Saturday is Jen’s birthday, so I dedicate this post to her and her bun-in-the-oven. It’s educational.

Happy weekend.

I had been working on a marketing project for a while, but it was all back end stuff. When the time came to actually contact people, I had to figure out what email address to use. My personal one is personal. My blog one would be pretty inappropriate (I use the “eff werd” too much). And anyway, who wants to work with some girl who is emailing out of blue? So I started a company.

If you click on the picture you can see the site.

The copy isn’t exactly the way I want it, because I wrote it rather quickly. Najla, copywriter extraordinaire, is working on that for me.

I call it Pink Moose because I really, really like the word “Moose” (MOOOOOOOSE!) and I figured the logo would be great. Pink can be saccharine, but when it’s a pink moose, it’s less Pretty Pretty Princess and more whimsical and funny and not too serious.

I’m not sure if this is the permanent logo, but it’s what Rob came up with in a pinch, and it’ll do. I’m NOT paying someone to design a logo, and my attempts at drawing a moose have left me regretting skipping most of the second semester of my illustration class in college. (I got a B anyway, a fact that my then-boyfriend found deplorable, because I was literally never there.)

I’ve done marketing like this for another company. I enjoyed it (even though the pay was poo) because I learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and I also got an abundance of tiny secrets on “going the extra mile”. For instance, she insisted that any paperclip that was not red (to match her logo) was to be banished from the office! Sounds weird, but made all of our outgoing, paper-clipped packages look SO special. All of my paperclips are going to be pink! I also learned a lot of what I would do if the firm was MINE: things like handwritten labels (we HAD to have typed in her office, and I always wanted to hand write them) and recycled material packaging and paper.

I’m pretty excited, although I’m overwhelmed because my home office is not up to par. That is tonight’s task, along with making cupcakes for Jen’s birthday tomorrow. These are the ones I made for her last year:

This year I have something pretty special planned, too!

So there’s this poem about crying called “Yesterday I Cried” by Iyanla Vanzant. I won’t put it here, but you should Google it. I went through something like that on Saturday. I was pretty drunk, to tell you the truth, and the fact that I was intoxicated made all of the “hold it together” we all have just sort of go away, and when it did, all I had left was a whole lot of sad that came bubbling up. I was happy, too, of course, I was with dear friends and they rock my world. But boy oh man, all that sad just came slamming up through my body, totally unexpectedly, and it hit me in the back of my face, and I gasped and put my hands to my cheeks to hold it all in, but it was too big, and it came gushing out of the front, sending me scrambling for tissues and privacy.

I cried and I cried and I cried, sitting on the floor of the bathroom with my knees pulled up to my forehead. I forgot to lock the door, though, and my buddy Jake came in having to pee and I probably scared him half to death. Jake is really a wonderful dude, so he sat with me, and I told him that I had decided to cry out all of the unhappy all at once, and it was taking a while, and I made him cry, too, which I felt bad about. And then I felt better. And then I threw up.

That is all.

I got off the plane and Tracy picked me up in her bumper-sticked car. I got grilled cheese at Milwaukee’s famous Alterra and we went to her house where I finally met Miss Moe, who I’ve been following on Twitter.

Other events of the weekend:

Snow angels, Rock Band on the Wii, Boggle, Scrabble, random hugging, lots of dancing, a private group tour of Lakefront Brewery, co-cooking, lunch at Hooligan’s which was sponsored by Seesmic (thank you, Seesmic!), writing on the basement wall, lots of drinking (of course!), football in the snow, sing-a-longs, hookah smoking, epic amounts of photography, and serious conversations about firewire cables. There were also a zillion things that happened that made everyone bond, and that’s such a good feeling.

This city is so cool; everyone is so friendly! There was a table of old ladies at a diner we went to, and when they saw that we were a large group with no where to sit, they moved to a smaller table so we could have theirs. That would NEVER happen in New York! They were excited when I told them where I lived, and told me proudly, “We’re Obama supporters!”, which made all of us deeply happy.

Oh Milwaukee. If you weren’t so cold I would move to you.

(sidenote: I made a last minute decision to go to SXSW, and others did, too. If you’re planning to attend, get in touch. We’ll hang, and it will be awesome.)

Wednesday was lunch with G. and her new baby girl, who is pretty much the cutest thing ever. G. showed up to the restaurant looking like her usual glamorous self with her Dior sunglasses, shiny hair and trim figure. You go girl! You make motherhood look good!

Baby was quiet through lunch; she only made a few “I’m trying to poop.” noises, and slept through the whole thing while I got the inside scoop on birth and new baby days. At one point I was peeking at her as she slept, and she woke up, looked at me for a moment, rolled her eyes, and fell back asleep. Rob does that, too.

***

It’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m still packing for Tracy‘s. Tomorrow I am flying alone for the very first time, and I’m nervous even though I know I don’t need to be. I’m flying princess-style: no checked luggage for me. Rob and our buddy Chris are driving to Tracy’s (which is just outside of Milwaukee, which is a totally bananas drive). They’re taking most of my stuff.

Ok, back to shoving my entire life into a suitcase. Some people over-eat when they’re nervous. I’m overpacking.

photo by Tracy, who I will be with in just over 12 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My house is officially de-peopled after being packed with great friends.

At some point Rob had joked about holding a Podcamp in our apartment, and I said, “Oh right. Try the third of Never!” But then all of the cool people I met in Montreal were chatting one night, saying how we miss being around other people who understand checking your email forty times a day, taking 500 photos in an evening and carrying around a Flip cam just about everywhere. And someone else said, “We should meet up in New York.” and then someone else said, “I totally just bought my plane ticket.” Then I said, “You all should stay here… we have the room.” and Rob said, “Oh my god. My wife has been sucked in.” And so they all came and we did… stuff that was fun.

If you’ll need me I’ll be recovering all week.

Today I hung out with three of the funnest people in the world. I am happy.

1. Keep steadfast in your hunt for the perfect purse. It will be worth it in the end.

2. If you don’t read the paper, cancel your subscription.

3. Irish car bombs are fun! But only once.

4. Meeting people in real life from flickr is fun and not creepy! (Happy anniversary, G!)

5. You have to let bread rise twice, or it won’t be as pretty. If you can’t wait, though, it’ll still taste good having risen only once. Also, if you need it to keep for several days, undercook it a little bit. When you’re ready for a slice, cut off your slightly doughy portion and finish it in the toaster over. Fresh bread for days! Make sure you keep it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, though, or it will mold.

6. Tow truck drivers really do say “ten four!”

7. Seriously, don’t buy hard to register cars, like, say, vintage Volkswagons you can’t drive. Really. Really. Just don’t.

8. I build pretty snazzy shelves!

9. It’s fun to get up the day after Thanksgiving if you have fun guys to hang out with. And totally worth it if you want to score a Wii.

10. Speaking of Wii’s, you really do need to respect that they are “physical activity”.

11. I don’t need an expensive bed.

12. I don’t need two Thanksgiving dinners.

13. Photography is not too hard to learn. You should get a book, though, to help.

14. To clean vomited calamari out of your car: 1. Make your husband do it. 2. Be smug in the fact that you have something with which to mock certain friends with for a good long while.

15. There are a lot of REALLY amazing people in Puerto Rico who will help you should you find a dirty hurt dog and want to adopt them.

16. Dogs > diamonds.

17. 50mm lenses are AWESOME!

18. The iPhone is NOT over-hyped. It is awesome.

19. The only marriage anyone should ever have an opinion on is their own.

20. Rainbow Christmas > White Christmas.

21. Bringing your own shopping bags to the grocery store isn’t too hard once you get into the habit, and so much nicer than lugging gross, bad-for-the-earth plastic bags that cut into your hands.

22. When you are too sick to decorate your Christmas tree, it is wonderful to have friends come over and do it for you.

23. When you are part of a family, you can make up silly phrases, words, and songs and then use them on a regular basis. (In our family, some of them are, “Happy Dog Face”, “Happy Dog Foot”, “Uncertain Foot”, “Kind Words”, “Furminating”, “Snearaly”, “Sweetie Ears” and “Puppy Pile”. Also, the “Mountain Laurel Song” and the Song for Chubby Dogs.)

24. Rob and I have nearly the same political views. I honestly didn’t check before I married him, but I’m glad that worked out.

25. Bring your camera everywhere.

26. You can’t split a White Castle Crave Case three ways without risking a horrible stomach ache.

27. I learned a lot about the real estate and geography of western Brooklyn. In fact, I’m pretty much an expert on western Brooklyn neighborhoods.

28. Keep your eye on Tino. He’ll escape.

29. Ask tons of “stupid” questions if you’re confused about your health insurance. It will save you hundreds of dollars.

30. Dogs get colds! Who knew?!

31. Peeps are fun!

32. The dogs like goldfish, and so do I.

33. My husband makes breakfast in bed for me on my birthday. SCORE!

34. Good photography comes from the heart and soul and eyes. It does not come from the camera.

35. If you’re feeling blue, throw a dinner party with true friends who don’t care that you threw it together last minute. It will be good for your soul.

36. Margarine is the devil.

37. It’s ok to make $350,000 impulse purchases for sentimental reasons. Wait, hang on, this one I’m not sure about yet.

38. Ehhhhhh, you can cut your own hair. Well, I can.

39. If you have no dishwasher, you need to just buckle down and handwash on a regular basis, otherwise you will be stuck with Mount Dishmore.

40. Podcamp people are cool.

41. Living in Brooklyn suits me.

Tino jumped into bed last night several times, and every time he did, his little jabby paws would prod me awake as he made a nest for himself that inevitably included some bit of my person. He would circle a few times (jab jab jab!… jab.) and then flop down with a contended sigh, like he was thinking, “Ok, this time they’re going to let it slide.” Each time he landed, we put him back on the floor with a firm “No! Stay!”, but he must have heard “Try again in a few minutes.” because it went on all night long.

The lack of sleep and rushing around made today one of my least favorite kind of days days, although it ended nicely, with a cozy ladies dinner in Connecticut, and I got to put my hand on G’s ever-growing belly and feel her tiny daughter kick me hello.

Tomorrow, however, is totally empty. For the first time in a long time, and probably for the last time in a long time, the weekend is laid out totally blank! It’s New York City, I’m sure we’ll find something to do, although now that I’m thinking about it, we do have two important housekeeping tasks to tackle: find the source of the horrendous smell in the kitchen, and trap the mouse that lives in the laundry room and makes the dogs crazy.

Wish us luck.

Have a happy autumn weekend!

taken by me, from flickr