Flex? Who refers to missing negotiating deadlines as “flexing”?

Even when I give them to myself, they are always up for negotiation. Take for instance a little letter than landed on my doorstep just before Thanksgiving. Inside it was a form letter filled out by a sweet, sweet little girl who lives in Iowa and I happen to be related to. The letter is as follows:

Schweet! Right away I knew exactly where I was going to take Flat Stanley and what we were going to do. I was going to give my cousin the best Flat Stanley experience, ever! Hands down—THE BEST! And mail him back before or after Christmas? No problem. Lots. Of. Time.

Flat Stanley’s great adventure

Flat Stanley and I ventured around the city on Sunday, January 2nd—after Christmas. We hit all of the hot spots in Seattle and were even going to go see the Fish Guys at Pike Place Market and sweet talk them into a picture, but we couldn’t find parking. That’s okay; it was January in Seattle and Stanley was cold anyway (my aunt told me I could color him after we started on this journey; that would have been good to know).

So we went home after stopping for a fresh cup of good ol’ Seattle coffee, dumped the SD card of images, and promptly forgot to print them out.

Sometimes you need encouragement

That’s when I got the nice little ping for my aunt on Facebook a few weeks later, wondering what happened to their sweet Flat Stanley.

Shit. My nine-year-old-cousin choose me to send Flat Stanley to and all of the good intentions in the world were preventing me from printing out those pictures and sending him back.

Okay, let’s cut myself a little slack here. That and the fact that I don’t have a sweet, top-of-the-line color photo printer. Oh, conveniences! If they just asked me to post an album on Facebook, I would have done it, no problem! Better yet…live Tweet our adventure!

Wait, these are third graders…

So I sent my photos off to a printer, found a card, discovered a unique way to tell our story, and finally gave Stanely that sweater he was shivering over. If he was going back to Iowa after a big adventure in Seattle, the least he could have was a souvenir.

And on the first week of February, after Christmas, I mailed Flat Stanley back to my cousin in Iowa.

The moral of the story is…

And last week, I received this message from my aunt on Facebook:

If you have to stretch a deadline, it better be worth it.

Do you have a Flat Stanley story?

You can view this video and Maru’s other adventures on mugumogu’s YouTube page.

In observance of date night, quality time with the Man, and the fact that I’m tired, there will be no post tonight.

And this post may or may not be replaced with the real post tomorrow. Or not, because I’m really digging the hipster love photo above.

Have a great night.

Photo Credit: Brandon Christopher Warren

Remember the editorial calendar that I posted? Well that’s the real editorial calendar I’m using to plan my posts for the month of November. And you know what’s hilarious about that? Even thought I’ve taken the time to plan out my posts, I’m consciously deviating from the plan. I’m living on the edge, being risky, entertaining my muse, letting the words flow, and chasing the ideas freely but with punctuation.

And it feels great.

I’m going to try this as long as it lasts. Take that, planning ahead! I have a computer and I’m typing away!!!

Are you prepared for what’s next?

Photo Credit: Tidewater Muse

At some point in their life, everyone has had the desire to fly, but rarely do they get the chance, and take it.

On March 25th I had the chance to learn to fly as part of the Twestival Seattle which was appropriately held at Emerald City Trapeze. One of the sponsors donated about 60 spots for “air time” and rumor on the trapeze floor was only about 20 people signed up. The event itself was amazing―the Seattle Social Media community came together to raise money for Concern Worldwide, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to working with the world’s poorest people to transform their lives. In one night, we raised about $10,000 dollars!

Back to the air trapeze, especially an abbreviated lesson like this one, was closer to swinging than actual flying except for the fact that I was dangling by my arms and hanging in the air (this is where all of those CrossFit workouts come in handy). The scariest part was climbing up the ladder and standing on the perch which was the width of a bleacher seat. Let’s just say that cold steel is a little hard to grip with nervous, sweaty bare feet (TMI?). I could indulge in more details about how nerve-wrecking it was to trust that the instructor really had a hold on the leather belt I was wearing as she strapped on the safety lines and I reached out to the bar, but I’d rather invite you to try it for yourself.

Back in the day, a friend tried to change the phrase “let’s hang out” to “let’s play.” We were teenagers and pushing our way into adulthood, yet we latched on to selective sentiments of simplicity and innocence.

The term “let’s play” didn’t stick. We moved on. We grew up.

As an adult, we get pulled in so many directions. But when was the last time you just played? And I’m talking played in the sense of silliness. Playing in the way that it’s not for professional development or a hobby, but for fun. Because you want to, because you need to? Played to the point where you laughed at your own laughter?

A few weeks ago I met a friend and her daughters at a playground for coffee, vitamin D, and some much needed friend time. As, we, the adults sat and chitchatted, I watched the small one climb a large rope-ladder and finish with the largest smile I’ve ever seen. I listened to her powerful giggles as she slid down the slide.

Energy in kids is electric. If you could convert one child’s laugh into electricity, how much power would it emit?

I believe adults can produce a similar amount of energy but most are too scared to open up and enjoy themselves. Too scared to feel, to receive, to turn that energy into something larger than themselves.

I’m one of those adults. I get self conscious about my feelings way too often. I may be at a movie or event that’s supposed to entertain and help me escape reality. I may feel happy. Really happy, but then look around and no one is as openly happy as I am. So instead of embracing those feelings and enjoying them, I’ll “dumb” them down based on how I’m gauging everyone else is feeling. And that’s stupid. Going with the flow is really stupid.

Even as I write this, I’m torn. The mature side of me knows that people need to monitor their feelings so that they don’t self-destruct and offend others. While the other part of me wants us to find the balance between embracing our feelings and turning them into actionable passion.

I’m an emotional person and I let my emotions rule me way more than they should. My “feelings” encourage me to bite off more than I can chew and perform better than I ever have in my life. It invites heartache, stress, and give me an excuse to do something that only the momentum of feeling amazing could.

The ability to feel is a strength. And learning how to turn those feelings–of glee, of excitement, of curiosity, of anxiety, of stress, of anger–into energy that drives the flow of my work forward is important.

Kids feel what they feel, when they feel it, because they feel that way. I want to follow the lead of my friend’s girls on the playground: embrace feeling as a good thing and put an end to feeling socially awkward and apologetic about it. And dedicate more time to play.

Photo Credit: Balakov