Today is a good day.

Borrowing a February 2008 post from Ye Olde MySpace blog (long since dormant) to celebrate this oh-so-special day.

Happy Start of Spring Training everyone!

"The pitchers and catchers report today.

Repeat the sentence over and over again like a mantra. Close your eyes and relax, thinking about the warm desert sun.

Take a deep breath and repeat the sentence again, imagining Felix Hernandez throwing his first fastballs of the new year to catcher Kenji Johjima.

Find your baseball Zen and listen to the pop of leather as the pitchers throw their first long tosses. Hear the crack of the bat, a spring sound as familiar as the robin's first tweets.

Soon the doors of Safeco Field will creak open. Spring is coming. Baseball's got next.

Pitchers and catchers report today."

*****

Is it sad that I literally let out a sigh of relief as I read this? OK, I think I know the answer to that. But you've got to hand it to Steve Kelley for having the ability to evoke that kind of emotion through words. The true writer/journa-geek in me thinks that is absolutely amazing.

Full article from today's Seattle Times here.

Self reflection is hard.

The New York Times did a profile of Jon Favreau, President Obama's head speechwriter, this week. (Side note: How awesome is it to say "President Obama"?! Still gives me chills.) Basically, he's 26 and, for my money, has one of the best jobs EVER. Oh, and he's HOT. And single. But I digress...

Not to bore you with the details, but the whole reason I chose my major (public relations) in college was because when I asked my mom, "What's PR?" she answered, "You know, they write speeches for people. Like politicians and stuff." I've, of course, since learned that PR is a lot more than that, but looking back, the goal when I started my PR degree was to eventually start working for a senator or governor or something, writing speeches, interfacing with the media, etc. In the end, I took a different path. But politics was always something I wanted to get back to.

There's nothing like reading about someone who's your age and way more successful than you that makes you really think, "What am I doing with my life?" Favreau was working on John Kerry's campaign when he was 23. Twenty-three!!! When I was 23, I think I spent most of my time nursing hangovers and eating top ramen.

Anyway, reading the article made me think of my long-term goals and what I need to do to acheive them. The only thing is, I know it won't be easy. And, quite frankly, I've become quite accustomed to easy lately. Either way, it's given me a lot to think about.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens*

*Keep reading, Lauren. That's the last of the Sound of Music lyrics. Promise (Pom Pom).

Holy crap. How bad am I at updating this thing? Oh yeah, really bad. Like Bush Administration bad.

...But that's neither here nor there.

Anyway. What better way to ease back into blogging than to use the much-adored, easiest-blog-post-format-in-the-world, the bulleted list?

(Pause for applause)

My Christmas was great and my New Years fun (and a little foggy), so I thought it would be a great time to share with you my five favorite things RIGHT NOW (as opposed to my favorite things all the time...like John Mayer, bologne sandwiches and kids in hats). Cool? Cool. Here goes...in no particular order:

1. Scarves.
Oh how I love, love, LOVE scarves. They cute up any outfit, and they're cozy for these cold winter months. My personal favorite are the lighter-weight summer scarves, if you will, but actual functional and warm scarves are great too.

2. Flat boots.
No matter how hard I try, I just can't motivate myself to wear heels. Like ever. I mean, why would you torture your feet like that if you have a perfectly cute pair of flats within reach? I'm really into flat boots lately, and I've been steadily building my collection. Comfy and practical for walking, bus riding and general city dwelling. UGGs can also fall into this category!

3. The Twilight Series.
Love it, but not in the way that those crazy 13-year-olds do. I mean, I wouldn't wait for four hours in the middle of the night for a chance to meet Edward at Hot Topic or anything. But they're an easy and engaging read and that's OK by me. (PS, is it just me, or is the guy who plays Edward not nearly as beautiful as he's described in the book? I was disappointed. But as a member of Team Jacob, I may be biased...)

4. Duffy.
On New Year's Day, I dragged myself off the couch and into the shower just in time to hear The Mountain play her Rockferry album from beginning to end (it was 6:30 p.m., in case you were wondering). She rocks.

5. Snow Cap.
Besides scarves, Pyramid Snow Cap might just be the best thing about winter. Most definitely my drink of choice as of late. Also, the fact that it's 7 percent alcohol (as opposed to the 5 percent of other, inferior beers) makes it a can't miss...

That's all I've got for now. Stay tuned for my next post about my sudden realization that I might never own matching dinnerware...

There are no words

I still get chills whenever I think about the hope, promise and opportunity on the horizon. I'm proud beyond words and honored to think that I played a part in it -- that I did what I could to change not only my future, but the future of our nation and the world.

January 20th, baby... Can't wait.

And while we're on the topic of unrealistic expectations...

Hilarious!

Questions

(Yes, this blog is still alive. And yes, I have been really lazy about updating/completing posts. Heck, who knows if I'll actually finish and post this one...)

I've come across two questions during the past week or so that have really made me think about being single:

From my happily married best friend: "Do you think you would be happy if you never got married?"

From Liz Tuccillo's How To Be Single*: "What's the scariest thing about being single?"

My answer to the first question (after a good 30 seconds of really thinking about it) was this:

"I could be."

And the second those words escaped my lips, I started to wonder if I really believed it, or if I just said it because, if I'm going to be single forever, I don't want my friends to feel sorry for me. After thinking about it, I decided that yes, it was true. Not that I wouldn't be happy to get married, but I think I could be just as happy (a different kind of happy?) if I never did. All was well in the land of Katie**.

But then I came across the second question. What, I asked myself, is the scariest part of being single? Here's my gut reaction: The scariest thing about being single is the fear that one day, I will not be OK with being single anymore.

And this, of course, would greatly affect my answer to the first question.

If anyone's still out there reading this, weigh in. Would you be happy if you never got married? What's the scariest part of being single?



*OMG you guys, this book is SO good. And I'm only 70 pages in so far. It's like a single self-help book disguised as chick lit, all wrapped up with a pretty little humorous and witty bow. Fabu.



**Well, besides me now wondering if she asked me that question because she actually thinks I'll never get married. In her mind, this is probably a good possibility, given that she probably know the most about me and my fear of commitment. And my fear of my fear of commitment... But that's neither here nor there.

Ri-hise and shi-hine and give God the glory glory...

Last week, I flew down to San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon for our all-day agency off-site on Thursday and Friday. Whenever these off-sites happen, I know I'm not going to get much sleep (corporate credit cards + co-workers you only get to see three times per year + a city full of nightlife = SO TIRED...and usually hungover), but this year, I think I really outdid myself. Dinner on Wednesday followed by beers and late-night burritos in North Beach ... Happy hour on Thursday followed by a cocktail party in Hayes Valley, drinks at Vesuvio and back up to North Beach for more beer ... Three bottles of wine polished off by four of us on Friday ... A mimosa as big as a fishbowl in the Castro on Saturday ... Home Saturday afternoon (miraculously, I took a break from drinking on Saturday night). But alas, the sleep deprivation continued to Sunday, as I was up and at 'em way too early for a 7:30 breakfast before my little sister's commencement. All of which leads me to the following...

You know you're seriously sleep deprived when:

• You tear up watching So You Think You Can Dance AND The Bachelorette
• You decide that a bologna sandwich and a bowl of fat free croutons constitutes dinner because you're too lazy to make anything else
• You get dressed without even checking the weather report only to walk outside and realize it's raining, and you're wearing sandals
• You FORGET TO GRAB YOUR DEBIT CARD FROM THE ATM MACHINE (Seriously)

I so wish my office had nap time...

UPDATE: One more to add to the list: You post your blog without a title...and then you post a title that borrows a verse from a biblical(ish) song.

Simple pleasures (or, simple minds, simple pleasures?)

Is it wrong that I'm SO EXCITED to go home tonight and paint my nails with my new shimmery orange nail polish?


Maybe "wrong" isn't the right word, but it's definitely a statement about where my social-life priorities are at right now:

1. Paint nails
2. Catch up on DVR recordings of So You Think You Can Dance
3. Pluck eyebrows
4. Do laundry
5. Go out...maybe...if I'm done with the laundry, that is

HA! And you wonder why I don't have more to blog about...


UPDATE: Further evidence of how fabulously monotonous my life is... I took about a week off from going to my favorite neighborhood deli (the Tower Deli on Seventh Avenue between Olive and Stewart -- I'd suggest the spicy chicken, available on Mondays and Thursdays), and when I walked in today, this is what I got (in stereo) from the Korean brother-sister team that runs the joint:

"Well heeeeeeeey there! Long time no see? Where have you been hiding?"

Yes, my daily life is routine enough that it can be tracked even by local deli owners.

But seriously, isn't a little monotony in life sometimes a good thing? I think so.

"Technology just enables us to overshare on a different scale."

I previously mentioned how I'm sometimes conflicted about how much I'm comfortable revealing in my blog, knowing that, while some of my readers are anonymous and faceless, some of them are people I encounter in my everyday life.

On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine published an article by former Gawker blogger Emily Gould about how her very private thoughts became part of her very public persona. Emily's story is extremely well written, thought-provoking and heartbreaking, and I think that in today's Web 2.0 world, where everyone is online somewhere, be it MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, or (like me) all of the above, it's especially relevant.

An "over-sharer" by her own admission, Gould writes:

"I understand that by writing here about how I revealed my intimate life online, I’ve now revealed even more about what happened during the period when I was most exposed. Well, I’m an oversharer — it’s not like I’m entirely reformed. But lately, online, I’ve found myself doing something unexpected: keeping the personal details of my current life to myself. This doesn’t make me feel stifled so much as it makes me feel protected, as if my thoughts might actually be worth honing rather than spewing. ... I still think about closing the door to my online life and locking them out, but then I think of everything else I’d be locking out, and I leave it open."

It's an interesting conundrum, isn't it? The world communicates online, and that communication now includes much more than sending semi-private emails amongst friends. But potential employers can browse your profiles, potential dates can read your past dating blunders and potential creepy stalkers can access your Flickr photos with a few clicks.

To this point, I've managed to keep my online profile public where it needs to be public (Facebook, Twitter for work) and semi-private where I want it to be private...I think (a la MySpace and this very blog). I'm still completely cautious when it comes to what I write about myself -- I mean, do people really care that I had an Il Fornaio salad for lunch yesterday that was "SOOOO good"? -- but I admire the people who don't feel like they have to filter themselves.

It's a delicate balance, and one that I'll continue to struggle with as more and more social networks keep popping up. For the fellow bloggers out there: How do you balance your public and private life via your blog/profile/etc.?

A blog after my own grammar-nerd heart

If you know what a comma splice is, despise people who confuse your and you're and actually get excited about proofreading a 20-page document, this post is most definitely for you.

From, Stuff White People Like, here's an excerpt from #99, “Grammar”:

When asking someone about their biggest annoyances in life, you might expect responses like “hunger,” “being poor,” or “getting shot.” If you ask a white person, the most common response will likely be “people who use ‘their’ when they mean ‘there.’ Maybe comma splices, I’m not sure but it’s definitely one of the two.”

If you wish to gain the respect of a white person, it’s probably a good idea that you find an obscure and debated grammar rule such as the “Oxford Comma” and take a firm stance on what you believe is correct. This is seen as more productive and forward thinking than simply stating your anger at the improper use of “it’s.”

The grammar nerd in me is laughing hysterically right now.

Reverting back to my MySpace survey heyday

This post combines two of my favorite things: music and things that help me waste time at work.

Therefore, without further ado, I present The Soundtrack to My Life:

(Found this while trolling MySpace...yes, I'm THAT bored. The rules: Put your iTunes on shuffle and let the song titles answer the questions below)

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Crunchy Granola Suite – Neil Diamond
I suspect people would get reeeeally sick of me reeeeally fast if I answered every question with "Crunchy Granola Suite." But I guess it's worth a try...

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Be Be Your Love – Rachel Yamagata
Because I'm so loving and cuddly. Right...

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room – John Mayer
Slow dancing, yes. Burning flesh, not so much. Now if I was slow dancing in a burning room WITH John Mayer, it would be a different story.

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Bedshaped – Keane
So spot on. What I wouldn't give to teleport home and into bed right now.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Right For Me – Justin Timberlake
Figuring out what's right for me, I guess? That sounds OK.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Love Me For Me – Ashlee Simpson
GIRL POWER!!! (Insert sarcasm here.)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Geek In The Pink – Jason Mraz
Well I don't wear pink, but the other part might be accurate from time to time.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
I’ll Be Fine – Ben Taylor Band
A testament to how well they raised me?

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Sexy Ladies/Let Me Talk To You Prelude – Justin Timberlake
Um, not really.

WHAT IS 2+2?
Car Crash – Matt Nathanson
Might be an indication of how great (read: horrible) my math skills are.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
All I Need – Mat Kearney
Awwww.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Telling Me To Go – Kaiser Chiefs
Hmmmm.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Tied Down – Colbie Caillat
Lately, yes.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
1973 – James Blunt
A groovy hippie?

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
You & Onions - Meiko
Kind of fitting...

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Feel – Matchbox Twenty
Sensitive? Compassionate?

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
The Two of Us - NSYNC
How freakin' funny would that be? An ode to my LOVE of NSYNC!

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
False Alarm – KT Tunstall
...And then I'll pop out of my coffin and yell "Gotcha!!!"

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
The Real Thing – Gwen Stefani
Very accurate -- fake hobbies are not my cup of tea.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Bottle It Up – Sara Bareilles
For someone who hates confrontations, this is pretty accurate. Although I don't know if it would qualify as a secret.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Look After You – The Fray
Awwww. Again.

WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
Walk Away – Kelly Clarkson
And I'm out.

To blog or not to blog

I've been thinking a lot lately about this blog -- about how I wish I had the time/energy/motivation to post more thoughtful, in-depth things. But I'm finding that I'm struggling to find the balance between saying what I feel (after all, isn't a blog just a public diary?) and being totally passive aggressive.

Is blogging about hurt feelings and frustrations passive aggressive when you know the person you're writing about will read it?

I go back and forth debating this in my head. On one hand, sometimes it's good to just get your thoughts out even if the one they're directed at will never read them. On the other hand, I know she will and it will likely open up a whole new can of worms. One that needs to be opened, yes. But being the non-confrontational-to-a-fault person I am, I generally try to avoid all things wormy...

The jury's out on this one.

Who are the people in your neigh-bor-hoood?

Any one else have that Sesame Street song stuck in their head now? Good. Mission accomplished.

Anyway, living in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle -- which, for any non Seattle-based readers out there, is known for its eccentricity -- I've become accustomed to and friendly with the unusual characters. I say hello to the bongo guy every morning and nod to the rock-stacking guy when I pass by...and anyone who spends any time in Fremont probably knows who I'm talking about and does the same.

But yesterday, on my way home from the bus stop, I saw something so unusual for Fremont that I literally had to do a double take... I saw a guy in a three-piece suit.

Sure, Fremont is home to Google and Adobe offices, as well as a couple other smaller office parks, but the free-spirited and artsy vibe to the community just doesn't lend itself well to formal business attire. It was weird, but weird in a most-normal-but-at-the-same-time-out-of-place way.

What's the most-normal-but-at-the-same-time-out-of-place thing you've seen in your 'hood?

My dating life, in a nutshell

I think this conversation does a pretty good job of summing up why I'm single:

Lauren: So do you have any romantic feelings for him?
Me: He's fun to hang out with, but I'm not sure about romantic feelings...
Lauren: Not sure? Before it was just no?
Me: I don’t know! At first it was no but now it’s probably not but maybe. But maybe it’s just the alcohol and the attention. But maybe not. See? Not sure is the perfect expression :)

Some vague insight

Courtesy of Jason Mraz.

I know, I know...enough of this Jason Mraz lyric stuff, right? But I think most people would (or will) be able to identify with these lyrics at some point in their lives.

"If It Kills Me" (From the Casa Nova Sessions)
We Sing - EP

Hello, tell me you know
Yeah, you figured me out
Something gave it away
And it would be such a beautiful moment
To see the look on your face
To know that I know that you know now

And baby that’s a case of my wishful thinking
You know nothing
Cause you and I
Why, we go carrying on for hours, on and
We get along much better
Than you and your boyfriend

Well all I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me

Well how long, can I go on like this,
Wishing to kiss you,
Before I rightly explode?
This double life I lead isn’t healthy for me
In fact it makes me nervous
If I get caught I could be risking it all

Baby there’s a lot that I miss
In case I’m wrong

Well all I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me

If I should be so bold
I’d ask you to hold my heart in your hand
Tell you from the start how I’ve longed to be your man
But I never said I would
I guess I’m gonna miss my chance again

All I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me
If it kills me
I think it might kill me

And all I really want from you is to feel me
It’s a feeling inside that keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me
If it kills me
It might kill me

(And no, I'd rather not explain myself -- I have a reputation to uphold, you know.)

Who says Pie Charts aren't effective?

This just might be the funniest thing I've seen all....month. Definitely all day, and probably all week, at least. And man did I need it...


Study: Nearly 80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night

Which reminds me, I miss the 18-24 age group...

The thin line between acquaintance and friend

Talk about a gray area. Is it just me, or is the time between when an acquaintance becomes a friend one of the most difficult-to-navigate relationships? You believe that this person is the kind of person you can be friends with (read: someone you trust, who respects you, who's not malicious or selfish or heartless), but you really don't have anything to base that belief on...yet.

I am, by nature, a very trusting person. I'd like to think that this is because I've been lucky enough to surround myself with very trustworthy and kind friends, but I know even I've gotten burned when it comes to trusting the people closest to me. So now, I know who I trust and who I don't, and I move through my relationships accordingly.

But in that gray area? Much harder to figure it all out.

In her defense, I can't (and don't) claim ownership. But I can't help but think that her motives were selfish. But of course, I don't know this for sure -- she's still in that gray area.

A match made in fast food heaven

Jason Mraz and Meiko would make a cutest little hot-dog-and-curly-fries combo meal...

Meiko ("You & Onions"):

I'm a hot dog
Sittin' in the fog
Waitin' for my day in the sun
And I'm all alone
Far away from home
Just me, my mustard, and my bun

And though I miss you
But time is on my side
And though I need you
But you and onions make me cry

And I'm all beef
But I have a heart
And it's splitting now that you've gone away
And I wish everything was kosher as me
But I'm not healthy for you anyway

And though I miss you
But time is on my side
And though I need you
But you and onions make me cry

Jason Mraz ("Too Much Food"):

You can say that I'm one curly fry in the box of the regular
Messing with the flavor oh the flavor that you savor
Saving me for last but you better not eat me at all
Living in a fast food bag making friends with the ketchup and salt
People say that I'm crazy for not moving on to better things
Instead I'm sitting around trash talking with the onion rings
But it's much too soon to leave this easy life
Pass me the spoon, pass the analytical knife

Cause you're about to get cut and get cut down
It's all about the wordplay all about the sound in the tone of my voice
You gotta let me make my choice alone before my food gets cold
Better shut up or get shot down
It's all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play, you're puttin' too much food on my plate

Believe it or not I super sized my sights on the surprise in the cereal box
My stomach's smaller than my eyes
So I went to see the doctor and he said "turn your head and then cough"
I didn't listen to what he said instead I couldn't wait to get off
He said I can have this but I can't have that
That I should keep wishing I was living the life of a cat because
I ain't the one whose gonna be missing the feast
Just like you ain't the one who seems to be calming the beast

Now you're about to get cut and get cut down
It's all about the wordplay all about the sound in the tone of my voice
You gotta let me make my choice alone before my food gets cold
Better shut up or get shot down
It's all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play, you're puttin' too much food on my plate

Well if you are what you eat in my case I'll be sweet so come and get some
I'm so over it

Now you're about to get cut and get cut down
It's all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play, you're puttin' too much food on my plate

Where traditional dating and online dating meet

I think I've mentioned before that my preferred method of meeting potential dates is through friends. That way, at least somebody's vouching for them and you know they're probably not a psycho (and I stress the probably...because we've all been burned by our matchmakers, right?). So I thought it was kind of cool that someone thought to combine my preferred method and the method I usually have to resort to in one place.

Engage.com is, according to the Web site, "where dating gets social." The cool kids over at TechCrunch explain it better than I could:

Engage differentiates itself from traditional dating sites (Match, eHarmony, PlentyofFish, etc) by getting friends involved in the process of finding you that perfect guy or gal. If you are looking for love (and Engage is certainly geared towards those looking to land serious relationships, not set up transitory encounters), you can invite your real-life friends to become friends on Engage. Once onboard, they sit in a friends list that stays with you on the left-hand side of the site wherever you go.

Or, if pictures are more your thing:

(Courtesy of Engage.com)


I don't know about you, but I think this is an extraordinarily good idea. I've signed up but have yet to build out my friends list, so I'll keep you updated as to how it works.

On a personal note...

I'm going to the John Mayer concert in the Bay Area in July!!!

Can you tell I'm just slightly excited? The stars aligned and it just so happened that, while he's not coming to Seattle (shame on you, John), he's playing the Shoreline Amphitheathre in Mountain View, Calif., while I'm in the Bay Area for work!

And thanks to my status as a John Mayer Official Fanclub member (and proud of it!), I was able to participate in a presale, scored ninth-row seats and will be rocking this t-shirt to the concert:


WOO!