Escape Adulthood

Live with Less Stress & More Fun

Archives for May 2015

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Undercover Alias: Why You Might Want a New Name

Whenever I get a coffee at Starbucks, and they ask me for my name, I always tell them "Jason." While this is completely honest, it's also completely devoid of fun. The next time you buy a coffee or put your name in at a restaurant, use a fake name as your alias. It could be a normal sounding name, the name of a fictional character, or something completely unusual like Cantaloupe or Melmac. Just make sure it’s fake! Of course, you can do this with friends, too. At a conference I was speaking at recently (howdy OAEYC peeps!), two female attendees decided to make the random names that were printed on the side of their Coke can their aliases for the day. "Hilda" and "Kenneth" had a great time with this bit of silliness. As usual, the simple things are the best ways to add a bit of whimsy to your day. They can make long days go faster, turn annoying customers into afterthoughts, or create memories that last years and years. Now if you'll excuse me, Han Solo needs to go get …

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Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Pimped-Out Potholes Edition

• Jim Bachor is an artist who fills potholes with whimsical mosaics of ice cream treats and flowers. I am such a fan of adding whimsy to every day life, as seen here and here. • I wonder if Kim would be ok with us remodeling our bedroom. This Millennium Falcon bed is epic. • I enjoyed this graphic featuring life advice from 50 beloved cartoon characters, put out by the AAA State of Play (a family-run commercial playground equipment company in Indiana.) My favorite quote is from Snow White: "You're never too old to be young." • We're living in amazing times, you guys. Check out this video sharing the story of a blind pregnant woman ‘seeing’ her unborn son with 3D-printing. (Hat tip) Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • How to have fun at work with no budget • This week in rule breaking …

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This Week in Rule Breaking

Rules that don't exist are all around us, and they can keep us from living a life of awesome. In honor of the upcoming release of Penguins Can't Fly, we are posting a different rule every day on our various social media accounts, using the hashtag #notarule. Some are rules we've uncovered, others have been shared with us from people like you. Follow along on Instagram, Tumblr, or Facebook or share your own rule here! I like when cars get all gussied up. There’s no such thing as too much meringue. #keywest #keylimepie #blueheaven in honor of the 88th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh flying solo in “The Spirit of St. Louis” across the Atlantic...the first time it was ever done. There’s room for whimsy in every room. It’s hard to have Adultitis sitting in one of these. Well done, #oaeyc2015 Kids do not have a monopoly of fun. Finally, here are some fun submissions from Tinye Harding and Chip Lutz: …

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Thou Shalt Always Remove Thy Nametag Immediately After An Event

You’ve been there. You’ve attended a conference, a retreat, a networking meeting, or some other event that required you to wear a nametag. And then, hours after the event is over, you look down in horror to find that you are STILL wearing it. It clings to your shirt, mocking you like a group of middle schoolers laughing at your generic bargain buy shoes from KMart. Doh! You shamefully reflect back to calculate how many people must have seen you wearing your idiocy on your shirt, but count yourself fortunate that you didn’t have to undergo death by embarrassment from someone actually pointing out the faux pas to your face. Because as everyone knows, although nametags are useful for things like networking meetings, they are to be removed immediately after such events. Immediately. Or are they? …

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Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Pizza In The Wild Edition

• This photography project by Jonpaul Douglass is absurdly awesome. • Here's an insightful article by Travis Bradberry on how successful people get more done by actually working less: "A study from Stanford showed that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more." • Wouldn't work be wonderful if every office had one of these ball pits for grown-ups? My favorite line from the article: "'We all need a little bit of a recess,' said Dr. Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, director of the Temple University Infant and Child Laboratory. 'It's a necessity and we've been treating it like a luxury.'" • I totally got a kick out of the video of this guy and his daughter's effort to build an elaborate cereal-eating machine. Not very effective in its intended purpose, but it scores high points on fun! Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • How to make …

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This Week in Rule Breaking

Rules that don't exist are all around us, and they can keep us from living a life of awesome. In honor of the upcoming release of Penguins Can't Fly, we are posting a different rule every day on our various social media accounts, using the hashtag #notarule. Some are rules we've uncovered, others have been shared with us from people like you. Follow along on Instagram, Tumblr, or Facebook or share your own rule here! You’re not the boss of him, fashion police: Because sometimes you only need 4 McNuggets. Plus, the toy. Edison is a great reminder that there is no silver bullet for success. Except for smart, brave persistence. Beauty transcends labels. This #notarule inspired by Anin Clemons. Delighted to discover Lucy, a wonderfully eclectic gastropub in Key Largo, featuring many kinds of schnitzel alongside Asian inspired treats like spicy sesame drumsticks and donuts. Kim ordered Bananas & French Toast for dinner at Marker 88 Restaurant in …

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How to Have Fun at Work with No Budget

One of the topics that came up during our most recent live hangout over on Facebook was how to fight Adultitis at work on shoestring budget. As always, there were a bunch of great ideas shared, and I thought it was worth corralling them into one handy post. Enjoy! I give out really specific pretend awards for some of the mundane things people do (The "you answered 100 calls today without biting someone's head off" award.) I just find fun clip art and make them specific to the things people do that go unnoticed or are so routine we forget to acknowledge them. My team posts those up instead of the real awards they get from our big office. (via Melissa LeFever) We had a fancy hat day for our monthly meeting. Next month it was shoes. (via Carla Saunders) This week we just started taking turns hiding Marty the penguin. I started him off in the frozen waffles for morning snack! (via Karen Spicher Zakin) How about a dessert trade at lunch - ala the old days of "I'll give you two …

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Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Stegosaurus Tissue Box Edition

• These handmade tissue holders by SparklyPony are just the coolest. • This art project is interesting. It re-imagines traditional drawing tools and processes and invites kids to draw in odd and quirky ways; through sport, performance and random bodily expression, using melted oil pastels as re-imagined drawing contraptions. • Summer Bellessa let her toddler dress her for a week. The results were interesting. Love this bit about what she learned from the process: The pressure we put on ourselves to look a certain way is just that: pressure we put on ourselves. I wore two different shoes for two days, and no one noticed until I pointed it out. You can be playful with your clothes, or casual or stylish, but it’s really up to you. The last thing I learned from this experiment, is to find moments to be silly. Silliness is good for your kids and for your heart. Don’t take yourself to serious: they’re just clothes. • Ida Pieracci is 102 years of age and is still regularly playing …

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Our Homeschool Disclaimer

We are a homeschooling family. We never thought we would be. We just never thought much about it, frankly. But somehow, homeschooling found us, and it fits us. We love it. Since we love it, and since it's such a big part of our life, it should come as no surprise that we enjoy writing about our adventures. Alas, the education of one's children is a personal decision, and we've hesitated to write much about our experiences for fear of offending people. Eventually we decided that was just dumb. And so we write, but under the following disclaimers: 1) We are not homeschooling experts. Our curriculum is life and the world around us. Learning is led by the interests of our kids. The way we do things works for us. For everyone else, results may vary. 2) We love teachers. Kim was one. So is Jason's aunt. They are some of the most dedicated, selfless, and amazing people on the face of the earth. Teachers we love; it's the system we question. It is our experience that many teachers …

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How To Make the Day of a Parent

Notice something great about their parenting (even if it's a little thing) and tell them about it. That's it. Day made. There is no more difficult job out there than being a parent. (If you care about being good at it, that is.) As they say, the days are long but the years are short. And those long days are often filled with doubt, uncertainty, fear, and a whole lot of second-guessing. …

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