happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

My heart is big because of you

So pretty to watch
Originally uploaded by happykatie

When I was born (a lifetime ago to me, only 26 years to my Dad) my Dad was a brilliant young chemical engineer, private pilot, car enthusiast, rock star kind of brilliant hard working and devoted family guy. Funny how some things never change.

Today is his birthday and, even though he is time zones away from my typing fingers, it's easy to feel his love and the way that he ties our family together.

Dad, I know there are a million things that I have done that have hurt and disappointed you. But I hope that in some way you can see the millions of ways that you fill my days and influence absolutely everything that I say and do.

Thank you for teaching me about clouds, flight patterns, hard work, '57 Chevy's, books, B-52's, kriek beer and smiling with your eyes. Thanks for being 'that Dad' that was always there for me - I hope that I am always 'that Mom' for my own little bright eyed ball of energy.

Happy happy happy birthday. I am so glad to have you in my life.

Mom 2.0 Summit starts today - and so does the Laptop Mama coloring contest!

Calling all Internet-loving mothers and marketers - the Mom 2.0 Summit starts today featuring an enormous variety of super duper lady Bloggers and a few dudes (including Ed Schipul and Guy Kawasaki).

I'll be speaking this evening, but as my table chats last only a few minutes you might blink and miss me - so here is a 'She's Crafty' page outlining some of my favorite spots for inspiration, how-to help and links to help monetize your crafting obsession.

I am also running a 'Laptop Mama' coloring contest for Mom 2.0 Summit attendees and YOU!!  Download your favorite Mama Online coloring sheet (created by the AMAZINGLY talented Illustration Dan, he's so rad).  You have 2 choices:  NAUGHTY or nice.  Choose wisely.  Or don't choose at all - you can color both and submit, I'm not a coloring page nazi here.  Visit the www.happykatie.com/shescrafty page for further details.

Word to yo' mama!

Oatmeal for Obama (or Inaugural Breakfasting)

QuakerJake
Originally uploaded by antebellumdisco

I'm looking forward to breakfasting at Chookooloonk's (aka: Awesome Karen) house tomorrow morning.  Catered by Quaker Oats (wow, water - bowl- oatmeal = easiest catering gig ever??  <grin>) to help fight child hunger in America.

Partially because I'll get to see some people I really like (see Jenny's blog post). Mostly because the Quaker Oatmeal guy will be there. Yeah.

Yeah.

So... yeah, I don't really get oatmeal connection either. But by jove, we will watch the inauguration in good company and with a belly full of much substance.  More info on the nationwide event (found on MOMocrats):

...guests will breakfast on hot oatmeal with delicious toppings (including BACON), all for a very worthy cause. Now through February 28, you can visit Start with Substance to enter the UPC (barcode) from any variety of Quaker hot cereal.

For every UPC entered, Quaker will donate a bowl of nutritious oatmeal to Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger, up to 1 million bowls of oatmeal. (You must be a member of Facebook in order to enter UPCs.) But get this: even if you can’t be bothered to track down your UPC and enter it, or you are not a fan of oatmeal, you can still help. All you have to do is enter 030000013809 as a valid UPC.

Whatchu' talking about?

I love using tag / word generating tools like Wordle to see what the heck I really talk about on my Blogs every once in a while.  My focus changes drastically, depending on work, personal, seasonal and other completely unrelated random factors.  Like sugar consumption and sleep deprivation.  And YouTube fixations. 

However, this latest Wordle round brings with it a rather disappointing outcome -- not a cupcake mention to be seen.  Something is terribly wrong...  :)

So what do YOU talk about?  Send me a link to your Wordle - I wanna' know!!

One of these is not like the other...

A huge giant thank to my most favoritest and amazing Groovehouse, the official Houston Dr. Sketchy photographer.  The question here is - which one of these pairs of boots is mine?  Take a guess.

We had a great 1st Houston Sketchy birthday celebration - thanks to all who came to draw and celebrate :)  xo.

Christmas gift countdown (9 days to go) - Dr. Sketchy

Counting down some of my favorite things until Christmas, the gifts I enjoy throughout the year...

Today let's talk about Houston Dr. Sketchy.  It's a local piece/chapter/arm of an international Dr. Sketchy movement out of NYC (founded by the AMAZING Molly Crabapple) that is all about connecting artists with out-of-the-ordinary life drawing models - with great music, drinks and cheeky socializing thrown in.

I started the Houston group in January 2008 (almost one year old - wowee!) with help from Ms. Monica/Cosmopolitician, Jaymac our amazing DJ, Tasty Tiffany and the Adam hippie.  We meet every month at a really cool venue (Avant Garden) with a model, a rocking set of beats and the occasional cheeky drawing prize and Sketchy shot.

What makes this event a gift to me is the Community that has built around it.  Every month I look forward to seeing familiar faces (and new ones too!), some of my favorite people congregate here. 

We get all sorts of artists (of all strengths and skill levels), a superb group of photographers (with a special hat tip to Groovehouse and Ed Schipul) and an extra-special set of models. 

I look forward to 2009 bringing even more fun parties, good conversations, tasty libations (thanks Joe!) and beautiful art (with the best lazy Sunday afternoon soundtrack ever).  And I hope very much to spend time with you there!

Both of these gorgeous images with gracious thanks to threeheartsphoto, a newcomer to the Houston scene but already much admired :)

I got tagged, but they forgot the spraypaint: 7 (somewhat) random things about me

Two lovely Houston ladies, MagsMac (the cheesiest) and Sarah (the Sew Crafty goddess), tagged me in a 7 random things about you meme (see my girl Monica/Cosmopolitician and some other playas here). 

The idea is to write a 7 point TELL ALL BLOG POST!!! and then electronically chase some other Blogger kids on the Internet playground and tag them too.  So here we go:

1. Proud, proud Mommy of a punk rawk kiddo - this isn't really a random or surprising tidbit about me, but is so important in my world that it just has to be up top here :)
2. I love/adore/100% completely dig graffiti - I am so down with (pretty much) all that is urban art.  Wheat pasting, stenciling, tags, pieces, throw ups - it's fascinating to see some of the creativity and skill out there, finding unexpected beauty in the urban landscape.  That's why I love local cats like Aerosol Warfare and sites like Wooster Collective and FatCap.
3. My job pretty much completely kicks butt - I work for a company called Schipul - The Web Marketing Company here in Houston as a Communications and Social Media geek.  We have an amazing client list and a fantastic culture, it's my job to be a blogging, Facebook and psychology junkie.  My brain grows everyday; I am incredibly lucky (and also incredibly incredibly busy).  If you hear me chattering about books, public relations, presentation slides and strong email subject lines you can blame Ed Schipul.
4. Loads of black and a glitter rainbow - thanks to being a klutz and quite prone to spilling things on or near my person, I wear an unusually large amount of black.  However, my house is some sort of technicolor dreamcoat land.  Seriously, I have cobalt, teal and 'grass' green walls - and a velvet orange couch to boot.  Highly saturated living quarters hopefully balance out my mono saturated wardrobe.
5. My heart beats hip hop - when I was pregnant with Ella, I listened to hip hop all the time.  I mean alllll the time.  J5, De La Soul, Mos Def, Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, etc.  The result:  my child is seriously the most well coordinated 2-year-old mistress of the beat who drops it like it's hot whenever the spirit moves her.  She's brilliant.  I'm also pretty jazzed about music in general and can play the piano, violin, (a teensy bit of) guitar and sing.  I should really practice more though.
6. Food for thought - cooking, eating and drinking are some of my favorite past times.  I have a *very* quickly growing collection of well-loved cookbooks (of the regional, specialty, ethnic, vegan, vegetarian and raw variety - I love experimenting).  One day I will write my own cookbook, with all of my own photos.  I haven't quite mastered baking yet, except for cupcakes.  I adore cupcakes.
7. Eyes to the sky - thanks to my Dad (a B-52 and later private pilot) I have a thing for airplanes.  And clouds.  And weather.  And aviator glasses.  We used to go up to the EAA Air Show every year and spent a lot of time in various hangars and in the air flying gliders and fixed prop planes.  I still literally *have* to stare up in the sky whenever I hear an airplane, to see if I can identify the aircraft.  

So here are my tagees, as if that's even a word:

1. Ed Schipul - because I've never harassed him with a meme before
2. Jonti Bolles - her 7 will be the coolest, she's that kind of lady
3. Britt Bravo - she's one gal who always has such interesting things to say :)
4. SingaporeGrrl - just becauselah!
5. Longstation - because he doesn't blog as much as he used to and I miss his posts :( 
6. Groovehouse - I hope he doesn't think me tagging here is too geeky, but I feel like I don't talk about this guy enough.  He's super duper :) and has the photos to prove it!
7. Deneyterrio/Jaymac/The Canerican - he's Canadian.  Duh.

You guys down?  Here's what ya' got to do:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Party with the Schipulites to celebrate 11 years of glorious geekdom!

I am incredibly fortunate to work at one of the coolest, hardest working and innovative companies around, Schipul - The Web Marketing Company. 

We are turning 11 this year and want to celebrate with YOU!!  (yes, YOU!!)  Find out the details here:  www.schipul.com/birthday

Hurricane Ike - what worked and what didn't

Red Lights
Originally uploaded by muyiwa

In good weather and in bad, I'm a list-y list-er kind of gal.  Here are some of my thoughts on this weekend with Hurricane Ike from a personal level.

I don't watch television, so feel like I went into Ike sans most of the hype a lot of other people experienced.  Cable news is all about ratings and sensationalism, so side-stepping that made all the difference in more level-headed decision making and prep.

Even without cable, I had tremendous amounts of information resources to draw from (see my 'The Places Geeks Go When Obsessed With Weather' post).  But for up-to-the-minute news I relied primarily on Twitter on my phone when the power went out.  Here are some things that worked to get us through 2 days without electricity and water, didn't work and will be improved upon:

What worked during Ike:

1. Twitter and Yammer - My life source for news and updates from friends on my cell phone   
2. Battery-operated cell phone charger - let me keep on surfing, Tweeting and Yammer-ing
3. Opera Mini browser on cell phone - easiest ways to login and view the real Web
4. LED flashlight on my keychain - handiest little light source ever
5. Wind up/solar powered/ radio - also had battery-powered boom box for CDs too
6. Lots of candles at home, with matches ready to go - Febreeze candles were great for smelly spots!
7. Cooking ahead - we had 2 days of tasty meals that were fine sans the fridge
8. Crackers/Luna bars/fresh fruit/choc. espresso beans (great when I was dying without coffee)
9. Rice milk in da' house - we don't drink cows milk at the hacienda, so having 4 giant things of rice milk is getting us through a time when there is literally no milk to be had for most
10. Having a Vegetarian kitchen meant there was no meat or dairy to rot
11. Proximity to my office to visit for electricity and Internet
12. Beer and vodka - enough said
13. Baby wipes / make-up wipes - life savers when you hate feeling super ewww
14. Paper plates and napkins - fewer dirty dishes to stack and stink
15. Opening windows to circulate air - rare time we actually had them open!
16. Emergency bags and binders - amazing resources from our Emergency Prep team at Schipul
17. Full tank of gas in car - could drive around and re-charge in car with converters

What didn't work:

1. Ella over heated towards end of second day - not enough water?  need battery powered fan
2. Not enough office folks on Yammer before the storm
3. Bath tubs and sinks didn't hold water - I didn't know the plugs would still let water drain
4. Didn't completely freeze water gallon jugs beforehand to cool down fridge and freezer
5. No cooler to limit fridge opening
6. Hard to get Internet access for laptop - really need some sort of cell phone connectivity
7. Only partial 'to-go' bag, in case of emergency evacuation (clothing, paperwork, etc.)
8. Took 1 day to get in touch with Montgomery family - all family needs to know how to text
9. Didn't have Houston news/weather Twitter follows before storm

What to have for next time:

1. Battery operated fans for Ella
2. iPhone for easier/better browsing
3. Lantern-style flashlights
4. Cooler for food and drinks
5. More batteries (large and AA)
6. Hot plate for cooking food and, most importantly, COFFEE

Our Houston home and its inhabitants are still in bigtime recovery mode.  Literally millions of families still do not have power (click here to search what zip codes in Houston DO have power), grocery stores have lost all frozen and perishable items and gas stations are still out of fuel.

Check on the Houston Red Cross site, Hurricane Ike Resource page and the Houston Chronicle Hurricane Twitter account for updates and help.  So so very happy to know that friends and family are safe.  Hope you and yours fared Ike as well as our little Community did.

Katie speaks on Blogging for Business at UH SBDC tonight!

I'm really looking forward to speaking to a great group of business-minded blogger-curious folks tonight at the University of Houston's Small Business Development Center from 7-9pm.  Swing by if you have a chance!

Blogging Basics for your Business - UH Small Business Development Center Internet Marketing Clinic
Katie Laird Strategic Advisor
Schipul - The Web Marketing Company
Wed 11-Jun-08 7:00 PM to Wed 11-Jun-08 9:00 PM

Blogging has risen as an increasingly vital part of a business online marketing plan.  Functioning as a low-cost and direct way to communicate with clients, vendors and industry members, Blogs are powerful tools that give your organization a more human face - but they can be overwhelming at first glance!

With a background in Web and traditional marketing, Katie Laird of Schipul - the Web Marketing Company and www.happykatie.com, will share her insights for using Blogs to grow your organization, expand your online Community and have a smashingly good time.  Expect to learn about Blogging basics, see real companies (large and small) utilizing Blogs as part of their marketing and customer service strategy and discover basic tools and ‘Blog Bling’ to enrich your online conversation experience and track your Blogging success.

For more information on general Schipul Social Media services, you can check out the Social Media Consulting page or attend this session for hands on / in-depth look at one very important aspect of online Social Marketing!