this is not my dog...

OK, so I might not be your “fave.” But you’re reading this. So NAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

This week’s entry isn’t about SEO or SEM, social media or how to get your ass in gear for business. It’s about the task I put at the top of my list for each and every day:

Love and tolerance.

See? I even made it red so that it appears FESTIVE! Wahoo!

Whether you’re traveling or staying put, alone with self-love or surrounded by the warmth of family and friends, put love and tolerance at the top of your list this holiday.

Or not. You can be a stick in the mud and continue on the same ol’ jerk ya always are.

For one day:

• Stop honking at the guy in front  of you at the stop light
• No sighing at the Starbucks counter when the person in front of you can’t decide which mochafrappalotta thing they want.
• No rolling the eyes when dad starts to tell the same damn story he tells every year as soon as you start to pass the cranberry sauce.
• Don’t scream at the kids (even if they’re not yours and they had it coming)
• Open each gift as if you’ve never received one before.
• No matter how uncomfortable it feels, tell someone that you love them. To their face, not looking down into  a plate full of those cookies haphazardly frosted by a spastic 6 year-old.

This is the ONLY kumbayah-style post you’ll see from me this year. You’ll have to wait 12 freakin’ months to see another like it. Next week’s post starts back with the tough-love, no-hold-barred, spare-me-the-bullshit talk about marketing through words. Revel in my “softer side of Sears” message today.

I’m headed to Houston to see family and friends, leaving on a jet plane tomorrow out of DIA. (NO, I’m not flying Continental!) It sank in this morning (as it does periodically) that I’ve much to be thankful for as 2008 comes to a close.

A public expression of love to:

Wendie Wilson – my evil twin and friend for life

Melanie Bash - my good twin, heart and soul

Jodi Gersh – my sister in crime, kindred spirit in silly humor

@theclimbergirl (aka Sara) - for being the best “virtual” friend I could hope to find!

@pbeiser (aka Paul) - for kind words, selfless encouragement, and laughter

@moon_fly (aka Kim) - for understanding my footwear, rockin’ that Nicole Miller skirt and being the coolest mom I know

Edward Baird - for making me laugh in every way that’s wrong and telling me my clipping technique sucks

Xavier Wasiak – “bear left…grrrrrr”

John “Snafu” Mueller - for being the best ER room buddy a girl could ever hope to have

Steve “Eggroll” Nguyen – for being one of the best human beings to walk the face of the Earth…and for letting me call him Eggroll

Cheryl Walters – the coolest climber roomie a girl could ask for

Amy & Cindiman – for showing me what love really looks like

Meghan Udell – for you, your spirit and sense of humor so dry that it shattered the “ass crack of Africa”

Rich Pace - for telling me about “the knot in the net” and living it

Laura, Kris, Critter, Cara and Benny – Friends who have endured throughout the years. From silence to animated conversation, we still always find something to talk about.

My Mom - for being my true best friend.

My Tweeps – for reading, responding and sharing

My Readers – for continuing to come back

Happy Kwanzihalloweenieasterfestivmas to everyone. If I didn’t mention you (and you know who you are), thank you as well.

Erika

aka The Redhead

(along with Hippopotamus, Penelope, Peter and Moto)