Getting ready to land in Nashville for a little work, a little honky tonk and to put number 15 to bed.

Hope you have a great Birthday. Love you!

After ten years of playing year around soccer, Brittany can finally say she is a gold player. After beginning as a bronze team, the Sherman Oaks Extreme was awarded a spot in the Gold division for the upcoming season.

After months of below average temps and fog, the first day of Summer finally brought out the warm sun. It may even be here to stay.

We’re in the North! Picked up a client in Ohio. We also picked up about twenty more in Mississippi.

Read an amazing card from my daughter. Opened my present. Not the motorcycle I wanted, but scored a couple of great ties. Watched Brit play flawless soccer in the morning. Watched some international soccer games with her when we got home. Did a little work. read a little. Had a Burning Mandarin (it’s a drink). In other words, it was a perfect day that will get even better once Sonia’s chili is ready.

Our coach chose this tournament to change the team’s formation with just one practice under its belt. The result was ugly.

Starting to become a common shipping day.

This is what I want for Father’s Day. Or a tie.

A few things I learned from my Aunt.

1. Pyromania. It started with me sneaking off to her cabin in Alaska where she would allow me to sit in front of the fireplace for hours on end and stick whatever I wanted to burn into the fire. A couple of years later it involved trips to the local fireworks stand in Cle Elem, Washington where I was encouraged to clean the place out. My brother and I spent the summer shooting fireworks into the air and at each other without the burden of adult supervision. A year later I was back in Alaska setting a dump fire when, judging by my Aunt’s reaction, I apparently got to close to the flames. Short of knocking me upside the head, Aunt Ona made it clear that fire was not my friend. Auntie givith, Auntie takith away.

2. How to drive. She took me to the parking lot of the local high school and told me to get in the driver’s seat. She told me to hit the gas. “Faster!” She demanded. I was speeding now when she ordered me to turn hard right and slam on the brakes. My jaw dropped as the car skid… Finally to a stop. “That’s what you don’t want to do,” she said. And that was my first driving lesson. I was ten.

3. Play Fair. Summers at my Aunt’s house in Rosyln, Washington were spent fishing, riding motorcycles and, as I already mentioned, blowing things up. To mix things up, my brother and I would make up games on the fly. Games like who can mount the semi wild horse in the adjoining field or who can hold onto the electric fence the longest. And when I say who I mean my brother, Sean. As the big brother, my turn never came. But there was one particular game that we played that, not only didn’t I win, but was taught a valuable lesson. It started with me racing my motorcycle through the large yard when I ordered my brother to try to hit me with one of the countless fallen apples beneath the apple tree. He began to fling the apples towards me, one after the other as I pretended to re-enact Steve McQueen’s ride in The Great Escape. However, my fantasy play was soon interrupted when my brother finally connected one of those apples to my head. Enraged, I locked my little brother in my sights, revved my bike’s throttle and burned rubber toward him. At first he was frozen, but as I barreled toward him, he finally bolted left, then right. I tried to follow, but was going too fast to make the turn and crashed into the fence. My adrenaline and bruised pride masked any pain I may have had as I jumped up with the intent to cause serious bodily harm. I wasn’t one step into my pursuit when I was stopped dead in tracks by my Aunt’s apoplectic bellow. Having watched the entire episode from her living room (she had no problem with anything up to that point), my Aunt didn’t mince her words when she explained to me that my brother played my game by my rules and won. End of lesson.

Thank you, Ona. And happy birthday.

Getting tailored at Tom Ford. Had to sell 140 dresses for this suit.

Super 8 reminded me of the movies I loved as a kid. Brittany thought it was the best movie she’s seen in a long time. I’m sure my nephews will love it.

At the Miramonte Hotel in Palm Springs. Two hours and 30 degrees warmer away from home.

Our friends opened a new restaurant/bar. Very good food.

Opening her first bank account makes her nervous.

Remember that front booth location I told you about? Well, turns out that when they opened that entrance it was really more like an exit. Not exactly ideal. Nevertheless, word of mouth, along with some viral marketing resulted in our biggest day yet. And when I heard the day’s number all I thought about was how to make it bigger. What is the magic number? Michael Douglas’ character in Wallstreet said it best… “More”.

Child Labor

The calm before the storm.

The Front Entrance

In order to grow, you have to let go a little. We sent two of our employees to Atlanta to work the show without us. Our new booth location is right in front of the entrance and twice as big as our Dallas booth. Unfortunately we’re a bit short on inventory, but come August we’ll be ready to take it to the next level.

Although it was an incredibly slow show, the word of mouth praise for the line, as well as the new front and center location, translated to about three times the sales over the last show.

This is only the fourth tournament I’ve missed watching Brittany play in the last ten years. Fortunately, she doesn’t need me around in order to play her best. They won both games yesterday, 2-0 and 1-0. She scored in both and made the winning goal in the last minute against the team that beat them in the State Cup.

We were missing our soccer fix, so we caught a MLS game in Dallas.

Again, sorry Brit.

Although we still haven’t seen anyone out in the wild wearing our clothes, we were surprised to see a couple of customers wearing their Basically Me to the show.

Sorry Brit.

We like eating in Dallas, but we’ll always have to pay.

So far, so good. We surpassed last show’s numbers on the first day. Lots of repeat business, as well.

Front and center in Dallas. We have a much better location than the first show. Hopefully it translates to sales.

After a long day of set up, we enjoyed the warm summer night with a couple of cervezas in Uptown.

By Brittany:

So, to all my frequent blog visitors I’m sorry I haven’t been fulfilling my promise, but I can’t stress enough that it was for a good reason. I have been watching a dozen marathons of Criminal Minds, just incase anyone was wondering why I haven’t been blogging. So, this weekend I scored a goal on a backwards header. Although I don’t have proof, you can be rest assured that it did in fact happen.

Ended the tourney with an easy 2-0 win. Brit scored an amazing twenty foot backwards header.

Brit’s team lost 1-0 this morning to a very good U19 team and a very bad blown off sides call.

Brit’s team entered a U19 Silver/Silver Elite tourney (they’re currently U16). The age difference didn’t seem to matter much for the first game as they won 4-0. They’ll try to win two tomorrow to play for the championship on Monday.

Another photo shoot in the books.

Played a round at Sherwood with my Pa.  Definitely got my money’s worth as I got to hit the ball twice as many times as everyone else.

By Kenwood:

Read Bill Bryson’s, A Short History of Almost Everything.  Very good.

By Kenwood:

Facebook has become a major marketing tool for Basically Me. Now I’m obsessed with getting 1000 “likes” within a year.

By Kenwood:

Be alert out there, people! Brit has been awarded a permit by the State of California to operate a moving vehicle. If she drives like she plays soccer we’re in trouble.

By Brittany:

This past weekend we went to the San Diego Zoo. The silverback gorillas were the highlight of the day.

By Kenwood:

Enjoyed a night at the ballpark in San Diego. Petco Park is yet another example of how a baseball game should be experienced. Dodger Stadium should be blown up.

#30 in progress. In San Diego eating oysters:)

By Brittany:

I just got the iphone 4 in white and absolutely fell in love. My heart couldn’t resist such a beautiful thing. So, there is a good and bad to this story. Good, I got a new phone. Bad, #3 won’t be getting crossed off my list.

We traded in the 2010 E350 because, well the 2010 is so last year. Actually, the leasing program for the 2011 was just that good. We got a few more options for about a hundred bucks less a month.

10 Interesting Facts About Me:

1. My left big toe is bigger than my right
2. I was born on the hottest July day on record in Chicago
3. I love to sing
4. I have a half fake front tooth
5. I’m majorly pigeon toed
6. My favorite movie as a toddler was Escape from Alcatraz
7. I had asthma for 10 years before I knew I actually had asthma
8. I like watching scary movies when I’m alone
9. I used to chew a lot of gum that I found underneath restaurant tables when I was little
10. I knew more Spanish as a toddler than as a teenager

10 Interesting Facts About Me

1. There are only nine interesting facts about me.
2. I went to ten different schools before High School.
3. I was the most introverted extrovert in High School.
4. I only drank one time prior to college.
5. My nose gets more and more crooked every day.
6. I was a college bookie.
7. Not unlike some pregnant and menopausal women, I have hypothyroidism.
8. I was free to play alone at the park as a five-year old.
9. I was a bike messenger for three hours in Chicago.
10. I want to be buried in Paris.

But you have to be in the secret club to know where.

Brittany and I decided we would attempt this for your reading pleasure. It won’t be fifteen consecutive days, but we’ll give it a shot.

#8 In progress. As super hero movies go, Thor was pretty good. Britt thought it had a lot of heart.