Blue Lollipop Road

good girls get magnum bottles of wine

In time for Christmas (I mean Santa is watching right?) I’ve been a good girl and gotten back into my regular running routine again:

So the irony of me mentioning my Napa wine diet this fall and getting back into good habits? After my run, FedEx Santa delivers this to me:

Alexis Cab. Magnum gift from Swanson!

I guess I was such a good girl, Santa Swanson couldn’t resist sending me a big ol’ treat. YUM!

To my Swanson Sisters~

I love you! What a great surprise. Thank you, thank you. Miss you all tons and I will save this for a very special occasion. I have an idea what that occasion that will be, but you’ll have to wait to find out…

Bubbles to all and to all a good night!

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two j’s doin’ good

I have friends that do the coolest things. If I was ever cool, like even one bit- it would only be because of the variety of interesting and remarkable people I have in my life.

Take Justin for instance. He is a musician and has been a part of Silly Bus for years while educates and entertains kids through music. He also volunteers for other community projects and oh yeah, he’s a career guy too. Justin is way funnier than he realizes and it’s always a blast to catch up with him. We had coffee recently and he brought this CD that he had just finished to me as a gift:

Flashlight Tag Christmas CD

Flashlight Tag Christmas CD

This CD is GREAT. I can’t lie, I’m not a big holiday music super-fan. I don’t usually bee-bop to Rockin’ R’ound the Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving until Santy comes, but I am all about the Flashlight Tag tunes. (I have to say I am a sucker for some banjo.) Listen to Twinkle Lights here or get in touch with the guys to get a copy of the CD. This is a must have in your holiday collection.

In more news on interesting pals doing exceptional and unselfish work, meet my friend Jocelyn, owner of Green Duck. She has recently finished up a HUGE project at the World Equestrian Games. With over 500,000 visitors to the games, can you imagine all the waste? Well, Jocelyn and the crew she worked with managed to collect 175,000 pounds of materials to keep them out of the landfill. Yay! Watch the video with Jocelyn busy at work here. Next time you’re noshing at your favorite local restaurant, or your socializing at that annual fundraiser you go to, remind the people in charge if they don’t already- to forget the styrofoam devil and order their food packaging from Green Duck. If you are green, you are cool. Enough said.

My Christmas gifts? Learning from, looking up to, and spending time with people like these two. They are inspiring kids, making art, respecting community and living consciously. That is my satisfying pile of wrapping paper. What more could I ask to be surrounded by?

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vermont gets voted over?! gasp!

Why oh why?

Check out my fellow wanderers, my soul peeps in love with adventure: Alex and Luke. I have written about them before. I just saw this note on their website. WHAT?! “poor Vermont just kept getting voted over time and time again…”

(Insert stake through the heart.)

This is a travesty. Come on my fellow Vermonters or whatever non-Vermonters out there who are lovers of the green mountains, delicious cheese, ice cream, fun country frolicking in fields of organic produce and progressive mindset and lifestyle (just to name a very few amazing things!) We need to send lotsa notes to Alex and Luke and rally them to Vermont or bust. It looks like they will be staying for 2 months in New Hampshire starting 1/2/11 so it will be easy for them to hop, skip and jump on over.

Dear Alex and Luke~

Look at me in Vermont in May. Don’t I look like I’m having fun and in gorgeous scenery? See what you have to look forward to?!

In Vermont on Lake Champlain

My fellow Vermonters and I would like to cordially invite you here to Blue Lollipop Road so we can fill you in on all the best places to see, eat, visit- you name it, in the great VEETEE. Lets be in touch eh? Any question you might have, myself and my crew o’ Green Mountain Gringos peeps have you covered. Never again will Vermont be voter over!

Here’s to your bomb-diggidy awesome start of 2011 at the Balsams and in our neighboring New Hampshire!

~Diane

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‘cuase you just might get it

To call me impatient is an understatement. I like to be a mover and shaker and think my pace is normal because, well- am me. I have been told I talk to fast. (Again, normal to me, but my Mother who is laughing reading this right now has told me on several occasions that after 32 years she still cannot understand me on the answering machine. Yes, the ‘rents still have an answering machine.)

The one thing I have been patient with is this blog. If you know me personally you know that I have often said I don’t want babies. Who knows if that will change in the future. All I know is Blue Lollipop Road has been my baby for well over 2 years now. The way Mothers feel about their children I feel about this “little one” in my life: It means everything to me, I love it more than anything even when it is broken and bruised. Even when I am frustrated with it, and I have one of those “What the heck am I getting out of this deal again?” kind of moments- I still love it and don’t care how hard, confusing, or endless the water treading feels. I refuse to give up because I feel hope, I see all the potential and trust that if I give all the love and truth I am capable of, it will grow up to be magical.

Even though I trust all the above, like a Mother looking at their child on graduation day with that “I knew she could!”- there is a simultaneous: “Holy bleep! Is this really happening? Did she really make it here like I knew she would???!!!” This is how I am feeling now. There are a whole lot of little things brewing, coming together and presenting themselves in the result of “raising” Blue Lollipop Road to be something. It feels surreal, there is crazy momentum and I feel like I am flying. Every teeny little thing in the right direction fuels my fire to go more and I am so excited I cannot even explain it. I just got this email from a friend I haven’t seen in about 3 years and that I talk to rarely:

You know…I just learned that my wife regularly checks your blog. She is more aware of what you are doing these days than I am! By the way, she says you are a good writer. You should try to turn your blog into a book. Sort of an autobiography. Start talking to little guy publishers. While your writing is fantastic, you’ll need an editor to get it into book format.

As much I have more confidence than some, I still scoff at the amount of people complimenting my writing. I guess it’s hard to take that compliment when you feel like you are just a girl babbling about everyday life. I am learning to take compliments like these with a smile, giving myself credit for “raising a good kid” and trying to accept all the good things that seem to be flooding in with a furry recently.

What’s that they say, be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it?

I told you I had some surprises to share. There’s more to come. I wish I could reach out and smooch every one of you readers who check in here every day and have followed me through this all. Thank you thank you thank you. I will have more surprises for you soon!

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progress baby progress!

Ok kids! Guess what? After all this time, we are finally making some traction (hee hee…no pun intended) with Honda. I have connected with Alicia who works for them. She now has some stellar photos of the BLR Mobile. What’s a huge bummer, is I passed through L.A just a couple weeks ago, and she just asked me to stop by the American Honda Campus there. Humph.

Theme of the day? Timing. DOH!

It’s never to late so stay tuned on car stuff.

In other BLR news; I am happy to report that I was contacted by Schmap New York City (YIPPEE!) last week. They found my photos here on Flickr and are going to use one from a yummy lunch I had with a friend at Cafe’ Habana in New York back in July.

There’s more brewing…

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good, genius, easy, change

I’ve been writing, thinking, brainstorming about this project I’m working on and I wanted to share a few things. Friends and family (even my Mom has teased me) about believing some of the below. Yeah, yeah- I know some people are effed up, miserable, mean to each other, there is hate in the world whatever. I still believe:

*We are innately good
*We really are willing to go out of our way to help each other
*We are all creative genius in one form or another
*Things are WAY WAY WAY (can I say WAY again?) easier than we make them out to be
*We often suppress who we are and what we want because of fear of phantom things and people that don’t even exist

My most favorite “I believe” to date is from the blog of this phenomenal woman Danielle I met in California back in September:

*”…everyday is a chance to change your mind and change your life.”

Guess what guys?! We live in America. We have a chance to choose it all. Lets chew on that one for a while.

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reverse retirement

I’m working on something so exciting it’s making me jump out of my skin with excitement. Enough to make me forget about the frigid temps and snow outside. If you know me you know how little of a fan of the cold I am- that is a big deal.

How blissful it feels to be alive when you spend time working on things you believe in…

On a side note:

I was reading Fast Company yesterday and saw an article about this incredible product. The brilliance of some humans minds and the things they create with them baffle me.

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