Wild Wild West

Last week, I took an advencation to the wild wild west, specifically Jackson Hole, Wyoming(FYI adventure + vacation = advencation). Background: the boyfriend left me in December to live a dream life with hi other lover out west (skiing, obviously). Since I am so accommodating, I decided that I would take a trip and see if we could make this love triangle work. More background: I hate the cold, and the only skiing I had ever done was in icy Wintergreen last winter. Needless to say, I was a little scared and pessimistic about this whole thing. But, since I am such a loving and accommodating person, I decided to give it a go.

Anyways, the trip was amazing and relaxing and wonderful. Wyoming (and the west in general I think) is such a different place from Washington, DC. After working super long hours the last few weeks, it was so nice to do nothing besides ski, eat good food, drink good beer (PBR, clearly) and be surrounded by people who were doing the exact same and completely okay with it. Everyone I met (in the hot tub, on the ski lift, at the bars) was so chill - loving life and enjoying every minute of it - a very different attitude from here in the nation's capital. Don't get me wrong, I love the rat race of DC, but it was great to get away for a week and live a "simple" life. I guess that is the beauty of taking vacation - once you are working hard in the real world, you can really appreciate the time off.

Although there were a few (okay, maybe more than a few) curse words and one or two epic falls, I graduated from green to blue slopes and had fun while doing it! While I am no expert, I think I may be able to work with this ski relationship after all.

a new year

hello blog- remember me? yeah, its been a while. though i fully abide by Rule Number 76: No Excuses Play Like a Champion, a should at least say that busy season #2 has taken over my life and that somewhat explains the lack of blogging. anyways, not too much has been happening (as i mentioned, work = life for the time being). the holidays came and went, and suddenly i found myself in 2011.

a new year... a time for new beginnings, resolutions, etc. i personally like to make new years resolutions, and generally stick to mine. my resolution this year is to work on relationships. now, that may seem vague, but i think it is a very tangible goal.

recently, having been so absorbed with work, i have not been what i consider to be a very good friend/relative. actually, this is not just a recent thing, i dont think i have ever been very good at maintaining relationships. back in college, my high school friends and i would rarely talk while we were away at school, but when we were back at home, together, it would be as though we never were apart. this was fine, up until now. because now, there is no going home for winter break; everyone is going off in her own direction in the world. once i realized this fact, i decided that now, more than ever, it would be up to me to keep those amazing friendships i have built over the past years alive.

and the truth of the matter is, relationships are the most important thing you can acquire in life. an education may get you a job, and a job may get you money, but, as the saying goes, money dont buy happiness. cliche, i know, but oh so true.

so cheers to 2011 - out on my own, but not alone!

a weekend in the city that never sleeps

hello blog. this weekend (edit: last weekend, posting way late) i went on a grand adventure to the city that never sleeps, aka new york city. true to reputation, i didnt get much sleep but sure saw a lot and had a great time.

the weekend started Friday when i took the Vamoose bus up to NYC. it was a pretty nice ride, i just listened to some CPA lectures and by the time i knew it, i wasn't in kansas (ahem, dc) anymore, but in the BIG APPLE. my lovely boyfriend met me at the bus stop (thanks sweetheart!) this was actually great becuase i had no idea how i was going to navigate the NYC streets/subway alone.

we dropped our stuff off at the hostel (romantic, si?) and made our way to MoMA for an afternoon of art. stopped to get some authetic NYC street food along the way - kebab-ish fare. we picked our spot based on the longest line, a good indicator of quality, right?

MoMA was sweet, although after about 2.5 hours i was growing weary of art. leaving MoMA we decided to try and grab some tickets for a Broadway show and ended up in the TKTS line in Times Square. after waiting for a while, a british dude approached us and asked us if we wanted tickets to jersey boys. my mom had recommended this show, so, although i was skeptical of this "good luck" we purchased tickets from the brit, mainly becuase he had an innocent sounding accent and a cute wife. jersey boys was pretty awesome, minus the large woman sitting next to me who occasionally sang along. we drank beverages from sippy cups, enjoyed some amazing singing, and laughed at a few jersey shore-esque jokes. after the show, we wandered times square for a bit, until we became fed up with the mass of people and went home.

saturday was another day of adventure - a few highlights include the brooklyn flea (i decided i would move to NYC if i could shop there everyweekend, it puts the eastern market flea to shame), a hipster safari, an art show in queens, KELLY Q, and randomly bumping into one of our good friends from college (who, may i add, does not live in NY). we stayed up too late and probably drank too many over priced drinks, but hey, when in NY...

sunday, the final day of tourism, included wandering central park and shopping in soho. we ended up literally just making our bus home (like, the last two people were boarding as our cab pulled up to the bus stop), after failing miserably at the art of catching a cab in NY.

needless to say, it was a wonderful weekend, but i crashed hard when i finally made it home sunday night. now, everyones question for me seems to be "do you want to live in NY now?"

before this weekend, i would have said no, definitely not. NY is too big for me, i'm just now adjusting to DC. and while i still don't want to get up and move to NY, i did see a lot that made me think, hey, maybe NY isn't so big and bad after all

(friends to) fall back (on)

this blog is brought to you by french vanilla coffee and daylight savings time. i was so delighted when i looked at my clock this morning and saw that it was almost 9am. my thoughts: SCORE i "slept in" (especially a feat after a night out, usually my body does not allow such pleasures) and SCORE, the farmer's market starts soon! love fresh produce, funky people, and (most importantly) free samples!

then i turned on my phone and saw that the time read "7:45" am i going crazy? no, i remembered its daylight savings time! i was both happy (yay another hour of the weekend to enjoy) and sad (man, farmers market isn't for another whole hour) so i decided that i could blog or clean my room (a disaster from trying to choose an outfit last night, whoops)

last night was a blast though, despite the wardrobe disaster (how to dress for going out in the cold weather??) - gwood was in town and it was so great to see her and a bunch of other ghouls who i have not seen in forever due to the work overload. after some delicious chili, a good malbec, and great catch up conversations, i have decided that i need to make more of an effort to hang out with my friends, even if they don't live super super close and even if i am working long hours. because, when it all comes down to it, the relationships you build and keep are the most important thing in life. if you have friends and family to whom you can turn, you can be happy even in hard times (which i have seen to be true very recently) i am lucky that i have great people in my life, but relationships should not be taken for granted, they require upkeep, which is something i want to work on.

thats my life lesson for now. hasta luego amigos!

blog epic fail

blog = epic fail. busy season rules my life. surprisingly, not sad about having no free time right now (except i probably will be once i hear stories about the fun people had at homecoming this weekend) every day i am super busy so the work day (ahem, every day) flies by.

working in chinatown is pretty cool. have yet to have chinese food (go figure), but i'm feeling that its gonna happen sometime soon considering we have been ordering dinner most nights. its funny that every store sign is in chinese - so tourist-y (speaking of which, saw so many lost tourists on the metro this weekend. not that i can poke fun, i have been a lost tourist, and, more recently, a lost city newbie many a time). i often wonder if 1) the chinese actually reads the store names correctly and 2) if it is someone's job to make sure all stores have chinese signage. big life questions.

anyways, working a lot has made me completely appreciate the free time i do have. last night my high school friends came and saw my apartment and we just had a relaxing night filled with wine, pretzel m&m's, and lots of juicy gossip. and i know the next weekend i am not working, we will go out on the town and rage.

i know i posted pictures of the apartment a few weeks ago, but it has really transformed since then. the roomie (and her wonderful mother) have been hard at work decorating, and the place definitely is beginning to feel like home. if only i could finish decorating my room. hmmmm...will post updated pics soon.

one final note - i am officially a car-less urban hipster. well, the hipster part is a little bit of a hopeful exaggeration on my part, but i sent my car home to the parents this weekend. this should be interesting...

promise to blog more often. happy fall and yay for all things pumpkin.

apartment

finally hung up pictures and the apartment/my room is starting to look like a real person's place. sweet. here's a few shots of the place i now call home ....

our kitchen tv area

shot of my roomother side of the room

all you need is positivity (and lots of endorphins)

and the infamous 'busy season' (sort of) begins... busy season... the ominous period between fiscal year end and report release date. all rookie auditors are warned of it by those older and wiser, who have experienced the phenomenon first hand.

some of the things i have heard thus far include "you will gain the first year 15" "i saved a lot of money by not going out at all" "hey, staying until 9, 10, 11, or 12 at night isn't so bad if you get free dinner!" among other equally encouraging comments


as someone who likes to be in control, this unknown commitment of my time (ahem, life) concerns me a little. how will i deal with not being able to make my own schedule? allocate my own time? run my own life? two weeks ago (BUSY season... hence i've been a little slow to post) i was placed on a project working busy hours, and got to "test drive" how this whole busy season thing works.

here's what i learned: i (think i ) can survive busy season if i do two things:

1) get those endorphins flowing early in the day - while it sucks waking up before the crack of dawn (literally before the sun), getting a good run in before going to work focuses me and puts me in a good mood immediately. also, when i have already worked out, i don't feel as anxious to leave work. i've already taken care of what i want to do for me for the day, so i can really devote my attention to my work.

2) have a positive attitutde - while it also sucks working 10+ hour days and saturdays, it is going to happen to many of us professionals in entry-level positions, or anyone who works in a team-based environment. the only thing worse than working long hours is working long hours with someone who constantly complains about it. by having a positive outlook, i not only was able to trick myself into feeling happier, but i'm pretty sure i made work a little more enjoyable for those around me.

this may be my overly optimistic (positive attitude !) and naive view of how to approach busy season, but hey, it can't hurt to start off believing that the glass is half full. and if that glass comes with free dinner every night, things can't really be THAT bad........ right?

until nextime!