Drinking from the Garden Hose

A very dear friend of mine who I consider family, just received a cancer diagnosis. As soon as their mind considered the practicalities of such a grave situation, panic set in and their mind thought the option of suicide was a better choice than taking on the medical system as a young person of color, with a minimum wage job and bad health insurance in the United States of America. I’m quite familiar with the political ideologies of countries like Australia, New Zealand and Spain where healthcare is not much of a burden for citizens. Young people should have the rest of their lives to look forward to - we are just getting started! That makes me furious. Each person who receives news in the fatality category has their own unique, specific experience that is deeply personal to them. Even if you are receiving news about a loved one, there's a lot of empathy and grief you experience as a witness. But the fact that when faced with a serious disease, however treatable still serious, some

 Yesterday I hosted bookclub! We had a special guest baby Huxley, literary namesake so of course it's necessary he attends book club his first month in the world! This month we read Pulitzer Prize winner  Gilead  by Marilynne Robinson . Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series— Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack —is an intergenerational story about faith, race, and love from the interwoven histories of two families in a small Iowa town to encompass American life: ideals and beliefs, our contradictions, failings, and hopes. I plan to read the rest of the series, as I found Gilead  a valuable read. A few points I found thought provoking in this novel (I read it on my Kindle so page numbers correspond : Page 75: The protagonist narrates the story, a Caucasian preacher from Iowa in his late seventies who feels he is near the end of life - "...because now, in my present situation, now that I am about to leave this world, I realize there is nothing more astonishing than a human face...It has s

After a beautiful weekend in Atlanta celebrating the marriage of our friends Jason and Steph, last night we were on the couch catching up on Law & Order SVU and Alec exclaims "We get to do this every night! Like have a sleepover! Forever!" Ha why yes, that is one thing that comes with the marriage territory - a permanent sleepover buddy! There's a special bond you build with people you live with for an extended period of time... those relationships are typically reserved for three categories - family, romantic partners and roommates. ROOMMATES! What a special category of people. I am fortunate to have many amazing past roommates in my life - I LOVE YOU ALL! But the wedding this past weekend was my COLLEGE roommates. My UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA KAPPA DELTA sorority sister roommates. We went from bunking together and sharing bathrooms in the sorority house to THE MULLET - a cute, lovely brick family home from the street view, with a gigantic wooden party deck on the back o

Last weekend we went back to Seattle for the first time since moving to Southern California. Washington was showing off her fall colors, it was so beautiful outside! The main reason we went up was to attend a wedding (number 6 out of 7 for the season). Of course returning to a place that once was home and spending quality time with a few of our closest friends was absolutely priceless. We go to a lot of weddings and I think they're soul food. It's like the feeling after exercise or any memorable occasion with friends and family. You never regret going and always feel full of joy after attending. I'm a sucker for a good speech and love to dance. Whenever I make a wedding buddy in the bathroom or during the cocktail hour, I always say "See ya on the dance floor!"... because that is where I will be!  Recently I've gotten to spend some quality time with my close girlfriends that know me really well and we've been really open about finances - investments, asset

Today I am 99 days alcohol free! I have to say, I feel as fantastic! At this stage, after over three months with no booze, I'm looking forward to the next 99 days without it more than to going back to losing chunks of my time to hangovers. SO MANY GOOD THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN THE PAST 99 DAYS! First of all I got engaged, so that's a big occasion to celebrate! When my sister came out for a visit she got a few bottles of Martinelli's sparkling cider we drank by the fire in champagne flutes! My skin is so much happier without wine. My mom used our Nikon and took engagement photos on the beach, normally I'd be a little puffy from wine or champagne but I loved all the photos! The non-alcoholic beverage game is pretty strong down here in San Diego. Sprouts has a delicious range of sparkling probiotic teas, kombuchas and tonics that are all much cheaper than wine or beer. California also offers a delicious range of cannabis drinks I highly recommend (I love these grapefruit an

The past few days I had a staycation paid vacation! I changed companies and started a new job back in May so I've been very focused on my on-boarding, building my book of business and fostering creativity at work. The primary reason I took vacation was because my parents and sister were flying in front Atlanta to visit. Since I've really been in the swing of things at work lately, I had to be very mindful of switching gears, being super present and winding down to enjoy time with my family. Over the years I've built pretty strict habits around my digital availability when I am out of the office. On Friday afternoon I made my Slack status "palm tree emoji", turned my auto-reply email on and went off the professional grid! I made sure to submit my PTO request weeks in advance, had my calendar blocked off and also had a free meeting calendar block I sent to my team as a reminder I’m out of the office. Luckily we had no customer issues arise and I took a few days off

As each day passes, digital communication becomes more integrated into our daily lives. In order to be highly productive, you need to have excellent digital skills. With remote working, we may have become more casual in our personal lives, but our professional lives are still more or less strictly business. I used to have daily lunch, coffee, happy hour chats with numerous colleagues and customers throughout the day. Now, I have scheduled meetings with agenda items and time limits. So how do we continue to be highly productive and effective employees without turning into robots? One important way is through sharpening our digital communication skills. For me, typing is easier than talking, maybe because I have been using computers for as long as I can remember. This is true for most Millennials and absolutely for Gen Z. However comfortable we are typing, we do have a reputation and blind spots for over communicating and vocalizing problems with no solutions.  How do we all improve our