
Yep. That’s me. Except my hair is a little longer and I’m female. (image from kivafellows.wordpress.com)
I have something to tell you. Something I’ve been too ashamed to reveal. Something only my closest friends and family members know about me. Something I keep tucked away in my purse, and cringe at every time I have to pull it out. I…have…a feature phone. An old feature phone. A Zack Morris brick phone, as one friend affectionately calls it. So now you know. Are you shocked? Surprised that I, a heavy user of social media, a lover of all things technology related, don’t have a smart phone?
While attending an American Marketing Association luncheon lately, guest speaker Simon Salt of Incslingers asked the …

So long plastic prisons. We are never, ever, ever getting back together. Like ever. (image from socialmoms.com)
Dear Credit Card Companies,
When we broke up four years ago, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. We’d been together for five years, and had made a lot of memories. I get that. But can’t you just get over it? It’s like you’re in denial, certain that one day, we’ll get back together. Well, let me assure you, that won’t happen. And just in case you don’t remember why, here’s a refresher.
I was a different person when I met you. I was 18, young and naive. You promised me big adventures, extravagant shopping trips and most of all, happiness. And security. And a sense of maturity. And for awhile, I believed you. You courted me. You wooed me. You gave me …

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Don’t you wish parenting came with one of these? (image from turbosquid.com)
Just a couple of days ago, I was freaking out that my 17 month old is already escaping from her crib. Like always, I took to Twitter and Facebook crowd sourcing for ideas. Should I move her to a toddler bed? Give her a serious talking to? Let her take our bed and we’ll sleep on the floor? (Kidding, people) I wrote that first post while she was sleeping in her crib, for her nap. I thought maybe I was freaking out for nothing. Maybe she would go ahead and stay in her crib, and only get out when she woke up. Ha! I am seriously funny.
I put her to bed that night, and thought we were …

I unplugged, and plugged in to what matters most. (image from nourish.lifecoaching.com)
Perhaps the headline is a bit dramatic, but it would make a great TV drama, don’t you think? We’re so connected to our online networks (and I think that’s a good thing), that we often can’t imagine what we would do if we couldn’t log in. No Facebook notifications, no Twitter mentions, no Google Plus…whatever. I’m just not that into Google Plus. Yesterday, I chose to log out of all social networks, and I actually didn’t venture online at all. At 10ish Saturday night, I logged out, and didn’t log in until just a few minutes ago (8 a.m. Central on Monday morning). I had 10 Facebook notifications, 2 inbox messages, and 4 Twitter mentions. And my blog traffic? Ha! The lowest it’s ever …

I’m taking this study to heart. (image from training.rightnow.com)
Tomorrow, I’m doing something radical. I’m logging out. Of everything. No Facebook. No Twitter. No blogging. No social interaction, except with my flesh and blood family and friends. It will be hard. Very hard. You see, I love social media. Can you tell? 😉 I love logging into Facebook and seeing what kind of shenanigans my friends are up to. I love surfing my Twitter feed to see which gems I can RT. And I love to write. Most of all, I love to write.
But sometimes, a little birdie perches on your shoulder and says, “take a break.” Or in my case, it was a guy named Chip Ingram who wrote a small group study called “Balancing Life’s Demands.” In it, he describes how we’re …