Be My Accounta-buddy?

Happy Monday friends!

Normally you don’t wish someone a “happy Monday,” but Monday is over and I’m happy about that. So it counts.

Before I dive in, I want to thank you all so much for reading my inspiration post about Cypher University. You all loved that post, so I promise that I’ll 1) write more posts about inspiration, and 2) go to more awesome hip hop shows and tell you about them.

It’s time for you all to have another go-round as my accounta-buddies. (For those of you that don’t know, that means “accountability buddies” and the original post about it is here.)

As I was trying to make my next appointment with the seamstress that’s altering my wedding dress (eeeeeeek!) I realized that my schedule is getting crazy. With wedding things and summer things and life things and all the other things, I’m finding that my To Do list keeps growing and stupidly easy things keep getting pushed back. So that’s what this Get Shit Done List is all about.

• Write meta descriptions.

I really need to up my SEO game on this blog. I’m not looking to monetize this blog by any means, but I do love flexing my digital marketing muscles, so this will be a fun project.

• Add more meals to the plan.

I’m currently writing weekly meal plans and food prep plans for a couple of friends to help them eat healthier and hit some of their #gainz goals and I want to add a couple more salads to the mix now that it’s getting warmer.

• Pay water bill.

Since Leon and I merged our finances I have been kicking ass at paying bills more then two days before they’re due. I want to keep that streak going.

Have I mentioned that I love business clothes?

• Attend my work event.

The temp agency that I’m working with is having an event on Wednesday. This is an easy one that I’m going to check off, so consider this me padding the list a little so I can have a win.

• Buy plane tickets for New York in July.

Leon and I are going to Long Island in July to finalize a bunch of stuff for the wedding and I need to book those tickets before the prices go up. Unless you know some actual tips for getting cheaper plane tickets. If you do, please share!

• Alter my skirt.

I bought a killer white wrap skirt from Ann Taylor a month ago and it’s a bit big, so I need to move the buttons to make it wrap tighter.

• Write my follow up post.

Okay. I’m padding this list again. I’m totally okay with that.

So there’s my list for this week. If I can get all those very easy, mostly quick tasks done I will consider it a very successful week. I’ll check back in with you on Sunday to tell you how it went.

What’s on your list this week, friends? I’ll be more than happy to hold you accountable.

Cheers, Kara

Get Inspired: Hip Hop Showcase

Hiya friends!

Let’s talk about inspiration, shall we?

Inspiration is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m pretty far from where I want to be professionally. I’m not in my dream job. I may be significantly closer than when I worked in HR, so I’m happy about that, but it’s still a long way from my dream job. Such a long way, in fact, that I feel a little like an Underwear Gnome.

I don't like South Park, but I like Underwear Gnomes.

So given that those middle steps are still very vague and hazy I’ve been finding it hard to inspire myself to make moves when, for all I know, those moves could be in the complete wrong direction. I mean, Step 2 is still so hazy that I can’t even make a SMART goal about it!

This quote is not inspiring in the least.

I’m not the only person who feels that way, right?

So here’s what I’ve been trying lately to get inspired and keep Step 2 in my sights. Hint: it’s not bullshitty quotes on pictures.

Last week I went to a hip hop showcase. My friend came into town because she is making a documentary on a group of emcees that were putting on a show. I had absolutely no clue what I was walking into.

It turns out that I walked into a group of amazingly talented, amazingly brave artists. How talented were they?

I stayed out two hours later than I planned, which is huge because I don’t give up sleep easily.

Watching these emcees perform was beyond energizing. They held nothing back. They put everything out there. They cared as much about respecting and supporting their fellow performers as they did about what the crowd thought of them.

These guys (and one very talented lady) were normal guys. They were nerdy college students. One was a college professor. One worked at Planet Fitness. One puffed on an inhaler before starting. And they were doing this unbelievably cool thing. Their rhymes were so original and they talked about real things, not fur coats and banging hoes and whatever else rappers today talk about.

Watching these guys perform, I couldn’t help but get inspired. I’m not going to buy a rhyming dictionary and try to perform with them anytime soon (or ever, probably), but I want to be more like them.

I want to grind and grind and grind without recognition like they do, simply because I love what I’m grinding at so much. I want to encourage other people to get better and work harder without fear that they’re going to surpass me. I want to put myself out there and do big, amazing things without fear of failing in front of people.

I want to fail in front of people and then try again.

These guys were doing all those things and they were doing them set to a beat. Like I said, this whole night was beyond inspiring. I left feeling energized and ready to make moves.

I didn’t make moves that night because, again, I love sleep. But that energy and all the poorly shot cell phone videos I look that night are going to carry me through a lot of grinding to come.

What about you, friends? What has inspired you lately?

Cheers, Kara

Happy Crossfit Injury-versary

Hello friends!

Today is kind of a special day for me. And thanks to the magic that are content calendars and scheduled posts, I am able to publish this post on the actual day (not three days late like I am with birthday cards).

Anyway…

Today is the two year anniversary of when I f’ed my shoulder up at Crossfit. It’s also kind of the one year anniversary of when I grew up a little.

I remember April 2, 2014 very well. I had been doing Crossfit for 22 months. I was absolutely not the best Crossfitter, but I had finally overcome the knee injury that I had when I started and the hip problem I developed while doing it, so I was feeling great.

Hell, I was 23. I had that Blink 182 song stuck in my head for the whole year (and if you click on that link you will, too), so I felt like a straight badass all year. Crossfit only fueled that badass attitude. Of course I felt great!

Just your typical, industrial Crossfit gym.

Anyway, the workout was a tough one.

100 toes to bar15 wall balls every time you come off the pull up bar

(Links to movements.)

I was just getting the hang of toes to bar and walls balls were never a favorite of mine. I could have scaled it down with a lighter wall ball or an easier ab move, but I was a badass! Badasses don’t scale!

Also, I had promised myself that if I did 10 workouts without scaling I could get a pedicure.

So I did the workout as written. I came off the pull up bar a bunch and missed a bunch of the wall balls. Nothing about it was fun or enjoyable, but I did it because that’s what a Crossfitter does.

And if you know anything about Crossfit stereotypes, you know that getting injured is also what a Crossfitter does. And that’s exactly what happened next.

Bright, sharp pains were shooting and radiating through my shoulder. Taking off my sweaty sports bra when I got home was nearly impossible and involved a good bit of rolling on the bed and counting “1…2…3” as I coaxed myself to move.

I’m not going to recount the whole next year. It involved lots of pretending I was okay, “going light” on the weights, and one handed hair washing.

A gym switch and a year later, I was onto my second doctor with no real improvement to show for it. But as I was telling that second doctor all about my year long injury (and all my other injuries) I had a very interesting revelation.

Here goes:

Crossfit (and anything else that causes you to push yourself) is really great, but only until you push yourself to stupid, painful places. And once you get to that point you lose all the benefits you gained from pushing yourself in the first place.

A shorter version of that revelation is this:

Pushing yourself is great, but only when you do it smartly and with control. Once you lose control you lose all of the benefits.

I'm definitely not the fastest, but I'm probably not the slowest.

That’s a tough understanding for a 24 year old and a Crossfitter to come to. Both of those things lent themselves to making me think that I was invincible and all my decisions were great.

I’m definitely not invincible and my decisions are not all great. (This is the point when all of my older, more mature friends start nodding and laughing at me. That’s fair. I deserve it.)

In the year since I’ve had that revelation my shoulder has gotten better. It still bothers me sometimes and likely always will. But the difference between 23 year old me and 25 year old me (aside from lots and lots of things) is that I’m completely and totally okay with having limitations. I no longer view limitations as things that need to be blindly defied.

This is not saying that I’m accepting mediocrity or that I’m succumbing to complacency. I’m not doing either of those things. I’m still Crossfitting  and setting crazy goals and being a badass in other ways. But now I’m more of an intentional badass with a little bit of self-control and forethought (and a bum shoulder). 

Competing in my first Crossfit competition and not expecting to win. 

So there you go. Happy anniversary to my shoulder and to my small modicum of maturity.

Your turn, friends. Tell me about your sport injuries.

Cheers, Kara

#NoHateInMyState

Hello friends!

I’ve got an out of the ordinary post for you today, but it needs to be said.

(And it needs to be said using some pretty strong language, so consider yourself warned.)

Last night North Carolina fucked up.

If you live in North Carolina, are tuned into LGBT issues, or are a human you’ve probably heard about the Bathroom Bill.

For those of you who haven’t heard about it, here’s the gist:

Charlotte passed a city ordinance recently allowing transgender individuals to use the public bathroom that corresponds with the gender they identify as, not the one they were born with.

As to be expected in a state that is firmly in the Bible Belt, people lost their shit. Yesterday (March 23) the General Assembly went into a special session and pushed through HB2, amid lots of protest and a walk out by the Senate Democrats. Late Tuesday night Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law.

HB2 repeals Charlotte’s Bathroom Bill, prohibits cities and counties from writing non-discrimination ordinances that protect LGBT people, and takes away the ability of citizens to file certain types of discrimination lawsuits in North Carolina courts, among other things. It is a bullshit bill, to say the least.

I don’t actually want to talk about the bill, though. Enough people are spitting venom about this right now and doing a better job at it than I could. I want to talk about the way North Carolinians have responded.

They’ve responded with ownership.

#NoHateInMyState and #WeAreNotThis flooded social media. Lists of the responsible politicians that are up for re-election (and the candidates running against them) have been posted and reposted and shared.

I have not heard a single person talking about fleeing the state or any of the other bullshit that people say during presidential elections when they are angry, but not angry enough to put actions behind their words.

I have seen people getting angry and talking about ways they can fix the problem. I have seen people filling the streets in protest outside the Governor’s Mansion (and getting arrested for being there).

Without a doubt, this is a bullshit bill. It was a bullshit move by bullshit politicians. It is putting countless lives in danger and reaffirming fears based in ignorance and misinformation. And despite the fact that North Carolina is a national embarrassment right now (as it fucking should be!), I am unbelievably proud of the way certain North Carolinians have responded. I am proud of the ownership they have taken of their state and their willingness to not abandon ship or focus on blame.

I didn’t grow up in North Carolina, but today, more than ever, I am proud that this is my new home. #NoHateInMyState

What do you think of all this bullshit, friends?

Cheers, Kara

SMART Goal Setting: Job Hunting

Hello friends!

It’s 11:30p on Friday night as I’m writing this. I was dozing on the couch half an hour ago, but then I got off the couch and brushed my teeth, so now I’m wide awake.

Does minty toothpaste make anyone else wide-awake?

So it’s time to start ticking items off that big list Iposted a couple weeks ago. First on the list is job hunting, more specifically setting SMART goals to get a job.

In case you missed it before, I have a job! I’m doing marketing and communications for a B2B generator company. Technically it’s a temp job as they rebrand and launch a new website, but it has the possibility of becoming permanent.

 SMART Goal Setting: Job Hunting

Getting this job was not easy. It was the culmination of a very long-term plan. Most of that plan isn’t relevant to you, unless of course, you never left the humanities building in college and somehow ended up in a dead end HR job. But since I highly doubt that is the case for most of you, I’ll skip to the actual job hunting part.

Specific: Get a full time job in marketing, PR, or communications.

Meaningful: This is something that I’ve been slowly working towards for a long time. I left my well-paying full time job to go back to school for this goal. That’s about as meaningful as it gets.

Measurable: Luckily this is a yes or no question. Do I have a full time job in marketing? Yes, then I succeeded. No, then I need to keep working.

Action Oriented: I took a two-fold approach to this goal. First, I applied for jobs. Monday through Friday I sat down at my computer and wouldn’t get up until I had either applied for four jobs or exhausted the job postings for the day. This meant customizing four resumes, researching four companies, and writing four cover letters based on the research and the job posting. This was not an easy task and I got so sick of talking about myself, but no one is going to knock on your door and offer you a job, so this was very necessary.

My second actionable approach was to work to bolster my resume. I did this by getting online certifications, writing this blog, creating an online portfolio, and doing as many odd-job marketing projects as I could. Depending on your industry you should be able to find a handful of free or cheap online certification courses that you can take in your free time.

Realistic: I had a good amount of experience, some relevant education, I was regularly adding new items to my resume, and I wasn’t shooting for a high-level position. An entry-level position, especially in a city that is going through as much of a boom as Raleigh is right now, was well within my grasp.

Timely: This is where I broke my rule a little. I didn’t have a set time limit on this goal. That’s not entirely realistic for a goal like this. I did have daily requirements – working from 9-5p to apply for at least four jobs and then fill the rest of my time with bulking up my resume – so that served to as a daily check-in for me as to whether or not I was living up to this goal.

Sitting in my cubicle in my favorite dress!

I put this goal in place and after several weeks, a large handful of phone interviews, and a small handful of second/in-person interviews, I got a job!

Is this my dream job?

Hell no! Not even close!

But my goal was not to get my dream job. It was to get a full time marketing job. And I did that. So I was successful.

What about you, friends? Do you have your dream job? Do you know what your dream job is? (I do! And it's such a scary feeling.)

Cheers, Kara

Happy Things for Friday: Selfies, Smoothies, and Showers

Hello friends!

Look! I didn’t abandon you again. Consider this me setting a precedent.

I had every intention of working on checking things off my list from last weekend, but I had kind of a crappy day, so instead I want to talk about wonderful things that make me happy.

• This selfie.

I’ve been all about the selfies lately. Normally I do the duck face, but I was a little tipsy this night and really loving my hair, so I wanted to make a different face. And damn, I look cute!

• Watsky, Mike Posner, and Spose.

Thanks to Pandora at work all day, every day I have discovered these three guys and I am really loving them. I find them especially helpful while writing strategy plans and Photoshopping my boss’ face.

• My smoothie game!

Normally I weigh out all the ingredients for my smoothies as part of my Sunday food prep, but the battery in my food scale died, so I had to guestimate everything. Well, my guestimating was off, because I ended up with very, very green smoothies this week.

• This meme.

As a borderline crazy dog lady, these crack me up. My dogs have definitely made some of these shapes.

• This whole situation.

I love this woman’s tattoos. I love this idea. I love yoga and have been doing it more lately, which makes me feel amazing.

• My wedding shower.

Leon and I are having a co-ed shower in Macon, GA (my hometown) at the end of April, so I’ve been texting back and forth with my mom and maid of honor all week to plan it. It’s going to be so much fun and I am especially excited to see some of my Macon friends that I haven’t seen in forever, drink summery sangria in my mom’s amazing backyard, and buy a fun, bright dress.

Those are the things that are making me happy this week, despite the fact that I don’t have hot water. (Long story, don’t ask.)

What’s making you happy this week, friends?

Cheers, Kara

Catch Up: Raleigh, Temp Job, Crossfit

Hi strangers!

Remember when I used to write a lot and keep you updated on my life and occasionally say useful things?

Yeah, I barely remember that either.

Sorry that I’ve left you hanging, friends. Everything with my move to Raleigh suddenly got kicked into warp speed and I barely had time to breath. I’m finally relaxing a little – which is good because those stress dreams were getting weird – so now I have time for all the little life things that aren’t life-sustaining, like blogging, buying snack foods, and online shopping.

Those are all important pursuits, right?

So let’s ease ourselves back into this situation with a quick recap of what is going on in my life and what you can expect in the future.

• I moved to Raleigh.

Leon and I got this great house in this weird little mini neighborhood that is amazingly close to downtown.

The view from my screened in porch, which I love.

• I’m going to write a SMART goals post about house hunting.

It mainly involves the Action-oriented goal of limiting the number of times you cry in the car and the very Realistic goal of finding a house with at least one full bathroom.

• I got a job!

Technically it’s a temp job, but it has the potential to become permanent. And considering they haven’t had anyone doing marketing since the last marketing coordinator left in 2012, there’s a serious backlog of work, so I’m pretty optimistic about my chances. Also, I’m a excellent marketer (said like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman), so that helps, too.

#DeskSelfie! 

• I’m going to write another SMART goals post about job hunting.

Trust me, it will not in any way be a sales pitch for LinkedIn’s job seeker premium account because I think that’s a waste of money.

• You might also get treated to a post about all the things I wanted to say to my coworkers, but didn’t because they might get me fired. If I write this post, it will be very colorful and feature lots of memes. 
• Leon and I have merged our finances.

That meant we had a very, very honest conversation about our debt. And that conversation included Leon saying that he didn’t feel quite as bad about his student loan debt once he found out how much credit card debt I had. Oh yes, ladies and gents, that is my future husband.

• We just took this big leap and aren’t too far into it, so I’m not planning on writing a post about that anytime soon.
• I found a new Crossfit box and have started doing the Crossfit Open. You can definitely expect a post about that because most of you have no clue what words I just said.
• I’m still working on that friend thing. And you can believe I will be writing plenty of posts about that and plenty of memes in those posts, as well.

Those are the highlights of my life lately. As you can see, that’s a lot going on, but most of it is exciting, some of it is good, and a few of the things don’t totally terrify me.

What’s going on with you, friends?

Cheers, Kara.