Oh my, has it been a day. Or week.

Something.

It’s Friday.

I’m exhausted.

I’m home.

I finally have a glass of wine in my hand. The puppies are playing on the porch and, even though I needed to get in a bike ride or run tonight, I’ve decided that it was okay to screw it. It’s not in the stars for me tonight. Wine & puppy time is way more important for my sanity. (Please note: I do understand that this is enabling unhealthy habits: drinking when stressed, missing workouts, etc. But I honestly, truly, really, really don’t care right now.)

It probably started with some work stuff that was stressful. Nothing appropriate to go into here and, while all for a good cause, it required / requires a certainly amount of adaptation that doesn’t realistically occur overnight. This type of change can put one on edge no matter how healthy the change may be — and being on edge makes things, again for some, possibly sensitive and easily agitated.

Then last night, I attended the cluster-fuck that was Taste of Twin Cities Originals. I know cluster fuck is super-strong, offensive language. Professionally, I should know better. But, honestly? If anything required the use of such a word, last night’s event did. If I worked for any of the organizers of said event, I’d be worried about my employment. It was downright awful, pathetic, painful, horrible. (Did I mentioned I was already having a bad week?)

But here’s the deal. I’m not over-reacting. There is an entire recap from a food blogger at a local television/radio media outlet here in the Twin Cities who said pretty much the same thing (in not so colorful language) here: http://wcco.com/entertainment/curiocity/twins.cities.originals.2.1820475.html

I’m not over-reacting.

This is what when down:

A few months ago, I purchased tickets to the Taste of Twin Cities Originals via Groupon. This is an event that I’d attended in the past. It’s basically a yearly event where this cooperative/association of locally-owned restaurants showcase their food and wine distributors also showcase their stuff. I totally support an association in support local restaurateurs. Most of the restaurants in the association are ones that I am a fan of.

That said, I do have to admit, my experience in the past with this particular event isn’t all that positive. We’d attended the year it was on Nicollet Island. I remembered then the that things were pretty crowded, but it was a manageable evening, even fun. The event ran out of wine towards the end, the dessert ran out early. But we got to talk to chefs. We had some amazing samples including the best oyster samples. We walked away saying, yeah, that was fun, but I’m not sure it was worth $50/ticket.

Years passed. Then the Groupon deal came this year: $25 for the $40 tickets and I was sold. I recalled the experience and thought, “Sure! For $25, that would totally be worth it. AND fun.” We talked friends into attending with us. We purchased our tickets. And I really, really looked forward to the event.

In fact, up until we entered the building, I was really looking forward to the event. I even tweeted my anticipation hours prior…

But when we got there, I should have known it would be bad. The event was to run from 6-9pm. We arrived around 6:30 and the line to get in was two blocks long. I gasped a little. I complained. But we got in line. It moved pretty quickly. I figured that was probably the worst. “Buck up, Heather,” the internal orders sounded.

Oy.

When we entered the building, the line kept going. It finally ended at a very random and frantic set of 2 people checking IDs and applying the “drink-age” wrist bands. As we passed, we realized there are actually 7 or 8 people there to check IDs & apply wristbands, but the lines were filtering in so poorly, no one even knew that there were more than the first 2 options available.

Still, that was probably the best of it. Once we got our wristbands, we ended up in a line that ceased to move. We quickly realized that the wine glasses for the event (and used to sample the various wines) were gone. The staff (looking like deer in headlights) were handing out plates. But they were being beat down by the event-goers who were hungry for food and looking for wine. When we finally got within reaching distance of the plates, we saw one staffer actually throw the plates on a side table and run away.

Seriously. She RAN away.

And this is also when the shoving started.

I’m surrounded in the crowd. I’m getting shoved. I grab a plate and melt into the next crowd/line. I hope this will take me to food. There is a sea of people around me. There don’t appear to be other line options for food/drink nearby.

So we stand.

And stand.

And stand.

Our line is clearly not moving. Yet, people keep filtering in from outside. The shoving continues. I’m starving and I finally say to my husband, I think I might want to leave. Of course, I know he’s a good sport. He gives everything the ole college try. He chats with a woman passing who says, “go upstairs. There’s food and wine up there!”

So, we do. But same story. Packed line around the entire upstairs balcony. It’s a sea of people. We look down, another sea of people. I can’t even distinguish tables, vendors, event-goers, shoot — where are the fire exits??!!!!

This is a cluster.

We have to go. I’m too hungry, too frustrated. I can’t imagine any good can come of knocking elbows, shoving, pushing just to get a “sample” — and by the WCCO reporter’s description in the article linked to above, it sounds like “sample” is a generous term.

Our friends hadn’t gotten there yet. We called and warned. We also said, “hey, give it a try if you want — we just can’t hack it.”

I guess that scared them enough and off to Psycho Suzies we were. There, we had wine, pizza, tiki drinks, outdoor seating and elbow room. It actually ended up being a very pleasant evening — minus the $100 I spent of four tickets to Taste of Twin Cities Originals for us cats.

I did Twitter the entire time. The irony of the situation is that there was signage up everywhere at the event encouraging participants to “ENGAGE” (and, BTW, what advertising/marketer wrote THAT copy? ENGAGE is *not* a consumer-friendly term — you might as well print “leverage your social medium of choice to spread your WOM re: this event”. BARF!!! But anyway…)

No, the irony of these ENGAGE posters with the #TasteTCO hashtag and @TCOriginals handle on Twitter is that they (the posters) encouraged just that: a conversation. I twittered away what a horrific situation this was — as did many other ticket holders. (Just do a search on Twitter for either or click on the previous links). There are, by far, more negative comments than positive. And there was NO conversation to be had.

Honestly? This is a really interesting Social Media case study. At least a text-book “what-not-to-do.” I keep thinking I should construct and post something more marketing-centric to talk through the story because, not only did they (as an event) not “engage” back during the event to the comments, they have yet to apologize. Shit, they haven’t even acknowledged on the social nets what a disaster it was beyond saying it “was crowded”!!!!

Worse? They re-tweeted positive comments multiple times making it look like they are/were completely oblivious to the people suffering (or trying to bury the negative tweets with positive ones).

For an organization that wants to “engage” digitally and socially, WTF????

How can you not respond, acknowledge, apologize?

It’s a social media fail-whale of epic proportions. Everyone at @TCOrignals and #TasteTCO (including their agency partners) should be ashamed. Even just a simple apology would have done wonders in making good.

But now, 24 hours laters, there is yet nothing. And, of course, their Facebook wall is set to show only their posts — so even that shows how they are not willing to participate in the conversation. Even though they asked us to “ENGAGE!”

If you want your customers to engage, YOU need to engage. It’s only fair.

The good news? Groupon was there right away. Super cool. I got a comment back via Twitter immediately promising a refund. I hadn’t even taken my first sip of wine at Psycho Suzies yet. And today, sure enough, I got the confirmation. Groupon apologized (even though the poor event handling wasn’t their fault), they responded immediately (imperative in this digital/social networking age) and they acted human (because, WTF?, aren’t we all?). It’s so unfortunate, that Twin Cities Originals couldn’t do the same.

I could say that this experience reflects badly on the restaurants associated. But that’s not the case. I’m sure those restaurants were all just as horrified with what went down as I was. In fact, it was probably worse for them. They couldn’t leave last night, like me. They couldn’t just give up and go drink sparkly pink wine @ Psycho Suzies instead. No, they had to stay put. They had to deal with the angry crowds. They had to struggle with the pushing, shoving, swearing and hissing. And they had to just pray that, at the end of the day, it all wouldn’t come back to haunt them in business.

No, I can’t blame the restaurants.

But I CAN blame the organization.

The organization was in over its head. They oversold an event. They poorly planned. And then, perhaps even worse, they didn’t even admit what went down. They were silent in the social space. And, when they wanted us so badly to engage for the positive, they wouldn’t engage when it truly mattered.

Seriously. A “sorry” would have gone a long way, but they missed that boat which is really sad.

It has been a textbook “what-not-to-do” with social media.

Okay. Climbing off my soapbox now (I’m just a little passionate in this subject matter between being both a consumer who lost money & an evening and a professional in the social media-interactive space witnessing such a train wreck. It’s a total industry example of what not-to-do).

So, that was last night.

Enter today. After arriving home late last night after all the fireworks of the evening, the morning came earlier than desired with barking dogs at a congregating assembly of cars on our residential street at 6am. Car after car appeared with passengers seated inside and I began to worry about an alien take-over. Turns out it was an estate sale. An estate sale that started at 8 AM. WTF? with all the people parking on our street at 6????? So, no. Didn’t get to sleep in.

Work didn’t go smoothly either. There were a number of fire drills. There were stressful conversations and emails. I still have that pit-in-my-stomach feeling that, while I work my ass off and care more than I really should about what I do, it’s still not good enough. I know, in the end, it’ll all be fine, but I just had/have that sickly feeling today.

I finally leave work for the weekend. I get my oil changed, my car washed. It’s all cool. I then hit the Apple store to replace my brand new iPhone 4 because of a scratched screen (from only a few days in). I’d gone in on a few days earlier, they’d told me they’d order a new one and I could swap it out. Then, I show up today. I have to stand in a line for an HOUR. I’m then told I’m in the wrong line — I have to wait in the Genius line instead.

And I crack.

I freaking crack.

I tell them it’s crazy, this is my worst experience with Apple ever. I tell them I can’t wait in another line. I also tell them about the poor disabled girl I see an Apple associate tell can’t jump the line to get her new phone. She has to wait an hour. The DISABLED GIRL! SHE HAS TO STAND IN LINE!!! NOT FAIR!!! NOT RIGHT!!!

I crack. They have me sit down.

I’m supposed to be waiting for a tech.

But instead, I get another guy who says the manager says I can have a new phone after all.

They hook it up. I have a phone. They practically escort me out.

I finally get in my car.

I breathe.

I holler.

I whimper.

I breathe.

I crash.

Weekend.

I’m so tired.

I’ve been a bitch long enough this week. Time to suck down some wine. Think about unicorns. Love life.

XOXOXO

So much to catch up on, I’m just not sure where to start. I suppose I could start with the obvious: I lost one of my best friends in the whole world back in May. My buddy, Sienna.

She was the first dog I ever had as an adult. Really, my first dog. And she really was the most perfect first dog to have. Words cannot even express how much I loved that girl. In fact, I gathered a whole bunch of photos for her final RIP blog entry — yet never was able to gather my wits to write it. There is too much to say and too few words.

She was my buddy. She changed our lives in ways I never imagined. And she will be greatly, greatly missed.

+ + +

After losing the girl, we needed a distraction. The distraction took the form of the vacation of a lifetime: a giant road trip to Wyoming all with the excuse of adopting a puppy out West. The quick back story: I’m obsessed with the Keeshond breed of dog (obvoiusly!) and when I knew Sienna was sick, I started looking around for breeders or rescues. There were no dogs — at least young ones — to be had in our region and I ended up finding a little pup in the little town of Lander. The trip planning then begun.

Honestly, I need an entire blog entry documenting that trip. We drove out to Yellowstone (via the Big Horn Mountains which included camping in the snow). We spent 3 amazing days in Yellowstone. We spent another 3 amazing days in the Grand Tetons. We completed amazing hikes. We saw amazing wildlife (including two black bears PLAYING in OUR CAMPSITE!). We then drove to Lander, picked up a puppy on a farm where there were sheep and rabbits and a turkey (and two ADORABLE Keeshond brothers who we had to leave behind). We stopped at Devils Tower. We detoured to Rushmore. And then we came home WITH A PUPPY!

It was an amazing 9 days of driving and sight-seeing and camping. And then we got to finish it with this cute-as-a-button puppy. Please meet her:

Her name is Penny. She’s now 18 weeks old. And we love her.

Our other girl, Dora, is doing okay. She was stand-offish at the beginning. But she’s opening up now and I think she and Penny will be great friends soon. They already play like crazy.

We are also in the midst of puppy training (housetraining is SO FUN!). We have puppy kindergarten for a few more weeks. And aside from the fact that Penny is a little anti-social in class (she growls at the other dogs), she’s adjusting well. She’s great with people. And she’s a complete doll.

+ + + +

News on the other fronts:

James started a job last month! (not sure if I shared that here, but it’s a HUGE relief)

I re-started Weight Watchers in June and started re-attending meetings. Sparkpeople just wasn’t cutting it for me. So, when a second income started coming back into the house, I forked out the cash for WW. And, surprise, surprise: going back to meetings has helped. I’m down 4 lbs. now. It’s slow. But it’s working. And it still kills me how much harder it is to take off than it is to put on.

I’m not really training for any big races or triathlons this year. It started with lack of funding, but it’s been nice to actually take a season off officially. I did do a triathlon two weeks ago that I didn’t even train for. I didn’t set any records, but I finished, I didn’t walk on the run and I was pleased with a 18-minute 1/2-mile swim considering I haven’t swam in months. Better yet: I earned hardware! I placed 2nd in the Athena division. Granted, there were only three of us, but it was groovy to get an award.

I am doing one big ride: Dairyland Dare. It’s in August and it’s a 150k (100 mile) cycling ride that includes over 10,000 feet of climbing in Southern Wisconsin. It’s kind of crazy, but it will be super fun. I did a 100k earlier in May that had us climb over 7,000 feet. It was one of the hardest rides I’ve ever done, but it felt like quite an accomplishment to complete.

I’m also finishing out my year with Bolder Options. My mentee and I have been having a great time. We’ve completed 3 5k races and it’s been amazing to watch her progress.

Not sure how much else there is to catch up on: my little sister graduated High School. My cat is still a bitch. I still love my job but struggle with finding balance between it and my personal life. One of these days, my husband and I really need to replace the concrete steps in front of our house. Exciting, exciting stuff.

I think I can officially claim catch up here. I do have oodles of vacation and puppy photos and videos to share, but they still need to be uploaded and organized. I’ll share links when they are ready. Until then, chow!

Tonight was a big night. BIG night. My Bolder Options mentee and I got together for the our first outdoor run of the Spring (we’ve been indoors all Winter except for a few outings ice fishing & sledding). Our usual outside run is a 5k loop around the lake and, when we run, we aim for a 1-minute on / 2-minutes off approach with some longer intervals thrown in. And, tonight, as we warmed up, I asked what she thought about alternating 1-minute and 2-minute running intervals with each one having a recovery walk of 2 minutes. She was up for it. And she was pretty tough throughout the entire duration. In fact, the 1-minutes were almost a breeze with the 2-minutes challenging, but doable.

And, you know what?

She beat her PR by over 5 MINUTES! She beat her training workout PR by over 10!! It was pretty incredible and she was very proud.

It’s really fun to experience these victories through her eyes. On our drive back to the house tonight afterward, she even suggested that maybe next time she’d attempt a few 2-minute intervals IN A ROW! Then she caught herself and said, “I can’t believe I suggested that.” I told her that must mean she’s competitive with herself. She thought for a minute; shook her head. “I am really competitive,” she said, “but I can’t believe I’m so competitive with MYSELF.”

It was very cool. I might turn her into a runner just yet.

On a side note, my forced exposure through her to pop radio has me discovering a few things tonight:

* I do like that new Train song. And I didn’t even know they were still together as a band

* Jay-Z has redone Alphaville’s Forever Young. WTF is up with that?

* I might just need to download that Lady Gaga / Beyonce Telephone song for my own runs

It’s Sunday evening and I’m feeling pretty zen. I have my pets, my cup of tea. I know I should dig in and try and get a head start on the week with my work laptop, but I’m in denial. Just a few more hours of relaxing bliss until I enter the rigors of the real world.

It has been quite a fine weekend. They always go so fast.

Yesterday did start out with a bit of work. But it was actually some fun stuff. I attend the Whuffie Workshop at the Best Buy headquarters on Friday morning. The author of The Whuffie Factor, Tara Hunt, lead the discussion on business and social media. And while the hotness of “social media” as a topic can, at times, make me gag in its overplay in our interactive space, this was a very practical session on how brands should interact within communities and there was a lot of great food for thought to take back and implement in my day job. The truth is, our online behaviors are trending more and more heavily into the social networking space (finally toppling email & porn and about to topple search) and we, as businesses, have to shift our approach. The tried-and-true tools we have now will not be the tried-and-true tools of tomorrow. If you’re interested in that stuff, the slides from the workshop are here.

So, when my work was done, I was on to the first part of my weekend:

Act I: Spinning with @BolderOptions

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a mentor for Bolder Options this year and have been paired with my 12-year-old female mentee since July. We spend about 2 to 4 hours per week together and we’ve already accomplished two 5ks with the program as well as a ton of other fun experiences both formally in Bolder Options programs and on our own at the YMCA or doing other things.

Yesterday was a cycling event.

My mentee is technically in a running program. However, she has a bike and is interested in biking as well — which we try to do when we can. When I saw this pop up on the calendar, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do something different (than running) and in an area of interest for her.

The event was at my old Lifetime club in downtown Minneapolis. It was fun to be able to drive downtown to the Target Center and enter a “fancy” club compared to the Y where we normally workout together (never mind that my regular club is the posh St. Louis Park location, but I can’t bring my mentee there unfortunately). When we got there, there were only about eight other mentors/mentees and a couple of program coordinators. The two dudes in charge are owners of their own home fitness business and were volunteering their services for the day.

Going into this, my expectations weren’t high. Sure, I’ve been going to spinning classes for almost 12 years now, but I just assumed a Bolder Options event would be different. More low key. I’m mean, seriously, how on earth could you keep 10-13 year-old kids entertained for that long on a studio cycling bike?

But in reality? The classes was just as much a spin class as any I’ve ever attended. It was just as hard. The music was just as loud. There were even push-ups and jumps on the bike (both of which are tactics that I’m not the biggest fan of). And knowing how hard my first spin class was for me when I was in my twenties, I could only imagine how hard it was for the kids!

They persevered, though. My girl was tough. She hung in there. She never quit. She did tell me it was impossible more than once. But it wasn’t impossible because she finished. And I was very, very proud.

Luckily, the music was good and my girl is a HUGE fan of pop music. So, between singing along and adding in some fist-bumping as well as high fives, she made it the whole 45 minutes of class to the sweaty, sweaty finish.

At the end, there were bananas and granola bars and loads of congratulations. All the kids were glowing and it looked like they enjoyed it. Walking back to the car, I asked my mentee, “If they have another one of these, do you want to do it?”

And she said very firmly and solidly, “Absolutely not.”

Act II: The Late Afternoon Ski

I got home after the spin event a little after 3pm and the weather was absolutely lovely. The sun was out. The temps were in the 30s and I knew I wanted to ski. I did have to shove a quick, late lunch down the hatch because I was STARVING when I got home. And the husband was already gone. Being the very lucky lady that I am, James had spent the morning cleaning the house while I worked and did my Bolder Options thing. When I got home and he was gone, I knew he was already out on the trail.

I didn’t get over to the golf course until about 4pm. And when I hit the trail, I was very uncoordinated and had a hard time finding my balance. The snow was a little slushy, too, so I felt awkward and slow. I even biffed it right away on a flat — not even sure what happened there. Still, the weather was great so I started my sloggy little ski.

Unfortunately, the actual act wasn’t living up to what I’d imagined in my brain. I wasn’t having the time of my life. In fact, I checked my watch every 10 minutes surprised at how slow the time was passing and I was pretty sure I was only going to make one lap around the thing and go home. I chalked it up to already tired legs from the earlier spin. That and my digesting Tuna Casserole (a pretty heavy lunch to shove so quickly and probably not such a good idea). About five minutes from the end of lap 1, James appeared and skiied with me back to our start. At that point, I’d only been out for 40 minutes and, somehow, I talked myself into a second lap. James headed home. I headed out again. And as the sun started to set some more, the track firmed up a bit. I also found more balance and I had a great second half of my ski. The setting sun was gorgeous, too. I love the colors of the winter sun in Minnesota.

I got home for the second time around 5:30. And after mustering a shower and some more chow, I was pretty much toast for the night. But it was a really good kind of toast.

Act II: A Ski at the State Park

My little golf course ski wasn’t enough yesterday. The weather was again beautiful today so James and I made it a point to get out to ski somewhere special today. One of our favorite parks, William O’Brien, was our destination. After loading up on oatmeal, we headed out and were on the trail by 11 am.

There is something so mystical about skiing through the park in the winter. The trees. The snow. It’s just so absolutely gorgeous. Anyone who complains about Minnesota winters obviously does not cross country ski.

Some of the park trails are pretty tough in terms of skill level. We climbed a lot of hills and went down them, too. I also managed to muster up the courage to attempt the “scary” spots that I’d first encountered at this park last year. The first was a SUPER steep downhill that, last year, I scootched down on my butt. The second was a glare ice S curve that I fell and scootched down, too.

This year? The SUPER steep downhill wasn’t as scary as I’d remembered and I did fine. The S curve, while still scary, not as bad. It helped that it also wasn’t glare ice today, too.

I also got to use some of the lessons I’d learned on Tuesday night at Ride & Glide. I practiced my V1 stroke. I tried to make sure I cornered with my gravity low using the little steps to turn. I also tried to get more confident and not slow myself down on every hill by snowplowing. It was fun to put those lessons into use.

In the end, I skiied about 13.5 miles (James completed 14). It was a pretty intense and very rewarding afternoon. We fueled back up afterward with beer and bar food in Stillwater. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

And now, here we are. The end of a great weekend. I only have the Golden Globes and some dinner left. But I’m as content as I could be.

Last week was a close to back to Weight Watchers as I’ve been for a while. I also casually looked for a weekly meeting that would fit into my schedule, but I ended up not prioritizing anything. I had a lot going on during the week nights and Saturdays are hard for me to do anything but focus on a workout and chores. I also had a movie date with my mentee @ the library.

So, yeah, getting back to a meeting just hasn’t been prioritized. It’s hard this week, too. I have activities every night and work is pretty insane right now as everyone is getting back into a groove after the holidays. But I’m not giving up yet.

I did manage one little milestone. I went every school night without a cocktail or glass of wine last week. That’s been a bad habit I’ve developed: treating myself to a martini or small glass of wine after a particularly hard day or as something comfortable while I work an evening on the laptop. I’ve been trying to replace that with tea. And while it’s not the same, it’s a good small goal to have and achieve. This week, so far so good, too. In fact, I have my Good Earth tea at my side right now.

In other news, I did sign up for a cross country ski training group this winter. This will be my third year with skate skis and I’ve yet to get any formal training aside from a 3 hour lesson one day two years ago. All other instruction has been from generous friends on my ski team. Signing up for Ride & Glide this year is my attempt to craft a bit of skill and learn technique. And while I’d already attended a few of their dryland training sessions pre-snow, tonight was my first evening with them with actual skis on.

I’m in the beginner group and it’s very basic. But it’s good for me. We concentrated on open field technique, V2 and then headed off to a small hill with a sharp corner at the end. That latter exercise is my nemesis and I really need to practice learning how to corner without slowing myself down so much that I lose all momentum. It’s a hard skill for me. I hate falling and every cell in my body wants to do whatever I can to prevent a fall – which means practically stopping pre-corner instead of trusting myself to maneuver with the speed. I’ll never get it if I don’t loosen up and practice without putting the breaks on. Tonight was a good first step. I also made a few friends — so that should help the “wanting to come back” factor.

I did learn one other valuable thing. I need better gloves. The gear I wear when I’m skiing outside might be great while I’m moving, but at a class where you’re also standing around a lot listening and watching technique requires more warmth. My fingers were in pain by the end of the night. My right ring finger is still feeling a little numb. Yikes.

Gah. What a boring entry. But it’s something. Still also trying to get back in the blogging groove. I guess, if anything, this entry is a good reflection of where I am right now: struggling to get back on the WW wagon, working on my xc ski technique and continuing to focus on the ever-so-popular work/life balance thing.

Okay. I need to hit the sack now. I have a painful 10 x 400 interval running workout scheduled for the morning. Ouch.

So, we got a kitty.

Her name is Isa. Formerly Lovie. But this household just couldn’t tolerate a name like Lovie, as snobby as that sounds. We named her Isa, after Dora the Explorer’s iguana friend, in hopes that someday she and our Dora will get along. Be friends. But we have some time before we get there.

I’m not a cat person. In fact, I’m a HUGE dog person. Ask anyone who knows me in real life. I border on obnoxious when it comes to my love for pups. Sienna is my baby whom we’ve had since 1997 and I probably treat her like a child. There was Tryna, too, who we lost last year and I still miss her almost every day. And then, Dora. Wow. Dora. I’m amazed at how much I’ve fallen in love with that little girl. Her destruction has been unmatched by any other pets in my life. Between multiple pairs of eyeglasses, a heart rate monitor, my WALLET, leather boots and other unnameable items, her destruction has cost me thousands of dollars. Yet every day, I pause and gasp and say, “She’s SO cute”, “James, isn’t she A-Dora-able??” or “I’ve really fallen in love with this girl.”

She’s really, as my friend Ann says, a sweet little bean. And while she’s still timid and shy of strangers, both remnants from her puppy mill days, she’s got a great sense of humor and personality and I’m so happy we drove all the way to Missouri for the little girl.

Which brings me back to Isa, the topic of this entry. I grew up with cats. In fact, in my youth, I was quite a cat person. But somewhere, somehow, that quickly was shredded from my identity in college and I never went back there. I’m not sure when, some time in college, I knew I wanted a dog. And after we got married, it became a desire as deep as some women long for children. I had to have a dog. Then, in 1997, we got Sienna and she was everything I’d imagined and more and I never, ever looked back. Dog Person was practically tattooed to my forehead. And while most of my friends have expanded their families to actual human children now, I remain in my dog-children world and the pups are the center.

All of that said, there is a limit. James has been pretty firm in his assertion that 2 dogs are our maximum. And even though the City of Saint Paul will TECHNICALLY allow us 3, 2 is enough. Deep down, the practical part of me understands this. They are expensive. They take attention. And do we *really* need 3 dogs?? I get it. No, we don’t.

And with that conversation, we’ve talked lightly about a cat. Not really serious, but entertained the idea. At least entertained it until we starting thinking about litter boxes and jumping on counters and claws tearing up our furniture. No, no cat. Definitely, no cat. We’re not cat people.

This position, however, never completely kept us away from peeking. We’d check out kitties at PetSmart. We’d consider the idea. But we never did anything about it. In fact, the thought would disappear the minute we walked out the automatic door of the store.

Then, on December 11th, we were making our usual run to Chuck & Don’s for our Solid Gold Wolf King bison dog food and there she was: Isa. Formerly Lovie.

Chuck & Dons usually has one cat that is up for adoption in the store. We’ve been known to check out the rescues on our various trips to the store. But there was something about Lovie that spoke to us in a way that no other cat had. Perhaps it was her coloring (actually very similar to our Keeshonds and very unusual for a cat). Perhaps it was her sweet demeanor. But, for the first time ever, we asked the clerks if we can see her out of her cage. And the minute we did, we fell in love. With Lovie. How cornball, cheesy is that??!!

After that interaction, we were pretty much sunk. And even after multiple “we can’t have a cat” and “we’re not cat people” and “good god, what would we DO with a litter box in the house?” conversations, we committed. And one week later, we took Lovie home, named her Isa and started introducing her to life in the Lockwood household.

Which brings us to today. We’ve had her for a few weeks now. We’ve taken it slow as all the cat people have suggested. We first put her in the basement (where her litter box will stay) and gave her plenty of places to nest as well as toys and treats. We frequently visited her and eventually graduated to letting the dogs come down into her space. She hisses and growls. But there has been very little swiping and the dogs are very gentle and timid around her. She’s gotten better and began to growl less when they came downstairs.

Then, last week, we started introducing her upstairs. She growls more when the dogs are near, but I’m sure that is because she doesn’t view the upstairs as her space yet. But she’s gotten more comfortable. In fact, most of the time, she hangs out on the front step of the basement right at the door — pretty much straddling both worlds: ours and her basement.

Today, we even brought her upstairs and shut the basement door for an hour just to force her to acclimate a bit to the environment up here and she did pretty well. In fact, she drank water from the dog bowls and is total boss when the pups are around. It worked so well, she even came back up when the door was open and did a few laps of our home. So, it’ll come. Eventually.

I have to admit, it’s hard with cats. Dogs are so eager to please. And the cat is so fickle. She wants things her way, on her schedule, on her terms.

But she’s also a real sweetheart. When you pick her up, she grabs your neck with her paws and literally HUGS you. She also licks your face — which, isn’t that a dog thing? She’s so loving. Hence the name. And she’s the perfect cat to melt a non-cat person’s heart.

Her back story: she was a stray. She was discovered pregnant. She had kittens. All the kittens were adopted. She was not adopted. But the St. Francis of Assisi Animal Rescue saved her from euthanization and has been trying to find her a home for a couple months. Then she found us. And here we are: cat people in the making. And hoping maybe, finally, those i can has cheezburger jokes will make sense.

I’m not ashamed to steal this meme from EJShea. After such a long hiatus from blogging, I’ve been honestly struggling with how to come back and write again. What do I talk about? How do I start after all this time away?

But since blogging is something I want to get back in the habit of doing, I figured filling in the blanks would be an easy way to start back. Baby steps.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Visited a national park (can you believe that? WTF?); Completed my first XC ski race; Mentored an at-risk youth; Took a Hot Yoga class.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t really set resolutions as a rule of thumb. That said, I did sign back up with WW in January in hopes that I would finally get my weight that’s been steadily creeping up to go back down. But the year of eTools didn’t do much for me. I didn’t stuck to the program consistently. The formula without meetings just hasn’t been effective. I’ve also had a hard time concentrating on weight loss while juggling an insane work schedule. I love my job. I let it take over too much. And it made weight loss less of a priority for me in 2009.

That said, I did set two goals at the beginning of the year: stick to a 2009 training program and become a mentor for Bolder Options. The 2009 program was successful: I completed two ski races, a handful of runs and triathlons and met my 4:15 marathon goal @ Twin Cities Marathon. Then Bolder Options allowed me to share my passion for fitness with an at-risk youth — something more rewarding than all my races combined.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Oh, yes. So many friends & family members having babies. We were especially excited for the birth of one close couple’s first. She came early and is absolutely lovely.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No. We’ve been very blessed this year.

5. What places did you visit? A number of cabin visits up north in MN; my first trip to the Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale (my first National Park); Nashville for a wedding; San Francisco for a conference

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? More work-life balance. I made some good strides in the back half of this year, but I need more. Working and sleeping immediately upon arriving home is not a healthy pattern every night of the week.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Oct. 4. The date of Twin Cities Marathon. After loads of training and lots of doubt around being able to accomplish my goal, I had a dream race and hit the 4:15 mark. And it was SO FUN. After two less-than-stellar marathon experiences, Twin Cities was a dream and I loved every second of it. Even the pain afterward.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably Twin Cities marathon. That and my killer Web site that I manage for work. We’ve taken her from #14 in the category when I started to #6 in Oct. & Nov. and that has been THRILLING! I should also add here that my mentee’s two 5ks were pretty big accomplishments as well.

9. What was your biggest failure? Working too much and not concentrating on the other important aspects of my life.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major and, for that, I’m blessed. I did have a really nagging Achilles tendon injury that I nursed for the first 3-4 months of the year until the PT finally made me stop running so it would heal. And it did. Imagine that.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Hmm… do I daresay my minivan? But the jury is still out on that. I love the storage and ability to travel with the thing but I do miss driving my Buick.

The jury is also still out on the kitty we brought home two weeks ago. She’s sweet, but still adjusting to life in our home. With dogs.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? James. My spouse. Good lord, I have no idea how I could have made it through the year without his constant support on the home front. He makes our meals. He does the dishes. He lets the dogs out when I work late. Best. Husband. Ever.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I don’t really know how to answer this in a way that is appropriate online in my personal life. Politically, I have been pretty disgusted by the Hyde amendment proponents in the health care debate. The past decade saddens me in terms of how much we’ve retreated around reproductive rights.

14. Where did most of your money go? On food. At least that’s what it feels like when we grocery shop each week. We’ve also been good about saving this year and our only major purchase with the minivan which was needed because the Buick was dying.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Seeing the iPhone app my team developed for Betty on a Apple iPhone commercial in December. Super fun to see your project recognized that way.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier. As much as I might have failed on the work-life balance thing this year, I’m in a much better place than I was in 2008. We’ve done some amazing things at work in terms of structure to support that this year. The changes have been very exciting and rewarding. I’ve also made a stronger effort the maintain balance that will only continue and improve. Even just making sure I leave the office by 5pm 2xs a week is a great place to be.

b) thinner or fatter? Fatter. I’ve steadily been gaining and didn’t focus on food & diet much this year at all. Oh well. It was a year of different priorities.

c) richer or poorer? Richer. Our savings has grown. Our debts have declined. And mentoring has added a level of richness not calculated in $$.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? More trips with the pups to the dog park. More trips to the farmer’s market with the spouse on weekends, too.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working after hours on the couch.

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2009? With my family in Wisconsin. There was lots of loafing and a movie. Also, lovely laughs with my brother & sister. I heart them.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? I think so. Work-wise, we accomplished a lot. And while I might regret working so much, I’m very proud of what myself and my team has accomplished. Add to that crossing the finish line @ Twin Cities marathon, it was a pretty sweet year.

22. What was your favorite TV program? So You Think You Can Dance. While America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Amazing Race are my absolute faves, I discovered SYTYCD this year and it’s made me really appreciate dance as an art. We might even attend some modern dance performances in 2010.

23. What did you do for your birthday in 2009? We were in the UP getting ready for our kayak trip on Isle Royale. Started the day with an authentic Pasty, crashed a ton attempting to mountain bike on difficult trails with a bike that didn’t fit me, got eaten alive by bugs during our water skills training and completed my first wet exit from a kayak in 55 degree water.

24. What was the best book you read? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I held out in finishing the series because I didn’t want to be done. But I finally completed it this year and I thought it was everything it should have been.

25. What did you want and get? Accomplishment of loads of goals a work and a 4:15 marathon

26. What did you want and not get? To lose weight. But I didn’t make it a strong enough focus.

27. What was your favorite film of this year? Fresh. It was an incredible film that focused on the hope around sustainable farming as opposed to the bleak picture portrayed by films such as Food, Inc. I was also very surprised by District 9 and how intense an experience it created.

28. Did you make some new friends this year? Yes. Including a sweet couple in Nashville that we want to go back and visit.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Less time working, more time focused on home.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? 2009 was the year of the dress for me. And I found some cute ones.

31. What kept you sane? James. My dogs.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Barrack Obama. It’s been a lovely year not to cringe every time the President would speak.

33. What political issue stirred you the most? Health care reform and the lack of willingness that so many of my fellow constituents have to invest in a system that provides equitable care.

34. Who did you miss? My grandpa. He died when I was 16 and I still miss him every single day.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. If you’re going to complain, come with a solution. It’s empowering to actually take control and effect change.

I know I don’t post much about the fact that, to date, James and I don’t have kids. And, for a couple that is mid-to-late thirty-somethings that have been married for almost 14 years, that’s kind of a oddity. We do have other couple-friends who are childless — a few are our age or older. But, sure, by far the majority of our friend-base have started families — some of them are even married, too!

No, the thing is, I’m used to being a little different. I’m used to being the only thirty-something in the room that hasn’t chosen to breed. I’m used to being accomodating of the child-responsible schedules of my friends. I also care about my friends kids. (surprise!) I really do. Just like (I hope) they care about aspects of my life – whether it’s work, my pets, my family, etc.

But it gets hard. It gets hard to hear, all the time, “you don’t understand.” I know I don’t understand. I know I can’t relate. For some reason, being a mother has become the one acceptable defining life-experience that can be used to judget another human’s ability to relate vocally. I’ve never heard someone with a dead parent say, “you don’t understand because you still have a mom.” No one dares to say to another human, “you don’t understand because you don’t have a father who is an alcoholic.” We all have different life experiences. They all define us in very unique ways. And, for the most part, I think we all can really appreciate how those unique experiences translate into characteristics and behavoirs for friends and family.

But it isn’t okay to generalize my understanding based on my familial status. The truth is: I may not understand because I didn’t grow up in the same city as you, or my mother raised me differently, or I didn’t have to work a part-time job in high school or my gym teacher treated me like shit. OR because I don’t have kids. The thing is: you don’t know. I don’t know. So it doesn’t make that okay to make that gross assumption VOCALLY about me — to me. Just like you wouldn’t want me to make a gross assumption about you — VOCALLY to you – for any number of life-choices you’ve made or life-experiences you’ve encountered.

I just get tired.

And, you know what? We’re not even decided on the kid issue. James and I haven’t decided. But if we do. And we don’t have kids, it is okay. It really is.

At the end of the day, we all have our priorities. We all have what is important and meaninful in our own lives. And we just need to understand what those important things are to the people in our lives. We need to respect those things uniquely. If I can do that for you, please do it for me.

So, my girlfriend Kristy and I took our first x-country ski lesson today and it was awesome.

I wish I could go into all the awesome-ness that is was — but my blogging time is minimal right now. The truth is, I’m finding the work/life balance thing a little rough right now. So, when I’m not outside having fun or inside working, I’m don’t want to really be on the computer.

That said, maybe I’ll give you the down-low tomorrow.

But the summary: man-made snow is a life-saver when you want to learn how to Nordic ski and your damn, freezing cold Minnesota weather doesn’t help much.

I think my ass is going to be really sore tomorrow.

And that makes me happy. :)

The Strongest Man in the World psp The Master of Disguise film

Walking Tall release

Return of the Ghostbusters psp

Without much warning, the boy and I took off for the North Shore on Friday. We’ve been holed up in a cottage with fireplace and jacuzzi tub. We x-country skied in minus 15 degree weather. We got simultaneous massages. There was the wood-fired Finnish sauna (that turned out to be a better idea than reality). And some naughty, naughty pizza and carmel rolls (not car-a-mel, carMEL. I swear to God).

Stories and photos to follow.

Unfortunately, now I need to pack…

buy Jimmy and Judy The Great Escape psp Torque ipod

My Super Ex-Girlfriend dvd

• Straightheads dvd

• Bombshell video download MirrorMask movie

  I Hate Valentines Day movie

  The Secret of Moonacre film