I survived Christmas. More importantly, I survived Christmas Eve. My bass player slept through the service and didn’t show until the last 15 minutes, but we still survived — with a couple of minor, yet blatant screw ups, but who’s keeping track? (me. ugh.) At any rate, I’m thankful that it’s over.

Cookies were apparently a big hit with friends and family alike — or at least, that’s what everyone’s saying so as not to hurt my feelings. LOL The stress of trying to pick the perfect recipes all goes away when my friends say they liked what I made. Suddenly, it’s all worth it. I also got some fun joke-ish gifts for Christmas along with some serious ones. Oddly enough, I’m really looking forward to Caroline and Jeff’s book of 101 ways to cook grits. If anything, it will make for a very interesting segment on AwK. I also received three bags of Folger’s coffee from Ed… which is awesome because I needed fertilizer for my flower bed.

A few weeks ago I made a post declaring all of the things I would have accomplished by the end of December, namely my book and my kitchen.

Neither are done.

I am, however, done with school and am looking forward to finishing some things up and spending some needed me time. It’s selfish, I know, but nyah! I haven’t done much with the kitchen since I posted about it last but, in my defense, there’s not much left to do. I’m thinking about taking another half day in January to do it.

The book isn’t done either, but it’s really coming along. For Christmas, Tom bought me a program called Scrivener, which was designed for people working on really large writing projects. It’s so amazing, and exponentially better than putting each chapter into a separate file. Scrivener keeps them together, and I can do a ton of stuff with it. (It’s also for Apple computers, which brings me to my next Christmas acquisition — I have commandeered Tom’s apple laptop. This has become the running joke in our house: I now have 3 computers and Tom only has 1. Both laptops are now firmly in my possession. :P) But back to my book. I’m having a lot of fun and a lot of my focus has gone to this project.

It feels stupid to say I’m writing a book, hence why I don’t really tell a lot of people about it. For one thing, I don’t get paid to do this. I’ve never been published, and I don’t expect to be. It’s the dream, but highly unlikely. I’m an amateur who just really likes to write. And hey, if you don’t count all of the laptops I’ve been stealing from Tom, I would be able to say that doing it costs me absolutely $0, which makes it the perfect hobby during this trying economy.

It’s a story about Kari Eliana Hunter, a woman who becomes a necromancer — by accident. Necromancers, the most powerful spellcasters on the planet, fell out of vogue a couple thousand years ago when human sacrifice became antiquated. Our dashing, yet sarcastic heroine does not want to pursue the necromantic gifts in the traditional, stabby way, yet really likes dead things and has an amazing way with knives, unless you count her necromancer knives that are forced to sleep in her underwear drawer when they start acting up or tell fibs. For over twenty years, she’s managed to live completely unnoticed by most of the magic world, until she gets in the middle of a fight between a vampire and his self-centered voodoo ex-girlfriend. Now the voodoo community has found out about Kari — and if there’s anything the voodoo community likes, it’s killing necromancers and absorbing their innate powers. Kari’s arch nemesis is waiting for her at every turn, and sadly they’ve skipped the hair pulling part of girl fights and gone straight to hair cutting.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

I’m stuck at work, but it’s okay since it gives me time to finalize tonight’s Candelight Service at church. Yep, that’s right, it’s 11:00am the day of and I’m finishing it up. Now that it’s done, I feel a great sense of relief. My pastor and I have exchanged a flurry of emails and some phone calls, and overall I feel great about tonight. This was definitely a team effort and I am so proud of the collective output. Last year was nice because I got to do it all by myself, but there’s always a tendency for things to become very one-note. We have a great lineup this year and I’m very excited at the progress of the team. In fact, I was going over my meeting notes from June, and it’s really great to see how far we’ve come as leaders, musicians, individuals and as a team.

Once again the Irondequoit Vineyard will be joining us as well as the Rochester Vineyard. Should be good, depending on how many show up.

So here’s the agenda… as of 11:00am EST… subject to change 30 seconds after I hit the publish button. LOL

MPV Christmas Eve Service 2008 1. Welcome 2. Prayer 3. Songs: O Holy Night, O Come, O Come Immanuel 4. Communion / Solo: Sweet, Little Jesus Boy 5. Scripture reading: Luke 1:26-38 6. Song: What Child is This? 7. Scripture reading: Luke 2:8-20, Matthew 2:1-12 8. Song: Just as the Angels 9. Celtic Prayer 10. Song: Silent Night 11. Advent candles 12. Lighting of the Christ candle 13. Lighting of individual candles / Songs: Joy to the World, Go Tell it on the Mountain 14. Prayer/Benediction 15. Hot Cocoa and cookies! (most important agenda item of all)

Most of all, I’m just glad that after tonight it’s going to be done. Tomorrow we’re spending the day with the in-laws. Four and a half hours of driving… yay? Little wonder as to why I’m beginning to resent Christmas… Hopefully Tom and I will find some time together to open gifts. Probably won’t be until after the holiday.

But enough of my Grinch-like attitude! Have a very happy holiday everyone! (LOL)

Christmas cookie boxes are done and mailed… at the last possible minute. I also didn’t have time to get any holiday tins until this weekend, so I was limited to smaller tins. That means I had to do two tins per box… at last minute shipping… Tom’s heart attack in 3… 2… 1…

But it’s done. Next year I plan to be more prepared and get them out one week in advance. YES, YOU HEARD IT HERE.

I’m a lot happier about this year’s selection of cookies than I was with last year’s. Last year I was a lot more experimental and ended up with things I was really unhappy with and did not travel well. I did package up some chocolate shortbread which I am really nervous about traveling, but overall everything should be fine. Here’s the list of goodies I made this year (most of it can be found on AwK if you’re looking for ingredient listings):

Rocky Road Bark
Chocolate Shortbread
Grasshopper Squares
Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies
Poppy Seed Thumbprints
Double-Chocolate Cherry Cookies

I always have this nervousness that everyone’s going to hate what I sent, or maybe I didn’t send enough… Don’t know why I do that to myself.

Now I just have to make sure I have enough stuff for Tom’s family on Thursday…

It’s time for a recurring article on my blog that I think should be done to help me get things out of my system. It’s called “What’s Annoying Jen?” This way I can vent to all of you about what’s irritating the crap out of me. There are actually a lot of things, but right now I can only put my finger on one thing. So let’s get into it and I’ll post more as more things occur to me. Here’s what’s currently irritating me:

Twilight Movie/Book

This movie/book and their drugged-out looking star is so insanely awesome. I mean, I remember when I was 17, I was so mature and awesome and had so many non-annoying things to say that a dude over 100 years old would want nothing more than to spend every waking second with me, listening to me yammer on about whatever I thought was important. Like, I dunno, probably my hair. Like, that’s realistic, ya know? An old dude who stalks minors — we have someone like that already, and his name is Michael Jackson. Hell, that’s probably why this character watches the chick in her sleep, because it’s the only time she isn’t annoying.

I’m sick of seeing this Pattinson or Patterson or Petticoat or whatever, because his face is everywhere. Somebody get this guy a bath and a haircut. I don’t get why little girls are losing their cookies over this dude, because he wouldn’t be able to get my top off.

I’m just sayin.

I’ve never read these Twilight books - a while back I saw them at the bookstore, read the jacket and was completely uninterested. This doesn’t mean the books are bad, it just means it didn’t interest me. I prefer more action or comedy than I do some goofy romance that makes no sense to my brain. Maybe I’m just not that romantic. Call me crazy if you will, but the next time my spouse says he’d rather suck out my blood than sleep with me, I’m packing my crap and Maggie-Toes (he can keep the retarded cat as further punishment) and I’m moving away.

The month came and went and here I am still wondering what happened to August. November was an interesting month for me, mainly one of introspect. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was in some sort of weird funk when I came back from vacation, and have been trying to sort things out ever since.

I think I’ve got it, at least for this round.

The reason I say “this round” is because it’s a never ending process. You go on about your life, something happens, then you learn something new about yourself. I’ve found myself trying to make things more manageable, only bite off what I can chew and, of the many hobbies that I am involved in, I have selected a couple of my “VIP’s” and have given them more attention. Extraneous stuff is taking a backseat.

I feel the need to prove to myself that I can actually accomplish something, so each of my VIP hobbies has been given one (and only one) item that I would like accomplished.

As I mentioned, I am still writing. Even though I don’t share my writing with anyone, it’s still something that’s very important to me. I’m flying through the current one - I know I mentioned this before, but I can’t believe how fast I’m writing. Tom wanted me to enter in the National Novel Writing Month, where professional and amateur writers set a goal to write a 50,000 page novel by midnight on November 30.

Last night around 10:00pm I counted up my words thus far: 76,600 words for November, and I’m only half done with the book.

Of course, that doesn’t mean what I’ve written is good, it just means I’ve written it. So far I’ve started four books that I haven’t finished (one I started for halffull, one for LoO, and a personal one - an official “first novel”), and I am determined to finish this one. Last night I started chapter 12. Once I finish this, it will be the farthest I’ve ever gotten in writing a book. Regardless of what happens in my life this month, this book is being completed in December. That’s my goal. When I’m done, I have no idea what I’ll do with it… I’m toying around with the idea of sending it to a publisher or something, just to say I tried it. If it fails, then who cares? It won’t stop me from writing more. Who knows, I can always put it on a website and let my friends read it.

Amateurs with Knives is being “rethunk” by Ken and me. I’ve decided to recommit myself to the recurring “Magazine of the Month” posts, though I’m trying to rethink how I will be structuring them. I may not post the recipes, just the pictures and commentary.

Ken had the uber-brilliant idea of starting a segment called “Screw the Chef” - once a month, one of us chooses a recipe and we’ll both have to cook it, no matter what. The recipes will most likely be difficult, time consuming and embarrassing to take pictures of, but that’s what it’s all about. We’ll trade off each month who gets to pick the recipe. If we’re lucky, we may even get other bloggers who want to participate. Who knows? Even if we don’t, it’s still going to be hilarious. I’m especially looking forward to this.

Worship is better this week - I go back and forth on this. My new bass player is a great guy and an amazing player, but he’s showing signs of flakiness. I may have to have a little chat with him about expectations. Last week I had to have a talk with him and my guitarist about their constant tardiness. I hate having to do that so the lecture went something like this: “So um, I don’t want to have to talk to you guys about being late, so let’s all stop being late.” They laughed and agreed, and were right on time this past Sunday. Currently I’m working with a gal who is struggling to overcome some of her shyness and become a worship leader. A couple of weeks ago, she led a difficult worship session and we chatted about it. I gave her two things that I wanted her to work on: Communication and Time Management.

Communication: She has a hard time asserting herself, even in her personal life. She feels like her family runs her over and her voice isn’t heard. When it comes to directing a band and a church in worship, suddenly she retreats inside of herself and no one has any ideas where she’s heading with a song. We talked about a couple of different ways she could change that, and I asked her to practice a little at home. This past Sunday I asked her to lead the Communion song, and there was tremendous improvement.

Time Management: She just gets plain ol’ flustered and either spends way too much time fixating on one minor problem or she rushes through a worship set, only to find she’s ending ten minutes early. There are a couple of issues at work here, but the one that comes out the most to me is that she is really unsure of herself. This will be overcome with time, positive reinforcement, and a visible clock.

School is almost out and I have to say I’m relieved. I can’t take another day of it. My teacher is so behind in the curriculum that she’s rushing through the information like a woman possessed. Who knows what she’s even talking about? To be honest, I’m not even sure how people are bombing the class! When the lectures are done, she emails the presentations to the entire class for study. Most of the tests are identify - pictures go up on a screen and we write down what the name is, who the architect/designer is and, if a design aesthetic is applicable, include it. The pictures on the presentations we’re supposed to know are all labeled “TEST” in bold letters, so as not to be confused. I guess the only way she can spoon feed a better grade to anyone is by giving us take home exams.

Which is exactly what she’s doing. So many people are bombing the class that she’s going to give us two take home exams. Two. Five more classes to go, and she’s handing out two take home exams. What. The. Hell.

I got A’s on my last two tests and I have an extra credit presentation due on Thursday - if I decide to do it. I’m already getting an A in the class, and I’m not so sure I feel like doing it. I probably should since I committed to it at the beginning of the semester and cement at good grade. I just want to be done.

Now on Etsy, buy pillows that look like Tribbles. Why?

Recycled from deconstructed clean vintage fur coats, these small pillows are high-design and beautiful but also very amusing at parties, adult or otherwise. The round shape is great on couches as a counterpoint to rectilinear design.

Dude, don’t give me your fancy talk about rectilinear design right after you just mentioned Tribbles at an “adult party.” Eew.

Live long and prosper, preferably with better taste.

Yes, that’s really what St. Thomas looks like. We took that photo with our camera. The trip was amazing. I had no idea how wrapped around the axle I was about life in general until I got out on the beach. We arrived at the airport in St. Thomas, it took us a couple of hours to get to our hotel (there’s no sense of urgency out there), we ate, then hit the beach. I had a stack of books to keep me company though and, for the record, I did get out into the water a lot and even got sort of a tan. Not much, though. You know me: Fear of the sun. I marinated in sunscreen.

YES THAT IS ME WITH A TAN AND TOM WITH A SUNBURN! I DID GET SOME COLOR ON MY SKIN! STOP LAUGHING!

Since I returned from St. Thomas, I haven’t had the desire to do much of anything. School kicked into high gear the week after we got back and I was flung back into my overwhelming list of priorities, to-do’s and other obligations. Although I was excited and motivated to do these things previously, when I came back from vacation, nothing made me happy. I backed off of almost everything on my plate and the things I didn’t back off of were just ignored completely. It took me a while to figure out my problem, but I finally did.

I have time to do lots of little things half-assed, and zero time to do them all in the way I want them done. Everything I do feels like it’s only as half as good as it could be, because I don’t really have enough time to invest myself fully in everything. When I get an inspired moment and I want to try something new, I sort of throw myself out there, feeling around as I go, but with no real focus. It’s fun for a while, but I start a million new projects and then can’t finish any of them.

And now I’m living with the mess, unsure of what I should finish first.

I’m going to take a semester off from school. Next semester. I emailed the head of the Interior Design program about it. Though I can feel his reluctance in the email, I think it’s just something I have to do for now. But I’m not going to give up - there’s a lot of my house that I started and haven’t finished yet. For example, the kitchen. The first month we lived in the house I started ripping up the wallpaper and started painting cabinets. It’s been sitting like that for two years. Ugly. Depressing. I couldn’t stand to spend time in there - impacting my cooking and baking hobbies. I like cooking and baking, but I can’t stand to be in the kitchen. Result: No cooking or baking. Ripple effect: I haven’t posted on AwK in a long time.

On Friday, I took a half day off from work and used it to work in the kitchen. The walls are mostly painted, one side of the cabinets are sanded and primed and given one coat of paint. They need one more coat of paint and the doors are going back on.

For the record, my kitchen walls are a neutral brown/khaki color with white cabinets, black hardware and appliances, and small touches of earthy green (teapot, etc.) and it looks awesome.

One section of a wall needs to be finished in the Cliff Rock color, and I need to sand, primer and paint one side of the cabinets, but it looks so great with some color in there. I’m excited at the progress and it’s actually motivating me with other ideas on how to finish the rest of the house - but I won’t act on them until the kitchen is finished. Unfortunately I have too much going on over the next three weekends and won’t be able to get back to the kitchen until December, but I’m looking forward to having it finished before the end of the year.

Though I haven’t been blogging, I’ve been writing. While out on the beach of St. Thomas (no, I won’t horrify anyone with bathing suit photographs) I started reading some mystery books that helped me to look at story creation in a new way. I also picked up a copy of “Plot and Structure Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish” and it was really helpful. Through the summer I had been kicking around a story idea in my head, and after I got back from vacation, I had it. About a month ago I sat down to write it, and I’m already on chapter 6. This is the fastest work I’ve done to date and different than anything I’ve done yet, and I’m very excited about it. It’s first person and takes place in Rochester, NY.

More about that later.

Church worship has its ups and downs. Since we last talked I have a totally new team, and a woman who is leading worship once a month. Though she is going through the learning process, she’s getting better every time, and that makes it worth it. She is up again to lead this coming Sunday. Starting next year I would like her to alternate leading every other Sunday, that way I can start focusing more on planning and developing other people. Eventually I would like this to mean that I get at least one weekend off every month, but with Tom doing sound every week, I’m not sure what will happen. I’d like to get another sound volunteer so he can take break, too.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back with more, later. I promise.

So, Tom and I have never really been anywhere cool together. Last year we went to Ocean City in Maryland and, though it was nice to get away and lay on the beach, it didn’t quite live up to the hype.

Don’t get me wrong - we had a great time and loved escaping to a sunny beach, just the two of us. But the area is getting older and run down, and we can’t live off of fried or fast food because it makes us sick. Sorry, Bahama Mama. I hear you have the best take-out crabs in town, but we could only stomach so much.

Honestly, in order to keep ourselves from getting sick, we typically handled lunch, snacks, and some breakfasts on our own by picking up some things at a local grocery store, and preparing them in the kitchenette of our hotel. It was also a little cheaper, but mainly it was healthier. I can’t eat like I did in my twenties.

This year, we really wanted something special and memorable. Since we never really had a honeymoon, Tom wanted to make up for it and do something memorable. Originally we checked into cruises, but with the hassle of passports we decided hey, let’s just head to St. Thomas for a week!

And that’s what we’re doing. The resorts out there have nifty all-inclusive packages that include gift cards for additional activities and shopping. I’m looking forward to this as it’s been a tremendously draining year for me, and school starts again in less than four weeks. As it is, I’m ignoring some of my responsibilities and some of the things I was supposed to take care of for church are not done. I feel horrible for not having done much with them, because people are counting on me to get them done. But I just can’t. My battery needs recharging.

According to the resort’s website, activities like snorkeling are free! For some reason I’m all hot about snorkeling. When I went to Hawaii with my family a few years ago, I had the best time snorkeling with my brother and my dad. Yeah, I’m a nerd. I love aquariums, too. So when Tom asked what I wanted to do on a vacation, the only thing I could think of was snorkeling. Oh, and of course, I want to read a bunch of books. You know me - sitting on an exotic beach, smothered in a metric ton of sunblock under a hat, an umbrella with a stack of books. I’m a party animal.

The only concern I’m having at this point is finding someone to take care of Maggie-Toes.

Okay, maybe Jonah, too. We keep trying to get him to run away, but so far, no dice. Hey, do you guys know of anyone who wants a fat and irregularly-stupid cat? If so, call me.

We’re thinking about getting an automatic feeder and automatic waterer (not a word, but you get the idea). But then we would need someone to come over in the evenings to check on them, scoop cat poop and get our mail. I was going to hit up some people at church to see if their kids wouldn’t mind doing it for a few bucks. It’s a good summer job for responsible kids who aren’t old enough to babysit.

We’ll see. Everything else is pretty much worked out - even church worship, which is a huge relief. The only thing left to do on my end is pick out that big stack of books I’ll be bringing…

Twice a year the CIOs of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association come together at a three day offsite and discuss everything that’s going on in their respective Health Plans. It happens every year and my boss has been attending them since he started working here, even before he was CIO. This Fall, the BCBSA CIO Roundtable is going to be held in Alaska, about an hour away from Anchorage.

Previously, I handled all of my boss’ travel on my own. Basically this just means that I would call the company travel agency who had his profile on file, and I would make arrangements directly with them. Well recently, the Powers That Be decided there were too many departments making travel arrangements on their own and started cracking down: All travel requests needed to be directed through one travel person who works for the company, and they arrange it with the travel agency. Basically they’re enforcing a middleman.

So, okay, I’m a team player. I receive the information for the upcoming roundtable and forward it to the middleman we will refer to as Travel Dude - TD for short. In the email I include our cost center so he can bill the trip, dates, the general time that my boss would like to arrive and depart, and so forth. Everything that TD could possibly want is in the email. I ask him to please book my boss a flight and reserve a hotel and get back to me.

Two weeks go by and no word from TD, even though I have been following up via phone and email.

This past Thursday, I finally get a response from TD: Please send me the dates.

The dates were already in there! So I email him back and say that rather politely. “Hello (TD), the dates are below. Thank you.”

I hear nothing for the rest of the day and nothing Friday. What I really wish I could do is at least reserve the hotel room, but Finance screwed up my boss’ corporate credit card and he didn’t get a replacement for the expired one. I’m still waiting. I told them about it a month ago and they said they were having another one sent to me ASAP. Two weeks later they called me and said they didn’t actually believe my boss’ card was expired. I read off the statement and they said, “Oh. Well, ok. We’ll send you one.”

I work with geniuses. But this is why I did not reserve a hotel room for my boss - no card to book it, and Tom would have a heart attack if he saw that deposit on our credit card. So my hands are tied.

So the last communication I had with TD was Thursday. Today is Monday. I get a phone call from TD asking me what is going on with the trip. Um, what? I say I am not sure and am waiting to hear back from him.

He asks me the following: What dates? Where is the conference? What cost center?

All of this is in the email, so I give him the answers right away. Because, you know, I can read. Immediately he starts balking at making the reservation. He says he doesn’t know where that is, he doesn’t even know what airport that goes into, he needs me to do all the legwork in telling him this information, including what time zone so he can work out the flights (I have no clue why he would need the time zone).

Again, most of this information was sent to him. I answer his questions, and say the airport is Anchorage.

Still the questions are coming - and all of the answers are either in the email or were given to him at the beginning of the call. TD sounds completely annoyed, and finally asks me where I’m finding all of this information. I say: It’s in the email.

He looks. The email says to book the hotel by a certain date or the group rate will be released and we’ll have to pay full price. He reads that off to me and says accusingly, “Well we blew this date out of the water.”

Like this is my fault?

But I remain calm. I really need to have this trip booked. So now he’s reading the email and he’s seeing the city names and he flips out.

TD: “I can’t book this unless it’s approved by (executive person’s name).”

Now I’m more than a little ticked off, because this executive approves all international travel, including anyone who needs to drive a few hours north to Canada. But we aren’t talking about Canada. As politely as possible, I ask why. Here it comes.

TD: “All international travel must be pre-approved. And while you’re getting the approval you need to check on (your boss’) passport.”

I almost threw the phone across my cube.

Me: “To Alaska? I’m pretty sure it’s ok, because it’s a state.” (pause) “Of the United States.” (another pause) “Of which we are citizens.”

TD: “Anchorage is –”

Me: “No.”

TD: “But you have to –”

I know what he’s going to say: You have to fly over Canada, which is another country. Oh my God, please, no. I can’t bear to hear him say it. I interrupt.

Me: “You don’t need a passport to Alaska.”

(Pause.)

TD: “Oh. Okay.”

I received flight options less than 5 minutes later.

Now that I live on the other side of the country from my family and friends, I have relied on the internet more and more to communicate. In fact, that’s the entire reason for this blog. As I’ve continued my schooling for Design, more and more friends and family are asking me for design advice of rooms I have never seen.

One of the Directors where I work unscrewed one of her kitchen cabinet doors and brought it to me, along with a sample of her counter top and flooring, the entire catalog of Benjamin Moore paints and a scribbled diagram of her kitchen, and asked me to choose her paint color. She indicated what Benjamin Moore paint numbers were in the adjacent rooms, and said if I could get back to her with a paint selection she’d be grateful. Seriously.

Wow. She said she wasn’t afraid of color, and the room had a tendency to be a little dark, so I selected three paint combinations: One playful option, one sophisticated option, one neutral option that could be spruced up with different colored accents. I have never seen this room, nor do I know her style, but she seemed really excited about the playful option - a twist of lavenders. She has a young daughter who really loves purple, so she seemed super excited about the choice. Hope it works out.

It’s these sorts of instances that have made me wonder just how viable “distance” design is. I had never heard of such a thing before. When I looked around for Design schools, none of the accredited schools offered distance learning for design, so I was beginning to think this sort of practice was frowned on.

This morning, while going through my blogroll, I came across a very interesting article on Decor8 about this very topic. It is apparently picking up in the design world and even has a name: eDecorating.

Apparently, being hired to design a room you’ve never stepped into before is becoming a bigger and bigger phenomenon. It’s a little cheaper than hiring a designer to come in, consult and do it all for you, and for the homeowner it’s a bit more DIY - something that is also growing in popularity.

Depending on who the designer is, the services being offered and the prices all vary. For some of these services, to have one room painted with an eDecorate service is $600. Just to paint a room. I guess it makes sense because the designer would have to call a contractor in the client’s area and hire them, then bill their profit on top of that. No clue if this fee also includes older homes that need decades of wallpaper removed. Let’s hope it does.

Other designers offer flat fees for consultations, three different design boards and themes for a client to choose from, and there are some who can arrange to have it all installed for you - for an incredible fee. Depending on the designer, the client is asked to provide a range of information - photos of the room, dimensions and placements of heaters, air conditioning units and outlets, links to inspiration for the room or links/photos of things that inspire the client, etc.

I don’t know if I am so interested in charging $2500 to put together three color boards (holy crap), but I am definitely curious about how to make something like this work. How would you even present a color board to a distance client? Do you package them up and send them over? Do you put them on a protected client-specific web page for them to look at?

I’m looking at my color board via internet and, although I’ve received all kinds of flattering feedback from friends and family who read this site, it isn’t as nearly as exciting as it is in person. I’m a touch and feel customer - especially when it comes to fabrics.

I can see how this would go very, very wrong for someone, but I can also see how it could go right. I have been interested in this method for helping my mom make design decisions for her house, but sort of shied away from it because I didn’t think it was kosher. Apparently it can be. I’m glad, because I have some ideas on how to make it work.