To be honest I’m not too well versed with the kind of planes that are jet planes and that aren’t.  Defining of planes is not a strong suit of mine.  Does it really matter what kind of plane I’m flying on?  Are you that superficial.

Look… I’m getting on some sort of aircraft at some point today and flying to Austin.  Okay.

Stop asking me so many questions.  I’m getting on a plane at some point.  And then off.  And then sitting around waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting…….  Before eventually getting on another plane that will at some point get me to Austin so I can go to SXSW!

OMFG!!!

What?

You aren’t excited for me?  Clearly you’re not aware of how much I wanted to go last year but was denied due to poor planning and timing.  Anyway… I have nothing else for you today because I’m traveling.  But maybe if you’re good I’ll post something interesting about my trip soon.

Or just, you know… put up some pictures of me eating BBQ and drinking.

Good with you?

Good with me.

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Yesterday was my birthday.  My 33rd birthday to be specific and look at that… I let the day go by without a blog post.  Hmmm.  How did that happen?  How did I not remember to mark my special day with a blog post etched indelibly on the face of the internet?

Oh that’s right.  I was far too busy.  Like seriously busy.  Doing stuff.

Or um..

Okay no.  It was my fucking birthday so I did exactly what I wanted to do which, as it turns out, was very little.

I ran my kid to school, did a few errands and then came home and for the majority of the day laid in my bed reading stuff, napping and generally lazing about.  That was all before I got up and put clothes on… well back on and went out for dinner and drinks.

Then it was home for drinks and lots of giggling while watching some as yet unreleased videos recorded in the SLL studio before, just as it began my birthday ended at the stroke of midnight.

But all is not lost babies.  As I smiled and stretched this morning a surly little girl informed me that I should enjoy “Happy being 33 day”.

Oh.

Really?

I should enjoy this day, which is now known as “Happy Being 33 Day” as well.

Well sure then, I can’t argue with that.  It’s solid logic.  I mean I thought today was going to be crazy busy what with my mom arriving, cleaning the house, prepping for a show, trying to make a meeting, getting ready to leave for Austin and getting everything ready for K’s birthday party upon my return.

But you know… guess that means I have time to go get that mani/pedi this morning after all…

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Tonight is Ignite Portland 8.  It’s part of Global Ignite week which is very exciting for all sorts of people all over the place.  Really it is.  Do you like how I just cut to the chase there?  Yeah.  I really got right into it because I’ve already written a post about attending Ignite today.

Well it wasn’t so much about attending Ignite as it was a gentle little reminder for people who ARE attending Ignite to bring a donation of non-perishable food.  30 Hour Day will be there collection food for the Oregon Food Bank.  Rather than repeat myself further I’ll just ask you to go ahead and go read the post I already wrote.  It’s possible it was clever and thoughtful and I don’t think I have it in me to do that again today.

Can’t make it tonight?  Not in Portland?  Still want to see the show.  There will be a livestream embedded in the Ignite Portland site.  You can watch it there when the show starts at 7 PM.

Now I’m off to go lead the exciting life that is mine.  laundry folding, kitchen cleaning, kid picking up and maybe I’ll paint me nails.

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This morning when I woke, and yes this is one of those posts that start with me waking up to some amazing realization so try to contain yourself, I was just a little happier than was strictly necessary for any morning let alone 6:30 in the morning on a Monday with the sound of an alarm going off.  I stretched, arched my back and then reached for my iPhone to check messages and emails.  I smiled as I rolled back over.  Before I even looked at my messages I remembered something good.  Something great.  Something that makes me giggle every year.

I looked and realized that once again K had climbed into my bed sometime late at night while I was sleeping so I brushed her little cheek and told her to rise and shine.  She opened one eye and looked at me before closing it tight again and pretending to be asleep. But then a moment came over her… I could watch it on her face and she realized the very same thing that I had.  And she smiled an evil little grin so similar to my own.

“Mama, It’s March now isn’t it?”

I giggled and nodded and she gave me a hug and a kiss before gathering her motley crew of stuffed animals and blanket that she drags into my room each night and headed out of my room noting that she had woken up on the right side of the bed today and that her birthday is soon.  SO SOON.  She is very excited about her birthday.

And her birthday, which i too am excited about, is much closer to the end of the month than the beginning.

Mine on the other hand?  Hee hee.  Mine is soon.

Happy March!

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It was nearly 3 years ago that I decided, not for the first time in my life, to chop off most of my hair.  It’s been long, short and half shaved.  Blond, black, red, white, purple and burgundy.  The one constant with my hair since the age of 14 has been change.

But when I cut it short the last time?  I felt kind of sad.  Normally shearing off my locks brought a sense of relief.  Of giddiness.  Some sense of satisfaction.  I was troubled at the time and needed a change.  My hair was my go to opportunity to make a little difference.  Add some lightness back into my life, but it didn’t sit well.

I kept it cropped for about a year though before I decided it was time to grow it back out.  Waiting patiently for some sign it was getting long.  It seemed to take forever.  growing out slowly bit by bit, trying to keep my hair dressers scissor’s at bay.  I let her cut the back to clean it up, trim my bangs when I realized I wanted to keep them, other than that I said no to scissors.

But still I waited for it to get long.  People began to comment. To mention how long it was getting.  I smiled.  Waiting.  It wasn’t there yet.  I knew there would be some sign.  Something would happen to let me know that I was once again the proud owner of long hair… I waited.  Wondered.  Hoped.

Until this morning when I zipped my hair up in my jacket on my way out the door.

Yep.  It’s long now.

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My mornings start relatively early.  With the blare of my alarm.  A cloud of confused thought as I fall out of a dream.  The stretching of muscles and the cool soft fabric of my sheets on my toes as I reach with them for a part of the bed my skin hasn’t warmed.

Oh and the talking, so much talking, which is more effective for thwarting my attempts to curl back up, pressing my face into my pillow to slip back into dreamland.

The talking doesn’t stop so I roll out of bed searching for clothing to wear just long enough to get the day going.  Usually yesterday’s shirt and jeans are close at hand as I pull them on still tired, still confused but smiling because a memory catches me.  Also, the talker has moved into another room to start her day.  That helps.

Up and dressed I drift about my morning, making breakfast, coffee, packing lunch.  Setting out clothing, braiding hair, uttering reminders about brushing teeth and tying shoes until in one big last flurry of activity I usher K out the front door and out into the world.

And today?  This morning?  That world was surrounded by blue skies and lit by bright rays of sun.  Even as cold wind pressed against me freezing my ears and whipping straight through my leather jacket, I could feel the sun warming my dark hair, kissing my face and bringing a smile to my lips.

I put my sunglasses on and reach to take my daughter’s hand as we start down the steps of our house when suddenly my moment of bliss with the unexpected February sunshine is shaken as my daughter tugs on my hand and asks quietly “Mama, do you think there is any chance, at all, that it might rain today?  I’d really like to use my new umbrella.”

I shook my head slowly and hugged her.  As much as I was loving the warmth of the sun and the feeling of scrunching up my face to hold the bright light out of my eyes, I wished in that moment that the sky would open up just for her so she could skip to school happy, dry and safe under the protection of her new pink polka dot umbrella.

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My child, and I like to assume all the other children in the world do this too as it makes me feel better, only wakes up early when it is least opportune for me.

And on Christmas.

On a normal school day?  Impossible to get her out of bed until 7.  On a Saturday she’s up at 6.  Late start day at school, like today where I don’t have to have her there until 10 AM?  She’s up at 5:30.

Not just up, but up and happy and smiling and singing and dancing and reading comic books and giggling.  And as much as I tell her 7,000 times to -play quietly-shh-stop that-let mama sleep-knock it off- I can’t help but revel in her morning joy.

Until I fall back asleep again.  Then it’s all about how much I hate my alarm clock.

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I’ve been quiet here.  Not a peep out of me for a week… what has the world come to when Cami Kaos isn’t babbling incessantly?  There’s been too much and not enough and yet I’ve found time to smile and play and live life in a very happy, if cramped sort of way.

I’m hoping you can take a moment to find joy in an ordinary place.  I’ll be back soon.  I promise.

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Last night we ventured downtown in a swirl of Portland mist and setting sun.  We were out on a mission.  An outing.  An adventure.

First and most importantly my daughter had a gift card to an accessories store that had been burning a hole in her pocket since Christmas.  She was in desperate NEED of new earrings, like RIGHT NOW!!!

The aforementioned store only exists inside malls. Malls are not exactly what I would consider a joyous place to spend the day (usually… I make exceptions from time to time for certain malls for specific reasons…).  For reasons known only to the universe though my daughter, much like other nearly 8 year old girls I assume, loves the mall.  She jabbered with excitement as we took the short trip into downtown.  She giggled with joy.  I thought it was just because she wanted to go earring shopping and go to dinner, so imagine my surprise when she asked, once again “Mama, when you get your knew iPhone can I please PLEASE have yours.  It’ll be just like a Touch then”.

Kids these days.

Yes the mall trip was not just for earrings, food and wandering.  It was a mission to get me a new iPhone.  Finally.

I’ve had my iPhone for over 2 years now.  It’s the original model and it has served me well (quirks and all)…  Until the end of 2009 when it started acting a little funny.  That post over there <— the one I just linked to?  Did you read it?  I’m totally about to reference it so.  I was upset when my phone started to go into death spasms (which was my nickname for it’s sad rattling vibrate function).  I was irritated when it slowed down and had to think about what it was doing.  I was pissed off when it didn’t let me answer calls and decided it had no sim card.  Until I realized what I’d put that poor phone through.  I’m hard on the things in my life.  I either use them well and often or they sit abandoned and dusty on a shelf… you know metaphorically speaking.

When I realized that, it confirmed for me that I really didn’t want a new phone, I wanted a new iPhone.

Yesterday, was finally new phone day.  We had a little trouble picking one up at the Apple Store because the set up policy they have doesn’t account for some privacy settings that we implemented on our AT&T account, but luckily there was an AT&T store just blocks away.  We were only in the store for 10 minutes or so before I walked out with my brand new fully functioning iPhone 3G S.  Yes I know it’s been out for forever.  Yes yes there will probably be a new iPhone out this summer.  Yeah sure iPhones are just mini iPads (still can’t accept that name) with cameras in them.  I don’t care.  I love my iPhone.

Have you ever met me in person?  Seen me out and about?  Then you’ve seen me with my iPhone.  Ever read one of my tweets or gotten an email from me?  Chances aren’t bad it was sent from my iPhone.  It is so much a part of my everyday life that I truly feared what would happen should my old phone die before I bought a new one.

Thank goodness that’s longer a fear…  Though I do have to deal with my child nagging me to wipe the old one and tip toe around the delicate feelings of my husband who really didn’t want to be tied into another 2 year contract with AT&T.  Those?  Both minor prices to pay to pay for a happily functioning piece of equipment that I don’t think I want to live without.

The only downish side?  Aside from the contract and the inflated monthly rate?  I remember fondly setting up my first iPhone and the joy and wonder with which I loaded each new app, built my music library and set up my phone.  The transition process was so smooth that I didn’t have to lift a finger, so it doesn’t feel so much like I got a new toy at all, more like my old phone is just enjoying a new life with a shiny black  shell.

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OMG!!!  HI GUYS!!!!  HOW ARE YOU?

ME?  I’M REALLY REALLY WELL…

IF BY WELL YOU MEAN THE BARISTA FORGOT TO GIVE ME DECAF IN MY MOCHA…

AND I HADN’T REALLY EATEN TODAY….

AND I’M A CRAZY JITTERY BALL OF GIGGLES AND TICKS…

sigh….  no.  I didn’t come down off my caffeine high that quickly.  I just remembered how obnoxious it is when people blog with the caps lock on.

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