Come Alive

Me and my suitcase have been on some crazy adventures these past few years. Traveling to Amarillo, Houston, Corpus Christi, Lake Charles, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Cambodia and now London. 

It’s a little surreal at this point in my life to look back on this blog and think that it started as a place to digitally archive my Cambodia travels three years ago. 

I mean I’m not that old, but Cambodia has taught me lessons that I continue to internalize and harp on to this day. Lessons that can’t be taught in a classroom environment. Lessons that going abroad can teach you about not only yourself but how you as a person fit in to society overall. 

London is going to be a different story. Literally. I’m packed. I’m ready. Let’s leave already? Is It 5pm yet!? 

I’m still not sure what lessons I’m going to learn or what will come from me traveling to a country that speaks English, where I’ll stay in a nice hotel, and have more of a touristy experience. I’m sure they are there. 

Well goodbye good old U S of A. See you in a few days. I’ll be writing in my journal and will be posting those digitally here of my London travels. Ta-ta for now!

Taking a lesson from Oreo, Denny’s posted this tweet in response to the NSA controversy: 

https://twitter.com/DennysDiner/status/344205950271488000

Not really sure if this aligns with the brand or not? But it’s good to see some humor mixed in with the news. 

I promise this is the last time you will hear read about my half marathon experience. But you have to admit, running 13.1 miles is pretty impressive for anyone. 

I had mapped out a three month plan to run, but like always things never go according to plan. About a month into my running, my wisdom teeth got infected and I took off a couple of days for that. Then the following week I started having troubles with my left knee which cut out about a month of my training. 

You see that good looking fellow above this text? Yeah, that’s me holding my finishers medal aka I ran 13.1 miles in 1:48 (please don’t read that as one minute and four eight seconds…I’m not that fast). I placed 122 out of 441 in my division. Not bad for my first half marathon! I always did better when I ran longer distances in cross country. 

This whole half marathon and starting to run again thing started because of my New Year’s resolution list which included being fit (Yes, I’ve kept to it - but that’s another blog).

Oh yeah, that’s me being a dork in front of the San Diego Zoo. I put that on my New Year’s Resolution list as well. They had so many cool animals! Make sure to check out my Instagram feed as I’m posting some of the animal photos I snagged there. 

This weekend also had me eating locally in San Diego and it was quite the experience! Max and I ate at a local Italian restaraunt and had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. 

So there - that’s my personal update. I really want to run another half marathon, and am looking into one in LA sometime soonish. Any suggestions? 

It all started last fall whenever Joanna and I walked into a movie theater and filled out a form for a sweepstakes. A few months later and bam! I get a phone call saying that Joanna and I had won a couple’s trip to Hawaii…awkward. In case you didn’t know Joanna works with me at RPA and in order to win the contest you had to be a couple with more than 75k annual income. 

Then little things started to happen. I would find a quarter on the ground…yes I consider this luck. But eventually big things started happening, a trip to London, Muse concert, Killers concert (both free events via some friends), Logo TV awards, and finally today’s Ben & Jerry’s yogurt experience. 

Ben & Jerry’s is doing a West Coast tour where their bring around a food truck full of free yogurt to business via you tweeting at them. Well, I and a few other’s had been tweeting at them and then they direct messaged me saying that they would love to come to RPA! 

Thus 300 RPA associated could enjoy free yogurt via Ben & Jerry’s and enjoy sunny california. I was a little nervous at first when the truck didn’t arrive right on time - I would have made a lot of people angry. 

I’m super thankful for California and all the fortune that I’ve been having lately. I sure do hope it continues!

whatshouldwecallsocialmedia:

OMG THIS IS THE BEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN.

Facebook page here.

Article here.

This is absolutely out of control. Like WHAT?! 

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to start part of the London experience with a $1,000 Topman shopping spree in L.A. Yes, that’s 1k! All. On. Clothes. And if you know me, I don’t typically sport much more than a v-neck and some jeans. 

I brought Max along with me, who will be going to London with me in one month’s time. We arrived at Topman and met with my personal shopper, Travis who was very fashionable himself. I knew I wanted to grab a topshop suit as my first item and that’s where we ended up. 

I put the coat on and it was love at first fit. It was like butter. Paula Deen had baked me a suit and laid it on me. After looking down at the price tag, I gasped - $400 for the suit…uhhh what? Well Yolo. 

Yes you are reading correct I just typed Yolo. Don’t judge me. That’s what you must say when you drop that amount on a suit you could never afford. 

Anyway, I proceeded to walk around the store to grab some button downs, a swimsuit, chinos, shorts, a denim jacket, and a graphic tee. I was really surprised how much a grand actually got me a Topman but I was overall pleased with the experience. 

Thank goodness for Travis and Max or I probably would have been a lost puppy buying who knows what after the suit. And thanks once again to Topman for randomly selecting me for this awesome prize. 

One month till London!