http://homepage.mac.com/mmcphail/blogwavestudio Wonderful! Blog mmcphail@mac.com 2007-05-21 10:40:32 -0400 hourly 1 2007-05-21 10:40:32 -0400 http://homepage.mac.com/mmcphail/blogwavestudio/LH20050429171634/LHA20070521103624/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/mmcphail/blogwavestudio/LH20050429171634/LHA20070521103624/index.html

Mary's Blog Has Moved

Date Created: May 21, 2007, 10:36 AM

I apologize for not alerting readers sooner, but my blog has moved to our new site. Catch up at http://secure.wonderfulgraffiti.com/About/20:Mary's_Blog. M.

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My Hair

Date Created: May 07, 2007, 02:25 PM

I got my hair cut today. It hadn't been cut since December. I had hacked at the bangs a few times with my dull sewing scissors, I'm not kidding, but it was time. I ride my bike to work sometimes, I don't have time in the morning to fuss with my hair, sometimes I skate when I'm not feeling too old and feeble, plus I have a long face, so I don't really go for the long hair look. So now it's very short. Like, guy short. No hair stylist believes me when I say, "Go nuts." You'd think they would love creative freedom but I don't think most of them think I'm serious. Maybe too many freaked-out clients in the past. Anyway, I went to a new stylist named Jessie. Nine months out of beauty school. I said, "I like my bangs to look as though a crazy person went at them with a weed whacker." She gave it her best shot, I considered and said, "Maybe not a weed whacker. More like a hedge trimmer." She got it right. Now I have almost no hair but I really like what I have. I literally feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Hair cuts are miraculous things. M.

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Radio Interview

Date Created: May 05, 2007, 05:05 PM

Well. I can officially say that I've been interviewed on a radio show. Yesterday I was a guest on Pamela Slim's show on Voice America Business. She has a terrific blog at EscapeFromCubicleNation.com about "how to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur." I want to go to lunch with Pam. She and I sound like we have so much in common, plus she's entertaining and I need constant entertaining. The questions were good questions, although since I'd been asked similar ones before, I knew most of the answers. One thing disconcerted me, though. I always thought that the interviewer and the interviewee chatted a bit before the show and during the breaks. But no. I called in to the number they gave me five minutes before the scheduled show and just in the nick of time I realized they meant 11am PACIFIC time, which meant I had to do math to calculate what time it would be EASTERN time, and you know me and math. I asked three people just to be sure! So I called in and they put me on hold, and when Pamela said, "I'd like to introduce my guest, Mary McPhail..." they took me off hold. Then when there were commercial breaks, they put me back on hold! When the interview was over, they hung up.

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Graduation Party

Date Created: May 03, 2007, 02:30 PM

When Geord and I were engaged, we invited our families, as engaged people will, to our wedding, which we wanted to be in Miami where we were living at the time. Since it was so far for Geord's family in British Columbus, and my family all over the continental US, we didn't think more than our parents would come. Surprise. Everyone came. Our daughter, Mackenzie, is graduating from high school this spring. A few months ago, I sent an email to close friends and family, letting them know that we were going to celebrate but it was just a high school graduation, didn't expect them to drop everything and come. Guess what. Party!!!! I love to plan parties. I'm pretty much all done planning this one. I planned the menus for the weekend, assigned bedrooms, ordered paper lanters and confetti, booked a restaurant and a SHUTTLE BUS TO TAKE US ALL THERE. (I love that little detail.) After dinner the bus will take us all back to our good friends, Allison and Chuck's, house for champagne and cake. As the crowning touch, and our gift to Mackenzie, Geord and I are making a cheezy video of her growing up. It's a lot of work. I started it because I thought it would be a way to give Mackenzie all of my favorite photos of her. But what's happened as I've gone through all of them is that I've gotten another chance to see her grow up again. With both Mackenzie and Ryder, Geord and I can remember when they were babies and toddlers, but not so much of any of the rest. I don't know why. Going through all the photos–and I mean all the photos–has given me a chance to relive times I've forgotten. Sometimes I feel so guilty about the time I've spent on my jobs and the company, and I often feel as though I couldn't possibly have given our kids all the time and attention I think I should have given them. But looking back at all those photos reassures me a bit. I remember how much we loved them at each moment those photos were taken. Maybe Mackenzie's life hasn't been so hellish after all. M.

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The Turning Tide

Date Created: May 03, 2007, 10:02 AM

"This too shall pass" is beginning to become our mantra. We're entering into our busy season, sales are good, I got a big, fat freelance check and I discovered that there's more in Mackenzie's college savings fund than I thought. The new site is scheduled to go live to the entire world (no, really) a week from today. All teams are working out final bugs between now and Monday, then from Monday through Wednesday, Workstate will be taking the cart "out of the sandbox" and hooking it up to VeriSign, our online credit card processor. All very technical. We'll send out a blast announcing the new site on Thursday morning. Statistics show that most people are most likely to open and read commercial emails at work, late in the week, late in the day, so we usually try for Friday afternoons around 3pm. But we don't want TOO many people on the site at once, so we don't want a maximum "open" rate. Well, Geord doesn't. I'm always over optomistic and think the new site will work perfectly so everyone should know about it right away. But that's just me. Tonight my designers and I are going to the Wexner Center For The Arts here in cosmopolitan Columbus, Ohio, to see "Helvetica: The Movie." I called ahead and get this; the Wexner Center DOESN'T HAVE A SNACK BAR!!! What's a movie without a snack bar? Come to think of it, what's LIFE without a snack bar? I just love the whole idea of a snack bar. I love the words "snack bar." I love the word "snack." M.

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Small Business News

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 11:33 PM

We got the latest Newsweek at home today and I mentioned to Geord that I really liked it but I didn't like Businessweek so much. And he said, "Yeah, and Fortune Small Business is just depressing." I thought I was the only one who thought so! What Geord doesn't like about it is that he thinks they only write about companies started by twenty-year olds. Apparently the age thing gets him down. What depresses me is that "small business" to Fortune magazine means companies that do millions in business each year, are growing at huge percentage points each year and blah, blah, blah. An editor of Fortune Small Business interviewed me awhile back. She ended up not doing a story because she couldn't find a reason to do the story now instead of a few years down the road when we were more successful. Well, what do businesses the size of mine do for reading material? What about the owner of Carol's Cakes down the block from me, and the Asian drycleaner next to her, and the guy who owns the diner next to him? We're businesses too, and we're more in need of expert monthly insights than the big guys. No wonder so many small businesses fail! We don't have our own periodical! Do we? I don't know of one. Maybe Fortune should start publishing Fortune Micro Business. M.

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UPS

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 11:12 PM

I can't remember if I've written that UPS has a magazine that goes to all of their small -business customers and they just did a story on us which will appear in about two weeks, I guess. I don't know how they got our name, but I think they should dedicate the entire article to our carrier, Michael. First of all, Michael has worked for UPS since he was in kindergarten (kidding) so he gets vacation like every other week. When he's around, though, we love him to death. He is the nicest man. Curious about our business but not too chatty. (You really don't want a chatty UPS person popping in twice a day.) Always mellow, no matter how many packages we have, no matter that our shipping cart doesn't easily go from the production area to his truck, no matter that the weather is hot or cold or wet. What I really love, though, about Michael, is that because our house and our offices are in the same neighborhood, he's also our home delivery person. Sometimes he'll pop his head in my office door and say something like, "Hey, Mary. I left your Victoria's Secret package in your garage so it wouldn't get rained on." Now that's service. M.

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The Long Life Of Graffiti

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 10:49 AM

This just in from my best friend Meg in Miami. (I know, "best friend" is a little grade school, but she needs SOME sort of honorary title. If you got a better one, let me know.) As you know, my sister Amy and I are remodeling our houses. We are both in the home stretch of living in hell. My hell wasn't really hell at all because of the handy, self-contained living quarters on the property. Amy and her family actually LIVE in hell. In a year, they won't even remember how awful the process was. I'll bet. I hope.   The one little bitty that put a smile on their faces was the graffiti I got for her -- something like "this wall intentionally left blank." This week that wall will be finished off and that graffiti will lapse into memory. A fresh pallette for a new graffiti, perhaps.   At my house the cryogenics graffiti wall was painted over (photos to come). It truly endured on our patio -- the rain the storms the heat my god the heat! Looked fresh and ready throughout. It wasn't quite so easy to remove after being melted into the paint, but I enjoy that if you look at the wall just so, you can barely make out the letters. I'll know what it says. Hopefully the Bush administration will leave us the same way -- barely noticeable.   We have enjoyed. We will continue to enjoy. The test site looks great. I know you're anxious for the glitches to be resolved. They will be. And in a year you won't even remember how awful the process was. I'll bet. I hope.   Love, Meg See why she's my best friend? Don't get any ideas. She's mine. You can't have her. M.

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Book Proposal

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 10:30 AM

I sent off the first draft of the book proposal to my agent, Jayne. (She pronounces it “Janie,” which makes her sound sweet but she’s a tough cookie.) She emailed back to say that I did a great job on the Table of Contents. (You’ll recall she thought the original was boring.) So that’s out of the way. She also said the first two lines of the proposal were great, but that the rest of the summary was lacking. I need to “develop a few more paragraphs on what the book is and why it’s important." Also I had parts out of order. Apparently it should line up as follows: Book Summary TOC Competition Marketing Bios Jayne is my master. I’m working from home this morning, where it’s quiet, to do her bidding. M.

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PB KIDS

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 10:20 AM

PB KIDS A commenter in a recent entry asked if our work was in the PB Kids catalog recently and the answer is nope. She also noted that they called whatever it was “decals,” and like me, thinks that term is icky. I’ve been emailing everyone at PB that it is soooo important to describe and shoot our stuff so that people understand what it is. I beg. I plead. I make an utter nuisance of myself. All in the hopes that maybe perhaps Pottery Barn will be the one of the very few publications to assume that they DON’T know everything. So many opportunities have been missed because the photos taken by the magazine or catalog made the Graffiti appear to be headlines on the page (Oprah, Metropolitan Home.) Or because they describe it incorrectly, calling it stencils (that would be you, Frontgate) which it is actually the OPPOSITE of, or stickers or press-ons or decals or some other unsavory label. I know that, based on internal emails that I’m cc’d on, PB’s working name for our stuff is Wall Decals. I get nauseous every time I see that and immediately rip off a “reply all” email to reiterate that really, no kidding, whatever you call it amongst yourselves, please be sure to tell the copywriter not to call it that. We prefer “transfers.” Or “removable transfers.” Or “removable vinyl transfers” if they must. Sometimes I wish I sold doughnuts. M.

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Financial Aid

Date Created: Apr 25, 2007, 09:57 AM

Just got a call from Geord and Mackenzie visiting Emerson College in Boston, the school Mackenzie has her heart set on. One of the reasons they went to this “open house” for newly accepted students was so Geord could talk one-on-one with the financial aid people. He told me that he was told that we would get NO financial aid from the school because we didn’t have our paperwork in on time. We didn’t have our paperwork in on time because our family finances are tied up with our corporate finances and our corporate tax statements aren’t even finished yet. We’re still eligible for federal aid but it won’t be near enough. Huh. Wonder what we’ll do? M.

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Ommmm

Date Created: Apr 23, 2007, 07:21 PM

I’ve started meditating. I like it. I got into it by way of yoga. The more I learn about yoga, the more I learn about meditating. I read somewhere recently that yoga was invented as a way to prepare your body for meditation. I’ll do anything that promises to reduce the stress in my head. I’ve been asked to guest on a radio show sometime in May. The host asked me because she thought I could be “a real inspiration for others, and could share the challenges and reality, not just the ‘I make a million in my bathrobe while working 4 hours a month!’" I’m honored and look forward to doing it but, given the choice, I’d rather be one of the bathrobe-wearing millionaires who work 4 hours a month. My dad came to visit again. He and Mackenzie share Earth Day birthdays. Geord and Mackenzie left at 6am for their college trip to Boston. Kenz and I went last summer so this will be an excellent opportunity for father/daughter bonding. Mackenzie just started driving, though, so I fear there may be more tension than bonding. Sent a first draft of a book proposal and a revised table of contents to Jayne. We’ll talk again Monday. She wants to pitch the book May 1. Go, Jayne! We’re establishing partnerships with two stores, which we’ve never done before. One of the stores isn’t open yet. We’ll work with them to test different approaches to retailing Wonderful Graffiti stuff. Lots of stores have contacted us about selling Wonderful Graffiti and we’ve turned them down. Up ‘til now, we’ve had our hands full with establishing two websites and partnering with catalogs. Plus no store owner came along who tripped my trigger. A new wedding “gallery” opened up in Scottsdale, and I’ve enjoyed working with them on a few special events, and they seem to really like our stuff and want to push it, so we’re giving them whatever they need–samples, signage, larger profit margins, etc. We’ll consider working with other stores only when we feel comfy with the way things are going with these first two. I have extremely high hopes, but then I always do. M.

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