Serendipity

Sometimes events just seem to unfold in a manner that works out beautifully for everyone. Isn't that lovely? I was lucky enough to benefit from a nice little moment of serendipity just a couple of weeks ago. 

One of my bigger goals for 2016 is to visit two new places.  This is because I am a territourist, a creature of habit that tends to go back to the same place, marking my metaphorical territory over and over again. As a result, after my May 2016 holiday, I will have been to Ibiza five times in the last two years. Territorial? I may as well cock my leg and piss up the wall at Pacha and be done with it.  And there's a whole world out there. A whole great big beautiful world, most of which I haven't visited.  

So it was a very good thing when, as a result of a proposal that my boss and I had submitted, my company was shortlisted to pitch our services to a potential new client.

In Los Angeles.

It was also quite fortunate that, when I looked at flights, it was quite significantly cheaper to fly home on the Sunday evening, rather than straight after the Friday morning pitch.

So I found myself in a situation where it was beneficial, both to me and the company that I work for, to spend the weekend by myself in LA. Hoorah!

I will be totally honest. LA was not on my shortlist of places to visit.  I'm not a movie buff and LA has always struck me as a place that is so film-centric that there is probably very little else going on.  Which could make it a little..... superficial?

Well, I was right, but I was also wrong.  It all very much depends on where you go.

I stayed in Venice, in a lovely little Airbnb place [side note, one of my other big goals for 2016 is to TRY NEW THINGS and staying in an Airbnb is a big tick in that box] that was located down a little walk street.

The walkway down to my little slice of Venice heaven #LA #Venice #VeniceBeach #airbnb

A photo posted by @readyamefire on Feb 19, 2016 at 4:53pm PST

As you can see this is a lovely little path to walk down..... unless you're doing it for the first time in the dark, having got off the bus manhandling a gigantic suitcase, thinking "Is this safe?  I have no idea if this area is safe" while pondering the fact that if I were watching someone go down this poorly lit alley on TV, I'd be shouting "Don't go down there! Oh for heaven's sake, she's just asking to be murdered, the idiot".  As it turned out, it was all fine and I soon found myself installed in a cute little guesthouse that sat at the end of my host's garden.  I was pretty tired by this point and so with a brief chomp on some Cheetos for dinner, I crashed to sleep on the very comfortable and snuggly bed.

Thankfully, I had a pretty good night's sleep and woke up feeling pretty bright, which was good as it was time to go and pitch!  I put my professional face on and headed out.  I had assumed that the public transport would be like London, with a bus every couple of minutes.  Not the case.  So I ended up walking about two miles to the office in Santa Monica, as my connecting bus just didn't come along.  Thankfully I had allowed plenty of time and was still early for the pitch, which went very well.  And then at about 11am, I was free as a bird in Los Angeles!

After heading back to my Airbnb to get the heck out of my suit, I hit the streets of Venice, CA.  My first port of call was Abbot Kinney Blvd, which is an super hipster street of cute little independent shops.  I wasn't really in the mood for shopping, but I enjoyed strolling along in the warm sunshine.  Very welcome after the cold February weather that we were having in the UK.  I hit the end of the boulevard and found my way to Venice Beach, which was every bit as lively as I thought it would be, with stalls, buskers, and a great group of street dancers.

A video posted by @readyamefire on Feb 19, 2016 at 6:15pm PST

By the end of the street dance show, I was pretty hungry, as I hadn't eaten anything yet that day. Thankfully the Sidewalk Café was able to provide me with an enormous lunch before I headed on up the boardwalk.  After walking northwards up the beach for a while, Venice starts to fade away and becomes Santa Monica, which is like the classy older sister to Venice's raucous young boy.  The beach here is lovely, just like walking onto the set of Baywatch.

I feel like I just walked onto the set of #Baywatch #santamonicabeach

A photo posted by @readyamefire on Feb 19, 2016 at 4:55pm PST

After a wander around the shops of Santa Monica, I was tired and decided to catch the bus back to Venice, collapsing in bed almost as soon as I got back there early evening. Looking at the health app on my phone, it looks like I walked about 10 miles that day, so no wonder the jetlag caught up with me!

The next day it was time to head to Hollywood.  I got the bus again, which took longer than I thought again.  That's the thing about LA, it's huge and sprawling and nothing is very close to anything else.  I wandered up and down the Walk of Fame until I found Angela Lansbury, then stopped for some lunch.

My work here is done.

A photo posted by @readyamefire on Feb 20, 2016 at 11:37am PST

After more public transport related fun, I arrived at the Griffith Observatory, a beautiful art deco style building pearched on top of a hill, where you get the best views of the Hollywood sign.

Ok, so it looks tiny here, but if you squint, you can see the Hollywood sign

A photo posted by @readyamefire on Feb 20, 2016 at 1:53pm PST

The observatory is sat at the edge of a park that has a load of trails just begging to be walked.  I walked up quite a way, but there was much more I could've walked, if I'd had the energy.  But this point, tiredness was setting in again (DAMN YOU JETLAG!!!) and I grabbed the bus back to my guesthouse for the evening.

The Venice canals were a lovely thing to do on my last day in California. Such a peaceful place. Why don't I live there?

A photo posted by @readyamefire on Feb 21, 2016 at 4:43pm PST

On my last day, I spent the morning wandering up and down the Venice Canals, such a beautiful and peaceful place.  Don't go there unless you want to spend quite a bit of time wondering how your life has managed to unfold in a way that has not led to you living there. After the canals, I had just enough time for a wander about (including an extended walk up Main Street to Santa Monica in search of stamps to send out postcards, which I then couldn't find a postbox for GAH!).  It was then time to head back to my Airbnb, grab my suitcase and head back to the airport for the long flight home.

Looking back on this trip, I can definitely say that I enjoyed my time in LA, but don't really feel like there is a lot more there that I would like to see.  I preferred Venice and Santa Monica to Hollywood, as there is a much more relaxed atmosphere in those places, although one point to note about everywhere I went is that there are huge numbers of homeless people, more than I've ever seen anywhere else, which is a really sad thing, with no simple solution. 

This week has mostly been like.....

Badly drawn girl

Mind the Gap

Sometimes the gap between who I think I am (who I'd like to be?) and who I actually am is huge.

This has been brought home to me in a number of ways recently.

1.  The quinoa conundrum

I'm a bit of a homebody.  I spend a lot of time at home (more on that later), so I'd like to see myself as someone who has the hang of it all.  Someone with a lovely clean, tidy, well put together home, who could welcome people in at the drop of a hat, possibly whipping up a quick batch of scones for them, without smudging my lipstick.  You know the sort of thing.  Nigella Lawson crossed with Kirsty Allsopp.  Well, I'm busty, dammit, so I should be able to pull this off.  And yet, somehow I'm hopeless.  As I sit here on my sofa and type this, I can see mess everywhere.  My washing is drying on the curtain rail in my living room and my knickers are on the radiator.  I wouldn't want to invite anyone here, and I certainly don't have the makings of scones in the cupboard.

What I do have in the cupboard is quinoa.  Lots of it.  I first bought it, oh, about a year ago, cooked some, quite liked it, and then promptly threw it to the back of the cupboard.  A few weeks ago, I bought a book of quinoa recipes from the Book People. It's still in the bag.  I just took it out to take a photo.  Here it is.

Delicious!

So in an attempt to unleash my inner domestic goddess, I am........ [drum roll]........

GOING TO COOK SOMETHING FROM THE BOOK THIS WEEK.  Then I will blog about it.   

2.  An intro-version of me.

A couple of weeks ago, B sent me a text message, telling me about a book I had to read.  It's called Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking.  She said that she kept thinking about me as she read it.  I was initially astounded by this statement. Me?  Quiet?! Ahahahahhahaaaaaa!! No, really.  Aaaahahahahhahaaaaaaaaa!  Sorry.  But I trust B, she's amazing and she knows me well.  So I downloaded it to my Kindle and got around to reading it last week.  Well blow me down with a feather.  I'm an introvert. This has never occurred to me before.  Because, well, you know.  I'm quite loud.  And full of quips and banter and things.  But nonetheless, I am quite clearly an introvert.  I prefer low key social situations where I'm with people I know, but even then I often get overwhelmed and need to go, be quiet, regather myself. 

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Chelsea on Pinterest

If I'm out with friends, and there is a plan to go to a bar after we've had dinner, I excuse myself and head home.  I am quite clear that I do not want to be in the bar.  It is too much.  It is likely to be loud, with lots going on and it is JUST TOO MUCH.

Source: Uploaded by user via Lindsey on Pinterest

I'm only about halfway through the book, but it's just fantastic, and I recognise so much of myself in it.  I highly recommend it, if you are introverted (or suspect that you may be!) or you are close to someone who is.

3.  Homework.

I worked from home today.  I have an important presentation next week and wanted to work away from the distractions of the office so that I could focus on the task in hand (interestingly, open plan offices are not ideal for many introverted people, who need space and quiet to function better.  Who knew?).  In my mind, I thought that I'd be quietly sitting and thinking about the requirements of the project, maybe with a pencil lodged quirkily behind my ear.  In my mind, I'm wearing something simple, casual and stylish as I sip a cup of tea and ponder the needs of my client.  I'd be pacing up and down, before suddenly having a moment of inspiration and rushing over to my laptop to type furiously.  Hmmmmm.  In reality, I've spent all day in my hoodie and pyjama bottoms.  Alternately thinking about the client's needs and stuffing mini poppadoms into my gob.  I haven't had a cup of tea all day.  GASP.

But the good news is that I do have a handle on what we're doing for the presentation on Tuesday.  So I guess sometimes, it's not how you get there, but the end result that counts.  Phew.

Busy body

You know those people who don't blog for a while and then do a post apologising, but you know, they've been so busy.  As though they have not had a spare second to throw some thoughts onto their blog.  As though they must take the requisite time to ponder, to cogitate.  To craft it.  Well I say foo to that. FOO.  I have been busy, but quite frankly most of my blog posts are pretty much just brain farts anyway, so I might as well settle down and write one instead of watching a Murder, She Wrote repeat on ITV3, which was my original plan for the evening.  

So what have I been up to?  Well work has been BUSY.  I've been tasked with writing a lot of new business proposals, am in the process of on-boarding two new clients, attending networking events and even looking at organising our potential office move, from the aspect of getting input from all of my colleagues and taking a look at our company culture and making sure that our new offices and working practices represent who we want to be.  Phew.  All fun stuff, but all on top of my regular client delivery type work.  Yikes.  It's all go.

Outside of work, I'd love to say that I've been doing an awful lot of running.  But in reality I've been spending quite a bit of time not running.  I've been thinking a lot about running.  I've spent literally hours feeling guilty about not running, but very little time tying my laces and getting out the door.  To point where I was starting to get seriously worried about whether I'd even make it to the start line of the Brighton Marathon in April.  But not worried enough to get out the door HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA.  In case you were wondering, that's what my panic laughter looks like.

So at the weekend, I unleashed my new and improved cunning plan for marathon training.  It's revolutionary yet astonishingly simple, all at the same time.  I have made arrangements to go running with other people, on the basis that if I've arranged to meet someone, it's much harder to make excuses and procrastinate until it's "too dark" / "raining" / "Countryfile is on".  

And it worked!  On Saturday morning I went out for a short trot with B, only just under 3 miles, but a really enjoyable run nonetheless.  And then on Sunday, I made use of the services of my friendly local badass ultra runner who you can find here (even though he hasn't updated it for ages.  I expect he's busy).  I wanted to go for 10 miles.  The plan said 13, but as I'd only previously got up to 5.2, I didn't want to go crazy.  We ran to Guildford along the River Wey canal path and instead of turning around and running back to Godalming, I suggested that we go uphill and head back through the countryside on a path I knew.  So we did.  And it all felt great.  I finished the run still feeling strong and as though I had plenty left in the tank and haven't had any muscle soreness since.  So the main thing I have gained is a bit more running confidence, which has been seriously lacking of late.  More of the same this weekend, with the possibility of enlisting some new victims running buddies.

I think that's enough for now, I've tired myself out with it all.  Oh, one last thing.  If anyone should feel like sponsoring me for the Brighton Marathon, I just set up my new JustGiving page here

Things that have made me feel stabby this week

In the usual run of things, I quite enjoy my job.  Not in a skipping out of bed each morning would still do it if I won the lottery kind of way. But certainly in a quietly satisfied and it pays the mortgage sort of way. This month is our busiest month of the year. Stress levels are running high enough with the massively increased workload and then something that usually wouldn't bother you in the slightest makes you feel a little bit stabby. 

In a small nod to anonimity, let's pretend that I work behind the counter at McDonald's.  I don't and never have, although I am rather fond of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal (large with a diet coke please).

Scenario One: In which no-one listens to me.

Me (to various colleagues): "You're making that burger without cheese. I think the customer may have ordered cheese on their burger"

Me (sometime later): "I'm pretty sure that your guy over there wanted cheese on that".

Me (via email): "I'm a little bit concerned that our customer ordered a cheeseburger, but we are currently only working towards a hamburger. I think that at this stage we should make it clear to the customer that he is only getting a hamburger".

Colleague: "I served the customer his burger and it turns out that he wants cheese on it, so we're going to have to add some onto it"

Me: *bangs head slowly and repeatedly against desk*

Scenario Two: In which someone tells me something that I just told them.

Me: "Here's your Big Mac, I haven't had time to do the fries just yet and I know that your friend asked for a milkshake.  I'll get those over to you as soon as possible"

Colleague: "Thanks for the Big Mac, but you still need to provide the fries and the milkshake that my friend asked for".

Me: *hides under desk and softly starts to weep*

Scenario Three: In which instructions couldn't be clearer, but someone manages to cock it up anyway.

Me: "So you make the McFlurry by grabbing a container, putting it under the nozzle and pressing this button. Always add caramel, but only add sprinkles if the order specifically mentions sprinkles".

Colleague: *puts sprinkles on everything and sometimes also some Smarties just for fun*

Me: Ngngnggngngnggggngnggghhhhh *stabs self in eye with pencil*

Is this just me? Do you recognise any of these scenarios? Do you have some of your own to add?  Feel free to share!

In Janathon news, I ran 3 miles this morning.  I was only aiming for 2, but then my cunning Nike+ app asked me if I wanted one more song. I thought "Why the hell not?".  It was a song I love to run to. So I ran to it.  It was followed by another song I love to run to. So guess what I did?  This is my longest run since I injured myself and I even tried a cheeky little bit of running on tarmac to see what would happen. And it's all good. Huzzah!

UPDATE
Scenario Four: In which I'm not told something that I do actually need to know

Me: "So I gave all of those ketchup sachets to Bob so that he could give them to customers with their fries"
Colleague: "Oh no, we're waiting to hear whether those sachets are ok to distribute, you shouldn't have given them to Bob".
Me: *crams fist into mouth to stop scream from coming out*

*WARNING* Boring blog post

I've sat and stared at this blog post since Tuesday and have been unable to think of a single thing to say to make it less boring. So here it is. Sorry.

It's been two weeks since I last posted and quite a bit has happened in that time (both personally and in the world generally!). I guess the biggest personal news is that I have now returned to work for the company that I left five months or so ago. I was in a really frustrating situation with the new job - I'm not sure that they were ready for someone in my role just yet - so when my old company contacted me and asked if I'd like to come back, I was really happy to do it! I've had a bit of a promotion and given that the company has been bought and is now part of a wider group, there is more room for advancement, which was my only real gripe with the company in the first place.  I'm sad that I won't be seeing some of the lovely new people I met on a daily basis anymore, but this is the right move for me. 

It's been quite a stressful time and as a result the diet went completely off the rails. In all honesty, I've not been giving it the focus that it deserves since I got started. Frankly I've had much bigger things to worry about. Now that I feel so much happier and more settled it's time to get the rest of my life in order!

I weighed in on Tuesday at 13st 0lb. It doesn't take a maths genius to work out that I gained 3lb over the past couple of weeks and that I'm now almost back to where I started.

But this is a fresh start and I'm going to give this some welly. In addition to more focus, I also have more time again now that I'm not commuting to London every day. The downside is that I am officially not allowed to run at the moment. Have had two sessions with a physio and I'm not currently allowed to do any weightbearing exercise, including things like the crosstrainer at the gym. My problem is that I have very poor range of movement in my calf muscles - they are very tight. Apparently the usual range is 10 - 20cm and I had 6cm in my left leg (the one with the ouchy heel) and 8.5cm in the right. Oops. So for now it's only gentle walking, swimming and cycling, core work at the gym & many, many calf stretches for me. I'm also going to try and fit in a body balance class - that should help with the stretching.