E IS FOR EXCITED

 From the April A-Z Challenge archives. 

This was originally posted April 6th, 2017.

Headed to New Orleans with my Timmies!
TAKEN: APRIL 6th, 2017

Well, today is finally the day. My day.

I landed at the airport just after 5am and after a quick stop in Houston, I will be in New Orleans just after lunch. I'm really excited. This wanderlust thing I have embedded into my brain never gets old.

I don't know why I make such a big deal about my birthday trip. That's I lie, I most certainly do. 

As a child, birthdays were never something my parents embraced, as a result they were not only a luxury but a rarity. I am proud to write that I broke that cycle for my children but it makes me sad that my husband never followed suit. So once the kids were grown and gone, I decided to take care of the task myself.

I wanted to go to New Orleans to see my friend Darin last year but I hummed and hawed about the exchange rate and went to Sayulita, Mexico to try and learn to surf instead. 

This year, because I went to Cuba in February, I knew I was limited to another weekend trip. I was originally looking at going to see the Toronto Raptors play at Madison Square Garden and decided to hit up last years destination instead; I also decided not to check the exchange rates until everything was booked!

As I sit and hammer out my words on my laptop in the airport. I can't help but smile. I am so very blessed with a great family, wonderful friends and a job I love. All of which support and allow me to head to embrace the Big Easy for a once in a lifetime experience.

Life is very good!

MY BEFORE THE SELFIE… SELFIE!

This coming March it will be 11 years since I formally became a social media junkie. As far fetched as this may read, I remember the day I got an official FB login and that’s the one I still use today. You see, the twins were barely teens and were telling me they wanted join this really neat thing called Facebook: my fixation kicked in.

My eldest was already online with My Space but when the twins were looking at jumping onto a bandwagon I knew nothing about, I decided to start to do my due diligence. Once I became a member, I remember that the pioneering group of us locally was small. All these years later, most of those folks still hit my newsfeed on a regular basis. 

My point is, this past week I sat with someone on our leadership team at work and had a great discussion, breaking down the aspects of social media and how said pieces fit strategically into our overall marketing approach. Explaining why I approach our/any audience the way I do, led to comment that he considered my mind a ‘vault of media marketing knowledge.’

After I quickly ran to my desk and returned with a ten dollar bill to thank him for his amazing compliment, we continued our discussion on how I handle privacy settings and how I approach individual platforms from a personal level. You see, he has discovered he’s resisted long enough and it was time he joined the masses.

I have about 5,000 people I interact with personally on Facebook alone, which doesn’t include the many businesses that have contracted me to optimize their online presence. Though I have shifted my focus in the last year, I am pleased to report that my strongest presence and best results comes from this electronic journal that went live November 20th, 2011. First and foremost because Google+ is my friend, blossoming primarily because I feed it content, to which I am pleased to report my views are in the millions. 

My 35mm picture taken with a timer.
(TAKEN: MARCH 2007)
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FIRST SELFIE

As I sit here and think of how the blog content’s evolved since its inception (I chose for it to become more image driven) I decided to share the first profile picture I posted before selfies filled that space. It was taken with a 35mm camera, in my home office, with a timer. I needed a head shot for my business blog and I thought this was a valiant effort. 

Almost 11 years later, I had to laugh when I went back into my archived pics and noticed the cat on the desk behind me, the lamp on my assistants desk is missing its shade, and media clutter is stacked on the ledge; however, I absolutely love that I captured the picture of my dad and I in the top left.

Though I am pleased to report that I managed to crop the light bulb out of the photo for the blog: Facebook got the Full Monty!

More than a decade later, I was notified this week that 32,000 people have 'liked' my personal posts on Facebook... and it all started at this desk.

Wowza! Followed by a who the hell knew?

Not me, but I am certainly glad I've embraced all of the groundbreaking platforms.

E IS FOR EXCITED

Headed to New Orleans with my Timmies!
TAKEN: APRIL 6th, 2017

Well, today's the day. I landed at the airport just after 5am and after a quick stop in Houston, I will be in New Orleans just after lunch. I'm really excited. This wanderlust thing I have embedded into my brain never gets old.

I don't know why I make such a big deal about my birthday trip. That's I lie, I most certainly do. As a child, birthdays were never something my parents embraced, as a result they were not only a luxury but a rarity. I am proud to write that I broke that cycle for my children but it makes me sad that my husband never followed suit. So once the kids were grown and gone, I decided to take care of the task myself.

I wanted to go to New Orleans to see my friend Darin last year but I hummed and hawed about the exchange rate and went to Sayulita, Mexico to try and learn to surf instead. This year, because I went to Cuba in February, I knew I was limited to another weekend trip. I was originally looking at going to see the Toronto Raptors play at Madison Square Garden and decided to hit up last years destination instead; I also decided not to check the exchange rates until everything was booked!

As I sit and hammer out my words on my laptop. I can't help but smile. I am so very blessed with a great family, wonderful friends and a job I love. All of which support and allow me to head to embrace the Big Easy for a once in a lifetime experience.

Life is good!

ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS!

Like most seasonally challenged people, I totally land on my ass after I "fall back" for the reprehensible time change that's just happened. Just as my doctor ordered, I'd  pre-planned to soothe my severe deep buttocks bruising, with a trip to Cabo San Lucas at the end of the month.

So, with my e-tickets in hand, you can imagine my surprise to once again discover Mother Nature off her meds. Feeling very blessed at her misfortune, all I'll say is that I gladly threw her absentee pharmacist a c-note and called it a win. Why am I feeling so generous? She’s unexpectedly delivered me a much appreciated Indian summer.

Just a sleeveless Tee, light blazer ... and a 7am smile.
TAKEN: NOVEMBER 2nd, 2015

Not going to lie, it almost borders on bizarre. All week long I've walked to meet the Sweenymiester (a tad before 7am) in some amazing morning light.

With a skip in my step I was in shock that Tuesday morning I was kept warm by only a sleeveless t-shirt, light blazer, and a smile.

No coat, no gloves but most exciting of all, there was no need for an umbrella, nor a pair of snowpants. Crazier than my wardrobe share is the fact that we've had the air conditioning on at work. This week has definitely been a true (gal off her meds) gift!

Calling this HELL YA out to Mother Nature, reminds me that I used to faithfully read a blogger that said she was winding down her blog because she refused to talk about the weather. I was sad to see her stop but at the end of the day, when you keep an electronic journal like mine, you begin to fully understand that at times like these, the weather pulls more strings in your life than you'd like to admit. I'll admit it, I need the light and it's nice to see Mums au Natural play nice with me for once.

Let's face it, at the end of the post, my question has to be... Who is the only woman most perceive to be a bigger bitch than me? ...Mother Nature.

With a close second going to a couple of gals I went to High School with. Just sayin'.

S IS FOR SELFIE

Thanks for the post idea Becca!
TAKEN: DECEMBER 2007

Well, here it is. My very first selfie. How goofy is it that I vividly remember the night I took this bad boy?

Crux of the story is, Facebook was the new and in thing, and I wanted to change my profile pic for the upcoming season. Admiring the festive lights in the livingroom,  I hatched a plan. 

Seeing that the days of holding up ones phone was years from hitting the mainstream, my pic was staged using a 35mm digital camera and a mirror. Even today, I still find the look of it intriguing.

Everyone knows that each and every aspect of social media and online optimization is a part of what I do. I guess you could say that I’m one of the lucky ones that get to do “IT” for both business & pleasure. As I reflect, I have to admit that it's been an extremely interesting journey, that started with a Myspace account so many moons ago. From there, I just followed the technology, invested my time, and got lucky. Most probably wonder why I stay with Blogger and haven't headed over to Wordpress, the answer is a no-brainer.

I don't write for a living, I simply enjoy to write: I'm comfortable here.

This Blog wasn't created to generate revenue, just some interesting thoughts and a personal peace of mind. As I officially wind it down, it feels good to know that I have accomplished exactly that.

Silly ...geeky... selfies...  et all!