Putting Life into Perspective

My new home...

2007-06-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to my new home http://mayaroad.typepad.com/deb/ - check me out there when you get a chance! TypePad has some really cool functionality and I will be updating and testing it out in the next few weeks.

We are moving....

2007-06-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well, okay, so technically not "we" and not really physically. Caroline and I have been debating it for quite awhile now, and we finally decided to move to TypePad Blogs once and for all. It has been a tough choice since Blogger has been great (and free!), but we want to be able to use some more the functionality including better images for showing off projects and new products. It will happen over the next few weeks, so you will probably not notice anything for a bit. But we cannot wait to see you there! When you get a chance, please check out the auctions to benefit Jen G's family. Her son recently passed away, and bunch of 2Peas and companies got together to help raise money for her. Click here to see the new items: Jen Gallacher Benefit Auctions

I am 11 months old!

2007-06-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

I am 11 months old!
I learned how to walk - though I still prefer to crawl
I visited North Carolina and Georgia for the first time
I am eating mostly table food
I love yogurt, rice, bread and of course, CHEERIOS!
I hate changing my clothes and prefer to be in my birthday suit
I learned how to stand up in my crib and it keeps me from sleeping because I just walk around and around and around
I like to crawl off my changing table and had a few close calls recently
I love to walk aroundand around the table pushing everything off
I still do not feed myself which drives my mom and dad crazy!
I am 29.5 in and 20 lbs 10 oz - about the same size as cousin Noah
I dance by shaking my tooshy when Daddy plays praise songs on his guitar
I love computers and will crawl, walk, push to get to any keyboard
Barnyard Dance is my favorite book! I will drop everything to listen to mommy read it
My Aunt Karen gave me sort of a funky haircut and daddy thinks I look like a Romulan (not pictured here)
I learned how to clap so I do it all the time! Especially when daddy is trying to feed me

Until next month! Can you believe I am turning 1 year old so soon? Feels like yesterday I was still in mommy's tummy...

It's official - we have a walker in the house!

2007-06-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

Jonathan has been on the verge of walking for sometime. And now he has done it. It is not elegant or really dramatic (as his daddy would like), but it is walking. He is like a kiddo with training wheels on his bike. If you hold his arms, he will walk. But if he senses you are gone, he sits down and crawls away. For a few seconds, you can let go without him sensing and he will keep on running for a few steps. Then he notices and leaps for the nearest piece of furniture and throws himself down. If D brings out the computer, he will trip to walk over to it and throw himself on top of it. It is quite cute... :)

An afternoon at the park...

2007-06-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from our visit to downtown Los Gatos, a cute little town a bit west of San Jose. Jonathan played in the grass, enjoyed a dip of his hand in the fountain and enjoyed the pretty June day! And Jonathan sort of walked today! I say sort of because we were in the church infant room, and he pushed away from me, took a full step backwards and then stepped forward and into my lap. Does that count? I tried to get him to do it again, but he is a bit tentative about pushing off for too long, and he is always grasping for a hand or table. It has been super busy as we work on the next release. There is so much going on, but it will be awesome! We have some creative fun things coming out and our samples are coming in each week. And tomorrow a bunch of new stuff is arriving for us to review. I cannot wait!

What makes you - You?

2007-05-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

David and I were watching Face Off a few years ago. And off and on, David and I chat about it. If you have not seen the movie, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta switch faces, one in order to infiltrate a criminal organization and the other to get back his own face. The truly unbelievable thing is that the way you look is only a very very small part of what you are. I mean, even if someone else looked like David (at least by face), there is no way he would not know the little crazy things that are just between him and me. Each couple has their own little language, and their marriage is a dance that they have choreographed over the years. There are a million little things that are unique to us. Being fromt he south, I like Jeff Foxworthy's "You know you are rednec if..." skits, so here is a list of "You know your husband has been replaced by a maniac if..."

he puts the toilet seat down! (self explanatory :)
he grabs the red pieces when we play Settlers (David HATES the red pieces because he says it makes him look too obvious)
he grabs raw chicken with his barehands and starts to chop it without whincing first (Hates raw chicken)
he listens to a Pairie Home Companion without making fun of it
he throws away a tea bag after making a cup of tea (Gasp! What a waste!)
he wears socks to bed
he wears anything but old t-shirts around the house
he doesn't stand at Jonathan's crib to stare at him at least 10 mins a day
he puts on the Duke jacket I gave him without asking why he cannot have a UNC jacket instead
he brushes Jonathan's teeth - ever!
he complains about changing dirty diapers (David is a saint with those stinky ones!)

Anyhow, here are a few photos of J on our trip last week... he is still a bit under the weather, and so am I. So not a lot of new pics. I will post more tomorrow.

J and me in front of his grandparent's house

J with his grandpa

J on the long car trip around the South munching on his sock

J with his grandparents

Congrats to winners of the RAK!

2007-05-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

I love all of the ideas!! They were really fun, and you will not believe it... Let me just say that we have set our line for Summer, and some of your wishes will come true sooner than you think! LOL! Our samples just arrived today though it went to C's house, so I have not seen it yet! DH picked two numbers from the list, and the winners are... DRUM ROLL PLEASE?

Wendy and Sheetal

Congrats to you! Email info @ mayaroad.com with your address, and I will get you something out in the mail! We are busy busy with the Summer products while also getting some new fun things in the works. One of our coolest ideas is not a product, but something you can love! We are collaborating with some of your favorite fellow manufacturers on something new. I cannot wait! Until then check out the new projects the Maya Road Design Team Blog... There are some cool projects there! And this is one of my favorite blogs... A Journey So Far. For some reason, I lost the link to it, but it reappeared today in my google toolbar. Andrea is a wonderful inspiration and she did something really cool with her MR ribbon scraps on May 11th.

Coming together...

2007-05-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

Keep your ideas coming! The RAK drawing will be held tomorrow, so you still have time. Just post your comment on yesterday's blog entry with what you would products you like and what you want to see... The power of the internet is an amazing thing. I was surfing the 2Peas boards today, and I saw the eBay fundraiser for Jen's family. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, Jen's little boy passed away recently from cancer after a multi-year struggle with the disease. And the scrapbooking community has really come together to help her family though this time including cards, scrapbook pages and financial support. If you are inclined, please take a look at the auctions and bid. I hear they will be adding more soon as more donations come in. Auctions to Benefit Jen Gallacher's family As I write this, my little one is sleeping soundly in his crib. And I cannot imagine the pain of losing someone who is a part of you like that. David does not even let me talk to him about it because it is so hard to bear. So please please as you hug your children tonight, keep Jen and her family in your thoughts and prayers. To read more about the fundraising efforts, click here for the fundraising blog.

Some good reading... (RAK)

2007-05-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

I have been reading Harry Potter. Last week, we were in Atlanta, and I was without reading material. So my friend lent me a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcorer's Stone. I had read about 4 chapters during a CapitalOne job interview just out of B-school, and I had forgotten all about it. Now I am on book 3 and bought the rest including the pre-order of book 7. LOL! They do have a nice discount on a box set and the preorder. So I figured, why not? It is a well-written, interesting series for young adults. I particularly like how it really spears the Law of Unintended Consequences. Sometimes when you do something wrong for the right reasons, strange things happen. And sometimes when you do the right thing, the results are not what you anticipate. It has a lot of morally subtlety, and it is just a fun ride. :) Right now things are a bit hectic. I am working like crazy on the final items for CHA Summer. We are going in some new and fun directions and it will be so much fun. But we are also going back to our roots in some ways too. It is all about keep it fresh, fun and usable. You ain't seen nothing yet! In honor of this week's fun, I am hosting a RAK! I will send an assortment of MR items from my stash. Just post a comment with what you would love to see more of from us! You have until Wednesday midnight to write something. And my DH will pick someone...

A new Maya Road ad...

2007-05-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a peak at our new Maya Road ad! I spent hours working on this over the weekend, and I got the inspiration from a layout I recently did for Jonathan. :) Speaking of the little guy, Jonathan was a little under the weather, so we hung out together with him playing in his play pen next to me as I worked on this. One thing about Jonathan. He has been a great sleeper. Slept through the night at 2 months, rarely wakes up in the middle of the night, etc. But recently, he has learned to stand up in his crib. So instead of crying for 3 to 5 mins and then falling asleep, he now stands up in the crib and cries and cries. And we have to go in there and pay him down since he does not know how to sit back down yet. Ugh! So now, naptime and bedtime are much more of an ordeal. I hope this passes soon...

I am 10 months old!

2007-05-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! Can you believe that it has been 10 months? I have been outside of mommy's tummy longer than I have been in there.

I learned how to clap - and I love to do it! It makes me smile. :)
I lost a lot of weight so I am on a yogurt, butter and olive oil diet. Mommy and Daddy force feed me all day and night to fatten me up like the doctor said. It is messy.
I am a carbaholic. There is always room for bread, rice and cheerios even when I clamp my mouth shut for regular food.
I love to cruise around the room on any type of furniture. I once even grabbed a leaf to hold me up and almost took a tumble. I can now run if I am holding the hands of my mommy and daddy.
I hate to sit down. When I fuss, Daddy or Mommy stand me up and tell me to "walk it off".
I still refuse to feed myself. No matter what anyone tries, I will not pick up food and put it in my mouth. I will pick up the food, but I will drop it purposely once I get close.
I learned to use my palm against my Mommy's mouth and make Indian call noises. I laugh hard about it.
I love to throw things off the coffee table and tear magazines. I especially like scrapbook magazines because they are colorful.
I visited NC, SC and GA for the first time!
I can only say "dada dadadada". It drives "mama mamame" crazy!
I have no inside voice. I shout "DA DA DA!" in restaurants and airplanes and other places.
I prefer my Daddy to hold me. I lean over to his arms whenever I can. He is a lot of fun because he lifts me up high, rolls me around and lets him sit on his shoulders.
I no longer have a Spock Ear. Mommy taped it back down and it looks much better now. (see below) Mom has the same Stahl's ear just like me, and Grandma took care of hers for her!

BEFORE / AFTER

See you next month!

Crazy trip

2007-05-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of our trip. I am totally swamped getting things done, so not much time to blog. It was so great to go back to the Southeast. There are some things i really miss about life there. Let's see... we hung out with several friends - and their houses! The smallest one we saw was 3100 sq ft in the middle of Atlanta. The largest was about 5000 sq ft on the outskirts. And there was the brand new one in Raleigh at 3600 sq ft. All less expensive than our tiny 60 year old house. It was eye opening...

Saturday, 5th - Flew from home to Dallas - stopped to see little Caroline and family and a special treat, we saw Lisa and Heather from the DT - then onto Raleigh to hang with the in-laws
Tuesday - Drove from Raleigh to Augusta to see the parental figures
Friday - Drove to Atlanta to see friends
Saturday - Drove from Atlanta back to Augusta
Sunday - Spent part of Mother's Day in Augusta and then drove to Raleigh
Tuesday - Flew through Dallas to see Caroline and then back here

Jonathan took it all quite well. He is quite the world traveller. He has been on 8 flights, 2 continents, 5 states and more. Here are some nice pics...

Jonathan with his Grandpa and his Daddy.

Jonathan with us

Jonathan with his Grandparents

Jonathan at Shelley Lake

Until tomorrow!

We are back!

2007-05-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

We just got back in town after 10 days of vacation visiting Jonathan's two sets of grandparents. It was impossible to blog because our parents have dial-up, really slow dial-up... It was nearly unbearable to be without the internet, but then again, we spent 10 days with Jonathan and our parents without interruption. I need to run to bed. I will add photos of our trip tomorrow. The 2GB digi card is still downloading...

Mirror Mirror on the wall...

2007-04-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is for his grandparents. We had large glass doors put onto our bedroom closet just before Jonathan was born. Sometimes we take J inside, and he visits his friend that lives behind the glass. He wonders who that cutie is.

And sometimes he even gives the other baby a little kiss... :) J is growing up so much. You can see the little ear tape. His ear is looking good though it does need a bit more work. So back to the tape it is.

I only have a few minutes since it is so crazy. Designing like a madwoman. :)

Great deals on photos and babies

2007-04-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

My favorite gift idea are photos in a collage frame. I do this for a lot of special occasions, and it is a fun way to give something that your friend may not get to do on her own. I take photos and select a few I like, buy a nice frame and viola, at the next birthday, baby shower, christmas, I have the perfect gift. I usually get frames that match the personality of the friend. So someone with a modern sleek decor would get a silver metal frame, and someone with a traditional home would get a more formal oak one.

11x14 photos for $1.99 at Adoramapix - I got the $2.99 metallic paper ones since those got fabulous reviews. You can pay with PayPal (see promo below)
Get 100 free prints at Winkflash - Use this code VP32WE54
Buy frames for 55% off at Kohl's - They have nice frames for 55% off this week plus get a $10 coupon for each $50 you spend. And shipping is free above $75.
Get $5 off $20 PayPal purchase - Check here and see if you can get $5 off $20 purchases with PayPal - they only sent these to some folks, so you need to enter your email address to check

One more really great deal -

25% Amazon baby stuff - Sign up for a baby registry and just at least 15 items in it by May 31s. Then they will send you a 25% coupon in June. And you can use it on any baby item. I plan to buy A LOT of diapers with that coupon. :)

Just a few thoughts...

2007-04-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

I took Jonathan to the doctor for his 9 month appointment this week, and he lost 1 lb in the last 4 weeks! I am a bit worried since he seemed to have just gone through the stomach flu and teething and is losing weight. All of this is not good for a developing baby... :( He also just started to crawl and cruise, so I bet he is burning a lot of calories. And the whole not eating as much thing due to the teething and sickness is bad. I was SO sure I would stop nursing this week after the appointment, but the doctor asked me to continue until 1 year for his sake. So back to the pump I go... David has taken to feeding him constantly stuff like yogurt, cheese and such. The doctor suggested adding butter and olive oil to all of his food, but we are not huge fans. We did add a little olive oil onto the bread, but that is about it. I also found out that Jonathan has Stahl's ear. (love how the article says "Orientals"). I had the same Spock ear syndrome when I was born, and my mom rolled it back. My dad used to say that I had it because she watched too much Star Trek... :) (since David is such as sci-fi fan, I guess the same could be said for J) Mom rolled it back for me, butI have been sort of slow getting on fixing J's ear. So I started taping it down to roll it back forward. Here is a few cute photos of J as he is crawling about. He will crawl only for cords (Xbox controllers, a digial scale cord), electronics (cell phones, blackberries) and paper (especially scrapbooking magazines and taxes). Never for toys. Who knows why? I took a couple of shots of J watching for Daddy to come home... He likes looking out the window to see the cars go by. I am deep into finalizing the summer products. My friend Susan's hubby named our newest item, and he is a tech geek. So there is a hint for you. I cannot wait to show you all! It matches a lot of what we have now so you can coordinate... Time flies so quickly! We have such awesome things happening at MR. Some of it is product and some of it is different. But all of it will make your scrapping easier and more fun. Promise!

Falling in Love...

2007-04-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

eHarmony

I am 9 months old...

2007-04-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

I learned to crawl at exactly 9 months old, but daddy thinks I do it like the Terminator 3 or army guy
I have a 3rd tooth coming in from the top right
I have a few words in my arsenal, "da da da", "di di di", "nai nai nai"
I love cords, especially on mommy and daddy's xBox
I hate feeding myself and I refuse to put my hands near my face when I am in my eating chair
I have lost some weight since I started crawling because I like to move about more than I like to eat
I had the stomach flu
I like to crawl in circles looking for something cool to play with
I like to play with paper and magazines especially those pretty, colorful scrapbooking magazines
I can walk along the wall of my playpen to make it to my little piano table
I love electronic equipment especially cell phones and blackberries
I like to spit and blow raspberries
I love sitting on daddy's shoulders to move around, but I have hit a head a couple of times
I am a carboholic - I can always eat bread and cereal even if I refuse all other food and milk
I love to look at my hands, and I can sit there and admire them for hours and hours...

A couple good deals - including a great one on scrapping stuff!

2007-04-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately, but I found a few deals that I wanted to share. I am so busy, so I only have a few minutes to stop by...

EK Success Scrapbooking Kit - This Amazon tool kit is only $19.99! It was originally $75 and includes a cool organization bag, Cutter Bee Scissors (I got mine at Wal-Mart for $8), a Cutterpede paper cutter, Zig pens / glue, Herma glue, corner punch some embellishements and more! Add something that is $5 to get free shipping...
Carter's Store - $5 off coupon. Not sure if this works, but I saw this one on a message board I frequent.
Pampers - I was telling my sister about how I found this weird powder substance on my changing table and sometimes on J. She said it was the absorbent gel from Pampers Cruisers. So I called them and asked them about it to make sure it was not dangerous. They wrote back with a link explaining it was safe, and then a few days later, I got a bunch of coupons for diapers with an apology. That is really great customer service.

Here is a pic to share with you! :) J is teething so he has been crying a lot recently. I was holding him bouncing up and down on the exercise ball, and I started to hiccup. He cried, I hiccuped, he laughed. Then he would cry again. And I would hiccup, and he would laugh. C pulled out my camera and took a few cute photos...

C and I have been discussing whether to leave blogger for another service. It is annoying to post images one at a time and there are weird things about this site. Any suggestions for where to go for a good blog service?

A scrapbook page...

2007-04-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

We were asked to email a "memory book" page for the 5th reunion of my GSB biz school class. I was just going to do the usual thing. Stick on a couple pics and write a few words. I was 50% done, when I thought, wait... I am a scrapbooker. Why not actually make a layout instead? So I did. I took a basic outline from LO I did for HOF, and I adapted it to make a digital page. While it was interesting to do a digi-page, it was somehow just not as satisfying as playing with paper and products. In fact, most of the ideas I used were straight from my paper pages. I guess I do what I know. :) For some reason, it feels less "real" to me. I still like this page, but if you look at it next to the paper one which inspired it, I just feel more attachment to the physical one. Perhaps it is because I have the x-acto knife scars to go with it! LOL! I put the LO at the bottom of this entry just to tease you... We are working on our taxes. It is SO hard to do with our jobs and business. TurboTax is a miracle product, by the way. It is amazing they are able to distill the crazy tax code into a relatively easy to use piece of software. Anyhow, back to the taxes before David catches me typing in my blog. I have about more than a dozen windows open right now including:

3 important powerpoint presentations for work
a conversation with my China agent for the shipment going out this week
the packing list for the shipment arriving this week
the super secret final list of summer products (shh...)
the designs for 2 new products
the CHA winter order form
NPR - On the Media streaming radio program
Turbo Tax Home and Business
a list of everything we donated in 2006
this blog page
2peas forum about scrapbooking
a few photos for my next layout
Picassa to organize my photos

Anyhow, need to run. Here is my LO. :)

A weekend with C and N

2007-04-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Man, we are tired. Noah and Jonathan had a crazy ole time together. I got the Lil Playzone on eBay from a store called Happy Go Lucky Toys so that we could keep J and N from going nuts all over the non-childproof house. I got 4 sets for about $100 each including shipping and tax (2 were for my friend) which is much less than anywhere else. Tax is only in CA. It is better if you get 2 sets and combine them since the extensions are more expensive and with getting a whole set you get an extra door and activity wall (with music and toys). It was fun to see Jonathan and Noah playing with the baby music keys built in on the walls. I looked at a ton of play yards and most looked like baby jails, but this one was less cage like and more fun. Caroline kept saying "They can have a cage fight in there! Are you ready to rumble?" J loves it. He can roll around and play in there all day.

David told me a funny story. So when we left him with N and J to go to The Scrapbook Nook and Picture Me Perfect, he went to the library with the two of them. J was strapped on his chest on the Baby Bjorn, and N was in his stroller. He said that a lot of people asked if they were twins. And he said that laughed since they do not even look like they are the same race. So he said he thought of the funniest response. Next time someone asks if the two of them are twins, he would say, "Well, they have different mothers!" LOL! I guess technically that is true, but well, anyhow... :) Lots of other funny stories and pictures, but I need to go to bed. I am taking C and N to the airport tomorrow morning. We spent the weekend finalizing the Summer product line. We are bursting with ideas since Jan, and it is time to pare down for the new release.

2007-04-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Technorati Profile

Funny comment - a bunch of the stuff from my desk

2007-03-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Caroline has in her blog that she is a "critical optimist", and I asked her what that makes me. She said "overextended multitasking optimist". LOL! That is true. If you look at my desk here is what you will see:

All of the 2006 shipping statements for MR as I do the end of year review for accounting
A bunch of product samples - some we made and some we did not
A wrist support for my carpel tunnel
An Easter card from my cousin for Jonathan
Some flex spending receipts from 2006 I need to file
A shoelace - I had David buy it the night before my HOF entry had to be sent out because I could not get my crafty combo to work - I used one of the shoelaces on that LO, the other is well, here.
Some packing tape - 2 rolls, one for USPS and one for non USPS packages
Coupons for free pantyhose
2 MM grommets I wanted to use on a HOF LO, but I went to 3 Michael's and could not find a grommet setter, so I had to digitally put it into the LO by scanning it
2 digital CF cards
A scrunchie a friend left that I keep wanting to send to her
A yard of San Francisco In the Park City Ribbon
1 little yellow velvet blossom
My DH's favorite CD - Rich Mullins's "Legacy, Litergy, and a Ragamuffin Band"
A gift certificate to BabyAge from a friend that I have not figured out how to spend
A nearly empty much-used 200 count container of antacid
2 bill I need to pay
The manual to my new cell phone
Some Canon lens cleaner and lens tissue
A bottle of Desitin someone left from play group 2 weeks ago that I have been meaning to return
My secure ID key for VPN
$20 my nanny found in my pocket when she was going through my jeans to wash them
A sample roll of Fresh Ribbon that I used to measure my son's length the other day
A Colorbox Chalk eye ink
Some thank you notes I have been meaning to write

I could go on, but you get the picture. :) This weekend our church is having our 3-day experiment. I decided to write at least 3 notes to people who have made a difference in my life. I really wish I told many people many things along the way, so I will take the time to do this now. C is coming on Wednesday and I cannot wait! It will be fun just to hang with C and little Noah for a few days. We will be working on finalizing all of our CHA Summer products! I cannot wait!

Pet Peeve...

2007-03-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

I am kind of annoyed right now. C and I work hard to come up with new ideas to launch each show, and we have brought some new and fun ideas to market. We toil for weeks to come up with cool stuff with a Maya Road twist. And it is great fun. But recently someone stared copying our stuff. I do not mean like imitation, I mean like copy. And it irritates me. Go ahead and be "inspired" by us. I mean, if you think of a cool new idea for a chipboard book shape, great!! I might even buy one or two. But there is one company just outright ripping off our designs. At first it was a few things. Now they are adding to their list. They even brazenly come to our booth at the shows and study our products. Then they not only try to make the same thing, they do it in a cheapo sort of way. So it is of inferior quality, but they are of the same design and dimensions. We are not the only company they are doing this to, and it annoys the heck out of me. It takes time and money to develop new products, so they are trying to save money by stealing. We try to keep our prices low for customers by focusing on the products and doing almost everything ourselves, but stuff like this makes it harder for us and other manufacturers to make the products you know and love. Anyhow, enough of the rant. Jonathan had a great weekend with us. We hung out and played and just did family stuff. Here are few photos for you. I know I post a lot of J photos on my blog, but it is mainly because his grandparents and other relatives like to come here and see what he is up to. Jonathan and a book from his friend, Hannah. It is his favorite book.

This is J and me at playgroup at Elijah's house. He hated napping in Elijah's bed (hard as a rock), so I brought him back down and hang with me as we ate. And he was so tired, he sort of just fell asleep there.

And our future computer geek in the making...

Until later... Have a great week!

A little happy news...

2007-03-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

I won CK Hall of Fame Honorable Mention! Just wanted to share the happy news. You know, this is my 4th year entering, and honestly the 44 pages (used to be 12 and now it is 10) I have made for the contest are my best work. In fact, they are pretty much my only work. LOL! Caroine is the Queen of the 15 min layout, and I am the one who takes 2 days to even finish. And that is like working 5 or 6 hours on it. :) I do love scrapbooking, but with Jonathan, Maya Road and work, I have not had much time. In fact, I decided to enter while we were at CHA at the end of January. I saw Jeri, Monica and CD, and they really convinced me. Jeri and Monica also got HMs (yeah!) and well, you know CD is the world's best scrapbooker (that is the unofficial title I think... :). I basically had 9 days to put together the whole entry, and I barely slept. I am glad I did it now, but at the time, I was ready to quit. I am definitely not a great scrapbooker like the other HOFers and HMers. No false modesty here. I am just not in that league. But my pages are emotive, the photos are solid, and the journaling is good. And man, I am great at the final assembly. Consider me the Sanjaya of scrapboooking - j/k... I cannot wait to see my LO in the final book. I hope they pick the one I did of David and Jonathan together called "Daddy and me". That is my favorite! There is so much going on, and I have much more to do. And I need more sleep. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me through that last stretch, especially DH, Caroline and Jess. And the 2006 HMers. And my mentor, Leah!

Some random thoughts...

2007-03-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning at 4:45 am after going to bed at midnight for a quick jaunt to LA. Talk about burning the candles at both ends. But I am so excited. C is coming to visit with Noah next week, so we are going to paint the town. Well as much as you can paint the town with two babies. :) I have been meaning to scrapbook, but there is so little time. We have so much going on with MR that is it hard to keep up with everything, so I just give up on the little things like cleaning house. (if C's DH comes, he will be appalled) It is not neat, but it is clean. That is my philosophy. Because J has started to roll around and around (mental note: clear glass coffee table + babies = not so great things), we decided that instead of childproofing the whole house, we would get a large play yard for him. So it is sort of a fence for babies with 50 sq ft of space. I am ordering one from eBay now, so I will let you know if it works out. This is J in his play area. He has a lot of toys, but his favorite is his old Zantac medicine bottle (back right). Go figure... And the quilt is byJessica. He loves it! I have so many great scrapbook page ideas in my head, but I just need to get it down. I put myself on a buying diet. No more buying of scrapbook supplies until I get 2 more pages done! That will take like 2 weeks... haha! Here is J with some of his friends. The one in the middle was crying in most of the photos, and J was just kicking back on the right. The little one on the right is still wearing his "crash helmet" head shaper, but as you can see above, his head is a perfect little Charlie Brown crown now. :) Congrats to all of the brand new Hall of Fame winners and HMers! It was exciting seeing you gals post your calls. I cannot wait to get the book...

Being American

2007-03-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was a kid in South Carolina. People would come up with me and say "So where are you from." At first I would say, "New York". And they would say, "No, really. Where are you from?" I sort of played along, but it always annoyed me a bit because I was from New York, at least in my mind. I mean, it was not like I was from Asia just because my parents came from there many years before I was born. So later, I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to marry an Asian guy. It was not like they were thick on the ground in the Deep South. But then I decided I wanted someone who would partner with me to raise our children as Americans with Chinese accents (figuratively, not literally LOL) . And when I got to college, I met David and the rest is history. Now we have our little All-American Boy. Okay, so most people may not look at him and say that, but I totally see that when I look at him. And now I would like to see him on the cover of a scrapbook magazine with that title. :) I quickly went through my 2006 and 2007 issues of one of my scrapping mags and there are no minorities on the cover. I only looked at one because they are organized on my shelf and most of my other mags (I subscribe to 5) are hanging all over the house, but it is a decent representative sample. Is it because there are no great ethnic minority scrappers? Or because these covers sell better? I am pretty sure it is a business decision either way, and as a business person, I get it. But it does make me sad as a mommy. After all, for every one of those all-American towheaded little kiddos on the cover, there is a little one like mine who probably never will be. I hope that our industry can lead the way in reflecting our society as it is. And I cannot wait until July 4th someday when they have a little non-Caucasian kiddo hold a sparkler with the words "All-American". Jonathan agrees. :)

More good deals...

2007-03-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

ETA - Found a new potty. I know J is only 8 months old, but I have been eyeing this potty for awhile. This is the best price I have ever seen for this highly rated Baby Bjorn Potty. It is 20% off the regular price and with free shipping, this is a great deal. And no tax is many states. I know that in America many parents wait until 2 or 3 to potty train, but in other countries they potty train earlier so I asked my pediatrician. She said conspiratorially, "Well, none of the other pediatricians will tell you this, and I would not believe it myself had I not seen it, but my nanny potty trained my son at less than 1 year." Her son is now 13 months old, and she said it would not hurt to try as long as J was not pressured into it. Her nanny is Indian, and the person who helps me out is Chinese. And she says it is common in Asia to start training leading up to 1 year. I was pretty shocked by all of this. I figured, I can leave the potty out so that he is used to seeing it around the house. If he shows curiosity, then we will see. Otherwise, it will sit there for a few months until he is ready. Or not.

I hate shopping offline. I am such an online shopping junkie that I rarely, if ever, go into a store. D and I cannot stand not to get a good deal on something even if it is completely and utterly trivial. So here are some random deals for the week I found as I was shopping around this week. :)

Rebel XT- I have been looking for an XT for a friend. The XTi is not much of an upgrade from the XT. It is better to save the moolah for a faster digi card or extra batteries Amazon has the best price right now, with the second place finisher as Dell.com. I am not sure why the XT prices have not gone down more, but alas, it is what it is. That said, Amazon does have a 30-day price guarentee. So you can always go back and get some money back if the price drops.
Extra batteries for Rebel - You should definitely pick up some extra batteries from here. It is an awesome buy. I got 2 extra batteries and an extra charger. I met the three guys who own this eBay store at eBay Live, and they are awesome! You can count on getting the best deal from them.
Amazon 30-day Price Guarentee - This is a cool tool. You put in an item you bought and this tool will email you if the price goes down. Neat eh?
Office Supplies - Office Depot has another $10 off $25 coupon this week (exp 3/17). You can print and use this at Staples and Office Max as well. I used it at Staples last time because OD did not have the ink I wanted in stock. The ink for my Epson 2200 is crazy expensive, but with the coupon, it makes is a little more palatable.
Formula - And for you mommies, sign up at http://www2.blogger.com/www.enfamil.com and http://www2.blogger.com/www.similac.com to get free formula checks ranging from $1.00 to $7.00 off. I do not currently formula feed J, so I gave some to my friend. She buys $30 in formula a week, so every dollar saved is one more she can save for a house.

Personally, I am saving up for J's college fund, so every penny counts!!! LOL!

Ugh...

2007-03-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy weekend.

Hmmm... So I was having a good evening, hanging with Jonathan, and getting some work done. Then suddenly, bllahhh.... And I spent most of the rest of the evening cleaning up baby vomit. Poor kiddo has tummy trouble. DH is convinced it is caused by the Gerber Chicken and Veggies, but the advice nurse said it was the stomach flu. I am not sure... I wish babies came with StarTrek-like universal translators. And our Pottery Barn rug? Well, it is not pretty. But armed with some Oxyclean, I was at least able to get out most of the stains and smell. I will have to see how it all dries tomorrow. It is a good thing we had the foresight to buy a colorful knit rug and dark couch. Just a hint for those of you future parents. LOL! :)
I hosted our church mommy and me group on Friday. It was fun, but crazy having like 8 moms and 9 kiddos here. And my little guy got roughed up by some of the bigger, badder kiddos. They are all under 1, and I am not sure they all understand "sharing" yet. I am not sure I am going to volunteer again for a bit. Jonathan is pretty sedate, so he yields his toys to other folks a lot. Even his cousin, Noah, roughs him up a bit. And Jonathan sort of just sits there and goes, "Um, are you hitting me?"
Our washing machine broke on Thursday, and we asked someone to come out and fix on Friday. He said that we were better off buying a new one than fixing it. So I was hunting for a new machine. But David had a brillant idea to test the broken part, and after some time on the internet, I figured out it was the lid switch. So we spent the afternoon with a completely dismantled washing machine, struggling to put in a new lid switch. And of course, we ended up with one extra piece that we could not fit back. But it works. :)
We went to Stanford to visit my friend who fell from 25 ft. It was so great seeing him. I mean, this is someone who fell and shattered his face, but amazingly, he is doing well well. I felt a little anxious going there, but it was so wonderful seeing him. I hope I did not sound inane, but it is hard to hold a one-sided conversation without sounding at least a little silly. I brought Jonathan to meet him, and the little dude behaved so properly in the hospital room.
We borrowed an Xbox (ours has trouble reading Ubisoft games) and played Splinter Cell: Double Agent which I got for my birthday from my friend, Andrew. I love first person shooters best, but I guess stealth games like this are a great second. A lot of guys tell me that I do not look like a gamer, but it is nice to shoot something virtual to get out some aggression. David and I take turns when it is the solo play, but we like to play in split screen co-op mode more.
I got a new cell phone. Yeah! My sis and I had the same old Nokia from like 3 years ago. And we both got new Sanyo Katana's. At this point, anything is better than the stupid Nokia. The charge lasted only like 12 hours (if you did not talk) and like 6 if you did. It was annoying. I am glad to finally have a new phone so I can even hear anyone. I used to have to put it on speakphone just to be able to hear someone talk.

That is about it for now. We are closing the books for MR in 2006, so it has been busy. Another container arrives on Tuesday or so with more CHA Winter goodies! Yeah! These containers come about every 4 to 6 weeks now like clockwork, so we are always restocking.

I am 8 months old

2007-03-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

I am 8-months old
I have been sick off and on this past month with a cold
My favorite food is sweet potatoes
I hate peas - they are nasty
I refuse to pick up my cereal by myself and instead make mommy feed me
I weight 19.6 lbs and I am not really gaining weight
I like to play with my friends in play group each Friday
I sleep like an army crawler with my head down and butt up
I am still afraid of baths and make little "eek eek" noises when I get in
I hate having my face wiped and cry out when someone tries to clean me off
My favorite mode of transport is sitting Daddy's shoulders and pulling on his hair
I sleep from 9:30pm to 8am every night
I like to play with my Fisher Price piggy bank
I like to embarrass my parents by burping loudly at church service
I can sit by myself for nearly an hour with my toys and play quietly.
I can stand up while holding on to something.

My friend, Connor and me, watching our daddies having Chinese milk tea. Yummy! My asleep on Daddy during Bible study. It runs late, so I get tired. I will be back next month!

On turning 31...

2007-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

Today, I turned 31... I used to wonder what it would be like to be on this side of 31, and today, I am here. When I was a child, I really hated where I grew up. (Sorry, Shirley, but it really was terrible in SC!) I hated how everyone dissatisfied with everything. I wanted more and more. It was always the next challenge, the next goal... I was never happy with who I was, how I looked, or where I was in life. But becoming a mother had changed all that. It is as if overnight, I went from an ambitious, ever-striving person to someone who is much more grateful and content. And I am happier than I could ever have imagined. A great husband, a happy baby boy, a job I enjoy, a company I am passionate about, and a family who loves me. What more could I want? I was sleeping, and David brought J over to the bed to take a few birthday photos. Here are a couple. And a couple of J at church today. He is playing in the infant room. Thanks to his Yee-Ma (C) for his cute sweater and khakis.

Sleepy J...

2007-03-01T23:40:00.000-08:00

I told David the story of how my mom used to yell at me when I fell asleep at the table. I would get SOOOO sleepy, I would fall asleep and knock my rice bowl all over the floor. I believe I got a good spanking for that one at least once... So here is Jonathan. For some reason, he was so sleepy, he started to nod off at the dinner table during the apples and prunes course. Apparently, it was very tiring after the peas and finger cereal. He was eating and eating and then zzzz.... We tried to wake him up by lightly tapping him and then sitting him up. And then this happened - David picked him up, and here they are in the kitchen. In the background is the wall hanging of us dancing our first dance at our wedding. David had the words to the song he wrote for me (and sang at our ceremony) printed on it. And thanks to the Coconut Goddess, Ana, for finding a Blossom Book project which was lost at SA for a long time. Her persistence, despite the odds, was like looking for the lost sheep in the Bible. She never gave up, and now this little lamb will be returned home to Andrea!

Life is precious

2007-02-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about a lot of things the past few days. Someone I worked closely with and respect a lot, was seriously injured in a terrible 25 ft fall. I cannot stop thinking about how much he means to those around him and how in a second, life has changed so much for him and those around him. His prognosis is good, but I am of the belief that you can never ever pray too much or appreciate others enough. And this just hit home on Friday when I heard about the incident, and when we had meetings and he was just not there. We hope to stop by and see him in a few days when he is past some of the major surgeries. Until then, your positive thoughts and prayers are appreciated. Life is fragile and too brief, so that is why I take lots of photos, journal like crazy and scrapbook. Should anything ever happen, I do not want any doubt in David and J's mind that I love them with all my heart. My scrapbooks would certainly not win awards, but they are precious to me and one day, (I hope) my children. There is so much focus on competition and the "art" part of scrapbooking sometimes, and I admit, I get caught up in it. There is a place for that , but recently, I have been thinking. I do not want J to one day look at a beautiful photo of him and some pretty paper and not know what I was thinking deep inside. I want him to read about the dreams I have for him, and who I hope he will one day be. Sure the photo will be pretty, and the embellishments will be nice (we do make them after all :)), but it is the sentiment and my wishes for him that will count more than anything. Or the memories of the fun times we had together. Even if it is a few words, I always try to put something down on paper and tuck it into a page. Here are a few photos from tonight. He accidentally pooped all over the floor (long story, don't ask), and it was a messy mess. So we had to bathe him early tonight. But he got to try out this cute new outfit from his Auntie Caroline. This is J in his eBay beanbag. It is the perfect size for his little body, and he enjoys sitting there for a bit watching me work. This is how I envision Jonathan when he is in his terrible twos. *gasp* He was grumpy because he was tired, so he was alternating between laughing and crying. He is usually a happy kiddo, but when he is tired, there is no stopping the grumpy faces... One last one. J hates tummy time and does not at all crawl. He just hates it with a vengence and instead has taken to rolling around back and forth. He also likes to stand. So here he is, after David propped him up on the futon. He also likes to pretend to walk between our feet. But no crawling for this little stubborn bao bao ("precious" in chinese). He looks like my little Carter's model, well, except for the drool... :)

A cute photo

2007-02-26T21:36:00.000-08:00

No time to write tonight, but wanted to add a cute photo of the little guy on our postal scale...

Packaging...

2007-02-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

I have been spending a lot of time thinking of packaging. Everything we have comes with so much of it, especially stuff for babies. We end up with so much left over "stuff" whenever we get anything. We bought Fisher Price pigs for our friend's babies (and our own) for Christmas, and there was more packaging that pig! Even if we recycle it all, there is a still a lot of energy used and trees killed to make the stuff that just holds the gift. We buy J baby food, and not only does it come in little plastic containers, those containers are wrapped with paper. What is the point of that? We wash out and save some of those containers for future use, but we have 3 new ones a day! So soon we will run out of space. Part of it is that one of my pet peeves is those crazy plastic packaging that is sealed on the side. And you have to take scissors to cut them out. I have cut myself on those sharp plastic a couple times as I am trying to tear into the packs. Ugh! Sometimes people ask me why we have metal tins for packaging. Yes, it is just a bit more than the plastic, but you can actually use it for storage. I use my extra tins to store my embellishments and organize stuff like my cut out rubons. I have a great idea for organization coming for CHA Summer. So if you are a MR fan, hang on to your hats! Here is a photo of J with his new friend. We played Texas Hold 'Em with his parents for babysitting for a date night. And lo and behold, D and I won! Yeah! :) J lent his little urchin hat (right) to his friend for a few weeks until he can stop wearing the head shaping helmet. And for my mother in law (who called to thank me for the last photo) here is one with all of his friends from church ranging in age from 4 months to 1 year old. Babies galore!

On scrapbooking...

2007-02-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

It is nice to be scrapbooking again. I have tons and tons of photos stacking up in my Picasa, and I am just not getting any closer to finishing many pages. Tomorrow night our Bible Study group is cropping together. Most of the ladies are new to this hobby, so I have been debating whether to bring along some of my magazines. But honestly, I think that sometimes the MMM, CK and and BHG mags really scare new scrappers. It is sort of intimidating to see the beautiful pages made by the creative teams. I remember my first day of art class in college. My professor was a wonderful artist and teacher (his daughter is the Jane from the JANE magazine). And the first day, he showed us a slideshow of some of the greatest art works of all time. And then he asked us to sketch a still life. Um, okay. That was HARD since we were totally overwhelmed by our lack of talent relative to those great masters. I found out later that my professor was killed in a hit and run doing what he loved -- biking on the backroads. But today, I still think fondly of how he really challenged me to think about art differently. I am a decent sketcher, a terrible painter, and just generally an okay visual artist. But he really taught me to look at life as art. It is not about a pretty picture, but something that is meaningful to you. I remember reading All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham when I was in high school. And one story struck me. He said when you ask a room full of children, "Who can sing? Who can dance? Who can draw?" They all say "Me! Me! Me!" But ask a group of adults, and a few may tentatively raise their hands. He says this points to how we lose our sense of wonder and faith as adults. We learn to judge ourselves harshly. I say that we should be the same way with our scrapbooks. Our scrapbooks are not meant for others to judge. They are meant for our families to love. Everyone can scrapbook! I was scrapbooking with my mother for the first time a few weeks ago. I sat with her for the day and showed her how to make a mini album with our 6x6 binder. My mother is a talented painter, but she never took the time to scrapbook. In fact, she was not sure how to use an adhesive runner. :) But it was wonderful to spend the day with her. We chatted and I helped her make a cute book of her grandbabies for my father. She used just paper, stickers, and adhesive, but it was perfect. You do not need a lot of "doodads" (that is what David joking calls embellishments) to make a treasured memory book. Jonathan has been sort of grumpy due to teething and the related fever it has been causing, so we do not have a ton of photos from this week. But since I know my mother in law reads my blog religiously to catch glimpses of her precious grandbaby, here he is! At 19.5 lbs, he is a whopper. A killer on our backs as we lift him up and down. He has his bangs trimmed this week so he can see. Like it?

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-19T23:45:00.000-08:00

We had a laid back Chinese New Year. My parents had all sorts of traditions, but now that we are parents, we are not nearly as adherent to them. So for J's first Chinese New Year, we took some photos using my new tripod (Christmas present from David) as a family. Here is one of them... Jonathan got some red envelopes from his grandparents and from our friends. He is not really sure what to do with them, and we just try to keep him from eating them. LOL! You know, since J was born, a lot of people ask me when I am going to quit my job. And I do not think ANYONE asks David that question. Part of me is happy that I have the option since I always imagined I would be a stay-at-home mom, and part of me feels that it is unfair that a mother working outside the home is asked these questions. I am really torn. When I was in grad school, the women in my class used to discuss this a lot. We called it "stopping out". We were supposed to graduate, get out there and change the world, but as our 5 year reunion is coming up, a number of us are leaving or contemplating leaving the workforce to raise families. Is it because corporate America is not friendly to women? Or that enough women are not sticking it out to make corporate America change? I am not sure if it is the chicken or the egg. And I am not sure if my own choices are helping or hurting the situation. When C and I started MR, we always expected that our business would be supportive of women in all stages of their lives. Over the past few years, we have had a few stay-at-home moms who help us out from time to time on special projects. I like knowing that we are helping them, and they are helping us. Happy Chinese New Year, folks! It is now the Year of the Boar.

Good deal, eh?

2007-02-18T03:40:00.000-08:00

Most of you who know me know that I love a good deal. D and I are such bargain hunters that one friend told me her husband said to run any major purchases by us to make sure they pass the "Dave and Deb" test. We are really frugal because we figure anything we save can be put away for J's college or for a good cause. Here are a few interesting deals I have seen lately... - Diapers - J is an Pampers baby, so go to Amazon and get $25 off $99 this month on all Pampers stuff. Coupon code is PAMPERS2, so it is much cheaper than getting it elsewhere. - General Stuff (scrapbooking!) - PayPal has a promo where if you sign up here, you can get $15 off $30 at any site which accepts PayPal. This is great because a lot of online scrapbooking sites accept PayPal! - Office Supplies - I get my ink for my Epson 2200 photo printer from office supply companies like Staples or Office Depot. Click here for the $10 off $25 Office Depot coupon which was included in their last email mailing. We hope to make J a good bargain hunter too! Here is a cute little photo from today... We call him our One Sock Wonder. No matter what we do, he just seems to lose his socks. Sometimes we find them in his mouth, sometimes on the floor, and many times not at all. He has at least 6 single socks without mates due to his constant sock hi-jinks. He often wakes up with one sock on because he kicks and kicks them off. :)

Behind the scenes...

2007-02-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

C and I were joking about how she is the "face" of Maya Road. That is SO true. At the tradeshows, everyone comes to ask for C, and that is totally fine with me :) . Not that I do not like to meet folks, but she is definitely more out there in front. C and I are good complements. Yin and yang so to speak. It is funny because a lot of folks are not sure who is the big sis and who is the little one. Since we were young (and exactly the same height and weight most of our lives), that has always been the case. We are similar is some ways and so far apart in others. It is sort of weird how we ended up both marrying guys named David, having weddings 1 week apart and pregnant nearly at the same time. I almost went to my sister's college, but she talked me out of it at the last second. C had some questions asked on her blog, so I thought I would answer a few that fall into my area of the biz. I will answer the questions from Shirley and Dale Anne. Shirley: what are the approximate steps in getting a product to market? out of all the ideas that you come up with for a show, how many never make it for one reason or another? 1. Come up with an idea for a line of products. There are always a lot of "ooh, wouldn't it be great if we did xyz?" emails flying back and forth between C and me. 2. Design the heck of out it. An idea might be, "Wouldn't it be cool to make an album to fit into our chipboard tins? That way after you are done with the tin, you can make a book to go inside." But, what size? How would it work? How many pages? What price point? How will it be used? 3. I pull out a ruler, some paper, and Illustrator and get to work. 4. Send the designs in to get the prototypes made. 5. Get prototypes back. 6. Adjust and fix, getting feedback from DT, customers, etc. 7. Decide on price, quantity, packaging for order. 8. Get final samples. 9. Put into catalog. 10. Arrange to get them to our warehouse 11. Get them on retailer shelves for you to enjoy! Multiply that process by 70 to 100x and you have our line for each release! :) I skipped over a lot of to gory details like arguing with our factory at 1 am when there is a problem or trying to wrestle a shipment out of the hands of customs. But you get the picture. Dale Ann: How far in advance do you have to think of a product & get it into production? For an example, the NEW FABULOUS stuff you had at CHA - when did you have to work on that? Ah... this is a good question. Our product life cycle is about 6 months. That is what makes CHA Summer and Memory Trends hard. They are only 2 months apart (and this year like 6 weeks!!). And then MT to CHA Winter is only 3 or 4 months. You can see the details above. Right now, we are reviewing our list of what to make for CHA Summer. I am bursting with ideas, and I am sure it will be hard to narrow down... This is my favorite time of the year. We are done with the last show and had a great reception, and the next show is in the idea phase. It gives us a breather for a bit, and some time to get our creative juices flowing. BONUS: I saw this question and I laughed. Anam_Kihaku: is being family with your business partner tough? I would say yes and no. I would say no because there is no one else in the world I trust more than my sister (other than my DH, of course). I mean, I know she not only cares about the business, but also David, Jonathan and me. I know some folks say you should not work with your family, but I disagree. As long as you have a good relationship and are honest (brutally so sometimes) with each other, then you will be okay. On the yes, it is hard part, it is different being business partners than being sisters. We started our first business together when we in elementary school, so I guess we are used to it. But we tend to spend a lot of time talking about our business and not our lives. We probably talk more than most sisters, but mostly about Maya Road. It would be nice just to spend a weekend hanging out and being together without that every once in awhile. I finally scrapbooked again! Thanks to everyone who inspired me to do so... Our crazy awesome Design Team (when I saw their stuff in the booth, I just knew I had to scrap again), Monica, CD, and Jeri. It was nice to finally make something... though my house looks like a hurricane went through it...

I am 7 months old

2007-02-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

I turned 7 months old as of last Friday
My favorite place is on my Daddy's shoulders. I like to hold on by his mane (I mean, hair!)
I like to stick both thumbs in my mouth at the same time - like dual wielding in Halo
My socks always fall off my feet - but I do not know why - maybe cuz I kick and kick until they fall off OR because they somehow end up in my mouth
I am a tummy sleeper
I play on my favorite blanket made by Auntie Jessica everyday
My favorite part of the bath is getting neekid before I get into the water
I learned my first baby sign "milk milk" at 6 months
I like Chinese baby songs
I smile when Mommy and Daddy laugh like my little froggy "he he he he"
I cry whenever I get my clothes changed
I think my hands are the most fascinating things I have ever seen - I can stare at them for hours and hours
I am a TV addict even though Daddy and Mommy never let me watch it - I can see a TV in a mirror at a restaurant and stare and stare
I look like my Mommy, and Daddy wishes I look more like him!

For Valentine's Day...

2007-02-12T00:21:00.000-08:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, here is a small tribute to the love of my life -

50 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU

Getting lost all the time and depending on your “Deb Deb” to get you home
Blowing raspberries on Jonathan’s tummy to make him laugh uncontrollably
Pursing your lips out in a kissy face when you want me to give you a peck
Driving really fast on interstates and saying “I am going with the flow of traffic”
Wanting to buy a used $2300 Ford Escort because it is such a “great deal”
Bouncing with Jonathan on the big bouncy ball when he is fussing up a storm
Hating being beaten by me in Halo, but secretly telling your friends I am better
Obsessing about every little thing about Jonathan from baby bumpers to baby TV
Calling me from the hallway of the hotel when you are away for work obligations
Insisting “sci-fi” be called “speculative fiction” that is more befitting the genre
Napping on the couch after work with Jonathan totally asleep on your tummy
Insisting Jonathan is the greatest baby in the world and that you are not biased
Complaining about silly things like how hard flossing and taking out the trash is
Buying dozens of Hong Kong VCDs about triads, vampires and sappy love stories
Picking my scrapbooking paper and accents for my photos and giving feedback
Calling Jonathan “Lu’cutest’” after Picard’s Borg character on Star Trek shows
Looking for your glasses only to find them on your face or on top of your head
Waking up at 3am for a month straight to feed when Jonathan is hungry
Sneaking to read your sci-fi novels in the bathroom when I am not looking
Writing silly non-rhyming songs to lull our baby to sleep or make him laugh
Telling me all the time that “this would make a great scrapbook page”
Lying on two dozen couches before finding the one you wanted to buy
Falling asleep in a bath after a hard day and waking up to cold water
Begging me for baby number two right after we had number one
Knowing all of the easter eggs hidden in genre referential sci-fi
Hating any newspaper, magazine or news that is not brand new
Asking me for 10 more minutes every time you take a nappy nap
Working hard all day and coming home early to help with the baby
Searching for the absolutely best deal on everything we buy
Forgetting entire conversations we have when you are tired
Hemming and hawing about learning Cantonese after 11 years
Falling into “screensaver” mode with the remote and television
Playing the guitar and singing praise songs slightly off-key
Enjoying your 45 min bathroom time each and every night
Losing your wedding ring twice in 6 years of marriage
Laughing at everything and anything not matter how silly
Refusing to eat medicine even when you are sick as a dog
Growling at me in frustration when the house is a mess
Doodling maniacal bunnies on the bulletin handouts in church
Standing over Jonathan’s crib at night just to stare at him
Lugging my huge and heavy camera around everywhere we go
Pouting cutely when I tell you that any other guy is cute at all
Humming the theme to Civilization III while getting ready for bed
Forgetting all about every anniversary and birthday and occasion
Lying to me in your sleep just so you can have 5 more minutes
Hiding your face under the pillow when you do not want to get up
Believing that divorce is never an option no matter what happens
Limiting me to NPR, Christian and Country stations on the car radio
Repeating things I told you about back to me later as new information
Loving me with all your heart, no matter what!

We really do not spend much on our Valentine's Day presents and such. Above everything, we just enjoy each other's company. It is nice to be comfortable and content and still passionately in love. I would not trade it for anything!

RAK Winners and Some Pics

2007-02-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Anna Sigga, tautchia, and Mel Nunn on the Win It Before You Can Buy It RAK! Sorry for being so late to pick you, but in the run up to the show, I was totally swamped and then after the show Jonathan got sick... :( Totally my fault. Email me at mayaroad@ gmail.com and send me your addresses. And I will have something popped into the mail soon. Jonathan's daddy picked you by selecting times and I searched for the person who posted closest to those times. The show was just fabulous! About 2 months ago, we decided to double the size of our booth (from a 2 square to 4 square) and it was a leap of faith on our part. But boy, am I glad we did that. It would have been packed wall to wall without the extra space. It was so wonderful to hear that people are actually asking their LSS to pick up our products. We have really focused all of our time and investment on keeping great products out there, and it is so nice to hear that we have fans. :) To support our LSS and their customers, we have some great new things planned. I cannot wait to see how it all pans out, but it is hush hush for now...

What a show!

2007-01-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

CHA is in full swing. And wow, it has been so amazing... We went from a 10 x 20 booth to a 20 x 20 booth to give ourselves more space, and we totally changed around things. Caroline is a totally wing it sort of gal, and I am a planner. But in the end, we played it by ear and ended up with a great booth to showcase our designer's work and new products. We made a few other changes for this show. We redid our catalogs to focus on our new lines and freshen up the look. We added a make and take area and asked our talented DT members (Kim, Suzy and Lisa) to join us for M&Ts so you can touch and use MR products hands on. We did the Maya Roadie stickers and giveaways (so much fun) on the show floor and so much more! Our DT did some amazing work for this show! I cannot wait to post the pics. Honestly, I have only taken a few pics since it is so busy we barely have time to eat. But it is all so much fun seeing everyone face to face again. I love it! It is a grueling, crazy, difficult and WONDERFUL tradeshow. And I am excited to be here! Please stop by and say hello... :) Will post something soon.

Maya Road Catalog is posted!!!

2007-01-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

Finally... I am happy to introduce the:

2007 CHA Winter Catalog (click here)

I went to bed at 6:30am, but it is done! And on its way to the tradeshow. It has been a crazy week. Poor little Jonathan and his daddy are under the weather, and tomorrow is the big drive down. I have about 15 boxes in my house to drive with, so there is much packing left to do. But I wanted to thank all of you for your support all of these years. Please stop by the booth and pick up the "Maya Roadie" sticker... If you pick one up and we catch you wearing it, we will give you a small RAK of our cool stuff. The Davids, Caroline and I always joke about Maya Road in silly puns. So when we are at the show, we call ourselves the Maya Roadies. Then when the guys get all grumpy because the set up is taking forever and C & I are trying to get the booth just right, we say they have Maya Road Rage. And after the show when we are dead tired after cleaning up, we call ourselves Maya Roadkill. :) The puns are endless. It was our own private joke for a long time, but we decided to share. So pick up a sticker and keep it on for the duration of the show. And if one of our team on the prowl catches you with the sticker on, you will win something from us! You know, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in some ways I would have to agree. I know C blogged about how someone stole our coffee break book (it goes with our tin for heaven's sake) and some of our other products and made their own. We are a small company, but we are full of heart. This is our passion and our business. As a designer, I am flattered, and I am a bit miffed. But hey, such is life. So my goal? Make new things and bring new ideas to market. Keep changing and growing, and no one can catch you. Before we started MR, I was speaking to the head of one of the biggest companies in this industry (love their stuff!) about a possible job there. I was out of B-school and looking for an interesting challenge. So I told him that I was thinking of starting something as well. He said, "To be honest, we can outcompete any small company. If there is a great idea out there that we like, we can always make something like it and outcompete them since we are so much bigger and have better economies of scale." I guess business is like that. I never really told anyone that story until now (it happened 4 years ago) because he was just being honest with me. And I understand the business reality. I still use their products, but in the back of my mind, I still remember his words. That inspires me to keep moving. That is why C and I run a tight ship. We reinvest in products and keep it all fresh and fun! Well, enough reflection for the night. I am so tired. But still need to pack. See you all soon!

Man... too much to do!

2007-01-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

This is how I feel... I am finalizing the catalogs and we are down the wire. We have been working on this release for nearly 4 months, but it always seems I am sending the files to the printers at the last second. But so it goes... I am always nervous before a show. Will folks like our products? Will they be well received? I mean you work so hard and put your heart and soul into everything, and you put it all out there to be judged. Sometimes I go to shows and hear people say "So and so has a terrible release." and "I cannot believe anyone would buy that silly thing from so and so." And I wonder if anyone says that about our stuff just around the corner. But I have faith that we made the right calls. We tried something totally new this time. And we redid our catalogs completely (at least 100 hours of work sitting in front of this computer). Here is a small sneak peek of our new sheers... There is more to come... Check out our design team blog for our new CLEAR ACRYLIC STAMPS! We really debated it, and we just had so many designs bursting out that we could not keep it to 4 sets, so we went to 8. I had enough designs for at least 16... but that can wait until Summer. :) I will post more tomorrow. I have only 48 hours to finish everything, so I need to get back to work.

Can someone invent the 36 hour day???

2007-01-18T23:42:00.000-08:00

Wow! Time is flying so fast! Yesterday I worked for 15 hours straight, and I am so exhausted. I went to bed at 2:30 am and was up by 7:45 am this morning. I was on a conference call and trying to calm my sick baby at the same time. He is growing up everyday, with or without me. Today, when I got home, the nanny said, "He is so smart! When I put him on his tummy from tummy time, he has learned to flip himself right back over." And she showed me. Lo and behold, flip and Jonathan (formerly known as 'upside down turtle') was back on his back and laughing. He hates tummy time, so I guess he is learning how to avoid it. Smart kid. Look who was 7 days old - 6 months ago? He looks SO tiny! I was flipping through my Picasa and saw this photo of my mini boy. So cute! This was from his hospital stay for jaundice when he was just a week old. Something funny also happened at dinner. David picked up my new glasses (I only wear glasses when I drive). So I tried them on as I was feeding Jonathan. And once I put them on, he looked at me and at his daddy and then he started to cry and cry and cry. I took off the glasses and he kept crying. I was not sure why he did that, so later as we were playing together on the couch, I asked David to bring over my glasses. David put on my glasses as he walked towards us, and Jonathan looked over and laughed with his daddy. Then David handed me the glasses. I put them on, and suddenly, he started to cry. I took them off again, and I think he still wondered what happened to his mommy. The funny thing is that his grandmother (my MIL) and the nanny both wear glasses. And David wear glasses at night and in the early morning when he has not managed to get his contacts in. I am behind on my sneak peeks, so here I am... I am happy to share two new sneaks... I am so busy that I barely have time to sleep. I will be back to my old self after the show I hope! I have had this book in my computer for about 2 shows, and I finally turned it into reality. :) It is part of our Mementos collection.

A week of firsts....

2007-01-16T00:19:00.000-08:00

Since coming back from Hong Kong, Jonathan has reached so many new milestones. He has learned so many new things each day that it is hard to keep up. Let's see. He has learned to sit up all by himself, started saying "milk milk" in baby sign language, and eat solids! Above is a photo of his first few bites of rice cereal from a spoon. He really took to being fed with a spoon despite it being totally new. He also has so much curiosity. He was sitting on his daddy's lap during dinner, and he leaned forward to have a bite of his daddy's spaghetti from the bowl. So funny... I am mostly better other than this terrible cough. I was taking codeine and that made Jonathan pretty sleepy, so I have been trying really hard not to take very much or to take it after I pump. David joked that we should save some of the codeine milk for our next airplane trip. :) Our new nanny started, and she is great. It is like hiring my mother or mother-in-law to take care of Jonathan. And she loves him a lot. He really took to her immediately even though he is usually a bit nervous around strangers. I think it is because she sort of looks like my MIL. So here is a bit of a sneak peek. This is the COOLEST book. It is shaped like an arrow and totally cute. I love it! This was Caroline's idea, and it is SO easy to use. There are many other additions to our binder collection, so stay tuned... One of my favorite pastimes is to photograph Jonathan napping with his daddy. Here is one from this weekend. Jonathan woke up when I was taking photos. And he started to laugh hysterically... He loves my SLR and starts to giggle when he sees it. :) Until 2 days from now... I need some sleep and some codeine. P.S. To the gals who posted comments on the last sneak, yup! I used a mix of Chinese knotting and Celtic inspiration. In fact, the original design had several other knots which did not translate well to chipboard. But these are SO cool... I have some here to RAK for those who posted on Jonathan's Christmas post. And I will host one more RAK during the show, so stay tuned!

CHA Sneak Peek...

2007-01-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

I am SO behind. I have been sick for the past 2 weeks with the flu, and it has really put me off schedule. I have a million things to do before the show, and each is critical to getting us there. From getting the booth panels and shelves to getting the catalogs to the printers and samples to the designers, I am just on the go go go. Add on top of that the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day AND that I am sick as Jonathan's little blue Daniel dog, it is not pretty here at our house. I am working on my sneaks. And here is one little one. Jonathan was playing with one of these the other day (see post below), and here is the full collection. This chipboard is something I really love. Check it out here! This is inspired by Chinese knotting, a hobby I loved as a child. You will love this! They came out even cooler than I imagined... I still have a ton to do, so back to work. I am trying to get to bed by 1:30am, so I can get well enough tomorrow to attend church. We shall see if a slightly feverish baby who just had his 6 month shots and a still sort of sick mommy can feel well enough to sit quietly in the back of the church tomorrow. The daddy is already napping on the couch to save his strength and immune system to deal with the two of us! Until the next sneak (see you in two days)... bye!

6 months old - where does the time go?

2007-01-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

Jonathan turned 6 months old yesterday. Unfortunately, I have the flu AND some sort of bacterial infection (just my luck!), so I am totally and completely out of it. I have been away from work for a week, and still, I am sick sick. I am often a little bit sick (allergies, small sniffles types), but I am rarely really sick. But here I am. Totally felled with a bout of the worst flu I have ever had. I was chatting with the doctor, and I mentioned I was in Hong Kong. And she said, "Yeah, most flus come out of that area of the world, so I am not surprised." Great! So I am in day 8 (or was it 9?) of this terrible sickness... Our house is a disaster AND CHA breathing down my neck. Not pretty at all. I was taking care of Jonathan with a bit of help from D while working until the new nanny started today. I was spending most of the day waving and talking to J from across the room so I will not infect him as well. Poor kiddo. I think he thinks I do not like him anymore. Even when I am feeding him with the bottle, I need to avert my face just in case I sneeze or cough on him. :(

Here is Jonathan on a Hong Kong MTR subway. I am putting into a HOF page, but I thought I would share. It was New Year's Eve at 11:30 pm when I took this photo. He is strapped onto his daddy for a night on the town. We met up with some friends for some traditional Chinese dessert, and then took the MTR to Times Square. J took it all very well. Hong Kong is a pretty tame place, though you may not know it watching all of those crazy triad movies David loves watch. If you ever watched The Departed, you know what I mean.

Give me 2 more days to recover, and I will start posting our sneak peeks for CHA Winter. Caroline and I are totally sick, so we are trying to get as much done as possible, but it is not easy. I cannot wait to share out cool new sneaks!

A few thoughts about Hong Kong

2007-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we are back from Hong Kong. And it was a CRAZY trip. I mean, imagine travelling with a 5.5 month who is jet lagged, grumpy, suddenly anxious around strangers and who just decided to up and stop breastfeeding just before leaving. And imagine you spent the two straight days before the 15 hour flight in a car for 6.5 hours each day to attend a wedding in LA. And imagine that you are the last to arrive in Hong Kong of the 30 family members going back to the reunion. And imagine the drama, the 3 hour meals with 10 courses, living in a space the size of a postage stamp, and getting very sick just before coming home. Well there you have our Christmas and New Years.... It was SO crazy. The family drama is always fun, of course, but throw in 3 new great grandbabies, and there you have it! We did pick up samples of the awesome new products we designed for CHA Winter (shh... sneak peek to come) somewhere in between the craziness. The little guy took awhile to warm up to Hong Kong. Unlike his cousin, Noah, who was charming the pants off of Hong Kong, Jonathan was a bit more reserved, especially when being passed around the huge family. Jonathan appreciates all of your Christmas wishes. He will be picking a winner of the RAK shortly. :) Oh yeah, and one more thing. He learned to speak today! Well, not exactly speak. But we have been trying to teach him baby sign language, and he never really got it. But today, when I was sitting in front of him showing the symbol for milk (nai nai), he did it! I am such a proud mommy... And he sort of crawled. Sort of not. I put him down on the quilt Jessica made for him, and he scooted up on his knees and pushed himself a few inches forward! It is the little joys that make motherhood worthwhile... :)

Last post before the holidays - WIN IT BEFORE YOU CAN BUY IT!

2006-12-19T23:42:00.000-08:00

It is Jonathan's first Christmas. And his mom and dad are running around like chickens without a head. Here is a cute photo of Jonthan leaning against my knees playing with his daddy. He likes to look around this way and check out the sights. My MIL commented that he seems to play for the camera, and I was joking back that it must be because he has had nearly 2000 photos taken of him in the past 5 months. :) And a little sneak peek for you who read my blog. The other day, a huge box of our new CHA Winter releases made its way to our front door. Thinking it was Santa giving him a present, he proceeded to play with all of the wonderful chipboard and more! Okay, so he mostly just put stuff in his mouth or played with it like a rattle to see if he could get it to make noise, but it was worth a quick snapshot. Check him out here... And to those of you who are MR fans, win it here before you can buy it in stores! Jonathan has a small assortment of stuff in his stash he wants to giveaway. These are all new stuff which we are not releasing until CHA Winter! (I will mail it so that it arrives right around the time of the show). The only thing he asks is that you post a comment for him for Christmas... And he said he would only ship out the new stuff that does not have his baby drool and teeth marks. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cookies Galore!

2006-12-15T16:57:00.000-08:00

Every year or so, David and I make the famous Doubletree Hotel Cookies. Here it the recipe we use. I love making it, but I am not sure where I got the receipe from any more. But man, they are great! I am going to a cookie exchange with our church group, where you go with 4 dozen cookies, trade with others and get back 4 dozen cookies. Now if only I can hide them from David long enough to bring them to work on Monday!

Doubletree Cookies

1/2 cup rolled oats
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well blended.

For the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies.

Spoon rounded 1/4 cup portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the scoops about 2 inches apart. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 16 to 18 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. Store in a sealed container when cool to keep soft. Makes 20 cookies.

Working furiously

2006-12-15T00:06:00.000-08:00

All I can say is that wow! All of the chipboard prototypes are sitting right here, and I cannot resist giving a itty bitty peek... When you design something on paper, it is hard to tell how it will come out. In fact, my house is littered with one-of-a-kind prototypes which just didn't make the cut. Each time we do a new item, we have to invest tons of money on it, so we need it to be just so. And we have very exacting standards. So even though it is like telling me my baby is ugly, Caroline often says, "Um... no!" I have a dozen new chipboard items (and much much more!). I cannot wait to see what everyone does with these cool new products! Recently, I have been on a Maya Road hunt in magazines. I saw us in Cards Magazine as one of the companies they love, and I was SOOO happy. We were also in Scrapbooks, Etc as a Christmas Gift idea... how cool is that? And last week, I pulled out a Scrapbooking & Beyond and saw us in the Crazy for Chipboard. It is hard to think that when we started 3.5 years ago our products would be so well received. David and I started talking about our Christmas traditions the other day. And we decided to not do Santa Claus with our children. I guess I always knew there was not a Santa since my parents never really hid it well. In fact, they were terrible with most American holiday icons. When I was about 4, I stood on the stairs watching them put something in our stockings that I saw them buy a few days before. It was like this with Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and so on. I do not know if they ever really *got* how these icons worked, so they did what they thought made sense. Thinking back, it is quite funny. They sort of said, "Um, this is from Santa (or Easter Bunny, etc)" and I would see it was something they bought. In fact, I did not know other kids actually believed in Santa until I saw it on sitcoms on TV. Even though I was born in the US, I did not get some American traditions. For example, when I was 16, I saw the movie "Father of the Bride" at a friend's slumber party. And I was wondering why Steve Martin was so stressed out. In Chinese tradition, the man's family pays for the wedding and related festivities, so I guess I thought everyone did it this way. Turns out when we got married, I personally paid for about 70% of the wedding, so we followed neither tradition. :) Here is a quick photo of Jonathan in his new eating chair. I took a ton of them in his bright "coat of many colors". We are trying to train him to sit with us at the table for meals in preparation of starting solids in a few weeks. He is happy in the chair for about 20 mins, and then gets frustrated watching us eat. It is funny because he makes these cute chewing motions as we eat. So cute!

Laughing so hard!

2006-12-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

I was listening to NPR and they interviewed the PC guy from the Mac commercials. He has these hilarious songs that he wrote and recorded a week as part of his blog (you can stream songs for free). Some are brillant social commentary like IKEA and Shop Vac (two great reflections on modern yuppie life) and others are just quirky and endearing (ike Millionaire Girlfriend and I Hate California and some are even educational like The Presidents. He is a new father and he has some beautiful "new parents" songs like DNA and You Ruined Everything. But my favorite is undoubtably "Code Monkey". That is SO much like my software engineer friends. Hopeless romantics wrapped with a CS degree from MIT. :) There is also the wacky "Baby's Got Back" sung to a folkish, pop beat. That song sounds very different when you are listening to him sing it. It has been a crazy week. I am really at a crossroads in my life. It is funny because before I went back to work, David commented that I was totally different when I was on maternity leave. I was laid back, relaxed, never sick, upbeat and happy. And now that I am at work, there is just a different level of stress. He mentioned that I was generally less patient and understanding. He used to tell me he hated BCG - Deb. I loved that job and was pretty good at it, but the stress of being a consultant and having to travel was really tough on me. So now, he started calling it the Day Job - Deb. I am at a crossroads at work and at home. So we will see how things pan out. Maya Road is growing like a weed, or a well cultivated garden, if you prefer. And I love love MR and everything about the industry and our niche within the scrapbook community. But I also love Jonathan and my day job. I really wish there were 36 hours in a day! But oh well... until I learn to bend the space-time continuum (like Hiro in "Heros") I am stuck with fitting it all in like a really tight puzzle. Sometimes I wonder if adding that one last piece will make the rest of it fall apart! Here is J in his little robe. When we got it as a present, I was thinking, do babies even wear robes? But it was so cute, I had to put it on him for a quicky photoshoot... :)

Jonathan's New Toys

2006-12-08T00:44:00.000-08:00

The joke among our friends who had babies at the same time is that Jonathan is not allowed to have toys. I guess, I did not grow up with a lot of toys when I was growing up, so I am not used to having a bunch of different things to play with. So Caroline and I taught ourselves how to make things through sewing, sculpting, cross-stitching and such.

But for David's birthday, a friend of his bought Jonathan a Leap Frog Play Table. He was fascinated by the songs and spinning things. He cannot yet sit up by himself for very long, but he definitely enjoyed the different colors and sounds. I also brought a bean bag chair back from a work offsite. It is a perfect size for his little body, and he likes to hang out on there next to me as I work. I have to keep an eye on him lest he pop himself off the side! One more fun pic to share. Jonathan was eating, and he suddenly pulled off the breast. And suddenly milk started going everywhere. He was too surprised to pop back on, so he just watched as I tried to find a way to stem the flow. I was worried he would be upset, but he took it very well. I had to take a photo when he started to laugh with milk all over his face. I am getting the final prototypes for our new chipboard releases next week and all I can say is wow! We are trying something totally new, while also keeping to our core products as well. You will LOVE it! :)

Separated at birth?

2006-11-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Caroline (sister) posted this pic of Noah from her blog. And guess who looks just like Noah? David saw it and started to laugh. They do look like brothers, eh? Totally adorable, and separated at birth! LOL! I am working furiously on the Web Images for our retailers as well as the Class Materials. Crazy busy, recently. If you are looking for the latest calendar pages, check here. I am adding more each day!

Giving Thanks....

2006-11-23T22:16:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful today. So much has happened, but I am absolutely grateful to God for all of the wonderful blessings He has given us. Here are just a few:

A relationship with God and a church family we love
A beautiful, healthy and wonderful baby! I still cannot believe we are parents!
An understanding husband who has been patient, loving and understanding - one who does the late night / early morning feedings and spends his vacations in the MR booth meeting our retailers - forgive him if he forgets the names of the products :)
Loving parents and in-laws who adore J and take good care of us
A great business partner who is an even better sister
Great friends we can depend on
A place in a fun industry I love
A scrapbook full of memories and a computer full of photos (waiting to be scrapbooked)
A 10-year old Toyota Corolla I bought used out of college that still runs like new
Having everything we could possibly want in life, and the contentment to know that this is as good as it gets

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Having it all...

2006-11-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

You know, women used to talk about having it all. A loving husband, 2.5 wonderful children, a lovely suburban home, a challenging job, an active social life, and time to devote to church and civic activities. But one thing I found is that there is no ALL. When I was in business school, I spoke to the Dean about women getting their MBAs. The GSB program had the highest male, female ratio in our class of all of the major programs. I asked him more about that given that an article had come out in BusinessWeek about women who "drop out" of corporate careers to raise their children. He said that he was aware that women tended to have a shorter career span, but that many went on to lead in other areas and the CEOs are not the only way to measure business success. I have thought back to that conversation a lot. What is success anyhow? Today, I went back to work after my maternity leave. And for a day, I felt what it was like to have it all. Rushing out of the door in the morning to drop off J at a friend's house. Making sure I picked him up on time after dropping my the grocery store to get food for dinner. Spending about an hour and half with him before he fell asleep. Then working on MR for another 4 hours. A lot of my co-workers asked me if I was sad, but I did not really feel it today. But when I got home and saw him, I definitely see how hard this can get. I am not sure where it goes from here. A loving child, a growing business and a job I love, so where is the line drawn? These several months of working on MR and spending time with J have been so precious to me. And I have never been happier. But I am not sure how this story ends. For now, I am seeing how things go and going from there. Here is a favorite photo of mine I took with a tripod and self-timer. We were hanging out doing goofy pics one day a few weeks ago. :) I want to post this so I can look at this at work tomorrow.

What a crazy weekend...

2006-11-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

We had such a crazy weekend! J was a real trooper and even though he got shots on Thursday, he has been pretty good all weekend.

Friday night - Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child box stuffing with our Bible Study Group - we brought a ton of toys, soaps, toothbrushes and more, and our group ended up with over 25 shoe boxes! This year we stuffed them super full to make sure all of the kiddos had a great Christmas... This is a great activity to do with your kiddos and friends.
Saturday morning - Baby Shower Brunch - We have been supporting two missionaries to Mongolia for several years, and they are back in the states to have their second daughter! It was great to see them after their 4 year stint in Ulaanbaatar.
Saturday evening - Hot Pot Party with friends from undergrad and grad school - We hosted a fun hot pot party (chinese fondue) and then played Settlers of Catan late into the night
Sunday morning - Church and Thanksgiving Lunch - We had the big Unstoppable Campaign kick off and lunch. It was so great to see our church of 1000+ folks together at one service.
Sunday evening - Birthday Dinner for friend - We met a couple at the Childbirth Class and they have become good friends of ours. So we went out to Cascal to celebrate the husband's birthday.
Monday morning - Back to work at my "day job"! I am sad sad to be leaving J to go back part time, but my mother-in-law will be here Friday, yeah!

Wow, what a weekend! David and Jonathan wanted to show you how they feel after all of those activities:

Congratulations to the 2007 Maya Road Design Team!

2006-11-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the 2007 Maya Road Design Team! We are happy to announce these new additions to the Maya Road family. Wow! That was such an amazing process to do this open call, and I saw so many great designers.

Aubrey R of Bryan, TX - (ARives - 2peas)

Fiona C of Willoughby, NSW Australia - (fionacarter - typepad)

Greetje V of Gelderland Holland – (Greetje - 2peas)

Judi V of Niagara Falls, NY – (howjudi_ofyou - 2peas)

Kimberly C of Milford, OH - (Kim Conlin - scrap-a-latte)

Lisa P of Frisco, TX – (Lisa M. Pace - 2peas)

Suzy P of Laguna Niguel, CA – (suzyplant - 2peas)

Wendy R of Chino Hills, CA – (Wendy Rago - 2peas)

And our two wonderful Design Team members who will be continuing on in 2007:

Heather A of North Richland Hills, TX -(PrincessDallas - 2peas)
Carrie Z of Monroe, NC - (Carrie Zohn - 2peas)

Thanks a lot to everyone who entered! Please keep an eye out for the little thank you from us... And to our finalists, we will be sending along something special as our thank you!

Guess who is 4 months old? :)

2006-11-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Jonathan turned 4 months old! A few things about this 4 month old:

Lives in his swing - and will only get a good nap in that thing for some reason. He can play in there for hours, so I try to limit his time in there to when he needs a nap.
Hates his crib during the daytime, barely cries when put down to sleep at night. I am not sure why he resists it during the day with pitiful crying the whole time he is in there, but as soon as his little toosh touches the mattress, he starts to whimper.
Love his little froggy - I am thinking of naming it Jeremiah the Bullfrog. David wanted to name Jonathan Jeremiah, but I did not want the bullfrog thing to follow him the rest of his life!
Gets annoyed when a shirt or towel is pulled over his head. Makes changing his clothes difficult. Why can they not make more front buttoning things?
Slept through the night at 2 months (thank goodness!), loves to nap and sleep at night
Learned to roll from front to back and back to front - likes to do this while playing on his little playmat, but then gets "stuck" and cries for help
Loves TV - he is not allowed to watch TV at all, but if he is another room and there is a TV on some place, he will scoot all the way around to watch the flickering screen even if it is NewsHour (the most visually boring show on TV) about 15' or 20' away.
Cries pretty softly, do not not wail (though he used to)
Laid back about a wet diaper, even if it is soaked completely through, he does not really notice
Sleeps with is little arms flung over his head and face turned to one side in mock surrender - so cute!
Is fascinated with the Canon Digital SLR - lets me take endless photos of him on the couches, floor and beds
Loves to play and fall asleep on Daddy's lap on the couch
Enjoys his baths, seems tense when first going into the water, but then enjoys floating about in the water
Has very expressive little toes, clenches when nervous, splays when happy, kicks when upset
Is the apple of Daddy and Mommy's eye!

Happy 4-month, Jonathan!

Congrats to the finalists for the 2007 Maya Road Design Team!

2006-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the thirteen finalists for the 2007 Maya Road Design Team! Caroline and I want to thank everyone who applied to join the MR family. It was so hard to select the finalists from among the wonderful applications. We will be announcing the final team next week! (I linked up some of their public galleries)

Amy B of Ladera Ranch, CA - (liveloveandscrapbook - blogspot)

Aubrey R of Bryan, TX - (ARives - 2peas)

Celia K of Oakley, CA – (CeliaKing - 2peas)

Christy O of Justin, TX - (kiki-pt - 2peas)

Fiona C of Willoughby, NSW Australia - (fionacarter - typepad)

Greetje V of Gelderland Holland – (Greetje - 2peas)

Jenn D – Burnaby, BC Canada (jennp - pickofthepatch)

Judi V of Niagara Falls, NY – (howjudi_ofyou - 2peas)

Kimberly C of Milford, OH - (Kim Conlin - scrap-a-latte)

Lisa P of Frisco, TX – (Lisa M. Pace - 2peas

Mou S of Tampa, FL - (Mou Saha - cropper's cottage)

Suzy P of Laguna Niguel, CA – (suzyplant - 2peas)

Wendy R of Chino Hills, CA – (Wendy Rago - 2peas)

You would not believe the entries we got, not only from the finalists above, but also from the other entrants. I am so happy to see how designers use our products in new and innovative ways! I am so inspired that I want to scrap tonight... :) Congrats to all!

Looking ahead....

2006-11-09T01:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am just putting up these photos because they are SO precious... I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally I did it! These are the kiddos of my friends from our Bible Study. One of them is always sleeping or crying, so I could never corral them long enough to get these taken, but finally, they were all in a relatively good mood (ok, except for J) and we snapped a few shots. I especially love the one where K is looking at J crying and going "Dude, what's up with him?" We have been wanting to move back to North Carolina since we moved here. I came to get my MBA, and we kept saying that we would go back. But the economy was terrible when I graduated. And it was hard for David and me to both get jobs. So I took a job at a Silicon Valley company and told them I only planned to stay a year. It has been 4 years now, and I still love that job. And David got a new job he enjoys at another tech company. And we set down roots. We like our church, enjoy our bible study and have a lot of good friends. The funny thing is that we have been living like we are leaving for the past 6 years, first in graduate student housing and then in our house. When we painted, I said, "Let's go with white since it is easier to sell". We never change anything or do anything to the house because we are always one year away from NC. And each year we still further away... It is hard to look at these photos and know that Jonathan will not be able to grow up with his friends. :( I am saddened by that so much. But our parents are back East, and we always knew this was temporary (well at least 6 years!). So maybe in a year and a half... On a brighter note: We picked our finalists for the Maya Road Design Team! It was SO hard since the applications were so good. We will be making calls tomorrow morning. C and I may be calling you! :)

Nicknames... and a note to MR DT applicants!

2006-11-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

David loves nicknames. I am not sure why, but he cannot manage to call our son, Jonathan or Shang Zhi for some reason. Here is an assortment of the cute names he likes to use:

Mr. Fussy - D used this the first few weeks when Jonathan cried non-stop due to acid reflux. Now that J is a happy well-adjusted baby thanks to the miracle of Zantac, D has mostly retired this name.
Bao Bao - or as I call him "Bo Bo" - means "precious" or "treasure" in Mandarin. My version is Cantonese. I love this. I call him my little Bo Bo all the time.
Xiao Ke Ai - means "little cutie". He usually uses this when he is hugging J and walking around the room. This one is so adorable.
Xiao Ren - for those of you who know Chinese, you will recognize this as an insult! It means literally "small person", but it is pretty negative. D used it as a direct translation of his favorite "little guy", but it really means someone who is little in personality, like a coward. So now he tries to say "xiao hao ren" meaning "little good guy". I just asked him to stop using it because I am listening to him accidentally insult my son like 3 or 4 times a day!
Little Guy - One of David's English favorites. He refers to J as his "little guy". A sweet old standby name. So sweet.
Mr. Stinky - J does not poop very often, so he ends up stinking up the room with his baby farts. Dude, they are potent. Sometimes I hear someone let one rip from across the room, and I look over and say "David!" And D points to J and says, "I am not taking the rap for this one, buddy!"
Sleepyhead - J is like D. He likes to sleep. Here is a cute photo of them in their favorite hobby...

After the evening feeding as I am pumping breastmilk, I often catch them like this on the couch. J loves it there. He will sit on Daddy's tummy and play with his fists shadow boxing in the air, and then he eventually falls asleep to D's snoring. So cute! And to all of you who entered the Maya Road Design Team contest: Thank you!!! I have started to go through all of the applications, and I am amazed at the wonderful quality of work that is out there. This is going to be very very very hard given the number of entries and the breathtaking work. I just cannot believe the amount of talent out there, and I am totally humbled that you want to be a part of the MR family! We only have 2 days to pick our finalists, so tomorrow is going to be a busy busy day... :)

Hm... a question for all of you moms out there!

2006-11-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am not sure why this is, and I want to ask you all out there. So I was terrified of becoming a mother (see old blog threads :)). I put it off and put it off, and finally gave in to David. Anyhow, after J was born the first few weeks were hard because he was colicky and sick with reflux, would not nurse, in the hospital, etc. But since about 3 or 4 weeks, things are so much easier, and I am really loving motherhood. So people ask me how it is, knowing how scared I was about becoming a mom. So I say "It is a lot easier than I thought. Maybe I was just stressing myself out, but I have a really great baby, and things are wonderful." And the response is very odd. Here is a list of them. Most of the other comments fall along these lines.

One friend said at J's 1 month party, "Well you have help. Just wait until your parents and in laws leave. Then you will see what real motherhood is like." In fact, I love it even more without them here. I like it being just J and me, chilling and hanging out. I work for 8 to 10 hours a day on MR mostly when David gets home. But sometimes it is just J and me in front of the computer. I nurse him while typing.
Another friend said, "You just wait until he stops sleeping so much. When he is 3 months old, it will be harder." He sleeps less now, but I love that he is so interactive. It is so wonderful to laugh with him, and watch him sit up (he sat up steadily for over 30 secs today, a great feat for a 4 months old).
Yet another said, "Oh, well he is easy now, but wait until you go back to work full time instead of working at home." That is probably true, but I work full time on MR now. Sure, it will be hard to balance J, MR and my day job, but I wish my friends were not so doom and gloom about it.
Or "Well, you have an easy baby. Just wait until you have a second one." Um, okay. I probably deserve this on some level, but still...

My question is, what is the point of these statements? I sometimes wonder if they want me to feel bad. Knowing how terrified I was to be a parent, I was hoping they would be encouraged that I was happy and found this less stressful than I expected. Parenthood is not a competition, but I feel like people are trying to say that I am wrong and some horrible thing is just around the corner. So to combat this (I was wondering if I did this) I am trying to be as encouraging as possible to potential parents. When I was pregnant, all I heard were horror stories about the delivery. Does scaring someone make them better off? Anyhow, I am just wondering why there is this sort of "you cannot do this" mentality. I know I cannot have it all, but why does everyone have to be so negative? Here is a cute photo of J and his cousin (my cousin's daugther). J was super grumpy this weekend since his reflux was terrible (he threw up 3 times on Saturday night before this photo). Remember to enter the Maya Road Design Team open call!!! We want to see your work... I cannot wait to review them all!!! Here is the link just in case you missed it.

Maya Road Design Team link

Best of luck!!!

It is a sad sad world...

2006-11-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

I am sad today. Something bad happened at work (day job) last night involving explosives. Luckily, no one was hurt, but it made me think about how sometimes the world is a crazy place. Why do people want to hurt each other? It is sad that there is some need in others to either play a prank or do something that can potentially cause another person harm. I think what the world needs a bit more of is emphathy. I was listening to a radio program by a reporter who interviewed teen gang members many of whom had stabbed or shot someone else. And one boy said that he had killed someone and not really thought twice about it. And the reporter said, "What if the person killed had been your sister or brother?" The teen thought for a moment and said, "I guess I just never let myself think about it that way." Anyhow, I am in a melancholy mood. The first full rains of the year are here, so we are in for a 4 month drench. And the end of maternity leave is coming, so it is back to work for me. I will miss little moments with Jonathan. It is hard to think about leaving him for nearly 10 hours a day. Here is a cute photo from last night. Right after we took the picture, he spit up all over his little jacket. Poor kiddo has really bad acid reflux.

Mmm... Mommy's Milk... and the goodness in others

2006-11-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

Jonathan had a bit of a cold this week. So here he is with a stuffy nose. :) Looks like the kid in the Similac ads, eh? We did not do much for J for Halloween. We are not huge fans of the holidays given all of the demons and witches and the like, but we do pass out candy. J and D has been under the weather off and on for the past week (probably caught a cold some place last weekend), so we had a chill evening. We had to run to the pharmacy for a flu shot for D and me tonight, so we missed a few of the trick or treaters. To make up for it, we put out our stash of candy in a glass bowl outside. I had a friend whose family did this as a kid, and parents and kids were always polite and only took a few. Anyhow, we walked back from the pharmacy and passed our house on the way to a church down the street to check out their small Halloween event. I heard a parent say "Oh they left some candy out. You should only take one or two." I thought that was nice. Anyhow, we get back to our house maybe 20 mins later, and lo and behold, someone stole ALL of the candy and the BOWL too! I guess I am lucky they left the car in the driveway... :) I mean, who steals a bowl from the front of someone's house? I am imagining that some child goes home and says, "Look, I got all this candy and a great bowl too! Mom, here is a birthday present." Anyhow, I guess one Pyrex bowl should not ruin my faith in humanity, but it is sad. It made me think of what happened to my aunt and uncle in New York. They had a ceramic donkey planter (it is like 3 feet tall) in their front yard for my entire childhood. Everytime I went to their house, I would glance at it. So one year, when I was about 16 or so, I go to their house and their donkey is missing. I asked about it, and my aunt said someone stole it. It is a 3' donkey that has lived outside of their house for over a decade. I cannot believe it would fetch much money, and I am sure whoever took it was not thinking, "Wow, what a great lawn ornament. I need this for my house!" as they hauled the very heavy and large donkey into their car trunk. I guess you have to nail things down, nowadays, eh? Have a great night! Hope your kiddos got a good candy haul, because I am sure someone in my neighborhood did! :)

Getting naked in church and other fun things...

2006-10-31T00:45:00.000-08:00

We attended a wedding on Saturday and J was SO hot in the church. There was no a/c so he started to fuss. So once the ceremony ended, we stripped J out of his little flannel shirt and pants and cute sweater vest and put him in a cheap onsie we had stashed in his diaper bag. I caught this photo over the pew... :) I read C's random facts, so I thought I would write my own:

I am a total night owl. Who goes to bed before 2 am anyhow? Mornings are not my strong suit. It gets so bad that the CTO makes fun of me at the 8am meetings he sets up. He actually tries to ask me pointed questions just to see if I can make coherent sentences. It was particularly bad when I was pregnant and half asleep for like 5 months... :) Early morning meetings passes for hazing in Silicon Valley...
I am addicted to crime and medical drama tv shows that do not require you to watch week after week. Low commitment stuff like Law and Order, CSI, House, and Cold Case. David and I like to pretend we are the anonymous couple at the beginning of L&O who discover a body in some random place. We are walking around and turn a corner and go, "What is that? Oh my gosh, call the police." and then we start the theme song "Da da da dum dum!"
I am an NPR junkie. I listen to it for like 5 to 6 hours a day, especially Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Marketplace. D and I joke that it is National Propaganda Radio (I am a conservative), but I love it! And when "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" comes on the weekends, I have heard nearly every story, so I always beat D on the Lightening Fill In The Blank...
I am obsessive compulsive when it comes to eating. I get on a kick and just eat that for a long time. I went on a Quiznos phase back at the beginning of my pregnancy with their grilled chicken sub. Then it was Subway (still sans cold cuts), and now it is prosciutto with low fat Swiss on peasant bread with a side of tomato and mozzarella salad. I eat it for lunch 4x a week! And I top it off with a bit of Cookies and Cream ice cream, especially Cyclone by Breyers. There was the clementine phase, the orange phase, the strawberry phase, and so on.
I am a terrible housekeeper. It is like a hurricane hit our house. I am barely able to keep up with everything going on including MR and Jonathan. I mean, stuff everywhere. My mind is usually on other things, so the clutter does not bother me. But I do not like things dirty. So even when I was 8 months pregnant, I was scrubbing the tub on my hands and knees and waddling around doing laundry including all of the towels and sheets.
I love Cantopop and Country music. Cantopop is Chinese love songish stuff from Hong Kong, like Jackie Cheung, Emil Chau, Andy Hui, etc. And I love Country music of all types. I got into the Country stuff because I used to drive from Duke back to my parent's house. And in between NC and GA, there are stretches of lonely highway that you can only get Christian and Country stations. So I listened to both, but come gospel and old hymn hour, I always had to switch to Country.
I cannot spell. I mean seriously, it is a learning-disability type thing. I am hopeless in spelling even though I was a really good student. I just cannot figure out how to spell things even if I have done it a thousand times. It is like I have a mental block of some sort. Everything looks like it is spelled wrong to me. And I cannot figure out why.

Enough about me. Today is my mom's birthday! Happy birthday, Mom!

My guys...

2006-10-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

I am departing from my normal path. Today I started working on a mini album for David and Jonathan. It is really a bit step for me since I am such a 12x12 kinda gal. So here are a sampling of the photos I am using. They are so cute together. As a matter of fact, David is sitting on the couch right now feeding Jonathan and falling asleep holding the bottle. A few cute things about David and his little one:

D's nickname for J is "bao bao" - the Chinese word for treasure.
Last night D got miffed because I turned off the light in J's room. Turns out D wanted to stand there and watch J fall asleep.
D secretly thinks J is the smartest, cutest and most wonderful baby in the world. He does not tell our friends with babies that, of course, but he thinks it. In fact, all other babies are only "almost" as cute or smart.
Often I reach out to pick up J from D's arms, and he hold J and turns like he is going to steal J away. He said he just wants to hold J a little longer since I get to hold him all day.
D has done all of the late night feedings nearly from the start. He grabs a bottle of breastmilk from the fridge, heats it up, and sits down to play with J as he eats.
When J used to have trouble sleeping in the first few weeks, D stayed up hour upon hour trying to get him to stop crying and go to sleep.
D sings these silly Mandarin songs to J from a CD my MIL bought. It never fails to make J laugh to hear the one about the cricket that is using the snail's back as a slide and a leaf as a swing.
Many evenings, I find D asleep on the couch with J lying on his chest playing with his fists and chatting to himself. J likes to "hang" with his Daddy even if Daddy is totally dead asleep from an early morning feedings. It is all good except one night J flipped himself off of D's chest and under the coffee table. :)
D is an expert burper for J. Sometimes, D comes home from work, and I find spots of spit up on his shirt or jacket. I wonder what the guys at the office think of the spoiled milk look...

I better call it a night. D and J are asleep together after a good bottle of breastmilk and burping session, so I need to get them ready for bed.

Friends and Family

2006-10-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

David and I decided to wait awhile before having children. We had been attending a bible study where everyone was having babies but us. And it was really quite hard to relate to everyone, especially since most of the women decided to stay at home after they had children. I just could not relate since I was in graduate school at the time, and we were years away from parenthood. We ended up attending a new church, helping to start a couples w/o kids Bible Study and really had a great 3 years with that group. Then 3 of the couples (including us) got pregnant and gave birth within a month of each other. And we added a fourth couple to our group whom we met at our childbirth prep class. And a fifth couple is due to give birth this week! And here are 3 of the 4 little guys (yes, all boys) who were born ranging from the end of June to the end of July. It is great that Jonathan has friends to grow up with. I have been working on a few scrapbook pages. Here are the latest photos I printed for a new page. I am anxiously waiting to get my black cardstock to put this one together... I love these photos of J and N. The couch was a weird color, so I made them black and white. So cute, eh?

Maya Road Design Team Call

2006-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

We have been working on this for some time and it is finally here! We are putting out the call for 6 new Maya Road Designers! I am soooo excited. So many people email us wanting to design for us, but we already had an awesome team in place. But coming into the 2007 year, we wanted to add a few new designers to liven things up! I cannot wait to see the entries (I am like a kid at a candy store).

MAYA ROAD DESIGN TEAM CALL (click here for details)

I read with interest on 2Peas about the likes and dislikes people have with DT calls. And we wanted to address some of those things in our own call. So what is different about our Design Team call?

Asking for only 1 project - I have seen some DT calls ask for multiple projects or LOs, but for our call, we wanted something that was more accessible. I do not want anyone to be intimidated from applying because it is to onerous. After all, if every DT call required 4 projects and you apply to 5 teams, you are making more projects/LOs than I can make in a year! :)
Looking for passion - One thing we are looking for is passion for our products. I would prefer designers who use and love our products to an equally talented designer who has to go out and buy our stuff just to enter. Don't get me wrong, buy away! But if you already use your products, all the better... After all, you will be getting A LOT of it, so familiarity with our style is very important.
International - We purposely opened our call to international designers because there is SO much talent out there. It is hard to staff a team that is all international, but we do want to make sure that we do not leave folks out.
Interviews - Why interviews, you may be wondering? We want to have a conversation with all of the finalists to that we can set expectations on both sides. That way, there is no confusion about what we need and what you are looking for. If the fit is not good on either side, it is totally okay.

Designers are part of the Maya Road family! And we have great plans to take our new DT to the next level. So please show us your best work... :) If you have questions, email us at MRdesignteam@gmail.com

Something big is coming...

2006-10-17T00:43:00.000-07:00

You know, the reason C and I started Maya Road was twofold. One was because we love scrapbooking/paper arts and saw the need for a company which focuses on value and product, instead of marketing. And two was because we knew we wanted to have the flexibility to start families and someday leave our corporate jobs. On the first one, we are different from some other companies in this way. The price for a half page ad in a major scrapbooking magazine runs in the thousands of dollars. You have to sell a lot of chipboard to get even one ad in one magazine much less one in each of the 4 or 5 top publications. If you look around, you will see that some companies spend a lot marketing their products. Don't get me wrong. I love those ads, and I love seeing what comes out. And honestly, I sometimes secretly wish we could do tons of ads too! But early on, we decided to be very careful with our marketing budget so we can invest more in products. So instead of getting 50 chipboard letters, you get 60. Instead of getting a plastic sleeve packing, you get a reusable tin for the same or a lower price. Instead of 1 sheet of rubons for $3 or 4, you get 9 for $15. Someone pointed out to me at CHA Winter that something similar to our 5x7 binder (retails for $5 with 8 page inserts) is sold by another company for 20% more without inserts. Our business model is not right or wrong, but just different. But we rely a lot on word of mouth and the strength of our releases rather than buying tons of advertising. We still advertise, but we balance that with product investment as well. It is a fine line to walk as we plan our 2007 fiscal year. On the second point, C and I wanted to start our own business to get out of the corporate life someday. And she has done it very successfully. I am still working full time at a Silicon Valley company though I am currently on maternity leave (I am heading back in soon), but I also work full time at Maya Road. I have an insatiable appetite for work according to my DH, but I love every minute of both jobs. It is sometimes quite hard, but at the same time, I would not have it any other way. Family is very important to me and when I cannot balance it all, I know that is a sign it is time to give up the corporate world. I am so excited about a big announcement to come, but I cannot say any more for now. So wait until later this week... Until then, I leave you with this precious family photo. Look at Jonathan giving Noah a dirty look. :) Jonathan is definitely the more quiet of the two. Noah is an outgoing baby who is a total charmer. J is a little more relaxed and reserved. We will see how it goes as they grow more into their personalities in the next few months...

Memory Trends in Review and RAK Winners

2006-10-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

First, I want to thank everyone for posting comments last week while I was away. My DH picked 2 winners, and congrats to Teresa (aka tmom) said... and SmileyCarrie! Please email me your address at mayaroad@gmail.com and I will pop your RAK in the mail sometime this week. Second, it was great to meet so many people at Memory Trends! I missed CHA Summer since Jonathan was only 2 weeks old, so it was great to see everyone! I met so many wonderful people including the new CK Scrapbooker of the Year, C.D.! Yeah! It was an exhausting, crazy, but totally fun week. I was disappointed that there were fewer retailers at MT than expected, but we still have a great show. It is hard having so many shows so close together. Can you believe that CHA Summer and MT next year are 2 months apart??? I will post more pics of the booth and projects this week. Thanks to our great Design Team for all of their hard work in getting those great projects done!

Third, our kiddos met each other for the first time! We did a quick couch photoshoot of Noah and Jonathan together. They are so adorable, but they are not exactly steady yet. So they started to lean and lean until they were toppled over. It is nice that they can grow up together! Jonathan also met his Grandpa Liu for the first time. He was given so much attention and love that he has been in withdrawl all weekend. He misses all of the cooing grandparents, the hugs and constant cuddling. With all 4 of his grandparents there, he was never alone. :) It was a week of firsts. First plane ride, first trip to a museum (Hoover Dam), and first rainbow (over the dam). He met his cousin, uncle and aunt for the first time too.

I do have to say that Noah is so adorable. He is so happy all the time. And so sweet. A total little charmer. I love being an aunt, and it was great fun playing with Noah. I wonder if Jonathan was a little jealous... :) I have several ideas for pages from this week. Just need to get off my butt to scrap them...

I love having a great camera, but I HATE that no one can use it. I barely have any pics of David and me because of that. So here is a photo of the two of us taken by my dad.

Things that make me happy... (including RAKS!)

2006-10-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

Last blog entry before I leave for Memory Trends. There are so many things that make me happy. So I wanted to share a few...

Falling in love with my husband over and over again - 11 years and I can still say that the only thing that changed is that it gets better and better
Watching Jonathan laugh to the silly Chinese songs that his Grandmother bought him
Finishing a new scrapbook page
Eating Cookies and Cream Cyclone ice cream from Breyers - yum!
A hot cup of steaming green tea on a cold morning
Sleeping and sleeping some more! I miss this more than anything...
Randomly coming upon of cool things people do with Maya Road products in galleries, magazines and newsletters
Downloading new photos and playing with them in Photoshop (start of my new page above)
Chatting with Caroline on Yahoo Messenger about non-Maya Road stuff
Walking with David and Jonathan late at night
Taking a long hot bath
Going to tradeshows and meeting the people that make our company what it is today!

See you at Memory Trends next week! Please stop by our booth #221 and see our 65+ new items...

One last thing that makes me happy:

Giving away RAKs!

Post a comment here to enter, and David will pick someone. I will use a random number generator to ensure that those who are first and last have a fair shot. :) RAK may include some not yet released MT items... Remember to sign in or leave your name in the comment so I can find you!

Catalogs are DONE! MT here we come!

2006-10-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

I got the catalogs submitted today! I went to bed at 6am, but they are done and at the printers... And I got in about 3.5 hours of sleep. So I will do a quick sneak peek! This is a new kit we are putting together! The design work is done by Jessica. Check out the rest of our new items here: http://www.mayaroad.com/newsletter/2006MTCatalog.htm I am so tired now since I cannot possibly function on so little sleep and without my beloved caffiene (waiting until I am done breastfeeding to get back to that habit). So I leave you with this photo of Jonathan! He is happy to be going on his first big trip to meet his grandpa, aunt, uncle and Noah and he is very very excited...

Catalogs, catalogs and more catalogs...

2006-10-05T01:21:00.000-07:00

As I work on the catalogs, I am getting more and more excited about Memory Trends. And here are some of my FAVORITE products our new Mementos Collection! Here are a few of the items. Check it out. The heart binder is so cute and comes with 8 pages of chipboard inserts! And the 8.5 x 11" landscape album is totally wonderful with 10 page protectors. And the suitcase is perfect for our 5x7 albums... so grab your mementos and souveniors and join us for a wonderful way to document your life's journey! Jonathan started laughing today. I mean really laughing, not just serially smiling. I was tickling him and he laughed happily on the changing table. So cute! I have a few new photos of him laughing, but I have not had a chance to download them yet. On a good note, I slept 8 hours last night! I was so sick and ended the evening with a 100.5 fever. But after a nice backrub from David and a long night's sleep, I feel so much better. It was blissful sleeping so long straight... :) But tonight, I have to finish our catalogs, so I expect I will be up LATE! Until tomorrow...

Another day, another Memory Trends peek...

2006-10-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I showed you 1 of the slides, well now, I have to show them all! Check them out... Tomorrow? A cool album kit. You will love it. I have a fever of 99.5 right now. I am not sure why (probably an infected milk duct), but this has not shaped up to the be day I expected. I am feverish, tired and sore. But babies do not wait for anything, even a tired mommy. On a brighter note, after nearly 4 weeks of wrangling our Inspiration ribbons from the hands of the customs agents, I FINALLY got them freed! I feel so bad when I cannot get the goods to the warehouse on time. We had it shipped out on schedule, got all of the paperwork in, and suddenly at the port, we were audited and it turns out there was a mistake in the classification that required a lot of work to fix. Then the next shipment arrived with more ribbons and ALL of our sheers, and what happens? It gets caught too! So today, they finally released, and they should arrive in our warehouse late next week... Yeah! I take the design and importing side of the business very seriously. From 8pm to 2am, I am often on the phone with our factories and shipping agents. So when something goes wrong, I get personally involved in every aspect. So for all of you who are waiting on our products, I am so sorry that the second and third shipment of ribbons did not make it out until now. The tariffs and customs laws are pretty obscure, so it has been a challenge. But thanks for your patience and understanding. Come back for more sneaks... More cool stuff to come. I will be hosting a Memory Trends RAK while I am away. I will post on Friday, and everyone who leaves a comment will be eligible for some cool MR items I have just for you! So stop by next week to post a comment, and I will send you my MR collection!

Here is a pic from our little photo shoot with his little trackie dacks! I got phrase from my cousin, Simon from Australia. He wanted to buy a "trackie dack" and I had no idea what that was. Turns out it is a track suit. :) Cute, eh?

A day in the life of Jonathan and me... (Memory Trends Sneak Peek enclosed)

2006-10-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Let's start with a sneak peek... Here are our two new ribbons slides! I am used to going into work and coming home 10 to hours later. Then eating dinner with David and starting my time on Maya Road (with some time set aside to go through work stuff until 2am). This resulted in 16 to 18 hour days. But I was content and happy. But now things are pretty different. Let's see today looked like the following:

12:00 to 1:30 am - Worked on Maya Road catalogs
1:30 to 2:15 am - Breastfed Jonathan
2:15 to 3:00 am - Packaged items to ship to warehouse
3:00 to 3:30 am - Bathed Jonathan and took a bath myself
3:30 to 4:00 am - Quick Jonathan top-off before bed
4:00 to 4:30 am - Cleaned up and put on sheets
4:30 to 9:30 am - Blissful sleep for Mommy (baby got up at 8:30 am)
9:30 to 9:45 am - Put Jonathan back to bed, kissed David goodbye
9:45 to 10:15 am - Pumped milk while
10:10 to 10:30 am - Reviewed about shipment from China
10:10 to 10:30 am - Reviewed email and dealt with shipment from China
10:30 to 11:15 am - Soothed a crying J getting up from his morning nap, moved him to swing, started breakfast
11:15 to 11:45 am - Fed Jonathan
11:45 to noon - Played with Jonathan on his favorite blanket Noon to 1:00 pm - Packaged samples for Memory Trends to send to Jessica (Jonathan napping), breakfast turned into lunch, ate lunch, J down for midday nap
1:00 to 1:30 pm - Jonathan wakes up, plays in bouncy chair with me as we chat in Cantonese
1:30 to 2:00 - Meet with leak detection guy, put Jonathan down for a nap
2:00 to 2:45 - Feed Jonathan while working on catalog, read some news, got a call from FedEx to discuss problem with shipment in customs
2:45 to 4:45 - Take J for a long walk with stops to the post office, the drugstore to pick up meds for his tummy, and a new book
4:45 to 6:30 - Met with candidate to try to recruit her to our team (non-MR), fed J
6:30 to 6:45 - Changed very messy diaper and had to strip down a very wet baby, tried to get J to sleep
6:45 to 7:15 - Called Hong Kong to deal with a sticky customs situation at FedEx, listened to J fuss for about 15 minutes
7:15 to 7:30 - Worked out on my elliptical with a screaming J strapped to my chest (he loves to hang with the Baby Bjorn facing out reading my magazine with me as I workout)
7:30 to 8:00 - Ate dinner with David while trying to keep J calm in his swing
8:00 to 8:30 - Pumped breastmilk while arranging for shipment of our goods and had David feed J
8:30 to 9:00 - Made a tomato salad, watched How I Met Your Mother (great show), helped burp (see photo below)
9:00 to 10:00 - Called China, Hong Kong, IMed with the factory to try to resolve the whole shipping situation
10:00 to 11:30 - Worked on catalog pages and packing goods to ship to the warehouse 11:30 to midnight - Prepared to feed J again, finished up this blog entryÂ :)

So today, I changed 5 diapers, called 15 people in Hong Kong/China, walked a mile and a half, took about 60 photos of J and me throughout today to document the fun we had together, and slept 5 hours last night. On the good news front, I finally hit my pre-pregnancy weight today! Okay, so my weight fluctuates a lot, from 140 in the morning to 142.5 in the evenings. Not sure what is going on there, but since I was 140 before, I will take what I can get. Stop by and meet Jonathan and David at our Memory Trends booth (#221). J and N will be special guests at our booth for only a couple hours. Caroline and I are trying to decide when we want to have them come in.

More previews... Graffiti Ribbons!

2006-10-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

I am working night and day in preparation for the show. So, people, here is another peek! You might be wondering what colors we are launching, so here they are... So that is 30 wonderful Graffiti Ribbons (6 styles and 5 colors). Let me know what you think. We are launching all of our ribbon collections in packs as well! Stop by and see them at our booth... I will be posting daily sneak peeks every day until Friday, so stop by again. I have a ton of coolio new things. Tomorrow? Our new ribbon slides. Come back tomorrow to see them.

Yummy.... ribbons....

2006-09-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

So Memory Trends is right around the corner... And what is coming out, you ask? New ribbons! I am up to 4am almost every night pulling together our final products. During the day, I try to spend as much time as possible with Jonathan, but after David gets home, I spend 8 to 10 hours working. Crazy life! I have more sneak peeks coming, so keep your eye on this blog...

Turning Point

2006-09-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

When I was growing it, I was so competitive. It was all about working hard and studying hard and making the grade. I wanted to be first in my class in high school, to graduate with honors from college, get into the top graduate school, so on and so forth. It was a never ending treadmill of never wanting to be less than the best. I was always waiting for the promotion, the delivery of a big project, and the next challenge. I put off having children as long as I could to ensure I had sufficient time to get to that next level. But things started to change last year. Our parents were getting older, and my father-in-law's health was deteriorating. My grandmother had a mild stroke and her heart trouble was getting worse. So we decided to start trying. And 6 weeks later, we were expecting Jonathan. At first I was not sure how I felt about it. To get off the fast track and try motherhood was a huge unknown to me. Being a mommy has no great milestone. No promotions, no appreciation, no feedback. It is an amorphous experience that has mysterious and inconsistent rewards. It is funny how my life has reached this turning point. And you know, I am happier than I have ever been. I go out more, have more connection to friends and family, and am generally even if better health than I ever had been before. I love being a mother in a way I never expected. The first few weeks were hard and the pregnancy was pretty difficult, but now that Jonathan is here, I cannot imagine life without him. I find myself different than before. I am more forgiving, and more open, and friendlier than I have ever been before. I am happy in a way I never thought possible. What is most amazing is that I used to skip Bible Study, birthday parties and dinners because I was so tired or stressed. I just wanted to come home and crawl into bed. But after I became a mother, I have more energy and enthusiasm than ever. This is the hardest job I have ever had, but I love everyday with Jonathan. A few of my friends commented at how much my attitude has changed. A workaholic career woman, embracing a whole new life. Who would have thought?

A sneak peek for Memory Trends

2006-09-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Secret Book (3") and Secret Box

Chipboard Card Box and Card Book

I have been working on Memory Trends products for the past 3 months (with a small break to have a baby and to finish up CHA Summer items). And I am happy to present a quick sneak peek of some of our cool new products. Our new secret box and secret book is my favorite, but I love them all. We have 30 new ribbons coming out with matching ribbon slides, and also a huge line of chipboard as well. And then the sheers... ah... the sheers! That I will leave for another day, but be prepared to be surprised. And who can resist rubons? Oops, I said too much... I will post more in the next two weeks as I finalize the catalogs! So much to do and SO little time! I am excited to be bringing Jonathan to the show. Come meet J and his Daddy at our booth #221 and #223. My boys are so adorable together. David really has taken to being a father. I have probably 200+ photos of them together from the past 2 months, and there are maybe 30 of J with me. I wish I had more of J and me, but that is okay. J really loves his daddy, and his daddy loves him. :)

La vida loca... (aka My Crazy Life)

2006-09-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

Let's see. It is 2:15 am. And what have I done today? Well let's start at midnight last night and see... shall we?

I worked or took care of Jonathan for 21 of the last 26 hours. I think I spent about 3 hours spending time with J exclusively. My mother-in-law left today, so for the first time since he was born, I was on my own for longer than 8 hours (*gasp*). Luckily, I have mastered the art of typing while feeding. So that means I worked about 18 hours, spent 3 hours with J and slept 5. In the 18, I actually spent about 3 more with J, but it was more in a multi-task mode, so I do not count it.

What did I do today?

Tried to clear a shipment stuck in customs. It has been a week, and after about 8 phone calls and about 15 emails, I still cannot get it out. I do not know what the issue is, but this is driving me nuts.
Designed large sections of our new website - we are in the process of migrating everything, so we had to turn off parts of the old one until we launch. T minus 3 weeks, yeah!
Put the finishing touches on the packaging stickers for some new Memory Trends Products
Pulled together a list of all of the new items for Memory Trends to pass along to the team (75 new items!)
Worked on the list of items from the last container which arrives really really soon!
Took scans of a small stitching problem on one of the new Memory Trends ribbon samples to send back to our factory for review
Arranged for a new shipment of ribbons to leave Asia next week
On the phone with FedEx trying to find a package of labels I shipped to China
Called our credit card company to figure out some issue with our card
Washed the dishes and bottles and pump stuff
Sent 80+ emails, received about 60
Gave J a bath
Took cute photos of him on the couch (isn't he cute???)
Fed J 6 times, pumped 4 times, changed him out of 3 outfits he either spit up on or wet
Changed 7 diapers
Walked with David around the neighborhood until J started crying so loud we had to come home
AND last but not least, updated my blog (it has been awhile)

Wow, now I am tired. Going to bed!

Caroline and me

2006-09-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

When Caroline and I were growing up, we looked like twins. I, being the little sister, loved that since I looked up to her. She... well, she probably was not as happy with it. Today, most people who know us now kind of wonder how we could be sisters. We do not really look that much alike, and we took pretty different paths in life before starting Maya Road. In fact, even today, David is surprised at how little we seem to have in common. I asked my parents once what they thought of all of this. My mom said, "We raised you exactly the same way, and you two turned out to be very different from each other. I think there are some things which are innate to your personalities." Okay, so she said it in Chinese, but you get the picture. I used to wonder how it happened also. One day, we were best friends making mud pies in the back yard and building houses out of pine straw, and the next, she was in college and we sort of lost each other for awhile. We were hopsotching all over the country with school, our jobs and our lives, and I guess it harder and harder to connect. I remember one particular incident while on vacation with my parents in Florida where it was the first time I had seen C in a long long time. It was the end of my freshman year in college and end of her junior year. We were chatting and she said something like "I do not really know you anymore." You know, stuff that sisters say to each other. And you know, at that moment, she was right. But the greatest thing about being family is that no matter how far you go, you are still related. You can not see your sister for a year and still hang out with her. And each time you see each other, it is okay to start anew. As I watch Jonathan grow, I am struck by how much I want him to have that with his cousin Noah and any brothers and sisters they may have. It is funny how over the years, C and I have had a relationship that has ebbed and flowed so much. Because David is an only child, he doesn't understand that give and take. But it is like it was when we were kids. You fight over something and then 10 mins later, you are best friends again. :)

Love at first sight...

2006-08-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

I never believed in love at first sight. I am a very practical and logical person (read: unromantic). And honestly, I always believed that love is something that we choose, not something that just strikes. In fact, I believe that with the right amount of will and commitment, two strangers can marry and create a happy life together, just as my grandparents did. But it is different when you have our own little one. I knew I loved him even before he was born, but my first glimpse of Jonathan was so amazing. His little face (screaming bloody murder) was so perfect. And each day as he grows, I love him more and more. What is most strange is watching David fall in love with our son. He comes home from work and immediately picks up Jonathan to play with him. He fights to feed him and change his diaper. And sometimes I see him just standing over the crib watching Jonathan sleep. He sometimes holds Jonathan in his arms and when I reach to take him, David turns away and says, "I want to hold him." So sweet. :) It is so strange because David never showed much interest in children before. We have friends with little ones, but while he liked them in a general sort of way, he never really gravitated towards spending time with them. My mother-in-law said that even when he was young, David sort of avoided babies. Perhaps because he was an only child. Jonathan is growing so quickly. Each photo he seems to be different than the one before. Above are photos of him hand in hand with his grandma. Totally adorable!

On the treadmill...

2006-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today, I finalized the new line of Maya Road ribbon for Memory Trends. And in my hot little hands are all of the cool prototypes. They are amazing! I wanted to get them all - we had over 15 designs and 8 colors, but in the end, we picked our line from among them, selecting some and discarding others. They are like my babies, and no one likes to hear their baby is ugly! :) But such is the way of product design. You cannot have it all... though I wish. Our business has two parts. One is in the present and one is in the future. Caroline manages the day-to-day of our business like serving the customers and getting our shipments out. My head is always in the future. I am coming up with packaging, picking out materials and drawing out the next line. Once a group of products get here, I put together the images and catalogs and then I am already onto the next show and the one after that. My favorite part is actually when I go into the galleries online and see people actually using our stuff in new and creative ways. To be honest, I am terrible at keeping up with my scrapbooking. I love to do it, but there are not enough hours in the day. So as I am designing new products, I think of new ways to use it, but I rarely have time to actually do it. I live vicariously through our awesome Design Team and through C's great works of art while my house is completely covered in scrapbooking products you could never finish using in a lifetime. :) It sort of depresses me sometimes to see Jonathan's scrapbook so empty. So I vow to at least get one page done this week. Or he will not have anything to remember his early days by...

When you least expect it...

2006-08-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

You know, sometimes things happen that you had not planned. When you least expect it, your life is changed in some way and great blessings come as a result. I was thinking about this today as we had dinner with some friends we met at the childbirth class a couple months ago. We probably would never have run into each other elsewhere, but after brief conversation while on the hospital tour, and we ended up with a great friendship. Some of the most wonderful things happen when you are not watching where you are going or do not get what you want. Just a few from my life...

I was supposed to meet David the summer before I started college. A mutual friend was going to bring him along to meet me at the Kennedy Center, but it turns out that he was not in town until the next day. I was upset that I had to go through all of the trouble to secure his ticket (it was not a public event, so you had to apply for tickets), and he was a no show! But you better bet that when I met him a few months later when I started school, I remembered who he was...
The summer after my sophomore year I decided on a whim to ask him to join a friend of mine and me on an 11 hour drive to church conference in Alabama. I figured he was not really working and I did not know many other guys around that summer, so why not? He at the very last second (about 8 hours before we left) to come with us. And while we were there, he asked me out for the first time.
My sister and I were walking through a scrapbook store in Dallas and looking at the items on the shelves. We were chatting about how expensive some of the items were and how we could design our own line of products that would be a good value and something new in the marketplace. And that weekend 3 years ago, we started Maya Road.
Coming out of business school, I found the job of my dreams walking through a career fair. I saw a table for a company I loved, and just stopped by to tell them I really enjoyed their products. The recruiter asked me if I was looking for a job, and I said, "No thanks, we are moving back to North Carolina." He told me to come in anyways to meet with some folks. I figured, why not? It turns out I was hired even though I really did not know what the job entailed. I learned it and loved it, and I never would have known that without giving it a chance.
As I watched Jonathan sleep, I wondered what life would be like without him. I remember when Caroline and I talked about starting families. We both wanted girls and had our hearts set on it. The day before C went in to get her ultrasound (I was 5 weeks behind her), she asked me to guess what were going to have. I said "Both of us with have boys because both of us what girls." :) But in the end, Jonathan and Noah are perfect in our eyes. I could not imagine having anyone but him.

I am a total planner. But having too much of a rigid control over your life does not leave room for God's wonderful surprises. Those moments of serendipity and chance are what make life wonderfully unique. Without them, I would never have what I have today. By the way, if you have a moment, head over to Caroline's blog. She is hosting a RAK for our new rub-ons. Only 3 people have seen them so far, so if you want to be the first consumer to use them, you must enter! I just got mine in the mail today, and they rub-on like silk. You will love them! :)

Congrats to the winners of my first RAK!

2006-08-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in my first blog RAK! DH picked 3 winners. To make it completely fair (as Nat said, who picks 1 when asked to pick a number?), I used a random number generator in excel to shuffle the numbers and then asked him pick. So his three picks corresponded to comments from Tamara, Nicole and Laura V. Actually his original pick included Shirley, but she was one of the two people whose RAK package was on my desk last week, so I asked him to pick again. I also included the dorkiest picture I have of Jonathan! Sometimes I leave him in his carseat next to me as I work, and he likes to scrunch all the way down into it. It is bad for his back, so I straighten him out. But on this day, I just could not resist taking a quick photo first... I told DH that we can pull this one out to put into his wedding slideshow someday! The one below it is of him in a mini photoshoot. He looks a lot more like himself in that one... RAK winners, please email me at mayaroad@gmail.com with your address.

What it is like to own your own business?

2006-08-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

A lot of friends and people ask me this question. And it is hard to explain. But I will tell you 10 things about this week that totally exemplify the adventure of business ownership. This is on top of some of my more routine duties at MR. Read on, but be warned, this is not for the faint of heart!

A retailer of ours made a suggestion that we consider having alternative packaging for our ribbons so that it is easier for stores like hers to sell. We typically do bulk, but this is something we had heard before from retailers who do not have space for bulk or the time to manage the cutting. We had considered this for some time, so I kicked off the research on this, and within 72 hours, I made arrangements to have all of our ribbon collections packaged into sets in addition to bulk. This involved designing the packaging materials, ten calls to our partners in Asia, and arranging for the shipment of the goods in our next container. (This is not available yet, but soon...)
Our ribbons from CHA Summer was supposed to arrive today, but there was a small hang up, so they will make it to the warehouse early next week. It took a couple calls to our shipping agent to find the boxes made it to Dallas, but did not get on the truck yet.
I received a FedEx containing our prototype ribbons for Memory Trends. We picked the designs we liked from among the 16 styles (it was really really hard since I loved more than 10 of them) and decided on the top 6. I then took those styles and mocked them up with the 8 color palettes we are considering for our second round prototyping. When those get back, we will pick the top 6. The turn around has to be quick since we need to get them here just after the MT show in October.
Jessica told me that online retailers are asking for images of our CHA Summer items for their websites. I am done with some of them, but it takes hours and hours to do even the most basic line since I need to make sure they are right. So guess what I am up to this weekend?
I placed the order for 6 of our new products for Memory Trends (you will love the new line!). This is in addition to the ones we already have in the works. I usually take our list of ideas and put them into Illustrator. Then I design the exact dimensions, colors, etc. I print it out and make mini mock ups of them to make sure they feel right. Then I share with the team for feedback. I adjust them and then send them into the factory to be prototyped. I have a list of a dozen or more items to finish and this whole process can take up to 2 months, so I am working furiously!
Of course with the new items, I had to place an order for the packaging. It takes a LONG time for them to make tins since some components need to be special ordered. The handles (removable so you can add paper to the tin) and windows (non PVC material) are specially made for us so it requires extra time.
Our velvet ric rac was so popular at the show I had to put in a special order. We also were short on some of the UPC labels for a few of the ribbon rolls, so I spent several hours putting those together and arranging them to get to the factory to make sure we had time to get them on before the shipment next week.
We had an issue where some of the boxes that arrived in the last container was damaged due to packing problems at the loading dock in China. My baby is going through a growth spurt, so he is eating and crying a lot. So there was once where I was holding him to settle him down, on the phone with the partner who did the loading to try to get the items replaced, and IMing with Caroline at the same time since she had seen the damaged items.
There was a problem with our international telephone line which caused reception to be poor, and I had to reach one of our partners in Asia. So she asked me to connect through IM, but she only used MSN Messenger. Another partner across town from her said she wanted us to use Skype. So this week I downloaded both. Then I realized that I had 5 (count them 5!) IM programs running at the same time to get my work done. AIM (friends and co-workers), Yahoo (we use that internally at MR), GoogleTalk (for DH), MSN (for one partner) and Skype (for another partner). It was getting so complex that I just downloaded Trillian that passports you into MSN, Yahoo and AIM. So now I have that and Gtalk and Skype running, but man am I connected. :)
This weekend is Jonathan's Full Month Party with our friends at our house. So we invited most of our friends and 50 (can you believe that?) RSVPed. And of course, I have to clean my house, but my desk is a disaster. And it is in the living room *gasp*. Let's see what I have here:

All of our chipboard books from CHA Summer are in front of my monitor because I was working on the photos for the website, and I like to see them as I work on the images in Photoshop.
Two RAKs I owe people that are packaged and weighed just waiting to be sent out. You know who you are!
A gift I got over 5 years ago that is an inspiration for a new product (I cannot wait until we launch it!)
Photos of my parents from their wedding that I am scanning for them.
A sample sheet of the epoxy slides for the Inspiration line that my mother in law helped me put together so I could keep track of all 36 of them.
Prototypes of our ribbons for Memory Trends as well as the ones from CHA Summer to compare since we had them done slightly differently and I wanted to check the new style.
A paper trimmer so that I could measure something for our new line (I lost my ruler somewhere in here).
The palette we use to select from which has 400 colors. I keep one here so that I can talk to C about the colors and be on the same page.
A box of labels I used to print the UPCs.
A fax to FedEx from when they damaged our booth shelves from Memory Trends LAST YEAR that they have yet to reimburse us for after hounding them for 8 months and faxing in the paper work 5 times.
Two wedding invitations I need to RSVP for.
And... some chipboard in boxes that FedEx damaged in shipping. It was not enough to be worth filing the paperwork with them to get reimbursed, but since you read this far, how about a chance to win one of them??? Just post a comment before next Tuesday and I will ask DH to pick a number and if it is your comment, you win! I have a few boxes, so I will select more than one winner. :)

Ah, the life of an entreprenuer. Man, they did not teach me about this in business school! Jonathan wants to wish you all luck in the RAK. He is sleeping here with me right now as I finish this up....

6 years....

2006-08-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Six years ago on Saturday, David and I got married at Atlanta Chinese Christian Church. It is hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. As I sit here thinking back on that day, I realize just how blessed I have been to have a wonderful and loving husband at my side over the past half dozen years. And now we have little Jonathan in our family, and I cannot recall ever feeling this happy or content. Certainly there have been a lot of struggles and trials, but in all of that, I have not doubted that we were meant to be. It has been a fun adventure together. In the past 6 years, we have done so much. We moved to California. David put me through graduate school. We started our company and bought our first house. David and I traveled the world from Bali to Alaska to England, Paris and Italy. And now we have Jonathan. We entered marriage not knowing where this journey would take us. But we knew we were traveling this road with the right person. What saddens me most as I think about the joy of our marriage is the state of marriages in general today. How can you love someone so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with him and then one day become such strangers that you never want to see that person again? I married my best friend -- the person whom I love more than anyone else in the world. After 11 years together, 6 of those in marriage, nothing has changed. The one thing that we do that is critical to our happiness is that we treat our marriage as "us against the world" not "us against each other". Certainly there are times when we fail (given how monumentally stubborn both of us are), but we always come back to apologize. David and I have been blessed immensely, so as we celebrate our 6 year anniversary, I pray for all of the marriages out there and for our own. It has been a wonderful journey of ups and downs, but with David at my side, I would not have it any other way.

Sisters and friends...

2006-08-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

I have always been very competitive and sort of a workaholic. My parents used to tell me in high school that I studied too hard. :) Can you believe that there are Asian parents in America who would tell their child that? Maybe just mine... They used to call me at college to ask me if I was spending too much time on schoolwork, and my friends could not believe it. I compete not to beat other people, but to drive myself because I am a perfectionist at heart. It is funny how that has spilled over to Maya Road. When C and I started MR, it was because of a trip we took to a local scrapbooking store in Dallas. We saw products there that were really expensive, and given our experience, we knew we could do our own great designs for less. We sat down with our husbands that night and decided to launch a company focused on value and innovative ideas. Thus, Maya Road was born. Caroline and I started our first business at 10 and 12 or so. And we have been doing our own little ventures since. We started out in craft shows, moved on to some consignment shops and the like. Then we were Powersellers on eBay for awhile. I think we were always bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, so we are so happy to be part of this industry. I am amazed at how far we have come. People sometimes ask what it is like to work with your sister. I am not sure how to explain this, but we complement each other well. And we are totally (sometimes too much so) honest with each other. If she hates something I designed, you can be sure I will hear all about it. And vice versa. Since we have started MR, we are closer than ever, though we do spend most of our time talking about business. C lives across the country, so we chat online all day for hours off and on, sometimes up to 5 or 6 hours a day as we work. I am about 16 months younger than C, but I caught up with her in height and weight by the time I was about 3 and she was 4. It was a lucky thing for me, because otherwise I would have gotten lots of hand-me-downs! As it was, we grew up looking like twins (As the little sis, think I liked that better than she did!) We got married 1 week apart (happy 6 year anniversary to C and D!) and had our babies 6 weeks apart. It has been such a crazy and amazing adventure. Even though C and I do not see eye-to-eye about everything, we keep each other sharp. And I would not want to do this with anyone else...

One month old...

2006-08-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Jonathan turns 1 month old today. It is funny because I can barely remember life before this little guy came into the world. On Friday we hung out with a couple of our friends. It was the first time David and I went out without Jonathan since he has been born. And it was nice to do something that we used to do again like a normal couple. But when we went home, there was such a deep satisfaction and warmth in looking down at his crib and seeing him sleeping with his arms next to his head in a gesture of surrender. We are celebrating his first month with a Full Month party. In Chinese tradition, babies are introduced to the community after 30 days. Before that moms and babies are sequestered at home to protect them. In fact, moms are not supposed to leave their beds or shower for 30 days! Can you believe it? I do not think I could stand it. Jonathan went for his 1 month check up today, and he is 10lbs 11oz and 21.5 inches. When we got to the doctor's office, we had to wait a long time for them to get the new insurance set up. And while we were waiting, he was leaned all the way out of his Baby Bjorn watching the automatic sliding doors intently. He was literally captivated by the movement of the doors without human intervention. Everyday he is learning and growing so much that it is hard to believe that just 1 month ago, he was still inside of my belly. I am amazed by my little everyday miracle. Happy 1 month, Jonathan!

It is that time again...

2006-08-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

CHA Summer is officially over, and now I am back to the grindstone designing new products for Memory Trends. I have so many ideas I do not know where to begin. There were a few left over from CHA Summer that I saved for MT since wenched nearly 100 products for Summer already, so we did not want to over do it :). And there are some new cool things bubbling up that I want to get done as well. The only complaint I have is that CHA Summer and MT are WAY too close together. I mean, there is less than 3 months to get our new ideas made and out the door. That is not nearly enough time since the product life cycle from idea to creation is usually about 4 months. It does make it tough, but I am up to the challenge. C takes care of the customers and orders, and my job is to get the new products designed, manufactured and into our warehouse. I am so excited about some new ideas I have coming up. So keep an eye out on our blogs and maybe a new sneak peek will be coming your way in a month or so. In the meantime, look out for our awesome Summer releases in the stores coming out around mid/late August. And send me feedback! I love to see how your products get incorporated into your projects. :)

Why Amazon is losing money...

2006-07-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit, I am a deal hound. I hate to shop, but I cannot resist a good internet deal. The other day, there was a great sale at Amazon.com. I bought these Martex bath towels for $4.49 (I saw them for $11.99 today at Costco). And Amazon had a free hand towel deal, so you get both for only $4.49. Add on top of that the $25 off $125 bath coupon and free shipping with $25 purchase. I ended up spending about $45 for 10 towels and 10 hand towels. A few days later, I got a notice that we had a box at the post office from Amazon. So David went to pick it up. Lo and behold, there was 5 boxes there. And the next day, I got 14 more boxes frm Amazon, one for EACH towel! And Saturday, I got the final box. So for 20 towels and $45, I got 20 shipments. No wonder Amazon is losing money! They shipped this Airborne Ground and I cannot imagine that each box is less than $2 for postage. Add on top of that the box, the shipping label, the packing and pulling the product in the warehouse, and I bet they spent way more than they made. As a business owner myself, I did the math. And I figure, maybe they lost about $20 to get me my towels. If we shipped our customer's orders this way, I am sure Maya Road would not be around anymore!

Who can resist this face?

2006-07-31T00:17:00.000-07:00

Today, Jonathan is 3 weeks old. Can you believe it? I am still getting used to being a mom, and he is still getting used to being out in the world. I have figured a few things about our little boy in the past few weeks.

Jonathan has curly hair like his daddy! David is one of the few Chinese Americans who have curly hair. And his son takes after him... We washed J's hair today, and it is noticably more curly than the last time he took a bath.
J likes to sleep with his arms up like he is surrendering. He is plastered to the Pack n Play with his little arms sticking up over his head.
J is totally addicted to the pacifier. He loves to suck on things, his hands, my arm, his daddy's neck, and more. I have even seen him dreaming of his pacifier and making little sucking motions while he is alseep. He does accidentally knock his pacifier out of his mouth with his little hand. Then he cries up a storm.
J has a flair for the dramatic. When he cries, he puts his whole heart and soul into it. None of that soft sobbing for him. Only wailing for this little one.
J likes to held. He likes to feel of his mom, dad or grandparents rocking him. He is a people person.
J is a heavy heavy sleeper, just like mom and dad. Wild elephants can run through the house, and I am sure he will stay sleeping. When we wake him up to feed him, he is completely dead to the world and will not get up for anything.
J knows what he wants. When we are feeding him and he does not want anymore, he stickes his little nose up in the air, purses his lips, and shakes his head as if to say, "No more for me, thank you!"

I have learned feed him with one hand and type with the other. Today, during one feeding, I put together 2 pages of the MR Consumer Newsletter. I am learning how to fit in family and work. It has been a little crazy, but so worth it!

Birth announcements and busyness...

2006-07-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have not scrapbooked since Jonathan was born, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get this birth announcement out to our family and friends. So I buckled down and started work on this a few days ago. Isn't he a cutie? I need to start his scrapbook pages. I have not even finished my pregnancy layouts much less anything new since his birth. I am hoping that in a few weeks when the feedings are more spaced apart, I can get more done. I think between Jonathan and Maya Road there is no time for me to even sleep. The other day, I was checking out the blog about the CHA Summer reception and someone asked what C and I have for breakfast? Having 2 kiddos, releasing a ton of new products, and managing to keep MR on track has been crazy for us these past 2 months. But C and I have always been workaholics even as children. We started a company when we were 10 and 11 to make handcrafts. And we spent hours and hours working on handmade jewelry, pins, and ornaments (I make really cute cow pins, by the way). From childhood, I have been all about efficiency and multi-tasking. David thinks I am nuts since he is more of a serial sort of guy. Two hours after I delivered, I called the factory to make sure our CHA releases made the container shipment. And one day later, I was back to work going through my email and following up. The great thing about having a baby is that it makes you slow down. Jonathan is only this age once, so I am also taking time to enjoy our time together. It is hard to work on the schedule of someone else, but it is so worth it... ;)

Two weeks later... a few thoughts from the front line of motherhood

2006-07-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

No one tells you how hard parenthood is going to be. I think it is a secret to ensure that we continue to have children. Sunday, Jonathan turned 2 weeks old. It has been the longest two weeks of my life. I am not sure I even remember our life before July 9th that clearly anymore. It could just be the sleep deprivation talking. I am surprised at what I have learned in the past couple weeks. You spend your whole like learning how to be good at something, through school, work, etc, but then you become a parent and realize you really know nothing when it comes to raising a child. It is a huge shock to know that you are completely clueless about something so important. A few other things I never knew about motherhood:

Tiredness completely takes over your life. You need to feed your baby every 2.5 to 3 hours - round-the-clock. I read this while I was pregnant, but I had no idea that it took an hour to feed him, leaving you about 1.5 to 2 hours to live your life, sleep and do all of the things you need to finish. So after spending 8+ hours a day feeding, there is little time for anything else.
Nothing is as stressful as when your baby cries for seemingly no reason. Jonathan has reflux, so his tummy feels bad almost all the time. So he cries, arches his back and turns red from the discomfort. I would do anything to take away his pain, but there is not that much I can do, and that is a bad feeling.
Everyone has an opinion about how your raise your child. My father was lobbying for us to give him a bath every night (even before the cord fell off) because that is why Jonathan was fussy. My mom tells me that I should feed him more and forget pumping if it is hard just use formula. One lactation consultant suggested that I get a sling and hold him close all day so he cries less. While someone else said that maybe I was not trying hard enough to feed him at the breast (I pump and bottle feed since the hospital stay). This is all so confusing. You would think by now we can map the human genome, so we would have also cracked the code for raising babies.
You are never sure if you are doing the right thing. There is a study about everything, many if conflicting opinions from the experts. If you let your child watch TV before age 2, he has a higher chance of being ADHD (study). But then again maybe not (study). Use a pacifier to prevent SIDS, but maybe you should not if you breastfeed (study). Attachment parents or scheduled feedings to have a happy, healthy baby? (study) Or maybe the authors of Freakonomics are right when they say, "Parenting technique is highly overrated. When it comes to early test scores, it's not so much what you do as a parent, it's who you are. and what parents do is less important than who they are. " (reprint) So what is a modern loving parent to do?
You never can figure out how you lived before your child came along. I resisted motherhood for years because I was not sure how it would affect us, but watching Jonathan sit in front of me sleeping as I type, I feel a level of love and adoration I could never have imagined. The pain and stress of the past couple weeks seem completely worth it. :)

Of fatherhood and daddies...

2006-07-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

David was made to be a daddy. We have been married for nearly 6 years, and almost since the beginning, he has wanted to have children. In fact, for the past 4 years or so, he has been on a relentless campaign for us to have babies, and I did all I could to dissuade him. I guess in most relationships it works the other way around with the wife pushing her husband into parenthood, but in ours, he has always been the one to dream of children -- lots and lots of them. I love children, but I was always reluctant to take on the responsibility. Besides David is a great husband, but I wondered how he would take to fatherhood. David has been the perfect daddy. From the moment that Jonathan was born, David has been in love. When I was delivering Jonathan and they lifted Jonathan up for the first time, I could see David tear up and say, "Look at him. He is perfect!" Since then, he has just fallen more enthralled. I catch him picking up little Jonathan from his crib, and I ask him why he is fussing with Jonathan. And David will say, "Can't I just hold him?" I see David posing Jonathan on the blankets and take cute photos of the little guy. David has changed nearly 90% of the diapers without complaint, and he just loves feeding Jonathan. We had to put Jonathan on the bottle with pumped breast milk because of his feeding problems, but I think secretly David is happy he gets to participate in the feedings. David has been up all night walking the living room with Jonathan when he cries from 1am to 4am multiple nights, and he spends a great deal of time with Jonathan on his shoulder to burp him. After 11 days, I am convinced that David is a great daddy. He is loving and giving, and he absolutely adores Jonathan in a way that I never anticipated. My favorite time is when I catch David singing "Be Thou My Vision" to Jonathan. That was the hymn we sang at our wedding and now it is Jonathan's soothing song. Whenever we sing it, our little one quickly calms down and listens. It has been a tough week and a half since we met Jonathan face to face, and I have never see David more tired or more happy. And he has already started lobbying for baby number 2...

CHA is about to begin...

2006-07-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Since I could not be there this year, I have been on the phone with Caroline. There is always so much to do for the show. Booths to set up, projects to display, catalogs to put together and then the big opening day! As a product designer, I absolutely LOVE hearing feedback about our products from customers. Most of the time, I am working away at my computer putting together new ideas, but I am not sure what everyone will think of them. So going to tradeshows is really gratifying because I get first hand feedback on everything. I learn what sells well and hear from our retailers as to things they would like to see in the future. It is so exciting to see it all come together on the the tradeshow floor. I also love looking at the projects our great Design Team pulls off each show. I am constantly amazed by their creativity! So if you are in Chicago, check out the booth at #5310! And say hello to Caroline and her David. My David ended up not being able to go due to Jonathan's health. If you cannot make the show, check out our previews here.

Back in the hospital

2006-07-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Jonathan has been struggling a little bit with life outside the womb. So we took him in to the pediatrician yesterday, and they ran some tests. Turns out he has pretty severe jandice. We had noticed it coming on on Friday, but when we went into the hospital to meet with the lactation consultant who was also a labor RN, she said it looked okay. But then over the weekend, his eyes started turning yellow. So yesterday, we went into the pediatrician to have her take a look. And after a blood test, she confirmed that he is pretty severe jaundice. A normal level is about 15, and his was about 21. At 25, there is risk of hearing loss or brain damage, so we were asked to immediately check him into the hospital for some UV light treatment. So here we are with the little guy under the blue lights for two days. I think in parenthood, there is always something to worry about. So we are looking at a lifetime of concern. But as I watch him across the hospital room in his little purple eyeshields (to protect his eyes from the treatment) under the bright blue lights, I think about what his life will hold. He is so full of potential, and our job is to cultivate him and protect him until he becomes the person that God intended. It is so hard to watch him unhappy and uncomfortable. On the bright side, it seems that his feeding and fussiness problems are related tothe jaundice, so perhaps we have a more relaxed baby lurking deep inside of one who was just not feeling well.