This will not destroy me....

It will make me stronger! Cliché, cliché, cliché. I’m a walking, talking, living, breathing cliché. Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m also a ridiculous blonde sometime, most recently in the sense that I completely blew off a site tour at another hotel to watch soccer. Really?! I neglected to put it in my Outlook calendar; if it’s not in my Outlook calendar, it doesn’t exist. I felt awful about it, especially considering what transpired in the interim (future blog post), but because it was at one of our sister properties. Eventually the sales guy made it to the happy hour spot and I bought him a couple beers to smooth things over. How ridiculously unprofessional of me.

We all departed and with my plans for the evening in the same place my phone was a couple months ago (the toilet for those not in the know), I could have sat home and moped about. Instead, I went and had dinner at our hotel bar, and discovered a new bar in a new part of town.

At the Mono concert a couple of weeks ago, a fellow fan and I were discussing music in general and where to go to see it. Music is one thing that is definitely not lacking in this town. He mentioned that there was a similar band playing the following week called “This Will Destroy You” at a bar in the Bywater called Saturn Bar (though for some reason I always want to call it Sunset Bar). I decided to hell with it, I was going to go enjoy some decent live music. Even if it was by myself.

And enjoy I did. They were awesome. A little more rock-y than Mono, but the sound was great. The bar was slightly too small for a stage, so they were actually playing in the audience. I didn’t catch the name of the opening band, but met a couple of the members. Good guys and decent music. Overall, the night could have been a complete bust, but I made the most of it and ended up having a most delightful evening.

Amazing what a little positivity does to a person….

Laughing

*I swiped this post from a previous blog I started. It seems fitting right now. I'll elaborate in the future, but suffice to say, yesterday afternoon was challenging. I'm my own worst critic and worst enemy sometimes, and I just need to remember that it doesn't have to be like that.*

At myself. If I can't, who can? I took a step back when I got home last night and looked at the last week of my life. And all I could do was laugh. Laugh at how wonderfully ridiculous I can be, at how many wonderful things and people are in my life that I don't recognize sometimes. Laughing at something as silly and insignificant as a Post-It note and how integral they are to my life. I laugh at how oblivious I can be. I laugh at where my priorities lie. I really laugh at how clumsy I am.

As I sit here reflecting on the direction my life has taken, and the places I've been, I realize how ridiculous it is when I complain when something less than ideal happens. I've been extremely fortunate in my lifetime. I have a pretty amazing lifestyle. Granted, I've worked extremely hard for it. I travel to amazing places, I attend fabulous events, the food I consume is nothing short of incredible and I dress well. I drive a shitty car, but that's because cars are stupid (I've put less than 20K miles on it in 3 years). I'm able to save for retirement and still live comfortably.

Next time I complain about a situation that doesn't turn out how I want it to, or about a bad day at work, please refer me to this post, and tell me to put it into perspective. Tell me how utterly ridiculous I sound. Because there are a lot of people out there that have it a lot worse than I do. I'm extremely optimistic about my future and I'm going to stop taking things and people for granted. I'm going to continue to live with passion and I'm going to focus on living with purpose.

Someone I admire very much is Randy Pausch. If you haven't seen "The Last Lecture" run, do not walk, do not pass go and do not collect $200, to watch this video. This man was absolutely incredible. His passion for life and appreciation are to be admired and cherished. Sadly Randy passed away a couple of years ago, but the lessons he shared stayed. This is one of my favorite quotes from the speech...

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people."

- Randy Pausch ( 1960-2008 )

This one is the full speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

This is the short Oprah version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IjVl8xzCSk

Good Deed of the Week

My first day on the job, our HR director let us know that she needed volunteers for a Habitat for Humanity build. As I'm new around here, and didn't see anything pressing on my agenda, I said I'd be happy to. From what I've heard about it, painting was going to be about as "manual labor" as I would have to get.

My assistant picked me up, and I navigated. Apparently it was in a part of town she'd never been (AKA: not the best part). We arrived on time, she introduced me to some people, we got our shirts and then we gathered. The area General Managers spoke and then we were given our tasks. Mine was not painting. Ugh. You mean I was going to have to pick up a shovel?!?

And so it was. We had to shovel out 6" deep for an 8' wide driveway, all the way to the sidewalk. Thankfully there was a sidewalk already there, so we didn't have to dig that too. We had to cut boards for stakes to mark where we were shoveling. We had to make the ground higher near the house and slope it down towards the sidewalk. Something about rain and drainage around here?? I have never seen my hands in worse shape than they were over the weekend. They still haven't completely healed.

Overall it was a great experience. I met a lot of people that work for various hotels and expanded my network just a little bit. I did something good for someone less fortunate than me for no reason at all. However, I will limit my volunteering in the future to the events where I get to see the appreciation on the recipients face. I know that volunteering is supposed to be done completely selflessly and all that, but the truth of the matter is that I get out of it just as much as the recipient does. But I want to see them appreciate it. It may sound selfish, but it's that gratefulness and appreciation that drives me and makes me want to do more. Do it more often, do it for longer, recruit others to the cause, whatever that cause may be. I don't donate money to non-profits, but will round up the best silent auction donation items you'll ever see (and likely even bid on them!). I'm happy to put a contact from a worthy cause in touch with a decision maker. This H4H build though....first and last. I'll be supportive and whatever, but I'd love to see what that house (or any other H4H builds) looks like a year or two or ten after we've put our time and sweat equity into it.

I know that last sentence sounds extremely cynical, and not in the same vein as the rest of the post. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the majority of recipients of H4H homes appreciate them and take care of them until they get back on their feet. As such, I'll stick to the group I love working with the most: Special Olympics. I'd give up any day/night of my life to help this organization.

Funny, the way it is....

Life is the most interesting, mysterious, enjoyable experience ever. Things change so quickly, in a fraction of the blink of an eye. Realizations that although some things are not as they seem, they more frequently are. It's truly a small world, and part of the reason for my change of locale was to escape it. And then I realized I can't. I'm exactly the same person, doing the exact same things. It's taken me less than three weeks to realize this. And the best part about it?

I love it.

I love that I have the guts to go for what I want. To take the worst possible situation and make the best of it. To see, to truly see, the good in everyone, even (and sometimes especially) the people you think are complete a-hole douchebags. I love that I'm doing exactly the job that I love, in a place that I love. I had lost the passion for doing this job before, and I needed to be away from it for a while. To experience more. I'm so much better equipped to deal with all the aspects of this job, and I've regained my passion for it.

I could sit here and be upset about my vacation being put on ice for a year, but I'm not. I know that the postponed concert will happen, and it will likely be 1,000X better because of the delay. After my trip to Target in the suburbs, I could be sad that I have to replace most of my worldly belongings, but I'm not. I know that I get new cool silverware and a shower curtain that I've wanted for a while. I miss my couch, and it would have been the perfect style. But it would have been too big.

So many opportunities present themselves in life, and if we don't jump at the opportunity, it just....passes us by. I see the status updates and the Twitter feeds of all the things I'm missing out on in Minneapolis, and then I realize there's a festival here literally every weekend. Greek Fest, Creole Tomato Fest, whatever, opportunities that I would miss in Minneapolis if I WERE there. And I wouldn't even know it, because I'd still be stuck in the same rut. I don't mean that to sound like it probably does. I mean that I'd be doing the same things, with the same people, in the same places. And here, I may be doing the same things, but it's different. And somehow, seems better.

I'll close by saying this: I TRULY hope that my friends and family, who I love with all my heart, come to visit me. So they can experience this city. It's really amazing. I hope that whoever reading this has a dream, and passion. And when they have the opportunity, they take it. They break out of their shell. They jump so far out of their comfort zone, they can't even see it.

Because if I can, ANYONE can. And you should. Ask yourself what it is you want out of life. And then go for it. Don't let anyone tell you can't, or that you shouldn't. Or anything. Just do it. You won't regret it, I promise. Not for one single second.

A friend of mine said something to me that was quite poignant - don't regret anything you've done, because at the time you did it, it was EXACTLY what you wanted. No regrets, no looking back. Only going forward.

One last thing: if you live in MN, please, PLEASE, quit complaining about the humidity and road construction. I'm tired of those being the only two things I see on Facebook and Twitter. Spend some time here in August and you'll never complain about either again. Besides, isn't that what you suffer all winter for? Humidity and road construction?