Awhile back I somehow got lucky enough to stumble onto The Checkout Girl’s blog.  Here’s a few reasons why I love her, and her blog:

1.  She’s in Richmond, VA. 
2.  She’s really funny.
3.  She calls it like she sees it.
4.  She makes fun of the same people I do.
5.  She makes fun of herself.
6.  Her tweets are really funny.
7.  She works near where I live, which means I’ve probably run across her in my daily life. 
8.  She only blogs when she has something to say - no verbal diarrhea for The Checkout Girl.
9.  It’s totally fascinating to see Richmond from the eyes across the conveyor belt.
10.  She’s got a great work ethic, which is pretty rare these days.

I’m also a little jealous of TCG.  I’m a little jealous because she’s managed to stay anonymous.  This means that she can say whatever she wants, as long as she manages to keep her specific store and identity veiled.  Sometimes I wish that I was anonymous too - then I could REALLY let it hang out!  She also won best new blog this year (local bloggy awards).  I like her blog because it’s readable and fun.  Some of the other “famous” blogs of Richmond are really heavy, intellectual, or political.  Could y’all just dumb it down a bit?  Not that TCG isn’t pithy or sometimes heavy, but she does it with a light heart.

Unfortunately, BECAUSE she’s anonymous, I can’t just send her an email and say “Hilarious blogging woman! Let’s hook up for coffee and dish the dirt.”  I mean, I could, but she couldn’t really accept, could she?  And she probably wouldn’t, because I could be some crazy internet stalker.  Not that she doesn’t deal with enough crazy people on a daily basis - I would be nothing compared to that. 

Whether you live here or not, you should read it.  And maybe be nicer to the person at your local grocery store.  Because they could TOTALLY be blogging about you right now. 

About a year after Jennifer and I started working together on the marketing consulting front, my good friend Sara decided to strike out on her own.  She formed a company called Neat, and it was like Sara and her new venture were a match made in a heaven.  Sara’s calm demeanor, her love for all things organized, and her desire to help people who are organizationally challenged (did you know there is actually a disorder called Chronically Disorganized??? Yeah, there is) melded perfectly into a sweet delicious career. 

I remember those days fondly because we worked together a lot, trading marketing advice for organizational help in our 2nd office on Franklin Street.  We had many long lunches where the three of us strategized about taking over the world of Richmond in our various ways. It was exciting to be in start-up mode with someone else, especially one I respected so much. 

Sara has come a long way since then - she has a podcast on iTunes, she has headed the local NAPO chapter here, and she mentors people whenever they need it.  She’s got certifications out the wazoo, and she’s worked with people that would within 30 seconds make me slightly insane.  And she actually ENJOYS it.  Although she seemed a bit shy when I first met her, she has turned into a master networker and knows the ins and outs of this weird town we both call home. 

Sara helped me a few times around my house, although she focuses primarily on businesses.  She did me a favor and organized my very first playroom.  She took the disaster that was the room and laid out a floor plan, ordered all the stuff for me from Ikea and Container Store, hung everything, labelled everything, and most importantly, taught me the “whys” behind where she put things.  It was fascinating to watch the way her mind worked.  She watched the girls play, then organized their toys into places they could reach - logical places.  My idea, until that point, had been wandering around Target, randomly pulling baskets or storage shelves and placing them equally as randomly into whatever room I was bothered by the most. I’d never learned to do it with forethought or planning. It was the ultimate. I gave her a budget, she spent my money, and suddenly I had a playroom to end all playrooms. 

In this way, I’m very much my mother’s daughter.  My house is usually pretty neat - but open a drawer, especially in the bedrooms or kitchen, let alone my closet, and you have a bit of chaos.  I suck at filing - I hate it - so unless I have a system, everything just piles up.  When I saw how Sara had magically transformed the playroom, I started foaming at the mouth.  I would have spent half our income at Container Store if Mike hadn’t reeled me back in by asking how organizing the attic would help if we couldn’t pay the mortgage.  I reasoned that if the playroom made me feel more calm (I dreaded picking up at night a lot less), perhaps I should keep going until my organizing frenzy resulted in a permament state of Om.  I started siccing her on the garage.  Then she helped with my bathroom.  I sent her to my parent’s - she organized their pantry. At that point, I did my closet on my own, following the guidelines she’d showed me.

This past weekend, Mike and I both went on an organizing binge.  The closets were getting unmanageable again, and as I worked, I realized how profound of an impact Sara’s had on me.  Now, instead of just “cleaning” everything (meaning shoving the same items into the old places), I actually sort through them, figure out what I really need, and then look at the space I have to work with.  It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when my house is chaotic, I feel chaotic.  Bringing some order to my filing system and hme office were imperative for me to be able to be effiicient.

Best of all, Sara just announced she’s pregnant - so pretty soon I’ll be able to bounce her little monkey like she used to bounce mine.  I can’t wait to see if she manages to hold onto her sanity, as well as her fantastic ability to transform people and places, once the newest Bereika arrives.  I’m sure she’ll make it look like it’s no big deal.  That’s just how she rolls. 

A while back I got a message from Schmap asking for permission to include a fun picture I snapped of Lily at the Children’s Museum in their guide. I said, “Well, SURE!” and lo and behold, it was included!  Here’s the link if you want to check it out.  I had never heard of Schmap before, but it’s really cool.  And I feel honored to have a picture included in something that more than 2 people might actually look at. 

Yesterday, the whole of my immediate family plus Jennifer, Troy and Sophia loaded up cars, snacks, water and food and headed north for Washington DC and the XM Radio Kids Traveling Roadshow.  Well, the main reason we went was to see Meredith Brooks - she was performing from her new kids CD “If I Could Be . . . ” and to meet some other online friends.  Christine lives in the DC area, but another friend drove from Greensboro NC for the show (Kirstin, you rock!). 

Meredith has recently been talking me through some ugly episodes of child rearing. I didn’t know who she was when we first met - and I probably wouldn’t have cared if I had, but it might have made me a bit more nervous.  The best thing about Meredith, other than how awesome she is with kids - is how utterly normal and down to earth she is.  She’s a mom first - everything else second.  The only difference between her and most of the moms I know, including myself, is that she appears to really have her proverbial crap together.  Mike and the girls were excited to go to the show, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather (74 degrees, low humidity, sunny) or for better company.  Everyone who came was so much fun.  We met up with Meredith, her husband Jody and son Troy about 20 minutes before they went on stage.  Troy decided he wanted to give Lily and Arden and Christine’s daughter Bridget musical instruments.  I didn’t even lecture Meredith on why loud toys should not be given to kids (kidding!).  They played backstage with each other.  We met Lisa Loeb - the kids were totally unimpressed, but it was a good thing Mike wasn’t with me because he has a thing for girls with glasses. 

Rhythm Child was awesome! I need to pick up that CD.  We had so much fun listening and dancing.  Here’s a video of Sophia and Arden going nuts during Norm’s performance:

After, Meredith took the stage.  Troy, her very cute, very sweet, and very well-behaved nearly 4-year old son got on with her and bounced and sang a bit.  She even pimped him out in Very Excellent Baby, which we sell on our site.  He eventually got down because his feet were hurting him, and he’d had little sleep. In true rock star form, he was jetlagged from all his world traveling:

Then, Meredith decided to be super cool and nice and invited Lily, Arden, Sophia and Bridget on stage with her.  This was awesome - once the girls stopped being shy.  All the other parents decided to also allow their kids on stage, so it was mass kid mayhem on stage with lots of dancing and singing.  Lily proved she has listened obsessively to the CD by belting out the words right next to Meredith. In fact she was so close for most of the show that I feared Meredith would bash her accidentally in the head with her guitar.  Arden on the other hand danced like a maniac with Sophia, then took to running in big circles around the stage while making googly eyes at the drummer.  Turns out the band that backed up Meredith are Until June, and after checking out their music I promptly bought the CD.  They’re great, and any bunch of really cute guys that were nice to my 5 and 3 year old on stage are okay in my book. 

After Meredith was done performing, she signed autographs and hung out with the XM people.  I felt bad for her - this really creepy guy kept leering at her and talking to her.  It was a kids show, for god’s sake - he had no kids with him, and he was all sweaty and nervous.  Jody was behind her the whole time, and I was trying not to roll my eyes at him while making overt hand gestures at the creepy stalker dude.  While Meredith finished up her PR duties, Christine and her family showed us some cool sites near the monument as we wended our way toward the Capitol City Brewing Company where we were meeting for dinner.  It was interesting walking all that way with kids, but we managed.  Mike only called it the Bataan Death March once - and we promptly got a cab.  All in all, we couldn’t believe how well behaved the girls were.  They even got to ride a Carousel - but Lily skipped that because, as she told Christine, “I throw up when I get dizzy.” 

We had a great time at dinner.  Our waitress was hating us, but the kids all played together and mercifully we were in a corner of the restaurant where they could get down, run around and be goofy.  They played hide and seek.  Meredith warned me that Troy likes the older ladies (Troy as in Meredith’s Troy - not Jennifer’s Troy - just had to make that clear), and he hung out primarily with Lily and Bridget.  Even Arden was being good until she shoved Troy (because he wouldn’t get out of her way, she exclaimed later) and called him a dummy.  She had a time out and eventually got it together, but poor Troy had his feelings hurt. 

We said goodbye outside the restaurant. I know I’ll be seeing Christine, Josh and Bridget again - they are all so much fun, and so kind. Bridget is one smart little girl. She made beautiful necklaces for the girls and one for Meredith that she wore on stage.  Hopefully next time I visit my family in the Durham area I can hook up with Kirstin too.  As usual, I’m so glad that I’ve met such wonderful people online - it makes the 1 or 2 trolls I’ve encountered worth it. 

We had a couple funny “big city” moments - including our first cabbie telling us that a giant egg-shaped UFO landed on the Washington Monument in 1999, and another cabbie asking Jennifer and I for directions to Capitol Brewing because he had no idea where it was.  It was fun being in the taxi with Sophia, Arden and Lily, and no cell phones .  . . Troy and Mike had all that stuff in the other cab.  Eventually we got there, slightly freaked out and annoyed.  Jody also had a big city moment when he lost or misplaced his cell phone.  Nothing like being far from home and losing your lifeline. 

After dinner we rode the Metro back to Meredith and Jody’s hotel, which was much swankier than ours, and Meredith let Arden and Lily jump like maniacs on the bed while she gave me some more stuff and Jody tore the room apart looking for his phone.  By then, it was 9 PM and the girls were completely wacko. No naps, up early, on the go all day.  We had hoped to meet up with Meredith & Co. again today, so we didn’t have an extended goodbye which was a good thing. 

We didn’t get to our hotel in Alexandria until nearly 11 PM.  The girls tried to go to bed, but were still so excited it took them a while.  Lily ended up having diarrhea all night and in the morning, she threw up a bit.  We tried to hang around and wait it out, but her diarrhea really didn’t get better and I just couldn’t imagine trekking back into the city and subjecting her sore little rump to a day of sightseeing.  Troy slept until nearly noon anyway, so by the time I spoke to Meredith, we were already back in Richmond.

I was really bummed out we didn’t get to spend some time with them today. So was Mike, and you know Mike - he doesn’t like most people.  I think he enjoyed talking to Jody - they are both history buffs. Thankfully he didn’t find out until tonight that Jody manages The Alarm - otherwise he would have been all geeked out.  However, this is the deal with being a mom.  I had to tell Lily that no she couldn’t see Troy again even though she cried a little bit, and we all had to suck it up and come back home. 

It was great 24 hours - and for the girls, a once in a lifetime experience to be on stage and dance and sing like that!  We all had so much fun.  Lily has decided she wants to be a singer like “Miss Meredith”.  I’m sort of on the fence about that idea after seeing what Meredith has gone through in her life.  Although everyone has dreamed at one time of being famous or singing or rocking out, I think I prefer my relative anonymity, especially when you have kids in the picture.  It’s just so much easier being normal and plain and not having to worry, additionally, that some nut job is going to take a picture of your child (wait, I did that!  but I had permission).  It was great to see Meredith and her husband together.  You can see they are very much in love, and they are great parents.  Troy is a lucky guy.  Hopefully Lily and Arden will think we’re awesome one day too - even when we make them leave a fun day in the city because of intestinal distress. 

So to Christine:  thank you so much, to you and Bridget, for making such beautiful necklaces for the girls. They wore them all day today!  I loved meeting you and getting to know your family.  You guys are the best!

To Kirstin and Melody:  hope you had as much fun with us as we had with you.  I loved meeting you all!

To Meredith, Jody and Troy:  Thanks for everything - the musical instruments we will be tormented with for the next few months, the kindness you have shown my family, and for sharing your beautiful boy with us.  Thanks especially for sharing your love of music with my children - they think you’re the coolest!

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Here’s the Flickr slideshow, for all those interested in the nitty gritty details and my double chin.  If you can’t see the badge, you can click here.

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings, who will commence pounding the Penguins shortly in the Stanley Cup Finals (at least I hope they pound them).  Go Red Wings!!!!