Vida

I'm not a very good writer.   I never have been. Today I got my first compliment on writing, possibly ever. My co-worker neighbor got promoted (Yay!) and she needed to write her own promotion email.   I looked over at her, when you sit next to someone everyday you can definitely tell when they're frustrated, and asked with my look what was going on. Her: I have to write my own promotion email and it's really hard. Me:   I start going on and on about her hobbies (which is always the last, short paragraph in the promotion email).  Me, making jokes. We laugh. Her:  I have to write about what I do and I don't know what to say. Me:  (considering this has all been in whispers because she hasn't told anyone) I'll send you something. I start writing an email to her and send a few sentences on her promotional excitement.  I didn't think it was great, but it's hard to gush about yourself.  Easier for others to gush about you.  (Maybe this is why I nev

I recently wrapped up a judging process for a project I'm managing at work.  The CMO of the company I work for was a judge.  I am used to working with CMOs, there are a lot of them in the association I work for.  But not CMOs where I see them give updates to the entire company, the company where I work. He called me a few times with questions and every time I saw his name come up on my phone, I started sweating.  He's super nice and I really enjoyed working with him so why did I always start sweating?  I was actually the one helping him out with his questions. So why do we (or maybe it's just me) do this? Not that this article specifically applies, but I really enjoyed it:   What You Learn in Your 40s . There are no grown-ups. We suspect this when we are younger, but can confirm it only once we are the ones writing books and attending parent-teacher conferences. Everyone is winging it, some just do it more confidently. Lately, I've tried to remind myself of thi

Here we are another weekend, after another rough winter week. So much complaining from me lately so today I want to switch it up. What are you grateful for? I'm grateful: My sister picked me up from work Wednesday when it was 1 degree.  Words do not exist for how happy this made me.  I felt like I'd made it.  (Even if it was my sister.) I'm grateful for Spotify. my co-workers for putting up with me while i'm in my funk Sunshine.   Even especially when it's -6 degrees see the sun in the reflection? just for memory's sake -6 degrees P.S. February

Early November we had a once around at work: What's your favorite thing about winter? I sat there waiting for my turn trying desperately to think of anything .  When it was my turn I informed everyone I was struggling with this one.  I said "I guess it's my winter coat," which was an excellent investment several years ago when my mom & dad gave it to me for Christmas.  I said, "It's like a comfy blanket so I obviously only like it when sitting inside." Then one of my bosses said, "Lisa, baseball season starts in winter." Me:  Thank you, you're right.  So I'll go with the start of spring training. ( via ) So here we are...TODAY! The elevator read -6 on my ride to my work floor, but baseball starts!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! No matter if you have a special someone, you're having a galentine's day, you're getting together with a big group of friends, your spending the evening with a big tub of ice cream or cookies, etc. happy valentine's day! It's such a unique opportunity (and reminder) to tell the ones you care about that you care about them. I love making cards for people I love (and sending some through the justWink app).  I'd love to have a card making party where we make cards for people who may not receive a card.  Homeless shelters.  A soup kitchen.  Maybe next year I'll make that happen. This year I went to Ronald McDonald House with a couple co-workers last week and we made cards with a few kids staying there.  And we were able to make some extras to put in mailboxes for some of the families staying there. These sisters stayed until the end.  The way they bickered reminded me of my sister & I.  Did we bicker like that

Have you ever used wordle ? My boss decided to have us do affirmations for our team for our Holiday Party this year.  (Which was yesterday.  Yes, I know it's February.  You gotta do what you gotta do.)   We used survey monkey to enter affirmative words about each other.   We compiled all of them.  And used wordle to make fun designs. Turns out about five people put down the word organized for me.  When my boss told me this, I said, "I fooled them!" My family members are probably laughing at this.  Growing up when my sister and I shared a room we would draw an imaginary line down the middle.  The line wasn't really needed, my side was always a mess.  When she comes over to my place I can see her effort to ignore my disorganized place. When I told her this story she responded:  Maybe you are organized at work, but that is not a word I would use to describe you! Please note:  I do have a strong history when living with others (outside of my family) I can be v

This week. I struggled to accomplish anything. I'm thick in my seasonal depression. I'm counting down the days until a Missouri trip. I'm tired all. the. time. I wish the snow would disappear. Cars seem to be attacking me on my bike. I'm sick of the cold. I hate choking on the air when it's so cold and windy it's hard to breathe. I'm wearing my Cardinals sweatshirt all the time because it gives me emotional comfort. I'm excited for the weekend. I hope to press the reset button for another week. I'm embracing my desire to organize my living room (and clean out my closet). Coffee is comforting. I'm trying to focus on things like someone holding a door open for me or getting my favorite elevator at work and the extremely nice email our CMO wrote about myself & my boss and sent to our CEO and VP. And I've found lots of people are experiencing the same feelings right now, it's just hard to talk about.  And as hard as it f

I had another minor bike accident.  More minor than the last minor bike accident. I'm really only upset that I ripped my favorite kakis and that someone watched me fall...again. Honestly, I had sort-of a bad feeling the entire ride home.  Buses kept cutting me off.  Cars kept getting into my area (especially cabs).  I just felt rather unsafe. The best part I texted my sister, Karen, to tell her I ripped my pants and she left me a voicemail to see if she needed to bring me bandages.  This is one reason I love her.  After my last minor bike accident I walked with an open wound to trivia night until Karen got there, checked out my wounds and headed over to Walgreens to get my bandages.  Before coming back to trivia night to put on all the bandages. Yes, she takes care of me. I did not need bandages this time, but I'm still real sad about my pants... :( p.s. Please be nice, cars.

Here we are again.  Right around this time each year seasonal depression hits me really hard.  It's hard to get over to deal with and continue on with life and not fail as a friend or my job. Yesterday I had a chance to focus on me and that's exactly what I did.  I had a comp day from work and as the week continued and I got deeper and deeper into this season I decided I was going to make the most out of my day off! Here's a glimpse of what my day looked like: -morning kickboxing class w/ molly (normal friday) -between kickboxing and my fav yoga class ever the half hour of chat time with Molly that I miss so dearly since I started my new job -fav yoga class ever (it was freezing yesterday, but that's beside the point) -brunch -library for some spanish kids books for volunteering today.  This year I'm working with a spanish speaking girl and I know she needs to work on english so we still read the english book, but she needs to feel smart too so I got some

Growing up my mom had a pair of moon boots that she'd wear for every snowfall or shoveling adventure.  She swore by how much she loved them.  She had them for years & years.  (She may still have them.)  She had them so long they went out of style and came back in style while she kept wearing them.  That's the sign of a loved item! In my grown up life (I guess I should admit to being a grown up at this point), I've never had real snow boots.  Unless you count the $10 ones from some cheap store, which were warm, but definitely not water proof.  The same pair that one of the soles fell off while I was walking and I picked it up and used some fancy shoe glue to put the sole back on.  I still have those boots but I'm starting to realize they're somewhat useless. A couple years ago I bought the tall rain boots with the intention to wear them in the rain and snow (with thick wool socks on).  After very little use I realized my feet were always wet.  Your feet shoul

Yesterday morning after getting almost 2 feet of snow Sunday and working from home Monday I thought I could bike to work.  In my defense, they do keep the bike path pretty clear. I biked about a half mile, almost wiped out several times, had to walk through extreme patches of ice, thought about the impossibility of biking this in the dark on the way home, and turned around.  I put my bike safely in my place and headed to the bus. My bus ride to work was not horrible.  It was normal.  I stood and listened to this girl on her phone complaining about a wedding she's going to.  (That part isn't necessarily normal.) Then it was time to head home for the evening.  As I crossed the street I saw my bus at my stop and I was hustling.  There's only so much you can do when there's limited space to walk (they don't shovel the entire sidewalk) and lots of people.  I missed the bus.  I waited 8 minutes.  The next bus didn't even stop.  I waited 8 more minutes and decide

Sunday I literally put time on my calendar to make my valentine's day cards.  (Things have been busy.) As per tradition, I listen to love music as I get ready.  In the past I always listen to pandora's love station.  This year I decided to mix it up and listen to one of spotify's love stations...meh.  Why do they have so many country songs?  Skip, skip, skip.  Maybe I'll end up back with Pandora next year? Then for the main event, I start  The Notebook .  I basically watch  The Notebook  once a year.  Just for this occasion.   And then it snowed.  A lot.  Perfect day for putting together my valentine's. Speaking of the snow, in case you haven't heard, it was the 5th largest snowfall in Chicago history.  O'hare got like 19 inches.  The piles are everywhere.  All the drivers who have shovels in their cars are rejoicing!  Even my brother texted my sister & I to see if we are ok!  My poor friend: