5 Things I’m grateful for

1. My wife Laura – I paid her $50 if she could last 1/2 hour without talking last night (seriously, she won and I was a happy man to pay up)…but I love that woman.  Plus we laugh together….all the time..

2. My daughter Talia

– Feel the touch of a 9 month olds open hand on your cheek and feel the hand of God.

3. My home – I worked my buns off to provide a home for my family, and although it’s no palace, it’s a great place, and I feel like I enter the “no stress zone” every time I come home at night.

4. My family – I actually CHOSE to live in the same town as my brother.  Crazy right? Wrong.  He and his gorgeous family rule.  We all dig spending our Sundays together, and we even invite my PARENTS! For my Mother’s 60th Birthday we’re sending my parents to Sciacca, Sicily – the town of origin for my Mother’s family.  Family is EVERYTHING. We surprised her.  Priceless..

5. My job – I work with some of the smartest people in the online world, and they’re nice to me.  Not sure what I did to deserve that?   

Life is good people.  take a minute to list your top 5…I promise, you’ll feel great afteward!

Look Up Interactive

Yesterday I finalized my logo for Look Up Interactive.  

For the past few months I’ve been trying to come up with a name for a consulting business that I’d love to start regarding online advertising.  So many people have come to me asking questions/advice I thought I’d try my hand at consulting.  I’m not certain if I’ll be able to get this up and running while starting a new job – but I thought I’d share the logo.  I used a great service called Elance. I described the project, look and feel that I was going for.  I received about 15 bids for the work. I reviewed each of the proposals – taking a look at their sites, previous work  , and reviews by individuals that had hired them in the past.  I ended up hiring WebDesignsGURU – I highly recommend their work.  They also designed a logo for my wife’s pilates business.  I think both logos came out really great.  The service at Elance was really easy, and for someone with limited knowledge of logo design it’s a great resource to reach out experts that get it, and are highly accessible.

My wife Laura is my hero – she’s has been a 5th grade school teacher for the past 10 years.  She’s been home since the birth of our daughter Talia.  Before the baby came she also started her certification in Pilates.  After the baby was born she went back and completed her mat certification.  I think it’s going to be great for her to start building a client base here in Chappaqua.  I’m going to set her up with a URL, and Blog.  

Finally, I need to give credit to Gary Vaynerchuk for the tag line of my consulting business/logo “Legacy is Greater than Currency”.  This is something that Gary talked about during the Web2.0 Expo speech in New York.  This statement resounded with me so greatly that I thought it would be a great tag line for my business.  I think it’s a powerful statement in a world where it seems like everyone is focused solely on money.  I know that money is great to have and it’s certainly a necessity. I suppose since the birth of my daughter Talia I’ve started to look at the world a bit differently.

New Baby

2008 has been filled with changes for the Dessi family. On January 7th I started my new job as VP of Advertiser Sales at zanox, Inc. In May my wife Laura and I moved into our dream town (Chappaqua) after buying a lovely Townhome. On April 14th the biggest and best change happened for our family. Talia Dessi came into the world at 5:02pm. She was 6 lbs, 8 oz, and 19 and 1/2 inches long. She’s now home with us, and we’re loving being new parents to this little Angel.

Here is my favorite photo of the little “muffin” as my father in law calls her.

Fatherhood

It’s official…I’m going to be a Dad! 

Laura and I found out the great news a little over three months ago. It looks like the baby’s due date is April 7th, and we’re SO EXCITED!

It’s interesting how something like finding out you’re going to be a parent can totally change your perspective on life. Both my wife and I agree that since we’ve found out about the pregnancy the two of us have been truly in the best moods ever!

We were trying to get pregnant, and we feel like we’re 100% prepared to be parents. I’ll admit I’m nervous, but in a good (I can’t wait to experience something new) kind of way. I’m attaching a photo of our most recent ultrasound. It’s fascinating what technology can do.

In a few weeks we find out the gender, which is really exciting as well. We’re having a heck of a time trying to select a name, and I think narrowing down the options to a gender should help (I hope) 🙂