Meri Brown and her Wet Bar of Tears

[Kohola3]

Lawdy, can you imagine being trapped on a ship with the LuLaNo crowd?  You'd be blind by the end of the first day.  Or at least seasick watching that undulating mess nasty prints all over the place.

[ginger90]

[Sandy W]

2 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

Theoretically, 50%, but of course the consultant needs to deduct taxes, expenses, etc. 

Meri's expenses would be high as she seems to take her 'Traveling Pants Show" on the road a lot.  There would be gas, meals and hotels, as well as rent on the venue where she stages the events plus expenses and salary for a helper if she takes one along.

[Sandy W]

2 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

Did some googling. This year they chartered the entire ship. In previous years they haven't, much to the chagrin of the regular passengers. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=576181

The review mentioned 1800 reps. plus spouses.

  I guess Kody was induced to take a look at the Parowan house with her, if they pushed it, the trip there and back could be done in a day, but wasn't willing to be trapped on the high seas for days on end with her.  Maybe the friend she is pictured with at DW is her assistant, which would probably be the logical plus one to take along.

[TurtlePower]

13 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

She cruise-qualified.  Which means she sold $12k worth of LLR a month for (I think) 6 out of 8 months, or maybe it's 4 out of 6 months?  Anyway it comes with a "free" cruise but the consultant is still on the hook for the travel costs to get to Florida to board the cruise.  I'm guessing a lot of LLR consultants going on the cruise opted to arrive early and spend a few days at WDW.  
I wouldn't call it a "collaboration" - it's a licensing deal.  Disney licenses to pretty much anyone...Wet Seal, Forever 21, and LLR among other clothing companies.  LLR makes it sound like more than it is.

 

ETA - I forgot to mention this is a DRY cruise.  No booze.  Not that Meri would drink but there are lots of cruise deals out there so LLR is getting the consultants to bust their asses for a cruise that they could probably get for maybe $1200.  Haven't priced cruises in awhile, it might even be cheaper than that.

I was remembering Rodney Carrington's bit about waiting in line at the Happiest Place on Earth and how much it sucked.  I'm the same way.  Gone to DL and WDW years ago but have no interest in amusement parks and the lines. 

A cruise with no booze? No thanks. NO fun and you need the booze to try and kill the food poisoning. 

[DakotaJustice]

Did a little research and found a post on Reddit by a husband. The cruise doesn't include alcohol but it will still be available on the ship for an additional charge. 

 

it's the very last post in this thread.

[DakotaJustice]

6 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

The review mentioned 1800 reps. plus spouses.

  I guess Kody was induced to take a look at the Parowan house with her, if they pushed it, the trip there and back could be done in a day, but wasn't willing to be trapped on the high seas for days on end with her.  Maybe the friend she is pictured with at DW is her assistant, which would probably be the logical plus one to take along.

She said on a live feed yesterday that her assistant is minding the album sales she posted while she's gone. I think that chick is another consultant who made the goal, possibly part of her upline/downline. 

[Kohola3]

The cruise necklace is a pyramid?  As in pyramid scheme?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Pachengala]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

 "Alcohol is forbidden by our faith, so we would respectfully request that there be no alcohol consumed at this table during our meals."  

Aw HELL no. I’m glad the rest of the table refused. I have been on one cruise—my stepmom surprised me—and though I’d had my doubts, I LOVED it. I loved all the energy and activities—I barely wanted to get off the boat at our ports of call. One of the things that surprised me the most, and one of my favorite parts, was the wine list at dinner. I’m a junior wine snob, and I was really impressed by how well curated their selection was, and how the markup seemed reasonable; they could have really gouged you. Every night at dinner my stepmom and I happily pored over the book, excited to try something we’d never had access to before. 

Anyway, that’s my long way of saying that cruising is tied in with alcohol in my happy experience—a dry cruise would be...not worth the price. Kind of like Lulu Roe, zing!

(We’ve seen Meri drink before, right?)

[DakotaJustice]

59 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

A little heavy handed on the filter there, Meri.

[LilWharveyGal]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

Wow, commenter eva_alina went there.  *slow clap*

Quote

eva_alinaYou do realize that the only reason you are reaping success with this awful company is because you're a TV personality so when you say because of lularoe you should really be honest with yourself and all the women who are blindly following you. Very few, very very few will make any money from this MLM company. The owners are not in it for the women they con. They are in it for themselves and their own wealth. I hope this company goes down. And with all the lawsuits it looks like it's heading that way soon. So please remind yourself and others that if not for your show and the allure of glimpsing into a polygamist lifestyle, you would not be reaping such benefits. #becauseoftlc

[Gothish520]

23 hours ago, Kyanight said:

It's really fun - but I like Universal studios more.  There just isn't as much to do/see at Universal, although the rides are great!  We got SOOO tired at Disney that we sat and rode the train around and around the park.  lol    Buying lunch was a shock.  $$$$    But it was REALLY good food - not what you expect from a theme park.

My other sister is all about Universal, she loved it. I would go there just for the Harry Potter stuff, lol.

[Gothish520]

1 hour ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Wow, commenter eva_alina went there.  *slow clap*

I'm sure she will be deleted/blocked, surprised it hasn't happened already! Guess Meri is too busy having fun to get to it yet!

She does have some fans who love to gush, doesn't she?

[gunderda]

On 2/6/2018 at 10:18 AM, TurtlePower said:

I hate to give her kudos, but good for her if she did this on her own. Makes me wonder why she felt the need to try and get the family in on the idea if she had the means to do it without help.

Because the show needed a storyline. I find it hard to believe she couldn't do it on her own. I think they want to still give the illusion that finances are shared but I think that ended years ago. 

18 minutes ago, Gothish520 said:

My other sister is all about Universal, she loved it. I would go there just for the Harry Potter stuff, lol.

A couple years ago my family did both Universal (both sides) and Magic Kingdom and Epcot in one week. that was almost overload lol  But we're going back in March and this time only doing Universal because it definitely has more to do and at a traditional amusement park there aren't a whole lot of rides that I will do but Universal has SO many. But holy crap it's all so expensive.  And as a non-Harry Potter fan, the Harry Potter areas of the park are really cool.  I was super impressed. 

 

When I was in quite a few LLR groups on facebook I knew a bunch of consultants that were able to make the cruise.  The one that I'm still on is going and they're from a really small town in Iowa. And I thought I heard it was the amount of product you purchase each month, not necessarily how much you sell. 

[AZChristian]

23 minutes ago, gunderda said:

But we're going back in March and this time only doing Universal because it definitely has more to do and at a traditional amusement park there aren't a whole lot of rides that I will do but Universal has SO many. But holy crap it's all so expensive.  And as a non-Harry Potter fan, the Harry Potter areas of the park are really cool.  I was super impressed. 

"Forbidden Journey" . . . best amusement ride ever.  I've gone to Universal in Orlando five times from Arizona.  One of the conductors of the Hogwarts Express knows me on sight!

[xwordfanatik]

3 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

The cruise necklace is a pyramid?  As in pyramid scheme?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, the irony!  Someone should point that out to Meri on Twatter!

[Kohola3]

Quote

 And I thought I heard it was the amount of product you purchase each month, not necessarily how much you sell. 

Well, isn't that the whole premise behind MLM's?  And it's astonishing how many people buy into this upside-down way to make money.  Let's see, "you just keep buying crap from us and we don't really care about how much you sell as long as you 1) keep on shipping us your money for more crap and 2) talk more morons into doing the same".

[gunderda]

9 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

Well, isn't that the whole premise behind MLM's?  And it's astonishing how many people buy into this upside-down way to make money.  Let's see, "you just keep buying crap from us and we don't really care about how much you sell as long as you 1) keep on shipping us your money for more crap and 2) talk more morons into doing the same".

Not necessarily because there's a lot of MLM's that the consultant doesn't keep stock (pampered chef, tastefully simple, jamberry....).  They have their specific website that people order from.  So in that case it would be based on what they sell.  Now you CAN keep stock from those companies but a lot of consultants don't. 

[toodles]

8 hours ago, AZChristian said:

We're going on the Allure of the Seas in April . . . and there WILL be wine (at least at our table).  

As an experienced cruiser, we hear lots of stories.  There is one where a "dry" Christian couple sitting at a table for 6 or 8 during "traditional dining" (same table/partners every night) announced on the first evening, "Alcohol is forbidden by our faith, so we would respectfully request that there be no alcohol consumed at this table during our meals."  The others at the table "respectfully suggested" that the dry couple might be happier at another table (preferably, a table for two), because they had no intention of not having wine with their meals.

ETA:  I'm thinking that if Royal Caribbean agreed to a "dry cruise," the base price per passenger might be higher to offset the loss of liquor sales.  There's a high mark-up; two of the biggest profit centers for a cruise ship are alcohol and the casino.  Princess allows each adult passenger to bring on a bottle of wine (not sure about RC) . . . I'm imagining astute LulaNoe sales people emptying mouthwash bottles and filling them with adult beverages.

I'm a travel agent that specializes in cruises.  I went on the Allure last December.  The ship is HUGE.  It hold about 6,000 passengers.  I can't begin to imagine how much it must cost to rent out the entire ship.  The cost per drink is around $10 plus tip.  LuLano must be making a pretty penny to spend what I'm sure is a tremendous amount of money to rent it out.  The no liquor add on must have been out of this world.

Just because I'm noisy, I checked and there is nothing left for this sailing.

[toodles]

4 minutes ago, toodles said:

I'm a travel agent that specializes in cruises.  I went on the Allure last December.  The ship is HUGE.  It hold about 6,000 passengers.  I can't begin to imagine how much it must cost to rent out the entire ship.  The cost per drink is around $10 plus tip.  LuLano must be making a pretty penny to spend what I'm sure is a tremendous amount of money to rent it out.  The no liquor add on must have been out of this world.

Just because I'm noisy, I checked and there is nothing left for this sailing.

Ok, I just saw upthread that the sponsor is not paying for the liquor.  That makes more sense.  That is where the cruise lines make their real money.

[Natalie68]

On 2/6/2018 at 8:34 AM, ginger90 said:

With Meri’s financial history, I still can’t see how she got a mortgage. Perhaps she had a co-signer? And I’d bet she needed at least 20% down. I wonder if she got it through a bank.

When my grandparents sold their home in St George there was some really shady financing that went on that was encouraged by a church friend of my uncles.  It involved a huge balloon payment, the man/wife getting the house couldn't qualify for the mortgage so weird financing and there was a time when my gparents thought they would not get paid for the house and how were they getting these people out (I know we were told, trust these people, it will be fine, we are vouching for them by the church member).  I don't remember all the details (was in late 90's) but I know my dad was outvoted by my uncle and aunt so this deal was taken and it was a big shady deal that pissed everyone off.  I would  not be surprised if there was some shady financing here as well.  These people barely qualified for loans for the homes they live in so why would anyone loan these people MORE money?  Especially now that loans seem harder to come by.  If they spent actual cash that was stupid.  They have eleventy billion kids that need college, weddings, possible healthcare (Ysabel).  They didn't need Grandma's Ghostly Cottage, which will BARELY make money, to take resources that will be needed by their children.

[LilWharveyGal]

@toodles, hypothetically, how might one become informed of any great 2019 cruise deals you may be privy to?  :)  PM me if it's possible.

[Natalie68]

On 2/7/2018 at 10:48 AM, Kyanight said:

It's really fun - but I like Universal studios more.  There just isn't as much to do/see at Universal, although the rides are great!  We got SOOO tired at Disney that we sat and rode the train around and around the park.  lol    Buying lunch was a shock.  $$$$    But it was REALLY good food - not what you expect from a theme park.

Never been to Universal but that is where I want to go.  Last time I went to Disney my patience was tested all day long.  They had these bubble wand things that every single kid had.  I spent all freaking day with bubbles in my face and it irritated the hell out of me.  They need to tell these kids to not wave them in cranky adult faces.  I don't think I am cut out for Disney.  Its not my lawn so I cannot tell people to get off of it!

[Natalie68]

10 hours ago, AZChristian said:

We're going on the Allure of the Seas in April . . . and there WILL be wine (at least at our table).  

As an experienced cruiser, we hear lots of stories.  There is one where a "dry" Christian couple sitting at a table for 6 or 8 during "traditional dining" (same table/partners every night) announced on the first evening, "Alcohol is forbidden by our faith, so we would respectfully request that there be no alcohol consumed at this table during our meals."  The others at the table "respectfully suggested" that the dry couple might be happier at another table (preferably, a table for two), because they had no intention of not having wine with their meals.

ETA:  I'm thinking that if Royal Caribbean agreed to a "dry cruise," the base price per passenger might be higher to offset the loss of liquor sales.  There's a high mark-up; two of the biggest profit centers for a cruise ship are alcohol and the casino.  Princess allows each adult passenger to bring on a bottle of wine (not sure about RC) . . . I'm imagining astute LulaNoe sales people emptying mouthwash bottles and filling them with adult beverages.

 

Well I find this hilarious!  I am not a big drinker but if I am on a vacay, no one is standing between me and my (1) Mai Tai!  No one!  The fact they felt they could actually say this amazes me.  They were told that this line sells booze correct?  

8 hours ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Wow, commenter eva_alina went there.  *slow clap*

eva-alina, we are your people.  Come find us.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Natalie68

[Natalie68]

30 minutes ago, toodles said:

I'm a travel agent that specializes in cruises.  I went on the Allure last December.  The ship is HUGE.  It hold about 6,000 passengers.  I can't begin to imagine how much it must cost to rent out the entire ship.  The cost per drink is around $10 plus tip.  LuLano must be making a pretty penny to spend what I'm sure is a tremendous amount of money to rent it out.  The no liquor add on must have been out of this world.

Just because I'm noisy, I checked and there is nothing left for this sailing.

Well I know who I am going to talk to when I can finally talk someone into taking a cruise with me again!  Mr. Natalie doesn't like 'em. 

[Fosca]

My biggest problem with Universal is too many of the indoor rides involve strapping you down and jerking you around while confusing your visual sense with videos and occasionally spraying scented crud in your face.  This makes me incredibly nauseous and kinda ruins the fun.  

[DakotaJustice]

1 hour ago, toodles said:

Ok, I just saw upthread that the sponsor is not paying for the liquor.  That makes more sense.  That is where the cruise lines make their real money.

Money talks - here's a thread from someone who had booked the same cruise and got a letter from the cruise company saying that LLR had chartered the entire ship and she had like a week to find another cruise. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2504467

[Natalie68]

56 minutes ago, Fosca said:

My biggest problem with Universal is too many of the indoor rides involve strapping you down and jerking you around while confusing your visual sense with videos and occasionally spraying scented crud in your face.  This makes me incredibly nauseous and kinda ruins the fun.  

Well that sounds really unpleasant!

[SongbirdHollow]

On February 7, 2018 at 12:57 PM, athousandclowns said:

I'm old and don't understand it all for adults. I've been to both. My very smart lovely daughter in law comes from a Disneyland ( and all Disney)  loving family and I was thrilled to take her my son a little grandkids (their first  trip)    but all I could think  of while standing in line was Temple Grandin needs to be consulted for the  herding lines. 

I'm an over 50 married childless woman and a huge Disney parks fan. Wanna fight?

Honestly, you either get it or you don't. We fans don't really care what the rest of you think of us!

[ginger90]

 

 

[Kohola3]

What is that?  It looks like a big tree with garish lights.  So?

[Kyanight]

16 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

What is that?  It looks like a big tree with garish lights.  So?

They are probably celebrating Earth Day - which falls on April 22nd of each year.  I'm sure Christine sang a song by Earth, Wind and Fire.

[MrSmith]

1 hour ago, Kyanight said:

They are probably celebrating Earth Day - which falls on April 22nd of each year.  I'm sure Christine sang a song by Earth, Wind and Fire.

Listening to her sing probably makes the audience wish the Earth would swallow her, or the Wind would carry the sound of her singing away, and I got nothing for Fire.

[DakotaJustice]

2 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

What is that?  It looks like a big tree with garish lights.  So?

I think it's a fake lighted tree. 

[xwordfanatik]

2 hours ago, Kyanight said:

They are probably celebrating Earth Day - which falls on April 22nd of each year.  I'm sure Christine sang a song by Earth, Wind and Fire.

Oh, I hope not!  Phillip Bailey could hit those high notes wonderfully.  Not so for Christine.  We'll soon find out if Christine was as awful at the wedding as she was rehearsing with the guitar man.

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

What is that?  It looks like a big tree with garish lights.  So?

More info . . .

[Gothish520]

3 hours ago, AZChristian said:

More info . . .

If something like this was in the next town over and I knew there was an off season where I could view it, or certain days of the week where it wasn't so crowded, and I didn't have to pay 100 smackaroos to see it, then maybe I might have a look. As it is, Disney holds no sway - three hour flight, fighting crowds, lines, heat, and spending exorbitant amounts of money I don't have - pass. Not to rain on anyone else's parade or anything, this just doesn't float my boat.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Gothish520

[Kohola3]

I must be missing something.  It's a tree with lots of really bright LED lights on it.  I'll pass.

[AZChristian]

44 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I must be missing something.  It's a tree with lots of really bright LED lights on it.  I'll pass.

I think the lights change into animal shapes . . . but I'd still pass.  I'm a big Harry Potter fan.  I'm heading to Hogwarts at Universal.  LOL.

Edited February 9, 2018 by AZChristian

[ginger90]

This was on the Lizzie’s Valentine tweet. 

[Sandy W]

10 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

This was on the Lizzie’s Valentine tweet. 

Still in a state of delusion if she chooses to believe this.

[toodles]

13 hours ago, ginger90 said:

 

 

The Brownies are standing by the tree cake from the commitment ceremony.  Of course a few months later Kody and Meri were divorced.  Money well spent, Browns.

[Celia Rubenstein]

Lord, those dresses ... was it some kind of contest to see who could look the worst that day?

Meri's lime satin stretched across her wide mid-section and backside all crinkled up was bad. Every bump and bulge was highlighted.  Poor Christine looked like a refugee from the cast of Medieval Times.  And after her wedding dress debacle, how unfortunate.  I actually felt sorry for her.  But I think Janelle may have taken the (tree) cake.  She looks good in that shade of blue, but I don't think that heavy satin was a fabric meant to be used to make real clothing.  It looks like the cheap costume fabric JoAnn Fabrics trots out around Halloween for costume making. 

I think Meri's dress was store bought so there is just no excuse.  Didn't Robyn's come from a store, too?  She just "happened" to have this nice, unworn fancy dress in her closet to wear when the seamstress wigged out, wasn't that the story?  Sure Robyn lol, sure. 

[crazycatlady58]

What's  going on with Janelles dress? The arms look odd and for some reason  she looks thin?

[DakotaJustice]

1 hour ago, crazycatlady58 said:

What's  going on with Janelles dress? The arms look odd and for some reason  she looks thin?

Omg that was the awful dress she had made by a college student for the commitment ceremony. Remember? ? 

@Celia Rubenstein have you read the review of the episode on Cynical jinx's blog? Too funny!! 

 

http://cynicaljinxwelcome.blogspot.com/2014/02/sister-wives-season-finale-review.html

Edited February 10, 2018 by DakotaJustice

[ginger90]

Or see and hear on the show, I guess.

[TurtlePower]

19 hours ago, ginger90 said:

This was on the Lizzie’s Valentine tweet. 

Well, at least she was polite in her response. I'll give her that, she didn't roll her eyes or anything (progress points for Meri!).

But it's no wonder people think this; the footage shown on TLC shows a very unhappy, distant, selfish Meri and a very disinterested, angry Kody. Are the storylines that fake and are they that good at "acting"? She just seems too unhappy in almost every episode. And here she is, still there. 

Edited February 10, 2018 by TurtlePower
Take a guess! Yup, auto incorrect.

[Kyanight]

14 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

Omg that was the awful dress she had made by a college student for the commitment ceremony. Remember? ? 

@Celia Rubenstein have you read the review of the episode on Cynical jinx's blog? Too funny!! 

 

http://cynicaljinxwelcome.blogspot.com/2014/02/sister-wives-season-finale-review.html

From the blog:    "I would have included a picture of Kody dancing, but I believe it's illegal in 15 states and Canada. Here's a family portrait instead."      LOLOL!!!

[SuspiciousMind]

Well, I took two for the team since yesterday evening.  First off, I recently got approved to join Meri's LLR FB page.  The curiosity to see, as you posters have so eloquently described, Meri's "sales technique" was killing me.  Last night, I found myself captivated by a live video (or whatever the hell you call it) that popped up from her page.   The theme, as it were, was "size training" re: LLR's rather interesting sizing.  Meri was driving and some unknown-to-me person was in the passenger seat and they tried to answer sizing questions while 1) Meri was driving in an area she was unfamiliar with so 2) the GPS voice kept interrupting and even with that 3) they missed a correct turn off and 4) I WANTED TO POKE AN ICEPICK INTO MY EARS.  However, a payoff of sorts was had when Meri acknowledged a comment I made on the feed!  Hee!
 

As for today, I was out and about and saw a LLR pop-up!  I went in and it was pretty much what I thought it would be.  I will say, no one tried to hard-sell me anything, and I actually tried on a dress that fit really well (whatever the style is that's sort of fitted on the top with a fuller skirt).  It was very comfy and cute and the print wasn't one of the hideous ones, but I could not believe the price tag -- $70.00 and the damn thing had an long, ugly, exposed silver zipper down the back.  The salesperson indicated that a lot of people choose to wear the dress backward as well, so it was double the value.  I politely passed and fled.  Oh, there was also a LipSense person there.  Oy.  
 

[DakotaJustice]

17 minutes ago, SuspiciousMind said:

Well, I took two for the team since yesterday evening.  First off, I recently got approved to join Meri's LLR FB page.  The curiosity to see, as you posters have so eloquently described, Meri's "sales technique" was killing me.  Last night, I found myself captivated by a live video (or whatever the hell you call it) that popped up from her page.   The theme, as it were, was "size training" re: LLR's rather interesting sizing.  Meri was driving and some unknown-to-me person was in the passenger seat and they tried to answer sizing questions while 1) Meri was driving in an area she was unfamiliar with so 2) the GPS voice kept interrupting and even with that 3) they missed a correct turn off and 4) I WANTED TO POKE AN ICEPICK INTO MY EARS.  However, a payoff of sorts was had when Meri acknowledged a comment I made on the feed!  Hee!
 

As for today, I was out and about and saw a LLR pop-up!  I went in and it was pretty much what I thought it would be.  I will say, no one tried to hard-sell me anything, and I actually tried on a dress that fit really well (whatever the style is that's sort of fitted on the top with a fuller skirt).  It was very comfy and cute and the print wasn't one of the hideous ones, but I could not believe the price tag -- $70.00 and the damn thing had an long, ugly, exposed silver zipper down the back.  The salesperson indicated that a lot of people choose to wear the dress backward as well, so it was double the value.  I politely passed and fled.  Oh, there was also a LipSense person there.  Oy.  
 

I saw that video too!! She seems to think that if she's not the one holding the phone it's A-Ok. Still distracted driving.