questions from you no. 27

A quickfire! Here are some of the quickies I’ve had sitting in my Formspring inbox.

Q: What breed is Turbo?
A: He’s a formerly homeless alley cat–he looks like he might have some Maine Coon in him though. I don’t like breeding.

Q: Have you ever closed the door on an opportunity or a relationship in order to open another door, only to realize you made the wrong choice?
A: I always end up happy, so I think my choices have been okay. You never know what could have been–that is the price you pay to live.

Q: Speaking as someone who had a very complicated wedding day (the bodice of my dress collapsed on the altar) how do you look back at your wedding day now? Anything you’d change?
A: That sounds like a real nightmare–and I don’t get driven to wedding-related sympathy easily! I remember my wedding fondly but I wish I had gotten a chance to eat. The venue was super crowded and I never got a chance to make my way to the vegan buffet! Generally it was a great day and very representative of our “normal.” It isn’t normal for us to get a limo or have a spa day or create a seating chart or have equal numbers of male and female friends. I just wanted to have a party, not “do a wedding.”

Q: Is your plan to be a big fashion icon in Omaha? Or do you goal to move to a bigger fashion capital when you can?
A: I don’t consider myself a fashion icon in Omaha and it’s not in my plans. My ultimate goal is to use my gifts–entrepreneurship, creativity, communication, persistence, diligence–to bring ideas and resources to help the people in my city. I love to travel, I would go crazy if I couldn’t experience other amazing cultures around the world, but I love Omaha. My heart belongs to Omaha.

Q: When did you guys get Turbo?
A: We got Turbo in 2007! I can’t believe it’s been that long already. He still feels like our new pet.

Q: What kinda things do you like to snack on?
A: Potato chips, apple slices, crackers with cheese, hummus and pita, grapes. I honestly don’t snack much because I am too busy. I like meals. However, my mom always is baking and when I visit my parents (a few times each week), I can’t help but graze on whatever goodies are sitting on the counter!

Q: I’ve had bad hosting experiences. how can I get over them? once someone scratched my leather sofa (by accident). another time chips and chocolate got all over the carpet. People kept stepping on it and it took forever for me to clean it up.
A: I admit that I have a mental list of acquaintances who I am not likely to invite to a party in my house unless I’m moving furniture out of the way and expecting a mess. Only invite people in who respect your home. If they can’t do that, party outside.

Q: Hi, what program do you use to make graphic designs? Did you design the layout for your Princess Lasertron site?
A: No! I am not a graphic designer. All of my graphics and layouts are done by my bff Eric Downs, owner of Downs Design.

Q: How did you chose Alice’s first and middle name?
A: Alice Elfie. It came to me suddenly in the car on the way to a Labor Day party. When I was little I went through a phase when I only wanted to be called Alice and I told everyone my name was Alice. Elfie is a nickname for “Elfriede,” a common German name I first heard when I was in Berlin for school. It was equally important to me to have a name that sounded good and looked good on paper, and Alice Elfie works for me.

Q: How on earth do you go about organizing all your paperwork and important stuff like that?
A: I have a drawer for receipts that I organize after it gets full, a drawer for legal paperwork and contracts, a file with spaces for each months’ weddings and a file with spaces for invoice receipts from the orders that go out each month. Invitations are immediately put into my planner (I only use a pen-and-paper one). My assistant Shannon is the one who really makes most of it “work.” I have to keep it organized though because the thought of accidentally forgetting a customer haunts me.

meg