I See What You Meme

Nothing like a little pandemic to get me writing again, huh?  I have so many thoughts in my brain right now. A simple social media post didn't seem the right venue. So I have picked up the blog to get these thoughts on paper. Or digital paper, as it were.  Ever since this COVID-19 crisis began, I have been struggling with information overload. There is the desire to be informed and the potential to be overwhelmed by it all. There is the need to filter out truth from fiction. There is the need to distance ourselves, both physically and emotionally sometimes, from others. My anxiety brain often has trouble turning it all off, even in "normal" times. These are not normal times. Many wise people have pointed out that we are in a period of collective grief . Like any grief, the process cycles between despair, denial, bargaining, anger, and acceptance. Sometimes I feel all of those in one day. I think that one of the things I struggle with the most in all of this is wha...

This Sunday, the finale for Season 2 of Downton Abbey will air on PBS.  If you haven't yet discovered this work of historical fiction from across the pond, go watch Season 1 on Netflix right now.  Then you will be ready to catch up with Season 2.  There are a few episodes available streaming on the PBS website but you can't find the whole season there.  (Interestingly, Season 2 is already available on DVD so I guess some chaps already know how the finale will play out...) I love it when a story completely captures your attention like Downton Abbey  has for me.  It's got everything I love about Mad Men set 45 years earlier...in England.  In fact, if you ever watched Mad Men and thought, "Wow! We sure have come a long way since the 1960s!" your mind will be completely  blown by the class structure and social hierarchy of English society in the early 20th century.  They were just so darn...proper.    Even though it is a proper B...

One of my never-ending sources of inspiration is Miss Britt .  After discovering her blog, we were fortunate enough to meet her and her family in real life  during the first leg of their cross-country RV adventure.   This past week, she wrote a piece for TLC Parentables  about the things her family has learned to live without. I am constantly grateful for all that we have. More and more, I have been feeling this pull to minimize and scale back. While there are some things that I love and can't seem to live without (more on that later), I find myself asking the question, "Do I really need that?" quite a bit lately. Britt shared the things that her family has eliminated from their life (without much sacrifice) so I thought I would share my own list: 1. Cable TV   We dropped our cable in July and I haven't missed it. There are times when I wish I could watch something on NBC (our antenna doesn't seem to get a good signal for the local affiliate). I'm sure ...

With our discussion around Mad Men still "on the brain" I thought I would share some favorite advertising campaigns that I have seen recently.  In the culturally creative category, we have Target's latest coupon mailer. Have you seen this? Haiku-pons! Genius! Each page of coupons consists of three panels and each panel contains a haiku for an advertised product. For example, near a coupon for cheese we have: If that weren't enough, the detachable coupons are interchangeable so you can make your own original haikus with distinct meanings. Check out some of my original creations: Saucy, eh? I think I just entered Haiku Nirvana Before I show the next ad, I will run the disclaimer that I am not a Wal-Mart fan. I don't shop there and I will never shop there if another option is available. This commercial, however, made me laugh out loud. Bravo, Martin Agency . Finally, while it's not a recent advertising campaign, I would have to say tha...

For this week's Follow Friday, my first inclination was to talk about Harry Potter.  Because...well...it's time for THE END. Then I changed my mind because if you're not already a fan of Harry at this point, I have 3 things to say: 1. What planet have you been living on for the past decade? 2. What's wrong with you? 3. If you haven't become a fan by now, there is no hope. Unless you're under the age of 10. So...moving on. The Emmy nominations were announced to day and I am beyond excited that my favorite TV show, Mad Men , has received 19 nominations! If you haven't checked out this show, now is your chance to catch up on 4 seasons of fabulous television. All 4 seasons are currently available on DVD. In addition, you can catch selected reruns on AMC or on many OnDemand cable systems. It's also available on iTunes. Season 5 should have started this month but some contract negotiations delayed the plans for the upcoming season. We'll get more Mad ...