Change You Want to See

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Working This Weekend

Can I complain? I know I'm not alone in this world, but these six-day weeks are not exactly my cup of tea. There are many things I value in life, but you can consider all the time I spend NOT working a list-topper.

On the up side, Matt and I have started to plan our 2nd anniversary getaway. We're having a bit of trouble narrowing down the destination... It's really dependent on whether we want the "adventure" type of vaca or the "be as lazy as possible for a week straight" type. I'm kind of leaning toward the latter, but that's no surprise.

Married two years in June! Time really does fly... And I've noticed recently that the old you get, the faster it flies. ...Bummer.

25 Things

'bout me...

1. The first thing I do when I get home from work is change into my pjs.
2. I've been married to my best friend for over a year and a half.
3. I am extremely protective of my family and friends. Even when they don't need me to be.
4. I didn't work for 6 months last year.
5. I used to want a mechanical bull in my backyard.
6. Thelma and Wynn are like my living stuffed animals. Except they spar and grunt and need to be fed. Other than that, they are the most adorable, cuddly, always-there-for-me, sweetest, softest little bitches in the world.
7. Technically, it's illegal for me to drive without glasses.
8. I love my "Grey's Girls". I love the fact that none of us has this catty or competitive nature. I love that we all love to laugh. I love that whenever we get together, wine is always the theme. I love that any topic is not off limits. I love the parties we throw. I love the road trips and the cabins and maybe not so much the camping. I really love that we all genuinely care about each other, and if any one of us needed anything at any given time, I truly believe that we'd drop anything to be there.
9. My favorite show (currently) is Dexter. I highly recommend it. ...Other shows I love are Grey's, The Office, Eli Stone, Weeds, and Mad Men.
10. I am 26 and that kind of scares me, even though I know that it shouldn't.
11. We bought a home two Novembers ago... I painted and decorated it myself, and found my passion for interior design in the process.
12. I want to get into Property Management as a career. Or, maybe think of it more as Property Ownership. And Tahoe Cabinship.
13. I love my bed. In fact, I'm laying in it right now.
14. My family lives in Southern California. And everybody says that it's a short trip between Nor Cal and So Cal, but I disagree. A twelve hour (round) road trip does not equal a weekend stay. So yeah, I miss them.
15. I've picked up the habit of cussing like a sailor lately.
16. My husband built me a shoe rack and he makes me gourmet dinners and gives me foot rubs and helps me clean and he plays bass in a pretty sick band and he drives because he knows I hate driving and he knows when to hold me just by the look on my face and he makes me laugh every single day. If there was a word that was bigger than love, I'd use it here...
17. I have a neurological disorder. It causes a dull ache in my legs. Nothing serious - just kind of sucks.
18. I'd really love to see London.
19. I have two tattoos. One is discrete. The other - not so much.
20. I love new things. I love the process of taking tags off or ripping off the packaging. ...It could be new boots from Nordstroms or a dog bone. If it's new, it's all exciting and it's all the same.
21. I hate unpacking. In fact, after I come back from vacation, I practically live out of a suitcase for another week. At least.
22. I tend to be gullible.
23. I prefer email/texting to actually talking on the phone.
24. I need at least one day a week off just to veg. Just to lay around the house and relax, catch up on my shows, do stupid things like fill out surveys, and take my mind off all things stressful.
25. I love photography. Both looking at it and doing it. It actually bums me out when I see a beautiful shot and I don't have a camera on me.

Every Girl Loves...

...her husband.

Business of Gossip

My guilty pleasure for the longest time was gossip magazines... I was never proud of my habit, but I would rack up at least two a week. This didn't include the three websites I visited regularly. Hourly. ...As I said, I'm not proud.

I knew everything there was to know about which celebrity had what plastic surgery done that week, or what a terrible outfit another chose. Who broke up, who overdosed. It was my way of relaxing... Giving my brain a rest by indulging in pictures and big print and the most outlandish breaking news that even I couldn't dream up.

Perhaps surprisingly, I think it's horrible that the paparazzi invade the privacy of these celebrities. The argument is, "they chose this career", but where's the line? Celebrities' rights are vague, if not entirely useless...The business of photographing celebrities is depraved and desperate. And with every magazine and every click of the mouse or remote, I was investing in that business.

Suffice it to say, that I was not the reason I forwent my habit. The honest truth is, the need to know somehow disappeared one day.

Today I was like 4 months sober..... Until I fell victim to a headline at the store.

But I just opened page one, and I'm bored already.

EQ

I heard today that something called your "Emotional Quotient" can be a determinant in your success, both personally and professionally.

"EQ" can be described as an emotional intelligence... The ability to effectively understand oneself and others and to relate well to people by adapting to and coping with your immediate surroundings.*

I find it well within people that speak their minds. Maybe not so much the "unfiltered"... But in the ones that express thoughts and ideas without injecting the emotion they're influenced by at the moment.

I find it in the ones that have lived an experience and choose to extract truths and facts instead of perceptions and assumptions.

And because this is a talent I so duly respect, I am making it my goal to keep my emotions in check... To focus on the many great things my experiences are here to teach me.

...Although, I get the feeling that no matter how hard I try, logic and reason will never quietly stand alone...


*Wiki

The Pit

So I've been out of training for about for about two weeks now. And I have to say, this will probably be the first close-to-positive thing I write about this place.

I actually had some slight training not too long ago to finish up, and the girl I trained with mused about how she missed the conference room we spent six and half weeks in. ...She then asked if I missed it too. That was a big, fat "nope".

I'm on the phones, which I thought I'd hate. But with a lead bank, it's not so bad... I had eight prospects scheduled last week. Five showed... And thankfully, because with just those five I was worn the F out.

My boss has kept in step with his micro-managing ways by setting outlandish expectations, along with weekly reports to rub salt in the wound. But now that I'm out of the "boiler room" and in "the pit", his hovering is not quite so frequent. And he might just have won a few points by loaning me Step Brothers and nailing a nerf-ball basketball hoop to the rep room door.

Out with the old....

So I didn't mention the tragedy that took place on the mountain while snowboarding a few posts back.

...It wasn't when I collided head-on with Matt, knocking him to the ground and dragging my shin across the edge of his board in the process. Or the many spills I took after not riding in two years. Nope.....

It was when my beloved camera, the one that has gotten me through the past four years, and the one that I've taken most, if not ALL of my best pictures with, up and stopped working. Mid-mountain.

I sat in the snow for ten minutes, pressing buttons... Perplexed. I mean, this thing was a brick. It had been through far worse that a little snow on the surface.

So yeah, maybe its four-year-old technology, size and weight basically likened it to Zack Morris's cell phone. But I'm a loyal and stubborn, and damnit... This camera took THE best, most consistent photos. And she is now laid to rest.

...Now I may be loyal, but I'm also addicted to all things shiny and new. It took about 24 hours before she was replaced because me without a camera might as well be me without lungs. (Dramatic? No....)

Check out my new toy!......Perhaps I move on rather quickly. But isn't she pretty??

Hella

Where did this word come from?

Why is it only in Northern California that people feel the need to use it on an every-other-sentence basis?

For those not familiar, "hella" can basically be replaced with "really". But it's not.

What's worse? ...If these articulate conversationalists decide "hella" isn't appropriate for those they're speaking to, they go as far as to replace it with the word "hecka".

Hecka?

Really?

brilliant

Snow Over the Bowl

Currently stretched out on the recliner, trying desperately to avoid any tv football speak.

Matt and I have decided to start the tradition of going boarding every Superbowl Sunday from here on out. Yep, we are Super Bowl Party Poopers.

And the 'kickoff' of our lovely little tradition was thoroughly enjoyable.