My crazy mixed up day

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Yesterday morning, when I woke up in Oklahoma it was cold, but a sunny pretty day. I was excited because I was headed to CoffeeCON 2013!

I left the house at 7 a.m. It’s super dark to get from our house to the turnpike so I wanted to avoid that if I could be still get to Chicago in time to have dinner with one of my favorite friends I’ve never met, Ruthann Weisner.

By the time I got to Vinita, the day had turned cloudy and overcast. I wasn’t too unhappy with that since it’s pretty hard to drive East in to the rising sun. When I was almost to Joplin, I started seeing patches of snow on the sides of the road and roofs. Oh, isn’t that cute! It really did snow on May 3rd.

By the time I got to Springfield, it was full on snowing including snow plows, cars in the ditches, a flipped over semi truck and an accident on the other side of the road that had traffic backed up for miles.

 

I was happy not to be on that side of the road and I drove carefully (there are idiots out there!) for a little over four hours until I got to Rolla, MO where I usually fill up the first time when I drive to Chicago.

And this happened:

 

Please tell me, how on earth I managed to have clothes for six days and four seasons, twelve pairs of shoes, my computer, two coats (winter, spring), my coffee bag, and a pillow but NO PURSE!

LOL! I’ve never done that before. I called David, a.k.a. my hero, and told him of my plight. He got my purse and another pair of shoes (because you just can’t have too many shoes) and headed the over four hours to bring me my purse.

It was lunch time by then and I was hungry. I had brought toll money because I knew I had to travel on the tollway part of the way to get to my hotel but I had no idea how much it was so I asked on twitter if anyone knew.

tolls

 

Yes, that’s what I figured. A bajillion dollars. Illinois tolls are EXPENSIVE! So I looked around the car. I always have money in the center console and I wasn’t disappointed. I found a bag of dimes that must have been left in there from when we had to use the laundromat at some point.

dimes

Feeling like a panhandler, but a happy panhandler, I went into McDonald’s and paid 33 dimes for my lunch.

David arrived around 3:45 and I was gassed up and back on the road by 4 p.m.

I had put my winter coat on because it was 31 degrees and after sitting in the car for four hours I was chilled through even though I put the heat on periodically.

I stopped for gas the second time in a blinding thunder storm. When I got out of the car, I realized

warm

 

It was 68 degrees. I was pretty sick of driving by that point and the rain made it hard to see since it was getting dark. I drove about ten more miles and that was it. The roads weren’t even wet. I opened my sunroof. 🙂

I finally arrived just before eleven p.m. I had left 16 hours before that and I was never so happy to see a hotel room or bed in my life.

I didn’t get to have dinner with Ruthanne but I’ll be having breakfast with her and I’m super excited to go to CoffeeCON. I hope your Saturday is fabu and unmixed up! 🙂

30 Day Video Challenge

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Yesterday afternoon, I was looking through my twitter feed when I saw my friend @jennipps tweet about a 30 Day Video Challenge she was participating in.

jen

I clicked in and thought, “I want to try that, too!”

I love video but, for some reason, I never think to do it first. It’s more something that I remember belatedly. With the minor except of Vine and I still don’t go to that first as would be so much fun.

I posted that I was in, thinking I would have to be a day short as it was already May 1st. And then I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t do a video yesterday even though it was a more “unplugged” version of me than what I usually do.

So my goal for the challenge is to make video be more of a first thought than one somewhere down the road.

Here’s my first video. I’d like to clarify that I’m trying to change my Trophy Wife status by getting a new job and not getting rid of my fabu husband. 🙂

 

I’m going to @CoffeeCON2013!

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And I’m so excited!

I first learned of CoffeeCON last year after my friend Robert Caruso (@fondalo) returned. I checked out the website and made my mind up right then and there that I was going to be there this year. I mean, really, as a coffee achiever, is there a more perfect place for me? 🙂

One of the reasons I’m excited about going is for the coffee, of course. After my trip to Eight O’Clock Coffee, I fulfilled one dream: to learn how to cup coffee.

Cupping Coffee

While I was at Eight O’Clock Coffee, I talked to Glenn quite a bit about roasting coffee beans. It sparked a new dream: to learn how to roast my own coffee. There will be coffee roasters at CoffeeCON that I can talk to and learn more about this. Exciting! 🙂

Coffee Roasters

Although I asked if I really have to go to class, I’m super excited about learning more about different coffee topics. After living in the Middle East, I grew extra fond of Turkish Coffee. I’m very much looking forward to the Turkish Coffee demo I see on the schedule. I have a ton of cardamom pods that are just waiting for something in my cupboard. 🙂

CoffeeCON 2013 Schedule

I will try (really hard) not to be the class clown so we can all learn something.

An absolutely awesome side benefit of attending CoffeeCON is that I get to meet some of my favorite twitter friends in real life! I’m so looking forward to meeting @fondalo, @coffeenate, @RAWiesner and @thatsalrighty.

If you’re going to @Coffeecon2013, be sure to look me up and say hi!

Look out Chicago, I’m coming home! 🙂

 

I’m a rockstar!

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Well, not yet. But maybe in my next life I will be.

My musical tastes tend to run the same as a 15 year old boy and probably so too does my desire to be a rockstar.

Did you see the movie Rockstar with Mark Wahlberg? That was like my perfect fantasy movie. All of a sudden, I’m fronting my favorite rock band.

The part where he’s at his first gig and is standing at the top of the stage, looking down the stairs? Dude, that gave me goosebumps like no other.

And then he fell. Yep, right down those stairs. I was then sure he was me. 😉

The other night I watched the livestream of the Cheap Trick Live at Budokan 35th Anniversary Concert (click to watch video).

It. Was. SPECTACULAR!

Live at Budokan 35th Anniversary Concert

Again with the goosebumps. Through the entire concert that was one of the best I’ve seen even after all these years.

Bun E. Carlos was not with them on the drums. Rick Nielsen’s son, Daxx, was. And he’s fabulous. I sat here in my living room, with my goosebumps thinking, “If I had been Rick Nielsen’s child, that would be me drumming for them!’

Daxx

LOL! I have crazy thoughts like that.

I do know one thing, in my next life when I come back as a rock guitarist, I’m going to have all those cool guitars like Rick Nielsen has.

For now, I’ll just be a RottSTAR. 🙂

Color my world

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So we’ve been back in Bartlesville for about a month now and it looks like at least I will be here for a little bit longer. I decided I wanted to paint the doors. It was time! 🙂

white door

I had seen a picture of a teal door in a magazine and I thought it would look great with the dark green trim and shingles on our white house.

Yesterday, we went to get some paint. I had teal in mind but was faced with this:

pantone_lauri_rottmayer

Oh pretty, pretty, pretty colors. Do I really want teal?

I love color and I’m also a Libra which makes me both very happy with a huge selection of colors and frustrated and my inability to pick just one.

I grabbed the teal but there was a most yummy blue called Turkish Tile.

turkish tile

Complete indecision. So I took the paint chips back to the where the shingle samples were and laid it all out.

chipsandshingle_lauri_rottmayer

Both colors look great with the dark green. ::sigh::

I have nothing blue except temporary navy curtains that are on all of our windows to keep the eyes of prying neighbors out of our house. One day, those will be replaced with something that makes more sense.

I started thinking that perhaps the blue would look garish if it were any bigger than the paint chip so in the end I went with the Lake Teal.

teal door lauri rottmayer

I like the way it turned out! 🙂

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society

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Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society: A NovelMiss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society: A Novel by Amy Hill Hearth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! I was drawn in immediately to the wonderful characters that make up the Collier County Women’s Literary Society and their stories. An unlikely grouping of people (one a man), their stories and dreams wove themselves together in this novel set in the early 1960s. I could not put the book down except for when I went to sleep. 🙂

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Punked…again

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By a box.

The first time was on April Fool’s Day. I was looking for dress shoes to wear to Lyndzee’s bachelorette activities. I knew exactly where my shoe boxes were because I remember feeling happy when we were unloading the truck and seeing boxes labeled “Lauri Shoes”.

shoes

When it came down to it, though  I could just find the one box. And when I opened it up? There were no shoes inside it.

Well played April Fooler.

Today, I was looking for my second slow cooker to take for Lyndzee’s rehearsal dinner. I went into the box that said, “2nd Slow Cooker” on the side and, you’ve got it, there was no slow cooker in the box.

slowcooker

Punked…again.

There were indeed baking and kitchen items in that box. I found our third blender. Who in the heck needs three blenders? But no crock pot.

I was also looking for a red raincoat that I have. I knew I had seen it but couldn’t remember which box. I opened up a box and found my Death Row tshirt.

deathrow

When Brandon was in high school he played at both tight end and defensive end. The boys on his O-line senior year called themselves the Death Row. And they were good. The team won the district championship that year. They also made me an honorary member of the Death Row. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling now just like the day Mike Crews gave the shirt to me. 🙂

Anyway, while I try and figure out what is in all of those boxes, I don’t believe a word of what’s written on the sides of them. And I’ll probably just leave them packed. Blender anyone? 😉

 

Please tell me who I am

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You know the Logical Song by Supertramp? I was just chasing the lyrics to that song around in my head because they say “please tell me who I am”.

There are some cute apps that will take your tweets and do just that. My first favorite is the Tweet Cloud. Here’s mine for the past three months.

Tweet Cloud Lauri Rottmayer

 

Well, I think that describes me perfectly! 🙂

This past week, I learned of a new app called twtrland. When I saw someone else’s, I knew I had to sign up and find out what it had collected about me.

Was there too much there that I didn’t know? No, but I did find a tweet I made that I may go down in history for. It’s Coco Chanel good.

Grammar

 

I’m currently using it as my facebook cover and my friend, Buffy, commented:

Best. Quote. Ever.

 

I agree. It’s a good one. I totally feel that way. 🙂

So, who are you?

The Thank You Economy

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The Thank You EconomyThe Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hesitated for a long time before reading this book. I loved Gary Vaynerchuk’s first book, Crush It!, SO much, I was afraid I’d be disappointed but I was not! This is a great book about how brands need to bring it back to the customer. Incredibly awesome customer service, let them know you care is what he recommends.

I believe that being thankful both personally and professionally is the way to go and The Thank You Economy was a huge confirmation of beliefs I already held. I loved the real life examples of companies, both large and small, who are employing these techniques with resultant booming business.

Thanks for another fabu book, Gary! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in customer service and getting closer to the people who keep you in business.

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Think Like a Rock Star

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Think Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies that Turn Customers into FansThink Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies that Turn Customers into Fans by Mack Collier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh how I loved this book! I was drawn in right from the start as the difference between how rock stars treat their fans and how brands treat their customers was laid out. With terrific, real life examples of how rock stars engage their fans to bring about an amazing, unbreakable connection, Collier gives step-by-step instructions for how you can bring your brand to rock star level. At the end of each chapter, you’ll find a Backstage Pass to help you work your plan. There is a lot of excellent information in this book for brands looking to forge a closer relationship with their customers. I give two thumbs up and rock and roll fingers to Think Like a Rock Star!

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