What's Your Dream?

Recently my path crossed with people, specifically 3 people, who reminded me of what it's like to dream.  It's something I hadn't asked myself in a while, and the event that kicked it back into my memory was something called One Life No Regrets. It was an event of sorts, that my company had the honor to work on.  Patrick Stark asked the question-why when we become adults, do we forget what our dreams were as a child? 

He set out to make his dream come true. He wanted to be a rock star. He worked for 2 years perfecting his musical craft, holding concerts, fund raisers, press events, all to get on stage and sing one song with U2.  He's also a documentary film maker, so in the process I imagine one great film was made.  The point of this story is not what Patrick was doing, but why he did it. I was so inspired by his drive, and his pure goal of making his childhood dreams come true.

The second person that inspired me was an 18 year old Senior in High School, actually he graduated the day before we met.  His name was Alex Kummert and he's a stand up comedian.  He found through the art of comedy, that he learned more about himself in that year than he had his entire High School career.  It's like he got up one day and said to himself, "I want to be a comedian, and I'm going to make it happen."  Alex has a smart, dry sense of humor that so stuck with me, and most of all I just loved that he was doing something that he loved, because it felt good!

On the same weekend, I met Adora Svitak, a 13 year old who was a speaker last year at the TED conference.  She's brilliant, funny, and I was so moved by the fact that she had zero fear. She got up in front of thousands of Adults, and told them that if they want to learn a little bit about the world, maybe they should consider listening to kids.  Her talk was witty, and she had 40 year old highly educated attendees hanging on every word.  She talked about how she woke up one day when she was 6, and told her Mom that she wanted to be a published writer.  Instead of just thinking it was cute, her parents supported her dream and her desire to think big.  Today she's running her own TEDx Redmond event for the 2nd year running.  She's so inspiring and just a fun kid to boot.

I guess the purpose of putting my thoughts down here is that we all have dreams, big or small, and why as adults do we lose sight of those dreams we had as a child?  Since I met Patrick, Alex, and Adora I've been questioning myself.  What were those big dreams, am I living them now?  What can I do that these individuals did, how can I have the same courage to go for it.

Bird Nerd!

Over the past couple of years, I've become very interested in birds...sort of bird nerd status. Mike and I moved last year to Seattle and live near Lake Washington. It's been so fun to see all of the different birds that live in and around the lake, and to watch the babies born in the spring, and leave the nest in June.

Recently I built a "bird sanctuary" of sorts, just a little feeder really.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.


I had no idea how much birds ate, how much they pooped, or how loud they would become.  If I had to do it over, or had a bit of free time I'd make it a little different.

Here is what I've learned, and if I get a bit of free time what I'd like to change:

1. Birds eat a TON. I've spent a fortune on food. I go through 10-15 pounds of seed per week on average.  I now know what they like, and luckily it's black oiled seed which isn't terrible expensive.  If I had to do it again, I'd buy in bulk, and online.

2. I love watching the birds out the window, however they poop all over the deck.  I'd like to build something that extends off the deck so they poop on the giant, monster juniper bush instead.

3. I'd buy a couple different feeders. Our current feeder is better for smaller birds.  Sparrows, Chickadee's, Finches etc. love our feeder.  We do have a brave Northern Flicker that comes and feeds a few times a day but he's WAY to big for the feeder.

4. I'd separate the hummingbird feeder.  We have a ton in our neighborhood, but they don't stay long because we have at least 10 loud little birds on the feeder at any given time and I think they get scared :(

All in all it's been a great learning experience and I've really enjoyed it!

Hope is Alive in New Orleans

I spent the past week in New Orleans for work. It was probably our most crucial site visit for the vendor team. We managed to work really hard and have some fun too! On Thursday I had no idea that one car ride would completely shift my perspective...

As part of the event I'm working on we are executing a community project (attendee's have the opportunity to volunteer for a day.) We met our local vendor and she took us out to the Ninth Ward.

I thought I had prepared myself, I knew that the city was not "back to normal", however I had no idea how still devastatedthis part of this amazing city would be. I had seen everything on TV, read blogs, looked at pictures-but nothing prepared me for the flood of emotion that came over me as we drove over the bridge into the Ninth Ward.

There is still mass devastation. There are blocks and miles where there is nothing-where life once flourished. There are thousands of condemned homes, and thousands more foundations where homes used to be. I was overcome with emotion. I could not believe what I was looking at, the feelings I was experiencing. I could not believe that in America, almost 4 years later, this type of devastation still lives on.

But then I met Jim with Habitat for Humanity and saw the work that he and thousands of families, residents, and volunteers have been doing. I saw families that were completely content although they are faced with what seems like an impossible task-to rebuild everything they ever knew. They are happy. They have what is important-their family, and that fire inside them that makes New Orleans such a unique and fantastic city. They have hope.

When I woke up on Thursday morning, I had no idea what was in store for me. I had no idea I would react the way that I did, and that I would feel this change come over me. I thought I knew what to expect as I had watched all the reports, but I had not "felt" what it felt like to be there in person.

I'm grateful for that day. I feel like I have had a shift in my perception of life. I have clarity like I've never had before.

Ok I take it back!

I take it back! I *heart* Chinese Food! After our terrible Chinese Food experience, we went out with our local pal Carol and had not 1 but 2 incredible authentic Chinese meals. They were DISH DELISH. So I take it all back, thank you Carol!!!

Singapore update-bullet style

Just finished our show in Singapore, and now its the weekend and time to pack in some fun before we leave on Sunday. We have worked hard, and now its time to play! Here's a few things we have done so far:

• Diving with Sharks. YES-we really did swim with sharks. I wasn't actually that afraid of the shark part, but of the scuba part as I've never done it. It was amazing!
• Fish Reflexology-Tiny little Turkish fish that live in the Amazon chewed dead skin off our feet (see the pic)-SO weird.
• Ate fish balls. They were delicious.
• Drank a $30 martini. I can't say it was worth it-but there...I did it.
• Decided that I don't actually like authentic Chinese food. I thought I did-but apparently, I don't.
• Got a strange bug bite. Its big, red-I can only imagine what the bug looked like.
• Was stalked by a flock of Peacocks.
• Found out that not ALL cats in Singapore are gigantic, in fact they are tiny. I must have saw an extraordinary large cat the first time.

Tonight we are having dinner with a local friend, she is going to introduce us to Chili Crab-which is a local favorite, along with the dreaded Durian fruit. I hear you either love it or hate it-so we'll see!

Tomorrow we are going hiking to see Monkeys, and hopefully do a little shopping. I'll keep you posted!

10 interesting things I've learned about Singapore in 4 days

So Marcie and I are in Singapore for work, and it's spectacular! Here are 10 things I've learned in the past couple days that makes Singapore interesting...I'm sure we'll discover more in the next 5 days we are here onsite!

1. TV shows start on the 15's not on the hour or 30's.

2. Their cats are huge. Regular domestic cats are gigantic here in Singapore.

3. The downtown is built entirely on fill. SCARY SHERRY.

4. Hotel room bathrooms do not have regular outlets that you can even use an adapter with-only shaving outlets which...only take shavers.

5. This is a service town. There is a service for everything. I can't even walk to the elevator by myself, push the button myself, let alone go to the bathroom without someone propping the door open for me. I could get used to this :)

6. We have discovered that we do not like real Chinese food. We thought we did, but we don't. We tried and failed...BUT-the Indian food has been out of this world AMAZING.

7. You thought Bellevue had a lot of cranes-well Singapore has more cranes in a mile than all of Washington state combined I swear.

8. MALLS-there are a ton of malls. There must be as many malls in Singapore as there are Starbucks in Seattle.

9. Scuba-Scuba Diving here actually occurs in an Aquarium. You physically scuba dive in a giant aquarium like at Sea World. There are sharks, dolphins, fish, turtles, rays etc. Marcie and I are going to check it out this weekend!

10. Karaoke-omg. If you like karaoke then you need to come to Singapore because it's pretty much the thing to do. I heard an interesting version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" followed by a rousing round of "Footloose."

Ok I totally need this...

http://www.wikihow.com/Hire-a-Bodyguard

Just in case you were wondering...

I HATE when I do that!

If there is one thing I hate, its when I forget my little restaurant to-go box on the table. That is exactly what I did tonight. Mike and I went out for pizza, Flying Pie pizza no less. We each had 2 pieces and saved the rest for a delicious lunch. We EVEN SAID to ourselves..."lets not forget our pizza on the table!" And what did we do...we walked out without it. UG. I think it had something to do with the fact that immediately after we finished gorging ourselves on zah, we said "hey lets go to Coldstone!" The thought of a bowl of wonderful ice cream clouded my mind, and I carelessly left the pizza on the table. Such a bummer for my stomach.

Pet Hair is my thing.

Pet hair drives me nuts, and trust me-I see plenty of it.

Here's a helpful little article on "How to Remove Pet Hair." Seems obvious-but there are some great tips!

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Pet-Hair

If you really want to avoid the pet hair problem before it's covering your clothes-check this out! The Furminator! I'm seriously considering investing in one of these bad boys.

http://www.furminator.com/

Tango is addicted!

My dog Tango is OBSESSED with this red ball. She has it in her mouth 24 hours a day. She sleeps with it, she goes outside with it, she barley puts it down to eat. She has this ball in her mouth ALL DAY LONG. The other issue-is that it is a squeaky ball, she she is constantly squeaking it. It's cute-but its driving me batty!

Dixie likes to steal it from her-this makes Tango insane! She also loses it under the couch just about every 10 minutes and then goes on a rampage running around the couch, barking at it, whining until I get under the couch and retrieve it for her. Isn't SHE the retriever?

Here's a pic of her taking a nap-she doesn't even put it down to nap!

The Perfect Cup of Tea

I'm still a little bit sick, and my dogs are driving me bonkers tonight so thought I'd enjoy a cup of tea and relax.

Funny enough there was this link living on my home page so thought I'd share :)

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Tea

I have to say-I thought I knew how to make a good cup of tea, but I didn't know about the Tea Cozy...

Why its good to live/work in Seattle...

Taken with my camera phone (sorry-bad quality!) outside my office. Even though it's been raining and awful for 2 weeks-this day makes it all worth it.

When Daddy's away...

I travel a lot-and I can ONLY imagine what is going on in my house while I'm out. Here's a snapshot of what goes on in my house when Mike is gone :)

The dogs have become quite accustomed to sleeping on the bed.

When I go upstairs to go to bed, they lay sweetly on their dog beds on the floor as if they will be there all night. Sometimes they even start snoring the second they lay down-like they fell asleep immediately! As I get in bed their little head's raise up, and the second I pull the covers over myself and lay my head on the pillow-BAM, they are on the bed like lightening.

They are spoiled rotten little doogs but I love them! I hope I can break them of this habit.

BTW-the ball in Tango's mouth is driving me nuts. She is OBSESSED with squeaking it ALL the time.

Also-the picture quality isn't the best-darn phone camera.

Welcome to the Quah!

People say moving is like child birth. You do it, it's painful, and then when the dust settles you forget all of the hard work you put into it. I can't say that I've forgotten about that part yet, as we just moved last weekend-but things are coming along. Mike and I moved from Mercer Island to Issaquah to a great house. It's tiny, it's cute-but we love it. It's definitely suburbia...I think Mike said something like "It's like Martha Stewart threw up Pleasantville." The move was tough-combining two households is an art and to top it off, Mike left town 3 days after we moved. So the dogs and I have slowly but surely been getting things put back together. Watch for the housewarming invite soon!

Poor Little Doog!

Poor little Dixie Lea had surgery this week. She had 5 teeth extracted and her little mouth is so sore! She's doing fine, and so is momma... :)