Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sam: "OMG!"

I have the coolest job in the world. I get to do the coolest things, see and meet the coolest people and experience the things they love and be a part of it all for a few hours. Today I did a photo shoot at a airport with clients of mine that are both pilots and have two planes. They invited Paul to bring Sam along knowing his and most little boy's love of airplanes. I, even though this was business for me, did not think twice to bring this little boy because I knew not only, that in the backpack he would stay quietly with snacks for hours, but would be so mesmerized by the planes that I'd have to check on him every-so-often to be sure he was still there!

He was (with plenty of snacks) a complete angel and was rewarded by my impressed clients by getting so sit in the cockpit of their jet. He was so in awe of the jets taking off just steps away from him that he looked to me a couple of times as if to say, "Are you kidding with me lady? Is this really happening? Pinch my chubby arm, I don't believe you!"
Admittedly I was also thinking please pinch my chubby arm, I can't believe that I'm telling this ground crew where to move and how to position these two jets for optimal lighting and design. Unreal. Unreal. I was like air (err ground) traffic control, someone get me one of those fabulous orange vests, headphones and mini light sticks!











Monday, May 25, 2009

Fear


The other day Sam and I went to an indoor play-gym. This was a first for us, typically we don't do sing-songy mommy and me type things, we would rather be rebels and carouse around outside searching for hidden dirt piles in our neighborhood to make mud pies in, color science-fiction animals and hunt squirrels and lizards. We (and I can definitely speak for both of us) don't enjoy discussion of "so and so" getting on to 'x' preschool's waiting list, or the dreaded "economy", or to see Johnny picking his nose in the corner and wiping it the slide while his mom continues such a conversation.

Anyway, we did it and it was filled with kids and moms and dads and babies and a giant trampoline, with a slide that emptied into a pit of foam squares. It had a giant bounce-house slide and a play kitchen, it even had lattes for the parent-folk and snacks for the kids. I was pleasantly surprised by it all.... until I witnessed this, and then I remembered why I don't fit in here, why I don't have a million mommy friends and why I don't care to.

A little boy about three years old was playing dress-up with one of the hundred costumes from the costume closet. He was adorable and dressed from head to toe in a pink ballerina costume. When the mother, who had been chatting away on her cell phone from behind the viewing glass, saw him twirling in pink she flew thorough the swinging double doors, off her cell phone and dragged the kid quickly back to the costume area, quickly undressed him and told him (and the onlooking parents whom she glanced at embarrassed and apologetically) to find a more 'gender appropriate' costume.

If this had been Sam, I'd have told him he looked "beautiful" and "you SO need a tiara to go with that, let's go find one!" I aim to not teach my child to fear, to conform or to be ashamed of anything that he is passionate about, be it ruby slippers and a tu-tu or his comic book collection. In fact, I hope that he tries on a dress, if it's not the thing for him, I encourage him to try other things, not to be scared, not to be embarrassed and certainly not to avoid something because of fear instilled in people, in our society.

I have often been the one to say "yes" when someone told me "no." In fact I'd say "yes" just because I was told "no." It has not always taken me down the smoothest, most well paved path, but had I not veered on to some rocky roads I would have never found what it was I was looking for. My husband 3,500 miles on the most opposite side of the country. A sweet angel baby. A business that fuels my soul and feeds my family. I will continue to say "yes" when others say "no," take a chance, follow the road less travelled, so I can experience more adventure, deeper love and better understanding of other people and life. I hope that Sam will do the same, intelligently, confidently and safely.




rebel baby


rebel mom

rebel dad (well not such a rebel, but he did have 'classic' in his iced coffee that day!)


*all photo courtesy of my iphone

Sunday, May 24, 2009

All in a days work

It is one of my life ambitions to search the world for tiny replica's, plastic or otherwise, of my husband. My latest find, was at the Playmobil, play area where I dug this little plastic haired stubbly faced, suspender clad man out of a bin of toys. Almost an identical twin :) So cute!


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

West Palm Beach, Florida: America's 7th Most Depressing Place....

West Palm Beach: America’s 7th most depressing place?

What do Detroit; Flint, Mich.; and West Palm Beach have in common?

They’re all among America’s most depressing places, according to a recent list in The Business Insider.

Yeah, even our pretty beaches and swaying palm trees couldn’t keep us from being compared to decaying industrial behemoths and the butt of Michael Moore’s Roger & Me documentary.

Why?

Is it because of our acres of ugly strip malls? Our corrupt politicians? The grotesque fish lips and silcone-stuffed chests of half the female population?

We’re sure none of that helps, but Business Insider cites our condo-bubble collapse and subsequent condo vultures.

The Business Insider pollster didn't ask us or he would've reported Punkah playing at A Latte Fun for 3 hours straight (or to the point of sheer exhaustion) and his dad dancing to Coldplay in his boxers in the middle of the living room. Elise? She was reading "Curious George & the Pancake Breakfast" for the thousandth time. I couldn't tell, though. She read it with the same enthusiasm she had the first time she opened the book.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Six Months to Freedom

Six months ago, I would have told you I wished I wasn't where I am right now. And six months before that? Same story. And six more months? Same deal. For the past eight years you would have and have heard the same plan from me. I'd have told you I'd be long gone from this place...this hot, stuffy and unfriendly wasteland. I'd have told you I'll never be happy here and that I can't go on living like this.

Some days I still can't.

Sometimes we think things can only get better, and in some ways they will, but we are not so naive to think they couldn't also get worse.

I know there is a reason, the same reason my Mom keeps reminding me that we are still here, that we have not sold our house and that we haven't packed a U-haul to head closer to the west, to ease the strain on my heart, the reason that we go on, here.

Things are not always peaches and cream, jobs don't always pay what we wish they would and people aren't always as friendly as we expect them to be. I know there is a greater plan for us than this one we so desperately continue to sketch..erase....resketch. I keep waiting for that moment when I realize what *the* reason is, but recently I've realized that I'm living it and that is exactly what I should be doing, here or there... wherever that may be.

Meanwhile, I play on the floor with my family, we read books, take long walks, spend quiet afternoons at the pool, and long mornings at Starbucks, just the three of us. We sing and dance and cook together, we have traditions. Yes in just 3 years, in just 17 months, we have our own traditions. These are the things that matter, these things are all part of "the plan."

Do we still hope to leave here? Yes. Do we know where we'll end up? No. Do we know that we can make it anywhere? Damn right. Do we think we could ever do it without each other? No way. Together, this threesome of mine can do anything. We can go anywhere, and we will, but it will be on it's own time, and to it's own place. Until then, we'll be here. We'll make the best of excruciatingly hot summers, bad drivers, failed deals and a thousand more showings. We'll scrape by on ingenuity, passion and love and we'll still be standing at the end of a road, when the dust clears.... and we'll all still be holding hands.



elise

Saturday, May 9, 2009

i miss

WASHINGTON STATE (read: home)


If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance
and they don't work there, you live in Washington.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
you live in Washington.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with
someone who dialed the wrong number, you live in Washington.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in
Washington.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more
than once, you live in Washington.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C'
and back again in the same day, you live in Washington.

If you install security lights on your house and
garage but leave both doors unlocked, you live in Washington.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during
a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Central,
Southern or Eastern Washington.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit
over 8 layers of clothes, you live in Washington.

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're
going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in
Washington.

If driving is better in the winter because the
potholes are filled with snow and ice, you live in Washington.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter,
still winter, and road construction, you live in Washington.

Jeff Foxworthy

"Oh, what a beautiful home! What's behind this door....? OH MY......

I do approximately 90% of my runs with my running partner, Sam. Every once in awhile, when I want to get in a few more miles than Sam, I will get up early, sneak downstairs and knock out a 10 miler before he's even up.

The night before I make a pile of my running shorts, socks, towel and contacts and place them in our half bath downstairs. I slip out of bed around 5:30 and sneak downstairs. I change and pop in my 'eyes' so as not to wake the rest of the house.

Yesterday morning, we had a showing scheduled at 10:00. We got Sam out of bed and fed then spent a good hour cleaning and tidying in preparation for the showing. We wiped all the tiny baby fingerprints from our glass coffee tables and mirrors, put all the Pooh books, remote-control cars and stuffed animals back in their hiding places and evacuated the house just in time. The place looked good. We debated placing a blank contract on the counter, but didn't want to see too sure of ourselves.

It was about mid-afternoon when I entered the downstairs half bath and made a humorous discovery. For all of our meticulous and fastidious cleaning and tidying, there were my boxers from the night before in the sink. Doh!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Can't steal this bitches!

Dear Dumb ass who stole my credit card number and went on a shopping spree but didn't make it very far,

Wrong month, wrong card, sorry for your luck. You may steal my credit card number or any other card (like one with a larger balance) and it may buy you the fancy watch and clothes you want but will never buy you the love and family pictured below, and that is probably just what you need. Keep spending fool.

E & P +1