Dear Miss Know It All,

I like giving DEALING WITH DIVAS as a gift. When are you going to have your “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” special again?

Blatant Marketing Ploy

Dear BMP,

Why thank you for asking! The 2 for 1 sale is every August, so be on the lookout towards the end of this month for the announcement. (Meanwhile, why not buy a couple to have on hand?). You can order at my website or on amazon. If you order it on my site, I will personally autograph it for you.

MKIA

Haven’t written much lately. I have decided to leave the entertainment industry.

It’s been an interesting ride, thats for sure. Worked for some amazing (and not so amazing) people. For those who have followed my blog posting the last few years, you know that I’ve been working for a fellow who is known around the world for his acting skills. And I posted from time to time all the craziness at his home where I work. Million dollar homes and there is always something to fix. Last week it was a window that was leaking when it rained. In the past, I’ve written about the “pond” project which in hindsight was pretty funny, but I  wasn’t laughing at the time. My little apartment doesn’t have these problems!!

Anyway just wanted to say goodbye. Hope you keep reading here. Shelley is a good egg and has great advice for people. I will certainly use all the things she’s talked about over the years in my new job.

Will miss the Hollywood parties, swag bags and attention that comes with the position I’ve had but I won’t miss the temper tantrums, late night calls and…well, you get the picture.

Gayle

Dear Miss Know It All,

I am interesting in being a personal assistant or estate manager. How do I get started?  I feel like a new born babe – help!

Newbie

Dear Newbie,

We all were newbies at one time or another. I look at starting something new as a great adventure! First, do you have any computer and/or clerical background? Are you a college graduate? These things will look great on a resume and weigh heavily in your favor if you are looking to be an assistant. Much of an assistant’s job, actually, is spent sitting at a desk. If you have any concierge or customer service experience, this helps also.
If you feel any of this applies to you, then go to my website and look under the “Resources” page and you will find a list of employment agencies that specialize in placing people as celebrity assistants and/or estate managers.
Good luck!

MKIA

Anywho, in a nutshell I’m overworked.

Guess what? I’m going on a 2 week vacation! Whoo hoo! In my  w orld
this is huge! Just wanted to share.

Of course he is freaked out but I said dude you’ll be on location and
don’t need me so i’ m going!!

Hope the job is there when I get back – ha!

The Mystery Bloggers are all celebrity personal assistants who prefer to not use their real names or to identify who they work for. That said, they do tell stories about what it’s like to be them — this is their forum — a safe place for them to vent, laugh, cry, whatever.

Scroll down and you will find headings like this:  MYSTERY BLOGGER for all the past blogs they have done. Some day I would love to take all their stories and put them in Book #2! They also have their own pull down tab (up top of the site).

Your comments are always welcome on any of the blog entries.

Thanks for visiting!

Not much to report EXCEPT that if you read my last entry from a few weeks ago I had to handle a flood in my boss’s house. Well, just before Christmas we had some heavy rain and then snow (didn’t everyone?!!) and of course WE get a leak in the roof.

It’s just so weird that anything having to do with water and my guy do not mix. Like oil and vinegar. Same principle. But we got it all patched up naturally.

Hope you had a good holiday. Here’s to a fun (and less water filled) 2010!

If you’ve read my past blogs (If not, why aren’t you reading them! They are funny and tragic at the same time.) If you’ve read my past blogs, you know that the boss has challenges with pools, ponds and technology.

And the universe conspires against me the second he leaves town, I swear to God!  So, of course he left town yesterday and today I got a panicked call from a neighbor who is watching over his summer home – big leak in the kitchen! Flood in the dining room!

Why am I surprised? Ha. Oh well, damage to the kitchen cabinets not too bad actually.

Just another day in the life of….

Here is my thing. I seem to always have to handle a disaster (or two) the minute my boss leaves town. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Karma? Maybe.

So, the boss is on vacation in the South of France for two weeks. YAY!

I promised to keep his two cars (both Lexus’s) happy by driving them while he was gone. The reason these fancy cars have to be driven weekly is because of all the computerized do-hickeys. They drain the batteries. So the minute he left for the airport earlier this week, I decided to leave the office and drive the SUV home. I actually had a yoga lesson so I turned off my cell phone (mistake!!!) and didn’t check it for hours. Happiness is blissful ignorance…

Of course there was a call from the housekeeper when I finally “woke up”, which was now hours old, telling me the other Lexus — a lovely convertible — looked like it had an inside light on in the car. I toyed with driving back to the office (45 minute drive) or staying home. I stayed home. Came in the next day, and viola! The car was fine. I was sooo sure I would have a dead battery. There is God!

A few minutes into work I realized that I had forgotten a USB that I needed the information off of, so I thought — I’ll take the little Lexus home to pick that up! It will be happy I am driving it. I go 10 miles and on comes the “check engine” light. Another few miles and the “tire pressure” light. I think it is talking to me. So I drive it straight to the Lexus dealer (which ironically is right by my house). it is 9:30 am and I have gotten nothing done yet.

Since the SUV is at my house anyway I drive it back to the office. Of course as I am driving it the tire pressure light comes on. Natch. I stop at a gas station fill up the tires with air and the light doesn’t go off. Whatever. I keep driving.

I get to work. Handle the USB info being transferred finish up my work day which includes almost 2 hours on the phone with a computer guy because my computer has crashed and decide: I am NOT going to drive this Lexus home. I am not going to tempt the Lexu goddess today.

I will drive my Volvo home.

I go to the garage and my car won’t start.

As I shake my fist to the heavens I realize something like this ALWAYS happens the second my boss steps on foreign soil. ALWAYS.

End of saga I drove the SUV home. It was fine. Picked up the convertible the next day from the dealer and oh yeah: the Volvo decides to run now. No problem.

Argh!!!!!!!!

At this point the boss had been out of town for only 36 hours. Oh goody. Only 12 more days to go before he returns.

PS  This story I notice isn’t nearly as funny as the pond project saga. I wish it was.

After reading all of this why would anyone want to be a celebrity personal assistant!!

Some of you may remember that a year ago (hard to believe it was that long ago) my boss went out of the country and left me with a nightmare project to handle because he didn’t handle it before he left. This was the pond project. I wrote extensively about my frustrations with the entire process (some of it was actually kind of funny) over the past year.

The pond was finally built.

it developed string algae.

A LOT of string algae.
Meanwhile, he has koia and goldfish. He asked his neighbors about their experiences with ponds. No one had anything good to say. One person told him that they finally had to take out the plants and fish and just dump chlorine in the pond and that it looks spectacular.

He — said boss — of course wants to keep the fish and the plants. Naturally.

So guess what? We had the entire pond power washed and it looks great.

I wonder how long that will last before the algae comes back?

Sigh.

The Mystery Bloggers are all celebrity personal assistants who prefer to not use their real names or to identify who they work for. That said, they do tell stories about what it’s like to be them — this is their forum — a safe place for them to vent, laugh, cry, whatever.

Scroll down and you will find headings like this:  MYSTERY BLOGGER for all the past blogs they have done. Some day I would love to take all their stories and put them in Book #2!

And your comments are always welcome on any of the blog entries.

Thanks for visiting!

PS  Don’t forget to follow me on twitter! (link in the right column)