kartooner.com

To meet my cute quota for the month, there’s nothing better than a video with my 4-year-old, head strong, toe-headed daughter named Zoe.

For the sake of actually writing something and to experiment a bit with Flickr Video here’s a short clip of my daughter, Zoe, practicing sign language with her Aunt Erin (Nina). Bonus: My son shows up in the last few seconds.

It’s been several months since I’ve written on here, since August of last year in fact, which equals to roughly 5 years in Internet time.

What have I been up to since I last mashed my fingers across the keyboard and published something of worth? Well, I was offered and accepted a position with AOL/Weblogs, Inc. as a designer for their network of sites. My first thought was; they pay people to design blogs? It’s become more than a dream job for me and I couldn’t be more thankful for the friendships I’ve formed and lessons learned.

It was ten years ago when I first saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone sitting on the shelf at Borders.

I distinctly remember the front cover illustration, how colorful it looked from afar and thinking how geeky the boy on the cover looked with his round glasses and oddly-shaped scar. Yet, because it was a children’s book I figured it wasn’t worth my time.

The Boy Who Lived

I would’ve never guessed that not only would I read (and digest) every book in the series and watch every movie to date I would finally say goodbye to such a rich and imaginative world and a character that, next to Mickey Mouse, is so well known around the world.

Lately I’ve been taking afternoon walks to free my mind of creative restraint or to just breath in the fresh air. It’s a change that I’ve welcomed, even if my legs don’t always thank me for it.

Instead of just taking in the sights around me I’m also beginning to listen more, paying close attention to the sounds of nature and the partial conversations I pick up on while on my walk.

Since we live in a village (with a population of less than 5,000), small talk carries itself through the walls of homes, in meeting hot spots like the park or the local supermarket and you’re always bound to run into someone you know.