Friends In Real Life

@wendysurf and @kimjay_everyday twins in real life.

Oh my goodness Internet!!!! Hubby and I had a double date Friday night with Kim and Charlie, also known as Dancin' Jimmy! And he DANCED!!!! Two times.

I am freaking out, they are so fun and nice. I wish they lived here. Sigh.

"Who in Memphis are Kim and Charlie?" asks a dedicated blog reader.

Oh right, sorry. I met @kimjay_everyday, photographer extraordinaire, on twitter, a few years or so ago. She is one of my twitter friends. Actually now we're facebook friends, and Words With Friends(scrabble), too. Charlie is her Rock Star Hubby.

Communicating with a friend on twitter is very similar to texting due to the way I have my notifications set up, and therefore easy. When I think about it, online friends are just high tech pen pals.

"So you're going to meet kimjay_everyday for the first time in real life?" asks Gio. "Do I get to meet her, too?"

I wasn't sure about that part. My Mom was coming over to babysit and the house was A MESS. You know how people say, "Oh my house is a mess," and then you go in and can't find anything out of place, except for an unfolded couch blanket?

That is not my house. When I say it's a mess. It's a mess. And by mess I mean, laundry-toy-miscellaneous items bomb explosion everywhere because I've been surfing so much.

They actually did get to come and see our messy house and THE BOYS, but only because I temporarily lost my mind and listened to Hubby. He's usually right, but not this time.

"Have them come over," says Hubby. "I'll clean up the house."

15 minutes later, well before any cleaning could take place, Hubby says, "Uh, someone's knocking on the door."

To which I reply, "That's not someone, that's kimjay_everyday!"

Anyways, Kim has been a great friend online. I mean I sort of know how to fold a fitted sheet thanks to her. And she makes me laugh when I feel like crying. So to actually get to meet her in person, was, like, CRAZY COOL!!!!!!!!!

And Charlie is a great guy! Did I mention he danced twice? They both scored big time!

They were both easy to talk to, and did I mention fun? After last month it really was a sweet treat surprise to finally meet them in real life.

I may never visit Kim and Charlie in Memphis, but who knows, maybe I'll meet up with them sometime on Maui?

Follow Friday

It is follow Friday on twitter today. Follow Friday is when people on twitter recommend people to follow on twitter. On twitter we follow, where as facebook we friend. I got several awesome #ff today.

@kimjay_everyday:

@wendysurf my friend and a rockstar surfer-beach-bum-mommy. she has a sweet spirit, positive attitude, and is my sister in Christ

or this follow friday from another dear friend:

@grnladybug:

This mama is a surfer, a lover of peace & nature. She gives great advice & has a neat way of looking at things. Follow @wendysurf #ff

What sweet tweets from a few of my tweeps. I probably don't have to say their tweets made my day.

I hear a lot of people say, "I don't have time for twitter, what is that anyways?"

Twitter is a creative outlet for sharing what I'm thinking, seeing, smelling, eating and feeling. Best not to keep that stuff bottled up in the body, it can lead to problems. Plus, it's always good to have a few witnesses, standing by, praying, right?

But most importantly, Twitter is a supportive social network of amazing, brilliant, haute, beautiful, funny, inspiring people. And I always have time for that.

She's On Fire by Train

I'm in dry dock this week. Gio is on Spring Break. Meaning Mommy is going cold turkey off her medication. Yes, surfing is my crack.

Surfing is my inspiration, my release, my church, my daily excursion to a watery wonderland.

Riding waves, is how I self-medicate. Otherwise, how else could a slacker Mom of two, deal with a continuously vomiting laundry basket?

Actually, the laundry has nothing to do with my addiction. Surfing saved my life, nearly 25 years ago, way before the laundry became insurmountable.

And there are far worse ways to self medicate, Internet. Food, drugs, alcohol, boy toys...............

I heart Train, so many good songs. One of my twitter bff's, @kellyhunts, a fellow surfer chick, tweeted me "She's On Fire," this morning.

"Thanks Kelly!"

Uh, now that I think about it, Tweeting could be another one of my addictions? But, then, there's nothing twrong with connecting with like-minded, fun inspiring, hilarious tweeps, is there?! Love my twitter friends!

"Tweet, tweet."

The Backstory to Tomorrow's Blog or "It Sucked and Then I Cried" Part 3A

My Blog Business Card
Designed by Belinda Jasmine

In case you missed Part 1 Click Here

In case you missed Part 2 Click Here

"Mom could you, please, babysit on April 1st, so we can go see Dooce in San Francisco?" I beg my Mom. "Then I can write a blog, and become the famous writer, you always knew I'd be, please."

I always throw in the famous writer bit when I really need her to babysit. It's an easy way to say, "Yes Mom, of course, you're right." And when she's right, she is usually more willing to help. Plus, I love the sound of it.

Before she agrees to babysit she asks, "is she the one you were so excited was following you on Twitter?"

"Mom, you're embarrassing me in front of the whole world wide web!" Only a parent can do that, I think?

Oh well, I might as well tell you the story now, since you're probably all ears. For a few hours of my life, I thought Heather Armstrong, the most popular personal blogger in the world, was following me on Twitter.

At that time, she was only following 60 people, but had over 100,000 followers. And I thought, "Wow, I'm one of the 60 people she is following. I must be very, very, very special."

I know that's enough verys to give nearly anyone an allergic reaction, that would include, but not be limited to, nausea.

I am so excited, I phone and text all my friends the good news, "Dooce is following me on twitter."

Most of them asked, "what's twitter?" Some of them thought she was following my blog, but couldn't find her in my blog followers list. While others were like, "What's Dooce?" Ah, technology can be so confusing.

Within a few hours, or at least by the next day, I realize dooce is not following me, I'm just following her. Love, some times, is a one way street.

Later, I had to phone and text every one I had notified "oh, it's just me following her. Nevermind."

Twitter is confusing. See, I got all mixed up by the followers and following. Twitter is, also, very disappointing. At least, I didn't announce it on the blog. Then, anyways.

So there you have it! My humiliating "dooce is following me on twitter, hold please, fail!" story.

Now, my Mom is pretty technical and happened to be at my house when I was googling the San Francisco bookstore for directions to Dooce's book signing. (I no longer recommend google directions, got nothing against their maps, though).

"What's the address?" asks my Mom.

"301 Castro Street, Mountain View," I say.

"Mountain View?" says my Mom. "Mountain View is not San Francisco."

"Mom, I know Mountain View isn't San Francisco," I say. "Her website says San Francisco, and the address underneath it says Mountain View."

I knew right then exactly what my Mom was thinking. The tape playing in her head went something like this, "This is a trick! She's mixing up San Francisco with Mountain View because it's all a lie! She's making up the whole Dooce book signing thing, and she's really going surfing in Mountain View!"

Fortunately, we were looking at a map of Mountain View so my Mom realizes, "Wait, she can't surf in Mountain View!"

And if I wasn't making it up, she was still worried that I was going to the wrong bookstore The one that wasn't in San Francisco. Therefore, I would never be famous. Then she would be wrong. Now she was having second thoughts about babysitting at all.

My Mom always thinks I'm trying to trick her, when, in fact, I'm only trying to trick her some of the time. And this wasn't one of those times.

Fortunately, she believed me and covered her babysitting shift like a good Nana.

Note: This is a bit of a backstory to tomorrow's blog where Heather Armstrong of dooce.com will actually be quoted. Say it with me y'all, Jesus Amen!

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards

Seriously, if you didn't watch the Grammys last night, this blog probably won't make sense. So don't even bother reading it. Well, maybe give it a try. But don't say I didn't warn you that it might not make sense. Bascially, today's blog is last night's tweets on Twitter, microblogging website, while we tried to stay awake for the entire Grammys. There's also minimal editing.

The winners can be found at grammy.com, the winners are listed in bold.
Tweets by wendysurf


Watching the untelevised portion of the grammys on grammy.com. Oops I mean listening.
about 2 hours ago from web

Sugarland wins a grammy for Stay. Everybody say, "Yay" Jennifer Nettles brought her Mama as her date. I LOVE! that girl!
about 1 hour ago from web

I can't keep up with Kid Rock. I thought he went Kid Country now I'm thinking he's Kid Gospel. Some people can't be confined by a label.
about 1 hour ago from web

Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus singing Swift's 15. So sweet. Awesome role models for the girls of the world. Girls Rawk!
about 1 hour ago from web

Jennifer Hudson's pipes + emotion= best performance so far.A bittersweet night for her.Big angels are watching over her right now. grammys
about 1 hour ago from web

Grammys bridging the gap: Jonas Brothers meet Stevie Wonder on stage."The Jonas Brothers are good,"says Vinny. I personally love Stevie.
about 1 hour ago from web

9:17 and one kid KO'd by the grammys. Other one still going strong.
about 1 hour ago from web

Katy Perry singing I Kissed A Girl.Is the banana there to reassure the guys? Be careful what you ask for boys.Colorblind.What's next?Energy.
29 minutes ago from web

Kenny Chesney is ruining my high with that sad song. #Grammys
18 minutes ago from web

Rober Plant just say Arghhhh! #Grammys
17 minutes ago from web

Rap pack and the prego MIA, literally a hot mama!
7 minutes ago from web

I get it. EVERYONE LOVES Paul McCartney. #Grammys
4 minutes ago from web

Oh yeah, Sir Paul still rocks, "woooooooooooo!" Musicians are forever cool.
3 minutes ago from web

Jennifer singing "Stay" reaches down to the depths of the woman that figures it out. No sign of the woman hung up on the married guy.
4 minutes ago from web

Okay what is the difference between record and an album? #Grammys

Radiohead performing with USC Trojan Marching Band. A little somethin' somethin' for the cool folks. Wow!
1 minute ago from web

All kinds of people are going to sign up for band class tomorrow. #Grammys
less than 10 seconds ago from web

Justin Timberlake still a boy band, but A for effort. Love the 5 Gallon Bucket Drums. less than 5 seconds ago from web

New cabinet position 4 Obama, secretary of the arts, is............Quincy Jones. Or so they would like us to believe. Believing is seeing.

Oh wait, it was Quincy's idea. My bad.

Every child deserves an education in art.We are creative beings. That's why I blog. Even when there are more important things to do. #Grammy

"Sweeet Car-o-line, good times never seemed so good." Yes we were singing along with Neil Diamond because we are that old. #Grammy
less than 5 seconds ago from web

They Might Be Giants win their first Grammy, but where the heck are they? "D is for Drum, D is for Drum, D is for Drum." less than 5 seconds ago

Was inspired, now feeling a bit tired, but can't stop now. #Grammys
less than 5 seconds ago from web

Listening to Lil Wayne thinking back to 1989ish when a DJ told me the next big thing for R&B was combining singing with rapping. #Grammy
11 minutes ago from web

OMG!Justin Timberlake isn't a boy he's the no problem nipple guy.Wasn't a problem for him because it wasn't his nipple.Janet took the hit.
8 minutes ago from web

Best rap album goes to Lil Wayne. He also wins the "Everyone in the World Just Saw You're Underwear," award. Got Belt? It's in. Oh I get it.
15 minutes ago from web

Yes they just said "and now it's time for the last award of the night." #Grammy
5 minutes ago from web

And the winner for album of the year goes to Allison Kraus and Robert Plant for "Raising Sand" Don't have the album so I don't have a clue.
3 minutes ago from web

Stevie Wonder raps up the night singing about my favorite topic, Love. It really does make the world go round. Goodnight! #Grammy
less than 10 seconds ago from web

Pipeline and Kelly Slater Save the Day!

I didn't get to surf yesterday. Gio's school officially let out for winter break on Wednesday. When I checked to see if the Pipeline Masters was a go, I saw the words, "Pipe Masters is On!"

"Yippee, yay," I said as I did back flips and somersaults in my mind.

"Mommy, are you okay?" asks Gio.

Sorry, Mommy can be a little scary when she is excited about surfing.

My friend had texted me earlier that morning saying there were waves so I was a little bummed to be missing out on some fun surf.

"It was fun, but not epic," she said trying to make me feel better.

And I felt worse knowing the weekend forecast was bleak with winds expected out of the northwest in the 10-20 knot range. Although, as I'm writing this Friday evening, there is a plan for an early dawn patrol session today.

"I'll check the waves at 7," my friend says.

"I might beat you there," I say knowing full well I'm not leaving the warmth of my house to find stormy seas. No, I'm gonna wait for the surf report, even though I have a brand new, never been peed in, 5-4 Oneill Mod wetsuit. This helps when the water temps are 50 and the air is in the 40s.

"Yeah, right," she says sarcastically knowing me too well.

So in replacement of actually surfing, Gio and I sat in front of the computer screen, watching two or three of Kelly Slater's winning heats. Reading books in between sets and rides, and microblogging the contest on Twitter.

wendysurf: Slater gets a massive Pipe barrel, and then a sick pit at backdoor. Deeep! Crazy!!! about 3 hours ago from web

wendysurf: Slater magic, 19 points in less than 3 minutes. That's why he's the 9 time world champ. He's no slouch. Timmy had priority on both waves. about 3 hours ago from web

It's amazing with the advent of live webcasts, to be able to watch a surfing contest as it's happening. Live! In the old days, I used to read about contest's results two months after the fact. Yes, live is a wee bit better, and all the more exciting to blog about.

Slater went on to win his 6th Pipe Masters yesterday. I love watching my favorite surfer, surfing the most exciting wave on the planet. And it definitely makes up for a day of no surf for me.

Black Friday

I have been trying to figure out how to use twitter.com, a microblogging website. It is yet another site devoted to staying in touch with friends. After logging onto Twitter I'm asked, "what are you doing?" This question must be answered in 140 characters or less, slightly shorter than a text message. Updates on Twitter are called tweets.

Obama tweeted a lot up until Nov 5th, but now apparently he hasn't tweeted at all. Hmmmm. I assume his non-tweetiness is due to overprotective secret service people, or perhaps, Obama's campaign was all about marketing effectively. Probably a lot of both. He is a politician, after all. Supposedly, he is working out a deal with security so he can stay wired to his peeps. Otherwise, Generation We may have been Madison Avenued into submission, I mean campaigning and voting.

Where was I? Oh yeah Twitter: microblogging, short messages, that keep your family and friends up to date on how you are really doing. These are similar to the status updates on facebook, except Facebook asks, "what are you doing right now?"

As I was surfing (the surfer in me just vomited) on Twitter I found the button titled Trending topics and Best Buy was under that. Being curious, and remembering reading something about Best Buy giving away free laptops, I clicked on it.

It was 9:30 PM Thursday, the night before Black Friday, and people were already camping out at Best Buy, opens at 5 AM, according to the Twitter tweets. But there was no mention of free laptops in the tweets.

There probably aren't people camping out at my Best Buy, I thought. No, that camping thing is for big cities. Apparently, I live in a big city because there were people camping out at my Best Buy.

"This could be your big break and you neeeeeeeeed good pictures to go with your great writing!" orders my Mom, who doesn't even read my blog, as we drive away from Best Buy with my one blurry picture.

Then my Mom was kind enough to drive to Circuit City on the way because she really wanted me to have a good picture of the campers, albeit they are Circuit City campers.

Her picture is so much better than mine. And she said she asked the lone campers permission.


After checking out Best Buy I searched for some of my friends on Twitter. I couldn't find any of my real friends so I found some of my role models, like Jennifer Nettles. And dooce.com, my favorite mommy blogger and the original inspiration for my own blog. Then I started following them. Following isn't the same as stalking.

Following means when the person I am following tweets the tweet shows up on my Twitter home page in real time, as soon as a tweet is posted. It's a way to stay connected to someone's life, I'm not physically connected to. And if it weren't for the internet perhaps I would never know anyone else struggles with parenting in similar ways that I do.

This whole "we are all connected thing" is really blowing up. Wow.

Not only that, but I'm now following the absent Twitter guy, Mr. President Elect. And guess what? Obama just sent me an email saying he is now following my tweets. OMG! Wait? Does he have time for that?

"Barack Obama is following you?" asks Stefan. "I don't get it?"

"I guess I didn't explain it very well," I say. "It means my tweets show up on his home page in real time."

"Obama is reading you tweets?" Stefans asks in hopeless confusion. It's not like I said he's reading my tits, now that would be confusing.

All this tweeting sounds like a useless waste of time, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. As the terror attacks were happening in Mumbai, people, I'm talking regular people, okay maybe rich regular people, were giving first hand accounts of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on Twitter. Live news straight from the source. Not filtered through some bleeding heart liberal reporter. I can say that because I am one. Except, I prefer blogger to reporter because that's my sport of preference. Seems as if I am getting back into Journalism as it's about to die. Perfect.

Also, when Motrin released their ad targeted at Mommies, the Mommy blogosphere on twitter was insulted and went beserk. So beserk that Motrin pulled the add and apologized.

Now there is proof of the power of people banding together via the Internet. Together we can make a difference.

Real Motrin ad that was pulled.


Parody of Real Motrin ad that is hilarious!