What? July is Almost Over?

Here are my favorites from July!

First, always be protected from the sun. I like this sunscreen because it smells nice and isn't slime-y.

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Second, drinking water is essential to not passing out during the summer heat. How do you facilitate drinking water? You get a snazzy new water bottle that has a straw.

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Third, clothes for working out. I found two new things to make running in the heat more tolerable. Plus, they're pretty.

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FLORAL PATTERN!

Fourth, my one true love, sunglasses. I do sunglasses on the cheap because I'm terrified that I may break or lose expensive things. 

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And finally, my fancy favorite for July; Tory Burch 'Macy' Wedges. They're very pretty and quite comfortable in spite of the high heel height. 

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Who or what have you been crushing on for the past month? I love things. I love pretty things. 

xoxo,

Liz

Career & Passion & Goals

Recently, I’ve been struggling with defining my career path. I read article after article of young professionals setting goals and sticking to them and then becoming the boss of their own world. Kari Reston and Amber Venz and Eileen Street are three women around my age that have helped to shape and change their respective industries.

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Kari Reston now uses her knowledge of the corporate world and couples it with social media, specifically LinkedIn to help young professionals get the job and climb the ladder. I’m currently combing through her website in order to make my resume the best representation of myself. After proof-reading, maybe I’ll have a better idea of what I want to do by seeing what I have already accomplished.

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Amber Venz is a stylist, blogger and entrepreneur that developed a way for bloggers to make money from their posts. Her passion for fashion gave her a problem to solve, and she solved it beautifully.

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Eileen Street travels the globe with Contiki Vacations. Eileen took a passion for traveling and languages and did research to find the best fit for those passions.  

You can read their Career Profiles over on The Everygirl (links in names above).

After reading all of these amazing women’s profiles, I started to think what would be in mine. What sort of things would I be proud of? What accomplishments would there be that are not industry specific? What goals should I make in order to stack my profile?

Today’s Goal: Discover my passions.

Tomorrow’s Goal: Do more than read articles about other people’s careers. J

What kind of goals do you have for your career? What women inspire you?

xoxo,

Liz

Fifty Shades of Mockingjay

San Diego Comic Con was last weekend. With that, comes great responsibility. Just kidding. It just means things got published to the Internet after they were revealed at the conference. Comic Con is on my bucket list right behind VidCon because YouTube is my first love. 

BUT FIRST, the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trailer dropped on Thursday. I did read the first book. After being annoyed by sentence structure and ridiculous dialogue, I gave up even trying to read the other two books in the series. Evidently, the next two books contain more intrigue and drama if you can make it that far. The saving grace for this movie is that the screenplay wasn't written by E.L. James, it was written by Kelly Marcel who (according to IMDB) was a writer for "Saving Mr. Banks" and "Tera Nova." What is the only reason to see this movie? Jamie. Dornan. Am I right?

Now, one of the reasons I brought up Comic Con, the next installment of "The Hunger Games," Katniss is back to fight injustice. The "Mockingjay" trailer premiered at the conference and the reaction is a resounding HELL YES. MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR, PRESIDENT SNOW. Also, PSH is featured in the trailer which tugs at my heart strings and the whole thing gave me goosebumps. I love action. I love strong female heros. I can't wait for this movie!!!

And now the other reason I brought up Comic Con, so many things were revealed about GoT. The cast was there. Maisie Williams (Arya) walked around in a dress made of graphic novels. She also walked around in a Spider-Man mask. The GoT Instagram captured all of the cast with their figurines. HBO also announced the cast for Season 5 which I haven't read the books so I'm completely unprepared. It looks like a whole other family gets in to the mix which will add some drama to the existing characters. Best of all, HBO released the blooper reel below from Season 4. It's hard being an actor is a really dark series. Sometimes you need to laugh and make jokes. :)

Since when is Hilary Duff making music again? I had no idea. My best friend alerted me to it this morning. Here is our review of the music video:

Best Friend: Who am I? I just watched the new Hilary Duff music video by choice!

Me: Oh my gosh. I'm on it.

BF: Lol

Me: I love Hilary.

BF: I know.

Me: She still has a child voice, that's kinda disappointing.

BF: Yes she does. Though it made me think of Sheryl Crow.

Me: I love when she smacked into the glass office. Yeah, very Sheryl Crow.  

I guess Hilary Duff wanted to give us a summer anthem. I'll take it. I'll probably watch the video 10 more times before the day is over. Not because I'm bored, I just genuinely like her. 

What's your summer anthem? Who do you wish you could splash around in the ocean with?

xoxo,

Liz

Weird & Beers & Work

This past week was weird. Work was not necessarily busy but at the same time, I was incredibly anxious. It was a busy week for after work activities which always throws me off my routine which in turn, makes me grumpy. I like to work my normal hours and then go to barre class and then watch TV and search the Internet for all of the gems I missed during work. Happy hours during the week annoy me more than they should which I suspect is because I am no longer 22. If I drink in the middle of the week, I want it to be wine and I want it to be from my couch so I can promptly crawl in to bed once the perfect level of tipsy has been achieved.

My team at work went out to lunch and then to get pedicures on Wednesday. I'm on a team of all women with the exception of one man who is considered a technical expert. We all got our toes done. Pedicures are my favorite and they are more my favorite when I don't have to pay for them. I am obsessed with Color Club's neon colors. I got Mrs. Robinson on my toes and evidently did not take a picture.

Pedicure at Cowboy Nails in Frisco

Friday the interns at work went out and did a sampling of Dallas things. They went to fancy dinner and then the Pocket Sandwich Theatre and then, Cowboys Red River. I enjoy country dancing sooooo much. I wish my friends enjoyed dancing and could dance so that I could go more often. I only get to go like every 6 months. I danced with everyone once they had enough drinks. I also spun around the dance floor with strangers. There was a nice looking cowboy that had danced with lots of girls so naturally, I asked him to dance. Only once we were dancing did I realize that he had neon yellow bracelets around his wrists marking him as under 21. Good job, me. Dancing was fun none the less. 

Saturday I met up with work friends at a hip place and had cocktails out of mason jars like the true hipsters we are. I had a delightful time and caught up with a friend that I had not seen in a while and his boyfriend. They're precious. I look forward to seeing them in Seattle over Labor Day for Bumbershoot. We are going to laaaaaaugh.

I hope this week is better than last week as far as my stress level and ability to sleep. Cheers to the last week of July bringing us closer to my favorite time of year, autumn. 

xoxo,

Liz

Follow Friday

Because I am in a sour mood today, I decided to try and cheer myself up via the Internet. There is one blog that always brings a smile to my face. Suri's Burn Book is a blog written from the "perspective" of Suri, the daughter of Katie Holmes. She is consistently disappointed by other celebrity children and the one-liners are brilliant. I pulled a few of my favorites from the past month. Be careful, you could spend an entire day looking through this tumblr.

Bahahaha. So mean. So true. So much funnier than reading articles about women in the workplace...

xoxo,

Liz

India - Part 1 - New Delhi

A year ago, I went to India with a group of friends that I also happen to work with for a wedding! Two of our friends tied the knot in a traditional ceremony in the groom's hometown of Bangalore. Why not take the opportunity to go half-way across the world and see a place I would probably never have the opportunity to see again? It has taken me a while to post pictures on social media and to tell all of the stories of our journey. Today I decided that it was time to start telling stories and then, eventually, I will get all the way through our trip. It is a fun way to look back at the pictures and remember the people encounters and the food and the history.

We start our journey with two 8 hour plane rides. The benefit of working where we work, everyone has status so we were able to sit in the area of the plane with more space and travelers like us who respect plane travel and keep to themselves. One of my pet peeves is people that make friends on a plane and/or are restless the entirety of the flight. But more on travel etiquette later...

Hanging out at the Airport Prior to Flight

Ben enjoying a cocktail

Layover at London/Heathrow and the British Airways Lounge

The five of us landed in New Delhi close to midnight and went straight to the hotel for sleeping. It worked out well because the next day, I had lots of stuff for us to see. July is the rainy season in India. The weather we encountered was like 90F with 90% humidity all of the time. I packed a lot of dri fit and I sweat a lot. The look I'm sporting below involves some Chaco sandals, luluLemon studio crop pants and a GapFit v-neck top.

Ready for Day 1

Lodi Gardens

India Gate

Lunch at Chicken Inn

Rajpath - Parliament Buidings

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the viceroy house, where the President of India lives.

At the Iron Gate

First Rikshaw Ride

Some things I learned the first day in a foreign, third world country:

1. Pack appropriately for the weather AND the culture
2. Know how much things are supposed to cost by using the Internet prior to going out
3. Travel with someone who can haggle and who isn't afraid of saying "no."
4. Always buy water bottles when you see them
5. Eat food that is fully cooked, no salad or vegetables that haven't seen a heat treatment

Day one was overwhelming to me. I wanted to take in everything, I didn't want to do anything a dumb American tourist would do and I had my fingers crossed that Trip Advisor hadn't steered me in the wrong direction with the sites to see. Fortunately for me, the day was a success and everyone was appreciative and exhausted. We all came to India with a common goal: see everything as completely as we could for the short amount of time we were there. Traveling with like-minded people makes travel more enjoyable. I see now why the last family vacation I went on was frustrating. It's hard to accommodate the needs of three generations of people. It just is. 

Day two was even busier than the first day and it came with its own challenges. We wanted to see things further away from the hotel which required transportation. Nick, our dad slash haggler, found the best offer and we were off!

Bahai Lotus Temple

Our Shoeless Feet inside the Temple

 There's a slight terror the first time you take off shoes and leave them in a public area. Will my shoes be there when I return? And luckily they were. The temple was beautiful inside. We were not allowed to take pictures. The grounds were peaceful and the temple itself was very peaceful. I see why places like this are good retreats for locals because the main city marketplaces are so chaotic.

Humayun's Tomb

Chandni Chowk, Marketplace

Ben & I ignoring all the stares

Lunch at Karim's

Jami Masjid, India's largest mosque

 Because we are not Muslim, we could not enter the mosque. The call to prayer filled up the entire marketplace and I found it so interesting. I had never been to a place with a large Muslim population.

Red Fort

Bich Taking Artistic Pics

Ben Watching the Sunset

Hauz Khas Village

Budweiser & Pizza for Dinner

For two days in New Delhi, I think we did a grand job. We saw a lot and all came away a little more educated and a little more appreciative of Dallas. Ben and I were in the minority in India with our blonde hair and light eyes. While in the grounds of Humayun's Tomb, two little girls followed Ben and giggled the entire time. We were told that fair skin and light eyes are a sign of good luck in some cultures and evidently it was true. Being stared at was weird. Going in to Chandni Chowk without a local or a guide was overwhelming. If you plan on going to local markets in India, go with someone that knows the lay of the land. Streets and alley ways all look the same and can be a cause for stress. While Bich was adventurous and just wanted to roam, it made me incredibly nervous. Having a balance for this situation was good because I did go to the market but I kept her from taking us down INCREDIBLY sketchy streets. The Red Fort was amazing. The detail in the columns and floors was soooooo impressive. The fort had some marble structures and craftsmanship which Bich took pictures of every two seconds. She did an amazing job documenting the whole trip, not just the fort. In the evening, we went to the "young" part of town and had pizza and beer at the club before crawling back to the hotel. I say crawling because our taxi was going against the grain to get out of Hauz Khas. When the street is only wide enough for one car, it makes travel difficult and requires a lot of creativity. There was honking. There was driving up and over things. There was a lot of holding my breath and gripping the armrest. 

You can look at the whole photo album here if you so desire. I hope you enjoyed my tales from New Delhi. 

xoxo,

Liz

Women with Wisdom

Earlier this week, Twitter had a Q&A with Madame Secretary Hillary Clinton. She fielded questions about women and girls as well as international diplomacy. Did you know this happened? I stumbled upon it because I follow Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on tumblr. So today, I feature a different kind of #wcw because instead of a bae, I'm featuring some women that are advocates for women and girls and seek to empower the female population of not just the US but of the world. I hope you have time to watch Hillary Clinton. I learned some things...

Also here is the questions asked by the Smart Girls,

And a pretty awesome quote from Madame Secretary,

And how did I stumble on Amy Poehler and her Smart Girls? YouTube, of course! 

Sometimes I forget that women aren't equal with men from a global point of view. Heck, even from a corporate point of view. And even more in legislation over a woman's ability to make her own health choices. Why aren't women equal? I must become more active in empowering women and girls. Yes, I would consider myself a feminist. Am I good at verbalizing my points of view? Not yet. This is something I continue to work on as a I define my beliefs and values as a human. But today, I started with this. I'm behind ya, Hillary, in whatever way you decide to impact the world. I think you're beautiful and smart and powerful. 

I guess this was a Woman Crush Wednesday post about a bae...

xoxo,

Liz

Tuesday Tube Review

This week, I'm going to give my take on the past week in TV. There may be spoilers below if you are not up-to-date on the following shows. I watch a lot of TV, even in the summer when there aren't as many shows on. I watch a wide range of shows and I am pretty passionate about ALL OF THEM.

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Pretty Little Liars - "Run Ali Run"
  This show continues to be crazy town. With Ali back in the picture, it is never clear what is truth and what is conjecture. Ali weaves elaborate webs of lies and I am so confused. Who is A? Is A everyone? Is Ezra still involved with the A team? Where did Caleb come from? Is he back for good? I just have questions for this show. Questions that I feel will not have any answers for at least 2 more seasons. ;)

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Rizzoli & Isles - "The Best Laid Plans"
  I like this show but I am also growing bored of it. I watch it mostly for Isles' style (haha rhyming) and also because Angie Harmon is a badass. The stories just aren't as exciting as they used to be and the sexual tension between characters is nonexistent. I will continue to watch this show because of those two women but I can't say that I pay 100% attention to it while it's on. It is now my show that I use as background noise to Facebook browsing as well as pinning things on Pinterest. Sorry ladies. I need more intrigue.

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Covert Affairs - "Silence Kit"
  I don't like Annie and Auggie NOT being together. Do I love that THE pink power ranger (Amy Jo Johnson) is on the show now? Yes. But I don't love that she is getting it on with Auggie. He's my favorite. He's a gentleman and a badass. In this episode Eyal returns and his relationship with Annie is awesome. The respect they have for each other and their mutual trust is encouraging among the world of spies. I am intrigued with spies. It's consistently dangerous and they pick up on languages which is a skill I will never have and they see the world and I want to believe, have a global view of the world unlike most everyone else that lives in it. They have to understand different cultures and blend in. Yes, I realize this is a TV show but I rather enjoy the intrigue and the romance behind spying. Also, Annie's style is flawless. Her ability to run in heels amazes me. I think it was Rachel Bilson maybe that said something about always being able to run away in shoes. Is that right? I want to think it's correct sorry if I made up the quote.

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Finding Carter - "Drive"
  From what I can gather, this show is about a teen revolting against a mom that is trying to provide structure in the wake of a tragedy. This teen doesn't realize how her abduction changed her parents. Yes, Elizabeth is cold and withdrawn. Did you ever consider that she may be that way because her daughter was taken by another human? She hasn't necessarily been a cold person always. Give her a chance, Carter. You're being a dick. And in the episode, Dad finally steps up and tries to tell Carter why Elizabeth is the way she is. Good luck, Dad. I'm on your side.

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Married - Pilot
  I love Nat Faxon. I also love Judy Greer. My love for Nat began only earlier this year when I watched "The Way, Way Back" and I feel instantly in love with his goofy style and his hot bod. I'm a sucker for a strong set of shoulders and a full head of hair. I currently have a celebrity crush on this funny man. I think it probably has more to it than just his looks. He's a funny man. He's an Oscar winning funny man that wrote "The Descendants." Also, Judy Greer played the enemy in "13 Going on 30" which is one of my favorite coming of age movies if you can call it that. I believe that it is for a girl, anyway. Don't be a bitch. That's the lesson from "13 Going on 30" and also, have dance parties to Pat Benatar's songs. And, that's a lot of rambling. Married is funny. It's a rough look at marriage but it is entertaining. Also, the show features some guest stars who happen to be comedian friends of the cast and I love comedians. Among the guests on the pilot, Jenny Slate, Brett Gelman and John Hodgman made some appearances. I had Twitter interactions with them so I'm invested. This is why I love the Internet. I made friends.

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True Blood - "Return to Oz"
  NO BILL NO!!!! The end of the episode reveals something about Bill that just solidifies the fact that everyone will die before this season is over. Will anyone still be alive to see the future of the world with vampires and humans and werewolves and fairies all living together? I still love Sookie and her flip flopping among the men on the show. I can only hope that men will one day fight over me like they fight over Sookie. If only I had sweet smelling fairy blood. Damn.

On my to-watch list for the rest of summer is Drunk History as well as The Meltdown. Both shows are on Comedy Central and I will catch up now that I don't have work travel planned. If you have some time, you should probably catch up on Playing House. It's my new favorite show, mainly because it has Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair in it and writing it and producing it. It's hilarious. It'll give you all the smiles and laughs.

What are you watching? Also, when is The Vampires Diaries back? I'm having withdrawal...

xoxo,
Liz