From Left to Right

Skates

Saturday. Skate & hockey day. Hannah at 11:35am at Fieldian Gardens and Sam at 12pm at Twin Rinks. I take Hannah and Mark takes Sam, and then we all meet at Twin Rinks to see Sam finish up hockey. Watching the kids zoom around on the ice is surreal. So Canadian.

I have started calling Linsey while I watch Hannah skate. It's tough to find a good time for chats given our 4.5 hour time difference, but at 11:30am NL time, Linsey is just waking up and we can have a (farily) uninterrupted talk. 30 minutes today. Pretty darn good.

This blog is another grasp at trying to keep up a daily conversation with each other. Seeing slices of each others' lives. It's amazing how far apart we can get if we don't do things like this. Someday, we may live next door to each other, but for now, this will do.

Home(s) are where the heart is

Home again in St. John's, enjoying a fire with Mark and the kids. The snow has come early this year, and there's nothing more cozy than cuddling up in front of a crackling fire with warm drinks in hand. Yes, Sam does have an ice cream sandwich in his hand, but to each his own. The kids dressed up in costumes and sang Christmas carols on the hearth. Thus the motorcycle guy and Jasmine outfits.

Despite being so far from Linsey and the rest of the family, St. John's is starting to feel more like a home to me. And home is good.

Split Life

Morning

After yesterday's shenanigans at Disneyland with Linsey and Cathy, it was time to get down to business on Monday. We closed the park at midnight (4:30am Newfoundland time!!) and climbed in bed at the Ayres Hotel in Newport Beach at around 1am. By this time, I'd been awake for more than 26 hours straight, with the exception of some light plane sleeping (doesn't count).

Linsey was up at 6am to write her post for the SV Moms November Book Club for "Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind, " by Phillip Done. I was up around the same time, groggily, to dress and prep for face-to-face meetings with my coworkers at CCH. I am a software designer turned manager for the ProSystem fx Engagement product, you see. A fun job. A passionate job. A job where I am surrounded by lots of very talented and smart people. A job that confounds me with the stress it brings to my life. Something I'm working on.

Linsey came and met all of my coworkers, (including my boss, whom, after 8 years of me working for him, Linsey had never met!!). It was fun for me to introduce them to my twin sis. I talk about her enough!!

 

The picture above shows my vantage point for the day. Water bottle (empty) to combat the dehydration from the plane and lack of sleep, and the almighty projector that brings workers around the globe together on a daily basis. So here is my split life...professional manager while sitting at my desk/Blackberry/conference room table, and...creative soul bursting to get out and do something a bit more...meaningful?...during a large part of the rest of my life. Oh, and then there is the family/mother/wife part as well. Linsey and I talk A LOT about this split and how we both search for the perfect method to bring home the bacon and also feel that we are making a difference in ways that are important to us. We need a plan.

Evening

I arrived home to find this lovely note from my dear twin on the eve of our birthday (Linsey had to fly up to San Jose at 3:40pm). Sob, sob.

Getting Things Done

Both of us have recently been turned onto the writings of David Allen in his book Getting Things Done. We have both been getting things to do out of our heads and onto paper (or our Entourage (Linsey's a Mac user - and wishes she could get an iPhone and a new MacBook Air) or Outlook (Robin is still in the PC world... for how long??) calendar). We have been immediately doing the things that take 2 minutes or less. We have made tickler files. We have perused 43 folders and attempted to get and keep our inboxes to zero. We are still in process, not having the two (or more) full days (without children, work, husbands, laundry, grocery shopping, hair appointments, and our beloved reality TV) to devote to these pursuits. But, we are, certainly feeling very Zen with our GTD processes and mindsets. This, among other things, is the reason we have not had time to post much about our very exciting lives lately. Ommm.....

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

We did it - we had our little Sweet Escape! And, oh, was it sweet. Well, that's really all we can say, because you know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas....

Ok, just kidding, we'll tell you a little bit. We:

* ended up getting in at the EXACT same time (talk about Twin Erie) even though we were flying in from different locations - and I mean, exact. Our planes were supposed to be an hour apart, then Robin's was delayed, Linsey's was delayed, then Robin's moved up. We texted/called each other upon landing at the same moment.
* stayed at The Venetian - actually The Venezia, which is a hotel within The Venetian
* drank Chateau Robin wine, a birthday gift from Robin's boss, in our hotel room
* listened to our soundtrack of covers of 80's songs (Jessie's Girl by Frickin' A, Don't You Forget About Me (Breakfast Club song) by Billy Idol, Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Real Genuis - ooh, wasn't Val Kilmar so cute in that movis?) by Christian Burns, Wanted Dead or Alive by Daughtry, Heaven by DJ Sammy, Message in a Bottle by John Mayer....)
* breathed the oxygen, keeping ourselves awake until 3am on Friday night/Saturday morning
* lost at Wheel of Fortune - that set the stage for a non-gambling weekend
* lounged in the Qua Baths & Spa in Caesar's - the Hourglass treatment - lovely - and the Ice room was an awesome way to break up the hot tub, steam room, sauna jumps. Somehow we were so busy that we didn't even notice the cool Roman Baths until we were headed out. Note to selves: Go back ASAP.
* lunched along the Canal at Canaletto at The Ventian, where we downed a bottle of Sonoma Cutrer chardonnay, Linsey's favorite, ate black risotto (very good), and drank capucchinos
* went for a gondola ride along the Canal - our gondolier sang us Happy Birthday in Italian. Bravo! Bellisimo!
* saw KA, a Cirque show at the MGM, where a fight was also happening, so it was crazy - amazing show, loved the hand puppets, the sand sliding off the stage, the acrobatics on the spinning peg-board stage, and, of course, the twin theme!
* ate at Diego restaurant in the MGM (Ben would be jealous and no, Baby Jaguar was not there) - we continued our sangria fest back at The Venetian
* brunched at the new Wynn hotel - loved the waterfall
* went to Paris for a little scenery and the Bellagio for Christmas (Santa Baby fountain show was ok, I prefer the Botelli version)

Lots of wine was drunk and we wished we would have had more time to hang out - we always need more! We will have to go back when it is warmer, so we can hit the swim up bar at the Hard Rock. Until next time!

A Sweet Escape?

Lululemon...it is in my head now too! It reminds me of the Bare Naked Ladies version of "La La La Lemon." By the way - check out this little You Tube. Anyway, I can't wait to receive my new items - gracias! And namaste. I am glad you have found your treadmill groove to 24 - I myself am on Season 2 of The Sopranos. So good.

I do like the manifesto too. Sing, dance, floss, travel. Sing, dance, floss, travel. Sing, dance, floss, travel. That's catchy too. I need to do all of those things more. Let's go in order of my ineptitude, shall we? Floss? Well, I am not good at that at all. That reminds me that I really need to make a dentist appointment. It has literally been over a year since I have had a cleaning - oops. Was supposed to go a year ago and I cancelled because I couldn't possibly imagine leaving Ava for one whole eternity of an hour (man, she loved the boob and pretty much screamed when anyone else tried to hold her...she has improved a little over the last year).

Travel? I do travel, but probably not in the manner as Lululemon means. For instance, I have not traveled to any of my dream destinations - Austrailia, New Zealand, Iceland or Sweden (there is the family history in Sweden, but mainly I want to stay in an ice hotel!), African safari, Greek Isles cruise, Cuba, Hong Kong, Tokyo to name just a few. I have been to Europe many times and to Hawaii and Mexico in my life. And, of course, Canada! But usually a 5-hour car trip is more our speed (and budget) these days. I travel to...Disneyland (which truly is the happiest place on earth, but still) nearby camping and Tahoe and LA and well, to you in St. John's (my furthest recurrent destination...and this just reminds me how far away you are...sigh...). These places are fine, the stuff my life is made of currently. But I do dream...ok, more on that later.

Sing? Dance? I actually sing and dance quite a bit, but I really only listen to kid music these days (see aforementioned Bare Naked Ladies song, for instance). I do love, love, love Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape though.

Ok, back to travel. Speaking of Sweet Escapes, I make a motion for the two of us to act on our plan of getting away for a sweet escape, sans kids, maybe with hubbies (or maybe without!). Maybe for our 35th birthday in December?

Sing, Dance, Floss, Travel

Holy time-zone calcs, Batman! (Remember, I’m Robin.) That’s impressive. I do have the same stock times, but mine are mostly for coordinating meeting times with the Newport Beach and Wichita offices. I have them pretty down pat. Just got off the phone with you, and it’s 2:30pm NL time…that worked pretty well. Sam is napping and you were taking Lily to dance class. Talking while you’re en-route somewhere is something we do a lot. Thank God for cell phones.

Love your hair. At my next appt in about 8 weeks, I’m going to bring this pic of you and have Lorraine duplicate it on me! You’ll have to report on maintenance. Mine is good, but squirrely when I don’t have time to straighten and flip, which is normally the case. So the wet ponytail is still making an appearance. Ah, the joys of frizz. And since I’ve been continuing my work-out regime over the past several months, I’m washing my hair most days.

I’ve become good friends with my treadmill, mostly due to the excellent tip you gave me awhile ago about using the portable DVD player to watch old epis of “24.” One episode is just long enough to do a 4-mile run. And the best part is, just when I want to quit during the last five or ten minutes, Jack gets involved in some sort of finger-biting situation (car chase, foot race, unbelievable plot twist, etc.), and I just pound out that last half-mile. I’m glad I’ve reclaimed my treadmill, because I’m just not ready to run outside in a St.John’s winter yet. Not sure if I’ll ever be ready for that, and I’m glad I have the indoor solution.

Because I’ve been working out again (after a long break…kids do take a bit out of you that way), I decided that I deserved some new workout clothes. For the last several months, I’ve been running in the same garb that we trained for and ran the Dublin Marathon in, way back in 2000. (Can you believe that was seven years ago??) I am even still now running in the same running shoes from that period. Shocking how much I’ve neglected the little errand of replacing those.

A few weeks ago, I started to hear this little word…”lululemon….lululemon…lululemon.” I swear, I think I have heard about it from about four separate people in the span of a couple days. Apparently, this line of exercise wear is all the rage in mainland Canada…made in B.C. for yoga, pilates, and (for many, I’m sure) grocery shopping, in lieu of actual pajamas.

I checked out their website. Read the company blog. Downloaded a very inspiring image of yoga go-girl in lululemon attire to use as my desktop image. Contemplated the lululemon manifesto. Soaked in the corporate logo: “Sing, Dance, Floss, Travel.” Purused the products. Beautiful, no doubt, but expensive. I decided to do a bit of eBay shopping. This has proved to be VERY effective. You must check this out. Big deals to be had, and for those us without a lululemon store nearby (you are not one of these people), imperative for actually securing the stuff.

Let me know if you find anything delicious. I could not resist, and have sent you a few items, so be watching for those on your doorstep. Off to floss.

Me too

Usually, I hate our 4.5 hour time difference. First of all, it is hard to do the math - let's see, if its 9:45am in California, it is....10,11,12,1... carry the 30 minutes, 2:15pm in Newfoundland. I have my stock times that I know - 9am is 1:30pm, 12pm is 4:30pm, 4pm is 8:30pm. But then our schedules conflict - 4-6pm at my house is prime time kids dinner-time, bath-time, bed-time, but that is when you can talk since your kids are in bed. 9am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday is a perfect time for me to talk, because I have just dropped off Ben and Lily at preschool and I am usually in the car going somewhere. But you have a standing conference call for work at that time. On the weekends? You kids are napping while we are out and about doing something. AKKKK!

But sometimes a benefit is derived from having a 4.5 hour time difference. And, today, I was the lucky recipient! LOVE THAT HAIRCUT on you! Here's what I did with this piece of eye-candy. I lugged my Mac into Luda's hair salon (by the way, my hair sytlist, Luda - short for Ludmilla - is from Siberia. Isn't that crazy?), opened it up and told her to do the same, except a wee bit shorter.

Here's what I ended up with:

Excuse the bad lighting and lack of smile (I really am happy - I just took this with my new Mac's photo booth, at night, just so I could get it to you quickly and I am still trying to figure out the best way to take photos with it).

(Also note the - written backwards - Silicon Valley Mom's Blog t-shirt I got in my super cool swag bag. I am a new writer for them and am getting sucked into the blogosphere very, very quickly...)

I am so happy now....

Chopped

Okay, I'm back from The Head Room! As requested, here's my pic:

A bit grainy, but you get the idea.

I just brought my print-outs from the gallery of my fav cuts (based largely on comments from the voters on Makeover Solutions.. so cool!). Lorraine, my wonderful hairstylist, suggested that I not go for a COMPLETE chop, but to instead do it in stages. So practical. I think she was scared that I would hate my new hair and never come back to her. Silly. She was probably right to spoonfeed me, but I sort of wish that I had gone all the way now.

My advice..chop it. I'll be watching for your pic!!

Twin-erie

Do-do-do-do....Do-do-do-do (to Twlight Zone or other spooky music). Wow, that's funny. Good, we can get new looks together! My appointment is at 7:00pm, so you will be long done considering that 4.5 hour time difference between the two of us.

Love the gallery! Technology is great, isn't it? You inspired me to create my own. Actually, I am not going to post it here, because, frankly, I got lazy and just did one look, having decided to take advantage of the fact that you just did yours and we look pretty darn similar. It is funny how the styles that I would normally gravitate towards (my current and past styles apparently) are obviously terrible (sorry...) and the different ones - mainly the short ones - are the ones that looks smashing. I say, go girl! Chop it! ....and then be sure to take a photo of yourself afterwards and send it to me BEFORE my hair appointment, so that I can be sure it will look ok when I tell my hairstylist what I want to do.

(Shhhh....don't tell Robin, but if it looks bad, I will just keep my current style).

Do It! Do It! Do It! Do It!