the mac is back!

In what I can only describe as a total freak accident, last Thursday I hastily picked up my mac to avoid spilled water and cracked the screen on my mac. No thanks to apple, I was able to fix my computer for a semi reasonable price and have it back!

The last couple of weeks have been big ones in my life. Here are the updates:

#7: Buy a Home- I would love to say that we bought a home last week… however that is not the case. Two and a half years ago my husband and I moved into my mom’s house. Primarily we made the move because our lease was up and we wanted it to be easier to close on a house. Being able to save some money before we got married wasn’t such a bad deal either. However, when my husbands company filed for bankruptcy last March we put our house buying dreams on hold. Since then reality has set in. At this point we could end up living anywhere in the world so buying a house is not really the smartest idea. So… last week we made the decision to move out. We have rented a very cute 1904 duplex closer to the city. Would we love to own our own home… of course, and conceding to the fact that we can’t really do that at this point in time has been a hard pill to swallow. However, since we are moving out of mom’s I am counting #7 as a win and checking it off my list.

#8: Pay off our wedding bands- Last week we made the final payment on my husbands’ wedding band!!! We still have my wedding band left to paid off… slowly but surely we will get there.

-K

Discovering new skills is fun ... and scary

I graduated with a B.A. in Communication and a certificate in Public Relations with the intention to enter into the PR field with reckless abandon. Fortunately for me I scored an incredible internship that opened doors for me in the form of employee and executive communication. I'd never heard of them before, never given any thought to how they happen, but thank God for that internship because I discovered something I am incredibly passionate about and talented in.

Today I manage the employee communication program for my company. It includes a weekly company-wide e-newsletter; a monthly manager e-newsletter; a monthly bank employee e-newsletter; a quarterly print magazine; our internet; internal earnings communication; employee events (and sometimes external events; employee engagement; and a little bit of our executives' communications. I LOVE it! I also developed most of it. LOVE that!

Currently I'm tackling a revamp of our corporate intranet site, which includes the addition of a CMS system. We're getting set to launch in the next month and need to train internal editors (content owners) on navigating the system, how to make changes, etc. My "brilliant" IT department didn't include training in their scope of work with our technology vendor, so the development and teaching of the training has fallen to my shoulders. News alert: I'm not a trainer. It's an incredible opportunity for me to shine - and a great way to make headway on goal #12 - or a huge possibility for me to fall flat on my ass in front of 60 people in my 560 person organization.

I'm scared and I'm realizing the enormous amount it effort it is taking to develop everything (training materials, PPT, script, training templates) from scratch. But somewhere outside of my fear I'm also really excited to be learning a new skill that I'll be able to use in future positions and add to my resume.

It's good to know that even when I'm not an intern I can still find a way for doors to open and broaden my skill set. Maybe that next door will allow me to finally understand what the hell net interest margin is; it'd really be helpful when I'm trying to explain it to our employees.

-B

Girlfriends Who Get It

When I put goal #20 (foster a group of girlfriends who get it) I wasn't quite sure what my intentions were. As I'm getting closer to B Day I'm starting to realize that it is probably one of the most important goals I put on my list.

It's funny looking back on my 20s and seeing how my relationships with girlfriends have evolved.  In my early 20s my girlfriends (also known as drinking buddies) and I spent a lot of time bickering, backstabbing and cat fighting in the streets of Denver ... that is when we weren't waxing poetic while drunk. We were selfish people using friendships to get what we wanted without any second thought to what our friends might need aside from someone holding their hair back.

As I approached my mid 20s I started weeding out the random drinking buddies from people I had shared passion with; people I really wanted to spend my time with. I threw myself into those friendships with aspirations that we'd become our own version of Denver's "Sex in the City" ... well minus the money, high-fashion clothes and undemanding jobs. I placed unreal expectations on those girls to become my everything. Not surprisingly, none of them were able to meet those expectations, which in turn caused more bickering, backstabbing and cat fights in the streets of Denver.

But something good came out of being a heinous, unrealistic, demanding bitch. I realized that when I let people be themselves and offer what they want in friendship it becomes clear who's fake and who's real. I also stopped being a heinous, unrealistic demanding bitch.

Today I have three groups of girlfriends that I love dearly and all for very different reasons. They get me, support me and love me, and I think that's what I was going for when I created goal #20. I don't fight with these girls, there's no backstabbing and to the utter disappointment of our husbands, there's no cat fighting. When I look around at the important role they play in my life and how much better they make it, I know I'm ready to cross this one off the list.

-B

Today was a twofer!

New running shoes and I cooked dinner. I am proud to say I am still holding strong on number 14 (looking and feeling better at 30 than I did at 29). I am running 2+ miles on the treadmill five days a week and occasionally lifting. I have decided it is much easier for me to actually find the motivation to go to the gym if I know it is going to be short and rather painless, instead of a 2 hour ordeal of cardio and lifting. Since I also have the Cherry Creek Sneak (#5) and the Bolder Boulder (#4) coming up on my list I have decided focusing on cardio is the best way for me to kill 3 birds with one stone. Since the sole was peeling off both my shoes I decided it was time for some new ones. Boulder Running Co was totally amazing! Not only did they actually have size 11 women’s shoes but more than one. Also they videotape you running. I know this sounds scary but it was totally awesome! I now have super cool new shoes that in theory will be better for my hip… which currently is my only pain from running.

Dinner, well cooking in general is not really my forte but tonight I must say I won. A friend from work gave me a recipe that the whole store has been talking about for weeks… Spicy Macaroni and Cheese. Normally when we make spicy mac and cheese for dinner it comes from a blue box and is then sprinkled with sriracha. This my friends is way out of the blue boxes league. 2 cups of macaroni 3 blocks of cheese and a combination of spices only the gods themselves could have come up with and viola… you have heaven. I’m not sure I have ever been so excited for leftovers in my life!

-K

Need party ideas

Fourteen weeks out and I can't figure out what to do for a party. I don't really want anything huge, but I'd like to have a fun and memorable night.

Any ideas?

-B

What a slacker!

I’ve got to say number 29 is off to a dismal start. After watching Julie and Julia last weekend I am rejuvenated about blogging so here we go…

Currently I am looking at 244 days till I turn 30 with zero items crossed off the list. Have you been doing anything? Well yes I have… thanks for asking.

1. Being married has been truly wonderful and only seven more months till we hit the one-year mark.

11. 4 books down 26 to go. I am currently reading Life of Pi, which is the first book I have not fallen in love with immediately. Overall this has been one of my favorite things so far on the list.

12. So I chopped my hair off just after turning 29. Weird, but it has seemed to help a lot. I have also started taking zyrtec religiously. Which also has helped. I have gone from 1 to 2 migraines a week to 1 to 2 a month. This has been a big improvement on my quality of life. My goal is have one migraine or less a month. If I can get #2 figured out then I think I will have a shot at it.

14. Needless to say the holidays have set me back a bit on this one. Since the New Year is all about new beginnings I’m going to take full advantage on this one. Since 1/1/2010 I have actually be to the gym three times and one wii fit afternoon. Yes I do feel like wii fit is cheating but it is better then sitting on the couch eating ice cream (something I am also really good at).

20. The old 401K is still not complete…. Lame

23. Cooking is coming a long slowly but surely. The hubby and I made a chicken gnocchi soup together the other night. If you like soup it was actually pretty tasty.

- K

PS: Julie and Julia was a very cute movie and I totally recommend it! I also have a new soft spot in my heart for Julia Child because we are/were both the same height.

I Have No Patience

It's pointed out to me, quite frequently in fact, that I have no patience. Case in point? I have gained a lot of weight since my wedding -- 30 lbs. to be exact. I've lost and gained the same 20 lbs. at least three times since then. However, the last time I lost any significant weight was May 2008 before a trip to Mexico. Ok, and I lost about 10 this summer before K's wedding.

As part of my 30 Before 30 list, and because I can't continue to look at pictures of my fat ass, I'm really cracking down on goal #4: Look better at 30 than I did at 29. I'm back on my diet and doing really good. The hubs and I have finally figured out the gym situation and I head back tonight. But I have no patience. I want all of my hard work for the last week to show ... immediately. I think that's why it's so hard for me to stick to a weight loss routine. I'm trying to hold on and know that it takes time, especially the more I continue to yo-yo and the older I get.

However, the smart solution to my lack of patience would have been to maintain the weight loss the first time. Hopefully this time I'll be smart enough to remember what a pain in the ass it was to lose it in the first place.

-B