It seems I have neglected this blog for quite some time now. What can I say? We are just working hard, playing hard; trying to carpe diem.

I don’t have one and won’t for a little while yet, but we have a lot of parent and baby related things going on in our life.

My dear friend Christiney is just 11 weeks away from giving birth to a baby girl. Her bump is so cute- she is one of those people that wears pregnancy perfectly. Her baby shower is next month and will be super fun- it is at the Signature Room in the John Hancock. A frilly fancy baby shower; is there any other way to go?

Spratlark Industries had their first RFP  (request for proposal) of the year come across our proverbial desks a few weeks back- we answered and won- so that is great. 1 for 1- 100% in the new business department is pretty good. We did some of these projects in ‘08 and then committed ourselves to the not for profit project of all things wedding in ‘09. The one we are focused on now is parent and kid oriented so we are submerging ourselves in all things mom + baby.

I act as the project manager and Sam is the creative director in our personal project endeavors. It works out pretty well because we do this in our day to day careers so it is a natural fun extension of that. However we get to say when, who and how much which is exciting. We hadn’t committed ourselves to a name for the business which is ironic since we sell business identities and the like but I think we are pretty good with Spratlark Industries because it makes complete sense.

One of my favorite things about Total is that he is completely dependable when it comes to kiddies. Kids naturally gravitate to doggies, but parents have to be super careful in the city since there are some bad eggs out there. Total is no exception and whenever we are at the park kids run at him with arms wide open; bubbling with excitement. It always give me a good feeling when I can say he is a friendly doggie and will sit/stand still as the child navigates its way around their first dog pet. It is so cute.

Happy Spring:)!

So it looks like I almost completely neglected February, but I wanted to squeeze one in before it comes to a close. Life as a Wife is going swimmingly, I think I am well suited for the position. Sam and I DIY’d a plumbing issue this week and that really made us feel like a domesticated family. We even bought one of those weird snake things, that we didn’t end up needing to use, but will now always own. I only had to go to work and be the smelly girl one day- we had it up and running within 36 hours of the issue.

I am eyeball deep in my new job which is great. The clients and work are interesting and will be good experience for me. I have almost met everyone at the office with just a few people left - we are around 60 peeps. The canine thing is really fun- I have met close to 10 new doggies, all with their individual charm and quirks. Total is going to have his first chance to experience Designkitchen life very soon.

We met with a real estate agent to get the ball rolling on a new home a few weeks back. He basically told us that based on what is owed on the mortgage and what the place would sell for now we MIGHT break even if we get a little lucky. If we don’t get a little lucky we would have to bring a check to the closing. Boo. I hate being people the news talks about. When I was unemployed, every time they mentioned the unemployment rate and how bad it was I always thought “I dislike being bundled into that group of people!” since it is such a generalization. Now we fall into the “bought a property that isn’t worth what it was worth when it was purchased a few years back” group. It will all work out soon enough and then I hope we are out of the news for good.

I look forward to the next couple of months because it is bound to get warmer. The three of us greatly enjoy our Smith Park strolls so the rise in temps mean we will be able to get back to them more often. Mick Po is graduating from BC with a job which is exciting. The not as exciting part is that he will be living in Boston. As much as I find Boston to be a nice city I would like my family to be centrally located. I guess both my brothers prefer the eastern time zone and the shorter flight to Europe?

back to school, to prove to dad I am no fool. Lots of things about going to work feel similar to when we went to school as kids. Now, I pack my gym bag, lay out my outfit, put together nutritous snacks and go to bed pretty early. 

I started my new job yesterday and so far so good. I am getting a little time to become acquainted with the ways of the office and some intros into basic best practices around here to run a project smoothly and successfully. They are super buttoned up which is really great.

A few office treats are that if I want, Total can come to work with me and hang out- they also play music overhead that can be adjusted per section per floor. It is such a small thing but a little background music is kind of nice. Maybe I will learn about a new secret cool artist before the rest of the world.

When I was on job sabbatical I still always looked forward to the weekend- weird but it totally makes sense. Sam is off on the weekend and around to hang out with and so is everyone else for that matter. So here’s to working hard and playing hard. Cheers!

I was able to see a lot of good coming out of my departure from Ogilvy for a long time. New opportunities, time to plan our wedding and getting tipsy on weeknights to name a few. But recently I was slightly pessimistic about the process and it was becoming a bit of a chore. I was losing sight of the bright side. I am of course grateful for my offer and to everyone who has so graciously given their recommendations, connections and support to me during my search. I am happy that the firm that hired me seems to have taken a fancy with me and I am equally as thrilled to be part of their operation.

Something I missed identifying as invaluable during this process are the connections I made. I met the CCO at DraftFCB, the Director of Client Services at Tribal DDB, the Director of Digital at BBDO, a couple of exceptional recruiters and some key HR folks. These connections are priceless and something that definitely should not be overlooked. Some great Ogilvy peeps were responsible for some of these connections and I look forward to paying it back and forward.

It is true! A job offer has been extended my way and I am proud to say it is a good one. Getting a job was more of a pride thing than anything- darn you economy I am gonna do this with or without 10% unemployment in the country. Yay! Mission accomplished.

I am excited to meet a bunch of new people and grow my network. I will have to strategize my outfit for my first day of work, but a lot of clothes have been gathering dust for some time so many of them will feel like new. As I have mentioned before, my dad always said live close to where you work, well this fine employer is less than 2 miles from our house. The office is small at 70 employees but trendy and nice and located practically next door to our gym. Here is a link to Designkitchen’s website.

I got Julia Child’s cookbook for Christmas along with Julie and Julia, such an adorable movie and really good motivation to get you to cook if you don’t already. One of the first chapters has soups and Potato Leek  immediately popped out at me. Sam concurs that this would be tasty but we ended up using a recipe by Emeril for our execution. Find it here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-leek-soup-recipe/index.html. I also recommend Googling how to clean leeks because they are very dirty vegetables.

I am the sous chef in the house. Sam can cook, grill, cut and create with the best of them. My knife skills are appalling and scary so I assume the gathering, question asking and cleaning roll of the process. However I am able to combine pre-made ingredients, a la Sandra Lee. Meal making is all in the planning and we are getting better at it. I plan to take an introductory knife skills course so I can keep my fingers for most of my life and contribute some more to the cooking process.

Sam thinks the title and tagline of my new blog makes it sound like I am being a subservient  1950s wife to him. In my eyes, I just want to do a good job at my half of the whole. It isn’t everyday you pick up a new title in your life and I want to do them justice! I have held lots of titles for quite a while, daughter, sister, cousin, friend, girlfriend, employee (until recently), but now I have gained, wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, Total’s mom- there is lots to live up to.

Since you know me, you know I am not really the subservient type so don’t worry!

A couple of years ago I decided that annual doctor appointments would be at the beginning of every year. I had a mini-scare after a routine doctor appointment that I scheduled right before Thanksgiving and if anything were to have come from it- a real damper would have been put on the holidays. So when I can help it, January it is!

Total and me are this week, Teeth for Sam and I in a couple weeks and Sam’s physical generally falls right around the end of Q1. I will see if I can get this moved up a smidge for continuity sake but all in all we are pretty on top of these necessary check ups.

I am pretty sure Wife duties require me to ensure that everyone in the family has scheduled, attended and receives results from these visits. Hopefully we can make it through the vet visit without having Total eat a cat.

Two months ago we got married. Such a wonderful day. After that we went on an amazing honeymoon and then jumped right into the Christmas season. So many festivities, food and fun; I just love that time of year. Now it is January, the weather is frigid and frightful and I am still on a job sabbatical. I would say life isn’t quite as glamorous as it was just a short time ago. We spent all of 2009 planning for the last 2 months of 2009 so now what?! Time to get rolling on 2010.

Cross your fingers that a job is right around the corner for me- I never thought I would say this but I would like to work again soon. If it only reminds me that I don’t like getting up in the morning- so be it. It takes every bit of me to withhold my true feelings during interviewing like “I AM SUCH A GOOD WORKER AND A DELIGHT TO BE AROUND; TRUST ME I WILL DO A GOOD JOB! HIRE ME RIGHT NOW!” Unfortunately, 15 million people have lost their jobs and I hear about someone new that I know every couple of weeks.

Anyway, I decided I want to continue the blog to share the ins-and-outs of learning to be a good wife. 2010 has lots of good potential- the master to do list is in progress.