Monday, December 18, 2006

Emerald Green Dresses and Listening Ears

Oh, I am tired today. It is only 8:00 am, and I want to go home. Whine, whine, whine.

But I am sort of glad that I am tired. You see, I had a very busy weekend.

Friday and Saturday night, I went to parties. Hubbie is in a job where, well, let's just say I often say that he is in the smoozing business. Anyway, the Saturday night party was his, and his office gives the best parties.

This year I sort of cheated. You see, I wore the same dress for both parties. Part of the reason, well, the entire reason is that I found this fantastic dress – a wonderful emerald green, velvet dress. Not the type of dress I could wear any time of the year. A dress that makes me feel, well, elegant. Does that make sense at all?

We were treated to a nice dinner, not a fantastic dinner. Rubber chicken aside, the salad was crisp, the conversation was light, and I had a good time.

You know, I will tell you a little secret: my hubbie's friends say that I am fascinating, that I am charming. Okay, I am both fascinating and charming. But hubbie's friends have no idea. They really don't. When I go to these things, all I do is listen to people. I ask questions about their lives, and I listen to them. That makes me charming and fascinating. Sort of funny.

I like listening to other people's lives, their stories. In fact, if you go through some of my older stories, my best stories are of other people. That does not make me less fascinating than most, it just means that I have caught glimpses of other people's lives. And their lives just draw me in.

I started writing this at 8:00 am, and it is not 9:30 am. I am still a little tired, and Sunday was a "day of rest." Funny how partying on Friday and Saturday left me resting Sunday, something a good Catholic girl was supposed to do anyway.




Looks like I can't switch from Blogger Beta, just like ~Deb. When I tried switching from blogger to beta blogger, I got the following information:

Why can't I switch to Blogger in beta?
While the new version of Blogger is still in beta, some users with certain types of blogs will not be able to switch to it. We'll be adding support for these blogs as soon as possible, so everyone can join in the fun. But for now, if you have any of the following on your account, you'll need to hold off for a bit:

A very large blog. (More than a couple thousand posts + comments.)

Note that, even if your blog is eligible to switch, you may not have the link to do so on your dashboard. We are starting out by just switching over a limited number of accounts, but we'll add more and more as time goes on. However, if you still want to try out Blogger in beta, what you can do is to visit beta.blogger.com and create a new account. Later on, you'll be able to merge this account with your original Blogger account.

Thanks for your patience, and we promise it will be worth the wait!

9 comments:

kathi said...

Emerald green velvet dress...that sounds gorgeous! Wow.

I don't wanna switch. I'm probably being stubborn, but I just don't want to and I'm not gonna.

Tony said...

Green has always been my favorite color. I had a '57 Chevy that was metallic emerald green. I loved that car.

I'm sure you were absolutely dazzling!!

People like to talk about themselves. The best thing I've ever learned to do is to listen and ask questions about them. It always makes them feel good which, in turn, makes me feel good.

Advizor54 said...

I have found that I am much more interesting when I don't say anything at all. A few key questions to keep someone else talking is all it takes. I try and use the "Rule of Three."

When someone is telling their story, we all have the instinct to jump in and tell our version of the same story, thus making the conversation about us, instead of them. But, "Rule of Three" holds that you must resist that urge three times before you can say anything. Effectively, this cuts down your talking time by 75% as you skip three stories to tell one.

You conversation partners will love you for it without even knowing why.

(Am I the only one that gets a secret thrill out of writing a post with no spelling errors the first time through?)

Tony said...

That is sneaky, Advizor. That line about no spelling errors to get everyone to go back and re-read your post looking for errors. I'll have to try that one.

Just kidding.

I'm so inept in my typing that I usually write it out in Word and use spell check, grammer check and hat and coat check to make sure, and even then I've been known to post errors.

The "Rule of Three" sounds good. I'll have to try it.

Leesa said...

kycm: yeah, beautiful Saturday night and completely a puddle of blah on Sunday morning.

kathi: I saw lots of beautiful dresses that evening. I can't wear mine until next year. Looks like it will be a LBD on New Years.

tony: at first I thought you were comparing my dress to a car. Not the image I wanted to inspire with my blog entry.

advizor: by the end of the night, I had bite marks on my tongue. I have learned to bite my tongue at parties.

tony: I don't use spell check, and sometimes I pay for it.

Anonymous said...

Leesa, you are charming and fascinating -- and very bright, and funny, and creative, and downright pretty. A lethal combo. Hey, if you weren't those things I might not come to call.
Cheers,
Ian

Anonymous said...

I hardly ever get to rest on Sunday....must be something to that "no rest for the wicked", huh?

Anonymous said...

it isn't often I have the opportunity to feel "elegant". I think we all want to feel like Audrey Hepburn on occasion. Cherish the moments, I do *S*

I was at one of my sibs firms parties last year. I was yakking at one of the the other partners when she commented "I have met all you sibs now, Just like your brother, all of you are so easy to talk to". I thought about it and realized its because we all have a tendency to ask questions and listen rather than talk. I agree, you learn more interesting stuff listening *G*

Leesa said...

ian: and you are a charmer!

mike: funny boy!

tom: thanks for the spam.

mal: I love feeling elegant! One of my dresses I have nicknamed the "Audrey Hepburn" dress.