plum goes west

dad cam: new favorite, the big swings!

dad cam: "let me do it!"

Mary HAD to help me wash my bike the other day. Mom caught the gusto on camera. 

dad cam

dad cam: a walk in Mary's shoes

Mary and I went out for a little stroll the other day. It's really getting fun now that she's her own person (i.e. – curious independent fearless diva)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pool Winners

 
It's time to announce the winners of the baby pool. From a cast of only 13 guessers, it's pretty remarkable how darn close some of you were to the categories.

In the Hair Color division, there was a 5-way tie. A tie makes sense with fewer options, but nonetheless, you were all  pretty much on the money. Mary has dark brown hair. It's blonde metamorphosis is tbd. According to her great Aunt Nancy, this is a Grayson thing. (true)
Nancy
Kenley
Mama Plum
Vicki
and Marie

In the Length contest, seems momma and grandmomma had some instincts going when they penciled in their guesses. Mary is 19.1 inches.
Kristen guessed 19 and Mama Plum guessed 19.5

In the Weight class, Margo dominated. No contest. Mary tipped the scales at 6lbs, 7oz – a slight correction from the 6lbs, 10oz earlier reported. No she did not shrink... I heard wrong. Margo almost had a bullseye with a 6lbs, 8oz guess.
Nice work, Auntie Margo.

For the guesses on the Time of Birth, I had the closest guess at 6:17pm. Mary was born on Thursday night at 6:35pm PT. (no arguments for a recount using EST)

But truly, the Time of Birth category has to be folded into the overall Grand Prix award for the closest guess for the birth. The exact time was the tie-breaker for those casting guesses for the same due date.

And the winner of the Grand Prix Due Date Guesser Award was Marie. An architect of a great guess, Marie had December 14th at 3am which was closest to December 13th at 6:35pm.

Marie, please come over to receive your free babysitting session.

guest blog: andy... ads and stuff

I know for most of you it's kind of a mystery what I do, so I thought while we wait for this baby,  I'd post some videos that will give you a glimpse into the important things I do everyday – like, you know, convince people to buy stuff. 

guest blog: the bidet

The votes are in.

The date with my bidet was tingly, surprising yet refreshing, and made me jump. Not all together unlike this:

bidet-esque experience

guest blog # 3: should I try it?

When I see these in Europe, two questions spring to mind:
1. Do Europeans have bad wiping skills, therefore requiring a powerful jet wash to clean their butts?
2. Or, on the other hand, do Americans walk around with dirty underwear while the rest of the world has evolved to a higher level of personal hygiene?

I've actually never tried out a bidet. 

My question to you: should I? I'll take vote tallies (in the comments section below) for the next 3 days and if you decide I should try it, I will do just that and report on the experience. Appropriately report on the experience, don't worry.

Just a few points of fact about the bidet from Wikipedia:

A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the external genitalia and the anus. 

Bidet is a French word for pony. This etymology comes from the fact that one bestrides or rides a bidet much like one does a pony.

Users who are unfamiliar with bidets often confuse a bidet with a urinal, toilet, or even a drinking fountain.

Guest Blog #2: From CA to Germany in 5.2 seconds

So this is Andy again. I promised I'd check in and update on the trip.

The flight from CA to London went surprisingly fast. Business-class on United was so-so, nothing compared to the luxuries of Virgin Atlantic upper-class. They've got a full bed that they make for you with down pillows and comforters, as well as a full stand-up bar. However, there was enough space to stretch out on the overnight flight and I managed to get in about 5-6 hours of sleep, unbeknownst to me since I thought I was tossing & turning and maybe, maybe, getting about 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. But, before I knew it we were touching down at Heathrow.

Next was a short hop to Hamburg, Germany. We flew Lufthansa. Again, so-so. But the flight was basically up & down. Only an hour. They were serving beers & stuff on the plan and it felt completely odd since I was sure it was breakfast time when in fact it was 5pm in Germany.

That was the weirdest part: I left California at 7pm on Saturday and before I knew it, it was 7pm on Sunday in Germany. I completely lost 12 hours in there somewhere. Did I just get younger? Or older?

My hotel is pretty posh here in Hamburg. But German "posh" means almost military-like precision and manners. So it feels more like a prison in this hotel than anything else. Sadly it was raining when we got here, but it only made it feel all the more European.

So I settled into the room, not bad, and worked a bit. Then John (my planning director) & I went out for a bite to eat. John had smartly procured a recommendation from an Art Director, Frank Aldorf at Goodby  -- who's a Hamburg native, before we'd left. So we went to this lively little place called Nil. And it didn't disappoint.

I had a typically German dinner consisting of asparagus soup followed by a hearty piece of smoked ham with some sort of sour-creamy thing on the side. So German.

Besides the food being quite tasty, the atmosphere was great. Nil's main decoration were the photo boxes that had a different colored photo in each and it gave the place this very contemporary feel without trying too hard.

first ever guest blog

Dear fans and loyals of PlumGoesWest,

This the start of something new. I'm not Kristen, or Plum, but actually her husband, Andy, referred to as A in this blog. I'm ditching my blog. Instead, I'm going to guest blog through Kristen's blog from time to time to throw in some extra flavor, provide some varying perspective, and hopefully entertain a bit.

Right now I'm relaxing in Chicago at the W Lakeshore hotel. Yes, Kristen & I do live in San Francisco, but I'm here on business and thought this would be a good opportunity to begin my guest-blogging career. It's also the start of a long research trip for me that's eventually going to take me all over the globe. Literally. I'm booked on an around the world ticket starting in SF and ending in Minneapolis, 32,000 miles later. We're doing some research for Adobe, one of my clients -- I work in advertising -- and we've got to talk to some people in the US, Europe, and Japan. So Kristen & I thought that this provided the perfect opportunity to begin some guest blogging because I'm going to have some interesting stories, pictures, and experiences to share with you blog-reading people.

One thing I used to do on my blog was offer up "bet you didn't know" posts that offered up some facts/cultural tidbits that I come across now and then. I think I'll try and embed those in my guest blogging, too. Let me know what you think. Let's get this guest-blogging thing right, so give us your feedback.

So, stay tuned for more guest-blogging posts. I'm signing off in Chi-town. You'll hear from me again when I'm in Hamburg, Germany.

-ag