2014: Off to a Great Start!

I can hardly believe that 2014 is finally here!  

It's probably not a big surprise that the homestretch of 2013 was a little bit rough for me.  I'm not good with uncertainty and, unfortunately, there were a lot of unforeseen professional changes that happened during the holiday season.  

Even though I knew I at the time that losing my job was probably a blessing, I was surprised how much I was overcome by feelings of failure.  It was really difficult to emotionally divorce myself from all the marketing that my former company was doing, especially because they were either abandoning or seriously neglecting so many of the things I worked so hard to build.  

In the end, I stopped following the company social media pages and focused my attention on my future.

I got up the courage to approach my current employer at a holiday party we both attended.  I had interviewed with her team twice over the summer by my media relations skills are weak and they are a marketing and public relations agency that does a lot of pitching to media sources so they had reservations about bringing me on board.  At the party, the agency founder and agency director were both happy to see me and told me they'd been talking about me recently.  I took the opportunity to let them know I was no longer working with my previous company and that I'd appreciate them passing my name along if they heard of anyone looking for my skill set.  To my pleasant surprise, they expressed an interest in hiring me (again) and I offered to freelance for them a bit so that we could all feel out the situation.

The next day, she called me and asked me if I could start immediately.  We hammered out the details and I was in the office the following Monday.  

Surprisingly, I only freelanced for them three days before they made me an offer to come on board permanently.  I think it was partially my personality (I get along with the other team members very well) and partially my writing skills.  They had me drafting a lot of press releases, e-newsletters and social media posts during my freelance tenure and I think they really liked what they saw.  

So I moved right on into a full-time position with them and today I got handed a big Chinese New Year project to manage on behalf of my team.  To say that I'm thrilled would not do my emotions justice.  

I needed to draft two press releases, and my boss came in at 5 to see if I could have them done tomorrow.  I happily informed her I had already given one to the account director for review, and the other would be on his desk before I left the office.  She seemed very impressed and said, "That's wonderful, I am so glad you joined our team!"

"Me too," I told her. 

And things are going well in my personal life too!  I woke up yesterday and thought, "I'm getting married this year."  It was about a year ago that we picked our wedding date, and now we're just about seven and a half months away from the big day.  It's coming up fast.

Carina and I picked out the bridesmaids dresses over the holiday week while Sam and I were up in NorCal.  Jackie and Carina already have their measurements in, and Lindsay is going to head over to the salon tomorrow to get her measurements taken too.  I just need to follow up with Carrie and Michelle to make sure they remember to get their orders in by Sunday.  

I have the date for my bridal shower (in NorCal) set, we have an appointment to do the menu tasting for our wedding entrees, I have a list of bakeries we need to visit to taste wedding cake and talk pricing, and I am feeling really, really good about everything.

I still need to work on the invitation wording just a bit and then order all the invitations.  And I want to sit down with our florist again so I can work out some of the details with the flowers and decorations.  And then it's pretty much all done except picking out the boys' attire and getting our wedding bands made.  Obviously the little details like seating charts etc. are still to come, but those are things that will happen in July and we're still a LONG way off from then.

The other great thing is that I'm totally 100% recommitted to my fitness goals.  I didn't do so well in 2013, but I realize now that putting all my time and energy into my profession isn't the smartest thing to do because jobs come and go but your happiness and health lasts your whole lifetime and affects your lifestyle.  

So, on that high, high note, let me say that 2014 is going to be my best year yet!

Airoso Wedding Weekend

Wedding Weekend Recaps are so challenging- there is so much time to condense into one post!  And on top of that, I have so many photos to share!  So without further adieu, here we go!  

Couldn't miss an opporunity to snap a photo of my alma mater as I passed through Davis on my way to the hotel in Old Sacramento.  So many wonderful memories on that campus... so many wonderful friendships forged... so many wonderful people I was able to collaborate with.  I wish everyone well!

 Here we are in Sam and my hotel room, but Sam didn't come into town until Friday night.  So on Thursday, Marlena and I split the room.  We got ready for the rehearsal dinner, relaxed a little after our long travel days, and caught up on how life has been going for each of us lately.  It made me really wish that we live closer... Orange County to Chicago is just such a long way and long time to travel.  After the rehearsal, we went down to the hotel bar and had a drink while we watched the end of the Golden State Warriors victory- go Bay Area!  It was really fun spending some time with Lena.

Sam missed his flight to Sacramento and flew into San Francisco at 11:15pm instead.  Papa offered to pick him up for me and meet me in Vacaville... what a life savor!  So we didn't get back to the hotel until about 1:40 AM the morning of Jackie and Joe's wedding.  I think I was running mostly on adrenaline that day because I know I didn't get as much sleep as I needed!

Joe's sister, Emily

Luckily the wedding was great- we were running a little behind with hair and makeup, but I think the wedding was only about 15 minutes later than it should have been.  Jackie looked absolutely gorgeous (as always) and it was really fun to hang out with her mom and her sister and all of the ladies who are most important to her and Joe.  After the ceremony we took what felt like a million photos and it was a little chaotic because we all wanted to get to the wedding PARTY as fast as we could... but I think that we got some great shots, especially with such amazingly photogenic bridesmaids and groomsmen!  

I was totally blown away by the centerpieces on the tables at dinner.  They were really pretty and so simple and kind of perfect for a backyard wedding reception.  Joe's parents did an amazing job on their yard and it was really impressive to see the transformation from Thursday's rehearsal to the real deal on Saturday night.  It was a lot of work, but everything paid off and everyone survived!

I really loved getting to know Joe's sister, Emily, and his brother's fiancee, Shannon.  (Emily is in purple in the photo below)  They are both pretty loud but in a great way and they treated all of us like we were family all weekend long.  Shannon was especially helpful on the day of the wedding when we were sequestered in Joe's grandma's trailer and it was swelteringly hot outside.  She ran and got us drinks, food, etc. Pretty much anything we needed!  I am really happy that Jackie is marrying into such a wonderful family that will have her back and Joe's throughout their lives. 

 Our table was bridesmaids and dates, and the hair and makeup team.  We had a great time!  It was especially nice to see Katy and Emily Nester who I haven't seen in ages.  I guess that's the most fun part of a wedding weekend; catching up with all the people you are connected with throughout the bride and groom's lives.  It is really something magical and the wedding itself was not enough time to see all of those wonderful people I am connected to through Jackie.  I hope that soon we'll be able to catch up without the wedding madness, but I doubt that.  We have spread so far across the country.

 And here is the beautiful bride, Jackie.  One of my dearest friends.  One of my college roommates.  One of the girls I know will always be there for me no matter what I need.  I am blessed to have friends who are as supportive as Jackie and it was an extreme honor to stand up with she and Joe on their day.

And then there is my date... my wonderful, handsome boyfriend who took a late night fight to be able to be there with everyone on Saturday night.  Who caught a ride to the wedding with Megan whom he'd never met because he know I was committed to bridal party stuff the day of the wedding.  

Spending time with Sam was great.  We don't have as much time to spend together as we would like now that he's deep into his second year of residency.  Luckily we have 3rd year on the horizon and hopefully that will be significantly better in terms of hours spent at the hospital, time spent sleeping and ability to enjoy his free time.  I know I am personally hopeful for a little more responsibility shouldered at home but that's a topic for another blog post... so let me refocus on the wedding weekend.

Boy, don't I look great with that cigar?

It was also really nice for Lena and Sam to get to spend some quality time together - I don't think they have really gotten to know each other over the years because Sam was out of town when Jackie and Marlena came down to visit Southern California and he hasn't been able to go up to NorCal with me when I've traveled to visit the girls at Jackie's house.  Obviously, he wasn't invited on our girls trip to Chicago two summers ago when Jackie and I flew out to visit Marlena and see her skit at Second City.

And seeing Heidi and Jared is always a good time.  I can't wait for Heidi to start her wedding planning and hear about all their details.  I mean let's face it, I love this stuff!  Putting on big events is stressful but it requires organization, logistical strategy and lots of planning which are three of my strengths.  

One of our next couples tying the knot!  Dan and Tina came and met us for breakfast before we headed back to the airport on Sunday morning.  We had a great time catching up and we hope to get together again soon... though we will probably see them next on their big day in July.