Hair, Labor Day this weekend, baseball, and beer (in that order)

I have had to -- HAD TO, because I couldn't stand it any more -- pull my hair back at work, twice this week. Clean hair. Hair that I tried to "style," albeit hurriedly, before leaving the house, with a round brush, my blow dryer and hairspray. It's looking stringy and undone by 8:30 am, and just not working for me, so up it goes, in bobby pins or, today, a ponytail. Most of my adult life, my hair hasn't been long enough to do that, so it's a novelty for me to carry around ponytail holders, and to look so "casual" in my professional environment. I feel unprepared if I don't have a couple of ponytail holders in my purse. I'm glad it's getting cut and colored this weekend, because when I pull it back, much more grey is visible to the world.

I'm also doing Kate's hair all the time. She has asked me to braid it every day so far this school year. The good news is, usually there is plenty of time for me to do so. Last year, I never would have dreamed that possible, with our getting-dressed drama. (Man, I am grateful we got past that!) She likes me to do one small braid on each side, then join them in the back, very simply. Like this (this is not Kate's head, btw, just a Google image):

Or one small braid on one side, incorporated into a high ponytail. It's been so cute, and so fun. No frilly bows or barrettes, but still. She wants to learn to do it herself, but I'm holding on to this time when she needs me to do it for her. I know it won't last long. She talks about letting her bangs grow out -- kind-of her signature look, since her very first haircut -- and I think it will look great on her but I also dread it a little bit, because I know she'll look so grown up. 

I should also report that Alex has been styling his hair now for a few years, and looks SO GROWN UP. Why is this happening?!?

(And then, if I've reported on everyone else, I might as well say that Shawn's hair is still very much NOT greying, lucky him. Don't touch his hair.)

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Mom and Dad are on the road right now, driving to see us. I love that Mom asked if they could come visit. YES YES YES, anytime! Plus, it's going to help me out because the kiddos have an extra day and half off over Labor Day. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! So tonight, I'm looking forward to Happy Hour at 5:30 and a snacky dinner, somehow fitting in the kids' piano lessons and getting them to bed on-time, and then we will have to figure out something fun we can do while they're here. 

Not that they require entertaining, of course. But I have a day off, too! Would be nice to do something FUN, as Kate always implores us. I'm thinking of apple picking. We've never done that and there are lots of orchards nearby.

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We DID something fun last weekend: Went to a Braves game at their new stadium! Met a former player, even: the famous Mr. Jeff Francoeur, whose sister I worked with during his rookie season. That was awesome. Ate our dinner at the new Wahlburgers, yum yum! And the weather was decent -- not too terribly hot, like most Atlanta baseball games are. We had amazing seats right behind the home dugout, and the kids enjoyed themselves. Us parents, too. Drank a beer! (Kate said to me in disbelief, "Women can have beer?" HA! She'd never seen me drink it, I guess.) In fact, it was the first game we've attended since having kids, I think, that we were able to stay all the way until the last out at 10:30pm! So that was momentous. 

Something for the "menus" category

Just because. I think it's a decent lineup this week.

Sunday: We had this Chicken Pot Pie. I had baked 6 chicken thighs one night last week, but as it turned out, no one was hungry. And I always have Bisquick and frozen peas and carrots on-hand. I also added a little corn and some leftover chopped broccoli. Cleaned out the fridge for the win! It was yummy with a Caesar salad.

Monday: Patty Melts and Roasted New Potatoes. My family was like, "Where's the Bread??" But guess what, family: We should all eat less of it. I can see I'm starting to rely on those roasted potatoes as a side item. Everyone will be sick of them if I don't back off a little, lol.

Tuesday: Grilled Cheese and Soup. (What was that she said about bread? Whoops.) We have a little gumbo leftover, I have chicken noodle available, and tortilla soup mix, and we have activities/meetings tonight so it's gotta be a quick one.

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan with egg noodles. It's super easy, but doesn't seem like it. I think I'll make some sauteed zucchini to go with it. These kids need to eat more vegetables, seriously. (I'm always of the opinion that kids as skinny as Alex should just EAT and it doesn't really matter what, but sometimes I do feel vegetable guilt.)

Thursday: Welcome to Moe's! This year it's piano on Thursday nights at 6:15, and we got really hungry before the lessons ended the one time we didn't eat first. So now I know to stop somewhere on the way.

Friday: Make your own Pizza night. Tomato sauce is a vegetable. ;)

Last week stuff, this week stuff

Last week's meetings started well, got fairly intense and exhausting (Tuesday night I had a mini breakdown - just a few stress-related tears is all - followed by a much-needed workout and hard sleep... I think it was those meetings combined with the 2nd week of school), ended with a flurry of work-related activity, and were tempered by the nice feeling of friendship among the three of us coworkers. At least there was/is that. The dinner party at my house felt like a highlight, including my family being so sweet and making me so proud. I want to remember Alex hugging me when he could see I was slightly panicked about getting things ready before the guests arrived... and then offering to clear the table after we ate.

And now that big week is over, and it's Monday again, and I suppose I have to get back to actual work. :/  No one wants that!

It's also Eclipse Day, August 21, 2017, and we're doing exactly nothing to celebrate at home. Of course, the thing takes place in the middle of the day, making it difficult. I just saw a slew of Facebook posts and learned that many families in my circle are traveling an hour or 2 north so they can see the Totality (we're only in the path of Partial Eclispe), taking their kids out of school and everything. So naturally I feel guilty now, that we're not doing that. The school ordered eclipse glasses for every student and they're doing some special science activities when it happens, though, so all is not lost. I vaguely remember being on my school playground, looking through an index card with a hole in it, when I was really young; evidently there was a solar eclipse in February, 1979, but the timing isn't right for me to have been on the St. Anthony's playground in that month/year, so maybe I'm confused. But anyway, I hope my kids will have happy memories of an Epic Natural Event. http://mashable.com/2017/08/18/1979-total-solar-eclipse-footage/#LjMcIbOaXaqR

(The guy on that 1979 video mentions the date August 21, 2017, "38 years from now," and says something like, "we pray that eclipse will appear over a world at peace." Hrm. We needed that prayer more than he knew.)

In a few minutes, Shawn and I are meeting up at a law office to finally sign our first Last Will and Testament. Yikes. Seems auspicious on a day when our sun will be darkened in the middle of the day LOL! We've known we should have one, and hopefully within an hour, that task will be checked off our list. (Until the kids get to be adults and we have to change it.)

Then we'll continue with our busy lives, just trying to enjoy each day as much as I enjoyed the chicken pot pie casserole I made for dinner last night. :)

Deep Thinking about Content Marketing

I'm not going to share my actual Content Marketing thoughts with you, I don't think (we'll see where this goes), but just report to you: that's what I've been doing this week. Thinking and Studying. Deeply.

For background: In Germany last summer, our goal was to put a Content Marketing Strategy into place. Content Marketing is supposed to be different from Product Marketing, in that you're supposed to create content that's of interest to your audience. (This is why you ladies see one million recipe videos in your FB feed.) You're NOT supposed to talk about your products or be sales-y. Instead, you're supposed to know your audience/consumer, and know what might make her want to click on your link. Such as, my consumer is a 54-year-old woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer 6 years ago, so at this point she's maybe looking for information about how to eat better and get her exercise; or maybe she's going on a cruise this year and wants to know what to pack. She's not necessarily looking for information about the keyword "mastectomy." (She's past that.) I have been trying to convince my teammates about this, but it's a fine line. We do also have evidence/data (I guess? I don't really get into the "data" part of things) saying that many, many women, newly diagnosed, type the word "mastectomy" into their Google search box. And we'd like them to find us, too. So there are intricacies and details. Our company adds to the challenge by being global and extra-complicated. Medical, but also fashion-minded. Ill-equipped to do many of the technical things everyone else can do. Etc.

Anyway, it's been a year since that trip, and next week our Content team is gathering here in Kennesaw to review the Content Marketing we did, figure out what worked and what didn't, and figure out what we need to do in the next year. It's tough because according to the experts, a strategy like this has a loooooong lead-time. Content Marketing doesn't lead to instant results.

I've been reading a LOT of articles by Content Marketing experts lately... and there seem to be a LOT of experts. It's kind-of exhausting. And like anything else on the Internet, you can find an article to support every tactic, every opinion, every opposite and equally significant idea. But maybe this is what I'm here for. I joke, over to the right in my "about" paragraph, that my superpower is deep thinking. But that might be the closest thing to true that I know about myself. So perhaps I'm meant to do this very thing. I'm not miserable doing it, I noticed earlier in the week, when I was buried in the weeds of SO MANY interesting and useful instructions on ContentMarketingInstitute.com. I enjoy learning. But it does make for long days and a very tired brain by Friday.

I think our meetings next week will be fine. I don't have to "present" anything, so all of this prep is just me trying to be knowledgeable. None of the attendees is a problem-maker (not like last year). We're all willing to listen to each other, and really HEAR each other, and we're friends. None of us has a personal agenda. More than anything we all just want to be respected for our collective work. We hope it's successful in some way. I hope I'll be open to ideas. I have many of my own -- complaints, as usual, and things I know aren't working (for me) in the day-to-day. But I hope I'll be able to also see what IS working -- because I think some of it IS. We're probably doing much better work than we (I) think.

Documenting Summer

Today's the last day of summer vacation. Poor kids, it seemed really short this year! I guess it was 9 weeks total (but we used to get at least 12 when I was in school). Anyway, I gave Carli the babysitter a gift card to Bruster's ice cream shop and told her they're free to have ice cream for lunch today if they want - it's also her 20th birthday so that works out well. Told her on the card, "Sorry you have to work on your birthday -- adulting stinks sometimes!" Because it's TRUE! hahaha I am so funny.

Anyway, what I wanted to be sure to do was make notes on all the amazing things these kids did over the summer, mostly at my parents' house in July 2017:

• Monday -- They got up early and drove to Marianna, FL, with Tom and Dominique and Angie and Scott and their kids, to see the Florida Caverns State Park and go caving. They'd never been inside a cave like that before, I'm so glad they did it. Afterwards they went to Ponce de Leon Springs State Park, and swam in the springs! Cold water - only reaches 64 degrees in the summers I think! But of course, kids don't mind. Apparently they were very brave to swim over a large, deep area and just had a blast in general. That was just the first day!
• Tuesday -- was July 4th. So they went to Aunt Lorry and Uncle Paul's had hamburgers and the usual fireworks and a party, including swimming, with their cousins again. It's basically always a party there.
• Wednesday -- I think they played all day but in the evening they did an Escape Room! All the rage. I have never gotten to do one, myself, but I hear they're fun! The cousins all worked together really well, I'm told, and they got out with 13 minutes to spare! Then went out for ice cream. 
  

• Thursday -- Since the across-the-street cousins went out of town on Thursday, Mom and Dad took Alex and Kate to Pensacola Beach, to other-cousin Angie's condo where they watched the Blue Angels practice for their weekend air shows. I mean. Awesome, right?! Lunch, a perfect view of the show, plus they didn't have to actually be out ON the beach where it's hot and sticky and crowded. Perfect! And they'd never seen the Blues, I don't think. Maybe Alex did once, when he was around 4. 
• Friday -- Friday might have been their only "unplanned" day, actually, and I think by that time they were ready for one. But what's better than hanging out at your grandparents' house? Not much, I'd say. By the way, they both also finished their summer math packets while they were in Florida, and I think they both read one summer reading book (out of two required). NOT TOO SHABBY. The kids always say they LIKE doing summer math at Mom and Dad's kitchen table, after breakfast, while the adults do their crosswords. My parents are miracle workers. 

2016 was just as memorable, if I remember correctly. I don't find a blog post about it, so: They went to see a play (Shrek, Jr.) at the theater, visited a bird sanctuary (odd but fun, I was told), toured the Guy Harvey exhibit at the Pensacola Museum of Art (loved it - they're both big Guy Harvey fans now), they had swimming parties, played with their cousins, I feel like there was another somewhat epic activity but I can't recall what it was...maybe fishing? Mom, help me remember it so we can record it for their descendants. ;) 

Hiking every week at Kennesaw Mtn. Nat'l Park
or Pine Mountain in Cartersville

Carli has been amazing again this summer on the weeks at home. She's taken them hiking at least once every week that she's been with them, and to the pool twice a week. She's taken them to piano lessons. Dropped them off at friends' houses. Enforced piano practice (a little bit) and reading. Played Monopoly at least once. Some days, she's taken them to Target or Justice or the bookstore, just to look around, or I'll give them money for lunch. One day I said, "Here's $20 - spend it on lunch or divide it for shopping. They chose shopping, and each got something small/silly. She washes the dishes they use for lunch by hand, and even empties the dishwasher if I've run it the night before. Kate told me the other day that sometimes Carli "disciplines" her -- if Kate whines or doesn't want to take a shower or something, Carli gets firm and Kate doesn't like it. Neither kid likes it that she makes them use sunscreen lotion instead of spray. But I'm okay with all of that. I'm unsure what to do next summer. Alex will be nearly 14, and then will turn 14 in July. Does a 14-year-old need a babysitter? No. Pretty sure none of his friends has one any more. Kate's another story, of course, and gets bored without some kind of entertainment... We'll have to talk about it. 

Yesterday's Meet the Teachers went really well. Kate's desk is in between Calli and Reese, her two besties. Prayers answered, a dream come true! The troublesome girl IS in her homeroom, so that's not great, but I hope it will work out. The teacher is a friend. Alex's locker is on the end, near his friends, too. It's going to be a great year. 8th grade, his last year before high school. How did we get here so fast? I'm trying not to think about it.