Alive in Wonderland

See what I'm up to by clicking on my Whrrl or choose any of the other 5 stories below.

Seven dreadful party personalities

 

 

 Check out my updated list of the "Seven Dreadful Party Personalities" at OC Family.

You might need this guide to get you through the holidays. 

Happy Birthday Jana and Jill!

 

My best girlfriends are identical twins and today is their birthday.  They're only one year older than me, but I think they look great for their age.

Happy Birthday Girls!

Alright, fine...that's not really them, but here we are, with our friend Vicki at Mimi's. 

Joyeux Anniversaire Filles! 

 

Marcy in Expressing Motherhood

 

 

My friend Marcy is going to be in a stage show in January in LA.  It's called Expressing Motherhood.  It's bloggers, actors and comedians telling their mom stories on stage. Sounds so scary to get on stage in front of all those people, but I know Marcy will nail it.  We don't call her Miss. 110% for nothing.

I'm getting together a group of OC Bloggers and moms to go together to the show on Jan 9th.  If you're interested please email me.  I can't wait to see Marcy's performance.  

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Marcy made this book for me for my birthday from the website Pixable.  It's filled with my photography.

I LOVE it! 

And what a thoughtful gift.

Thanks, Marcy!  

She is offering 50 free photo books to her readers.  Head over and make yours.

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Friday Five: The Five Most Exasperating Meeting Personalities

  

(To see more of my Toonlets click here.)

I have attended my share of meetings.  So, I feel totally qualified to identify the "5 Most Prevalent and Exasperating Personality Types."  Everyone fits in to some group, even if it's just a little. 

1.) The "Forever Asserting Their Own Agenda" Meeting Personality.  

This is the person who, no matter what the topic is of the meeting or the specific matter being discussed at the moment, has to insert his own agenda; whether it be a gripe, a dig at a particular person, or a blatant grab for accolades.  The "Forever Asserting Their Own Agenda" person has mastered the art of the self-serving segue: Which always leads back to their own not-so-hidden message. They try to cover their motives with sappy compliments and shameless kiss-assery. 

    Phil: I think the IT team has done a fabulous job implementing our changes.

    FSOA Person: Yes, and if I had a full team instead of three part-timers, I could do my     work just as efficiently as our crack IT team. Well done, Boys!

2.) The "Put Out to Be Here" Meeting Personality.  

This is me.  There is nothing I like more than to rush into a meeting (because I'm drop dead busy an barely have the time to make it), plop myself down, dramatically sprawling my papers and accouterments all over the table. With a GIANT Starbucks in hand (because I'm drop dead busy and barely have time to sleep or get lunch) I act like the whole meeting is the most boring waste of time ever. Secretly, these people (me) are just happy to be called to a meeting at all. That someone wants their input on even the most minuscule item is a total rush--don't let the 'huffs and puffs,' big exaggerated yawns, and constant checking of their iPhone fool you. 

3.) The "Contrarian" Meeting Personality.  

This person is hands-down the most annoying meeting personality. They often start their flood of questions with the word "question," like this, "Question, why do WE have to pay for any of this?" and their favorite expressions include: "Let me play devil's advocate here," and "Yes, but on the other side of the coin."  

Argh! These were the people in college that when they raised their hands in class, you heard an audible groan from the rest of the pupils.  

4.) The "Thinks He's Will Ferrel & Sometimes Speaks in a Bad Fake English Accent" Meeting Personality.  

From first glance, you might think this person would be the most annoying, but not so (see #3).  Even when this person breaks into a reenactment of the latest SNL skit or repeatedly uses the latest catch phrase (Yeah, Baby. Be-Bye. That's What She Said) or decides to speak in an English, German or Canadian accent sporadically throughout the meeting, they still have their place in a meeting, if not just to give us all someone to bounce our eye rolls off of or to get us all something to drink by playing along, "Be a lovely and go fetch us all a spot of tea, Mate." Oh, they love that and will do anything if asked in this way. 

5.) The "This Meeting is Totally Justified" Meeting Personality. 

This is almost always the person who organized the meeting, but sometimes falls on the assistant of the person who called the meeting.  They constantly are reminding you they called the meeting, why they called the meeting and how happy they are that there is, thankfully, a meeting and at the end, how useful the meeting has been to everyone involved. The further the distance the attendees had to travel to get to the meeting, the stronger the personality trait.  

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Other Friday Fives:

Five ways to use '80s music to annoy your children and amuse yourself.

Five things my high school boyfriend is doing now if my mom's predictions came true.

Heidi's blog Fancy Feet

 

 

I honestly can't remember how I 'met' Heidi and started reading her blog, Fancy Feet.  I think she left a comment and I wandered over and started to read her.  I DO remember feeling an instant connection: it was like she was sitting at a little desk inside my head transcribing my thoughts.  It was a weird and wonderful feeling and I devoted myself then and there to her blog. 

Such a great writer.  Heidi could talk about something as simple as a cup of coffee and it would poetry. She kind of sparkled a little in every post. Mostly she wrote about her life in Canada, her family, her restlessness,  yes, and coffee, but then one day she just happen to mention, as an aside, that she had an infection in her legs, which happens when you are an amputee.  

What? She hadn't breathed a word about this in the almost year I had been reading her...Fancy Feet. Fancy Feet **Slap on forehead** I get it. There were hints--like this post about a letter her boyfriend (now husband) wrote her after her car accident, but she revealed her life slowly--she survived a terrible accident that left her severely burned and an amputee--as she says of herself "I'm a reluctant storyteller." But a marvelous one.

After wrestling with herself about it for some time she has finally taken the leap and is now devoting her blog to telling her story. This is how she describes it: 

This is an experiment in writing about a story that took my world apart and ultimately changed my life. Many of us have gone through something significant that impacted us and placed us at a crossroads. This is my something significant. I'm delving into a car crash that happened eleven years ago and the long recovery that followed. I can't promise it will all be in order as the events occurred. But, I'm really going to try. There is no agenda to push here. I'm going to write honestly. (My plan is create a book out of all of this.) Everyone has a story and this is mine.

Hers isn't your usual 'recovery' story.  Heidi has a way of letting you feel every little movement, see every fold in a curtain, smell every cup of coffee like it was happening to you.  I'm just going to tell you right now, if you read her blog, you WILL cry, but just because you will love her instantly. But don't worry, she's writing it in quiet dollops. One post at a time and I always leave there feeling hopeful. How does she do that?

You simply must jump in now and start to read Fancy Feet. 

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Heidi and her family came down to visit Disneyland a few months ago and our families got together for an afternoon. It was just like spending time with an old friend. 

 

Heidi good for you for pursuing your dreams and starting your book. Many, many people will be touched and blessed because of your bravery, talent and that little sparkle. 

Best Shot Monday: Tiny Moments

The very wonderful Tracey Clark asks us for our Best Shot Monday this week,"What tiny moments make up our lives?" For me, the little moments with my kids are the most precious. The little looks.  The little giggles. The little moments of glory. 

I love this photo of Ben...er, um, I mean Batman. Look at those eyelashes! I know, it's hard to act tough when you have hordes of women swooning and envious of your lashes, but he tries.  

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On another note about boys,  I don't care if the book says Max came home because he was hungry, I know he really comes home because he misses his mom.  But, I'm letting Max stick to his story.  I get it.  It's important to be tough.

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Today I'm listening to The Smiths  "There is a light that never goes out." 

Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! complete with tambourines

My interview with Tiana from the Princes and The Frog and also more info on how Disneyland Park visitors can be part of the Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! 

Yesterday I spent the day with some of my favorite people, Marcy from The Glamorous Life, Lisa from Babes in Disneyland and a whole cast of other characters--as in Disney Characters--at a Press Event at Disneyland to kick off their holiday season, introduce the new show Tiana's Showboat Jamboree, and also to tell us a little more about Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Day at Disney" promotion for 2010.  

  

Head over to my blog at OC Family for the whole story....

What's your Starbucks' name?

 

Peet's Coffee is not only my favorite coffee, it's the closest to my house.  Just a quick walk and I can be sipping my au lait within five minutes of leaving my front door.  But I'm back on Starbucks and the reason is as simple as it is pathetic: I can't get my coffee from a barista who doesn't laugh at my jokes. Sorry.

I have tried all my best stuff on the tall, David Byrne-vibed, middle-aged barista at Peet's:  

My "I think I want something naughty" (in English Accent) as I tap my fingers together.  

My "I'm going to tell you I don't want whipped cream and then you're going to know that means I want whipped cream, Okay? And then when you hand me my coffee with whipped cream I'm going to be all 'I said NO whipped cream' and you're going to be all 'I'm sorry' and then I'm going to be say 'You might as well keep it there now' and you're going to shrug in shame, okay?" Always gets a laugh or every barista (on a slow day) gives me at the very least a smile.  

But this guy? Nothing.  It's like I'm reading him the phone book. So I stopped going there.  

Anyways, here's the question, do you use a fake name at Starbucks? What is it? IF you don't have one, please adopt one NOW! It will give you unimaginable (and patently immature) entertainment.

I always use Suzie....and if they spell it wrong, I ALWAYS point it out. Even tho

ugh it's not really my name. 

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Over at OC Family I tell another Starbucks story.  The one where I act like I've never stepped foot in a Starbucks in my life:

Ways to amuse yourself at Starbucks.  

Vision

 

 My husband is writing a business book right now and I was helping him this morning flesh out some ideas.  We sat at the kitchen table talking about some concepts;  the first one was how important vision is to a company.  As we talked  I realized that I really don't have a vision for this space.  This blog.

Now that I have Alive in Wonderland over at OC Family (so very thankfully), I feel myself floating in no-wheres-ville over here.  So as I took the day to clean out my office a vision started to form--still kinda blurry, but I feel much more inspired for this blog now. 

Though I will still post things I'm doing in my professional life, I want to share what inspires me personally here: the people, the photography and the stories that move me or make me laugh.  It's not big news, but forming a vision has helped point me in a direction.

 

(Anthropologie display from last month.)

So, maybe I will just post a little idea that will sprout into a bigger story or just one silly notion that springs to mind that day.   I've been talking to other bloggers a lot lately about what it was like when we first started blogging--what motivated us back in the beginning. I want to work my way backward to get that fresh feeling again. 

 

(Snow White's wishing well at Disneyland.) 

That's my new vision: Going backward.  

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The Scientist by ColdPlay

"Oh, take me back to the start."

Still successfully dodging holiday responsibilities

 

(Me and my mom. Look at me with the Ambrosia Salad? What a poser.)

We look like normal, grown women.  We have jobs and pay property taxes.  We swoon at Anthropologie, are secretly in love with Jason Mraz and have kids and husbands; all the outside appearances of being totally functional.  

But we have a secret: We've never prepared a holiday feast.  We've never cooked the bird, stuffed it with dressing or prepared gravy from its drippings. That IS what gravy is made of, right?  We wouldn't know what to do with a yam or a chalet; in fact, we would be hard pressed to point one out in the produce section of Pavillions.  

I'm not going to pretend anymore. I know all you gals who slave the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas know I'm not pulling my weight: My mom and dad still makes it all! They make the big stuff--Turkey, potatoes, stuffing-- at their house, pack it in their car and bring it to mine. We host both holidays every year, so I scrub the bathroom sinks,  empty boxes of Wheat Thins onto a cheesed-up platter and put out the plates, but I have never prepared the heavy weights. 

The day before Thanksgiving you could have spotted me at the market stressing out, just like the other women.  But they were panicked, clutching their neatly organized list, because they were out of fresh cranberries for their traditional sauce, while I was standing in Aisle 5 annoyed and saying (out loud) "What? Frick! They're out of Bugles!" 

I know I'm not the only one either, I was confessing to my  friend Lynne at the Ducks game on Wednesday night and she said, "Oh, I've never prepared anything either."  She told me her mom asked her to make the potatoes this year but  it occurred to her that her mom actually wanted her to BRING the potatoes.  "I mean, I'm perfectly capable of buying a bag of potatoes," she explained, but after a frantic call to her mom, she was assured she already had potatoes and just wanted Lynne to mash them.  **whew** 

So I gained some courage to come right out and say it after realizing I would have the support of other women living with the same shame:  Hi, I'm Suzanne Broughton and I've successfully dodged preparing holiday meals my whole life...but I will drive around to four markets until I find Bugles.  

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If you are just dying to know what Thanksgiving is like at my house, take a look at my Whrrl Story below:

Click anywhere on the box to see the story.