Belly Flab and Bingo Arms

Isn't that an attractive title for this post? Sadly, it hits me where I am today. I really struggled in yoga class today surrounded by all of the the slender asian women and punk-haired 50 year olds in jogging bras with defined tricepts.

It was really hard to watch size 12 me--with a t-shirt and yoga pants that left nowhere to hide--in the surroundvision mirrors that wall the classroom.

In college, my friend, Suzanne would talk about "having the fat and uglies." Today is one of those days.

I've often wondered why women struggle with this. Why we rarely--if ever--feel beautiful. And though commercial media plays into it, (reference Dove film below) it isn't all of it.

I hate feeling that I'm not everything I'm supposed to be. As if I fall short somehow. As if grabbing a french fry out of Bethany's sack is a cardinal sin.

No big epiphanies today. Just a snapshot inside my head. Which hopefully is exactly the weight it is supposed to be.

Friday Night at the Movies

After work, we went to the movies to see Get Smart.

First of all, I laughed through the whole thing. It is especially funny if you were a fan of the original show because they keep doing little "nods" back to it.

Also, the casting was perfect. Everything from Hiro (from Heroes) to "that guy who was on Studio 60" as the analysts to Alan Arkin (The Chief), The Rock (Agent 23), and Anne Hathaway (Agent 99).

Of course, they couldn't have found a more perfect Maxwell Smart than Steve Carell.

Afterward, we all (Lisa, Scott, Clifton, Katya, John and I) came back to our house and hung out for desert and to talk. The subject was politics and no blood was shed. (My views rarely coincide with those around me...so Cathy, she lay low.)

We did have a bit of a tragedy in that Katya ran into our glass door and chipped her front tooth. (Not just a little...a lot.) So, she'll be at the dentist early Monday AM.

As for me, I'm exhaused. I should be asleep in minutes.

The Joy of Wordle.net

I've heard about Wordle this week from two different sources, so I decided to check it out.

The concept is simple. Paste in some text and Wordle creates art from it in the form of a Java applet.

Here is the text from the previous post. Enjoy!

Chase's Motorcycle

As part of Chase's new adventure, he bought his bike today. He spent the past two days in class, got his license and now is the proud owner of a motorcycle.

He had to drive to a town south of here to get it and came back sunburned and happy.

I'm happy for him.

For anyone who's ever felt un-beautiful

I love Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. I found this via the blog of a technical director I met at the Willow Creek Arts Conference. It is one thing to know that this happens, but it is another thing to see it happen in 30 seconds.

The Joys of the Ice Lizard!!

No, I don't remember who in our family dubbed it the Ice Lizard. All I know is that each summer when the pink buildings pop back up in their places, I get really excited.

Snow cones are one of the simple joys that make 100 degree days bearable.

Today I took a vacation day to recharge my internal batteries. Afternoon snow cones were an important element.

Mmmmm.....

The Club Scrap Workshop

I've never been a scrapbooker, but, my friend, Robin-the-Artist introduced me to the joys of stamping and paper art. There is something about sitting down and working with inks, beautiful textures and carved pieces of rubber that digital graphic design can't deliver.
The best source for stamping supplies is typically from scrapbooking stores. Still it can be a bit overwhelming looking at rows of unidentifiable art stuff so I've relied on Robin to take me to expos and teach me techniques.

Knowing this, my friend Jody, connected me with a company her friend, Dinah Pearson created called Club Scrap. When you subscribe, they send you a "pizza box" each month with truly beautiful papers, ephemera, and an idea sheet.

Today, Dinah did a workshop at Crosspointe and Lynette-the-Cowgirl came into town to join me for the class.

I have to say, I've changed my mind on scrapbooking. Dinah taught a technique called "assembly line scrapbooking" that is fast and produces beautiful results. We also learned bookmaking in the afternoon which was really cool. I think I had always thought of scrapbooking as a little too "cute" but this was truly artistic.

It was fun to hang out for the day and play. Even Nancy-the-Insightful got over her intimidation of creative endeavors and joined in--though she kept a running commentary on her doubts of her ability to do this.

I also met a girl named, Karin, who brought a scrapbook with her of her collection of Blenko glass. It shows how it is displayed in her loft. (There is something magical about light coming through colored glass.) Her scrapbook not only documented the collection, but was also signed by some of the designers. It was cool to see the art she'd created to celebrate the art she collected.

A Day at the Arts Conference

I may have mentioned before how much I like the Willow Creek Arts Conference. There is something amazing about connecting with people doing ministry in churches that cut across geography and denominations. One of the best parts is getting to talk with people about their ministry settings and the struggles and joys they encounter. For me, it is a good reality check on the pulse of what is happening across the country.

Dan Schoedel has been with me on this trip, and I couldn't have asked for a better teammate. He lives and breathes the type of work we are promoting. We've laughed that we never let him leave his computer because we can't afford to. In this case, we couldn't afford not to. He knows all of the stories of all of the projects. It has been cool to hear him tell them.

With the connection part being my absolute favorite, there are some other highlights definitely worth mentioning:

1) Melody and Tony Lenox were here at the conference. (Melody Burleson back when I was in high school.) Melody was part of my high school youth group and it was cool to meet the "grown up" version of her and find out that she is still the same dynamic juxtaposition of down-to-earth and full-of-light. It was also fun to get to meet her daughter Bethany who was able to give me some counsel on a personal branding transformation I'm considering.

2) I stood in front of the Sermonspice.com booth for a long time trying to decide if I was willing to make a sacrifice for David-the-Artist-Pastor. A T-Shirt and $50 worth of free video and/or graphic content and all I had to do was eat a raw jalepeno. The problem? Duh! I had to eat a raw jalepeno. However, this Texas girl did it. And with no small amount of pain thank-you-very-much. Enjoy the videos Wahlstedt, I'm keeping the t-shirt!

3) I had a conversation with a woman in the ladies room and wound up going to her session. Whoa. The content was unexpected. I heard things I'd never processed before that will take some unpacking. This one deserves its own post and I'm way too tired to think it through tonight.

4) Jim Kumorek--my editor--and I grabbed real Chicago-style pizza at Gino's--a place John and I actually saw in a special on the Travel Channel for the best pizza. (Sadly, neither of us had a marker to add our name to the walls.) Normally most of Jim's and my conversations have to do with deadlines, so it was fun to catch up and cover more random topics like where our industries are going and the realities of living your faith in the day-to-day world (which morphed into some fairly deep theological discussions). Thanks Jim, you helped me clarify some thinking on a lot of things.

Well, Jay Leno is talking in the background. (On the television that is part of my bathroom mirror and kicks on when I walk past--still can't figure that one out.)

John, Chase and Bethany....I miss you. I've been traveling too much these past two weeks and can't wait to be home.

Living Life in One-Hour Increments

I woke up this morning at 5am to finish packing and catch my flight to Chicago. I felt terrible... Still with a lingering headache/stomachache from the day before. No way could I get on a plane and set up for a trade show. So I told myself that all I had to do in the next hour was get to the park-and-fly and get through security. Then the next hour, get breakfast and board the plane. Next hour, disembark and pick up a rental car. Next hour, check into hotel and locate and load packages. And on and on my day has gone. Hour by hour. When the packages were too heavy and the way was really long from the parking lot to the booth, I sat down for a moment and reminded myself I had a whole hour to get them there.

The cool thing about only worrying about the next hour is that it doesn't feel so overwhelming. No matter how you feel, you can manage for an hour.

Now, here I am at 5pm, back in my hotel room planning to get lots of rest and copious amounts of vitamin C so I feel well tomorrow. (I absolutely love this conference. It would be terrible to miss a minute of it.)

One unexpected cool thing is my rental car. I know this sounds insane, but I actually lose a lot of time looking for my rental cars in parking lots because I often forget where I put them. This time, there is no missing this one.

Being before Doing

David-the-Artist-Pastor introduced me to the phrase "being before doing." That phrase has played in my head a lot recently.

In talking with my 20-year-old son this week, he had some big decisions to make. I realized in speaking with him that I didn't need to give him any advice on "what to do" because of who he has grown up to be.

Chase is an incredibly deep person with wisdom and a strong faith. Our conversations focused on questions about what he wanted...about what would be an adventure to him. (Adventures are important when you are twenty.) We didn't touch on what he "should" do.

Carol Childress talked to me once about life being improv. Life is uncertain. There is no script to follow. Actors who are gifted at improv, don't memorize lines. They simply develop characters and train to become better actors. Then, when onstage, it doesn't matter what happens. They simply fall into character and act. If they are good, this has more magical results than if they had a script.

It occurs to me that most of my 20-year-old thoughts focused on "what to do." A few weekends ago at our girls reunion some of our deepest conversation centered around the idea that we were all taught that if we followed a certain path then we would get a perfect life. Now at 40, we've all learned that simply isn't true.

I wish we'd been taught more about "becoming." That the focus hadn't been so much on following a perfect prescripted path, but on becoming who we were God-designed to be so we could each follow our unique purpose.

Because of who he has become, I was able to tell Chase this week that what his heart wanted was a good cue for what he should do.

Life isn't scripted, nor is there a single way to live it. The beautiful diversity of talents and happenings and opportunities is something to be explored and enjoyed. Just like with actors, musicians focus on becoming better musicians. Then, it doesn't matter what the music is. They can play it.

And better yet, enjoy it.

And the magic beyond that? Those around them enjoy it too.

GDA in Denver

Nancy and I are sitting in the Hotel Teatro in Denver downloading about our day.

The opportunity for connection and collaboration through the Global Design Alliance is difficult to describe. It's almost as if each person has a part of the puzzle.

Nancy--who is here to connect with the HR representatives from the other firms--was able to share about Ron Martoia's concept of "leaking leadership" and learned about how other companies are handling some of the complex personnel issues facing the firms.

Most of my time has been spent with the Directors and Alliance Coordinators. One of my favorite parts of our meetings here happened first thing. The Alliance Coordinators business meeting covered everything from Integrated Project Delivery, preparing for the economic downturn, finding qualified staff, and acquisition strategies.

The geographic and diversity of skillset around the table provided a much more holistic view than I usually get from the window of our office.

The meetings were at Coors Field--which provided a nice backdrop for the day. Dianna Millar and I posed on the field today. The grass was wet so we missed out on getting to stand at home plate (but we were pretty close).

Here it is late. Very late, actually.

Goodnight.

Changing the world

Airports are rarely pleasant places. They are dirty, crowded, and filled with travelers burdened by luggage and logistics.

Today at DFW, the TSA agent checking my boarding pass actually smiled at me. A real smile. One that reached her eyes and communicated that she actually cared about the people passing through the line. Her internal spark made the other stoic interactions of getting to my gate matter less.

More than that, it actually impacted my experience.

What if the secret to changing the world lies in the thousands of interactions we have every day?

What if--as David-the-Artist-Pastor pointed out with his Patch Adams clip last weekend--you could change the programmed response simply by changing the stimulus. Could the world really be transformed?

Hmmm.....something to think about while I'm sitting in coach.

Bryn's graduation

Last night was Bryn’s graduation. It was an evening full of extended family and long time family friends. (I love the feeling of belonging that comes from hanging out with the people you love and know.)

Of course, as family photographer I was snapping photos all night. We wrapped up the evening at Café Brazil. When I walked in, I ran into Kim’s daughter—who didn’t completely recognize me without the blonde wig.

John and I got to sit across from Floyd and Robin where we caught up on the latest adoption news and there was LOTS of kidding and laughing all around the table.

Congratulations Bryn! It was fun to get to see you off on your wild new adventure. (And we’ve been asked to store your present until your family moves so Troy doesn’t have to carry it up and down the stairs.)

The Retro Party

Last night, we went to a birthday party for our friends, Kim and Jim. (Not only do they have cool matching names, but they also share a birthday.)

It was a "Retro Cocktail Party" and people picked different decades and came. John and I had a lot of fun with our costumes.

I purchased false eyelashes and frosted lipstick to get a 60's vibe. (Oddly enough, this shirt--which was perfect--was already in my wardrobe.)

Someone gave Kim a large plastic singing Dean Martin. When Kim took it over to show Nancy, suddenly Plastic Dean turned his head and looked at Nancy. It was a little creepy.

They had cleared what turned out to be a dance floor and Nancy and Peter danced. (Which was pretty cool. They were actually good.) Peter showed me some of the steps, but I had a hard time getting the hang of it.

This was the first time I'd ever been to Kim and Jim's house. They have an amazing deck, so the party flowed outside.

In a bit of small-world-ness, when I walked in the door, I saw Sean--our printer--who I've known for the past 12 years. I didn't realize he'd known Kim since 7th grade.

I tried a couple of different cocktails (the girly kind with fruit), but then they served champagne for a toast. I'm not a big drinker, so the mix made me feel dizzy, and I asked John--who had only had a single beer all night--to take me home. (Luckily, it didn't last long...)

It was a bummer to put my "dress up clothes" away. Funny how it doesn't matter if you are four or forty. Dressing up in costumes is still fun.