The New Dorothy

Curate the Clutter: Freedom in Business & Adventure in Life - Day 3

2013-12-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

Self-determination and freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want seems to be the running theme for people who want location independence and to start their own solopreneur career.

Of course, I definitely want this too.

But it also means that I get to curate the clutter. Meaning I don't have to pretend to care about projects, issues, problems that do not matter to me in anyway. I get to be selfish in exfoliating the stuff, the people, and the drama from my work and my life that do not help me reach my big hairy goals.

Life is too short (I've got 60 good years left if I'm lucky) and too delicate to be bothered with any of the mundane, futile, and soulless things that can absorb our time and our spirit. It also means being selective on who we let into our beautiful little worlds, into our hearts, and into our inner circles. We owe it to ourselves to surround ourselves with people who bring positive energy and love into our lives...not the soul-sucking sadness, madness, and selfishness that some can create.

You deserve better. So do I.

So I want to curate the clutter (physical, emotional, and mental) out of my life and focus on what matters the most to me.

People I love.

Places I want to explore.

A place to call home.

And a positive impact on the world.

Nomad With A Nest...And Other Ideas On Lifestyle Design [Day 2]

2013-12-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today's blog is all about lifestyle and business design and getting to the root of the root of what I want my ideal life and work to look like. If I woke up tomorrow and was free to do anything I wanted with my life and my time, what would I do and who would I be?

That's easy: A little bit of everything.

Like most entrepreneurs and people with big ideas...I have more than one. I have more like 879 new ideas in a given week. Granted most of them are crap, but some of them could be that golden nugget that leads to considerable success, world domination, fame, fortune, and an unlimited supply of twizzlers (without getting fat and without the terrible health repercussions, of course).

But being an ideas person isn't enough. The most successful people, the rock stars, the people we look to for inspiration, motivation, and advice...those people get shit done. Every. Single. Day.

They are work horses. They work harder AND smarter than anyone else and they are relentless. RELENTLESS.

And most importantly, they don't let fear and self-doubt paralyze them from action and making magic happen.

So if I could do anything with my life and career, the first thing I would do is

1. Overcome all my fears and self-doubt.

This has to be the hardest thing for me as an entrepreneur. I seem to constantly compare my company to competitors, my skills to other CEOs, my experience to the Founder success stories I see everywhere. And each time I make those comparisons, I never measure up. And then that nasty feeling of failure and that nagging negative talk of "you should just quit. go get a normal job. you're not cut out for this" starts up. And it feels terrible.

And worst of all it makes that "get shit done," relentless pursuit of goals and business objectives that much more daunting. It's like climbing a flight of stairs after running a marathon. It just seems futile, cruel, and impossible.

So if I could do anything, the first thing I would do to design a life and business I love would be to turn that negative self talk and fear of failure into momentum, positive mojo, and a relentless "get it done" attitude. Of course, none of this would guarantee success or remove all my fears, but there's just something powerful about running headfirst into big scary obstacles knowing that you could fail, but damnit, you gave it every ounce of yourself. And sometimes that is the success: just trying and putting the full force of your unique talents, knowledge, and will behind your dreams.

2. A nomad with a nest.

One of the most important things I've discovered about myself the past few years is that I love home. I love that amazing "sigh of relief" feeling as you walk through your front door with a battered old suitcase after a long journey and time away from home. I like having my cozy bed, a fully stocked kitchen where I can experiment with new recipes. I like having a stock pile of wine...just in case the apocalypse happens. ;) I like hot showers, cozy slippers, my back patio, a desk with office supplies, and a big dining room table where my friends can gather for warm meals, craft beer, and lots of laughs.

I love home.

I also need and thrive in the routine and schedule that comes from having a home base.

5.30am Yoga

6.45am Gym

9am Work

6pm Start dinner

8pm Watch a movie/Read a Book/Learn something!

10pm Bed

Oh the glorious power of a routine.

But here's the trouble. As much as I love everything I described above...about 3-4 weeks of this and I think I might pull my hair out. I need adventure! I need spontaneity. I need airports, and train stations, and hotels/hostels, and random conversations with strangers, and foreign languages, and immigration check points. I need the awesome and humbling feeling of being completely lost and not knowing the language in a far of place I can discover for the first time.

I need to be a nomad...with a nest.

For me, even with a partner and even with the kids I hope I have some day, I can't see living in one version of life or the other. I want a cozy place to come home to and kickass suitcase to take me (and my family) on regular adventures. And I need a business and a career that not only tolerates this type of existence, but also thrives from it. I want to be able to go spend 3 months living in Melbourne, or a month traveling around Italy, or a 10 days in Alaska, or an extended stay back in Kansas with my family to experience things like this:

My nephew's orchestra recital. Small but spectacular. :)

I want to to enjoy every last drop of those experiences...and then come home to a comfortable place to rest my head, cook a nice meal, and share ridiculous tales of my adventures with the ones I love the most.

Maybe I kind of want everything. The best of both worlds. Well...hell yes I do!

But maybe if I don't go after this big hairy goal - maybe I'm wasting these amazing gifts of time, place, and circumstance I've been given if I DON'T run head first into a dream, a lifestyle I love?

Now to just find a boy who wants to be a nested nomad with me... ;)

3. No debt. No guilt. And book it now.

You can't talk about lifestyle design and business aspirations without talking about money. Oh money money money. Clearly everything I described above has a price. Mortgages, housewares, suitcases, plane tickets, hotels, internet surcharges...it's all got a price and it's all a necessity if I want to be a nomad with a nest.

I have friends who have specific amounts in mind when you ask them what financial success means to them. I don't. I have no number. I just know general feelings and emotions I want to experience whenever money and purchasing decisions come up.

First. I know I don't want any debt (except maybe a mortgage). I grew up in a home and family that had very limited means. Even if my mom wanted to have a ton of credit card debt and put us in a lifestyle that reflected it, I don't think it would have been physically possible for her to do it. I think any time she pulled out one of those magical plastic cards to charge an unneeded item, some scary monster would fly out of her pursue and scare the ba-jeezous out of her.

So she only used her debit card/cash for purchases, balanced her check book every month, and taught me to do the same. If the cash isn't in your account, then it doesn't exist. "Credit" is a mystical idea from a far off land where "rich people" live...at least that's basically what I was raised to believe. And my family...we are most definitely not rich people. So I want to create a business and lifestyle that allows me to pay off my student loan debt (shakes fist in air!) and never need to accrue that kind of debt again.

Second. I want to have enough money so that I can stop feeling guilty when I buy something. I'm a ~~cheap~~ frugal person. I don't wear designer anything, my most expensive piece of jewelry is a $15 necklace from Target, and I live a modest life. So when I do want to splurge on something nice, I don't want to have that nagging feeling of living beyond my means. Everything in moderation. Including moderation. Right? I don't want a mansion, sports cars, to fly first class everywhere in the world, or stay at the Four Seasons. I just want a modest life, with modest means, and no guilt.

Third. Kind of related to the no guilt thing, but slightly different. I want to book it now. I definitely don't want to live hand to mouth. Within my means, yes, but with enough socked away for emergencies (both the fun and the not so fun kind) where I can "book it" at a moments notice. This also means that I want an income that allows for generosity...a lot of it. Charitable giving? Of course. But also the generosity of having enough moolah to take my niece on her first trip abroad some day. To send my nephew to an amazing summer wrestling camp (if that's what he wants). To take my parents on an Alaskan adventure. To sponsor a scholarship for another little Kansas farm girl to go discover the world. Whatever it is, I want to have the ability to book reasonable things and experiences that could change my life or someone else's...and book them now.

But it's hard to be generous when you're in debt, feeling guilty, and you just don't have enough. So that's the goal. To give without hesitation.

Is there a number I could attach to all this? I'm sure there is. But I'd rather not. I just know how I want to feel...and I'll know it when I get it.

4. Get out of the way.

"In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people

and then getting out of their way."

-Tina Fey

I don't want to manage people. Not a lot of people. I used to think I wanted to create a big company with several employees, an office, office supplies, conference rooms, the whole big "I own a company" package. But it's not for me. I need #2 on this list more than I need an office with a big payroll. I need freedom more than I need a ton of money. And I need small projects I can play a roll in rather than a big operation where I spend more time "managing, approving, feed-backing, performance-reviewing" than anything else.

Of course I want financial independence, my 'nomad with a nest' lifestyle, and a business that is "successful." But that success isn't going to look the same for everyone...and having a big team does not define success for me. I want a small and mighty team, a petite group of talented rock stars that can make magic happen. No more. No less. I want to nurture them, advise them, enable them...and then get out of the way and let them sparkle. And then I want to get back to my own work of creating and contributing.

Small, but mighty. That's success. For me at least.

5. Matter.

This one is probably the most emotional of all my "lifestyle and business design" goals. And it gets to the core of my deep, deep understanding of how totally freaking lucky I am and how amazingly blessed I've been in my life. As hard working and self-sufficient as I have always been, no one does anything completely on their own. Whether it was an encouraging word from my mom, a $20 bill slipped into my purse by my grandma, or a boss taking a chance on me because I had potential but no real experience...I've been helped at every stage of my life by someone else whether they knew it or not.

And that brings me back to the big scary goal of mattering. I want to contribute something to the world that impacts people in a positive way. I want to, in some small (and maybe even big) way matter to the course of someone's life. I want a legacy of helping people...some how. I have special talents. I have a mind that is capable of thinking, creating, and doing great things. And I want those gifts to mean something positive for this world...and hopefully last a lot longer than my tiny speck of existence in the course of history.

We are all finite. We all have an expiration date. But our legacies and what we can give to others do not expire. They can live on - hopefully for the better.

My challenges are 1) figuring how I can bring positive change to the world and 2) achieving it along with goals one through four.

Here's to running head first into big hairy goals...without fear, doubt, hesitation, or shame.

Image found here and edited by me.

A Brief Long History of The New Dorothy [Day 1]

2013-12-01T21:06:00.003-07:00

The Suitcase Entrepreneur - 30 Day Blog Challenge
I'm sitting here with a 30 minute timer going, forcing myself to sit and write...even if I'm not feeling very clever, even if I don't know where to begin, and even questioning why the hell I'm doing this. I listened to an interview on NPR a couple of weeks ago with a writer (I can't remember who it was) who was talking about how her father (also a famous writer - can't remember his name either) became incredible at his craft because he put in the time. Every. Single. Day. He would sit at his typewriter from 10am to 1pm and then again from 2pm to 5pm every day without fail. And he would type. Over half of it would go in the trash, but there would always be a few sentences, maybe even a paragraph, of the good stuff, of prose so succulent, poignant, so fresh that it made all those hours with his ass in the chair worth it. Just for those amazing words strung together to make an amazing moment of observation and thought.

So that's kind of what I'm hoping for with this blog challenge. I'm committing some "ass in the chair" time with the hope that somehow I'll end up with a few nuggets of Kansas girl wisdom that will unwittingly flow from my fingers on to this blog.

Writing has always been an incredible catharsis and creative outlet for me and over the past few years I've gotten away from it. Now it seems like my most creative writing decisions involve how to sign off in an email. And we all know I should just stop right there and NOT get creative at all when it comes to emails. I'm the only one who thinks I'm clever. ;)

Aside from getting my writing mojo back, I've also started this blog challenge to help me do a little soul searching to align what I want in my business with my ideal life, to figure out what other projects I might want to pursue, and hopefully better how I can actually bring some good into this world with the unique talents and knowledge I have. This has been my year of self-reflection, self-evaluation, self-improvement, and general self-stuff. So this last month is going to focus on how all that self-stuff fits with my professional stuff and "what kind of life do I want to have" stuff. And don't worry. It's not at all lost on me that all this "self" talk sounds vaguely like "selfish" talk. Narcissism at its worst? Perhaps. But I also know that it's hard to give of yourself when you're struggling with where you are, what you can contribute, and how to get where you want to go.

How The New Dorothy Began
But getting to the other end of a journey typically requires that you understand how you ended up here in the first place. So let's take a look at how this blog and the whole "New Dorothy" thing got started. Clearly, I blame study abroad since that's my jam and first professional love. In May of 2005, I found myself on another trans-Atlantic flight headed to England to take a course on British Higher Education and start a graduate internship at the University of Hull in Yorkshire/Humberside. I had been advising college students on study abroad for a year at that point and told them all to start a blog - something I wished I had done or had availability to when I had studied abroad in college. So with my own graduate study abroad experience starting up, I figured I should practice what I was preaching and start up a shiny new blog myself. Except it wasn't called The New Dorothy (that would come later). It started as Brooklyn's Beanery (I have no idea why - I think it had something to do with my love for coffee - who knows) and one of my first posts was a detailed account of getting "pissed" (as the British would say) at a colleague's "Ann Summers" party (think X-rated Victoria's Secret)...and my boss and the entire office thinking it was "Awesome!" that I'd let loose my first weekend in town. [What they didn't know was that I had rarely ever had alcohol at that point in my life and kept drinking the wine they were pouring me for fear of being ridiculed and labeled a prude. Oops. I guess I traded in the prude label for the lush label...something I couldn't shake the rest of the summer. But it was all in good fun.] And so began my summer of study abroad shenanigan documentation and general cultural observations.

Let's make no mistake. I've always been a terrible blogger. Terrible. As in, I don't follow any of the rules about consistency or frequency. (Which is another reason I wanted to do this blog challenge. It's my way of forcing myself to write). But while I'm the crappiest blogger around, becoming a real-life, full-time professional blogger has been a dream of mine for years. Yeah I know. It doesn't make any sense and leaves me scratching my head in confusion. Seriously. I've wanted to be a professional blogger since I found out there was such a thing back in 2006. (I may have been a little slow to figure this out...but once I did, I started cyber-stalking some of the most successful bloggers in industries like social media, home improvement/DIY, entrepreneurship, career coaching, life coaching, education, business, marketing, etc.) I was like a little kid from the 1980s, staring into the shop windows around Christmas, lusting after "insert crazy popular toy of the moment here," praying to god and to all that is holy to please have Santa deliver it to me at Christmas. Blogging seemed so perfect. And it spoke to my introvert ways, my very wordy nature, and my desire for an outlet for the ideas and thoughts that seemed to be constantly sprouting up in my head. Turns out blogging is actual hard work and not just a place for random musings from a random girl in England. Or is it...? ;)

So I started the silly Brooklyn's Beanery with the hope of documenting my experience in England and to make sure my mom could check in on me and make sure I was alive (I was really bad about emailing and calling). After that summer, I had various spurts of blogging activity, but nothing too groundbreaking and it was all just an exercise in documenting my life. Not exactly a page turner.

And then I decided to move to China and teach English. In July 2006, after finishing grad school, I took my first trans-Pacific flight to Beijing and spent the next 8 months teaching at Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai (near Macau in the south). This is when I decided I was going to become this amazing world-famous travel blogger, documenting all the wonderful adventures, interesting food, amazing friends, foreign lands I would discover during my time in Asia. But I needed a new name (not actual content - a name!). My good friend came up with the name "The New Dorothy."

Here's why: I grew up in Kansas and after high school I took off to college and never really looked back. And it seemed everywhere I traveled (even now this happens), once someone discovered I grew up in the homeland of Dorothy Gale, the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy jokes followed. So I had this persona...I figured I should run with it. And I'm not going to lie. I kinda love it. :) So it's staying.

And this leads me back to where this post was supposed to begin: Why did I start this blog and what do I want to get out of the this blogging challenge. [Perhaps I should have started with an outline...but hey, I've clocked 1 hour of "ass in the chair" time and it feels pretty good even if the finished product is a little spastic.] So we know why I started this blog "in the beginning," but why do I want to keep it going now? Let's get into it.

Why I Want To Blog
About six months ago I started my own company (Yoga Travel Tree) and what I've discovered the past several months is that entrepreneurship is amazing...and it really sucks...and it's amazing...and it really sucks... You get the idea. It's the most bipolar and hot-cold relationship you'll ever be in...and some times it feels unhealthy, like an abusive relationship you just can't escape or just don't have the will to leave. And other times you just want to cuddle with it for hours, whispering little sweet-nothings, falling in love all over again.

And since I'm learning so much from this process (and understand a lot about running a business from my other experiences), The New Dorothy seems like a great place to start sharing some of that knowledge and experience with others who might be interested in taking the plunge and falling in love with their own [sometimes abusive] baby. Beyond just general business tales, content and advice, this blog is also rooted in my own story (both success and failures). And my story is defined by my willingness to chart my own course, to follow my own path despite the fear, the adversity, and the naysayers. And just like the original Dorothy had to discover, a lot of us need to be reminded that our success, our deepest desires, the lives we want all rests within us. We've had it all along. We just have to find our own path, our own brick road (any color will due). So I suppose my deepest hope with this blog (the why behind the why, behind the why) is to inspire someone out there who is hesitating at the beginning of the journey, who just needs a little nudge and encouragement to take that first step toward the life they want.

But make no mistake: I've still got my business baby (Yoga Travel Tree) to nurture, grow, and generally make awesome. So much of this content will be about building it in a way that helps me achieve the life I want, with the people I love most in my life, and the adventures I want to seek.

Why A Blog Challenge
Like I said, this blog challenge has a few motives for me. And since I want to be a good blogger, I'll even bullet them for you here. You're welcome. :)

Ass in the Chair Time - Publicly committing to writing every single day is huge for me and will require me to do something I have never been able to accomplish before.
Tighten and Tone - I don't have a lot of time. I've got a real business to grow and team to work with...I can't spend 2 hours (like I am now) every day documenting a random stream of consciousness. This process will help me tighten up my own writing process and force me to tone up my writing style (and not subject people to such a litany of words, sentences, etc). Because let's face it, if it can be said in 5 words, I'll say it in 30.
Put My Thinking Cap On - One of the main reasons I started my own company is that I wanted to have some self-determination when it came to my time, where I worked, who I worked with, and [hopefully] how much income I could earn. This blogging challenging isn't just about blogging. It's also about brainstorming and getting creative about additional revenue streams I can create within my company and other alternative streams I can create outside of Yoga Travel Tree. Developing more income will start to give me more of those other freedoms too.
Lock and Load - Once I've got the thinking juices flowing, it's time to refine and start creating. Because ideas without action are...well...nothing. And it's time to get it poppin'! Additionally, over the past year, I've spent a lot of time meditating, going to counseling, confiding in friends, and reflecting about the life I really want. I'm at an extremely unique and privileged place in history and geography where I can choose ANY life I want. [And having every choice isn't always a good thing.] But luckily with all that reflection and thinking...I do know the life I want and I know the people I want to share it with. This blog challenge is going to serve as one small step toward achieving that life.

So here we go. See you on the other side...

Image found here from Wonderful_Places on Instagram. Edited by me.

Throwin' Down the Gauntlet: It's Resolution Time

2013-02-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

So it's 2013. Wow. Doesn't it feel like the late 90s were just a couple of years ago? I always feel that way about the 90s. How could people not remember watching the original Saved By the Bell on Saturday mornings? Anyone else feel like that? No? Just me? Anyway, I was in high school in the late 90s and it's been 13 years since I graduated and ventured out of SEK, USA. Wow. Time flies.

After sitting down and reflecting on 2012, it's time I focus on what's to come in 2013. The number 13 has always had this unlucky, negative connotation likely due to some medieval religious scandal from 10 A.D. which tainted poor number 13 to centuries of disdain and dislike. Or it was this. (Yep, I looked it up for you. You're welcome.) So I'm reclaiming #13 and declaring that it's not unlucky. It's just like any other number trying to make it in the big bad world. Just like me. And I'm going to be so audacious as to say that 13 is an exceptional number and that 2013 is going to be an exceptional year. And you know why? Because I'm making some resolutions. Not many. Just four. They're pretty general (except for one), but they are going to be my mantra for the next 11 months so that in the face of adversities (that are sure to come) and in those moments of joy (that are sure to come), I'll have my focus, my mantra to get me through and remind me to appreciate what I have.

1. Happiness Comes From Within - Focus On That
I've spent most of my life caring about what other people think of me - about my intelligence, about my figure, about my hair, about my humor, you name it.

Well, I'm done with spending any more of my energy on worrying what others will think of me and having my happiness wrapped up in how other people have treated me. I'm done with it. The only person who can control my happiness is me. That's it. No boys, no friends, not even family can control my happiness. I can choose in any moment how I feel and I'm choosing to be happy. Of course, bad things will happen, disappointments will come, but it's how I respond to those things that determines my character. Will I have a down day here and there? Of course. I'm human. But I want to be a positive, happy person in my core, when no one is looking, and not dependent on the actions of anyone else. I've spent my life looking for love from others. It's time I start looking within.

2. Give More Than I Get
Now if #1 is all about looking within, then #2 is all about the people around me. Regardless, of how much love the people I care about send my way, I want to make sure the most important people in my life know that they mean a lot to me.

In 2013, I'm going to focus on giving of my time, my energy, my love to others even if it doesn't come back my way. Love and caring is unconditional, which means there's no score board, there's no need to keep a tally. I believe in karma. And believe me, I've doled out my fare share of heartache to others and it has and will likely continue to come back to bite me. But I want to focus on sending good out into the world and in some way, at some time, I believe it will come back to me from somewhere. And hey, on the upside, there's plenty of research to show that doing nice things for others increases your own level of happiness. So in some ways this resolution is a bit selfish and will help me with #1, but I'm okay with that. :)

3. Get Healthy & Fit (aka #OperationGetHot)
So I was on Instagram one day scrolling through some images and I saw this:

It's not incredibly deep or philosophical, but for some reason it really resonated with me. When it comes to my fitness, my entire life I've chosen what I want RIGHT NOW over what I've always wanted most - that being a body I'm proud of. [WARNING: If this is TMI, feel free to skip down to #4. :)] I have never, ever, not one day of my life been happy with the way I look. Mostly because I've never really been very healthy.

Rational or not, my hatred of my body, my nose, my freckles, my teeth partially stems from some pretty harsh feedback I've received from others at very formative periods in my life. I've been told that if I could "just do a little" I'd be attractive…and therefore good enough to be loved. I've thought to myself, if I could just look like "that girl" or "that girl" or "that girl," maybe then I'd finally be worthy. Even into my 30s I've been tormented by thoughts of not being good enough for someone else. Well, I'm done trying to be something for anyone else and I'm ready to focus on being the best version of myself, for myself. Instead of fantasizing about feeling great about my appearance, I want to ACTUALLY feel great about my appearance. I've spent 31 years hiding my body behind my academic pursuits, my wit, my jokes, my career, numerous cardigans - you name it, I've been hiding behind it. I'm tired of hiding and I want to start molding a a healthy and fit lifestyle that makes me proud. So I'm focusing this year on my fitness and health which means working out and eating healthy foods. No more alcohol, no more crappy food that lacks nutrition, no more eating just to eat. Just like my happiness, I'm the only one who can make this happen and it's going to happen this year. So look out for a lot of Instagram and Facebook posts that are fitness and healthy eating related. It's my new jam.

4. Finish My Niner Project!

So if you've followed along on my blog at all over the past couple of years, you know that I have this thing called my Niner Project…and it technically ended last June…and I technically didn't finish it. Lame. Well, since it was my own list and my own life curriculum, I can give myself a pass anyway, right? I'm the only one making me do this stuff…so I get to make the rules. Well, I'm determined, more than ever to get it done. Maybe I was too ambitious with what I wanted to achieve? Hell, maybe I was just too lazy to get it done? Whatever, the reason, I'm excited to make it happen. So in the spirit of my whole number nine theme, I'm giving myself 99 more days to get it done. To break it down more specifically:

Blog about all the completed Niners (there's a lot)
Create a schedule to help me map out how I'm going to get stuff done
Write at least two blog posts a week to help me stay on track for my goal

Will I finish it this time, for real? For real, for real? I hope so. But I CAN say that whatever progress I've reached by June 14, 2013 (99 days from now), well that's where it ends. No more extensions, no more stalling. It will be done and whatever I've completed, I'll be proud of it. Whatever I haven't completed will just be added to my Life Bucket List (admit it, you know you have one too!), but it's no longer confined to my silly little Niner Project.

**

So there you have it. My resolutions for 2013. To all my dear friends and family, I challenge you to hold me accountable to all of these resolutions and give me a gentle reminder if I'm not living up to my own standards. I know I'll slip up and I'll have set backs, but I want to keep coming back to this list…and keep growing and moving forward.

Here's to forward motion in 2013!

Niner #93: Get A Brazilian

2013-01-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

This has the potential to be a really awkward blog post, but I took a cue from a couple of other bloggers and decided to write a poem about the Brazilian Bikini Wax experience. Everyone knows that poems remove all awkwardness ever. Oh wait.

"Waxing can be very comical
For the feeling is very demonstrable

And with the place down there
That requires so much "care"...

You hope it just ends up symmetrical."

If you don't know what a Brazilian is you can learn about it here.

Does it hurt? Um...yes. They are ripping hairs from your body. Of course it hurts. But I imagine that tattoos hurt worse (though I don't have a tattoo, so I wouldn't know.) This is probably TMI, but I still get regular waxing done "down there" so it can't be that bad.

If you're in the Northern Colorado area, I definitely recommend the Screamin Peach and ask for Kylie. She's amazing!

Top 12 of 2012

2013-01-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

Let's start out with a confession: 2012 really was not my year. It literally started off with a ticket from a Colorado state trooper for having expired registration on my car. It was January 1st and I was just a couple weeks over due. But he slammed me with the $250 fine anyway. Completely my fault, but still a big bummer. That wasn't the only downer to start off the new year, but I can't share EVERY detail of my life with the interwebs. Suffice it to say that there were multiple instances this year when I thought to myself: "Really? Can I please get a 'do over' for 2012?"

But, recently, I was sitting on a flight thinking about everything that's happened over the past 365 days and as 'debbie downer' as I can get sometimes, I couldn't help but acknowledge that despite the heartache, snafus, tears, and disappointments, it's still been a pretty amazing year and I have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm a firm believer in reflection, goal setting, and list making. Especially list making. In an effort to focus on the positive and recognize that, shucks, I really do have a great life, with amazing friends, and a loving family, I started writing down all the great happenings in Brookeville for 2012. And, to be honest, with all that's happening in our country and in the world, I can't help get a little misty-eyed with appreciation for what I have and the amazing people I have to share it with. So here goes, in chronological order, my Top 12 for 2012.

1. Vegas, Baby!

They knew I was coming.

In 2011, I entered the glorious decade known as my 30s. I know a lot of people dread the big 3-0, but for some strange reason I didn't. Maybe it's because I don't feel "old" or maybe that I'm in no rush to marry/have kids/etc or maybe that I'm lucky enough to be financially independent, but going into my 30s as a single, spinster was exciting! Heck, I even organized a Wizard of Oz Themed birthday bar crawl with all my friends to celebrate the occasion. But that was 2011. Let's get back to Vegas. For my 30th birthday, my boss gave me a super generous gift. A plane ticket to Vegas and two nights at the Bellagio on the Strip! Pretty rad, huh? Going to Vegas is on my Niner Project so it was kind of a twofer. When Christmas 2011 rolled around, my boss also gave the rest of our US team flights so we could all go to Vegas together. So late in January 2012, I found myself in a sparkly dress, eating amazing food, enjoying the lights/fountains of the Vegas Strip, seeing shows, and all in the presence of some great company.

Me and the Boss Man who made it all possible.

You find the craziest characters in Vegas! This is TJ - a long lost friend I've known since preschool. Randomly ran into him at the casino.


This is the best pic we captured in our fancy dresses night #1 :)

What topped off the amazingness of this trip was that my friends Liz (college roommate) and Melanie (former co-worker in Boston) flew to Vegas to celebrate with me. It was a really special weekend that could have only been improved if a few more special friends had been able to join.

Me with Melanie and Liz night #2

So what did I think of Vegas? My feelings on Vegas are similar to what most people say about eating snake or crocodile or some other less-commonly eaten meat: Tastes like chicken. Vegas is my chicken. I didn't fall in love with it. But I didn't hate it either. It seems like it's exactly what it's supposed to be: a place for splurging, gluttony, and total self-indulgence. And I'm a fan of all those things in moderation. :) And winning some cash!

2. Jayhawk Lover Visits Jayhawk Nation
If you've ever met me, read this blog for any period of time, follow me on twitter, or are friends with me on Facebook, it would be very difficult for you to NOT know empirically that I am a Kansas Jayhawk Superfan. Yes, Superfan is capitalized. I've loved the Kansas Jayhawks Men's basketball team for as long as I can remember. My infatuation with the team knows no bounds and I've been known to wake the neighbors with my incessant screaming at the television during a game. (My Jayhawks have been known to break the hearts of their fans - year after year after year after year. Except for the years they don't, cough 2008 cough.)

So knowing my obsession for KU, you can imagine how excited I was when I opened a Christmas gift last year to find two tickets to see the Kansas Jayhawks take on the Missouri Tigers at home in Allen Field House. Deep breath. Even writing about it now is getting me super excited! This was my very first Kansas home game AND they were playing our arch enemies AND it was the last game of the regular season AND they were rounding out the season in the 1 or 2 spot on most polls AND it was the last "Border War" game between Kansas and Missouri (as Mizzou moved to the SEC this season). So basically it was epic. Or, as they say on How I Met Your Mother: IT WAS LEGEN - wait for it - DARY!

Sadly, things didn't work out for my generous friend oh gave me the tickeets to join me at the game, so I invited one of my oldest friends, Lindsey Lou, to join me. Granted, Lindsey is a die hard Oklahoma State fan, but she rocks out the Blue and Crimson on special occasions. And this was, indeed, a special occasion.

My Jayhawks did not play well the first half. We were down at half time, and at one point in the second half we were down by 19 points. But my Jayhawks tend to love their dramatic finishes (cough 2008 cough), and actually showed up to play in the final 8 minutes of the game. When the final buzzer sounded, we were tied with Mizzou and ended up winning in overtime to an amazingly loud and energized crowd! It. Was. Amazing. And will probably go down as one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

The Jayhawks went on to finish the year as the second BEST TEAM IN THE NATION! Yes, they lost the national championship game to Kentucky, but it was still an amazing showing for a team that everyone said 2012 would be their "rebuilding year." Yep. I'll take it.

3. Travel Gnome
If couples start to resemble each other after awhile, then I think avid travelers would start to look like traveling gnomes.

A few years ago I dressed as the Keebler Elf for Halloween. Pretty close to a Traveling Gnome. :)

So far in The New Dorothy saga, 2012 goes down as the second most epic travel year to date. (2008 takes first place…after all, I did circumnavigate the globe on a ship.) I didn't go on a TON of individual trips (compared to my road warrior comrades in the study abroad field), but I traveled far distances (by plane and car) several times. Here's a quick rundown of all the places I visited this year: Vegas, Kansas, Philippines, Portland OR, Kansas, Houston, Berkeley, Keystone, Vegas, Southern California, Keystone, Philippines, Washington, D.C., Portland OR, Ireland, San Diego, Kansas, Missouri, China, Philippines, Boston, and Buffalo. It was an exhausting year, no doubt. And the best way I can really share it with you is to take you on a 2 minute jaunt around the globe. Shall we?

4. Reached 1k Status on United
As a result of all the crazy travel (see #3), I've also racked up a LOT of frequent flyer miles.

This accomplishment will probably only really resonate to the other crazy travelers out there reading this. But it's kind of a big deal. What does it mean? Most airlines run their own frequent flyer programs. You simply sign up for a free account and each time you flight with that airline you give them your frequent flyer number. The airline keeps track of all the miles that you fly with them. As you reach certain bench marks (25,000, 50,000, etc.) you get higher and higher status with that airline. Higher status means more perks like free upgrades to first and business class, free access to airline lounges at airports, priority check-in, security lines, and boarding lines (I can go through the airport in a flash and skip most lines), free checked bags, and bonus miles. Blah blah blah. Sounds kind of boring, I know. But when you spend as much time as I do in airports and on flights, these amenities really add up in saved time and increased comfort. The best part about achieving this status level is that it carries over for the entirety of 2013. Hello free first class upgrades! Come to mama!

5. Portlandia - Times Two
One of my goals with my Niner Project is to encourage me to visit the many friends I have scattered all over the country (and the world). Some of my favorite people are friends I made while living and working in South Dakota. A very lucky turn of events resulted in four of those SoDak friends to all move to Portland, Oregon. (Jac and Tina were both accepted to the same grad program there, and their boyfriends [also my good buddies] Neighbor Dan and Bearclaw, respectively joined them out west.) It was my first visit to Oregon (knock another State off my list!) and it was my first time seeing my friends in a year and a half since leaving South Dakota. This reunion was long time coming. Eventually I'll write up a full scale visit report for ya, but cliff's notes version goes a little something like this: hiking, mussels, breweries, donuts, rain, food trucks, bridges, running, lumber jacks, dance parties, and lots of love. We had a lot to see, do, and celebrate - both Tina and Bearclaw AND Jac and Neighbor Dan got engaged in the past year and half.

Classic Creeper

Which leads me to visit number dos to Portlandia. I was honored to be invited to Tina and Bearclaws' wedding in late August and of course, I jumped at the chance to see my friends and celebrate their happy day. What do you do when you're dateless AND sitting at the fun table? Well, obviously, you create a fun game based on what's said in the speeches and toasts. ;) As you can imagine, my table was overcome with giggles every time they said "Bearclaw." Hmmm…maybe you had to be there. We danced the night away, kept the party going at a towny bar down the street, and enjoyed reliving the tails of our debauchery at brunch the next day. Tina looked beautiful, Bearclaw looked smitten, and I was overwhelmed with happiness for my two wonderful friends.

Yep. We even creep at weddings.

Portland is the bomb dot comb. You heard it hear first.

7. I'm a home owner!
This probably isn't news to you since I've been updating this blog with all sorts of news on my house and the work I've done to it since moving in last May. But for me, this is a huge accomplishment.

Home ownership for most people represents a level of independence and financial achievement that is a point of pride and something to smile about. I've learned so much in my first eight months of being a home owner - and believe me, it's not all roses and sunshine - but it's a great feeling that I'm investing in myself, building up equity, and learning so much along the way.

The day I signed the paperwork and closed on Charlie (that's my house's name), it was a bitter sweet moment for sure. I was super proud that I'd achieved so much allowing me to afford my own home, but I had always imagined doing it with a special someone. But life doesn't always turn out the way you had imagined, and there's something to be said about doing it entirely on my own: no boyfriend, no husband, no family helped me foot the bill for Charlie. I did it on my own. I did it. Just me. And that's pretty incredible.

8. Grandma & Grandpa Celebrate 60 Years of Togetherness
My Granny and Gramps Wade are my heroes. They are two of the most generous, strong, loyal, and loving people anyone could ever meet and I'm lucky enough to call them family. In May they celebrated 60 years of togetherness and we held a reception to honor their lives and love…and eat cake.

Here they are with all of their great grand babies.

The young and the young at heart…and family near and far…descended upon Parsons, Kansas (PK USA! holla!) to wish them well into the next 60 years. Love you Granny and Gramps!

Aren't they adorable?!

9. Roberts Clan & K&M Ranch Managers Invade Colorado
With a house, I was eager to start having house guests. And so with a little ~~begging~~ convincing and planning, my brother, sister-in-law, and wonderful niece and nephews ventured across the plains of Kansas to enjoy some fun in the sun and mountains of Colorado. We ventured into the big city for some Rockies baseball, up into the mountains for some amazing mountain vistas, and of course, the kids ~~endured~~ enjoyed some hiking up Horsetooth Rock.

My mom and Kenny also made the trek out to Colorado this year but sadly a couple of months after the Roberts Clan. In late September, they spent a pretty dreary and rainy week in Colorado doing a ton of work on my house and yard. I can't tell you how amazing it was to have them here and helping me with this goliath of a project and I appreciate all their support probably more than they know. Happily, we were able to get a day out in the mountains, toured around Rocky Mountain National Park, and got to enjoy another visit to the Estes Park Elk Fest. But most importantly, Mom and Ken got to ~~enjoy~~ stomach the atomic cheeries at the Town Pump. It's kind of a right of passage around these parts and K&M Ranch Managers are newly anointed members of the Town Pump club.

10. Care Bears Do Tour de Fat
Fort Collins is home to the original (i.e. Mothership) New Belgium Brewery and, of course, the notorious/infamous Tour de Fat, a crazy Halloween-esque bike parade around town followed by live music, plenty of beer to enjoy, and a bike giveaway. I've been able to get a taste of the Tour each year I've lived in Fort Collins, but this was my first time actually donning a costume, mounting my bike, and becoming one who is spectated…rather than a spectator. My friend C Squared came up with the genius idea of dressing as Care Bears and in my mind, there's no better Care Bear than the Share Bear.

11. Celebrating 31 Years
I'm not gonna lie. My 30th birthday celebration in 2011 was pretty magical. A whole crew of my friends participated in a Wizard of Oz themed bar crawl complete with costumes from the most loved/notorious characters in the film. Naturally, I was Dorothy, but there was a lion, a couple of scarecrows, a tin man, a good witch, a bad witch, some emerald city people dressed in green, and EVEN a flying monkey. Sadly, we never ended up with a Wizard. Strange. Anyway, that was an amazing birthday that I'll never forget and so special to be surrounded by people I love.

Celebrating my Dirty Thirties as Dorothy!

To carry on that tradition, this year I decided to take advantage of my newly acquired home and host a small dinner party for some of my closest friends in Fort Collins (and even a special guest from Boston). I made my very first pork loin (thanks for the tips, C!), brussel sprouts, roasted potatoes, and several other items. It was an amazing feeling having this boisterous bunch crowded around my dining room table, sharing lots of laughs, some pretty great food (if I do say so myself), and lots of love. Thanks for ringing in the big 31 with me, friends!

12. Festivus for the Rest of Us
For the past eight years, my college roommate, Liz (see #1 above), has been hosting her holiday Festivus party in Buffalo, New York. If you don't know what Festivus is, watch this:

Each year I've been included on the Evite and each year, for one reason or another, I had to decline the invitation. Well, back in October when the invitation arrived once again, I decided that I need to stop just earning frequent flyer miles and start USING frequent flyer miles. So that's exactly what I did! I didn't hesitate; I immediately booked a flight to Buffalo, RSVP'd yes, and told Liz I'd be crashing at her place that weekend. Liz and I go way back and I've wanted to experience the Festivus party for years. It felt amazing to finally be at a point in my life where I could just do it. One of the most entertaining parts of the evening was the "Airing of Grievances" in which party goers write down their grievances from the year, put them in a basket, and the grievances are read aloud to the group. The group then votes on the best grievance and the contributing person inherits a festivus fruit cake to be handed down to the next grievance winner the following year. It's amazing. And my sassy-pants sweetie actually submitted the winning grievance. It had something to do with Facebook posting and checking in bed. I have no idea what he was talking about. hehe ;)

Of course, these aren't ALL the happy memories and experiences I had this year. I didn't even mention my first hike with C Squared, my visit to DC to see Marshall and Caroline, getting to spend a surprise day with my old friend Tamara in NYC, getting nominated as the "best of region" presentation in the fall, accidentally sleeping through 3 different 5k races this year, and so many more lovely big, and not so big moments that have made my life special.

But none of it would be special without the amazing people I get to call friends and family. You all really make this crazy ride I'm on possible and enjoyable, so to you, I owe everything. Thank you for letting me be a part of your crazy lives…and for being the most important part of mine.

Onward to 2013...

White Is The New Awesome

2012-07-21T11:30:00.000-06:00

So where did we last leave off? Oh right. I gave a big house tour of my new bff, Charlie (the house). Charlie had seen better days.

Poopie brown walls and dingy beige tiles (with super gross and dark grout lines) Yum!

Not the worst kitchen I've ever seen, but those grout lines are so antagonistic and those country cabinets don't really feel "me".

He smelled like a dirty wet dog that had a chain smoking problem. Not an ideal living situation for...well...anyone. So with the money I saved by buying a foreclosure, I decided to fork out some cash and have the entire place painted and get new floors in the dining room and kitchen (I wasn't a fan of the tile). After meeting with a couple of people about doing the work, I met with the owner of a painting/remodeling company here in Fort Collins. I'm going to call the company "Joe Don't Know" or JDK...because the whole experience of working with JDK was terrible. And I learned a lot about picking a contractor/painter/etc. in the process. If you're local to Fort Collins and want to know the company I'm talking about, feel free to email me. Maybe in another blog post I'll outline the whole silly drama of working with JDK, but for today I'll just say that my simple paint and two room flooring job turned into a "paint every surface (walls, ceilings, trim, kitchen cabinets, doors), demo every floor, install all new engineered hardwood floors and bedroom carpet, demo kitchen backsplash, install new granite countertops" job. Basically, JDK poorly managed the project and my relatively simple job turned into a complete overhaul. Goodbye life savings! In the end, it all looks much better than when I bought the place, but the journey was painful. And because the devil is in the details, each day I find something that JDK cut corners on or overlooked. (Example: Today, I was up on a step stool and found that there was a bunch of masking tape still on the top of each door frame in the hall way. Lame.)

So here's the progress of the kitchen. I had originally planned to sand, prime, and paint the kitchen cabinets myself, but JDK said they could do it for $300 and it would look like smooth new cabinets. The finish isn't perfect, but it was affordable and a LOT quicker than doing it myself. I was happy to have it done before I moved all my stuff in.

So in about a week, the kitchen went from this:

To this...

To this...(yep...still going)

To this!

Soooo much better. It's lighter and brighter and feels much more "me" than the country farm house look. Here's a little side by side comparison for ya:

The countertops and the backsplash and the floors before were just a big sea of beige on beige. Now I love the rich mocha floors and dark counters with the crisp white cabinets. Eventually I'll add some rugs, some pops of color, and some door knobs. But for now it makes me happy. And its fun to cook in here too. Who wants to come over for dinner?

Another splurge I went for was all new and shiny stainless steal appliances. Swoon! (I'm selling the old white ones on craigslist.) I shopped around at Lowes, HomeDepot, BestBuy and Sears. For the full package deal, BestBuy had the best deal (boom! there's another lame pun). And I qualified for store financing so I got 24 months no interest. This means I didn't have to fork over $3000 of cold hard cash on the spot. Double swoon!

I think, however, the saddest part about the "after" photo is that there's no wine in my little counter-top wine rack. Shameful! It must mean I'm drinking too much beer (I blame my brewery based buddies here in Foco. ;).

But no home improvement project is really ever complete (at least that's the way it seems on all those DIY blogs I'm addicted to). So here's a little punch list of everything I still need/want to do in the kitchen. As much as I would love to go into super crazy credit card debit (that's sarcasm people), I need to save up my pennies before forking out much more money/plastic. Or score a huge bonus at work. Hmmm...better just pinch those pennies.

Kitchen To Do List:

~~Install dark granite counter tops~~
~~Demo backsplash~~
~~Get backsplash sheet-rocked, textured, and painted~~
~~Get all new stainless steal appliances~~
~~Install new cabinet knobs~~
~~Install new hinges~~
~~Install rubber bumpers inside drawers/doors~~
Install new light fixture above sink
Install new track lighting
Install under cabinet lighting
~~Get three outlets fixed~~
Install new faucet, sprayer, and soap dispenser
Install under-mount sink (if possible)
Caulk and paint toe-kick
Install white quarter round
Install new window screen
Put up a shade/curtain in window
Install crown molding (?), stage 2
Install white subway tile on backsplash (?), stage 2
Buy large rug or a few task rugs

The rest of this stuff is more wish-list and minor touch ups. I'll get to...eventually...maybe(?). But wouldn't you agree that Charlie has come along way? More transformations coming soon!

What kitchen updates have you made recently (or want to make)? Any suggestions on my kitchen transformation? I need all the help I can get.

Dorothy Goes Zombie!

2012-07-20T20:18:00.001-06:00

Well...that's what this post should have been titled. A more appropriate title would be something like The-day-Brooke-wakes-up-late-AGAIN-for-a-5k-race-she'd-registered-for...but-the-day-turns-out-pretty-good-anyway. (And yes, you can hyphenate anything if you have the drive and determination.)

So last Saturday was supposed to look a little something like this:

This:

And this:

But in typical Brooke fashion, I failed to set my alarm correctly (for weekdays only...not weekends), and didn't wake up in time to drive to Golden in time for my Zombie Transformation time slot. So here's the deal. Waaaay back in February my roommate (now former-roommate. so sad.) asked if I wanted to run in the Zombie Dash 5k with her and a few other friends. I wasn't toooo excited about it since I don't like scary things. For real, even True Blood scares the ba-jesus out of me and that's not even scary. So I didn't know how I'd feel about it, but SOP (aka the roomie) is a scary-stuff baby too and said it would be all good (it was in the middle of the day, after all).

So I signed up.

The coolest part of this race is that you can sign up to be zombie for a few hours and chase other runners. The event organizers provide this whole zombie-transformation-tent-place-thingy (there are those hyphens again) where they do your make-up, tear up your clothing, and make you look like a member of the un-Dead Poet's Society (see what I did there?). Then later in the day you can run the race/obstacle course as a normal human trying to get past all the zombies. See? Doesn't it sound like a great exprience to share with friends? With lots of laughs and funny pictures? Yeah. Well I missed it. I had this whole plan to dress as Dorothy just like in this picture from my 30th birthday Wizard of Oz themed bar crawl:

But with my face and clothing all zombified and, of course, wearing these awesome shoes!

I bought some bright red/metalic spray paint and applied ~~a few~~ a ton of thin, even coats to a pair of old ratty sneakers. I also liked that they were blood red...and zombies love blood...and brains. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been the only zombie Dorothy. But alas, it was not meant to be. Have no fear: I will figure out an appropriate event to wear these sneakers. I'll keep you posted. :)

So after sufficiently cursing my inability to set an alarm even at the age of 30, I rallied and was determined to turn my day around. So I got up and went for a run. Ummm...not sure if anyone else has noticed, but it's hot outside. Super crazy hot. So I wasn't feeling so "light on my feet" for this 3 mile run. But the upside is that I found this trail along a canal just two blocks from my house. Isn't it quaint and beautiful? I may have found my new favorite running route.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that I've signed up to run a Denver half marathon in late September? Yep. I'm clearly trying to punish myself for something. But seriously, I think it's going to be great and I'm on a very gradual training plan so I should be very prepared for the day of the race. Well...if I wake up on time, that is. Third times a charm!

Niner #42: Buy A House

2012-05-20T10:23:00.000-06:00

Done. And done.

On April 30, 2012, I entered the crazy big kid world of home ownership.

I've been house hunting since October 2011 and in January 2012 I added it to my Niner Project. And let me tell you, the house hunt was a tedious and heartbreaking process. I can't tell you how many houses I fell in love with and it just didn't work out. Okay...I can tell you. I fell in love with five...FIVE...other houses and for whatever reason (my bid was too low, my offer too late, problems with the house, etc.) they just didn't work out. But I guess it's kind of like relationships: When it doesn't work out with the person you think is the perfect one for you, you're devastated. But then, out of nowhere, something even better comes a long. (Or that's what I'm hoping happens!)

That's what happened during my house hunt. After several months of looking at more than 60 houses (yes, I did the math), one day in late February, my realtor took me to see this cute little rancher in north Fort Collins that had definitely seen better days. We'll call this house "Charlie." Charlie was a foreclosure and priced to sell, but...eh hem...he wasn't looking so hot or smelling too rosy. The owner had put renters in the house to hopefully save the mortgage, but that hadn't worked and so it went under foreclosure. And after a year or so of a family of 12...with dogs...who smoked...living in the house, Charlie was definitely showing the wear and tear...and definitely smelling like a wet dog. I guess you could say I was underwhelmed. Very underwhelmed. So underwhelmed that I told my realtor no thanks and kept hunting.

But alas...after two or three more weeks of looking, there just wasn't anything else in my price range that I liked or that didn't need a complete gut job. Sigh. So I started thinking about Charlie and how cute (and not smelly) he could be with just some paint, a few up dates, and a heavy dose of ~~agent orange~~ deep cleaning. Yep. You guessed it. I talked myself into Charlie. I knew we would learn to love each other. I would demo him into submission if needed. My realtor and I went back a few other times to take a look. No, Charlie, didn't get prettier. I think I just got more desparate or my future happy vision of Charlie just got clearer. The thing that pushed me over the top? My realtor looked up old pictures of Charlie when he was sold in 2009 and 2006...and he was sooooooo cute! There was actual grass in the yard...he had normal paint colors...and he didn't even LOOK like he smelled! I was sold. And completely confident I could return Charlie to his former glory and cuteness.

So I put in an offer to the bank. A couple of days later, they countered my offer just slightly. And based on comparable properties, I accepted it. Don't worry. I got a pretty awesome deal at just. the. right. time. Not long after I went under contract, nearly every house in my price range in town also went under contract. And since then...about four houses have gone on the market. I guess you could say that supply became nearly non-existent. But demand started driving the prices of what was left way up! (Fort Collins is relatively lucky in that the real estate market wasn't devasted like it was in other places.) Down the street, a similar house to Charlie was just sold for nearly $25,000 more than what I paid. So I'm hopeful that in a few years, I'll make a little money on this soon-to-be-cute-again rancher. Yay Charlie!

Okay. Enough jabber. How about some before pictures? Remember that every terrible "before" picture will be inevitably follwed by an "after" picture. But not today. I'll post those once I have "after" photos to share. But before you panic by what you see below, I've already had all the floors replaced, the walls/trim/ceilings/doors painted, kitchen cabinets painted white, dark granite installed in the kitchen, and new stainless steel appliances installed as well. So there's a lot to show you in the "after" photos. But first things first...

Without further ado, I present to you, Charlie.

Front Yard

Front Porch

Living Room

View of front door (right) and door to the garage (left).
Window looks out onto the front porch.

Dining Room

Standing in the living room at the front door, view into the dining room.

Kitchen

Hallway

Hallway to guest room and office

Guest Bathroom

Also has the washer and dryer.

Guest Bedroom

Everyone LOVES the airplane light fixture. :)

Office

Back Porch

Back Yard

Gross/old/dumpy dog kennel

Shed

Garage

There you have it...er...him. Charlie and I are going to be old friends who will inevitably curse each other and love each other all in the same day.

And if you're like me and really impatient, here's a little sneak peak "after" photo for you.

Living Room (after)

Living room looking into the newly carpeted master bedroom. :)

Clearly I have a lot of work to do. I'm quickly realizing that after two plus years of purging and getting rid of my belongings...I don't really have that much stuff. Not even a TV (insert gasp of horror here)! The place is looking a little bare. But that will come with time...and money. Gotta save up some beans!

So...anyone else out there getting ready to buy a house or bought one recently? Any other big purchases on the agenda? I know my friend and her husband close on their first house in just a few weeks! (Yay Cackowski!) And my BFF in Florida is aiming for a first house move-in this fall (woot woot L-Train!). Exciting big kid stuff happening!

Niner #10: Max Out My Roth IRA

2012-03-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

I don't think it's any secret that I didn't grow up with money. My mom, brother, and I were a "classic" American family with not a lot by way of expensive clothes, fancy cars, or elaborate vacations. But love and fun…we had plenty of both. :) I don't know if it was growing up with modest means or if my mom teaching me how to budget and balance my checkbook at an early age that made me a diligent saver. But whatever it was, I've carried those traits, skills, and priorities with me through high school, college, grad school, being a new professional, and now into my 30s.

There. Are. A. LOT. of investment and saving advice blogs. Don't worry, I'm not turning into one of those. But I've had a few friends who also happen to be those smarty-pants investment banker types and with the advice from them, a few investment books I've read, and a retirement planning workshop I attended, I decided to open a Roth IRA and I've had it for about five years now.

A Roth IRA is a special type of individual retirement account (no, not the Irish Republican Army ;) that anyone can open pretty easily. But you might be wondering WHY you'd want to invest in a Roth IRA or at least why I do. Well here are five reasons. (I'd list more…but these pretty much cover it.)

1. I'll Be Better Prepared for Retirement
Let's be frank. I'm not likely to see any Social Security when it's time for me to retire. I've been paying into the system since I was 15 years old and I just assume I'll never see a cent of that money again. In fact, I assume that my grandparents are the ones receiving it now and I'm happy to pay. But that means I need to make other arrangements if I want to be able to live through, let alone enjoy, my golden years. So while I have other retirement plans through the different jobs I've had, a Roth gives me another retirement option that I control myself.

2. I'll Pay Less in Taxes
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for contributing to society and paying my fair share of taxes. But if the government is going to give me a small break to encourage me to invest in retirement, I'm taking it! When you invest in a Roth IRA, you are investing after-tax dollars, money you've already paid taxes on. That's why a Roth is a great plan to start early in your career when you're likely to be in a lower tax bracket. With a Roth, you won't be taxed on the funds at the time you retire since you already paid those taxes before you invested. And who doesn't love to save a little money?!

3. Being Young/Old Is A Benefit
People in their 20s/30s have two main benefits in a Roth IRA: The magic of compounding moolah and lower income levels. If you start investing in a Roth IRA at 25, you have 40 years for all the money you invest to continue to compound on itself and grow exponentially. Additionally, since you're young, you probably don't exceed the income maximums. The two rules of a Roth are start early and max it out while you can. But even if you're "older," you can still benefit from a Roth IRA. If you don't exceed the max income limits, you can start investing now AND, depending on your age, you can contribute more each year to help you "catch up" on your investing.

4. I Can Withdraw My Contributions Without A Penalty
Now this isn't something that I really want to do since I'm supposed to be saving for retirement and the more money I have in the plan the faster it will grow. However, if for some reason (like an emergency) I need to withdraw any of my contributions from the plan, I can without penalty. (Which isn't the case for a traditional IRA or most 401k plans.) Keep in mind though that if you withdraw your earnings before you're eligible for retirement, you will have to pay a penalty so make sure you know the difference!

5. It Can Help Me Buy A House (!)
I guess because the government knows how difficult it is to buy a house these days and the sizable downpayments that are required, they now allow us to withdraw all of our Roth funds (both earnings and contributions) without penalty to buy a house. This may not be the best thing to do either, because again, your Roth is for retirement expenses. But for me, this is a really great option. I'm going to be taking out a small portion of my Roth for my downpayment on a future house being sure to leave more than 75% there to keep compounding and growing for when I'm a batty old lady.

So that's why I have a Roth. And as part of my Niner Project, I vowed to make sure I maxed out my contributions (which is about $5,000 per year) every year while I'm eligible. The good news is that this has been an easy goal. I just have a certain amount each month automatically withdrawn from my checking into my Roth. Out of sight, out of mind.

If you're interested in opening your own Roth IRA, there are a lot of places you can do it online and probably takes 30 minutes or so. Here's what I do:

I have an account with Vanguard but you can also try Fidelity or T. Rowe Price.
I'm not into following stocks or really know anything about bonds. I just want to put my money in the account and leave it alone. Plug and play, as I always say. So I just invest in an Index Fund that basically mirrors the overall performance of the stock market.
Then just start an automatic transfer each month…and watch the numbers multiply. :) As time goes on, I'll start diversifying my investments, but right now this works for me.

Even though I have three more months of the Niner Project left, I've already maxed out my Roth IRA through June. Which means that this Niner is done-zoh!

Niner #5 and #6: Take A Sewing Lesson/Complete A Sewing Project

2012-03-03T17:37:00.003-07:00

Okay kids. We're going deep into the archives for this Niner Project update. Back in June 2010, I went home to Kansas to visit the family…and was lucky enough to bang out two Niner Project goals in one afternoon. My friend Peggy Sue is an amazing seamstress whose talents span from the simplest hem jobs, to amazing quilts, to even the costumes I wore for my role in my high school senior musical. Naturally, I could think of no one better suited to teach me how to sew. Note: I have really no talent with sewing…so when I say "teach" I really mean showing me how to cut the fabric and hem a straight line with a sewing machine. What can I say? When it comes to sewing, I'm like a kindergartner. But Peggy Sue was an excellent teacher and was really patient with me…

Sadly, I didn't get any pics of the cutting process…but here are a few of the sewing process. Hold on to your seats! These are super exciting! ;)

Look at the concentration on my face? Straight lines are hard!

Things are getting crazy! Turning the corner...will she succeed?!?!

I did it! Wahoo!!!

Smile for the camera!

And finally the finished project. :) What do you think of my glasses? I lost my contacts so was borrowing a friend's pair...a little big for me but they did the trick. My hems were ridiculously straight! Check out this detail shot.

And the finished product.

These Niners were completed a year and half ago. The true test is whether I could dublicate this project on my own. I'll keep you posted. Once I complete Niner #42 (Buy a House), I plan to get myself a starter sewing machine and get my crafting on. Until then...I'm checking these two off the list!

Done and done. :)

Picture of the Day: A Kansas Girl Travels to Mecca

2012-02-26T14:07:00.001-07:00

...errr...I Mean Allen Field House, home of the University of Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. I finally atteneded my first KU home basketball game, and boy was it epic! I'll be posting a much longer blog full of photos and overly descriptive prose, but for now here's one of the best of the day. Me and Lindsey Lou enjoying the big WIN over Mizzou!

Picture of the Day: Sassy Crafting

2012-02-18T19:24:00.001-07:00

My first Saturday home in three weeks has been filled with a whole lot of chillin out. And crafting. Clearly. :)

SOP (my roommate), her mum (mamma P who is visiting for the weekend), Jammers, and I participated in a craft project led elementary school-style by mamma P.

That's right kids! I bring you our very own mustache mugs complete with cute sayings/quotes. Get your excited faces on!

Niner #20: Sing Karaoke Solo and Sober

2012-01-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

I did it. I sang an entire karaoke song alone and without any assistance from that famous friend to all, that centuries-old liquid courage: alcohol. Let's face it...alcohol typically makes both singing and listening to amateur chanteurses that much easier. I've been performing my whole life and was blessed with a pretty okay singing voice. But karaoke was always very terrifying for me because I knew it wouldn't be perfect. And when you're used to rehearsing for hours for even a 5 minute performance, getting up in front of a room full of strangers and attempting to sing without any practice...well that just sounds crazy! So in the past, I would typically only sing karaoke with a large group of friends and with a little liquid courage to help me along.

But not this time. With the amazing support of my friends, last Wednesday we headed down to the Drunken Monkey for their weekly karaoke night. While I hadn't had a drop to drink in weeks, I can't say the same for my friends. Here's a shot of Q and C rockin the Hall and Oats. And yes, in the video below, you hear one friend yell "sing the 'ummmms' damn it!" Classic. :)

I'm not gonna lie. This was a ridiculously stressful Niner to accomplish. The moment we walked into the building my stomach was tied in knots, my hands and voice were shaking, and I definitely tried to run and hide on more than one occasion. Alas, I put on my big kid pants and when my name was called I marched up on stage thinking to myself "this will all be over in 3 minutes." My awesome friend CC filmed part of the song for me. It goes without saying that this was not my best "performance" ever, but that's pretty much the point. I wanted to put myself out there, in front of my friends (and plenty of strangers) and just have fun singing, as shaky and off-key as it was. And you know what? I had a blast. :)

Thank you to the Foco Crew for the heckling and cheers! Couldn't have done it without you!

Picture of the Day 860: Nurturing My Inner Type A Personality

2012-01-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

So as the last post demonstrates, I have a LOT to still accomplish on my Niner Project. And the only realistic way I'm going to achieve my goals is if I have a plan. So I spent some time today mapping out the next few months and figuring out where, when, and how I'm going to make this happen. If only I had been this organized from the beginning. But it's okay. I'm equal parts Type A/Planner and equal parts Procrastinator. The procrastination side has had its fun...now it's time to get busy gettin' busy.

The Niner Project - Day 859 [or "Oh Good Lord, How Will I Finish All This?!"]

2012-01-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

With just 141 days left in my Niner Project, it's safe to say that I have a very busy four and half months ahead of me. I'm wondering if my boss will let me take a little sabbatical so I can get it finished? Ummm...no dice, I'm sure. Especially since he's done his part to help me achieve several goals and I really appreciate it! But with the home stretch of the Project upon me, I thought it was time for an update, like this one.

I think the two general themes of my Niner Project so far are: 1) Me being generally inconsistent (in completing goals and documenting the process) and 2) Realizing again and again that my eyes are, figuratively, bigger than my stomach and some of these goals are just plain ridiculous. Re-dique. (Yep, I went with the "French" spelling.) But hey, I'm nothing if not an eternal dreamer and hopeful planner. So once again I'm revisiting my list and editing accordingly in order to fit the reality of my life and my need right now for 99 ~~problems~~ distractions.

But before I get to the updated list, here are a few Project stats to give you an idea of what I'm up against and what I've accomplished.

45 - Number of goals completed

36 - Number of goals completed that I STILL need to blog about (that one stings a ~~little~~ lot)

11 - Number of goals in progress

43 - Number of goals I have yet to start (so basically I'm not even half way done! eek!)

1,368 - Number of unique visitors to my Niner Project page

141 - Number of days left in the Project

$450 - Amount of money I've raised for a good cause so far (see Niner #83)

999 - Number of friendly encouragements I'm going to need from my friends to get this done :)

So without further ado, here's the updated and final verson of the Niner Project.

Picture of the Day: Redstone Room With Red Hot T

2011-11-12T20:21:00.001-07:00

This international woman of mystery is exploring Davenport, Iowa, tonight with the one and only Teniell! And we're enjoying the music stylings of Rachael Yamagata. (google her!)

Picture of the Day: Snowy Weekend in the Mountains

2011-10-29T11:21:00.001-06:00

Spending the weekend at my boss's house up in the mountains. Lots of work and strategizing for the future complete with hot chocolate.

Picture of the Day: Lark Burger Wreckage

2011-10-27T13:59:00.001-06:00

The title explains it all.

Picture of the Day: Perfect Pour

2011-10-25T21:31:00.001-06:00

I recommend that everyone have a roommate who is a beer brewing pro. Look at that pour! Perfection!

Picture of the Day: Beauty Even on Monday

2011-10-24T07:30:00.001-06:00

Even the most unhappy among us would have to appreciate this pretty view on a Monday morning.

Picture of the Day 763: View From the Top

2011-10-11T20:14:00.001-06:00

This is my standard view these days, the world from 30,000 feet in the air. Traveling so much lately you'd think I'd have exec status on some airline. But nope, I'm a baller in coach. :) happy travels!

Picture of the Day 741: September Dreamin'

2011-09-19T21:36:00.000-06:00

I recently traveled to Barcelona for a conference. During a great tour of the city with a Barcelona local, I found this graffiti on a random wall: Estas cumpliendo tu sueno?

Are you fulfilling your dreams?

I printed this photo and taped it to the bathroom mirror. Great question to ask myself every morning. Puts things in perspective.

Niner Project: July 2011 To Do List

2011-07-19T11:00:00.006-06:00

I'm well over halfway through the 999 days of my Niner Project. And boy do I have a lot of work to do! As a result, I'm back to setting some monthly goals. And please, in the name of all that is holy, heckle, tease, ridicule, and throw rotten vegetables at me if I don't report on these goals at the end of the month.

I only have 13 days left in July and here's what I hope to accomplish:

Make two new recipes (Niner #50)
Watch two Best Picture Oscar Winners (Niner #43)
Send five cards to friends (Niner #65)
Open a Charles Schwab checking account (Niner #95)
Read a new book (Niner #44)

These might be a bit lofty for 13 days, but you have to start somewhere. Here goes nothing...

Picture of the Day 676: The ol' Boy Finally Retired

2011-07-16T23:41:00.005-06:00

It's the end of an era. My 27" tube TV that my grandparents gave slash let me borrow for college until now has finally retired. I've moved in with a friend who has one of those fancy big flat screen TVs. So this 'ol boy finally met his maker...i.e. was donated to a friend.

That TV and I had a lot of good times...he shared my first college dorm with me, my dorm neighbor dropped him on his head once (he came through like a champ but with some bodily damage in the form a of a giant crack in the plastic shell), adventured to my apartment in South Dakota, and journeyed all the way to Colorado before his time finally came. He was a lovely TV (if you don't count the cable connection knob being a little wonky, weighing about a million pounds, and the built-in VCR player not working...that's right, I said VCR!). Goodbye old friend... ;)