Goodbye TV... Hello, iPhone...

Hi friends!! It's been sooo long, trust me, I know. While I have limited to no justification for not keeping up with my blog, I would like to chalk SOME of the blame up to that two week stint we called the Olympics... how anyone is expected to do anything but keep one's eyes glued to an NBC channel of sorts is beyond me.

Anyway! I'm back! To be fair... I've been pretty lazy the past few weeks- I haven't really done anything that actually warrants a blog post... granted, that's never stopped me from yapping about nothing in the past, but whatever.

So why the sudden return to blogging? Well, aside from the fact that it is, in fact, one of my favorite things (I swear! It is!)... I have to chalk this return to... my defunct television.

I came home Friday emotionally, mentally and physically drained (God bless what corporate America can do to people)... all ready and set just to PARK it in front of my television for the en-tire evening (despite the GORGEOUS weather Chicago's been having as of late!). Well... this plan would have worked out just fine and dandy if, lo and behold, I hadn't turned on my television set like immediately after entering my apartment only to find that, while I can see the picture perfectly clearly, there was zero audio. Wtf (and yes, for those of you who know my ditzy ways well enough, I DID check the Mute button, thank you very much).

Argh. It was the last thing I wanted to deal with on a Friday evening. A quick call to Best Buy (where I bought the TV three years ago... I didn't know who else to call!) and I realized that, not only did the TV need to be taken in for inspection (I was hoping they could just identify and fix the problem over the phone... sigh) but I had to take it in myself (since my TV was less than 46 inches).

What the...

If you know me at all, you know I lack a lot of general common sense/practicality in my personal life. So there I was, just staring at my 26-inch TV, truly contemplating how the hell I was expected to lug that thing half a mile to my neighborhood Best Buy store.

Note to self- trying to shovel a 26-inch TV into a paper Gap bag is NOT the solution.

Well, WHAT?! I had limited resources in which to lug something so large around! Next try...

Believe it or not... this did the trick.I didn't think this was actually going to work, but my TV certainly DID end up squeezing into the largest piece of luggage that I owned. Sigh, this is like the DEFINITION of ghetto, right? But oh well... creativity does have its perks, I guess. Ugh, but look at what a hot MESS emptying my suitcase caused! Again, not the way I was planning on spending my Friday night.

Anyway, so I ended up (carefully) dragging that suitcase to my lobby and hailing a cab to take me the half mile to Best Buy (...what, you think I was going to be walking?)... only to find out that they were going to have to ship it in for an estimate and could take at least 2 days to get an estimate (that doesn't even include the time it'll take to fix the TV!).

What else could I do? I dejectedly left my beloved TV at Best Buy and traipsed on home... only to have a slight panic attack when I got back to my apartment (the same slight panic ensued when I awoke on Saturday morning as well)... you know you have an addiction to TV when your heart literally clenches at the mere thought of having to go TV-less for an entire weekend. Seriously, I had no idea how I was going to fill my time. (In keeping with my apparent month of MIA-ness, I didn't have any significant plans for this weekend.)

But MAN!! It's amazing how much more PRODUCTIVE I am without my TV! Who would've THOUGHT?? Let's see, I did some chores...

I went to the salon...

I rediscovered my love for reading (please note that I hadn't begun this book until Saturday morning... and that's where I was by Saturday evening...

I discovered my new favorite Trader Joe's sweet treat (holy YUMMMMMM!!!!)...

I did some shopping...

Full stop. Like how I just snuck that last one on in there? Sure, these bags are clearly reflective of all things "necessity" in life, but let's focus here on that little tiny white box... with the iconic APPLE symbol! That's right, my friends- I got myself a little iPhone!

Okay, to be fair, this was kind of an impulse buy... I mean, I'd been having issues with my Droid (don't even GET me started), but I'm pretty low-maintenance when it comes to technology, so I've just been "dealing" with the Droid issues. I'd honestly just gone into the Verizon store to innocently ask how I can fix my Droid this time around... and, well, I'm sorry, but I can't help it that I happened to talk to like one of THE most charming sales guys that I've ever encountered on a visit to a Verizon store (normally, as soon as they start going into all these details about all the high-tech things phone A vs. phone B can do, I get bored and zone out). But MAN!! I wish I'd snapped a picture (because that wouldn't have been awkward at all)... he was just the most adorable, most friendly, most patient, most funny, most, well, not gonna lie, kind of smooth talking people I'd met! AND!!! He was giving me discounts left and right!! I felt like I was winning the lottery with each little "accessory" I was picking up along the way!! (This is not an exaggeration- there was even one point in my little shopping spree where his fellow sales guy was like "Jesus, why don't you just GIVE her the stuff for free at this point?")

So that, my friends, is how I wound up with an iPhone. I'm a sucker, what can I say? But in my defense, I got a good DEAL, thank you very much.

Oh, I guess I got kinda sidetracked. Whoops. Hahaha. This was supposed to be how much more productive my life has become sans TV... but... well, this counts, right? You tell me when finding true love at the Verizon store isn't a true measure of life productivity...

Lucyland excerpt time!!

per the request of a couple of people, not to mention the recommendation of an agent from one of my writing workshops, i've decided to take the initiative to actively advertise my novel (moreso than i already do, let's be honest here) by posting an excerpt of it here... i mean, really, it reads like a blog anyway. here is the very beginning (the VERY beginning. sigh. it seems like it was so long ago!!) of... well, Lucyland. (okay, so it's a working title...)

“I want to move to California.” I still remember the utmost longing associated with that thought process on my flight home from my summer in Europe.

While most of my fellow classmates at Columbia University decided to stick around the Big Ap for our program’s mandatory summer practicum, saving the world one non-governmental organization at a time, I decided to venture abroad to do an internship in Geneva, Switzerland. These summer practicums are seemingly designed to provide students with a better sense of their intended career paths and a more enlightened outlook on life. That’s what I thought… before actually embarking on mine.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely adored my summer at the World Health Organization. But I just couldn’t ever imagine working for a nonprofit organization for the rest of my life. I mean, where was the bottom line? The income statements? Where was the structural organization? This is the problem when an idealistic girl (excuse me, young woman) decides to try to mix and match an Accounting undergraduate degree with a Public Health graduate degree.

I know, right? Oxy-flipping-moron.

I remember talking to my friends who had come back from internships at big, bad consulting firms in Manhattan and loving the fast pace, the interesting work, and let’s face it, the hefty paychecks. But I also couldn’t help but remember my last summer in New York… and the joys that only humidity, non-air-conditioned six-story walk up apartments, and overcrowded subway systems could bring.

Seriously?

Maybe I’m just being a spoiled Midwestern girl, highly accustomed to space and air-conditioning and, quite frankly, the ability to drive to a Target and park in a spacious parking lot. But I also don’t think that hoping that a mouse doesn’t scurry through my apartment or daydreaming that my closet of a room will someday NOT cost $1450 a month is a sign of a healthy outlook on life. I mean, the mere effort that it takes to live in New York…

Sigh.

This is why my internship abroad changed my outlook on my young adult life. I realized that living in a big city doesn’t necessarily require living in complete discomf-

Okay. I know, I know. It was Geneva. Do its citizens know of any discomfort? Please. Switzerland itself is based on neutrality, for heaven’s sake. So, point taken, I realize that Geneva is kind of a utopian extreme. However, more to the point, more than a few of my fellow interns were also from all over the state of California and I honestly have never witnessed such state pride. I mean, the state pride that I had from going to Big Ten Ohio State University didn’t even come close to the pride and love that my Californian friends would tout for their state. It was during this summer that I realized just how true was the stereotype that most individuals who live in California never actually leave California.

And why should they? To this Midwestern gal, California sounded about as perfect as life could come by in the good ol’ United States. And so came about my little nugget of hope at a future life in California, a highly undiscovered, utopian terrain for my adventurous little self.

I remember announcing this thought (with great gusto, let’s be honest) to my parents, who already thought I had moved far enough away from the grand home state when I moved to New York. But California?

They merely scoffed. How many California recruiters actually come to New York? What a waste of time, my parents would say. Understandably too, as most students who are at Columbia actually do want to stay in Manhattan… despite the rats hurry scurrying amongst the overcrowded subway system’s tracks, the sidewalks overcrowding with garbage due to the lack of New York alleys (I mean, please. Once you find space for alleys, you let me know), the ever-permeating scent of nothing less than urine in the train stations…

Yeah, I’m not speaking from experience at all. Nor am I bitter in the least.

Clearly.

With those reservations still in the back of my mind, however, I conceded to my parents’ initial reservations and resigned myself to looking for jobs in New York. I mean, I am whimsical to a point, but when it comes down to it, practicality always gets the better of me.

But then, fate intervened.

Did a tall, dark, and handsome man sweep me off my feet and whisk me off to his homeland of San Francisco? Ha. I wish! Oh, and believe you me, I wished a lot. Did I win the lottery and decide to settle down on the West Coast, resting on my million-dollar laurels for the rest of my life? Right.

Rather, I met Summer, a fellow classmate who was from California and had such infectious enthusiasm about her previous job that I couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement. I mean, her name was Summer- how does that not scream California goodness to the world? And of all places, would you look at that? Her former job was in San Francisco!

Now if that’s not fate, I simply just don’t know what is. One day I was wishing I could move there; the next, I meet someone who not only used to work there, but was readily willing to provide me with contact information for that company.

There was no way I was letting this go so easily. After all, you can’t mess with fate, can you?

one word: COZY!!!!

ahhh!! cozy time!!!

with the holiday season in full swing, i find no better opportunity to maximize the use of my favorite word in the English language... COZY. that's right. i mean, just look at the word. all the simply delightful ideas that are conjured up with just the THOUGHT... fireplaces (preferably with a book and blanket), hot chocolate (with homemade marshmallows), couches (REMEMBER HOCKING HILLS?!! oh a** heaven... oh sigh. okay i need a moment), napping and, quite frankly, spooning (quite possibly the greatest definition of cozy if ever there was one...), baking extravaganzas, mindless television marathons (preferably with the sister... oh how she knows how to pick 'em... keeping up with the kardashians being the latest... journey shall we say...)... oh i could go on and on.

last week, however, i was greeted with something that i always associated with the epitome of coziness but hadnt experienced in a solid two and a half years... SNOW!!! oh gosh, just the thought...

well. actually. it was slightly disappointing. here i was, hearing right and left about the impending blizzard upon us... i couldn't keep myself from grinning from ear to ear (while, im not going to lie, most others around me were quite wary and kind of annoyed with the thought of an impending blizzard! i mean, i just didnt understand). so, you know me. im already a morning person. this morning, however, i gleefully arise with the eager anticipation of a traipse through the blankets of white (in my brand spanking new snow boots, no less!) to get to my bus stop... after all, the mere day before we'd received the wonderful preview of a slight dusting... no better way to welcome the holiday season in full gear! but what did i awaken to that fine morning after the prediction of blizzard amounts of snow and arctic chills?

rain. cold. dreary. rain. heck, the snow dusting from the day before had actually MELTED.

um. i KNOW, RIGHT?? crestfallen didnt even begin to describe the downward spiral of the emotional rollercoaster that morning.

oh chicago. what. a. tease.

needless to say, i am NOT holding out much hope for the wintry chills and snowy mounds predicted this week. heck, im bringing the flip flops back. taking a stand if ever there was one, thank you very much.

no worries. ive just decided to take matters into my own hands and just create the semblance of coziness (hey. if mother nature's not going to step up to the plate, SOMEone's gotta!)... ive got my two cozy songs for the season nice and lined up on my itunes (for reference: all i want for christiemas is you by miss mariah herself and baby it's cold outside by willie and norah), my cozy holiday activities lined out (this daley plaza christiemas marketplace better be darn impressive...), my cozy chai stocked, my cozy baking extravaganzaranzadanzas lined up, my cozy love actually viewings already in full swing (was it sad that i was all set to just rewind and watch it again after my viewing yesterday?... and that wasnt the first time i watched it this season...sigh. at least im shameless about advertising it), my cozy snow boots ready and waiting (for something other than rain...)... well, you get the idea.

ahh!! cozy time!!! how would YOU actively embrace such a concept?