Tag: personal post

Currently: a Monday evening perspective

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HI THERE, HOW ARE THINGS? Life lately = yeeesh. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these (or one of anything on here) so let’s touch base. Regroup. Circle back. Er, I mean catch up. It’s only Monday evening (when I wrote this) and I’m already exhausted. I’d say “what a week!” but it’s been a day. I DIGRESS.

Park pond

Currently, (as I navigate my at Monday evening), I am…

Listening to: A Spotify playlist I made featuring all the songs on Will Arnett’s horrible Netflix original series called Flaked. The show will make you upset with Venice and friendship and humanity (in a totally not worth it way) but the music will make you moody and solemn and deep (in the best way!), so do that instead.

Eating: I just finished an “open-faced grilled cheese sandwich.” AKA I microwaved a slab of brie on an english muffin, and I’m trying to make myself feel okay about it. Other people my age have families of five and I’m still cooking at a junior-high level but THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

Sipping on: A glass of pinot noir. Always. I mean obviously not always, but you know, sometimes. We’re getting into the most uncomfortable time of the year for red-wine connoisseurs, btw – when the rising outside temperatures make ordering a malbec or shiraz socially uncomfortable. But be bold, lovers of the dark-colored grape, and do not let those rosé or *shivers* chardonnay drinkers cramp your style. For if it truly gets too warm out to think about sipping on a red, there’s always our good friend whiskey on the rocks.

Feeling good about: This past weekend. I helped coordinate an alumni happy hour AND I organized a donut crawl, which is exactly what it sounds like (a bar crawl of donut shops). Both were occasions to catch up with people who I’ve spent too long not seeing, and it was so good to socialize and spend some time exploring new places in the city which I too often (literally daily) take for granted.

Reading: Finishing up Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance and starting Pamela Ryckman’s Stiletto Network for book club (#oneNewYearsResolutiondown).

Missing: My long-distance family and friends. And Whitney Houston, always.

Terrified of: Spiders. Job stuff. Strangers/being followed. Walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you. You know, the normal things to be terrified of.

Excited about: OH I REBRANDED MY WEBSITE. In a time when I actually have 1,000,000+ other things I should be working on in my spare time, I decided to move full speed ahead with the website rebrand I’ve been thinking about for a year on the blog I update maybe once every other month at most. Anyways, it’s still a bit of a work in progress, but I chose the name Uptown Moxie because:

a) I’m no longer the little girl I was when I moved to the big apple five years ago, and even though ‘uptown’ is specific to where I live curently, I like being a little more expansive with my geo-referencing. Just perhaps I won’t live in New York for the rest of my blogging days. Just perhaps.

b) I have always lived Uptown, and I’m basically Christie Brinkley

c) I liked and have used the word Moxie plenty of times before Allison Williams named her dog. But for the record I died a million times when she got/named that adorable pup.

cp

With that, I’m at the end of my feelings and also at the end of my wine glass. I hope you like the rebrand and that you’ll stick around to hear my ramblings, however many months apart I may post them. Xo.

P.S. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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10 Things…

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Blog-tember Day 10 Prompt: List 10 things that you love about yourself! Let’s kick that negative self-talk outta here!

  1. I’m not a picky eater.
  2. I know how to dress for my body-type. Mostly. Yesterday, a co-worker did tell my outfit made me look like an Orthodox Jew, but in fairness, I’m not claiming how to dress for my religious affiliation.
  3. I make an effort to stay up with current events/world news.
  4. I make an effort to work out. Sometimes.
  5. I’m a really good friend.
  6. My childhood room is decked out in fuzzy zebra-print, and I will never admit it was a mistake. I will own that fuzzy zebra-print decision until the end of time.
  7. Cats… typically like me (?)
  8. I’m decently skilled at math.
  9. My independence. Aka the greatest hamartia of all.
  10. I consistently surround myself with pretty solid folks. The good people in my world keep me grounded and sane, and without those qualities, any and all of the above would cease to exist.

What my personality and The Lion King have in common

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Blog-tember Day 9 Prompt: Let’s talk personality types. Introverted? Extroverted? Unsure-troverted? ;) If you know your Myers-Briggs type, tell us about it! If not, you can take this similar test and share your results.

I’d go into further detail, but I think this image pretty much says it all:

Screen Shot 2014-09-09 at 1.21.17 AMGuess I’m with Mufasa and Jesus.

Also, this is a fun (and maybe more reliable?) source. Looks like I’m cut out to be an Ad Exec or Sales Manager. Works for me.

Happy Tuesday, all!

 

When I Grow Up

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Blog-tember Day 3 prompt: “When I grow up I want to be….” Feel free to answer as your 5-year-old self or as of now. This is a pretty generous guessing game, but what follows is the basic gist of me answering that question, mostly in relation to my career, as best as I can remember, in each year of my life. Enjoy.

Anchorman2

  • 5 – 8 years old: An artist
  • 9 – 13 years old: A dancer
  • 14 years old: The first female Pope
  • 15 years old: Mmm I don’t know, but Rachel from Friends seems like she has it all figured out. So maybe her?
  • 16 years old: A Journalist, like Angelina Jolie’s character in Life or Something Like It
  • 17 years old: Broadcast Journalist who choreographs Show Choirs on the side
  • 18 years old: Show Choir choreographer who dabbles in Journalism on the side
  • 18.5 years old: When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies
  • 19 years old: Something to do with Business, I guess?
  • 20 years old: Something to do with Business that’s creative. But not Sales. Definitely not Sales.
  • 21 years old: Do I have any other options than Retail? Okay, so Retail.
  • 22 years old: Anything but Retail.
  • 23 years old: Someone who can wear jeans to work.
  • 24 years old: A Writer/Lawyer/Journalist/Marketing Prodigy/Sales Guru/Television Enthusiast/Photographer/Cat-mom/Professional Sleeping Person
  • 25 years old: Happy. Challenged professionally and satisfied personally — but mostly, I think I just want to enjoy the ride.

And on the note of growing up and careers, here’s one of my favorite Nora Ephron quotes, from her 1996 commencement speech at Wellesley College. This about sums up where my head’s at right now.

 “This is the season when a clutch of successful women — who have it all — give speeches to women like you and say, to be perfectly honest, you can’t have it all. Maybe young women don’t wonder whether they can have it all any longer, but in case of you are wondering, of course you can have it all. What are you going to do? Everything, is my guess. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like, but surprises are good for you. And don’t be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I’ve had four careers and three husbands.”

I think when I grow up, I want to continue embracing the mess. Cheers to that!

Happiness Is…

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Blog-tember Day 2 Prompt: Write about what makes you happy, from the little joys to the huge game-changers. Can-dosville, baby doll. Here’s a few thing that are making me smile, as of late:

  • The tried and true cheeseburger + beer combo
  • Spending time with good people
  • Sleeping in
  • Long car rides, open roads, and country music
  • Reconnecting with old friends
  • My birks. If someone wanted to gift me these as a belated birthday present, it would be happiness bullet worthy too. Just sayin’
  • The Wonder Years
  • Buckeye wins. And friends who live-text you updates when you’re not around a television ;)
  • Television
  • This quote from Girls: “You say yes, and then you figure it out”

It’s a Sunshine Day

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Oh hai there. Some things (such suspense in the vagueness) have yet again taken precedence away from updating this old thing the past few weeks, so for that I apologize. I can’t on-the-record promise this or next week will be any better… but I’m sure going to try.

A few weeks back, an ahh-mazing blogger known as Zee nominated me for a pretty cool thing called the Sunshine Award. Allegedly, this is a way for cool bloggers to introduce cool bloggers to other cool bloggers. A lot of cool bloggers involved in the process, specifically those who are creative, positive, and all around good guys and gals (or at least appear so in their internet personas). Sounds great, right?! Since I’m pretty much obsessed with Catching Zees and also this is the first time I’ve ever won (been nominated for? I prefer saying won) anything worthwhile in my young adult existence, I was pumped. But then I fell off the [blogging] wagon enough for enough time to gain 8 pounds. BUT LOOK AT ME NOW. HERE, BLOGGING AGAIN. Attempting to pick off right where I left. Let us allow this be seamless. Did someone say Seamless?! Uhh, so here’s the rules I was asked to follow:

  1. Display the Award Certificate on your blog.
  2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger who nominated you. (Thank you, Zee. You’re fantastic!)
  3. Post 10 interesting things about yourself.
  4. Nominate some fellow deserving bloggers for the award.
  5. Link your nominees in the post and let them know about their nomination with a comment.

Sunshine Award

I’ll do my best to make this interesting. Here are some typed up things about me:

  1. I don’t know how to embed gifs on my blog. Or even really how to google gifs properly. I know gifs would make this more interesting, so I’m kind of already considering this a failure.
  2. I don’t use emoticons. Never have. I’d confidently continue with “never will” but there’s some awfully tempting cat-faced contenders out there. For the time being, I have a folder of saved images of Kristin Wiig’s facial expressions that I send out when I feel the need to deeply convey emotion outside of the normal : ) slash : ( slash o_O Kristen Wiig face
  3. Once in 2011 I tweeted something to the effect of “I hope wine and popcorn count toward my daily recommended servings of fruit and vegetables.” So I guess you could say I was Olivia Poping it before Olivia Pope. *brushes dirt off shoulders*Olivia Wine
  4. I have the handwriting of a second grader.
  5. Life goal is to be: half as hip as Lindsay Weir, a third of as funny as anyone who replies to the @Midnight tweets, a fourth of as energetic as Leslie Knope, and a fifth of as continuously turnt up as Miley Cyrus.Miley Cyrus LipKristen Wiig face
  6. True life: I didn’t know what the Oxford comma was until last week.
  7. You always know what I’m thinking and feeling because I wear my emotions on my sleeve face. Sorrrrrry.Gilly
  8. I have a very real, very perpetual fear of mispronouncing words. And using words at incorrect times. I guess, just talking in general. I should probably look into data-entry as a career.
  9. For as obsessed with television as I am, I loathe reality TV. (Much to my mom’s dismay)
  10. “If you’re going to break the rules, break all the rules” is my favorite thing anyone’s ever said to me. Walter White

In the same vein, I do feel like breaking some Sunshine rules. I don’t want to pressure anyone to do this type of post if it isn’t your thing. Plus, some of you have been around for a while and potentially have been nominated before. SO, instead of commenting on each of your blogs with this nom., I’m going to not. But I think you all are very wonderful in such creative, inspiring and unique ways, and since I don’t have a “blogroll” of sorts, I’m excited that this award has given me the chance to shout out to the few sites I regularly pop over to check out during the week.

Ahh, hope I’m not forgetting anyone. Also, I hope this isn’t creepy to those of you who don’t know me at all since I just tagged your blog! If anyone has any other great recommendations of who to follow out there in the blogosphere, let me know in the comments! Always up for checking out new reads/making new web-based friends. AND: happy Monday!

The post you never want to write

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I didn’t know that I could experience so many ranges of emotion with such fervor in a 36 hour window. From my anxiety and excitement for the move (which couldn’t have gone smoother) to working a busy day capped off with the most elegant event of my young adult life, to paralyzing nervousness for my improv performance (which was surprisingly so much fun), to experiencing a very unexpected and unwelcome phone call just as I was settling down Sunday evening.

Losing someone you love is tough. Grieving is tough. There is no right or wrong way to mourn, but no matter how you slice it, it always feels like there’s more you could or should be doing. To honor. To cope. To remember.

My friend Kourtney was a very special person. Not special in the way all moms tell you their kid is, but an honest-to-God, very unique and wonderful human. She was honest and genuine, a truly beautiful soul with a flare for adventure and an incredible and authentic sense of style to match. I was privileged to spend what turned out to be her last birthday with her last summer; we spent the night dancing and club-hopping until the sun came up. That was the latest (earliest?) I’ve been out on the town since. She was a few years older than me, but her spirit was youthful: full of energy and a passion for living, which I guess is irony in the worst and most awful sense.

People say a lot of nice things about you after you’re gone. It’s really too bad because all of these things I would have loved to tell Kourtney in person. Not to directly quote Wicked here, but I really do think that knowing her made me a better person. I’m happy and lucky to have called her a friend and wish there was still time to spend with her.

This wasn’t the way I wanted to kick off my week, but glazing over this huge thing and posting a coffee shop review would feel entirely inappropriate today. Especially knowing how many of my friends are also living this somber state of confusion and hurt. So if you can, whether you knew Kourtney or not, try not to take anything for granted this week. Really relish the time you are here and spend it with people you love, doing things you love. Hug your loved ones a little closer and maybe a little too long, because you never know what’s going to happen or what kind of demons they are carrying with them. Rest in peace, my dear friend. The world is already dimmer in your absence.

Goodbye, Yellow Brick Apartment

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Hi hi hi! Happy Monday from an insane person. Why insane, you ask? Well, some part of my brain thought it was an excellent idea to schedule my first improv performance, my first Winter Ball, my second move to the Heights all within three days of each other. Also in the mix: working my regular (crazy) work hours, wrapping up all the loose ends that I don’t want to take with me to my new (old) apartment and attempting to maintain some sort of overarching normalcy. In other words, it’s going to be quite the week.

In a ways, I’m sad to leave my current apartment. It was my baby…my baby that got way out of hand and unmanageable and unnecessarily inconvenient and at times infested with bugs…but my baby, nonetheless. Moving in to a situation that may fit my lifestyle better is a change I’m welcoming, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t going to be aspects I’m going to miss about my Upper East Side abode. It boasted the largest bedroom I’ll likely ever have (complete with chandelier and fireplace), built-in storage, a dishwasher, and we had the world’s sweetest landlord. These are all things I’ll look back on with fond memories. The cockroaches from the 2nd Ave. construction and stress-inducing commute to my job on the West side, good riddance.

UES Room 6UES Room 7UES Room 1UES Room 5UES Room 2UES Room 4

~*SiNgLe && LoViN iT*!

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As much as I am looking forward to being home for the holidays, there’s one thing I’m dreading. The questions from family/friends always begin with “What’s it like living in New York City?” or “Do you think you’ll stay?” …  then slowly turn into “How is your job going?” and “That real estate market in New York is crazy, huh?” … and always funnel down to the real point of conversation “So, are you seeing anybody?” or “Anyone special in your life?”

“Are you in a relationship?” It’s a yes or no question, but it never seems like one word will suffice. I’ve been single (or a least, not in a serious relationship) for the good majority of my life, and people have opinions about it. People will always have opinions. I didn’t meet my soul mate in high school. I didn’t meet my soul mate in college. The industries I’ve worked in since graduation are predominantly saturated with gay men. Also, I hate dating. These aren’t excuses, they’re facts. I’ve had boyfriends. I’ve gone on dates. I’ve had casual flings. Do you see me bringing someone home for the holidays? Do you see a ring on it? Nothing’s worked out. It’s Christmas day and the great woes and tragedies of my love life aren’t necessarily the things I feel like talking about right now, that cool?

I think one of the main reasons the question frustrates me so much, is because I will never be a person who is defined by my romantic relationship. I don’t fault you if you are, but that just isn’t me. I am defined by my beliefs and my morals and my successes. I moved to New York City when I was 21 — jobless, homeless, near penniless and by myself — to begin my career. Two and a half years later, I have so much more than I would have ever imagined — I have a life here — and I’m still nowhere near finished. I have a wonderful full-time job, I write this blog, I am member of an amazing women’s volunteer organization, I take writing and comedy classes, I’m working on a script, I work out, I sleep, I socialize with friends, I sometimes force myself to date. I’m nowhere near ready to settle down and have kids. I may never be ready to settle down and have kids. I’ve always been restless, driven and independent. When you add in a backdrop of the concrete jungle that never sleeps filled with the most ambitious people in the world, I thrive. And if you’ve known me for twenty-four years, you should know this too.

I guess what I’m trying to say is no, I don’t have a boyfriend. No, I don’t have a girlfriend, either. I’m single, but I have a fulfilling life. Ask me about my improv classes. Ask me about getting to see Joy Behar or Lena Dunham or Seth Meyers. Ask me about what it’s like to be one of the top Consultants in my industry. These are all questions I would welcome and love to answer. *End rant*

10 Things About Me

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These lists that are going around Facebook are the third most annoying thing I’ve seen in while — only after  “things I’m thankful for” posts and Crossfit check-ins. The first rule of cross fit should be you don’t talk about Crossfit, amIright?!

Anywho, I don’t have anything to write today and since it’s literally the eleventh hour, I’ve decided to succumb to the nonsense. My apologies, followers. I hate myself a little more now too. Without further self-deprecating ado, here are ten stupid facts about myself:

  1. I like bacon. (You knew that)
  2. I like cats. (You knew that too)
  3. I require much more sleep to function now than I did two years ago and it makes me sad because it’s like I can actually feel myself aging.
  4. I use a paper planner (on an academic calendar) and write everything I do in it. If I do something I haven’t written down, I’ll have to write it in and cross it off. Holy Type A, Batman.
  5. I will meet Tina Fey one day (in the most non-stalkerish way that could be said). But really, I will.
  6. Even though I’m not important and am basically poor, I’ve put far too much serious thought into hiring an assistant to schedule appointments, send out birthday cards to family/friends, clean my apartment, things of that nature.
  7. I wish I could watch more TV without it taking time out of my day. I love TV and could easily make a career out of watching it.
  8. I drink coffee every single day. I worked at a coffee shop for three years in college and it wrecked my caffeine tolerance forever.
  9. I’m usually cold.
  10. I hate showering. I do it, though. Against my will.