Festival Wisdom

Top things I learned from Bumbershoot

1. Crop tops and high waisted jean shorts are definitely back in style and they look about as good on people today as they looked in 1993.

2. Do not stand on the floor near a stage unless you want to be squished and have pot smoke blown in your face at an alarming rate.

3. If the comedian you want to see is super popular, show up an hour prior to showtime in order to get in to the venue. Preferably, get to the festival site when it opens to get a special pass if possible.

4. Comedians don't like babies. They may like them when they aren't performing but babies are quite distracting when you are attempting to make a room of people laugh with your bits and what not.

5. Always bring cash to a festival. Most places will not take credit cards.

6. Locate the restrooms as soon as you arrive so you can control how much water you drink.

7. Festivals appear to be more fun to those who have a special someone they can enjoy it with. Mainly because this partner of yours can serve as a leaning post, a beer-getter and a place-in-line saver. They will also dance with you when you feel the urge and will not be embarrassed by you because they love you.

8. Corn dogs are an acceptable festival food even in Seattle where everything is just a touch more pretentious and granola.

9. If you take a backpack to a festival, include the following things: a blanket to sit on, an umbrella, a rain jacket, sunscreen, a refillable water bottle, snacks, an iPhone charger, headphones and a book to read.

10. Be open to experiencing new things whether that is music or art or comedians or vendors. Don't constrict yourself to only the familiar. You may enjoy something new and exciting.

Go forth and find your inner hippie!

Liz

Back to School... College Advice

Here are some things I had or knew prior to going to college:

University of Texas DKR Memorial Football Stadium

1. Basic Tool Kit - You never know when you will need to make a hole in a wall or hammer some stuff or put together some sort of ikea chair.
2. Walk around the campus. Become familiar with buildings and landmarks. Lessen your stress level for the first day of classes by being confident that you will not get lost. :)
3. Join a group or club that makes the campus smaller and gives you the added benefit of built in friends.
4. Go to class. Even if there is no way to take attendance. Go to class. Every professor is different and some will follow the book and some will just go on tangent after tangent. For the latter, you will fail their tests, every single time if you did not go to class. 
5. Buddy system. Party invite? Take a buddy. Walking to get coffee after dark? Take a buddy. Left your laptop charger somewhere? Take a buddy.

Here are some things I wish I had known or had:

College Life as a Longhorn Band Member

1. Find a physical activity that you like to do. Something to make you stand up from your computer or TV or queso so you don't gain weight. Your high school body is now gone. I don't know why but college makes your adult body show up so make it a good one by moving around.
2. Never take a business school weed out class unless you plan to go to business school. I'm looking at you, microeconomics. Take classes not pertinent to your major at a community college. You don't want to be in that class. You have zero passion for supply-demand graphs. Everyone else in that class has a passion for supply-demand graphs. Therefore, you're screwed.
3. Take naps whenever possible.
4. Never think you can study in your room when you have a roommate. You'll probably end up on opposite schedules and being in your room all the time will just annoy the roommate. Find a study place. Preferably a place where you don't have to buy things to stay there. Like a library. Or a common university area. If your college has a law school or an architecture school, their libraries are going to be the best and the quietest. Those kids are intense.
5. If your degree allows for a semester abroad, do it. I did not have the opportunity but every day I think about the adventures I could have had while young and in a foreign country making new friends and eating new foods and dancing. Just all the dancing. Study abroad. Your adult self will thank your college self. I promise. 

College is a great time. Make mistakes. Find yourself. Learn how be a functioning member of society. While a college degree is a necessity, it's your experiences while in college that make you into a human. Your experiences will give you stories to tell your peers and eventually, maybe, your children. Try to look at college as more than a way to get from A (high school) to B (high paying, professional job). 

And finally, take all four years. Hopefully, it'll be the only four years you'll have to yourself to make the most awesome decisions.

Hook 'em. 

Liz

Giving Friends Advice

Apparently, I'm a person who gives people advice. Whether those people are people I love or just acquaintances, I'm am often sought out in order to listen and then report back on my findings.

What does it mean to give advice to someone?

Does advice come from personal experience or something you read or from being able to read the person and tell them exactly what they want/need to hear?

I'm guilty of all three. Or I've used all three. I prefer to listen. When someone approaches me, I gladly sit back and listen to everything they have to say. I internalize. I analyze. And depending on the person, I speak.

Whether I'm educated or not, I will tell you something or give you a link to an article I read or a YouTube video I watched or tell you someone you also know that has personally struggled with similar issues. Resourcefulness is one of my strengths. Like a sponge, I soak up as much knowledge and then I spew it out at an appropriate moment, hopefully.

Recently, my friends have either intentionally or not, sought out my listening ears for some advice. I hope that I have delivered helpful, inspiring words. I'm constantly in need for comfort and affirmation, I totally understand the need to have someone empathize with you on a situation or a relationship or a career choice or parents, etc. Often, I don't feel qualified for giving advice because I feel like my life if not where I wanted it to be 10 years ago. Is your life where you wanted it to be 10 years ago? I guess I should be comforted by the fact that life happens regardless of my plans and I am thankful for people that can guide me along the way. I guess I'll keep trying to help where I can but don't hold it against me.

I'm still trying to figure all of this crap out.

So are Grace & Mamrie... from two years ago...

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.

Source

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.

Source

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.

Source

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

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

Wisdom, Or Something that Resembles It

Do you ever have days where you ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why does my life suck so much?
2. What am I doing wrong because nothing is going right?
3. How do I adult?

Yesterday I had one of those days. You work and work and put yourself fully into something and often, it feels like you're being led on by the popular boy in school. I guess that is what I can compare it to the most. Whether you don't feel fulfilled in a friendship or in your career, it can most easily be compared to being led on by a crush that is fully aware of your feelings for him or her. 

In high school, I would put myself completely out there for a crush. Yes, I can drive you there. Yes, I can do your pre-calc homework. Yes, I am going to a concert and you can come. I am still that girl. I will do anything for people that I think are really cool and at work, I'll put myself out there for ... people I think are really cool. 

While I know this about myself, it is still hard to realize that I am not always thought of as really cool. That people don't respect and appreciate me or my effort the same way I do for them. 

But at the same time, on days like this I have to put my life in perspective. Five years ago, I broke up with a boyfriend because the relationship was toxic. Instead of taking the break up well, I decided that I didn't want to be alone... ever. I went out every night and drank beer every night and gained 20 pounds pretty quickly. I was terrified of being me because I hadn't known me in a long time. Now, 5 years later, I know myself and I also know that I don't have to drink in order to be numb to feeling feelings. I'm grateful for that. I know that I have worked really hard to get to this point and it isn't anyone's fault if they don't also know this about me. 

Often, you need to be able to validate yourself in the absence of validation from a romantic relationship or a boss or even your parent. Make the choices that you want to make. Embrace the life that you have made for yourself. This also means that you have to embrace the consequences of choices that you make instead of making excuses. I had to type that so I could remember it now. Every day lessons are learned and put in to practice as soon as they can be. Be brave. Be encouraged. Keep learning. Continue being awesome. Do things because YOU want to do them.  

I think everything will work out. I hope everything will work. I don't know if it's God's will or a person's ambition or just timing but I have to believe that it will work out for the best. Even on days when everything sucks. 

This may be just ramblings of a currently frustrated person but hopefully it's backed by a little wisdom from a girl who lost herself and had to find herself and now has to remind herself that things get better.

Have a happy hump day and hopefully we've all learned something in the past week to make us better humans.

xoxo,

Liz