P. Thank you for posting your blog. I, too, am currently building in Cedar City, so I can relate to your story. We are building owner/builder and broke ground in August. It's been a much bigger challenge than I expected, but things are moving along. Your house is looking great by the way. I grew up in an area of Southern California that had many Eichler neighborhoods and many, many, MCM homes. I think you designed yours very well. Good luck with the rest of your build.

Lyfia, my consultant goes out of her way to determine what your personality is, learns what you like, what you do not like, your body type, and respects who are you. She knew that I made safe, conservative choices but that I liked more interesting clothes, so she encourages me to trying a different shape or color or more embellished item than I normally would. "Image" changing isn't necessarily part of the deal unless one wants it to be. I have family in Austin and visit several times a year, so I'm familiar with most of the Nordstrom stores--I would definitely try a personal shopper there. As I said, I would be specific about objectives, and no, it does not take that long. I think an initial meeting, or a phone call explaining what you like and don't like would be beneficial--the consultant can pre pull items for you and have them waiting in a dressing room for you to try on--it shouldn't take more than an hour or two if you and the consultant have an understanding about what you are looking for. Yes, they should respect your wishes about fabric and style, no dry cleaning, etc. My consultant will and has shopped with a client anywhere--from Neiman Marcus to Target! Marlene, thank you ! I'm glad someone else appreciates my "old lady" fringe and fabrics. I'm a tactile person so have always been attracted to rich and luxurious fabrics. As I age, I am trying to pay careful attention to the quality of the fabrics I wear, as well--I have a lovely friend several years older than me that has beautiful, short, stylish gray hair and she's always dressed in rich turqoise, raspberry and deep brown velvets, silks, and other sumptuous fabrics. She's beautiful.

It's only a matter of time before the big-box stores start selling camping gear, umbrellas, and jackets a week before Black Friday at steep discounts. Then they could sell $200 worth of stuff to everyone who camps out in line for 24 hours so they can be near the front of the line hoping to get a shot at buying one of the four $99 flat-screen TVs the store actually has in stock when the doors open at 5 a.m. That way they'd sell even more stuff people don't really need. That way, they can sell even more stuff we don't really need. Me, I decided I could save myself even more money by not buying anything this BF, although it's the first time I've done that this decade. The online sales are better; I don't have to wait in line for those (although they can be hard to log onto on BF, and they too run out of stuff quickly). Really, most of the stuff I bought on Black Friday was for myself, not gifts. I'm way too much of a procrastinator to have a Christmas list ready until mid-December, and these days I just buy slightly-used items online at even steeper discounts than BF sales offer. The real gift-shopping frenzy is usually on the Saturday before Christmas.

And here's the direct link to our restaurant review blog, which is organized by state/city, then alpha by restaurant name within categories of Loved it, Liked it, Hated it. Most are within the urban Northern CA area, centered around the East Bay/Alameda Country where we live: Here is a link that might be useful: jkom51's restaurant blog