Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I'm a Franchise!

If you are a long term LilyOnTheLam.com reader (and for purposes of this blog post, "long term" means you've been reading my blog for more than seven months), you may remember my November 10, 2011 post "Cooking to Seduce ... Or Why Soap Operas Are Not The Definition of Love."  (The expectation is that you have all of my blog posts memorized and can recite them as you would a Shakespearean soliloquy or more accurately in my case, the lines to the John Hughes movie "Uncle Buck.")




In my afore-mentioned, memorization-worthy, blog post, I make the confession that I think 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian children are absolutely adorable and are like "super cute kittens."  (Which, by the way, is pretty much the highest compliment I could give.)  


If you ever want to hear me make ungodly squeals of delight, put a 1/2 Asian baby in front of me and watch me try to resist pinching cheeks.  Sooo cute!  Now hopefully you do not see this statement as some sort of race supremacist thing,  because I do not look chic in big white bed sheets and pointy hats and "Hate" was soooo last season ...  but I will fully admit that my sister and I are both 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian and I think my sister is the cutest dumpling in all the land.  So yes, perhaps I am guilty of being heavily biased but neo race-baiting maniac; I am not.


It is in this vein of 1/2 Asian baby-love, that I am ecstatic to announce that I have officially become a FRANCHISE.  It's the American Dream at work, people.


Many years ago, Mr. Hotlanta (who was back then Mr. WashDC) introduced me to one of his friends ... when she heard my name was Lily, she swooned and said "If I ever have a daughter, I am going to name her Lily."  That is what is referred to as an oral contract.


Seven years later, she made good on her word as she gave birth to her first child - a daughter named Lily.  I fully take credit for any global achievements this little Lily may make in her lifetime.  


When I was growing up, the name "Lily" was associated with a lesbian comedian and a lot of senile great grandmothers.  It was not a "hot" name ... I spent the majority of my life never running into anyone who shared my name.  (And for the record- it is L-I-L-Y.  "Lilly" is short for Lillian.  Lily is for "the botanical variety" as Mr. NC - now a stage actor in Minneapolis, once referred to me in high school.)


Although I am obviously super, uber-fantastic; I must admit there was a lull in people naming their babies after me.  I don't know ... blame it on crop circles or something.  Simply unexplainable.  


Then a few years ago, my friend RL and his wife HF-L were trying to decide on a name for their new 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Caucasian daughter.  They were contemplating the name Lily.  AH-HA!  MY STREAK WOULD BE RE-BORN!  I did a "Happy Snoopy" dance in jubilation at the thought!  Once again it would be "en vogue" to name your baby after ME, ME, ME!  Trend setters, take notice!  


But alas no... RL AND HF-L decided to name their first born daughter "Rose" instead.  Sooo close ... but wrong flower!  I, in no way bitter or passive-aggressive, started referring to their daughter as Lily-Rose.  (Lily Trivia:  Lily-Rose is also the name of actor Johnny Depp's daughter ... I'm claiming credit for any global achievements she may make too ... and I commend Johnny Depp on his good choice in names.)  My streak would sadly not be re-born... How would I ever achieve my dream of Lily franchises around the world if this "wrong flower" naming trend continued?  Was world domination really out of my reach?  No!  Say it isn't true!   


This year, when RL and HF-L gave birth to their second daughter, I was cautiously optimistic.  I knew that "Lily" was in the name pool again ... but I had been burned once before by this flower-naming couple ... I wasn't going to count my Lilies until a birth certificate was issued!  I could just see them deciding at the last minute to go with Chrysanthemum instead!  (And "Lily-Chrysanthemum" has slim chance of becoming the hot new name for 2012!)  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  I braced myself to hear that their new daughter would be named "Cherry Blossom" or "Delphinium."  


After what seemed like 37 months (which I believe was really 1/2 a day), RL and HF-L decided to name their new daughter ...


LILY!


YES!  YES!  A MILLION TIMES YES!!!  So now RL and HF-L have (Lily)-Rose and Lily-Lily!  (Lily Trivia:  Rose and Lily are the names of Charlotte's daughters in the "Sex in the City" movies.  So if you're aching to be a trendy "Sex in the City" gal name your baby after ME - now!!!)  I commend RL and HF-L on their fine choice in baby names.  However in all my lobbying to have them name Baby Girl #2 "Lily," I think I may have promised to name my next cat after RL and HF-L ... so I guess my next cat will be named Rlandhfl.  (Pronounced like it's spelled ... "Rhhlllllanndhhhflllll.")


"Rhhhhllllandddhhhffflll - quit clawing the couch!"  Yeah, that works.


Now that I have franchises in Washington DC and St. Paul, Minnesota (yes, babies named Lily are considered to be franchises of me - that's how franchising works-- look it up on Wikipedia!) ... I need to work on a Lily Logo.  But I'm not a Graphic Artist, so maybe I can write "And Lily too" next to the Starbucks Mermaid logo.  That would work, right?


OK - franchises in the East Coast and Midwest - check.  Top notch logo - check.  Now - a universal proclamation bordering on severe hubris ...


"I declare that Lily-named babies are going to be the hot trend for this decade!!!!"  Scratch that -- "FOR THIS CENTURY!!!"  Much better.


Ego-rific statement.  Check!


If you're pregnant, regardless if you are expecting a boy or a girl - you better name that baby "LILY" because everyone is doing it and you don't want to be left out of the trend, do you?  I didn't think so!


My love for 1/2 Asian babies also extends to full Asian babies as well ... so when I saw this link to an article on BoredPanda.com posted on a friend's Facebook page, I was curious ... 


First of all, the link is to a website called Bored Panda.  That alone is beyond rockin' fantabulousness ... how more awesome could a website name be?  "Aloof Iguana" is probably the only thing cooler than a Bored Panda...  No, no, I'm wrong - "Bored Panda" is still cooler.  So seeing afore-mentioned ultra cool website name, I clicked the link ... I may not be a bored panda, but I am definitely a curious cat.


The link showed the work of Photographer Jason Lee (jwlphotography.com).  Mr. Lee usually does weddings and other joyous occasions, but he started also taking wacky, hysterical and utterly adorably charming pictures of his two daughters.  You have to see the pictures to truly appreciate this man's creative genius as well as how amazingly cute his daughters are.  Talk about Asian Baby Cuteness Overload!  These are Super Mega Cute Kittens!  


Mr. Lee's daughters have their own blog dedicated to their fantastic and surreal pictures!  So if the article on BoredPanda.com was not enough for you, check out Mr. Lee's lovely, spirited daughters on their own website.  However if you're looking for an amazing photographer, I have to say I was blown away looking at Mr. Lee's event photography on his main website jwlphotography.com.  I would give Mr. Lee's photography five C's- Championship Composition, Contrast, Color and Charm.  If the old adage is a picture is worth a thousand words, Mr. Lee's photos are worth a thousand smiles and a million stories.  If I lived in California near Mr. Lee, I'd be making up events to be able to hire Mr. Lee to take my picture.


"Um no... not getting married, not pregnant, don't have a kid-- but what I'd really like is for you to take pictures of me grocery shopping- rhubarb is in season and I think what my friends really want for Christmas this year is a 100 page picture book of me... buying rhubarb... yep.  It's all the rage!  My friends just simply can't get enough pictures of me ... grocery shopping ... for rhubarb.  Yes, I'm serious.  When can you meet me at Safeway?  Yes, I'll be in the ... right, you guessed it ... rhubarb section."


Life and the internet work in amazing ways.  My love of ridiculously cute Asian children has now led me to the website of a great photographer in California.  Who I hear may be the next big name in Rhubarb photography ... although that just might be the voices in my head.  


Now if only his two daughters were named Lily ... I could say I conquered the west coast with my franchises as well ... Sigh, one day world domination will be mine!  


Name your kids "Lily" or else you're not getting a "Lily shops for rhubarb" picture book this Christmas.  Harsh?  Well, sometimes you have to thrown down some ultimatums if you want to create a global chain of franchises ...  It's just the American Dream in action.



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Disclaimer:  To increase revenue for Lily On The Lam, I am adding Google Affiliate Ads.  However, I am able to select the ad featured for this section.  I either pick items I already own and can recommend or items that I would be personally interested in and that correspond with the theme of my blog post.

In keeping with the theme of this blog post - what's better than a baby named Lily?  A baby named Lily with a crib named Lily!  Check out this Google Affiliate Ad:

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