Summer.

Summer is always a weird time for me. It's when most people seem to plan vacations and outdoor activities and enjoy the hot weather as much as possible, but I always cower inside and wait for the sweet embrace of fall.

I've been trying a lot of new things this summer, most of them perfectly aligned with my homebody tendencies (hooray). So far I'm feeling a lot more level and content, which is fantastic. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Meditation. People have suggested this to me for years to deal with my anxiety and insomnia, and I always had a mental block against starting. "It'll be such a slog to get started! My mind doesn't turn off, I'll just get frustrated. It'll be ages before I see benefits!" But - I got this app at the recommendation of a friend and tried out the free 10 day starter pack - and I'm hooked. I seriously had better sleep starting immediately, and I've had a much easier time than I expected with clearing my mind during parts of it. I just signed up for a whole year (as with exercise, I see myself doing much better with a guided approach). I'm hoping to really keep this up!!

Yoga. I forget whether I every really talked about ballet on here, but a year ago I was doing it three times a week and taking my first ever pointe class. I adored it. But a gradual knee injury due to ballet + tons of hilly SF walking, combined with raising baby Tumbles, meant I had to stop for awhile. In the last few months, I've started doing yoga - it's easier on my knees and doesn't involve rushing Tumbles home from work like ballet did. I really enjoy the achievements, working my way up to handstands and building my strength and flexibility. As a bonus, most of the classes I take are at 7am, and that is finally starting to get a little easier. I'm a reluctant morning person when my alarm goes off, but I feel so good when I make it happen!

Sewing. I bought a sewing machine 4 years ago but didn't do much with it. Recently I've been getting frustrated with my wardrobe - it doesn't feel very me, but I also have trouble finding exactly what I want in stores. So, a few months ago I came across this dressmaking book and took the leap, and it has become a serious hobby since then. I'm hoping to write up a few posts about how that process is going. I've added 3 skirts and a dress to my closet since May, and I'm excited to make more.

Avoiding the internet. Several weeks ago I logged out of twitter and stopped checking facebook, and honestly it changed my day to day life a lot. I've since logged back in but only rarely check. There is only so much terrible tech/world news I can take in, and for the most part I've realized I'm happier not knowing. My one frustration is feeling like I don't know as much about what's going on in my friends' lives, but I have yet to find a way to use social media for that without also getting all of the exhausting, depressing content, too. I do, however, still use instagram - it's my happy place on social media. And as a bonus, when I don't spend my workdays/evenings at home/weekends reading a never-ending stream of tweets, I am able to get so much more done!

And the photos:

Tumbles turned 1! I threw a little (but still over the top) birthday party and it was cute as heck, if I do say so myself.

(thank you, Haley, for the perfect card!)

Work feeds me real well:

I'm trying to grow some little plants again (I have killed pretty much everything I've grown in the past, including cacti and succulents). So far it's going ok?

MagmaConf

I normally don't consider myself much of a tech conference person. I love the work I do, but it's not my whole life, and I can get overwhelmed if I'm expected to spend full days talking tech without direct tie-ins to the products I work on. (I like learning new things as it applies to something I'm excited to make, not just for the sake of learning the cool framework of the week).

However! ModCloth sponsored MagmaConf in Manzanillo, Mexico this past week, and I was able to go along. I was a little nervous/homesick at first (I've had some lonely experiences traveling without close friends/boyfriend), but by the end of the trip, I was literally crying at the thought of leaving Mexico. Not that sleep deprivation didn't play into it a bit. But honestly, it was that good. An insanely fun, educational, cultural experience unlike anything I've ever done before.

The conference talks were great, but what really did it for me was the people, the culture, and even learning more about some of the foundations of ModCloth (ModCloth has always had really close ties with Crowd Interactive, the organizers of the conference).



I've left the country before, but not often, only to Canada and western Europe, and I've never gotten to truly make friends or spend time with locals anywhere outside of the US. I felt so welcome and taken care of from the moment I stepped foot in Manzanillo, despite only speaking a little Spanish (side note: I WILL learn more before I go back). The food was amazing - fresh, filling, delicious, and local. The city was completely gorgeous with perfect beach weather, which obviously didn't hurt. And I got to spend time with super smart people (engineers and not) from Mexico, the US, and all over the world. 

It was great to be able to put more faces to the people I know of from ModCloth's work with Crowd, and everyone from the company was so great to be around. It's hard to put my finger on why, but I just can't imagine a San Francisco tech conference having that level of friendliness, welcoming, and lack of pretention. Successful investors, founders, and keynote speakers were happy to hang out with everyone down to the most junior developers or people more on the sidelines of the tech industry. Non-native English speakers were happy to switch over when one of us wasn't able to keep up with the conversation. Delicious food was had (like REALLY delicious), drinks were always flowing, and the hospitality was just on a level I've never seen before.

 

I think the best example of this was when my coworker Mariana told her friend Mercy that I was hoping to try some chicken mole, which is hard to come by in Manzanillo (where the specialty is fantastic seafood). Mercy got ahold of her mom in another city, who made from-scratch mole (served alongside the best ever tortillas and mexican-style rice). This meal. I can't even describe it. The chickens were slaughtered that morning, and the mole was so delicious, rich, and perfectly balanced between sweet and savory. Before I left, I thanked Mercy again for everything, and she told me to give her a heads up before I come back so that her mom can make more mole.

I stayed up late, woke up early. I hung out with former coworkers and met some that were before my time. I ate super fresh seafood under umbrellas on the beach. I really enjoyed light Mexican beers - usually not my thing, but perfect in that weather, especially with local Colima limes and salt. I can now say that I have friends in Mexico, and I really hope that I can visit more often than once a year. I came out knowing more Spanish than I went in with. I got to know my (US) coworkers even better. I jumped from the second floor of a boat into the ocean without a life jacket. I ate at some hole-in-the-wall, outdoor taquerias that put the Mission to shame. I danced at a club where a crab walked across the dance floor (and everyone stepped aside to save it). I somehow became an extrovert for about 5 days and survived with next to zero alone time and about half my usual sleep. I learned things that will make me better at my job, and I came back inspired to work better. I had one of the best, most memorable weeks of my life.

Operation "Love My Closet"

I have unfortunately fallen into the "good deal" trap too many times, where I don't love something, but oh it's so cheap! and I can't not get it! And the one where that dress sure was cute when I was a freshman in college, but now I am a real 24-year-old GROWN UP who doesn't need to be wearing that, but I'm a sucker for silly sentimental attachment. Sound familiar?

My closet is overflowing (this is actually false: I don't have a closet, I have a hangy rack in the corner of my room, under-the-bed drawers, and part of a rod in the shared coat closet). I own too many clothes, and I want to be surrounded by things I love, not things that I kinda-sorta liked once upon a time and I now can't bring myself to get rid of.

So, I am setting up a challenge for myself: over the next year, I will try on every piece of clothing (... jewelry, shoes, etc) that I own and either find a place for it in an outfit that I am excited to wear, or donate it. I really hope this doesn't take a full year, but given my current work/commute schedule, I don't want to make any lofty promises I can't keep.

Now: who is with me? Tell me about it, send me pics, keep your own blog!

The rules:

1. Try on every "regular" article of clothing that you own.
2. Style each as part of an outfit that you love and are excited to wear.
3. Anything that cannot be styled in such a way has to be thrown out / donated / sold to a second hand store.
4. Exceptions include workout or lounge clothes, pajamas, costumes, and special outfits like ski gear; however, these need to be worn regularly (or at least once a year, depending on the purpose) and still be things you like and in good condition. I also need to keep a few wintery things for my approximately yearly visits to places with real seasons; I may or may not style these since this isn't really a rotating part of my wardrobe anymore.
5. Optional: keep photo proof of each successful outfit.

 

I own way too much to post all of the outfit pictures, but I will likely post some updates along the way. This is a little daunting, but I'm excited to force myself to get rid of some of the stuff I no longer want/need!

Happy 2011!

The obligatory new year post! I'm normally not a big fan of new year's resolutions - if you want to change your life, just do it, don't wait for the calendar to turn over. Sometimes, though, the holiday gluttony starts getting to me and I just can't help but plan to make changes in the new year, and that is definitely the case this year. In a lot ways I am looking to the holiday craziness finally dying down and having a chance to relax and take control of some things I just haven't gotten around to. THUS! My resolutions:

1. Take better care of myself. It's definitely time to get back into a workout routine (some combination of cardio dance classes at work, ballet in the evenings, and weights with my friend Erik). Beyond that, I'm going to try to add a few steps to my beauty routine - I got a head start last night with an at-home spa night. At the ripe old age of 24, it's time to start taking good care of myself, before nasty things like aging set in.
2. Get a dog. At the moment, I'm not really in a position to take good care of a dog, between my cozy but cluttered house and 3-hour round trip commute 5 days a week. I'm thinking of making some changes by the end of the year, though, and I would love to get a cute lil puppy as soon as it's more practical. I've wanted one since I moved out to California, and at some point I just have to make it happen!
3. Become a better chef. I'm confident in my recipe-following abilities, but I want to work on making up new and exciting things - maybe even turn them into my own recipes. This means lots of practice and taking chances, and probably some good old recipe following, too (instead of going to my old boring stand-bys over and over).
4. Revamp my possessions. Between my wardrobe and my furnishings, sometimes I still feel like I'm a college student. I have the means to surround myself with more "grown up" things now. It's time I do some more of that and learn to part with the things I no longer need. (I can be a bit of a hoarder.)

Think that's it for now. My dear readers (whoever you are): Are you making resolutions this year? What do you plan on doing in 2011?

Happy New Year!