Once I'm Lucky, Twice I'm Good...Really. Damn. Good.

Oh hai.

I had a great meeting with the boss at work today.

I am reading a tech (the industry I work in, btw) book that I actually enjoy.

I am excelling at the work I do.

Life is good. I walked to the BART station today in the San Francisco sunshine, watching all the Financial District, investment banker twentysomethings checking their e-mail on their Blackberrys and felt so lucky to be where I'm at.

May I brag for a moment?

I graduated from college just one year ago. A lot of my peers went to graduate school and a lot of them went to...nowhere. I still see them on Facebook, of course, inviting me to random San Francisco/Berkeley/Walnut Creek/general Bay Area parties, but no company websites are added to their profiles, no invitations to join my network on LinkedIn.

I, on the other hand, have done a lot of shit in my first "adult" year and I was reminded of that today and it feels Really. Damn. Good.

Okay, that's enough of all of that. I've missed you all! How have you been? How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

Mine was fairly splendid.

My adorable, Earth-loving, very good friend (and Cute Boy's roommate), Carniverous Ryan, graduated from college and a small collection of my most favorite people in Northern California gathered to celebrate his accomplishment on Saturday. We spent the day at his parent's house in Novato, California (a beautiful little town on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge), churning homemade ice cream (oh my dear sweet goodness, it was all kinds of delicious!) and playing badminton (at which I kicked some legitimate ass.)

Sunday I attended a block party on Maiden Lane in Union Square. It was ridiculously, freezing cold and the unlimited drinks Cute Boy shelled out the big bucks for tasted like ass, but it was all for charity (Hip to Help - check it out, yo!) and the music was some of the best live music I've seen this side of Santa Barbara.



Monday I did a whole lot of nothing, while also purchasing a faux, tiny diamond ring for myself that fits on my left middle finger (which is, indeed, slightly smaller than my right middle finger), conveniently near to my ring finger, thus already tricking several of the people who cross my path during a given week that I got engaged over the weekend.



Calm down, I did not.

The best part about my three-day weekend, however? Why that would have to be the fact that it feels like the work week just begun and tomorrow is already Thursday!

THURSDAY!

Fan-fucking-tastic. Every business week should be a mere four days long.

For now, I must get back to my tantalizing geeky-tech, Web 2.0 book (Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good by Sarah Lacy, if you must know) and Living Lohan (oh my dear sweet infant baby Jesus, the show is so bad, yet so good!).

I leave you with my Question of the Day: Is white nail polish all the rage now? Seriously, I am seeing it everywhere. Who knew I didn't have to spend $7 on my newest bottle of Essie's Mademoiselle when I could just buy a bottle of White Out for $2.98 from the Office Depot down the street (aka the office supply closet...I kid, I kid)?

Okay, I lied. One more question, this time regarding my iPhone.

A little background for you: my boss purchased iPhones for everyone in the office when they came out on the market last June. At the time, I had Verizon (I miss you, dear sweet wonderful carrier!) and paid to switch over to AT&T (for whom I share no such love or loyalty) for my new toy.

Of course, the phone is pretty cool, but mostly because everyone else tells me it is.

I never use the phone as an iPod, instead continuing to use the Nano I've had for 2+ years.

And the camera is great, but so is the bee-yoo-tee-full, $500+ one mi madre just purchased for me for Christmas.

And finally, I have an itch for the new Blackberry - like a major itch. Like "I should probably look into getting some prescription cream to get it fixed" itch.

So here's my question...

Should I make the switch to the Blackberry when my contract is up? And IF I do, should I hightail it back to Verizon as well?

Thoughts? And I mean on the White-Out manicures AND the Blackberry, folks - spill it, please :)

Rehydration Friday

Oh how I wish I were in Los Angeles right now.

It was so much fun working at home last Friday, what with my mom buzzing around me, feeding me at various intervals and distracting me with Oprah and margaritas.

Instead I am here in the office, like most Fridays, counting down the hours til quittin' time (its 8+, fyi). But today, I am doing it hungover.

Sweet.

I can't complain too much though. I Jamba Juiced myself this morning to lessen the pain and last night was all kinds of worth it.

My uber-talented Cute Boy won an award for one of his photographs at his school's art show. Then we proceeded to spend the rest of the night drinking ourselves into celebratory oblivion, which also involved getting into a booty-bumpin' dance-off (which I am 99.2% positive I won), convincing some very aggressive young, gay gentleman that my boyfriend was indeed MY boyfriend and watching some firefighters saw the top of a flipped car off to rescue some passengers stuck inside on the way home.

Yes, the last part of the night was a little insane.

It was around 2 AM, I was SO ready to get home and go to bed and of course, we turn a corner and come face-to-face with two cars on the sidewalk and a car turned on its side in the middle of the road. Several police cars, a fire engine and an ambulance immediately speed up behind us, so seeing that we were now boxed in on all sides, we had no choice but to get out of MY car and watch as they removed the roof of the flipped car and pull the (not-so-good) driver and passenger out.

So that was neat.

Got home around 3:30, passed out, woke up this morning with a mouth full of cotton and a head full of hurt and dragged myself by the hair to work to get us to where we are right now...longing to be re-hydrated and in LA.

How are all of you today? At least it's Friday, right? And the Friday before a three-day weekend!

Splendid, really.

Okay, stop distracting me. I'm off to take some more aspirin and actually get some work done.

Bitter is the New Blog Post

I've thought about this little blog a lot over the past 11 days.

(NONE of you scolded me for not posting, by the way. What am I going to do with you guys?)

I just had no motivation to write.

There were times when I was busy, sure - but probably more times when I was not.  More than ever, this past week and a half, I have been less than busy.  I have come home and not done more work.

I went home to LA.

I celebrated my best friend's graduation from USC.

I saw Wicked (for the second time!) and, oh my goodness!, it was just as glorious as the first.

I watched 27 Dresses (pretty darn adorable).

And I even took a day off!  But I didn't write in this blog...

I may or may not have gotten a little critical of myself lately.  I feel that I might be suffering from a chronic case of Blogger's Block and when I read all of your fabulous blogs in my Google Reader every day (or 15-17 times throughout the day), I feel that my blog posts pale in comparison and so...well...what's the point of even putting them up?

Gawd, depressing right?

But it's been fun as well.  It's been all kinds of wonderful to come home and not force myself to do anything - work, blog, eat healthy, exercise...oh wait, I never force myself to do those last two anyway :)

But I've missed you guys - and some of you write me the sweetest comments, even when I haven't written anything in days.  Plus, the whole lot of you entertain me to no end every single day, so hopefully I can do a little bit of the same for each of you every once in awhile.

ANYWAYS - there is one thing in particular that encouraged me to get back on the blog horse...

As some of you may know, I LOVE Jen Lancaster (author of Bitter is the New Black; Bright Lights, Big Ass; and Such a Pretty Fat).  Well, the lovely Ms. Lancaster has been on a book tour promoting her most recent book (Pretty Fat) and I have waited patiently until the day she finally made it to San Francisco - TODAY.

Turns out she was at one of my favorite bookstores in the Marina (Books, Inc., if you must know).

Unfortunately for me (Jen Lancaster's biggest fan), parking in the Marina is a bitch - meaning even though I arrived on time, I was half an hour late actually getting into the bookstore and missed what I am sure were oodles and oodles of sharp witticisms.

It mattered not, for I was witness to the entire Q&A section of her appearance and got all three of my (her) books signed by her, plus this lovely memento:

Anyways - actually meeting Jen reminded me of how much I love writing and blogging and conversing (even electronically!) with all of you!  So here I am, back (again!), refreshed and revitalized by my glimpse into the celebrity writers world.

I've missed you (again!).

A Blog About Nothing

Happy Cinco de Mayo, lovelies!

Who's getting wasted tonight?! Mom, I know you've got your hand raised! Who else?

Probably not me, actually. First of all, I am lame. I don't actually like being drunk and I especially hate being hungover, which happens to me almost any time libations hit my lips. And second, I have work to do tonight. Who would've thought?!

No, but really. Maybe I'll throw back a shot of Patron in between pitching reporters - it'll probably get my creative juices flowing.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Mine was pretty splendid - too short, but splendid.

I know you will all forgive me for not posting two days in a row, since I posted three days in a row (!) before that. I had to get in some quality time with the Best from home, Cute Boy and of course my ever-growing collection of Books to Read.

Job Spa is pretty good so far, though I don't think they would condone my blog-writing on the job. Whatever - consider this my lunch break...speaking of, I should probably go get some food...

I feel like I had so much to blog about today and now I can't remember any of it! Three things on the top of my mind right now:

- Sara Bareilles kicks ass! Everyone should buy/illegally download her CD!
- I suck at commenting on other people's blogs. It doesn't mean I'm not reading - I am! - and I usually think of some comment in my head too...I just don't post it. I promise I will get better at that as soon as I get back into the hang of this blogging consistently thing.
- Why does everyone love Gossip Girl so much? Having never watched it, can someone please explain the appeal to me?!

Viva la Mexico!

1/4 Gallon of Pee

You wanna know what's sweet?

Peeing into a cup at the doctor's office.

Especially when they hand you a half-gallon (or what appears to be) jar and say:

"So I'm gonna need that at least half full."

No problem. I've been storing up exactly 1/4 gallon of my pee just for this occasion.

To be fair, though, the woman who inserted an especially sharp needle into the inside part of my elbow nook this morning did an excellent job. She found one of my mystery veins immediately and only poked me once!

I was very proud of her.

How's my busy Friday been going, you ask?

Eh, it's been alright. How's yours?

Work has been crazy, but its been getting done and I'm getting things in before their deadline - PLUS (!) one of my calls got cancelled. So that was pretty sweet.

I'm having dinner with one of my very good friends from college - who also happens to be male - and this has been a major point of contention between Cute Boy and me today.

I mean MAY-JAH.

So may-jah, in fact, that I don't even feel comfortable blogging about it (yet) because the aforementioned contention is still fresh and not exactly resolved yet.

Sigh.

Not that I don't know where Cute Boy's coming from. A few months ago, one of his ex-girlfriends called him up and wanted to get lunch. He invited me to come, but I decided to pass on that little reunion.

In the end, he didn't even end up meeting up with her, so this is all a moot story, but my point is that I do understand the uncomfortableness of having your significant other out alone with the opposite sex.

However - in my case, its just a friend from school and in his case, it was an ex-girlfriend. A crazy ex-girlfriend, but an ex-girlfriend nonetheless.

Look at me! I am blabbing away even though the MAY-JAH contention still hangs above my head.

Sorry, Cute Boy. Next time I'll just stick to the pee.

Resolution

When did life get so goddamned busy? Being a grown-up is LAME.

Do you hear that, mom? As soon as I find myself back in LA, I am moving back into my room. I would like for you to please resume cooking me dinner, washing the dishes, doing my laundry, paying my bills and being the only one who wakes up early to go to work.

'Preciate it! Love ya!

But really, being an adult is not that bad. I actually kind of like some of it. Like tonight, for instance, I had to write a $1,000 check because rent is due tomorrow and I actually...kind of get a thrill out of it. I don't know, it's weird. I don't like giving away large sums of my hard-earned money, but it feels good to pay for "grown-up" things with money I worked hard to earn.

Ya know what I'm sayin'?

I know, I know. I am strange.

ANYWAYS, my whole point of ranting (and then recanting) on adulthood is that I never write in this blog anymore. Like seriously, I am the lamest blogger ever. I would probably not read my own blog, were it not my blog, because I post like every 1.5 weeks.

Not cool.

But seriously I blame this busy adult business! It's taking over my life and my precious time allotted for this blog!

So I am making a resolution!

I promise (resolute?) to write in this blog AT LEAST every other day.

I can't promise every day just yet, because that's just a little too overwhelming for me at this point. But, at the very least, I need to make the same commitment to this little bundle of love (and splendidness!) that I make for everything else.

Because it is that important to me. And so are you :)

Aw.

And if I don't follow through, I want you to call me out on it! Because I don't do well with confrontation and if I feel like you guys are going to yell at me - well, I'll get my ass in gear.

And I'll know that you really want to read lil 'ol Splendid Really, so I'll feel all warm and fuzzy inside too.

Anyways, that's all I really had to say for tonight. Insightful, no?

I bet you're so excited that I'm back.

:)

A Blogger Story

What is wrong with me?

This is the last full week of April and it is only my fifth post of the month. I used to be so good at this!

Honestly, I just feel worn the fuck out at work. Sometimes its satisfying and I feel responsible for a lot of important things which I actually get done and do well. Other times, I feel like I'm given a bunch of busy intern-like bitch work, because...well, I used to be the intern.

Either way, I'm tired.

Yesterday this lovely young lady left a comment on my TwentySomethingBloggers page - something to the effect of "Your picture is gorgeous..." There was, of course, more to the comment than that, but that was certainly the most memorable part to me, especially considering I was having one of those days where I felt less than stellar-looking.

Because her comment upped my spirits so much, I decided to check out her TwentySomethingBloggers page/blog and found that we have a lot in common!

To begin with she lives in San Francisco and used to live in New York (alas, a city I have never lived in, but one that I have very recently fallen in love with). She is close to my age, she recently bought a Nissan Altima (only my favorite car ever and the one I also own) and she happens to have my dream job.

Obviously, I fell in love with her a little bit.

It could be weird that I am blogging about this before I have even responded to her, but I think she'll understand. After all, she is a San Francisco-lovin', Altima-drivin', twentysomething AND she happened to have that uncanny girl intuition that told her I really, really, really needed to get a nice compliment from a random stranger yesterday.

Oh and you can check out her blog here: Camels & Chocolate. Go tell her how gorgeous she is!

Abortions, Roommates and MannyTails

I know, I know - I didn't post again last night and I am sorry! I had a vicious headache...

I have a few things on my mind today.



The first thing is an article I read about a Yale art student who artificially inseminated herself several times over the course of the schoolyear, while also taking abortifacient drugs throughout the year and videotaping her miscarriages, as part of her senior art project. The project is intended to incite discussion, I suppose, and she claims that she did not engage in these actions for shock value.

Although, I have to say, I am a little shocked.

I don't want to come right out and say that what I think she did was wrong, because I am still trying to wrap my head around it. In a way, I understand the commentary she's putting out there and I appreciate her creativity in inciting discussion about an important topic, BUT...

People already talk about abortion.

It's one of the most controversial topics in America. So is it really necessary to purposefully impregnate yourself several times over, knowing that you will abort each of the fetuses without hesitation for the sake of...art?

I asked Cute Boy for his opinion, being that he is a talented artist himself and LOVES art with actual societal and cultural commentary in it. Although he too felt that he needed to think about it for awhile, his first thought was this:

"The values of our culture are not something to live and die by. This may be controversial now, but later will be understood and accepted as art. A guy in South America tied a dog to a rope and starved it to death for everyone to see at an art show - he was commenting on how many dogs are left to starve on the streets. He brought the streets to the upper class, where the power really is. It's ironic to kill, but I think its important to show the negligence...like its ironic to show concern for unborn life when we don't show concern for those who are already living."

So obviously, her project is already working. It's incited discussion between Cute Boy and me, thousands of miles away from her senior seminar art class, within minutes.

I'm still not so sure about this one though. I can't help but feel that a truly creative artist would be able to invoke commentary and insightful discussion (about a topic that actually needs more discussion) without taking any lives (humans, dogs or otherwise).

What do you think?



So my second pressing thought for the day revolves around my current living situation.

Let me give you a little background...

...Once upon a time there was a college senior named Jenna. She had big plans to graduate college, work for a PR firm in San Francisco and move in with one of her best friends from college and, by mid-2007, had efficiently accomplished all three. It took only a month or two to find that her roommate (and soon-to-be former friend) was increasingly difficult to live with. After all, it takes a lot of patience to live with someone who doesn't have a job (and who's parents pay for everything), who is taking naps when you get home from work and then complains to you about the hard day she's had, and finally who spreads rather ridiculous and wholly false lies about you because you no longer spend all your time at home with her listening to her complain about her difficult nap and shopping-filled day. Needless to say, said roommate (and former friend) moves out within 5 months of moving in (back in with her parents, of course) and Jenna is forced to find a new roommate. She quickly finds Julie, who is wonderful on so many levels - she is kind, clean, funny and bakes lots of cookies of which I am always given the extras - but is also a graduating law student who is moving back to San Diego in June...as in next month. So Jenna needs another roommate yet again...

And here we are.

There's a possibility that my very best friend from Los Angeles will be moving to San Francisco and, if that is the case, she will be forced to live with me in my apartment. I will give her no other choice.

But...there is also a possibility that she will not move up here and my landlord has insisted that I at least put an ad up on Craigslist. So now, I am trying to think of the perfect roommate - a combination of qualities that I must insist on my next housemate having in order for my to comfortably survive alongside of them for the next year or more. So I begin...


Julie Qualities I Need in a Roommate
- nice
- quiet
- respects my privacy
- pays her bills on time (and pays them herself! imagine that!)
- friendly
- likes Cute Boy (and doesn't mind him being over CONSTANTLY)
- clean

Best Friend from Home Qualities I Need (or would like) in a Roommate
- funny
- non-judgmental
- would NEVER spread untruths about me!
- likes Cute Boy
- ambitious
- knows me inside and out
- is my best friend

What am I missing? I need to be very particular this time around!



Finally the last thing on my mind today is a businessman I saw out the window of my office. He was walking down the street in the Financial District with his sharp suit and his briefcase and...a ponytail. And not a regular old ponytail, but a short, stubby little ponytail. Meaning that had he actually had his hair NOT gathered in an elastic band it would be a normal, short length, but for some reason he felt it was necessary to pull his hair back in a ponytail.

I don't know how his business colleagues felt about that, but I lost a little respect for him right there.

Titties

You want to know what's sweet?

When you Google Image my name, you get like 7 pages of ta-tas in your face.

Just a little something Jenna Jameson and I have in common...

...thanks for the moniker, mom.

(p.s. I promise to post a more substantial blog post later. Maybe.)

Livin' in a Gangsta's Paradise

Cute Boy and I are not hanging out tonight.

CB: "What are you going to do tonight?"

Me: "I don't know." - not because I actually have nothing to do, but more because I have SO much to do that I don't know where to start.

CB: "You should blog. You haven't blogged in a long time. You should just spend all night writing."

That made me a little bitter. As if I have nothing to do all night but blog!

And then I remembered something.

I remembered when I started this little baby and all I could think about was something else I wanted to write. How I would get distracted from things I had to do because I so desperately wanted to fire up Blogger and shoot some undoubtedly ingenious words of wisdom your way. And now, here I am acting as if blogging is a chore.

It's not a chore. If anything, it's a small pleasure in a life of chaos, stress and always having something left to check off on my to-do list.

So ladies and gentleman, I am back! No longer will I forget that this one "chore" is the one that brings me the greatest release and relief; the one that helps me sort out my thoughts, my feelings, my angers and my ridiculous sense of humor, even if I'm not always sharing everything on the page with you.

So while I sit here, simultaneously unpacking from the last three weeks of travel, doing laundry, paying my bills and following up on work e-mails, I am catching up with you as well.

I've missed you :)

So the last time I posted was right before I left for Vegas. Ahh, Vegas.

Vegas was a lot of things, but here is what it was not: GAMBLING, EXCESSIVE INEBRIATION, ACTIONS I REGRET IN THE MORNING.

(I am sure Cute Boy is thankful for that last one.)

But seriously, I don't recommend going to Vegas for work. What's the point? I was at the Hard Rock Hotel with its delicious-looking pool and cocktails and rockstar memorabilia and I was wearing business casual attire with a SWEET conference ID badge wrapped around my neck every single day. I was running into people in flip-flops and itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka dot bikinis as I checked my e-mail incessantly from my phone. In short, it was kind of lame.

But I can't pretend that in the midst of all that occupational ridiculosity, I didn't have a little bit of fun. I made some really great contacts, got to know some other contacts even better and even stayed in a suite for one night (granted, I was by myself, pitching to reporters all night in said suite, but STILL...)!

All in all, I can't complain. I got a trip to Vegas, a night in a suite, a dinner at Nobu and the chance to network with people from the Wall Street Journal to other blogs not unlike our own. And that, my friends, is priceless.

What have I been doing since I got back from Vegas, you say? What has been so important that I couldn't blog for the past five days?!

Nothing, Splendid Really fans. Dare I say it? Absolutely nothing.

When I returned home last Thursday, my car was finally ready to be picked up from the auto body shop (such splendid timing!). I took a $28 cab out to pick her up (which really, Progressive should pay for, dontcha think?) and she looks better than ever! Seriously, having some random dipshit run into my poor, unassuming, parked vehicle is the best thing that ever happened to my car. Now the front bumper is like new, even though there was some considerable damage to it before this most recent accident. I can't help but think, however, that I should get my baby out of Little Bitchcisco before something else happens to her. Stat.

Okay, so after that, my best friend from home also came up this weekend. On Saturday, her and I, along with our respective Cute Boys, went to Alcatraz Island. In my 23 years on this earth (living in California that whole time, mind you) this was my first trek to the infamous prison. It was AWESOME! Supposedly, you can take a tour where you spend a night on "The Rock", which the bestest and I will do fo sho. Don't know about the Cute Boys - they might be a little too p*ssy for that shit.

God, what is up with my foul language today? I apologize. I've been reading Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and I just read the chapter on Race, which talked about inner-city, young Black men and I guess I got a little too gangsta for my britches.

Obama will do that to ya.

Moving on, I spent all of today on my old stomping grounds - UC Berkeley. I'm organizing an informational/career panel for my alma mater consisting of CEOs/founders of companies we represent at work. So anyway, because I went to Berkeley, I suppose I am automatically just supposed to know everyone and therefore was designated "girl who gets to go back to campus and...pass out flyers". Sweet. Everybody loves the flyer guy.

I think I spent 2/3 of my college career trying to avoid that guy.

So I spent most of my day sweating my ass off and giving awkward speeches in front of classes who undoubtedly thought, "Who the fuck does this alumni bitch think she is?"

(Sorry. I just canNOT shake that gangsta vernacular today.)

It was trippy (yes, trippy) being back on campus and made me equal parts nostalgic and happy to be the fuck out of there, but that's another long ass post for another long ass day.

So now you know why I've been neglecting you for so long. It's not because I had any real excuse, you see, but just because I was saving up for this massive, kick-ass post that would keep you entertained for at least (at least!) five whole minutes at work.

You're welcome. And I love you too :)

Peace out.