Monday Confession: Opinions … everybody’s got one

Life has zipped by over the past few weeks. Contracts ending, new ones beginning, schedule changes, new routines and a 4-day getaway has thrown things for a loop. I swear it was just October 3^rd and now here I am putting last minute touches on Halloween and Zoë’s birthday.

Over the past few weeks I’ve actually experienced, ate and wore things that in my head deserve a review.  And I’ve wanted to get it down, but alas, I haven’t. So this week, I’m going to do a review week. Each post will be about something that I’ve experienced over the past month – free things and things that were all me, I’m going to share the highlights, and disappointments of my month.

My Monday Confession is actually more of a promise: I’m going to tell it like I see it this week.  

On a very ironic side-note: I'm also featured over on Rock On Mommies this week talking about working with PR agencies and, specifically, reviews. This was not planned, but this week I do hope to set a good example and include some helpful reviews. If you want information on my review policies, please see my disclosure page for more details.

RAVE: The Post Office and HaloweenCostumes.com

While we always seem to find time to rant about things that irk us, simple, good experiences, are often never shared. Today, I actually had 2 good experiences with a situation that I screwed up. 2 people went out of there way to help me, and they deserve a BIG OLD KUDOS!

On October 10th I ordered Zoe's "AWICE IN WONDERWAND!!!!" costumes from www.HalloweenCostumes.com. Simple and sweet without being princessified with glitter and tulle, I fell in love with this particular version of the popular costume for Zoe. Planning ahead (as I often try to do, but hardly ever really do) I ordered it in time to still get cheap shipping. Unfortunately, I ordered it quickly, not realizing the online payment system still had my old shipping address associated with it.

2.5 weeks later I tracked the package to see that it seemed to be stuck at the Encinitas Post Office, hoping for it to be forwarded to our new address, I waited, and waited. 

Because something finally hit me over the head that it wasn't going to be arriving at my door without a little effort on my part, I called up the post office and explained my dilemma. The man who answered was very nice, not at all postal, and looked all over for my package, which in turn wasn't there. He apologized and told me it was probably headed back to the sender. 

Post office employees usually get the shaft when it comes to accolades. But this postman was very sweet and helpful. So, KUDOS #1 goes to the Encinitas branch of the US Postal Service. 

Step number two was to call HalloweenCostumes.com and see if the package had been returned yet. 'Tis their season, and thankfully their phones are staffed 24/7 at the moment. I was on hold less than a minute before an associate answered my call. I explained MY MESS UP to her, and while the package had not yet been received back to her location, instead of saying "Oh, well. Sucks for you." like I half thought she would, she said she would ship me out another costume ASAP, all I need to do was re-pay shipping.

DEAL. DONE and DONE.

So KUDOS to HalloweenCostumes.com for their very nice customer service. It's always a crap shoot when you order things online, and it's a great thing when you find a company that you can trust. 

Oh, and it's not too late to order your costume from them either!

Minikin Launch Party - Sunday November 7, 2010

One of the things about being a working mom is that you need support. You need support from your family, friends and community. I'm ALL about the support because honestly, I'm not sure I would have survived the past 6 years without some of the amazing people in my life.

An old friend and ex-colleague of mine is living her dream and launching a new business, Minikin Model and Talent and Minikin Brand, with some amazing other ladies.  I'm so excited and happy for them and wish them all the best! If you are in San Diego - come by the launch party and fashion show and check out what they've got goin' on...these t-shirts are just freaking cute for words!!!

I can so see Lucas rockin' the Kung Fu cupcake one.. 

If you are interested in seeing if your cutie  is "right" for representation - just fill out the form on the site.  

School of "Cock"

When we moved over the summer, it was to a part of Carlsbad named "Rancho Carrillo" after the famed Cisco Kid actor, Leo Carrillo. While there are spots up and down the coast of California named after Mr. Carrillo (once dubbed "Mr. California" for his efforts to save and preserve natural habitats of the state), this particular area was actually part of his personal ranchero - the Flying Carrillo Ranch. The actual ranch, now a historical landmark, offers beautiful white adobe houses adorned with bright blue doors and acres of succulents, fields and free-range peacocks. Yup. Peacocks. You can hear the squawking all over the area and while yes, if I lived directly over the park I might be annoyed by it, I actually think the dozens of (almost) wild rare birds are delightful and pretty cool. 

Lucas' school borders the Ranch, and often times the peafowl hop the fence to graze on the grass on the school's campus. At first I was a little concerned about the large birds roaming around with the small(ish) kids, but these particular birds are pretty docile, and the school kids and the birds live in this unique harmony that's pretty freaking cool. For the rest of their lives, the kids that go to this school will have an appreciation for these birds. They will tell their own kids stories about them one day, and they will always feel a bit of an affinity to them. I mean really, how many kids can say they had peacocks on their elementary school campus?

A few weeks ago I downloaded the Katy Perry album from iTunes and was excited to see a song called "Peacock" on the playlist. Thinking it was a bit serendipitous, I was excited that a) there was a song about these birds that had so recently become a fixture in our everyday lives and b) we could finally stop listening to "California Gurls" on repeat. 

The next day we were all in the car and I told the kids that I had a fun new song. As I was scanning for the song there was a faint warning in my head that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I should listen to the song before playing for the kids, but backseat arguing mixed with the general exhaustion of parenthood pushed that thought right out and I hit play and turned up the volume and waited for Miss Perry to belt it out....

"Let me see your peacock, cock, cock, cock, cock, cock! Your peacock, cock, cock, cock! I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock, cock, cock, cock, your peacock cock cock cock!"

{insert sound of needle being dragged across vinyl LP}

I almost drove off the road as I reached across to grab my iPhone and hit the stop button. The car went quiet. I had visions of Lucas screaming "peaCOCKCOCKCOCKCOCK!" at school while shaking his booty. My mind flashed to him asking us a few months prior about who Snoop Dog was and what are Daisy Dukes and how simple those answers were in comparison. I knew I had exactly 10 seconds to come up with something to say before....

Lucas: "Mom? Why did you turn the song off?"

Me: "Um, well, there seems to be a word in there that I really don't want you to repeat."

Lucas: "WHAT WORD?! Tell me! I wont say it! I PROMISE!"

Me: "Oh no. Nope. No."

Lucas: "PLEASE!"

Me: "No!"

Silence in the backseat. Too quiet. I could almost hear the wheels in his head turning when I heard a giggle.

Lucas: "Heh. Heeheehee. I know what word she said..."

Me (in quiet desperation): "Oh you do?"

Lucas: "Heh...Heh...yea...heeheehee...she says PEE."

Thankful it was dark out and Lucas couldn't see me stifle back a laugh, I agreed. I told him yes, she said "pee" and that he'd better NEVER sing that song at school or he would lose his Wii and DS for good. I felt like I dodged a bullet.

Zoe and the Peacock: Photo by Petula Pea PhotographyUntil the next time I crossed paths with an extraordinary blue feathered peafowl and found myself with those lyrics spinning around my head and resisting the urge to sing outloud "Come on baby let me see whatcha' hiding underneath..."

I'm doomed. And? We have at least 8 more years at the Peacock School. 

Monday Confessional: Dancing Queen

First off, yes. I do realize that is not Monday, but Tuesday. I know this because of my iCal, and not the internal clock in my body which still thinks it's midnight on Saturday night. Now, I know I'm not "old" in the true sense of the word. Or should I say that I am not elderly? But I am old enough these days that a weekend in Vegas now apparently needs a week-long recovery. 

While I feel that I should really do a post about all the wonderful things I learned during BlogWorld Expo and all the fabulous people I finally met face-to-face, that's not what my Monday Tuesday confessional is about. It's about exposing a little of myself to the world so that you can point your finger and mock me or share in the pain of my experience. 

Let's set the scene: Saturday night, Las Vegas, Aria Hotel and Casino. Beautiful, fabulous, delicious meal at Shaboo Sushi then off to the BlogWorld party of the evening at Haze nightclub. While back in college I went dancing Wednesday-Sunday, I honestly can't remember the last time I slipped on my dancing shoes. Walking into the club I was immediately back in my early 20's. The smoky atmosphere, the thumping music, the squeezing through the throngs of people to belly up to the bar. Ahhhhaaa...it felt like coming home. 

And we danced. We danced our asses off. When the DJ blasted my new favorite song "G6", I may have even been dancing on a box. When we stumbled out of the club around 1 AM it wasn't due to intoxication as much as my sore, swollen feet that were stuffed inside my 6 inch wedges. Because I'm a thinker, I had shoved a pair of flats in my purse and after being directed to a local bench, my feet were once again my friends. Yeah, the feet were fine, but it was my knees that rebelled.

Swollen and stiff, my knees are still recovering from one night of dancing 3 days later. Which makes me wonder if my club days really should be officially over. Looking around the club on Friday night, I kept wanting to pull down the hems of the dresses of the girls so that their nether regions weren't hanging out the bottom of their dresses. People in my age group keep saying things like "I can't remember the last time I was at a club" and while I had a blast, I will say that I kept wondering if people were looking at me and kinda laughing. Or wondering what I was doing there. Did I look out of place? Being there, dancing, did I look...silly?

So my confession for this week: I'm Beth, I like to dance and my knees hurt.