Weekend Update Time.

I am officially an actively licensed real estate broker affiliated with one of the (or maybe it is THE - depends on who's counting) biggest brokerage in Asheville. Tomorrow morning I go sign on at the Board of Realtors, so I will actually be able to, yanno, access the MLS and get my souper seekrit lockbox stuff. Oh, and I don't have any business cards yet. Oh, and I have to get a high resolution head shot of myself to the brokerage, STAT! Oh, crap.

I am sadly overdue for a haircut and have no idea who I will engage to take that high res head shot. Because every nearly 53 year old woman just squeees with joy at the idea of high resolution. I am paying for these photos (and everything else - independent contractor) and I want soft-focus, low res - how about candlelight? I want to be photographed like an old movie star. I want somebody so old school, he still smears Vaseline on the lens.

Because me in bright sunlight (squinting into the wind after sweating off nearly all of my minimal makeup) is not the look I want to pay to put in my promotional stuff.



Hi, I'm here to walk your dog help you make critical decisions about your biggest investment! Nope, this pic won't do. I need a haircut, I need to remember to put on lipstick, and I need to find a photographer who can shoot through Vaseline in high resolution.

It was a lovely weekend. It started out horribly - those bad storms that blew through the South dumped TONS of rain on Asheville. We were spared the major destruction - the ring of mountains does seem to break up the really violent weather - but ZOMG, the rain was surreal. I woke to a river running down the middle of the street. By noon it had passed; the sky turned brilliant blue, and the air was crisp and clear. Today was the same, but more so - not a cloud. None. Zero. I went on a walk along the French Broad River. The guy leading the group must have had 3 double espressos that morning, because our usual sort of relaxed pace was amped up to really fast. The windblown and squinty pic of me above was taken on our first break. I managed to get ONE shot of the river, looking very full and very fast, before we were off.



It was a "dog friendly" hike, but I'm glad I didn't take one (I'd never take both at once) of my dogs with me. The pace was way too fast and the distance too far - they could saunter 5 miles, but not trot it, and their wee legs would have been worn out after the first mile. But I felt guilty for abandoning them on such a lovely day, so after I got home (with my knees screaming about the abuse they were put through) I took them to our "community dog park." (It's a fenced area back by the maintenance building.) I brought a ball and they had a ball - Sophie is currently passed out on her chair, sleeping it off.

So, despite its very stormy beginning, the rest of the weekend was quite lovely. The upcoming week is crazy busy, and I need to work on developing a manageable schedule ASAP.