How Twitter Can Make You A Happier Person

Just read a great post titled “How Twitter Can Make You A Better (and Happier) Person” by the CEO of Zappos.

Tony – the Zappos guy – is one of my favorite people I follow on Twitter. I’m a big fan of the company for many reasons, and only one is related to shoes; I’ve been working in the field of Client Satisfaction for awhile, and Zappos has done a GREAT job building a company that encompasses the Client Sat values I think are important to be successful. When I read about the Zappo’s corporate values and culture, I’m reminded about how I want to frame my own professional values -- but that’s a totally different post.

ANYWAY, in this post Tony discusses what it means to him to tweet daily, and how he uses it as an opportunity to reinforce his overall values – both corporate and personal. As he says:

1. Transparency & Values: Twitter constantly reminds me of who I want to be, and what I want Zappos to stand for
2. Reframing Reality: Twitter encourages me to search for ways to view reality in a funnier and/or more positive way
3. Helping Others: Twitter makes me think about how to make a positive impact on other people's lives
4. Gratitude: Twitter helps me notice and appreciate the little things in life

I go back and forth on whether or not to protect my Twitter updates; on the one hand, I want to be able to communicate with my family and friends without worrying about my employer seeing what I wrote, on the other, I don’t want to be writing things that I would be embarrassed for my employer to see.

After re-reading this blog I’m unlocking my tweets again, and rethinking how I want to mass communicate with the world.

Little Wedding Moments

So many things to remember about the wedding, little moments I never want to forget. So this entry is really just for myself, although you’re welcome to remember along with me. I'm sure I'll leave out so many, but this is just the little stuff, the one-offs, that I'd hate to lose.

1. Forgetting to ask Devon to do the reading, and then frantically texting her the day before. And then forgetting to GIVE Devon the reading, and having her see it for the first time 40 minutes before the ceremony

2. My brother, at the rehearsal dinner, beginning his toast with “Well, in high school, we were all pretty convinced that Liz was a lesbian…”

3. Doing shots of whiskey with my cousins the night before, and thinking to myself “This is the moment I’m going to reference as the moment I should have stopped drinking”

4. Des doing my hair and being impeccably German about the whole thing.

5. The relief of Devon taking my blackberry away from me and fielding all questions, concerns or suggestions the day of. It was exactly what I needed.

6. Running to the pre ceremony margarita hour in flip flops and a sundress

7. Neglecting to actually pick music for the ceremony, and having my dad ask me, as we’re walking in, “Is there music?” and going “Whoops. Um, probably not”

8. …and then being happily surprised to hear Clair de Lune strike up and realize that, once again, Kristen had saved the day

9. Walking down the aisle with my dad, and thinking that it was too short. A huge moment over so quickly.


10. During the vows, thinking to myself “I also vow to stop leaving water bottles all over the house, as I know how much it annoys you”

11. My uncle doing the ceremony, and needing the golf pro to make it official

12. Pictures with Mike and Sammy during the cocktail hour, and us calling to Sammy during breaks: “Sammy – bring the scotch!”

13. Toasts! I love a good toast, and so many wonderful ones… both brothers, my dad, Eddie, Faith, Sara, Devon, Marjorie, Rob, Mad [Col Hadder], the Teubners, Mike and Ann…and so many I’m sure I’m forgetting at this moment.

14. The Fudgie the Whale Ice Cream Wedding Cake

15. First song from the band: Sweet Home Alabama. And I didn’t sit down for a single second after they started

16. Samantha singing. Oh my God this was the most amazing moment of the wedding. She wanted to sing for our “first dance,” and then, in the middle of the band’s first set, she got up there with them and belted out Journey’s “Open Arms.” Tears, people. Tears.

17. Speaking of the band: amazing. I’d travel to go see them as a special event; having them at my wedding was an amazing present from Kristen and Joe. Amazing.

18. Sending Laura to go get my parents for the band’s first encore, Billy Joel’s Italian Restaurant.

19. Second encore: Scotty Doesn’t Know – Just for Mike

20. My family and I toasting each other with cans of Bud… much like my parents did 37 years ago at their wedding. I don’t know who smuggled in the Budweiser, but I owe them big time


21. The disgusting sweaty mess that was my brother Mike

22. …and how he split his pants while dancing

23. Laura requesting MmmmmmBOP at the bar afterwards, and the DJ almost kicking us out



24. Mike purchasing $120 worth of beer at the beer (a total of 24 beers. Ouch) to move the pool

25. Changing out of my wedding dress at the pool deck into Devon’s borrowed bikini

26. Mike showing people how to open beer bottles with his wedding ring

27. Swimming/hot tubbing with the gang till 4:30 in the morning, then walking back to our hotel room barefoot and in a bathing suit...

28. …and waking up the next to discover I had no other clothes with me (side note: thanks to Devon for grabbing my dress!)

29. …making Mike’s first official husband act the act of “Find wife some clothes”

30. Someone at the brunch the next morning asking me why I was in such a good mood after so little sleep, and me saying “Not sure, I think I might still be drunk”

31. Leisurely drive down to Key West on Monday … the first time Mike and I had been alone in almost a week. It was perfect.

You Come Too

Speaking of weddings, The Boss and I recently wrote our wedding ceremony. This was probably the last detail we took care of (the first being, obviously, the pre ceremony margarita bar), but it was by far my favorite. It feels like us, and even though the ceremony will be, at most, about 10 minutes, I love every element that we’ve incorporated, and was pleasantly reminded why I’ve spent the past three months caring about table linens and calligraphy.

HOWEVER, while weeding through various readings for the ceremony, and it came to my attention that, when speaking of love and lifetime commitment, most people are full of shit. That being said, there were a few readings that I really liked, and we found a few that worked for us.

One reading that I loved was from Rilke’s “First Poems.” We didn't end up using it for the ceremony, so I'll share it with you here:

"Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks.
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too"

The Talk

Wow, a month between posts. Whoops.


So, I’m getting married next weekend. Score! In the grand tradition of couples everywhere, The Boss and I had the pre-wedding heated conversation, which went a little like this:

The Boss: "Umm, honey? Can you stop spending money on clothes for the wedding weekend?"
Me: "Hey man, you only get married once"

[AWKWARD SILENCE ]

Me: "…Well, I mean, in THEORY"

Whoops. Oh well - no sense in getting caught up in the details, right? Right.

I Love a Rainy Night

Maybe it’s the Minnesota girl in me, but this picture from my friend's lake house just feels like home to me. A big lake covered in rain – man, I wish I was there right now, curled up inside, watching the water.

I love rainy weather. I love running/biking in the rain, getting muddy and dirty in a way that adults don’t generally deem acceptable, and knowing that only people who truly love to run and bike are out there with you; our own little fraternity of crazies, getting to experience the city in a way most people miss. I love coming home after said muddying and taking a long hot shower, warm and secure inside while the rain swirls around outside. Rainy days give you a great excuse to hibernate and cuddle up with a good book, a good person, or a good group of friends.

A good friend once told me that Seattle was full of people who used to like rain. I’m sure he’s right, and I’m sure I’d miss spring if I didn’t have the promise that it would most definitely be coming, but honestly, this rainy spring in DC has been one of my favorites.

Everyone Hates Running

Great post today at Bodies in Motivation:

“No one likes running. This I believe firmly: this is why I kind of
silently roll my eyes when I hear my friends say, ‘I can’t run. I hate
running.’

Well- yes, you can. And everyone hates running.”

Go read the whole thing. And then go for a run.

Note To Self

When partaking in "Operation: Smokin' Hot Bod"*, the correct response to the "I'll just have a snack now because dinner is in 3 hours" thought is NOT the leftover calzone waiting for you in the fridge.

Protein shake, cliff bar, cottage cheese, chocolate milk: Yes.
Cheesy carbtastic calzone (but it had SPINACH. Which is HEALTHY): No

*Also known as: 2 months before wedding