Goo Goo Over Gaga

Wednesday night goes down in the books - it was the long-awaited Lady Gaga concert with my sister!

We bought our tickets back in October, so the wait for it seemed foreeeeever. I knew it would be quite the experience, and she didn't disappoint!

First off, the fans were crazy. Drag queens, leather, lace, booty shorts, wigs, glitter, bustiers, pantlessness - you name it, it was there. It felt like the Gay Pride Parade, and it was nothing short of fantastic! We even saw an almost-fight between some stubby short girl and a flamboyant gay guy. He didn't let her attitude get him down because he told her loudly, "Honey, just have a shot of Crowne and cheer up!"

Robyn and I were super close to the stage. Our tickets were general admission, which stressed me out for a minute because I was worried we wouldn't be able to push our way through and see the action. Sure, we ended up as sardines at one point, but it was beyond worth it! Her costumes, the stage setups, her voice - all of it was fabulous from start to finish. A lot of people think she can't sing, but she didn't lip sync one bit, and she sounded great. Plus, she stopped to thank her fans every so often and shared her personal struggles of feeling out of place growing up. She really makes it cool to be weird!

So needless to say, it was an electric night. The show got out at about 11:30, and even though I'd been up since 6 and had to work the next day, I wasn't even tired because of the adrenaline rush. I want to go back and live it again!

Other than that, this week has been rather boring. Last week, however, was a bundle of excitement and action. First off, a long-time member of my team at work decided to go out and start a firm on his own, so his last day was last week. It was a shock to all of us and seemed very abrupt, but I think it was a long time coming for him, so I'm happy he's deciding to blaze a trail for himself.

His departure meant some good news for me - I'm now the lead on one of our biggest accounts and get to go to a huge event for it next weekend.....at a 5-star resort on the beach in Orange County! All-you-can-eat and drink, and virtually, our responsibilities there are minimal. My boss is going as well, but I get my own room! I'm beyond stoked.

Last week also was PR gold for my work - one of our clients was able to talk about radiation coming from Japan, and we got him in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC and on an hour-long national radio show. It was such a rush and reminded me of why I love PR.

This weekend I'm planning on visiting Nicole in Sonoma since it was her birthday last week, and she's planning on moving to Portland soon. This means I'm not able to make it to my best friend's boyfriend's birthday party, and I think she might be a little miffed at me for that. It's always hard for me to have to cancel on people, especially because I really do love my friends and want to make everyone happy. I'm just a big believer in keeping the commitments I make first, so I have to go with that and hope people understand.

So that's the latest in my life. I think I've got the concert fever, so it's time for me to plan my next one! Oh yeah, I'm seeing the Glee concert in May with my mom and sis....well, I'll have to plan another one too! I just love going to shows :)

Pulling the Weeds, Keeping the Flowers

What can I say? Life has been good to me lately. There have been some days where I'm just skipping around, peppy all day. My theory is that A) I've started drinking more coffee B) Our office's coffee is a watered-down version of speed, and C) After reading a book on choice, I realized I've made some pretty good decisions and should be content in that.

I've been noticing more and more how much better I'm getting at relieving myself of negativity. I used to let guilt and regret weigh me down, and of course, I'm not 100% better, but I do find myself standing up more for what I want and really making my life my own. This might not be an accomplishment to some, but as a self-identified doormat, this is huge progress for me.

For one, I'm really realizing how much my good friends mean to me. My family members are truly my best friends, so I'm lucky in that department. As for my friends outside of family, I was feeling a little bit sad a couple weeks ago, and I have "Sex and the City" to blame.

After going on a binge watching that show non-stop for 3 weeks, I found myself yearning for that close girlfriend bonding. Even the girls who have boyfriends/husbands or kids or demanding careers are able to tear themselves away for cocktail hour in Manhattan (of course, the show wouldn't be much of a show if the girls were always cancelling on hanging out with one another in favor of catching up on laundry).

In real life, I'm noticing that it's getting harder and harder to have quality friendships where you spend a significant time with friends and not just every now and again when you can fit them in. I miss those days when you could call your girlfriends just to bitch about anything and then still hang out that night at the movies. Now, a weekly phone call or bi-weekly hangout is enough to satisfy the minimum friendship requirement, and so we all go on our merry way, living different lives that are barely intertwined.

Maybe I'm feeling this way because I never joined a sorority in college, so that female bonding was never fulfilled. Also, I was one competitive bitch in high school. I'll admit it! I took my friends for granted and instead focused on having a boyfriend (and a mean one, at that). Thankfully, a couple of my most cherished friends from those days have looked past my snatchy ways and are still friends with me.

So, anyway, I know we all are busy and have our own paths to go down. And I can't expect my life to be like a TV show. If I'm lucky enough to have at least one quality friend, then I'm golden. And I do have more than one! There are a couple people in my life who will probably be there forever - and then there are those that I just need to cut ties with.

My dad used to tell me "wean away" from this one bad seed that I was friends with in 8th grade (actually, he would over-emphasize the "wean" part, so it sounded more like "weeeeean away" every time he reminded me, which was often). I eventually did, and now I'm trying to repeat that with another girl in my life. She's been someone who's caused me a lot of stress this last year, and I realize now how much I don't need that. We haven't talked in awhile, and I'm a lot happier. So that's the sign right there - if my life is better without her, it's time to pull the weed and keep the flowers, a.k.a. the friends that really matter.

In other news, this last weekend I visited Chico with Steve. Sooooo much fun! He showed me the night life, and I can see now why the town is known for its crazy partying ways. Alcohol is dirt cheap! There wasn't a bar we went to that wasn't packed, and our drink orders never totaled more than $7. We stopped by my cousin Jordin's apartment, which was fun. The next day, I went to a key tourist spot in Chico - the funeral home where a booted "Bachelor" contestant works! Yes, I am a dork. We spent time at Steve's parent's house since it was his mom's birthday, and I had such a good time. They are an awesome family!

This past week has been fine - Monday I saw one of my feminist idols, Gloria Steinem, speak in Folsom. She was brilliant! She's exactly the kind of woman I want to be - strong, intelligent, reasonable, empathetic, humble and hopeful.

Some downsides to these last couple weeks - we lost out on some new prospective clients at work, and an award I applied for based on the work I did for a client of mine last year didn't win :( But I really don't have much to complain about, especially with bigger problems going on in the world. I'm just happy to be content, healthy and employed - and surrounded by good people!

All right, enough rambling.....for now....