Social Media in Plain English

I've been having lots of conversations lately with people about Social Media. Outside of the 20-something crowd, Social Media still seems like a bit of a mystery. This video (from the same people who did the Twitter video I shared a month ago), explains it in a completely new way.

As part of my job I am working on how to better take advantage of Social Media for the benefit of my company. But on my own behalf, I've found this trend to be quite useful and fascinating.

Enjoy this short video. I'd love to hear what you think!

Nathan Turns Four!

Carmel and the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last weekend we took the kids to Carmel for a couple of nights, so that we could go to the Montery Bay Aquarium. We stayed in the Carmel Valley Ranch, which had the all important swimming pool. Julia was looking forward to the pool more than the aquarium, and we spent as much time there as we could. The aquarium is amazing, and we only wished we had leashes on the kids so that we could have enjoyed it with a little less stress. Turns out it's hard to keep track of a 2 and 3 year old in a crowded, confined setting with lots of little rooms, hallways, pockets, and dark spaces. We had quite a time of it, keeping track of the two of them, and trying not to lose each other. Well worth the effort, though, for the spectacluar displays and georgous setting. Julia's favorite thing was touching the starfish, and Andrew liked chasing the pigeons out on the deck. Here are a few pictures of our visit: Lunching outdoors by the pool; A jellyfish; Julia and Andrew looking at a shark; Jeff and the kids in the pool.

Andrew turns two!

Andrew's birthday party was an informal backyard affair with just a few friends and family. The cupcakes, which Julia helped decorate, were a big hit, as were the ribbons and paper and bows on the gifts! Everybody got into the act to help open.

I cannot believe my baby is two! The time has flown by. Just this weekend he seems to be talking so much more, putting long sentences together. I still see him as a baby, but I think those days are numbered.

So You Think You Can Dance is BACK!

Set those Tivos!

Twittering

I've been experimenting with Twitter. Don't know about Twitter? There is a great YouTube video explaining Twitter in plain English here. I've been learning about it for work, and have found it strangely addictive. You can see my Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/laurelh. Looks like a lot of companies are starting to use Twitter and I have someone on my team who is looking at ways we can use it at Intuit. So I figured I'd better get up to speed! If you are a twitter user, let me know so I can follow you!

Those goofs!

It must be a sign of a good marriage when you can pick each other's teeth!

Dinner party for Andrea and Craig

Once again I find myself a bit behind in my blogging. Two weeks ago, on Sunday May 4th, we threw a dinner party for Andrea and Craig, in honor of the upcoming arrival of baby #3, Maggie. If I do say so myself, it was a huge success! I know I had fun, at least!

Here are Andrea and Craig, our honorees:

I cleared out the living room so that I could fit two big round rented tables for dinner. I had the party catered, my first experiment with catering (it was heavenly!) Here we are at dinner:

Our special project during the evening was to compile a special Book of Wishes for Maggie. Each guest selected something they wanted to give Maggie (mine was Common Sense, as an example), and wrote up a little card with an explanation. Jeff took portraits of each of the guests which I will include next to their wish in a special book. In a future post I'll put a few of the portraits of our illustrious guests.

Mother's Day

I awoke this morning to a wonderful array of gifts and cards! Julia made that flower covered frame on the left at preschool, and the card right next to it. The mug in the middle has an absolutely adorable picture of the kids on it, taken and created by Wendy. It will be my new favorite mug forever! She also put together a very special card created with all kinds of adorable pictures of my kids that she took. The hydrangias are from Jeff, along with the artwork worthy card at the far end which was georgous and so sweet. Wowser, I'm so blessed!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

Nana visiIts

I am a bit behind in my blogging! Last Friday and Saturday, Nana came for a visit, and we had a ball hanging out with her for the weekend. These pictures are from our trip to the park where we had a picnic by the duck pond. The kids ended up taking a wade in the stream. It was so much fun and we just loved having Nana here. The kids were so excited, and absolutely exhausted by the end of her visit.