Mountain Girl Silver - Hand-Stamped Customized Silver Jewelry - Portland, Oregon

Please pardon my awful singing…..   but I had to share this…    ~Erika

The Hardest Part ~ Chris Martin of Coldplay, Phoenix, AZ 2008 

Well, here we are, approaching December already. Had a fabulous Thanksgiving afternoon with good food, good friends, and good spirits, despite the fatigue that is heavily, HEAVILY setting in on me. I can’t remember the last time I was as physically and mentally and after these last two days, emotionally exhausted. Heather and I headed off to Phoenix, AZ on Tuesday night. Our flight was delayed by four hours, so our arrival to our hotel was less than desirable. Going to bed at 3:30 am is just not something I like to do in my thirties. My twenties,, yah,, could get away with such an endeavor, but not anymore. So we got a good 3 or 4 hours of sleep on Tuesday night (or Wed am rather), got up, headed off to Mesa, AZ to visit a retailer that carries my jewelry (Room 4 Baby). OH… but wait,,, FIRST, first we hit IN N’ OUT burger. I feel like a kid on Christmas as I walk thru those doors. And like look around at all the locals in the joint with envy, if they only knew how damn good they have it. Having a single with onions and yummy fries at their expense whenever they want. Geesh. Naturally, I pick up my cell phone, right at that moment before that first bite is about to be taken, and take pictures of it, so that I can send text messages to all the peeps that aren’t as lucky as I am at that very moment.  But I could talk about In n’ Out allll night…. even as full of turkey and stuffing and yummy potato cassie I am..  

So after we hit Room 4 Baby, we headed back to the hotel because we just knew that if we didn’t take it easy, we wouldn’t be in good spirits for the show later on. Watched a coupla movies, ate some popcorn and got all gussied up for the show.  All I have to say at this point, is that Mapquest is hands down the WORST service to use when you really have to get somewhere. We got SO lost…. I mean,,,, so so so so lost. But still got to the show with time to spare. Grabbed some coconut shrimp, fish tacos and a beer at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville there at the arena. Met some pretty cool people at our shared table in the shape of a teak boat deck. A couple from Encinitas, California, and two gals from the area by way of Seattle, Washington. 

Into the arena we went. Immediately found the souvenir tables, dropped some bucks there, felt like 14 year olds with our giddy-ness, and found our seats. Our UNBELIEVABLE seats. We kept making our way down the stairs to the first set of risers, facing the stage, we were to the right. Took our seats, introduced ourselves to our respective neighbors (who were quite pleasant, even tho’ the chick sitting next to Heather had on thee worst perfume ever made, and I think (according to Heather) she bathed in it. Yuck. We had missed the opening band, and so after they were done, a kid got up on stage, like a mixing, dj type. Long story short.. huge screen with video images of birds turning into sharks, women faces turning into snakes, and the bass he was blasting was enough to make me want to actually leave my seat and wait outside until Coldplay started. I’m sure tho’ that all the folks in the place tripping on either acid, shrooms, ecstacy or whatever else were having a grand old time. So 9pm rolls around, and the curtain goes down, VIVA in big bold lettering was lit up on the back wall, my adrenaline started rushing, my fists were white knuckled, and it took all of my strength to not act all crazy like chicks did when Elvis came out on stage long ago……

They came out with a bang, played several songs from their older albums (which I was hoping for), but then they played most of their new album. But every song there was some sort of just jaw dropping entertainment. They even picked up and hiked way up to the rafters in the back of the arena to play “The Scientist” right next to some seriously LUCKY people. They played literally 5 yards from me and Heather on one of the protruding fingers of the stage. If the video I shot of “The Hardest Part” wasn’t like 7 mins long, I’d put it on here. PHEE-NOM-IN-AL show…..  The best concert I’ve ever been to. I saw them three years ago in Oakland, Ca, and said the very same thing after that one, but again, they have trumped themselves. I must sound like a total wierdo, groupie type or something, but there’s just something about the way Chris Martin sings and plays the piano that really tugs at me. His lyrics are so beautiful and real. Truly an inspiration in so many ways. All four of them are so talented…..    Ol Gwyneth Paltrow is one lucky woman ;c)  

So after it was all over, and we were totally shocked and awwwed, we found our car, sat in traffic for 30 mins getting out of the parking lot, made it back to the hotel and managed to get into bed by 1, only to get our wake up call at 5am so that we could make our 8 am flight.  Touched down here in Portland at 10am, jetted home, started cooking the feast, and then ate our hearts out, and literally I am keeping my eyelids open with toothpicks. Chances are some of this blog will make no sense…. But I’m not even going to edit it, just hit “publish”……… In closing, I just want to say that I am SO very thankful for SO many things. But I’m most thankful at this very moment that the kids are in bed, the kitchen is cleaned and my bed is callin’ my name!! Goodnight and Happy Thanksgiving!!I I wonder if Neen will put up her Christmas tree tomorrow…?? ha ha

I wonder how many blog posts people start out with TGIF??  We were supposed to have the new house inspection today, but for whatever reason, the other end didn’t de-winterize the house so that a proper inspection could take place.  And the sun is shining today…..  would’ve been a perfect day for it. I’ve decided (for now at least) that I’m not going to stamp today. I’ve stamped all afternoon, everyday, since Sunday. The holidays are in full swing. Heather is headed out of town tonight for the beach with her family, so I’ll be flying solo here in Oregon until Sunday afternoon. I may just have to break down and polish… blah… Heather has got me spoiled.  

Like I said, the sun is shining today. Always a good thing here in Oregon. Puts a whole new spin on the day. Not so damn crabby when the sun is out. Want to bust out my work this morning and then take Maggie and Loosha to the park or something. I made Lu Lu a new dog tag for her collar. I’m waiting on shipment of these little nifty dog bone tags so that I can start offering them as a product. New sterling rectangle key chains should be releasing pretty soon too… they are uber sweet. Just trying to get some new products up and running for the last couple of weeks of the holiday rush. 

Headed out of town on Tuesday night, off to Phoenix, so there will be a couple of days that I won’t be able to stamp, but I’m sure the work will be sitting here when I get back on Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to eat me some stuffin’ ;c)  I made my holiday cut off this year the 12th of December. In years past, I’d wait until the very last second to fill those last minute orders for people who waited too long. This year I’m putting my foot down!!  Need to enjoy my Christmas…  continue tradition with my kids, bake, send out my cards, etc etc etc… I love the holidays. Kith n’ kin Muggs… ha ha My folks are headed up this way for Christmas this year, which I’m looking forward to immensely. They’ve never been up here for Christmas, and it’s been like 3 or 4 years since we’ve spent Christmas down in California with them and the rest of my family. ONE OF THESE YEARS,,,  maybe I can convince the whole clan to get their butts up here!!  My wish this year, is for it to snow…..  dump mad amounts of snow so that we are all bound up in our homes for days on end….  Is that asking too much? 

Enough rambling for now… I’m just glad it’s Friday!!!

Well, long story short, the bank accepted our counter-offer, and we now have check in hand, and we are now faced with the big “MOVING” word. So I get up this morning promptly at 6:45am, even tho’ I was up all night with sick Maggie. Let me tell you how comfortable a twin bed is for two, not to mention she was burning up the entire night as she won’t take her medicine. It will be a pure miracle if I don’t come down with this plague…… I swear.. it’s the worst!!  Anyways,, back to my point. So I woke up this morning, and this is what I woke up to ——————————>> And naturally and habitually, I run to get my camera before my eyes are even open and my brain is even working. But honestly, it is VERY hard for me to think of leaving this view. I know I’ve been rambling about it for a couple of blog posts now, but it’s just getting harder and harder. And it’s not even until winter-time when the mountain is completely covered with snow is it at the peak of it’s beauty…  

But,, here we go..offer is accepted, and the fun begins. Fortunately we don’t have to put this house on the market until after the holidays. The mere thought of having to uproot this place and move the house, kids, animals, as well as the business just seems so daunting that it makes me want to puke. So I’m thanking my lucky stars that we don’t have to up and leave. The new place needs much work before we can even move in, so this is what we will be doing the next couple months. Preparing the new place so that we can move in.  On the other side of the coin, we have been tackling every last un-done project we’ve “intended” to tackle from the time we moved in here. The backsplash material has finally been bought. Hubby sanded and primed the deck for painting today as well as pressure washed the driveway and touch up painted places on the house. Painting over the handprints in essence……. :c(    I dunno,,, it’s just becoming harder and harder everyday the thought of moving from this house. There are many bennies of moving to the new place. As there, there is S P A C E.  Space to garden, space to run, space to throw a baseball, space for the dog to run, space to run around naked if we want to……   just our space,, OUR woods.  We don’t have much space here at this house, but we look out at a vast, vast, awesome space. It boggles me how people can look out our window and say that there isn’t a God……   I thank God everyday for the beauty that surrounds me!!

So hubby just left a big ago with our realtor, Joe,  from Soldera Properties. One of the best realtors in the Portland Metro Area (in my opinion). Guy has stones…..,   wit, a grand sense of humor, and is just a “real” person. Very rare these days. So they are out there at the property, and Eric is snapping pics (hopefully) and making a list of all the things that need to be done before it is in any condition to move in. I’m sorry, but a shower in the masterbath is a necessity in my opinion.  All I can say is that we have a long road ahead of us in terms of getting the new house ready. The piece of property it is on is golden. I’m excited to be able to mow grass with a gas mower!! Change is on the horizon!!! But a view of Mt. Hood is not unfortunately :c(. 

It’s all good tho’.  One of my many new mantras is “It is what it is”   … and….  well… that’s exactly what it is. Life is sooooo short, so so so short. I never really understood the stupid statement until now in my early thirties. Life is indeed short. And while I’ve always been one to crave change, I’ve sort of accustomed myself here and become a creature of habit. I’m hoping that with our change in environment, it will trigger needed change in my own personal life. 

But for now, I must get off here and go try and bribe Maggie to take her Motrin and to get things started for dinner. My friend, Heather, and I are headed out to dinner tonight together. I’m looking forward to some time away from the kids, as I can honestly say I can’t remember when the last time was that I was away from them for more than an hour. And yes, Maggie is sick, but Anders was sick allllll last week. So it was double duty for me all week, not to mention stamping roughly I dunno (How many disks Heather??  Last week?) I lost count.  I need some ME time. Any stay at home mommy can attest to the importance of “ME” time… it’s priceless…. AND essential.  G’nite….

It was a gorgeous Friday!! The sun was shining, the tank is clean…..   The end of Fall is right around the bend and the hints of winter are popping up.  It was one of those crystal clear “Hood” days here at my house. The mountain just stood out big and bold w/ fresh snow dusting the bottom quarter. The sign that winter is indeed on it’s way. My poor Maggie came down with whatever it was that Anders had this whole entire week. Today, he finally went back to school, and when he came home from school today, he mentioned that when he walked in this morning, his teacher said,, “Look everybody, Anders has risen from the dead!!”   It was an awful virus … and now Maggie has it.  Winter time…. fun times…… I opted to get my flu shot on Tuesday (Veteran’s Day) when I took Anders in for his strep culture, as i was sure he had it. But it came out negative. Gives me hope for Maggie.

I got A LOT of stuff done today. A lot of stamping, a lot of invoicing, as Maggie, while home being sick, was passed out on the couch all day. She slept pretty much all day.  It was a productive sort of sympathetic day. I hate it when my babies are sick. You feel so helpless. And I find that I’m probably being totally obnoxious.. i.e.  ”Do you want Gatorade?”… NO,,,, “do you want some water with ice in it?”… NO… “how bout some french fries with ketchup?”…..   Meanwhile sticking the thermometer in her ear every 10 mins…  

I’m just crossing my fingers that I don’t come down with it,,, OR my husband for that matter, as I’m headed to Phoenix next week to see Coldplay with my friend, Heather.  Knowing my luck, and if trend continues, I’ll be sick for the trip. I don’t think I’ve been on one trip or vacation in the last three years where I didn’t have a head cold. And one can only take so much airborne before the bowels start gettin’ all jiggy with it. Maybe I’ll get lucky.  Maybe I’ve already had it. Or maybe the flu shot I got this week will prevail.  We shall see. Hope you all have a good weekend. I’m hoping the rain continues to stay off the coast… much yard work must be done this week. Perhaps some bulb planting is in order…..  I love the pretty red tulips…..   g’nite..

And I should really be out in the living room with the hubby,,, but I just had to share my day.

Among the hundreds of things I did today, I made three cuffs that really stand out in my mind. There are things that I make that just sometimes stick with me for awhile. The necklaces for an entire oncology department at a hospital, the baby cuffs for baptisms, the necklaces for the twins that just were adopted from China….   but today I made three cuffs that really stand out. Two of them were for a woman who is from Ontario, Canada who, along with a friend of hers, is going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa this December. So, this gal wanted to commemorate their climb with a cuff for each of them. Now, normally I don’t like using my mountain signature stamp as part of a piece. It’s on there somewhere, but I don’t oxidize it to make it stand out. But this woman wanted me to use my mountain stamp along with the date of their climb.  I had to make an exception…. just too cool of a thing not to.  Then,, I did a cuff for a woman who is severely allergic to three specific types of drugs. Drugs that could inevitably kill her if she were injected or given any of them. Big bold lettering across the front of the cuff with the names. She said that she felt she was being an irresponsible parent to be driving around in  a car with the risk of getting into an accident, knowing that at any time, she could be given lethal drugs to her system that would ultimately end her life, and in turn, end the life of her children’s mother. Some of you might think that it is paranoid,, but if you knew just how allergic she is to these things, (things that you or I could take regularly), then you’d think differently.

But then, at the end of my day today, hubby got home, and brought home dinner for all of us. I REALLY didn’t feel like cooking tonight. Anders has been home all week with THEE nastiest cold I think I’ve ever really witnessed. I actually took him to the doc yesterday for a strep culture. Fortunately it came back negative, but it’s still discouraging as I saw him walk into the kitchen this morning covering Maggie’s mouth and they were both giggling about some bad word that he made her say. She runs in to tell me,,, only to have his germ ridden hand all up in her mouth……….EGADS…..  It’s inevitable  …  She’ll get it.   Anyways,,… so after we ate, I tootled off to my group. I don’t even want to call it a “parenting” class, albeit most topics begin with parenting, but ultimately end up in wayyyyy different directions from where we start talking. Tonight was a relieving night for me. There were a couple of new faces in the group, and I’m sure it will be a couple more months before we all show our faces. I’m just hooked, and it’s only the 2nd time we’ve met this year. But tonight was good. Like Ann says, “Women need to get together” and “Nobody gets us like we do”….   amen to that. I’m not MAN bashing or anything, but when you are a mom, you are the glue that holds everything together. And when the glue gets a little soft and you feel like you are about to explode into tears, it isn’t until THEN that the people around you (your hubby and your kids) actually notice. It takes a weak moment,,, (and I shouldn’t say weak),, but a real, true, emotional outburst to make a point. Which is pretty sad when you think about it. But that’s just the way that it is for the majority of us.  So many good points were brought up tonight. You walk away from this group feeling a mixture of things. The list of things to work on as a parent gets longer everytime I go, but yet the list of the things I “thought” I needed to work on gets a little bit shorter. It’s wierd…. and sounds like it doesn’t make sense, but I’m so glad I’m in this group.  It’s refreshing to know that there are women out there, moms, in somewhat the same frustrating situation that I am in,,, that we ALL are in.  It’s all good. In other words, I can go to bed tonight knowing that I learned something today.  And the older I get, I’m learning to accept who I am. Granted, there are things in the parenting realm that really need some undivided attention. But it’s so hard to run a business from home,  and be a stay at home mom.   tough cookies…  

So we should find out in a couple more days or so what the broker thinks about our offer on the house. Hmmm  For some odd reason, I’m just not chomping at the bit to know either way. Maybe that’s just maturity. Maturity to know that what will be will be.  But for now, I’m just going to continue to love the house I’m in. It’s Our home…  Whether or not we get to make a new place Our Home…. well,,, that’s in someone else’s hands for now.  Good night…..

OH MY GOSH…..   I’ve always heard people talk of “cleaning out their house” … or “spring cleaning”…. But never EVER have I cleaned my house the way we cleaned it out today. There were a few tears, opening boxes that hadn’t been opened in years. Stuff from my Grandma, letters from my boyfriend when he was in naval bootcamp, Anders’ receiving blankets from when he was an infant, my high school volleyball sweatshirts, my high school track medals, old rocks from the central pacific shores of California from when I was a teenager……  and old pipe…  lol   

It was a teeter totter sort of day. Something in one hand, something in the other, which one was the thing going in the bag, which would go out in the dumpster. We had to really huss in the buss this weekend, as we only have the dumpster till tomorrow afternoon I think.  Made three trips to the goodwill. Guy looked at me funny. What blows me away is that you get a receipt at the goodwill for a tax write off…..  I felt guilty leaving all my stuff just right there on the concrete for the poor guy to sort through. I mean,, you should see how some of those boxes were packed. Legos in with drinking glasses, old cross country ski boots in with the stuffed animals. Awful.  But I swear, this house is about 3 tons lighter than it was on Friday. Still a little sad with some of the things I had to part with. But you sit there and say to yourself, (or your husband kindly reminds you that you haven’t used the thing in 10 years)  ”Self, just do it.. just chuck it,, you don’t need it, nor will you ever have a use for it in the future. It’s in your past, it will stay in your past, and need I remind you that you are moving forward”….   

What was really tough is that Anders has been sick all day. Not puking or anything, but he’s had a high high fever for a couple of days now, and today was his worst day. Running up and down the stairs with boxes in hand, I’d pop in on him and see how he was doing. Feeling his forehead, pumping him with motrin. He looked at me during his 4th bath this afternoon and said,, “Mommy, (while tearful), I just wish I was a different person right now.” “I wish that there was a fairy that could wave her wand and just make me be a different person.” Poor kid.  Then there was Maggers, when everytime we’d toss a VERY old toy into a bag for the Goodwill…….  out it came with an “I play with that!!!”    She’d tootle off onto something else and we’d sneak it right back in the bag or box. Note to self, DO NOT CLEAN OUT YOUR CHILDRENS TOYS WHILE THE CHILDREN ARE PRESENT…….   duh..   like I said.. time crunch..

Okay,, off to watch Desperate Housewives…  ;c)  I’m pooped….

Just when you think you are in control of something…  ha ha  OR, better yet, just when you think you have gained a little more control over a situation….S M A C K …. something else comes along and the control is even farther out of your grasp, and you’re sitting there with more ground to gain. The cycle of life. Okay, so move to Montana is out. Thank God!!!  While the space we’d been given would’ve been awesome, my sister was right, we’d been freezing our asses off!! And who knows, maybe someday we will end up in the upper midwest/northwest (whatever you wanna call it), but for now………….   So then the next evening, or the next morning, hubby calls me and tells me to take a look at a listing here in the area. Up river about 3 miles, land, cabin-ish sort of place. Now….  let me just say that I’m in LOVE with the house that we live in. It’s home…..   but we don’t have all that much room outside, and our neighbors are V E R Y close together. In other words, there is no running out naked to get the Sunday morning paper. So we went and checked out this place. Our house is going on the market on Monday. So if you want a house in West Linn, with a killer view of Mt. Hood and yadda yadda yadda….. give me a shout ;c)   Seriously tho’…..   it’s exciting to think of change. It may or may not happen, as anything in life is never a done deal until you sign on the dotted line, but maybe this new place will be the next stop on our drive through life. I’m crossing my fingers, and just thanking GOD that we aren’t moving to Montana (no offense Montanians)  I don’t think I’d be able to handle the cold. So until next time, I’m just going to keep on driving, and hopefully not be driven crazy……..   that’d be a short trip ….

I guess I didn’t really take my husband seriously last week when he came home and said,, “Hey, there is a position opening up in Montana.”… 

We’ve visited this “moving” thing a MILLION times in the last 5 years. Actively searched real estate in Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Washington and I thinkkkkkkkk California. Heck, we’ve even made the bold move of making a road trip to Idaho to check out a potential city to work in,, but everything always turned out less-appealing than beautiful Oregon. 

Being the in the military, and having moved around as much as I did, “change” sort of started flowing thru my veins as much as blood. So after we had Anders, and moved from San Diego, Ca to Seattle, Washington, I thought that that was the last move. But then we ended up here in Portland, Oregon. We’ve been here for what is it now? Like 6 years, which is the LONGEST I have ever lived anywhere post graduating from high school and joining the Coast Guard. We then had Maggie and as our family has grown, our roots have sort of started taking hold here in Oregon. I started this business, kids are in the school system, the “community” factor is a huge card and well, FRIENDS…..  FRIENDS are near and dear to me. The thought of leaving my friends, OUCH!!!    

But you see, growing up I never had boundaries. Meaning, if I walked out my front door, I could walk in any given direction for DAYS and would never come upon a fence. Which ultimately gave me imagination, the ability to think clearly, and the need to roam and wander freely. That’s not to say my folks would send us out in winter time when the snow was 10 feet tall and we literally had to craft a way out to the car, which, would then need at LEAST 30 mins to warm up and thaw. My point is, is that I would give anything to allow my kids to have that sort of freedom. The freedom to get up and go out and feed the animals. To be able to have actual camp outs in their own backyard. I’d particularly enjoy going out my front door w/ little to nothing on w/out fear of anyone seeing me. That would be ideal.  Having to drive something that NEEDED to be 4 wheel drive to go get some milk. Odd as it seems, that just sounds FUN to me.  But if this move does indeed happen, and I’m still blogging while living in Montana, please remind me of this conversation ;c)  Chances are, it won’t. We are all creatures of habit. We get into our grooves, and always hear of others moving to and fro across the country for jobs/family/etc.  But it never seems to be us. I guess the only two things, three actually, that would prevent me from moving, would be…   My family. Even though we don’t live close enough to drive to each others’ doorsteps, the flight is a mere hour and 20 mins. Piece of cake with kids.  Two.. would be the fact that my best friend and production assistant, Heather, lives just down the hill from us, so the business would take a huge hit. I’d have to step it up and take over all production until I could find help in Montana. Not to mention taking away a job for her and her family.  And thirdly, the view in which I wake to every morning. My day is welcomed by the most breathtaking view, and it would be VERY hard to leave it. In fact, I’d like to say that no matter where we moved, we’d never get the same view that we have here at this house. It really does help me, when the rain won’t stop. I can at least see the horizon, and the trees…

So…. I guess tonight we’re supposed to talk about it…..   amongst dinner, bathtime for the kids, bedtime for the kids, homework… you name it.

So tonight I’m headed to the city to watch a U2 animated sort of show at a museum. Sounds kind of lame when you say “museum”,, but seriously, how can you go wrong when Bono is involved?  Apparently you lay back in a planetarium setting and the music is blasting and you just go for a wild musical ride. U2 takes me back, on many levels. A coupla songs take me back to high school, a few take me back to my stint in the Coast Guard, and one in particular takes me back to when I fell in love with my husband…….  I’ve never seen U2 live, so I don’t know what sort of emotions a full blown concert would rise up in me. But I’m excited for tonight. 

I’ve always been a music junkie. As Ann Brown put it the other night, that as humans, some of us prefer to listen to sad/depressing songs when we are sad. And that music, we just relate to, in our own ways. I’ve been to soooo many concerts. And have tickets booked to go see Coldplay in Phoenix this month with my friend and production assistant, Heather. There is just something about being at a concert, and just being surrounded by music that trips my trigger.  I remember my dad always saying to me, “Erika, you and your music!!”  I can’t help it. Music gets me through my days. When I’m down below stamping, you can bet that I’m either jamming to my favorite radio station, KNRK 94.7fm here in Portland, or I’ve got my Ipod on the dock jamming to my “recently added” artists. But if I’m not really in the mood to stamp and work, I’ve discovered that if I turn on the flat screen on the wall to a satellite radio station and it’s going into the left side of my head, it gets me in the mood to work. That whole “left brain/right brain” thing really is legit. Well, when it comes to music, for me at least.

 I remember when I got my first car when I was 16. A 1972 VW Beetle. I get in, sit down, rub the rim of the steering wheel with both hands like a kid on Christmas, and then noticed that there was INDEED an 8-track player there in the dash, only to look in the glovebox to find that there were two 8-track cassettes. One was Barry Manilow, and I can’t remember the other, but I remember looking at my dad who was standing with his elbow on the top of the opened driver door and saying, “Well,,, what do you think? You think it’s worth all the money you’ve saved so far?”  HA HA HA….  Heck yah it was, and then I proceeded to diligently work my arse off for the next three months for enough money for a nice tape deck, which I installed myself. Good times… good times.  I still miss that bug, and had to sell it while in the military, as I don’t think it would’ve quite made it from Long Beach, Ca to Keokuk, Iowa upon receiving my transfer orders.  

I guess I don’t really have a point to this story, other than the fact that my life and the way I live it and how I live it and how I raise my kids and how I run my business… beats to a drum…  and I’ve been told many a time that it beats to a different one. I’m proud of that.