How it all began. A 2002 Doodle of the ScoutDog

Storytelling and recalling past events plays a large role in many family traditions. My family is no different. My mom, sister and I seem to use the (annoying) storytelling technique of starting every story with a question ... "Do you remember what we were doing ... yesterday at this time? ... last week at this time? ... 3 months, 2 days and 6 hours ago at this time?" This is often followed by "Wow that was only a week ago? It seems like just yesterday. Boy time does fly." I'm sure that many use this same technique.

Well I'm not sure why I started thinking about this but I guess it is partly due to the news programs talking about the upcoming 2 year anniversary of Sept. 11; my upcoming 1st wedding anniversary on Oct. 11; realizing that 3 months from today i will be turning 30; and then thinking about what I was doing 1 year ago and looking at how my life has changed. I guess I am obsessed with time. So that is the theme of my lists for today. It is a good exercise to look at where you have been and where you are going.

"What were you doing yesterday? List
1. Scootering to Starbucks to enjoy a Chai Latte and have the ScoutDog Studios morning meeting to plan the goals for the day.
2. Painting dogs and coming up with a new idea for a painting (pictures will be coming soon. I am working on it today.)
3. Making and enjoying dinner and a margarita with my husband, and then enjoying an evening walk in the park with Matt and ScoutDog.
4. Brainstorming and creating new products inspired by ScoutDog ... including picture frames.
5. Taking a morning jog with Matt and practing yoga.

"What were you doing 1 Year Ago?" List
1. Planning my wedding at Chautauqua in Boulder on Oct. 11, 2002.
2. Going to business school full time to work on getting my MBA.
3. Working to build my freelance website design and development business.
4. Doodling in my sketchbook the first pictures of ScoutDog (see image above).

"What were you doing 2 Years Ago?" List
1. Living in Oakland, CA with my boyfriend (now my husband).
2. Working at ANG Newspapers as the Online Director for The Oakland Tribune and Insidebayarea.com. This entailed getting up at
3. Planning a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We planned to leave on Sept. 12, 2001.

(That is one of the vivid memories I have. I remember that Matt and I had both taken Sept. 11 off to pack and get ready to leave for Hawaii on Sept. 12. I remember coming home from a morning jog and turning on the tv and seeing the smoking towers. As all of you felt it was just shocking and unbelieveable. I remember feeling upset because we would have to delay our trip. And then feeling EXTREMELY GUILTY AND SELFISH for feeling this way and feeling like a terrible person for being upset about a stupid trip to Hawaii when all of these people had just died. I really think that the events that took place on Sept. 11 and the aftermath are what made me rethink what I was doing with my life. I decided life was too short and chaotic to not follow your dreams. I think this is what really pushed me to eventually quit my job and follow my passion.

We did get to go to Hawaii and left exactly one week later. We flew on a mostly empty plane to Hawaii. It was very surreal. And then on Sept. 22 in the crater of a volcano at Volcano National Park, Matt proposed. It was the happiest and greatest moment of my life. With all of these life changing events that happened in September 2001, it really made me realize what was important. Sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up and stressed about the little things so I think it is important to really think about what there is to be thankful for in your life.)

And finally the list of what is now playing in the studio. Check out these groups and enjoy rockin'.
- Brassy "Gettin Wise"
- Broken Social Scene "You Forgot It In People"
- Pretty Girls Make Graves "The New Romance"
- The Tyde "Once"
- My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
- The Sounds "Living in America"

Have a great day and remember to live your dreams. It's never to late.