Foto Friday: Preempted by 30 Day Challenge

Day 5: Something you would say to an ex: I'm sorry.

30 Day challenge: Day 4

I am doing a 30 Day Challenge.  I'm going to try to do it for 30 days straight, but no promises (couldn't do it!).

4. Bullet your whole day.



*Alarm; hit snooze, repeat, repeat, repeat, finally got up.

*Made coffee, oatmeal, woke kid, checked email.

*Fought with kid to get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, put on socks and shoes.

*Walked kid to school.

*Stopped at drugstore: sympathy card, toothpaste, hair styling product, lunch containers (tupperware), hair bands.

*Came home had coffee.

*TRX

This is from a different day, but I can't take a pic of myself and illustrate proper form *cough*

*Took shower (no picture of that).

*Design, design, design, design, repeat (while listening to podcasts).

*Lunch

black bean, sweet potato & quinoa burger

*Design, design, design, design, repeat (while listening to podcasts) again.
 
*Go pick up kid from school/stop at playground.

*Go home, make dinner.

*Play with kid.

*Get kid ready for bed, read story, lights out.

*Check email, read blogs.

*Watch Project Runway (yes, it's kind of jumped the shark, but I love the whole design process).

*Wash face, brush teeth, floss.

*Read in bed until I fall asleep.  (reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks)

My 15 Minutes....Again

 I feel like Snookie!  I'm getting way more exposure than I deserve (ok, well one of us deserves it more than the other and I am going with me!)  Remember my original 15 minutes?  Well, I am getting a second chance at stardom. Ok, maybe that is taking things a bit too far, but I was approached a few weeks back by a blogger who wanted to interview me for her own licensing blog.  This is totally unrelated to tri and more about the work that I do.  I follow a ton of art/design/licensing/copyright blogs as well at tri blogs; now you understand why I am so absent sometimes, that is a lot of reading.  They really help keep me focused on my work and are full of very kind and generous people exchanging information; much like the triathlon community.  One of them is Alex Colombo who runs the blog The Moon From My Attic where she interviews different artists and designers in the licensing business.

You can read the interview with me here.  Thanks for looking.  I'll be back the the 30 Day Challenge soon, sorry for the hiccup. 

Chiu On This

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." ~ Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard

I'm taking a break from the 30 Day Challenge to talk about something I noticed while sitting down to lunch with my son.  The recent issue of TIME magazine was sitting there with an an uber closeup shot of Rick Perry.

I suddenly realized that there doesn't seem to have been any controversy surrounding this photo.  It wasn't airbrushed to hide any of his imperfections.  Well, imperfections based on the standard of beauty held by magazine editors globally.  I'm sure that those same standards are held for men, right?  Right?

Which brings me to my point.  Remember all the kufuful about the Newsweek cover of Sarah Palin during the campaign for the Presidency?  No?  Let me remind you.  Here is the cover.

In my humble and cosmetically challenged opinion, I think she looks good.  Damn!  If I looked that good that close up, I'd be happier than a fox in a hen house.  But no......Apparently women are held to a different standard than men are when you're ready for your close up.  Lets go to the videotape....

Now, I'll give you that Barak's cover at this time was 'softer'....

but he has had his fair share of covers in the glaring light of day, and yet this woman (Andrea, on the video) is beside herself.  Huh.

"Any woman who sees this cover would be shocked and horrified!"  Really?  Overstating just a bit? 

From the host, "Even the most gorgeous supermodels in the world, they retouch you to get rid of the flaws that human beings have.  They didn't do this for Sarah Palin."  And herein lies the problem.  Why are our 'flaws' something to be ashamed of?  Are they really flaws at all or just normal features of a human being: hair, wrinkles, pores, etc.

And, "Mortifying"?  Sarah should be ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated?  Um, no.  I'm with Julia on this one.

And why does Andrea keep stating how upset every woman would be or should be about this cover?  Is our self esteem so fragile that an extreme close up such as this should cause us to stick our collective heads in the sand?  Granted, I am not the most photogenic human being and I would even say that I am mostly not very photogenic at all, but let's get a grip here.  

I know this  dead horse was beaten awhile ago, but seeing that Rick Perry cover caught my attention because of it's honesty.  Why can't we embrace our wrinkles, our pores, our facial hair (Ok, I admit, I wax my upper lip)?    Why, when our faces are revealed for what they truly are is it unacceptable?  "mortifying"?  "Why must we be shocked and horrified"?  

I am not a fan of either Rick or Sarah; I do not subscribe to their brand of politics, but Rick Perry looks great and Sarah looks great.  Now, Michelle Bachman on the other hand just looks plumb crazy!  Now that I'd be upset about, even if there may be some truth behind that look!  (I didn't really just say that, did I?)

30 Day Challenge: Day 3

I am doing a 30 Day Challenge.  I'm going to try to do it for 30 days straight, but no promises.

3. A book you love.

This is by far a tough one.  I love the same one most people love for all the same reasons; To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.  I am also a huge fan of The Secret History by Donna Tart.  However, I'm going to go with Skippyjon Jones, Lost In Spice, by Judy Schacher from my son's bookshelf.

How can you not love a book where the main character is named Skippyjon Jones, to say nothing of his sisters names: Jilly Boo, Jezebel & Ju-Ju Bee.

It's full of fun things to say; all with a Spanish accent.

"You are not a Siamese Cat Dude.  You are a weeck-ed red Chihuahua!"
"Poquito Tito!"  exclaimed Skippito, "Is that you, amigo?"
"Dude, you don't need a space suit up here," said Poquito Tito.  "You need a SPICE suit.  Mars is covered in the chili powder, chico!"

Plenty of alliteration:

"Jumping jacks on Jupiter."
"Monkeys making meatballs."
"Tickle a termite"
"Holy Hoopleheads!"


Bad knock knock jokes:  

"Who goes there?"
"Martian."
"Martian who?"
"Martian to your closet and get us some frijoles, dude."

A 2' excerpt from the book...I think I do the accent better, but that is just me and I have had LOTS of practice.

30 Day Challenge: Day 2

I am doing a 30 Day Challenge.  I'm going to try to do it for 30 days straight, but no promises.

2.  Something you feel strongly about.

Education

The Arts {SOURCE}

Sports

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

So Today I am completing day 1 of the 30 Day Challenge.  Feel free to steal the idea if you are so motivated.

1. Find ways to win your heart. 

My heart is already taken by the two boys in my life; this is what it took.

Hello Stranger...

I have been absent.  Maybe not conspicuously so, since my readership is small, but absent nonetheless.  Life has been a bit crazy around these here parts.  I'm still sidelined with foot issues and it isn't looking good so far.  I've been doing TRX and started riding bike again (Hello, lady bits!  Ouch!).  This is very frustrating since I had three months training under my belt for the marathon.  I can defer, and have until November 2 to decide.  It isn't the end of the world, but it is disappointing just the same.  It has been a challenging year to say the least, not just with training.  However, I am keeping perspective and trying to remain positive.

Titus (just another of many nicknames my poor kid has been saddled with) started Kindergarten last week and that has comes with reams of paper to sign and hand in, events to volunteer for, committees to join, the extra set of clothes to send in, the snack week to sign up for, the kindergarten welcome dinner, the PTA meetings and on and on and on......

I am Titus's soccer coach this season.  That is something I did not plan for.  we were wait listed and if you volunteer to help out, you are moved up the list.  I am not sure if this is ethical or not, but since the league relies on parental volunteers (refs, coaches, etc.) they need every body they can get.  It also helps keep the cost down.  Titus was eager to play so I said I would volunteer in order to ensure a spot for him.  Next thing I know  I receive and email that I am head coach for his team.  I'm ok, with that, but there is a bit of disorganization in the organization.  They have been around for a long time so I was a bit surprised by this.  This forces me to filter information when I have to send it to the parents on my team.  I also went to a meeting of all of the Under 6 coaches this week.  24 of us in the room, I was the only female coach.  REALLY?  I guess we women do enough everywhere else, we might has well delegate the sports aspect of rearing to our husbands?  I know I would, but my hubby knows less than zero about soccer and his job forces him to travel a lot.  Got to find something else for him to do whether he likes it or not; Mama needs a break!  Saturday is our first game. Go team!

I was asked to be on my Co-op board.  I am thinking, no.  If you don't live in NYC (or any large city) you may not know what this is.  If you live in a co-op (cooperative) you own shares of the building you live in.  There is a board that decides what the building needs (repairs, renovations, etc.) and makes decisions regarding those needs (and sometimes with a vote from all the owners-not every owner is on the board).  I think I made that as clear as mud.

I am also working like mad to get a good collection of work for the NY Tabletop show at the end of October.  What this means is I am creating tons of dinnerware patterns with the hope of selling them to manufacturers. 

My plate is full (no pun intended) so you won't see much of me for the next month.  I'll just be popping in and out.

Lastly.  Because I don't have much training wise to write about these days, I found an idea floating around out there in the art/design blogs I read.  It's a 30 day challenge which I will NOT be completing in 30 days, but over an undetermined number of days.  Let's see how that goes.

1. Find ways to win your heart.
2.  Something you feel strongly about.

3. A book you love
4. Bullet your whole day
5. Things you want to say to an ex
6. Your view on mainstream music
7. Five pet peeves
8. What you ate today
9. How important you think education is
10. Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play
11. Your Family
12. Five guys/girls you find attractive
13. Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it
14. What you wore today
15. Your zodiac/horoscope and if you think it fits your personality
16. Something you always think "what if. . ." about
17. Something that you are proud of
18. A problem you have had
19. Five items you lust after
20. Your fears
21. How you hope your future will be like
22. Your Academics
23. Something that you miss
24. Five words/phrases that make you laugh
25. Something you are currently worrying about
26. Things that you like/dislike about yourself
27. A quote you try to live by
28. Somewhere you would like to move or visit
29. Five weird things that you like
30. One thing you are excited for

Foto Friday: Iceland

This is from my sister and her husband's trip to Iceland.  What a beautiful country...You can see more from their worldly travels here.



Iceland's Ring Road - The Ultimate Road Trip from The Rogue Unit on Vimeo.

Ten Years Today

Thank you for the best 10 years of my life....ok, 16 really, if you count dating....LOVE YOU!!!

I'll Be Brief

It's been awhile, I know.  I have had the most interesting two weeks in terms of weather, travel, training, work, etc.  I'll try not to bore you with the non newsworthy stuff and give it to you bullet point style:

*Took my son to my parents to spend a week.
*My sis was in from LA.  So happy to see her!  I miss her.
*I traveled back to NYC to meet Irene, which turned out to be a non issue for us, thankfully.
*Time by myself alone, no husband and no son, at home, being lazy was awesome.  It didn't last long.
*Our planned vacation to the Outer Banks was squashed by Irene and my hubby's 'call to duty' to cover it; poor guy.
*We salvaged a few days in the Adirondacks on Mirror Lake (aka Lake Placid).  So much devastation.  So very sad to see.
*Training:  The Good: I got to swim in a lake, I miss swimming outside, which I don't get to do very often in a good summer (location).  The Bad:  My run is not so good.  I am sidelined with some heel issues (Achilles insertion?  PF?  I wish I knew).
*I haven't run in 6 days and I still woke up hobbling out of bed.  damn!  I am going nuts.
*My son was spoiled rotten by his grandparents, I suppose that is as it should be.
*School starts tomorrow.  Kindergarten!!!! 
*I have a design show at the end of October for which I have a ton of work to do.
*4 days vacation was not enough.  Especially when two of them were spent in the car for many hours.
*I can't stop worrying about running.  I can't stop worrying about design/work.  I can't stop worrying about money.  I can't stop worrying.  Period.
*I guess I could have titled this "The Bitching Post".
*I have a headache.