After the Rain

I haven't seen a rainbow in so long I almost forgot to look for one after the rain today. The amazing thing about this state I live in is the number of rainbows I have seen since I moved here 14 years ago. Even having lived a short while in Maryland, another coastal state, I did not see nearly as many. So I was actually surprised to see one today and slowed my driving - yes, I am the risky one - to snap this while I could. It was one you could see from end to end, though you can't see that here. Sometimes the angle and light was just right and the brightness of the colors was mesmerizing. Yes, even while driving.

As I looked at it's fullness, keeping the cars below it in my line of site, I felt a warmth come over me because I couldn't help but think of the awesomeness of God. I mean, how do you look at something in the sky like that and not think of Him? It's a grand sign of love.




It's good for Him to be the King.

There Goes The Bride

One down, two to go. Mr. T and I are still recuperating from watching one bride enter the land of Mrs. We get to witness two more this coming Sunday and the following Friday. Even being a guest, the day tends to fly but I'm glad it's all done for Bride #1. Now she and the hubby can take a much needed break and I can focus on what I'm going to wear to the next shindig.

I really need to go to bed now. It's been a long, sleepy day.

Trash Talk

A lovely, windy Saturday spent saying Happy Birthday to Trash-O-Saurus.

Son and Daughter go on a treasure hunt.

He's looking. She's looking. Who will finish first? (He did.)

While I wait, pictures of Unidentified Discarded Objects. (Well, ok. They were cans.)

Ummm! A cake shaped like a trashy dinosaur. Yum!

And free ice cream too!

Photo opp inside an indescribable house of gar-bahge.

Schoolchildren wow us with their eco-friendly creations.

And college students too!

It's a twister!

What a load of garbage!

What a close-up load of plastic garbage!

Some boxes to amaze you.

And the Bridgeport Bluefish (yeah baby, Connecticut has baseball!) stopped by to say hi too.

Time to make our birthday hats.

And wear them too.

"Mommy! Take my picture!"

Hmm, if I put this here, it will balance the other side. "Mommy, get me the raisins please!"

Nothing like throwing trash at each other inside a cage to have a little fun!

Where is Son? Hiding inside the glassfault sculpture.

Then it's home to upload all the pictures. Another busy day for us.

Planting Seeds

I've been having the best time networking lately. It's hard to delineate everything because it's all so intertwined - the people, the places, the ideas. One woman I met at a marketing event last night was intrigued by my business and we talked about how we could work together. She had earlier spoken about the frustrations of running her non-profit and I could sense a certain kinship with her based on what she was doing and how she was doing it and what was standing in her way.

As we talked, I told her about my own frustration, being so near and yet so far. Trying to do a lot with a little time. Just feeling so scattered sometimes because we are trying to take advantage of opportunities as they come up but that's what makes you feel so scattered.

"You know so many people think it's linear," she said. "But when you really think about it, it's circular. You're planting seeds here and there and soon they will germinate and grow all around you!" I love that thought. Thank you, Christine. It fits and it makes sense to me.

Christine and I have to further discuss what our puzzles could do to further the vision of her non-profit.

I also met Andrea and yes, I am using real names because these women have businesses that need to be promoted. Now, I started talking to Andrea by asking what she did but when she told me, my eyes widened because I could see it fitting in with the book I am working on. Did I mention this book here? It's actually one of the ones I worked on for NaNo back in 2006. Anyway, I told her what I was doing and we went back and forth, agreeing with each other and connecting in a way that felt more than the superficial networking connection one makes at these types of things. I liked her style. She felt real. I promised to call her and she insisted I do that. I know we'll be talking really soon and I know I'll be doing one of her events too. It just looks so cool!

Then there was the life coach who told me about Momference - a Meeting of the Moms is the tag. It's all about teleconferences on a variety of topics. I haven't had a chance to really get into the site but so far it does look like a place worth hanging out. I already see one conference I'd like to attend later this year - all from the comfort of home. What could be better than that?

It's just been one of those crazy times of promise. Dropping off Daughter at pre-school this morning, I saw a sign on the wall of the neighboring high school:



In case you can't see it, it says "Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out." Be consistent and persistent. I don't think we've been anything less than that, though there are times when the persistence is greater than others. I suppose this is one of those times.

There's been this marketing event and the branding one the week before that. I've been calling a few people about the puzzles and I have to send out samples. I've been talking to a self-publisher about the book and he was actually quite helpful, suggesting that I talk to a magazine publisher who not only may know some people I can talk to about being in my book but maybe could help on the puzzle front too. So I talked to the publisher and he sounded interested. At least he was enough to ask me to send him a sample to show around his office and to tell him a little more about the book while I'm at it because he knows some people who might fit the bill.

I've also been writing letters to people I want to talk to about being in my book. People who have achieved a certain level of success and notoriety. One of them called me yesterday. We're playing phone tag right now but she is the embodiment of what I am writing about and if she gets on board - maybe even write a forward for me - it will make it much easier to take this to an agent or a publisher and maybe I won't have to self-publish after all. I'm hoping she and I can meet since she's not that far. I'm hoping a lot of things right now.

Bizzy Girl and I have to meet this weekend. There is much to discuss and plan. I am the creative one so it's easy for me to go off on tangents. With her help, I can keep to a strategy and we can grow in a controlled fashion.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take my Daughter to say Happy Birthday to Trash-O-saurus.

Oh Baby!

The moment I've been waiting for oh so long has finally announced its intention of arriving this November - my brother is expecting his first child and I couldn't be more excited.

There's been a gaggle of babies coming in and out of my life lately - babies and talk of babies. One of the newest fathers in my office finally brought in his adorable bundle to show off. We've been teased and tantalized by the great pictures he has taken of her so far. He's a photographer so it may be an unfair advantage over us regular schmoes. But she is SO cute in the pictures, I told him I was certain everyone - every female, anyway - was chomping at the bit to meet this little girl. One day he walked over to my area with a long, pink pajama-footed Who in his hands - curly wayward string of blond hair and all - and we jumped. "Ohhhh! She's sooo cute! She's sooo long!" She was. She was even better in person. She smiled. She laughed. She finger grasped. She's 5 or 6 months old (my favorite age) and she is just perfect. That tingling that I get when I'm ready for another one? She set it off slightly. I mean it's not deafening or anything. One of the mini dogs who visits our office had my doggie bell ringing louder and THAT bell hasn't gone off in about 15 years. You have to have bionic hearing to recognize the baby bell I heard when the baby Who flashed that perfect grin but it was there. We apologized to her mom for not giving her the attention she deserved because her baby was so darn enticing. But she was gracious and I like her too, even if she's not from Whoville.

The soon-to-be-marrieds were hearing their own bells. For one of them, I'm sure she felt like she had just swapped places with the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the sound is so deafening. For me, I have to continue thinking about money and time and maternity leave and space in my house and my age now AND when the kid is ready for college. It's daunting. All I know for sure is this is not the year to go for broke, literally or otherwise. So now I have a wonderful distraction! My niechew! That's what I am calling him or her because I don't want to say "him or her" or "my niece or nephew" for the next few months.

My brother is younger than I and it's just the two of us so my chances for a blood niechew were uncertain. I've been waiting a long time, never wanting to ask because he's not quite 30 yet and he's got plenty of time, as far as I'm concerned. But when he said what was up, we talked about the potential challenges of his situation and then I settled into my personal bliss at the thought of becoming an aunt. I've got plenty of kids around me who call me Auntie Monica, and I love them all, but there's nothing like your own blood niechew to love and spoil and send home to their own parents. It's going to be rough though because my brother lives in Atlanta so I won't get to see the baby as much as I'd like. But I'd have to find a way. That's all I know.

It was all I could do to not buy anything for the kid yet. But one little item per month isn't too much, right? No. Of course not. It's my niechew after all! And you, dear niechew, are wanted and loved.