The holidays are here!

As such, I am very excited.  Because once again this means pretty lights, yummy food, and a chance to reflect and move forward.  And trees are acceptable to place in your living room.  Oh, and there's the extra time off work... but who's tracking that.

Also, since I have become involved in a Zumba class this year, we will be continuing our streak tearing up the stage (i.e., small town performances) with a silly little routine at the Placerville Festival of Lights.  During this past year we have also performed at the Placerville Wagon Train, the county fair, Coloma Theatre, and the downtown Halloween festival.... but don't worry about that.  Those videos have been lost in outer space.

I am NOT in the following practice video, so it has been approved for safe viewing:

* Zumba Christmas Routine *

Happy holidays!

How to Lose Your Shoes at Work

How does one lose their shoes at work, you ask?  Let me explain:

[1] After walking around the city all day to attend meetings, you take your shoes off in the unknown person's office which you happen to be borrowing for the afternoon.  After sneaking in 20 wonderful minutes of shoelessness, you put on the extra pair of more comfortable shoes which you stashed in your purse for this purpose.

[2] In all of the newfound comfort, you forget all about pair #1, including when it comes time to bring them home with you.  

[3] Two days later you realize you left your shoes in someone's office.  Oops.  You go searching for them, only to find they have disappeared.  

[4] You ask the cleaning lady on the twelfth floor (i.e. scene of the crime) if she knows what might have happened to your shoes.  She confesses to seeing them yesterday.  She doesn't know where they are now, though.  She advises you to speak to the men at the security station on the second floor.

[5] You visit the second floor and ask the security men if a pair of shoes have turned up in the lost and found.  What a strange thing to lose, they comment.  Yes it is, you agree.  They ask what the shoes look like, and you explain that they are black and have high heels and are actually pretty cute.  A quick search determines that these men don't have them, but they will give you a call in case a pair of shoes fitting your description surfaces.

[6] You thank them and secretly hope the shoes will turn up.  After all, the security men did find your building badge which you accidentally lost last week.

The end.

Vacation Bug

If you happen to read my blog, then you probably know that I LOVE vacations.  I would be a professional vacationer if that were an option.  Maybe I could scope out all the good vacation spots and then tell other people about them.  That's a real career option, right?

I haven't really been anywhere exciting since last fall, and I don't have anything planned in the near future.  So I am starting to get anxious for the next vacation adventure.  This is what I have on my list right now:

• Alaska cruise (These seem to be so darn expensive! I'm on the lookout for good deals.)  
• Colorado trip to visit Denver / Boulder / Colorado Springs, in order to scope out possible grad school options and maybe even future living options?
• Seattle / Portland. I did this two years ago but this time I would get to visit one of my best friends!  I think I will opt for flying next time, though. That was an awfully long drive.
• Tahoe... um, this is an hour away.  Will somebody please go snowboarding with me?!
• Australia!  This is a little further away, and is probably contingent upon a friend moving there later this year so I have a built-in tour guide. But definitely a future must-see destination!

I should point out that I am extremely lucky to live in one of the best places in the world - California.  If I ever get off my lazy behind (thanks, job) then I know there is so much to do in this state without having to go too far.  I am grateful just about every day to live somewhere so pretty and exciting in itself.  

On a completely unrelated note, I have started going to Zumba classes when I can.  It's kind of fun and awesome, even if I do look ridiculous sometimes.  My classmates mostly consist of old ladies, so at least the intimidation factor is low.

(Almost) 10 Things I Love about California

I have been a really bad blogger lately. I promise that I start writing blog entries all the time. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of getting distracted by other things (such as work - so inconvenient) and not finishing them. And then they become outdated and irrelevant. You know? But just to prove it, here is my unfinished list of... 8 things I love about being back in California:

(1) Being close to my favorite people and dogs.

(2) SUNSHINE! When I was a kid, I think I assumed that all winters everywhere were 60-degrees and sunny. Now I have been enlightened, and this is not so! It's good to return to warm sunny winter days. I don't even need to wear socks.

(3) Having a fresh perspective on the West Coast and the Bay Area. Appreciating the good, tolerating the bad, and having the insight to make more of an informed decision about whether to stick around in the future.

(4) Roads that make some kind of logical sense and aren't covered with potholes.

(5) That wonderful, laid-back, attitude that makes it acceptable for me to maintain a steady rotation between flip flops and fuzzy slippers.

(6) Avocadoes on everything! And if they're not there, you can always ask for them without fearing that people will give you a funny look, like "what do you think this is, South America?" (Do avacadoes grow in South America? I might have just made that up.)

(7) Mountains, hills, oceans, rivers.  We really do have the best landscapes.  

(8) Everything is so much newer here.  Don't get me wrong; there is a certain charm about some of the older and more historical areas of this country. But I grew up with sidewalks and lefthand turn lanes, and I am pretty ecstatic to see these once again.

As certain Midwestern friends turned California citizens have been known to say... the West Coast is the best coast!

Ha! Ha ha!

Another New Year

I am a little bit late for a New Year's post. Oops. To be fair, in my mind 2012 has barely arrived, as evidenced by the large number of emails I have accidentally sent to my co-workers and clients with "2011" somewhere in the subject line.


2011 was a pretty crazy / eventful / incredible year. After a rather rocky start, it turned out to be a year of balance and introspection. A loo-oong snowy winter was tough in so many ways, but I survived. This was the year I learned about shoveling, and I will never forget how proud I felt to have shoveled my poor car out of it's snow prison all by myself! A short but enjoyable spring was followed by an awesome summer (no thanks to you, grown up job) with some sweet trips to new places in the USA. On top of the new U.S. states added to my growing list, this was the year I got to become a world traveler! (I shall thank you for that one, grown up job). It was the year I got to experience box seats at Fenway Park! It was the year I decided I would continue to stay in Boston indefinitely, and then a few months later changed my mind and moved to California. As such, it was the year I drove across the country. It was also was the year I gave up soda for real. And last but not least, it was the year I learned how to hula hoop. Fittingly, I celebrated the New Year at a hula hooping party, where I stepped it up a notch and hooped with fire. Video footage will remain secret.


Now I'd say it's about time to accept the arrival of 2012. So far January has been a nutty month, given that I have not had an "official" home and have become a nomad of sorts. Work has also kept me very busy lately, as there is an endless need for boring business tasks to be completed in this world. Still, although I haven't gotten out and about nearly as much as I'd like to, it feels fantastic to be a West Coast citizen once again. (Only symbolically, not literally, as I have no intentions of updating my Massachusetts residency right now and paying California's outrageous vehicle registration taxes. Don't tell the DMV.)


So my homework over the next couple of days is to think of a New Year's resolution to solidify the arrival of 2012. Hopefully I can catch up on this slightly belated task by February. Hey, better late than never.