R.I.P. Crocs

I came across this article today on the demise of Crocs. I had been following the meteoric rise of Crocs in the news and was amazed at how well the company had been doing. However, things are no longer looking rosy. The company went from a profit of $168 million in 2007 to a loss of $185 million last year. A loss of $185 million! OUCH!

The article puts much of the demise on the fact that the shoes were virtually indestructible and therefore why would someone buy a second pair. But, I'm not so sure about this theory. I've only owned one pair of Crocs, and it was the ballet shoe style, since the original Crocs were much too wide for my feet and made them look huge. I wore my Crocs a few times but then discovered that my feet would get slippery sweaty from the rubber *not that you wanted to know this* and since they didn't come in half sizes, my ankle got pinched and that made me grumpy.

Could it be that people have just gotten tired of walking around looking like they have huge elephant feet? or that people are fickle with shoes? Sure, a pair of shoes can be indestructible, but tastes change long before a regular pair of shoes is worn through. Plus if there is a brand someone likes, they will often pick up more of the same. I'm not buyin' it.

But, guess who has been tapped to help save the company? George Clooney! Pretty much the last person I could see walking around in Crocs. Perhaps he could wear them to the next red carpet event with his Armani suit? Lots of luck with that!

Now, where was I. Oh yeah, googling Dance Paws. Does Crocs make any of those?

Project Cheeseball

Dawn, who blogs at Two Pretty Little Skirts has graciously sent me a series of Cheeseball pics taken at her local BJ's. She purchased the Utz Cheese Balls as the perfect accoutrement to her 4th of July BBQ. And I have to agree it was a wise decision...

I like to call the sequence "Cheesiness to Go" (kinda like Ice Ice Baby to Go but without the Ice)


















"I'm Gonna Fill This Tummy Right Here with Cheesy Orange Spheres!"

"Cheeseballs and Pepsi. That's two food groups. Thanks Mom, You're Alright!"

"Bye bye Sponge Bob snacks. I'm not gonna let these cheesy babies leave my side!"


Dawn, thanks for participating! Those photos were UTZ-tastic :D

Interested in participating in Project Cheeseball and introducing new readers to your blog? It's simple: Just send me a photo of you and the Utz Cheese Balls in a distinct location near you! I'll feature your photos and link to your blog. The 35 oz. barrels of Utz Cheese Balls are sold at your local Sam's Club, BJ's or Staples or are available for purchase online directly from UTZ or through Amazon.com.

Three Things You Did Not Know About Me

***I have already divulged much too much about myself and my bowels, so I was hardpressed to come up with an additional Three Things You Did Not Know About Me. A little scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel, but here they are:

1. I have a disturbingly creepy photo of me and Don Ho hugging.


2. I may not appear to be a fashion maven- not by a looooooong shot, but many years ago, I aspired to one day working in a fashion-related field. I am actually a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Here is a photo of me and VC outside the hallowed halls on our recent vacation. With my fuzzy sweatshirt, bermuda shorts and MBT clodhoppers, you can tell that I am someone who still takes fashion seriously ;-)

3. My name is on the wall at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in NYC. What's that? Did one of my knock-offs of the masters make it into the their fine collection? Nah, just my name. When we visited the museum, a Slovakian artist named Roman Ondak was working on a performance piece entitled "Measuring the Universe." As part of his project he measured the height of those who wanted their names recorded on the walls. The person's name and date of visit was written at "head height." MB turned around and noticed me and VC in the line. He thought we were crazy to wait, but there was no way I was missing out on being a part of a piece of history *gosh*. Here I am being measured:

and here's my name and date on the wall - you will need to rotate your head to see it correctly. For the life of me I can not get the photo to appear normally in blogger!!!

You will notice that I am the exact same height as Song Dong!

I am not sure if this is a permanent piece or if my name will be painted over before we visit MOMA again. That would be sad :-(




***

China Buffet - The Aftermath

Since so many of you expressed an interest in our visit to the China Buffet, I felt compelled to elaborate further (that'll teach you to express an interest! Oh, or were you just reciprocating comments; errrr nevermind....)

I'm happy to report that my stomach (and bowels) have emerged unscathed, but one of the things I learned is that hot mustard does NOT work well as a salad dressing. This was due to the hot mustard being in a bowl that was grouped with the salad dressings - Ranch, Thousand Island, Mustard etc. It was in the exact same size bowl - with salad dressing ladle. I thought it was Honey Mustard dressing. That was so not the case! (Why would they possibly need to put out what appeared to be almost a quart of hot mustard?) Naturally, I felt that I had to point out my error to the waitress (remember my little problem?) so she wouldn't think I was a food waster. She didn't appear to understand what I said and then exclaimed with a sly grin, "You put hot mustard on your salad!" and looked at me like I was first person to ever have made this mistake!

Second lesson I learned, do NOT eat pizza that at a Chinese buffet. Said pizza was so greasy it practically slithered off my plate. Pizza at at Chinese Buffet you ask? Yep, also french fries, jello and softserve ice cream. All well known Chinese entrees.

Which brings me to my third lesson: Keep an eye on your kids' plates lest they only eat crap and avoid all vegetables (aside from potatoes and Duck sauce).

Lastly, when going with husband to Chinese Buffet, sit at a different table so when the waitress comes by with the bill aka "hint that it is time to go" - you will not be associated with him when he continues to have 4 more plates of food, even after the "is everything OK?" aka second hint from demure Chinese waitress.

Remember, if you express an interest in any of my further eating adventures, be prepared for a follow-up post ;-)

Six Word Saturday

Lots of LoMein. China Buffet Tonight!

P.S. Please enter my giveaway!

UPrinting Giveaway!

Instead of handing out boring 'ole business cards at your next blogger convention, or the next time you bump into that hot model on the subway, or want to get together with a buddy from belly dance class who doesn't have your information, consider UPrinting's Sticker Printing!

Better yet, use them at home to mark your secret snack stash - hands off! Perhaps put some on your son's school notebooks so that his friends will check out his potty training pictures on your blog! There are a myriad of uses!!!!

UPrinting is offering one of my readers the opportunity to win 250 free custom stickers with your logo, blog name, etc. - whatever you want to design using their easy online design service.

Here's the sticker I plan on designing:

Now, if that sticker doesn't scream: "I've got to run home and check out this blogger - stat!" I don't know what more it would take!!!

All you need to do to enter this awesome giveaway is to leave a comment about how you would use 250 free custom stickers!

Deadline to enter: Thursday, July 16th at 8:00 PM EST

Winner will be emailed a coupon code on Friday, July 17, 2009- so please be sure to leave me your email info.

Interested in additional entries?

1. Tweet about the giveaway
2. "Follow" my blog on Blogger*
3. Subscribe to my blog*
4. Fave my blog on Technorati
5. StumbleUpon, Kirtsy or Digg any Carma Sez blog post that you've particularly enjoyed (c'mon there's got to be one)
6. Blog about the giveaway and link back to my blog
7. Post about the giveaway on Facebook

*please leave a separate comment for each additional entry. If you are already a follower, please still tell me so in a separate comment. Thanks!

I hope all my bloggy buddies will enter so we can exchange funky stickers when we finally meet in person!


And now for the fine print:

Giveaway is open to US/CAN residents. Shipping of prizes is not included and must be paid by winner. UPrinting.com reserves the right not to print obscene or offensive materials.

All designs submitted in the form of a giveaway may be used by UPrinting.com for online marketing and promotional uses. The designs will be used solely as examples and not be printed or commercially distributed.

Huge Ego or Secretly Self-Conscious?

We've all got 'em in our yearbooks: the signature from the kid who takes up an entire page in the autograph section. My son came home with his yearbook, and sure 'nuff, a classmate used an entire page for his autograph and to let everyone know that he IS SPECIAL. One of these days I am going to commission a study to see what motivates certain individuals to think that they merit a whole page while everyone else is cramped in together on the other autograph page! And to follow their career path. Is this the sign of a confident, successful individual or someone who is secretly self-conscious?