Last post for March

I don't have anything exciting to say, but since I have some regular readers than I feel like I should at least write something.
We had an uneventful trip to Tennessee, and that is always a good thing when traveling with small children. I find it very hard to separate from work and I was worrying about it pretty much the whole time. I need someone to take care of things while I am out next time.

We always go directly from Nashville to the little town where J grew up. There is really not much there- no movie theater, no mall, and up to this last visit...no espresso! Now there is a new Starbucks for my latté fix (Cracker Barrel hasn't cottened on to that yet). I was pretty happy about that, and it is a drive thru for the freeway stops. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have qualified baristas in that area, and they cost about $1 more than back home. No competition I guess.

I am a coffee snob probably due to living in Seattle and Portland where wonderul coffee shops are plentiful. I normally go to an organic coffeeshop near my house that beats Starbucks anyway. The rest of the trip I drank Seattle's Best Coffee brewed at home. I may have kicked the twice-daily latté habit. I even have my own little espresso machine at home.

What else? Well, I talk about this a lot, but I get so tired of dealing with poop. This morning I awoke to a horrendous mess on the bathroom floor, tracked around the house and all over a small child with an upset stomach. Not a good way to start the day. There were other incidents during the day, after the child had been bathed twice and I had carefully disinfected the entire bathroom we had a repeat of the morning accident. I don't think I could deal with this alone. They had better take care of me when I am old!

In pug news, Shayna is here! She loves being pushed in the stroller. So if you saw a little girl in a princess nightgown and rainboots pushing a pug dog in a stroller you saw how cute it was. Maybe I can get a photo of that tomorrow. Except the princess nightgown needs to be washed (see above). Portland Pug Crawl is May 20. I need to make cards and a new shirt for that.

I had a lot to say apparently, but really nothing important. If you continue to read this, it pretty much follows this pattern.

Warning signs

As some of you may know, my real job is my graphic design firm. It has been around for 6 years and I have learned a lot during those 6 years- sometimes the hard way. Here is a quick list of warning signs in a new or potential client.

1. Any mention of a family member or friend doing the design work (unless that person is an actual professional).
2. Wanting to do the work in Word, Publisher or any software for the general consumer.
3. Has tried more than once to do the project themselves.
4. Has a very specific idea already in mind and wants you to bring that vision to life.
5. Has had multiple bad experiences with other designers or firms.
6. More concerned with price that anything else.
7. Acts suspicious or overly concerned with YOUR ethics from the beginning.
8. Just wants a "business card". Doesn't understand the value of creating a visual brand for their company.

I'm sure I will be adding more to this list as I think of them.

puggish

I finally watched Marie Antoinette which has been blocking the Netflix queue for some time. I'm not a big Kirsten Dunst fan, but I really love the costumes from that time. How come no one told me that pugs are very prominent in this movie?! Especially at the beginning when she tries to bring an adorable fawn pug puppy with her to France from Austria. (Later has a black pug.)
Notes about the movie: I don't feel like it even came close to covering many of the facts, but I guess it was more like a teenager or pop version. I looked it up on imbd since there was this really bizarre part in the movie where she is looking at fancy shoes of the era, and in with the pile on the floor is a pair of converses. I kept thinking there would be other references to modern life or something, but nope, that was it. It was intentional, I guess I just didn't "get" why there was suddenly one modern reference.

Some parts of the movie were true to history, for example M.A. gave birth with the whole court watching. That alone gives me a great deal of sympathy for her. Apparently she really did have to relinquish her dog when she joined the French court, but it wasn't a pug it was a shih tzu. Guess pugs just make better movie stars.

That's all I've got to say for this post. Maybe I can make my new tagline: "Putting the blah into blog..."

blogging about blogging

Well, it has been a week so I better do an update before I lose the few readers I have. Which made me think about, why do people want to check in on my babbling anyway? Since there are a few people who do, this is for you!

One of the blogs I like to read, http://julia.typepad.com had over 100 comments regarding a somewhat innocuous post. Some readers commented about how she was smug, narcissistic, writing well, writing badly, not compassionate, a wonderful person....on and on. As if anyone really knows her, but yet you feel you do.

This sort of creeps me out. I met someone once in real life that started with blog commenting, I know it is common enough. Look at online dating. There is just something very strange about it to me still. My kids will find it completely normal. I don't think I could write about really personal things on the internet for any stranger to see.
I know this post is pretty incoherent. Which is actually the opposite of what I enjoy most about the blogs I read. They can form coherent sentences, the writing is funny and interesting, there is a common theme and I relate to them in some way. Right now this blog is such a hodgepodge of my thoughts, daily life, work and pugs that it confuses even me.

Maybe it will turn back to pugs once I actually am working on Say Bone again. Until then, I am mired in work and kids. I wish I could write about an upcoming trip to Italy I have planned, or how we are remodeling our kitchen, but unfortunately that would be pure fiction.

wine and working

I went to Eugene for a few days for a wine industry conference, I thought it would be a good idea to network more and learn about the industry. I was not expecting to have so much fun. Possibly for the average person it would not have been that fun, but having a break from my computer, kids and house responsibilities was actually like being on vacation.

The best part was when one of my client's invited me to dinner with their group. We ate at an extremely nice restaurant and had multiple appetizers including foie gras which I didn't know that I loved. (Although I won't have it again- the poor goose!) We started with champagne and finished with...I don't know. They were ordering off the big wine list and since I was hoping it was on the company account, I stayed out of the selection. When I am paying it is the second cheapest bottle, you know because the cheapest one is bad. (-:

Next time I go, I am definitely staying in the conference hotel*. My considerably cheaper hotel bed had a coin operated massaging machine attached. One strange thing was that my laptop wi fi connection worked great at el cheapo hotel, but didn't work at the Hilton Business center.

*I've actually had that same revelation before but it was about 6 years ago so I guess I forgot. I stayed at scary hotel near the conference hotel that had a strip club right across the street and multiple other issues. This is actually more of an issue in San Francisco than Eugene.

Anyway, I actually did learn quite a bit and met some people. It was very worthwhile...

Where did February go?

Well, we're closer to Spring at least. It has not been a nice winter at all. I have to admit, I just watched An Inconvenient Truth. Since I don't get to watch many movies in the theater, it seemed too depressing to spend my rare evening out watching something I already believe in wholeheartedly. It was good to watch though since it has given me some ideas. We already do a lot of "green" things with our energy sources, compost, recycle, buying, and working from home... but there is a lot more we could do. Especially with the business.

I finally subscribed to netflix just to make things easier, but sometimes the movies sit around for weeks before I watch them (that's why I like netflix though- no late fees).

I haven't had much time to work on all things pug because my small design firm has been demanding all my attention. I'm very excited about a new office space we'll be moving into soon! Work is busy, no doubt. I really need more help if I could just get organized. Right now I use subcontractors for projects. Basically, I need a week to work on my own stuff. The new website will be much better than the current one-- look for it after this weekend, we're aiming for a March 5 launch!

In pug news: I really need to fix my SayBone site, it looks terrible. Pug Crawl is coming up and I'd like to have a new shirt design and maybe cards by then!

Kid news: So cute, they deserve a post of their own.