sleep talkin' man

"Oompa loompas don't sing in heaven. They tidy up the clouds."
"My vision of hell is a lentil casserole."
"Vegetarians will be the first to go. That's my plan. Vegans haven't got a hope. 'I eat air, I'm so healthy...' Bollocks!"
"Don't leave the duck there. It's totally irresponsible. Put it on the swing, it'll have much more fun."
"I've got a badger, a dog, a cat, and a sack. Now that I've got 'em you can fuck off. All mine."

While Gage DOES talk in his sleep he is not quite this creative.  These are the sleep talking words of a Brit named Adam who is apparently quite a conservative gent when he is not sleeping.  His wife, in an attempt to reap some reward from her many sleepless nights, has begun to document his adventures in dreamland.  The blog is called Sleep Talkin' Man and it is absolutely side splitting hysterical.   R Rated.  But hysterical.  And they just launched a line of t-shirts too.

tweet tweet

Seriously, twitter is way cool.

I joined twitter in an attempt to market zuzu girl handmade but I'm in a weird place there now that the business may be forced to close on 2/10/09 (thanks to the genius of the cpsc and their new cpsia). Nevertheless, I continue to be captivated by the marketing potential of social networking sites like twitter.

Sunday I posted a tweet about my stress with american airlines (to which I will not provide a link because I am still pissed off). Bam. An american airlines ticket agent contacts me with advice. Tonight I inquire about abandoning blogger and moving to wordpress. Bam. An Internet Marketing Consultant is right there tweeting back and offering his services.

Truly, I can only imagine what I might be able to do with this type of networking tool. And I will continue to imagine that success until I figure out what I want to be when I grow up...

it's beautiful here

Tonight I posted this on it's beautiful here.

Back in July, I thought it would be a grand idea to create a secondary blog so that I could divide my family tales from my frequent retail obsessions. However, it's proving to be more work than it's worth. As of tonight, I will begin to post all of my random musings back here.

My advice to you is this. If you don't care to read much about the kids latest drama, or if you're not real interested in what shoes I'm envying this week, please just learn how to skim. And if you are not already accustomed to my erratic and somewhat delusional behavior please know that I will most likely be changing my mind again soon.

it's beautiful here

Because I simply don't have enough going on I'm working on a new blog. Not much there yet but it can be found here.

don't be shy!

It seems I've survived a week filled with several long plane flights, a handful of play dates & a 20 year high school reunion. I feel quite deserving of our recent arrival at a lovely beach house where we will reside for the next 'do as little as possible' portion of our vacation.

It was great to see everyone last night and shocking to find out how many people actually come to visit me here. I am flattered and somewhat frightened but I welcome you to chime in at any time. There is a comment button. Go ahead, use it. Trust me...it's not as scary as it looks.

and you found me!

Sorry about the name change but I realized today while reciting the old address to someone that it was simply too damn long. I figured I'd secure something more memorable before we got too accustomed to it. Cheers.

a sophisticated game of tag

Who knew that tag was not just for kids anymore? No, this is not a shameless plug for Scott's new agency as tag should not be confused with t.a.g (which has recently launched their still raw website). Apparently, this game of tag is not unlike the one you played as a child and quite unfortunately reminds me somewhat of a grown-up chain letter.

I was "tagged" by my friend Jill at everyone is doin' it, the one who inspired this blog in the first place. The tag charges me with a "meme" or as she defined it:

"An idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, such as a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs."

One week with a blog and I feel like I'm learning a whole new language. This particular "meme" requires me to share a quote and then tag three other bloggers. The quote part seems fairly easy especially since Scott and I have been knee deep in quotes lately trying to find the perfect one for our new Blair Bradshaw canvas which will look something like this Blair Bradshaw gem:



I digress. Now, the problem at hand is not the quote but the fact that I am brand new to this blog scene and tend to be very slow making friends and therefore have a very limited selection of folks to tag! We'll get to that in a bit.

The quote.

Last January I was in a battle with myself - VP vs. Mommy - trying to find a sound balance running a business and raising a family with no grandparents within 3000 miles and an incredibly successful hubby who justifiably devotes a great deal of time to his trade. It was during this time that my friend Elizabeth brought me an article called 'The Station' from a 1987 LA Times. It was written by a man named Robert J. Hastings. There is a handwritten note on the photocopy that reads:

"I found this in Kevin's wallet, please read, share, make copies...this was so Kevin. -Gail Shahan"

Kevin Shahan was a VP in our Finance Department in his early 40's. He was standing in a ski lift line in Tahoe with his teenage son the prior year when he died of a sudden heart attack.

The article he carried with him compares the journey of life to a train ride. It's too long to include in its entirety but the parts that seem to sum it up best go like this:

"Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us...Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough."

The sentiment is also echoed in the words of a John Lennon song that we sing frequently:

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans..."

A week or so later I quit my job to stay home full time with the kids.

Now to the hard part.

I tag my cousins, James and Christian Mason, singers, songwriters & musicians... and the closest friends I know that have a blog. (although their blog is designed to promote the Mason Brothers music so I won't fault them in the least if they choose not to include this "meme" and unlike chain mail, no bad luck comes with not following through!)

I also tag Emmalee, whom I've actually never met but is soon to be my cousin-in-law. Welcome my side of the family Emmalee!

"everyone is doin' it"

Here goes...blog #1 and the tale of how it all started.

During a mindless hour of Facebook cruising on Friday night (my most recently acquired addiction prior to this one of course) I ventured to a friend's profile page in search of a clue as to why she was kicking my butt at the never-ending movie quiz. On my last visit to her page, I wondered why she didn't have any pictures of her family posted...what did she know that I didn't? Tonight, I found THE link. Her blog. Appropriately named, "Everyone Is Doin' It". It was all coming together now.

Now, let me back up a step. Jill is not what I would have called a "friend" a month ago but in my newfound Facebook family she is most definitely a friend, and is labeled as such on my profile page to prove it. Jill and I haven't seen each other in 10 years and before that...10 years. We're old friends. Middle and High School. Funniest thing is, some of my best memories of Jill are sitting in her den about 25 years ago or more (omg!) writing computer programs to build our own computer games. If/then statements...multiple choice cause and effect programming. We thought we were so clever. (geeks!) Clearly, we had no idea where technology was headed and clearly I haven't done a respectable job keeping up.

So now I find myself in what is most definitely a unique moment. Two kids tucked safely in bed as I sit here...on my perch at the kitchen counter, eating my thin mint girl scout cookies, creating a blog. I read other people's blogs almost daily. Total strangers that help me find the perfect children's toy boxes or wall decals. Why can't I blog too? Because I'm shy and recluse? Nah! This hardly feels public. Like Jill says, "everyone is doin' it" and heck, I know at least five grandparents that might want to hear what I have to say.