2010

It's a little too early for a post on New Year's resolutions, but I had to convey my EXCITEMENT over my visit to Kansas City! I'm looking forward to seeing you all and ringing in the New Year in style.

This will otherwise be a short post because snow melt is all that's happening right now.

Date news: last Saturday was fun but with no lasting potential. Going out with someone new in the next week!

Work news: things are still going well but have been slow lately. Glad to have some fun freelance work to keep me busy.

Bathroom updates: a few of you may have heard that my other bathroom got remodeling a little bit sooner than I would have liked. After a flood, it is nearly 100% put back together, thank goodness.

Henry: gosh, he's gotten so big! The not-so-little guy is constant entertainment and still growing!

Boulder news: my new favorite thing is driving by the dog park on my way to work. At 7 AM after a snow, the park is full of...cross country skiers! That's right, as soon as snow hits the ground people bring out their skis and the dogs run along side. In the morning there are probably on average 75-100 skiers.

Other: went to see the Nutcracker at the Denver Opera House. Super fun! Will definitely be going back for future ballet and symphony performances.

Have a wonderful week and you're all in my thoughts! Warm wishes!

New Scenery

Hope you like the new layout! Just sprucing things up a bit in here for the holidays.

And speaking of holidays...I hope all my faithful readers had a rock star wonderful Thanksgiving! Henry and I ventured to sunny and dry Arizona to visit my family. Yes, that's right, there are no longer any Aldredges living in Kansas. My parents flew the mid-western coop only 3 short weeks after I did and are loving Sedona, AZ.

So how did we get to Arizona for Thanksgiving? A plane. And did Henry fly? Absolutely. If you remember a few weeks ago I went on a little rant about small, yappy dogs getting to fly in the cabin and my well-behaved Henry flying down below. Well, it actually went surprisingly well and Henry was an ANGEL. Not only did he ride the shuttle bus with me from the parking to the terminal, but he walked through the terminal, up the escalator (Will Ferrel in Elf- style: he was totally spread out over about 4 steps) and right to the check in. Flying with a large dog ranges from $100 to $200 each way and Henry's kennel weighed it at $150. However, they said if he grows an inch he will need a bigger kennel. Pretty sure he's already grown that much since last week.

It was great to see my family and Henry was a very happy grandchild.

Other news: I have a date Saturday night from my Boulder dating thing! I'm sure more will be posted on the results of said date next week so be watchin' for that.

After chatting with a bunch of Kansas friends, I am trying to work out a way to visit for New Years! I can't imagine a better way to celebrate 2010 than with all of you! So, if I can get a day or two off of work, I will make the long, boring journey down I-70 for a few glasses of champagne and some overdue time with my girls.

Love you all and have a wonderful week!

And away we go!!

Wow the comments on my facebook and my blog about my new dating shenanigans! Loved it! Glad to know you are all on board!

So, as promised, a first update and a little more info about how the system works. This past Saturday I went to the organization's office for the photo session. I really like the idea that all your info has to have a CURRENT picture with it that is only minorly retouched. I could definitely see Photoshop being used as a dating tool, if you know what I mean. They told me before the photo shoot I could bring any props I wanted so...what did I bring? Henry! Henry came along and Mr. Photogenic took some super cute pictures. I pasted one on here for you to check out.

After getting your pictures taken they load it all into your profile immediately so you can start selecting guys you want to meet (everybody's local so it won't involve starting a long distance relationship) and they can select you. No cheesy pick up lines, no weird phone calls, and no phone numbers given until you both tell the system it's cool.

The breakdown so far: # of guys who have selected me: 5, # of guys I have selected: 0, although I did send a message to one who looked pretty cute and had a lot going on.

There seem to be quite a few more guys than girls in this age bracket but very few (so far) that fit all of my specifications.

Oh well, I'll just have fun going to the events and see what I hear from my already-messaged man!

More to come!

xoxo

Deal Breakers

Our week of 60-degree weather broke last night and we have 5 inches of snow on the ground! Henry is back in "snow mode" and if you have ever wondering what true frolicking looked like, you should watch him play in the snow!

What a week of ups and downs for my friends. From losing friends to engagements and from happiness to sorrow, it has been hard to be far away the past few days. My thoughts are with you all for both your celebrations and your sadnesses.

Of course, the biggest celebration was Kristi and TK's engagement! Congratulations again! What a great couple. After I told my office friends about their engagement the conversation immediately switched to single life. This past week I broke it off with the guy I had been dating. It was headed down a very nice and very boring road I had already traveled. So, with me added to the list of single ladies at the office, we decided to join Boulder Singles. Apparently this group I only recently heard of schedules everything fun in the city. From wine tastings to pub crawls and from sushi nights to swing lessons, we are going to (hopefully) be meeting tons of cute single guys!

This is absolutely not something I would normally do. But after ending it with the person I was dating I decided if I heard one more pick up line I might go crazy.

So that confession brings me to the title of this post: Deal Breakers. When we joined the club (which I would like to note is not online dating as much as a group social party) we filled out paperwork naming everything from "would you date a smoker?" (never) to "what are your ambitions?" (working on that one) to "what are your deal breakers?" Good question. What is the list of traits that would be an automatic "no" for you? Liar? Constantly late? Talks with his mouth full? Drinks? Lives at home? Took 7 years to get a 4 year degree? Doesn't drink? The list could go on and on.

So I scrawled out my list of "deal breakers" mostly basing these traits on past dating experiences. I'm sick and tired of settling. Settling for someone who is nice but not interesting or who is fun but annoying or who is cute but not witty or who is witty but socially retarded.

I used this list of deal breakers as my relationship "never will settle again" list. Why go out with a guy 5 times only to discover he is egotistic? Why even talk to someone if you will only discover he hates dogs?

This adventure into the weird and new world of non-bar dating should be quite interesting. I should have some fun updates around Nov. 22 when we go to our first event! Stay tuned for Boulder Dating Entertainment!!

The Ideal Boss

After my last slightly philosophical post about snowy days, I thought a little lighter post was in order! So with the snow melt and warm weather, here is my idea of "the ideal boss".

I have had some really wonderful bosses in my past jobs. (Marlys, this is for you!) I have also had idiosyncratic, power mongers for bosses. Currently I am very lucky to say I work with some wonderful people. In all fairness to any boss I have or will have, studying leadership in college trained me to be particularly astute to good and bad leadership characteristics. However, in all fairness to me, I work best when I am left alone and given a lot of responsibility.

The first and foremost quality of "The Ideal Boss" is security. This isn't necessarily job security (although that can be a factor) but instead self-security and enough confidence so they don't feel they need to assert their authority to their "inferiors" constantly. I think people who aren't secure for whatever reason tend to be the bossy-bosses who constantly feel the need to put-you-in-your-place.

Along with enough self-security lead with a light fist, bosses need to be trusting. They hired you because you were the best candidate for the job and therefore they should let you do your job. Micro-managing and constant "hovering" does not produce quality work, it produces employees who rely on being told what to do without thinking for themselves. Computer programmers often say that if they were constantly left alone, the work they could come up with would be better than their employer's most brilliant idea.

Even if your boss isn't an expert in your field, they need to be pretty darn intelligent. Intelligence comes in many forms and one of the best ways for an employer to be intelligent is to ask you when you know more than they do. Not feeling threatened by your skill set is important and should be a compliment to them that they hired the right person.

But besides being smart enough to ask you for an answer, they should be an expert in their own field.

Good people come in many forms and there is no cookie cutter great boss. Many people have trouble letting their employees run with an idea or aren't trusting enough to give people space to work. But no matter what, "thank you" and "please" are the most important words in an employer's vocabulary.

And speaking of bosses...

I know so many of you are fans of "The Office". The other day at my office we took a poll to see who would rather work for Meryl Streep in "Devil Wears Prada" or for Michael in "The Office." EVERYBODY chose Michael.

So here is some classic Steve Carrell as Michael.

"Michael Scott: My proudest moment here wasn't when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No no no. It was a young Guatamalan guy, first job in the country, barely spoke a word of English, but he came to me and said "Mr. Scott, will you be the godfather to my child?" Didn't work out in the end. We had to let him go. He sucked."

Peace on Earth

Is there anything more peaceful than fresh snowfall? The tranquility, the solitude, the silence. A perfect world in white with only the tips of the fir trees showing. It makes Christmas music acceptable (even in October) and seems to clean the world to start afresh. Candles scented like pine trees, hot apple cider on the stove with cinnamon sticks and Henry trying to eat the pumpkin I was carving are memories from this year already.

Halloween begins the holiday season and for many of us this is the first year we don't live with our parents while celebrating the holidays. Henry and I will be flying to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and Graham to continue our holiday traditions. I'm currently in the process of making my case for them to visit me for Christmas- 65 and sunny just doesn't say "sleigh bells and mistletoe" like 30 and snowy.

But even though I will be flying to my parents, I no longer live with them. Henry and I are creating new traditions with new friends and neighbors. Henry, with the discovery that he loves pumpkin, has created the tradition of eating ALL of the pumpkin carvings. It's strange to buy decorations and think you will be using them next year. In college we bought chintzy 99-cent decor that would be thrown out when we moved to a new place. But now I will be in the same place for the holidays of 2010 and will pull out my holiday mat again.

But back to Peace on Earth. The pure and peaceful beauty of 10 inches of snow at sunrise today was a retrospective reminder of where I am now compared to the first snowfall last year. I am in a different state, a different state of mind and feel the peace that is only possible with contentment. I am finally content with who and where I am and, while I might now know where I am going, I'm just not too worried about it.

So as the snow in Boulder melts, I want to wish the solitude, peace and beauty of a perfect, white world to each of you.