Where in the World is.....

And now I've got the Carmen SanDiego theme song stuck in your head.
Mission Accomplished!!!

The real question is where am I? Or, more or less, where have I been.

I skipped May. In June I let you know that I wasn't dead. And now it's July. The END of July.

I honestly have no idea. I think the theme of this blog finally caught up with me. So here's the whole story, or most of it anyways.



For as long as I can remember, I have always been a person who was easily entertained and just as easily distracted. I've been interested in everything from swimming, track and field hockey, to piano, saxophone and clarinet, to Windows, OSX, and DOS to cats, dogs, and fish, to Spanish, French and Japanese to - well, you get the point. Just about everything. And sometimes all at once. There were very few things I didn't like, and it was very easy to figure out what they were. But the list was super short and still is. I am not a fan of strawberries, tomatoes, scary movies or roller coasters.

Anyways - now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. Where nothing ever happens. Without most of my friends. With all of this running through my brain.

So where have I been? I've been trying to figure out what gets to stay and what needs to leave my life. Maybe then I'll be able to make something interesting of this blog, or my life in general. Cause right now, I'm kinda a real Renaissance Polymath. Interested in everything, Good at most things, and as focused as a Goldfish.

I'm Not Dead

Not Dead.


That would be my entire message to people when it looked like maybe i fell off the face of the earth for any given point in time during college. So i guess i'm not through the falling off the earth phase yet.

Anyways. I'm not dead. Not yet at least. I've done little more than color on walls with little kids in Sunday school. But i guess i'm doing something right cause they think i'm responsible enough to be in charge of little kids.

anyways, i'm gonna go be not dead some more... I'll be back eventually.

Focus

So I'm slowly getting my focus back. It's amazing how sometimes having one conversation can change your whole perspective. Even if the conversation isn't about you or specifically to help you, it can. So now I'm off to get some stuff done and get pumped and focused again so I have something to write about again.

Happy Spring

In honor of the spring cleaning that I'm doing in my life, I figured I'd do a little makeover on the site. This week everything is getting a simpler, more streamlined look. I will also be setting up a posting schedule that will last through the summer. Hopefully this will be the end of week long gaps between posts and will jump start the summer happiness we all need. Let me know what you think of the changes.

The Epic Fail that is March

Yeah so epic fail this month. I had such high hopes too. I guess I just have to turn around and make the most of April when it gets here. There is no way I will let April be an epic failure too. It is my birthday month after all. So at least the 22nd will be a good day. I have this thing about letting my birthday be horrible. It just can't happen.

Last year I had senior project presentations all day on my birthday so I delegated party planning and let one of my best friends plan it for me. We partied the night before, sang happy birthday around midnight, and everyone partied while I went to sleep. Presentations were a success and we partied again that weekend after they were over.

No where near the epic production that is JAbram Week, but still, a success. Maybe I'll have a birthday party in DC with all my friends even though I don't technically live there anymore. Something good has to happen. I refuse to let April be an epic failure too. I'll post some of my goals for the month later this week. For now, I'm going to make sure the rest of March is somewhat of a success. Or at least try anyways...

Snow Again?

It snowed again! Yay! For real this time though. I'm excited. I don't have to did myself out. I wasn't stuck in the house with my parents for a week straight with no escape. It was actually fun.

I spent a decent part of the weekend designing two new post series for the blog. The first "Focus On:" will premier next Monday along with my Weekend Update. The second new series "Setting Goals: A Week In Review" will debut next Friday. If I like the way they turn out each of these will become a recurring post series on the blog. Yay for new things! (Insert Happy Dance Here)

This week I will be in DC focusing on a few career and school things. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to check in every day, but I promise the posts will go up by Friday and I won't leave you wondering if I'm dead for a whole week. Plus, I never go anywhere without my phone and Twitter is quickly becoming one of my best friends. If you're in the DC area and want to meet up or have suggestions of ways to spend my inevitable free time send me a message through email, facebook, twitter, or in the comments.

DC Week

OK so maybe posting a 25th post just to do it wasn't really your style. It's mine. I'm not going to apologize. I'm not sorry for being me. Instead I'm going to write yet another post today. But this time something worth reading. Or not.

Next week I'll be in DC. I have a few things to take care of at school to get ready for my upcoming graduation. HOORAY GRADYOOAYSHUN!!! I'm sure they're proud of the learnin I did there and they're ready to get rid of me for good.

Anyways, I'm taking this time to get ready to move back to the city. That means looking for a job and an apartment. I'm not exactly sure of everything I'll be doing while I'm there, but I do know that I'll need to eat. If you know of any good places that I may not have tried, or any DC bloggers you think I would like to meet or would be interested in meeting up with a newbie, feel free to let me know. I can use all the help I can get. Right now my plan is just not to be unemployed or homeless when I get to DC in May. And there are oh so many ways to get to that point.

Post 25!

Yay!!! My 25th Blog Post!

This has been quite an adventure. I didn't really expect much when I started this blog, and I'm not really sure what I expect as I continue. But the journey is most definitely turning into quite an adventure. Hopefully I can keep this up and celebrate more milestones. 50th and 100th posts will get their own special time to shine, and then celebrating 6 months and 1 year of blogging! This is going to be great. Maybe I should plan a party... I do like parties.

Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying following me on this random journey called life. Maybe one day I'll become entertaining, informative, or helpful. But for now, it's fun being me and watching my world expand. And if you have any ideas on how to celebrate posts 50 and 100 let me know.

Early Mornings

So at 10 AM I have already eaten, run, gotten dressed and read some of my favorite blogs. I think I'm getting back into the hang of getting up in the mornings. The end of December through January threw me off with my morning routine. It is rather difficult to keep your routine when you move, especially when you move into someone elses space.

But now I'm back. Spent most of yesterday getting ready for the next two months. My morning schedule is in my computer and is fixed so that every week it starts 30 minutes earlier. This should give me more time to workout and not rush in the morning and still be ready for the day. Eventually my whole routine will end at 8 AM, but for now, I'm fine with it starting later. I don't technically have anywhere to be before noon these days.

Getting ready yesterday also helped me realize how important it is to take the time to regroup every so many days. I got time to think through how much is really necessary and how much in my life is just excess. For instance, over the past few weeks I've realized that it is hard for me to focus sometimes because I have so much stuff and it is all in random places. Having no real system to anything keeps me from being able to find things when I need them. So I made a few lists (i love lists. index cards make the best lists keepers too). I figured two things that I need to keep track of are my stuff (tangible items) and my data (lists, computer files, internet bookmarks). Having only two categories made it seem like I could actually conquer the amount I had. After all, who wants to tackle 600 categories at once?

Anyways. I broke the stuff down into the types of stuff that I have, need and want based on when and where I use the stuff (kitchen stuff has nothing to do with bathroom stuff or hobby stuff). Then I made a spreadsheet (I know, I'm a real geek. I even know excel formulas to make it add on its own). Now I have a list of all of my stuff in one place. It includes how many of each thing I have and need to buy or get rid of. This should make getting rid of things easier. If I only need one or two of something and I have 50, it goes. No questions asked. It's like an automated donate/shopping list. I absolutely love it. I think I might make it prettier in the future, but for now it does the job.

The data is something I'm still working on. I think the real problem started when I first got an email address. We all had that little kid email name that we ditched as soon as we realized it wasn't professional and we needed another one with our name in it. Only problem was that I still have that first email address. And both of my email accounts had a bookmarks list, with different bookmarks, that I still use. Dilemma. And it only gets worse when you add the other bookmarks that are stored in my web browser. So I put them all in one place. It took forever (watching the olympics helped pass the time) but now they're all in one place so I don't have to keep trying to remember when and where I bookmarked that one page about the thing.

Today will be more spreadsheeting and getting rid of stuff. But at least now I have a plan. That helps so much. Maybe when I finish I'll post my lovely spreadsheet, to-do list, and bookmarks list. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day To Me!

Not really the best of weeks here. I fell off the exercise and habit wagon with all the snow and cabin fever. I think not being able to go outside made me sleepy, and bored. But the weekend was pretty good.

Went to The Cheesecake Factory with a friend for Valentine's Day. We caught up on each others non-existent love lives and laughed at the fact that all of our friends are madly in love with being single right now. The two hour wait for a table was passed in the nearby Barnes and Noble looking at random books and magazines. The only way it could have been better would be to include the missing part of our trio (The Three Hebrew Girls will rise again!!! - Inside Joke). There's always next year. And every gathering we have planned for later this year. :)

Anyways, now it's time to move on to the next week. I have laundry to do, Olympics to watch, and jobs to apply for. Adios.

Happy I Love Me Day!!!

I think people put too much emphasis on going out and spending money for Valentine's Day. Don't get me wrong. I'm going out for Valentine's Day, but that's mainly because I'm going out with one of my best friends. And we like to celebrate everything. To us, a birthday is a week-long sometimes month-long event; it's always the right time to use the good plates; and a chandelier is perfect for decorating a tiny apartment with no furniture, and even better in the bathroom. So this is just a chance for us to go to a favorite restaurant and catch up.

That being said, Valentine's Day is not the extent of our celebration this weekend. We are also celebrating I Love Me Day. While most single girls sit around making themselves feel bad because nobody is treating them like they're special this weekend, we're treating ourselves like we're special. Why? Because we are. In my world, I don't need someone to say "I love you", pretend that taking me to dinner was their idea when it wasn't, or buy me flowers. Why? Because I love me, I can take myself out to dinner when I want to go out (eating by yourself is sometimes more fun anyway), and I buy myself flowers all the time (my birthday, valentine's day, wednesday). Plus, I like getting to do what I want to do. No bargaining or compromising needed.

As a single girl I can
- have a pet cat, a pet dog, and fake fish
- decorate my apartment for any and every reason
- watch chick flicks during baseball and basketball games (on the big tv not my laptop!)
- leave all of my stuff on the bathroom counter (not that i do, that's kinda messy)
- sleep in the middle of the bed
- have all storage containers be purple
- treat myself like a princess without explaining that "I'm not spoiled, I'm well loved" (that one's thanks to grandmom)

So in the spirit of I Love Me Day, here are some things to keep in mind and a few links to enjoy.


Enjoy adding girly stuff to your place while you still can...

The History of Valentine's Day

Madly In Love With Me Day - Self Love Toolkit

Self-care is Not Selfish

Unconditional Self-Love and Self-Acceptance

Purchase the Picture in the Post

My lack of skills, or Why I still have no job

OK. The snow was fun. But I need to do something else now. You can only say so much about snow in two week period. Especially if all that' new about the snow is that it got deeper. All this time inside has given me time to think about my goal of getting a job, or career, or whatever you want to call it. I'm not even sure it counts as actual productive thinking though. Most of it was random things I thought while reading blogs this week.

First was What Do You Do on Tranquility du Jour. I have no idea how this happens, but it seems as if lately everything that Kimberly writes about is either something I have read about recently or something that I'm thinking about. Anyways, its about all of the things that she does, and how it's super hard for her to do that 1 minute elevator pitch that most career people say you need to be able to do. As I was reading through the list, all I could think about was, "Wow. This sure is a lot of stuff. How would you put that on a resume?" Which got me thinking again. "Boy I hate resumes." For the life of me, I could never figure out what exactly to put on a resume. Here's why.

They tell you to put the following things on your resume. places you worked - what you did - how long you worked there - what's your major - what's your GPA - where do you live - how do we contact you - what are your skills - what do you do with your time besides go to school (extra curricular activities for students) - references - when will you graduate. I don't think most of that ever made sense to me. Especially since if ask different people they will tell you to leave out different things on the list. Which is also why I hate career centers. They say they'll help you get a job, but it doesn't always end up that way. It made me laugh to find a post about college educations and career centers by Penelope Trunk. It appears as if she dislikes them more than I do. But in any case here is what they tell you to put on/leave off your resume.


If your GPA is crap leave it off so they don't know.
-but what if i don't care what they think. i chose my major because it was difficult and the best way to learn how to do it was to get other people to teach me. isn't that what school is for anyways? if i could teach myself easily why would i pay others to help me learn?

Just put that you will graduate 4 years from when you started. Until you get to 4 years from when you started and realize you don't know when you'll finish, then just keep putting next year.
- i'm convinced that this shouldn't even be on there until you are applying for a full time job for which you need a degree. it's just depressing to those who don't graduate on time and makes all freshman feel like getting out on time is better than taking the time to actually learn everything they will need to know when they get out.

Put your current school address, even if you move every year. Just change it on your resume when you move.
- but what if i want them to be able to find me? i have had over 5 different addresses since i started college. three on campus, one off campus, and my parents house in nj. even if they wanted to hire me they probably couldn't.

Then there's the part about leadership positions and skills. I hate this part. Mainly because most of my leadership positions have nothing to do with my major. They never quite look like they belong on my resume. How do you explain to a hiring manager that you are one of the vice presidents of a dance group and that is a reason to look deeper into hiring you? The worst for me is unnamed positions. I tend to have unnamed positions a lot. I don't like it when things obviously need to be done but nobody is doing them, or when meetings are unproductive because nobody knows what its going to be about before they get there, and i can count. I end up being an unofficial secretary, meeting coordinator, or treasurer sometimes. But unofficial positions aren't really traditional resume material.

And skills. What are my skills. I have about 100 of them. But most of what I do on a daily basis isn't really work worthy. Not unless you completely reword what I say that I do. For instance, since I have been home I have,

Started a blog = learning html coding,
Written posts for my blog = Researched topics
Taken pictures for my blog =
Gotten rid of 40 or so things that were no longer needed = simplified work processes
Updated my Twitter and Facebook statuses = social media guru
Checked my email about 50 times a day = easily reachable
Read 2 self-help books =

I don't even know how you would turn those into marketable skills. Maybe I just need to figure out how to use words better. If I can turn what I do into something that needs to be done, maybe then they'll hire me. Until then, can anybody suggest any skills that I either have now, or can work on without having a real job?

Snowpocalypse 2.0

So apparently all this snow isn't over yet. When I went to sleep last night, it had already started snowing again. The lovely path that I had helped dig to the front door was starting to fill in already. Which of course would mean that I would go to sleep only to have to wake up and dig us out again...

When I woke up, the back yard still looked like a winter wonderland. Which I guess is pretty cool. Especially since we don't have to dig out the back yard...


I'm the scientific type so of course I had to measure how much snow we got. And tell mom that she measured in the wrong spot. You see, you have to measure in the spot you already cleared so you know how much fell to the ground. You can't measure where there was already snow. So the now non-existent path to the front door was measured to find that we had 6 inches or so just over night. And that was before it started snowing harder around noon.


Then came clearing out my car. again. This time I got to use the snowblower. There would be a picture of that since I obviously took the camera outside, but apparently mom isn't as into taking random pictures of things that don't really need to be captured on film as I am. Too bad. Snow blowers are fun. Even made a few friends jealous cause I got to use one and they didn't. Maybe one day I'll live somewhere with snow and get one of my own to play with. Of course, my friends would turn it into a 'snow blower/go cart/lawnmower of doom' type object. Mechanical engineers are really fond of souping up machines that already do their jobs just fine.


So to make a long story short. In a matter of hours, my back yard turned from nice, bright, winter scene, to white out blizzard conditions. Oh how I love winter storms. The National Weather Service says that this is the biggest set of winter storms to hit this area ever since they started measuring. So apparently, if you add all the snow so far this winter, we have a heck of a lot of snow and could completely bury a small dog, small child, a stack of all of the books i needed for college, the mailbox, my car, your choice really.




*** On an unrelated note. Thanks to whoever got #vanessasmith started as a trending topic on twitter. Howard University reunion. I did get tired of dumb people who follow everything asking what HU was though. My question - if you don't know, why are you following? Clearly HU rules the web. HU is the best. That is all.

Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse 2010

This was one of the most interesting weekends since I've been home. I am loving this month so far. Last weekend it snowed and I had a great day shopping and at the movies with a friend to escape it all. This weekend, escape was not an option. With what was being dubbed Snowmageddon or Snowpocalypse was on the way and bringing some record snow. So I did what any sane person would do. I stayed in my room and watched the snow fall from my bed. Then I moved downstairs and watched the snow fall from the couch. It was great. I think that sometimes snow is best appreciated from inside with a scented candle and a hot cup of tea.

Since it hadn't started snowing yet, I used Friday to make sure I had a good stock of apple sauce, apple juice, milk, eggs, and cereal. Then I worked on my February goals and watched it start snowing. It was actually kind of fun to be away from my friends this time. Between twitter and text messages I got to know exactly what kind of a storm to expect since I'm currently two hours north of everybody else.

Saturday the texting and twittering continued as my friends let me know about DC shutting things down and Friday night panicking in grocery stores. I read part of my February book, watched it snow. all. day.

I mean, I took a five hour nap and it was still going. How does that happen? I guess maybe that's why we got the most snow ever since the Blizzard of '96. I counted 17 inches, and I'm still not sure that I actually hit the ground. And they say it's supposed to snow again later this week. So we might just end up breaking that record when you add up all of the winter snow.


When I tried to take the dog outside he wouldn't go out past the edge of the garage without being carried. He's such a spoiled little thing. Normally I'd say that was the reason, but he's all of 7 inches off the ground. And that's when he's fuzzy. Even when we made him a path in the back yard he wouldn't follow if you went too far ahead of him because he couldn't see over the snow.














Then we had to dig out my car and the house. My mom even took a shot at using the snowblower. Of course by this time the dog had gotten tired of trying to figure out how to get anywhere and sat down in the garage to watch. He's not very helpful.

Sunday we skipped church. Since we live in NJ and go to church in Philly we decided it might not be a good idea to try and brave the roads and bridge just yet. I mean, if we got stuck, who was going to come and get us? Getting stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere is not a good look. Instead everybody watched church on TV. There's some good stuff on TV on Sunday mornings. Mom and dog fell asleep and I told them sleeping in church was against the rules. Dad told me that I had to wait till the commercials to get up or talk. No talking or walking during the sermon. I guess that's what I get for making fun of everybody else.

Then it was time for a nap and.....

Super Bowl XLIV

Some of my friends back at school were having a Super Bowl party. I was really considering driving back down just to go to it. And then it snowed. So I had my own party. Me, dog, cat, mom and dad. And yes that is me and dog with the TV on and the laptop on Twitter and NFL.com. I had the play by play up on the screen in case I missed something. Afterall, game time is when you do stuff if you really need to. The commercials are supposed to be the best of the year. Nobody wants to miss those.

Too bad the colts didn't win. I was cheering for Antoine Bethea to win his second Super Bowl since he's a Howard University alumnae and all. But I suppose I'm not too disappointed that the Saints won. It's their first Super Bowl EVER... And really, we all want to cheer for the underdog. Plus, if the Cowboys aren't in the game, and the Ravens aren't in the game, I just pick my team by using random criteria anyway.

After the game was over I tried to catch up on my workouts. Since Saturday was such a random day I never got around to doing my weekend run or the last of the situps. The run I did after the Super Bowl ended. Hopefully I can just do the situps today and then start this week's tomorrow to catch up.

Oh and remember my Valentine's Day plans? My lovely friend from last weekend decided that we need to go to The Cheesecake Factory together on Valentine's Day. I love my friends. They know me oh so well.

But now it's time to get back to the real world and enjoy my Monday. Lots more reading, job searching, and room cleaning to do. Not to mention a little running.

Valentine's Day Plans

Today was a good day. I've been feeling a little down lately, so I took today to pamper myself. I made sure today was filled with exercise, a bubble bath, tea in one of my favorite new mugs, blog reading, scented candles, and a nap with the dog and cat. And I must say, I feel so much better. I think a little recharge every once in a while is what keeps us from getting bored, worn out and depressed.

During my blog reading I joined the Good Karma Gift Swap over at kaileenelise... This is so my idea of how to celebrate February. Who wouldn't want to get a care package from a complete stranger telling you they think you're special and should take a little time out for yourself...

It goes along with my plans of celebrating the 13 - 15.

13 - I Heart Me Day - A day to ignore the wants and needs of everyone else if you want to and simply be selfish and indulge yourself in whatever you feel you need. Afterall, if you can't take care of yourself, you're never going to be able to help others.

14 - Valentine's Day - Spend the day with someone special, be it a boyfriend/girlfriend, family member, or even a pet. Pets can really be the best company sometimes. They don't judge you for having the extra slice of cake or scoop of ice cream, or both.

15 - Anti-"Valentine's Day" Day - The special day is over and the stores know it. Candy is usually discounted, and everyone who had a horrible experience the day before is ready to compare who's Valentine's Day was more devastating. Grab the gang, some discounted chocolate, and the lamest love story you've ever seen and go to town. Making fun of the "Happily Ever After" stories with others always puts a smile back on my face. What can I say, I have some interesting friends.

Maybe I can grab a friend and get to The Cheesecake Factory that weekend. I heart their food, drinks, and especially deserts. Just over a week to make plans. What are you planning on doing to celebrate?

Inspiration from the Blogosphere

Ok. So for a while I thought that this week was turning out pretty horribly. Being away from my friends and everything I've grown close to over the past few years is starting to take a toll on me and I can't wait to get back to the city. So I thought I'd catch up on some blog reading for some inspiration, and boy did I get it.

The journey started over at one of the blogs I've been reading for about a year or so now. Kimberly Wilson's Tranquity du Jour. I got stuck sophomore year when I decided to try and learn yoga and discovered her podcast named Hip Tranquil Chick. After listening to a few of the episodes I found myself unable to tear myself away from my iPod. Within a few weeks I had listened to all of the podcast episodes and read her book, also titled Hip Tranquil Chick. The blog has since been renamed to capture Kimberly's mission to find tranquility in everyday life. The past weeks on Tranquility du Jour have brought not just Kimberly's voice, but the voice of several very talented guest bloggers, one of whom is the next source of inspiration.

The author of the Signature Style Wednesdays guest spot on Tranquility du Jour is Kaileen Elise, who happens to have a blog of her own. When I fell in love with her first two posts I decided to check out her blog. My Google Reader couldn't have been happier. The blog, which is self named, is subtitled "Everyday is an Extraordinary Adventure". Who can argue with that? An Kaileen's Modern Girl's Manifesta was such a treat. It's amazing that we don't usually stop to think about how we want our time to be spent and how we want to live, and then we get upset after we've been angry and self-destructive and wasted our time. I feel like I've just found a new friend.

And how great is it to make a new friend and then meet their friends? Well, that's what happened to me today. Stumbling through my new weekly read I found a post called Design Your Life, which was a feature of her on another blog. Click. Click. Click. Makeunder My Life. Wow was all I could say. I've found someone else who shares the idea that a few nice things are worth more than a lot of crappy things, and you can appreciate your things more if everything you have is something that you love. This was what I had in mind when I started my project to Get Rid of 365 Things. Jess from Makeunder My Life makes it a point to get rid of at least one thing every week that she is no longer absolutely in love with. She calls it End of the Week Exfoliation. By the end of the year 50 or so things have said goodbye, making room for more lovable items.

I am also quickly falling in love with some of the other "weeklies" on the blog. I might just have to steal some of the easy recipies my attempt to learn to cook more for everyday life. Also the series on small business advice could be useful, if not to me then to some of my friends.

Hopefully this isn't the end of finding inspiration in the blog world. As part of my 365 Things I'm looking to pare down my Google Reader count and find a handful of blogs that are helpful, creative and inspiring. I think that would help my life much more than reading the same news from 6 different sites. I'm not a fan of being depressed.