You're Not in Nashville Anymore

Over the past month +, I have been noticing a lot of things that make California very different from Nashville. Thought you might be as surprised as I was by some of these:

• Pedestrians rule. There is apparently no such thing as jay-walking here. People cross the street whenever they want, and for the most part, the cars are happy to stop for them!
• 80% of women over 40 here could kick my @*$ and wear cuter clothes than me (hard, right?). It really does match the SoCal stereotype -- All the girls (scratch that-- women) have fake boobs, wear lululemon, and are ridiculously in shape. And they are everywhere!
• Everyone owns a dog. Dogs are allowed in any stores/restaurants, you name it. If not, there's a post outside for them to hang out. Also note, dog-walking is an entirely acceptable career path here. 
• Country is not a real genre of music that people admit listening to. It is merely something you suggest to mock people.
• There are a lot of people who work in "labs" out here. I think half the people I have met (being modest) are engineers/scientists/geneticists, etc.
• The roads here are awful. Potholes and uneven-ness everywhere. On the flip-side, there are more ridiculously nice cars than anywhere I have ever been. This is probably thanks to the Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Lambhorgini, and Bentley dealerships that are within a mile of my house. Not kidding...and that's not even all of them.
• You find yourself constantly and accidentally being active. It is so pretty here, I am tempted to walk peanut daily (whoa!), would rather walk to the grocery store, go on a hikes when I have a spare hour, or find some excuse to be outside at all times. (I can't wait for Summer!)
• When it rained twice in a week, people were all gushing about how terrible the weather was. Mind you, rain here is more like drizzle and wind...and only for very short periods of time. A rainy day = 1 hour of rain and 23 of sunshine (minus night). It has pretty much been between 60-70 and sunny everyday since I got here. (Supposed to hit 80 this week!)
• People say "bro" - in all seriousness.
• No one has heard of LocalEats...Absurd, huh!?!  I'm working on changing that ;)
• Boys wear bright colors. Think: neon pink. I don't know if all boys want to and just don't have the courage, or if it's just a trend here that boys feel they must follow. I'm okay with it. 
• You can't use your cell phone while driving, unless with a headset. You WILL get a ticket. 
• Working for an iPhone "app" isn't that uncommon. 
• Rush hour is at 3pm. I'm not sure if these people actually have jobs...but the trafficky time of day is definitely around 3 (the only real logic I have for this is that people are working with the west coast).
• You can meet someone with a tattoo sleeve up their arm, and then they will tell you they teach kindergarten.
• Casual attire is acceptable for anything. (woohoo!!!) And all girls wear Toms.
• The gov't takes a lot more of your paycheck. 
• It's always the perfect day to fly a kite. 
• Their carwashes are um...confusing -- see sidestory from my facebook status earlier this week: Just bought a car wash at the gas station pump. When I pulled around back to the pull through machine, there was a man standing with rags. Now I'm sitting in my car right next to the car wash machine while someone hand cleans my car. The automatic is only for at night. Only in la jolla...10 minutes later...so the man starts cleaning my car...tells me to roll up my window. i don't realize the right front window is cracked, i just roll up mine. he sprays water all into my car (clearly, my fault). THEN, he tells me ...to pull forward. i ask "all the way?" i dont guess he understands me, because he says yes. i drive through the auto car-wash, and he is waving his hands for me to stop. apparently he soaps me first, then rinses the car, and the auto car wash does a 2nd job of both, in case the first time didn't get it. i am now stuck halfway out of the autowash, and halfway almost into a main road. i am trying to reverse back INTO the car wash, nearly hitting all the signs and metal tracks. Pulling back, fwd, back, fwd, until i finally (thank god!) got back into the car wash -- without hitting anything, i must add. but now i am sweating. after the rinse, i pull forward, and the man towel dries my car. how incredibly awkward. he thinks i'm an idiot. and i do too.
•  There are like 7 interstates here and 25 neighborhoods to remember ie: We may have East Nashville, West End, Brentwood, and Cool Springs...but they have a name for every 4 blocks or so...and each one has its own identity. 
• People are pretty passionate about burritos and locally grown food. Locally brewed beer is also extremely popular here -- and there are TONS of breweries to choose from.
• Not knowing English is entirely acceptable and common here (and gives me motivation to be fluent in Spanish!!) - Did you realize I'm only a 20 minute drive to Mexico?
• And last, my favorite -- Boys here don't watch or seemingly care about sports. They want to know what the waves are like today and watch "surf films" instead.

A Family Trip to Vegas

As many of you know, I went to Vegas this past weekend. It may not be fair to blog about something/someone who doesn't even know you have a blog, but if you don't know that I have a blog, maybe you shouldn't invite me with your family to Vegas either, huh? I guess that makes us even after all.

Many of you thought I was crazy for accepting this invitation (although several of you rooted me on for your own entertainment), but low and behold, I drove the 5+ hours to Vegas this past weekend to go on Chris Craig's Family Trip 2k11.  There was supposed to be more people, it was supposed to take less time, but as I've posted before, things rarely go the way they're supposed to...and thank God, as you will soon read. I went, I'm glad I did, and I had a lot of fun...here's why:

I left out of town Friday at approximately 3:30pm, straight from a restaurant appointment in Del Mar, and headed into the desert. After a ridiculous amount of traffic, I finally arrived at the Hilton Las Vegas. The same Hilton that gives me nightmares from my previous work trip which forced me to commute 30 minutes to and from my first Bank Director Conference which I was entirely terrified at. Anyways, the Washington game is ending just as I get there, and Chris Craig promptly greets me with not one, but two! cranberry vodkas. We talk about what we should do that night, but since he knows some people with a table at Tryst (and if you have ever been to a Bachelorette Party in Vegas, you know that's the place to be!)...we decided to go there.

So we get in line at Tryst. Me, Chris, and his parents. jk...Just Chris and me (although sidenote: his parents are awesome)...Anyways, it's a ridiculous line...but ohhhh the people watching! There were foreign people popped collars and slutty Miley-Cyrus-look-alikes everywhere. We made good friends with some Argentinians in line and explained to them what America was like (in our own ways), and finally Chris's friends showed up so we could get specially escorted to the back corner with no heat lamp by the waterfall. I may sound negative, but that's just the cold in me speaking. I was actually having a lot of fun (which says a lot for being at a trendy bar)...But we decide to call it a night at around 1:30am (or so we think) and get in a cab line that takes close to an hour...or fifteen minutes, but at this time of night/morning, it felt like an hour. However, much to our surprise, the night is SO not over!

We get back to the Hilton and are heading to the elevators when we overhear a commotion. We look to the left and see what is a cafe by day, transformed into an electric light dance floor...make that an electric light dance floor filled with black people breaking it down. Clearly, we have to join. Without any hesitation (I don't think), we head in to dance, and that's when it happens...

As we are dancing our hearts out, as best and worst as we can, the floor kind of clears, and all of a sudden it is just me, another girl, Chris, and..........MARK CURRY! like THE Mark Curry. In the words of Lauren, "if anyone else told me this story I'd think they were lying," but I swear...it happened. As the Hangin' with Mr. Cooper fanatic that I am, this entirely makes my night/month/life (even if I'm just a fanatic all of a sudden)...Chris and I exchange equal "OMG!!!" looks, and make it entirely obvious we are obsessed and star-struck (sidenote: we did know he was performing at the hotel that night, but never dreamed we would actually get to "Hang with Mr. Cooper")...Mark wasn't really having me, no matter how hard I tried, and eventually sat back down behind a velvet rope, but it really didn't matter to me. My night was complete.

I must say that for someone who is so funny and lively, he kind of seemed downright depressed, but that is neither here, nor there. (I just want to help you, okay Mark? - call me?)...We finally had to leave as I think Chris had worn out all of his dance moves (which were equally as ridiculous as they were fantastic), but no worries, on my way out, Mark gave me a flirty wave + a wink, so I'm pretty sure he was in love after all. The rest of the weekend was fun as well, but not nearly as good of a story. The end.

Oh hey, Mark :)

An Emotional Hangover

Definition of Hangover

1: something (as a surviving custom) that remains from what is past

2 a : disagreeable physical effects following heavy consumption of alcohol or the use of drugs 

   b : a letdown following great excitement or excess 

 

See 2b. That was my yesterday. Of all the days in San Diego (I've almost been here a month! = tomorrow), yesterday was my hardest. 

Erin left Tuesday at 5pm, and after five days of having a best friend in town, I was exhausted. I fell asleep around 9pm, and slept clear through til my morning alarm...but when I woke up, for lack of better words, it sucked. I had tons of work to catch up on, I was tired, and I just felt completely unmotivated and alone...not having coworkers isn't so fun all the time, if you ever thought it would be. Rather than harping on my bad mood, which I am now out of (thank Gawwwd), I'll recap all the things that Erin and I fit into 5 days...some of my very most favorite days here so far!

• Friday I picked her up from the airport, and we went out for a beer. Ended up meeting my first San Diego friends, which happened to be other mobile app developers (some more famous than others), and then stayed out til 4am.
• Saturday we walked down to Pannikin for breakfast eggs & bagels and then down by the cove, met Erin's cousin and Aunt for a bit, went on a long hike up to the monument on Mt Soledad overlooking the city (where there was actually a swimsuit + lamborghini photoshoot taking place of course), and then showered to meet Nate for an Italian dinner down in the Shores. From there, we ventured downtown to the Gaslamp District, met some more funny characters, and were back in bed by 2am.
• Sunday we went hiking at Torrey Pines Nat'l Park. Had to turn around bc there was a rattlesnake on the path, but saw a lot of cool views. From there, we traveled up the 101, ate mexican by the beach, went shopping, and then had AMAZING takeout pizza from Naked Pizza that was only 100+ calories a slice for a large. Clearly, we both ate half a pizza...
• Monday is the day that best friends are for. Erin actually went with me to the DMV, and I qualified for my CA drivers license! It should come in the mail any day now, but seriously, she didn't complain the whole time. Who does that? From there, we went to the zoo where we saw a monkey poop into his hand and eat it...and lots of other fun animals. The polar bears were even out! That night we cooked salmon + asparagus, then went and got gelato in the village and watched the Bachelor finale.
• Tuesday I had to work a good bit, but we did manage to fit in a walk by Windansea beach, and then we got my most favorite tacos at Luche Libre with Nate. 

I'm sure you don't care about all those details, but for me, it's fun to reflect on all that we fit in to five short days. Those ive short days are even better when they're with your best friend, and I couldn't have had a better weekend. Hopefully this will motivate more of you to come visit...Use Erin as a reference. This place is GORGEOUS, and even better when I have my friends to share it with! 

ps - Peanut found her dogsitter yesterday for when I travel, and totally fit in with the other 6 dogs in her "pack"...I was so proud! What was she most interested in though? The three cats...Should make for interesting times...Next stop for me, Vegas! :)

 

Me + Mika's Giraffes

Just because he came out this time. Austin and Lauren didn't get to see.

 

Dog + Cheetah are best friends. My favorite exhibit.

Before the rattlesnake. Pictures don't do Torrey Pines justice.

The monument on Mt. Soledad with view overlooking city.

The Unexpected

The phone rings this morning. 4:44am to be exact. "You do realize it is 4am my time, right?" I politely answer the phone. "Yes! Have you seen the news? Turn on your TV! Southern California is being hit by a tsunami! You need to get Peanut and drive inland! A huge earthquake hit Japan! Turn on your TV! Turn it on!" screams the other voice on the phone. 

It is, of course, my ever-trusty (and overly precautious) Boss Lady, Linda. 

I turn on the TV, and what is this? The speed limits of the interstates are scrolling. OMG! People ARE evacuating! What in the world do I do right now!???...a million thoughts go through my head...UNTIL I realize that this is actually an update on the interstates related to fog, NOT an update on the evacuation routes from town. False alarm! They do mention the tsunami eventually, but thank goodness, San Diego/La Jolla was not going to be seeing much of an impact. Shortly thereafter, my friend Nate comes over with coffee, and we walk down to the cove to see the effects, which were actually completely unnoticeable.

What a morning...and what a wake up call, literally. I can't help but think that this was probably a much larger "wake up call" (in the general sense) to many other people. Life is precious and unpredictable. You hear it time after time, but then you forget again (or at least I do). My heart goes out to those who were impacted by this natural disaster, and from witnessing it in my own town, I have seen first-hand how terrible these unexpected events can be. While I find this whole event to be tragic, I can't help but be reminded about how little we know about our futures, and how truly unexpected life is -- both in good ways and in bad.

Rather than harping on negatives (as we have all faced unwelcomed surprises), I'd rather just highlight some of the happy "unexpecteds" that I've experienced, both lately and in life. I'm in hopes that this may spread the idea that not knowing what's coming next is just a fact of life, and should we view it right and embrace it, this can be extremely invigorating. I don't know about you, but many of my favorite things in life are not things I could have planned, nor would they have been as fun if I did. For all of these things and times, I am extremely grateful...and I think not knowing to expect them may have even been the best part.

A few of my recent favorites:

• I met my most sincere friend in San Diego and and amazing person -- at a club in Las Vegas at Nicole's Bachelorette party
• I received a life-size picture of one of my friends in the mail (seriously, it's 6ft tall...Jess)
• Peanut received a greeting card
• I have been to fantastic meals with pretty much strangers who both opened their worlds to me and were extremely welcoming
• My sweet neighbor left magazines on my porch to help me "get to know" the city
• The "snootiest" restaurant in town was amazingly nice and receptive to our award/program
• Which people have been constantly reminding me that they care
• Deep fried lobster head AND octupus are both good!
• I love pure barre! (who'da thought?)
• Finding an amazing place in La Jolla

And a few solid life surprises:

• Spain, enough said
• Meeting some of my best friends on an accidental cruise my senior year of college
• The lady sunbathing at the neighborhood pool turning out to be my 2nd mother, and her family becoming my own
• Dropping out of school being the best thing I could've ever done
• Grace
• Meeting Kelly (aka a blind date with Daniel's girlfriend)
• Driving anywhere with Lynza
• Finding my job and passion -- through Bill
• Living in California (like, for real)

The picture below I took on my hike today. As corny as it may be, I view life as being like this picture. This is typically a gorgeous view overlooking the city, but today, it is covered by fog. To me, this is kind of like life...God chooses what he wants to show to you and when. Sometimes it's hazy, and you can't really see what he's trying to show you...but when you finally do, it's beautiful.

Today's View.

Not the same exact spot, but another opening on the same road -- this is what the fog was covering.

I can't wait for tomorrow to see what unfolds in the weeks/months/years to come, and I am definitely excited for all the unmade memories that lie ahead of me...

Now, speaking of things I can't wait for -- I must add (and in completely opposite news) that Erin gets here tonight to visit until Tuesday -- which I've been looking forward to all week.

I must admit, while I love the unexpecteds...I love the things and people you can count on too ;)

I feel strong when...

That was just one of many thought-provoking questions I was asked tonight. Do you know your answer(s)? 

In the most literal sense of the question, my answer would simply be "now" -- although that's not exactly what he was asking in context. My other answers would be:

• when I'm making my friends laugh, 
• when I'm on a sales meeting - in person, 
• when I know I have made someone else happy,
• when someone comes to me with a problem,
• when I am finished with my to do list, 
• when I meet a new person/friend
• when I am carrying on an intelligent/analytical conversation
• etc...

Let me back up a bit now and tell you what I've been up to.

As a few of you know, I signed up for a "church conference" this weekend. This means Thursday + Friday night, and all day Saturday, I was going to go be with 200 strangers, broken into small groups, and then forced to talk about God publicly -- a semi nightmare of mine. San Diego is about new experiences for me, so why not, right? 

No, that probably was not a good enough reason. There was more to it this time. You see, I attended Flood Church the very first Sunday I was here. It reminded me of Crosspoint from its website and reviews (yes, I researched), and I knew I needed to not break a good habit. So I dropped off my dad that Sunday am and went to the 9am service. It was the last day to register for their annual SOMA Conference that morning, and I can't explain it, but I felt compelled to sign up.

Some of you have heard me say this before. It's not like I sit there and say, "God is telling me to do this" at that very moment, but I have had many times that hindsight sees that that is exactly what happened...This is one of them. Last minute I even thought about just not showing up, but no, I am going to just try it...Worst case-scenario I waste 3 days; however, the theme of the conference is the Courage to Be You and it involves a Myers Briggs Test and Strengthsfinder assessment, so at the very least, I'll walk away with some knowledge of myself, if not a couple friends. 

The Myers Briggs was a fine/interesting test (I was an ESFJ for those familiar), but what really struck me was the Strengthsfinder test. What this one does is ask you a lotttttta questions (timed), and then tells you your top 5 characteristics based on your answers AND speed in selecting them! Mine, in order of my capacity to grow in, were Empathy, meaning I can often sense another's feelings & then I tend to feel them myself; Includer, I am accepting of others and like everyone be invited to join things; Woo, I enjoy winning over people and meeting strangers; Achiever, I take great satisfaction in being busy and productive; and Communication, clearly, I am an open book with no filter (yes, that one is my definition). Here is the complete list of descriptors for those of you interested.

So yes, I found my results quite fun, spot on, and kinda flattering! -- but what was really cool about the whole thing, was the speech around it and the theory behind it. Essentially the idea behind this test says that it's not about bettering your weaknesses, but rather, improving your strengths. Once you know your strengths, you can focus on them, improve them, and be an even better you (which is why God created you with these talents in the first place!) Besides, no one cares about who you are not -- it is who you are that matters, right?

In an example, the speaker talked about two groups of students that both took a speed reading class. If I knew how to make/insert graphs, this would be prettier, but I'll explain in words. One group of students was made up of Average Readers (90 wpm), and the other was made up of Above Average Readers (350 wpm). Here's the crazy thing, they both were given the exact same speed reading course and then their improvement was measured...The Average Readers improved from 90wpm to 160wpm BUT the Above Average Readers went from 350wpm to 2,900!!! I thought this was a very strong point (no pun intended). We also laughed about the comparison between Rudy and Joe Montana. Apparently both went to Notre Dame during the same amount of time (news to me! - sorry, Austin) but his joke was that Rudy's talents clearly lied in his ability to speak about his story -- not to play football. Another easy illustration of his point though.

Another stat: Only 20% of people agree with the statement "I get the opportunity to use my strengths on a daily basis." When he said this, all I could think was "how lucky am I?" And that is what I want this post to be about.  For my friends who are doing what they are passionate about regardless of the circumstance it takes to get there (Rachael Bell), I admire you. For the ones who are finally feeling alive at work and happy although it took a lot of missteps and courageous moves at first (West Cain), I am so happy for you -- And to my friends who are still searching for those "right things" -- I will pray for you. I strongly recommend anyone to think about this concept, whether it's in work or hobby or life...Aren't you better when you're doing something that fits your natural talents and passions?

With the job that I have and the life that I lead, I am happy to report that I get to use all of my strengths on a fairly regular basis. I think I always knew this, but not in such a direct way. I have a boss who understands me on a personal level and lets me create my own schedule/work style, a job (two right now!) that keep me entirely emotionally and intellectually enthralled (although very up & down at times), and I get constant human interaction that keeps my social side happy (friends, family, AND coworkers!). What is also really cool is that I feel completely ME, even in California. This may not make too much sense, but I thank you for that. All of you.

Odds are, if you are reading this blog, you are one of the people who has really affected me. If not, thanks for even caring enough to read about me. 

I am overwhelmed with Gratitude tonight. One of my favorite words, period. I am blessed beyond reason, and I have so many people that have helped shape me into the person that I am. I have really been working on getting to know myself over the past couple of years, and I am getting closer everyday. I have a lot of improvements to make, but I also realize that I have a lot of great qualities too. While my test results told me that one of my greatest talents is being quick and easy to love other people (lots of them!), I do think that loving ME is one of my biggest battles. Perhaps some of you can relate, or perhaps you prefer my funny posts to serious...Either way, thank you all for loving me, because what I realized tonight, is that I really do too. 

If anyone wants to talk to me in more detail about the conference (or anything!), I could tell you so much more, and I'd love to...but as usual, this post got a little long.