Breaking Out of the Routine

Posted in Daily Musings, Liz's Life, Moving by

We’ve officially been living in Lake Tahoe for almost two months. Life is settling down and we’re getting into a daily routine.

Weekdays:

Wake up > shower > drive to work with coffee/radio > work, work, work > drive home > stop at grocery store > make dinner > watch Luke do the dishes :) > read/watch tv > go to sleep.

Weekends:

Wake up > have coffee and breakfast > drive to mountain > ski, ski, ski > drive home > pick up dinner > take a loooong steam shower > relax > pass out from exhaustion.

You’d think after all the stress of moving, I’d  be happy to welcome a regular routine, but actually, part of me misses all that excitement I felt during our move.

It’s not that I’m not thrilled with our life here, it’s just getting back to a more “normal” existence is leaving me a little desirous of something exciting to happen.

My mom says I’ve always been like this. As a child I used to tell her “Mom I have NOTHING to look forward to!!” even though I had plenty of fun things going on.

Luckily, I have some events on the horizon that should shake my routine up a bit.

– Next Saturday, Luke and I are having a date night in Reno. We’re going to the Adam Carolla comedy show and then staying the night at the casino.

– In February, two of our dear friends are coming to visit from Florida for the weekend.

– In March, we are going to Breckenridge to visit our friend who also just started working for Vail Resorts and of course skiing.

– In May, I am going to Vegas with some of my college girlfriends. I’ve never been with friends (always for work) so I’m super excited  about this one!

What do you do when you want to break out of your regular routine?

Social Media and Gift-Giving

Posted in Gift Ideas by

By now you  guys know that two of my loves are social media and finding the perfect gift, so I was excited to see that these two worlds came together on my favorite website- Etsy!

They have an application (not sure if it’s new or been around awhile) that helps you navigate the often perplexing world of choosing a great gift using Facebook!

When you click “gift ideas” on their homepage, it takes you to a screen that let’s you choose a friend on Facebook. Then based on the details of that friend’s profile (their likes, favorite activities) it pulls gift suggestions from Etsy.

Here’s what it looked like when I searched for gifts for my mom:

Etsy Gift Giving Tool

The tool works best if you’re adding a friend who has their profile filled in with a lot of their interests. Now, not everything they share is something my mom would want, but immediately I get some ideas for custom-made bird houses and a cute case for her reading glasses.

I love this product because when it comes to picking out a special gift for someone, it’s important to keep in mind what interests, activities and hobbies are special to them. If they’ve taken the time to put it into their Facebook profile, chances are it’s genuinely something they like.

Plus, navigating the endless treasures on Etsy can be a little daunting, so I appreciate the thought-starters they give you. Try it out and see if it captures your Facebook friend’s taste!

What Drives a Man to Approach a Woman?

Posted in Daily Musings, Dating, Love by

This morning on the way into work, I was listening to the Wild 102.9 morning show on the radio. They were talking about a new study that Ok Cupid released about dating. I can’t find the study online, but the jist of it is this:

Men are more likely to message/approach a woman who is moderately attractive vs. a woman who is beautiful because the chances of rejection are lower and therefore less of a threat to their egos.

The men who called into the show backed up this theory, saying they don’t bother hitting on a girl who is a 9 or 10 because they’re sure she has men lined up around the corner, and they don’t want to waste their time with a girl who is in demand.

The women who called in expressed their frustration revealing that in fact, the beautiful girls are rarely if ever hit on while their less-attractive counter-parts are the ones with guys lined up.

This whole debate hit home for me. During my single years, I too was plagued with the “never gets hit on” disease. It was really frustrating! I couldn’t understand what was different about me from my friends that led guys to avoid approaching me.

I was told that it was because I was “intimidating” with my height (5’11), trendy clothes and outgoing personality. I always felt annoyed by that….what was I supposed to do? Make myself more plain jane just so I didn’t scare the poor, frightened men off? :)

Eventually I stopped waiting for the guys to come up to me and took the situation into my own hands by casually striking up a conversation with a guy I was attracted to.

Once the initial conversation was started, it always went well and usually ended up in a date or future contact, but it bothered me that I had to do all the initial work.

Even with Luke, I had to ask our mutual friend to introduce us when I noticed him looking at me, but not making a move. He claims he would have come up to me eventually, but I have my doubts.

So what do you think? Do men really target modestly-attractive women over more striking ones? Or is that just something women who don’t get hit on tell themselves so they feel better?

Men- what drives you to approach a woman? When do you stay away from a pretty girl?

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

Posted in Liz's Life, Married Life, Moving by

Luke, more so than anyone, has felt the most stress from this move. It’s not easy to lead the charge on packing and moving 1,900+ miles, buying cars, getting acclimated to a totally different lifestyle – AND worrying about finding a new job (esp while your wife is MIA working her butt off).

I think it’s no secret that for a man, a lot of his self-identity is tied to what he does for a living. That’s why I know it was incredibly hard for Luke to give up his job in Chicago to let me pursue my dreams here at Heavenly. Not many guys would do that.

He’s been not working for about a month now, and while he has been taking advantage of the time off by skiing nearly every day, I know the anxiety and worry was weighing on him.

That’s why I’m so happy to share that he was offered and accepted a great job yesterday! He’s going to be a senior accountant with a young, fresh company in the gold-mining industry. The job will involve some travel to Mexico, international accounting and many really great benefits.

I’m so proud of him for securing not only a job during a time when unemployment is so high, but a really good job at that! He’s a pretty remarkable guy.

This was the final piece of the puzzle for us before we could relax and really enjoy our new lifestyle. It’s all smiles from here…