The Cinderella Project!

Do you or any of your friends have bridesmaid (or other prom-caliber dresses) in your closet that you’ll never wear again? Personally? I have 4.

Let’s join forces to help make underprivileged high school girls’ prom dress dreams come true by donating them to a charity I’m volunteering for called The Cinderella Project. Here's how you can help:

Get your dry-cleaned* bridesmaid or prom-caliber dress(es) to us between now & the end of February.

Send an e-mail to casajules (at) gmail (dot) com for shipping information.

Please ask all of your friends to dig through their closets, too!

*Average cost to dry clean a dress can be anywhere from $6-$15. Many dry cleaners will comp this for you or discount that price if you explain it’s for charity, especially if you already use a particular dry cleaner on a semi-regular basis. If your dry cleaner won't comp it for you and you can't afford to pay for the dry cleaning, please send the dress to us anyway! We’d rather have the challenge of getting them dry cleaned on this end vs. you not donating your dress(es).

Thankfully, lots of people have been helping me get the word out, and they'll get a post all their own when everything is said and done, but for now, here's a little bit of funny business that went on when one of my BFFs retweeted one of my Twitter tweets. See, Twitter only allows for 140 characters, so there can be a bit of creative editing when retweeting. She accidentally edited out an important word, and... well, see for yourself:


The BFF's retweet. Helpful but maybe asking for a bit too much from people.



My follow-up tweet; just to clarify things!


Thanks to everyone helping me help The Cinderella Project make some very deserving high school girls look and feel gorgeous at their prom!


Follow me on Twitter HERE.


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You NEED this reminder!

Trust me: You really, REALLY need to read my guest post over at Ree's (aka The Hotfessional):

CLICK HERE.

You can thank me later.


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Paying it forward as often as possible

One of my oldest friends & I are in the initial stages of work on a big project together.

This particular undertaking is all in the name of doing something thoughtful for other people-- friends we know & love-- and I can't recommend this kind of thing enough. Seems almost silly to mention, because for all I know you're already on top of being the most giving person ever, but I'm mentioning it anyway:

Surprise people you love by being thoughtful in extremely unexpected ways. Recruit other people to help you if it isn't something you can do yourself. Do this again & again, the thrill will never get old.

Once, I surprised my sister by taking advantage of the fact that I have a copy of their house key. Read about it HERE. She would never ask me to do something like that, but it was a particularly stressful week for her. It took me half of an afternoon; I was in & out of there before she got home from work. Her phone call to me after she got home was TOTALLY WORTH IT. I'm not telling you this to get pats on the back for it. I'm the one who ends up getting the bigger adrenaline rush than the person I'm doing it for.

Look around at those you love. What do they need? What would really help them out, even if they don't realize it yet? I've often found that the things people need help with or could use a break from don't cost a lot of time or money. Think of it as the proverbial boy scout helping an old lady cross the street; something that may be no big deal for you to do, but could vastly improve (or just improve a tiny bit!) the day, week... LIFE of someone else!

As for the current large-scale project I'm working on with JJ, there are many little facets of it that have to get done in stages. I just got an email from her on something else she thought of to help the other friends we're recruiting along the way feel more attached to the end result; to allow each of them to have a personal investment to this project even though some of them don't know the friends we're doing it for. This idea she's come up with is excellent, and perfect for the tone we're trying to set.

Ultimately, it will be me who has to execute this idea from her concept to fruition because it's a design-related, creative-type of thing. I laughed forever when I read the last sentence of her lengthy email, because it shows how well she knows me. We've been friends for 20+ years, and she's aware that when attempting to add more things to my tasks list, flattery (no matter how full of B.S. it may sound) will get you everywhere:


A master at work: Flattery + Bullshit = Bullshittery.

In which Axl Rose is Bill Cosby and Dr. Pepper is Sandman Simms

I'm a pepper, she's a pepper, he's...an old rock star named Axl. You remember him, right?

One of the greatest days over the summer was when a Chicago radio station played Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I & II in their entireties, and I still knew every song by heart. I'm not sure my bosses were impressed, but it sure made for a fun workday. Nothing quite like singing along under my breath to "You're Crazy" with a client standing by your desk.

When GNR was first blowing up, my friends & I loved them so much that we created a girl group called Revolvers n' Pansies that went on to win (by a landslide, for reals) the school talent show by lip-syncing to Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City. I had long-ish hair and a huge perm back then, so I flipped all my hair over my face and put a big black top hat on over it, which in instantly made me Slash with a rack.

I'd share a photo of that night with you, but the only one I have is in the yearbook, and someone was thoughtful enough--while off in a darkened corner somewhere-- to draw a big fat joint coming out of my mouth with a few squiggly lines made to look like smoke. I'm pretty sure it was the same guy (whose name I won't mention because I'm a lady... stop laughing!) that decided to draw happy little sperm (should that have an 's' on the end, or is sperm already plural? It is, right? Oh, please don't let my parents or any of their friends read this entry; their daughter is too lazy to google the word sperm and confirm her suspicion that it doesn't need an 's' on the end. A shining moment!) all around the edges of the football team photo page. For the record, I never once made out with that guy. Ahhh, high school. Good times!

The other thing about the photo is that I blinked when the photographer's flash went off, so it's not that great. Now that I really think about it though, the closed eyes and big smile lends some credibility to the hand-drawn giggle stick hanging from my lips. I digress.

Where was I? Oh yes, GNR. So, after eleventy-hundred rumors and one-too-many face tugs, Axl Rose is releasing his 13-year in the works album, Chinese Democracy. Of course it has been a joke throughout all these years, with announcements on the regular that it would come out soon... very soon! Okay, not that soon. A little bit longer. Maybe a handful of years. Alright then, a decade has gone by, what's the rush?

Earlier this year, Dr. Pepper issued a challenge (chall-LUNGE!) to Axl & company. If GNR released the album before 2009, the soda conglomerate would give everyone in America one free Dr. Pepper.


Bill Cosby & Sandman Simms; the greatest CHALL-UNGE in pop culture history.


Turns out ole' Axl still has enough energy to stick it to the man, and tomorrow is the big album release day! Whether or not you're going to buy it, you can still get a free Dr. Pepper. They'll even give you one without drawing obscene pictures all over your face while you're not looking. As far as I'm concerned, it's your lucky day, but you only have 24 hours. It's a CHALL-UNGE! Axl was up for it, are you?

I highly recommend drinking your free Dr. Pepper with an Extraordinary Nutsnack.

Dr. Pepper is ready to give out free soda coupons to every American when the album releases on Nov. 23, 2008. If you're out to get a free Dr Pepper just follow these simple steps:

1. On the Nov. 23, 2008 release date, go to Dr. Pepper's official website.

2. Register your information to receive a coupon for one free 20-oz. Dr Pepper.

3. When your coupon arrives, redeem it wherever Dr. Pepper is sold.

Coupons will be available for 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 23, 2008. Allow 4-6 weeks for coupon to arrive. Coupons will expire on Feb. 28, 2009. Limit one coupon per person. Full terms and conditions available at www.drpepper.com!

You're welcome.

You need this reminder

When I lived out east, my old Acura needed serious repair work, and luckily the dealership gave me one of their sweet rides as a free loaner for the weekend. They could have done this because they knew I had no other way to get to my weekend job, which required a jaunt by car on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway (unlike the 2 graphic design jobs I got to by subway in Manhattan during the week), but I'm pretty sure they did it because I made them uncomfortable with all of my pathetic tear-induced hyperventilating over the estimated cost of repairs and wondering how I'd also manage to pay my rent, even with 3 jobs.

I actually had to breathe into a paper bag because the hyperventilating wouldn't stop, which made me cry harder because I was embarrassed, and the cycle continued. In that moment I thought, "Gasping for air into a paper bag in the service center of a car dealership? This is no way to live. Must. Breathe."

As soon as I calmed down, they pulled around a brand new Acura Integra and handed me the keys. In that moment, I reminded myself that life is short and it was time to cheer myself up by doing something unexpected. There's no better way to cheer yourself up than by doing something unexpected while in possession of a hot car that somebody else owns.

After finding someone to cover my Saturday shift, I got up early for a 2-hour road trip from my apartment to Point Pleasant, NJ. I'd never seen such a foggy day "on the shore", and it felt like walking around on the set of a Hitchcock film.

Even though I decided to lose one day of pay (money that I really needed to make ends meet in those days), I will always think back to that morning on Point Pleasant Beach as one of the best decisions I ever made. It was exactly what I needed. Don't eke out your existence with the assumption that you can put a dollar value on recharging your soul. Get out there. Live so you can breathe.



This was one of the first images in my ongoing "Sit!" series. ©HouseofJules Photography



I was drawn to the contrast between the muted colors of the shower heads/sky and the dark, saturated sand. ©HouseofJules Photography



Detail shot. If you hold this photo up to your ear, you can hear the ocean. ©HouseofJules Photography



This was my last shot of the day. I noticed these 2 teenagers walking the beach together earlier, and as I was getting ready to snap the photo of the 2 showers with the fogged-out pier in the background, they sort of unknowingly ambled into my frame. I have no idea what they were looking at but they stood like that just long enough for me to get the shot. I know it looks like they're superimposed, but I have the negative to prove that they're not. Yes, a negative. As in film. Remember film? ©HouseofJules Photography

Looking for something "outdoorsy" to do this weekend?

Jake put this post up almost 2 weeks ago, and I'm still laughing about it. The best part of the visual in my head comes from his very last line.



Click to enlarge:

..."My God." Then run back into the woods.

Yes, SOMEONE PLEASE DO THIS! If you have an accomplice in charge of capturing people's reaction on video I'd be forever grateful.

I'd do this myself, but I have "indoor plans" with 3 Blue Men. It'll be our third date, so you know what THAT means!