Spring Breakin’

Pretending to be a Whale

(2009, Spring Breaking at Honeymoon Island, Florida – Lulu, 2-years-old)

Remember when Spring Break meant multiple kegs and hotel rooms full of your best friends sleeping on top of each other because you were too cheap to get more than one room for eight people? Ahhh, those were the days. Lucy’s Spring Break started last Friday and goes until next Monday (11 days? Lucky kids…) so we are having a mini-staycation/roadtrip to make up for the fact that weren’t not doing something fabulous like going on a cruise. But for real, you guys, my sister and her family are going on a cruise for Spring Break. I think I drew the short end of the stick somewhere.

So while we’re exploring the Omaha Zoo and going crazy at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Kansas, I’m leaving you with this fun video of a summer long past. We really didn’t use our underwater video camera much this past year, so I’m excited to get it out again for our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge, which has an indoor waterpark. Even though it’s no cruise, I’m sure we’ll still make some awesome memories.

Hope your Spring Break is full of fun, sun and maybe even sleeping in past 8:00 a.m. Oh, how times have changed…

Goodbye 2012

new-year-2013

2012 highlights….

Spring – we went to New York City on our first trip without the kids // i completed my 2012 goal of starting to ride horses again // i started the path finder course // my little sis graduated from high school // we started finding places we love in our city with a trip to powell gardens

Summer –
we beat the drought with a lot of time in sprinklers // we attended my sister in law’s wedding at the family farm // i updated my life list // i was featured over at BlogHer Tech // we watched hours of the olympics

Fall –
i turned 30 (and then had an amazing celebration in las vegas) // i started writing for sweet lemon magazine’s blog, the zesty digest // i took a leap and signed up for the cultivating courage e-course // i held my first annual mini-shoot // we said goodbye to the best dog ever

Winter – i quit my day job // we sent out our unique holiday card // i accepted a position as research editor for design for minikind and was selected by olay to have part of my life list sponsored // we made our first holiday video greeting // i revealed in my new schedule and path

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2012 has been pretty fantastic, but I’m pumped for 2013! This year will be so different from every year prior, with my job responsibilities changing so much, and me taking on freelance and part-time work instead of a 50 hour a week day job. I’m quickly learning that this new schedule has tons of challenges, the biggest one being how to fit all this work in when I have the Tate home three days a week and Lu and Tate home on the weekends. January is looking to be insane, with my Go Mighty Challenge and Alt Summit both packing my schedule, along with starting a new job and a new freelance gig.

So…cheers to 2012, and welcome 2013! You’re looking pretty cute. I think we’re gonna be friends!

(My new year, new life anthem, Anything Could Happen by Ellie Goulding)

Let’s Play 20 Questions

As part of the redesign and relaunch of Crazybananas, I went back and put together a new FAQ section to answer all of your burning questions. You can thank me later. This little section can always be found by clicking the FAQ button on the left sidebar, but for today, I thought I’d feature it front and center as well.

1. What the heck does Crazybananas mean? Yeah, if I would have known when I created this site at the wise age of 21 that I’d still be doing this eight years later, I probably would have put more thought in to the name. The truth is during my senior year of college, a partner in my final journalism class and I were joking around about starting a business and we decided if we did, it would be called Crazy Bananas. Because when you’re crazy, you’re bananas. Dudes, we were hilarious. Anyway, then I basically stole the name when I created this website because I couldn’t think of anything else. He forgave me and was one of my first and most loyal readers (Hi Eric!).


{Super attractive photo of me during the early days of the blog…
ahhh college…and wood paneling.}

2. What was the first thing you wrote about on this blog? When I started Crazybananas, I was living in Florence, Italy and using the site as a platform to update friends and family on my adventures. My first post was cleverly titled “My First Entry,” and it went a little something like this:

Ciao tutto! I’m in Italy and I’m finally trying to make this web blog work. I’m not very computer literate, but I’m trying at least. Things are amazing here. This city (Florence) is great and I’ve made a lot of good friends already. I’ve also been to Roma and Cinque Terre (on the Mediteranean Sea). In a few weeks I’m heading off to Venice. OK, that’s all for now. I just wanted to see if I could make this thing work:)

Don’t be jealous of my fabulousity. (All of my posts from Italy can be found here.)

Belle a Venezia

Il Duomo at Night

{Photo from a day trip to Venice and night photo of the Florence Duomo from Piazza Michelangelo…I did not have a great camera or any camera skills when I was 21}

3. Why have you continued blogging all these years? I’m a starter. I like to start things. Projects. TV series. Cooking experiements. Whatever. But, honestly, I’m not much of a finisher. I’m as surprised as anyone that this blog is still up and running, because usually I lose interest in things pretty quickly. I think the somewhat short answer is I really like writing here. When I started it was to talk to a few specific people and then it grew and expanded and changed. Even though my day job can be a bit mind numbing, this gave me a place to be creative, snarky and funny. I am able to be myself here. I also love that I unknowingly created a digital scrapbook of my life as a young mom. It makes me smile to know that someday my kids will read this and understand me a bit better.

4. If you had to pick between Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling and Neal Patrick Harris, who would you pick? That is an unfair and stupid question and I will not dignify it with an answer. (But if I did it would be, d. all of the above.)

5. What’s your favorite current television show? That would be a three way tie between Doctor Who, Game of Thrones and Fringe. Nerds of Earth, unite!

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{Me kissing a plush Tardis on a rooftop in NYC. Nerd alert!}

6. Favorite movie? I used to say it was Shakespeare in Love because I used to be ridiculous. Now I guess I’d say Bridget Jones Diary because my love for Mark Darcy springs eternal.

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7. Did you really go to Space Camp? Yes, yes I did.

Space Camp

Space Camp Babes

Space Camp

When I was growing up, my dad had a grant with NASA and had several ongoing experiments on shuttle missions and on the International Space Station. I was (am) a space nerd. I went to Space Camp for two summers, during what can only be categorized as the most awkward years of my life (space nerd + puberty = oh no) and loved every minute of it. Those nerds are my people.

All of my Space Camp posts can be found here.

8. What is your favorite color? Orange.

9. Do you think you’re a good photographer? I used to say no, but now I’d say yes. Mostly because I’ve worked really hard at it and also because with age I have grown vain and obnoixous.

10. What kind of camera do you use? I have a few: A Canon Digital Rebel XT for still photos (example), the Sony Cybershot is my little point and shoot (example), a Kodak Playsport HD Video Camera for motion (example), an old Diana F+ for film (example) and my iPhone for everything in between (example). I also use Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 and InDesign CS5 to edit photos and put together layouts / image spreads. For iPhone photos I use several apps to edit images. A few favorites are Instagram, PicFrame, Best Camera, TiltShiftGen and Mill Colour. I also like the Shake It Photo app because it makes that awesome Polaroid sound when you take a picture. (For a recent roundup of my favorite camera apps, click here.)

IMG_4709

{Smile!!! Seriously, dude. Smile.}

11. Which member of The Babysitters’ Club are you most like and why? I guess I’d say Claudia, because I desperately want to be able to pull off earrings made of beaded feathers. I used to want to be Dawn, but we all know I’d never make it as a vegan. I also had a few years of thinking I was Mary Ann, but that was mostly due to my ongoing crush on Logan Bruno.

12. If I were to meet you in person, what should I do to get your attention? HUGGGZZZ!!! Just kidding, don’t touch me. I don’t like to be touched. I guess you could just yell my name. Or, if we want to start a super secret society, you could give me the code word. I suppose I should make up a code word then, huh? Okay, the code word is “tardis.” If you don’t know what that means, please don’t bother trying to join my super secret society because we’re very exclusive and don’t want your kind of trash around.

(You’re not trash. I promise. I love you! Hugs!)

13. What’s your sign? Virgo. Not joking. Totally a virgo. Me and Cameron Diaz. We rule!

14. I’m visiting Kansas City, what should I do while I’m there? Okay, first of all, you’re gonna need to eat some BBQ inside a gas station. Other than that, check out the Kansas City section for more ideas! Thanks for visiting! You look cute in those boots!

15. How do you balance everything?! Hahahahaha. Ha. I don’t balance anything, but I try very, very hard. I think the most important thing is to try and be a present as possible. When I’m at work or putting together materials for a client, I do my best to just get it done. When I’m with my kids I do my best to enjoy every second of it. I’m a huge proponent of To Do lists and keeping journals/scratch pads around so when I get an idea, I can jot it down quickly and then get on with whatever I’m doing, instead of letting my mind wander.

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{Me, generally, working moming it.}

16. If you could give a younger you some advice, what would it be? Do what makes you happy, not what you think you should do to make everyone else happy. Explore your creativity. It’s there, even if you doubt it. The friends you think are amazing, really are amazing. The ones you think are a little off? They are batshit insane and you should stay as far away from them as possible. You will be an incredible mom. Drink more water. Wear SPF 100+. Try macaroons, you’ll love them. You’re prettier than you think you are, so stop telling yourself otherwise. Don’t worry that you’re too old to watch television shows made for teens, because someday you’ll be thirty and you’ll still be doing it. It’s because you’re awesome.

17. You’re kidding about your love of Britney Spears, right? That girl is crazy. If you ever speak of B. Spears in that way I will cut you. Not kidding. My love for B. Spears is non negotiable. How’s that for crazy? (Bananas.) (Yeah, I just did that. You’re welcome.)

18. Do you plan on selling any of your artwork or photos? Yes, I do! Plans are in the works and I’ll keep you all updated as I know more.

19. Do you do sponsored posts or reviews? I do! If you’d like to sponsor Crazybananas or have me do a review of your product, please shoot me over an email at megan [at] crazybananas [dot] com. But beware, if your pitch sucks, I reserve the right to respond to your request with a photo of Wil Wheaton collating paper.

20. How can I contact you? You can email me at megan [at] crazybananas [dot] com or you can find me all over the web at my About Me page.

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{Trust me, you totally do.}

Back in the day (when I was young, I’m not a kid anymore, but somedays, I sit and wish I was a kid again)

Even since I finished the latest redesign of this site, I’ve been fumbling around with my archives, trying to create a cohesive way to organize six years worth of content. And yes, I use the term “content” rather loosely. Last night, I was screwing around yet again, attempting, with my remedial web design skills, to find a good way to provide archive links, when I found myself pouring over content from the first real year of writing here on Crazybananas. I mean, 2004 was technically the first year of this experiment, but most of those posts were solely dedicated to my time in Italy, and were written like an email to my mother (see here or here).

But around mid-Spring 2005, I started writing here in a style that can only be described as totally insane. Instead of lovely letters home to mother, I started using the word “fuck” way more often than necessary. And I had no boundaries. None. Everything could be written about. And there was no Twitter or Facebook, so every little thing I thought was funny (and sometimes not so funny) was written here. For better or for worse, I shared it all. The sad stuff, the fun stuff, the scary stuff…and my filter, well, it wasn’t so great.

These days, my filter is thicker then the Great Wall of China. I have many, many stories I’d love to share, and would surely get a laugh, but something in my brain tells me to wait and reconsider before I hit the publish button. When I went back and read some of those early posts, I was equally amazed and appalled with myself. I was so young. So oblivious. So much funnier to read.

I don’t really know what the purpose of this post is. Do I want to go back to that style of writing? The whole, fuck you, fuck me, fuck the world mentality? Probably not. But I kind of miss it. I miss just saying what I mean and not sugar-coating it. I miss the honesty of it. The reality that things are not perfect, and it’s okay to share the imperfections along with the good stuff.

I don’t know. But I do know that I found a few posts I wanted to re-share with you. And maybe you could let me know, should I go back? Could I go back? After being a mom and a wife and a responsible (read: not completely drunk) human for a few years…is it possible to be that person again. Even a little bit? Am I actually still that person? Am I just censoring myself?

Either way, this shit be FUNNY.

(Note: Along with the posts, you must read the comments. You’ll recognize some familiar names, and they are nearly, if not more so, funny than I am. Lawd mercy.)

Crazybanana’s Hits of 2005

– That one where Mikayla and I discussed birth control…loudly, at a bar, in front of our boyfriends.

– That one where I got all mad at Heath for never leaving comments anymore.

– That one where I basically just ranted for five minutes.

– The one where Mara went batshit crazy.

– The one where I explained “The Grumples.”

– The one where Trent wouldn’t pick up his damn pants.

– The one where I got drunk and stuffed media kits.

– The one where I revealed my pregnancy.

– The one where I listed everything that made me cry while hormonal and pregnant.

– The one where the lady at Taco Bell said Trent looked like Dennis Hopper.

Raising the RoofWho likes scarves?10:45 AM: Isn't That Refreshing?

Me, Circa 2005

Song of the Moment: Local Natives – Wide Eyes

Vintage Crazybananas: Racin’ Baby

As I get back in to the swing of writing, I’ll be randomly re-posting some of my favorite past entries on this here website. When will I do this? Well, probably whenever I’m having a lazy blogging day (read: today) or am covered in ten sheets of wrapping paper and ribbon. I went back to my December 2006 archives looking for some hilarious post about our first Christmas with Lucy and I found this video instead. And then I cried. And laughed. And remembered how often that poor kid rolled right into the fireplace. I’m amazed she’s lasted this long. This was first posted on December 1, 2006:

New (updated, yes it works now) video of Lucylu rolling across our living room floor into our fireplace. And no, I did not roast the baby…

Music by Cake.

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