O You! was Outstanding

As my mom foreshadowed in her comment to my previous post, we attended the O You! conference last Saturday in San Francisco. It was a fantastic event.









There were several thousand women there, and we saw several mother-and-daughter duos.







The line-up of speakers was straight out of the O Magazine, and due to concurrent sessions, we had to choose four. Other than one session, my mom and I were together. I saw Martha Beck, Suze Orman, Stacy London and Marianne Williamson. As you can see in one of my pictures, Stacy came down into the crowd and walked very close to us. She was fantastic, providing realistic advice to everyone about fashion and style. She took questions from the audience, which turned into personal critiques (very respectful) of the individual and some personalized advice. Martha Beck was my favorite of the day. She was genuine, fascinating and funny. She is a professional coach but actually got into more of a spiritual/life area that resonated with me. In contrast, Marianne Williamson, who is known for the spiritual side, didn't connect with me or my mom.


Suze Orman was dynamic and hilarious. She began her talk by saying, "You may have noticed the title for this session was 'The 8 Habits of Wealthy Women.' It has now been renamed: 'What the hell is going on in this country and how does it impact all of us.'" She also gave very practical advice (I took notes) and predicted that we won't be out of this financial crisis until 2015.



The day ended with an unplanned visit by Oprah. Her BF Gayle King led the event and told us in her opening speech that she pleaded with Oprah to show up. Although Oprah looked tired (she admitted having finished several tapings of her show and other interviews), she was very inspiring.

I would definitely recommend one of these events. I have some advice for them to improve their website, but overall it was a very energizing and uplifting day. The Moscone venue was fantastic, and since there were a limited number of men in attendance, I truly appreciated that they redesignated most of the men's restrooms to women. They are planning on posting the presentations by each speaker on their website: www.oyouonline.com Currently, you can find videos from last year's conference there.

I Heart San Francisco

I have always enjoyed San Francisco.








I love being near the water, and the fresh seafood is incredible. It also has a nice vibe. My mom noted how wide and clean the streets were. We walked to dinner in the evening and found the streetlights were very bright and cheery. The only detractor is the overwhelming number of homeless and beggars. Every block had at least one.










We took a cable car from our hotel over to the bay.









The hills always amaze me, and the street pictured is Lombardi Street, the crooked-est street. While you can't see the zig-zag, it does show the elevation differences and the beautiful view.






We bought fresh crab and shrimp salad for lunch -- delicious -- and saw this seagull enjoying his own salad. I'm not sure if someone bought it especially for him or just left it there for his access. The bird was enjoying it.



We went to Pier 39 and saw the seals. Their consistent barking kept giving me the giggles.







We had fantastic food each night -- sushi, Mexican and Italian. Here we are at the Mexican place with our Macho Margaritas. They had chopped and roasted jalapenos in them! Very tasty, very spicy.

travel and learning

As one of my friends wrote me in a recent email, my previous post stirred up quite a shit storm of activity in the comments! It's nice to get comments, real evidence that people are reading and inspired enough by my post to share their point of view.

For the past couple days, I've been in San Francisco. I'm here for a conference for work, networking with people from 7 am to 11 pm, and as I flew across country to get here (quite a long flight of 6 hours), I felt a cold coming on. I'm starting to feel a bit better, just in time...

My mom is flying in to join me in San Fran for the weekend. We are attending an Oprah conference on Saturday, and while Oprah herself won't be there, we will see Suze Orman, Martha Beck, Stacey London and others. (A great opportunity for internal, personal work!)

I haven't seen my mom since our family vacation in June, so it will be great to see her and catch up. Plus, I love San Francisco. Such a beautiful, fun city.

Deep Thoughts

(Yes, the title is an old SNL reference to Jack Handey.)

We had another gorgeous fall weekend here in NYC. The weather has definitely turned, and jackets and scarves are mandatory attire. I walked my favorite path along the Hudson River and enjoyed the crisp air and bright sun glinting off the water.

Sometimes I think I think too much. When writing about travelling alone recently, Jenn wrote that she got tired of hearing her own voice in her head. Maybe that's it. I do so enjoy good conversations with others. The monologue in my head is getting old.

I've been pondering the big questions, like What's my purpose in life? Am I supposed to be here (NYC)? What's the reason for it all? Work is going fine, but sometimes when I consider what's really important (family, friends, making a difference), it all seems so pointless.

I've thought about moving back to Texas, maybe Austin instead of Dallas this time. But will I be admitting defeat? Saying that I couldn't hack it in the Big City? Am I giving up too easily? And if I move there, will it really be any different? I can't escape the monologue, wherever I go. I'll have to start over all over again, putting out the same effort to make friends and create a social life. But at least I'd have family close by.

No decisions at this time. Just questions.

The Long-Awaited Girls' Weekend

My "big" sis Jenn came to visit last weekend. Before you chastise me for not posting earlier, let me explain that this week has been very busy with client presentations (3) and travel (Philly and Boston) with planes, trains and automobiles.

Last Friday, Jenn was arriving at JFK airport, which is the farthest from Manhattan, but since she was coming in at 9:30 p.m., I decided to take the subway out to meet her and planned on taking a taxi back into the city. I was amazed and horrified that the subway took so long to get out there! I had planned on getting out there before she arrived and brought a book to keep me company. Unfortunately, I was still on the airtrain trying to get to her terminal when she called and said she was there. (I kept her waiting 20 minutes, which stressed me out a bit.)

After waiting through a LONG taxi line, we told the driver to take us straight to the restaurant, suitcase and all (not that uncommon in NYC), since we were both hungry. I had called the restaurant to make a reservation, but the lady I spoke to said not to worry about a reservation, just show up at that hour (between 10:30-11 p.m.). The restaurant was in the ever-trendy Meat Packing district, and of course, there was a line out front and some fierce looking doormen choosing who got in. After some finagling, we did get in (thank goodness). By this time, I was quite worked up (stressed!) because I wanted everything to go smoothly for Jenn. But she's so easygoing, probably the most so in our family, and she helped me relax by telling me she was just happy to be there and enjoying whatever happened. 

Since I have a king size bed, Jenn slept on the unused portion. I was surprised I woke up before she did on Saturday morning, but she revelled in the quiet -- no kids to wake her up, and because of the holiday weekend, no construction noise from Ground Zero. After some fruit and a virtual visit with the kids back home through iChat, we met my friends (and sisters) Liesel and Erin for brunch. Then I took Jenn by my office and to the Union Square farmers' market. We also stopped into a discount store, but didn't find anything worth buying there. Back home, we dropped off our grocery purchases and speed-walked over to the Hudson River and kayaking. It was a little cold, and Jenn accidentally splashed me once with her oar, but it was beautiful and fun. Then we speed-walked back home to get cleaned up for dinner and our Broadway show.

Traffic was horrendous going uptown to the Theater District, and we were late for our dinner reservation. The Italian food was terrific but we both agreed we would have liked to have lingered over it a bit more. However, the show must go on! Our theater was just a couple short blocks from the restaurant, and Wow, oh WOW is Wicked an incredible show! I've been wanting to see it for some time, but not wanting to go on my own, and it was great to share it with Jenn.

On Sunday, we went to church and then headed uptown to go to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). We ran into a street fair, which I love, and got some cheap but tasty eats for lunch. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the Van Gogh exhibit at MoMA because it had sold out for the day. I don't go to many museums -- just not my thing -- so now I know you can (and should) buy tickets ahead of time.

However, this freed up some time for shopping. I took Jenn to Macy's, which is 7-8 stories high and a block wide. She got some great deals and we thoroughly exhausted ourselves. Dinner that night was at another fabulous Italian restaurant, and my FWB (friend-with-benefits) joined us for a glass of wine (and low-key scrutiny...he passed).

We were up late our last night, and a bit tipsy on the wine, but Jenn was up early the next morning to head to the airport. I was sad to see her go. It was so great having her here and so easy to be around her. 

You can read Jenn's recaps of the eventful weekend on her blog.

The Annual Embarrassment

One of the "joys" of being a woman is annual gynecological check-ups.

One of the "joys" of a new job is new insurance and the necessity to get a new doctor because the previous one doesn't accept the new insurance.

Then there's finding a doc that is currently accepting new patients. And I narrow the field further because I only want to see a female doc after an embarrassing incident during college. After MANY phone calls, I finally find a female doc in my neighborhood who is still accepting my insurance and also will take a new patient. Great. Sign me up.

As I'm trying to get all my information at the ready (date of last period, brand of pills, etc.), I realize I'm going to an Asian woman, and she will likely be petite and will likely make a deal of my weight. Yay.

First, there are the questions about physical health and history. I got a raised eyebrows response when I told her I've been on the pill for 16 years. (The truth is 18 years, but 16 is what came out of my mouth...not sure why, but the raised eyebrows was definitely a reason to want to bend the truth further. Why don't they treat doctors about poker faces?) She then asked my age and [hopefully] realized that's not as bad as it initially sounds.

She had me stand on the scale and asked if I'd recently gained weight. Nope, it's been pretty steady, doc. (Actually, I've recently lost 2 lbs, but since that's not really a lot when the goal is much more, I didn't mention it. Although I considered fabricating that I've lost 20 lbs. to make my current weight seem not as bad...)

Then it's the lovely paper gown, opening in the front. She takes my blood pressure and tells me it's borderline. (I'm usually low.) Am I nervous, she asks? Are you kidding me?!*? I'm basically naked in front of a strange, petite woman. Yeah, I'm not exactly my most comfortable.

She makes small talk while she does the usual poking and prodding, and because of my age, the small talk is about mammography. Yes, I'm on the north side of 35, and a baseline mammogram is recommended anytime between now and 40. [Ugh.] She says my only risk factor is that I'm over 35 and haven't had kids. I mention this hasn't been by design, that I really want to have kids. She says, "you just have to be ready to settle down." Thanks. Actually, I AM ready to "settle down" (what a horrible phrase...as if I'm partying it up every night and can't be bothered to be a steady influence for a minor), I just haven't met the right guy yet. She asks if the guy I'm seeing might be the right one. Oh, that's right, I may have alluded that Friend-with-benefits is a steady guy I'm seeing for the past 6 months. Uh, too soon to tell.

And then, because the current conversation and the fact that I'm still in this awful blue paper gown isn't bad enough, she brings up the weight issue.

[Yeah, can we finish this conversation once I have my clothes back on?]

Spotlight, please

Karaoke. The word makes some people cringe, but it always gives me a thrill. I remember when I was first introduced to its hypnotizing power in college. Several local bars would hold weekly contests, and my fellow choir members and I would go in groups to try and win. I won several times: Sometimes the prize was dinner for two, once it was $50, and once just a lame t-shirt.

I went out with my new co-workers last week to bid farewell to one who has decided to take a new direction in his life. (Get out of the agency business? Who would ever consider leaving this?) We began at a nice bar not far from the office, but it soon became the site of an Obama rally, and while most of us were supporters of the candidate, we weren't thrilled with the prospect of listening to local organizers' speeches. We wandered over to a second place, which has A KARAOKE SYSTEM! Wee!!!

I sang Sweet Dreams (Patsy Cline), La Bamba and Something to Talk About (Bonnie Raitt). The sound system wasn't great, but I just can't pass up the opportunity to perform!

I know from family stories (and personal experience) that I get this personality trait from both sets of grandparents. My paternal grandfather was quite the entertainer in his small town, and my maternal grandmother still enjoys commanding the attention of others. Her vivaciousness is especially evident in her retirement community, and she recently has gained some local notoriety with her Wii bowling. (She's not familiar with the brand "Wii," but describes it to me as "very technological.")

You can see in this video that the camera loves her. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think she really shines in this local news piece. While on occasion my Grandma has embarrassed me, I am proud of her accomplishments (in Wii bowling) and her continued zest for life. I also realize I'm probably going to be just like her in my later years!

Hit Me Again, Matchmaker

So I never heard from Match #2 again. Not totally disappointed, as I didn't feel any physical attraction. To protect his identity, I've been referring to him among my friends as "Mr. Small Hands." I didn't blog about this previously, but during our meeting, he called attention to his hands, saying he had injured one in karate. We were both looking at his hands, and I noticed they were pretty small for a guy. Unfortunately, I have large hands for a girl (my uncle Joe used to say "these are football-catching hands!" not that I can do that), and I'd prefer a guy I date to have larger hands than me. If I have the bigger hands in the relationship, it makes me feel ungainly, butchy, and not very feminine.

So he never called again. And I'm okay with that.

And I just received Match #3! I'll be calling him soon to set up a meeting. From the brief email intro we get from the service, I know he's interested in "sports, dining out and music." Stay tuned...