Archives for 2011

This week was Book Expo America in New York City. The drive down was dark, grey and rainy. I feared that our week in the city was going to be ruined. I mean seriously, does this look promising? However, I was interviewed by the lovely Tricia Romano for this Daily Beast piece during the beautiful ride.

But luckily we arrived in the city to beautifully clear skies and warm weather. We immediately gravitated towards Times Square which has really become my go-to first stop whenever I arrive in the city. We always eat at Tony’s DiNapoli because the food is delicious…although this time we were a little disappointed to find that they didn’t have Chicken Saltimbocca on the menu…but the fettucini alfredo was stellar!

One of the first celebrity sightings I had at the show was Kathie Lee Gifford…and she happened to be hugging Dr. Ruth! It was like a two-for-one! Dr. Ruth is tiny and Kathie Lee is gorgeous. Kathie Lee was there promoting her new children’s book The Legend of Messy M’Cheany.

After grabbing a copy of Elin Hilderbrand’s upcoming summer release SILVER GIRL, my sister Megan and I were delighted to find they were handing out free Corona’s for all of the weary show goers. (Side note: Megan was there promoting her upcoming anthology, DEAR BULLY, for HarperTeen.)

And of course, you can’t go to New York without visiting a deli…and the Carnegie Deli is the most famous of them all! The portion sizes were enormous and the food was out of this world. Truly a New York institution and one that lives up to all the hype.

It was a fantastic trip and BEA was as eventful and entertaining as always. There are some great books coming out this fall and I will keep you posted on all of them.

Goodbye New York…and that sweater that I LOVED from Ann Taylor’s LOFT that I got a mustard stain on from dinner on our last night. I will miss you both.

For Mother’s Day, we took my mom to one of her favorite coastal spots. We walked around, shopped, had an amazing dinner and grabbed some ice cream for desert. About halfway through our shopping it started to pour and I suddenly understood the phrase, “It’s raining sideways” because it really did seem like the rain was coming down sideways. We waited it out in a tiny antique store and then, before we knew it the sun was back out and we continued on our way.

It was a perfect day and I’m so glad I got to spend it with my mom!

 

Flowers of Spring!

The Mickey Mouse Phone

Friday consisted of cleaning out my parent’s garage and stumbling upon this little GEM! This Mickey Mouse phone was the first phone I remember. It was the “central family phone” located smack dab in the middle of our family room for my entire childhood. I didn’t think there was anything strange or abnormal about having a Mickey Mouse phone. Looking back, I realize that my friends always seemed excited to get to use my phone when calling their parents for rides home. I never realized it was at all unusual. I think I kind of love my parents for this even more!

Then I had a little adventure on my walk with my mom. (By the way, my mom and I are becoming obsessed with walking and have done it for eight consecutive days!) Today we just happened to be walking by a house that sits just along the waters’ edge. We had heard that there was going to be filming going on this week, but we didn’t really know the extent of it. So I was more than thrilled to stop, steps from my parents house, and find Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane and Joel McHale all arriving “on set” to film the movie TED. Very, very exciting! And certainly kicked our walk up a bit in terms of interesting things found on a walk. It certainly beat out the robin we saw the day before.

And finally, if you were wondering what it’s like to be a princess (er, Duchess?) well, it doesn’t seem that different from you and me. It looks like the Duchess of Cambridge is grocery shopping just days after the wedding of the century. I don’t know about you, but it kind of make me like her even more!

After yesterday’s post about The Book of Awesome and some time spent scrolling through the website that started it all, 1000 Awesome Things, I started doing something really strange. I started actively trying to think of awesome things. It wasn’t only in the period following my discovery of Neil’s book and website. It was all day long. Every where I went, everything I did, I kept trying to find awesome things, things that I would classify as bright spots in a regular, run-of-the-mill day. I found a bunch of things.

-finding good food in your refrigerator that you didn’t know was there, thus leading to an awesome lunch.

-going for a great walk (outside!) and not worrying about how many calories were being burned, the exact elevation of my heart rate and the specific duration of the exercise.

-getting all your work done before 2pm and realizing there actually are benefits to being your own boss. (see above: going for a great walk)

-realizing EXACTLY what you want to have for dinner and having the energy (and enthusiasm) to go to the grocery store and pick it up yourself.

-thinking you missed a great tv show and then realizing it hasn’t aired yet!

-knowing you have a great tv show to look forward to that night.

-getting an invitation in the mail to a place you don’t really feel like going and then realizing it falls on a day you are actually going to be out of town.

-reading the first page of a book and knowing you are going to love the whole thing, beginning to end.

-realizing that the things you stress about aren’t that big a deal and there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision.

-having a sudden sense that things really will be alright.

-figuring out how to do something on  your computer that will actually make your life easier…or at least help you do things faster.

-getting everything on your to-do list DONE.

-resurrecting something from your childhood…and knowing that every time you look at it, it will make you smile.

A recent article in the New York Times asks the question, “What’s my REAL size?” Any woman who shops online or in a mall has faced the perplexing dilemma of no two sizes being the same. I can be a perfect 8 in the Gap, a 10 in Banana Republic, a 6 in an Ann Taylor and so on. How is this possible? How can I fluctuate three sizes in one shopping excursion? Either it’s my biggest nightmare and the hot pretzel in the food court really does add ten pounds, or there is a discrepancy between companies and size charts.

Tanya Shaw is an entrepreneur working on a system to help alleviate these problems. She has created MYBestFit, a free service that “makes it easy to find clothes that fit your body.” Apparently they are popping up in kiosks in malls across the country. I don’t know how well the system works or if it might possibly cause even more anxiety for shoppers, but it does seem to be a step in the right direction of leveling the clothing size playing field. According to MyBestFit, there is no sizing standard for apparel manufacturers, they can, quite literally, play with our minds and our bodies.

Another woman pioneering this change is Cricket Lee. Lee is on a personal mission to regulate the sizing industry with her company FITLOGIC. Her system breaks down women’s bodies into three shapes: thick waist with thin hips, curvy but proportional; and thin waist with round bottom and large thighs (sounds like pear-shape to me).

But isn’t part of the fun in shopping trying on different sizes, different styles, different looks? If everything was mapped out for us perfectly, where’s the excitement? The drama? It’s like arranged marriages, sure it seems like a simple solution but does it just open the door for more problems?

I am 32 years old and running out of time. Over the past year I have been steadily building my business, adding more clients, more responsibility, and more tasks to be completed within the hours of a single day. I have two cell phones, two computers, I read 5 newspapers a day and countless online articles. In one work day I will schedule and complete at least a dozen conference calls. I work in PR so staying on top (or even a few steps ahead) of everything that is going on is imperative to my business. Weekends are spent speaking at writing and publishing events and my nights are spent researching and writing.  I also added a daily 4 mile run with the pace increasing every day.

Every year it seems that my life becomes more filled with responsibility and the time in which these tasks must be completed shrinks. Everything is moving at a faster pace and I can barely keep up, let alone grow and thrive.

And with all of this I am finding that the attention I give to the ones I love is shrinking steadily. I have less time to listen to stories or funny anecdotes. I don’t have long, drawn out conversations with friends, those have been replaced with short, clipped emails tapped out in a sliver of a free moment.  I am short on time, so I am short with people.

The words languish, indulge, relax, restore don’t exist in my life anymore. I have no patience. I am literally running out of time and I am only 32.

We truly need to slow down. But how? How when we have programmed ourselves to fill up every minute of the day with busyness? How when we read story after story about young people working night and day to develop a business model that results in multi-million dollar payouts? We are spurred on and inspired by these stories but we are killing ourselves to emulate this success. Is it time we slow down? Or does it go against everything we have been taught?

Research has found that slow thinking actually promotes and inspires creativity. A recent study found that people fighting a clock were the least creative because they were unable to truly focus and let their minds zero in on the most important and powerful ideas.

Google is one of the first companies to truly implement this slow movement. They advise their employees to devote 20% of their time to personal projects. Gmail and Adsense are two innovations that came from the 20% downtime.

I would love to see if the slow life is the way to a healthy and happy heart and a well-adjusted brain. I want to take the long, windy road instead of the fast lane. The obstacles I face, to do more and do it faster, is a common problem among young women today. Fearing the pressure to fit it all in before settling down with kids, a husband, a mortgage or fitting it all in with those added pressures of family already in place, is something that women are battling more frequently and with more intensity than ever before.

With books like Carl Honore’s IN PRAISE OF SLOWNESS and Dominque Browning’s SLOW LOVE, this is something that people are learning later in life. But what would happen if we could discover the power of slow living NOW, when we are still in the throes of building our lives, when things are just beginning? Is the slow movement more than just a theory to test? Is it the secret to happiness and fulfillment in life?

My niece picked out the above image for me to wish everyone a Happy Easter!

Today I watched the Boston Marathon. I had it on in the background while I went about my daily routine (emails, writing, phone calls). I must admit that when the elite runners were rounding the corner and hitting Boylston Street (the last few blocks of the race), I put everything on pause and sat, transfixed. We were very close to having an American woman (Desiree Davila) win the race but unfortunately, in the last 200 yards or so, she was passed by Caroline Kilel from Ethiopia. The last time an American woman won the Boston Marathon was in 1985, so I was really hoping for some history making today. Unfortunately, it was not to be. And our beloved Kara Goucher finished 5th. Kara, who gave birth to a baby boy 6 months ago (!!) ran a personal best and has vowed that she will continue running the Boston Marathon until she wins. I love her gumption.

The men’s race was equally as exciting because a world record was smashed by Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai who ran the fastest 26.2 miles in history (unfortunately the downhill portion of the race makes it ineligible for an official world record).

I, of course, had to hit the treadmill after work and have my own imaginary marathon run. While running, I couldn’t help but think about the passion and determination on the faces of all the runners I watched today. It’s very hard to worry about your relationships, your boss, your financial situation, your hair when doing something as solitary and physically exhausting as pushing your body forward in a perpetual motion. With each foot fall you can leave your worries, your stresses and your frustration behind you. You can’t stress about any extra pounds on your body because you are consciously working towards making them history. You can’t worry about work because you are in no way capable of doing anything but putting one foot in front of the other. There is also something that happens when working out, your thoughts tend to lean towards the positive, the hopeful, the optimistic. You’re moving forward and so are your thoughts.

So yes, baby we were born to run…(or walk, swim, bike). Find something that lifts your heart rate and your spirits and keep doing it. Every day.

I am literally in a funk. I don’t know if it’s the weather (I have seen maybe one or two glimpses of the sun), the time of year, the anticipation of spring and summer or the general need for a vacation. All I know is I am in a funk. I don’t feel like going out on the weekends and I generally just want to stay home and watch reality tv. (However, recent studies have shown that some alone time is actually healthy and can lead to creativity and happiness. I will definitely be weighing in on this in further detail in a later post.)

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not depressed. I am actually quite a happy person, by nature. I can find joy in the smallest things (a good dinner, a captivating book, some snarky celebrity magazines) but lately I just can’t seem to shake this general sense of “eh.” That’s the best way I can put it.

So because I’m in this funk, I start looking back and thinking “when was the last time I was really happy?” When was the last time I was super excited to get out of bed in the morning? It’s kind of like when you lose something and you have to retrace your steps to see if you can find where you dropped it.

I was happiest when I was writing freelance for magazines. I wrote about sending love notes and getting rain insurance for your wedding. I wrote about curiosity and health. I wrote book reviews and a story about building pools (yes, some stories were more random than others). I loved writing these stories. I loved researching and crafting the perfect words, pitching them and waiting to hear back from editors. To put it simply, I love writing.

My job is PR. That’s what I do for a living. I enjoy it, I really do. I love working with authors, crafting press releases and pitching ideas to the media. But sometimes you want to stretch your creative muscle. You want to do something for work AND for fun. You want to do something that both inspires and intrigues, something for yourself.

I may not have the time to write and pitch magazine articles, but I do have a platform to express these thoughts and explore the new things I learn along the way. I think that by writing these blog posts about the interesting things I discover, I will be creating both balance and pride in my life, in my work and in my heart.

Truly, it’s all about curiosity. Studies have shown that curious people are happier people.

So my journey towards relocating my happiness is going to start here. With you. With my research, my thoughts and my words.

Today was a perfect day. Do you ever have those days that are just fully enjoyable from beginning to end? That was today. But technically, that’s not true. I started off the day in a state of turmoil. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, how I wanted to spend my precious free time. I have so little of it these days and it sometimes seems that I am paralyzed with indecision. But I made a decision. I chose to spend time with someone special, doing things that weren’t productive. I wasn’t organizing or cleaning or getting a jump start on work. Instead, I went out for a breakfast buffet that was beyond delicious (even if I did dump half of my hash browns…covered in ketchup…into my lap…twice). Then we went for a walk and found a bench facing the water. We sat and talked. About nothing and everything. The sun was warm, the air had a little early spring chill in it but the day was bright and perfect. Even better, I was dressed appropriately, a sweater AND a jacket…I tend to under dress at the first sign of spring and 9 out of 10 times I’m always cold…needless to say, I jump the gun for warm weather. So there we were, enjoying  a lazy Sunday, full from a delicious brunch and casually walking the streets of this quaint, quiet, historical town.

To say that I am excited about a recent purchase is an understatement. I’m not just excited about my new iMac, I’m overwhelmed, terrified, exhilarated and optimistic. I have been a PC person for my entire adult life so this is the equivalent of suddenly driving on the opposite side of the road. What I can tell you is that what I have seen so far is beyond my greatest expectations. I am going to completely sound like an “I’m a MAC” commercial, but seriously, this is one awesome computer. I love the clicking and dragging aspect of it. I love the overall simplicity of the entire operating system. Yes, it is going to take me a long time to get over the fact that THERE IS NO RIGHT CLICK but other than that, I’m in love.

I also have to say something about the support they have over at Apple. It’s unlike any other electronic purchase I have ever made. This morning I had a two hour MEET YOUR MAC class and a lesson in the One-to-One program they offer. This is a program that allows you to set up meeting times with someone at the Apple store whenever you want and they will walk you through whatever difficulties you are having. In a word: AMAZING!

{Just FYI, I am in no way affiliated with Apple nor am I receiving any compensation…I’m just a girl who’s excited about a new toy!}

I really believe there is a therapeutic quality to blogging (or maybe just writing in general). Writing has the power to act as a reset button. No matter how unhappy or frustrated you are about something, just the act of writing it down helps to clarify things. It can even make problems that seemed larger than life suddenly seem a lot more palatable. I believe this is why many of the blogs I read always sound so upbeat and optimistic. Once you write it out, it no longer carries the weight it once did and you are able to look at things more objectively and come to more helpful conclusion.

Today was a busy day. Busier than I had originally hoped (or anticipated) it would be. I went to my friend’s bridal shower, went to the gym (where they were shooting a commercial!) and then hit up Target and the grocery store. I left the house around 10am and didn’t return until close to 8pm. I’m completely exhausted and even though I would have liked to have spent the Sunday lazily reading the paper and surfing my favorite blogs, I am happy with all that I accomplished and enjoy the feeling of living a FULL life. Seeing friends, meeting new people, being healthy, shopping…really, what else could I ask for in life?