WOW What a Year! 2017 Rocked!

So many life changes and new explorations, 2017 has been a record year for me! And with flying almost 100,000 air miles in 2017, this may have been my craziest year yet!  

I know I haven't posted a lot lately and I hate that.  I'll try to get back on a more regularly scheduled program.  :)  But let's check out where I've been this year, and you'll see I haven't had much down time!

I shook things up immediately at the top of 2017, in January I took a major risk and not only changed jobs but changed my career, slightly. I went from the familiar regulated corporate banking environment to the cool new and shiny fin-tech space (which is short for financial technology). This was especially risky because I had only been in New York City for a year and a half.  I'm a risk taker, but I will admit I was a little nervous if things took a turn for the worst I could be out of living in this cool new city I still very much enjoyed. Thankfully everything has worked out, but let me back up and take you through my coolest year to date, 2017! 

Ok so we covered January - starting a new job and career! Now luckily in February before I was too deep into my new job I took a quick trip, a pre-planned vacation that was very special, the bachelorette party of one of my best friends! We rented a cool place in Asheville, NC, went to a salt rock cave and a brewery. We had so much fun!

March was pretty much back to normal, back to work and settling into my new job. But what was approaching at the end of April was MOVING. My apartment lease would be up so I had to find a new (bigger) apartment and (more) furniture. I was finally moving from a studio to a one bedroom, the little things in life! But before I moved I flew down to NC for my best friend's wedding! :)

 

April, May and June were pretty busy with moving and settling into my new home and job.  But I was lucky enough to have my best friends and family visit me in NYC to keep me entertained.  :)  I also took a quick trip back home to surprise my brother for his 30th birthday!

    

           

Welcome July!  July was the wildest month of the year!  Not only was it my 35th birthday, but right after that I was embarking on a three week work tour across Asia-pacific!  But first, as I'm a huge fan of work/life balance I decided to go to Chicago with my sister-in-law for my birthday!  We rented a cool apartment in River North and walked around to brunch and dinner every day!  For my actual birthday dinner we went to The Signature Room, an amazing restaurant on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower.  High recommend!!!  We also did a boat tour to see the city from the Chicago River, and also the ferris wheel at the end of the pier!  The pier was crazy with tourists but if you can deal with the process it's worth it!  

       

Now it's time for business.  Six months into my job I was off to Asia to conduct training for the various offices of our business partner.  First stop, Hong Kong!  I was only there two nights so didn't have much time to explore, one of my most memorable moments was the Apple store in the IFC mall, view below!  Oh and paying $93 for a manicure and pedicure!!  That's what happens when you don't ask the price!  

After Hong Kong I was off to Australia!  I had a week in Australia but hopped between Sydney and Melbourne.  Sydney was absolutely beautiful, has a vibe like LA!  And Melbourne was super cool!  Crazy this place is across the planet so I am lucky I could check that box.  Oh and I also got to mark Australia off my continent list of doing yoga on every continent!!!   :)

After Australia I was off to India, then Taiwan!  I literally was in India for 48 hours and Taiwan for 48 hours. But if you know me I always make time for a good meal so you know authentic curry was on the menu in India!  In Taiwan my coworker took me to one of her favorite hot pot restaurants!  :P

I got back to NYC in the first week of August, wow where did the summer go!  :)  Getting back to a normal routine was much desired, but also was a visit from my BFF!!

Now of course the last official weekend of Summer, Labor Day, is a cause for celebration!  In September I took a quick trip back down south to close out the summer with my family!  I do miss them so much!

September never really got back to normal because almost as soon as I got back to NYC I was headed back out to Europe to conduct another round of work training!  This time I was able to visit a few new places I had never been to, like Stockholm, Frankfurt, London, and Zurich!  I was able to touch down for a moment back in Amsterdam too, which was very sweet.  

  

       

October was nice to get back home.  I only had a few work trips to Houston, San Diego, and Kansas City before my Dad came to visit in November!  He visited a year prior but this time I was in a proper one bedroom apartment versus a studio!  The little things you are thankful for like a one bedroom apartment!  My Dad and I had such a blast.  We ate and drank ourselves silly the entire weekend.  The NYC marathon was also going on while he was here, so we got to watch, yell and scream at that!  So much fun!

November. It was time for more family time, Thanksgiving was finally here!  I was especially excited about this holiday because I got to see my nephews that I rarely get to see!  They are 2 and 5 and just so much fun.  We played magic carpet, watched them jump all over the couch, and of course played the "doggy game" on my phone, aka snapchat.  :)

Finally, December is here, which brings me a feeling of relief after a busy and successful year.  But there was one last event to close out the year right, a Christmas party at the White House!  My friend Mike is a Major in the Army and also a White House Aide.  He kindly invited me to go with him and I was so excited the entire night!  We took pictures in the green room, the red room, and even got a picture with Trump and Melania!  What a cool once-in-a-lifetime experience!

 

I want to thank all of my family and friends that have supported me and been there for me throughout this crazy year.  What an incredible year it's been!  I will continue to take risks because that's where you grow and are rewarded.  I am living my best life and it feels great!  Here's to another great year!  Cheers!

Haze

In the midst of haze
Chaos
We find ourselves
Direction in circles
Direction is found
Waves straighten us
Motion sharpens us
Pebbled roads 

Smooth under our feet

2017

Yesterday morning I was blessed to witness the the sun sitting on top of the clouds as it starts its day. It's the top of the year, and the beginning stage of this new phase. Each morning we are able to experience a new day. Although I've been through much change, I'm as comfortable as this sun looks cozied up on the clouds. A picture of my life right now, I saw its reflection. 👌🏼

Arriving at 5:20 p.m.

Tonight was my first yoga class since Thursday, (I'm still on my post Thanksgiving workout kick), and I was so excited to be there!  The first thing I thought when I laid down on my mat was, I've arrived.  That thought surprised me, mainly because it was 5:20 p.m. and I'd been up since 7:00 a.m.  I worked all day, and not until 5:20 p.m. I felt like I had arrived?  Huh?  Was I not awake all day? Maybe it's like I wasn't awake on the inside?

What an unexpected moment of perspective.  To realize how much time I had been awake, but not feeling like I had arrived.  What does that mean?  Maybe it's just as simple as yoga being my happy place and finally, I was there?

Maybe.  But why don't we feel that alive, all the time?  We should!  This is not a dress rehearsal folks, we only get one shot at this life.  Often we get so caught up in our mundane tasks and patterns we forget to actually LIVE.

I just finished "tuesdays with Morrie" which basically outlines that exact thought.  It's about a middle aged man reflecting back on his college years' fond memories of his favorite professor.  He finds out this professor has a terminal illness and decides to visit him, not knowing the rest of his life would be forever changed.  I don't want to ruin the ending, but the principal is that life is short, and we often don't do what we REALLY want until we know we're running out of time.  Until we know our chances are diminishing.  Isn't that so ridiculous.  We're all guilty of it.  It's easy to get caught up in your lucrative career because it provides you a great lifestyle, when really you would love to be an art teacher or back up dancer.  You create a life (and bills) up to your pay check and it's just too hard to turn back from it.  Yeah, that sounds real familiar.

Anyway - I just wanted to share, because hopefully this is inspiring to someone.  I'm definitely inspired.  If we could all live to our full potential, and follow our real passion and not be afraid to let our authentic light shine on this world, it would be a much better place.

Working on brightening my light, grab your sunglasses folks!!  ;)

Juicy Peaches

I really enjoyed my conversation tonight with one of my best girlfriends.  I've known her for 16 years.  We lived together in college, we would dance together at frat parties and laugh until the weeeee hours of the morning.  Are you asleep we would ask each other laying in our bunk beds.....  Nope.

She just moved to Cincinnati for her husband's promotion.  They have a 1 year old and everything is different and unfamiliar to her in this new town of two months.  Tonight she described how her toddler threw his fork at her because he couldn't puncture his juicy peach sliding around on his plate, and how every home in her new town has history.  She has an 80 year old neighbor that teaches emotional support dance classes where you pour your emotions into modern dance as therapy.  This lady actually has a dance floor in her living room.  I mean, WHAT!  Why are you not there right now!  That may be one of the most amazing things I've ever heard.

We also chatted about my new life in NYC.  My job, my travels, and my dating life which is nothing short of entertaining.  I should write a book she said....  I've heard that before.  But what is the purpose of pouring out your most sensitive, hilarious, frightening, crazy, and emotional experiences onto paper?  It would be a great story they have said....  Is that what they write movies about?

Tonight was a special moment for me.  I was finally able to look at myself and see myself in solidarity.  A reflection from my friend.  One who I love and trust.  A welcoming perspective, clear and beautiful.  Her life beautiful.  My life beautiful.  A moment of seeing time, this intangible in a moment.  Tonight not only did I feel it, I saw it.  A picture of 16 years, vividly clear in one place.  Our growth, collectively and individually.  Of life, how it works, how it happens, and how it unfolds.

Collect moments, not things, they say....

Tonight was special.  Little Jose and his juicy peach.  ;)

I Keeps It Moving

A great woman takes risks, keeps moving, exploring the corners of her world to uncover how much more she can shine to contribute to better this world and herself.  

Some relationships are forever.

Some experiences are not. 

Experience as many chapters as you can in this life. Create more space for discovery in your life. But streamline the values you desire throughout all of them. 

Experience. This. World.

That is all.  #ThoughtOfTheDay 

In A Flash

Where did it start if it never really began

A whirlwind, I never thought this could've been the end

Flashing lights cover dim bulbs
Bulbs fragile like entering a new world
Comfort cracking breaks our familiar peace
Bulbs dropping breaking us into exposed pieces
Enduring the awkward always trumps defeat
Candy stores sometimes, they're just too damn sweet

Eggshells

I can feel myself growing out of my shell.  I'm cracking.  Like a bird breaking out of his shell to start his life, I am going through a rebirth.  One that has probably been 10 years in the making.  A skin I am shedding, but the experiences always there.

It's like going through your old clothes.  Do you have shirts or jeans you've had for 10 years?  10 years?????  I know I can barely believe it, but I was guilty of that.  You finally get tired of the "same old shit."  My shell is cracking from interior growth, and now my exterior wants a revamp too.  I demand to celebrate myself more fiercely in every way.

Each day I walk on my eggshells in frustration and excitement.  "They say it's about the journey."  UGH.  And the end is death and/or being so old, or retiring.  I don't want it to be done.  Maybe that's what I'm afraid of.  That time is passing too fast.  I'm still unsure about so many things, direction, investment, wow how much more time do I have?  How has this much time passed?

I must act.  I must change gears.  A higher gear.


I'm evolving into a real woman.  New York has evoked change upon me.  If New York teaches you anything, it forces you to know yourself.  You really have no other choice.  The energy and people around you, it's about survival really.  At 34 I think I finally feel like an adult.  Kinda.  ;)  I'm rediscovering who I want to be,  and learning how to blast this new inner light to its maximum.  Getting to know yourself like you're getting to know a new friend.  Perspective is changing, reevaluating your purpose.  It's scary and exciting at the same time, and with a rebirth I can only become...better.

Hi eggshells, I see you.  :)

Good Will Hunting After Thoughts

I just got finished watching Good Will Hunting, and now I'm sitting in my room in complete silence, the TV off. It's a Friday night in New York City and I decided to stay in and relax. I cooked dinner and I knew I wanted to watch a movie of some sort. After multiple scrolls and searches I settled on Good Will Hunting, like it should do.

I hadn't seen this movie in years, I actually can't believe it's almost 20 years old. But wow, what a great movie. Everything about it is great.

I love things that touch me to my core. I love things that make my world stop, that make me think, that make me look around and REALLY look at things, and really see things. How often do you ever really look and see what's around you. To REALLY take the time to stop, think, reflect, feel… It's as if there's a funnel from the universe to my chest flowing like a rapid into my soul. Making me wonder, making me question, making me feel the deepest and most honest thoughts.

Unfortunately these moments aren't frequent. They are few and far between. Whether they are movies, people you meet, connections, something rocks you enough to stop you. That forces you to reflect and look at life. It's such a beautiful experience.

This post is somewhat random, but I had to acknowledge this moment. The moment that you wish you could drag on forever. That you could bottle up and give away to people so they can feel what you're feeling right now.

Polkadot Library in Kenya!

Everyone, my aunt is building a library in Kenya!

She fell in love with her town when she was in the Peace Corps for two years. The information below is from her fundraising site. Please check out the links for more information, and to donate if you want to be a part of this amazing library!!  I already have!!

www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-polkadot-library-kenya
www.facebook.com/polkadotlibrary



Let’s build a library for the children of Kenya.

For two years, I lived in a quaint but lively town in Kenya called Kabarnet. The people there quickly became my family. And, simply put, my family needs a library. Children make up 47% of Kabarnet’s population—that’s about 12,000 kids. There are 20 schools in the town, but only one library. And it’s not a free library, either. We need to create a free, clean, safe place for the children of Kabarnet to get access to books. So we’re turning a shipping container into a new, well-stocked library space complete with shelves, tables, books, and computers, along with a community meeting space and a thriving garden.

To make this happen, we need to raise $60,000.

It’s a pretty big number. But it’s going to make an enormous difference in the lives of so many young children in Kenya.

Here’s where the money’s going:

DESIGNING: $3,000 - architectural design of the library and grounds
BUILDING: $34,000 - constructing the shipping container into a library
PLANTING: $2,500 - supplies to plant and grow the library’s sustainable garden
SHIPPING: $6,000 - shipping the library from Houston, TX to Mombasa
MARKETING: $3,000 - marketing and fundraising for the project
REWARDING: $3,000 - rewards: sending letters, inscribing polkadots, and more
TRAVELING: $5,000 - the team’s travel to and from Kenya
COORDINATING: $2,500 - local agent coordinating the project
LEGAL: $1,000 - legal planning, counseling, and certifications

If you donate, your kindness will not go unnoticed—or unrewarded. Check out the right rail for perks you could receive as a thank-you for your contribution.

We’re not giving up.

I haven't written in a long time. I just moved to New York City six months ago, so there hasn't been many spare moments to gather my thoughts that I'm still really processing. However, I read this amazing article and it sounded so much like me. Trying to make friends in a city of 8 million people is more difficult than you would think. I found a friend in this article and I wanted to share. :)



She’s worth it, your wild one.
She will set your world on fire, if you are brave enough to let her.

She will enchant you, fulfill you and challenge you. She wants you to know her, so that you can love her, quirks and all.

She wants you to understand that your adorned magnolia walls can’t hold her inside, not for long. Your expensive beamed ceilings can never be high enough or remarkable enough to be worth missing a glimpse of her beloved azure sky. Your home is a beautiful prison certainly, but it destroys her all the same.

Her spirit paces the enclosed room like a caged tigress, tail swishing furiously, looking for escape. She longs to run free. Show her a meadow full of colour, where she can dance among sunflowers. Let her roam outside with no fancy ornaments or gadgets to distract her creativity, just breeze and rolling hills. Lay with her on cool grass, fingers entwined, and watch the stars blaze a path of glory across an inky midnight sky.

Don’t ask her to sit and play happy family with you. She doesn’t care if you buy the white toaster or the black one, or whether the neighbours have a bigger car than the two of you. She isn’t interested in chasing the extra dollar to have that standard resort vacation, or attending to mindless gossip. Let her dream of a far off glen, glistening ethereally in the soft light of the rising sun. Take her to listen to the song of the dawn birds, for they are all the small talk she needs.

She doesn’t iron the sheets, or, well, anything really. She is too busy curling up with a book, engrossed in a shiny new world waiting to be explored. She has never been able to relate to the domesticated heroines of old; tumbling from her own bed to her next adventure, wild haired and bright eyed. People tell her she is beautiful in her crumpled clothes and muddy boots. Passion always is. Recognise it. Worship it. Not everyone is blessed with it and it’s not something you can fake for too long.

She may not cook you a gourmet meal, but she loves food and she delights in feeding you. Let her. She won’t follow a recipe; she will trust her imagination, throwing in delicious colours and smells as they appeal to her. Let her wrap you in small strong arms, cover you in flour and sprinkle magic into your life. She will kiss you with a mouth that tingles with spices, leaving you hungry for more. She will never let your lips starve for her.

She won’t knit for you. She is young and restless and her time is too precious to spare. Her hands have more important things to explore right now. Your face, for instance; fingers lovingly remembering every last detail. She memorises the way you shudder when she lightly strokes your collarbone and how your stubble feels against her fingertips. This satisfies her far more than a ball of yarn ever could.

Let her breathe, your wild one. She will only stay if it feels right. Your mortal hands cannot bind her by holding her too tightly. Show her your fantasies and you might inspire her. She will tell you a story about what she longs to do with you, and to you. You should stop speaking then and listen. Her words are enchantments that weave mystery into your life, and her visions will never leave you, even when you ache to forget them. In years to come you will crave the power of her dreams, and others will pale in the shadow of her intensity.

She must run away now, the stars are calling her and life tugs at her soul ready for another adventure. She cannot be tamed. Love her if you will, or let her go. She cannot do this by halves.

She is chaos; she is freedom. She wants you to join her if you can. You know where to find her. You have seen her there in your head.

She will wait for you as always, where the wild things are.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/01/shell-meet-you-where-the-wild-things-are/



Author: JoJo Rowden



JoJo Rowden is a Business Analyst/ Story Teller for a Software Consultancy by day, with an undeniable passion for writing. She draws energy and inspiration from the ocean, letting the endless and consistent churning of the waves soothe her soul. In her free time she can be found practicing yoga, sharing good wine with good friends, pole dancing and reading anything that she can get her hands on. Catch up with JoJo on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.