Aloha!

As you know, my job requires a lot of traveling. Sometimes that means to traveling to places like Pittsburgh, where someone breaks into my room, while I'm in the shower. Yes, this actually happened. Thankfully I am okay, and nothing was stolen. Other times it's to places like Hawaii. For a week.

After my 11 hour non stop flight there, I jumped in a cab and made my way to my hotel. Since it was my first time in Hawaii, I took in all the sights and imagined a life on the beach. Once I settled in, I made my way to our new store. The reason I was there. 

Everything was in great shape and ready for our press party the next night. On my down time I tried to make the best of my time there. I went surfing for the first time, and I must say I was pretty darn good. We went deeper then I thought we would and I didn't fall off. However, the next day my body felt the aftermath. It's really tough on the body. Well, when you're not in shape at least. That night I also went to a luau for the first time. It was awesome. The food was amazing and it was nice to get a taste of Hawaiian culture at the same time. 

The next night was the press party featuring a performance by Best Coast. I was running around trying to make sure everything for the next morning was set. The morning of the opening, I woke up and grabbed my Starbucks. It was bound to be a long day. 1,200 people lined up for the opening of our first store in Hawaii. Such an awesome experience and proof that marketing works! 

Afterwards, I took the next 2 days to relax and really enjoy the island. A local friend I had just met, was kind enough to show me around the island. We started with a hike to Likeke falls. Keep in mind, I am not an active person at all. Yes, I walk a lot but I've never hiked. It was beyond muddy and slippery but it was so much fun! We came upon the waterfall and I couldn't help but think "Is this what life is about?" The water was fresh spring water, clean enough to drink. Then we were off to hike the pillboxes. The views from the top were breathtaking. I can't imagine waking up to that everyday. I truly believe your mood depends on where you live. And if you wake up to that view, there's no excuse to ever be mad. The way down was a project but totally worth it. 

I left that night thinking maybe I need a change. Not tomorrow but eventually. I do love New York, but with all my traveling I'm learning there's so much more to life then work, and I intend on enjoying every minute. 

Time Heals All

You know when people say "life gets in the way"? I never understood that phrase until now. Within the past year, life has thrown me so many curve balls, that I'm still learning how to catch them. About 10 months ago, someone very close to me was diagnosed with cancer. You never know how that word will affect your life until you're faced with it. I never talked about it because it's just one of those things where, when I said it out loud, that meant it was real. I didn't want to accept it. Or maybe I couldn't accept it. As the months went by, so many things went through my mind. "What if I don't get to say all the things I want to say?" "Will she ever know how much I love her?" "How much longer can I pretend to be strong?" Between starting a new job where I travel almost every week, to traveling 4 hours every weekend to see her, it became too much to handle physically and emotionally. I felt myself losing control. It's hard to stay strong in a situation you can't make sense of. After months of making memories, her time had come. I've gone through this more times than I'd like to talk about and even though I'm older, it never gets easier. I always tend to shut people out and not want to speak, because I feel like no one will understand my pain. It's something I can't explain, and I guess in a way I shut you all out too. I've learned time heals all, and I'm on my way.

A day in the life

So today I decided to take a page out of Erin over at LivinginYellow's book. She wrote a post about what a typical day in her life looks like. Not sure any of you care, but I decided I'd like to share.

I wake up every Monday-Friday at 5am. Before I do anything, I turn my curling and flat irons on. It's literally the first thing I do. This gives it time to heat up while I'm brushing my teeth and washing my face. Then I wander around for a good 5-7 minutes. I can't really explain that actually.

By 6:30am I'm walking out the door to catch the bus. However, this morning was a special day. It was what some of us may call the end of the world. I could barely walk. The wind pushed me down twice. Oh and did I mention I was soaked? Yep. That was fun.

Those are my feet standing on a mountain of snow/ice

It looks pretty, but don't be fooled, it's not fun to travel in.

After a 2 hour commute, I finally made it to work. Only to be one of 3 people on my team to come in. Surprisingly, I got a lot done. It was a day full of conference calls and follow ups. And by full day, I mean 5 hours. There was no way I was staying all day, while Armageddon was happening outside.

Please notice the chapstick. I ALWAYS have one on my keyboard. Otherwise, I'd be lost. Physically.

After trecking home, it was time to dig out my car. Sorry, I don't have pictures of that, as my hands would have fallen off. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it out as ice decided to eat my car. So what else is there to do, except call your boyfriend? Of course, he came by and saved the day. My car is out, and I can move it now in case you're wondering. By the time I got inside the house all I wanted was the left over Chinese food from yesterday. What? Chinese food is always better the day after. Then it was time to get back to work. Naturally, I laid on the floor and worked with my cup of coffee in hands reach. All while watching ID (Investigation Discovery). That's a completely normal thing to do, right?

Notice my background? Much needed escape while I'm working.

Afterwards, I got the itch to write again. It's not everyday that I have time to sit and write a post. I try to take advantage when I do. 

After an hour or so I quit to eat dinner and spend some time catching up with shows on my DVR. It's raining really hard right now, and I'm hoping that means I'll be working from home tomorrow. 

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into my everyday life. Maybe next time there won't be a snowpocalypse, and I can share more exciting stuff. One take away is, I spend way too much time on computers. Until next time..