I don’t want to get old.

Today at work I got a phone call from an irritated industry veteran, angry and confused about why my team had handled an announcement the way we had. I explained our strategy and he told me he didn’t see how that could be considered a strategy. Simply put, we are doing things the new way.

I felt bad for him. I like things the old way too, but now we have the new way.

I love the new way. It is challenging. It is exciting. It is constant change. I’m not old, but I still find myself feeling behind from time to time. It takes work and you have to keep up. That is half the fun.

I don’t know who said it, but it’s true: you can’t stop technology, so you might as well find a way to leverage it for your use.

Someone else said you’re not old till you stop learning. I say you’re not old till you stop trying new things. I feared that if I had brought up Twitter on my appeasing phone call today, I might have put the person on the other end of the phone in the hospital.

I’m not saying that everyone needs to tweet about Bieber Fever on their iPads 24/7, but as soon as you shut out the next big thing, you’re making yourself un-relatable. You’re isolating yourself. What exactly are you trying to prove by not participating in Facebook, for example? You think that leaving yourself out is going to convince millions of people that what they’re doing is a waste of time?

If this is how people are talking, I guess you better join the conversation…if you want to be heard.

I’m fixating on technology here, but it goes for just about everything. Young people are the future, and if you want to stay young, keep asking questions. Find out what the kids are doing these days. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with what they’re doing. Even when I was a kid, I was disagreeing with what the kids were doing.

In short: curiosity is what makes youth young, and I hope to stay young by keeping curious about what’s current.

Anyone else run into this? Do you ever feel like you’re getting prematurely old because you don’t understand the new way of doing something?

Inspiration Board.

Today, Meredith at Just Lovely posted some inspiration boards that she'd made to help her decorate her newly remodeled house (and I cannot WAIT to see before and afters, lady!), and forgive me for riding on her coattails, but I thought it might be a good opportunity to share with you my new online inspiration board, The Nesting Doll.

Now, if you go look at it, be nice, and remember, it's just my inspiration board. Nothing is original (for now), just a gathering of pretty things from around the Web, but I always give credit. And for all of you nesting dolls (do you get that name? I hope people get it), I have a growing list of blogs full of little pretties that you can spend days drooling over.

I'm just starting and well...I hope I keep it up. Because it's fun.

Cookies

If you know me in real life, you know that my family has a thing about chocolate chip cookies. The past few years, I have shamed the family name with ridiculously bad cookies.

They burn, or they go flat, or they're too cakey, or I forget some key ingredient (I know, I know).

But tonight, I made cookies and it was just like old times. They worked like they are supposed to for the first time in probably, seriously, four years.

I decided that I owe it to the cookie sheets. You know, those heavy, aluminum cookie sheets? I finally have two of them, just like my mom has, and her mom, and hers...

For the longest time, I told myself that these cookie sheets were hard to find, but then I got one at my bridal shower and decided to just scope out the baking section of my favorite Springville Walmart during a routine perusing, and what did I see but the good old fashioned Nordic Ware cookie sheets of my dreams, and I bought one to complete my budding set.

Ten dollars for one. Now I know they aren't hard to find, it was just hard for me to spend ten dollars on a cookie sheet while living with the risk that a roommate might ruin/steal it (and let's be honest...)

But this new roommate I have, he's not much of a baker. And he isn't moving out at the end of the semester. So we're allowed to have ten dollar cookie sheets.

Three cheers for cookies that would make mom proud!

Happy Girl

I saw this image over at dress design decor (originally from Martha Stewart Weddings Spring 2010 issue) and wanted to pass it along.

Don't you just love Audrey Hepburn?

Do you need a place to live through the summer?

Then leave me a comment. I'm selling my housing contract. Rent is $405 but I'm flexible on that. I can also throw in a 24" TV/DVD combo with the deal (since the place doesn't come with a TV). Here's the info:

Rent the master suite in this beautiful, spacious, clean town home in South Provo!

The rent is $405, but, you could easily be paying $450 for a master suite in this neighborhood, so this is a great price.

The room is large with a private bathroom, and tons of storage in the walk-in closet. The town home itself has two other tenants and is a three bedroom, two and a half bath. It has lots of windows and light, a large pantry in the kitchen and a full unfinished basement with TONS of storage space.

Amenities:

*Private bedroom

*Private bath

*Walk-in closet

*Tons of storage space

*Washer and dryer included

*Furnished with bed, desk, dresser and bookshelf

*Free cable

*Covered Parking

*Lots of light

The contract goes through August with an option to renew for another year. The roommates are kind and quiet, and the area is social with a good mix of singles and families, students and working professionals, etc.

You will love it here! Please email me with any questions or to schedule an appointment to see the house.

Thanks!

So, here’s a thing.

***

POST EDIT:

IT HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT MARTHA STEWART IS ALREADY IN WALMART STORES. PHASE 2 HAS COMMENCED. HEADING FOR THE HILLS IS ADVISED, ALTHOUGH I DON'T DOUBT GOOGLE'S ABILITY TO FIND YOU THERE, TOO.

***

OK, two things.

1. Thanks for the wedding day advice! I knew you would come through for me, like always. Keep it rolling in.

2. Martha Stewart.

Her paint is now at The Home Depot. And that’s fine, only they’ve ousted Ralph Lauren’s paint line to make room for it. (I know, I know.)

And I didn’t find out about this switch-a-roo until after the fact, when it was too late to go get one of each of Ralphie’s chips (I know, I know).

Le sigh.

I’m also acutely aware that whenever I do decorating-type posts on this blog, no one cares.

But don’t you care that Martha Stewart is slowly taking over the universe? The only places you don’t see her are at Walmart and on the Google logo.

Walmart, Google and Martha Stewart: The deadly combo that will create the tri-opoly that will at once democratize and homogenize everything anyone ever does at any time, ever, forever. They just have a handshake agreement now not to tread into each others’ markets, slowly gobbling up all the competition in their respective areas of expertise, then boom!

What happens when the boom hits, I don’t know, but Google sure knows where you live already and once Walmart buys the government, all your furnishings can be replaced by those of the Martha Stewart variety, tout de suite.

Just watch your back and guard your Thomas-O'Brien-for-Target-loving heart.

March Madness, Wedding Edition.

{Take a gander at our gaga gorgeous groomal flowers from last weekend. J' adore.}

Well friends, it’s now wedding month, or as I like to call it, March Madness. We sure have a lot to do…moving, packing for the honeymoon, logistics and delegating on the wedding day, blah, blah, blah.

We have never done this before. And, since we plan on never doing it again, we have to make it perfect (ie, low stress/enjoyable/organized) the first time. What advice do you have for us?

Please, let’s let YOU run YOUR little know-it-all mouths around here for once.