In the spirit of her post, I want to share one of my family.

This picture is circa 1980 and is special because it has my grandparents, my father (holding me) and my little sister.  I don’t really think I remember my dad actually having that much hair.  I like that he’s holding me.  The reason was because I was feeling bad because I had just had my tonsils removed about a week before Christmas.  My little sister looks so happy and was probably having a great time with her presents.  I am holding the most favorite baby doll I ever had.  Her name was Angelina.  And, my grandparents were there.  My grammy is now 90 years old and has full-blown Alzheimer’s, so she doesn’t remember any of this.  My grandpa, aka “Pa”, is just as wonderful as ever.

It’s also cool for me because my parents still have that ugly mirror hanging in their house today.  We’re also sitting on the couch that my mom kept covered with a sheet most of my life.  Because it was Christmas, she took the sheet off the couch for a day.  And, some of those ornaments on the tree still hang on my own Christmas tree each year.

I like being inspired by bloggers.  I like when they post something that makes me want to examine my own life.  Inspiration is a wonderful thing.  What pictures from your childhood do you have?  What can you share?

I am thinking… that I’m happy the weekend is almost here.  It has been a very long week.

I am thankful for…my beautiful kiddos.  I spent over an hour playing Barbie dolls with LiLi and it was so fun.  I haven’t done that in years.

From the kitchen…well, not the kitchen, but from the restaurant in the building lobby… I just ate a roast beef on croissant w/champagne mayo.  Added the creme’ carmel for dessert.

I am wearing… A pretty green v-neck top with small ruffles on the front.  I love it!

I am creating…a presentation on knowledge sharing for Corporate University week in November.

I am going…to the salon tomorrow to have my hair cut and colored so hopefully I don’t look like a “hot mess” for HRevolution.

I am reading…’The Lost Symbol’ by Dan Brown.  Just received it for my birthday so I’m excited to get deeper into the novel.

I am hoping…that Jack and Carleigh have a great time at the football game this Sunday.

I am hearing…O.A.R. on YouTube while I sit at my desk.

One of my favorite things… getting home from work and snuggling up in my favorite fluffy robe.

A few plans for the rest of the week…really just to spend time with my family.  Just being.

A picture to share…

As most of my friends know, I love meeting people via social media.  A few months ago, I had the pleasure of *meeting* a new friend online.  Her name is Debbie J. Brown.  Debbie has spent her career as a senior sales leader with a Fortune 500 firm  She’s led multinational focused teams using the sap hro platform. Before that, she lead benefit administration.  Debbie and I recently became “tweeps” on Twitter.  She is such an engaging person online.  She shares great industry information and she is always there to volunteer to help collaborate on a project within the HR community.  What I liked most though was the way she moved our relationship forward by reaching out via email.  As we exchanged information and emails, I began to think of her as a friend.  This week, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Debbie in person in Chicago.

Debbie and I were both at the HR Tech Conference.  No only did we do more “professional” networking, but Debbie invited several people to attend the Cubs game with her.  I personally had never been to Wrigley field and I jumped at the chance to spend some casual time with my new friend and some of the other people we are connected with via Twitter. 

Although the day was quite grey and rainy, we all headed to Wrigley Field for a day of fun.  Built in 1913, it has served as the home of the Cubs since 1916.  Walking in and around it was different from any other stadium I have been too.  It is so drastically different from my home stadium (Busch Stadium- home of the St. Louis Cardinals).  As you walk through the turnstile, you feel like you are stepping into baseball history.  The loyal fans, the smell of the Ball Park hotdogs, the beer vendors, all make you feel like you are experiencing something very special.  It was extra special to be there for the first time with several new friends and it was all due to Debbie organizing and treating us to this experience.

The Cubs played the Diamondbacks and while the outcome of the game was not good for the Cubs, the overall experience was outstanding.  We suffered through rain with smiles on our faces, thrilled to just be there and to be together.  It was an opportunity to continue to learn about each other and share ideas.  It was something I will remember all my life.

In addition to Debbie and I, Steve Boese, Laurie Ruettiman, and William Tincup attended.  Debbie also brought along a friend from Aquire, Inc. and a friend from ADP.

I encourage everyone to get involved in social media.  It makes good business sense and good personal sense.  If you have any questions or need help getting started, just ask and I’m happy to assist.

More later….

Trish

It was the first “real” football game for the kiddos.  My little boy was excited and scared all rolled into one.  I was thrilled about three things: first, it was gorgeous weather outside; second, the other team’s players were about the same size as our players and third, my boy was starting!  He did take several hard hits, one by a player who was much bigger than him.  Here’s the picture- that’s my boy in the white jersey on his way to kiss the ground. 

He  made it through the game and was really proud of himself.  I think he’s starting to understand the rules better and is not as scared of being tackled.  He also made some great tackles himself, and he let me know he was excited about that.

His sister is on the cheerleading squad for his team.  She LOVES all the attention from the boys.  She does all she can before and after the game to flirt (if you can call it that at five years old) and she talks to as many boys as possible.

She looks absolutely adorable in her uniform.  She also takes it seriously and her team knows so many cheers already.  They did a great job too.  It was a really fun family day.  The bonus is that many of our neighbors have boys on the team so we get to hang out all day with friends.  Win-win-win

Well, it’s Saturday and I’m up early. 

You would think that I’d take advantage of the weekend to sleep in, but it’s storming here and I like sitting on the couch watching and listening to it as the rest of the family sleeps.  It’s also these few quiet hours in the morning when I can write and plan out the day.

It’s been a busy week around our house.  Tyke football practices are in scrimmage mode now.  My kid is doing so great and I am the proudest mom.  We did have a scare though because earlier this week one of his teammates broke his arm during practice.  It’s a shame because this kid was not only good, but he wanted to play so badly.  Football is a dangerous sport at any age.  We’re just trying to teach our son to be careful and have fun.  His first scrimmage against another team is Sunday up at the high school.  He was able to practice at the high school this past Thursday, so he is really excited about it now.

His sister is equally excited because Sunday for her means the first time cheering in her uniform with pom poms.  She has been working so hard with her team and they are just so cute.  Something about 5 year old cheerleaders who *think* they are in high school is fun.  They are taking it fairly serious most of the time.  They do have their moments though and at the end of each practice they tend to choose one of the football players and cheer just for him.  Each practice it’s been a different player.  The poor boy usually doesn’t know quite what to do when he has 10 little squealing, giggling girls cheering for him.

I’ve had a busy week as well.  Busy with work, busy with my HR blog.  I really love having that outlet- it allows me to be creative in a whole new way.  I was especially excited yesterday when a reporter from the Washington Business Journal wrote an article about one of my HR blog posts from my site www.hrringleader.wordpress.com. 

Here is a link the article in the WBJ: http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/working_the_room/2009/09/whats_your_workplace_thing.html?surround=lfn

 That’s the latest for me.  I’m hoping to enjoy this holiday weekend and take some great football and cheer pictures to post on Sunday or Monday.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Lisa
EMAIL: lisaandbill@clearwire.net
IP: 96.24.84.77
URL: http://www.lisarosendahl.com
DATE: 09/05/2009 05:04:30 PM
How did I miss the Washington Business Journal’s recognition. Congrats and well deserved. Hope you are enjoying your day.

It’s Sunday.

Usually that means wer’re running around like crazy doing errands, attending children’s birthday parties, and cleaning the house.  Well yesterday I accomplished cleaning the entire house and there were no scheduled parties today so it was one full day to relax and enjoy the weekend. 

The kids both slept in because we were out late last night.  We went to the drive-in movies to see G.I. Joe.  They absolutely loved watching a movie in the car with their blankets and pillows.  Today, they wanted to hit the pool followed by a picnic.  It was a perfect day to enjoy the outdoors- 70′s and sunny. 

We also spent some time working on art today.  I haven’t made time to scrapbook in several months, so I decided to dedicate at least a couple hours to working on the pictures from our trip to Disney World this year.  

The kids worked on coloring and drawing while I worked on my scrapbooking project.  They are always excited to be able to spend time together, and with me, doing creative things.  It is so rewarding to see the projects they come up with.

The first page I created was about our trip to Epcot and the time we spent watching the Chinese acrobats in the China section of the park.  The twins were especially impressed with the girl who performed with about 100 metal hula hoops.  Lili even tried demonstrating several of the acrobatic poses for us after the show.

The next page turned out to be one I really liked.  We enjoyed Epcot so much and especially the France setion of the park.  That was where we had a fantastic lunch at Les Chefs de France.  So, it was easy to put together a page celebrating that part of our visit. I even kept in the spirt of Disney and added a “hidden Mickey” on the page.  The kids had a great time figuring it out.

The last page I worked on was one for Lili’s scrapbook.  We had some cute pictures of her in her Minnie Mouse costume taken on her first day at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World.  I tried to let the pictures be the main focus of the page.

*Que the ‘Sunday Night Football Intro Music’…*

Well, it’s August and you know what that means….pre-season football on TV and local football practices going on all around the country.  This year is my first time being part of that local football family.  We live in a great subdivision where there are many young kids near my kids’ age.  Most of the boys will be playing Tykes football this fall for the “Little Panthers”, so you know that my son was right in there with them begging us to let him play.  Next step….having his sister begging to be on the Little Panther cheeerleading squad.

Well, I have been the parent who has always had my kids involved in at least one activity (soccer, gymnastics, ice skating, t-ball) so of course I said yes.  I didn’t realize exactly what I was getting myself, and them, into. Now, don’t get me wrong, we are VERY excited to have the twins involved in this, but talk about a commitment!  This is the type of team where 5-6 year old boys practice 3 time a week for 2 hours each practice.  Cheer squads practice twice a week.  AND, it’s a “traveling team”.  It’s been interesting getting into this schedule for us just as the twins started Kindergarten.  But, we’re doing it.

The boys are doing extremely well for their age.  The moms, well, we’re just trying not to jump up and run out on the field to grab our sons and hug them to pieces.  It seems like at least several boys each practice take a hard hit, or decide they don’t want to play, or are not listening to the coaches.  The coaches, who rival any NFL coach in terms of passion for this game, sometimes scare the moms to death!  But, we’re learning to let go a little and have our little boys learn what it means to play the game.  It’s football.  There WILL be hard hits.  There WILL be bruises.  There also WILL be fun, great plays, and great memories made.

The girls are doing a FANTASTIC job learning cheers.  They are SO cute and have such a good time.  Last night was the first night practicing with pom poms and they cheered like it was a real game.  The girls are a litte harder to keep focused because they are so excited about being on the sidelines…NEAR BOYS…that all they can do is giggle about which boys they like.

It sounds like we are in for a couple months of a hectic schedule.  But, what a great feeling to see my kids so excited about a sport.  WE LOVE FOOTBALL!!!

Well, it’s happened.  My babies have reached their first major milestone…Kindergarten.  It seems like yesterday that I was bringing them home from the hospital.  Now they are really going off into the big world without me.  The important thing is that I know they are ready.

It took us a week to prepare.  Who knew that buying the right school supplies, clothes, lunchboxes, backpacks, etc. could take so much time.  But, the twins had fun doing it.  The night before school started, Jack looked up at me with his gorgeous brown eyes and said, “Mom, I am so excited I think my heart is going to explode!”  I felt truly happy for him. There were two things the twins were especially excited about: being in separate classes with different teachers and riding the school bus.

As we prepared to head to school, I asked them if I could take their picture.  They really didn’t want me to, but when they saw that some neighborhood kids had to do it, they agreed.  With the obligatory picture taken, we were off.  Jack was still begging for me to just let him ride the bus but I told him that Mommy really just needed to drop him off the first day so I could make sure he got to class.  I know- UNCOOL mommy.

We arrived at school and the twins immediately found several friends from the neighborhood.  They were all practically running through the front door of the school.  Remember being that excited for something?  Well, it was great to live vicariously through them.

I walked sis to her class first.  She has several friends in her class from preschool and the subdivision.  She immediately found her seat and got started on a coloring project the teacher left out for her.  Next stop was Jack’s class.  He too marched right in, found his seat, and settled in.  I was so proud.  No tears.  I made a quick exit so there would not be tears from me (it was a close call) but I made it.  They were there and on their own!

At the end of the day, I was anxious to hear about their new adventure.  I walked up to the bus stop and not a moment later the bus was coming down the hill. My heart was pounding…would they be on the bus….had they missed it?  The bus pulled to the corner and my neighbor and I crossed over to watch the kids come off the bus.

As my precious kids bounded off the bus with the biggest smiles I have ever seen, I knew this was the start of a very good year.  They were each talking so fast I could barely discern which one was talking about what.  They had stories of new friends, the new teachers, new rules that “baby preschool” didn’t have, new schedules, and yes, A Principal!  They think she is really nice.  I figure just wait until they get in trouble.

I hugged them tight and walked my kids home.  It was a perfect first day of Kindergarten.  I only hope that the friendships they make will last a lifetime.  When I think back to my kindergarten year, there are three friends I had that stand out in my mind: Eric, Mark, and Chris.  Now, 33 years after kindergarten, I still talk to those three friends at least once a month.  I also see them regularly.  I hope that when my kids grow up, they will be able to say that kindergarten was the year that they made some life-long friendships.

Ever want to just go somewhere right in the middle of the week?

Well, that happend to me and some of my friends this past week.  We work in downtown St. Louis.  St. Louis in July can only mean one thing- heat and tourists.  Well, we were on our way to lunch when we were overtaken by the tourists.  They were everywhere we looked.  Taking pictures.  So, with that as inspiration, I told my friends we were going to act like tourists.

First, I had Patty and Georgia pose in front of the Gateway Arch.  It actually turned out really nice, I think.  We headed on over to Max & Erma’s restaurant.  It was pretty busy so we decided to sit in the bar.  They have really cushy booths in the bar with these great metal footrests.  They also have a great St. Louis mural.  So, next pic was Georgia with a St. Louis Cardinal.

We each tried the lunch special which is soup and 1/2 sandwich.  Max & Erma’s is known for it’s great tortilla soup, so I had that.

It really was fun playing tourist, if only for an hour or so.  Just a camera and a few fun pictures certainly livened up a workday.  You try it!

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Grace Hester Designs
EMAIL:
IP: 65.60.184.4
URL: http://profile.typepad.com/gracehester
DATE: 08/02/2009 01:40:49 PM
Looks like you had fun!

There’s a trend towards the “Staycation” concept. I am warming up to the idea since I am fairly new to Columbus and I am starting to bookmark things I’d like to do either in Columbus or within one- to two-hour drive for those long weekend holidays.

i found the cutest recipe ever!

I am a huge fan of baking, and more specifially, baking from scratch.  I love finding new recipes online and sharing them with friends.  One I recently came across was particularly fun.  It’s for hamburger slider cupcakes.

Now, before you stop reading this and think that sounds gross, give me another mintue.  Hamburger slider cupcakes take the very best cake and turn them into little sweet sliders.

The premise is easy, make one batch of yellow cupcakes (either a mix or from scratch) and one chocolate batch of cupcakes (again, from a mix or from scratch).  Once the cupcakes have all cooled, you cut the top and bottom off of each yellow cupcake.  These tops/bottoms become the “slider buns”.  For the meat patty, cut the top and bottom off of each chocolate cupcake.  Use the middle section as the “meat patty”.  Now, to assemble, you will need frosting in red and yellow (for the ketchup and mustard).  You will also need to have some shredded coconut that you dye green with food coloring.  This is the “shredded lettuce”.

Take a yellow cake bottom “bun” piece, add some yellow frosting (using a pastry bag) to make it look like mustard.  Put the chocolate “meat patty” on top.  Add the red frosting “ketchup” on top of the meat patty.  Next, add a bit of the “shredded lettuce” and top with the yellow top bun piece.  There you have it!

I decided that my dad’s birthday would be the perfect venue to try these out.  I planned a family dinner for him at my house.  The main course was a hamburger bar with all the fixings.  The dessert (instead of a traditional birthday cake) was a plate of slider cupcakes.  They were a big hit.  Not only were they easy to make, they tasted great and everyone had a fun time eating them.

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Lisa Rosendahl
EMAIL: lisaandbill@clearwire.net
IP: 152.131.11.4
URL: http://www.lisarosendahl.com
DATE: 07/28/2009 02:48:27 PM
You are hired to make the cake for my daughter’s birthday party in January!