dress rad or go home.

I made the plunge. I have had really conflicted feelings about rain boots (being from Seattle, already looking a bit like a 12 year old in normal circumstances...) but I did it. After an honest chat with the salesgirl and her detest for them, I felt a bit more motivated to buy. weird. I'll show her, I think these will be successfully rocked through the winter here. Plus, they were on sale and I was on my first shopping binge since hopping from one start up to another. So all I have to say is, Nine West black boots = grand. They will be shown with the skinny jeans and the slightly granola-poncho-esque jcrew sweater. That shounds ugly. It's great, like a bell jacket but a sweater. black. you can't go wrong.

Also, best thing that has made my day in a while: blue wife beaters. (What? oh yes,i'm sorry, men's undershirts.) KMart. Cheap. Amazing. It's sick how many of those I own wear. And now I have them in three shades of blue.

This was too random not to share. Thai police sporting Hello Kitty as a punishment...

What a way to come back after being gone for a month.

I'm sitting here melting in Boston (96 degrees on the 4th floor apartment...yikes) geting ready to head to Africa. I have a month off work and I've already been to some random places...Palm Springs, CA, Northampton, Worcester, Boston, MA and now off to London and Lusaka. I'll be back in three weeks...and i'll make some amazing dress rad mental notes and take some grand pictures. I already have a few gems.
Until then....

In a week and a half I will be in Africa visiting my best friend from college who is serving the Peace Corps in Zambia. I'm going for her wedding...crazy. Anyway. In honor of my trip to Africa next week (!!!) I thought I would post this article. USA Today discusses how more grads are opting to volunteer for a year or two after college. I'm so glad to see enrollment rising for all of these programs. I still feel like there should be a bigger push in America for students to have a gap year and volunteer. Though not mandated, at least this is in fashion.
I was talking about this with the guy in REI yesterday who was helping me find a headlamp and he was right. It's pretty amazing that Peace Corps, a programs started in the 60's in the Kennedy Administration is still going strong. And is still a respected, amazing choice for people of all ages looking to give back.
I'm so excited to go and be a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) groupie for the next few weeks...

Man, I've been a blogging machine lately. I posted about the fancy new changes on the Career Center on the Jobster blog, and I have lots o' little tidbits of the jobseeker blog. And then I came up with a really bad pun for the title of this, so I HAD to post.

I've been known to confuse a few people with my alternate position of SVP of Marketing with Bacon Salt. Well, this amazing product finally launched it's website today, so if you have a hankering for bacon...check it out. It's amazing. I'm vegan and I think it's amazing. And I too, would just love to hug the owners. By reading this, you can say you knew about Bacon Salt from the day of its launch. I recommend the pepper flavor...and I really can't wait to try it in a Bloody Mary.

I realized today that I'm rude. Ok, maybe not rude but I'm lacking etiquette. It's not just me...is it my digital generation? Or Seattle (well, the casual atmosphere doesn't help) or is it just everywhere? Anyway, it came up today at lunch. I was with my cousin, aunt and mom and my aunt was telling me about a friend of hers who threw a grand, martha stewert-esque sit down dinner party for 15 guests: great wine, all home-made food, the works. And after the event he was surprised when he didn't receive one thank-you note, not one call or thank you email.

This is when I thought back my time in Copenhagen. One of the things I loved about the Danes is their etiquette. You always respond promptly to an invite, and once you commit, that is your evening. You don't plan anything for the rest of the evening...(the Danes have a word for this type of gathering -hygge- we don't have an English equivalent but read about it, it's beautiful.) Ok, but the best part, after any type of social gathering, no matter how big or small, you always call the next day to tell the host "tak for sidst" (thanks for the last). How could I have forgotten about this great tradition! I need to step that up again. It was always so wonderful to have a friend call after an evening and thank my roommates and I for hosting.

This made me think: I'm sure I am slipping in work etiquette...especially because I work in such a relaxed, open work environment (a start-up in seattle? I'm sure I could come in my pajamas and no one would say anything.) I started looking around...here's an etiquette quiz for work. I am happy to say that I knew most of these (yes, some are really obvious and make me worry if people don't know these things..but there were a few good reminders.) Example: drinking is so much more relaxed in a work environment. And though this quiz is for an interview, I definitely have some work examples of people hitting the sauce a wee bit too hard in front of colleagues.

Manners really should be brought back. I should start a list. Maybe I will. But my main goal for now: bring back "tak for sidst" Maybe I'll even invest in some good old fashioned thank you cards.

On a random (but yet oh so pop culture) note: What am I listening to? This npr podcast: Is Hooking Up the new Dating? Thanks roommates...