365

525,600 minutes! SO many things happen in a year, and our favorite time to examine those hundreds of thousands of minutes is now. I think this offers some cool perspective: 365 days of self-portraits.

I don't know this photographer. But I gather she is past college. I am in awe of these pictures and how much she is putting herself out there, for the whole internet to pass around as they please. She has to be sure of herself to be able to do this.

I was asked during my freshman year of college what qualities I'd love to possess but struggled with. At the time, I really wished I could be sure of myself. It's been around 828,000 minutes since my big day in May of '09, give or take a month of minutes :P and I have changed. I think I put myself out in the open more often, since I grew more confident in myself within the safety of college, kind friends, guidance from people I respected and trusted. I've also grown more confident with my knowledge within my field and sometimes I forget to go out and challenge myself.

My awesome friend Shenan has been doing so much of that recently. She just celebrated reading her thesis for her master's. She wrote about this and a few other exciting things that have been happening to her:

Overall though, it kind of blew me away that I did any of this at all. A few years ago, I would never have put myself out there in all the ways I have recently. I think grad school, work experiences, and growing up in general probably all contribute to this.

So, tonight, I want to celebrate exactly what Shenan wrote so beautifully. That we're always moving towards not only that which we can't predict in our lives, but also the things that we never could see ourselves even attempting to do. If that doesn't make you get excited to live life, I don't know what will. There are still so many future goals, still so many things that make our stomachs turn over, and so many fruits that we get to enjoy after we go out on a limb to grab them. That feels awesome. I hope you enjoy these things - and I hope more than anything, that this post gives me a kick in the pants to crawl out on that limb and reach for a piece of juicy fruit. If it's sour, I know there's just a forest full of trees for me to try out, and lots of people around me to encourage me that the only way you'll get what you've never gotten is to do what you've never done.

Never be cool

"Forget about good, love your experiments, go deep, drift, and don't be cool. Never be cool. Free yourself from limits of this sort."
-Kate Figgins, a philosophical and moral touchstone that I'm blessed to have in my life. She is a ridiculously cool-cool girl BECAUSE she doesn't worry about being cool.

After college, there's this whole idea, that you've got to be a more grown-up version of yourself. While it's good to say, "This is the year I'm going to stop eating Taco Bell every weekend," or "--insert any other positive goal you want to do yourself for yourself (not for anyone else)--"; it's important to not keep yourself from doing what you want to do because you have to be a grown-up now. Life is hard enough on the other side of college, what with being financially responsible (planning a budget, saving, paying bills on time), and responsible to work. You have GOT to let loose and do what you want to do because that's what makes being responsible all worth it. My point is, you should be these people:



These people made the 12 hours I worked to produce this video (all in one overnight chunk!) so enjoyable. If you love Harry Potter, don't be too cool to go to the midnight showing and dress up. And please be willing to sing, and skip, and just be alive! That zest for fun, the bubbliness, that energy is so contagious. If you lose that, you lose the best part of you. Remember that no one is keeping score anymore of who is the coolest. You can surround yourself with people who love the same things you do - and you can celebrate that in some extraordinarily memorable ways. And a giddy USA TODAY employee might just document it.

Text time

This is my best friend Andrea.

Isn't she just adorable? I know. She's also up in the picture behind the title of my blog.

So, this girl has the best personality (I think this picture shows it visually quite perfectly - the vibrant colors, the excitement over sitting on a hand in front of a yummy bakery). We've been best buds since I was a freshman in high school. We've pretty much been long-distance friends since then.

I know I've blogged about how I feel like my 9-5 routine has been a freeing experience for me, as opposed to the gut response that more people have as seeing it as restrictive. But one thing that has fallen by the wayside, is my ability to catch up with my girlfriends who live far away from me. Ange and I have often experienced how it can be really hard to find a time where we can both talk for enough time to really catch up on each other's lives. It seems rude, but it can be logistically difficult to find out when each of you can set aside the hour it requires, especially with all the other things we busy ourselves with after work.

So, Ange read an article about a woman who moves a lot and has a few dear long-distance friends. She and her best friend text each other what they ate for breakfast. Well, Ange had the brilliant idea for us to adapt that for ourselves! I was so ecstatic when she suggested that! I thought we could just pick one thing for the day that we could text each other about. So far (we started this on Saturday), we have covered: wine tours, egg burritos, baby showers, serendipitous metro meet-ups with friends, cleaning at home and finding old cards :), not hating mondays, and pumpkin ice cream. Awesome.

Another brilliant way we can still stay in touch with friends who live far away - without the hour long convos we had time for in between classes. I still think it's important to have those conversations every once in a while - and to make trips to see each other. That's the best way to keep a friendship alive.

Come to think of it, I'm very thankful that over this year I've been able to see so many of my amazing friends who live far away.

I got to see Taylor Dancer in her beautiful wedding in March.



I got to see one of my best friends since third grade over Memorial Day weekend and spend time with her betrothed - and I just saw them get married just a few short weeks ago! This is their exquisite halloween costume:


I got to see Reyna Nowaczyk on my BIRTHDAY in DC! I loved that. She is my love. Her bf got to be with us too!


And then my dear Meg, my cousin, my sister, my other half :) I watcher her graduate, and spent a week with her in in her element at Penn State - it was her birthday, too! It was SO FUN! We also had a cousins day on the beach together; I love my family so much. She is my best friend too. (DISCLAIMER: I did just get off the phone with her for an hour before writing this post. You know, most Mondays I have plans with my best friend who doesn't live far away - Calvin Bovee - but he is out of town on business. I really have planned out a weekday routine that is filled with things I love - and leaves me less time for callin').


Finally, it's been way awesome seeing my brother and sister-in-law so often this year. I love them lots. They are coming to stay with me this weekend - we are going to see Hair. We celebrated Easter together, visited Atlantic City, had fun at cousins day at their place near the Jersey shore (sigh wish it was summer again so I can overstay my welcome there...). My brother and I have become so close since I've moved to the east coast and since I shared this post-college life with him.
Their awesome Halloween costume.

There will never be a cuter Garth, right?

"Nothing's far when one wants to get there." -Queen Marie of Romania, taken from the book Reyna got me - The Girl's Book of Positive Quotations

I'm really blessed that even though the miles separate us, I've been able to see people I really really love - that I've added to my family pretty much - over this great year. I have a lot to celebrate for these holidays - a lot to be thankful for. And I have quite a bit of texts to send. ; )

I voted at an actual polling booth!

So normally, in college, I wasn't sure with class, etc., whether I should spend the time to vote on voting day. I always voted on a mail-in ballot - which I gotta tell you is a little lackluster. You mail it in, and that's it, no sticker, no smiles from volunteers, no leaving work for a change of scene.

Well that changed this past Tuesday! It was especially exciting with what Facebook was doing - encouraging everyone to weigh in on voting with the "I voted" button - I loved it.

I will always vote and now it gets to be one of those joys I have time for - everyone at work is asking if you voted, and telling you to make time for it. I wasn't gone more than an half hour because the lines were so short! I walked right up to a booth after they signed me in - went through a touch screen digital device, and it was all done so quickly! Then I got to proudly wear my "I voted" sticker.

Also, I really enjoyed seeing my baby cousin Kathleen (who is now 18 - my goodness!) weigh in about voting for the first time at the polls, too. I have never forgotten the lessons we learned about women's suffrage in grade school classes in Mount Laurel. A woman from the Alice Paul Society told us a lot about Alice Paul's life. What I remembered most was a story about her at the end of her life. She was living in a nursing home and struggling with the pain inflicted on her as a younger woman - she was force-fed in jail, a fate that chills me to the bone every time I think about it. They stuffed tubes down her throat against her will (pumping raw eggs into her stomach), so her throat and voice were never the same. She still fought for the movement. But even though it was difficult for her to speak at that late point in her life, she always asked every woman she met if she voted. I learned that in grade school and swore I'd always honor the women who fought for my right to vote. Thank goodness someone decided to stop at nothing - even horrible punishments inflicted by the very institution the suffragettes were trying to make better.

I probably could have had the same experience in college, but I always went an easier route. I really enjoyed going to the polls on Voting Day and probably will do it the same way next time!

Broke my record - do I have my routine to thank?

I've never ran 2.5 miles straight in my life.

Until Thursday. YEAH! Beat my record - was wanting to go for three miles, but I listened to my body and stopped at 2.5. You can't go for 2 miles until you run 1. Some people think going the same place every day for almost 8 hours sounds like hell. I feel like work IS often an escape into a story because of what I do while in my chair at that cubicle. My mind is so stimulated to try to properly tell some one's story. BUT my physical body - excepting my right index finger (CEO of mouse control) and my left thumb and index finger (each VP of Special Final Cut Keyboard Commands) - is very much at rest.

So, I decided to do something about that - join the wonderful gym at work. I've been going to yoga classes - and I almost never miss Boot Camp and Total Body Conditioning. I've also been running. It relieves so much stress and it's something I look forward to - pushing my body past the mental limits I set for it. It provides me with so much satisfaction and pride when I complete the goal I set.

In college, I never made time for this sort of thing. I definitely went to the gym and worked out a few times every couple months - but I could never do it consistently because of my schedule. I'm sure I could have fit it in if I cared about it more. It's a struggle for someone to go from not knowing what they'll be doing during their day throughout most of college (except the one fundamental: CLASS) to having a weekly and daily routine. It took me a while to get used to it - and to realize how much fun I can pack into my week - even with a 40-hour work week.

I think, for me, my routine has allowed me to become a person who is committed to fitness. I am three floors above the space where I recognize the moments when my body breaks its own records. In college, by virtue of the fact that I was juggling so many responsibilities (residents as an R.A., shooting video for school, workin' a side job to pay the bills), desires (coffee with a friend, quality time with Dusty, singing at the big bang piano bar - uh, well, that might be a need), and needs (laundry, grocery shopping) - I rarely did any of these things regularly. I had no set aside times to be at work, at play, (and at errand?).

This routine has actually given me a lot of order in my life - and everything else seems to fall into place - my responsibilities are met, my desires are satisfied, and my needs - mentally and physically - are provided for. It's much less intensive than juggling! I think my mind and body and yeah, maybe even soul, are benefitting from it. Take that, corporate haters :)

Is there anything good that you think has come out of your routine?

Reading is great - it cracks open the world to me

I am really gelin' (a la Dr. Scholl's)

with the theme of this blog. Lovely life after college. Reading to my heart's content because I have more free time with my down time (what I mean by this is that I have no homework, club responsibilities, etc. keeping me from doing things for pleasure). Reading for pleasure brought me to the article I want to share with you here: Smart, Young, and Broke
White-collar workers are China’s newest underclass.

Like I wrote in the title of this article, reading cracks open the world to me. It's a heartbreaking read, but a great one. As much as we complain about working 40 hours a week (or like this past week I worked about 50...), and having to work our way up the totem pole, and not having enough money for our must-buy items - in America, people who have a skill above physical labor are not "ants." Life after college is not without trial, but at least the hard work we put in for college is paid back to us. We can spend money and time on our friends' life-changing celebrations (like the bridal shower and bachelorette party I went to this weekend for my best friend since second grade!) The uncertainty, worry, and poor living conditions these young people are facing is just terrible. It is sheerly incredible to think of the variety of life experiences in the world we live in--and after I read the article, I thought that this would be a good thing to post to my blog, given my focus. As a reminder, but more than that as a powerful story about the people who belong to this community that I choose to blog about, and surely as a community of people I feel I belong to, even though they live halfway around the world, and I am sure I cannot properly understand their difficulties. Read and maybe you will feel what I feel to -- and that's what I love about reading and especially learning about real people - I feel so much closer to the world around me.

First time I understood Shakespeare!

First day of classes at ASU is Thursday. I won't be going :)! One thing I remember about going to plays in college - if they were high-brow, I fell asleep. Operas (especially those in a different language), plays with dialogue I couldn't understand, etc. - I just flat out slept. And I had spent about only 7 dollars (you best believe I busted out the student ID) - and I wanted to consider myself cultured, so I went. Here is one I remember specifically mostly sleeping through - Ariadne auf Naxos I have to attest that this wasn't that the performances weren't worth my attention - it was just that I was too scatter-brained, busy, and overworked--and in the dark theatre, leaning back and fading out was a lot easier. I don't know if "thrilling" is really how you could describe the guy who wrote the play - here is the picture from the Wiki article:

Which is another good reason to go to a play that the Washington Post gives 5 stars - which I did tonight. Also tonight, I am raising a Mike's Hard Lemonade to the fact that I watched Macbeth a few short hours ago (in a theater that I can walk to!) and was enthralled, moved - and best of all, understood it completely. Mike's Hard Lemonade must be consumed, because my darling boyfriend bought two 12-packs while in the Poconos this weekend from a distributor -- and the group we were with was too wiped from white water rafting earlier to actually drink them. I wasn't - because of my stitches I didn't go but had a wonderfully relaxing day doing pretty much nothing but watching two episodes of The Nanny, The Lion King (SO GOOD), and then playing Disney Trivia with the brother of my sister-in-law, Eric, who I just adore. We had a great weekend.

Okay, so, Macbeth. I know Shakespeare created many new words - does anyone know if he created cut-throat?

First Murderer

My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.

MACBETH

Thou art the best o' the cut-throats

I remember having to read Shakespeare in high school and hating it -- Everyone who is forced to read Shakespeare should get the pleasure of seeing it as it was meant to be seen--because it truly FINALLY makes sense. The characters the "immortal bard" wrote about sounded just like his nickname - haughty, pretentious, self-important--even cheesy--when I simply read the words they spoke. But tonight, I saw people perform them with a vast array of emotions exploding out of them on the stage - fear, anger, tearfulness, depression, malice, lust. The best was when I realized later that what was being said rhymed. What they were saying seemed so natural! The performance distracted me from the cheesiness of rhyme that I was so blatantly aware of when I read it. The actor tonight who said the words below was so creepy, I didn't catch the rhyme until later:

First Apparition

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

The actor who said those words was shirtless, skinny, yet extremely muscular. Watching him twist his muscles as he struggled to speak his prophecy was so compelling!

Shakespeare has occasional stage directions, but not many. It keeps things so open for every acting company who performs it. I loved this version by the Push/Pull Theater Company. They used capoeira for all the fighting scenes which are so much more engaging and truly physical than all other stage fighting I've ever seen. It made it look so much less fake (!) and way more theatrical - and you know as a gleek that I love theatricality.
One such stage direction that could have helped me while reading would be a simple (TO MACBETH) direction when Lady Macbeth is asking Macbeth to, frankly, keep his $*#% together after killing the king and ordering a servant to kill his friend. It looks like she is talking to the guests only - but in the performance I just watched - she has such disgust, vileness, and hatred when she spits out the last part in his face, away from the table - Are you a man?! Such a 180 from the way she is placating and reassuring the guests! You just can't read that sort of passion - which is why I would hope more high school students get the experience of seeing just how radically opposite of "haughty, cheesy, and self-important" these characters get. Lady Macbeth showed her true evil colors all over the place!

ROSS

Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.

LADY MACBETH

Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion:
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?

I also loved the way the cast was dressed - everyone barefoot, with modern hairstyles, and simple clothing. I liked that the production was largely bereft of props and over-the-top costumes. I loved the witches' costumes - the closest thing to theatricality beyond the performers' actions - their extended black arms that had sweeping long black fabric worked wonderfully for their characters. - Here you can see Lady Macbeth's hateful and fearful looks at her husband, the Weird Sisters and their cool costumes, the simple clothing the cast wore, and at least one capoiera move immediately before a dagger is plunged deep into Macbeth's heart.

So, speaking of the Wierd Sisters, I love how I caught a few things in the play that took me straight to my most favorite of stories - Harry Potter. Obviously, the fantastic "Something Wicked This Way Comes" track that is easily my favorite song in the films. I can't lie - I got a little giddy when they said it - referencing the murderous maniac Macbeth. Nice alliteration, eh, Shakespeare?

I also couldn't help but connect the Wierd Sisters with these rockers:


My final thoughts on this fun performance are another nod to the idea that people should really see the performance if they're going to read the play - especially high school students. Take these next few lines, which I consider the best of the whole play:

Macbeth:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

This is said after he learns of Lady Macbeth's death. When reading it, I took the emotion to be detachment, carelessness, a way of showing that he is superior to the common, living people -- and I really hated him for it! In this play, tonight, I grew attached to Macbeth from the beginning -- and stayed with him throughout the play. David Winkler is fantastic, (he plays Macbeth) and I am THRILLED to learn that he is a founding artistic associate of the theater that is only a half mile from where I live! And as a blog that celebrates life soon after graduation, Winkler recently graduated from Northwestern University (at least that's what it says in his bio). In this play, the way he lets the three "tomorrow"s be pulled out of his mouth and fall to the floor--each with a deep thud is just magic. He is so anguished - and my favorite part of this moment is the way Winkler says the last word, "nothing." It came out of him with a guttural rage!

Shakespeare always lacked context to me when I read it and had me flipping open a Sparksnotes book (or more often reading the explanation online). The amazing thing about the play tonight was that the players' actions were the context. That, I think, is acting at it's best - when something is nearly in a foreign language but the touches, gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions and pure emotion--I was shocked at one moment to see Lady Macbeth, listening to her enemies in the corner, have tears all over her face--provide all the clues the audience would need. I wish all students of Shakespeare could have what I have tonight.

I also want to say again how wonderful it was to not be so overworked that I could actually immerse myself in a cultural event that had me concentrating on each moment of the artists' expression--largely trying to catch the Harry Potter references, words made up by Shakespeare, and ways I could further piss off my high school English teachers. The event was deeply satisfying and was another thing I had to blog about because there are many joys about life on the other side of graduation.

Sweet romantic 20-year-old nights?

Oh, how moving sucks. I feel like it's the end of the year at college - except I'm missing the shared pain you get when you meet eyes with another college kid who is also dumping all their stuff in loose pieces, dangerously piled on top of each other into cars to take it to the next place they will keep their assortment of junk.

I haven't been as responsible as I should about moving so I think this Saturday - when we absolutely have to be out of the apartment - will feel like move out day at ASU. But luckily, I know I can do it, because I have done it four times before. I just hope I really follow through with that desire I get afterwards to throw out a bunch of my stuff because really who needs to own so many things it can fill up a couple cars?

Anywho - the point of this post is a thought that came upon me when finding a sweet parking spot in front of the bar where our friends were hosting a happy hour. There were a bunch of songs that while I was in college, I assumed would only feel like they applied to me at that time and I wouldn't enjoy it as much when I left school. One such song was on in the car - Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel - a song I always tried to force the piano players at The Big Bang in Tempe to play by giving them a twenty dollar bill. The line that stood out most for me in that song was this: "Cold beer! Hot lights! My sweet romantic teenage nights!" And it dawned on me that I am certainly having cold beer, hot lights, and sweet romantic 20-year-old-age nights. Which first made me want to find a better word for someone in their 20's, and then made me want to share with more people who are graduating that all these things that you think won't apply to you when you become an "old person," may not happen at all if you invest time in friendships, and make time for fun, even when you feel major adult responsibilities (like I don't know needing to move out of your apartment into a new condo...) weighing on you. We always found ways to take care of homework, part-time jobs, club leadership duties, and more in college in addition to enjoying our lives to the point of recklessness. I say drink an extra cup o' joe and deal with it - and you'll always have sweet romantic soul-recharging nights.

Memories from graduating last year

Wow! I have changed so much since graduation. My awesome friend Arman (who met the President this time last year actually) sent us a message to update us all on his life - and invited all of us to update every one else. It's honestly made me so happy to hear how everyone's doing. These are people that will always stay with me. I made a video for our Senior Year Banquet - and it was such a joy to put together.

Here is part one of the video:


And here is part two (which features Arman at the very beginning!):


I love you '05 cohort and always will!!

These are the days...

....to remember.

When I was younger, I'd stay up late while my mom-mom would talk about a few of her favorite things. She had a blue coat with blue buttons when she was sixteen and she felt like a princess whenever she wore it. She had pumps she would wear with it. I can just imagine her, with the hem of her dress hanging below her long coat, feeling like a queen.

Well, that's how I felt when I went into the city today - walking in heels over cobbled stone paths with big green trees dropping rain drops all around me. A drenched spring in D.C. is the best when you have girly feelings like I did today. It's easy to soak in the beauty as you walk by - especially if you feel pretty, which I did because I was wearing a blue coat, with a lovely full skirt peeking out underneath and I couldn't help but think of my mom-mom.

I'm glad I learned to always remember how lovely it is to be a girl from all the fabulous women that raised me.

Photo post

My favorite blogs have LOTS of photos. The latest ones I've put on facebook are QUITE old (as in Oct./Nov.) but they are still fun. So I will write about the photos......


This is my friend Calvin. He's pretty cute. This is a great picture to start with because he just moved here and I am TOTALLY thrilled about it. This guy is my best friend. We stuck by each other (especially when we needed each other most) all through college and tried to hang out AS MUCH as possible before I moved to D.C. and he moved to Tucson.

BUT Guess what? He lives in D.C. now too! He has a fancy job at the Treasury and still has time to hang out with me. Sweet!

Neeeeeeexxxxxxttt!



These are some of my FAVORITE girlfriends. They live in AZ, sadly, and look how cute they are dressed up as roller derby girls. It was a very touch subject to bring up the fact that Whip It just came out in theaters. THEM, (collectively): "We came up with this idea BEFORE we even heard anything about that movie! Sad face." Do roller derby girls count devil girls as their good friends? I hope so.

Thirdsies!



He is the cheese to my macaroni, and the sun to my devil. I came up with this costume for going back on Halloween for Homecoming, and it was my BIGGEST pet peeve for someone to say "Devil? Sooo original" (with rolled eyes, of course) whenever Dusty wasn't by my side. It WAS pretty original actually!

You want more? Here comes numbah 4!



My dear friend David. He was a battery. He has lots of energy. I thought it was perfect. Another AZ friend, who I miss as well.

5555555


I truly aspire to make a sangria this beautiful and this delicious. I'll invite you over when I do. Don't let me forget.

Six is for sweethearts ... newlyweds!



I love these two so much! Taylor & Jason just got MARRIED!!! Just a few weeks ago. Their wedding was blissful, classy, and represented the two of them as a couple so much it made me weepy. I CANNOT stop talking to Dusty (and partly freaking him out) about what I want my wedding to be like. Taylor did such a FANTASTIC job, I feel like I need to plan for five years, even without a ring on my finger! : ) Here is herblog and the blog of the photo studio her FABULOUS sister owns!

7 is the place I've wanted to go (and haven't been to!) since at least that age...



This is an odd angle on this REALLY cool LAND ride in DISNEY WORLD! I took about a thousand pictures there. They take you through a greenhouse where they show all these amazing ways they are growing things. One of my favorite "rides" that wasn't a ride.

8 is for grrrrrreat family



This is a picture of my brother, Jim, my sister-in-law Renee, and my sister-in-law's brother, Eric. We went to Disney together, and we've been on other trips together since I've moved to D.C. I really love these three people and feel that they are a wonderful family to me--dealing with my obnoxious amount of picture-taking and my overexcitement about everything.

A stitch in time saves 9



"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." If this didn't come up as number 9 in my little photo post I would have never posted it using that expression as context. But I think it's a good frame of mind around sustainable agriculture, or sustainable anything for that matter. Prevention is worth the pay off. People would sometimes just rather do the cheapest, easiest, most convenient, laziest thing rather than the one that should happen now but will save us lots of trouble in the end. This is a picture of a .... get this... tomato tree. How cool and innovative!

How is it sustainable? A caption I found online explains:

The plant's single vine grows tens of thousands of golf ball-sized tomatoes which are harvested and served at restaurants across Walt Disney World Resort. Huang's first tomato tree at Epcot, planted last year, set a Guinness World Record when it yielded a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes from one vine. The tomato trees can be seen by guests on the pavilion"s "Living with the Land" boat ride.

I loved that Living with the Land boat ride!! : )

To Infinity and Beyond!!! (Or just to 10... and no further) : )



How gorgeous!!! I love the parks at Disney World. They are so inspiring, and everything a kid dreams it to be like. Tomorrowland was a blast!!!

Sorry there were so many dorky puns but I can't help it; it's just me!

Love out to the blogosphere!

VANCOUVER!!

Sooooo I feel like I have SO MUCH to say about covering the Olympics in Vancouver! I feel like once I pull in pictures, it will be easier to tell more. So, for now, in my mess of a suitcase that I'm sure contains the camera cord I need, I will just make a list, of what I will miss a lot... and what I won't miss. : )

What I won't miss:
10) Being away from home and being away from my routine of going to the office, working on a video story, talking to Katye, Les, & Rene, driving to and from work with Dusty, going out with friends in D.C., playing in our bocce league, etcetera...... : )
9) Beeping horns after Canadian wins... They were intense! I will not miss that.
8) Take out, take-out, and more take-out... India Gate's buttery chicken was the best thing I had that was take-out in Vancouver (yum) ... but it was nice to sit down in a restaurant the few times we got away from our production room.
7) My total inability to buy souvenirs! There was nothing that really appealed to me for friends & family (besides the few things I was able to pick up--like the shot glass I got Meg for her collection) and what I REALLY wanted was the mittens. I checked and rechecked so many times, but only snagged 3, and 2 were already promised to a friend.
6) No Hulu and no pandora! What would I do with my life? Thanks to fellow blogger and another one of those good az friends who ended up in D.C. and an advo too in fact Natalie Fletcher Cubbal, I found out about grooveshark, a website where you can list a bunch of songs and listen to them as much as you want. Quite ideal, I'd say! Which is why I was listening to SO very much of the boss, GREAT motivation. : )
5) Long render times... and maybe the long hours, too. (But I do not lose sight of the fact that I was really really lucky to be there, no matter what kind of work I had to do.)
4) Lack of social time with anyone there. But same footnote as the one before it... And it must be said that I went to a really sweet curling party before the games started. So awesome!
3) Slow-moving crowds. It's soooo east coast of me, BUT everyone was looking up and around and never straight ahead and moving forward. There were several large stairs that led me down to the office where I worked. It was a BEAUTIFUL plaza, and so much was constantly going on -- jugglers, performers, dancers, everything. (You can't see the crowds in this picture because it wasn't shot during the Olympics, but basically this level is after a few stairs down, and then after I tucked in a door to the side there were more stairs down... So many people, though! haha)
So I guess you can't blame them because they were there for fun, and I was there to work so I had a direct mission and a place to get to while they just ambled and took it all in. But still, you can be considerate to who is trying to get through! And the worst part was the stairs... If there had been any kind of emergency, people would have been stuck for sure! There was no easy way to get through on the stairs YIKES!
2) No phone!! That was really rough for me. Also no kindle was pretty bad... It got damaged on the trip. That was another major way for me to unwind, and I didn't have those. Lame-o.
1) Cheesy for sure, but what I missed most was Dusty. He's my best friend and he's so great to live with! So of course I missed him!


What I will miss:
10) My PRESS PASS!! I will definitely post a picture soon. The beloved press pass got me into so many cool places and around crowds in certain ares, so that was way awesome. I saw the finals for ladies' figure skating because of that bad boy. So cool.
9) Pin trading! It is a super big deal to trade pins in the Olympic host city--between journalists, Starbucks baristas, the security personnel at all venues--It makes everything like a big opportunity to meet anyone. It's really fun. I got some sweet pins from this French guy who I think only knew the words "pins" and "no money" in English. That's all I needed! I got a pin from Nagano and Calgary from him! The whole thing kind of reminded me of the National Catholic Youth Conference, and any 4-H conference I went to where it's just all about meeting people. So nice!
8) My hotel was on the WATER! Seeing ships on the harbor every morning gave me instant happiness, and there was something so romantic about the foggy misty look of English Bay. I usually walked from my hotel along the water up to the press center where I worked. Sooooo pretty!
7) I got gifts in my hotel room every day! I made a facebook post about it: Shannon Green I'm excited to get back home to D.C., but I know I will miss the person who comes into my room every day and makes the bed, cleans the bathroom, takes out the trash and even organizes my stuff sometimes. On top of all of this, they have been leaving a gift everyday, and good ones! So after working 13-14 hours, it is nice to come back to a clean place with a gift waiting : ) hmmmm... guess I'll have to hire a gift maid. haha - Friends suggested that Dusty would be up for the job and work for cheap. I think I'd rather have him make dinner every night (no more take out for a really long time!! yay!) which he does for free. sweeeeet. I'll make a blog post with pictures of all the stuff I got.
6) Funnily enough, there was a lot of funny Canadian tv shows on at 3 a.m. that I liked. I think my favorite channel was slice and the best show was Til Debt Do Us Part. This woman comes in and puts crazy spenders on a budget and if they survive, she gives them $5,000 and they have a plan to get out of debt in the next couple of years. It hurt their relationships a lot so she helped with that, too... It was kind of addicting! I also saw some sweet Scottish wife swap episode and it made me think of my friend and (again) fellow blogger Jane Christie. She can do a sweet Scottish accent lickety split because she still has family living there. I think I kept watching the show solely because of their accents! Also, a dream come true: Waiting for Guffman came on at 3 a.m. It happened when I was pretty far in (I think 16th or 17th Vancouver Today... so I was sooooo happy, haha)
5) I learned a whole bunch in a short amount of time and learned a lot about staying calm and solving problems in high-pressure situations. I felt like I also learned how to identify what I need to be more effective and how to respectfully ask others to help me with that and achieve my goal. I also learned a lot technically from the nightly shoots and editing all night.
4) I was in the Olympic host city!! There was so much beauty all around, excitement, and things you would ONLY see there. Case in point: the Olympic cauldron, the torch relay which I caught the tail end of, athletes, athletes, and more athletes!, the countdown clock to the Olympics , a zip line (not sure this is an Olympic city thing but it was pretty cool going across the square haha), proud and kind Canadians, tons of people from all over the world wearing clothes to identify where they are from with pride, and general controlled chaos.
3) Being able to attend Olympic events. I went to women's hockey USA v. Russia, ladies' figure skating, long-track speedskating and saw a medal ceremony! and finally, closing ceremonies. That is fantastically lucky and fortunate and I am so so so happy I took a bajillion pictures and videos of those happenings. I think I took so much because I just wanted to say, "I was here and I saw this" and document it forever. I kept pinching myself.
2) Being completely immersed in the stories of Olympians, who are in the end normal people who work really really hard and get up after they fall. I was pretty baffled when I saw them in the airport entourage-less and in coach like the rest of us. How did that happen? I'm still not sure. There were stories of complete failure and complete success--sometimes for the same athlete. There was drama, and there was friendship and happiness. When I felt upset about a technical difficulty with the show, I just reminded myself that I didn't get disqualified in an event that I had been working towards for four years, so I was okay. The stories of these Olympians are so heightened and powerful because they are competing on the world stage. Wow. And they do it and they either succeed or fail or do a mixture of both and then they go home to do more work for the next four years. On top of that, all these people with different cultures and backgrounds come together and respectfully compete against each other. There's really something redeeming and beautiful that comes through in all of that.
1) All the walking in the pretty town of mountains against beautiful water past smiling faces, flowers for sale, and book stores. I know it was good for my health and good for my soul.

More Olympic stories to come. : )

Posting for posting's sake

Right now, I am wishing I was able to celebrate with Taylor & her bridesmaids for the bachelorette party. I did get a lot done this weekend, so that is my only solace for missing it.

Dusty & I are decidedly not watching the super bowl. I'll watch all the ads on USA TODAY's ad meter, and he will probably watch them on Hulu. We're kind of excited for this"If I can dream" show on hulu. Guess we'll see if it amounts to anything soon enough.

I leave for the Olympics SO soon! It's crazy and exciting!! I hope I have everything ready. I'm trying to do everything I can to be prepared for the daily show.

I haven't blogged in a while, but here were some funny thoughts between last post & this one:

Dusty and I were getting ready to go to our Bocce Ball game (we joined a league) and he said, Oh no, the State of the Union is tonight! And I said, what, do you want to stay home and watch? (Because that didn't sound very much like Dusty). It took me a second (or maybe more seconds than I'd like to recognize publicly on my blog) to realize that he was talking about the fact that our league meets a few blocks from the Capitol. Ha-ha! Only in d.c.

Also, we won our bocce ball game of last week! My teammates said that I was "mvp" but I think I just got ridiculously lucky. Regardless, we were all super happy!

I guess all I have to talk about besides work is bocce.

Oh, and I guess one more thing:
Dusty & I dug out our car this morning and now we feel super strong and capable.

Anywho, that's all.

grown-up stuff and friend fun... wowza they are growing up too!

a few moments ago - dusty: facsimile? what's that?

We are slowly becoming grown-ups. Tonight, the two of us kids...

-Applied for a loan, and worked out a joint agreement contract for POSSIBLY owning a home together! : )

In other news: justin & toby might come to d.c. for a visit-- justin, to check out law schools; toby to check out d.c. - never been to our nation's capital before--apparently, never been out of az nm ca area!

Also, my funny cousin Megan left me a voicemail nearly singing with excitement that she browned ground meat for tacos. "I think I should win an award for being awesome." That is a direct quote.

Finally, I leave you with a challenge for myself: no more vending machine food of any sorts, even if it seems harmless like trail mix. I was doing great with this when I didn't have any dollar bills but they seem to keep coming back to me in change lately. I need to bring my own snacks carefully measured out in ziploc bags. Here's to hopin' I start seeing some results!

I'm waiting to start running until I get back from the olympics because I'm using free time to work on production plans for Vancouver Today. Before I know it, it will be March and I will be shimmying into a pretty yellow bridesmaid dress for Taylor Dancer's wedding!! Tay tay loves me so much she even made a special leg shout-out to me and suggested we all shorten our dresses. She will become Taylor Joy Ake, and Dusty & I are going to walk down the aisle together at their ceremony, just like she had always planned. She told the entire crowd at our LSP senior campfire that this would be so, and I love her for even beginning to think of me that highly. I adore her. It kills me that I won't be at her VERY fun Bridal Shower and bachelorette party fun due to all the Vancouver stuff. Check out her pretty blog, the actual cutest blog on the block: http://taylorjoy.wordpress.com/

Love to all!

The small things are the sweetest!

As I'm writing this, Dusty is singing a metal song into his brand new Guitar Hero/Rock Band microphones. He and I have learned that we love hearing our voices amplified; (He literally just screamed "1,2,3 yeah crowd let's do it!" haha!) We've been singing Beatles in harmony since we got home.

Dusty has been waiting to open these (isn't he sweet to wait?) until I FINALLY recieved the gift that Dusty ordered before December 10th -- Sony took its sweet time getting me my gift! I got it from the front desk just a few hours ago - IT'S ALL 6 HARRY POTTER DVDS!! I'm SIKED! Dusty is so nice because I think I mentioned ONCE that I'd like to own them all and he just listened and ordered them. Especially with the winter weather here, I've been talking about how the HP movies always make me think of winter and it's a great thing to watch when you're not feeling good or it's a rainy day. Man, I'm so happy!

Side note: Dusty also just screamed: "We're the best in the world and we're gonna rock your face off! Alright, everybody, you've got to party every day and every night and if you can't, then suck it!"

So, I've been thinking lately--as we're enjoying our new electronics as anniversary gifts for 2 years together--that I enjoy nothing more than having silly & fun times with Dusty--like singing ridiculous phrases into the new mics. I love our car rides together to work. We're probably gonna talk finances tonight because Dusty had a call with the realtor -- and another very serious talk: Bocce Ball rules. Dusty and I joined a league with our ASU friends - together, we are the Bocce Devils. This is another thing I love about Dusty and the fact that he's my one to go through life with - that he can make any situation, no matter how serious, pretty fun and light.

Work is not exactly "fun and light" right now as we are getting closer to the Olympics. I think our practice show went alright, but we are going to be using different equipment, and I'm not really sure how long it will all take--but I guess I'll just figure it all out and make a routine and get it down pat by the first couple of days. I will have people to lean on in Vancouver so that is great. I had a bit of an off day at work with technology, though--so that was frustrating. Luckily, I found some work-arounds that will possibly save me some time in Vancouver so that might have actually been a pretty lucky blessing in disguise! We're going to have an awesome IT crew in Vancouver so if anything bad happens there, we'll have great support.

Every time I think about going to Vancouver, I get so overwhelmed and EXCITED! I just wonder what it will be like to be in the middle of such a major international event with so much press. There's so many events happening-- co-workers and friends keep sending me emails of the latest happening in Vancouver for that time. I know I will be glued to my production and producing equipment for 12-14 hours a day (maybe more!) but that's what all the journalists will be doing in Vancouver. Yay! So pumped for this experience!!

grateful

Soooooooo... new year, new me. I made some resolutions, mostly about me becoming a grown-up and looking good in time for my wedding day. I guess I should care more about my health, but I just love eating! I know it would be good for EVERYTHING in my life to be more healthy and exercise. I guess you'll see in this blog whether or not I'm being good about it.

In related news, since the new year has started, I've been doing so many fun things! Dusty and I had a wonderful time at a restaurant with open bar & buffet ringing in the new year with good friends from az and new ones from d.c. Afterwards, we went to an az friends' mansion that she house sits in all year round... and there are 11 bedrooms! It's a former embassy and AMAZING. So we were able to have breakfast and were in that house until 1 or 2 p.m. on New Year's Day and it made me feel like 2010 was going to be an excellent and very happy year. First meal of 2010: Honey Bunches of oats! YES!

Work has been a bit hectic since getting back from the holidays. We've been working hard to develop a show called Vancouver Today that I am producing and doing the production for. It's a daily show that USA TODAY is going to post to their site from Vancouver, the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. We're getting all the equpment together, show themes, and editing pieces so it's all ready to go for the show.

The weekend after that we went to Atlantic City. My brother had a deal for two comped nights so we got a free room! Andrea and Scott also came in from Philadelphia, to add to our group of me, Dusty, Renee, Jim, & Renee's brother, Eric. We had a great time! My favorite part of the trip was probably when we went to Smithville, a small shopping villa right outside of Atlantic City. The Renault Winery is there and it had lots of cool history--like how the winery stayed in business during Prohibition by selling "health tonics" that had warnings proclaiming: Do not keep in fridge, will turn to wine. Crazy, huh? They gave us so many samples that Dusty & I were feeling it! The gift shop had this delicious hot apple wine in mulling spices. Yum; so good!! Then, we went to these other shops, and they had MORE wine samples! Very fun... I bought garlic cheese from this wonderful cheese shop with, yes, you guessed it, many free samples; and I also bought a plaque with a gaelic greeting: Cead Mile Falte - A thousand welcomes. I have plans to hang it up near the door into my apartment. I won $40 at the slots, and we all had a pretty fun game of King's Cup in the hotel on Saturday night!

So now... this weekend, Dusty and I were invited to go to the White House with a family that I used to babysit. It was really cool! We went through the whole first floor of the White House, which shows off the historical rooms - about 8 rooms in total, and the tour took about 15 minutes. It was VERY fancy! In a way, it reminded me of my brother's college, Monmouth, which was President Woodrow Wilson's summer home... and starred in the 80's version of the movie musical Annie as Daddy Warbucks' mansion. It also reminded me of Mount Vernon. Pretty fun, but also quick so if I could do it again (which I very much want to) I would take my time and go through more slowly.

We went to Cosi with Bob & Myra, the parents of Julia and Alissa, the girls I used to babysit. It's funny how they've grown up so quickly and are talking about college... Wow! We went to the American History Museum to see Julia Child's kitchen - very fun. We also went to see the Capitol which I think was cooler than the White House. It's breathtaking and the rooms are cavernous and powerful. The tour was guided so it was packed with information with all the things we were seeing. We first went into "the crypt" which is a room with tons of sandstone columns that help keep up the huge rotunda at the top. The star at the middle of this room is where the four sections of D.C. (NW, SW, SE, NE) intersect. We walked by Nancy Pelosi's suite of offices, and the room that the first Congress used to meet. The artwork is incredible and everything is so close and present--we could have touched all the beautiful marble sculptures if there wasn't a guard to yell at us immediately after! It made me want to read Dan Brown's book about D.C. because I'm sure there are lots of mysteries present in that building. Of course, the best part of the tour was the rotunda... There was artwork that wound it's way around the curve completely around that shows a history of America since the time of Columbus. It's where presidents lie in state... and the artwork at the very top of the rotunda seems so close... yet the guide told us that the Statue of Liberty could stand in the rotunda and still have 30 feet above its torch before it would reach the HUGE painting at the top of the glorification of George Washington. In this painting, where he is recieved in heaven, there are 13 maidens--one fore each colony. Strange, eh?

The only thing that was tough is that sercurity was strict at the White House, so I didn't have a camera with me : ( sad day... But next time I tour the Capitol I will surely bring one with me!

Anyway, sending love (AND GRATITUDE) out to the blogosphere...