Calendar Girl Blog: Pool Side

Such is the life of the jet setting, breast calendar publisher and blogging machine known as Calendar Girl.

Here I sit in San Jose, and yes, I obviously know the way, waiting for my fresh salad, sipping cranberry and enjoying the sounds of people frolicking in the pool.

How un-Guelph-like.

Okay that's not true. Guelph can be pretty cool too. So it must be the palm trees and all the people talking on their cell phones that makes the scene so much more Hollywoodish.

Or maybe California is simply exotic....more exotic than Guelph.

BlogHers are a friendly lot. Many seem to have Apple lap tops. Most whip them out with ease and dash off a blog post with the speed of a bullet. I'm not so quick. Despite the freedom of being wireless and a laptop owner, I lean toward blogging in my office. When I find myself poolside, I'm inclined to be in-the-pool...a place known to be bad for computers.

I'm already made a contribution to the 'fun' of BlogHer. For those of you who know the Breast Ambassador Salute, you will be please to learn the BlogHer secret sign.... obviously not-so-secret since I've blogged the concept.

Calendar Girl will be whipping out the 2007 Calendar at the Cocktail Party tonight. She's already got some gals interested... at least in the concept. But Calendar Girl knows that seeing is always quite different than hearing.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph, blogher, bloghercon, Women. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Canada AM

Funny.

I just got an order from someone who claims they heard about Breast of Canada on Canada AM.

Hmmmm. I wonder how that happened?

Calendar Girl really hopes that the magical news gremlins feel free to sprinkle their special reporter dust liberally for the 2007 edition.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Launch

Each year I host a official calendar launch in late September. Even though the calendar will be past its two month birthday, the launch provides an opportunity for more people to get involved.

This year we are planning an Art Auction as entertainment for the event. Several local artists are creating 'breast' masterpieces that will be auctioned off during the evening. Our local cable station host Stacey Hare has volunteered to be the auctioneer for the evening. All proceeds from the art sales will go directly to the Canadian Breast Cancer Network.

Up until this morning, I figured the launch was pretty much set. But then I got an email offering a debut performance by a group of women tap dancers. Apparently they rock.

If you've been reading along for a while, you will know that I rarely pass up an offer. And so our art auction may take a strange turn with a half time show of Betty and the Boobettes.

Calendar Girl just made up the Betty name. At this point, the dancers are still nameless.

Calendar Girl


Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Printed

Dale the delivery man just dropped 500 calendars off in my dining room.

They are beautiful.

Calendar Girl is relieved and deeply satisfied.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Gone to Press

That's it. My signature is now sitting on the press proof copy and Ron, Prince of Printing is delivering the work order to the pressman today.

The 2007 Breast of Canada will be printed tonight. Following a thorough inking, the 2500 calendars get spot varnished, stapled, then drilled and finally stiffened and shrinkwrapped before being boxed, 50 each and set aside to off gas.

In celebration, I'm taking a few short days of vacation, in my tent, by a clear fresh lake. I'll be back on Monday.

Calendar Girl looks forward to meeting the new batch of calendars. Thankfully she's no longer loosing sleep over them.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer

Given the heat wave that has invaded Guelph this week plus comments about the drought in Melbourne, Australia left on this blog by my cyber pal Chris, I bring you the trailer for a movie I saw last night.

Calendar Girl would highly recommend this flick. Especially if you have children and grandchildren.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: BlogHer

As you may have noticed on my sidebar, I'm going to San Jose California to attend the 2nd Annual BlogHer conference of women bloggers. This event is playing host to the most influential women bloggers in North America.... with some attendees coming in from around the world.

I'm slowly but surely recognizing the vast potential in this trip.

Over the last 18 months I've gone from pecking away at Calendar Girl Blog to running 4 blogs on an almost daily basis. This blog was intended to provide you with a daily dose of the thrills and chills of publishing the Breast of Canada calendar with the hope that more people would get it. But an interesting thing happened along the way. Not only do I better understand what the hell motivates me to do this project, but also I got hooked on blogging.

Back to BlogHer. I've been pondering the kick ass schedule of lectures and discussions and allowing my mind to connect what I know to be my strengths with what I understand to be the potential inherent in blogging. As an artist, arts promoter, social entrepreneur and one afflicted with a deadly case of 'save the world' syndrome it has been dawning on me that BlogHer could be an excellent venue to promote my creative, bloggy pool of e-associates.

This morning I contacted Gareth, calendar designer superman and very gifted political cartoonist (check out this weeks strip), Barking Dog Studios, the ultimate web/blog hosts and hostesses and Tannis, my musical angel who is recording her second album. Then I thought about BlogGuelph and the growing blogroll of Guelphites that effort is attracting.

Indeed it would be safe to say I'm biased. Yet I'm pretty certain that these people are brilliant. Is it not a win, win, win idea to introduce such genius to others that may be equally impressed?

One of the sessions Calendar Girl hopes to attend is title: Is the Next Martha Stewart a Blogger? Calendar Girl does not possess the same style as Ms. Stewart. In fact, ‘cheap, cheerful and orange’ captures the Calendar Girl look.

But Martha is also a trendsetter. Calendar Girl wonders how that title would fit.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: HopScotch

With the calendar safely tucked into bed, I now have free time to pursue my other passion.

HopScotch.

Of course it's been about 40 years since I took the title of HopScotch Queen of Waubaushene Public School but I'm certain that I can still whoop some serious little girl butt.

Calendar Girl did hang up her athlete hat a few years back after an unfortunate encounter with both a baseball and volleyball. She subsequently swore off balls....er...sports balls that is. HopScotch on the other hand, is ball free.

Keep you eye on the sports pages.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Rain, Rain

This is my basement floor. The dark part is water.

Several hundred calendars from previous years live in my basement. So far I have been able to keep them high and dry. This after two solid days of significant rain, copious mopping up, dehumidifying and airing out.

Moving said calendars to another level of my house is a last resort. The suckers are heavy and I'm expecting a couple thousand new calendars any day now. There's only so much room up here. Someone has to live in the basement.

Doing a Stop-Rain dance is next on my action list. Certainly keeping an eye and ear on the 'situation' is constant.

Starting last year, full retail orders for the complete set of five years started to arrive. The buyers deemed the set a Collector's Item. So now that the archived calendars have value, it's key to keep them in pristine shape.

Like dry for starters.

Excuse me. Calendar Girl must go mop the latest downpour.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Breast of Canada Day

I made a boo boo.

A few years back, with the power of the publisher pen, I established that Breast of Canada Day would fall on the first full moon of July. How you chose to behave on such an occasion was up to you. I merely wanted to build it and see if anyone showed up.

Somehow, despite proofing and triple checking the content of the 2006 calendar, I mistakenly claimed July 12th to be the full moon when in fact the moon was fattest last night. The werewolves among you are likely pissed.

The mistake does not end there. I've also anointed July 12 Breast of Canada Day, thinking as I was that this was the full moon.

Oh me, Oh my. If the moon howlers are annoyed, I can just imagine how the breast revilers are feeling.

So here's the plan. By engaging our powers of pretend, we'll all carry on as though the calendar is correct. If you squint at the moon and I'm certain it will look full. And July 12th, 2006 will be Breast of Canada Day. Do as you wish to mark the day.

Calendar Girl will do her best to get it right for 2007. Until then please accept my deepest apology for messing up the lunar cycle.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Prince of Printing

Ron the Prince of Printing has been called to pick up the final version of the 2007 Breast of Canada Calendar. He'll be riding into Guelph on his white steed sometime this afternoon. Shortly there after, he'll ride back into town with the press proof, fresh off the line at Barney Printing. Barney Printing have been my printer since year two. Ron has been my prince aka print rep since the calendar started. When Ron moved his employment to Barney, I moved my business with him. The man makes this final stage of calendar production feel as smooth as silk. I feel incredibly lucky to have snagged such a reliable team member.

This version of the proofing process offers a more visual reality of the work unlike the photo copies we've been working with to date. It is also the one that has no return. Once I sign my name on the press proof, the hook is inserted into my shirt collar and the outcome becomes my responsibility.

No pressure here. Gulp.

Gareth did his usual top notch job in the design department including spotting a whopper of a spelling mistake....mammories instead of mammaries.....not good when you're in the boob biz.

I kept finding stupid grammar errors right up until I realized that I needed to stop looking if we were ever going to press. Sometimes you just have to claim that you're done.

Calendar Girl is happy to be at this stage in the game. In two weeks, the latest edition will be stuffed in her dining room and the big haul will begin. Twenty five hundred calendars will need to be shipped in the next six months. Calendar Girl handles every one of them.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Exchange Rate

Imagine my surprise when Gareth turned my attention to the increasingly strong Canadian dollar and its effect on the US exchange rate. While last year my U.S. price was $14.00, this year I've had to pump it up to $17.95 US!

This makes the US suggested retail equal in value to my Canadian dollar price of $19.95, the same price I've been able to hold since the second year of publishing.

Here's hoping this move doesn't suck the life out of the US market that I've been able to cultivate. Selling the calendar for 19.95 CA gives me a thin margin to work with as it stands. With no wiggle room, there was no way I could bite the US bullet for an entire sales period.

Calendar Girl can just imagine the anxiety that other publishers and manufacturers face who produce multiple products.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Recipe

Cocktails, originally uploaded by Sue Richards.

We're still proofing here in calendar land. So here's a recipe for your general use and hopefully total amusement.

Margaritas

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup of lime cordial
3/4 cup of tequila
1/4 cup of triple sec

Mix with ice.

(Recipe by Gus the pups Mom)

Warning: One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR.

Don't say Calendar Girl didn't warn you.

Calendar Girl

Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Mr. Bat Ears

Bat Ears, originally uploaded by Sue Richards.

I cannot be held accountable for once again posting a photo of Gus, the newest dog to join the Breast of Canada Team. I have no will or control over my actions when puppies are involved. I speak differently. Cooing sounds ripple from my mouth. I'm useless except for nuzzling the wee bundle of fur and flesh.

Puppy power renders me stupid in the nicest way.

For more exciting photos of Gus and Auntie Sue, click on the picture and go to my Flickr account.

Calendar Girl did manage to pick up the corrections for the calendar despite making all her funny sounds and being mesmerized by Mr. Bat Ears. As we move toward P-Day, it appears that everything is coming along just dandy.

Calendar Girl


Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.

Calendar Girl Blog: Oh Canada

Hammock, originally uploaded by Sue Richards.

Calendar Girl does Canada Day eh?

Calendar Girl


Tags: Calendar Girl Blog, calendar girl blog, Breast of Canada Calendar, Sue Richards, middle of normal. Guelph. Order a Breast of Canada today.