids got to pet & brush goats, hold baby chicks, tickle pot-bellied pigs and ride a pony. It was such a great experience and all of the kids really seemed to get a kick out of learning about the animals. So much so, in fact, that Moose and I walked away with an extra special party favor.

Someone had dropped a rooster off at Noah’s Ark Farm and Farmer Ben mentioned needing to find a new home for him. While he was extremely friendly and got along great with the hens, he caused problems with the other roosters. There’s really no benefit to having a rooster without hens. Roosters don’t lay eggs and we probably wouldn’t be very popular with the neighbors. But he was SOOO cool. A quick message to the husband and it was settled. If the Moose wanted to bring home the rooster, we would officially have our first family pet.

But Farmer Ben’s wife had a change of heart about finding a new home for the Rooster. Apparently, the youngest of their 8 children had grown quite fond of the Rooster. So instead of brining home a live Rooster, Farmer Ben gave us a different pet. A pet that the Moose could be much more involved with and try to raise all on his own.

Our first Family Pet

Farmer Ben taught us how to take care of it and incubate so we could hopefully have our newest family member in just 21 days! Last night I ran out to Lowe’s and picked up a grow light and the husband set up a little bed outside on the porch. We’re not going to name it or get any more involved at this point because there’s a very large chance that it won’t work out. But the Moose is VERY excited and pitched a fit last night when we didn’t let him sleep out on the porch with it.  So we’ll keep you posted . . . we’ve got 20 more days to go!

 

How “Sales & Marketing” gets a bad name:

Lately, I’ve become a much bigger fan of marketing efforts. It’s because I understand it more and I’ve been able to see some actual results from it. But I’ll be honest: I’ve always associated Marketing & Sales to each other and never in the best light. They’ve just always seemed like high-pressure fields and I’m not down with pressure much.

I’m also not down with wasting money, killing trees and trying to shove a message down someone’s throat. Based on the contents of my mailbox lately, it seems that Verizon and I don’t see eye-to-eye on all this. Seriously, there is not a span of 3 days in a row where my mailbox is Verizon-ad free. At this point it’s beyond getting on my nerves so I thought I’d share a little of my frustration with you.

These 4 envelopes arrived all on the same day

I think that’s INSANE. Keep in mind, this is just one day and doesn’t include all the generic flyers that come with our junk mail (there’s AT LEAST ONE in every pile) and envelopes addressed to “current resident” of our address. My issue with waste of money is simple: granted, we’re just 1 house, but think of how many millions of duplicates they send EVERY mailing. There’s money spent on the paper, money spent on the printing & envelope stuffing and money spent on the postage. Seriously? You think four advertisements in one day is appropriate? How many trees did you help to waste with this nonsense?

Really, the solution is simple: how about you run a quick analysis on your mailing list and eliminate any duplicates? Would that really be so hard? Trust me, it might do you some good. Because at this point, seeing how much you waste is an instant turn-off. I have NO DESIRE to switch to your services now. If you harass me this much and I’m not even a customer, I could only imagine what it would be like if I WERE a customer.

As an important note, incase you think I’m bashing on Verizon in its entirety . . . we are Verizon Wireless customers and are VERY happy with that service with no intention of changing any time soon.