An old college friend is visiting us this week, and Claire and I took her to the top of the world today!
JoAnn & Claire at the top of the world! Mount Evans, Colorado. 14,264 ft.
Oh, and it’s the college that’s old…not us. Just to clarify. 
A long time ago, I wrote myself a note. It says, quite simply, “Writers write.” Part of me thought it was silly to state the obvious. The other part of me was shocked at how powerful it was in its simplicity.
Writers write.
I write.
I’m a writer.
I’ve always written, but I haven’t always considered myself a writer.
Slowly, as I started to focus more on my writing, I began to grow into the title. It became comfortable. It made sense. What I did started to become who I was…who I am.
I’m a writer.
Today marks a big day for me. A month ago, I gave my notice to my editor at Mile High Mamas, the Denver Post’s parenting blog. Today is my last day as assistant editor.
I’ve loved my time at Mile High Mamas, and I’ll contribute writing pieces every now and then, but it’s time to shift gears. It’s time to follow my passion; harness this energy and see where it takes me.
It’s time to start the next chapter.
Literally!
Yes, I’m writing a book! It’s a nonfiction piece, so I’ll be polishing my book proposal. I’ve been working on this for a while, but without the time to give it my full attention, it’s been left to simmer on the back burner for longer than I’d like. Rather than wanting to stir it all the time but only having time to stir it now and then, I’ll be able to focus.
I’ll still be writing here at The Casual Perfectionist, because this site is intertwined with my grand plan. This writing will feed that writing, and vice versa.
My husband is so supportive of me and my goals, that sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize that my dreams are coming true. Claire has always been my full-time job, and I am so thankful to be in a position where I can focus on my daughter and my writing. I am so excited to see where this leads.
I’m a writer.
Writers write.
It’s what I do.
It’s who I am…
…so it’s time to do just that.
Claire has a crush on a little boy from her art class. A little boy from her art class has a crush on Claire.
The feelings are mutual.
The feelings are powerful.
The feelings are interesting to watch as someone on the outside of their circle.
Claire has had “boyfriends” before, ones that she’s pretended to “marry,” but nothing like this.
This is different.
The bond they have is undeniable. It’s palpable.
It’s intriguing to watch. It’s a glimpse at love and attraction in its purest form. They are coming at this from a place of such innocence and purity. The ulterior motives, tangled webs, and overthought that comes with being closer to an adult than a child hasn’t tainted these feelings.
Not that it always does, but it can…and that makes things confusing.
This is an amazing thing, and I’m so glad she’s getting the chance to experience it.
“Momma, I love you…” she said the other day. “…but I like him better.”
I told her that was okay. And, it is.
In June, on our trip back to the Midwest, we had the opportunity to visit and explore Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. The Omaha Zoo is one of the best in the nation, if not the world. It’s incredible.
We’ve been able to stop by in the past, but we’ve never been able to spend more than a couple hours there at a time.
This time was different. We spent all of one Friday there and then came back the following Tuesday to see what we’d missed. It was fantastic!
When we visited the zoo in 2006, imagine our surprise in finding a waterfall with Claire’s name on it. Literally. (In both photos, you can see the “Claire’s Falls” sign.) In this photo, Claire isn’t quite a year old yet.
Claire at Claire's Falls in November 2006
This year, I knew that I wanted to get another photo of Claire in front of “her” waterfall.
Claire at Claire's Falls June 2010
…and this is one of my favorite photos from the trip!
Yes, my husband got management approval to tackle another landscaping project. Yes, I plan on posting photos when we’re allllllll done.
In the meantime, here is a photo of our Princess Diva Mudpie Maker.
Note the knee-pads and tiara. It’s best to be properly attired when working outside.
In June, we traveled back to the Midwest to see relatives, and we had a great time!
A highlight of our trip was a day we spent with my brother and sister-in-law. He took us fishing!
Claire has never been fishing, and I was trying to remember the last time I went fishing (and we decided it was sometime in the late 1900s.) My husband has gone fishing more recently than that while on various camping/hiking excursions with the guys.
Still, we couldn’t wait!
The photos we took during this excursion were awesome. They make me smile. Claire used to be deathly afraid of my brother (for really no good reason, other than he was male, and she didn’t see him often.) All of that has changed, and they were quick fishing buddies.
As you can see by her hair blowing straight out, it was WINDY. It was sunny. It was perfect.
I cannot even describe to you the excitement when she caught a fish! I’m not sure who was happier: Claire or my brother.
Don’t let the hot pink shirt, skirt, and Princess Tiara fool you; she had no qualms touching the fish she caught, and she even helped throw it back in!
My husband proved to be the true Fish Whisperer, because he was catching fish left and right. Everyone caught a fish relatively quickly, except me.
Well, I did…eventually.
I could tell my brother was so worried that I’d be the only one who didn’t catch a fish! I told him not to worry about it. Finally, his responsibility as Fishing Host were off the hook, when I got a fish on mine.
A good time was had by all…well, except for the fish…but it WAS catch-and-release, so all was well that ended well for them, too. 
As you know, when I was forced to join Twitter, I found a moniker that encompassed The Casual Perfectionist, all the while keeping the character usage to a minimum.
Yes, I even had a t-shirt made for the upcoming BlogHer10 in NYC. This is the front. It looks green, but it's really white with hot-pink writing.
Thus, casualperfect was born.
It stuck. I loved it. I even grew to love Twitter.
My husband got the bright idea to get casualperfect.com online. (It just redirects here, to the main blog, but it is easier to type.)
Well, I’ve been bugging him for a “real” email address for, oh, almost 3 years now. (Yes! My blog’s birthday is coming up! Can you believe it’s been almost 3 years!? I started writing content for the blog in May of 2007 and we got everything up and running officially on July 22, 2007.)
And this is the back of the t-shirt. Are you following me? Get it? Ha! I couldn't resist.
He agreed with me that I needed one. He has his reasons for not wanting personal things going to Google via Gmail (and I agree with him), but that was the easiest way to get started…so I did. I created a new email address on Gmail, and that’s the one I’ve used for this blog and all things blog-and-internet-related.
Still, I’ve dreamt of having a real email address associated with my blog.
At first, I was irked by the fact that this service ticket was left open for so long! “I want a real email address!” I’d scream every now and then, but he’s busy, and I didn’t want to pester him too much.
Eventually, I knew that I wouldn’t be blogging anonymously anymore, so I agreed that it would be best to wait until my name was out there to do a real email address. Then, this and that and that other thing happened, and another year or so went by. Still, I was left with my Gmail address…
Until now.
Yes, the Gmail account will work. I’m not closing it.
But, he set up a new email address for me: joann at casualperfect dot com
How cool is that?
It’s short. It’s sweet. I love it.
…and he has one less ticket open in his queue.
I’m not sure which is better, the fact that Claire asked me to do her hair (I’ve been relegated to only doing her hair on Ballet Days…she can do her own hair herself, thankyouverymuch), or that she wanted her hair to be like Mary & Laura Ingalls‘ hair.
Either way, she looks like such a big girl in this photo. Like a girl…not a shred of baby left. Part of me gets a bit teary when I see her in braids…not because I wish I had my baby back, but because I’m just so excited to see where she goes next.
Claire thinks the guys at the carwash near our house do a MUCH better job of vacuuming out the car than the guys at that OTHER place.
I agree, but I keep telling her that guys at that other place are REALLY only responsible for changing the oil.
Yesterday, Claire and I were going to take a little break and watch the latest episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Because of her fondness for all things Ballet and Dance-related, we enjoy this show.
We were having lunch and talking about our plan for the afternoon. That’s when she turned and looked at me.
“You know,” she says in all seriousness. “If I was on that show, it wouldn’t be called that. It would be called, ‘I KNOW I Can Dance.’”
Ha!
Well, I can say one thing: What she lacks in years of experience, she makes up for in confidence!
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