Going places, meeting people

Josh talked me out of taking the nonstop red-eye home from Portland, but my miles-only alternative was a 1-stop flight from Portland to Chicago via San Francisco. Which means I spent a good deal of yesterday en route (takeoff was at 1:50pm PST and I didn't land until 10:30pm CST). But I met a few interesting people along the way.

Jet Set Jordanians
This family of five included dancing, Doritos-munching boys about 4 and 5 and an 18 month old little girl who whimpered "baby, baby" as stroller after stroller wheeled by. They had already been traveling for 20 hours when I sat across from them in the PDX departure lounge. Their torturous route home was Amman, Jordan to Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt to Portland, Portland to San Francisco, and finally San Francisco to Marin County.

Full-Figured Father of Four
He gamely squeezed into the middle seat between me and another woman about my age and
congratulated me on my July due date. Apparently most of his large family celebrate their birthdays that month. We both carried on sandwiches from SFO's Boudin Bakery. He bailed on The Holiday to play Brick Breaker on his Blackberry for the remaining 2 1/2 hours of the flight.

Drunk Chick
I groaned inwardly when the 40-something redhead in a belly shirt, rhinestone-studded hip huggers and flip flops sat down in front of me and reclined her seat to its maximum before takeoff.

It sucks to have inches between your mouth and someone else's hair, but I buried my face in a book and made the best of it. That is, until an hour and a half later and I couldn't hold it any longer. It was virtually impossible to get up out of my seat with a 7 month belly and minimal clearance. But I'll give the bedazzled barmaid credit, when she saw my girth she eased up a bit on the recline and found relaxation in a can of Heineken. Which she managed to spill into the aisle (and splash across my right side). So she ordered a replacement can. And spilled half of that. Then she dropped her sunglasses. Her earrings. And so on. When the flight attendant joked that she'd smell like a brewery on the way home and she slurred something about "I always do. I own one."

My Ancient Cabdriver
If I tried to recount everything I learned about the greasy hair-smelling 67-year-old retired truck driver who claimed his shaking hands were a result of nerve damage from biting his nails to the quick, I'd be blogging all day. But highlights included learning that my cab driver drove a J.B. Hunt big rig most of his life, stopping at home to see "the missus" and her three children from a previous marriage (the first husband fell off of construction scaffolding and plunged to his death) for a few days every six weeks. He was proud of the three boys he'd helped raise, particularly the son who drives a garbage truck for the City of Chicago for $26 an hour, double that on Sundays.

His words of wisdom:
"Go to big rig driving school. They'll teach you a lot in 10 weeks. You'll graduate knowing how to fix your own brakes and brake shoes. Materials only cost $60. Save you a lot of money on repairs."
"If you're ever laid up, you can call Blue Cab to get your prescriptions and groceries picked up." (This was followed by detailed instructions on what to say to the druggist and a tale of a Park Ridge Realtor who apparently orders $300 worth of groceries every month from the River Forest Whole Foods and has them delivered to his office.)
"Always take the Mannheim Rd. exit when you're driving east on I-290. That way you'll avoid getting trapped in traffic in the middle lane. You can exit at Mannheim if traffic gets bad beyond the curves. And if you're ever in Oak Brook at rush hour, don't try to get on the Eisenhower at Roosevelt. They close the entrance ramp. Take Cermak to Mannheim and get on there."

I saw the ocean

We drove from Portland to Cannon Beach today, and the napping gods were watching over us. We left Franny's house at 8:20 and Baby A was asleep by 8:30. Z watched videos on her portable DVD player for an hour and a half. A woke up 3 minutes from the beach, where we met our hosts, who'd beaten us by 5 minutes. We had coffee and pastries as we waited for the fog to break and let the kids frolic in the sand and cold, cold water until lunch. Baby A squeal after and hugged 5 dogs, making her day.

We left the beach at 1:30 and both kids fell asleep shortly after we got on the road. They stayed asleep until we got back into Portland and we headed straight to the Portland Children's Museum.

Our perfect day was capped off with takeout Vietnamese food and Tillamook Marionberry Pie ice cream.

Portland here I come

Tomorrow morning I'm boarding a plane by myself. There will be no car seats. No sippy cups. No snacks. No portable DVD player showing potty movies.

Just me, a Luna bar, Kabul Beauty School and the most recent issue of The New Yorker. And as much as I'm looking forward to flying solo, what I'm really excited about is the destination. I'm headed to Portland, Oregon to visit my BFF and her family. We've got a fabulous girls' weekend planned. A spa visit, the Saturday Market, Powell's Books, the Pearl District, great restaurants and the Portland Art Museum are all on the agenda.

I feel a little guilty about leaving Josh alone with Z for four days--but, sweetheart that he is, he encouraged me to get in this last trip before we're both stuck at home with two small children.

UrbanMom Salon: This blowdry comes with babysitting

Marketing to moms has become a lot more sophicated and nuanced than it used to be. Or is it just that moms are more sophisticated?

No matter. The point is that speaking to moms (who make the lion's share of household buying decisions) is no longer a one way street, with Madison Avenue pitching images of the perfect housewife to legions of potential Hoover, Frigidaire and Jell-O purchasers. Read the NY Times' recent article, Pitching to Real Moms, the Ones Who Aren't Perfect, which quotes Leo Burnett Chief Creative Officer Susan Credle (my boss's boss's boss).

When it comes to converting moms to customers, one of the smartest decisions a business can make is to listen to what moms want. Ever since I visited Portland, Oregon with a 10-month old (6 years ago now), I've bemoaned Chicago's lack of family-focused spas and coffee shops. Zenana Spa in Portland offers child care while moms get themselves pampered and plenty of West Coast coffeehouses boast a playroom (or corner) where small children can play while their otherwise socially-isolated parents hang out.

Well, Chicago finally has a spa for moms! UrbanMom Salon on Damen, offers hair, nail and waxing services while your children are well cared for by a babysitter from Chicago Nannies (brand synergy!) in a nicely-outfitted, secured playroom (or "playoasis," as they like to call it). Because they're brand new and looking to build buzz, I was offered a complimentary blowout this weekend. I took my 4-year old along, and while she looked a little shy as she was introduced to the nanny on duty, she begged me not to make her leave one hour later. And while there was lots for little kids (tunnels, kitchen, trains, art supplies and bubbles to name a few diversions), the management wisely included a Wii to entertain older children. Child care is $7 for the first child and $4 for siblings.

But as nice as it is to be able to bring your kids along, are the services up to par? It takes a lot to break up with one's stylist and put your head in someone else's hands. I'm happy to report I was thrilled with the blow dry I received. Even though I said I typically have my stylist tame my curls with a blow dry followed by a flat iron, stylist/manager Tara convinced me to go with a wavier round-brush blowout.

I got a lot of compliments!



Incidentally, UrbanMom Salon is very close to Little Beans Cafe, a family-focused coffee shop with an elaborate indoor playspace.

Happy heart, happy belly: My weekend in Portland

My 48 hours in Portland were not wasted. We largely left Franny's children at home with Dave as we shopped, walked and ate our way across the city, sharing food from restaurants, diners, food carts, hole in the wall doughnut shops and the Farmers' Market.

I ate...

Tomato soup, grilled cheese and a butterscotch milkshake at Blueplate

Everything bagel with scallion cream cheese from Kettleman's

Marionberry scone and cookies from the Farmers' Market

A glazed doughnut and Stumptown coffee from Voodoo Doughnut

Assorted Japanese bar snacks and udon noodle soup at Biwa

Spinach, sundried tomato and feta pizza from Oasis Cafe

Lettuce with green goddess dressing and a soft boiled egg followed by a very rare cheeseburger at The Country Cat

Egg, sausage patty and cheese biscuit sandwich from Pine State Biscuits

And a coconut and wicked chocolate ice cream cone from Cool Moon Ice Cream (and since we're not completely heartless, we took the kids there)

I bought...

Dansko sandals from Clogs N More, a pair of earrings and an earring organizer from vendors at the Saturday market, a miniature box of Alma Chocolates, 2 pounds of Stumptown coffee, a folk songs book from Powell's Books for Home & Garden and a half dozen secondhand cloth napkins from SCRAP, a shop that rescues potential landfill and resells it as crafting supplies.

And because we eventually did get shopped out, we also visited...

The Oregon History Museum and the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, where we had fun taking pictures.

You can see more here.

Pictures from Portland

Check out a few of the snapshots I took on my trip.

Happy blogiversary to me

I've been blogging for one year today.

A lot has changed since I wrote my first post. I was on Oprah, I bought a new car, got pregnant, celebrated Z's second birthday and had a second baby. For the first time since we've owned our house, I had the windows washed and the yard landscaped. I traveled to Portland, Omaha, Mexico, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. At the office, I achieved resident expert status on the subjects of word-of-mouth marketing and blogging. And I attended the BlogHer conference and learned how much I still don't know.

I've used my blog to brag about the trials and joys of pregnancy and parenting, but I'd like to think I'm more than "just a mommyblogger." I write about consumer marketing, customer service, and them products and services I love. And I try to do it from my dual perspective as a marketing creative and as a consumer. Because I'm a mom. The consumer with whom brands big and small want to connect.

As a blogger and a mom, I've been given fabulous opportunities, attending the Chicago Auto Show as a guest of GM and reviewing books, DVDs and other products for Parent Bloggers. I even scored a spot on the Chicago Moms Blog!

Most importantly, blogging has connected me with some really wonderful people, mostly women. I've shared the challenges and joys of balancing a career and home life with other working mothers and I've learned a lot from marketing blogs like Seth Godin's.

I love blogging so much I've convinced my best friend and sister to start blogs of their own, and as a result I've benefited from regular peeks inside their lives (and plenty of photos of their kids).

Anyone care to guess what the next year will bring?

I got a code on my birfday

Hopefully I won't be too stuffed up to taste my vanilla-lemon birthday cake tonight.

As far as my birthday haul goes, my bike trailer hasn't arrived from BabyAge yet, but I got some lovely jewelry from my sister, a family portrait by this local artist from my mom and electronic greetings from friends and relatives, my dentist, Sephora and Cold Stone Creamery. Unfortunately the ice cream parlor's "free birthday creation" coupon seems incompatible with any Mac browser.

I've always loved celebrating my birthday (except for last year when my Grandma died that day), and today is no exception. The last 12 months were busy and truly blessed. I gave birth to my second (and likely last) child, took my newborn to BlogHer, and enjoyed a summerlong maternity leave. I walked Z to preschool for the very first time and saw her finish her first year at Montessori a very mature, bright little girl. I invested in some major home improvements, landscaping our yard and finishing the basement. And I switched jobs, leaving OgilvyAction, where I'd worked for almost 8 years, for a new position at Arc Worldwide.

I can't imagine 32 will hold as many milestones, but I'm ready for the ride. First up? Baby A's first birthday party, taking two kids to the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza and a trip to Portland to visit Franny and family.

2010: The Year in Review

Two things I'm thankful for

2010 was a very good year. My job was rewarding, my kids became more independent and I felt like my relationship with Josh grew stronger than ever. (Anyone who tells you new babies bring a couple closer together are lying. Or perhaps very, very lucky.)

I tried new things in 2010: rock climbing on vacation and taking regular roller derby classes back home. I toured a hot dog factory and had our very first family portraits done by a professional photographer. And I was thrilled to finally join both a knitting circle and a book club!

I took the family to Akumal, West Chester, Asheville and New York City, and I treated myself to a girls weekend in Portland with my best friend from high school.

My Aussie sister and her two children spent much of the summer in the U.S., so I had the rare pleasure of talking to her regularly on the phone and seeing her family twice in one season (one week in Asheville and a long weekend in Oak Park).

Milestones were recorded. Z lost 4 teeth, learned to ride a 2-wheeler, graduated from Montessori school and skipped though kindergarten in a week and a half. I became a Bat Mitzvah and a Creative Director and A kicked off her preschool career without shedding a single tear.

We had a couple of medical challenges. A killed one of her front teeth falling off the couch and cut open her chin on the bathtub, and I spent the better part of a month covered in measles-like spots from a random case of pityriasis rosea. We battled lice for the first time. And I dealt with seasonal allergies so extreme that I couldn't wear contact lenses any more. Unwilling to live in spectacles, I fulfilled a long-held dream of getting my eyes fixed. In October I had PRK corrective surgery done on both eyes. (I'm loving the results, which get a little better every day.)

Blogging had its benefits in 2010, too. I had lunch with the CEO of Stonyfield Farm, reviewed a couple of plays at Emerald City Theatre and attended the uber-slumber party that is BlogHer. I also contributed a couple of professional posts to the Leo Burnett blog.

And it wouldn't be a true year-in-review if I didn't check in on last year's New Year's resolutions as well.

1. I didn't get to the gym more than once a week until I started skating. Now I'm finally hitting my twice a week goal. Score: B

2. I've failed to close my Internet browser for 2 hours a day while at work, but I've found some other methods for improving my productivity. Score: C

3. Taking each member of my family on some kind of solo date/outing every month. I've been doing this! Score: A

4. Survive New Year's Day. Not only did I host a successful New Year's Day brunch in 2010, I did it again on 1/1/11.

2009: Year in Review
2008: Goodbye and good riddance

About to leave Portland

I've had a wonderful time visiting with Franny in one of my favorite cities, but I miss Josh and Z something terrible. I didn't realize how torturous it would be to see mothers and toddlers in every direction. And every place we visited I wished I could share with one of them.

We got pampered at Zanana Spa and went to the OMSI, sort of a small, more kid-oriented version of the Museum of Science and Industry, and I saw so much I knew Z would get a kick out of. Personally, I thought it was neat to see a thermal scan of my body and visual proof that my hands are hotter than Franny's (always have been). Z would have also loved romping through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, where I took 90 percent of my photos.

Restaurants and coffee shops made me wish I'd brought along my foodie husband. We had takeout from the Delta Cafe (including some raw BBQ chicken), coffeecake and muffins from Arleta Library Cafe, decent neuvo latino at OBA and an enormous breakfast of Grand Marnier french toast at Everett Street Bistro. One evening I cooked for Franny and Dave, demonstrating how ridiculously easy it is to roast a chicken and make your own vinaigrette.

I also got in more (tax free!) shopping than I've done in months, scoring gifts for my much-missed family and some goodies for myself, including a crocheted hat from the Saturday Market, robin's egg blue mary jane-style Crocs, two headbands and a new pair of sunglasses that Josh is going to hate (they're fashionably BIG). And I helped Franny shop for a pair of jeans to show off her new skinny self.

Anyway, big shout-outs to both of the husbands for letting us have four days of virtually uninterrupted girl time.

Packing for a trip with two young kids

We're leaving for Portland to visit Franny and her family on Friday, and I've been mentally sorting the must-packs from the can-do-withouts. Fortunately Franny's got two little kids of her own and is thus owns a crapload of baby gear we can borrow. Unfortunately, that doesn't include car seats, my least favorite item to travel with (unless, duh, it's a car trip).

So we're bringing two monsterous car seats. Z's will be strapped to Josh's back with our Pacback carrier and checked with our luggage. Baby A's will be hooked onto our neighbor's Gogo Kidz, which converts your car seat into a stroller that you drag behind you like a pilot's suitcase. We'll wheel her right up to the plane and cross our fingers that there's enough room for us to bring the car seat onto the plane. We didn't buy a seat for her, so if the flight's sold out the car seat-on-wheels will be gate checked and I'll be testing out the infant safety vest Baby B'air so kindly sent me on my lap baby.

Since the car seat will be wheeled, we're not bringing a stroller. If Z whines about the walk, she can sit in A's car seat and I'll carry A in my Ergo. We're also not bringing a diaper bag. I've given up on diaper bags and prefer to throw this SkipHop Pronto into a regular backpack.

We're not bringing a Pack N Play, booster seat, baby utensils or sippy cups. Hell, we're barely bringing any toys! But we will tote along snacks, stickers, markers, a coloring book and a portable DVD player that's seriously on the fritz. If Z's lucky, we'll replace it tax-free in Oregon. In the meantime, Princesses with lines through them are surely more distracting than no Princesses at all.

And we'll see if it turns out to be huge mistake, but I'm packing clothes for all four of us in one wheeled suitcase. Less stuff to maneuver, but we'll be a creek with no paddle if Southwest loses it!

I've arrived

When I checked in at United.com, I wasn't able to get a seat assignment, and I wasn't too thrilled to be handed a B (read, center aisle) boarding pass at the gate. The good news, however, was that my center seat was the very first row of Economy. Economy Plus, to be exact. Which means that I wasn't climbing over anyone any of the five times I got up to pee.

Other bonuses, aside from the fact that none of the toddlers on board belonged to me, included an in-flight showing of The Pursuit of Happyness, which I hadn't seen yet, and the fact that the memoir I brought along is a real page-turner.

Franny picked me up at the lovely Portland Airport (did you know their parking garage tells you which aisles have spaces available?), and we spent the afternoon browsing at Powell's and some of the other boutiques in the area. I met my craving for good, chewy crust pizza at Pizza Shmizza, where I inhaled two NYC-sized cheese slices. Why oh why can't Chicago duplicate the pizza by the slice experience?

Portland photos are up!

Check out even more on my Flickr page.

The Portland coffeehouse with everything...but coffee

Yesterday morning, before we needed to head to the airport, Josh, Z, Baby A and I tagged along with Franny and her 3 month old to Urban Grind, where one of her playgroups regularly meets. It's an ideal space for parents and tots to gather as it has two well-equipped playrooms and a cavernous main space furnished with couches, chairs and tables. The playrooms have toys galore as well as gliders and rocking chairs for the comfort of nursing moms. The bathrooms have changing tables. There's free wifi and computers you can log onto for free. There's even a ping-pong room and a conference room, but those were being used by people's whose job description does not include dispensing snacks and sippy cups!

Yet Urban Grind is not utopia in a coffeeshop for one simple reason. No coffee. That's right, there were "no beans" and the shop was not serving any coffee or espresso-based drinks. Which meant I settled for a prefab chai latte. And while Oregonians are in general a laid-back lot, I was a bit taken aback when an employee responded to Franny's request for a panini with "Are you in a hurry, or can it wait until after I have a cigarette?"

But put aside the amenities and the mysterious lack of coffee for a minute. There's a more important reason I will never forget my 45 minute visit to Urban Grind: it is the site where Baby A first walked. Yes, my chubby little 13 month old stood up and toddled 5 steps to a light-up steering wheel toy she'd had her eye on.

She was thrilled and probably would have loved to spend the rest of the day practicing her new skill. Unfortunately the rest of her day involved lots of being strapped into an airplane.

And that's a whole other blog post...


Baby A, standing in the Mt Scott Park fountain just 2 days before she walked

Of red eyes and sore throats

I'm so tired I can hear my bed beckoning me from two stories up. Franny, Dave and Mizz left this evening to return to Portland. It was wonderful having her and her family here for a visit, but since this is life, not everything went exactly as planned. Sleep schedules were thrown off, Franny caught a debilitating cold, and our grand plans to see the sites (or at least the zoo) went out the window. Still, even though the sudden onset of Franny's illness cut our adults-only dinner short (we got the food to-go) and our outings were limited to local playgrounds, I got what was most important: face time with Franny and family.

The memories I'll cherish are of seeing Z and Mizz race around the house screeching with glee. Splashing in the bath. And bustling in the play kitchen. Of Z telling me all the things her little friend needs ("He needs milk." "He's hun-gee." "He wants to pay wif my toys." "He wants to go outside." "He wants to go on da swings." "He's all done swings." "He needs a nap."). And the moment when Z showed Josh the Dora sticker I'd given her for sharing nicely, saying "I got sticker from Mommy. For good sharing wif Mizz."

Get well soon Franny!

I'm doing all my holiday shopping online

I don't think I'm going to buy a single thing in a traditional bricks and mortar store this year. And why should I? I hate shopping with kids. I hate standing in line. I hate bumping into frazzled shoppers or tailing package-laden consumers in the parking lot.

And honestly? There's nothing at the mall that I can't get faster-cheaper-better online. So, without giving away too much, here's where I've been spending wearing out my credit card.

Amazon, the biggie. They sell everything. Free shipping is a given (I don't have to troll around couponmountain.com or retailmenot.com looking for codes), and I save by not paying Illinois' sky-high sales tax. I've been an Amazon customer since 1997 (when it was just a bookstore) and I've never had a problem with their customer service.

Etsy. This fabulous shopping site is Ebay meets the Renegade Craft Fair. I can buy handcrafted jewelry, bags, dolls and so much more direct from the artisan and pay with Paypal. Prices range from ridiculously cheap to moderately expensive, but you can easily score a one-of-a-kind necklace for $25.

Not content with unique, handcrafted goods, I felt the need to get crafty myself. But not too crafty, mind you. I don't have time for that! So I created custom photo holiday cards at Tiny Prints and designed a t-shirt for a deserving recipient at Zazzle while munching a sandwich at my desk.

And don't think you can't surprise distant friends and family with gift certificates to independent places in their town. I've found restaurants, boutiques and spas (even those not part of a large chain) sell gift cards from their websites, so I didn't even have to pick up the phone to buy my BFF a gift certificate for a prenatal massage from Zenana Spa in Portland.

Has anyone else sworn off traditional shopping?

Cross-posted to Chicago Moms Blog