Author: the outside lane

Happy. That about covers it.
40 in 52

40 in 52

the outside lane

Several of my friends have either had, or are gearing up to have gastric bypass, or lap band surgery.  I’ll tell you, seeing the weight the ones who have finished the process have dropped, I’m envious.  That is, my first thought is always, “Geez!  I wish I could drop Xlbs in Xweeks!  Where’s my magic bullet?!”

Then, I remember.  There is no magic bullet.  My friends who have had surgery can attest to that.  There are the months of working to be qualified for surgery, the hoping that your insurance will approve it, the weeks of pre-op fasting before the major surgery itself.  After that it is weeks of recovery on a liquid diet, building yourself back into solid foods while you build your body back into health, and then it is maintenance–just like I have to deal with maintenance.  It’s hard, hard work.

I say, as I place my order for cheese enchiladas.  LOL

Uncategorized

Happily Ever After?

the outside lane

I have been a little out of sorts this week, and couldn’t figure out why.  I think it may be because a year ago on Friday, I was laid off from a job. 

I had a spate of very bad career luck from 2006 until January of this year.  Summer of 2006, merger restructure forced me back onto the market.  I spent 3 months in this shack of an office, between a woman whose patterns of speech resembled Eric Cartman, if Eric Cartman had Tourette’s and a girl who was frequently crusted over with mouth consuming cold sores, then 9 months in a surreal environment requiring a 2 hour, one-way commute with a carsick infant (who would sometimes vomit 3 times before we could get to or from the daycare–he still gets carsick, but now he’s old enough to purge himself daintily, whereas before, it was projectile warfare.), and finally ended up as the Andy Sachs to a version of Miranda Priestly for 21 months til I was laid off (that’s 17 months longer than any other Andys lasted, and 3 months less than The Emily preceding me lasted.  I wear that dubious honor with some kind of sick pride, and wish the current Andy buen suerte–may she take my crown and become the New Emily.) After that layoff sent me sprawling back onto the pavement, I had a brief stint with another company, where I was [information redacted per legal agreement.] 

As you can see, I’ve had an interesting time of it.  So has my salary.

From 2006 to 2007, I saw my salary increase by nearly 40%.  From 2009 to now, my salary has decreased by 75%.  Horrifying, isn’t it?  Granted, if you’re going to work for Miranda Priestly, they’d better be paying you! 

I always feel a little nervous when I consider my current rate of pay.  Fortunately, my husband has been very smart with our finances, and we live debt free.  We bought a house well under what we could afford and cars that were well within our budget, so that evens out the cell phone and internet fees.  But we still feel a 75% cut. 

You know what I am not feeling, though?  Sick.

From mid-2007 through February of this year, I was having migraine headaches on a regular, weekly basis, severe jaw pain, and my bowels were bleeding.  Since settling into this job, I have not had a single bleed, my jaw is in great shape, and I’ve only had a couple of migraines.  I’ve also gained a few pounds of happy fat, which I am now trying to turn into happy healthy weight loss, so I can fit into my pants.

Once Thor is in school and out of daycare, we’ll feel some financial relief, and I hope that I’ll be able to promote in due time, but I am feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time.  Hopeful feels good.

I have had a few good managers, including the wonderful Charlcye, and a lot of brilliant coworkers, but this is the first time in my career that I can say I have a great boss and entirely great coworkers, and great executives in charge all at the same time.  Small office or large, I have never worked with such a good group of people.

I shouldn’t be feeling out of sorts.  I should be feeling happy.  I guess after such a run of bad luck, I’m a little gunshy.

Women Worth Knowing

Women Worth Knowing: Meet Krista

the outside lane

If you ever want to share a taxi in Las Vegas, I highly suggest finding out whether or not Krista would care to share it with you.  She’ll make the frustrating ride worthwhile with her quick wit.  Also, you could find much worse things to look at.  I tried not to let my staring be too obvious, but Krista is very pretty and I like looking at her.

Since I have known her, Krista has battled cancer and fought back from a near death hospitalization while holding down more than a full-time job, often under extremely stressful office circumstances, raising Greyhounds, dealing with a failing economy in a very depressed market of the U.S., and is newly single after an arduous struggle to save a long-term marriage.  And she has done all of this with grace, humor, and fantastic looking hair.

You want to know how good survival can look?  Look at Krista.

She is generous and loyal.  She is a hard worker.  She is effortlessly stylish.  She is unsinkable.

Meet Krista.

Name:  Krista Butala Chapman

Age Range:  Late 30’s (shhh… I will now stay this way forever. What?)

Job Title:  Creative Director – I make the pretty.

Industry:  Advertising/Media – I bleed CMYK


Who are you? I am recently divorced after a 16 year marriage and starting over in my late 30’s. How did THAT happen? My grandmother asked me last week “what are you going to do with the rest of your life?”

I think I became physically ill for about 10 minutes as I collected myself. As of this moment, I am not too sure where life is going to take me but I’m ready. Life, I’m driving a new car, hit it.

Describe your family: My family is all over the country and I count my close friends as family as well. From the each coast; East and West, the Midwest, the South, Southwest… the people I love are everywhere. Did I mention I have a 12/13 year old half sister? Yup. There’s a shock to my 30 something brain.

What is the last hour of your day like? My feet hit the floor at 5:30 am after I hit snooze about 3 times. I shower, beautify (as much as I feel is humanly possible on a day-to-day basis), dress and let my 2 small dogs out. Pack a lunch, drink a cup of coffee, pop my vitamins, have a smoke (I know, it’s bad for you) and bolt out the door for work. I am tired already.

The last hour? [The last hour of the day I] wash [my] face, brush teeth, change in to pj’s. I am in bed usually by 9-9:30 and will cuddle up with my dogs while I watch tv and drift off to sleep. I usually wake up in the middle of the night with a 10 lb italian greyhound on my face. She might be trying to smother me in my sleep, who can tell? Ooh. I am living on the EDGE!

What makes you feel successful? I find success in so many things, which surprisingly, doesn’t include my job. I’ve won awards and all those things but the simple fact that I wake up everyday, take a breath and know I’m still here after all I have been through? That is success.

What brings you joy? Ah joy. I have always said, you MUST find joy in all you do. Even the tiniest bit, otherwise it’s not worth doing. At this current time in my life, knowing I have employment, having my 2 dogs, a roof over my head, knowing people care about me, support and love me… that brings me joy.

What women do you admire? I admire my grandmother. She’s 86, has 5 children, a long time widow and to this day, she’s STILL feisty. She’s just always amazed me and she’s so damn strong. When I grow up. I want to be her. And the woman looks damn good for 86. They let me vent, scream, cry, laugh and have a damn meltdown and come back to my center without judging me… and all within a hour’s time span.

What do you admire about yourself? I think I admire my strength. I am one damn strong woman.

What advice do you have for boys? Oh [what advice do I have for] boys? Just listen. Communicate with us. Appreciate us.

How do you face adversity? I should be the poster child for adversity. Divorced parents, my mother almost died in an accident when I was 14, I put myself through college with very VERY little assistance, moved across the country alone, I’ve had cancer, I’ve almost died in surgery, been through divorce, worked my tush off to get where I am… yes. Adversity, I do not fear you anymore.

How would you like to be remembered? I would like to people just to remember how my face lights up when I smiled and that I truly loved.

Style

Nyx Style

the outside lane

I’m not dressing very interestingly these last few days.  I haven’t done laundry, and need to mend some hems, so I’m down to the scraps I normally reserve for…well, days when I haven’t done laundry and need to mend hems.

Everything from the last two days has come from Target or Ross, and cost between $9–$29. 

Yesterday it was a tie front top in a muted coral, with a gray pencil skirt with a kick pleat in the back.  Kick pleats can make a boring skirt much more fun.  I prefer them to a regular slit.  (I have this paranoia about slits tearing open ever since I saw it happen to a friend of mine.)  Small gold earrings and pewter colored maryjanes finished the look.

Today is even more boring.  Basic black pencil skirt boring, topped off with a tiered shirt in black.  Same pewter maryjanes because I am on my feet frequently and these are low-heeled and well padded.  I’m pretending they are as cute as the facsimiles in the polyvore photos.  Amethyst drop earrings for some color. 

I’ll tell you this: I have a new eyeshadow obsession.  You’re going to need to run to Albertsons or some other place that sells Nyx cosmetics and grab up as many of the trios of Perpetual as you can find because the brown in that set is THE MOST PERFECT BROWN EYESHADOW EVER!

The trio is made up of a red, green, and plummy brown perfection.  Brown eyeshadows can easily look dirty or tired, but this is just the right mix of earth and berry, and would look good with almost any complexion.  I’m thinking of doing a makeup tutorial with this trio.  I’ve been wearing the brown non-stop since I bought it on clearance last week, and I purposefully went back to Albertsons last night to get another.

And with that, I am fresh out of style for the day.