nakedjen

You are what you love not what loves you.

One.  I'm sorting through a box of very important papers.  I only know the contents are very important because the words Very Important Papers was hastily scribbled on the outside of this recycled box before it was shoved under the eaves of the house, who knows when, however long ago.  There are names scratched in his tell-tale left-handed sideways scrawl on torn bits and there are random lists with some of the items scratched through and others left still hoping to someday, one day, any day be completed. 

They will never be completed.

There are bills and more bills, most of them unopened.  Were they ever paid?  Torn pages from magazines that contain both pictures and stories of dreams that were shoved in this particular box deemed very important, but then long forgotten. 

There's a toy that once belonged to Clyde. An empty coffee mug with the detritus of the last drops of coffee now a permanent solid goo along the side and the bottom.  An SCO mouse pad. A badge identifying me as a consultant for Sun Micro Systems.  Pennies and nickles and dimes and quarters.  A candle once used for wishing heart-felt wishes on the new moon.  Did they come true?

It was called Furkefying. The tossing of everything on the desk tops into a box and labeling it Very Important Papers and then shoving it away and rarely ever unearthing it again.  Something his family had done.  Something we did when the clutter became too much. 

I'm not quite sure how this furkified box came with me and is still here or why I found the need to carefully excavate all the contents before dumping it all in the proper recycling containers?

There is no new news, no grateful unearthed bits, just a lot of shredded dreams.

 

Two.  It is no secret that I have very special place in my heart for farmers.  Organic farmers, especially.  That I hug them whenever I get the chance and that my secret boyfriend desire these days is the organic farmer who also owns his own pot of glitter and is comfortable wearing a tutu and maybe writes his own books.  I know, I know.  Tall order.  A beet fairy girl can have her fantasies!

I must be far more chatty about this than I even realize because just yesterday as I was waiting for my daily espresso at my beloved Coffee Garden, the barista pulled my four shots and then as he handed me my beautiful drink said, "Nakedjen, I have a present for you."  I couldn't even begin to imagine what on earth the barista would have for me?  I've been going there, as we know, every day since I arrived in this Salty City and this was the first time anyone made mention of an actual present.  There's been LOTS of free espresso for which I am ALWAYS truly grateful, but a present? 

Then Ben, the barista, pulled a sack from under the counter filled with organic heirloom tomatoes.  That he had grown.  In his own garden.  And he said he brought them just for me because he knows I love farmers.  Especially the organic ones. 

I am not going to lie to you.  I absolutely SQUEALED.  So much so that everyone who was just rubbing the sleepy sand from their own eyes and was still waiting for that caffeine jolt to bring them to life got a shocking wake up call.  And, yes, of course I hugged him.  Passionately! 

I'm still rather amazed, honestly.  I adore all my farmers at the market, as we all very well know.  But this was incredibly kind and special.  I had some of them for dinner last night and I know it's just me, but people, I could absolutely taste the love. 

Who have you shared your garden bounty with this week?  I'm pretty certain there's a beet fairy girl who would just love to squeal at the gift of a tomato.  Go and share!

 

Three.  I have nearly a terabyte (who would have believed we'd have terabytes of anything??! And doesn't it almost feel like that specific drive should be snarling with dinosaur teeth and stomping around on huge feet ready to take over Japan? Or China, even? I am TERABYTE, FEAR ME!) of music.  All kinds.  Because while you may think the only possible music I can ever listen to is by that band that held my ankle tightly by a string and carried me floating along on their adventures for so many years, it is actually quite the opposite.  Of course, yes, I have nearly all their live shows, every single one, included on that TERABYTE, but I think you might be shocked at what else you'd find there.  Or maybe you would not be shocked at all.  Because, maybe you're like me and you just know that music is the beautiful language of our souls that we all innately speak.  From birth. That there really isn't any bad music, just music that suits what we need at this particular moment in our journey as we spin together around the sun.

There's lots and lots and lots of music on that drive.  Which, especially on Sunday afternoons, I enjoy allowing to shuffle through and surprise even me because I forget what gems it actually contains.

On Sunday last I had hit shuffle and the music was gently wafting through our entire house.  The dogs and I were having a lazy day with the New York Times.  Except suddenly it was not lazy at all.  Suddenly there was this HUGE racket and I couldn't quite figure out why both dogs were barking like the house had just been invaded!

I walked into the living room to sort out the ruckus to find Stella circling the entire room like she's on a search and rescue mission and Buddha standing on the couch looking completely and utterly perplexed!  They were looking for Dave Winer.  They both know him and adore him.  And his voice, at that very moment, was coming from all the speakers in our house. 

I had one of his podcasts on the drive.  It had shuffled on and he was speaking about something to do with the River of News and the dogs, well, were certain that he MUST BE IN OUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW! 

Stella, being the smarter of the two, finally went over to one of the speakers and decided that he must be inside.  So she stood there and does what any labrador does when she's absolutely positively certain of something.  She tried to eat it.  This unprecedented activity caused Buddha to LEAP from the couch like he was playing the role of Spiderman in his primary school production, land right on top of Stella and then I had a ring side seat to a barking snarling WWF match of doom.  In the living room.  Because Dave Winer was stuck inside the speaker.

I turned off the podcast.  His voice stopped.  Magically, so did the match of doom.  Except Stella wasn't quite convinced that all was completely well.  He was in there at one point, he had not come out, so he must STILL be in there.  Treats were a mere miniscule distraction for a short while and I changed the to playlist to Coltrane so we could return to our lazy Sunday afternoon.

She hasn't forgotten though.  She keeps checking.  She just better not try to really rescue him. 

Is this begging? I don't know? Could be. I want to call it creative marketing with a dash of glitter.

So you know those fabulous plans that I had to attend the Oregon Country Fair?  The same plans where I invited all of you along?  To join me in the pilgrimage to the celebration of all things fabulous that I never ever miss and that I have declared my religion if I were to practice any kind of organized religion at all?

Yes, those plans.

The thing about life is that it always happens while you're making other plans.  My life is no exception.  My head, actually, is the culprit here.  It's not happy or healthy right now.  I've been having an increased frequency of seizures and there's suspect scar tissue that seems to be growing in size and my blessed neurologist whom I really do love has decided that my life is total crap and needs a complete overhaul.

Instead of providing her with proof positive that she's wrong and long list of folks who might vouch that my life is not, in fact, utter crap, I decided that a life with as many seizures as I have been having is, well, actually not a life I care to live.  I actually do want to LIVE, all caps, the way Maude would choose to live and I suppose if Maude were told her life was crap and she was having all these seizures she'd at least find some oat straw tea and a new yoga pose to calm her brain the fuck right down.

I've been drinking the tea, that we know.  I've also been doing all kinds of salutations to the yogic deities, but there's some piece of the magical puzzle that actually keeps my brain on an even keel that is just missing.

My neurologist and I are starting from scratch.  Which means taking me off the medications I've been taking and starting a whole new regimen of new ones.  Let's remember, or perhaps I should share for the uninitiated, I am very sensitive to pharmaceuticals.  Crazy sensitive.  If there's an undiscovered side-effect, I'll be the one to discover it and exhibit it in ways that make the doctors almost clap with so much glee you'd think they were trying to keep fairies alive.

I never, honestly, want to even take medications.  Which makes me a difficult patient.  I know you're laughing because I also realize that is just one very small line on a very long list of the reasons I am a difficult patient.

This is a very long way of saying, truthfully, that I won't be sharing the merry with my fairies.  Not this year.  I am trying not to allow the reality of that to tip me over the edge and into the abyss.

Now, all is not possibly lost. 

There's a social media conference, EVO11, right here, right in my back yard, that very same weekend that I attended last year and LOVED with all caps in the way that Maude LOVED Harold.  I couldn't say enough good things about that conference and it is, hands down, one of the best offered. 

I was going to be merry with the fairies, so I did not, of course, volunteer to work the conference this year (like I did last year) thus missing out on a chance to attend the conference for *free*.  I was disappointed that they were both on the same weekends in July, but we both know my heart lies in the woods along the Long Tom River in Oregon if I'm forced to choose.

But now, as life will have it when it decides your plans for you despite your desire to be merry with fairies, I will actually be right here.  It turns out I have an opportunity to secure a pass, but the pass is $400.  That I don't exactly have at the moment.  I know, go ahead. Give me the lecture about how I should be far more careful with my MONEY.  I hear you.  I completely agree. What can I say, doctors and drugs are expensive.  There's a reason I avoid them only I can't exactly do that anymore if I want to LIVE. 

I would really love, LOVE, to go to EVO11.  Lots of the women and men who are going are being sponsored and I thought, well, surely there must be some vegan organic holistic company out there that might want to sponsor me?  I seriously think GT's Kombucha should be sending me.  Goodness knows I've been selling more bottles of their kombucha and this would be a whole new audience for them.  Of crazy mad twitter people.  Who are there to understand how to harness the power of all the tools of the Internet to sell their brands.  Or maybe Jamie Oliver should send me.  Because let's face it, I've been like his single glitter fairy leading the Food Revolution in Utah since before there was a food revolution.  Even Luna and Larry's.  Which, honestly, would have quite a lovely symmetry to it since I discovered them at the Fair and they even have NAKED flavors.  I just know there has to be someone out there that wants a girl who is not afraid to share a BOLD LOVING MESSAGE with the crowds to represent them at EVO11. Or maybe it is just one of you.  Some random stranger who reads my blog.  I'm happy to go and represent YOU.  T-shirts, tattoos on my arms and across my chest, hashtag tweets, sharing your unique product and message with some pretty fantastic members of the social media elite. You tell me what you want, I'll do it.  Let's face it, I'm not afraid to get naked.  So it would be hard to ask for something I won't do.

So that's my wish.  A sponsor for EVO11.  I honestly have no idea if this will work or who even reads this blog these days, but you know, you will never get it if you just don't ask.  So, this is me, Nakedjen, saying please (and thank you!).

Because we all must write. Celebrations at Blogher.

I'm on my way to NYC later today. For BLOGHER. You know, that conference full of women (and some men) who happen to blog in some fashion or another and who gather to squeal and compare their shoes and pedicures and their outfits from the Gap and to make sure that they look somewhat like their avatar on Twitter?  Yes, that conference.

I'm grateful that I get to go despite that bit of snark.  The chatter and anxiety and stress leading up to the actual conference are enough to make me complain loudly, many times, in the weeks leading up to my departure that I really would rather not go, but, oh yes, I will go, I have to go, I absolutely must go.

And it isn't just to get naked in the lobby even though I'm pretty sure that's what a whole bunch of folks want to believe.  I want to share right now, before I even leave Salt Lake City, that I do not go to Blogher just to get naked.  That actually is about the last reason I go to Blogher.  That's not to say I will not get naked, I'm just saying, it is NOT the reason I go.  I'm not there to shock and awe (or make you puke on your cute shoes).

I go because of you.

You inspire me.  You are special. You write words and share your stories and bravely bare your own souls.  You make me laugh.  You make me cry.  You find ways to write a sentence that make me sigh with gratitude.  You find the beauty in the smallest things.  You remind me to not take life so seriously.  You also shake me to my core and wake me up.

You feed me. You clothe me. You take me on journeys to the end of the earth and back.

I really go to meet the hearts and the souls behind those words on a screen and to thank you for sharing so very much of you with me. 

To thank you. For sharing. And to discover even more of you who I never before knew.

Because there are so many of you. So very many. It's a huge wide crazy wonderful web of loveliness out there.  You are weaving it. Every single day. 

I go to celebrate you. Each and every one. You are all, truly, a gift.

Let the celebration begin.

There's much to love in The Canyons, perhaps even you.

Remember how I went to the best conference ever and stayed at The Canyons and just could not say enough WOW words about the resort or the conference and, um, also happened to get married while I was there and confused everyone for a bit until I assured you that I just really like to collect husbands and that I won't be actually getting married to anyone REALLY until we all can get married to anyone we want?

Remember that?  I hope so because I've got more WOW words to share and it will help if you really do already know the back story.  So if you don't or you weren't here or you've just arrived to see the naked pictures and you're not going to read the words, I suggest you reconsider that part about not reading the words (really, it's all about the words for me!) and go read this first.

Now that your memory has been refreshed (or you're totally caught up) let me tell you about last night.

Jyl, the uber-talented superhero (no really, she's absolutely a superhero and this naked girl wants one of her capes!) behind Mom It Forward and the very popular Girls Night Out (#gno) twitter parties sent me an email late last week asking if I wanted to participate as a panelist for a Girls Night Out for The Canyons.  I think before the email even had a chance to truly land in my inbox I had already shouted OH GODDESS YES! I absolutely loved my short little stay there for the conference and as I'm a girl who always really does like to give back, it felt good to be able to share my love of The Canyons with her larger audience.  I was really touched that she even asked me!

Jyl then told me that some of the women would be convening at The Canyons and invited me to join them there to join the twitter party live.  Now how fun would that be?  Of course I said yes.

This is where we give mad props and a huge shout out to Libby Dowd, the Director of Public Relations, at The Canyons.  HUGE MAD PROPS.  The next email I received was from Jyl who said that Libby had contacted her saying she believed I was a vegan and wanted to be sure about my dietary requirements so there would be food for me to eat during our gathering.

People, I want you to know something.  We all know I'm a girl that travels a lot.  I stay in really special resorts and hotels in amazing spots all over the world.  That kind of attention?  Just doesn't happen.  Ever.  Not only that, but Libby actually went in search of a vegan dessert before I actually arrived at the resort last night.  Her kitchen at the Canyons didn't have one, but since Whole Foods is actually in Park City, she went there to find one just so there would be an option for me.**

**(After I hit publish, I realized that this kind of attention has happened in my life before in OTHER ways, of course! And actually, it has happened in terms of my penchant for the food that I eat at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives (where I had my own chef who I even shopped with and where I also managed to use ALL THE AVAILABLE LEMONS on the atoll) and at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong where the oh so handsome concierge, upon learning of my very particular dietary needs, made it his mission to find all the very best organic vegan spots for me to eat in Hong Kong...and not only that...he would have some of those special things delivered to my room.  That man, I should have married him, too!). 

Let me say this again.  This just does not happen.  But it did.  I felt so absolutely loved and I wasn't even a guest at the resort!  I was just coming to participate in PR event with her team.  But I'm telling you that that attention to detail extends throughout the entire organization and every single member of the resort team.

I know this because when I arrived at the Canyons resort?  When I walked up to the concierge desk.  The very concierge desk where I had my impromptu wedding a few weeks ago?  My husband was not there. But the concierge who was there?  She said, "Oh, I hope Juan has not left yet.  He got off at 5:00 p.m. today and I know he's going to be disappointed to have missed you!" 

I have stayed there exactly once.  I haven't been back since that cupcake induced madness.  Yet those were her exact words when I walked in last night and asked where to go for the Girls Night Out gathering.  I'm thinking I need to be spending a lot more time there because, people, the Canyons is a wonderful extraordinary place where everything just sparkles and your life truly is just magically better!

And guess what?  You, yes you, can go experience all this magical special attention yourself.  You may not need an extra husband, but perhaps you'd like to enjoy some amazing food, ride a gondola, ski some of the best snow on earth, drive a snow cat, or indulge in spa services at the Golden Door?  It's all possible and you just have to enter the give-away, click your heels three times, wish upon whatever stars you see and hope. 

The details of the give-away are right here.  I suggest you go enter.  Now. 

There's lots of reasons why Utah is not so bad, why I keep signing up to live here.  The Canyons resort is most definitely one of the best of them.  I hope you win!  If you do, I promise to come and visit you while you're there.  Good luck!

The ABC's of EVO '10 (or The Best Tech Conference I've Ever Attended!)

I got really lucky last weekend. No, seriously. I'm not sure which magical fairy I made happy in the recent past, but someone up there likes me and made it possible for me to attend the EVO '10 conference at The Canyons Resort in Park City.  (The magical wings were worn by the conference founders, the incredibly beautiful Jyl of Mom It Forward and the oh so sassy Rachael of Today's Mama, but as neither one of them really KNEW me before last weekend, I just have to kind of believe that some of my other magical fairies must have been sprinkling that famous naked glitter around somewhere to make it all happen!).

I have gone to a lot of tech conferences, as we all know.  I've hosted them, I've been the booth babe, I've stood in hotel ballrooms in foreign cities and blah, blah, blah, Mr. CEO of course you want this fabulous new software product that will give you a ROI you just can not possibly believe.  I'm also the girl who burned out in the BOOM that was Silicon Valley in the late 90's and early 00's and said enough is enough.  It takes a lot these days to even get me to a conference much less make me happy about it.  

EVO '10 blissed me out! Because I'm a natural born blogger and can't seem to shut up and because I use a lot of words and I seem to always find that I have a lot to say, I'm going to give you some of the kernels I gleaned that led me down that blissful path.  Perhaps they'll make you want to join us on the mountain top next year.

a. I am living the first draft of my authentic life. There is no second draft. This is it. And I will make no apologies for it or for the muddy paw prints that sometimes make it a bit messy.  Life is messy.  Especially when it is yours and when it is truly authentic. 

b. It is especially lovely to be ordinary.  I'm beautiful when I'm ordinary. Ordinary is absolutely okay.

c. No slagging. Remember that you are always just one Google click away from the last words you published on the Internet. Everything is archived.  Just be nice. It's not that difficult.

d.  If you don't ask, you will not get. I've been saying this for years, but it is still true. You need to truly ask for what you want. Be clear and be direct and ask nicely.

e.  You know how to be gracious. As Emily Gilmore has said since your monogrammed birth on this planet, REMEMBER YOUR MANNERS.

f. Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes will make you very high.  Like crazy high. It's best not to eat them if you're sensitive to sugar. Also, they're not vegan. Why are you eating the non-vegan cupcake ANYWAY?!

g. If you do eat the cupcake, it might be best to refrain from calling the concierge at the very lovely resort "DUDE".  Not everyone is from California.  Especially in Utah. 

h.  However, you may also end up the evening MARRIED to the concierge.  Collecting husbands can be quite confusing to those who really love you.  Make certain that everyone understands this is NOT A REAL MARRIAGE.

i.  When in doubt about the location of the SEX TOYS, it is best to just trust your spidey sense.  It has never let you down, it is never going to let you down. Especially when it comes to free stuff.

j.  Life is too short not to be beautiful. Take the time and the effort to make it beautiful for others, too. The joy and the smiles are worth it.

k. Write thank you notes. Always.

l. Ziplines down the sides of mountains in Utah are excellent for teaching you that you really are fearless. Seizures?  What seizures??

m.  Not everyone understands "naked".  That's totally okay. 

n. Share your passion generously.

o. Your laugh is really loud. It sometimes wakes up half-naked men half way down the hall wearing towels.

p. Never apologize for being blissful.

q. Stop, shut up and really listen.

r. Your numbers are never a measure of your value or your impact.

s. Bacon, muffintops and farts.

t. It's just a house and it doesn't matter. LIFE MATTERS.

u. Storytelling is a political act. 

v. Odd Molly really is your best designer girlfriend.

w. There is always a kindness to be celebrated every day.

x. Sharing a suite with seven strangers can sometimes result in more blessings of kindness, love and friendship than you could have possibly ever imagined. You are one very lucky naked girl.

y. Joy, grace and gratitude.

z. Lead with your heart. Your mind can always follow.

love is so short, forgetting is so long.

i removed myself from all the dating sites where i may have had an online profile this weekend because, quite frankly, in the words of U2, i still haven't found what i'm looking for. har! not that i've been looking very fervently. i have not. at all.

i'm not cut out for online dating, honestly. or i am not cut out, any more. i must have been at one time because i found the man who was previously my husband that way.  i have changed. i think the world has changed.  people are not who they appear to be. and that's perfectly okay, actually. i know that we all want to be who we imagine ourselves to be, especially when we're given a blank slate to create ourselves on the internet. we can be ANYBODY. in fact, our dog can even have a dating profile and no one would know! how about that?

but it gets so frustrating when you answer an advertisement and then go out and the person you actually meet is really NOTHING like the person he/she believes she has splayed on the dating site. and i mean NOTHING. and i don't know if i'm attracting these wackadoodle people because, well, i'm such a wackadoodle person myself or because i'm just stuck in SLC and that's the best of what's available?  i think it is probably a combination of all of the above, but the fact is that i'm just tired of trying to sort it all out and i also know i'm not going to date just to date. and i'm also not going to settle.  ever.

the other frustration? it's the same seven people. no, seriously. the same seven people keep making the rounds. and they all already have six ex partners in the picture. because, well, this is utah. and multiple marriages is a badge of honor!

so i'm just done. i'll meet people, i'm certain, by just living my life. of course it won't be the lovelies at the hospital whom i will be dating. because we've already determined those are not my people, either, as much as really do love them.

maybe this year at my beloved oregon country fair i'll find some fabulous crazy ass hippie dippy boy who decides to make me his fairy love slave. a naked girl can dream. he just needs to love dogs as much as me and be veryveryvery good in bed. oh and at least a vegetarian. and actually have money. i don't care if it is in a bank. in fact, it doesn't need to be in a bank at all. but he can't need ME to support him. in any way, shape or form. it would also be nice if he had all his teeth.  i know, i'm stretching it there. 

okay, universe. bring it on. thanks.

Is This The Droid I Am Looking For?

December 30 Ad. What advertisement made you think this year?

My friends who know how devoted I am to all things Apple are quite aghast that I do not own an iPhone.  Those who know me near and dear and really well, though, also know that it is a wonder that I have a cellphone at all.  I’m a child of the 70’s.  Give me a princess phone and a long cord with which to entangle myself and I’m good.  Of course, I probably will not actually answer that phone if it rings, but that’s a whole other matter.  At the moment, truthfully, I do not even have a home telephone.

All that said, the commercial for The Droid truly captured my attention and imagination.  I actually may, just may, have to get a new cellphone this year.  I know!  And if I do have to do such a thing?  This commercial for The Droid (as well as AT&T’s lousy coverage in SLC) has me convinced that it may just be the piece of technology that brings me kicking and screaming right into the year 2010. 

Blog This!

December 27 Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?

In a word:  Blogher.  Enough said.

Holmes for the Holidays

“There’s a blog post in this!,” I exclaimed to the Outlaw and his daughter yesterday when we were foiled not once, not twice but three times in our attempt to go to see Sherlock Holmes.  My experience, the previous year, with movies on Christmas day in Salt Lake had been cavernous, empty, theatres.  Me and the lonely boy selling stale popcorn.  I am not joking.  Even the evening screening of Benjamin Button had just me and about seven other souls.  As that was my first year for films on Christmas Day in Salt Lake City, I concluded that I was now in a land where people actually chose to celebrate the holiday with their families and perhaps even, gasp, in those temples to God that they erect so carefully on nearly every block. 

Either all the Mormons have left Utah or we’ve been inundated with a whole new population of Robert Downey, Jr. fans who decided that yesterday was a day of worship at his altar.  I am uncertain which it truly is, the 2010 census may tell us.  I can tell you that all showings of Sherlock Holmes within a 30 mile radius of my little bungalow were SOLD OUT.  Forever and ever, Amen.

This was quite disconcerting.  Who were all these people and why were they going to the movies on Christmas?  What happened to turkey and stuffing and football and spending time playing with the new toys delivered from Santa?

Heathens!

Briefly, ever so briefly, the three of us considered a festival of films on the couch, in the comfort of my tiny bungalow, but that truly felt sacrilegious to me in ways that perhaps only the most dedicated of film lovers can possibly understand.  I threw a spectacular temper tantrum worthy of any five year old and became a woman possessed, a girl determined to have Holmes for my holiday!

Do you dance the Fandango?  I’ve been going to films at movie theatres for how very many years?  Always just purchasing my own ticket right at the box office from a smiling teenager.  Yesterday, though, I learned a new dance.  Oh, Fandango and your paper bag puppets how very much I now love you and will sing your praises. 

Click of a mouse and we had three guaranteed seats for a late afternoon screening of Sherlock Holmes.  Thank goddess for all things technical and web controlled, as when we arrived the screening was, of course, SOLD OUT because, as discussed previously, we are now home here in Utah to every single Robert Downey, Jr. fan on the entire face of the planet.

Now, about the film.

My first words when it concluded? 

“Well, that was Guy Ritchie’s Brokeback Holmes!”

Please don’t let that dissuade you from going to see this film.  It is, actually, a really great Christmas present wrapped up in a fantastic steam punk bow.  Robert Downey, Jr. is awesome as Sherlock Holmes.  The man can act more with a raised eyebrow than a lot of his cohorts these days and while I’ll admit right here that I have loved that man since, well, since we were both small children and he was in my friend, John Sayles’ film Baby It’s You, he’s just gotten better and better and better.  He delivers a Sherlock we want to both hug and love.

Jude Law is equally lovely as Watson and the two of them together create just the right underlying, unspoken tension to keep things interesting.  It’s a good match, much like Redford and Newman, honestly. 

Welcome back to Guy Ritchie who has been missing for far too long.  He utilizes his bag of tricks to keep things really stylized, interesting and lovely to watch, even when the script itself was going in places it should not have gone.  In these days of kids who are spoon fed on Harry Potter and National Treasure, and, even,Indiana Jones, Sherlock Holmes delivers as an exciting ride with just the right mix of mystery, explosions and comedic fun. 

 

My Life Just Works

December 23 Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn't live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience.

Was there a web tool I discovered?  That helped with my own work flow?  No.  I don’t think that there was, honestly.  Which is actually quite remarkable considering my entire life used to actually be all about the Internet and creating tools to make using it easier for others. 

I want to shout out, right now, that my life now feels a smidge more complete and robust since I have stepped away from the computer.  I am oh so very thankful, every day, for the Internet and all that it affords me, but I also have to acknowledge that I live in deep gratitude for the people who share their lives with me every day in real life.