T-Shirts, Rituals and Your Mother - July 31, 2010 (PG-13)

This just in:
Last night it became apparent that the process of keeping all these secrets is cramping our style - literally.  Sure, it's nothing like the toxicity carrying these secrets has had for some of you and I fully appreciate that.  That said, for both of us, or rather, for all of us (and I mean the Royal "ALL"), I've decided that the best thing to do with them is BURN THEM!   I'm debating scheduling the day o' release ritual on either August 22nd or September 21st, as both these dates have witness enormous trauma in our lives.  To release a little of that with all of your secrets might be a nice symbol...   


More details about 8/22 & 9/21 may or may not be forthcoming in future installments on this blog...



Moving on:
The other big event in August is our Punk Rock T-Shirt drawing for FOLLOWERS of our blog.  As it stands today, there are 7 contenders (family members  and "anonymous followers" are excluded), so your odds are pretty good, you crazy kids!  We have yet to actually make the Punk Rock t-shirt or devise the time, place or select a random number generator to select said lucky recipient, but it's gonna happen, so follow us if you want to win the Punk Rock t-shirt!


What was said:
Speaking of t-shirts, I wish I had taken a picture of my fav t-shirt or could remember the website where the bearer of said t-shirt said we could purchase said t-shirt.  The t-shirt said, "Your mother eats lunch for breakfast."  I know her!  My idol!


Movie Night:
I cannot believe that the family is watching "Grease" on t.v. right now!  Our "Family Movie" was supposed to be "Creature Comforts".  "Thpace"

T-shirts, Rituals and Your Mother, July 31, 2010

PG-13 Secrets

1. My secret is I have a crush on a goal keeper :)
2. Secret #1 it's my pie dough.  i put vinegar in my pie dough.  don't tell.
3. My son loves to keep deadbees as part of his 'Nature Connection'.
4. Computers are the best part of grad school
5. I like Cathy
6. I HAVE A KID NAMED ORIEN
7. I have catered weddings for 5 years & we always take bets on 1) how long it will last 2) how drunk the bride will get & 3)sometimes get drunk on the job
8. There are days I do not like spending time with my book club members
9. I love to squeeze jello thru my teeth
10. Being Chinese makes me uncomfortable
11. My son became a criminal and died a violent death because of his reactions to my selfish neglect of him in his childhood
12. I Love Your Lemon Bars.
13. Being an adult - not as good as advertised
14. I don't speak spanish, but everyone thinks I do.
15. A secret ingredient for lemonade is lavender blossoms

Rasta Far Riders Day July 30,2010

We made it to the 4 p.m. show but we missed the evening Rastafridans secondary to a little life jumping up and mugging us.  No big, the Rasta Far Riders were a fine bunch with whom to hang.  The majority of them were on EPIC bike rides, laying down 20, 30, 40, 50 miles of tire.   Finding us along the way, they stopped, they drank lemonade and they let loose the secrets. 

But first they chatted.  We covered far ranging topics, from movie making to map making, from oblivious mates to obvious hates. Spawned by yesterday's secret about Roller Derby and cutting, one women commented that she read a study which indicated that women in domestic violence situations will usually return to said negative lifestyle unless, during the course of an intervention, they are introduced to some other form of intense, adrenalian pumping, physical sport...in the case of this study, women's boxing was the stalwart escape route.  Go Roller Derby and women's boxing and lemonade and trusted steeds! 

Rasta Far Riders Day July 30,2010

1. I like pie
2. Forget I put .75 in the box.  Thanx.
3. I don't really want this new tandem!!
4. I don't like most people.  But they think I do.
5. Bald cyclists are faster becasuse:  we are more aerodynamic
6. My Secret:  I would have loved to lived in horse days - and my bike has been a substitute- instead.
7. I would be a brilliant and prolific writer- if I were not still so affected by the 20 years of abuse - that I can barely stand to write about ow I feel and you're never allowed to say "I wouold be brilliant if."
8. ONE OF THE VERY MOST REWARDING 'SECRETS' I'VE LEARNED IS THAT WHEN YOU GIVE, YOU RECEIVE MORE, USUALLY MUCH MORE.  BE KIND AND GENEROUS ROUTINELY ... AND WATCH WHAT COMES BACK TO YOU.
9. I hate my brothers friends but I like their brothers especially one.  and I hate lemonade but I like lemon drops.
10. We can live sustainably We can preserve and protect the planet.  We are smart enough to do this!
11. Still sometimes struggle with an eating disorder.
12. I'm afraid of crane flies.
13. I love cute puppies!

Analytics, Shmanalytics July 29

I just checked our google analytics and let me just say, it's a good thing we have secrets for you tonight!  The average time on our site today has been 12 seconds, down from an average of close to 5 minutes.  Twelve seconds?  So, before you click off, let me reassure you that we have secrets today and I'll be posting them post haste.  Not only that, tomorrow is, by all estimates, going to be a stellar day.  We'll be hitting the trail around 4:00 and we'll be there until 5:30 and just maybe we'll venture back out after 7 to give lemonade to the Friday Rasta Riders.    To the gentleman in the express lane at Safeway who said 20 cans of lemonade and 10 boxes of lemon bars and brownies were not more than 20 items because of the "rule of affinity", we can't make it by 3:30 tomorrow secondary to that dern work thang, but I'm hoping we'll catch you on Monday.  

Next week we're going to have more diversity in our hours and less 4 year old in our shadow thanks to a visit from Grandma!!  Which means better baked goods, too - if you can imagine that!  The Grandma quotient is the penultimate!

ANALYTICS SHMANALYYTICS, JULY 29

1. We just lost both of my cats at a new house and I don't know if we are going to find them.
2. I cheat at Scrabble - (I look at the dictionary.)
3. I started Roller derby because I couldn't cut myself anymore but I keep doing it because I don't want to anymore.
4. I cried while watching the movie "Dances with wolves".
5. I eat lots of ice cream every night
6. One time I cheated playing scrabble and flipped over some tiles to pretend they were blanks.
7. What weighs 34 tons and swims in Glacier Bay, Alaska?
8. I like my teacher a lot
9. I used to let my dog sleep under my blanket with me and have him put his head on my pillow.
10. Every time I bike I look for you guys now and am sad when you're not here!
11. I like brussel sprouts
12. I have serious self-esteem problems but I'm a diva on the outside.

Some Schmanalytics from July 24th, 2010 - July 29, 2010

• 202 
Visits

• 473 
Pageviews

• 2.34 
Pages/Visit

• 61.39% 
Bounce Rate

• 00:04:26 
Avg. Time on Site

• 30.69% 
% New Visits

New Secrets

  We went to the bike path sold lemonade. Here are the secrets:

NEW SECRETS (July 27,2010)

1. I feel somewhat responsible for my little brother's problems :(
2. We've had a dog for 17 years and I hate dogs!
3. I like limp day-old ceasar salad.
4. Lately I've had a hard time with maintaining a positive attitude and self confidence.  This is something I'm working on everyday.
5. I want to quit my job - which should be perfect for me
6. Bruce's secrets (bruce is a dog): He has a secret door.  His favorite thing to eat - everything!
7. I broke sixteen eggs of my neaulyers (?) house!
8. I'm truelly asian but no body knows it.
9. When I went to Paris I kissed a fat asian dude
10. I'm missing my two front teeth.
11. My secrets are too sad to share.
12. I have wanted to marry peter since we first started dating.
13. I'm scared of moving to sacramento in august.
14. I like a dude name Denrick.  Jealous!
15. I do not like my bruthrs
16. My friend hates grass and I do too.
17. I stole my brothers allowance
18. When no one is here I turn up the music all the way and have my own dance party
19. I have one thousand dorlare in my back yard.
20. I only rode today for the lemonade
21. When I clean my room I really just throw it all under the bed
22. Just between you and me, I love lemon bars so much that i want tot marry one
23. I don't really like lemonade
24. I'm very lonely.  I think my 12 year old daughter and I are drifting apart.

Unheralded Success July 26, 2010

Today was an unheralded success! 

1. We tried out a new recipe:  Lemon Bars! which received rave reviews and
2. We overcame a huge obstacle: No lemonade pitchers! by using up all our  Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade.  I know, we cheated a bit.  Thankfully, the pitchers made it home this evening and tomorrow we'll be back to old schoolin' it with frozen lemonade, just like Mrs. Brady made.

One interaction we had yesterday was with a woman who related the story of her friend in college who collected secrets from prison inmates and sorority girls and then combined them on a bulletin board.  People couldn't identify which secret came from what source.   Are people surprised that sorority girls and prison inmates share some of the same darkest thoughts and fleeting compromised behaviors?  I think it was a brilliant project and the question I'm left with is how is it that some of us can make epic mistakes and turn around to lead productive lives and others never have that chance?  What stops them, who stops them?  The obvious culprits are socioeconomics and luck...but there's so much more to think about, to question.  I think we don't talk about the nature of secrets within the dominant paradigm because we are threatened by admitting to the fallacy of the lines that define us that shame and stigma reinforce.

I have much, MUCH more to say, but I deleted it from this post because we were losing people in less than 2 minutes to my verbosity.  If you want to read what chased other people away, look in the DAILY COMMENTARY DIGEST.

UNHERALDED SUCCESS JULY 26, 2010

1. I pretend to have a conversation with people (after I already have) changing what I should have said.
2. I cheated on a college paper
3. I am secretly in love with Alana De La Garza on "Law and Order" (I am also in love with my wife)
4. I am an anarchist from Massachusetts.  My secret is that may or not be true.
5. I have a secret hidden desire to kiss my boss.
6. I actually like my job!
7. I borrowed my sister's shirt and never gave it back!
8. I judge other people too much, and I care too much about how others judge me. 
9. I WANT A REALLY EXPENSIVE BIKE 
10. I like to have 7 children.
11. You can understand what the birds are saying if you listen long enough 
12. I SECRETLY WANT TO QUIT MY JOB, LEAVE MY BILLS, AND take my family to Spain.
13. As a young teen, I pinched 2 girls' bottoms in a water theme park.
14. I am in love with lady gaga
15. I skip school occasionally and fake sickness.
16. I'm still in love with my two most recent ex-girlfriends and fear that the hurt of those losses will forever scar me.
17. Sometimes I "borrow" my sister's clothes and never give them back!
18. The name of the guy on the Alaska Airlines Airplane is Chester.
19. I used to be in love with my highschool teacher!

Remember to vote for your favorite secret of the day

Camp (July 25, 2010)

It's my first day back from camp and I'm so excited that I got more secrets.  We now have 204 secrets, 54 of them from today, the most we have gotten the whole time.  In the middle of the day some boys set up a lemonade stand right down the path. But really, how can they compete with  "Free!"?  They left soon after they started, but we did elicit one secret from them before they packed it up.  We don't know which one, of course, but we have our suspicions! 

When we yell, "free lemonade" some people yell back, "sorry, no money!" but we are very happy to have so many people stop for free lemonade.  

Thank you for reading our blog.  Don't forget to vote for your favorite secret.  

By Luna

Sunday

(July 25, 2010)

1. I hate riding bikes.
2. I AM IN LOVE WITH MY DOG AND I SKIPPED A GRADE
3. I went snorkeling in the altantic ocean (with life jacket) & told no one I cant swim : )  .
4. I tend to get to sensitive when people on the bike trail call out to the left.  It makes me feel that they rule the road and I am in their way.
5. I LOVE lemonade
6. God loves You  John 3:16
7. I'm from Lithuania, I'm actually a man
8. I am sometimes afraid of the dark! and I am part Irish
9. I am a precious, loving, perfect woman!  And, sometimes I don't recognize it!
10. Wonder what it would be like if Los Angelos was our home?
11. I like monsters and star wars
12. I have an alter ego :O
13. I had pee in my pants when I was 11 years old.  we went to picnic with my friends.  I did pee and I felt ashamed so I accidentally dropped water on my pants :>)
14. I sometimes act nice to people when I'm not feeling so nice.
15. I am 27 and read all of the Bella and Edward books.
16. THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE.  TELL EVERYONE YOUR SECRET!
17. I'm thinking about a new trajectory in which I learn that we are spiritual and become transparent and can move through walls and space.  I believe that it's true and I want to manifest.
18. I used to eat Dog Food when I was a kid.
19. I secretly want to live in NYC. I <3 Seattle, but it's just not New York!
20. Free lemonade is fabulous on the xxx bike path.
21. Sometimes I surf the web @ work
22. May you be blessed for the wonderful gift you've given me!!  CDbaby.com/artist/CindyAkana
23. I ONCE VOTED FOR A DEMOCRAT
24. I'm not sure I calculate my business taxes correctly
25. I have a blister on my toe :(
26. I live on a sailboat and hope to one day sail around the world!
27. I read my sister's Diary once and never tolled her what I found out
28. i don't have a secret.  wink wink - a five year old
29. I used to pick and chew previously chewed gum, under tables, as a child!  Yuck - can't imagine as an adult
30. I enjoy LMN sometimes
31. I farted in the classroom.  and. I was the I was the teacher !!!
32. For the first time in months I think life might actually be okay!
33. I accidentally took a gallon of milk from the store without paying for it.
34. I am a mass murderer. (I have killed untold gnats on evening rides on the xxx bike path.  All gnats must die.)
35. I LOVE singing in the Shower!
36. I buried a time capsule in Idylwild, CA.
37. I sometimes feed my cat an extra meal (He is on a diet)
38. I sucked my thumb until I was 35 yrs old!  Thanks
39. MY SECRET IS THAT I AM UNSURE OF WHETHER OR NOT TO TRY A NEW JOB
40. I'M PART ROBOT
41. I want to marry the guy i'm biking with! <3
42. I hate my girlfriend but I tell her I love her.
43. I would like to leave my boyfriend but am afraid of being alone.
44. I want to go skinny dipping
45. I <3 my family.  Thanks for the lemonade!
46. I should have called my mom this morning.
47. I cheat at board games.
48. I miss my Grandparents :(
49. I have 30 cars!
50. My grandmother's brother was a Nazi (she hated him)F
51. Flora's favorite flower - Brightly colored one
52. Missing 2nd toe
53. We've bought my husband a surprise birthday balloon ride but he might be scared of heights...
54. Fear of Heights.

Making Lemonade ... POLLS!

   I spent yesterday researching other hosting sites(big shout out "Thank you" to Elisa for sending me links and boosting my morale!) and talking to web developers - or atleast sending the few I know emails.  And that wasn't any fun.  I'm open to making a change, but that is not where I want to put my energy.  If anyone out there wants to help me relocate, I'll buy the pizza and beer, but otherwise, we're staying put for now.  Luna will be back this evening and maybe we'll venture back to our shady spot on the trail and we'll have more secrets to post tonight. 


In the interim, I've created Favorite Secret Polls for each day!!! If people vote, I'll periodically aggregate the polls and do a "Best of Fav Secrets".

CONTEST ANNOUNCED!!!

"FOLLOW" us for an opportunity to WIN a Punk Rock T-Shirt. Our first WINNER will be randomly selected sometime in August, so FOLLOW now!

Temporary Hiatus while CEO goes to camp

Sadly, the lemonade stand is going to be be out of commission through July 23rd while the owner takes a much needed vacation at sleep away camp.  As much as I want to, I think setting up a lemonade stand without a kid to legitimize the enterprise would be a tad unseemly.  Try as  I may, I can't bribe my 4 year old into taking over temporary proprietorship.

While Luna is away, I may be reorganizing the blog so check back for updates including:

• FAQs, 
• Ethics of THE STAND*,  
• a CONTEST to win a punk rock SeattleSCOLL t-shirt, 
• and possibly a new poll feature.

*Ethics of THE STAND will include  details behind our new policies:

1. What happens on the bike path stays on the bike path and no one gets hurt.  
2. The no-peeky rule:  A lemonade stand has got to have a code.

Commentary and Secrets : Friday Evening Mojo Happenin' (July 16)

Each day I am increasingly astonished by both

1. the degree of insight and honesty pervading the secrets people share and
2. that they chose to share them with us.  

Accordingly, today was a banner day for the freeing of secrets.

I think the synergy of  

• Luna prompting "write a good secret;  the juicier the better"
• fostered by that ole collective unconscious rollerblading down the bike path in a gold lamay suit trailing gold, silver  and hot pink stars and dosing the airwaves with a high end concoction of the good stuff
• all set on the evening stage, on a Friday evening stage, no less,

led to the pervasion of good stuff: insight and honesty.

Thanks to everyone for participating!  So many of these secrets have resonated with us in ways we can't quite articulate (yet) ...  and we wish things we can't quite imagine (yet) ...

SECRETS AND CONFESSIONS

1. I have to fart.  But I'm riding with a girl I'm trying to impress.  Painful.
2. Most people like me but I don't like myself.
3. I look in the mirror and see Ryan Reynolds
4. I like being with 1 person at a time, rather than big groups and I tend to try to avoid hanging out with lots of friends.  I think too much with too many people.
5. I like listening to hip hop music even though I deny it.
6. I have secret money hidden away!
7. I stole a candy bar when i was in 5th grade.
8. I had 3 donuts this morning. :)
9. I purposely push myself too hard at work so when I come home, i don't have to do any chores because I am "too tired"
10. I am 55 years old
11. I like to make cookie dough just to eat & not even make into cookies
12. I copied my answers in exam from my friend.
13. I'm really nice
14. I'm in love with a singer from Oregon but I have a bf.
15. My secret is that I'm 1000 yrs. old.  signed Big Liar
16. I'm sometimes scared that I may never get married
17. I live in Hawaii but to me, Seattle is true paradise.
18. I am 29 years old and its only the 10th time I have ever ridden a bike.
19. I secretly wish that we would decide to get married right now instead of having a big party and inviting a lot of people.  Just a small ceremony would be perfect!
20. Sometimes I like when our cats come and wake us up, even though my girlfriend hates when that happens. :)
21. Confession:  I confess that I love banana bread and nice people who give out free lemonade
22. I have no secrets
23. I have guilt regarding my brother.  We have no relationship, & it makes me incredibly sad.
24. I can't blow up balloons!

Commentary and Secrets: Two-Fer July 15th and July 14th

We've fallen behind in our posting. Yikes!  Well, I'll be brief because I have A LOT of secrets to post and they are FANTASTIC!  Maybe I feel that way because I'm really taken with all the people who've stopped at our stand.  Their/your enthusiasm is contagious!

I have a theory about what is giving people such a kick about our "Free your soul with Free Lemonade" stand and  it isn't that is free and it is only kind of because it's about secrets...well, it's a lot that it's about secrets, but I think it's much more than that.  

My theory is that our stand gives people an excuse to give something of themselves.  I think they are tickled because we are asking them for something and they are able to give it.  And what makes it even better is that what we are asking for is a piece of themselves.  A piece of themselves that just maybe they don't feel safe sharing with most people.  And we will take it, hold it and not hurt them with it...ever.   

On one hand what is being played out is the very essence of community:   an excuse to give something, to share something, to be a part of something larger than oneself.  But what is being shared is anonymous and potentially shameful and secret.  Our stand provides a communal interaction from which everyone can walk away completely unscathed but a little less unknown,  forever. ... and then revisit through the grille of the internet...

Couple noteworthy events:  

• Yesterday, 5 minutes after setting up  and surrounded by our first crowd, we spilled two gallons of lemonade to appease the gods of sugar and technology 
• We're franchising!  In business  a mere 7 days and already murmurings of "AlaskaSCOLL" are in the air.  Can you believe it??  Woot!

SECRETS AND CONFESSIONS (july 15th)

1. I'm thinking about moving to New Zealand in a month and I'm not telling anyone.
2. I cheated on all my lovers.  (I don't do it anymore, got married)
3. I am a hardcore Republican
4. I cheated on spelling test in 2nd grade
5. My secret is my first time on a bicycle, my shoe strings got caught in my pedals and I cried.
6. When I was 10 I stole candybars from my neighbor while she was cooking my lunches!  I feel bad she was wonderful!  (20 years later - she told me she knew the whole time)
7. Secret:  My tushy hurts!
8. I'm pregnant!
9. I have pee stains on my underwear
10. I have Hemeroids
11. I <3 DJ
12. I worked illegelly in France for 4 years and loved it! :)
13. I once had a spit war with my grade school crush and got in BIG trouble
14. I have not shaved in a long time!
15. I got sent to the princaple's office throwing a snowball.
16. I feel broken...  Thanks you for the lemonade. ---------this guy.
17. I got sent to the princibles offece because a girl atacked me and I deffended my self
18. I am terrible at basketball & I dont tan, its only the refraction of light, through my red leg hair :)  Thank you for the lemonade
19. I've Loved more THAN ONE of the girls I've Broken Up with
20. I am very affraid of Marriage
21. I watch bad reality shows like The Real World.
22. Well - I sometimes lose my temper + yell @ my kidz.  Later I'm sorry.
23. I'd like to circumnavigate the globe.  This year.
24. I'm going to do the stp in one day on saturday for the first time, but i am going to have my brother follow me in my car to drive me to portland if I get too tired or to the nearest hotel and ride the rest of the way on sunday.
25. I am a straight guy and love romantic movies

SECRETS AND CONFESSIONS (july 14th)

1. My past 100 lives I have been a man in this lifetime I am here to write many books and change the unsustainable path that humanity is currently on.
2. I'm Happy But not Everyone Knows it.
3. Pie is not suposed to be alive
4. Michael Jackson lives!!!
5. The secret is that you will always have a lucky star within every constellation in the sky, learn them and they will be your friends forever with you: day and night.
6. I wish that I could be a kid again.  It gets so busy as an adult that I have almost forgotten how to relax.
7. I'm a pre op Boy
8. I'be been in school for 4 years and I don't even think I like what I'm doing!
9. I'm skipping work this afternoon to play in the sun :)
10. I was 5 years old when I received my first gold fish and I was so excited i named it Erin.  My name is Erin.
11. I like Brittney Spears  -Anon-
12. I sneak in my brothers room.
13. one time i peed in a bush ...
14. One time I peed in my backyard when I was locked out.
15. Dragons are real (and danger us)  

Commentary and Secrets: The Case of the Would Be Brownie Thief July 13, 2010

Wow, it's funny how business comes and goes, packs of people hover and then disperse and only the sound of an empty lemonade cup blowing across the bike path can be heard for miles. Only to be jolted back into reality by a brownie seeking 4 year old exploring different shock and awe tactics to overcome the righteous templars of the brownie, aka me and mom.

She employed footwear and currency among her many weapons in her deceptive practices but she was denied access to the brownie repeatedly. "Accidently", she lost her shoe and came hobbling to mom complaining it hurt too much too walk reasoning that therefore mom would have to get it ... giving Shea the opportuity too steal a forbidden brownie. Unfortunately for her, somebody else took care of bringing
it back. Then she had the crazy idea of stealing money and pretending to be a customer, luckily my sharp eyes recognized the guilty girl. Then there was the pick pocketing event involving visa and a flabbergasted biker and the tattooing of mom's legs while mom's attention was diverted, but you get the point...the templar retained control, but it was an ardous task, believe me!

I really do wonder (please answer me)if anybody is reading this. You better be because writing this is boring and hard,I mean the lemonade stand's fun but this, this is a pain. So please,please comment or just become a follower!

who me?

~Luna

SECRETS AND CONFESSIONS

1. I secretly pretend I'm from england or france - je parle francais
2. We are beautiful molecular machines
3. I ate all the choclets
4. Elvis lives
5. We LOVE Brownies!! :)
6. I love Carol
7. I love free lemonade and free beaches
8. I like to dance naked
9. I have never had Ben and Jerry's ... EVER
10. I want to marry Kerry (or movry Kelly or Keily)
11. Owen likes Tron and light cycles
12. I once killed a porcupine
13. What kind of hats do they wear in the artic?   Ice caps
14. I think this is the best lemonaid ever!
15. I wish I knew how to tell people that my dad is sick.  I feel too awkward about it
16. I once ate all my friend's pie.
17. Left 4, Right 10, left 20
18. I can eat an entire bag (1 lb) of candy in one sitting.
19. When you turn 13 I'm going to make a bedroom for you downsairs and you no longer have to share a bedroom with your 4 yr. old brother.
20. My parents had face lifts in the 60's and would have died if anyone found out.  My mom never knew that I even knew.
21. Sometimes I wish my daughter would just stop talking!
22. My parents own a candy store and in the middle of the night i would sneak down and grab a snack.  Technically this is not much of a secret because everyone assumed we did that. :)
23. I wear my cycling jersey at least 5 times before washing it.