You guys are ah-mazing!!! Seriously. I love how you responded to this jewelry idea. So far it’s clear we are going silver and not gold. You are pretty unanimous on that one. The charity is still undecided, so is the accessory, and the design.  But the comment numbers still have a long way to go so clearly we have our work cut out for us here.

The good news is I will be away next week so you have two weeks to build up our clique.

I am going to Mexico with 7 friends so I won’t be blah-g-ing next week.  I have an appointment to meet with the jewelry designer when I get back so hopefully we can get started in February.

I also have a meeting tomorrow and Friday with my editor Erin, from Little Brown to talk about my new series so I should have some cool news on that soon.

I will take lots of pictures of my fab beach poses and post them on Pose. So we can stay in touch that way.

Stay warm,

Adios!

Lisi

XXXX

Thank you Nadia Smalling for your kind words and thank you Hana for explaining why comments are down these days. I was seriously starting to wonder. Exams. Midterms. I get it. I respect it. I hate it.

We went from thousands to hundreds. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not Ashton Kutcher. I’m not looking for a ton of followers just to say I have them. I have plans for you ladies.

I have teamed up with a jewelry designer http://www.gorjana.com so I can create some killer (and affordable) accessories. I will donate the money to charity.

But which charity? I’m thinking anti-bullying. What do you think?

A necklace or a bracelet?

A toe ring or a pinky ring?

Gold or silver?

Design?

Message?

Packaging?

There are a billion decisions that need to be made and I was hoping you could help me. My plan was to post the options each week and have you all weigh in. Sketches, ideas, materials…

That way the final product would be something we created together. Something we can be proud of. By our global clique. For our global clique. But alas. I need more than 129 opinions. And so I put it on you. I will head up the project but you girls need to bring in the peeps. If you each bring ten girls to the sight we’ll be 1000 strong in no time. Then we can get to work in February.

Kick butt on your exams and then text your friends and tell them we have some real work to do. The fun kind.

TTYW

XXXX Lisi

January through March is known (in my brain) as the Dead Zone. The weather is grim, our dewy skin flakes, and the only movies worth paying for are being screened at Sundance. For people with stylists! Getting dressed feels impossible. Everything looks old and drab. Searching my closet feels like that crazy opening and closing the fridge thing we all do when we’re bored. Each time we hope something new will magically appear inside even though we know there’s only one crusty jar of mustard and three-day old chicken fried rice inside.

But who has the money–or desire–to shop these days? Didn’t we just spend all of December at the mall playing Santa and smelling like food court?  So what’s a broke, bored, flaky skinned clothes horse supposed to do until spring? Nayyyy with me here because I have a few ideas.

It’s all about working with what you have and making it feel fresh again. Here’s what I did.

1) I went through my closet and pulled out EVERYTHING I haven’t worn in the last year. So what if I bought it and haven’t taken the tags off yet. Admitting I messed up is part of the healing process. If I didn’t wear it in the last 12 months I’m not going to wear it now.

Put the rejects in a crate.  I got mine at the Container Store. See?

If you can’t get to a CS a suitcase or box or clearly labelled trash bag will work just as well. Now get the clothes out of your room. JUST GET THEM OUT! Garage. Attic. Anything, but don’t toss them. Their story isn’t over yet.

2) Rehang and fold the clothes you have left. Maybe you need some new hangers. The kind with the felt so your boho tops don’t slip off and land in your boots. Target has some great ones. Potpourri or something with a fresh scent will help invigorate the survivors.

There’s something about the lack of clutter that is inspiring. You will find a bunch of new possibilities now that the dud duds are gone.

3) Tell your friends to complete steps 1 & 2 and then have a clothes swap party. Look at all the new things you have!!! Fun, right?

4) Donate the items no one wants to a homeless shelter, Goodwill, or the theater department at your school. You never know when they’ll be putting on a production of Les Miserable.

5) All you need now is inspiration. I love fashion mags, don’t get me wrong, but 1/2 the stuff is out of my price range and the other 1/2 I wouldn’t even wear to a Nicki Minaj costume party. (Um, Teen Vogue much?)

I get my best ideas from the streets. Well, I used to, when I lived in NYC. But style in Laguna Beach has the edge of a spoon. So I started perusing POSE. Register online or download the App. I did and I’m loving it. Members post pictures of their outfits and latest finds. They even tell you who made the clothes so you can start working on a wish list.

FOLLOW ME and check out my daily outfits and faves. Search for LisiH. Let me know what you think. Post your own creations and I’ll check them out.

Together we can, and will, survive the Dead Zone of 2012. One outfit at a time.

TTYW,

Lisi

Set it free! And if it was meant to be it will come back to you!!!

Or something like that. The words might be a little off but the point is dead awn!!!

Anyway.

I luh-uved your artwork and it was lost. Remember?

(This is me looking ‘tward the heavens, waiting for it to come back)

I had all these grand plans to post it in the FROM U section of my website and it vanished? I know, that’s not exactly setting it free but work with me here…the point is, IT CAME BACK!!!! Webmaster JJ’s sister found it in her house. It was in a Bey Blade Stadium (those of you with younger brothers will know what I mean) and the crazy part is I bought that Bey Bade Stadium for one of her kids for his birthday. And they left that behind too.

It’s like the folder clung to my gift–my essence! Like if the folder and the stadium had been my pets, and they had been freed from their cages by noun activists and were trapped in the wild waiting to get rescued..Moments before the search party gave up on them they were spotted, clinging to each other for warmth. Deciding which one to eat first. A folder full of colorful art or a plastic dome? (Um, like the answer isn’t obvious.)

Anyway.

It is being driven back from Bakersfield, CA as I type. I can’t promise it will be up next week because I still haven’t hired a new webmaster. Nuh-thing productive happens in the business world between Thanksgiving and New Years. Especially when Mercury is in retrograde, which it was. Which was why I broke 3 iPads and crashed my car in one week. But that’s so 2011.

I am ready for 2012.

I am meeting with my editor Erin on January 26th to discuss the new series. She asked that I sit on my gossip fingers until then. But as soon as I get the green light I will pull my hands out from under my butt and tell you everything. I will say it’s probably going to be about freshman in high school. Let the speculating begin…

It’s great to be back. I hope you all had an amazing holiday and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Let’s rock this one.

Thanks for coming back to me

TTYW,

XXXX Lisi

Hey everyone,

The time has come for me to sign off for the rest of the year. I have a ton of family coming for the holidays and a I have  learn how to cook before they get here.

I will be back January 4th with plenty of good cheer. I will hopefully be able to tell you about my brand new series (if the contracts get signed by then) and look forward to hearing about your time off.

Please continue to chat amongst yourselves. I am hoping for tons of comments when I get back. It’s been a comment famine over here and I am getting hungry for some serious feedback.

If you have exams, good luck.

Happy H-ALL-idays!!!

Happy New Years!

I seriously can’t wait for 2012. I have a ton of new stuff for you and I can’t wait to share.

TTYWJ4th,

Lisi

XXXXX

There can’t be an up without a down. There can’t be a good without a bad. And unfortunately there can’t be a thanksgive without a thankstake.

Allow me to explain…

You all know Webmaster JJ, right? If you don’t, she is the beautiful and talented web designer who has been keeping my site humming along. She is also the greatest friend a girl can have. Which is why, right before Thanksgiving break I gave her a bag containing two items.

1) A thick folder filled with your artwork. Drawings, sketches, cards, photos, handmade jewelry…Things I have been collecting from book tours and fan mail. She was going to scan them and upload them to the FROM U section of my website.

2) A gift for her sister Camille who just had a baby.

JJ was going to give Camille the gift over the holiday and then spend the weekend scanning your artwork and updating the site. The good news is Camille loved her baby gift. The bad news is JJ lost the folder.

She told me on Saturday while we were hanging out. I became heavy with grief. My smile went south. I wanted to puke on her cute new Nike’s.  She felt terrible. I felt worse. After a very honest talk we decided to stop working together so we could keep our friendship love alive.

You see, usually when someone you hire does something like that you fire them. Done and done. But with JJ it was a hard conversation to have. Because we were friends first. And the last thing we wanted was for work to come between us. And last Saturday it did.

Have you ever had a crush on your guy best friend but agreed not to hook up because it could ruin your relationship? Well JJ and I should have had that talk. Because friends and work usually don’t work. Remember that. If you learn anything from me let it be that.

The good news is, JJ and I are so tight we were able to move past this. The bad news is (aside from having to find a new webmaster) your work is gone. But I saw it. And I ah-dored it. So thank you.

Losing your art feels awful. Trust me, I know. I lost the entire Dylan book from the Clique Summer Collection when my computer crashed. I had to start again. It was devastating.

But I’ve also lost a best friend and that was worse.  So I have chosen to look at this whole situation and find a way to be thankful. And I am. The art may be gone but we’re still here.

Back to the drawing board.

TTYW,

XXXX Lisi

Epilogue

The Dylan book turned out better the second time around. Your pictures will too. JJ and I are tight as Spanx.

BFENR

There is nothing I despise more than the use of cliche. Truly. It feels like lazy unimaginative writing to be and it’s a bigger turn off than a Doritos burp.

That said, I am about to post a cliche blah-g because what else can I do on Thanksgiving Eve but think of things I am thankful for. What I will try to do is come up with non-cliche things to say so it feels fresh and so you don’t call me a hypocrite. So please know I am beyond thankful for my family, health, career, friends, pets, freedom, pilgrims, Native America Indians, tofurkey, and you. But if I wrote those you’d be so bored with me so here are:

10 Things You Didn’t Know I Was Thankful For But I Am!

1.  I have never puked from drinking alcohol.

2. Spell check.

3. Google

4. I love being alone.

5. Sushi

6. Steve Jobs

7. People over 50 who text. (No offense mom, seriously)

8. My friends for not being mad that I decided to not host thanksgiving this year.

9. If they are mad they aren’t telling me.

10. Activists.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving!!!!

TTYW,

Lisi (Canadian but still thankful to be living here)

Will the person who put a curse on me last week go ahead and remove it now? You made your point. What ever I did I am truly sorry. Please restore my settings back to good luck mode. Why you ask? Here’s a recap:

Monday 11.7.11: Volunteered in a kindergarten classroom. On my way back to work I decided to stop off at home and grab a soda to avoid paying $2.13 for one at the Circle K. As I was pulling into my driveway I thrashed the side of the car my stone pilaster (look it up).  This is the guy assessing the damage.

That soda now cost me $402.13.

11.8.11: I was racing to a yoga class and jammed a bottle of water in my purse. The bottle leaked all over my iPad 2 (The one I waited outside the Apple store for for 5 hours) and destroyed it. Namaste.

11.9.11: I woke up with a fever. Lay in bed all day whimpering like a puppy. Couldn’t go to the office to Blah-g.

11.10.11: Went to the Apple store to get my iPad 2 fixed. They told me they would not fix water damage but offered to sell me a new one at 50% off. Of course I did it. UGH!

11.11.11: Hoped the presence of all those 11’s might somehow break my curse. All it did was break my wireless keyboard. Every time I hit the letter G it typed gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

11.12.11: Dropped my new NEW iPad 2 and the glass cracked. That’ll be $200 miss.

11.13.11: Showed up at a friend’s son’s party one week early.

11.14.11: Got keyboard fixed and put in fresh batteries. I keep getting a Low Battery message on my computer. Ready to start handwriting my books in a candle-lit cave.

11.15.11: My mom came to visit and the airline lost her bags. Way to go AIR CANADA!

11.16.11: I spend six hours writing and ended up with one paragraph. (It happens. I hate when it does.)

11.17.11 (TOMORROW) The official end of my curse (positive thinking.)

Wait was that a jinx? UGH! There’s that Low Battery message again. It might have been.

TTYW,

Lisi The Lucky (positive!) Sure things could have been worse. And for that I am grateful. But come awn!

XXXXXXX

How was everyone’s Halloween? Remember I said I would give out signed books to anyone who came to my house dressed as Monster High character? Well, I am pleased to say there were four Ghoulia’s!!! And they all got books.

I gave up the Day of The Dead idea because I happened upon an AH-MAZING unitard that I was dying to wear. So I was a Cirque du Soliel performer instead. This is me and Kevy, my ring master.

According to a New York Times article (which was mostly about young girls dressing in inappropriate costumes)Frankie Stein was one of the top ten most worn costumes this year. Unfortunately, this is the only Frankie who made it to my house.

Thankfully, these cuties helped me get over the trauma of that dude.

SHOUT OUT to Ariana for cracking me up. She posted a comment that said my lashes are longer than Kim Kardashian’s marriage. Nice one!

TTYW,

Lisi

We all have our physical insecurities and my biggest one is the shade of gray/green color my skin turns when I have lost my summer tan. No offense Frankie Stein. I try self tanner but that gives me zits. I toy with the idea of a tanning bed but that gives me angst. I begin Googling last minute trips to Cabo and that depresses me because I can’t just pick up and go. So what’s a girl to do?

Well, if you’re anything like me (impulsive, restless, and desperate for instant change) you drive to Costa Mesa in the middle of the day to get eyelash extensions from a girl, we’ll call her N, on my friend’s tennis team. Now, I am all for looking natural when going unnatural. And I stressed that as N taped my eyelids shut and my eyes began to tear (Kind of like barfing with your mouth closed). And N said she got it. I just wanted a little something to give my pale face and weakening ego a boost. Well, let’s just say that when I sat up (two hours later) and N saw me, she giggled nervously.

“Wow, they are really long,” she mused, like she hadn’t been the one gluing for the last 120 minutes. Now that I think about it maybe she hadn’t. My peepers were taped shut.

I reached for the hand mirror. I went from mascara to mascarry! I would have widened my eyes wide in horror but it was hard to lift my lids. I was about to lash out at N but realized that any time I do something unnatural to my appearance I run the risk of looking like a fun house version of myself. So I held my tongue (which was now shorter than my lashes) and booked to my car. I thought about freaking but instead I called my friend and cracked up. Will this stop me from messing with my looks every time I feel pale and insecure? No way. But it reminded me that it’s risky. And if I’m not prepared to laugh I should think twice about doing anything at all.

So laugh it is. Feel free to join me. (notice the self-tanner zits?) 8 months until summer…

TTYL

LISI XXXXX

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.