Three signs that you may be a basket case

Sign #1: You find yourself talking to your computer.

Sign #2: As you reach for the carton of soy milk to add to your morning coffee you grab the carton of chicken broth instead...and you barely even notice the difference.

Sign #3: Tears roll down your cheeks as you listen to Carly Simon's song "It Was So Easy".....

I remember a time, rompin' through the woods
Sun against our skin instead of clothes
When we felt hungry we swould eat, when we felt glad we'd dance
And whenever we felt drowsy we would doze

It was so easy then never takin' any stands
It was so easy then, holdin' hands

I remember a time when our fears could be named
And courage meant not refusing dares
I remember when we took such cares to step never on the cracks, no only in the squares
Or else we'd be abducted by the bears

And now we are grown, with debts and regrets
And broken hearts and sentimental schemes
Now every tender failure seems to overthrow old dreams
Love can drive a normal woman to extremes

It was so easy once, holdn' hands without a plan
It was so easy once holdn' hands
Just holdin' hands......

Jenny's birthday surprise

We are having a surprise birthday party for my friend Jenny this Friday evening. She is turning 50! Her husband Vic came up with the idea of throwing her a party that would include both friends AND family. Not an easy feat to have the relatives attend, seeing as they ALL live in England (with the exception of a sister-in-law that lives outside of Rome!) This past weekend, the Langfords arrived in mass...all twelve of them... mum and dad (both sets), brothers and sisters and all their kids!

We have been scheeming and plotting for months to keep the plans for Jenny's birthday a secret. I designed the invitations, and everybody is helping out with food and fun for the party. Friday afternoon she is to be whisked away, so that we can decorate the house and set up and all be there to surprise her when she walks back through the door. Phase I of the plan went off without a hitch, when on Monday, Jenny went out to lunch and was surprised and overwhelmed by the entire English clan! Phase II...well, we are not sure what is going to happen on Friday evening.

You see on Sunday Jenny called me and asked if I would like to go hiking up Mission Peak on Tuesday morning after the kids were off to school. At first, I thought, "Wow, I have so much work to do" and then I asked, "Why on a Tuesday?" She replied, kind of shyly, that it was her birthday and she wanted to be standing on the top to celebrate her big day. I had been so busy with plans for the upcoming party on Friday, and all of our plans of subterfuge, that I had completely lost track of the fact that Tuesday, today, was her actual birthday. So, I readily agreed to go with her, hoping that I wouldn't spill the beans about the party on Friday night!

Well, we climbed the peak today, Jenny, I, another girlfriend and Jenny's brother and sister. It was a glorious day. We got to the top and enjoyed the view. Every one was having a great time. But, as we started back down the slope, that is when disaster struck. I was in the lead and Jenny behind me, when she began to slip on some loose gravel. She hit the ground hard and tried to break her fall with her left hand. She heard the pop and doubled over in pain and then we realized that she had just broken her wrist. There we were at the top of the Peak with a long way to go to get to the bottom. Luckily one of us had a cell phone and we called 911. A few moments later the dispatch told us that they were sending a helicopter to her rescue! We cheered and danced around...all except poor Jen, of course. We gathered around her and helped her through the pain as we waited for the helicopter that would carry her to the hospital.

Now, Mission Peak is pretty peaky, and we weren't at all sure where they were going to land a helicopter. To our surprise they managed to put the helicopter down at the very tippy top right next to us. It was so precariously perched on the hill, that I was afraid it would tumble right on down the side of the mountain. But, it didn't, and Jenny was carefully helped into the chopper by two hunky rescue guys. Not once did she cry or complain. Surely, I would have been a teary-eyed mess had our situations been reversed. We watched as she was flown down the mountain and away to the hospital. The four of us that remained, made our way back down the hill, feeling both miserable and bemused by the situation at the same time. Some day, we assured ourselves, Jenny will laugh at this adventure. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday!

Meanwhile there is still that big surprise birthday bash that we are throwing for Jen on Friday. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that she will be up for yet another surprise. Hopefully! If not, her birthday will still be an event. One way or another we will be telling this story over and over and over again. It may not turn out to be the birthday of her dreams, but the fact that she is surrounded by so many friends and loved ones today, makes her a very lucky person, indeed!

Don't judge a movie by its promo

During the past week I have managed to sneak in a little downtown to view three movies. One movie I saw at the theater with some girlfriends, the other two I viewed on Netflix DVDs over the weekend. The film picks included: "Little Black Book", "Wicker Park" and "Beauty Shop".

I had high hopes for "Little Black Book". I loved the promos for the movie, the movie poster, and the Maroon Five song that they used in the trailers...but the movie itself never lived up to what it promised. My husband and I actually started watching the movie two weekends ago, but were so bored after the first twenty minutes that we put the film on ice. I pulled it out again this weekend, hoping that the movie would get better and redeem itself...but, sadly, it never did. I was hoping for a cute romantic comedy. It was just dull and stupid. I did like the fact that the girl eventually realizes that she is not right for her man, moves on and lets him go. Other than that, the movie is pretty lame, and I don't remember hearing Maroon Five except, I think in the opening credits. There were some nice flashbacks to Carly Simon's music however, causing me to buy her CD "No Secrets" on Amazon yesterday! Rating: D

I was intrigued with the promos for "Wicker Park". Based upon limited knowledge of the movie and the previews, I had already formed a theory as to how the plot would develop. I expected a Hitchcockian twist that would deliver a surprise ending. I wanted to see if I had figured out the plot twist. The film, however, much like "Little Black Book" was kind of boring. I never once developed a liking for the moronic couple that "loses" track of themselves due to the manipulations of one love-sick girl. How dumb is that. Have they ever heard of a cell phones, email, Instant Messaging, the United States post office, blogging or actually talking in person. In my opinion, they deserved to get "lost" if they can't manage to communicate to each other their plans in the first place. The basis of the entire film is just not credible and it was just plain painful to watch the couple keep missing running into each other on the street. Rating: D-

The third movie that I have seen recently, is "Beauty Shop" with Queen Latifah. From watching the movie promos, I figured I had pretty much seen the entire movie and the best punch lines the movie had to offer. As a result, I had very low expectations for this movie. I went to the show, basically, because I needed an escape from the house and work. My friends, who invited me to go along with them, had already determined the movie that they wanted to see so I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I figured, what the heck, it will be a nice break for my overstressed brain. But, surprisingly, this movie was terrific. Not a world changing movie but, still it was a hoot. It is funny, cute and provided a great escape. It surprised me, which is what a good film is supposed to do. Rating: A

It just goes to show...you can't judge a movie by its promo!

All is well

I am on a roll today. It has been a difficult week, fraught a with a thousand little mind boggling problems and frustrations. This is becoming much, too much the norm of my life and I am starting to feel run down and depressed by all the things that seem to be straying to the left instead of to the right. I am frankly growing tired of problem solving.

But, this morning I began to see an improvement. First, just as I was about to pick up the phone and call tech support about my printer, it miraculously started to funtion properly again. The Sears repair man fixed the icemaker that has remained mysteriously absent of ice for the past two weeks. The missing batch of personal checks, that the bank claimed they mailed two weeks ago, finally showed up. This morning my internet connection, that has been going in and out since last week, was resolved yet again AND I was given a week's credit for the inconvenience.

But wait, the day keeps getting better and better. I figured out the html glitch on the Allure website, that has been frustrating me for an entire week. My client was so happy she showed up on my doorstep with a bottle of wine as a thank you! The Zola website, that I worked on all last weekend, is up, and just in the nick of time for an important investor to visit. Three more clients called with technical problems and I was able to resolve them quickly. This has been a break through day! And just when I was starting to cross my eyes and see double and wonder if I was jinxed. I have to admit that to a certain extent I thrive on problem solving. However, there is just so much frustration a person can endure in a limited amount of time. But, the good new is I can feel that the tide is turning. Things seem to be getting better! Yes, decidedly better!

What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do!?!?!?!

I have been so busy this week that I haven't had much time to read the newspaper. Most of my news has come from the CNN start screen I have my web browser programmed to every time I open my browser window. My husband has been in Boston this week, so as I dash out to run carpools in the morning, I snag the morning papers and throw them into a pile in the garage. But, yesterday afternoon, as I was running out to jump in the car and take the kids to swim practice I glanced down at the growing mound of papers and a headline caught me eye. "Adobe purchases Macromedia". Wow! Was all I could say. This is big! Then, I thought, oh my god, this is horrible!!!! This is horrible, because it spells doom and destruction for my favorite design tools, the way I work, my lifestyle as a designer. Ahhh, the agony!

You see, a long time ago, back when I was just getting into computer graphics at a little place called A.T. Kearney (where I made some of the nicest life-long friends, by the way, yes, that means you Elaine!!!! I know you are out there lurking and reading), I decided that Aldus' Freehand was a much more user friendly program than Adobe's Illustrator. I LOVE Freehand. I have grown with the program from its very inception. It is the program that I use everyday to create everything from complicated illustrations, to laying out brochures, magazines and annual reports. I use Freehand to map out my thumbnails for websites. I used it for EVERYTHING. When Freehand was acquired by Macromedia things just got better. Then, came a whole suite of programs that compliment the usage of Freehand...Flash and Dreamweaver and Fireworks. All these programs are the cornerstone of my work existence. I love them. I can't imagine life without them!

There has always been rivalry between Freehand and Illustrator, as to which was the better design tool. Almost like the rivalry between Macs and PCs. So, this acquisition in terms of design programs, would be like Bill Gates acquiring Apple...do you think they would keep the mac around after that??? So, do you think Adobe is going to keep Freehand alive after it gets a hold of it??? I am sad. Why, oh why, oh why??!?!!? Why do things have to change?

What is up with me and potato salad lately?

I don't know why, but I have been craving potato salad lately. It is a good thing that I go to the gym and work out a lot. To some extent, I always feel that my passion for working out, allows me to indulge a bit on cookies and yes, lately potato salad. I love the gym. I used to work out at home. We had a nordic track and a weight machine in the garage that I used religiously. But, then one day, I decided...okay I work from home, I raise my kids at home, I exercise at home, I do Yoga at home with Rodney Yee's tapes...I need to get out of the house more! So, we joined Club Sport which is a quick ten minute drive from the house. I love going to the gym and crave the exercise if I don't. I enjoy working out in the big exercise room on the eliptical trainer or the treadmill and lifting weights in the weight room, or participating twice a week in Roberta's Step classes.

Step Class is the highlight of my week. At first, I was a complete dunce and looked like an idiot trying to get the hang of the moves and the new lingo attending a Step Class requires you to know. The movements are kind of complicated and are choreographed like dance moves. This is not something, that I think I come by naturally. I remember back in college thinking it would be fun to dance in Knox College's production of My Fair Lady. I went to an audition where the choreographer got up on stage and did a rapid succession of dance moves, pirots, and kicks and then looked at me and said...okay go! I kind of looked at her and slunk out the back door. Was she insane! So, I am a little slow to learn new dance steps and am slightly dislesic when it comes to telling my right foot from my left. But, once I learn the steps I am as coordinated as the next gal, and good to go! The other reason I am not a natural dancer, is that I sweat a lot...probably THE major reason I decided not to try my luck on the broadway stage!

I like Step Class, not only for the great physical work out I get, but also for the great mental exercise I get. I really do think I come back to my computer with my brain reshuffled after step class. Performing step you have to learn a whole new language. It is constantly causing my brain to create new patterns and I find it entirely refreshing. For instance, here is one of our routines...

Turn step. Double chug. Reverse hop over the step. A-step. L-step. Basic right. Basic left. Chicago Tap. Drag and turn around. Reverse turn. Mambo waltz. Tap over. Diva. Turn around. Knee lift walk two. Elevator. Tap down. Tap up. Chug two walk four. Rear leg lift walk back. Turn and leap. Kick ball change. L-squat turn around and leg lift. Crazy eight. Split lunge. The whiz. Merry-go-round. Quickie tap. Brittney Spears. Reverse V and mambo stomp. Circle turn. Stroll over. Circle turn back. Diagonal over and jazz square. Fame. X-step. Chop sitck turn and knee lift...and that's just what I can remember sitting here at the computer.

For an entire hour, I whirl around following Roberta's commands as she calls out all the fancy-smancy step moves. The music is loud and the enthusiasm is high. There we all are, a group of about 15-20 men and women all stepping together, more or less in a coordinated pattern. It is a great work out and for me, breaks up the monotony of lifting weights and running on the treadmill all the time.

So, potato salad...you just don't stand a chance! In fact, I going to have a chocolate chip cookie too, just because I went to Step Class today!

And it shall forever after be known as the great wine spill of '05

There I was, at 11:00pm, all snuggled in bed, after a very long and eventful day, ready for some relaxation with my book and a glass of wine before turning out the lights. I presented FAME again to the first and sixth graders all day, so the majority of my day was spent at the elementary school talking about Andrew Wyeth and his painting "The Chambered Nautilus". Recently I was asked to take on the responsibility of directing the entire FAME program (Fine Arts & Music Education), kind of a big responsibility, but I kind of saw it coming. I think I was a little too enthusiastic about being a docent and they all decided I would be a perfect candidate to shepherd the entire program from here on out. Kind of smart on the school's part too, seeing as Kyle is just in first grade and they have me locked in for another five years!

I needed a relaxing moment after the crazy day of FAME, swim lessons, grocery shopping, and a Tiger Scout meeting. We had an extremely informative Tiger scout meeting, by the way. Another mom decided to plan the entire meeting around snail knowledge and husbandry, and of all things and brought a tupperware container full of them so that the kids could look at them and see all their body parts. The only kid that wanted to bring his snail home, of course, was my son. He cried and cried when he realized that Fred, yes, he named his snail, would be let go into the wilds of the school yard. He bonded pretty quickly to Fred and continued to lament the fact that I wouldn't let him bring Fred home with us. After all, you have to understand that I hate snails and I have taken a solemn oath to erradicate them from my own back yard. I am never going to hear the end of this! Thanks a bunch Torrie!!!

Okay so there I was lying in bed with a big glass of red wine ready and waiting on my nightstand, a book in hand and my comfy pillows all around me. That's when I decided I had better set my alarm clock. Leaning over I grabbed the clock with one hand and inadvertantly knocked over the wine glass. Oh, I didn't just knock it over kind off, so that only a little dribble fell on to the cream colored carpeting. No, I knocked into it with such force, causing the wine glass to fall over spewing a thousand drops of wine across an expanse of five or six feet in a five foot radius. There was wine on the wall, wine on my books, but mostly wine across the entire bedroom carpet. I screamed my husband tells me, but he was playing a video game downstairs and didn't budge off the couch to come to my rescue. Hmmm, his lack of concern , now that I think about it seriously makes me wonder what would he have done had the situation been slightly more dire...say if someone had been trying to abduct me from the bedroom window or if I were having a heart attack. He would have entered the bedroom to either: a) find me not there or b) slumped over in bed expired...I bet he would have felt bad then!

Not to say my wine situation wasn't an extremely dire situation at all...it was. It was horrible. The worst. I spent 45 minutes scrubbing away at the floor in my pajamas until the spots started to lighten. Now that it is over and done with, I have nothing but good things to say about "Wine Away" the bottle of Red Wine Stain Remover. It worked miracles and I highly recommend it as a product. I can verify that it really really works. I usually keep several bottles on hand, mostly because my husband has the greater tendency to splash wine on the carpet. But, not anymore. I may never live this down.

I have to say that, I really thought that this morning, I would have to call in the 911 emergency carpeting experts. But, surprisingly, the carpet looks pretty good (and probably is a lot cleaner than before I knocked over my glass of red wine!) Not quite the relaxing experience I was looking for last night around 11pm. But, after I got my spots out, I returned to the kitchen and poured myself another big glass of ruby red wine. The incident definitely has not deterred me from imbibbing my wine!

Do your husbands (or significant others) read your blog?

I was just wondering. Mine does. At first he didn't get the whole thing. He was a little leary when I first started. He is kind of a private kind of guy and he wasn't sure that having all kinds of personal thoughts spread across the internet was such a good thing. But, then he started reading some of my entries and then he came back to me and said..."I get it now." Now, he checks in every so often to see what I have been mulling around in the back of my brain and actually gets a kick out of the whole thing. Even for someone who knows you so well, they still can be surprised and learn something new, from reading a blog and understanding the little things that are important to you. Also, it is just one more way for him to to delve into my very complex female brain and see what makes it tick! Good luck, honey!

A bright spot in an otherwise crummy day

It has been one of those days. I keep getting derailed constantly. I have a ton of work to do and when I start to focus on one thing, something else distracts me from my true purpose. Like right now, I am waiting for an incredibily large file to open. I sit staring at my screen thinking it is going to pop open at any moment. But, it doesn't and the "updating imported image" bar doesn't seem to be moving across the screen at all. While I wait, I blog.

My day has been hampered by a myrid of server glitches and equipment hiccups, and it just hasn't been a whole lot of fun. I changed printer cartridges this morning, so of course that set me back an hour while the printer learned to talk to the computer again, causing me to fret and freak out like I did last week when my internet suddenly went down. I never learn to be rational and remember that these things always do manage to come back and function again. I become paranoid and frantic to solve the the problem at hand, and work extra hard to get everything back into working order as soon as possible. I wish I could be a little more laid back and easy going, but I'm not.

My intention to start a web design today was delayed when I got a call from another client with some urgent requests. This is a client that inevitably calls me the morning that I am about to depart on vacation or the day before Christmas with a hot project that needs to be tended to. But, she is bright, full of ideas and generous to a fault. I love her and I have learned to deal with her unexpected distractions.

Today was also the first day of Gator swim practices, which means that car pooling on a regular interval has begun to the pool and back, three times over. My kids are different ages and therefore they practice at different times with their appropriate age groups. Carpooling is just one more thing that has taken over my life today and been a frustration that keeps me from my work.

Around noonish my husband, seeing the sour scowl upon my face, bravely approached me in my office and suggested that we have a picnic out on the patio. "It is kind of cloudy, I glumly responded". I wasn't seeing any good in anything at that point! But, he cajoled me into taking a break. It was nice sitting there on the patio and I got to rant about my all the things that were irritating me. I was still feeling a little cranky when I mentioned to my husband that our friend Barbara had invited us to attend her wedding in Italy in September. I really expected him to start listing all the reasons why it would be unlikely that we would be able to go this September.... But, he surprised me and said...maybe we should and could go! Well, the sun came out at that point...and we started to talk about the possibility. We will see. Work is going well for both of us and if we finish up the quarter on a high note perhaps we just might! But, what fun to think that we could. Maybe, Gherardo, you will see us once again, at the Moscadella. All of a sudden my day just got so much better!

Traveling the coast of California

Last week we made our get away and travelled down highway 1 along the coast of California. We didn't travel very far from home, but, living where we do in Northern California, it isn't all that necessary to go great distances in order to see beautiful and unusual sights. Our excursion lasted four days. Our first stop was the beach at Carmel, where we ate a picnic lunch and played in the ocean.


We drove on to the Big Sur and stayed at the Big Sur River Inn for the first night. We arrived mid-afternoon and were delighted to find a rustic hotel set next to a lovely river. My new favorite spot. My husband and I sat in a big wicker chairs next to the river and read books and dozed, while the kids played in the grassy knoll by the river. I have now decided that I want to live by a river. It was relaxing and mesmorizing and yet there was enough gentle motion and activity that I could sit still and yet not feel that I wasn't a part of something. My restless nature, to get up and do something active, was completely satisfied and thus I could sit in total serenity enjoying my surroundings.


The second day we continued on down the coast, following the winding and scenic highway. We meandered along, stopping to gape at the beautiful vistas or pay our respects to a pod of whales travling far below us.


Close to the town of Cambria we came upon a beach where hundreds of Sea Elephants and their babies were basking in the warm sunshine on the beach. They were all alive, despite their disconcerting sluggish appearance. They would flip sand over each other and waddle up and out of the surf, indicating that they were very much alive and kicking.


We stayed in Cambria, close to St Simeon, along the coast. We spent the afternoon on the beach and the boys played in the waves, and later at the Cambria Inn where we found cleverly designed gardens, mazes crafted from the hedges and secret paths for the boys to lose themselves and play hide-n-seek in.


Friday was spent exploring the grounds of the Rennaisance castle that Randolph Hearst built in the twenties, high above the sea, at St. Simeon. It proved to be a wonderful place, filled with art work, beautiful designs and attached to it a wonderful history of famous people that have stayed at the castel, from Clark Gable and Cary Grant to Winston Churchill. Michael came away from our tour saying that he now wants to be an architect!


We drove home along an inland route, stopping to check out several vineyards in the Paso Robles area. At Bianchi, the boys played with miniature motorized saleboats, while we sipped on wine and enjoyed the view of the vines just starting to sprout. All in all, we had a nice get away. We made a family movie, in which I'm afraid, we were all terribly silly. We ate simple meals of sandwiches on the beach and nicer breakfasts on the patio over looking the river. We moved together, ate together, played together and had fun together. A nice change from our scattered activities that often times splinter our schedules and cause us to move in a thousand different directions. It is reassuring to know, that you don't have to go far, or do something incredibly spectacular, to create a wonderful memory and strengthen the bonds of your family.