May 21, 2009
Charlie and River after a dip in the water
After a few trips to the mechanic I think I finally got my boat in shape for the summer. I am getting better at backing up the trailer and launching the boat by myself. I love going to the lake after work with the dogs. They swim and swim. I think they are finally figuring out that the life jackets actually work and keep them afloat. I’m ready for a summer of fun – bring on the heat!
Watching the sun set
May 7, 2009
Mom and Morgan Dec 05
For some reason this Mother’s Day is top of my mind. I think about all the mothers out there that do remarkable things for their children and families. This June will mark 3 years that my mom has died. I miss her today just as much as I did the moment I learn of her death. I think about how I am taking after her, even though our lives were so different. The one thing that remains solid in my mind about her is how gracious she was. She always did the right thing, no matter what.
Recently my Uncle (her brother-in-law) passed away. I traveled with my younger cousin to the funneral. We talked about our childhoods and how we remembered my mom. Robin, my cousin, remarked at how my mom attended all the major events in her life; high school graduation, 16th birthday, wedding, college graduation and so on. That was my mom. She always received an invitation and always went. Not because she felt obligated, but because it was the right thing to do. She supported everyone and she showed it by being there. Her gifts were always wrapped with bows and were appropriate for the event.
So today I think about how I can honor my mom on this Mother’s Day. If she were alive we would go shopping, have lunch and she might even talk me into going to Church with her. Regardless of what we would have done, we would have spent time together. I would hug her and tell her how much I love her, just like I did a few days before she died. She was the rock in our family. Unfortunatly I didn’t know that until she died. Our family is still close, but out of anger and not love. It is sad to me and my mom would be sad for us. This is not how she would want it, but she knew she couldn’t control other relationships.
Mom, Dad and Morgan
Since I’m only a mother to two golden retrievers I’ll spend mother’s day alone, but thinking about my mom. I’ll cry like I usually do when I talk to her and tell her how much I love her…just like I am right now. I feel blessed to have had such a great mom and thankful that I have half of her DNA. I hope I can someday live up to her expectations and do because it is the right thing.
I love you mom and miss you!
March 30, 2009
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Morning walk on the beach with Charlie
March 11, 2009
For the past few days I have become addicted to Twitter. It all started with a post. That post grew to followers who I now follow. The majority of the posts are to great blogs and articles. Topics range from social media to skiing to world injustices. Regardless of the topic I love the content sharing. I would have never read or have seen so much in this short amount of time.
March 7, 2009
Pups enjoying the snow in the backyard
This week we had crazy weather. Last weekend it rained until everyone’s yard flooded. Then Sunday night it turned to snow. And now, a week later it is 70 degrees and sunny.
Since I miss the Utah snow, I’m posting these pictures of my dogs playing in the snow.
March 5, 2009
I keep reading on and on that Twitter is the next big thing. But what is this thing? I have an account (see link at the bottom of this page on the right side bar), follow a few people, they follow me (why I don’t know yet). I first thought of it as a status update of my friends without having to go to my Facebook account. Then I noticed that the people I follow don’t use it to update their status so much, but rather send urls and talk about brands. In fact they “tweet” mutliple times a day versus every few days for most on Facebook.
Now this brings me to my job. I’ve been tasked with incorporating social media into our online marketing mix. For the past few months I slowly came to the conclusion that if we’re not there, then we’re hurting ourselvs for the longrun, but for now there was no benefit. Confusing to say the least. The path and purpose is not clear.
As part of my morning ritual, I read Tech Crunch. Today there is an article about Twitter that actually makes sense and is worth reading. Take a look and draw your own conclusions.
March 4, 2009
Some years ago, when I was working at my first Internet company I was in a meeting. In that meeting our manager told the team we all needed to create our own web sites. We sat around the table trying to think of what we would create. I thought about what interested me most. I figured I’d have better success in keeping it updated if I chose a topic I like. This gave the following choices – skiing, travel, drinking, dogs, ski towns, just to name a few. I chose dogs. I have two Goldens (seen in the header pic) who are my kids. Since the obvious urls were taken, I remembered a product I saw in a dog catalog – dog goggles. It cracked me up to see the dog wearing them. I even considered buying them since my dogs love to stick their heads out the car windows. However my dogs wouldn’t wear them, so avoided wasting the money.
Anyway, as the discussion grew from dogs and goggles, I blurted out dogdoogle as I combined words. It was funny at the time. So that is how the name came about. I own dogdoogle.com, although need to learn how to design the site for today. I had a friend do the coding years ago, and haven’t really touched it since.
If anybody knows of simple and easy templates I can use that are free to re-write the site, let me know. I’m not much of a coder or even know html, but know how to market sites once they are built.
March 1, 2009
Last spring I attended a fund raiser for the local Golden Retriever Rescue, since I have two of my own. Among the table of goodies for sale where these really cool dog collars. From a distance I couldn’t tell what they were made of, but knew they weren’t the usual material. I was impressed once I saw the metal buckle. I hate the plastic snap on so many dog collars. They’re cheap.
Quickly I learned these collars are made here in Charlotte by a company called DublinDog. I bought the Lots O’ Luck and Kaleidoscope. Since my dogs will be walking on this years St. Patty’s Day parade in Charlotte, these were a perfect fit. River has the pink and green while Charlie will be sporting the green and white – along with extra green around their necks – pictures to follow.
Be sure to check this company out. They are small, but provide a great product (and no I don’t get paid if you buy their products through the above links). I am just happy to see a company who is creating a high quality product in my neck of the woods.
