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Cheers to the New Beginnings in our Endings

posted 26th January 2011    Written by: Nikki    CATEGORY: Creativity, Events, Life Lesson, Nikki, Quarterlife Crisis, Season 3, What I've Learned

I can NOT believe this is my last Stratejoy post.  I seriously might cry, y’all.

The adventure I’ve been on these last six months with Marian, Lindsey, Alisha, Renee, Doniree, Molly, and all of you has been indescribably life-changing.  I didn’t know I had it in me to write like this, to be so honest and transparent with strangers (a lot of you aren’t really strangers anymore!); I didn’t know I was capable of inspiring other people.  I was a girl who felt lost and misunderstood, even to herself.

You, by reading and through your comments, have shown me I’m not alone, crazy, or lame.  You have made me buzz with joy, knowing I’ve helped you see your QLC differently and knowing you relate to what I’m going through.  Your comments have made me laugh, cheer, think and cry, and your friendship and love has given me the strength to be honest and strive for better.

YOU are Stratejoy.

This community has been an incredibly important part of my life these last six months and, though I’m SO sad to not be writing here anymore, I know I’m not leaving.  I can’t wait to see what brilliant wisdom the Season 4 bloggers have to impart, and I’m sure I’ll be continually inspired, by them and by you, for a long time to come.

Since my first post went up in August, I’ve grown from having no idea what I want to having clear vision of my future.  I’ve become more confident and balanced, more self-aware and honest, more excited and proactive.  I’ve faced my fears, learned to love being single, and proclaimed “Quarterlife Fuck Yeah!!!“  It’s been a terrifyingly awesome journey.

Thank you for sticking with me through it all; thank you for helping me grow into the woman I now am.

Because Stratejoy inspired me to make this next step, I have an announcement to make here.  Y’all are hearing it first.  Today – right this minute – I’m launching my new website, The Grateful Sparrow (if you were following me before, it’s different!) and I want to invite all of you to be a part of it.

I’m committing to talk about joy.  Your experience of it, lack of it, the process of finding it, growing with it, keeping aware of it.  I want to inspire you to live a life you love and love the life you live, every day.  I want it to be your go-to source for a jolt of inspiration and to jump-start your daily gratitude.  It’s the anti-kumbayah; your happiness is serious business, and it’s totally within your control.

Molly & I agreed Stratejoy and The Grateful Sparrow are totally BFFs; let’s keep building this community of amazing, inspiring people and keep the love flowing!

CHEERS to everything you’ve taught me and everything we’ve shared, t0 changing the way we look at the QLC, to being fucking amazing strong women, and to who we are and who we’ll become…

All my love,

Nikki

[Note from the Coach:  Nikki- Damn straight! The Grateful Sparrow and Stratejoy are totally BFF's!  I know these last 6 months have been full of twists and turns and challenges and surprises, but through it all- you have remained utterly open and present.  To life.  To the possibility of joy in the moment.  And it's been a gorgeous, gorgeous thing to witness.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing it with us.  Your authentic voice and soul sister stories will be missed.

But... As we all know- you've got a new "home" from which to keep inspiring us.  And a big wide world to explore.   And bunches to love to share and receive.  From one joy-embracer to another-- all my wishes for success in any path you choose to skip down, Nikki.  It's yours for the taking.  And yes, we still have an outstanding date to play on lawns, drink wine together, and dissolve into multiple bouts of laughter. Soon, I promise.  Nothing but love, Molly]

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6 Months Ago, and Now

posted 25th January 2011    Written by: Doniree    CATEGORY: Doniree, Family, Job/Career/Work, Love/Relationships, Season 3, What I've Learned

Six months ago it was August. Six months ago, I vacationed in Portland with Chris. It was my second visit to Portland, the first having been back in April.  Amazing city.  I spent a week in the Reno/Tahoe area and even got to cross Number 18 off my Life List.  Six months ago, I quit a great job (again) and launched back into establishing myself as an independent contractor.

And now, I live in Portland (oh, did I forget to mention that? Whoops!  I moved to Portland right before Christmas!).  Now, I’ve added another thanks-to-blogging trip to my list of awesome ways I’ve traveled in the last couple of years to my list.  Now I’ve renewed what was my very first independent contract and in August, I signed on as Community Manager for a kick-ass non-profit based in Boulder (but cool with me working from Portland).

6 months ago, I knew I loved Chris but I hadn’t told him yet.  I’d told my girlfriends. I’d told my sister, my mother.  I also knew exactly what it meant to him to say it to someone, so I lived and breathed it until I could speak it. And then one day, he said it. Pulled me close, whispered in my ear, that he loved me, Doniree Walker. That he was IN love with me.

And now, I get giddy over the fact that I fall asleep after kissing him goodnight, and wake up to his snuggles in the morning. I look at our kitchen, at the results of whatever kitchen experiment we’d tried together (tonight was personal pizzas, they turned out amazing), and I am filled with wonder for this man who I love more than I’ve ever loved before.  And for gratitude for the way he loves me – kitchen dancing, too many pairs of shoes by the door, tendency to not close cabinets and drawers all the way – and all.

Six months ago, I was realizing for the millionth time exactly the kind of women I’d met in Boulder and had come to call sister friends.  Six months ago, Chelsea moved to Boulder from Denver, and Jackie moved to Boulder from New Jersey.  Chelsea shared her vibrant, colorful and dramatic self with our dynamic, and Jackie brought a beautiful, compassionate, nourishing energy to the group, and six months ago, the traditions of cooking dinner together, sharing personal details together, and playing wildly hilarious games together with such strong, brilliant women continued and grew stronger.

And now, I miss these women and the connections that group has, deeply.  I love you women. You wildly radiant women. And while I’m excited to meet new, wonderful friends in Portland – I recognize that what that group shared was unique and something special.  And I’m excited to find my something special here, but hey Portland? You got some big shoes to fill.

Six months ago, my sister called me and told me she was pregnant.  She and her husband, my sweet and hilarious brother-in-law, were going to have a baby.  Six months ago, I jumped up and down in my kitchen at the news, cried my little eyes out, and went all Big Sister on my Little Sister. I rejoiced that she would soon be a mother, and that I’d soon be an aunt.  I immediately texted my above-mentioned girlfriends and shared the news.  Miranda’s pregnant!

And now, I’m ecstatic that we know she’s expecting a girl.  A niece for me! And now, I’m more grateful than I can express that I was able to see her twice in two weeks over the holidays and watch how beautiful her little baby bump has become.  It’d be an understatement to say I was completely obsessed with it the entire time I spent time with her.

Six months ago, I was blonde. And now, a brunette. I’d say so much else in my life has changed in the last six months, but I don’t see it that way.  Sure, I’m in a different city and all, but rather than change, I like to think I’ve simply moved forward. Grown, stretched, reached farther than I thought I could reach.  I’m not a different version of me or of anyone, but the same me with new lessons under my belt, new experiences in my memory, and renewed gratitude for family, friends, and the sparkly, brilliant results of living nothing short of my absolute best self.

It’s been an honor to share these past six months with you, dear Stratejoy readers. Thank you for your feedback, your support, and for sharing YOUR stories with me and the other bloggers this Season.

{Photo credit: Hello, Gorgeous. Photography}

[Note from the Coach:  Doniree, Doni- you sparkly, deep, sunshiney soul.  I can't even remember when I first learned about your loveliness, but it was apparent when I finally got to meet you.  You were my kind of people.  Bright, passion-exploring, driven by growth and creativity, and with this amazing ability to express yourself through your writing.  And gutsy.  Hella gutsy.

Thank you for being part of my life these last 6 months.  And for sharing your life with our Tribe here at Stratejoy, in typical open and welcoming Doni-style.  It's been a joy to watch your journey and witness the loving way you interact with your world.  This is SO not goodbye.  It's a "see you soon" Northwest Neighbor.   To adventure!  Love with hugs, kisses, and dancing in the street, Molly]

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More about Molly + Drawing for a Care Package!

posted 24th January 2011    Written by: Molly Mahar    CATEGORY: Inspiration, Molly

Hey you!  Wanna get some mail from me?  Here’s the challenge:  pick one question, head over to Stratejoy’s Facebook page and answer the question on the wall.   All answers will be entered in a drawing for a super special gift package from me!  Who doesn’t love getting surprise care packages?!

(And yes, current clients, bloggers, and pretty much anyone is eligible!)

You can also answer all of the questions on your own blog, mention and link to this post, and leave a comment with your post url below, and you’ll get 5 entries in the drawing!

Entries need to be in by Monday, January 31st.

Onward to my Q & A…

What do you miss most about being a child?

When I was little, my mom used to tuck us in every night with a glass of water and a song or two.  I felt so safe and loved.  This is a tradition I definitely want to carry on with my own kids someday.

Also, my sister and I lived up in the mountains without any neighbors our age, so we really put our imagination to work.  I loved the days of “Indian Princess” (secret language and all), “Chef”, and “Orphans” (which consisted of pretending we were locked in the dog’s kennel and trying to escape with a jump rope and the laundry line).  What can I say?  I was obsessed with the movie Annie when I was little!

2.  What’s on your bedside table?

Burts Beeswax Lip Balm, a BPA-free waterbottle with straw, whatever earrings and bobby pins I took off the night before, flowers, and a huge stack of books.  Current rotation?  A Joseph Campbell Companion, The Gifts of Imperfection, Women Who Run with the Wolves, Improvisation for the Spirit, and at least 5 novels from the library.

When was the last time you were giddy with happiness, lost in one of those can’t-hold-back-a-smile kinda moments?

When the Big Man and I were at the NFL playoff game (see picture above) where the Seahawks beat the Saints.  It was amazing!  And I’m not even a huge football fan….  But screaming with strangers, causing a seismic tremor, and celebratory hugs for hours?  I’m in.

What are you most looking forward to in the next 6 months?

Settling into a home of some sort.  At the moment, I’m at our cabin in Index (1.5 hours outside of Seattle), taking a little breather from the trip.  But I’ll go back to living out of Stella, our CRV, soon enough!  I’m meeting the Big Man down in San Diego in another month for the West Coast portion of our Road Trip.

And then?

Who knows?   But I’m really looking forward to settling down (location-wise) for a while.  Cooking, crafting, being able to get drinks with my girlfriends.  Being a nomad has led to some awesome sights and great new friends, but I’m ready to just be for awhile.  Ready to make community connections.  Ready to feel grounded in a really lovely, cozy, affirming way.

What’s your hell like?

I can only eat imitation crab and drink Orange Tang.  Grasshoppers are continually jumping on my legs.  My only company is a corporate asshole who can’t stop bragging about his toys and the Real Housewives of Wherever. People litter.  A TV playing nothing important is blasting.  I am forced to drive in traffic in the dark and rain.  When I try to sleep, I can hear the ticking of watches and my pillow is scratchy and without a cool side.

What’s your heaven like?

My groceries magically appear in the fridge.  I can fly.  Everyone I’ve ever loved, admired, or respected is there to play, dream, frolic, party, plot, flirt, create or debate with me.  Money does not exist.  We spend a lot of time dancing and climbing peaks and laughing.  There is always fresh flowers, the smell of coffee roasting, and plenty of sparkly sandals and perfect-fitting denim.  We film documentaries on the awesomeness of heaven and slam poetry and swim in the middle of oceans with nothing but stars in the sky for light.

What’s the biggest lesson you’re taking away from the past 6 months with Stratejoy?

That it’s okay to ask for help.  That I do not have to always be on top of things.  That dreams shift and definitions of success may change and that is okay.   That I love coaching groups on the phone as much as I love leading them in person.

What song lyrics fit your life, right now, at the beginning of this brand new year?

“So we live out of our old van, travel all across this land, me and you
We’ll end up hand in hand, somewhere down on the sand, just me and you
Just as free, free as we’ll ever be
Drive until the city lights, dissolve into a country sky, just me and you
Lay underneath the harvest moon, do all the things that lovers do, just me and you”

–Free, The Zac Brown Band

If you had a time machine, what place and time would you travel to and why?

Why is this so hard?  Too much to process…  Can I redo the past?  Or just visit and observe?  Can I jump into novels or does this mean just real time travel?   What does real time travel even mean?  Would I be me or could I enter into someone’s body as a Native American on my vision quest or a Broadway star belting the classic show tunes?  If dangerous things happen, can I safely come back to the present?  Time Travel!!

I give up.  Time travel me to a naked James Franco.

What is something that not a lot of people know about you that you wish more people could know?

Well, I’m not necessarily sure I wish more people would know this, but since college I’ve practiced “Sober January”.  Yes, that means I don’t drink in January.  Yes, it’s fairly boring.  But as someone who regularly drinks (though not even close to what I consumed as a sorority girl at school) and as someone who has a very strong addiction gene in her family, I take the month off to make sure I’m still in control.   Weird?  Definitely.  Healthy?  I don’t know.  One of those quirky things about me?  Yes.

What surprised you the most about 2010?

That I didn’t love being a nomad as much as I thought I would.   And that I love the Big Man even more as my husband.

What’s the best present you’ve ever received?

A trip around the world as an I-adore-you-and-want-you-to-figure-your-shit-out present.  And all the rest of my “student loan” I owed my parents being forgiven as a wedding present.  (I still owe oodles of money to Cornell, just not to my parents anymore!)

Imagine your life was being made into a movie. What would the title be? Who would you pick to play you? What would the theme song be? How about the little trailer blurb for the advertisement?

Seeking Joy, starring Reese Witherspoo or Rachel McAdams or Blake Lively (a girl can dream, okay?) with music by Chris Cornell, Rilo Kiley, Taylor Swift, and the Counting Crows.  “Happiness is not a destination, but a journey for this free-spirited, ambitious, New World leader.”  (again, pushing it a little, but isn’t everything inflated in Hollywood?!)

That question was Nikki’s, right?  So hard.  I couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t sound cheesy, so I just rolled with it…  Urgh.

Dream Job? Dream Home? Dream Vacation?

Dream Job in my reality:  An internal coach and leadership policy developer at Google, or some other equally brilliant, progressive, and crazily fun company on the West Coast, with loads of travel and speaking opportunities OR the resident coach at some amazing spa-like heath resort that doesn’t cater to celebrities.

Dream Job outside of my reality: Broadway Star.

Dream Home:  Pretty much anything from 360 Modern and PB Elemental.  With a view of water.  And within walking distance to a market, coffee, yoga, fabulous schools.  Easy driving distance to vineyards, skiing, and sailing.

Dream Vacation:  So, let’s just pretend that private jet tours aren’t bad for the environment and each leg of this trip is totally sustainable and treats the country guides & vendors amazingly. And hip people who love local food and drink and making new friends are along.  Okay?  Expereiences of a Lifetime Trip. That is all.

p.s.  Want to read my Q & A from Season 2?  More random facts about Molly

p.p.s  Don’t forget to enter the drawing for a love package!  Wheeee!

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Ask Me Anything

posted 23rd January 2011    Written by: Lindsey    CATEGORY: Lindsey, Season 3

What do you miss most about being a child?
 Having a trampoline in my backyard. Oh man, that trampoline was my life. My neighbors had a trampoline too and we’d push them together and jump between the two (to the horror of my mother who was sure we’d break our necks with just one trampoline). I loved punching in the well-remembered phone numbers of my neighbors and simply saying “wanna play?” and then meeting at the tramps. Ahh, to play. It’s a way of life.

What’s on your bedside table?

Water

Skin stuff: Yes to Carrots Mango flavored lip balm. Badger balm. A roller applicator of Vitamin E (amazing). Spray bottle of tea tree oil & water – my favorite cooling mist. Coconut oil – best lotion ever.

A rock with the word “Peace” engraved into it, that my mom gave to me the Christmas before I left home 2 years ago. I take it with me everywhere.

Books (right now “The Expressiveness of the Body and The Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine” and my favorite raw food book “Fresh” that travels with me everywhere because of it’s small size and endless foodie inspiration.)

My journals

A 0.5 mm mechanical pencil. I go crazy for these. 0.7mm? Meh. And don’t even try to get me to write with a wooden pencil. Or a pen. I simply cannot do it.

When was the last time you were giddy with happiness, lost in one of those can’t-hold-back-a-smile kinda moments?

Hula hooping on a white sand beach at sunset, listening to my iPod, and leaping all over the place practicing new tricks.

What are you most looking forward to in the next 6 months?

Finding out where the hell I’m going to go next – my gypsy self is always interested in that! But also, a family vacation of snowboarding in Colorado this spring, and reuniting with friends.

What’s your hell like?

Eternity surrounded by pessimistic uninspired leeches, working 16 hours a day in a windowless office on an Excel spreadsheet on a Dell computer with a roller ball mouse, eating chicken flavored ramen noodles and Diet Coke for every meal. All while listening to only 90s alt-rock radio stations and staring at tantalizing dark chocolate bars that I’m not permitted to eat, ever.

What’s your heaven like?

Dark Chocolate Coconut Bliss in endless quantities, live bands playing on an outdoor stage, there’s a huge garden and tons of fruit trees, a beach not too far away and I can take a chairlift to the top of a mountain of untouched powdery snow and ride it all the way down to the beach. All my favorite people live here too!

What’s the biggest lesson you’re taking away from the past 6 months with Stratejoy / how has the experience changed you?

Community is everything. Six months ago I was so unsure of myself and I felt so alone. By sharing this online space with Molly, Doniree, Nikki, Marian, Renee, Alisha, and all the lovely commenters I found a place to be open and accountable with my goals and intentions, while admitting my fears and things that hold me back – which was something I generally avoid. Stratejoy is such a wonderful, amazing community, and I feel forever grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to grow & shine a little brighter here these past months, while connecting with so many amazing women.

What song lyrics fit your life, right now, at the beginning of this brand new year?

Hmm, most of the music I listen to is instrumental so this is a tough one. I’m sure there are a lot of songs about freedom and travel but I just can’t think of one. How about this, for my sailor girl self: “Yo ho ho and a bottle of water.”

If you had a time machine, what place and time would you travel to and why?

Definitely a time with dinosaurs. But my time machine would be something out of the Jetsons so I could fly all over and be relatively safe from the hazards, you know, I don’t want it to turn out like Jurassic Park.

What is something that not a lot of people know about you that you wish more people could know?

Ohhh. Tough one. Not many people know where I am, like, geographically. It’d be fun if my family or friends could not only know, but occasionally teleport themselves to my exact latitude and longitude.

What surprised you the most about 2010?

Everything. But, I guess, the most surprising part was everything I learned that I didn’t even know I needed to learn. In the beginning of the year I was all goal-oriented and ready for action, and all those goals withered as I had some major personal revelations and grew in whole new ways that I never expected to. Self-knowledge, self-care, self-love. It was a very self-centered year. And these lessons were invaluable in shaping me today and my plans for tomorrow.

What’s the best present you’ve ever received?

My Caprice! The Grandpa Cruiser! My wheels I got when I was sixteen. Technically, it was my parents car, and it went back to them when I went away to college and it couldn’t handle the constant cross-state commuting. It went out in a blaze of glory though – we sold it to a guy who entered it into a demolition derby. In my eyes, the only way that that era could end.

This picture was taken before the final damage was done. Oh! My poor baby!

Imagine your life was being made into a movie. What would the title be? Who would you pick to play you? What would the theme song be? How about the little trailer blurb for the advertisement?

“Hula Hoop Dreams” (My cremates told me this is what I should name my autobiography because I spend so much of my time hula hooping on the bow of the boat. What can I say, it’s a passion!) Starring Kirsten Dunst because she is my doppelgänger. The Theme Song would be Fort Knox by Goldfish because it’s peppy and groovy and my most favorite song to hoop to. The Trailer Blurb… oooohhh, I have to steal this from a crappy movie I just watched: “She’s a trip, but she’s no vacation.” (Har har har.)

Dream home?

Jungle Gym House! My friends have two huge couches pushed together in the center of their living room that they call “The Pit” – a fitting name for a large pit of pillows and blankets. We expanded the idea to an entire house that you can play all over. Wide open spaces, not much furniture (besides another version of the pit, lots of pillows and low tables). Space for yoga. A big garden. Fruit trees. A dope kitchen with lots of counter space, a gas stove, and a Vitamix blender. A big comfortable bed with lovely sheets and pillows. Definitely hammocks and swings. A big porch. And a fire pit outside with a nice patio. The house will be an old one that I fixed up myself using green construction methods and eco-friendly products. Or one built from the ground up. I dunno, it requires more planning and money still. But it will happen when I settle down one day, in a place as close to my heaven as I can get!

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Survey Time!

posted 22nd January 2011    Written by: Renee    CATEGORY: All Posts, Creativity, Inspiration, Renee, Season 3, What I've Learned

1.    What do you miss most about being a child?
I’m not a person who longs for her childhood.  I mostly remember catty girls, crushes that went nowhere, and my parents’ divorce.  I think I always wanted to grow up.  But the one thing that reminds me of being a child is my Maltese, Holly. She was a gift from my grandfather when I was 2 and we had to put her down when I was 18. We grew up together and I miss her terribly.  I dream about her a lot still.  Whenever I see a little Maltese nowadays, my heart gets all fuzzy.  I don’t think I could ever adopt another one, because no one will replace my Holly dog, but I can’t imagine adopting anything other than a little tiny terrier.

2.   What’s on your bedside table?
A mess. A couple bottles of lotion, the controls for our electric blanket, a candle, an old issue of Real Simple, a lamp in the shape of the Eiffel tower, a stapler, a bunch of jewelry I take off before bed, and a glass of water. Oh, and a clock/radio that makes weird noises when our phones are too close to it, so we just keep it unplugged. Awesome.

3.    When was the last time you were giddy with happiness, lost in one of those can’t-hold-back-a-smile kinda moments?
I was baking Christmas cookies and had the house all to myself. I turned up the Christmas tunes and when “All I Want For Christmas is You” came on, I went full-on Risky Business–dancing in my socks, sliding around our wood floors, singing to my cat (who was extremely unimpressed).  Of course, a glass of merlot was involved, but it was unadulterated joy. The cookies turned out pretty great, too!

4.    What are you most looking forward to in the next 6 months? (Besides reading awesome Season IV Bloggers!)
My husband and I are traveling quite a bit in May. My sister-in-law is graduating, so we’re flying out to Tacoma, WA to see her commencement, then we have a wedding in Charlotte, NC the next weekend… so we decided to fly from Washington to North Carolina in the middle of the week. It’s our vacation for the year, so hopefully we’ll get some alone time, even though we’ll be staying with friends.

5.       What’s your hell like?
I would have an incurable runny nose in hell. I would be eternally washing dishes with my high school PE teacher while we listen to the dulcet tones of a bad children’s choir. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would be forced to eat black licorice. Also, it would be snowing a lot.

6.       What’s your heaven like?
A plate of warm rice krispy treats would meet me at the pearly gates and my cozy home would have a built-in tap for all varieties of Leinenkugel’s beer. I can order breakfast any time at heaven’s diner where I share pancakes once a week with Mary Tyler Moore, Gloria Steinem, JFK, and Mother Teresa. My closet is filled with amazing boots and sweaters from Anthropologie. Private concerts on the beach are held nightly, with rotating sets from Josh Groban, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah Bareilles, and the original Broadway cast of Phantom of the Opera.

7.    What’s the biggest lesson you’re taking away from the past 6 months with Stratejoy / how has the experience changed you?
Blogging for Stratejoy was the perfect extension of the Joy Equation. This gig forced me to sit down once a week and examine some of life’s big questions whether I wanted to or not. And that’s an amazing gift.

8.    What song lyrics fit your life, right now, at the beginning of this brand new year?
“It’s been a long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” – Counting Crows, my first cassette tape bought with my own money

9.     If you had a time machine, what place and time would you travel to and why?
I would travel to New York City in the 1960s. I’d become either a journalist or a flight attendant. I would be at the forefront of the feminist movement while experiencing all the incredibly fashions of that era. Also, the Beatles.  Yes.

10.    What is something that not a lot of people know about you that you wish more people could know?
I’m a really good cook, but only my husband knows that.  Also, I was voted Most Musically Talented and Best Thespian in high school.  Also also, I do a fantastic Sarah Palin impression, but she only comes around at parties.

11.     What surprised you the most about 2010?
Grad school and my ability to apply myself more than I ever thought possible. Furthermore, the opportunity to teach a couple undergrad courses and how that has uncovered a passion I never knew I had.

12.     What’s the best present you’ve ever received?
For my 24th birthday, my husband bought me a brand new Schwinn cruiser that I’ve named Lady Jane. She’s beautiful: peach in color, detailed with purple and red flowers. I’ve added a basket, too. I ride her to work in the summer, which has garnered quite the fan club. The boss’s brother said, “That bike makes me want to be a woman!”

13.      Imagine your life was being made into a movie. What would the title be? Who would you pick to play you? What would the theme song be? How about the little trailer blurb for the advertisement?
My movie, Tenacity, would star Tina Fey. All the critics would be impressed to see Tina turning over a new leaf, no longer stuck in a Liz Lemon character, but finally realizing her dreams and going after them with tenacity. Of course, she does so with biting sarcasm and fantastic comebacks. It would be Ms. Norbury’s version of Mean Girls, complete with wacky students that she challenges to participate in speech competitions, but we would also see her home life where she never cleans and talks to her cat a lot.  Jason Robert Brown, my favorite Broadway composer, would compose the score and write an incredible ballad that I would record personally for the radio.

14.      Dream Job?  Dream Home?  Dream Vacation?
Me: “What’s my dream job?”
Husband: “I thought you wanted your own travel show.”
Me: “Ooohhh, yeah, that is my dream job.”
Husband: “You could be the female version of Anthony Bourdain.”
Me: “Nice. I am pretty acerbic.”
Husband: “Yeah.”
Me: “You weren’t supposed to agree with that.”

Dream job: A travel show that allows me to eat a TON of seafood and ice cream and stay in incredible beachfront hotel rooms and meet intriguing people and go to fancy award shows in pretty gowns.
Dream home: An old house in a historic neighborhood with lots of character and bold colored walls. Multiple fireplaces. Exposed brick. A basement bar. My own office/library. Lots of windows for sunlight. Tons of counter space in a giant kitchen. A backyard vegetable garden. Located within walking or biking distance of shops, bars, restaurants, and cafes.
Dream vacation: Free. Sunshine. Margaritas. Spa day. Gourmet food. Snorkeling.

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