So February is definitely birthday season in our house — Simon last week, Lucas this week, and my mom a couple of weeks from tomorrow. But there’s another birthday squeezed in there — SEVEN years ago last week I wrote my first blog post. Who could have ever guessed where it would lead? I can’t even begin to enumerate all the great things that have happened in my life due to this crazy little blog, but who would have guessed it would have lead to a career in social media and a part-time photography business? Those are no small potatoes!

A few of you have been here from the very beginning, when the blog lived on blogspot and the wayback machine says blog looked like this:

(I don’t miss that design, but it was fun to see my little footprints I loved so much back then!)

If you joined the party a little later, you might remember this design:

I’d almost forgotten about the crayons! And funny, that was my ‘look’ for two years. Tempus fugit, eh?

Speaking of fugiting tempuses, I try to update this “time traveller” meme every couple of years, just because it’s fun to look back and see what a lousy prognosticator I am.

15 years ago today I would have been:

• Living in sin with Beloved in our tiny two-bedroom attic apartment in the Glebe.
• About a year away from finishing my degree.
• Driving an antiquated but dearly loved little black Mazda 323 hatchback everywhere

.

10 years ago today I would have been:

• Fatly, blissfully pregnant and already on my maternity leave in anticipation of Tristan’s arrival one month hence.
• Fresh from an assignment with Industry Canada, my first official job in communications with the government.
• Busy teaching myself HTML and building our first family website on Geocities.

5 years ago today I would have been:

• Trying very hard to get over the loss of one pregnancy and just a few months shy of discovering another.
• Just about to find out that I would be creating a social media team for the CRA.
• Blogging about dead iPods and stomach viruses and the search for decent daycare

.

1 year ago today I would have been:

• Working with the Army and becoming increasingly unhappy.
• Turning my toe anxiously in the carpet as I tried to decide if I was “good enough” to officially try to sell myself as a family and portrait photographer.
• Blogging about photography and Ottawa and our quirky home in Manotick

.

This year I am:

• So very happy to be back with the CRA where I belong, and extremely happy to be leading the social media team. Again!
• Still a little overwhelmed by the success of the whole photography thing — did I tell you I got FIVE bookings this week? That’s almost a third of all the jobs I did in all of 2011!!
• In shock that Lucas — my baby! — is off to junior kindergarten later this year

.

Today I:

• Feel like I’ve got the world by the tail.
• Am toying with the idea of a blog redesign.
• Would like to lose about 10 lbs before summer

.

Next year I hope:

• To continue to grow all facets of the photography business.
• To be planning a vacation for somewhere that involves an ocean.
• To get back to blogging more like I used to back in the day

.

In five years I hope:

• To be within a decade of (gasp!) retirement.
• To stop being freaked out by the idea of being within a decade of retirement.
• To have all three boys in school full time (gasp! with one in high school!) and free of the daycare dilemma forever!

(You know what I learn from doing this meme every couple of years? I am really good at setting and pursuing short-term goals, but I continue to be a lousy
at making any sort of long-term plan. ENFP anyone?)

This is a fun meme, and it’s fun to look back on where I’ve been and how far off my expectations and ambitions have been! And hey, can you believe I’ve been doing this for SEVEN YEARS?!?

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1. A happy day for the sandwich generation
2. Bloggy navel-gazing
3. Blog is five years old today!

I think I might actually be a grown-up now. This is such an astonishing revelation that it bears sharing here on the blog.

It started, as it usually does, with a fit of covetousness. I have an iPhone 3GS. I’ve had it for about a year and a half, since the eve of the release of the iPhone 4. I’ve always been rather proud of my thriftiness, buying the newly-reduced 3GS instead of the hot new toy. Never mind the fact that the iPhone itself is a mad indulgence.

At the time, I had no idea how deeply attached to the iPhone I would become. I call it my umbilical cord, and I have it with me always. I find myself using it to check Twitter while waiting in long queues at the grocery store, checking the weather sitting in the Timmies drive-thru on the way to work, and most sweetly indulgent of all, checking my e-mail in the morning before I even part the flannel sheets to let in the cold of a fresh new day.

I was perfectly content with my vaguely antiquated 3GS until several factors came together recently, launching me down the garden path to coveting an upgrade. Getty on Flickr started soliciting iPhone pictures, which reminded me to start taking pictures with it, and I rediscovered the fact that although they don’t compare in quality to the pictures I take with the Nikon, they do have a certain quirky appeal.

Then my friend Steve told me that his new iPhone 4S had an 8 megapixel camera (mine is a meagre 3 megapixels) and showed me some of the incredible high resolution and low-light stills and video he had taken. *drool* And Beloved mentioned his five year old Krazr (barely beyond a rotary-dial phone by today’s standards) was no longer properly holding a charge.

Given that I still have a contract with Telus, it seemed like a brilliant plan on my part to give Beloved the 3GS and get a 4S for myself. Over several conversations with Beloved, we evolved from him having zero interest in having his own iPhone to a sort of capitulation that yes, since the cost of the plan would be more or less the same and since his phone was becoming rather useless, in theory it may be feasible to consider upgrading my phone and having him use the old one, at some unspecified future date. He may have been agreeing in principal, but it was all I needed to write a contract in blood.

Poor Beloved.

Which is how I found myself spending the best part of an afternoon trying to wrangle a deal with first Telus, then Rogers, and getting myself increasingly tangled up in various plans and options. I was brazen in my negotiations, which were flatly declined by Telus. I had better luck with Rogers, though, and when we were suddenly looking at not only two iPhones and a shared data plan but a sweet incentive plan that included a ridiculously discounted Galaxy Tablet, Beloved was suddenly leading the charge for the acquisition of the new iPhone and plan with Rogers. The only fly in the ointment was the pesky factor of that contract with Telus and the $$$ I’d have to fork out to break the contract.

I could sense a long afternoon of horse-trading and hold music coming to fruition when the salesperson came back on the line with bad news — the online call centre didn’t actually have any iPhone 4S in stock. The salesperson told me that a bricks-and-mortar Rogers location could offer me a similar deal, though, and said although she regretted losing the sale (she’d at that point invested nearly an hour with me) I’d get a better deal with them.

So caught up in the frenzy of deal-making, plan breaking and instant gratification were we by that point that Beloved encouraged me to go now, RIGHT NOW!!, to the nearest Rogers store to ink the deal. Dinner? Schminner! Pick something up for us on the way home with my new tablet!

It’s at this point that I have to say I’m grateful there isn’t a Rogers outlet in Manotick. I hadn’t even made it as far as Rideau Valley Drive on my way to Barrhaven when the adrenaline subsided enough for me to see the ridiculousness of my mission. Nothing was on sale or time limited. We ought to consider our options a bit more clearly before proceeding. If we signed on to a Rogers family plan, we’d need to pay out the contract penalty with Telus, but the longer we waited the less the penalty would be. Maybe the iPhone 4S will go on sale when they finally get around to announcing the long-anticipated iPhone 5. Maybe we could just get the iPhone 4S straight up from Rogers without the family plan and work things out so they swapped the phone numbers. At the very least, we could wait until the weekend. I don’t need the new phone TODAY. I actually don’t *need* the phone in any way, shape or form, but I had worked myself up to an absolute lather of covetousness.

I was actually kind of relieved when I turned and headed to our local sub shop to pick up some dinner. This may be the first time ever that I’ve managed to pull myself out of a consumeristic frenzy of instant gratification. Other similar scenarios have ended in the acquisition of, off the top of my head, our first DSLR, my original iPhone, and our newest laptop.

I am ridiculously proud of this highwater mark in my life, an obvious truimph of reason over impetuousness. I think I’ve shown an exemplary amount of maturity. Apparently it *is* possible to resist the siren-song of instant gratification. Who knew?!

So proud of myself was I, I forgot to consider one important factor. Poor Beloved was crushed when I came through the door carrying only dinner. He was looking forward to playing with his shiny new toys tonight.

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1. Nokia phone birthday photos
2. Obligatory free phone blog
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When I was in Toronto for the Blissdom Canada conference, I had the chance to speak to CBC’s Ira Basen about mom blogs, sponsorships, advertising and working with brands. It was an interesting conversation, especially as I tried to mentally juggle my relationship with Fisher-Price and Mom Central Canada (the sponsors who brought me to Blissdom Canada) and my own strongly held opinions on the matter. You can tune in this Sunday to CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition to see how it all turned out. Here’s the aperçue from the Sunday Edition web site:

There are four million mommy bloggers in North America, women sharing with other women the trials and tribulations of bringing up babies and making more and more money at the same time.

In the past decade, social media for mommies has gone from a nurturing, supportive, chat-across-the-back-fence virtual village to a massive marketing vehicle for everyone from toy companies to the makers of minivans.

On the site you can also hear a quick promo of the show, featuring one of my biggest bloggy crushes and the woman I coincidentally befriended on the shuttle ride from the airport to Blissdom, Bonnie Stewart. Thanks to Judy Gombita on Google+, here’s a list of some of the others featured in the documentary:

PhD In Parenting – Annie Urban http://www.phdinparenting.com/
5 Minutes for Mom – Janice Croze http://www.5minutesformom.com/
Common Cents Mom – Hollie Pollard http://commoncentsmom.com/
Crib Chronicles – Bonnie Stewart http://cribchronicles.com/
Mom Central Canada – Cora Brady http://www.momcentralcanada.com/
Fisher Price play panel http://www.fisherpriceplay.ca/moms/
Child’s Play Communications –Stephanie Azzarone http://childsplaypr.com/

Judy also quotes Ira Basen’s summary of the 27-minute documentary:

“It is basically about the pros and cons commercialization of the social media space, and mommy blogs are the best example of that. On the one hand, the bloggers who have chosen to monetize their blogs by hooking up with brands via sponsorships, sponsored posts, compensation etc., are being rewarded for the work they do and are providing a service that many readers must find valuable. On the other hand, as one person (Bonnie Stewart of PEI) says in the piece…

‘There are people now who are perceiving that social media is a great way to build platforms so that you can get a corporate job being a brand spokesperson for Kraft Foods, but they are not necessarily as interested, and possibly not even as aware of the creator/consumer model on which original social media was based. I’m not sure that the “I’m here as a consumer of opportunity, in a space that’s crowded with marketers” is social media. I have a feeling that that might just be an interactive way of getting eyeballs and shilling for traditional corporate interests. And if enough people allow that to become the norm, then I think a lot of the power and potential of social media goes away.’

Heh, you can totally tell why I have a blog crush on Bonnie after reading that, eh?

I’d almost forgotten about this and was pleased to hear that it wasn’t relegated to the cutting room floor. If you’re curious, tune in this Sunday to CBC Radio One. It’s currently scheduled to run at 9:13 am, barring interference from pesky world events and breaking current affairs. You can stream it from CBC Radio, too, or catch the full-length podcast after the fact.

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1. Blissdom Canada recap; or, how I learned to love my blog again
2. On Blissdom Canada and the Fisher-Price Playpanel
3. 42 is my new lucky number

Seriously? You thought you might get through one Christmas season without the annual Donder reindeer rant? Sorry to disappoint you. As long as I have pixels to purvey my message, the reindeer rant will play out at some time in the month of December.

New around here? Darling, this one is for you!

“You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen;
Comet and Cupid and DONDER and Blitzen…”

As you might know, my last name is Donders. As such, it has been my lifelong quest to set the record straight and right the wrongs entrenched by Johnny Marks and Gene Autry.

Here’s a little history lesson for you. The poem “A Visit From St Nicholas”, commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas”, was written back in 1823 and is generally attributed to American poet Clement Clarke Moore (although there have been recent arguments that the poem was in fact written by his contemporary Henry Livingston Jr.) The original poem reads, in part:

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name.
“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on Dunder and Blixem!

As explained on the Donder Home Page (no relation):

In the original publication of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1823 in the Troy Sentinel, “Dunder and Blixem” are listed as the last two reindeer. These are very close to the Dutch words for thunder and lightning, “Donder and Bliksem”. Blixem is an alternative spelling for Bliksem, but Dunder is not an alternative spelling for Donder. It is likely that the word “Dunder” was a misprint. Blitzen’s true name, then, might actually have been “Bliksem”.

In 1994, the Washington Post delved into the matter by sending a reporter to the Library of Congress to reference the source material. (In past years, I’d been able to link to a Geocities site with the full text, but sadly, Geocities is no more.)

We were successful. In fact, Library of Congress reference librarian David Kresh described Donner/Donder as “a fairly open-and-shut case.” As we marshaled the evidence near Alcove 7 in the Library’s Main Reading Room a few days ago, it quickly became clear that Clement Clarke Moore, author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” wanted to call him (or her?) “Donder.” Never mind that editors didn’t always cooperate. […] Further confirmation came quickly. In “The Annotated Night Before Christmas,” which discusses the poem in an elegantly illustrated modern presentation, editor Martin Gardner notes that the “Troy Sentinel” used “Dunder”, but dismisses this as a typo. Gardner cites the 1844 spelling as definitive, but also found that Moore wrote “Donder” in a longhand rendering of the poem penned the year before he died: “That pretty well sews it up,” concluded Kresh.

So there you have it. This Christmas season, make sure you give proper credit to Santa’s seventh reindeer. On DONDER and Blitzen. It’s a matter of family pride.

BUT WAIT! There’s more!! After six years of recycling the same holiday post, I was thinking I needed something a little extra to drive my point home. I’m not sure whether this is a testament to the fact that I’ve been spending WAY too much time on Pinterest lately, or the fact that I need to get the heck out of Photoshop once in a while. I am sure, though, that I am no iminent danger of quitting my day job to become a graphic designer, because designing these damn things is WAY harder than it looks!

Ahem, anyway, for all you pinners out there, do me the favour of pinning this one around? I’m thinking there’s a great untapped medium for my message out there on Pinterest!

Easy-peasy one-click pinning: Pin It

And to all a good night!

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1. The one with her annual reindeer rant
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3. Donder. Not Donner, DONDER.

This week, CBC Ottawa has been doing a series on savvy spenders, featuring ways to save on your groceries and on your clothing budget. And today, they’ll be airing a segment on free activities for families in Ottawa — featuring me and the whole family! It’s been about three years since I wrote what was to become one of my most popular posts: 40 (mostly) free family fun ideas, the post that caught CBC’s eye. I’ve updated it a few times, but I thought it would suit the theme of the CBC segment to repackage it as the story was originally pitched: seven ideas for seven days of free family fun in Ottawa.

Day 1: Be a tourist in your own town

When’s the last time you went up the Peace Tower? Walked around the paths between the Ottawa river and Parliament Hill? Said hello to the feral cat colony near the West Block? Visited Maman the Spider? (And now there’s a brand new Haida totem pole right across the street from Maman.) Not too long now and you can bring your skates for a trip down our very own UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal.

Day 2: Visit the RCMP Stables

We still haven’t gotten around to this one, but it’s definitely on my list! At the RCMP Stables and Musical Ride Centre, you can meet the majestic horses and be charmed by their beauty and friendly temperaments, tour the stables where the training begins, stop by the Riding School, visit the farrier station and see the stately carriages used in royal escorts of Her Majesty the Queen.

Day 3: Enjoy free City of Ottawa programs

Did you know the city of Ottawa offers 247 (!) free outdoor skating rinks — or at least they will if this absurdly warm fall ever gives way to winter. And there are dozens of free splash pads and wading pools for free family fun in the summertime.

Day 4: Find freebies galore at the Ottawa Public Library

Everybody knows you can get books for free at the library, and most people know you can now borrow music on CD and movies on DVD. But did you know you can also borrow Wii, Playstation and Xbox games? After all those video games, you might also want to borrow a pedometer! Or how about museum passes for family admission to the National Gallery, Museum of Science and Technology or the Museum of Nature or even a three-in-one pass for the War Museum, the Museum of Civilization and the Canadian Children’s Museum? And that’s not even mentioning all the cool stuff you can download for your handheld devices! Phew!

Day 5: Go for a nature walk

Ottawa is criss-crossed and surrounded by gorgeous open spaces with easy walking paths perfect for families and even easily negotiated with strollers. Stop at the Bulk Barn and invest 35 cents for a big bag of bird seed, then head out to Mer Bleu Bog in the east, Hog’s Back trail in the middle of town, the Stony Swamp in the west and spend some time feeding the chickadees. Simply put a little seed in your hand and the chickadees will land on your fingers to feed — I’ve yet to meet a kid or adult who wasn’t charmed by this one!

Day 6: Take advantage of free museum days

Starting in December through the winter months, the animal barns at the Agriculture Museum (aka the Experimental Farm) are open on a pay-what-you-can basis. And the fabulous Children’s Museum at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the National Gallery are both free on Thursdays after 5 pm.

Day 7: Visit free local attractions

Did you know that Watson’s Mill in Manotick is haunted by the bride of the first owner, killed tragically just days after the Mill opened in 1851? Or that there is a free Currency Museum in the heart of downtown Ottawa? Other free local attractions include the Nepean Museum, Pinhey’s Point (admission by donation), the Goulbourn Museum, the Osgoode Township Historical Society and Museum, and Vanier’s Museopark.

Isn’t that amazing? So entertaining the family doesn’t have to break the bank! If you’re looking for more ideas for free or inexpensive family fun in Ottawa, try these posts for some ideas. And please do feel free to share your ideas for frugal family fun in Ottawa in the comment box!

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1. Five warm and frost-free indoor places to visit on Family Day
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Clearly, I have done something to please the Universe, because this has been a month full of wonderful news and awesome surprises – and it’s barely begun. Do you mind if I take a quick moment to share my joy?

Last time I was talking about good fortune, I mentioned that I had been offered a job (my former position!) working in social media for the Canada Revenue Agency. I was gathering the paperwork so they could prepare my letter of offer when I realized that (gah!) my French levels had expired, and so rather than the leisurely three weeks of vacation I had been planning, I spent at least an hour each day curled up in a heap of practice tests and grammar workbooks. Then there were more misadventures when one of my two prescribed tests was delayed when the building’s air conditioning system failed. I tell you, I never manage to find the easy road! And speaking of easy, the reading test was not. At all. In fact, I was so sure that I’d missed the required grade that I was sick about it all weekend.

To my surprise and delight, I found out Monday morning that I passed with exactly the levels I required for my new position at the CRA. My letter of offer is now signed, and I start my new/old job at the end of the month. Yay!!

While I was tapping the refresh key and hoping for an early peek at my results late last week, I got an e-mail from my friends at Mom Central Canada and Fisher-Price. It turns out the PlayPanel program has been so successful that they’re extending it and even expanding it. More details will be announced at this year’s Blissdom Canada conference — and the whole PlayPanel team has been invited to attend. I was heartbroken last year when I had to sell my Blissdom 2010 ticket because the conference coincided with the closing date on the new house, and ticked off at myself for totally missing the wafer-thin window of ticket sales this year, so you can imagine how excited I am to be actually going this fall after all! (Speaking of Fisher-Price, don’t forget to sign up for their Celebrating Milestones program, where you can win a $200 prize pack of Fisher-Price toys AND a $200 spa gift card for you! /plug)

And! As if that weren’t enough excitement… I was on my way to one of the infernal French exams when I happened to catch a tweet from Andrea: “Hey @DaniGirl – I just opened up my copy of @Canadian_Living and noticed that you are ‘blog of the month’ Congrats!”

To which I said, “Whaaaaa?” I had no idea! And it took about a week before I was able to track down a copy of the September issue of Canadian Living (sadly, my subscription lapsed last fall, but I am definitely going to remember to renew it now!) And lookit that, she was right! Postcards from the Mothership is Canadian Living’s blog of the month!

Wow. What a month! I’ll tell you this much — 42 is turning out to be a very lucky number indeed!

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1. On Blissdom Canada and the Fisher-Price Playpanel
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3. Fisher-Price photo shoot sneak peek

It went something like this…

*ring ring*

Hello?

Hey Universe, it’s DaniGirl calling.

DaniGirl! Good to hear from you! I’ve been peeking in on you lately, I’m surprised you found the time to pick up the phone.

No kidding! Each time I think I reach a new high in busyness, and think that things can’t possibly get any more crazy, they do.

It’s nice to see that your photography business has taken off. That must feel pretty good.

It feel amazing! It’s been an incredibly busy but validating month with five family portrait shoots just in the last ten days. And the clients have seemed to really love the results – one family bought a print of every single proof in the gallery.

Great stuff, DaniGirl. No wonder you’re feeling so busy. And I hear you had a blast at Social Capital this weekend.

Oh my goodness, it was amazing! So many interesting people, so many great connections. I learned a lot, met a lot of amazing people, and really enjoyed having a captive audience for a while, even if I was a little scattered in my presentation.

Mouth getting a little ahead of your brain, eh? Yeah, that happens to me, too. It’s been a busy vacation for you this year, no wonder you’re feeling a little discombobulated.

Ha, and that’s hardly the tip of the iceberg. I seem to be caught up in a whirlwind of change right now. Did you see that we finally found a new daycare provider for Lucas?

I did see that. She seems like a warm, lovely lady.

I think so, too. I really like the fact that some of the older kids who come for after-school care have been with her for nine or ten years. That kind of endorsement speaks for itself. And she’s literally right around the corner. We start with her at the end of the summer, right around the time I hope to be starting my new job. Cuz, yanno, if you’re going to change one thing, you might as well change everything.

New job, right. I noticed you were working on that. What’s up with that?

Well, remember back in 2007, you were up to your usual antics. The very month that the Canada Revenue Agency created that special social media manager position especially for me, I found out I was pregnant with Lucas. I managed to work in the position for about six months before I went on maternity leave, but then when I left they hired a friend of mine to replace me.

Right, I think you cursed me out for quite a few months on the timing of that one.

Um, yeah. Of course I was delighted to be pregnant because we had been trying for months, but I was truly heartbroken to lose that job. And when I came back from maternity leave, even though I was disappointed, I could completely understand why they didn’t want to just bump the person who had been doing the job for a year. So I took a position in another part of the public affairs branch.

And then you started managing the Army Web site and all the social media channels there shortly after that, right?

Yeah, that’s when I joked I was quitting the CRA after 20 years to run off and join the Army.

Thanks for the history lesson, but what does that have to do with your current situation?

Well, the person who took over for me in 2007 is now moving on to other opportunities and she called me up to see if I’d be interested in coming back.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Easy-peasy, right?

Ha, you’d think so, wouldn’t you? You’re such a joker, you know you pulled the rug out from under me again on this one.

Hey, you passed the hiring committee with flying colours. It’s not my fault you forgot to check to see whether your French levels were up to date.

Sigh, you’re right. It’s just painful that they were ready to issue a letter of offer, and now I have to pass my reading and writing exam before we can move ahead. I tell you, the last thing I expected to be doing on my summer vacation is spend an hour or two each day snuggled up with Schaum’s French Grammar and a stack of practice tests.

There’s a plan B though, right?

Actually, I’m calling it Plan E. There’s a chance they can move me to an English Essential position in another directorate and transfer me over. But I’d rather just pass the French test, because I’m not sure how solid that option is. Think you could help me out on that one, maybe make my rusty old brain a little more fluid for the next week or so?

Sorry DaniGirl, I’m just the omniscient overseer. I may be omnipotent, but it would be bad mojo if I rigged the outcome of your French test.

Okay, I suppose that’s fair. And besides, the reason I called wasn’t really about that anyway.

Oh really? Why did you call then?

Well, first to once again commend you for your sense of humour. You’ve got me going literally in circles again, back where I started four years ago if this works out.

It’s not like you haven’t enjoyed the intervening loop, though, right?

Fair enough. And that’s the other thing. I wanted to say thanks. My life may be so busy right now I’m breathless with the pace of it, but it’s all really quite good.

I’m glad you’re happy, DaniGirl.

I am, Universe. I know sometimes I call you up to bitch and complain when things are going poorly, so I thought it would be nice to drop you a line and let you know that aside from being a little dizzy at the pace of it all, I am really and truly happy right now. And I’m proud of myself, too. I think I’m on the right track right now, and I’m trying to acknowledge that out loud, if for nothing else than it will serve as a good reminder when I do something dumb to derail myself again!

Great idea, DaniGirl. It’s important to be grateful for the good things in our lives, the things that make us happy. Keep me posted on the job situation.

I will, Universe. Take care…

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1. In which the Universe demonstrates a sense of humour
2. A courtesy call from the Universe
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You ever notice how people who love to take pictures seem to hate having their picture taken? Couple that with a deeply embedded aversion to change, and it becomes a huge ordeal for me to even think about changing my online avatar. Further, I think it’s good personal “branding” to have one picture across all the same social media channels you use — there have been a few times when I didn’t realize someone I was following on twitter was the same person I was also following on Flickr or their blog because the pictures were different.

Aside from a really fun evening, the nice thing about a playdate in the park with a bunch of talented photographers with nothing to shoot but each other is that you get some really great new pictures of yourself. Kym posted her 100 Strangers post featuring me and our photofest with Justin, Younes and Amanda this week — check it out!!

So now I have not one but four pictures I really like and am considering. I’ve been agonizing all week between a few of them that Kym and Justin took, and honestly, I simply can’t decide. Will you help me choose?

Thanks!

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Are you interested in Ottawa’s social media scene? If you are, you’re going to want to clear your calendar for the month of July! There are at least two don’t-miss events happening, and they’re both promising to be fantastic experiences.

First, we have the perennial and amazingly fun Blog Out Loud Ottawa (BOLO) on July 7:

BOLO is one of my favourite social events of the year! Would you like to be one of the 20 bloggers who takes the stage to read a favourite blog post from the past year? Here are the deets from the official BOLO blog:

Here’s the basic idea:

* There’s a due date for declaring you want to read – Friday, June 10. If you’d like to read, I need to know the exact blog post you have in mind – please don’t send me an email saying you want to read, but you don’t know what. It should be something from the past year (or so) and should be able to be read aloud in less than five minutes. Pick something you really love, that represents who you are and what your blog is about – and that will be sure to come across when you’re standing at the microphone.

* All entries received by June 10 will be read and enjoyed by me and a panel of bloggers (who are not submitting a post for reading). Our favourite 10 entries will be selected for reading at BOLO.

* All other entries will go into a random-draw pot and the final 11 readers will be picked at random.

If we have 21 people or fewer interested by June 10, then you’re all in, and that would be fantastic. I’ll definitely announce it when all the spots are gone, so if it’s after June 10 and you haven’t heard anything, and you’d still like to read, we probably have spots left.

If you are interested in being on my judging panel, please let me know. Note that if you are on the jury, you can’t submit a post for reading.

I’ve thrown my hat into the ring, although I’m not sure I could top last year when I exposed my innermost soul and my favourite bra to a packed and sweaty house.

And!! As if that weren’t enough excitement for the Ottawa social media scene, there is a fantastic new social media “learnathon” that will be the other don’t-miss event of the summer: the Social Capital conference, taking place on Saturday July 23:

If you consider yourself a social media ‘buff’, then Social Capital will be the place to be in Ottawa on Saturday July 23rd! Social Capital is your opportunity to learn from and network with Ottawa’s most connected and knowledgeable people! When it comes to social media, this is the conference you won’t want to miss.

Ottawa has an active and passionate social media community. A community that is craving opportunities to learn, continue to grow and to share knowledge. Social Capital is a one-day conference that will fill this need.

Participants will have the opportunity to meet and network with like-minded social media enthusiasts. A combination of panels, roundtables, and single-leader sessions will cover topics of interest for newbie and experts alike.

I really like how they’ve devised three potential streams of sessions, one for fundamentals, one for more experienced users, and one for business. Whether you’re a social media noob or an old hand, whether you’re a dabbler or a business owner, I think you’ll find something useful in the proposed lineup!

I think the organizers have done an amazing job of making this an accessible, affordable event jam-packed with interesting presentations and speakers. And I don’t say that simply because I’ll be one of them! Come on out to hear me, Lara Wellman and Vivian Cheng talk about choosing the right social media tools for your business.

That’s a lot of excitement to pack into one month. July is going to rock Ottawa’s social media scene!

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I‘ve spent the last two days in a leadership training course for work, and the main focus of the course was determining your Myers-Briggs personality type and then learning how to take the various personality types into account when developing your leadership style.

I’ve never taken an MBTI assessment before, but I’ve always been curious about them. The idea is based on Jungian theory on cognitive function that attempts to explain how people perceive the world and make decisions. There are 16 basic personality types based on four “dichotomies” and where you fall on the spectrum of each of these pairs: Introversion vs extraversion; sensing vs intuition; thinking vs feeling and judgement vs perception. You can read more about this on the Myers-Briggs Foundation website if you’re curious — it’s fascinating stuff!

When we were doing some exercises ahead of actually taking the personality assessment, I had a very hard time deciding where I sat on most of the dichotomies. I’m the most introverted extravert you’ll ever meet, and rated myself as more introverted. The only dichotomy on which I clearly fell to one side or the other was on the thinking versus feeling spectrum — “When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances?” Um, logic? In decision making? What a concept!

Even after I got my personality type through taking the test, I was waffling. It said I was an ENFP, which means my tendencies are toward extraversion, intuition, feeling and perception: “Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency.” Okay, so that pretty much sounds accurate, but I still kept flipping through the descriptions, wondering if maybe there was another one that was even more accurate, until I came across one line in the ENFP description that made me laugh: “ENFPs are reluctant to make decisions and commitments and can often appear flighty to others.” Ha! And once I started really reading the description, I couldn’t get over how clearly it described me.

Here’s a couple of the snippets from one site’s description of the ENFP type that made me blush in recognition:

ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. They live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Their enthusiasm lends them the ability to inspire and motivate others, more so than we see in other types. They can talk their way in or out of anything. They love life, seeing it as a special gift, and strive to make the most out of it.

Most ENFPs have great people skills. They are genuinely warm and interested in people, and place great importance on their inter-personal relationships. ENFPs almost always have a strong need to be liked. Sometimes, especially at a younger age, an ENFP will tend to be “gushy” and insincere, and generally “overdo” in an effort to win acceptance. However, once an ENFP has learned to balance their need to be true to themselves with their need for acceptance, they excel at bringing out the best in others, and are typically well-liked.

Because ENFPs live in the world of exciting possibilities, the details of everyday life are seen as trivial drudgery. They place no importance on detailed, maintenance-type tasks, and will frequently remain oblivous to these types of concerns. When they do have to perform these tasks, they do not enjoy themselves. This is a challenging area of life for most ENFPs, and can be frustrating for ENFP’s family members. (Bwhahaha, remember what I said about housework? OMG, this explains SO much!!)

The gift of gab which they are blessed with makes it naturally easy for them to get what they want. Most ENFPs will not abuse their abilities, because that would not jive with their value systems.

Having an ENFP parent can be a fun-filled experience, but may be stressful at times for children with strong Sensing or Judging tendancies. Such children may see the ENFP parent as inconsistent and difficult to understand, as the children are pulled along in the whirlwind life of the ENFP. Sometimes the ENFP will want to be their child’s best friend, and at other times they will play the parental authoritarian. But ENFPs are always consistent in their value systems, which they will impress on their children above all else, along with a basic joy of living.

ENFPs are basically happy people. They may become unhappy when they are confined to strict schedules or mundane tasks. Consequently, ENFPs work best in situations where they have a lot of flexibility, and where they can work with people and ideas. Many go into business for themselves. They have the ability to be quite productive with little supervision, as long as they are excited about what they’re doing.

Because they are so alert and sensitive, constantly scanning their environments, ENFPs often suffer from muscle tension. They have a strong need to be independent, and resist being controlled or labelled. They need to maintain control over themselves, but they do not believe in controlling others. Their dislike of dependence and suppression extends to others as well as to themselves.

Are you reading this Mom? Are you howling with laughter? So that was interesting, but what absolutely blew me away was another worksheet that listed some of the challenges that an ENFP leader might face in the workplace. I absolutely need to photocopy this for every person in my team, including my boss, and tape it up on my wall and maybe cut and paste it into my next performance evaluation!!

ENFP leaders tend to face the following challenges:

- may not complete what gets started
- has high need for external affirmation
- resists the need to ground their vision in past and present data, and struggle to describe their vision in tangible, specific terms.
- become discouraged by others’ critiques of their vision, even if they are generally supportive
- hesitates to give critical feedback, being reluctant to risk hurting others
- lose credibility with people who expect leaders to provide them with a structure to follow (e.g. roles, clear boundaries, detailed plans)
- leaves responsibility for implementation to others and neglect to follow up, sometimes setting a poor example of being accountable for results (eek! So scary, so true!)
- becomes immobilized by the sheer volume of details that must be handled and lose enthusiasm for an idea

I found this on another website, and again, am blushing in recognition:

For some ENFPs, relationships can be seriously tested by their short attention spans and emotional needs. They are easily intrigued and distracted by new friends and acquaintances, forgetting their older and more familiar emotional ties for long stretches at a time. And the less mature ENFP may need to feel they’re the constant center of attention, to confirm their image of themselves as a wonderful and fascinating person. (You DO find me wonderful and fascinating, right? RIGHT?)

In the workplace, ENFPs are pleasant and friendly, and interact in a positive and creative manner with both their co-workers and the public. ENFPs are also a major asset in brainstorming sessions; follow-through on projects can be a problem, however. ENFPs do get distracted, especially if another interesting issue comes along. They also tend towards procrastination, and dislike performing small, uninteresting tasks. ENFPs are most productive when working in a group with a few Js to handle the details and the deadlines. (Bwhahaha, details? Deadlines? Pffffffft.)

And finally, from another course handout, “nearly all of the problematic characteristics can be attributed to [...]the common ENFP problem of wanting to understand and experience everything at all costs.” (Really, this is so elemental to my personality, and I have never realized it until now.) “The main driver to the ENFP personality is Extraverted Intuition, whose purpose is to understand the world as one Big Picture, seeking connections and meaning in everything. If their ability to seek understanding is threatened, the ENFP shuts out the threatening force.” (What’s that, you disagree? Lalala, I can’t hear you!)

I am utterly gobsmacked over this amazing new insight to my own motivations and perceptions. So of course, now I want to know the personality types of Beloved, of the boys, of my family and friends. I know it’s neither a justification for behaviour nor a prescription, but having this insight explains SO MUCH of my own behaviour and some of the chronic problems I’ve had with procrastination, clutter, and my voracious appetite for external validation. It’s not my fault, it’s my personality type!! It was funny listening to the instructor, who also happened to be an ENFP, list some of the strengths and weaknesses of this particular personality type: warm and insightful, but easily distracted; with no realistic grasp of deadlines, and much better at instigating projects than following through on them.

If you’d like to take the test and determine your own personality type, there’s an online test here. I want to go back to the office and have my whole team take this test!! I’m dying to compare notes — anybody else been through a revelation like this? Did it knock you on your ass as much as this has done for me?

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I have a sweater. (Stunning lede, no? Wait, it can only get better.) I’ve had this sweater for ages, four or five years at least. (See, nail-biting drama here. I don’t know if I can contain myself.) I really like it. (Surely this is Pulitzer-quality material?) I’ve worn it at least a couple of times every month for the last few seasons. (Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the editorializing now.)

Ahem.

Anyway, I have this sweater, and despite the fact that it’s got horizontal stripes in a deep charcoal through deep purple, it’s a flattering fit and looks quite sharp with a pair of dress pants. And in addition to looking sharp, it’s wonderfully comfortable, one of those sweaters that feels good to wear and makes you feel good wearing it.

So today I pull it out of my closet (another aside, will I NEVER be done with the sweaters this season? Where the hell is spring anyway?) and as I’m pulling it off the hanger, I notice something that makes me do a double-take. I look closely at the tag and realize that this sweater is a medium size.

Hmmmm.

I don’t wear a medium in anything. I’m a size 12 pants, maybe 10 on a good day, but I’m a large to extra-large kind of girl on top. Even if it looks capacious on the hanger, there’s no way I’d even bother trying on a medium in a store. Between my solidly large Germanic bone structure and the vexatious breasts that truly don’t need any more written about them and my lifelong aversion to tight clothes, I haven’t bought a top that was a medium since I was a teenager.

How the hell is this shirt a medium? When I bought it, I was a full pant size *larger* than I am now. And how have I worn this sweater (counts on fingers and toes) at least 40 times over the last four years and not noticed it was a medium?

I could have puzzled this out for hours, but sadly, sitting on the edge of the bed and contemplating life’s sweater mysteries is not an acceptable excuse for not showing up at work. So I pull it on and start to get on with my day. And I tug it a little bit, and fuss at it in the mirror for a while. Because, suddenly, it’s not sitting right. It’s clingy in the wrong way, and when the heck did it start riding up at my neck like that. It feels so… so…

It feels so medium.

Sigh. You know now people refuse to wear a certain size of jeans because they just can’t stand the idea that they’re an 8 instead of a 6? (Cuz really, people who are a 16 never seem to have this issue!) I never really understood this mentality. If the jeans fit, who the hell cares what the tag says? Except now, I get it.

I’ve now psyched myself out of wearing one of my favourite sweaters. It’s just too medium for me.

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I‘m very excited! On Monday, I’ll be hopping on a plane and heading for the left coast to speak at this social media in government conference. What fun, eh? This is similar to the conferences I’ve spoken at here in Ottawa last June and September, and I got a really great reception (and reviews!) both previous times.

This is my abstract:

Social Media Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: How To Choose The Right Tools For Your Audience, Your Message, And Your Organization’s Goals

Many government departments and agencies are considering launching their own YouTube channel or Facebook fan page. But how do you choose which tools are the right ones for your organization?

The Army News team in the Department of National Defence has posted nearly 2,000 videos to YouTube over the last three years and those videos have been viewed more than 1.6 million times. Their channel is currently ranked within the top 75 YouTube channels for Canadian news and reporting. They’re also using Twitter, iTunes, Flickr and Facebook to share information and engage Army stakeholders.

Social media is not one-size-fits-all. Not every tool is appropriate for every situation. In this session, you will learn how to choose the right tools for your audience, your message and your organization’s goals. You’ll also review some common issues to consider when using social media tools in a government environment, including:

* Tweeting in both official languages
* Managing comments – and responding when necessary
* Giving your organization an authentic “voice” and personality through social media
* Developing content that is relevant, interesting and timely
* Matching your policies to your tools
* Analyzing your audience and evaluating your tools to ensure they’re working for you and not the other way around

Danielle Donders, Web Manager, Army Multimedia

I love the topic and I love the interaction during the seminars. I’m so looking forward to it!

Of course, the other thing I’m looking forward to is the ginourmous photo opportunity that is Vancouver. I’ve been before, twice on the way to Victoria and one other time on business — but there was no down time for exploring.

Any suggestions on treks I may want to take with my camera? I’m staying right downtown on Burrard, not far from Robson Square. I don’t think I’ll bother with a car as I only really have the one day free and a couple of evenings, and it seems like there’s plenty of interesting stuff nearby. Granville Island is to the west and Gastown is to the east of where I’ll be staying; any thoughts on which one might be a better destination? I definitely want to check out the waterfront. Also not far away is Stanley Park, but a 15 km hike to cram them all in might be a little bit too much to cram in, especially since the current forecast is calling for — surprise! — rain on Monday. Any indoor suggestions are welcome, too!

All in all, I think just about anywhere you can point your camera in Vancouver, you’re going to come away with a good shot or two!

The real challenge is how I’ll manage with no laptop to process the pix as I go, as Beloved thinks his pesky work is more important than my obsessive photo habits. I know, the nerve, eh? Especially when I’m so considerately leaving all three boys here with him to keep him company!

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I spent a good chunk of time this weekend updating my résumé, and another little chunk of time writing up a little bio for a very! exciting! project! that I’ve got coming up this week (more soon!) These comprehensive analyses are always difficult for me — I’m naturally self-effacing, but also rather astonished at my accomplishments when I stack them up next to each other.

And then I got to thinking about how the blog has provided me with some rather astonishing opportunities and completely serendipitous connections, and I wondered why I’ve never posted my professional qualifications on the blog before. I mean, I’m no longer suffering under any delusion of anonymity (can a blogger with a eponymous URL even make a pretense of anonymity?) and this blog is pretty much the portal to me, right? It only makes sense to post my professional qualifications right beside my personal qualifications. I’m actually kind of wondering why I don’t see more of this online.

So, here it is: my curriculum vitae, circa spring 2011:

Summary:

I am an energetic, creative communications professional with 20 years of experience in government, specializing in strategic and Web communications and social media.

Skills and qualifications:

• Extensive experience creating strategic communications plans and supporting products such as media lines, news releases, Web text, brochures and corporate documents.
• Extensive experience providing communications advice to senior government and military officials and ministerial staff.
• Extensive experience in implementing social media programs and using social media tools in a government environment.
• Experience in managing a large team of diversely skilled employees from the fields of Web and print design and editorial services.
• Superior written communication skills.
• Sought-after professional presenter and speaker.
• Extensive knowledge of the Government of Canada Communications Policy, Official Languages Act, and Common Look and Feel guidelines for government Web sites.
• Working knowledge of Web design including XML, HTML, PHP and strong Web content creation skills.
• Fully bilingual at Government of Canada level CCB.

Professional experience:

Web Manager (IS05), Army Public Affairs, Department of National Defence

I lead a team of 15 professionals including Web designers and developers, graphic artists, writers, editors and co-op students in a dynamic military-civilian environment. We provide content and technical support, as well as coordinating the design and functionality of the Army.gc.ca site. I helped to implement and continue to oversee the Army News social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, Flickr and a mobile version of our Web site.

Senior Communications Advisor (IS05), Public Opinion Research and Environmental Analysis Division, Public Affairs Branch, Canada Revenue Agency

I worked as a senior environmental analyst, providing regular written summaries and analyses of events in the public domain, including politics, finance, government initiatives and social issues.

Communications Advisor (IS04) and Senior Communications Advisor (IS05), Public Affairs Branch, Canada Revenue Agency

As a Senior Communications Advisor for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), I created strategic communications plans and supporting products on a range of initiatives relating to internal and external communications. I provided professional communications advice to senior officials and ministerial staff, offered issues management support and prepared crisis communications plans and products, notably for the CRA Web service outage during the 2007 tax filing season. In 2006 and 2007, I developed and implemented the CRA’s first social media programs and provided training and advice on the emerging field of social media communications to senior CRA officials and colleagues.

Various positions, Canada Revenue Agency

I was hired as a CR03 casual clerk, processing income tax returns in the Ottawa Taxation Centre, and within months I secured a permanent CR04 position. After that, I held positions of increasing responsibility and authority at the Ottawa Taxation Centre, becoming a PM01 and PM02 technical advisor and later a PM04 program manager in the Headquarters section of Canada Revenue Agency. In 2001-2002 I was seconded to Industry Canada and worked for a year on the marketing and communications of the Computers for Schools Program.

Education:

I graduated with honours from Catholic Central High School in London, Ontario, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa with a specialization in Communications.

Other professional experience

I am the creator and author of a popular blog that has been recognized by national and international media, and a passionate dilettante photographer.

I have delivered training and speeches at several social media-related events, including sessions with Third Tuesday Ottawa and the International Association of Business Communicators. In 2010 and 2011, I was asked to speak at the Advanced Learning Institute’s Social Media in Government conferences, where I was ranked among the top five presenters both times I lectured.

So that’s the last 20 years of my professional life in a nutshell. 21 years next week, actually — yikes, how did that happen?

What do you think, should I append this to the “about me” page with all my bloggy accomplishments? I can tell you I’m a little twitchy about publishing this, after spending the best part of six years fighting fiercely to keep my online and professional personae separate — but it seems to make a lot of sense to have this here, too. It’s no secret, after all.

I’m curious — do you have this kind of biographical information on your website? Why or why not? Can you see any inherent risk to doing so?

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Six years ago today, on February 2, 2005, I wrote my very first-ever blog post:

Okay, so I’ve been reading about blogs for quite some time now. At first, the idea was quaintly geeky, which of course immediately appealed to me. But aside from generally knowing what they were, and stumbling across a few here and there, I never really realized what a universe unto themselves blogs have become.

So I started really thinking about it. To blog or not to blog? Note the insecurity in each of the questions I pondered: Am I funny enough to blog? (because if I don’t have humour then I don’t really have anything at all.) Does anyone really care what I have to say? What would I talk about? What if nobody reads my blog? What if somebody reads my blog? And the real biggie: do I have the resources to commit to a blog right now? Well, the last one is the only one I can answer right now. Since I’m back at work for the first time in a year, I can at least probably find an hour or so a week (on my lunch hour, bien sûr!) For the record, it took me about 15 alt+ combinations before I could get that û accent right.

If I could just type instead of editing and playing and getting lost in the friggin’ thesaurus I could probably do this in about half the time. If I only had an attention span…

So what would I blog about? Well, my kids of course. What else is there of significance in my universe? So does the world really need another soccer-mom wanna-be sending dispatches from suburbia, trying to strike a voice somewhere between Erma Bombeck, Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby, but in the 21st century, not Jewish, not male and not black? And potentially not really funny?

Well, why the hell not?

So here we go. I’m so self-conscious as I type away, wondering if you are rolling your eyes at me or thinking cruel thoughts about my writing skills or (worst of all) have completely lost interest and have not even made it this far. What if I install a hit counter and I have to spend all my free time hitting refresh so it looks like somebody is reading my blog?

So, are you still reading? Should I publish this, or banish it to bad-idea heaven?

Ah, what the hell. Here we go!

I’m both charmed and, truth be told, vaguely disturbed at how little has changed. Still toe-in-the-carpet insecure, still unable to complete a thought without interrupting myself, still chasing that precious laugh.

Fast forward six years, 1,870 posts, 24,701 comments and nearly (eek!) half a million page views. I couldn’t even guess how many words I’ve plowed through, nor how many hours (days? weeks??) I’ve spent here glued to my keyboard instead of doing some *real* work like scrubbing sink grout or alphabetizing my soup cans.

And yet, I will freely admit, the blog is one of the best gifts I’ve ever given myself. If I could fly back through time and tell 2005 me of the crazy ride I was about to launch, never in a million years would I have believed me. And you, my bloggy peeps, are at the heart of it all. You make it all worthwhile!

So, are you still reading?

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It’s barely 10:00 on New Year’s Day, and (at the risk of jynxing myself) I’ve gotta say, it’s been a pretty damn good year so far.

I woke up at a spectacular 6:20 am, almost a full hour later than I’ve woken or been woken up for most of the month of December. As the light came into the day, I realized Manotick was blanketed in a heavy fog, so I slipped out with my camera and had an awesome and peaceful photo walk before most of the village was awake.

When I booted up the computer, I found out that Postcards from the Mothership placed third (yay!!) in the Canadian Weblog Awards’ Humour Category. Did I mention “yay”???

Then I started making one of my favourite new dishes, baked jalapeno beans with bacon, in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. Because, any day that starts with bacon and jalapenos in a pan just has to be a good day.

And now, I’m dashing this out quickly before the babysitter comes over, so Beloved and I can sneak out to catch Harry Potter in the theatres. Fog for breakfast, popcorn for lunch and jalapeno beans for dinner. Really, could a year start any better than that?

Happy new year to all of you, my sweet bloggy friends. May 2011 be filled with bliss. And laughter — cuz, I’m funny!!

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Beloved will tell you, there is no living with me right now. Not since I found out that Postcards from the Mothership was shortlisted as one of the five finalists in the Humour category of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Did you catch that? The HUMOUR category.

*swoon*

Humour! I mean, I was so honoured to be nominated in the Best Written category. I love to write, and yes, I think I can string a few words together with occasional panache. And well, my raison d’être is pretty much Family and Parenting, so of course I was honoured to be nominated in that category. But to be nominated in, and then shortlisted in, the Humour category? Funny is something I aspire to, something I am never quite sure I have managed. Something I am genuinely delighted to be acknowledged for.

I’ve written before about how much I admire Schmutzie‘s efforts in putting together the Canadian Weblog Awards. She’s done a fantastic job reinventing blog awards to make them relevant, and more than just a clicky popularity contest. (Did you get that clever play on words? Clicky, like the keyboard, but cliquey, like the social thing? Cuz apparently I’m FUNNY!)(See? No living with me. Poor Beloved.)

If you haven’t had a chance, click on over and check out the finalist shortlist in all the categories. It reads like a who’s who of the Canadian blogosphere, all the blogs you should be reading if you aren’t already. I’m so happy to see blogs and bloggers I adore like Kids in the Capital and Julie and Amy and Andrea and Tanya and Annie and Kimusan and tonyphoto/drool and XUP and Thordora and Cheaty and Kate and Emma and Laura and … and ALL of them. Holy cats, there’s a lot of bloggy goodness representing here!

But wait, there’s more!

First of all, you’ll be delighted to hear that I am not about to recruit you into a clickfest of voting for me. Because there is no voting with the Canadian Weblog Awards. Isn’t that awesome? The whole thing is juried. I love that! There are so many contests I bypass on the Interwebs, because I truly hate the “vote for me” things. I know, I know, I’ve schmoozed you into doing it for me many times over the years, but I’ve always felt vaguely icky about it. So I’m doubly honoured to be shortlisted based on merit, however subjective and ethereal that might be, rather than by how many votes I can mobilize.

So now there’s a second round of juried review, and the first, second and third place finalists will be revealed on January 1. Um, wait a minute. Does that mean I have to be funny for the entire month of December? The insane month of December, rife as it is with school concerts, holiday parties and mould remediation? Yikes. That may just be the stress that tips me over into the abyss.

Then again, humour has always been my coping mechanism of choice. As long as the Universe keeps up with its antics, there should be plenty of “might as well laugh as weep” moments in the coming weeks!

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Dear Mark’s (formerly known as Work Wearhouse),

You couldn’t have known when you invited me and a handful of other bloggers and journalists for an amazing makeover day just how badly I needed the break. In fact, my schedule lately has been so insane that I first missed the deadline to reply to your offer, then almost canceled, and then begged at the last minute for you to reschedule me to an earlier time slot so I could run home after my makeover to clean the house for back-to-back showings of the House That Will Not Sell. (Because maybe my bad hair was the reason the house was not selling?) And when I had asked if I could bring a friend, you graciously said yes, and then I had to cancel that when the friend I had in mind was my only available child care for the day. (Editorial aside: Thanks, Mom, I really owe you one for that.)

All that to say, I was rather stressed when I arrived at my appointed time, sandwiching my makeover between a twice-previously-canceled dental hygiene appointment and a date with a vacuum cleaner, and I was breathlessly flustered with no idea what to expect.

I had a chance to chat with one of your managers from Toronto, who took me on a quick tour of the store. Since my background is in corporate communications, I was interested in what she said about the the rebranding exercise that the company has recently undertaken, from Mark’s Work Wearhouse to Mark’s: Clothes That Work. Wow, have you ever updated your look and your product lines! I admit, I’ve always thought of Mark’s Work Wearhouse as a place to get basics like plain Ts, khaki pants and winter gear . But you’ve really reinvented your women’s fashion lines and I’m curious to try some of your innovations like Perfectly Pressed shirts (no ironing!) and the 50-Wash t-shirts.

She convinced me to try on a T-Max winter coat and step into your winter-simulation chamber to see whether it would hold up to a real Ottawa winter with -40C wind-chill, and I was highly impressed with both the simulation and the warmth of the coat. I was also reminded why I don’t wear high-heeled sandals and capri pants in the typical Ottawa winter — the coat I tried on needed a footie compartment for my poor frozen toes!

So that was cool (well, actually, that was friggin’ freezing, except for the parts that stayed nice and toasty under the coat!) but the attention from your makeover staff was amazing. I ran into my bloggy friends Lara and Andrea while I had my hair and makeup professionally done, and had a great time admiring their new looks. I love love love what your stylists did for me — they totally understood me when I said I preferred a simple and straightforward look, but would like to add an extra touch of style.

And then I was placed in the competent hands my own personal stylist. Did you read all those blog posts I wrote lamenting my need for my own personal Clinton and Stacy? Yeah. Really? Thank you! He picked out a stunning outfit from me, and I couldn’t help but look at your new Ispiri fashion line and think, “Wow, this is so not what I expected to see here.” Now, I won’t even attempt to pretend that I know one thing about fashion, but as the old saying goes, I know what I like and I liked your Ispiri line. Sharp, colourful and — be still my heart! — comfortable clothes that look as good on me as they do on the hanger.

See????

Don’t I look awesome in your most excellent Ispiri leather bomber? OMG, I can’t tell you how long I have coveted something like this — and it’s a perfect match with that adorable Ispiri little black blouse.

But when you add on the Denver Hayes modern-fit black dress pants (seriously, who knew Denver Hayes pants could look so glam?) and these to-die-for kicky little ankle boots, also by Denver Hayes, that are so comfortable and so awesome that I will wear them every single day, even with my shorts if summer ever comes back even though they are fully winterized and even salt resistant? *squeeeee!*

I still can’t believe that’s me in that picture. Me, whose fashion signature runs to unflattering striped turtlenecks, in a FASHION SHOOT! And looking, in my very humble opinion, AWESOME!

So really, thank you, friends at Mark’s. And thanks to Rayanne and Andrea of Highroad Communications, who demonstrated an excellent understanding of how to manage a successful social media campaign, and perhaps more importantly, how to wrangle one distracted but eternally grateful blogger out of her insane life for a couple of perfect hours.

Now, could we please arrange to have your makeup artist, hair stylist and personal shopper show up at my house every morning at around 6:10? Because this is a lifestyle to which I would like to become accustomed, please.

Gratefully,
DaniGirl

Photo credit: David Kawai

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There’s barely been time to tweet lately, let alone blog. Although the craziness of back-to-school week has subsided, there is no end yet on the horizon for the craziness that is selling this house. It’s been two weeks since it was listed and we’ve had a dozen appointments so far to see it, but we’ve still got nothing. I’m digging deep, deep into my psyche to find a wellspring of patience and zen about this whole experience.

In fact, it’s been a huge learning experience for all of us. Here’s five things I’ve learned so far:

1. I have attained the age of 41 years without ever properly learning how to make a bed.

To be fair, bed-making is not a skill I value. I frankly don’t care whether the beds get made or not in the mornings, and love crawling into my bed at the end of the day just as much when it’s taughtly drawn as when it’s a disheveled mess, but the stager said the beds must be made to “hotel perfection” for each showing. Hotel perfection is something we’ve yet to achieve, although we’ve now progressed beyond haphazardly tossed comforters and sheets hanging down. Barely.

By the way, Mom, don’t take this one personally. You imbued me with many other important life skills that have come in far more valuable than bed-making. Why am I so challenged at this? It seems to me the beds were made every day when I was growing up — obviously not by me, though!

2. I am a lousy housekeeper.

I’m sure I have put in more hours cleaning the house in the past two weeks than I have collectively over the past year *cough-orthree-cough* and have become obsessive about keeping the place clean. No mess will rest on my watch, and seeing mess in other places that are not my house for sale is beginning to stress me out. After the first weekend of showings, I went in to work on Monday and was horrified at the state of my desk.

I have, however, learned how to vacuum myself backwards out of a room so I don’t leave footprints in the pile — excellent for later when you come home and try to extrapolate viewer satisfaction based on the number and size and patterns of the footprints in the carpet.

3. I will never, ever ask to view a house unless I am 98 per cent sure I want to buy it.

I will absolutely never ask to view a house just on a lark. Honest to god, if I’m going to spend half the day cleaning the place for you, you damn well better be thinking about putting in an offer. And, as a corollary to this point:

4. There is a special place in hell for people who make appointments and do not show up.

After spending four hours cleaning this morning and making special arrangements to drop the dog off at my parents place, we returned after the designated hour to find that nobody had bothered to show up. One entire perfect autumn Saturday wasted, for no reason whatsoever. That’s just cruel.

5. Children do not understand the concept of preparing a house for show, no matter how carefully (or shriekily) you explain it to them.

One fine day Beloved was working until just before the showing, so I had to prep the place myself. With 20 minutes left and the main floor left to vacuum and polish, I came up from the basement to find Lucas holding one of the stair rail spindles, complete with rusty nail pointing out of the end. Exactly two minutes after fixing that, I accidentally vacuumed up the Nintendo DS charger cord that was plugged in to a power bar under the television set. When I yanked the vacuum back in a panic, not only did I yank the entire power bar out from under the TV, but I yanked the Wii, the cable box and the DVD player that had ALSO been plugged into the power bar off the back of the TV cabinet and onto the floor. With 10 minutes left before the people arrived. And I found myself saying to the children, “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but please — for the love of your mother, just go and sit over there by the front door and do not touch ANYTHING for the next ten minutes. Really, please? Just. sit. there.”

I’m thinking of creating a category for these posts called “misadventures in real estate” but I’m hoping that the experience won’t last long enough to merit one.

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Friday morning when I woke up, I was expecting an ordinary day leading into an ordinary weekend with absolutely nothing on the go — a nice break from looping around the country to just take it easy for a change.

Despite the best laid (non) plans, after a short-notice appointment to see a house on Friday after work, I spent an absolutely breathless and insane weekend taking a crash course in well and septic systems, bridge financing, real estate commissions and daycare in Manotick.

!!!

Yep, it looks like we found ourselves a house. *barely repressed squee* So now we’re going in 17 different directions at once: there’s decluttering and painting and repairing to be done, financing to be secured, inspections to be arranged, and the whole hell that is selling and packing and moving.

Did I mention “!!!!!”?

It’s all very exciting. Never in my wildest imaginings did I picture us living in Manotick. Then again, I also said I’d never work for DND, so I really ought to learn to stop starting sentences with the words “I will never…” Or, perhaps I should walk around chanting “I will never win a million dollars.” Or at least, “I will never have Jessica Beil’s body.”

There are a LOT of details to work out before I’m comfortable sharing any of them. The offer hasn’t even been tabled yet, but that’s pending, and so is a lot of the first-stage stuff like inspections and financing and then (whimper) on to the listing and selling our place.

I’d be very, very grateful for your insight on the two things that are currently keeping me awake nights: well and septic systems, and real estate agents. I’m getting comfortable with the idea of the former, pending a full inspection of the 40-year-old system. The five per cent commission to the latter makes me actually nauseous to think about, but the thought of negotiating the sale myself is far worse. If you know of an agent you trust with your life, I’m taking recommendations.

What I *should* be taking is a valium… can’t we just fast-forward through this part and start unpacking the boxes in my new house tomorrow???

(Oh, how I’m dying to tell you about this house!!!)

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I was a little stumped as to how to wrap up my week of guest posts over at the Family Jewels blog on Canadian Family’s site. I’d managed on each of the previous four posts to stay more or less on theme with a particular facet of photography, but had so much left to say that I was overwhelmed as to how to sum it all up coherently. Then, inspiration struck.

You had been feeding me some excellent questions and ideas throughout the week, so I turned to the comment box and found my Muse. Thanks to Joy, Melissa, Shannon, Dawn and Carrie for your excellent questions, which I addressed in my final guest post at Canadian Family, called Photography Q&A.

Phew, that was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too! I had started a Family Photographer category here last year, but it kind of petered out on me. Obviously, I need to take Rebecca’s suggestion and pick up the thread again here.

And now for the freebies — everybody loves the freebies, right? Congratulations to today’s winner of a one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine: Johanne!

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about which photos you love and why. Photography is so personal, and whenever I’m invited into someone’s personal space (office, home, even blog or social media account) I’m always fascinated by which pictures they prominently feature. Thank you for that, and for your support and encouragement throughout the Family Photographer series.

Finally, here’s the last subscription giveaway. If you have already entered your name for the giveaway this week, you’re already entered for today’s draw. If you entered four times, you’ve already got four ballots. You can get one more by leaving a comment either here or on today’s post on the Family Jewels blog (or two if you do both!). You can comment on any topic you choose — offer some constructive criticism, give me some feedback for the next post on Family Photography (cuz you know there’s going to be more now!), tell me what you had for lunch, or just leave a little happy face. It’s up to you!

One last time, here’s the fine print:

1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
2. To enter, leave a comment on this post.
3. To earn a second entry, leave a comment on the Photography Q&A post on the Family Jewels blog.
4. Any previous entries you have submitted for giveaways this week will also count as additional entries into today’s giveaway. Previous winners are not eligible.
5. I may need to take off my socks and shoes to tally up all the ballots for this draw.
6. Entries must be received by 8 pm on Saturday 17 July 2010.
7. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Sunday 18 July 2010.
8. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
9. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

Thank you to Megan and the staff at Canadian Family, and thank you to all of you. This has been a busy but fun week, and I’m all charged up and heading off into three weeks of vacation (yay!!!) ready to take a million pictures and spam you with every one of them!

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