I got a job!!!

So as maybe you know, I've been looking for a job in San Francisco for the past 5 months and I finally got an offer.  I started last Wednesday, and I wanted to make extra sure I had the job before I blogged about it and jinxed it!

Soo where and what am I doing?!?

I work for Wix.com, a website that helps average people make beautiful and personalized websites for free! I am customer support in their San Francisco office and so far my job is awesome!
The office has:
-a big kitchen with free food
-free tea and Keurig coffee
-a huge outside patio with lights and bike parking in the middle of the city
-they give us free burritos on Friday
-you can bring your dog to work
-we (Wix) host weekly-monthly community events at the office
-a kegerator
-AND super nice people

I am very, very happy!

This is Monty, my desk buddy!

Sunset hike

 Today some of my roommates and I hiked to the hills behind Berkeley, and we timed it to watch the sunset. It felt so good to be doing something local with my roommates and being in nature.  Am I the only one who gets an automatic "de-stress" from being enveloped by trees.  And then we watched the sun go down right behind the Golden Gate bridge.  What a way to cap off Monday right?

That is the City across the bay and to the right. Ahhw love it.

Anyone else do something to ease their Monday blues?

3 Things I'm Thankful for Lately

With the frustrations involved with finding a job, I think its a perfect time for me to think of three things I'm thankful lately.

1)  A beautiful ocean view for my Birthday Brunch.  The boyfriend took me to The Rooftop Lounge in Laguna.  Only in Southern California could you have an outside ocean view brunch in December.  I'll definitely be missing the almost always perfect weather in SoCal when I move.

2) My dog.  I think I'm always thankful for my dog.  I love the time I get to spend with him and I wish I could take him with me when I move.

via

3)  My new Droid Razr mini. I switched over from the Iphone because I broke the screen...yet again, and I wanted a change.  So far I love it.  I'm not big on apple products to begin with and I'm a big Google lover, and this phone is owned by Google.  It was already set up to connect to my gmail, Google+ and Chrome.  I'm still figuring out all the things I can do with it, but I love it.

A Whole Lotta Nutcracker

Little nutcrackers everywhere.  I don't know why but it feels like nothing bad can happen when these little guys and a Christmas tree is lit in the living room.  This is my favorite time of year and I'm trying to soak up every minute of it.  We decorated the house and the tree yesterday, along with a peppermint mocha and Christmas music.  I love that this season involves a lot of getting together and just enjoying the time.

But also happy 4th night of Hanakkuh!

'Tis the season!

This weekend.

I had the most wonderful weekend in San Francisco.  There is just so much to do and see in the city.  A random Sunday turns into an exciting and interesting adventure.  And not to mention, being able to spend more than a day with my boyfriend was a blessing in itself.  I took so many pictures I'll have to narrow down what I post.  If only all weekends could be like this last one.

3 Things I'm Grateful For Lately

Best way to boost your mood, think of the simple specific things you're grateful for lately.

1.  Cuddle seshes with the dog

 2.  Peppermint Pretzel Slims from Trader Joe's, so good, you must get some of these!!

3.  Birthday celebrations with friends

1.

3 Things I'm Grateful For

Gratitude is such an important tool to boost your happiness, and in line with November, the month of giving thanks...I'm posting 3 things I'm thankful for.

1.  Warm holiday inspired drinks with friends on chilly days

2. Getting cozy in hoodies and blankets

3.  Lots of Christmas decor in all the stores

Writing down 3 things your thankful for everyday for a week is proven to decrease depressive symptoms 6 months down the line.

What are you thankful for these days?

It's that time of year again..

We've had the fire going, Christmas music playing and sipping on peppermint mochas throughout the weekend.  It's that time of year again and anyone who knows me, knows how excited I am about Christmas.  In fact on the day the holiday cups came out at Starbucks, I had 2 different friends text me a picture of them and their red cups!  The Christmas bug just runs in my family...my dad, my 2 sisters and I are all just crazy about this season.  There is just something  about this time that really makes you remember what life is really all about...little special moments with loved ones.

So anyway, I'm enjoying Christmas music by the fire tonight...cozied up with the dog, listening to all my favorites.  I challenge you all to a "Finish that Christmas Lyric" competition...winner buys peppermint mochas!

Feel Good Fridays

In Seligman's book Learned Optimism.  He explains of his work with a Life Insurance company called Met Life.   Seligman worked with the CEO to develop a test that would better predict the success of Life Insurance agents...what Seligman added to the test: optimism.  Seligman and the CEO turned out to be right; the more optimistic the agent the better he performed and the longer he stuck around.

Seligman says the recipe for success includes three determinants: aptitude, motivation, and optimism.

Which reminds me of that Disney Channel movie:
"si, se puede...Yes, we can!"

Click here for a brief background on Feel Good Fridays.

Much Awaited Post and the Maid of Honor Toast

So much to post about and what to start with?  Since the reason I haven't posted for a week was my sister's wedding, the crazy amounts of family visiting and the fact that I was the Maid of Honor, I'll start with something wedding related.

Getting ready for the big day...it took all day!

 We made the bouquets ourselves. Crazy!

Here was my toast.  I ended up not having very much time to go over it on the big day, because I spent most of the time worried about the bride but I ended up saying it exactly how I wanted.  People laughed when I wanted them too, I even made some good improvised comments and I felt like I really got the emotions I was feeling across.  It was such a great day, but it went by way too fast!   I'm so happy for my sister, she looked incredibly happy on her big day.


Maid of Honor Toast:

"When I sat down to right this speech, I thought to myself, “damn I should’ve sat down sooner.”  But in all seriousness when I started to write it turned out to be pretty easy for me to talk about how much I love Jennifer and now Andy.

           

Jennifer has always played such a special and unique role in my life.  For those of you who don’t know me I am Jen’s younger half sister by 8 years.  We didn’t grow up together but that didn’t stop her from being one of my favorite people in the whole world.  From when I was little, and I cried every summer, all the way home from the airport after dropping her off, to looking forward to our special sister trips, to going to her for advice about pretty much everything…she’s always been someone I’ve looked up to, trusted, and loved.  I was so excited to be her Maid of Honor because I felt like I finally got a chance to give back to her for all that she’s done for me over the years.  I don’t know what I did to get so lucky, but for sisters, Jen you truly are a blessing, a role model, a best friend.

When people asked me how I felt about the wedding, I could honestly tell them that I was extremely excited.  I was excited to see my sister finally have her special day.  I was excited to welcome Andy into my family, I was excited for the promised open bar.  But most of all I was excited to see my sister so absolutely happy.

            Now I understand a lot of you haven’t gotten the pleasure of getting to know Andy and Jen as a couple and I think it can best be summed up by this quote I pretty much found last night on the internet, “Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.”  Jen and Andy are the best kind of couple, they are best friends before anything else.  So here’s to my best friend, who is marrying one of hers.  I wish my sister and her new husband all the love, health, and happiness life has to offer.  Cheers."

Feel Good Fridays

It'll be years later when I look back on this simple moment, when the boy at the register tells me I have pretty eyes and I proceed to enjoy my free time reading and sipping hot coffee---that I'll ask myself, why didn't I realize how lucky I was in that moment.  And then my much older self will ask my then self the same question and the cycle will continue.


I dedicate today's post to being mindful.  Mindfulness is such a good way to decrease stress and add to your happiness.  Being mindful to me means being aware of what you're doing, where you are, who you're with when it is actually happening.  Its appreciating the great moments when you're actually living them instead of merely looking back at them.

For a brief history of Feel Good Fridays, click here.

The Bridal Shower

Homemade Cupcakes

We made the centerpieces with spaghetti jars, burlap and ribbon

 

 The Bride and me

The three sisters

More pictures and details to come...

Feel Good Fridays

 Photo cred.

For a brief explanation of Feel Good Fridays click here.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D. explains in her model of happiness that "studies show that 50% of individual differences in happiness are determined by genes, 10% by life circumstances, and 40% by our intentional activities."

This is groundbreaking work to think about.  Only 10% of happiness is decided by life circumstances.  That means whether you're wealthy or poor, fat or skinny, pretty or ugly, you have a college degree or you never graduated high school...those circumstances only affect your happiness by 10%!  40% is affected by our intentional activities.  That to me screams that we are in control of how happy we feel.  We don't need all these self help books and exercise programs to make us happy, we just need to train our minds a little bit.

I hope this affects you as much as it does for me, have a great weekend everyone! 

Lovely Monday

Hi everyone!  How was your prospective Mondays?  I spent mine out and about preparing and planning for the Bridal Shower I'm throwing my sister this weekend.  Don't worry I'll be sure to post about everything I did this week and next.

Last week I had a mini-reunion with my college roommates.  Seeing and being with them is like being with family.  I would be 10 times happier if I could live with at least one of them again, hopefully that will happen this year. 

Anyway, we went shopping on Melrose and then to dinner at Lala's Argentian restaturant, also on Melrose.  I felt like a total LA local.  I love a lot about LA but I'm way happier to visit then actually live there.

::pumpkin spice latte, how I love thee//Melrose inspiration//shopping//good food with great company, is there anything better?::

Feel Good Fridays

 For a brief explanation about Feel Good Fridays click here

This is a Part 2, to my last Friday's post:

Are you an optimist or a pessimist, what's your explanatory style?

Why are some people successful despite many setbacks and others fail?  Why do some people keep striving and others give up?  Psychologists relate this to your explanatory style, the way you explain events to yourself.

Martin Seligman, Ph.D. says there are 3 dimensions to explanatory style but today I am just going to focus on one....pervasiveness.  Pervasiveness describes the way you view some events to carry over into multitude aspects of your life.  The optimist views bad events to be specific to that situation and the good events to be universal.  For instance when an optimist receives a bad grade on a midterm, he says to himself, "I got a bad grade because I didn't study very hard, next time I will do better."  As opposed to the pessimist who says, "I failed my test!  I'm not smart, I'm just not cut out for this college thing."  In this example its pretty easy to see why optimism leads to overall success.  Also, when good events happen an optimist applies it universally; "I got an A in that class because I am intelligent and a good student."  This gives the optimist the courage/confidence to keep going.  This is the mental pathway that leads you and everybody else to success.  In the end, it is only in your best interest to think optimistically.  As the title of Selgiman's book says "Learned Optimism, how to change your mind and your life."   


I hope you all are feeling good this Friday!

Night time at the lake

You know those nights when someone invites you out but you are so absolutely tired and all you really wanna do is cuddle on the couch, but something inside you makes you go anyway ?  Well today I wanna celebrate that something.  That something that ignores all the reasons not to do something and says "I don't really care, I'm going to do it anyway."

So even though I was dog tired last night, I went out with my cousin and his friend.  We went to one of our man made lakes, the kind you need to "belong to" to use, and hopped a fence and went night swimming.  It was quiet and still except for the black water moving thick and slow as we swam through it.  It was one of those experiences that makes you feel like you're really living. 

Anyway, (in my head I picture myself toasting when I say this) here's to the nights when you feel like you're really living and to that something in your head that just always says YES."

A Good Moment

This was my lazy Saturday afternoon.  Good moments in life are important...but what's most important?  ...knowing to appreciate them. 

Feel Good Fridays

For a breif explanation of Feel Good Fridays click here.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist, what's your explanatory style?

Why are some people successful despite many setbacks and others fail?  Why do some people keep striving and others give up?  Psychologists relate this to your explanatory style, the way you explain events to yourself.

Seligman says there are 3 dimensions to explanatory style but today I am just going to focus on one...permanence.  When something bad happens to you does it feel like it will be that way forever or do you think of it as only a temporary setback?  For instance, you don't get hired for the job you wanted...do you think "I will never get hired for a good job" or do you think "the competition was tough for this job, I will have better luck with the next one."  Seligman explains that people who are successful in life think of bad events as only temporary.  Failure makes everyone feel momentarily helpless, those that can let go of failure faster are able to continue to try for success.  For good events, optimists think the opposite; good events are permanent.  People who believe good events have permanence are more likely to try harder after they succeed.  Those who feel they are temporary are more likely to give up.

Training yourself to think more optimistically will ultimately lead to being more successful in all aspects of life; you relationships, your job, your creative endeavors, etc.

Happy Friday everyone!

Feel Good Fridays

Even with his cone, Tucker is feeling good on Fridays.
Click here for a quick background on "Feel Good Fridays."

Are you an optimist or a pessimist or maybe, like most of us, you consider yourself a realist?  As a former realist, converted optimist, I thought being an optimist meant being idealistic, out of touch with reality, a dreamer, a hippie!  But the social meaning of optimism has changed in large part due to Positive Psychology.  Optimism is a way of thinking that allows for self-growth, love for other people, desire to change, and even success for ourselves.  It is the optimist that overcomes his failures and with resilience, works on to achieve success.  The optimist does not ignore problems, no he overcomes the minds natural tendencies to dwell on problems and decides to focus himself on the potential successes of the future.

And for your optimistic pleasure here is a quote from Seligman's book Learned Optimism about the benefits of optimism:

"The way we think, especially about health, changes our health.

Optimists catch fewer infectious diseases than pessimists do.

Optimists have better health habits than pessimists do.

Our immunes system may work better when we are optimistic.

Evidence suggest that optimists live longer than pessimists."

Feel Good Fridays

 Today marks the first of a series I'm starting called "Feel Good Fridays."  This blog is meant for me to share and express my findings and thoughts about happiness, on a personal level but also from a scientific perspective.  Often the terms "happiness" or "self-help" leave a bad taste--one in which involves an uneducated, non-researched opinion on "how to get happy."  I have found that there are experiments in happiness that are backed with extensive follow up.
These experiments are part of the one of the youngest branches of psychology called "Positive Psychology."  This is a psychology that focuses on how to make the well mind better instead of the typical how to fix the unwell mind.
The father of it all is Martin Seligman, Ph.D.  For those of you with some general psychology background, Seligman actually gained his fame and reputability from his studies on learned helplessness.  It was after these studies, Seligman started to switch his focus to the opposite end of learned helplessness...learned optimism and its affects on achievements, health, and overall thinking.
I recently began reading his book "Learned Optimisim."  And so I begin this series with the quote Seligman begins his book.

"yes is a world

& in this world of

yes live

(skilfully curled)

all worlds"

 e.e. cummings