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The Happy Birthday!

Another year older, and for once it feels like saying that I’m another year wiser isn’t trite. It is actually true.

Mike flew up to Idaho Falls and I drove down from Calgary to meet him. We then crossed the mountain pass to visit Grand Tetons National Park for a few days. We are staying in a charming one room cabin (well, two if you count the bathroom) with a fireplace at Signal Mountain Lodge. Five stars, two thumbs up, I can’t recommend it enough! Perfect for a birthday get-away.

I woke up this morning to snow! Ahhh… Snow. Such a lovely treat. It is just warm enough that most of it has melted away already, but the mountains are still covered with it.

Tonight we will visit Jackson for a birthday dinner at Local.

Tomorrow we will head to Yellowstone.

It is truly a very happy birthday. Thank you so much to everyone for the birthday wishes!

If you would like to chip in on my birthday fundraiser for Charity:Water, visit http://my.charitywater.org/campmighty2013 and put “For Christine Tremoulet” in the notes! XOXO

Our Cabin at Signal Mountain Lodge

My Mini Cooper in its first snow!

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Imagine if More Children Spent Their Whole School Day Outside?

Sunset from Crater Lake in Oregon
Sunset from Crater Lake in Oregon

I’ve talked a lot recently about how being outdoors, among nature, getting grounded with the earth truly changes us. Then I came across this post today from Lulastic about a Kindergarten in Germany held in a forest.

No toilets. No electricity. Held outdoors in all seasons. With minimal adult interaction. And knives.

Not some Lord of the Flies craziness – this school, Waldkindergarten outside of Freiberg, in south Germany, is helping children between two and a half and six learn. Grow. Communicate. Have imaginations. But most importantly? Be CONFIDENT in themselves.

What an amazing place – I would love to see more of these around the world. However, they don’t exist, but what does exist is that every parent can take their child out and do the same. Take them outside. Not a structured play setting. Take them in to nature. Where they can explore, touch things, hike, play … and grow their confidence.

Get outside. Let free creativity flourish.

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I Watched the Internet Grow Up…

Kristine with a K in Portland

I forget sometimes how I have watched the Internet grow up live, first hand. Right in front of me. Blogging since 2000 — well, my first dip in the blogging pool was actually after watching Faith and other designers create things similar to blogs in 1999, but I really got going with blogging in 2000 — means I have seen a lot. I forget that sometimes.

Then I’m at my friend Stephanie’s house and I pick up the First 20 Years issue of Wired Magazine.

Looking at the list of the influencers, the things, the events, the websites … I realize that there are people I’ve met among that list. People that if you asked me, I’d even dare to call friends.

It is strangely fascinating to me. There are people on the list that I wouldn’t have included. People that I feel have dramatically changed the way the world interacts with the internet (Matt of WordPress for example) that are not included on the list.

As I logged in to my blog to write this post, I saw that I had traffic today from this post that Matt wrote back in 2004. He came *to my house* to do my MovableType to WordPress migration, personally. I asked him a few years ago about why, and he said it was the largest blog to migrate that he was aware of at that point in time.

It is just fascinating to think of it all. Back in 1987 as I started college, my mom asked me why I didn’t consider majoring in Computer Science because I seemed to like it so much in high school. I laughed, and asked what I do with THAT???

I’d say the joke was on me, but in reality I still ended up where I belonged. Thanks to a law firm where I worked in IT needing to get online, I had early access to the internet. I hand-coded the HTML after teaching myself how and built my first GeoCities site. I was given stock in GeoCities, and later sold it to fund the down payment on a car. I eventually found the Digital Divas (I think that is what they were called?) and started to blog. I went to South by Southwest Interactive in 2002, back when it was so small that the whole thing maybe took up 10 rooms in the convention center, there were no big corporations at the trade show (Microsoft, etc), and the after-party was at Bruce Sterling’s house — and there I met some of the very people on this Wired Magazine cover.

I have always written from the heart. I have always been myself, vulnerably and authentic. I have always shared freely, both on my blogs and on forums in various places. It is incredible to look back at what that has brought me in return in my life. Not just the people on the magazine cover, but deep friendships that have been forged as well. Friends that it may have taken me years to meet up with in person (like Kristine, in the photograph above, who I was able to meet up with after 12 years in Portland this summer), but that changed my life none the less. My entire job focuses around the internet now, and while I never thought that would be a reality 15 years ago, now it feels perfectly natural to me.

I’m so grateful for all of the friends in my life that the internet has brought me. I’ve learned over the years that there are people behind the keyboards, and most of them are pretty accessible. We are all often linked together in some way. I’m lucky that I watched the internet grow up, because it has changed my life in so many ways.

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Choosing diapers for your little one

There are many decisions that moms are faced with everyday. It’s apart of being a parent, and it never gets any easier. There are big decisions like deciding whether to breastfeed or circumcise, and smaller decisions like what color to paint the nursery or what type of shoes to buy for the baby,

Regardless of how big the decision is, it never ceases to be a daunting task to figure out what the right thing to do is. Even the most minute decision can seem life altering, because parents just want the absolute best for their baby, but some mothers still have a difficult time having babies but there are treatments by Postpartum Therapy Denver CO that help with this. This is understandable, but everything doesn’t have to invoke a stressful response.

One of the main things that parents have to get used to buying once their bundle of joy arrives is diapers. Next to food it’s possibly one of the most important accessories to have for the baby at all times. It seems like such an easy thing to do. Just go to the store and buy some diapers. But for parents with newborns and first-time parents, it can often be a very stressful decision and that’s okay. There are many factors that go into buying the perfect pair of diapers. Parents most certainly have to take into account the baby’s comfort, safety and support before purchasing anything.

Some parents find it important to do research on everything before they buy, and we believe that that is an important thing to do also. Below is a list of everything a parent should consider before purchasing diapers for their child, and here is also a full report on the best diaper bags.
First thing’s first, the price has to be on point. While safety and comfort are important, the cost of diapers is equally important for parents to consider as well. According to Investopedia, parents will likely spend about $500 on diapers as there baby can go through as many as 2,700 diapers in one year. That’s a lot of diapers for one baby! This price roughly estimates the overall cost from disposable diapers at about $.20 per diaper.

Parents can spend upwards to two thousand dollars on diapers and pull-ups until their child is old enough to use the restroom. It’s pretty pricey, and ultimately the cost usually depends on whether a parent would opt for using big brand name diapers or off brand (more on that later). Either way, parents should budget their money accordingly. Knowing the child’s potty habits can help a parent better determine how many diapers they need, and how much money they will need to spend. For parents who opt for cloth diapers (more on that later too), the cost on the front end is pretty pricey. But they become cheaper as time goes on because the only other purchases a parent has to make is for diaper liners and washing.

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Must Break Through…

Mary Allen College in Crockett Texas

As I went to bed last night I was angry with myself. I started this site over, fresh and new, so it wouldn’t feel like and empty shell any more. A clean slate. A new start.

Yet what I wrote yesterday didn’t feel like my voice. It didn’t feel authentically me. If you & I were talking, I wouldn’t sound like that.

It pisses me off.

That anger is a good thing though, because I’m going to keep it in mind as I write, or at least I’ll try. If I wouldn’t say it out loud, then I’ll think about how I would.

I want my posts to feel like a letter. A note from me to you. A journal for myself. Personal.

Practice, practice, practice. Now that I’m aware of it, I can deal with it.

No more being pissed off at my writing. When it feels like crap, I just need to break through and continue.

Photograph taken on a recent Texas road trip. The former Mary Allen College in Crockett, Texas.