Huh?

So this morning, as I do every Saturday, I was flipping through the Sunday fliers (odd that we get them on a Saturday, no?) over breakfast. I got to the coupons, and came across an ad for a drug called Provigil.

"Struggling to fight off the fog?" the ad asked me (right below a dopey picture of a guy who looks vaguely like Kevin from the Office, obviously half awake). I don't know why I continued to give it a second glance, but I'm glad I did as the ad has been an endless source of amusement for me all morning long.

Provigil is used--are you ready?--to fight EXCESSIVE SLEEPINESS. They even go so far as to make being tired sound like a medical condition, giving it the acronym ES. The fine print starts with this clever phrase: "Provigil is a prescription medicine used to improve wakefulness in adults who experience excessive sleepiness (ES)..."

Wait, what?? "Improve wakefulness?" "Excessive sleepiness??" This has to be a joke. This drug seems to me like a legal form of speed (some of the possible side effects--which get more and more ludicrous as each new drug comes out--include depression, anxiety, hallucinations and mania; all side effects of speed).

I'm not quite sure when being tired became such an issue that we need a prescription drug to wake us up. Having just had a baby, I completely get how much worse off you are the less sleep you get (thank goodness she's a good sleeper and has been sleeping through the night for quite some time now); however, the day I need a prescription drug to keep me awake... well, that's a pretty bad day. Besides, I thought that's what Red Bull was for.

Shhhh!

OK, don't tell anyone, but today, I got my membership card and handbook to the Very Secret Order of Creatives Understanding. What is this secret order, you ask? Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret, now would it. However, I will point you in the direction of their website (but don't tell them it was me who sent you!).

Actually, it's just a clever promotion from Veer. But it's hysterical: How can you identify other members? By these secret code phrases:

Phrase: "Hi."
Response: "Resolution?"

Phrase: "There's a brainstorm coming, Pa!"
Response: "Get the horses in the barn!"

There's Rules of conduct, as well:

Rule 3: Treat swatch books like pets. You'd never walk off with someone else's hedgehog."

Rule 10: "Avoid saying "no" during brainstorming, unless you are brainstorming a bank heist."

I wish I had the time to come up with something so great. At the end of the day, it's junk mail (I have purchased fonts and stock imagery through Veer in the past, which is probably how I got on their mailing list in the first place); but if everybody made junk mail this intriguing, we'd probably be calling it something other than "junk."

Extremely Random Meme

Well, I was going to save this for a rainy day... but seeing as it's been a while since my last post, and I've got far too much on my plate to get creative here--well, let's just call it a rainy day. Thanks again, Marce!

The Extremely Random Meme

What is your occupation?
President/Principal/CEO of traciedesigns. I am also the creative director, art director, senior + junior designer, as well as copywriter, administrative assistant (to myself) and all around great gal. Oh, and shopaholic (that was actually the title on the business card of my last full time job--no joke)

What color are your socks right now?
No socks--like Marcy, I loathe socks and only wear them if I absolutely have to. And even then, I have to really think about it.

What are you listening to right now?
Yankees v. Red Sox.

What is the last thing you ate?
Ice cream popsicle, yum yum.

Can you drive stick shift?
No

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
I always answer maize or periwinkle--I think more for the names than the colors. As a child I was partial to mint green and peach. Now, I like raspberry. Of course, my heart will always belong to Pantone 166. (I think this was answered like a true creative type, no? :)

Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My friend's aunt.

What’s your favorite yoga pose?
I don't know the name of it (it has been far too long since my last yoga class), but I love the one where you lie on your back and lift your legs and rear into the air (above your head) and hold onto your lower back, so basically your head, upper back, and elbow support you (rereading that makes me sound like some kind of contortionist. Alas, I am not--whatsoever).

How old are you today?
32 years, 6 months, 8 days

Favorite drinks?
Sparkling water, Beer, Kettle One vodka

What is your favorite sport to watch?
Baseball. I prefer the Yankees, but I will watch anybody (except the Red Sox--when they're not playing the Yanks, obviously)

Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes. I had some lovely pink hair at one time or another. Now I am sporting some pretty cool highlights, that desperately need to be refreshed.

Pets?
As I tell my children: No pets until the house gets bigger!

Favorite cake?
Yellow cake with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. It was my wedding cake, and to this day is my favorite. But I don't discriminate, I'll eat just about any kind of cake.

Last movie you saw?
It's been so long, that I couldn't even tell you. It may have been Alvin and the Chipmunks. But just last night I was watching the Departed, on HBO--does that count?

Favorite day of the year?
I don't necessarily have one specific favorite day. I think any day that I get to spend having fun with my family is a pretty good day.

How do you vent anger?
I am trying desperately to count to 10 before I blow my lid. I know I get loud, but I'm a pretty loud person in general, so I don't know if that counts.

What was your favorite toy as a child?
Hmmm... I had a Barbie townhouse with a working elevator that at the time, I thought was the cat's meow.

Autumn or spring?
Autumn: my birthday, our anniversary... I like spring, but it usually comes with a healthy dose of allergies.

Hugs or kisses?
Ummm... both!

Cherry or blueberry?
Blueberry

Do you want your friends to respond?
Yes, but... (see below)

Who is most likely to respond?
I'm afraid everyone already did.

Living arrangements?
1 bathroom house in Fairfield with a husband and 3 girls (1 of which is a teenager. Impressive, no?)

Last time you cried?
I can honestly say, I don't remember.

What is on the floor of your closet?
A shoe's store worth of shoes, Madeline's sleeping bag.

Who is the friend you’ve had the longest?
While I still keep in touch with acquaintances from elementary school, I am going to say Tiffany. We've been best pals since senior year in high school.

Favorite smell?
Fresh lilacs, Antonia's Flowers perfume (smells a lot like freesia, but better)

Who or what inspires you?
I am an arteest. I am constantly inspired by everything. I was inspired by a box of cookies today (full disclosure: I am working on a cookie package design now, so I am especially aware and/or inspired by anything relating to a cookie).

What are you afraid of?
Small spaces. When I was pregnant, I was desperately afraid that my feet would grow, and I would have to get all new shoes. I would have nightmares about it.

Hamburgers?
Blech, no!

Favorite car?
It changes on a daily basis. Right now I'm longing for a Volvo wagon--which is such a mom car, I know. But when in Rome... (especially with 3 kids)

Number of keys on your key ring?
4. The sad thing is, I have way more Stop and Shop-type cards on my key ring than actual keys.

How many years at your current job?
almost 3 years.

Favorite day of the week?
Saturday.

How many countries have you lived in?
Just 1.

Dream job
See sidebar, about professional shoe shopper. Seriously, that is my dream job.

Just the fax, ma'am

Last week, my pal Becky started a new job (in the city, which gave her reason to buy a hot new Coach bag, but that's a different post altogether); and on one of the first days of the new job, she learned where the fax machines are. Which lead to this cute little musing on who actually uses fax machines anyway (seriously, I'd love to hear from those that do, if you're out there).

That said, I just finished reading Through the Children's Gate, by Adam Gopnick (a great collection of stories about his family's first few years living in NYC after a stint in Paris). In one of the last chapters, he talks about new technology (specifically, IMing), and oddly enough, who still faxes as a way of communication:

"A curtain falls around the age of forty, and whatever the medium of electronic communication that was in place then remains the medium that you use. If you were forty when the fax machine was in flower, you still send faxes, for all their snaky, mid-eighties kind of flimsiness [ed. note: Ahhh, I get it--old people use fax machines!]... Though I lived on email and caffeine—just got on that subway as the doors were closing—I had never sent or received an instant message."

His sentiment makes sense: my mother just--just!--upgraded from dial up to DSL, while we've got our cable modem before we got furniture (no joke, we seriously had internet access before we had a place to sit. If you have met my husband this will make perfect sense). However, I am just catching on to text messaging--I still don't get all the abbreviations Ashlee uses (cue the drawn out, mooo-oooooooooommmmmmmmm). But my goodness, this does not bode well for my future. I am wary to think of what kind of technology will be in vogue when Madeline and--gasp!--Eleanor get older; I don't want to be the mom that confuses LOL for lots of love, instead of laugh out loud (like Gopnick did. Very funny story that I will not do justice to by trying to retell it here).

Whoo boy, I do not want to get old.

Celebrity photoshopping strikes again!

There are many things that peeve me, but one of the biggest is celebrity photoshopping. I won't get on my soap box too much (OK, I will), but I find that celebrity magazine photoshoots are giving women next-to-impossible standards to live up to (having a teenager in the house, we have had our fair share of body image conversations).

Case A: A few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of People Magazine at the nail salon; the one with JLo--oh, sorry, Jennifer Lopez--on the cover. Now, let's recap why she was on the cover: oh, right she just gave birth to twins. Which explains why every inch of her post-partum body was photoshopped and styled to the extreme. I gave birth to one baby 5 months ago, and my body--on a good day--doesn't look like hers did 5 weeks after giving birth to two babies. The whole photo spread reeked of celebrity narcism, with pictures of Jennifer in ridiculous designer gowns prancing around with her babies like they were props. But sorry, unless you have 10 babies (and even then, whoa!), 50 pounds of baby weight does not just melt away like that. Seriously, there was not one inch of that woman that was not photoshopped.

Case B: The following cover of Britney Spears:



Now, I feel for the poor girl, I really do. She's going through a rough time right now, in the public eye. However, the only miracle diet she's been on has been, according to this article on the Huffington Post, is time travel (quite a miracle, indeed). The styled, posed, photoshopped Britney was actually a photo from Glamour Magazine, circa 2003, seen here:



Now, I realize that on a good day, OK Magazine is just another trashy, gossip-y read (People Mag only a hair more respectable), but come on!

Christophuh!

My pal Koleen forwarded me this email she got from Toad's Place:



I could be wrong, but this could--quite possibly--be the ugliest form of email marketing, ever. First of all, this poor guy's publicist was obviously not involved whatsoever; otherwise they probably would have had a much better photo to work with, rather than the current scanned-in-off-the-DVD-case one they have now.

Second, read the copy (if you can--the bright blue background is just a tad distracting):

Michael played the part of "Christopher", one of Tony's 'capos'. The name of his band is "La Dolce Vita", The Sweet life. He also played in many other movies including 'Good Fellas'.

I could be wrong, but it sounds as though one of my kids wrote it (the assignment being sum up Michael Imperioli's life in just 3 sentences). And what on earth does he do in this band? As my friend said, "do we just go to Toads and he sits on the stage and we all just stare at him for an hour? Makes no sense..."

It's definitely leaning towards the bizarre...

Opening day, take 2

Opening day, take 2 was AWESOME. Not only did the weather hold out (I was comfortable in my sweatshirt, sans jacket); but the game was great and the Yanks won. Oh, it also didn't hurt that this year, unlike last, I was not pregnant, and could enjoy a $10 beer along with the game (the enjoyment, of course, came from drinking it--certainly not paying for it!).

I only wish that I had a better camera other than my phone (the Nikon was far too large to bring). Derek Jeter was stretching with his cute little behind up in the air, and unfortunately--except for the white dot on the field--my phone could not capture it.



Sigh. Rough life, eh?

It's raining, it's pouring...

So opening day... was not so much. My father in law and I boarded the 10:39 to Manhattan this AM, got off in Harlem, subwayed it back up to the Bronx, and then proceeded to wait for about 2.5-3 hours for the rain to stop.

And it didn't.

So the game was postponed... and we'll try take 2 tomorrow night. In the meantime, here's the view of the new stadium from our seats. I can't believe it's the last opening day in the old stadium!

Spring cleaning

Last night I decided to forego the gym (yeah, THAT was a tough decision), and instead, I was going to update the blog a bit (this has been on my to do list for quite some time, and was one of those things that was just going to sit there until I actually made time for it). I had no idea the path that this blog was going to take when I started it last year, but it seems that it's become my "online personality"--in that people who read it have told me that it is so me (one of my pals has even told me that she can imagine me saying each post).

So I refreshed the sidebar with a little more relevant (I think) info, and finally (finally!) updated the header to match my site. As time goes on, I'll probably refresh things here and there, depending on what's working and what's not (and I'm still trying to make that effort of posting more often); but never fear, the theme is still thoughts, musings, oddities and the like.

Enjoy!

There are no heroes in this house

So I might've mentioned that we now have a Wii. This is the first video game console we've ever owned (aside from handheld's, like GameBoy) so it's especially exciting--the novelty has not worn off yet, for any of us.

Specifically, the novelty of Guitar Hero ("Totally worth it," Mattio says, defending the cost to his brother) has not worn off--for Ashlee and Mattio. While they have both mastered the easy level and are on to the more challenging Medium level--Mattio might even be on Hard--I can't get past the first song. Actually, no, I think I played the easiest of the easy songs (Slow Ride, by Foghat--which, by the way, 4 year old Madeline walks around the house singing. Thank you, Guitar Hero) through to completion--on like, the 7th or 8th try. Unlike Ash and Mattio, I have perfected the art of getting booed off the stage.

So when I read about Michelle Slatella's Rock Band woes in yesterday's Times, I could identify all too well. Seriously, I think the only reason Ashlee invites me to play is to have a good laugh.

Ah well, at least I know I'm not alone.

I heart Al Gore

So this morning, I had a meeting with my pal Debbie Fay of Bespeak Presentations; we actually met in her dining room, because she said her office resembled Al Gore's.

Huh?

Then she told me that last year, the Times ran a photo of Al Gore in his office, and it was a mess. And she said, if Al Gore's office looks like that--and look at what he's accomplished in his life!--then I don't feel so bad about mine.

Nor do I, Deb; nor do I.



PS. View larger pic here. Oh, and hey Al Gore, sweet monitor setup!

Best. Customer. Service. Ever.

I love Starbucks.

I don't even like coffee. But I love Starbucks. In the winter, I am a tall skim chai (yum, yum). And all summer long I am a tall mocha frapp--no whip, thankyouverymuch. Every once in a while I splurge and get a grande (medium, as Mattio would say :), but very, very very rarely do I go whole hog (literally!) and get the venti (large).

So today, I decided, was a tall skim chai kind of day. I had a couple of free drink coupons--thanks to my pal Sara--and I had to drop Madeline off at her friend's, so I offered to pick up coffee for the friend's mom, as well. So I go in and order my drink and a tall coffee for friend's mom; and go to pay with my coupons, and do you know what the cashier said to me?

He said (not snotty, but completely serious), "If you're drinks are going to be free, why not splurge, and make them venti?"

I looked at him, smiled, and said, "Why not?"

That, my friends, is customer service.

Hell effing vetica (emphasis on the "effing")

So Friday was--as I was referring to it--Helvetica Friday. I was dragging the kids to MoMA, to see the Helvetica, the exhibit; and as a bribe to get them there, we finished off the day at the Museum of Natural History. Then I was going to go home and watch Helvetica, the movie.

So Helvetica, the exhibit, basically sucked. It was, by far, one of the bigger disappointments in my life. Tucked into a corner of the third floor--literally, a corner no bigger than my bedroom--were some posters done in helvetica, as well as subway signage (saw plenty of that for free, thankyouverymuch). In a glass display there was the helvetica alphabet in printing plates, and on a flat screen on the wall they were playing bits of Helvetica, the movie.

That's it.

I was completely bummed. Of course, we were already there, so we walked around a bit. Ashlee got to see Starry Night, again (it's one of her favorites). We also saw the "big blue OOF" (as the kids referred to Edward Ruscha's painting), Warhol's Cambell's Soup Cans, and their all time favorite, the "wall of cows."





To add to the disappointment of the day, I couldn't find Helvetica, the movie, anywhere in the gift shop (Hello? There's a terrible excuse for an exhibit--I thought for sure they would have the movie!!). So needless to say, Helvetica Friday didn't quite pan out the way I had expected (although the kids had a great time at the Museum of Natural History--and even more fun in the gift shop).

Let's hope that in my next foray into the city I fare a bit better: next Monday I am (yet again!) going to the Yankees home opener. I got to go last year, and it was so. Much. Fun. It's bound to be even more fun this year, as it's the last home opener in the old stadium.

If I were a brand...

So I came across this interesting article today, in doing some research for a logo/packaging project I'm working on. It was an article on brandchannel, and it asked, "If you were to describe yourself as being a brand, what brand would you be? Why?"

Hmmm.... Incidentally, people answered the usual suspects: Nike, Coke, etc. However, they got a large response of people citing themselves as the brand they'd want to be ("I think everyone creates their own unique personal brand.")

Oh please. I'm all for being unique and different, but answer the question already.

Me, if I had to choose a brand--besides myself (although the end of the piece makes a good argument as too much of a good thing, a la Britney Spears--the term "good thing" being used loosely in that case)--I would want to be Apple.

Why? Apple is adored--no, worshipped--by its fans. People will spend money on Apple products. Like, lots of money. Apple is constantly ahead of the curve, and their products are not only cool-functioning, but cool-looking as well. And the while the majority of computer users are still using PCs (why is that?), once people switch over to Macs, it's like they get it. Plus, all the cool kids use Macs. ipod, itunes, iphone... need I say more?

By the way, I know you are shocked--shocked!--that I didn't choose a shoe brand. And believe me, I thought about it... nothing lays luxury and beauty like say, Manolo Blahnik; however, in the end, I thought that Apple was the better brand (it appeals across the masses--and isn't that the point?). Although kate spade is running a close second...

So... if you could be a brand, what would it be and why?

Hell effing vetica (and the kids!)

Every Monday, (ideally--I do have three kids I have to get out of the house in the morning) I like to do the New York Times crossword (I do it through Wednesday--Thursday's is way too hard, and Friday, well, just forget it. Besides, it usually takes me until the following Monday to get close to completion on Wednesday's puzzle). I usually skim it at breakfast, filling in the extra-easy clues, and then leave it around the house; so say, while I'm making lunch, I can get a few clues in. But today was a promising day: I had finished the puzzle by 9:30 AM. Wow, I thought, I have can actually read the Arts section! And it was there I came across this clever ad, from MoMA, thanking Target. The word Helvetica caught my eye, so of course I read it (It was a quarter page ad):

Thank you.

This is a message from MoMA to thank Target for their generous support of Target Free Friday Nights and to commemorate the arrival of our millionth free visitor this past Friday evening. It is set in 15-point Helvetica Roman, widely considered the official typeface of the twentieth century. Helvetica conveys an undeniably modern aesthetic clarity and is in fact the subject of an exhibition at MoMA. Just thinking about Helvetica totally makes us want to get down and party. Maybe its the triple Chococcino talking here, but suddenly we feel like screaming, ‘Thanks a million Target!” while mingling outside in the Sculpture Garden. Okay folks, here’s what we do: Meet us up on the third floor and check out the finest collection of modern art in the world. We’re going to rock out to Philip Glass all night long and gab to somebody we just met about how much Expressionism inspires us. Then,if the mood is right and all our planets are aligned, we’ll show our new friend what Expressionism really means. It happens every Friday from 4 - 8 p.m.

(By the way, I totally did not type this in. I have to give Bloghound the credit for that.)

And then came the big DUH from me... There's a Helvetica exhibit at MoMA! The trouble is, it's only until March 31. Uh, folks, that's 2 weeks from today. How on earth, with my schedule and workload, not to mention three kids--oh yeah, and Easter is this weekend!--am I going to get down to the city to see this exhibit by the 31st?

Easy, peasy: make it a culture day and bring the kids. See, when Ashlee was younger, we decided that our proximity to NYC was not to be wasted. So we started bringing her in a 2-3 times a year and going to places like the Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, MoMA, etc. Nothing was planned, the whole day was up for grabs, we just started at a museum and let her lead the way. Unfortunately, with the pregnancy and resulting baby, we haven't made it down in quite some time.

So lucky for me, Mattio has Friday off, so Ashlee, Madeline, and myself are going down to see Helvetica: the exhibit. If I'm lucky we can spend some time at MoMA (Madeline is only 4 and a half, so we'll see how that goes), and then we'll cross the park and hit the "dinosaurs." I'm sure the day will be plenty exhausting for all, but I plan on ending it with a viewing of Helvetica: the Movie (which I told Mattio I'd rent, but seriously, who am I kidding? It's a movie about a font; of course I'm going to buy it!).

Thanks Marcy!

Ugh. It has been a week since my last post; and a stressful, busy week at that. And it's now past 11 on a Friday night, and I just want to do something completely mindless, but then I realize that it's been almost a week since my last post, and I really should write something, if only to keep the few people that do visit coming back.

But as I mentioned above, it's been a crazy week and I have not had a moment to myself, nevermind to find interesting blog topics online (the most online I went this week was testing a website I'm working on. I know, the fun ceases to end). so I figured, I would procrastinate a bit, and see what my blogging pals are up to.

And lo and behold, my pal Marcy tags me with this 5 things list. So special thanks to her, for giving me something to blog about! Here goes...

Here are the rules:
1. List five kind things you do for yourself.
2.List five kind things you do for your closest friend, partner or child.
3.List five kind things you have done for a stranger.
4. Have fun!
5. Tag five people.

1. Five things I do for myself
- Buy shoes (this should be all 5, really. I mean, if you're a regular reader, and you don't know that...)
- Go to the gym
- Get pedicures all summer long
- Go for super long walks when the weather permits
- Every so often, get together with the girls and have a girls night out

2. Five things I do for my closest friend, partner or child.
- Buy them all clothes, and keep them in clean clothes
- Bake all of their favorite cookies (and then some) at Christmas time
- Drive them everywhere, and let them listen to "their" music, even if it is Lo-Ridah (Flo-Ridah?), or whatever that horrible song is, without complaint (If you have a teenager, you'll appreciate this)
- Hug them all the time
- Put their needs above sleep

--I'm also going to add: don't spend all the household money on shoes. This is particularly kind of me.

3. Five things I have done for a stranger.
- Let them cut in front of me at the checkout, when they have fewer items
- Picked up something they dropped
- Let them out of the parking lot, when traffic's terrible and nobody else cares
- Give directions
- Paid for coffee

Tagging: Tiffany, Sara, Mattio, Koleen and Barb

Learning to read... the designer's way

I have written in the past about our 4 year old, Madeline, and how she is an advertiser's dream ("Mom, you should buy OxyClean to clean the bathroom!")

(Sidenote: She said just about the funniest thing ever today. She wanted nothing more than to play--as 4 year olds are wont to do--and so she asked me if I would play with her. Then, sensing that there was a laundry list of things I had to do to come, she quickly turned to Mattio and said, "and dad, you have to do everything around the house today, including clean the bathroom!" Sidenote to my sidenote: Mattio is very helpful around the house, but the one thing he does not do is clean the bathroom. Wishing I had that Oxyclean right about now...)

Anyway, last week we got a notice home from school requesting that we send in logos that our preschoolers recognize (Cheerios, the GAP, Stop and Shop, etc.). In school, they were going to put together a book of logos, for each child, and start them on their path to reading. Wait, what? My kid is going to learn how to read... by reading a GAP logo?

But yes. Reading is about recognizing words, and what better way for someone so young to recognize a word than in a logo that's familiar to them. On her own, Madeline will not recognize that the word target says just that. But put it in red and add that bullseye, and she knows. As a parent, I thought this was pretty cool. As a designer, I thought it was brilliant.

Just goes to show how far branding your business goes... all the way down to a preschool level.

Logo design, 101

This should be required reading for all logo design clientele out there. Summed up, it basically says that your logo doesn't have to literally interpret what your company does. For example, Apple Computers (well, now just Apple): there is nary a computer-related item in this logo. Yet everybody knows they make computers.

The article is best summed up in this sentence: "... what you include in the design of a logo can be just as important as what you leave out."

Amen.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

This morning, I had the unforgettable experience of standing on line to buy a Wii (I seriously had no idea they were still that hard to come by, until I got laughed out of the store the other day). I was going to live blog the experience--what else was I to do for 2 hours?--but I was having problems with my mobile blogger account.

I arrived at Circuit City a little before 8 AM--at the suggestion of the store's employees. There were a couple of cars in the parking lot: mostly employees, but a few other nuts like me. At 8:30 the line outside the store formed. The car said it was 28 degrees outside. Hey, at least it wasn't snowing.

I took my place in line, about 5 from the front, 5 from the back. Everybody was making idle chit chat about how crazy we all were. I silently cursed the guy who decided it was time to get out of the car, thus forcing everyone to line up. This would have been much easier in the summer.

9:00 AM: a flood of cars turned into the parking lot--you could see the drivers counting the line. Rumor was that the store only had 10 systems. No, someone said, the circular says 15 per store. People would drive up and then drive away, not brave enough to face the cold. Others took the risk and waited on line. At this point, there was a little more than 15 people waiting. I silently thanked Eleanor--world's best alarm clock--for waking me up at 6:30. I was so glad I was 5th in line.

We all started to become friendly as time passed. The woman in front of me was discussing college options with her son. We had a Kansas connection, so I joined the conversation, as did the man in front of them. Talking made me momentarily forget just how cold it was outside (my body was suprising comfortable, temperature-wise--between my wool socks and sweater, knit gloves, down coat, and crocheted scarf, my denim-clad legs were really the only cold part of me. Should have worn long johns).

A little before 10, I got nervous with anticipation. Some children--young ones--joined their dad in line. I silently thanked them for being there--nobody stampedes little kids, right?

10:00AM: Doors finally opened. We all moved along, cattle like, into the store, and right up to the counter. There was plenty of consoles to go around (thank goodness). I actually got cheered by the end of the line as I walk out of the store, obvious purchase in hand. I wished them all luck, and prayed that I never had to see Circuit City that early again. Unfortunately, with 2 much younger kids to go, I have a feeling the fates are against me. Ah well, for the look on her face, it was all worth it.

I haven't yet had the pleasure of playing with our newest toy (I'm actually working today!), however, I'm sure what little free time I have left will soon be spent honing my musical talents on Guitar Hero.

Update: The children have beaten Mattio in boxing. It took Ashlee, 13, no time. It took Madeline, 4, three rounds. Oh Wii, thank you for introducing boxing into our little girls' lives.

Happy Birthday

My oldest daughter--who, all you moms out there will get, is still my baby--turned 13 today.

13.

That makes her a teenager. And it makes me feel old.

Happy Birthday, my baby. You're one of my favorite designs.