West Coast!

I know this blog first started out as a blog for writing down my thoughts during my daily runs. Well, that’s sort of hard to do when I’m not running as much as I should and need to. I’m just so burned out from it. These days I'm running 2x a week and that’s tolerable. I know I need to get going because we have a Half Marathon in a month. The problem is that Steve and I are not scared of the Half Marathon. We know we can muster out a decent finish (under 2:10) without even training. I know that sounds cocky and obnoxious but it’s true. The only reason we feel this way and say this confidently is because we’ve done a Marathon.

Once you do a Marathon and you still have some conditioning left in you, a Half Marathon is no sweat. Now, we’re not going to be setting a record at this race without proper training. So what will likely happen is that Steve and I will start beating ourselves up AFTER the race and talk about how we’re so disappointed and THEN we’ll get fired up to start training hard. It shouldn’t have to be this way but this is where we’re heading unless we get started this weekend. Now if this were the Marathon, we’d be too scared to not train. During the months leading up to the Marathon, you’re too scared to even skip a day because you’re worried about how this is going to affect you during the race. We’re just not scared for the Half Marathon.

So if I’m not running, what the heck am I doing? I spent 4 days in LA with my dear friend Sarah. We took a trip to the West Coast to visit our friend Keith. Keith and I have been friends for 10 years. He is originally from the DC area, graduated from KU, settled in Chicago for 11 years, and then moved to LA 8 months ago. He works for Red Light Management which is a company that manages musicians like Alica Keys, Tim McGraw, Dave Matthews, and many more. Keith lives in West Hollywood --- an awesome location right by all the best restaurants, shopping, and nightlife. It was a great and sad weekend to visit Keith. Great weekend because he took us to a movie premiere and a Pre-Grammy party that his company was hosting. Sad weekend because Whitney Houston died. Keith lives close to the Beverly Hilton so we were actually driving right by the hotel when she was pronounced dead. I still can't believe it!

We had fun celebrity sightings at the movie premiere and the pre-Grammy party: American Idol’s Pia, Tommy Lee, Corrine Bailey Rae, a few famous DJs (who I didn’t know). My favorite celebrity that we met was Gayle King! I became a huge fan of Gayle when Oprah said, “Gayle is just looking for a good man and a nice slice of cake.” That’s when Gayle trumped Oprah in my book. Gayle was so sweet and nice when we met her. She even posed for a picture with us :)

I have always found LA to be interesting. It’s always fun to visit but I can’t see myself living there. I am intrigued and more star struck by people’s jobs than celebrities. For example, the people that Keith hangs out with are mostly in the entertainment industry. We met one of his friends that is a producer for a new reality show that is going to be like Coming to America ……finding a prince that is not well known and have him fall in love with an American girl. She is now doing the casting for the show. Then his other friend is in PR and she is hounded by people that want to break into Hollywood so they are trying to get her to represent them and make them buzz worthy. The best job that I heard about is this guy who is the stylist for Joan Rivers and the Cast of the Bachelor and Bachelorette. He picks out all the outfits for Chris Harrison, The Bachelor, and The Bachelorette. Then he picks out the outfits for the Final 2 contestants. This answered so many questions for me because I have always wondered if all the contestants packed a long white dress thinking that they might be one of the Final 2. Now I know that this guy picks out their outfits! The best part of his job is that he gets to travel to all the amazing destinations with the cast since he is dressing the host and the main guy/gal up for grabs. DREAM COME TRUE!!!

Things I’m grateful for….

1. Quality time with Keith. Great to see him in his new element. It was fun to experience LA through his eyes. Definitely a unique experience and a wonderful weekend! Thanks for being an awesome host and friend, Keith!

2. My friend Sarah is a gem. When I say she is a gem….she truly is in the sense that she can turn the simplest things and make it into a masterpiece. I am always blown away by her creativity and her stylish visions. She is a DIY master – the chic kind of DIY not the bedazzled DIY. She just bought a home in DC and OMG….I love what she has done with her place. It reminds me of a beautiful French chateau with a contemporary splash. Her fashion sense is incredible too….She is always so put together head to toe. All of her outfits are so original, fun, and classy. I always love asking where she gets her outfits because there is always a great story….sometimes she may have found it at the mall or at a vintage boutique or sometimes she may have picked up a few pieces at Target and put a different twist to it like she bought a Target cardigan but changed the buttons on the cardigan with more elegant and sharp buttons. Bam! It looks like the Tory Burch cardigan that I’ve been eyeing! I wish I had the skills Sarah has. I don’t even know how to sew on a button.

3. Aside from the stylish side of Sarah, Sarah is also a gem of a friend to me and Steve. She is extremely kind, generous, thoughtful, compassionate, and beautiful. I love, love, love the great conversations I have with Sarah. She is such a great listener. I always walk away from our conversations inspired and rejuvenated. Thanks for being an incredible friend, Sarah Starr!

Last 9 days....

It's been nine days since I last wrote. I was in FL for 2 days for work and then I flew to Puerto Rico for our National Sales Conference for 5 days, then 2 days at home and now flying back to FL. Overall a good week minus my annoying rep. The highlights last week were:

1. Read my first book of the year: Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? a comic memoir by Mindy Kaling

2. Hanging out with Steve, Popp, Christy, and Carolina in Puerto Rico.

3. NY GIANTS AND THEIR SUPER BOWL WIN!!!

MINDY KALING
She is freakin' hilarious. I didn't even know who she was because I don't watch The Office. Shawna recommended this book because she knew I needed a quick read so that I can keep up with my book reading goal for 2012.

Mindy writes about her life growing up and breaking into the entertainment industry. The thoughts that come out of her mouth are things that run through my mind ALL THE TIME but I don't have the balls to say it out loud. Reading her book made me question, "Am I fake?" I try to be polite so I bite my tongue on a lot of things. Or I say what I want to say but then I dull it down so that I can take the sting out of it.

For example, last week my annoying FL rep was telling me his area is so expensive that my friends couldn’t ever afford to live in FL. He doesn’t know anything about my friends. He just makes this assumption on his own. He used a house that he is trying to buy to prove his point. It is 4 BR, 2 Bath, swimming pool for $225,000. He said, “This is how expensive everything is down here. Your friends would probably run away from here because they couldn’t buy anything.” I finally got fed up with it. I responded with, “My friends could buy 3 of those houses. The stuff that you’re talking about is dirt cheap. You can’t even find a condo 30 miles outside of DC for that price.” He finally shut the hell up. The same guy that talks every second finally shut the hell up. Then I felt bad. He looked so defeated. Here he thinks he’s some big shot and now I’ve taken the wind out of his sails. I hate seeing someone who looks sad, especially if I made them sad or upset. So dumbass me, softens the blow by changing the subject, “Oh Bill (this is not his real name), You’re doing a great job at work. I’m really excited about what you’ve accomplished and what you will accomplish in the next few weeks.” He was ecstatic and went back to his annoying ways. What I said initially was true. I should have left it that. I need to own it when I say something like this. Instead, I’m too worried about being mean or worse, I don’t want him to hate me and not be producing sales. I do plan to give him a piece of my mind at the end of Feb when I’m done working with him. I’ll draft up my thoughts first.

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico was mostly work and less play for Steve Popp and me. Carolina, Steve, and Christy got to enjoy the pool, the beach, the gym, and the free time while Popp and I were in workshops. It was great for all of us to be together though!

Popp celebrated his 1 year anniversary at Thomas! I can’t believe it’s been a year already. It’s gone by so fast. Even though we work together, we only see each other for work a few times a year. We talk and email all the time but when I do see him at our company events, it still throws me off guard, “WHOA, you are here too - YAY!”

I’m so grateful and lucky to be working with Popp again. He’s definitely the best friend and best coworker you could ask for. Just like 2005 when we first met and worked together, Popp has always been a true team player. He always puts “WE” and “US” into everything. If he finishes a project that he was assigned to do solo, he will tell my boss, “Nancy and I finished this together.” Or when he is acknowledged for doing a great job, he will say, “It’s because Nancy trained me.” Or better yet, when we have individual projects due, he will always make sure I’m done too before he submits his assigned task. He would never turn in something first in case I’m not finished. He does all of this without me asking him to. In fact, I’m always telling him to stop because Popp is doing an outstanding job and he should take 100% credit for it. He’s a natural sales teacher. His reps LOVE working with him and they learn so much from him. Here’s my contribution to him: I let him know our holiday schedule, I let him know what we can/cannot expense, and I let him know about the quirky personalities in our company. I’m extremely proud of Popp and what he has accomplished this past year. If it weren’t for Popp or my boss, I would not be working at Thomas.

GIANTS WIN!

Tom Brady is a stud. His picture should be in the dictionary next to the word STUD. He embodies all the qualities of a stud: Looks, Talent, Hot Wife. I want to see Brady beat Montana and get 2 more rings. However, this time I wanted Eli and the Giants to win AGAIN!

I got caught up in the Eli fever this season as I did the year he won his first Super Bowl. I’m a sucker for a good comeback story and with all the 4^thQtr comebacks he pulled off while being a subpar team that barely made it to the playoffs, I had no choice but to cheer for them. Especially all the drama behind it all….Could Eli beat Brady twice? Would this mean Eli is a better QB than Brady? Is Eli going to have more rings than Peyton? This is why I love football!!! We had lunch with our friend Deepak a few hours before the Super Bowl. He said that Brady might be the next Jim Kelly if he lost this Super Bowl. I told Deepak he’s on crack. Jim Kelly never won a Super Bowl. Brady can retire and sleep well knowing that he has won 3x! Deepak is a very smart guy. I don’t know where he came up with that point. Anyways, all the drama behind this game made it exciting. Now I’m bummed that football season is over. It’s going to suck when college basketball and the NBA is over. Then we’ll be left with Baseball Tonight. So sad.

Back to Eli…I’m so intrigued by the Mannings. His family must be so proud to have 2 future Hall of Fame QBs in the family. I knew Archie was a QB too but I had no idea that he was a promising star. He was #2 draft pick! Can you imagine your family having two #1 draft picks and one #2 draft pick? Steve and I always talk about this and we would be excited if our kid made the practice squad because that’s not even easy to do.