So I'm taking my frown to a far distant town
On an island in the blue bay.
Far away far away, I want to go far away
To a new life on a new shore line
Where the water is blue and the people are new
To another island, in another life
Ingrid Michaelson

So...really big news for the Sunshine Daydream family here in Madison. We are moving. Not very far mind you, same street, but a couple blocks closer to the university. After a dozen years in the same crumbling, cramped, overpriced, location, we have signed a lease for a newer, nicer, larger spot. More rent? yes... but twice the square footage, and not twice the rent :) Here's Jaime and her husband, Will outside the current Sunshine Daydream. Her husband brought her to town to see Ingrid Michaelson in concert for Jaime's birthday. But more about that later.


Here's the new store, currently housing some window ad's for Axe deodorant. Nothing says hippie store like beautiful chandeliers :) The building is in really nice shape. I can't imagine how great it will be to have central air for the first time, space for people to actually move around in the store, and the space to display all of our merchandise. We should be open in that spot by the middle of May, however our lease in the old spot doesn't expire until the end of summer. So there will be two Sunshine Daydreams this summer for a few months. Feel free to come visit and please bring your charge cards. The new store is next to a restaurant called Mediterranean Cafe which has my employees ecstatic, and closer to Five Guys, BW3, State St. Brats, and a handful of taverns which has me considering buying a muzzle to wear.

Volleyball is in half swing. I am signed up to play 6 nights a week. Great idea, lots of fun and exercise, and pretty much guaranteed to break my body down. I only played 3 days last week as some leagues haven't started yet, and Thursday morning I woke up sore in so many spots. My finger, I hurt playing basketball in Utah, hasn't healed and still bugs me. My wedding ring wont fit over the knuckle on that hand. My competitive streak has me diving in the sand a dozen times a night, and my hip and right ass cheek take the brunt of those landings. They were happy to remind me that I am not 21 anymore the next morning. Sorry about the minor bitching, and the truth is I don't care how sore I am, I love it.

I joined weight watchers when I got back in town 3 lbs heavier then when I left the ridge. I blame the scale, must be different than the one at the ridge. I join for one reason only, so that once a week or so I have to stand on the scale in front of some lady whom I don't know, who doesn't really care about me, and hope for a good number. Why I am I so scared of disappointing this lady? My mind clearly works in mysterious ways. But I had a good weigh in my first week.

Speaking of weight loss CNBC has a special coming up on that you guys maybe interested in:


A CNBC original, ONE NATION, OVERWEIGHT will premiere on Tuesday, May 18th at 10PM and 1AM ET
Published: Friday, 16 Apr 2010 1:37 PM ET Text Size By: Jennifer Dauble
The documentary will repeat on the following dates:

Friday, 5/21 at 10PM ET

Saturday, 5/22 at 7PM ET

Sunday, 5/23 at 10PM ET

It is a fight without end, a battle often to the death, and one we are apparently losing. It is the American struggle with obesity, one that costs the nation $147 billion, and an untold number of lives, every year.

In the next CNBC original, correspondent Scott Wapner looks at the costs and casualties of obesity. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, despite a $60 billion dollar array of products, services, diets and foods designed to help lose weight. CNBC goes to the front lines where the battle against fat is being fought, including a cutting-edge pharmaceutical company hoping to develop an obesity drug that could, if successful, be a financial and cultural blockbuster. We see businesses both large and small that are investing in their employees’ weight loss. We meet a retired Navy vet who is among a growing number of overweight patients choosing the seemingly desperate option of having their stomachs surgically restricted. We also get an intimate look at a weight loss boot camp called The Biggest Loser Resort, an enterprise that is helping some lose pounds, and others make money.

See where the waistline meets the bottom line in this fascinating and sober look at a problem that affects most American people and every American pocketbook.

I was told by the producer this week that the spot about the Ridge and I will be 8-9 minutes long during the broadcast. Good thing they took 20+ hours of footage of me. Also dropped the nugget that I do indeed have some topless film time on the pool deck, but alas no naked changing scenes.



So let's wrap up this blog with the fun night at the Ingrid Michaelson show. She played at the Potowotomi casino in Milwaukee. A much different atmosphere with tables touching the stage instead of dancing teens as the show was restricted to 21 and up. The road manager for Ingrid was nice enough to reserve us a table right in the middle and close to the stage. She did a full show, joked about the eating too much at the buffet, and seemed genuinely happy that this was the last show before a well deserved break. Although not that long a break. Hopefully made a few more ridgers happy as Cherise, Stephanie and Gretchen will all be attending the show at the Toledo Zoo Ampitheater next month, and Ingrid is happily putting us on the guest list for that show.

The birthday girl backstage with Ingrid.

So why am I so enchanted with the amorous red head who sings 'The way I am." First off she tells us that she thinks of my store every night as our sticker is on her piano, but then she looks at me and says, "your face is so much thinner then when I saw you last, you have lost a ton of weight." The girl has seen me one time before in my life and that was last October. So we talk for 5 minutes about what I am doing and the whole amazing concept of eat less, exercise more and my stays at the Ridge. So a very cool night, a really excellent week, and just the beginning of what will be a fabulous summer. Peace, Everbody wants to Love, Jim