Caleb: The Oatmeal.

I had a really rough day today with my bank. A bank I never chose to do business with, but a bank that swallowed up a bank that swallowed up another bank that my husband originally chose to do business with over 10 years ago, before we were even married, no less.

I posted this in my Facebook status update:

And my friend Caleb posted this rant from The Oatmeal to cheer me up.

And it worked.

Caleb, you are seriously cool for a million and one reasons (the fact that you wear cardigans and dark shell glasses and still go out on dates with your wife even though you have a baby top the list), but this one really made a difference in my day today. So thank you.

Mrs. Dunn: Save a party.

A few weeks ago, Sydney and I went to the most random dinner ever with the most random group of people ever. It had serious potential awkwardness written all over it.

But then I remembered a game my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Dunn made us play on the first day of school to get us all to start talking to each other:

1. Talk about yourself, your accomplishments, your life, your goals, your dreams, your fears – for two minutes.
2. No embellishing allowed – just straight facts.
3. Those listening shouldn’t be judgmental.
4. Stop after two minutes.
5. Allow the others in the group to do Q & A / follow up on any interesting points for two minutes.
6. Move onto the next person.

By the end of this game (and before our dinners even showed up), I had something in common with everyone. No joke.

Mrs. Dunn, thanks for coming to our rescue – 21 years later. If you’re reading this, could you please remind me what the name of this icebreaker is? Because right now, it’s just called the 2-minute-bragging-game. And I’m positive you had a better name for it . . . .

Cousin Noriko: A lesson in plastic origami.

I have four girl cousins who live in Japan. We’re not BFFs (language barriers and geography have sort of prevented YaYa Sisterhoods), but we do bond over the important things: 90210, Mariah Carey, and Harry Potter.

The last time I went to visit, I stayed with my cousin Noriko. Her 2-bedroom condo was 300 square feet. Her kitchen was maybe 5×5 at best. Her dishwasher sat on the counter like a toaster oven. Her laundry machine and dryer were the same unit (throw clothes in, wash, rinse, spin, heat-dry cycle – no need to change machines). It was the perfect poster condo for IKEA. (Ironic side note: the word for “condo” in Japanese is “mansion.”)

By necessity, everything’s teeny tiny and serves a practical purpose in Japan. I even saw it in the way they store their plastic shopping bags from the supermarket:

I’m pretty sure she’s converted over to reusable bags by now, but holy jaw-drop.

If anybody wants to get together over lunch sometime and learn how to fold plastic bags, I’m happy to give lessons. Because it’s just THAT FREAKING COOL.

Tom: Relationships + numbers = fun.

Tom Krieglstein (@tomkrieglstein) is one of my new favorite people. Among the many things on his list of accomplishments, he owns and operates SwiftKick – providing the training and tools to student leaders to engage others in their college experiences.

He invited me and Nate to his presentation on Dance Floor Theory at UIC. While his speaking style was engaging and his content captivating, one thing that stood out as absolutely brilliant was this:

“Anything is fun with relationships and numbers.”

It doesn’t matter how well-planned your event is. If it a) is not attended by enough people and b) doesn’t allow people to bond based on their common interests, chances are it won’t be fun. And fun is memorable.

I need to remember this, not only among my company’s internal staff relationships, but also among customers. I’m positive people across Chicagoland could really connect via their love for cupcakes, and with numbers, they could do something amazing for the community. I’m not quite sure what this could be, but I’m definitely open to just about anything right now. As long as it’s fun. And legal.

Does anyone have any ideas? (And thank you, thank you Tom! You’re so FAB!)

Alyssa: This is just more fun than anything.

I freaking {heart} Alyssa. She’s one of those girls you wish you could hate because she’s everything you want to be: cute, darling, lovely, friendly, happy, stylish, trendy. But you can’t hate her because you can’t help but love her.

She has a blog that’s just so Alyssa. And I was catching up on her fun little findings and found this post, where she writes (and I quote):

“oh THIS is just more fun than anything you can possibly doing on a rainy monday morning (well if youre in chicago its a rainy monday morning)“

Look what I made!

How freakin’ stinkin’ fun is that?