more California dreamin'

Mirabella LOVED the beach.

I loved the view from our room at the Ritz.

California dreamin'

Already missing my time in California. Traveling with baby was a bit stressful, but I still loved it.

treat after lunch

These smoked sea salt caramels were a wonderful treat after a
lite lunch.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

butterfly pose

girl effect

I post this every few months -- you must see!

www.GirlEffect.org

stick with me thumb, we'll get more green

The beginnings of my swiss chard and beets. Now the arugula is sprouting too!

Green thumb, we may have turned a corner!

treadmill-worthy cupcakes

Yumm.

The cupcakes and cookies on this new website look very treadmill-worthy.

Another good find from Joanna.

Sleepless? Sleepy.

An early flight, followed by baby girl not sleeping, left me drowsy.
But I bought Shama's "The Zen of Social Media Marketing" on my Kindle and read it on the plane. Really good. Scratched down lots of notes and ideas and stayed awake.
If I'm doing the math right, this sharp gal is about 24 years old. Unbelievable.
I'm so envious.

Seattle is lovely. Has that clean air yumminess that Colorado cities do.
Been scoping out the hotel for a conference I"m planning this fall but anxious to go out and walk around the city.

"Reality Check" speaker

I heard Guy Kawasaki speak at the ASAE "Great Ideas" conference last month in Colorado Springs.

He did an interview recently with the New York Times.

Good points he makes:

They should teach students how to communicate in five-sentence e-mails and with 10-slide PowerPoint presentations.
If they just taught every student that, American business would be much better off.

The issue with consulting is that if you go straight to work for a consultant, you develop this perspective that the hard part is the analysis and the decision.
In reality, that’s not the hard part.

The hard part is implementing the decision, not making it.

You can develop an absolutely incorrect perception of yourself as a great manager when, in fact, you haven’t implemented anything.

All you’ve done is make spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

Swiss chard to come?

Mr Right had to go to St Louis Saturday to scope out a possible new location for Three Dog Bakery.

So Mirabella and I spent Saturday planting seeds and taking a long walk.

We put Swiss Chard and Beets in these little peat moss pods. The plan is to let them germinate and then move them outside. Fingers crossed -- I'm not much of a green thumb.

Preservatives? Ya think?

You have to read this post on Glamour's fitness blog. It came from Snack Girl.

Both burgers are 11 days old.

Thanks Joanna, for posting this.

more nyc

Idlewild is my new fave bookstore. Organized by country, there are cookbooks, travel books and novels. Wonderful.


The Macy's Flower Show is always impressive, but this year seemed to be especially bright and cheery. Maybe it was the long winter.

nyc

Two wonderful weekends in New York yielded me these new finds.

The best new store for kitchen goodies.

"the best damn cookies on the earth" really.

Pom pom fringe trim at this endless store for curtains in M's room. When she turns the corner from nursery to little girl (soon!) I'm going to turn pink into pink-and-black.

Aerial yoga

3 year olds can be advertising "victims"

Yikes. According to study in the Journal of Psychology and Marketing, brand identification begins as young as three years old.

M's new transportation

Mr. Right has been saving for a new computer system for months. Last weekend, he blew the savings on a new Trek bike and a Trek trailer for baby girl.

And a very small pink Trek helmet.

The inagural ride apparently went well. Mirabella is very proficient with sign language at this point, and she did "more" every time Dad stopped at a stop sign.

"great ideas" from Colorado

Back from the Great Ideas Conference in Colorado Springs at the gorgeous, luxe Broadmoor.

Wow what a treat.

The Broadmoor made healthy, delicious meals for our conference breakfasts and lunches. And they even had Agave Nectar at their coffee service.

They also had beautiful cupcakes in the coffee shop -- I'm talking about the ones that make your mouth water just looking at them. And I managed to restrain myself! Three days, no cupcakes. Big pat on the back for Angela!

If you followed my facebook or twitter, you know I brought back a load of mommy-guilt presents for baby girl: three books, two rubber duckies (from the spa gift shop) and a "Colorado Rider" Harley-esque t-shirt - complete with flames - for my girl. The t-shirt has a tricycle where the Harley would normally be. Too funny.

But the spa ducks win the cute prize.

One thing I loved at this conference was the ribbons for the badges.

You know how conferences offer those ribbons to attach to your badge that in some form say "I'm really important?" Actually they say something like "Speaker" or "Committee Member."

This conference had ribbons that said "Colors Outside the Lines" and "Twitter-pated." They were laying on a table for anybody to take. Felt much more community than hierarchy. Love it.

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.".
Henry david Thoreau

realistic (ok, a bit more realistic) sample size

This was worth posting twice.

Apparently representatives of the beauty industry are considering changing the standard sample size - a whopping SIZE 0 -- to a size closer to what healthier women wear (or at least not anerexic 15 year olds).

The beauty and fitness blog on Vogue gives details here.

About time.

Way over due, actually.

Kudos to them for tackling it.

Hurry please.

Tina Fey on Vogue cover because she "benches 225"

March cover girl Tina Fey on Vogue.

She won my heart (again).