Drinking from the Garden Hose

 Cheeeers to the freakin weekend! As much as I love working, I also really love having nothing on my calendar. I've been through many phases of what I'll call 'my mood about meetings'. Before the pandemic, I would get energized for in person meetings - presenting to a room full of people has always been my favorite part of my job. Switching to video calls makes me feel a bit more performative at first, like 'lights, camera, action'. However I personally am quite comfortable on video and I'm realizing more of the pros of the 'virtual first' norms that are being established. Life working in high tech before the pandemic required a major amount of your time and energy if you wanted to be a high performing employee. The fact that I had elite status at multiple airlines and with numerous hotels by the age of 24 is indicative of the demand. I'm not complaining! Having the opportunity to travel for business changed my life and I loved it for several yea

 This past weekend was fannnntastic! But so was my Monday! Wanna know the best cure for the Sunday Scaries? QUIT DRINKING ALCOHOL. THEY DISAPPEAR. Poof. Friday night we went to a pool party, picked up a delicious pizza on the way home and watched a movie... rather, Alec watched a movie I fell asleep after 15 minutes. Conveniently I was not hungover on Saturday, so I had plenty of pep in my  step to hop out of bed and enjoy my morning routine before leaving the house (meditate, pray, gratitude journal, read, hug a tree). A women I met in book club is starting a San Diego chapter of PERIOD.org - a global non-profit organization fighting to end period poverty and stigma through service, education and advocacy - and I'm going to join the board! We had a meeting to discuss launch plans at a coffee shop at 9:30am, then one of my friends and I were off to a 10:50am Orange Theory Fitness class (it's Monday and I'm still sore). Talk about productivity! Yesterday my brother and his g

It's Friday the 13th and I'm 50 days no booze! Every day alcohol gets further and further away in the rear view mirror of my life and it's totally cool with me. Yesterday I was renewing my Yoga Alliance membership so I can continue to be a certified yoga teacher, when I saw a promotion for an online Brain Longevity Therapy training course. Brain health and longevity are two primary reasons I decided to live my life without alcohol, so I signed up! The content is digital + self paced. When you get close to taking the final exam, you are teamed up with a real time cohort of peers to discuss material. This program is through the Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation and was created by a diverse team of experts with deep knowledge across medicine, research and  healing. I'm looking forward to getting started tomorrow. This weekend we will be in town in San Diego with just a few casual plans in place, plenty of room to relax and spend my time how I feel like s

At this particular moment in my life I am living through a perpetual wedding season and man are these weddings making some epic memories. My very close friend I met back in 2012 during our college internship and stayed close to especially in regards to our careers, got married to the most self-assured and positive women I've ever met - I mean who has the confidence to theme their wedding Disco Western please dress accordingly? This bride... very awesome. The group was the best mix of people - the groom's Chinese family, the bride's Midwestern water ski and snow ski crew joined with her fashion school friends from Parsons - made for fascinating conversation and a never ending dance party. Night one 30 of us shared a giant ski chalet then the morning of the wedding shuttled up a dirt road on a big bus to the venue - gorgeous lake front ceremony with sweeping mountain views, definitely worth the ride. Instead of trekking back down the mountain after the reception with the pare

Lately I feel like I'm in a phase of preparation - not exactly waiting for something to happen but getting myself ready for something, and that something isn't perfectly clear yet. Introspection has been the leading lady in my life the past few months - I love the definition of the word 'introspection': the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes. A big part of this process for me is reading... constantly. Brene Brown is a new one-sided mentor of mine that I totally admire, and I also download a lot of the books she references in her own work - one of those books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is one of those books that had me in a trance, completely focused on each word from cover to cover, totally immersed in the protagonist's journey from a shepherd boy with a dream, to a self-actualized man who realizes his purpose. Part of this 'seeking' and 'preparation' process has been exploring God and powers grea

4 weeks without booze and my belly is as flat as when I was a teen! Every day I think about alcohol less and less, but I think it's still important to be conscious about my choices and how I am feeling. I do miss getting drunk and being silly with my girlfriends, but honestly we are silly without the booze so I just miss my friends. Moving is something I have done many times as an adult - I left college in Georgia and hopped over to Austin for my first job, quickly moved to Seattle and now I've landed myself in San Diego. All the logistics and effort associated with a big move plus the excitement of change and newness keeps my mind occupied for the first few months but now I'm creeping up on a year after my pandemic move and am still building social connections. I am in a book club and we have some great couple friends, most people we are hooked up with down here have small children, or are in different phases of life! Girlfriends are really important to my health and happi

What's the opposite of a hangover? Whatever it might be, that's how I feel! My girlfriends wedding this weekend in Santa Barbara was so lovely and not one single person noticed I wasn’t drinking alcohol the entire time. Two of the cousins were pregnant (sweet sisters I've known for years and years, our family ties goes back 3 generations) so being not drinking at this stage of life, I typically have more company than if I attempted this in my 20s. It's interesting that Alec and I both realized not a single person asked what we did for a living - I swear we were extremely social! In Seattle it's quite noticeable how many people ask the 'What do you do for work?' question right away when getting acquainted with someone. Wedding attendees were from all over, but primarily in from Southern California or New York state. Most conversations started with 'Who do you know, bride or groom?' then landed on discussing what part of the country you lived in and sw