A) This is going to be a fast post because I am sick and I’d rather be vegging on the couch watching TV and whining about how it feels like there is a cactus in my throat.
So yes, I’m sick. I partially blame back-to-back trips to Iowa and San Francisco and recycled airplane air, I partially blame corn flu (#Iowatasmic joke), I partially blame Marilyn Manson blowing snot on an audience the night before announcing he has Swine Flu, but I mostly blame my co-workers for coming into the office while they’re sick, only to find out that they have strep throat a couple of days later. Needless to say, I’m a little P.O.ed that I’m going to spend my weekend trying to get better rather than doing fun things like hiking with my girlfriends, buying fun stuff for my boyfriend’s new apartment, hanging out with him and his best friend who is coming into town, and just having an all-around great time. But who knows, maybe I’ll have enough energy to do all those things. After all, I did come home early from work today to rest and wound up cleaning and cooking a huge dinner. Now, I’m nesting on the couch while catching up on TV, which I never have time to watch, and setting my DVR for new fall shows (one of my favorite things about the new season).
Speaking of the new season, it would be great if fall could get here already. The sun is going down at 7pm now, but it is still in the high 90s/low 100s in Los Angeles. The forecast says it will drop about 10-15 degrees on Mon/Tues, and it better be for good because I am OVER jean shorts and sandals for 2009, thank you very much! I WANT TO WEAR MY BOOTS AND COAT!
It would be great to cuddle under this without sweating my face off.
photo: delicatedear
This would be a great time to tell you that I tend to get a bit cranky/whiny when I’m sick. On that positive note, let’s move on with my very tardy Things I Love Thursday Friday.
- thisiswhyyourefat.com. A constant phrase of ours in Iowa is actually a never-ending blog full of super-fatty, globby, meaty, and gnarly food items. Read it if you ever want to crave a salad.
- Spending the first day of fall in foggy San Francisco. You read my blog post while I was up there (at least I hope you did), so you can see what a cheery mood I was in. It was freezing up there, but it was the perfect dose of cool weather to get me amped for what is to come in the next month or so. I can’t WAIT to partake in all the fall activities. Which brings me to…
- Soy pumpkin spice lattes. I had my first official one of the season last night (and Julian had his first-ever) and it was every bit as delicious as I remember. Here’s to many more!
- Reaaaaally long naps after a solid week of traveling. From here on out, I vow to take the rest of the day off when I’m traveling like I was this week. I am pretty much useless due to my lack of being able to sleep on airplanes. After each of my trips I came home just dead tired (perhaps due to a stewing illness that had not yet reared its ugly head), and the only (temporary) remedy was to come home and sleep that sucka off.
- Fluffy hotel beds. When you can’t be home burrowing in your own bed, fluffy hotel beds that are clean and made for you each day are the only way to go.
- Making thirty new friends in the middle of Iowa. Laughing until my face falls off with Brette, Heather and Julia in Mt Pleasant, Iowa was just the tip of the cornfield iceberg. Not only did we have a blast, but we learned a lot from one another, and several of us are even collaborating on business projects! I’m also really loving the never-ending e-mail chain with all thirty of us CC’ed that we’ve kept up since leaving Iowa.
- Seeing my boyfriend for the first time in nearly a week. This should really be up higher on the list, because there are no words to describe how happy and relieved I was to see him after I got back home. I pray that every one of you reading this has already found or will find one day someone who makes you as happy as he makes me.
- My Grandmother, who sends me hot pink sneaker heels for my birthday.
- Visiting with my Aussie tech friends in SF.
- Hearing @MCHammer speak at SMS about social media.
- Drugstores. Is there anything in CVS I don’t need or want? I could literally spend hours browsing the aisles. It’s like Target, Jr. CVS was my Target before Target was even on my radar, so I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the drugstore. Which I may need to head to soon, if my throat pain doesn’t go away!!!
- Alex’s dog, Anna. Don’t really care about the football team, but she is the sweetest dog to exist. I love days when he brings her into the office, because I can hold her. She jumps up on your lap, cuddles with you, and best of all, she doesn’t smell like a dog! I love Anna!
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get back to watching Modern Family.
P.S. I’d also like to point out that Bon Iver is currently playing a show in LA and I am stuck here on my couch, with a hot face, a huge jug of water, a bottle of Zinc and Vitamin C, with two cats as my only consolation. FML.
I totally owe you all a Things I Love Thursday, and it will come, but it might be a “Things I Love Friday.” For now, I’d just like to share this hilarious rap that my handsome BF Julian Smith and his castmate BinoWhite (who is trying to break the record for creating weekly raps – he’s only a few weeks away!) made to promo their new TV show, Smash Cuts. The show premieres this Sunday, Sept 27, and, as you’ll hear in the rap, will be on either CBS or The CW depending on your region. Please tune in!
My hectic schedule continues to dominate my blogging schedule (or lack thereof). I’m currently in beautiful San Francisco for Social Media Strategies, of which SocialVibe is a sponsor. We’re presenting a case study later this afternoon, which I’m looking forward to, but I’ve been having a great time meeting all the interesting folks here, chatting with them about the wonderfulness that is connecting people and brands on social profiles, giving interviews, eating bagels, and feeling the bay breeze blowing in the open doors in the front of the Fort Mason Conf. Center (minus the sea smell, blech).
photo: madflorist
It is officially the first day of fall and although the SF weathermen said it would be 101 degrees today, I COULDN’T. BE. MORE. EXCITED. I’m very much looking forward to sweaters, lattes, scarves, sweaters, boots, fires in my wood-burning fireplace, leaves on the ground, Halloween costumes, cool days and cooler nights, and all the other awesome things that come with the changing seasons. Fall is truly my favorite season. But that topic should be left for another post, because this one is devoted to my FABULOUS birthday party, thrown by my FABULOUS boyfriend!
While I was throwing a fit and insisting that I plan my own birthday party, Julian secretly collaborated with my best friends and surprised me with a party full of big fat pink cupcakes, fruit salad, champagne and more. It. was. awesome. I started crying when I walked in the door (there is video somewhere but I haven’t seen it… yet), then I slapped J on the chest and then hit my girlfriend that I thought had stood me up for my “faux” birthday party the night before (the one I insisted on planning myself that hardly anyone showed up for). I had no idea I was so aggressive while in a state of surprise.
Josie got me my very own princess tiara, Francesca and Tracy documented with photos, Julian looked handsome by my side, Jacqueline and Danny rushed out from the West Side, Kara brought her sweet man and made the place look more beautiful just by being there, and Nicholas was a supremely excellent host. I had the best night ever. Here are some photos to prove it:
“OMG – You GUYS!”
Face slap.
Boyfriend slap.
Tears of joy!
Beautiful cupcakes from my beautiful cupcake, Jacqueline!
Tracy & Jos.
I have the prettiest girlfriends…
And the most handsome boyfriend.
This will be one to remember forever. Happy Birthday to me, I made it to 27!
Technically, it is still Thursday, so I don’t feel too bad about posting this super late, let alone this being my first post in DAYS. But I have been busy; between birthday celebrations, apartment hunting with the boyfriend, first home group of the year and traveling, I haven’t had much time to do anything else.
I’m currently in beautiful and fascinating Mt. Pleasant, Iowa for @IOWAtasmic, the first and only social media tech conference in Iowa. It is beyond my wildest dreams. We were a bit unsure about what to expect, as most conferences I attend are in larger cities like Los Angeles, Austin, SF, Vegas, etc. I have to tell you, it is quite charming, and I haven’t seen a single cornfield yet. I have met some really faboosh people here, among them @YourFriendEvan, @iwearyourshirt, @TheDerekJohnson, @ozsultan, @db, @swiftkaratechop and of course I am here with my girlfriends @JuliaGardner, @brette and @hdunce. Today we got a tour of the local college campus where the conference is taking place, Iowa Wesleyan College.
Mt. Pleasant it is much prettier than I anticipated.
After that, we ate lunch at Paul Revere’s pizza, which is home to the 2nd biggest pizza in the world. I’m not kidding, the thing was huge. One could use it as a blanket. After our feast and attempting to get some work done at the hotel for a few hours, it was back to the campus for the opening ceremonies, where Derek Johnson gave an awesome speech about his entrepreneurial journey from being a college drop-out to becoming the 24-yr-old founder of Tatango, a company that facilitates mass-SMSing for small businesses, churches, sororities and other groups. His story was pretty phenomenal, though he and I disagree on his tactic of sharing his personal phone number with any and all who want it, including publishing it in the Wall Street Journal. Considering I’m here speaking about E-Stalkers and Protecting Your Online Privacy (my online-identity-taker “Ferarro” should enjoy that), that is no surprise.
We met an adorable college-aged attendee and social media lover, @mmmorganj, who drove hours to see us speak all by herself, it was quite cute. Then we all headed back to Keo’s for dinner followed by a surprise cake for my birthday (which is today, thank you very much, I’m 27!). Big thanks to @BradmanTV for remembering and hooking it up. They sang Happy Birthday to me THREE times, which I’m guessing was practice for the next event, KARAOKE IN THE PARK. One cannot describe the magnificent-ness that was Karaoke in Central Park, so I recorded a video for you so that each and every one of you can enjoy it for yourselves.
I’m hoping to catch a few of the many great sessions happening tomorrow in between my own presentation and our Women in the Web panel, but I’m sure the real magic will happen after hours, though the girls and I might just sneak off to catch Julie & Julia at the cute cinema in town. I’ll be sure to update accordingly.
I fly back to LA on Sunday night, but am only there for less than a day before I fly back out to San Francisco for Social Media Strategies with some of the SocialVibe crew. I think this will be the last of my travels for at LEAST a month.
So without further ado, here are this week’s THINGS I LOVE THURSDAY!
Super Mario nails, which are cool enough to ignore the 1.5″ nails; spending time with people who rock in a town the size of my high school, writing to-do lists and checking stuff off (I’m such a list-maker); birthday love on Facebook, with e-gifts such as this Hello Kitty accessory kit for cats (thanks, Lauren!);
apartment hunting with the BF and realizing how lucky I am to have found a great place to call home (P.S. he found a GREAT one just a few blocks away!); having the first home group through Ecclesia and already meeting awesome guys and gals; cats who lay on their back and let you rub your feet on their tummy, surprise birthday parties with massive amounts of cupcakes and love (pics coming soon); Gossip Girl FINALLY returning to television, hello #fangirl!; gifts from Mom in the form of a bicycle; mastering the art of packing to where it takes me less than an hour; bright blue ribbon headbands, friendly squirrels; being in the presence of smart, creative and motivated people; text messaging with my Grandma.
That’s all for now, as I am absolutely pooped and must catch some zzzz’s or the folks who have signed up for my session will be wondering why they paid to see a 27 yr-old blonde girl asleep at a podium. Ta-ta!
Heather, Brette and Julia in downtown Mt. Pleasant.
Kanye West is a real jerk. No way around it, he is just a grown up crybaby who has to come kick down all the other kids’ sandcastles when his isn’t as cool. His insecurity is definitely not news, he seems to have a real talent for throwing a hissy fit every time he gets shorted at an awards show. He’s either on stage or backstage making a scene, or writing some sort of rude or offensive blog after the fact. Taylor Swift is just about the most adorable thing on the face of the Earth, and totally deserved to win her MTV VMA award. Kanye can just kiss my butt.
It seems like Kanye has made some kind of apology on his blog, but that hasn’t stopped all the stars from tweeting harsh words towards him, making statements on public television, and writing on their own blogs about how uncalled for his actions were. Instead of making more enemies, Kanye should be reading this poem on pride. Taylor Swift forever!
P.S. I have a lot to update on, specifically my WONDERFUL weekend that included a surprise birthday party for moi thrown by my fabulous boyfriend! I have more cupcakes than I know what to do with and for the record, I was belting out Taylor Swift in the car on the way to the party. She really is the best. I interviewed her cute little BF Lucas Till (who stars in her now-award-winning video) at Comic-Con, too, and he’s just presh!
Turns out it isn’t so hard to find things I love in my life right now. Can you say blessed? Here’s this week’s list:
pale purple nails (see above). entire Friday nights spent cooking Mexican food and reading with my kit kats. secret underground tunnels. magic, especially when it has to do with fashion. buying yellow gerber daisies… just because.
after work naps. audiobooks. beach volleyball. peopleofwalmart.com. slumber parties with Jacqueline. cops on beach horses. really really long weekends. my church. birthday anticipation (Sept 18!). re-runs of Cheers. freezing cold nights on Mulholland Drive watching BF and his brother taking fancy photos. moving theoneinpink.com to self-hosting (and on that note, media temple’s awesomely helpful support system.) fallfallfallfallfallfallfallfallfall (c’mooooon!)
It’s Labor Day, and instead of being out on a beach like I should be (and probably will be, later, granted I can find parking!), I’m at home, thinking about pride and being self-serving. As our wonderful lead pastor Joseph Barkley said yesterday at church, “the opposite of love is pride.” This statement really resonated with me, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Upon doing a little Google-ing, I found a wonderful poem by Beth Moore that sums up the evilness of pride.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny…because
you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment…because you “deserve better than this.”
I cheat you of knowledge…because you already
know it all.
I cheat you of healing…because you’re
too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness…because you refuse to
admit when you’re wrong.
I cheat you of vision…because you’d rather look
in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of a genuine friendship…because
nobody’s going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love…because real romance
demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven…because you
refuse to wash another’s feet on earth.
I cheat you of God’s glory…because I convince
you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you.
Untrue. I’m looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don’t worry…
If you stick with me
You’ll never know.
Who knew Tipper Gore was such a marvelous photographer? Mrs. Former-Vice President recently launched a photography website showing off her skillz behind the lens.
She explains, “When I’m photographing the natural world, I feel connected to life itself, and share a desire to preserve our heritage. I love photography because it deepens my profound respect for the variety and graphic beauty of nature. Whether it’s involvement in a project about homelessness in America or photographing glaciers, wildlife, and landscapes, I hope to bring awareness, of both the problems and the treasures in our world. Perhaps, in a small way, this can contribute to a greater understanding.”
Here is one of my favorites, because bicycles + colored ponchos + rainy streets = you can’t go wrong:
The past couple of mornings, I have had to do more driving than normal, but it wasn’t so bad thanks to the wonderfulness that is iTunes Genius. It is truly, a genius.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Soft Shock
Animal Collective – My Girls
Peter Bjorn and John – Nothing to Worry About
Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
Bloc Party – Signs (AVH Remix)
The Bird and The Bee – My Love
Phoenix – Fences
Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood
The Duke Spirit – The Step and the Walk
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Lykke Li – Dance Dance Dance
The National – Mistaken for Strangers
Andrew Bird – Oh No
Bat for Lashes – Daniel Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over*
Today is an extremely welcome Friday, and I am welcoming Labor Day with widely opened arms. It has been a quiet one at the office today what with half the guys gone Bachelor Partying, and with the boyfriend out of town I plan on spending an exorbitant amount of my long weekend catching up on my book-reading as well as performing some blog maintenance (now that I am folding TechDarling into it). I foresee a beach in my near future, along with much-needed girls’ nights.
*P.S. Thank goodness the “dog days” are almost over, I felt my first real pangs of excitement and anticipation for fall this morning and I am officially ready for pumpkin spice lattes and scarves.
