Tamara's Blog

Can You Spot the Big Dude?

Recently, I wrote about my 10-year-old nephew getting his black belt. That day, I also had a "lesson-learning" exchange with Rocco, his 5-year-old brother.

I had just pulled up to Hwang's Taekwondo School. As I'm parking, my sister's family drives up. We all get out of our cars - and since my sister had not told my nephews that I was coming - I was greeted with a very surprised and delighted look from Rocco.

"Hey, Little Man, how you doing?" (Granted, I've called him "little man" on multiple occasions since he seemed to bypass the "baby look" altogether.)

"I'm a Dude!" he exclaims.

"Okay, Little Dude."

"I'm a BIG Dude!"

"Really!!? Okay. Big Dude it is," I reply back, as I observe that he still only comes up to my kneecaps. Duly noted.

Can you spot the Big Dude in this picture?

This is a great shot of my sister's family taken the same day. They went to the Great Wolf Lodge after Nicco's ceremony to celebrate.

Big Dude. Big Dude. Big Dude. Remember that Aunt Tam.

A Black Belt at 10

Earning a black belt in martial arts is a phenomenal accomplishment. At any age. But last Saturday, I went to a Taekwondo black belt ceremony for Nicco, my 10-year-old nephew. And the crowd - especially his family - went wild!

I guess this makes up for the fact that he doesn't care much for baseball like his Aunt Tam. See for yourself. (Note: The photo you're about to see is still one of my all-time favorites.)

Of course, the celebration wouldn't have been complete without an amusing Nicco-ism. As he stood there with his new black robe and pants on, I asked him, "So no more whites? You get to where your black robe all the time now?" Nicco responded: "Yes, and the great thing is that my mom doesn't have to work so hard to get the stains out!" A son who knows his mom all too well.

So here we have Nicco trying to put some serious black belt moves on me. I'm clearly frightened by the "attack." If only he could stop laughing so hard. That's our Nicco!

Congratulations Nicco! We're all very proud of you and this amazing accomplishment!

About You: Nicco

Happy Birthday!

My nephew, Nicco, is turning 9 this week. I feel so old because "it seems just like yesterday" that he was making his entrance into the world. Some of you may even remember that day.

Because I am one of the few that has Aunt Boasting Rights for Nicco, I want to state for the record that he has grown up into a fine, young man. He is one of the best older brothers I have ever seen. He's a smart one too - sometimes too smart (read below for a shining example of that).

Nicco also started Tae Kwon Do this year and is doing quite well (busting boards in half and stuff like that). Of course, life would not be complete without his Xbox and Nintendo DS.

He Doesn't Like Baseball All That Much

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Nicco taken a couple of years ago. He apparently doesn't share his aunt's love for baseball.

But He Does Love a Good Movie (Just Like His Aunt)

One thing Nicco and I like to do is go to movies. The last two movies we saw were Surf's Up and Evan Almighty. We both agreed that Evan Almighty was, by far, the best movie we had seen so far. Of course, as I watched, I compared the plot line to the real story of Noah & the ark. Gotta love those folks in Hollywood!

Nicco, however, didn't really know that there was a "real" story behind the movie, so he was quite intrigued afterwards as he learned that there was a real Noah and a real ark and a real flood and a real story behind the rainbow and that the happy ending took much longer to arrive.

Within minutes, he figured out that we were all descendants of Noah: "Aunt Tam, it's a good thing Noah built the ark or we wouldn't be here right now. And we couldn't have gone to see the movie."

Before I could fully enjoy the moment of having such a smart little nephew, he was on to: "If it was just Noah and his family, where did all the kids come from? If they were married, they could have kids, but the brothers and sisters aren't supposed to have kids together."

My first thought was, "Okay, so how far are we from his house? How long do I have to stall so that I can have his mother answer this one?"

Fortunately, we weren't far and I managed to bumble out some sort of response to stop that particular line of questioning. When we got home and told the story, my sister gracefully boomeranged the question right back at me. Thanks. The joys of sisterhood and aunthood.

Wish Nicco a Happy Birthday!

Let's give the Birthday Boy something to smile about: Wish Nicco a happy birthday by leaving a comment here (or by sending him an email). That will freak him out. In a very good way.

Happy Birthday, Nicco!!

What's Up With Ice Cream?

In a recent post, I told the story of how I started a business meeting asking everyone what their favorite ice cream was. Given the circumstances, however, I had no other choice. Let me explain.

Four months earlier in March 2005, I was in a hospital room in Torrance, CA, debating whether ice cream or a series of cartoons should be the theme for a direct marketing campaign I was working on. I presented my case to Karina, the young lady I was visiting, and after much thought, she told me to go with the ice cream. "Who doesn't like ice cream?" she exclaimed. So ice cream it was. I came back to Seattle with the decision and our marketing folks took it from there.

On the right is a picture of the direct mailer we sent out. When you opened up the brochure, you were greeted with a beautiful hot fudge sundae. You will note the "free" book. This is the book I had discovered that led me to meet its author, Jill Dyche.

Karina never saw this brochure. She died two months after our ice cream discussion, after a courageous and rapid fight with non-Hodgkins' lymphoma. This week, she would have turned 27 years old.

So back to the business meeting where I asked the ice cream question. It was my lighthearted way to introduce everyone to the campaign theme. I'm sure Karina had the biggest laugh!

P.S. The picture above is my brother and Karina in November 2004. For his birthday, Karina bought him Seahawks tickets (he's a big fan) to encourage him to come and visit his sisters. It worked! They both came [insert smiley face] and the Seahawks lost [insert sad face].