Naturally Optimistic

We took the red-eye back from LA last night. ugh. I hate that flight. I'm all too familiar with it. Yuck. But Miss Dahlia cooperated and we took a nap together. Not that that makes up for a night without sleep, but it does help. And she's especially cute today which helps as well. LA was good - we had a couple of good meetings & some great time with friends. Oh my friends. I miss them very very much. I have many pictures to post but tomorrow morning we're off to Longville with my family so i'm not sure if I'll get to it today. Today I must pack for the weekend and do some laundry. Happy Weekend!

I'm finally mostly caught up on emails, messages, paying bills etc...so time for a little vacation recap: Saturday - we flew from Duluth to Mpls then to Tampa. We were nervous about Dahlia...but she did great! Peek-a-boo with the passengers behind us, fell asleep on the runway on the 'long' flight...woke up in a great mood & enjoyed the Sky Mall catalog. Got to the island around dinner time...so didn't do much. Picked up a few supplies, ate dinner, marveled at how warm it was (& humid!) and that was it. Sunday - Rained all night - thunderstorms. It rained on Sunday too - but not too much. We went for a walk with Grandpa H. We went to the beach. We swam in the pool. Dahlia LOVED the pool. A lot. Monday - I'm sure we went for a walk & we went swimming (amazing how fast it becomes hazy!). Oh yes, Steve & I walked with Dahlia on the beach. We saw lots of beautiful birds. We went swimming in the ocean - Dahlia had no fear, would've crawled right in ha...

vacation is exhausting...particularly with a toddler...one that gets sick. Ay yi yi! I feel like I need a vacation from vacation! Dahlia's fine. She just had a little bug, no biggie. But it made her very hot, whiny & clingy. Oh well, we got through it. She traveled *fairly well* except for our Tampa-Detroit flight but again, we made it through. I'm in the process of getting photos & video uploaded and will have more soon. In the meantime...one of my favorites from the trip:

Ah, back home. It's good. Seeing Dahlia this morning ROCKED. She got a chance to play with her cousins some more this morning (or as I saw it, defend her territory - those boys are aggressive!!). She did great on the car ride home...started getting antsy towards Sandstone, but then again so was I. She seemed to enjoy it when I sang to her. I can't wait til I can have her facing forward so at least she can see a few more interesting things (and I can see her). I am exhausted. I have a to-do list that is a mile long but hopefully I'll get a good jump on it tomorrow. I have a lot of following up to do after my time at SXSW...I also have a lot of accounting to do & editing to tackle. And that's just business stuff. I am hosting Michelle's shower & bachelorette party on Saturday - and I need to do a few more things for that as well. It's going to be a heck of a busy-short-week. Ay yi yi. But for tonight I am going to sip this glass of wine and unwind. Hang o...

So, today is the last day that we're here. We're finally in our groove and of course we have to leave. And the weather is finally BEAUTIFUL outside...and we have to leave. Hmph. It's 70 degrees and sunny here right now. Perfect. I have spent a lot of time today just sitting outside & reading. We attended another mentor session this morning and met with a really cool entertainment lawyer. He was very interested in looking at our film and passing it on to the acquisitions department of the company he works with. Hey! We'll take it! Last night we saw the MN Film FOUR BOXES. It was a lot of fun. It was sort of a thriller; lots of comedy in it and a few twists and turns. I really enjoyed it. Justin Kirk from WEEDS fame was in it...and you all know that WEEDS is my newest obsession so that was cool and at the after party I got to talk with him which really made my day. Another actor in the film, Sam Rosen (nephew of WCCO dude Mark Rosen) was also very cool (very funny in ...

So March is going to be full of travel for me.... Fargo Austin, TX and now - FLORIDA! We've decided to join Steve's Mom & her SO at their condo for a week. It is a cheap vacation for us - we used our frequent flyer miles for plane tickets, they're driving so they're going to pick us up at the airport (no need for a rental car) and since we're staying with them at their condo - no hotel costs! We just figured when are we going to get such a cheap vacation? Plus it's a nice two bedroom two bath condo that it'll be *easy* to have Dahlia at. There's a pool, it's a block from the beach....and since they're driving we can *hopefully* load them up with a pack & play, high chair, jogger (?) etc. And we'll have built-in babysitters if we want to do something sans baby. We honeymooned here in 2006 and it was one of the most relaxing vacations I can remember. Of course it'll be different this time but I think it's definitely something we...

Here's the situation... We're going to SXSW in March. "We" means my business partner, myself, our friend who's helping us with promoting/publicity, and another friend who worked on the film. Here's the dilemma. Our friend who is going (the one that worked on the film) - well, this is going to be quite a financial stress on her. She'll be on vacation, so not losing pay, but the flight, hotel & film badge are spendy. This is not a cost that 4 Track is picking up, simply because we can't. So, while my partner & I's flights, film badge & hotel are paid for; hers are not (the promoter is fending for himself, and this is fine with all). So, I could offer to share my hotel room which would defray her costs a bit....but I kind of don't want to. I've LONGED for several nights in a row, sleeping BY MYSELF. No babies, no husbands, no light, no sound, no nothing. I want to be able to get up when I want, take a shower when I want, sit around...

Our travels to Southern California were a success! Okay, okay, I admit, I was sort of a crying mess when I finally let my Dad pull away with Dahlia in the backseat on Thursday at the airport, but once I got over that, things got better. (that being said I can't count the number of times during our trip when Steve or I said "Oh Dahlia" in that little voice that we do....) We got to the airport with plenty of time, checked in, relaxed and waited. Our flights were on schedule, no hassles, exit row seating and we landed without incident 4 hours later. It was so WEIRD to be back in LA! I felt like I was in the twilight zone in a way. I remembered how to get where we were going, but it was just sort of surreal. Our hotel was nice - an old 50's "California style" apartment complex which is now a hotel. It was nice to have a lot of space instead of just ONE ROOM. And for the price, it was okay. Nothing is cheap out there so why not spend $20 more and have some brea...

Yup - 5:28am...the babe is fed & dressed, we're mostly packed and shortly on our way. Bye!

So we're leaving for CA tomorrow and quite frankly I have mixed emotions... For one, I'm TOTALLY squishy...and yes, I know, I had a baby 3 months ago so no one will hold it against me - except me. I don't like it. I don't fit into *normal* clothes and all my t-shirts are so shrunk up from years (decades? yes, I found a t-shirt from college in my dresser today...) that with my new large mid-section they DEFINITELY don't fit. So I had to go shopping today for a few casual but in style short sleeved shirts and I was nearly in tears in Old Navy. I found a few things that looked better at Penney's but MAN it's depressing. I'm trying to adhere by the WHAT NOT TO WEAR mantra of who cares what the size is as long as it looks good and makes you feel good but seriously? I'm not happy. The other thing is...I'm going to miss my baby. It's weird. I've been with her nearly ALL of her life and while I know I will enjoy getting away, sleeping in, having ...

The last day of vacation was truly not relaxing. Up at 5am Dusseldorf time (11pm CDT), ate a lovely buffet breakfast - we ate a lot because hey - you never know when you're traveling when you'll be able to eat again! (that's how it feels sometimes anyway). Left for the airport at 7am. Checked in and got WORLD BUSINESS CLASS again - whohoo! We were told we could wait for our flight in the AirFrance club lounge - but it wasn't in our terminal so we skipped it. But oooh la ti dah! We felt very important. ha. Our flight was delayed (!!!) because although they FIXED our plane they neglected to clean it and empty the toilets...what? *sigh* Upon boarding we were given vouchers from Northwest for 2000 bonus miles plus a $10 airport voucher...which was nice because we were going to have 7 or 8 hours to kill in Detroit. The flight was good - filled with a lot of fancy foods (we actually kind of like the coach food better than the fancy-pants business class food but oh well - we d...

We had to get up at 3am on Wednesday to leave their house by 4-4:15am or so so we could make it to the airport by 5-5:15 or so so we could leave at 7am. Ugh. I was so tired. I was also super surprised that all of our stuff fit into our two suitcases. Whew. Bertil & Maud drove us to the airport and waited with us through checking in. Then we said farewell. It was weird and a little sad...it was so nice to visit them and spend some quality time with them, but at the same time I was really looking forward to getting home too. Our flight from Stockholm to Dusseldorf was uneventful. I think I slept for most of it which was nice, although I could've used MORE sleep. Always. We got to Dusseldorf before 9am and we had to go out and then re-check in at the Northwest counter. But the Northwest counter wasn't open yet so we just hung around and waited until it was. We were the first ones in line because really? There was no place else to go. We checked in and proceeded to the gate. We...

Our last day in Sweden was extremely pleasant. It didn't rain (which was nice) and we had an easy going day. Not a lot of running around and not NEARLY as much walking as the day before. We slept in (sort of) and once again Bertil made us some delicious (Swedish) pancakes. Bertil & Maud then asked us what we really wanted to do - and I said - I REALLY want to go to some royal gardens. So off to Drottningholm Palace we went! Drottningholm Palace is where the royal family currently lives (there are 10 or 11 palaces throughout Sweden, I believe. Most of them in the south). This palace is on a (drivable) island not too far from Stockholm's city center. It took us maybe 20-30 minutes to drive to. The palace was built in the 1760s (if memory serves) by a Queen and has been partially "updated" over the years. Some rooms we saw were more of the original style (Baroque) while others had been updated (Roccoco). It was nice to get a glimpse inside although we could take n...

On Monday morning we got up and headed into Gamla Stan - the Old City of Stockholm. I will admit - this was my favorite place in Stockholm. I love the tiny narrow cobblestone streets, the shops & cafes in small alleyways, the sense of history and past and the bustling nature of it yet today. First we went to the harbor to watch some of the tall ships depart. We saw a few on their way out with their sails down - quite impressive! The harbor was busy with so many of these ships that it made me think of what it must've looked like a hundred or two hundred years ago. That made me happy. There were hundreds of spectators all along the harbor watching these ships. I'm sure when this was how it looked every day, no one even noticed. Funny how that works, isn't it? Then we were off to the Royal Palace to witness the changing of the guards. This palace is no longer the residence of the royal family but only a place where they have their offices & do administrative work. It i...