Here were some of my firsts:

1) I appeared on Kofy TV’s Dance Party.

2) I helped host a friend’s bridal shower while battling laryngitis & organized a wonderful spa bachelorette outing for her.

3) I visited London and Paris for the first time.

4) I organized Team Don’t Stop Believing for American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event and participated in fundraising, open house planning, and the 5k walk itself. Our team raised over $3500 in the fight against breast cancer!

6) I served as Maid of Honor in my good friend’s wedding.

7) I ran a 10k, the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, on Thanksgiving Day.

8) I saw my mother fight breast cancer and emerge even stronger.

Here’s to 2012!

Here were some of my firsts:

1) I appeared on Kofy TV’s Dance Party.

2) I helped host a friend’s bridal shower while battling laryngitis & organized a wonderful spa bachelorette outing for her.

3) I visited London and Paris for the first time.

4) I organized Team Don’t Stop Believing for American Cancer Society’s and participated in fundraising, open house planning, and the 5k walk itself. Our team raised over $3500 in the fight against breast cancer!

6) I served as Maid of Honor in my good friend’s wedding.

7) I ran a 10k, the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, on Thanksgiving Day.

8) I saw my mother fight breast cancer and emerge even stronger.

 Here’s to 2012!

Over the course of 3 months, our team grew from 3 to 18 strong. We fundraised via social media, emails, word of mouth, and printed marketing materials.  We also worked with awesome  local business owner Cindy of It’s a Girl Thing who was kind enough to donate a portion of a day’s profits to us. (She also allowed us to sell baked goods in her store, and all profits went to the American Cancer Society). The piece de resistance, however, was our team open house, an event which raised over $1000 for the ACS. Our final team fundraising tally was a whopping $3570, nearly $600 over our collective goal of $3000!

The walk itself was incredible. 12,000 participants came together, rocked their pink, and made strides to end cancer. There were survivors with pink sashes; teams with black shirts and tutus; and amazing ACS volunteers standing along the sidelines and cheering us on throughout the event. It was immensely powerful to see how many people had been touched by cancer and who were here because they knew they could make a difference. I was thrilled that my father, my brother, my cousin, my mother’s sisters, our neighbor, and others were able to join us for this event.  I wished that my mother could have been there, as she was our team’s inspiration, but she told me afterward that she was planning to do next year’s. Her sisters and I rocked stickers for her:

It was wonderful to hear people take up our team name, Don’t Stop Believing, and start singing the song. The name became a rallying call for us throughout this whole experience–Don’t Stop Believing, Mom will get through chemo (she’s now finished 7 of her 8 treatments). Don’t Stop Believing, you’ll reach your fundraising goal. (We even exceeded it–and I exceeded my personal goal of $1000!) Don’t Stop Believing, Mom will feel better (she could even go out to dinner with us this weekend–what a change from before!)

This event truly allowed me to channel all of the sadness, fear, and anger that I initially felt when hearing that my mother had cancer into something far greater than myself. I feel as if this event, this entire fundraising process, and watching my mother stand up to cancer, have all truly changed me. I view the world differently now, and I definitely want to do this again next year. My cousin has also invited me to participate in a Relay for Life, which sounds amazing as well.

Don’t Stop Believing isn’t just a song, it’s also a way of living your life and embracing the possibilities. My mother still faces surgery and a recovery process, but if I’ve learned anything from her, a positive attitude makes all the difference in the world.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Kick-Off Breakfast

     My cousin J and I attended the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Kick-Off event this morning at the Embassy Suites in Burlingame, CA.   It was amazing to hear from courageous women who were 10 year breast cancer survivors, 14 year breast cancers, and one woman who had 2 masectomies 26 years apart. I felt so inspired to be among women who had fought breast cancer and won.

Sometimes I think that life mirrors this image–we each push our rocks (daily tasks) up the mountain, only to greet the next day knowing that we need to repeat the same things again (or if not the same things, new and challenging ones). There are days when the rock feels ridiculously heavy, and we don’t know if we’ll make it to the top. There’s definitely an absurdity to it all as well, especially if our work seems without purpose.

In class, we tossed around the idea that Sisyphus might enjoy the walk back down. Without the rock, despite his connection to it, he can relax and savor those moments without it. I think that our daily efforts need purpose, that we as humans crave a reason for what we do and want to be motivated each day to do it. Perhaps the rock is practicality–we want to love what we do each day, but we have to eat as well. I feel myself struggling with my own rock–work, dance, relationships, etc. I love much of my life but acknowledge its more challenging aspects as well.

In the end, I’ll have to side w/Camus and simply make the rock my own. We all have choices–choices to reduce the size of our rocks, or increase our rocks because we relish a challenge. For me, I think I’ll try to savor the walk back, and try to make use of my “down” time…

For London, I’ve been scoping out The Style Scout: http://stylescout.blogspot.com/

For Paris, I’ve been perusing Easy Fashion: http://easyfashion.blogspot.com/

My current style is a blend of the fun and the functional (plus, the somewhat common lazy jeans and a sweatshirt days).

Here’s what I wore yesterday. For my European travelers, does this scream American, or with the proper scarf and jacket, would it work?

An ideal job should…

•  challenge you to create new ways of doing things, and promote incremental change
• wear you out in a good way, so you leave feeling tired, yet happy that you’ve accomplished something
• have an environment which is open, yet professional, and not take itself too seriously–there should be moments to laugh, make mistakes, grow, and improve
• have a supportive staff including people of different beliefs, ages, and personalities
• pay enough to live on, but not overpay you for not doing enough work
• offer the opportunity for advancement and new positions
• offer appreciation for your work
• remain a part of your life, but not your entire life
• incorporate social media and invite your voice as part of the conversation
• (or the company, rather)–be willing to listen to your ideas, and incorporate them if feasible

     I recognize the abundance in my life and remain grateful for it. Still, I don’t think it’s wrong to explore other options.

Is anyone else out there attempting a career pathway switch? How are things working out for you?

   I’m thrilled that 2011 is here at last, and I thought it might be a good exercise to revisit my 2010. There were a number of firsts, and I definitely learned a great deal about myself during that time. So what did I do?

1) I helped plan a bridal shower for my sister-in-law.

2) I participated in a flash mob style surprise wedding dance.

Photo courtesy of Chris Plato

3) I visited Pixar Animation Studios.

Character images, etc  copyrighted by Pixar, all rights reserved.

4) I flew successfully to SoCal and back for work.

5)  I tried pho ( sooo good!)

6) I grilled my own steak (major nommage)

7) I attended Electronica at Disney’s California Adventure.

8) I visited the Oakland Museum of CA (worth the $12 and beyond!)

9) I went to a  Winter Ball (I had attended junior prom and senior ball before, but never Winter Ball–it was a first for my dance studio as well, as the ADP folks were graciously hosting it!)

10) We also gained 2 loving kitties due to my sister-in-law, and they’ve brought all kinds of joy to our house.

Yay for 2010, and here’s to an even more amazing 2011!

       I chose the #3 combo, which included seasoned beef, garlic rice topped by a fried egg, and a slice of tomato, all of which arrived served on a bright green leaf:

 

      The flavors were incredible!  The egg was perfectly salted, and the yolk readily broke open and oozed onto the garlic (but not too garlicky) rice.  Also, the tomato slice was good, both for color and fruit purposes, but the standout was definitely the meat. It had a slight sweetness as well as spiciness to it, and it arrived moist and well cooked.  I found it to be the perfect next day chaser meal to Thanksgiving, and at $6, it was worth every penny ($7 with a soda).

 The truck also offered 5 combos with other meats, such as sausage, and sides as well (what appeared to be long egg rolls, etc). I had to thank the staff, because frankly, that was an amazing meal.

If you’d like to try the WowTruck…

 http://twitter.com/theWowTruck 

 http://www.facebook.com/TheWOWTruck 

If you’d like to visit the Usuals, please go to http://www.shoptheusuals.com

    So I drove up to Emeryville yesterday afternoon and found my way to Pixar’s 45th Street entrance (the main entrance on Park is under construction). As I entered, I was greeted warmly by a security guard who checked my name off a list of attendees. From there, I parked in the guest section of the lot and made my way to the front of the building, where I saw this:

Pixar had several murals from the Toy Story films, including one featuring Buzz and Woody, and another with the ensemble and Lotso the Bear.

  At the center of the room was a long table piled high with food, including green salad, orzo salad, fruit salad, cheese, mini pumpkin pies, and cookies. I snagged some salad and a seat towards the back of the area. High above me were vaulted glass-paned ceilings, and the room was filled with airiness and light. The place  had a wonderfully open and energetic vibe to it. And when I needed to use the restroom, I quickly spotted this:

   I decided to challenge myself by taking an improv class. I’ve never been especially skilled at improv, even though we’d do it somewhat often in high school drama class, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to refresh my skills. Pixar’s Chris Romero taught the class, and he was wonderfully enthusiastic, supportive, and patient. We did three different improv activities, and I soon realized that I typically overthink things. Going with your first thought is really the keystone of improv, and I think I have this need to perfect my thought before uttering it. Improv doesn’t allow for this. I realized my brain isn’t used to leaping before looking, except perhaps in dance improv. I definitely need to retrain it. Spontaneity, sharing new ideas/building on others, risk-taking–all of these are good things.

  My visit to Pixar reminded me that I was spontaneous as a child, and the most awesome people are creative and spontaneous. It also reminded me that I can throw out ideas without fear of censure–and as Chris R mentioned, work is especially a good place for adding to ideas, building on them, etc. I’m completely stoked. I invite you all to come to the fundraiser next year–it was well worth the money.