You Will Be Booed

Boo! Did I scare you?
Probably not.
You've heard many boos tonight.
We're looking for chocolate.
If a toothbrush lands in the bag...
I will stand in your yard and boo. Booooo! Booooooooo!

Trifecta Writing Prompt
33-333 words, including the 3rd definition of boo.
Boo: (verb) to show dislike or disapproval of someone or something by shouting “Boo” slowly



We are going to trick or treat on Thursday (not dressed as prostitutes), and I will be looking for the chocolate. Reese's Cups. Almond Joys. Crunch Bars. (I had a dream about a Crunch Bar last week.) Not that I am going to collect candy; that is Katarina's job. But I will help her eat said candy. And I really would boo, at least internally, if someone was to hand out toothbrushes.

If you are going to participate in Halloween, you have to really participate. With candy. Because that is how it works.

What kind of candy do you give away on Halloween? 

Tweet

How Not To Pick A Halloween Costume

This costume choosing thing is a big deal. It is hard to find Halloween costumes for tween girls. So many of them look, well, slutty. It is worse if the girl is tall. If you have been anywhere near my family during the last week, you've been pulled into the costume brainstorming and asked for a Halloween costume suggestion by Katarina. She will then have told you, "My dad thinks I should dress as Belladonna Took, but I'm pretty sure no one will know who that is, and it will be confusing. I'll spend the whole night explaining the Lord of the Rings to people. Plus I have short hair. I need a costume that goes with short hair."

My friend Debra ended up on the phone with Katarina yesterday, and got caught in the costume conversation. It went a little something like this...

Katarina: I was thinking about being Wasp, because she is awesome, and we have matching hair. But there are no good Wasp costumes in my size.

Debra: I'm sure we can think of someone who has short hair. Oooh. Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables had short hair. You love that movie. It would be perfect. You can dress up as....what was her character's name?

Katarina: Fantine?

Debra: Yes. Dress up as Fantine! And you could make a dress out of a *potato sack since the story is from the French Revolution.

Katarina: Potato sack? I don't know about that. But really, I don't think Fantine is an appropriate costume choice.

Tracie (overhearing the conversation from across the room): Did she suggest you dress up like Fantine? From Les Misérables?

Katarina: Debra, have you seen Les Misérables?

Debra: Fantine would be perfect for you. The hair. The potato sack. You could sing the songs. It is perfect. No. I haven't seen it. Why?

Katarina: Well. See, Fantine....um....let me start from the beginning. She works in a factory-type thing, which is good, until her boss finds out she has a child, and isn't married. He fires her. And then she ends up, well, she can't find a job, and it is the 1700's and she needs money for Cosette, so she is forced to become a prostitute, and then she dies.

Debra (feeling a little flustered): Oh. What about a butterfly? A girl from the 70's? Or maybe a flower? A flower really would be perfect. Nice and happy.

We have only done this Halloween thing a couple of times, but I'm pretty sure part of trying to find a decent costume for your tween girl involves not encouraging her to dress like an actual prostitute.

After getting off the phone, Katarina said, "I was a little worried I was going to have to explain prostitution to Debra. Suddenly the thought of having to explain Lord of the Rings to everyone all night doesn't seem so awful anymore."

Have your kids picked their Halloween costumes?

*Is it a little bit wrong that the thing that horrified me the most about this conversation was the thought of sewing a French Revolution era dress from a potato sack? That is way outside of my skill set, and I'm not even sure if potatoes come in sacks anymore. My potatoes always come in bags - after they have been fried by the nice people at Lays.

Tweet

Gone Girl Gone

It is a tired Friday afternoon in which I find myself typing. My eyelids are droopy, and my arm is too disconnected from my brain to swipe the candies around on the screen. It isn't just the late night watching and discussing of documentaries yesterday, or the cold front that has finally brought feelings of fall. I am experiencing the drugged feeling of finishing an exhausting book.

My brain wants to dissect every plan, every clue, every plot twist in Gone Girl. Except, I don't. Not really. I know I'm nearly the last person in America to read it at this point, but I often read one step behind the rest of the world. Just in case you are one step behind even me, I will warn you that many spoilers are about to happen.

Gone Girl. I was careful to not let my eyes dart across reviews or blog posts about it. Other than knowing it was particularly twisty and dark, I had no idea what the plot was when I put my name on the hold list at the library months ago. It arrived this week, and I read it today. Dark and twisty felt right for a cold Friday afternoon, sun streaming in through the curtains at just the right angle.

I was underwhelmed. I like twisty. I like having two points of view to work with. I enjoy a character who is ready to do a little self-analyzing. I like diary entries in books. There were a lot of things seemingly in the plus column for this book - until they weren't.

Two points of view are great until you realize you loathe both of them. At that point, it just feels like twice the torture.

The more Nick analyzed himself, the more I felt like Gillian Flynn was manipulating the reader into forgiving him, liking him, wanting to be on his side even though he had killed Amy. Even though you didn't believe he had killed Amy. Even though he had killed Amy. Even though he was a cheater. Even though he hadn't killed Amy, and only fantasized about it constantly - before, during, and after her disappearance. Here's the thing. I don't like Nick. I could barely bring myself to feel sorry for him at any point in the book.

Diaries are great reading because they are often unfiltered; they hold those words that aren't uttered aloud. They can be personal or clinical in a recording of the day kind of way. There are many directions to take a diary. Heck, my own journals read like a combination of all of that if you were to pick out several random days to read (please don't). But it did not take many chapters for Amy's diary entries to feel contrived. Knowing later that they were contrived did not make that better for me. It just made me feel like the writing was lazy, because in the book those diary entries were supposed to be so convincing to the police and her family that they could not possibly have a contrived air about them at all.

How do you know if a diary is fake?
A. The diary author stops twice to point out that she correctly used me instead of I in her sentence.
B. The diary author says things like, "I think he is going to kill me" in a diary that she presumably would have kept in the home with this soon-to-be-murderous man.
C. The diary author actually includes quizzes in it as a hat tip to her job of being a quiz writer even thought that is something that only people in movies do.
D. All of the above

Answer: D. But A is the most annoying.

Seriously Gillian Flynn, thanks for the grammar lesson. I already knew when to use I and when to use me, but clearly you are on a one-woman mission to teach the rest of the world how to do it right. Will you fake your own murder and implicate the grammar-abusing people of America in your death if they do not begin using those two words correctly?

This was a book that, like Amy's fake diary, tried too hard. It tried too hard to be dark and twisty. It tried too hard to be a little bit of everything: Rich, educated New York girl. Hard-working midwestern boy. Bad economy. Bad parents (bad in two different ways - just to cover all the bases). The "Blue Book Boys" living in an abandoned mall and supposedly roaming the town like a gang. Perfect marriage (Amy's parents). Broken marriage (Nick's parents). Toxic marriage (Amy and Nick). Rednecks. Stalkers. Rapists. Stalkers and rapists who were set up. Old money. New money. No money. Love as a prison. Preppy boarding school. Abused women hiding out until their bruises faded. Names that were purely ridiculous. Cultural and literary references that feel forced onto the characters when they were supposed to make them seem hip, special, or (with a nod to Amy) "cool."

With all of the tired stereotypes Flynn trotted out, I should have at least been able to identify with one character in the book, even accidentally, but it never happened. And the sideways indictment of the Nancy Grace/TV tabloid culture that permeated the storyline has been done before, and done better.

Somewhere in the middle of the second part, I was kind of hoping Desi would jump out of the bushes and kill everyone. Maybe he could have joined forces with that girl who didn't actually try to take over Amy's life in high school and the guy who never actually raped Amy, and they could have bombed the Mississippi River. At least it would have put me out of my reader's misery.

This takes me back to being underwhelmed. There was some good writing. I didn't immediately guess the twisty plot, and the ending was a bit of a shock (although I did have it on my list of possible endings, so it wasn't that much of a shock). Maybe it is just all of the hype that surrounded it. Maybe I expected more. Maybe I expected something different. Maybe the sunlight wasn't streaming in at an exactly perfect angle this afternoon like I originally thought. But no matter how many outside circumstances stood in the way of me not loving this book as much as everyone else seemed to love it, I think the majority of the blame still sits with Flynn and her writing choices. The smugness that dripped off of every page. And the pointing out of the correct usage of the word me. Twice. I don't think I will ever be able to forgive that.

Have you read Gone Girl?
Did you like it? If so, I would love for you to argue with me a bit here, and bring me over to your side. I wanted to like it. I really did.

Tweet

I Can't Be Well-Rounded

Thomas: Let's watch Enemy At The Gates.

Katarina: Is that a war movie? I don't enjoy war movies.

Tracie: Well-rounded movie people watch a lot of different kinds of movies. One year your father and I watched our way through the entire Blockbuster collection section by section. I enjoyed some genres more than others, but some of my favorite movies were ones I did not expect to like.

Katarina: I can't be well-rounded. I am a star with a heart in the middle. I have five points. I will list them for you:
Point A - I like puppies.
Point B - I find war movies to be particularly uninteresting.
Point C - I eat things that contain sugar.
Point D - I love pink.
Point E - I read.

How do you argue with that? (By watching the movie anyway!)
At least I can be happy she didn't threaten to create a pie chart.

What shape would you be in the Nall family movie conversation?

Tweet

$200 Visa Gift Card Giveaway from @pickURgift

A couple of weeks ago, I told you how to use pickURgift.com to become a master gift-buyer by using reverse wishlists. It is simple and free. You add the UR button to your browser, and start creating wishlists.

I'm going to create a reverse wishlist for my friend Tonya. I always have a hard time picking out the perfect gift for her.

This is my pickURgift dashboard. From here I can add contacts, create gift pages (reverse wishlists), and be reminded of any upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, or special occasions for my contacts. I will also be alerted when someone responds to a wishlist I have sent.

I add Tonya as a contact, and create a Gift Page for her birthday.

Now I am ready to window shop.

As I come across things I think Tonya would like, I click on the UR button. I choose Tonya's name from the drop down menu, and choose Tonya's Birthday under Add to Gift Page. I choose the appropriate picture, and can also add a note or description of the item.

When I am ready to send the Reverse Wishlist to Tonya, I find it under My Gift Pages on my dashboard. You can see that I can easily edit or delete any items, and can also add a note or question to any of the items. I asked her if she has read any of the Outlander books, because I think she is somewhere in the middle of the series, but I'm not sure where.

Once I am happy with my picks, I send it to her. She will receive an email with the link to her gift page where she will be able to leave comments telling me which items she loves and which ones are not her thing. I will buy her the perfect birthday gift, and everyone will be happy.

PickURgift is more personal than a gift card, because your friends and family will see that you spent time "shopping" for them. They get to choose which gifts they would love the most, so you know for sure which gift will be a hit. For more information about how pickURgift.com makes your gift buying easier, check out my post on becoming a gift-buying master. Now, it is time for the giveaway!

The creators of pickURgift.com are giving away a $200 Visa Gift Card to one of my readers. You can use it to get a jumpstart on your Christmas shopping, or for anything else that makes you happy.

To Enter: Register at pickURgift.com with your name and email address - they will never ask you for credit card information because it is a free service. Create a Reverse Wishlist with 2-4 items on it. When you name your Reverse Wishlist, add FTG to the end of it so we can verify you created it for this giveaway (example: Tonya's Birthday FTG). That's it! Good luck.

There are extra entries for following pickURgift.com on social media and sharing this giveaway.

(My great friend Lee is holding a similar giveaway over on her site, so you can enter to win twice if you create another gift list. Head over to My Sentiment ExactLee to win more money!)

Use this Rafflecopter widget to enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The giveaway will run until November 12, 2013 at 12am EST.
Rules and other legal things:
-You must be a US resident with a US mailing address to enter.
-Winner will be contacted by email.
-Winner will have 48 hours to respond.

Tweet

Spooktacular SeaWorld (and Penguins)

We have lived in Orlando for several years, but until last week, we had never visited SeaWorld. Katarina and I stopped by for an afternoon to visit the Halloween Spooktacular last weekend. There are not many better ways to spend a day than hanging out with awesome marine life and getting lots of candy.

SeaWorld's Spooktacular is really cute. They have dance parties, craft areas, and a special Sesame Street show that is perfect for younger kids. But the important thing is the trick or treating. They provide you with bags and a map, and you collect great candy. The path is decorated for Halloween, and there are bubbles everywhere. You all know I enjoy anything that involves candy, and I will never be too old to enjoy bubbles.

In between the candy stops, they have picture spots with mermaids, fish, and other cute characters. We especially liked these sea witches.

They were perfectly in character. As as soon as they saw Katarina in her cat ears (it was way too hot to wear a full costume, but Katarina couldn't pass up a chance to dress up even just a little bit), they called her a catfish. Get it? Catfish? They told us they have a catfish who likes to climb land trees. I was a little suspicious of that story, but I'm not going to argue with a sea witch.

The other big hit was the cookie decorating station. It is an extra charge to purchase the cookie and decorating set, but it was nice to sit in the shade and relax while the kids were hard at work on their cookies. I didn't mind helping Katarina eat her cookie or the extra Reese's Pieces and Candy Corn, either.

We couldn't go to SeaWorld and not see at least one show. There are several to choose from (SeaWorld is much larger than I expected, and it would definitely take more than one day to explore, see each show, and ride everything). We picked the Shamu show, because, obviously that is necessary.

The orcas were impressive, and it was kind of magical. Taking pictures was a challenge, because you never knew where they were going to jump out of the water. I eventually gave up on pictures and just enjoyed the show.

We also visited the Antarctica ride and exhibit. At the end of the ride, you get to see penguins.

So many penguins. They swim right up by the wall, and jump out of the water, and really are quite close to you. It was awesome. It was also very cold.

Unlike the SeaWorld employees who are in there all day, we did not have heavy jackets. But that didn't stop us from spending a long time with the penguins. I seriously did not want to leave. My love for penguins kept me warm. Well, maybe not warm exactly, but it distracted me from the cold.

We made it to one of the big aquariums and visited the sea lions before the park closed. I want to go back with Thomas (he was working while we were having fun), and see everything we missed - especially the big roller coasters that I couldn't go on with Katarina. She likes rides, but I am the only one in my family who truly appreciates roller coasters that go upside down, so we stuck with the tame rides on this trip. Katarina actually wanted to ride some of them by herself. She gave me that look (that, dare I say it, almost teenage look) and said, "I'm old enough to ride without you, mom." It was a little heartbreaking. Partly because she is old enough, and partly because I've never seen a ride I didn't want to ride.

In related SeaWorld stories: I talked to my mom on the phone this week, and she told me about visiting SeaWorld when she was a kid. There was an area set up where divers went into a huge tank and collected oysters with pearls in them. She bought one, and had it put into a ring. It sounded like such an awesome idea, I thought they must not do it anymore, because I had never heard anyone else mention it. But I looked it up, and it is still at thing. It is called Oyster's Secret, and it works exactly like my mom remembered it. You watch the divers as they collect the oysters (it looks like they do cool tricks, too, and they dive without air tanks), and you can have the pearl put into a piece of jewelry. I can't believe more people aren't talking about this.

The next time I visit, it is definitely something I want to check out. I would like to maybe get a pearl for my mom. She told me it was such a special experience for her. She loved the ring, and wore it for years, but it got lost in a move when I was little. If you have been to SeaWorld and done this, I would love to hear about your experience.

*This post is not sponsored in any way. I just had a really fun day, and wanted to share it with you. Plus, penguins. It is impossible to not write about penguins.

Tweet

I Want To Know All About You

Have you ever noticed that it is possible to spend a lot of time working on your blog? Not just the time you spend writing, or the time you spend on social media promoting it, or even the time you spend contributing to the blogging community by reading other blogs and leaving thoughtful comments, although these are all things you need to be doing. No. I am talking about the time you spend moving things around on your sidebar, or reading 57 articles about SEO, or making small changes to your code that only affects things that happen behind the scenes. They are all important changes, but probably not very many people will notice them.

These are the changes I often get caught up in making, spending hours working away on my blog, seemingly without a lot to show for it.

I did that today.

In between reorganizing my sidebar (only to move everything back to where it was when I started) and starting the project of putting all of my old posts into categories, I made a big change. A change I have been talking about for a long time, and putting off for just as long.

I updated my about page.

No longer does it say "I have a daughter named Katarina who is seven years old." This is important, because although I do have a daughter named Katarina, she is now ten years old. That one sentence has been a glaring reminder of just how long it has been since I touched my about page.

A tip from me to you: Do not wait three years to update your about page.

In honor of my newly updated about page, and because I know I'm not the only blogger who needs an update, I am going to share a list of things that will help to make your about page awesome.

How To Write An Awesome About Page
Your name.
When you meet someone for the first time in person, you tell them your name. This is what you should do on your about page, too. If you want or need to be anonymous on your blog, you can pick a pen name for yourself, but you need to give your visitors and readers something to call you.

A picture of you.
If you are not blogging anonymously, you need to have a picture of yourself on your about page. It does not have to be a serious, professional headshot, but it does need to be large, in focus, and not contain partially cropped bits of your family or friends.

A picture of your family.
If your family is a big part of your blog, and you feel comfortable sharing pictures of your children, you need to include them on your about page. If you do not write about your family often, you can skip this step, but parenting and lifestyle bloggers especially need to give their new readers an introduction to the family members who will be making regular appearances in their posts.

Other pictures.
If you are a craft or food blogger, don't just tell me you share great recipes or tutorials, show me a couple of pictures of your best work. Make my mouth water for yummy food or my fingers twitch with the desire to craft.

Information about you.
This is the heart of your about page. What do you want people to know about you? What makes you special? Your about page should make a visitor want to immediately subscribe and follow you everywhere, because they are convinced that you are awesome. This should be easy, as you are awesome. Just make sure you let that show.

If you want to use your blog to help you sell a service, build a freelance writing career, work with brands, or any other career furthering goals, you can include some résumé information. Link to any major awards or recognition you have received, share big achievements, and mention brands or businesses you have worked with in the past. This does not have to be long, and it does not have to be exhaustive - just give readers the best highlights, and link to your LinkedIn profile if you want to share a detailed résumé.

An overview of your blog.
Tell us about your blog. What inspired you to blog? When did you start? What can readers expect to find on your blog? Why do they want to read YOUR blog instead of the millions of other blogs that are out there?

Your about page is a good place to include links to a few of your favorite or most popular posts, either within the text, or in a short list. A good about page will inspire people to stay on your blog and do more exploring; giving them links makes it easier.

If you have well-defined categories, you could even take your about page up a notch by sharing a short blurb about each category before sharing links to relevant posts. You get bonus points for adding picture headings for these category blurbs.

Inspiration.
Engage your readers. Your about page is a place to show potential readers what they will get out of reading your blog. So even though it is a page about you, it needs to be about your readers, too. Draw them in. Show them how your blog adds value to their lives.

Your contact information.
I know you have your social media profiles linked in your sidebar, and you have a whole separate page on your blog for your contact information (you do have both of those things, right? if not, you need to add them immediately), but you need to put it in your about page, too. Don't make people go on a treasure hunt to find your twitter profile or email address.

Your voice.
Your about page should match your blog in style and voice, and not sound like a stale press release. It doesn't matter how interesting your story, categories, or links are if your writing is forced and boring; visitors will be running away as fast as they can click the little red x in the corner. Let your natural writing style rule when you write your about page. Example: If you are a humor blogger, I want to laugh when I read your about page.

Extra Credit
- If you have a free ebook or anything else that you give away on your blog, include information about it on your about page. Let visitors see your generosity.
- If vlogging is your thing, add a short video to your about page, but make sure to include written content as well.

An about page should be seen as a work in progress. I'm not going to wait three years to update mine again, and neither should you. I know it seems like it is just hidden away on your navigation bar, and creating new content is more important, but a day focused on updating your about page is time well spent. It is the first thing that many visitors and potential new readers look at to decide if they want to come back, often even before they read your latest post.

Is there anything else you like to see included in an about page when you visit a new blog?

Tweet

What I Know Right Now

When my mind is busy and full, it is hard to find the words that slip back into the dark corners, waiting for quiet to fall before they show themselves. Those words will stay in their comfy corners until they are ready to come out. That is where most of my words are today. Hiding. Waiting. Still deciding in which order to line up on the screen.

Until the words decide to show themselves, I will tell you what I know right now...

If I had a pet, I would be one of those people who takes endless pictures to put online. Sometimes there would be props and captions. This is either a really good reason to get a pet, or a sign that you should all be really happy I do not have one.

Raisins should always be covered in chocolate, and potato chips without dip are sad.

There are still businesses out there that have a busy signal when you call. They may or may not exist for the purpose of hiring someone to sneak into your friend's yard in the middle of the night to leave 50 flamingos as a birthday announcement.

The dishes will not do themselves.

I love fall (a lot), but there are people who love fall even more than me, and those people all hang out together on Pinterest. Related Information: I had a dream about a s'mores bar last night. There were twinkle lights in the trees, and crunchy yellow and red leaves everywhere.

Time spent in prayer is never time wasted. When people say, "Prayer changes things," what they usually mean is, "Prayer changes the hearts of those who pray."

The beginning of a new week is a beautiful thing.
I hope yours is already off to an awesome start.

Tweet

Blog Version Of The Halloween Meme

I saw this on The Stirrup Queens blog this morning, and couldn't resist playing along. It is time to have a little fun with this blogging thing - especially since I'm still stuck on level 325 of Candy Crush after trying to beat it for two weeks. I need a distraction from the candies that just won't be crushed.

These are Melissa's directions:
Take the categories below. Open your blog. Look at the first comment on each of your last 10 posts. Fill in one name per category (keeping the order of most recent post to 10 posts ago) and link their name to their blog. Then hit publish. If you have a post without a comment, skip to the next one. And then chide your readers for screwing up your meme: obviously, they need to step it up and leave more comments.

In honour of every horror movie made in the 80's:
1. Decides the creepy house is safe. Mary
(I think this comes from watching too many Disney movies and not enough horror movies. Not that there is really such a thing as too many Disney movies.)

2. Screams like a Banshee. Tamara
(You were just upset that you dropped your camera before you could snap a picture of the killer.)

3. Scares you as a joke. Robbie K
(I will get you back for this one day.)

4. Goes into the woods and gets killed. Erika
(This seems particularly sad because your blog is called The Girl Next Door Grows Up, and now you won't be able to fulfill that title.)

5. First to go insane. Stephanie Faris
(Don't worry, we are all just one half-step behind you.)

6. Murdered saving someone. Kate
(So sad. At least you were wearing your Saved By The Bell t-shirt when it happened.)

7. Has your back no matter what jumps out. Tia - Becomin Neurotic
(Obviously.)

8. Has a solid survivor plan no one listens. Alison
(Your plan must not have involved eating cookies. I would have listened to that plan for sure.)

9. Runs off screaming never to be seen again. Kristen
(Wait, wait! I'll run with you! <---these are words I will never say or type again.)

10. Is the real killer. Crystal
(Oh Crystal, won't the Ewoks be disappointed in you?)


Do you agree with the results?
Is this a movie you would watch?
Which character type would you be in a horror movie?

Tweet

How To Give The Perfect Gift Every Time With PickURGift.com

*This post has been sponsored. I was not required to say nice things, or to spend hours finding perfect presents for every person I love.

Gift giving can be simultaneously beautiful and stressful. I think this is why gift cards have become so popular. It seems easier to just give someone the card, and let them buy what they want.

When I was a kid, my dad had a firm no gift card rule. He would say, "Gift cards are so impersonal. Go to the store, and choose something specific." Protestations of, "But what if she doesn't like it? I want to give her something she really wants, and this way she can pick it out," were met with, "She will be happy to get a gift, and will like that you took the time to choose it. That makes it special."

While he was probably right, and it is fun to pick out something specific, I know we have all been the recipient of at least one gift that wasn't exactly something we wanted. Like the time my husband tried to buy me a shirt - it was a nice thought, but there was no way I could actually wear that shirt out in public.

If only someone would invent a way for us to buy gifts without frustration, firm in the knowledge that the gift receiver will love our choice. Frustrated gift giver, your wish has been answered. Meet pickURgift.com, a free service that allows you to make a reverse wishlist.

What is a reverse wishlist, and how does it work? You create a list full of gifts you think your friend would love. Once the list is complete, you send it to said friend. She will look at the list, give feedback and mark the things she likes, and send it back to you. Now you know which gifts would be a hit, and you can choose one of them to buy. It takes all the stress out of gift giving.

Registering with pickURgift
The registration process is easy. They only require your name, email address, and birthday. Since you don't purchase any products through pickURgift, you will not be asked for credit card information.

The UR Button
After your account is set up, you are ready to start creating reverse wishlists. The first step is adding the bookmarklet, called a UR Button, to your bookmarks bar. It is a simple, onetime drag and drop process, but they do have instructions for every browser type if you have any difficulties. This is great for when you invite your parents, who might not be as tech-savvy as you are, to join. You won't have to spend a long time on the phone talking them through it.

Now that you have the UR Button in your bookmarks bar, you are ready to window shop and create wishlists. (Window shopping in your pajamas is bliss.) When you find something your friend would like, click the UR Button. A pickURgift box will pop up on the right side of the screen. You choose the gift recipient and wish list from drop down menus, click on the image you want displayed, and also have the option of adding a note or description.

You can add to your wishlists easily anytime you come across something that you think might be a great fit. When you have completed your list, you tell pickURgift to email it to your friend. A notification will pop up on your dashboard when your recipient picks gifts from your list that she would like, or leaves comments on the gifts you picked.

I started this wishlist for my mom (shhhh - don't tell her, I'm not ready to send it yet), and you can see that I can easily edit or delete items from the wishlist page.

Even if you don't choose to send your reverse wishlist to your friend for feedback, you will have all of your gift ideas organized and saved to make your shopping easy.

Contacts and Profiles
Within the pickURgift website, you have the ability to build a contact list. For each contact you add, you can record their personal gift dates like birthdays and anniversaries. This is great for people like me who can barely remember my own anniversary, much less anyone else's.

More wonderful than remembering the dates, pickURgift gives each contact a preferences profile that includes clothing sizes, color choices, and other important information. No more guessing if those kicky shoes will fit, or that great sweater will be too big.

You aren't limited on contacts or wishlists, so you can get started on your list building whenever you come across something you think might be perfect for a friend or family member (I'm looking at you early Christmas shoppers). I've already started reverse wishlists for several people.

This is where I really see the brilliance of pickURgift.com. My mom lives on the other side of the country, and when she wants to send gifts to Katarina, it involves a LOT of phone calls, emails, and messages asking me questions about sizes, preferences, and opinions. My mom likes to pick out gifts herself, but not being here everyday can make it hard to know exactly what to buy. I hate sending her a gift list, because I don't know how much money she is planning on spending, and it always feels a little bit awkward to ask for specific presents.

It will be fabulous for my mom to be able to build a list of items she would be able to buy, and send it to me to look over. I can pick the things that will work best, and then she can order them when she is ready. I can even show something to Katarina to get her reaction without Katarina knowing it has anything to do with a gift possibility.

If the gift is clothes (grandmas love sending cute outfits) my mom will be able to look at the preferences profile, and have all the size information right there waiting for her. That will stop those midnight phone calls to ask, "Should I get a medium or large in this shirt, and what shoe size is Katarina wearing now?" Everyone will be happy.

I love websites that make my life easier, and pickURgift is definitely one of the good ones. You can find them at pickURgift.com, on facebook, and twitter.

What is the best gift you have ever given or received?

Tweet

We Dreamed Of Flying Away

The summer days were hot, and the air was so thick with humidity we could almost see it. We could see the steam that was rising off the asphalt, but it was worth the heat to have that stolen time. We ran, rode bikes really, almost free.

There was never a bike that fit any of us just perfectly, so the beginning of the summer was full of hours spent dismantling and rebuilding until we had at least three usable bikes. Most of my knowledge of tools was born in those summer mornings.

There was something thrilling about riding as fast as we could around the one driveway in the neighborhood with a semicircle shape. The owners probably hated it, but we kept daring each other to "do the circle one more time."

I never learned how to use the gears and speed settings correctly, but I mastered the art of popping off the corner of the third driveway on the street - going a little higher each time. I secretly wished the bike would fly, and carry me far away. I only spoke that wish aloud one time, on a day when only two of us were riding. My admission was met with a, "Me too," that was not unexpected, but something unspoken between us made us never mention it again.

Turning the corner felt like entering another world. Finally clear of being seen from the brown house, obscured by the weeping willow on the corner, we stopped to rest in the shade of an overhanging oak tree. The houses around the corner felt lush and green in a way the yards on our grandparent's street never did.

We turned one more corner, and sped by slowed cars to jump over speed bumps. Our ultimate destination was the construction site that hadn't been officially marked as off limits, because none of the adults knew we were riding in that direction. We stashed our bikes behind the dumpster, and wandered through the skeletal shape; carefully climbing the crude stairs that were more like ladders in some places, arguing which third story bedroom would be the best, and laying in the hot sun when we finally reached the top floor. It is a wonder that house ever got built, because construction workers were never there on those summer days.

When the air could no longer contain the moisture, we felt the hot raindrops hit our faces. It was time to run for our bikes. Racing over speed bumps that seemed to have grown larger during our adventures, and more arduous to climb, we headed home. Never taking flight, except in our imagination and dreams. We hid in the garage, behind a wall of carefully labeled boxes, until a voice from across the courtyard called us back inside to cool air conditioning, crackers adorned with cream cheese and raisins, and sweaty glasses of Mountain Dew.

Tweet

I Am Thankful #PostPositive

In the spirit of Post Positive, I am going to share ten things I'm thankful for this week.

1. Post Positive
This is a great place to start. I've been visiting the Post Positive event on facebook all day today, and it has been wonderful to read the messages of thankfulness and happiness left there. It really does make a difference when you fill your day with positive things.

2. Saying Thank You
I wrote a letter (yes, an actual paper letter in an envelope affixed with a stamp that had to be taken to the post office) to someone who was a major blessing in my life fifteen years ago. Sometimes it is good to go back to your roots, and recognize who helped you to become the person you are today.

3. Pictures Of Fall
I have a couple of amazing people in my life who live north of me, and they have been sending me pictures of fall this week. I love every single one of them (the pictures and the people), and it makes me giddy with happiness to look at their beautiful leaves.

4. A Husband Who Loves Subtitled Movies
We are watching our way through the library's foreign films section. I'm thankful Thomas likes random, offbeat movies as much as I do, and that he isn't afraid of a few subtitles.

5. Yellow
No list of thankfulness would be complete without at least one picture of something yellow. Some people would call this a weed, but I prefer to see it as a flower.

6. Phone Calls With Funny Stories
There is nothing better than a phone call that starts, "I know you are busy, but I had to call you for two minutes to tell you the funniest thing that happened today, because I know you are the one person who will really appreciate it," and ends with a whole lot of laughter. I had two of those today.

7. Clouds
There have been the most amazing clouds outside my window this week. In the "stop and appreciate the small beauties" category of life, clouds are on top of my list.

8. The Sun Breaking Through The Clouds
Literally and metaphorically. I've had a little bit of both this week, and I'm thankful for every sliver of light I see streaming down.

9. New TV Shows
I am so happy the fall tv season is here. My Hulu queue was very sad all summer, and now I have at least 15 lovely episodes sitting there just waiting to be watched. (Anyone have tips for adding 15 hours to my day so I can actually watch all of them?)

10. Rejoicing With Friends
This takes us back to number one. I love when my friends get good news, and I get to rejoice with them. Prayers answered. Hearts lifted. Happy moments. Good stuff.


What are you thankful for today?

Tweet

Revolutionize Facebook #PostPositive

My friend Vanessa (the Vanessa, who is not an ax murderer and blogs occasionally at Every Good Thing) recently had a conversation about all of the negativity on facebook. I know you have seen it. If it isn't someone posting hate-filled messages, political rants, or depressing accounts of their day in passive aggressive vagueness, it is an update of someone else complaining about all the hate-filled messages, rants, and passive aggressive vagueness they have seen that day.

Vanessa's friend said, "Maybe we should have one Facebook day dedicated to nothing but positivity - telling your friends and family how much they mean to you, sharing positive sayings, and linking to heartwarming stories. Anything to create the ripple effect of serenity."

This is how the idea for Post Positive was born.

October 4th is World Smile Day. We are going to celebrate by posting only positive things all day.

We aren't going to be positive just on facebook. We are going to be positive everywhere... Instagram. Twitter. Pinterest. Blog posts. While talking to our kids. At the coffee shop. While driving in crazy traffic. During that phone call with our moms. Sitting in the pick up line at school. While talking to our spouses. When we see the frazzled parent at the grocery store trying to maneuver through the aisles with two cranky kids. Standing on the crowded bus or subway. And tomorrow night, when we are alone with our quiet thoughts before sleep claims us.

Post Positive isn't about being fake or stuffing down feelings. Bad things happen, and it is okay to have very real reactions to those things and reach out for support during those times. But for one day, we are going to look for the good things. Post Positive is a day to intentionally give smiles away. Look for, and focus on, things that make you happy. Be thankful and kind. Share good things with the people you love, the people you only see online, and the people you have just met. Be encouraging.

Help us create the ripple effect of serenity.
If you want to be positive with us, you can join the facebook event. Vanessa will be sharing some positive and happy news articles (they really do exist) to help you get positive posting ideas, but mostly it will be a good reminder that you aren't alone. When all of us spread positivity and love, it makes a difference.

#PostPositive
Join the positivity revolution.

Let's get started a day early with a little practice.
What makes you smile?
What is one awesome thing that happened today?

Tweet

Library Squirrel

I saw a squirrel outside of the library on Monday. I looked at the squirrel, and he looked at me, and we shared a moment.

In my everlasting need to anthropomorphize any animal I come in contact with, I wondered if he lives by the library because he wants to learn how to read. He might sit in the windows and look in at all the books, wondering if there is one in there that could teach him how to talk to humans.

Or maybe he finds humans mostly unimportant. He did not seem to be too scared of me, even staying still long enough for me to pull out my camera. City squirrels have to get used to noise and people if they are ever going to come out of their trees.

I feel a particular love for squirrels. It is probably due in part to all the Bob Ross I watched as a child, and even more to Poncho and Lefty, the two squirrels Thomas, Katarina and I raised. It was nice, even for just a minute, to connect with this library squirrel. I would be happy to sneak him into the library, if only he could promise me not to chew on the books.

Tweet