The Word "Drama"

I started calling my son, "Drama," a few years ago, way before Johnny Drama from Entourage ever existed. The name came to me one night as I watched him drag his body across the floor in supposed agony when I asked him to brush his teeth before bed. "Let's go, Drama," I said. "No matter how much you complain those teeth are still getting brushed."

All this time later and he still gives it his best shot. My response these days? "Drama, have you ever known the theatrics to work on me?" Depending on how much rest and food he's gotten he either starts to laugh at himself or he lays on a little more umph to up his performance. Oy.

In any case, I've recently decided to retire the word "drama" entirely. I'm sick of everyone accusing everyone of being it. Sure, in perspective our problems as Americans are not really problems when compared to the issues faced by people around the globe. Still, the problems we face can feel really big. Yes, we usually get to face them on a full belly without a gun pointed to our head, but can't we own the fact that the simple balance of life as Americans can be challenging and tiring.

Last week on my birthday my uncle asked if I was excited to celebrate. Sure, I was excited, but I was more excited about a surprise party the following day for my aunt. I was even more excited about my cousin's wedding the day after that. Plus, I explained to him, in the two weeks prior, I'd graduated from school, had surgery to remove a melanoma from my leg, had taken my state boards and started a new job. "I just told my chiropractor how dramatic my family in Seattle is," he responded. Dramatic? Really? I understand that not one of the things I faced are anywhere near as bad as what a lot of others face on a daily basis, but they certainly seemed stressful and exhausting to me. Who is he, or anyone else, to judge?

As I meander through the spa each day I overhear bits and pieces of what different clients are going through and their strength and endurance amazes me. Life can be hard. Sure, we have to keep perspective of what's going on elsewhere in the world - insight into current affairs is crucial - but respect yourself enough to acknowledge, "Wow, that was tough and I'm pretty darn strong for getting through it," at some point. You aren't "drama" if you do, you're human.

October 3rd Sugar & Swank Event Guest Featured in Seattle Weekly

Jennifer Worick, the special guest at the upcoming October 3rd Sugar & Swank event was recently featured in the Seattle Weekly. I'm not sure if the writer of the article really got Jennifer. To me she is the real-life Carrie Bradshaw. A woman with a voice that speaks to other women - probably because of her love, support and caring for women and all things girly. She's worked hard to publish 21 books and takes her profession very seriously. Most of all she's a total hoot and is fun and easy to be around. Read below and let me know if you think if Brian Miller from the Seattle Weekly got that. Better yet, come by on October 3rd to meet Jennifer in person and draw your own conclusions.

7 pm at the Sugar & Swank Studios on Mercer Island. 3418 77th Place SE. RSVP to Jennifer Muscatel at jennifer@besugarandswank.com or 206-351-3213.

Seattle’s Busiest Author Has No Time for the “I Have a Burning Need to Express” School of Literature
By Brian Miller

Attention, J.D. Salinger and all you authors out there who have trouble completing more than one book a decade (or three). Jennifer Worick has little patience for you because she's too busy getting published—about 20 books, by her count, over the past half-dozen years. She's the first to admit that tally comes mostly as co-author of various short guides and humor books, often based on ideas not her own. But lately, she's been the one out there flogging The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating and Sex at remote college campuses. "I'm huge in Kentucky this year," she says, laughing, while sitting at Zeitgeist Coffee, on a break from touring.

For Worick, the question is not whether the world wants to read another sensitive, coming-of-age account about an aspiring writer living in the heartland and her issues with her mother. Instead: Ask whether there's an identifiable book-buying demo of readers who, when confronted with a display at Barnes & Noble for Nancy Drew's Guide to Life, might think, "Hey, I used to love those books as a girl, and this looks funny." (Sample wisdom: "When bound and gagged, you can still tap out HELP in Morse code." Whether this applies to S&M is not addressed.)

Worick has identified those readers, learned to match marketing niche with subject and author, based largely on her background in publishing. "That was my favorite part of the job—brainstorming," she recalls. Based here in the '90s with Kirkland's Becker & Mayer! (a division of Chronicle Books), she then went back East to edit at an imprint of Perseus Books. There, she recalls, she got roped into contributing to the first Worst-Case Scenario guides because the two male co-creators "thought they needed a single woman for publicity purposes. That just led to me quitting my job." She finally went pure freelance and returned to Seattle two years ago. Today her bailiwick is "nonfiction humor books for women," encompassing other tongue-in-cheeky titles like The Action Heroine's Handbook, The Stuntwoman's Workout, and Girls' Night In: Spa Treatments at Home. (Hey, a freelancer's gotta eat!)

This fall, the Wallingford-based Worick has two titles out, one of them from Skipstone. (No, that's not a software company, arms manufacturer, or subprime lender; it's Mountaineers Books' new "lifestyle" imprint.) Backcountry Betty: Roughing It in Style ($14.95) gently prepares women in what might be called the Match.com demo to date and endure what might be called the Uptight Seattleite demo. In the woods. So, for example, the helpful glossary clarifies that "heat exhaustion" does not mean "Clive Owen was in my dreams"; and the backcountry cooking section features an excellent number of mixology suggestions for adding booze to the Crystal Light in your Nalgene bottle. (Editor's note: To enjoy a patented Wilford Brimley by campfire, add one part Country Time lemonade mix to however much vodka you can see in the dark. No cheating with your headlamp.) Wry illustrations by Seattle's Kate Quinby help set the tone.

For crafty types, Worick also has The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl (Taunton Press, $14.95), which is exactly that—Nancy Drew on steroids.

Though she's mostly hidden behind characters like Prairie Girl and Backcountry Betty, Worick eventually wants to create her own brand, some kind of new Erma Bombeck. Still, she's cautious about being trapped with the wrong one. Recalling a past meeting to discuss collaborating on a fitness book with Richard Simmons, she notes, "He has to live that persona 24 hours a day."

Eschewing fiction, Worick has no desire to add to the chick-lit canon. "I can't see one more hot-pink book" cover, she exclaims. Though she concedes the dating/relationship category "is evergreen" (like diet-health books).

For now, it's enough to maintain her various blogs and update her Amazon.com author page. She knows that marketing, after the writing, is the second half of her job description. Though she doesn't write until the publishing contract is signed, she adds, "I probably have 10–20 ideas on a to-do proposal list."

Will those ideas result in books as long and substantial as War and Peace? No, but neither is your bus ride.

Special Website Related Offers!

SPECIAL OFFERS!

Book an appointment through the website and receive 15% off all

Sugar & Swank products (Exluding NuSkin as it is already offered at a discount)

Refer a friend to the website - If they book an appointment you will receive a free one-hour personal shopping trip or a free one-hour closet organization session

Offer Ends August 1st

Contact Sugar & Swank to Book an Appointment or to Order Products

Jennifer Muscatel
206-351-3213
jennifer@besugarandswank.com

The Perfume Counter

My boyfriend, Jim, and I decided to stop by the Downtown Nordstrom to sniff out a new cologne for him, a new perfume for me. We started in Men's and were graciously helped by Leif. Once we got past the sunglasses he was wearing indoors we could see that Leif, and the others in the department, had a lot of knowledge about each of the hundreds of choices of cologne. Still, we had to laugh at the fanfare that went into applying the different options (Kenneth Cole RSVP, the new Prada, and something by Calvin Klein) to various areas on Jim's arms. There was a small squirt before a big squirt. There was wafting, waving and waiting. There was smelling, then coffee beans, then more smelling. There was grapefruit, vanilla, musk, lemon and so much more I can't even remember.

We would take occassional breaks to venture over to Women's to test out perfumes for me while letting the scents simmer on Jim's skin - important to do, it turns out, because the scents change dramatically as they react with each person's body chemistry. If we'd gone on our initial reaction we would have chosen the Calvin Klein. After letting the cologne warm up to Jim though, Prada won hands down. It was so clean and masculine on him. Yum! It also helped that Prada had a gift set - not just the cologne but a body lotion, as well.

In Women's we were lucky to be helped by the lovely Tiffani who was so entirely gracious. I explained to her my love for my current perfume, Hermes' Un Jardin En Mediterranee, but that I was almost out and wanted to try something new.

I'd smelled Vera Wang's Truly Pink in a magazine and was pleased to learn it smelled even better in person. After our extensive training with Leif we were able to pick up its grapefruit scent right away, but then it quickly turned to rose. Not a bad smell, just not what I was looking for. Tiffani then introduced me to a scent by Annick Goutal. I loved it. It was complex, feminine and not too sweet, flowery or fruity. Plus, it got better and better as it warmed to my skin.

As Tiffani prepared to ring me up I suddenly found myself surrounded by saleswomen eager to suggest other Annick Goutal items. At first all the service was flattering, but then it was just grotesque and overbearing. They were literally coming out of the woodwork like termites. Had I tried the shampoo? Its important to layer. How bout the $90 creme? Not interested in the creme, well try the lotion.

I turned to Jim and said, "Are we at a swap meet?"

"A used car lot," he replied.

Meanwhile, Tiffani was trying to extract us from the swarm. She finally separated them from us and brought us safely over to another register, explaining that the women we'd encountered didn't work for Nordstrom but rather Annick Goutal. Clearly they were trying to meet some incentive, but their behavior was over-the-top inappropriate.

Just when we thought we had escaped, Tiffani turned away for a moment to grab some extra samples. An Annick Goutal rep zeroed in on the opening and dove in for one last sales pitch. "Would you like to sign up to be on the Annick Goutal mailing list?" she asked, clipboard in hand.

It was the final straw. I lost it . . . kindly. Well, kindly enough. "You need to stop. You and your colleagues are overwhelming me and I am feeling entirely uncomfortable."

She looked shocked, but slunk away. For the rest of the transaction we watched her pouting on her own, away from the other Annick Goutal reps.

Tiffani finished ringing me up, but just as I paid I noticed the new Prada perfume. Tiffani sprayed some on my arm and I fell in love - surprising because the original Prada smelled horrible on me. Tiffani explained that they were pre-selling a package for the new Prada that included so many goodies, way more than Jim got with the men's version. So guess what I did?

I returned the Annick Goutal on the spot, which was so stinkin satisfying after their heavy-duty sales routine, and I pre-ordered the Prada. Kind of a pain for Tiffani - I'm sure she would have liked me to buy both or at the very least, not to make her do a return so quickly - but I'd made up my mind and knew my request wasn't terribly unreasonable.

All in all, Jim and I left smelling great. Check out the new Pradas for yourelf. They smell great and are part of a big Prada event the Downtown Nordstrom is having June 6th, 7th and 8th. Be sure to ask for Leif and Tiffani and tell them Jennifer from Sugar & Swank sent you.

Sugar & Swank Lessons Learned:

1. Let scents sit on your skin before making a decision on which to buy. They really change a lot when mixed with your own body chemistry.

2. The Nordstrom staff is really well trained. Be sure to utilize them when investigating a new scent.

2. Stand up for yourself. If someone is acting inappropriately ask them in a nice way to stop.

3. Whenever possible and reasonable, if it doesn't harm someone else, be sure to ask for what you want.

Have a Sugar & Swank day!

Preciado

My dad's aunt, Fortuna Calvo, died last week. She would have been 99 years old this month and has a place in Washington State history as being the first Sephardic Jew born in Seattle.

I have many memories of Auntie Fortuna - she was the greatest baker I've ever known and introduced me to all the Sephardic yummies, recipes usually containing a lot of spinach and cheese, that are now my favorite foods.

She was a tough woman but had so much love for her family. She called all of us Preciado, the Ladino word for Precious, and I can only remember her house literally filled with members of my extended family - her kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews -and of course, incredible smells coming from the kitchen.

In her obituary she was called "A Warrior" and for so many reasons that statement is true. But sadly, sometime in the 90's she was diagnosed with Alzheimers. While we could still touch her and sit with her, she was mentally lost to us. So when the Kline Gallond Home, Auntie Fortuna's home for the past 12 and a half years, called last week to say Auntie Fortuna's body was finally giving in, it wasn't a shock. But then again, as it happens in life and death, it was. We'd been saying goodbye for so many years, but now it was time to really say goodbye.

So last Monday, Memorial Day, I took my grandma to see Auntie Fortuna, her eldest sister. Aunie Fortuna looked beautiful - her hair, recently combed by a nurse, was thick and soft, her skin had barely a wrinkle. But the visit didn't do much to satiate our hearts and in fact, left us feeling a little empty. My grandma tried her hardest to will Auntie Fortuna to open her eyes, to say a word or to show some sort of final recognition. All the history between them and it boiled down to an 85 year old baby sister stroking her 98 year old big sister's arm while the elder lay in a fetal position, breathing deeply but steadily, about to die.

The funeral was emotional, but it actually had a wonderful spirit to it. After the service, which included touching, loving and often hilarious stories about Auntie Fortuna, we walked out to the gravesite she now shares with her husband, Shaya, and we each had an opportunity to shovel some dirt over her casket. Then the immediately family reconvened in the chapel. While the Rabbi fed us a lite lunch I looked around the room at my beautiful family. We always like a good laugh and it pleased me to catch bits and pieces of the humor being exchanged and to see all the gorgeous faces light up in laughter.

So now what? We've gotta go back to our lives, even though one of us is gone and we are forever different and changed. But jumping right back in isn't always easy. I feel funky and numb, but wonder if I'm supposed to as she was "just" a great-aunt and she's been gone for such a long time. Am I partly mourning for other things lost in my life that I never fully got over? The death of a friend when I was 12, the death of my beloved grandparents, the end of my marriage, even the choice to give my cats to a better home a few weeks ago.

So what does Sugar & Swank suggest to the Good Woman and Good Man in mourning? Try to live your life in a way that will honor the loved one who has passed. For example, Auntie Fortuna always prioritized her family which is the basic principle behind Sugar & Swank. Running my own business isn't always easy and there are times when I wonder if I should go back to working for someone else and getting a steady paycheck. But I founded Sugar & Swank so that I could put my family first while still having a career about which I'm passionate. Being reminded of Auntie Fortuna's prioritization of family gives me the courage and kick in the pants to continue. At the end of the day the quality of my relationships are what matter to me most and I believe that Auntie Fortuna would have been proud of me for working hard to make a living on my own but making sure my family is still at the top of my list.

So make an appointment today so I can continue to honor Auntie Fortuna!