So the kid is getting better, but she's still rather cranky.

I remember the last time I was at Disneyland, sometime during my high school years. Me, my Dad and little brother took a driving trip down the California coast. Three of us sandwiched into his Porche 924 (turbo-charged, for those who care to know) - this car was not exactly built for back-seat passengers to take long trips. Of course we didn't care... we looked cool in Dad's Silver Streak!

Madonna was big that year, every new city that we'd tune into had her on high rotation. We heard "Borderline" over and over and over! Each of us brought a tape to listen to; I don't even remember what mine was. But I DO remember that Ramsay brought AC/DC and Dad brought Alan Parson's Project. We hardly let Rams play his tape 'cause it was annoying. Plus, he had to sit in the back more often than me! Ah, sweet memories.

In the Porche there was a moon roof. On a long stretch of highway from LA to Palm Springs, we were traveling late in the evening blasting Dad's music, and Ramsay was standing up in the car with his heard popping out the top of the moon roof.

Dad did not go slow. All of a sudden, Rams yelped "Ow!", and sat back down very fast. He had been nailed in the back of the head by the biggest bug I had ever seen - at about 90 miles per hour. Bug didn't make it.

Anyways, one of my distinct memories of Disneyland had to do with an exhibit on Main Street USA. There was a house that was wallpapered with Van Luit wallpaper, and I recognized the pattern. Knew the book it came from, knew the price of the paper, even. Boy was I impressed. From my sixteen year-olds perspective, that was some expensive paper! It helped me to appreciate the amount of work and attention to detail Disneyland used to create this most perfect place on Earth.

Looking forward to seeing the place again with adult eyes. I wonder if the wallpaper is still there?

We're Going to Disneyland

Things at work are chugging along quite nicely. People are coming in to buy lots of paint - yay! I feel I can safely leave for a family trip to Disneyland on Sunday. Our plane takes off at the crack of dawn, 6:20am. Ouch, that'll hurt.

Oops! Just got a call that my 5 year threw up at daycare! Well, time to end this post and go collect the sick kid... Cross my fingers we'll all be healthy in time for our trip!

Check Out the Updated C2 Website!

C2 is announcing the arrival of 92 new colors into the palette - so exciting!

A Taste of My Own Medicine

Tomorrow I am meeting a painter who is on our Daly's reference list to get a bid to paint my own house. Guess that means I better get busy choosing my exterior color scheme! Hopefully it will be a little easier than finding our kitchen color.

Currently the siding is a mid-value sandy beige - really, it looks better than it sounds. But it might be fun switch colors a tad. I'm looking at C2 "Saddle" or "Clydesdale" or my current favorite, "Charlie Horse". Maybe I'll make my door an almost-black green or almost-black navy. One of those colors that doesn't look like a specific shade, just deep and rich. Yum.

Lots Going On

I feel like it's been a while since my last post... I actually survived camp with all those 2nd and 3rd graders. In fact, it was pretty fun even if it did rain most of the time. As my friend Harry says, "It didn't suck".

By the way, the adults were the ones complaining about the rain, the kids barely noticed. What you can't see in this photo is the CONSTANT drizzle; these kids (and grownups) were soaked!

Christian and I are still working on our show. It's getting closer and closer... I met with a potential sponsor yesterday - THAT was interesting. I am usually on the other end of these sales calls, so I know how the guy felt...

Nobody likes getting sales calls - even if it is to benefit my business. But now I'm straddling both sides of the fence and I can see both sides.

Here's a new opportunity that I am excited about: I am going to be giving a presentation at the Seattle Design Center next month at the RL Finer showroom. It will focus on C2's 92 new colors, the as-yet unannounced C2 sample program and all the things Daly's can do for designers. Should be fun.

Not To Panic

Correction on the number of kids going to camp... it's four classes of kids, so that means roughly 110 2nd and 3rd graders!

I'm okay...

Zip To It!

We are looking at the zip codes of people who come into the Bellevue store, to see where our current customers are coming from. Hopefully this will confirm our notion of moving the store over to the other side of the freeway!

Going over to Bellevue again today to look at a couple other properties with my partner Herb.

The next three days will be spent with about 60 kids plus some brave parents at Camp Cornet Bay on Whidbey Island. Since my idea of roughing it is Holiday Inn (why don't these hotels ever provide conditioner anymore????), spending 3 days with 60 eight and nine year olds should be just dandy. Hope I don't get boys bathroom clean-up duty...

It's Monday Morning and It's All Okay

It may be a Monday, but things are pretty mellow right now.

It looks like we are moving closer and closer to this radio show. Due to our mixed feelings about it, I placed a call to a local personality who also hosts a weekend radio show, and he was kind enough to take our call.

I wanted to speak to someone who is involved on the air, but not connected to radio sales, etc... So, I emailed celebrity chef Tom Douglas's office (he of the Dalia Lounge/Etta's Seafood/cookbook fame - and local 3 hour radio show), and they actually responded yes! How cool is that?

Christian and I spoke with Tom on Friday. He had some great insight into the benefits and drawbacks of the weekend show. I was telling my C2 paint partner Harry, owner of Adler's Paint and Hardware in Providence, RI - and Harry had just read about Tom's enterprise in an East Coast airline magazine. Tom gets around.

Got a call this morning from the radio station, Mark has been approaching local businesses to see if there is interest in our show. We are to meet with a furniture store next week so they can get to know us. Has been interest in other places, but like anything new, I think they want to wait and see if it's a success before committing to anything.

Had an interesting dinner this weekend. Did you know that if you meet someone at Daniel's Broiler you better be careful? There are three of them, and they aren't too far from each other. Oops! At least it's a quick trip to zip over to the correct one.

Our dinner was interesting because of a fellow who has interest in Daly's. From time to time there are people sniffing around the business, looking for opportunities - it always brings me right back to the conclusion of being happy I'm independent and want to stay that way. But the food was good!