Other things:

My whole work team took a whirlwind trip to San Francisco to check out cool retailers and eat good food. Y’all. Four Barrel coffee is the best coffee I’ve had. Their retail space is awesome and their coffee I brought home was just as delicious. (Rwanda Nyamasheke Shangi) It’s the only coffee I recall having that smells amazing and tastes just the way it smells. I’m also in love with this place. Makes me want to move to a new place with lots more light garden.

We celebrated our 4th anniversary several weeks back. Low key: park, fancy dinner, Mad Men.

Speaking of Mad Men, if you’re not reading Tom and Lorenzo’s Mad Men recaps, you’re missing half the show’s genius.

Dave turned 30. We went back to Marfa for the first time since we got married. We went up to the Observatory and looked at planets through giant telescopes. Dave biked the terrible bike ride we did together the day after we got married. Only he did it much faster and without walking or crying. We also hung out and relaxed, walked to shops and art galleries, ate at a nice restaurant, and relaxed some more.

I finished Friday Night Lights and have started The Wire. The scene that made me stop watching the show didn’t bother me as much this time around. Silver lining for not meditating?

Last week I went to Dallas to see an artist talk about her work. Dana Tanamachi is awesome.

Work is amping up. These next few weeks will be super busy, but then Memorial Day weekend we’re going to Ft. Collins because Dave’s niece graduates high school. Def looking forward to that! Maybe we can get up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Mama needs some nature.

Monday I felt exhausted and just off so I worked from home. I got a lot done so I went to work Tuesday feeling good. Until lunch when I kind of had a sore throat and only wanted noodles. I got my noodles and went back to work and went downhill from there. Headache, general body ache and even though I’d been excited to go to yoga for the first time in a week or 2, I came home and got under some blankets and shivered until Dave came home. Temperature? 100.6. I took some Advil and a bath and got back in bed until Dave came back from Whole Foods Market with more noodles. Temperature? 101.7.

Here I am in sweats, a jacket and a wool (alpaca?) hat trying to muster up enough energy to eat my noodles.

My throat felt terrible and I could feel sinus drainage moving down my throat. I checked the Internet and sinus drainage isn’t a symptom of strep. And the last time I had a fever and sore throat and went to the doctor in case it was strep, he said, “You have a cold. Rest and hydrate. That will be $100.”

After about 24 hours, my fever finally went away but my throat still hurt. So today is Operation Break Up Mucus Day. It will also be Have Lots of Sex Day because breaking up mucus is SO HOT. (Nope.) So I’ve been hydrating, gargling with salt water, using my Neti pot and I took a bath with peppermint/rosemary sea salts to open my sinuses.

This is my second day home from work (not inc. Monday) and the first time I’ve showered or changed clothes in 2 days. There was definitely about 12-16 hours where I only wore 1 sock because what was the point? I’d be hot one hour and cold the next, wearing one sock was easier than taking them on and off.

I feel a bit better (I’m not asleep every 2 hours) and am playing this thing by ear. (read: answering a few work emails and watching lots of Friday Night Lights.)

I don’t want to be that person who goes and goes and goes and then boom- pneumonia. So I’m taking this as a warning to find my personal work/life balance.

Frankly, I’m just not paying attention. And I’m going to blame work. Side note: On Friday, my brother said he didn’t even know what I did, just that it was no longer design. So basically, it’s training the designers that are in the role I used to be in. So lots of travel, lots of phone calls, lots of carefully worded emails and, due to my moving up and us adding two positions to our team (and a few others in the role quitting), lots of hiring. Followed by lots of training.

My first year in Austin my coworker and I hired something like 10 or 11 people to work in the design role and we talked about how crazy that year was. By next month? We’ll (mostly I will) have hired 12 since January. Which is why I sit in airports reading resumes. And call people from my rental car. (Also, AVIS. How is a Dodge Challenger HEMI a compact? Have you tried to park that thing??)

When I got this role I knew I’d be traveling a lot and I thought that as long as I kept my travel sane (8am or 9am flights, beng home by 5 or 6, etc.) I’d be okay. That might be true but with the times I’ve needed to be places or with the places I’m traveling to, I’ve been on the 6:50am or the landing at 9:45pm flights. Or the have-to-fly-out-Sunday-night-so-I-can-arrive-before-11am flights. Or in today’s case, Sunday afternoon since I need to drive to Baton Rouge once I land in New Orleans.

*crawls back under the covers

Outside of the crazy travel, in order to give people more than, say, 2 days to get ready for an interview, I have to do all of my screening/phone-calls/interview guidance way in advance. Which is why on Tuesday after sitting on an interview panel, I came home to screen applicants and on Thursday after sitting on an interview panel I was making phone calls to those applicants (until 10pm). Wednesday? Training all day in Dallas (doing my corporate credit card filing that night). Friday? Training in Austin, followed by tying up loose ends from the week at home later. And yesterday (Saturday) I sat in my jammies in front of the TV and read resumes for a different position.

This is not sustainable but it IS temporary.

And it’s also why I haven’t read a single blog post since January or thereabouts. I don’t check google reader when I get to work for design inspiration anymore because design is not part of my job. And I don’t do it at home since I’m usually working. And so I don’t see my other blogs either. And so I read on twitter that Maggie is here and I’m like, “Oh, she’s in Austin?”

OH! And my brother texted me about the iPad 3 and I was like, “Crap, that was today?” I was training someone so I was NOT following the release event on twitter, like I normally am.

Anyway, it’s been a very rainy weekend. Austin rainstorms don’t normally last very long but this weekend has been full of rumbling thunder and consistent rain with intermittent downpours. So even if I felt like going out last night and even if I’d researched where to go, the pouring rain + 45° temperature + the clusterfuck that is parking in downtown Austin on a normal day, let alone during SX were enough to keep me in and eating leftovers and watching (most of) The King’s Speech with Dave. Oh, and finish the back of a sweater I’ve been knitting! Maybe I’ll have the front done in 2 years…

Hm. Just realized. I HAVE been reading one blog. My favorite nail polish blog. And I’m suddenly obsessed with International Klein Blue. Did you know about this? How did I study Art History for 4 semesters in college and not learn about (remember?) this??

I’ve never bought Rescue Beauty Lounge’s nail polish, I don’t even know where to buy it. But after reading about RBL’s Fan Collection I’m smitten. IKB:2012 is such an awesome idea and the richness of that blue? Dying.

That blue will get you out of a rainy-weekend funk fo sho.

I haven’t told you guys but I’ve been reading some terrible crap. My brother in law gave me a DVD of like 600 epub books and I don’t question how they came together or into his possession. He gave it to me because there was an Anthony Bourdain book he thought I’d like. He’s probably right but as I scrolled through the titles, it was not what I was most excited about.

I promptly loaded Twilight 1-4 onto my phone. (Reading on your phone is not that bad- promise! It’s just like reading on an iPad, you just have to turn the page more often.) And I read them all. I kept Dave up to date by complaining about the writing and the plot and the stupid, stupid characters. I won’t even be able to get him to watch the movies with a drinking game. But I needed someone to complain to.

Edward fucking sparkles in the sunlight? The fuck? And why do all most of the werewolves have Old Testament names? What’s that about? And! Obviously I’d go for the sexy brown boy over the pasty white dude any day but that aside? Edward is an ASS in the first 3 books. He’s fickle and lies to her and then abandons her and he creepily stalks her and watches her while she sleeps. He also makes her feel insecure. And Jacob is a patient, open, supportive, honest (hot) friend who never misleads Bella. She actually tries to be herself with Jacob instead of trying to be someone different, the way she does with Edward. So I was team Jacob throughout the whole series.

Until Book 4, which was just the stupidest thing. All of this stupid abstinence porn. And then with Jacob imprinting on stupid Renesmee? Renesmee Carlie? Just about the dumbest name in the world! It’s even dumber than Albus Severus. I can’t talk about it anymore. Let’s cut to the good writing.

“He had the most beautiful soul, more beautiful than his brilliant mind or his incomparable face or his glorious body.”

Ugh, shut up already.

I say that, but if I start reading a page of it, as I did for this post, I sit and read 30.

Anyway, then I moved on to Pretty Little Liars. Equally stupid but in a less frustrating way. I did give up on it, though. Well, I finished all of them, even the 4 I had to get from the library. And NOW I’ve given up. The complete and utter lack of logic is the only thing that makes me hate it. This is not a fair comparison but I liked the way J.K Rowling wrapped everything up so neatly, explained every mystery. These books are enjoyable in the high-school-rich-girl drama type of way that’s always fun but I can’t buy that one person is spying on all these people the way she is.

I lied. I didn’t give up. I’ll be reading the next one as soon as it comes out.

And THEN I gobbled up read The Hunger Games. I liked this much better. Even though it’s post-apocalyptic, it’s a good story. My biggest complaint was the ending. Not how it ended but how quickly. It led up to this giant climax over 3 books and then ended in a few pages. “Oh, and then the Capitol fell and then we got married and had kids but I’m still sad. The End”

The one thing I did start that I’m happy to tell everyone about is Friday Night Lights. I’m in Season 2 and it’s far, FAR exceeded my expectations. I even found myself near tears when Eric and Tammy had an emotional exchange very similar to ones Dave and I have had. Damn you, FNL writers!

And there you have it. Just drop me off at a junior high or high school and I’ll have plenty to talk about with my new friends.

I was wrong, it’s also for lazy Puerto Ricans.

I kid! I do think that there are some people who go on cruises who fit my stereotype, but it certainly doesn’t apply to everyone.

My cousin chose to get married on a cruise and it was to places I’d always wanted to go–Virgin Islands, St. Maarten–so I made damned sure we were on it. Which included getting Dave his passport mere weeks before our departure.

The cruise set off from San Juan, Puerto Rico on January second. Because of the holiday, it was cheaper to get airplane tickets for 2 days earlier. And, hey, why NOT spend New Years in San Juan?

I don’t want to make this a novel so here are a few highlights from each place we visited.

San Juan Antiguo

• There are NO New Year’s parties in Old San Juan. You would think there would be, what with the scenic buildings, cobblestone streets and all the different plazas. What there are are a bunch of lost Americans asking each other where the New Year’s Party is.
• It’s in Condado, in various beach front hotels. We did not go. In fact we didn’t leave Old San Juan for the 3 days we were there.
• Aguaviva is an overrated restaurant. Marmalade is not (warning: music on that link). It IS expensive but just like Uchi or Uchiko, you’re getting what you pay for.
• Waffle-era is an underrated restaurant. We stumbled upon it on accident and it was one of my favorite meals on the whole vacation. I had a mini Belgian waffle topped with Greek Yogurt and tomatoes and cucumbers, followed by another mini waffle, this time topped with cream cheese and spicy honey. And a glass of fresh made iced green genmaicha tea.

The Adventure of the Seas

• The ship was huge. And the food was better than expected. We only ate breakfast and dinner on the ship, lunch was on the various islands.
• Asking for salsa for my eggs was a fun adventure. After the waiter mistakenly brought me a saucer instead of salsa, we got it cleared up and I learned to ask for the Sambal hot sauce.
• Drinks are expensive. I also only like rum, apparently, when I’m below the tropic of Cancer.

• St. Lucia (pronounced Saint Loo-sha) is a lovely little island with 2 big mountains on the south called the Pitons. We scheduled an excursion at 12:30 that was going to take us to “snorkel beneath the Pitons.”
• But first I needed a book about the Caribbean fishes so I could know what I was looking at. So we walked 10 minutes to the market and I found a bookstore and bought an overpriced tiny book. Also bought some spices, some cinnamon sticks and a magnet of St. Lucia’s flag, which is the best designed flag ever.
• Also ate some yummy food which might be the reason Dave had to run out and get me some Pepto the next morning. (Probiotics weren’t cutting it.)
• The snorkel trip description stated, “If tired, the sands beckon from The Jalousie Plantation.” However, when we arrived at the beach, yes, we were next to the Jalousie Plantation but our guides pointed us toward a bunch of rickety lawn chairs off to the side and told us we weren’t to cross the sidewalk that separated us from the plantation’s restaurant/bar/bathrooms/comfy beach chairs. So if you’re looking at this photo and see a tiny dock, we had to stay to the left of it if your back is to the ocean. All 50 of us.
• 
• Misleading copywriting aside, snorkeling was very nice and might have been very very impressive if we hadn’t been to Hanauma Bay less than 6 months ago. (First world problem.) I did see a baby Moray eel, so that was exciting!
• On the way back, they fed us endless amounts of rum punch so that by the time we got back we had 3 new best friends (Long Island, Toronto and Sarah) and we told everyone it was the best snorkel trip EVAR.

Antigua

• Pronounced An-tee-ga. I know, it goes against my sensibilities, too.
• My cousin got married on Ffreyes Beach and it was disgustingly beautiful. I guess all those photos you see online of the Caribbean aren’t photoshopped after all. Here’s a completely un-color-corrected, no-filter picture of my cousin April swimming after the wedding.

•  After the wedding, we went back to the little port town and had lunch and I ate cockles for the first time.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

•  We had previously booked an excursion on a catamaran that would take us snorkeling and get us drunk. But it was pouring down rain so we cancelled. Instead I really wanted to see Maho Beach, famous for images like these but due to the storm the beach was little more than a seawall and the road was covered with wet sand and nobody could get across. Most expensive cab ride ever.
• We spent the rest of the day chilling on the beach of Great Bay, a 20-minute walk from the ship.

 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

•  Magan’s Bay is what everyone talks about- that it’s the best beach and is consistently on NatGeo’s Top Ten Beaches, etc. I suspect it’s a scam because it’s the only beach that’s big enough to handle over 500 tourists (at least) a day. If you go to St. Thomas, go to Cokie Beach. My cousin went there and it’s less crowded and at least on that day the water was much clearer.
• Naturally we didn’t leave the island without buying a new watch for both of us. Shopping is HUGE in St. Thomas.

And that’s the cruise. I thought we’d have time for more of the cruise activities, like shuffleboard or yoga or working out or bingo. But we only had one day of sailing and you know I spent that day at the (adult, saltwater) pool. 

Not pictured: Carib. But it was had.

So after my birthday it was basically Thanksgiving, more or less, and we went to McAllen to see Dave’s fam. We stayed there 4 days and when I got back I applied for a job. Same company, different type of position.

I spent weeks and months (years, one might argue) telling anyone who would listen why we needed this position on our team. And then someone asked if I’d want to do the job. It’s not a design job, it’s more of a leadership role, and certainly one I felt capable of. I decided to apply for it.

The job posted and then I felt like a deflated balloon. Two weeks went by. I waited until the last minute to apply and even then didn’t officially chat with anyone about the position until a week before the interview. And then, like a snowball into an avalanche, I got more and more excited. I was excited about the ways in which I could help the various aspects of my team, my coworkers, the stores. I was excited about how I could grow, leadership aspects of myself I could develop and hone. I was terrified of the responsibility of certain parts of the job. It’s a new position on our team and there’s a giant chunk of chaos that’s been existing on our team for a while and it’s this new person’s job to organize it and make it better for our team. But even that was an exciting challenge.

And if I didn’t take this opportunity to challenge myself in these new ways and instead chose to stay comfortable, how could I respect myself professionally?

I had been out of town every weekend for some reason or another- wedding, wedding shower, etc. for the 3 weekends leading up to the interview and so I was a bit of a wreck before the interview. At home anyway. At work I was nervous, anxious but still confident. I’d prepared enough and I felt like I had my shit in order and was ready for the challenge.

And I got the job.

Like I said, it’s not a design role but I’m kind of okay with that. I’ll have to become a master at spreadsheets (thank baby jesus for Apple’s Numbers because Excel makes me twitch) and it’s more of an organization/communication role. I can find other ways to be creative in my life, not super worried about that. (Oh, and it involves a lot of travel, so baby-making plans are on hold. Might even go back on the pill so I don’t-surprise!-get my period and end up doubled over and groaning while I’m in a meeting or worse, throwing up between listening/taking notes/giving advice.)

I’ll be in my current role until January 9th, after I get back from my cousin’s wedding Caribbean cruise trip. (Also, holy crap, I’m going to Puerto Rico in 11 days!) THEN I get to start saving the world, one spreadsheet at a time.

Then for my birthday, Dave bought me a case. This case.

At first I was just like, HUH? Because of its price and because I’d decided I liked my phone naked. To be a team player I decided to try it out. Well, guess what. It’s disgustingly sexy. And I’ve never trusted an iPhone case so much. Even the Speck candyshell that I used for so long and LOVED broke near the mouthpiece. I just kept using it anyway. But this thing feels solid. And people (with good taste) are jealous!

So props to that guy for surprising me with something I didn’t know I wanted.

Also on that day when the iPhone 4s was announced, they announced they’d made a few changes to the nano. I’ve never actually had a nano before and the main draw for me was that they’d made the Nike+ stuff better. My old armband wouldn’t fit my new phone and I’d rather run with a nano anyway. And it turns out that I got it for free because I’d never checked my “rewards” thing on our credit cards. I had way more than enough points to get an 8 gig nano, so I did.

Except when it came in, it was the old one. I called my brother (who works for Apple) and he confirmed that the changes were all hardware, I couldn’t just do a software update. (Although I just ran across a website that said the opposite.) So I took my new nano and the Best Buy receipt it came with to the store so I could exchange it. But THEY only had the old ones, too. So I got the amount put onto a gift card and went back a few weeks later. And they didn’t have the new one in the color I wanted. So I went to another Best Buy and ta da! They had it. But my gift card was in another purse. (But our princess is in another castle!)

So Monday night, finally, everything aligned and I got my nano. One thing I didn’t expect to be fascinated by is the pedometer. I wore it all day yesterday and only went 5,000 steps. And that included a mile run, and walking to bus stops and volunteering. Right now I’m at 2,934. Pathetic since the preset goal is 10,000.

Another thing I like on the nano better than the iPhone is that I can set up a Nike+ run and then listen to whatever I want, whether that’s an audiobook, music, the radio or a podcast. It’s super annoying to do that on the phone. You have to set the Nike+ app to “No Music” and then navigate over to your ear-filler of choice and then navigate back to the workout app to see your stats. And if your music/Spotify/podcasts/Audible apps are in a folder? And your Nike+ app is in a separate folder? And the whole thing is awkwardly velcroed to your shoulder?

Yeah, this is better. Plus I won’t get my sexy new iPhone case sweaty.

I just didn’t notice for 11 years.

2. You can’t have more than one Irish Car Bomb without throwing up. I learned this vicariously.

3. Our parents are good people. Both sets showed up and took me out to a late lunch to treat me. We got our drinks just before 3:43pm and did a toast (to me, duh) at the minute I was born 33 years ago. Good drinks and good food were had by all.

4. Dave wanted to take me to the DPS in the morning so we could both get our licenses renewed. Well, he’s been trying to get his ever since it expired and he’d had to pay off all those tickets and mine expired on my birthday. Maybe no one else thinks that’s romantic, but I loved the idea. Until Dave realized that the DPS was closed for stupid Veterans day (kidding, veterans! You’ve just been ruining my birthday what with no mail and no libraries for my whole life! But yay freedom and shit!) so we couldn’t do that. Brunch with friends instead.

5. A birthday wish list is awesome. So are all other gifts. Lululemon giftcards, Steve Jobs biography (2 actually, one came with a gift receipt from Target, so basically it’s a Target gift card- WIN!), lavender infused vodka, soy candles, fake Gucci scarf, real Anthropologie scarf, soaps, hen and chicks succulent plant, Radiohead tickets, handmade leather wallet, picture of IKE printed on canvas, boudin, looseleaf tea, incense wood, lotion, wine, a coffee mug… Yes, I do love presents.

6. I also love people and if you’re reading this and came to my party or tweeted to me or wrote on my wall or sent me a card or called or emailed me- thank you!! You helped make my day awesome.

I’ve normally had low-key birthdays since being on my own. Dinner with friends at a restaurant, brunch with family, nothing major. I’ve had a few small parties but I didn’t plan them or put much effort into them.

This year is different. And I’m not even entirely sure how different yet! I’m taking the day off. Dave has told me to make no plans that day and I have no idea what’s in store. My parents are even involved somehow because they’ll be in town around noon but no one’s telling me anything. I’m simultaneously flattered/excited and completely frustrated.

That night we’re hosting a party. Inviting everyone we know in a 100-mile radius (more, in some cases) and . . . well, that’s pretty much all we got. Yesterday I did decide to order a pony keg (Real Ale coffee porter because I like it and it’s my party and I don’t care if you don’t like dark beers) and ordered my tres leches cake (it’s on theme). I might make a 3-bean chili since it’s easy, on theme and I don’t feel like making 5 or 11 kinds of appetizers. It occurred to me too late that it would be cool to have 11-11-11 fake tattoos–that’s one thing I wish I’d thought of earlier.

There will be a fire in the fire pit (I read the burn ban laws and this kind of fire container is legal) and Christmas lights strung up and that’s basically it. Adults + alcohol = party, right?

Let’s hope so.

Something else I’ve done differently this year is actually make a birthday present wish list. That wasn’t a tradition in my family growing up- at least not for me. My parents would get you what you really wanted if my dad found a great deal on it, or they might get you something close to what you really wanted. In junior high I really wanted a Starter jacket (what? I’m gangsta) but my dad got me an Apex jacket. Womp womp. I still wore the crap out of it, but that’s not even the point. It was never like my friends’ birthday experience wherein you just submit a birthday list and wait for the presents to show up (I see you, Brittany).

This year I’ve taken the bull by the horns and made a birthday present Pinterest board and posted that on facebook and twitter. Maybe people will buy me stuff. Maybe they won’t. Maybe people will all bring a bottle of wine and we can have wine for months. I love all of those things.

At the very minimum I will have good friends/family, good food and good beer. Happy birthday to me.