Birthday Gift Gone Bad

This is what happens when I send Chris, Max, and Jacob to Zingers to pick up a gift for a five year old girl, I have no words:

{Giveaway}Imagination Movers are coming to Austin!!

Jacob LOVES the Imagination movers and they are coming to Austin this Sat. Sept.29th, If you don't know about the Imagination Movers Rock-O-Matic, they are so much fun. I have two tickets to give away. I will give them to the funniest or most creative comment: GO!

Read Below:

The Imagination Movers will bring their ³catchy power pop for kids² (American Songwriter) to the Paramount Theatre on Saturday, September 29^th. 

Known for their Emmy-winning television series (airing weekdays at 8AM EDT on Disney Junior) and their ³child-oriented indie rock² (NY Times) that ³parents are sure to find themselves singing along to² (MSN), the Imagination Movers have become one of the top-rated kid¹s music artists.

Here  is a link to their website:

http://www.imaginationmovers.com

Click Here to purchase your tickets.

Whatever You Can Do...

I can______(fill in the blank).

Austin Coffee Shop Confessions

I love to work in coffee shops, there is something about the buzz   energy of the people, music and coffee that spark my creativity. Today as I was writing content for our website that is being designed as we speak(so excited!) and I couldn't help but notice the couple next to me. She was a twenty-something, impeccably dressed( I swear I pinned her outfit on pinterest), latin beauty and her "date" was your typical middle aged, messy hair, wrinkly clothed maybe professor maybe a millionaire-type. As I was creating content, she was telling of her amazing time growing up in Brazil, her cousin the journalist blogger, her short time spent in England studying, her child-like grandfather that already bought a soccer gift for her 2 month old nephew, how she is new to Austin,ect. She was adorable and likable and had our  his undivided attention. Meantime, I received an email from, Kari Kenner, my marketing guru that just finished my bad ass logo and is now working on my website. Knowing that I was working on content all morning, she sent me an inspiring link about finding your voice. Here is the exchange:
Kari:

Hey there,

I haven't watched this video yet, but it seemed so appropriate since you're working on site content this week. 

I hope this helps you "find your voice." :)

Me:
I received that this morning;signed up for her( Marie Forleo) newsletter. working in the coffee shop now getting together my drafts. as of now I am just going to write some bones and then tweak away:) I will watch the video when I am not in a noisy coffee shop.

btw..next to me is a table of a meet up ...like a date? this early? weird.

okay back to focus.

Somehow I pulled it together to focus on my website content when I overheard her say" Oh you are going downtown, where? maybe I will join you? where do you eat downtown"-I was perplexed, how was this a love match? I was consumed. Was it that she was so put together and he wasn't or was it the age gap? Whatever it was she sure was giving up some very personal stuff but they clearly just met? And then I heard her say" well, i got to get back to the office..it was so nice to meet you and I will look forward to talking to you about your search at the beg. in aug. in the meantime if you see any houses that you want me to run a comparable on call me"

She was a realtor that didn't even mention anything about her services, housing market, how she works, austin, neighborhoods. Nothing!

to Kari:
OMG!!! so, this entire time I thought the people next to me were on a date and it was odd bc she was really pretty and he-not so much, as she rambled about herself for about an hour talking all about her family from brazil, grandpa, cousin blogger, ect. he jsut sat and listened! Then she said," well, i got to get back to the office..it was so nice to meet you and I will look forward to talking to you about your search at the beg. in aug. in the meantime if you see any houses that you want me to run a comparable on call me"

Whatever works girlfriend. 

My Game Show Life

  I want you to juggle(okay, I can do that)...now I want you to juggle on thin ice(er..okay) now keep juggling and the thin ice is going to break and turn into a raging river(I can try)...you are doing great, now keep juggling in the raging water while you go over a waterfall and then...

"You guys can't get a break" is what a close friend told me last night when we told Jacob's school lost his camp forms and we had him home for two weeks(they squeezed him in for five sessions). I wish I could do what another friend did when they lost her forms" I just dropped off the kids and told them to deal with it, it was their mistake". One day I will no longer care about being nice(Oprah's mantra).I can honestly say that we have dealt with more this past couple of years(let alone few months) than most people in my sphere have dealt with in their entire lives and somehow keeping it all together.From my children picking up parasites in Singapore,to sending my sweet 16 year old Lhasa Apso, Mazzy, to the vet to go to sleep,

to removing toxic relationships/family members from our bouquet. So, forgive me for being apathetic. I have been distracted and still waiting for Jeff Probst to jump out of the closet any time with a $1million dollar prize.

Oh Pinterest, How I Love Thee

If you have had a conversation with me in the past year you know I am a huge fan of Pinterest. "It has changed my life" are my exact words. I know its nutty but seriously, before Pinterest I would look up countless kitchens on Austin MLS and other design websites and save a picture of inspiration on my desktop. After months of forgetting what I saved because I have ADD  sitting on my desktop, I would randomly run across a photo and dream of how I want a kitchen, couch, chair,ect. like the one in the picture. Enter Pinterest-the time saving make dreams turn into reality virtual idea boards-Now, when I am startled in the middle of the night from a crying baby and can't seem to go back to sleep-I have Pinterest. I pin everything from gluten free foods, favorite austin restaurants to remodel ideas. I have them saved onto my boards and as of now I have about a 40% success rate with my pins. If you are not on Pinterest, give it a try. I promise once you get set up you will find that your web browsing will be cut in half. Thank me Later:)

Oh, btw... You can only imagine how thrilled I was when I received the email that Babble picked me as their top #3 Parents Pinning in Home and Garden for 2012. Happy Pinning!

Shannan Riemer #3 in Home&Garden

Happy Father's Day 2012

This morning as I the boys and I were making our father's day card:

Me:What do you want to say to daddy for Father's day"
Jacob"Daddy,you are the superest daddy in the world, Ilove you so much and I want you to have another Angry Bird Pinata"
"and you Max"
M: "I WANT a bopple"(waffle) 
"anything else Max"
 Max:"PEAZE DADDY"
Happy Father's Day to the Best of the Best!!

Pillow Talk with My Older Little

Tonight after we read our books and baby Max was fast asleep Jacob had something he had to get off his chest.

J: "Mommy. I want to tell you something."

me: "what is it?"

J:" Sometimes when people grow up they want to do the things that they love and I want to do the things that I love"

me: "exactly. what is it that you love?"

J: "I want to be a fire fighter, a builder, and then a house seller."

me: "you mean a realtor?"

J: "um..yes, a realtor and then an author."

me: "an author! what kind of books are you going to write?"

J: "Space Angry Birds and Dinosaurs"

me: "Oh, that sounds Awesome, I can't wait to read your books"

J: "But mom, some of the words are going to be violent because thats what the big boys love and my books are going to be for big boys."

At least he knows his target market.

The Older Little Likes to Build

Almost everyday I get a "what J built" report from his teacher, she  told me that her and her assistant feel like J. has exceptional skills and are "always amazed". So, of coarse like every parent, I think he is special,too This year he has built houses for all of his friends, fire trucks, fire stations, airports and hotels. A budding architect?
Here is a picture that his teacher sent me of his fire truck. She also noted that in her career nobody has ever used the cylinders for tires. When I showed the picture to J. and asked him if he was going to be a builder when he is big " like daddy" he said "yes, mama but but but I don't build girl stuff, only boy stuff!"

Ladder truck.

Mama Oprah

Its been awhile since I sat in front of the "new post" screen and as I sit here all I can think of is the million of other emails, home searches for my buyers and laundry that needs to be done. So I am going to make this quick...ready: Oprah's Life Class-GO~