"You Were Born a Daughter" Famous Nike Ad

Prompted by all the visits that I receive to this site because of the Nike quotes collection I set out to find the images to the quotes I use on my post popular page. I found all of them but one. What I found very interesting on my quest is that I learned that this one ad is considered one of the most influential ads of all time. I was thrilled when I found one blogger had all 8 pages of the ad campaign.

In fact, another blogger mentioned that this ad was featured on the show Independent Lens as ad campaigns that changed the world and she talks about how it changed hers.

I could relate because I remember reading this ad and feeling the same way in 1999. (I was 29) What's funny is that until I found it online the other day I didn't realize that it was EIGHT pages long! Wow Nike! Talk about really wanting to drive their message home. And I think they did if I remember it all these years later.

Awesome

Thank you for these words Nike! I still work on remembering them every day.

Nora Ephron 1941-2012

As I was preparing dinner tonight I was listening to NPR and I heard that Nora Ephron left us today. We lost one of the best woman writers of our century.

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

I stopped mid stir in shock. I could not believe what I was hearing because I, like everyone else in the world except for her close friends and family, had no idea that she was sick with acute myeloid leukemia. She was 71 but seemed so young, like she still had so much to give us. In fact, while in the hospital she was working on the pilot for a show.

I remember being a young girl of nineteen and sitting in the theater watching When Harry Met Sally and being mesmerized by the amazing dialogue. Even now I can quote so many parts of this movie.

Nora Ephron got into the minds of people and did such a wonderful job putting that down on paper. She said, "I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are."

In today's New York Times article the writer quotes Nora Ephron's friend as saying, “Sitting at a table with Nora was like being in a Nora Ephron movie,” Ms. Quinn said. “She was brilliant and funny.”

I can just imagine what she was like in person and I would have loved to have met the writer of such classics like, Sleepless in Seattle, Hanging Up, You've Got Mail, Julie & Julia, and of course When Harry Met Sally.

In You've Got Mail she wrote, “Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” 

She wrote about New York as if it were also a main character in the movie and the way she described the city made me want to explore Zabar's and the Upper West side. In fact, I followed a You've Got Mail map around the Riverside area on one of my visits to New York.

When I watch her movies I feel the same way that I feel about great art. I will never be an artist but I believe I can appreciate art. I will never be a writer like Nora Ephron, but I can appreciate great writing. She was one of the women writers who I looked up to. I wanted to grow up to be like her. I even wrote how old she was when she wrote certain movies on a piece of paper and carried it in my wallet as inspiration. She was my mentor and I'm sure she was a mentor to many women writers in America and probably the world.

Having seen my sister suffer from leukemia I can imagine that she was tired in the end. Her passing away is a loss for many, but she is finally at rest and without pain. She may be gone, but her writing will live on forever like great literature.

When I was in high school our English teacher explained to us that you always write about literture in the present tense because characters exist in a perpetual, eternal present. The same can be said about Nora Ephron's work. Her characters, her dialogue and her writing will continue to live on.

"With Your feet in the Air and your Head on the Ground"

Today is the first day of my one week of strange freedom and I am doing nothing, absolutly nothing. And it feels good... After the crazy last week of school, dance recital last weekend, and struggling to find sitters each day last week I must confess it's a nice break.

Image from www.randomdotfm.blogspot.com

I call it strange freedom because it is strange to not have your kids at home with you when you are used to having them. Yeah sure, they go away to their dad's every other weekend but this is different. They are gone for a week and I won't see them again until next Friday.

Instead of jumping on the first day and doing all kinds of things I want to do I'm just relaxing and thinking about what I want to get done. I figure I have five more days to do everything. Today is going to be about relaxing, taking my time, and planning the rest of my week. It's such a strange feeling to have all this free time. I don't even know what to start on first.

• Cleaning the kids room. Really cleaning it and throwing away old toys. (They are going to love me when they get back)
• Cleaning my room and maybe moving things around.
• Working on my novel.
• Visiting with friends.

I'm starting the last one first. I'm seeing all my girlfriends tonight to catch up and gossip and we're writing our Bucket Lists. I think that is a fun activity for a girls' night. Can't wait to catch up with all of them!

Still Waiting for the Silver Lining & Pinterest

So I'm waiting for it to get better... It's not. It seems like every other day it's something new. Like getting a huge cell phone bill because somehow I suddenly started going over my minutes when that has never happened to me before. Ever. Also, breaking my cell phone face for THE SECOND time in a one month period after paying $100 to get it fixed. This was before I realized my truck was going to break down and was going to need a $1,400 repair and that I would have to rent a car for a week. Awesomeness.

So where is that silver lining? I started off by trying to unclutter my life so I can unclutter my brain. I just started last Sunday and barely put a dent in it but today that is my grand plan. I need to and want to unclutter my living space so I can breathe again.

To help me with my vision or goals I created a new vision board on Pinterest. If you haven't explored yet another brain child of some brilliant minds you should. I am enamored of this site.

I started out by creating a page of my favorite Anne Taintor designs for practice. Then I thought of a really good way that I could use Pinterest, which is probably one of the most common uses for it. I created a page of great Mexican kitchen design ideas. I just snowballed from there creating all kinds of pages. I have 15 boards now. My favorite is my vision board where I posted all the things I should be doing. It's a great reminder of my goals and to keep them in front of me.

I'll tell you what the top 10 or 12 pins on my vision board represent. (There are 61 pins in all.) The only thing Pinterest hasn't figured out yet (or so they say in their FAQ) is how to move the pins around on your board.

So listed first is that famous picture of the sailor kissing the nurse. This simply represents passion in its various forms, not just romantic passion. Second I have a really cool Nike ad about how you don't get a body like that by just complaining or wishing for it, but by working for it.  The little gold bag with money is so cute but represents how I need to budget my life and make more money. The little salmon heart is about eating right and eating the super foods. Then there are the Heights houses that are example of how I envision my house to look once I can remodel it. I included a closet with some great compartments to organize all the junk. I need that. I have a New York best-seller list because I believe that one day I will be on that list. And I can't get on that list if I don't edit my present novel and start working on my second novel that is sure to be the best-seller. So there's a picture of some writing being edited. When I'm on that best seller list and I start to make money from my writing I am going to buy the four door Porshe Panamera. Yes, it's there too.  There is a woman laughing because I want to laugh like this and I want to be happy. Luke and Leia represent my kids because they are a boy and a girl and they are close, although mine aren't twins, as my son pointed out. But they love Star Wars and I see them loving each other like Luke and Leia love each other. I also have a necklace that says pray to represent spiritual things and of course prayer.  That's just the first page.

I posted on FB & Twitter that I was in love with my own Pinterest vision board. I love it so much I printed it out and posted it up in my cube at work so I can look at it every day. I brought a copy home too. I think I'm just in love with Pinterest in general.

A Facebook/Twiter friend posted this interesting article today-The New American Mom: Tech-Savvy & Online. I thought it was great that I actually saw her Pin it and not FB or Twitter it. She probably did that too, but it was through Pinterest that I saw it. Thus the study. I love Pinterest!

When it Rains it Pours! Especially for me...

The week started on Monday with a super early meeting/half day training and then a late in the day meeting too. I still wasn't feeling well and could not shake my cold/allergies. (Thank goodness it's gone now!)

Image from flickriver.com

The busy schedule continued Tuesday and Wednesday at work getting things done and trying to balance it all. Thursday was especially challenging because I had work in the morning, I had to take the kids to the dentist, and then I was attending a UH event that night.

As I was leaving the kids' school, after picking them up to go to the dentist, I tripped coming off the sidewalk and was catapulted into the air. Literally! I flew like Superman in my short black dress on to the cement driveway of the school, and landed straight down on my stomach. My lovely daughter came to me and first pulled my dress down so I wouldn't continue flashing the children on the playground, and then helped me up. I was in pain but I was able to get up and move. My right knee and elbow scraped and my right arm sore. I definitely hit harder on my right side. Both my hands were slightly skinned. Such a typical ME! But as my bff has pointed out, I'm getting older and I can't keep falling that way.

Despite the fall I made it to the dentist in time with the children and then turned back around to drop them off with my niece so she could watch them while I went to the UH selling program's graduation. Their dad was picking them up after work and keeping them for the evening.

By the time Friday came around I was tired and sore from my fall. I had a very early meeting at UH and as I hurried to get there on time I got a warning on my SUV dashboard that my transmission was going out, something that I've suspected for a while now. I quickly exited to downtown and parked it in our garage. I would much rather do that than break down on the back streets of UH.

I still had a luncheon I had to attend for work but thank goodness my editor was going to that too. I caught a ride with her and when I got back I started on my adventure of picking up the kids, taking my SUV to the shop, getting a ride back to my sister's house from my other sister, and borrowing my niece's car. (she is out of town)

The trick with that car was that she had a flat recently and needed a new tire. I considered that buying her a tire and filling up her tank was way cheaper than renting a car, which I may still have to do next week, depending on when my car is going to be done. So that's what I did. I feel like it was very appropriate that I ended the day with two margaritas. I earned them.

I hate to imagine what it's going to cost me to fix that piece of crap SUV. I am really considering taking it to trade it in this time. I can't afford to keep fixing that clunker if all it's going to do is keep breaking down every few years. Ugh!

Then today I had to wake up early to take Miranda to her Open House for her new middle school. I decided to be good and to go to the gym since I was already out and about and practically down the street. That is all I did in the way of being productive today.

It's like some drug came upon my body, or maybe it was fatigue from the whole week, and I passed out and slept for five hours straight!! It was insane. I have never done anything like that before. It was very weird but it told me I must have been very tired. Unfortunately I also feel like I slept through the weekend. I know I still have tomorrow but it's not the same as a Saturday. I just hope that the sleep really was needed and that it means that my body has recuperated and I'm ready for a great week.

Good things are around the corner!! I keep telling myself that and I know that it has to be true.