One of the best trips of my life

Last week, I wrote about how my trip to Austin started out as The Worst Trip of My life. I promised I fill you guys in on why it turned into one of the best trips of my life…

Over the past year, I’ve had the extreme luck of traveling to a number of cities for work or pleasure – Miami last April for a mini vacation with friends, New York City in August for BlogHer ’10, San Francisco twice in October for BlogHer Food and the Redwood City Oktoberfest, Maui for vacation in February and now Austin for SXSW. Each city was a new adventure to me since I haven’t had the opportunity to explore any of these while being “of bar age.”

Perhaps it was the culmination of celebrating with my team at work after two of the more stressful months of our lives, or the balmy 80-degree weather (30 degrees warmer than Seattle) or just the ENERGY reverberating through the city, but I absolutely fell in love with Austin, y’all.

So much so, that I might have been okay with using y’all by the end of the week without cringing. I was ready to rat out my bleached blond hair, kiss my grits and declare myself a Texan.

There was no one moment that made my trip spectacular – I didn’t meet the man of my dreams, I didn’t win the lottery, in fact my luck was all backwards and upside down, but I just felt happy. I loved Austin – every part of it. I loved the energy that SXSW brings to the capital of Texas – Mardi Gras-esque crowds down the famous blocks of bars on 6th Street, the parties from some of my favorite brands (including Whrrl!) with open bars, food galore and tons of geeks, the pedi cab drivers who whisk you away to the next event, with an evening breeze rustling your hair. I loved the hipsters, the natives, the friendly banter and smile from everyone you meet; Texans are nothing but nice.

I loved all the outdoor bars with huge patios, many with fire pits and kitschy bar themes – Mohawk with its PBRs, mustached bartenders, and taxidermied animals on the wall, Lanai with its swank outdoor lounge with couches, hanging lamps and ceiling to floor drapes, overlooking all of Austin. And I loved the food – oh the food! The pork belly sliders from The Peached Tortilla food trunk, the catfish at Moonshine, fried okra at Stubb’s Barbecue (the origin of the barbecue sauce I’ve had in my fridge at home), the Jackalope hot dog at Frank’s Hot Dogs and Cold Beer – an antelope, rabbit and pork sausage with huckleberry compote, sriracha aioli and cheddar, served with a side of original Big Red soda that reminds me of my childhood.

I fell in love with Austin so much, that I’m making it my personal life goal to never miss a SXSW there again – business OR pleasure. This trip was one of the first times I’ve spent an entire week, sleepless, living out of a suitcase, where I did not want to go home at the end. I would have lived out of that hotel on the side of the freeway for as long as I could. (If I could have beamed my cat through the Intertubes to join me).

And THAT, my friends, is why it was one of the best trips of my entire life. I highly recommend putting Austin on the top of your visit list this year.

Currently Feeling: In limbo… can’t wait for final news and details hopefully to share with my blog friends soon! Lots of changes coming my way.
Currently Anticipating: The Seattle Sounders bartending at a local waterhole in my neighborhood tomorrow for charity – hello soccer hotties!
Currently Needing: To get back into cooking and trying a new recipe each week. Going to try a jalapeno strawberry halibut recipe this week!

From the worst trip of my life to one of the best

Last week I flew to Austin for the SXSW Interactive Festival. There’s a reason everything in my life goes completely on halt around this time of year – SXSW is by far the biggest conference for tech companies and startups to launch (ala Twitter five years ago) or apps to showcase new features and try to “get noticed” by the bazillion geeks who fly into Texas’ state capital for the event. In case you didn’t know, I work for a mobile app company. Therefore, everyone at my company (and myself!) works around the clock to make sure everything is perfect and we’re making as big of a splash as we possibly can each year at SXSW…

This year was the first year I got to join my team for the trip to Austin, and I literally thought I was going to pee myself with excitement (if I didn’t pass out first from exhaustion). I’ve always felt like the “who’s who” of tech go to SXSW, and really just wanted a chance to be included in the fun and meet so many amazing tech nerds. (Tech nerds = be still my beating heart).

Except my trip got off to a bit of a rocky start, ie: IT BLEW MONKEY BALLS.

Thursday, March 10th:

2:30 p.m. I leave Sea-Tac International Airport on a one-stop flight to Austin via Denver.

6 p.m. Pilot gets on PA system on plane and says “It’s windy in Denver, foks! We’re rerouting to Colorado Springs cause we don’t have enough fuel to circle and wait it out.”

6:40 p.m. Land in Colorado Springs to “refuel.” They won’t let us off plane, so we sit around for an hour, which is PERFECT for my flight anxiety and general feeling of being trapped in a tiny room, breathing stranger’s recycled breath. Talk self off ledge.

8:30 p.m. Finally land in Denver – cause woo hoo, it’s not windy anymore! Flight attendants are all, “Oh yeah – sorry. NBD you missed your flight. It was only THE ONLY ONE going to Austin and everything else is booked cause the ENTIRE country is trying to get to SXSW. Don’t worry – just go wait in line at customer service, and they’ll help you out!”

8:45 p.m. Get off plane – want to punch a baby when seeing the size of the line at customer service (probably more than 200 people, all needing flights out. Probably all needing flights out to Austin.)

9:30 p.m. Have waited in line for an hour, phone is dying, don’t have a flight partner so I can leave the line and go to the bathroom, I haven’t eaten since 2 p.m. at Sea-Tac Airport.

9:45 p.m. Discover the only thing open in the entire Denver airport is MCDONALDS. Oh yeah – refer to my 2011 New Years post to the part where I’ve given up fast food. But I’m so hungry I could eat a Unicorn and poop rainbows. (Wait, does that accurately describe a starving person). Maybe I should just click a few times like Starvin’ Marvin from South Park.

9:55 p.m. I eat McDonalds. Add insult to injury. I killed my two month streak of not eating fast food, not because I was hungover and couldn’t think of any other way I’d want to spend my life because I’ve survived those moments. I literally ate it cause I had no other option. Insult.to.injury.

11 p.m. Make it to the front of customer service. By the GRACE OF GOD, I have a last name that starts with B. Therefore I’m one of only like three people who got auto-booked on the only flight out of Denver to Austin that wasn’t $1,000 with four layovers. Otherwise I would have been stuck in Denver till Sunday. SUNDAY! Thurs-Sunday. That’s how many available flights to Austin there were.

11:30 p.m. Check into the hotel next to the airport that I had to pay for cause the wind “wasn’t Frontier’s problem.” Miss the $100 reservation I paid out of pocket for a hotel in Austin. Miss the 8 a.m. plan I have to meet a coworker to help him set up for our first day at SXSW.

Friday, March 11th:

10:30 a.m. Fly out of Denver on a flight to Austin.

2 p.m. Land in Austin. Catch a cab to the “Marriott Residence Inn” my boss made reservations for me at.

2:30 p.m. Drive up to downtown Austin Marriott Residence Inn in a cab. Pay cab driver in cash (even though I argue for five minutes against it cause I need the credit card receipt for my expense report). He throws fit. I relent, get out, walk in hotel.

2:35 p.m. Try to check in, they don’t have my name or my boss’ name under a reservation. Go to call her on my iPhone, WHICH I LEFT IN THE CAB. And now I can’t track which cab it was cause I didn’t PAY WITH CREDIT CARD. Lose my mind for five minutes. Don’t have my email to check hotel reservation (it’s on my phone), don’t have phone numbers to call any of my team members in Austin. At the biggest tech conference of the year and DON’T HAVE MY PHONE or access to ANY TECHNOLOGY.

2:40 p.m. Hotel front desk person calls all “Marriott Residence Inn”s in Austin, and all claim they don’t have a reservation under my name.

2:50 p.m. By the grace of God, get a hold of my boss via the hotel telephone, who tells me our reservations are at Marriott Residence Inn SOUTH.

3:30 p.m. Arrive at hotel…

Where I spent the next five days having ONE OF THE BEST TRIPS OF MY LIFE.

(To be continued… )

Currently Feeling: Sneezy, sniffley and under the weather – boo airplane germs!

Currently Anticipating: Some exciting news coming my way… *fingers crossed*

Currently Reading: Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.

Revolutions in technology have changed the way we live

“The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business.”

- President Obama, State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011

I couldn’t be more excited to be knees deep and all heart into the industry that is changing the world. Go technology!

Currently Feeling: Glad to finally seeing small results from all my hard workouts – mixing up gym and pilates with my yoga has paid off!
Currently Anticipating: A fun “Black and White” party Saturday night with some of my girls!
Currently Bought: Two new bathing suite from Victoria secret for my Hawaii trip! This time, both pink (and only a little animal print!)

Looking back and forward on my year of total happiness

Wednesday night I went to dinner with an old college roommate. We ordered two crepes, split a bottle of red wine, and discussed our upcoming New Years Eve plans. At sometime during the night I said, “2010 has been the best year of my life,” and she responded with – “Really?!”

Yes, really.

I have said more times than I can remember this year – I am SO happy right now. Happy with where I’m at with my life, happy with who’s in it (and who isn’t). Happy with my career, my apartment, my friends. If I could pick one word to sum up this year for me – it’s simply been, Happy. I could only hope 2011 lives up to the year I’ve had in 2010.

Below are just a few of the reasons that have made 2010 “my best year yet.” In no particular order, this year I…

• Made regular workouts a part of my life all year, for the first time ever. This included starting Sassy Fit boot camp, which I did for six months, and then starting my yoga practice! (Which began with a 30-day hot yoga challenge in June). Me + yoga = LOVE.
• Gave up consumerism for 30 days (as part of my 30-day yoga challenge).
• Paid of a ton of parking tickets that prevented me from buying tabs, bought new tabs to replace the previous ones that were expired for two years AND paid off my car loan. Booyah. What up responsibility.
• Took a bacon cooking class (where I learned to make a Bacon Explosion!)
• Traveled to New York, San Francisco twice and Miami (where we partied at a bar with the Jersey Shore cast. I was at a bar with Snookie in 2010. Enough said).
• Spent many fun cabin weekends with friends, including Chelan multiple times over the spring and summer, and Leavenworth for Oktoberfest.
• Booked my first trip to Hawaii!
• Co-hosted (with other Power Team members) at least a dozen Girl Power Hour networking events for women, which allowed me to meet tons of empowering, smart girls and be a leader in my community!
• Found $100 bill on the ground on Halloween night (dressed as Cruella DeVille).
• Bought an ice cream making machine and learned how to make ice cream for the first time!
• Started a “Good Friends and a Glass of Wine” dining group, where I met with four girl friends of mine once a month to try a rotating selection of some of Seattle’s most critically acclaimed and talked about restaurants. We met 10 out of the 12 months in 2010 – pretty great record, and lots of great food! We ate at Spring Hill, Root Table, Lark, Union, Mistral Kitchen, anchovies & olives, Spinasse, Osteria La Spiga and more.
• Coached a kickball team with friends.
• Took a long blog break, transferred my blog from Blogger to WordPress and redesigned my blog. Took another long blog break, redesigned my blog again. Discovered that part of my happiness IS blogging, and I feel weird when I leave it behind. Completed NaBloPoMo (without missing a single post!) to gain my blog mojo back.
• Crossed a few fun things off my Bucket List, including riding my bike to work (and walking to work most of the summer!), going to Teatro Zinzanni for the first time, meeting a blog friend in real life, planting an herb and veggie garden – and making recipes with my homegrown plants, cooking my first turkey and buying satin sheets for my bed (for ME, no one else).
• Spent a LOT, a lot, a lot of time with girl friends – made a ton of new friends (Hi loves, if you’re reading!), and became closer to my roommate and some of my best friends, who mean the world to me.
• Had my first career-related speaking gig on a panel at the Social Fresh conference in Portland, OR.
• Attended BlogHer and BlogHer Food for the first time (excellent, nerdy blogging conferences – right up my alley).
• Said goodbye to my trusty Sidekick (my friends called me Sidekick Sally for years) and bought an iPhone 4! Also was able to purchase a Kindle this year – something I’ve had on my “want” list for at least 2-3 years – and have read so many great books. I’m hoping to pull together a list of my top books of 2010, for those interested.
• Hosted a Girls Thanksgiving, and cooked my first turkey (and sweet potato pie).
• Repaired my own vacuum after it broke! lol. Pretty proud of myself for that one – I’m an independent woman!
• Moved offices from downtown to Pioneer Square.
• Threw a big, successful party – without a hitch – for work with more than 150 people in the Seattle tech community in attendance! Then received a raise a week later, and a new part time contract work for an awesome company two months after that! My career kicked major ass in 2010. I can’t believe I can say that I’m exactly where I want to be at 29, and love, love my job and industry every day. For THAT, I consider myself extremely lucky.
• Made giant steps toward a BIG life change that I’ve wanted to do, and have talked about, for years. 2011 looks like it could be my year!

As far as looking forward to 2011, I decided to not make a “New Years Resolution” for this year. Rather, I scrolled through my Bucket List and marked a number of them that I want to cross off, work on, or know I’m already on my way to completing in 2011. Some of them are a bit ridiculous, some trivial, some large – but all are realistic. It’s a hefty list this year with lots to work toward, but what is life but without high goals!

My Bucket List items I’m going to try to complete in 2011 are:

• Live in another city for at least one year
• Keep a savings account – with a balance – for more than one year 
• Swim with dolphins (Planned for Hawaii.)
• Get my teeth whitened, professionally 
• Teach myself to video edit (My job might depend on it. Kidding. But no, really.)
• Visit Bali and wear flowers around my neck 
• Take a yoga retreat (Just so happens I’m planning a yoga retreat to Bali for August 2011. Two birds. One stone.)
• Buy a Mini Cooper (Currently on wait-lists for a black one.)
• Own a license plate with my name on it (As silly as this is, figured might look all right on new Mini.)
• Take a shower by candlelight
• Give up fast food for a year (Eh – why not. Thought I’d try this, starting January 1st. This could be considered a mini resolution, I suppose.)
  
• Make a cookbook of my grandmother’s recipes before she passes 
• Go to dim sum for breakfast
• Dine in the dark at San Francisco’s Opaque restaurant
• Feel great in a T-shirt again (My tummy is my trouble area, and it’s been a long time since I could just wear jeans and a T-shirt and feel comfortable. I’d really like to change this.)
• Make a wine corkboard from bottles of wine I’ve actually drank myself (Been saving for nearly two years – almost there!)
• Go to Toastmasters and kick my anxiety with public speaking (This is a must. must.)
• Wine taste in Napa Valley

Happy  New Years everyone!

Currently Feeling: Phew exhausted! This took all night.
Currently Anticipating: Getting my hair did and all fancy for the big NYE party I have planned tomorrow with a super fun group of friends from my neighborhood. Happy NYE!
Currently Loving: A cute new consignment shop in my neighborhood that has brand new designer jeans – tags on – for $70 and less! Pshhh. I’m totally not sharing the name.

Psquare is where all the boyzzz are

Last week, my work relocated our offices to one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods – Pioneer Square. In ALL the years I’ve spent in Seattle – growing up in a Suburb my entire life, and living all of my 20s in Seattle proper – I’ve never spent much time in what I’ve affectionately come to call P.Square. South of all the neighborhoods and downtown, P.Square has a bit of an interesting reputation for being a not-so-nice neighborhood, populated with shady peeps. It seems it has never really shed its character from the early 1900s when the streets were filled with brothels and “an ungodly mixture of dives, dumps… pawnshops, hash houses, dope parlors and… the et cetera that kept the police guessing.” P.Square is where the term “Skid Row” (a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population) originated, if that tells you anything.

Now, there’s certainly a larger homeless population, but it’s also become a popular spot for startups in Seattle’s prosperous technology scene, so my company decided to jump into the mix of them. We moved from a stodgy, corporate skyscraper into a four story, old building with exposed brick, hardwood floors and bright blue, orange and red walls. Our new office is amazing – and fun and quirky, just like our startup culture.

Since we’ve been down here, I’ve absolutely loved it! I’ve been excited to get to know one of the only Seattle neighborhood’s I’m not familiar with… and it’s neat to be where so much of our city’s history started. P.Square is actually quite pretty – with old ornate brick and stone buildings, from the Victorian and Romanesque Revival eras; a TON of cute startup and Amazon.com boys who keeps smiling at me on my way to work; super cool graffiti and street art on the sides of a lot of the buildings; amazing places to eat lunch like Tat’s Deli, which has the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten; a ton of galleries that open their doors every month on First Thursday for wine and art; and tons of parks, including Occidental Park, which holds a farmer’s market in the summers and has tons of trees, tables to eat lunch at, and a bocce ball park!

Oh, and did I mention – P.Square has a ton of cute startup and Amazon.com boys who keeps smiling at me on my way to work. Yeah that.

I think I’m going to like it a lot down here.

Currently Feeling: Releived to have a big meeting and a 15 hour day behind me this week! Now – on to the weekend…
Currently Anticipating: A weekend in Bellingham, my alma mater town this weekend for my roommate’s birthday!
Currently Loving: That my fav yoga teacher is planning a yoga retreat to Bali in September 2011. I’m totally going!! Marking things off the Bucket List. Oh yeah.

Since I’ve been gone…

I’ve been fluttering around this town (and others) in a state of independence, slowly spinning and spinning into a place where independence starts to feel like a whole, and dependence starts as an itch, slowly creeping into my brain here and there.

I danced under the streetlamps and in front of a fan on high, trying desperately to beat the heat – to beats from a main stage, rock music filling the streets of Seattle.

I learned to hail cabs in New York City, danced until my feet hurt, spent 1 a.m. in Times Square trying to find myself on the jumbo screen, walked the spirals up Frank Loyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, sat under a tree by myself in Central Park and secretly stole pictures of couples lying on blankets kissing cause it was all too damn cute and reminded me of a place I was once at.

I picnicked and barbecued at the beach, watched the sun set, and found a new love for hippie reggae beats, which now follows me in headphones to work every week as I walk underneath the shadows of buildings downtown, discovering that there really is no better way to start your day than with a walk in sunshine and no better way to end it than in a bathing suit, people watching at the park.

I rocked a review, scored a raise, and successfully pulled together a conference and a local tech event that I planned all by myself – all while floating rivers and roasting marshmallows over a campfire on the weekends. I’ve let go of summer traditions in the past, and created my own traditions that include just me this time, and some with new friends.

I grilled salmon, churned strawberry frozen yogurt made from scratch, and picked tomatoes and basil from my garden in large quantities. I indulged in quail, rabbit with plum sauce, pork belly buns, watermelon gazpacho, German chocolate cake, and a few birthday cakes too. I enjoyed too many dinners with girls, happy hours on patios, and wine tasting that I care to admit.

I had a closure dinner with an ex, talking over months gone past as if nothing had ever changed, except one very important detail.

I’m independent now.

And underneath it all, I’m healing and the itch of dependence - of someone and something that makes me smile, laugh and want to hold hands and spend all my time with – is starting to take shape again.

And I might have even found someone I want it to take shape with.

Currently Feeling: So strange this week – tired, out of it. Is it the full moon?
Currently Anticipating: A bevy of trips coming up (and possibly a BIG one). Stay tuned for details.
Currently Reading: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.

Five little updates on July

Well hello there, July 16th. Where have the last two weeks gone? Been busy soaking up the sun that finally came to Seattle – and as my GChat status says, “The summer sun makes me irresponsible.” Less time for blogging and computer playing, more time for outdoors, friends and barbecues. The best time of the year!

Life has been trucking along quite nicely these days – I’ve got a few little updates for you.

I finished my 30-day challenge – you can read my somewhat wrap-up thoughts here since they were the same for the last two weeks of the challenge. I was a couple days shy of the complete 30 days. It was tough to make it to class every day the last two weeks cause I became super burnt out. But for the most part, I did it! So, I’m back to boot camp a couple days a week, and hot yoga a couple days a week. I’m also walking to work now that the weather is nice! Two miles – 45 minutes of walking a day – so it’s been a great addition to my workouts.

Me putting the last star on the challenge board

My Fourth of July holiday weekend was one of the best ever. Choosing Lake Chelan over Seattle turned out to be the best decision I could have made since Seattle gifted everyone with grey skies and rain for the holiday. Meanwhile, I hung out in my bathing suit, drank BLs on the beach all day and finished the evening up with a crazy dance party boat ride to watch the Chelan city fireworks. Lots of funny pictures and memories of the weekend that, unfortunately, don’t belong on the Internet. Good times were had by all.

Left: All the girls at the beach. Center: Boating it. Right: Wine tasting on our way back.

My summer garden is rockin’ and rollin’. I had to upgrade my basil plant because I used it so much, I dried the first one out and killed it. So, I purchased a bigger and better one. I have basil for days! My favorite summertime dinner meal these days has been some whole wheat pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh mozerella, tomatoes and basil from my garden – finished with salt and pepper. Mmm. Someone told me our summers in Seattle don’t usually last long enough for peppers or strawberry plants, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed there. And I have a couple tiny green tomatoes that I’m watching with much love!

Caprese pasta - my summertime staple!

Turns out my work is sending me to New York City for the BlogHer 10 conference the first weekend of August. I’m super, duper excited and geeked out to meet so many bloggers and make some (hopefully) lifelong connections. I’ll get to hang out with Doniree for the first time, which I’m fantastically excited about. I feel like I’m the only 20-something blogger left in this world that doesn’t know her personally. I’ll also be hosting a fun Sex and the City walk through the city with a Kindle giveaway at the end. I think it’s going to be a fabulous, successful event, so that pushes my excitement that much further. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? By the way – this will be the first time I’ll have visited NYC while 21 and over. Trouble to be had! NEW YORK…. These streets will make you feel brand new…Big lights will inspire you…Let’s hear it for New York, New York, NEW YORK.

Can you think of a better event?! Excited!

I’m heading over the mountain pass again this weekend for a bachelorette party for one of my high school girl friends – lots of longtime girls of mine will be there. I hang out with all 10 of them about twice a year, so this should be interesting and fun. We’re starting off with a night out in the tiny town our cabin is in, wearing ugly bridesmaid dresses. (Thank you, Goodwill, for mine). We’re also floating a river Saturday in intertubes and then heading back out in matching tie-dyed tank tops with nicknames on the back. Mine? G-Spot Je-Spot. Yeah. That’s right. High school nickname I can’t seem to freakin’ get ride of. (For no other reason than my name being Je Anna). Should have some fun stories and pictures to share with all of you. Happy weekend!

Currently Feeling: A little bit of a nervous belly.
Currently Anticipating: Relaxing this weekend in the sun before a SUPER busy work week next week. Time to recharge!
Currently Loving: The new Eminem CD. Seriously – it’s so good. He amazes me, and brings me back to memories in high school when I used to listen to his first CD, all at the same time.

A nice smile just might do it

This weekend I finally got around to watching “Up In the Air.” Super great movie. I like the kind of movies that make you think…about life and love. The pursuit of happiness or lack there of. One scene in the movie was absolutely brilliant, a dialogue touching on the “American Girl’s Dream” – a husband, house, two point five kids and a car – a dream that I once entertained too, then realized there’s about 20 more years of livin’ I need to do.

In the scene, 23-year-old Natalie, is talking to Ryan (George Clooney) and Alex (Vera Farmiga), both of whom are 34+, single and married to their jobs, right after her boyfriend and hoped-for future husband broke up with her.

Natalie: I thought I’d be engaged by now (no offense).
Alex and Ryan: No. None taken.
Natalie: When I was 16, I thought by 23 I’d be married, maybe have a kid, corner office by day, entertaining at night. I was supposed to be driving a Grand Cherokee by now.
Alex: Life can underwhelm you that way.
Natalie: Um, where did you think you’d be, by um… (nods at her, not knowing her age)
Alex: Well, uh…it doesn’t work that way.
Ryan: No…at a certain point, you stop with the deadlines.
Alex: They can be a little counterproductive.
Natalie: I don’t want to say anything that’s anti feminist. I really appreciate that your generation did for me.
Alex: It was our pleasure.
Natalie: But sometimes it feels like no matter how much success I have, it’s not gonna matter until I find the right guy.
Alex: You really thought this guy was the one?
Natalie: I coulda made it work. He really fit the bill, yah know.
Ryan: The bill?
Natalie: White collar. College grad. Loves dogs, likes funny movies. Six foot one. Brown hair. Kind eyes. Works in finance, but is outdoorsy, ya know, on the weekends. I always imagined he’d had a single-syllable name. Like um, Matt or John or Dave. In a perfect world he drives a Four Runner and the only thing he loves more than me is his Golden Lab.

And a nice smile.

How about you?
Alex: Let me think, uh… by the time you’re 34, all the physical requirements just go out the window. Well, you secretly pray that he’ll be taller than you.

Um, not an asshole would be nice. Just someone who enjoys my company and comes from a good family. You don’t think about that when you’re younger. Oh and someone who wants kids…likes kids. Healthy enough to play with his kids. Oh and, please, let him earn more money than I do. You might not understand that now. But believe me, you will one day. Otherwise that’s a recipe for disaster.

And hopefully some hair on his head. But I mean, even that’s not a deal breaker these days.

And a nice smile. Yeah… a nice smile. A nice smile just might do it.

I loved everything about this scene… how Ryan says, “At some point you just stop with the deadlines.” How Natalie rattles off her “bill” of what a perfect guy would be (because how ridiculous are long lists of all the insignificant qualities your “future partner” should have). How both women mention that really, at the end of the day, they’re both just looking for a smile.

I could have been Natalie at one point. Probably was, although it’s weird for me to think back on that Jeanna.

I had a friend once who told me that every single one of his girlfriends have wanted to marry him. I don’t know what it is… but I think us girls are trained to look at every guy, or love, or relationship or boyfriend, as the future father of children. That in college, I didn’t really know what to do, or how to think of myself as single too far past graduation. You grow up hearing stories of all the people who married their college sweetheart. So you think that’s just going to be you some day, naturally. And if it’s not him, then it’ll be the next serious relationship. Or the next.

That used to be me. Until I figured out that was neither attractive, productive nor realistic.

And while I’m not all the way an Alex, it’s closer to reality for me. I don’t want to live my life by deadlines. I don’t want to feel like I need to accomplish anything by a certain age or time, and if I don’t, I’ll be lonely, or left out, or missing something. Now that’s counterproductive.

At the end of the day, I just want to find someone – or something - that makes me smile.

Currently Feeling: Excited for my mom and dad’s new family business plan that we came up with over wine tasting today… add a little wine into anything to make dreams big and beautiful.
Currently Anticipating: A full week of exercise… bootcamp, kickball and a belly class. Time to get serious – I have a cabin weekend in Lake Chelan to plan for because I’m not taking off my bathing suit for four days.
Currently Loving: The sisterly time I had this weekend – happy hour, a sleepover with pizza, breakfast, shopping – having a sister is seriously the best.

Neither here, nor there

Right now, as we *speak,* I’m sitting in my office, with just the light of a lamp and the glowing offices of the buildings across the street from mine in downtown Seattle. The office is void of people (which, actually, doesn’t happen quite that often in a tech startup. Usually there are developers working way past the time I leave). It’s eerie quiet. Here I am, all by my lonesome, eating a peanut chicken Lean Cuisine in front of my computer, at my desk, at 7 o’clock at night.

Ooh buddy, does that ever sound sexy.

I have to tell you, in the split second I realized all of this – I instantly felt compelled to write about it. (Maybe my three-month writer’s block/lack of time to write is starting to wan). See, I had one of those, “OH.MY.GOD.THIS.IS.MY.LIFE.” moments.

I know you’ve had them.

Like, what if this is just the beginning of me turning into the 45-year-old, lonely workaholic who can’t find a husband and doesn’t have children, even though she wants them, because she works too much and has always put success before love?! I saw myself as Scrooge, flying through the night in my pajamas (hopefully I put on underwear this time), having the Ghost of Christmas past hovering over my desk, looking down and saying, “See Je. This is the moment where you decided you’d rather just stay and work late, eating at your desk, so you could get more checked off your list. And then it was all downhill from there.”

Enter image of cats circling your body and licking your face after you choked on a chicken bone by yourself in your fancy condo (at least that’s a plus), with no one around to save you.

Recently, I made a pretty big life change that I have yet to talk about here, nor will I probably say much. But I am single again, deciding first and foremost that I wanted to concentrate on myself and my career, among a few other personal reasons. That I didn’t have time for someone else anymore. That I’ve been doing too many things at 75% and not a smaller list of items at 100%. For me, the easier decision at the moment has been to move forward without one of those time-consuming items – a relationship.

I find myself with more time to work late without feeling guilty or giving excuses, or missing out on plans, or stressing because I’d rather just feel better about my workload by, well, working.

I’m not saying that all of this, at 28, will lead me to a life of loneliness. I am, for the most part, exaggerating since any other night but tonight I’d be at a wine event, or happy hour, or out with friends, or at a networking event. But being alone, at an age I would consider too late in life, is a scary thought. I feel like my worlds are splitting into two sets of people the closer I edge toward 30. There are those who cannot wait to get married, settle down and start a family. I have friends who are actually planning on the days, months, year they want to get pregnant. That’s SO exciting for them. I don’t know what it’s like to share a life with someone, to the extent of planning children, but I bet it’s such an amazing time in life, and I’m thrilled to share their happiness with them. Please believe me when I say I’m not here to judge that choice, nor to say I’m making a better decision in life. Or that you can’t have career success while in a marriage.

It’s just not where I’m at. I can’t exactly say that I’ve never been the girl who dreamed about babies or marriage, or what my wedding colors were going to be. Perhaps I was… but now, I’m too far away to remember what used to be important. I only remember what is important now. And it’s not Princess cuts, suburbs, or hitting some life moment I told myself at 13 I’d do before I was 30. Unfortunately, it creates a bit of divide sometimes with old friends – those who are ready to settle down into a certain lifestyle, and those who aren’t. I supposed we’ll start to have less and less in common until I decide that’s what I want too. Or it catches me by surprise (which what I hear happens). In the meantime, I’m neither here (at the gates of complete career success) or there (ready to get married).

So, I guess it’s a few more peanut chicken Lean Cuisines at my desk, by myself, at 7 o’clock at night.

I’ll just make sure it’s *boneless* chicken.

Currently Feeling: Ready for that Chardonnay at home in my fridge.
Currently Anticipating: A birthday party tomorrow after Seattle Startup Drinks, and a big ole “gold and silver” house party on Saturday after a sushi Tweet Up!
Currently Loving: Planning for SXSW. Looks like I’ll be going to the music festival for work. Zing!

Luck, preparation & opportunity

I’ve been thinking in my head about how I’d write this post for at least three weeks now. Do you ever do that? Write blog posts in your head while something is happening, after it’s happened, etc? I guess that’s the test of a true blogger at heart. If only I could have managed to get it finished and posted three weeks ago…some of you have already heard the good news via Facebook or IRL.

But, I digress. I’ll cut to the chase.

Things have been a bit quiet here for the last two or three weeks because…

I FOUND MY DREAM JOB. (!!!)

Correction: not only did I find my dream job, but I interviewed my little heart out for it – a three-week, 10-separate-interview process that had me strung out like Amy Winehouse.

And then, I was hired for said dream job, and I had to keep it a secret for an entire week before the formal announcement. Do you know what it’s like to keep a secret in like that? Two words: balls hard. (That sounds awkward).

And oh hey Twitter haters – I did it all through the power of Twitter.

Now… for a quick explanation of what my “dream job” exactly means… Apologies ahead of time, for I think this is a topic that might bore some of you other than my most loyal, loyal readers and best friends. (Heart!) And I promise I’m not turn this blog from lifestyle into an industry-specific blog, but I’m just so dang proud and happy, I need to catalog this moment in time if for nothing else than a record for my future self.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I don’t really talk much about work here. (Blogging 101, hello! Unless you want to get Dooced). But I think you could probably already pick-up that I’m a huge fan of social media. Of Facebook. Of Twitter. Of blogging and networking online in communities such as 20-Something Bloggers, LinkedIn, Flickr, Yelp and more. Of the Internet in general, technology, computers. Of how it can all make your life so much easier. Make you more knowledgeable. And also make you broke. (Oh Amazon.com, RueLaLa and Etsy, how I love thee). How it breaks down barriers in time and distance and opens opportunities for happenstance, connections and friends.

My interest in the online world started with blogging, stemming from my love for writing and my journalism degree in college. Blogging allows anyone to be a published writer. And Carrie Bradshaw just sexified it for me even more. I took turns blogging for a local Seattle Web site and then became a “dating” blogger for a local newspaper. And of course, there’s this little baby that I’ve had for nearly four years now. But, it wasn’t until my last job that I realize social media – blogging, Twitter, Facebook and more – could actually be a career. And I could do it every day and get paid for it. I wouldn’t have to click out really quickly when someone came walking up behind me at work. Or worry that the IT team could tell how much time I’d been spending on the Internet. Hey – maybe I could just find a job where I was supposed to be on the Internet all day. Supposed to read blogs all day. Wouldn’t that be neat?

I think that some people will look their whole lives for something they’re passionate about that they can turn into a day job. For me, this is social media. I eat and breath this stuff. I started to think long and hard about how I could get up every morning to do what I’m most passionate about.

So over the summer, I decided to take a much-needed mental break off. (Hello best summer Seattle has ever seen. Hello private dock on Lake Washington. Goodbye natural tan lines I’ll never see again). I gathered my wits about me to figure out exactly what I wanted to be doing and where; I made a note to never let myself feel as unhappy in a job as I had been this past year.