Thankful Thursday

So, I'm making an effort to blog more (meaning more frequent, shorter, less meaningful posts). And I apologize for no boy updates recently. I am taking a break from Match.com (mostly due to lack of time) and not exactly by choice but again, more due to lack of time, it seems that I'm taking a break from boys in general. So, I'm sorry not to be entertaining you with romantic episodes... But hopefully I will have some boy updates soon... Anyway, in the meantime...

It's Thursday and I think that I will try doing something different for once. I will try to be thankful....

Here are the things that I am thankful for on this Thankful Thursday:

• I'm thankful for the things that everyone should be thankful for like my family and my health
• I'm thankful for my many friends around the world who make an effort to stay in touch (and read my blog) - more specific friend shout outs below...
• I'm thankful for my amazing group of friends in Sweden who always make such a great effort to plan fun things to do when I visit. And who I'm looking forward to celebrating my birthday with very soon!
• I'm thankful for the S20 girls who I will hopefully see in Boston very soon.
• I'm thankful for my 3 close girlfriends from high school who I will get to see quite a bit of this summer due to the upcoming weddings! B is getting married and S and I will be there for sure!
• I'm thankful for the fact that my sexy single friend A not leaving London although she is leaving my company and I will miss her at work
• I'm thankful for my friends M and T who have been with me on sooo many adventures - most recently Londontown
• I'm thankful that it just MIGHT finally be summer in London! Woohoo!
• I'm thankful for the cold corona with a lime I'm drinking while I'm writing this
• I'm thankful for the nice run I had at sunset in the park tonight
• I'm thankful that the park was green and full of lovely flowers! And that it was finally warm enough to run in shorts and a T-shirt
• I'm thankful that the weather forecast for the weekends say warm and sunny - Finally!
• I'm thankful that I am going on VACATION in just 4 weeks!!
• And Finally... I'm VERY thankful THAT TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!

By the way, I just found out that I graduated from college exactly 10 years ago. Thanks C for the Facebook update! I feel old now.

Good night everyone! And be thankful it's Thursday because that means
 TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!

Adding pictures

Well... I have been checking out other people's blogs and I've been realizing that I need to pimp mine out a bit more... try to get people to read it and also maybe make it a bit more visual...

The thing is this blog was primarily started as a writing blog... and I'm not so up for posting lots of pictures of myself (if you are friends with me on Facebook, you really have had enough of that I'm sure). So... maybe I should be looking for other types of interesting pictures to include in my blog post.

So, today, I'm going to do something really crazy and post some pictures. Here goes!

So here is  a little bit of La la la London in the springtime: The famous London Bridge. This picture was taken from the boat trip I took a few weeks ago - you know the one where I got to drunkenly DRIVE the boat down the Thames river. Doesn't it make you want to sing that children's song:

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down (does anyone remember the rest of the words?)

And here is a cute little road by my apartment (flat if you will). Don't you love the colored cute houses! This is why Chelsea is so great! Lots of nice little streets like this:

If anyone has some great blog advice for me... well, let me know.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Time Management

So, I'm rushing down the street late - as usual - to an appointment. And someone steps in front of me and says "Excuse me, could I have a couple minutes of your time?" (Apply appropriate British accent since this is London and all). And I yell at him "I'm late" as I push him aside thinking "are you for real? Like I would have any time!" (I'm also thinking kind of mean things like "if I did have time would I spend it speaking to you?" - this would of course have been reconsidered if he was super attractive, and "I'm way too important to spend time talking to you."

But out of the corner of my eye, I see him catch the woman behind me and she is all like "sure I have some time" and she whips off her ipod headphones and settles in on the sidewalk to answer his questions. And right down the street his buddy has managed to capture another woman's time. And neither of them looked stressed or put out at all!

And I start to think... maybe it's just me who doesn't have time. Amazingly enough, it does seem like OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TIME! (Other people also don't seem to feel that they are too important to talk to random people soliciting them on the street. Well noted. I will add this to my steps to becoming a better person blog post: "try not to feel self important for no reason; make time for others even though they may seem inferior to you." Ooops - well. I'll work on phrasing that one right if I ever do manage to write a blog post about becoming a better person. Don't hold your breath).

So, I'm starting to realize that it might just be me who kind of sucks at time management. The thing is that I am perpetually late for EVERYTHING (except airplane and trains and things that really run on a strict schedule - then I'm so freaked out about missing them because I know that I'm a perpetually late person, that I end up ridiculously early although still usually stressed that I'm somehow late). For example, even though I live exactly 1 minute walking distance to my office, I am still late every day. If there is a meeting, I am inevitably the last person in the room. If I'm meeting a friend, I leave them waiting for me (unless they know me really well and then I usually wait for them if I ever happen to be in the vicinity of the right time as they always expect me to be late). Besides being the most impatient person ever, my other huge weakness as a manager/colleauge is not being able to stick to a meeting schedule - EVER. I perpetually run my days 10 mins behind. I tell my teams that if they have a meeting with me... that for planning purposes, they can expect me to be 10 mins late and that I apologize in advance. I also find myself running - yes, running and looking very cool as I sprint down King's Road in my work clothes - to appointments when I make them during the work day. The back Doctor who I see on a regular basis right now always seems slightly amused that I manage to turn up out of breath and sweaty to each and every appointment - he also has suggested that running with a heavy handbag might not be the best thing for my back. Point taken Doc. But I swear every day I try to leave the office a little bit earlier and every time someone pulls something urgent on me right as I put on my coat. I feel like putting on my coat is like the universal sign for everyone to freak out and start asking me questions. Jeez. I'll be back in an hour. I'm SURE the world will not fall apart in that amount of time. And if it does start to, well that's what Blackberrys are for!

For those of you who are thinking that the fact that I'm late for everything shows a total lack of respect for everyone else who is waiting for me... Well, I promise this is not true - it just means I'm late (always) and actually feeling bad about (always). Although you might not believe me after the comments from the first paragraph (seriously, I am a very very nice person - just not on Mondays).

My problem is that I am a time hoarder. And a time filler. I have an action packed schedule every day. I hate wasting time - I love to overpopulate my agenda. And, i I EVER find myself running early for something, then I quickly come up with at least one (usually 2) projects that I think I can accomplish in the extra 5 mins I might be running ahead. So, I try to squeeze that in quickly and it inevitably takes longer than I planned (and if it doesn't, I inevitably squeeze something else in). These small project include but are not limited to: cleaning the bathroom, various laundry tasks, trying out new hairstyles in the mirror, looking at my pores, rearranging my closet by color, decalcifying the espresso machine (that small project that was going to take me 5 mins managed to take me one hour and made me totally late for EVERYTHING for the entire weekend), checking emails, writing "just one more email" (this is what makes me so late I work), writing this blog, updating my CV etc. You get the picture.

The good thing is, that I'm very productive when I have something else to do or somewhere else I should be - I mean you should see just how much I can get done before going to the gym.

As an old habit, I like to blame my lateness on my best friend from high school S. S is one of the few people in the world who is later than me for everything. I mean like WAY later. In high school we would drive to school together in the morning and we were always trying to convince some teacher (usually of the male variety) to give us a pass so we could pretend we were not really just plain late. We were always the last girls out of the locker room, the last girls off the bench and onto the softball field and the last people to get into the classroom. This summer as we will attend two weddings together, I'm already thinking about the fact that this time we need to get there in a timely fashion. I'm hoping that my other best friend from high school K will sort us out (although I know she hates that we rely on her to do that) because last time S and I went to a wedding together we managed to make it into our seats just seconds before the bride went down the aisle with lots of snickers (don't you love that word) and giggles from those around us who knew us from high school as the girls who are late to everything. But I have to admit that while for a short time in high school and for the couple times a year we see each other now, she does have a negative influence on my timeliness, I can't really find a way to blame her for the fact that I'm ALWAYS late on my own when living on a separate continent from her. So, S - I guess you are finally off the hook. But let's try to get to the weddings on time this year (and hopefully the directions are right this time - see there is always a good excuse for lateness).

So, I guess it's time to take ownership of my own lateness. I'm going to set a new goal to try to be on time (at least half of the time). I'm going to get up 10 minutes earlier. I'm going to watch my clock better at work and see if I can stay on schedule. I'm going to leave on time for my appointments and walk rather than run. I'm not going to send "just one more email" or start "just one small project." And next time someone on the street asks me if they can "have a couple minutes of my time," well I'm probably still not going to talk to them because I probably will still have better things to do (well unless I've started my "be a better person" project by then). But maybe I will at least be able to consider stopping to talk to them because this time, I won't be late!

But oh look. It's now 10 pm. I was planning to go to the gym. But I've procrastinated so long that the gym is now closed. I'm already off to a great start.

Wedding Season Statistics

So, it's wedding season... This summer I have been invited to attend FIVE weddings!

I like numbers... So, let's look at some wedding statistics: 

• I have been invited to 5 weddings this summer. As I have over 500 Facebook friends that means exactly 1% of my friends are getting married. Ok scratch that. Exactly 1% of my friends have invited me to their weddings this summer. I have a feeling that other people might be getting married and decided not to invite me... They are missing out. I am a fun wedding guest. For Sure!
• There are 3 weddings in the US that take place over the span of 5 weekends.
• There are 2 weddings in Stockholm.
• The first wedding is in 3 weeks. It's in Stockholm.
• At the Stockholm wedding there will be exactly 1 ex-boyfriend (The teacher - who I have not yet blogged about). His Facebook status tells me he is recently single. I hope he stays single. I hope to blog about him after the wedding.
• The second wedding is in 4 weeks. It's in the US. It is actually in W. Mass. I have known the groom since he was 3.
• The third wedding is in 6 weeks. It's in San Fransisco. I have known the groom since he was born. You could almost say that he is like my second brother.
• The fourth wedding is in 8 weeks. It's on Nantucket. The bride is the second of my 3 closest high school girlfriends to get married. I have known her since she was 3.
• The hotel room in Nantucket costs $1404.07 for 3 days for 4 people. It's expensive.
• The 5th and final wedding is in October. It's in Stockholm. The bride is the first of my 8 close Swedish girlfriends to get married. Obviously women get married at an older age in Europe. I'm all for that trend.
• There is a 6th good friend getting married this summer. She is one of my 7 college roommates. Since we went to her first wedding, we are not invited to the second one. Nevertheless, I am very happy for her and think that the man she is marrying is awesome!
• So far, I have 0 ideas about what to wear to any of the 5 weddings.
• Today the weather is 9 degrees (Celsius - remember that I have now forgotten Fahrenheit but I think that is somewhere in the 40's - but anyway it's COLD! Really Cold. Way more cold than it should ever be in Mid-May).
• I might be wrong but I think the weather in London at this time of year should be somewhere around 18 degrees Celsius.
• Because I was stressed out about the not having anything to wear dilemma, I just got up and checked my closet. I have exactly 4 summer dresses that could possibly recycled (I have worn 3 of them once before and one of them 0 times - it has been unloved because it is green and that is not really my color). But it's hard to imagine wearing a summer dress when iMother Nature is insisting on winter weather even though the calender clearly says SPRING!
• There are 5 weddings. I have 0 dates to any of the weddings.
• In my lifetime I have probably attended over 20 weddings. I have had 0 dates for any weddings ever. I sometimes wonder if this "statistic" does indeed make me a very sad person. In fact, I have stopped even being invited to weddings with dates. There is never any "plus 1" for me. It is just now assumed that I am only 1. Dateless. Alone. Single. 1.

Reality TV

All work and no play is making me a very boring person. Or at least a very boring blogger. My apologies to you all.

Actually, work is just one excuse. My other excuse is that rather than spending my precious little free time blogging, I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I have been spending it watching terrible television in the form of bad American reality TV shows. I try to justify this with the fact that living abroad for 8 years has put me in danger of loosing my "American-ness. " And reality TV for some reason makes me feel a bit closer to home. Therefore I spend copious amounts of time watching The Hills, The City, The Real Housewives and of course Jersey Shore - (which by the way is the most awesome bad reality show ever - do you hear they are doing a Miami version - how excited are you)???? Fist Pump!

The other justification is that it's "brain fluff." Now and then you just need a good dose of brainlessness especially when your job seems to demand so much brain power that you sometimes think that your brain might be in danger of exploding because it's so overworked... But seriously, the more stressed I am, the worse my television choices get.

The Real Housewives of New York City Season 3 is my latest fascination. (Yes, I have watched Seasons 1 and 2 and sadly I have also watched the Real Housewives of Atlanta, Orange County and New Jersey - what can I say... I find it relaxing and addicting - a perfect antidote to my stressful job). I have to say that the OC Housewives are my favorites since they are the originals and they are actually "almost" civil to each other - in fact, sometimes it's almost boring because there is such a lack of conflict. But the New York City Housewives on the other hand, well they are truly catty vicious women who just pick at each other incessantly. They have certainly upped the drama in Season 3 although it's getting a bit annoying that all they do is knock each other down. But I secretly like them because they are older women who generally look good, wear great clothes and have fabulous lifestyles and most of them have good careers. I have to say that although I think she is super annoying, her voice is grating and she kind of looks like a frog (something in the shape of her face), I secretly like Bethanney Frankel. Ok - maybe I just like her because despite her documented bad luck in love, she still manages to get married and have a baby (just this week I think) in her late 30's. This all proves that there is hope for me yet!

But maybe my fascination with the Real Housewives is because if I were in a reality show, that would probably be the most likely one for me... I mean I'm not young enough, cute enough, or had enough body altering "procedures" to be on the Hills. I'm not beautiful or fashionista enough to be on The City. And while I might secretly wish that I was a guidette, I don't think I have the hair volume or the fist pump to handle Jersey Shore.

I could however be that token career focused single gal (A'la Bethanney Frankel) on the Real Housewives... However, I'm not sure I could handle the Real Housewives Drama. Because I have to deal with so much drama in my professional life, I tend to try to minimize it as much as possible in my personal life... Seriously, there is at least one woman in my office who BELONGS on the Real Housewives. If they do a London version, I think I will recommend her. Actually, I will recommend myself. She is just annoying - certainly nowhere near as interesting as me.

Perhaps there should be a Reality Show about a single 30 something International Woman of Mystery. Working hard, playing hard and looking for love in all the wrong places... I think I know a good star for the show.

Me Encanta Barcelona!

I know that you are all waiting impatiently for an update from my awesome weekend in Barcelona...

Well all I can say is that it was an amazing weekend with great people. But for the most part, what happens in Barcelona should really stay in Barcelona. However, fear not although I might scrimp on the details... I will provide you with top ten list.

Top Ten Fabulous Things About My Barcelona weekend

1. Getting to hang out con mi hermano!
2. Getting to meet all my brother's fun and interesting friends - they truly made it a great weekend!
3. Eating really amazing Catellan food cooked by the sweetest gay couple ever! Gracias M and D - you are the best!
4. Drinking Estrella beer in the park while riding on a rocking horse and sitting on ducks
5. Going to a Warehouse party and dancing all night long (and I do mean all night and well into the morning)
6. Meeting a cute Italian/French guy at the said Warehouse party - he invited me home on his motorbike (how Italian right?) but I politely declined.
7. The fact that for a few hours cigarettes and gin were the best thing in the world (I will not explain this one, if you were there, you know what I'm talking about)
8. Not wearing high heels once all weekend - my brother and friends rock a slightly different dress code than my London/Stockholm friends - sneakers and jeans were totally ok
9. Sitting around for hours doing nothing - I didn't even think I remembered how to do nothing - lately, it's all been work work work and go go go; I've forgotten how to relax, I've forgotten how to slow down, I've forgotten how to turn off from work... this weekend I learned the true art of doing nothing from my brother and his friends
10. Good music and the funny You Tube videos I was introduced to by my brother's flatmate S (this was part of the doing nothing thing that I experienced in general my free life doesn't have time for Youtube... if I have free time, I write this blog for my faithful readers) But check out llamas with hats and David after the dentist for a good laugh! (Caaarl... what did you do?) And check out this video full of fun English sounding gibberish!
11. Hablando espanol! (yo se - ya tengo diez puntos pero uno mas esta bien) - Era muy bello a hablar espanol de nuevo. No he hablado expanol hace much tiempo and me encanta el idioma

 Top Ten Not So Fabulous Things about My Barcelona Weekend

1. Lack of sleep from way too much partying
2. Not having enough warm clothes with me... I thought it was going to be warm out - I brought summer clothes. I needed cold weather and water proof clothes
3. The hangovers
4. Stumbling out of the warehouse party at 9 am in the morning to find a painfully bright day and then enduring an extremely long and painful journey home on the subway
5. The torrential downpour that overtook the city on Sunday night - it wouldn't let up so we decided that we would run home - we were soaked as if we had just swam in the ocean (which by the way, I managed not to see the entire weekend)!
6. The fact that I didn't once get to win at the game cheat also known as bull shit or mentira (en espanol) - this is a totally awesome game by the way and you should totally play it (preferably while drinking lots of Estrella beer) but I unfortunately didn't manage to win and that made me a little sad and that's why this is going on my top ten not so fabulous list rather than to my top ten fabulous list (ok, ok, I would have put it on my top ten list but I already had eleven good things and not enough bad things)
7. Leaving Barcelona

Note: There are only 7 items on this list because these were the ONLY bad things I could think of about Barcelona.

Hasta Luego Barcelona. Ya te estrano y necesito regresar muy pronto!  

 (I do not know how to make the accents and tildes on my computer. Lo siento)!

She Wolf

The first time I heard Shakira's new song She Wolf, I was not impressed. Don't get me wrong. I'm huge Shakira fan and have been listening to her since someone first played me one of her Spanish songs when I live in Costa Rica - when by the way, she was still just a girl from Colombia who hadn't made it big in the US and had yet to die her hair all blond and get an amazing body...

As usual, I digress. Anyway, She Wolf... I like it now. I still think that her howling in the background is kind of annoying but it's a catchy tune with a good beat and recently I had a look at the words. Check out my favorite verses:

Sitting across the bar, staring right at her prey

It's going well so far, she's going to get her way

Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent

The moon's my teacher, and I'm here student

To locate the single men, I got on me a special radar

And the fire department hot line in case I get in trouble later

Not looking for cute little divos or rich city guys that just want to enjoy

But having a very good time and behave very bad in the arms of a boy

For some odd reason, I feel like I can relate to this song. I like that she calls men in bars "prey." And also, I especially like the use of the "divos." Plus, she looks super hot in the video (although definitely channeling her inner stripper). Check it out here.

By the way, speaking of Spanish which we weren't really... I'm going to spend the 3 day bank holiday weekend in Barcelona partying and hanging out with my younger brother (who currently lives in Barcelona and plays awesome music - by the way, my brother and I are like total opposites, I'm a workaholic, my brother is an artist -  no one really understands his job situation but at least he's living life unlike me who's working my life away) I can't wait. I hope it will be fun.

Last year I spent the long May holiday weekend in Amsterdam for Queen's Day. That was pretty crazy between the attempt on the Queen's life (one of the girl's we were was the niece of one of the people who died), wearing obnoxious amounts of orange, participating in massive street parties, cruising the canals, checking out the infamous red light district, drinking heavily all day, and participating in other things that are illegal everywhere else but Holland. (By the way, Amsterdam has to be one of my most favorite cities ever... and not because of the legality of certain substances - believe me that's not really my thing - however... when in Rome... or Amsterdam). But alas, I was with the beautiful Swede and we did spend much of the time fighting... So, this year I'm counting on my brother to show me a good time in "his city." He usually delivers. So, I'm not that worried. It's going to be great! And this year, I'm single - so no worrisome boyfriend picking fights about money (I was paying so I couldn't understand why he was complaining), or doing other annoying things like deciding to smoke an entire joint basically on his own despite my warning that this might not be a good idea for the following reasons:

1. He wasn't exactly an experienced smoker - this was like the second time in his life he had ever partaken in this activity
2. He is Swedish and Swedes in general are not very accustomed to the use of illegal substances (this is obviously a good thing - just sayin)
3. It just seemed like a bad idea... (and I have learned that my gut instinct is usually pretty good)

 Let's just say that the day's activities ended with us exiting the "Coffee Shop" walking 3 blocks and him deciding he needed to sit down immediately (in the middle of the road in fact) for an hour to recover before we could make our way to a table at a restaurant where the bartender took pity on him and brought him water with sugar in it (which did seem to help) and where I sat there and told he he wasn't really dying... he was just high. Finally we managed to make our way back to the hotel room and call it a night at a ridiculously early hour (yes, another fight then ensued).

Anyway, I'm sure I will have some interesting updates on my Barcelona trip coming at you shortly. I plan to embrace my inner She Wolf and give those Spanish boys a run for their money. Stay tuned! Awhooo!

An Email from Mom

So, my Mother sends me an email today... and I can't help but share it.

The subject is: A Beautiful Parable

My Mother then writes...
This made me think of you and our conversation yesterday. You can’t control everything the way you want to. You just have to let it flow and it will happen exactly the way it is supposed to.


Love Mom

As many emails do these days, this one had an attachment with an inspirational story meant to change your life. Let me copy paste the story below. Read it carefully and think about the message.

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."


"Is the man of the house home?" they asked.
"No," she replied. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in" they replied.


In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
"Got tell them I am home and invite them in!"


The woman went out and invited the men in.
"We do not go into a House together" they replied.
"Why is that?" she asked.
One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."


The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!" he said. "Since that is the case let us invite in Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?" Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"


"Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the 3 old men "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."


Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 men also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success"I only invited Love. Why are you coming in?"


The old men replied together. "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two would have stayed out, but since you invited Love, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!"

And then the foot note said: Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning how to dance in the rain! We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails. (I do kind of like the footnote by the way)

So? What is the moral of this story folks? What was your impression? Other than the predictable ending, did anything else strongly jump out at you?

Well, I wrote my mother back to tell her:

"Thank you Mom for reminding me that first I need a man of the house in order to invite Love, Success and Wealth into my life!"

Seriously, the woman had to wait until her husband came home before they would let her invite them in! I wondered if my Mother was trying to subtly tell me something...

The previous night my Mother and I had our usual Sunday night conversation where I complain about being overworked and underpaid and unsure of what direction I want my life to go in and the fact that I'm no longer sure I'm prioritizing the right things. Next I talk about different changes I'm contemplating while expressing frustration about how difficult it is to figure out what the next step is (thus my Mother's preceding comment to the attachment) to actually make positive changes happen. This usually and inevitably leads to a general moaning about the fact that I am absolutely going to be single forever if I continue to relentlessly pursue my career and sacrifice any real semblance of personal life for work and work-related travel (I used to think that I could have it all, that it all would just come my way - but I'm starting to realize, it might not be that simple. Maybe to create change, you have to first make a change). And by the way, that this scares the bejeezus out of me since I'm not getting any younger and doing the same activities is producing not only the same results (i.e. work is continuing to dominate me while not much else in my life seems to be progressing forward), my Mother and I continue to have the same Sunday night conversation.

So, thank you Mom for finally pointing out what I have been doing wrong! It is all so clear to me now! All this time I've been prioritizing my career when I should have been prioritizing finding a man! As the story implies... if I have a man at home... and then I invite Love in then Wealth and Success will follow. Damn! I had it all backwards! All this time I thought it would be Success first then wealth then Love then a Man of the house. I'm very grateful to this little beautiful parable for helping me to get my priorities straight. Now... I'm off to find a man and solve all my problems!

If only it were that easy...

P.S As I have noted before, my Mother has always been my strong feminist role model, I'm sure her intentions were good. Love you Mom!

Not a cloud nor plane in the sky

Well the much anticipated spring/summer weather has finally come to London and I'm enjoying it immensely. Although I miss Stockholm very much, there are never warm days in April in Stockholm. Come to think of it... there are never really any warm days at all in Stockholm. I can just hear all the Swedes who read this blog getting defensive. Ok Sweden, I give you this: Midsommer 2005 was warm and so was most of the month of May of 2007. My 30th birthday in 2008 was also warm and nice and so was the day in 2008 that I ran the Kungsholmen Runt and then sat out in the park. But as you can see... if I can remember the warm days individually... they are unusual. What I do recall most strongly about spring/summer in Sweden is always having to bring a jacket, sitting outside at Thai Boat last June wearing hats and gloves, freezing on the beach in Gotland and putting away all summer clothes by September first - it's already winter by then. While I still favor Stockholm over London in so many ways, I am definitely going to make the most out of a warmer/longer London summer. I will however miss the long light.

But as usual... I digress. Back to the warm weekend in London.

It was a beautiful weekend. Although volcanic ash in the sky was making air travel impossible and forcing closure of all UK airports, the irony was the clear blue skies that graced the London sky (no ash in sight). It was strange to see the to see the skies so eerily quiet (I live on the flight path to Heathrow and have gotten used to the constant planes) and so brilliantly blue. Theoretically, last Saturday was actually the first warm day in London, but that was kind of just a warm-up (ha ha - get it) with this weekend producing both a beautiful and warm Saturday and Sunday. In fact, there was not a cloud (or a plane) in the sky either day.

The first dilemma one faces on the first warm weekend of the year however, is what in the world do you wear? I mean are you really ready to expose your pasty white winter skin for all to see? Are you ready to bare those pale legs or work those pale arms in that tank top? After a few uncomfortable minutes spent trying on half the clothes in my "summer" wardrobe, I decided I looked: pale, naked and cold and I concluded that summer clothes should only be worn with a tan. This posed for me a dilemma - how do you get a tan if you are all covered up?

Luckily I finally sorted out an somewhat appropriate outfit of multiple layers which consisted of a black maxi dress, a grey hoodie sweat shirt with 3 quarter sleeves, a grey light leather jacket, a blue scarf and silver flip flops (I'm not sure why I felt you needed to know the colors of the clothing but this did feel like an important detail when writing it). I have to say that I did feel a bit strange stepping out for the first time in my summer dress and flip flops and at first I wondered if I had overdone the summer thing. But then I got out to King's Road and saw plenty of women who had really overdone it - totally rocking their pasty white arms and legs in tube tops and short skirts and sandals. On the other hand you had people who apparently hadn't checked the weather forecast or paid any attention to the brilliant sunshine who were still wearing winter coats and Uggs. So, I decided I felt pretty good about my sort of summery outfit -glad not to be showing off my white legs nor wearing my winter boots. However, a few blocks later I realize that I had actually overdone it with the layers (it was hot - my thermometer read 26 degrees in the sun; sorry to all the Americans, I have honestly forgotten how to do Fahrenheit) and had to peel off first scarf, then jacket, then hoodie... So after all that, my white arms were all exposed and feeling strange to be let out in the sunshine for the first time since September! My white legs however did stay under wraps until I reached the safety of the park and the anonymity of all the other white pale exposed bodies desperately trying to soak up the first summer sun while blinding those who happened to look upon them without sunglasses.

I'm proud to say that after two days baking myself in the sun my face and arms and the front (yes only the front) of my legs are very tan. I also probably have skin cancer. Sun worshipping is definitely an addiction. I learned it from my mother. Thanks Mom. However, I will keep praying for a cure to cancer rather than curing my sun worshipping addiction (although I do actually wear sun screen and spend less time in the sun now - I am trying... but like any addict, it's a slow process).

Other than the weather and the volcanic ash, the other notable event involved crashing a birthday party and drunk driving.

Of course my partner in crime was my sexy single Italian friend who I always manage to get up to some kind of trouble with. On Saturday night this meant crashing a 30th birthday party. Ok - she was invited to the party. I was crashing it - along with half the Italian population of London who she had also invited to crash the party (By the way, I LOVE the Italians - they are always fun to hang out with - and I promise I'm not saying this just because they read this blog). The night was absolutely perfect for a sunset cruise down the Thames. It was just warm enough to be outside until the sunset and the first Corona of the year tasted amazing (I do believe Corona is the best summer beer) and the music was fantastic thanks to the Ministry of Sound DJ's who kept the party going. The only unfortunate problem was that the party was lacking cute tall men to flirt with or perhaps I was lacking any ambition to do so after a very long hard week at work. All work and no play makes me a dull girl indeed.

But don't worry. As usual, things managed to get a little bit out of control and at one point rather late in the evening after at least 5 beers (on an empty stomach) my Italian Friend and I found ourselves actually driving the boat. Yes, this is indeed the scary truth. We charmed the Captain and took control of that party boat! (I mean did you expect any less of us)? Although we both managed to swerve the boat from side to side of the river causing the Captain to laugh his head off and every so often grab the wheel away from us to ensure that we didn't crash (it's harder then it looks to drive a boat), everyone else was too busy dancing to notice. But never fear, despite the drunk driving, the night had a happy ending and we all made it back to the pier safely! Phew. In fact, I was pleased since a boat ride on the Thames was on my list of "must do before I leave London." And actually getting to DRIVE the boat made it that much better!

But how about this volcano causing massive disruption to global travel? What chaos! I have colleagues stranded all over the world and I am just so selfishly happy that I am not one of them. It was a close call cuz as you remember, I was supposed to be in Brazil this week. My poor colleague I was supposed to travel is still totally stuck there. But to be honest, it's actually not really my colleagues I feel bad for - my company will take care of them. But my heart goes out to all these people who have ran out of money and are sleeping in the airports desperate to get back. Or children traveling alone trying to get back to a parent. Or school groups stranded. Or the people who have missed their wedding or other major life events. I count myself among the lucky.

I was supposed to be off to China today (and in anticipation have already been preparing a 10 things to love and hate about China post). But my flight has been cancelled. I'm actually really disappointed as I was looking forward to the China trip and I'm also nervous what rescheduling will mean. I have a Barcelona trip to see my brother coming up next week (I bet you can't wait for the Spanish post that is surely coming) and I'm worried that trip could possibly be in jeopardy due to the China rescheduling. So you see... life as an International Woman of Mystery can be very hard - especially when volcanoes in Iceland ruin your plans!

Happy Spring everyone!

I should have gone to Rio!

I was supposed to be in Brazil this week. It is true... I was supposed to be in Brazil today! In fact, today I was supposed to be in Rio. But instead... alas I'm still in London.

Ok - that sounds way cooler than it really is... I was supposed to be in Brazil for work. I was supposed to leave Monday night London time and arrive in Sao Paolo on Tuesday morning at 6am. The plan was to go check into the hotel and then go straight to the office and work the whole day. On Wednesday we would fly to Rio in the morning in order to meet with an absurdly difficult customer. Then we would fly back to Sao Paolo Wednesday night and then meet with the Brazilian team on all day Thursday and Friday. I would fly out late Friday night and arrive back in London late Saturday night (effectively killing most of my weekend). So as you can see, the trip sounded more glamorous than it ever would have been. Still... I was supposed to be in Rio right now.

But I had to cancel Rio for many reasons... including the fact that I need to be in China next week. And even for the International Woman of Mystery, 3 continents in 3 days is just too much.

So, for all of you who complain that I don't post enough... I will admit... I'm lacking fun things to write about right now as all I'm doing is working. I know I know... we are all very busy and important people. But just in case you don't believe that I am also a busy and important person (and to be honest - and I'm always honest - because I'm lacking any kind of fun dating adventures to share and generally lacking really any kind of creativity at all), and in case you are inclined to feel sorry for whinny people who blog about being too busy to blog, let me tell you about how my day went on Monday:

Monday April April 12th 2010 - A Day in the Life of the International Woman of Mystery...

3 am - I'm still working. I started working at 11 pm on Sunday evening... at 3 am I'm still working. However, I realize that it might be a good idea to go to bed soon as I realize that I must be in the office in 5.5 hours!

6 am - the alarm goes off with a hopeful sound.... I thought I might wake up feeling refreshed and jump out of bed and go for a run in the park before work! Instead, I wake up grumpy and tired and I realize I have only been asleep for 3 hours. I reset the alarm for a more reasonable time like 7:30.

7:30 - The alarm goes off again. I hit snooze for the next 40 minutes... I have to admit I'm a big snooze button addict. It's one of the great things of sleeping alone - you can hit snooze forever without anyone telling you to knock it off!

8:10 - I realize that if I do not get up soon, the house cleaner (who is supposed to come at 9 but is always annoyingly at least 40 minutes early) will be there (again) before I'm out of bed

8:11 - I drag myself out of bed cursing the world and begin to hurry up and get ready for work

8:20 - The house cleaner arrives. I make irritating conversation - irritating in part because she doesn't speak much English but mostly I'm not a morning person and she is always so damn cheerful. But I'm willing to forgive her because she does make my apartment really clean.

8:25 - The house cleaner points out to me that I haven't managed to buy bathroom cleaner even though she had asked me to last week... I realize I have been too busy to go to the grocery store in the past week. The grocery store closes at 21:00. I realize that sadly, I have not left the office before 21:00 in a week.

8:45 - I arrive at work. I say a grumpy hello to my team. Strangely enough work seems too familiar... I feel like I worked the whole weekend. Oh right. I did.

9:00 - Think about coffee but decide I don't have time to walk across the office and get one, and I definitely don't have time for the coffee room chat with colleagues that will surely ensue... Decide to forget about coffee and tackle my emails. One of the many joys of being an International Woman of Mystery is dealing with people in all time zones. In a normal job, you would wrap up emails at 3 am and come to the office and find you have no emails... Not so true when working with China. I amazingly had 26 new emails in my Inbox!

9:05 - Make a list of everything I have to do this week. I have two lists - a work one and a personal one... The funny thing is that the work one always gets crossed off and the personal one never does. Every week things like "find a doctor, talk to someone about my major back pain, track down my bank card to the only account of mine that has money in it, call my grandfather, email my brother" appear on the list but they never get crossed off

9:06 - Decide to go to China next week (as you do when you decide not to be in Brazil this week)

9:07 - Realize that my Chinese visa has expires on Tuesday. DAMN! That means I have to fit in 2 trips (one to drop it off and the other to get it) to the Chinese Embassy! Always a joyful experience. And it means processing a lot of paperwork. I loathe paperwork. I can't stand doing personal admin.

9:30 - Start the first very frustrating meeting of a day where we discuss the fact that a customer is not happy with the work we have done and we have to do it over

10:30 - Realize I double booked myself in meetings... Start meeting with the person I see first... hope to catch up with the next person later - continue frantic meeting cycle until around lunch time

12:00 - Think about lunch - continue with meeting

12:30 - Think about lunch again - continue my attempt to catch up on emails during my brief pause in meetings

13:15 - Colleague reminds me we have a meeting in 15 mins. Realize I must eat lunch of loose the opportunity. Run to the nearest place I can find and order something "quick."

13:25 - Realize that my idea of quick is very different from that of the employee of the cafe who is waiting on me. Make a mental not never to come here again. Ask them again to please hurry up. Frantically send emails from my Blackberry while impatiently tapping my foot

13:30 - Back at the office and happy to see that my colleague is also running late. Shove food into my mouth as quickly as possible while preparing for the meeting.

15:00 - Meeting over and before rushing into the next one manage to squeeze in a quick bathroom break - begin to actually contemplate not drinking any liquids during the day because I really feel that I don't have time to go to the bathroom... Realize this is a crazy thought and start to think that I might be a bit overworked

15:02 - Next round of meetings takes me through the rest of the afternoon

18:00 - Think about the fact that this is the time I "should" leave the office

18:01 - Start checking emails instead

18:30 - In need of something to look forward to (some light at the end of the dark tunnel I'm finding myself in), I start to count the weeks until I go on summer vacation - it's only 9 weeks away. I try to rationalize that this is actually a very short time... but I don't do a good job at convincing myself.

18:45 - Realize that I will feel better if I book my flight home - I do this and feel a moment of happiness knowing that I have actually crossed one thing off my personal "to do" list

18:46 - Think about the fact that my back is killing me (Stress makes it worse); think about the fact that my health is more important than any job and that I should really get someone to help me sort my back out

18:47- Get distracted by another email, forget about back - once again it remains an urgent item on my personal "to do" list

20:30 - Finally leave the office and rush home to change into gym clothes and run to the gym to try to work off some steam

10:15 - Arrive home from the gym

10:16 - Realize that since I haven't been to the supermarket in over a week, the only thing I have to eat are Ramen noodles - which is slightly worse than it sounds. I secretly love Ramen noodles and actually eat them often even when there is other food to eat

10:26 - Relax (finally) with a big bowl of Ramen Noodles while watching an episode of True Blood

10:27 - Think about the blog I should be writing... Feel guilty for sitting down relaxing rather than updating my wonderful readers with my wonderful (ummm.. or whatever it is these day) life

10:28 - Think about the work I should be doing...

10:29 - Think about the Match.com boys who I have been ignoring for the past weeks due to my enourmous workload. Am sure they must be missing me...

10:30- Think more about the work I should be doing...

10:31 - Give up on True Blood and open the computer

10:32 - Immerse myself in work

1:00 - Think that I should really go to bed...

2:00 - Finally turn off the computer, the lights and call it a night - half-heartily set the alarm for 6 am to go for a run (I know that I will skip it).

So that my friends is a day in the life of the International Woman of Mystery. And you thought all I did was drink and meet boys... ;)

It's possible I might have a more entertaining post next time... however I see no end in sight to the massive workload - so just warning you...

Easter Weekend: Top Ten List

I know you are all wondering what happened on my four day Easter Weekend with my super sexy single Swedish friend (check out that awesome use of alliteration).

So here is a quick update in list format! I love lists. (You have now been warned - plan to see more of them in the future).

Top Ten Things We Did NOT Do Over Easter Weekend:

1. Dress up as Easter Bunnies - sorry to disappoint you
2. Hunt for Easter Eggs - I couldn't convince my friend to play the Easter bunny (I should have bought her the costume...)
3. Sleep very much... In fact, we didn't actually go to bed before 4 am on any single night
4. Go to any museums or participate in any cultural activities outside of seeing the musical Chicago and having afternoon tea
5. Find amazing cute London men (we found plenty of men... but unfortunately no amazing ones... unless my friend begs to differ)?
6. Stay in and watch DVD's - we talked about doing this but of course we decided to pretend we are younger than we feel so we went out clubbing instead
7. Talk about Ex-boyfriends - nope we didn't do this NOT AT ALL; we are both so over our exes... ummm... (I might be lying a little bit here)
8. See any London tourist attractions - woops - this is the second time this friend has visited me and the second time that we didn't manage to do any sightseeing - she is such a bad influence on me!
9. Go to my favorite Chelsea nightclub - Valmont - which I'm still kind of sad about...
10. Drink enough water - we seemed to be in a constant state of hangover induced dehydration - despite the bottles of sparkling mineral water my friend insisted that we keep purchasing to ward off the evil hangovers...

Top Ten Things We DID Do Over Easter Weekend:

1. Drink - a lot (But you were expecting this right
2. Have afternoon Tea (with champagne of course) - and the best part is that we flirted with the waiter and somehow managed to get a ten pound discount (by the way, I still can't figure out how to make the pound sign on my computer so I have to write it out every time. If anyone knows where to find this, please tell me). If you are in London and don't want to pay top hotel prices but still want a fantastic afternoon tea, I suggest you check out The Botanist - and don't forget to flirt with the waiters! You just might get a good deal
3. See the musical Chicago - Very good! Very hot! Very Sexy! I recommend it!
4. Eat a lot - especially Indian food
5. Have drinks at the uber-trendy Zuma
6. Meet my sexy single Italian friend for dinner and talk about lots of fun girl stuff such as "size really does matter" and so does "lasting more than one minute" -sorry boys!
7. Have an after-party at my house with young obnoxious boys
8. Go to an after-party with old obnoxious boys (and on that note, I should have been a banker, I mean this guy had a 4 floor house in Chelsea! WTF! And I think my 2 bedroom apartment is kind of awesome - and extremely expensive).
9. Hang out with Swedish men - this is kinda the thing in my life - it seems like Swedes are everywhere... but the funny thing is that we crashed a colleague's birthday party and met his Swedish friends who were also visiting from Sweden and it was all very confusing how we all knew each other or where we had met before... (I will spare you the dramatic details here)
10. Go for a run in the rain until my friend begged me to go home (I secretly wanted to go home as well but it was more fun to blame the short workout on her)
11. (I actually can count... but I was on a roll decided to keep going here - it's my blog - I make the rules) Complain a lot about how tired we were because we kept getting home so late and not sleeping late enough
12. (Take really bad pictures of ourselves at a nightclub because we were bored - oh yes, there is obviously a whole Facebook montage just waiting to be posted...

Hope You all had a great Easter!

Easter Weekend!

Well it's day one of a four day bank holiday for Easter here in the UK! Wooohooo! I have just finished up what I hope will be the last of the work I have to do on the weekend (yes, always working even on the holidays cuz that's the kind of gal I am) and my sexy single friend is visiting from Sweden and we are ready to have some fun and meet some boys and basically spend the weekend participating in various forms of debauchery - see my post from earlier this week. However, just to show you that I do other things than drink and work. We are planning to go see the musical Chicago tomorrow and participate in an afternoon tea session (the kind with champagne included) on Easter Sunday. If we manage not to be too hung over... then we might go to a Museum or participate in my favorite thing to do (and yes, in my world this does count as a cultural experience) in walking distance to my flat - WALK AROUND HARROD'S! I love Harrod's. And I hear the pet section is a "must-see" and I haven't even checked that out yet.

On another note... Isn't it strange that in the United States you don't get ANY days off for Easter but the rest of the world seems to get both Friday and Monday off. You poor poor Americans. But America does have the Easter Bunny! Do you know that my Mother hid eggs for my brother and I to find until we were in our 20's! Seriously. The final year we refused to find them because we felt we needed to really prove to her we were "too old." Hmm... I wish someone would hide eggs for me this year. Maybe I can convince my friend to do that. ha ha... Actually, she brought me an Easter egg from Sweden so I guess that counts. And many clubs in London are giving free entrance to girls in bunny costumes. My friend and I are discussing whether or not we are going to rock that or just suck it up and pay the 20 pounds cover... Actually, it would be more fun to dress up! I'll let you know what we decide.

Well I'm off for a run on the Thames right now - see I do do other things than drink and work!

Oh, and by the way, I've been accused by several friends of not posting enough... so I'm going to attempt to do some shorter more meaningless posts that basically ramble on about nothing... Just warning you...

But not to leave you too dissatisfied, below I share some three very nice (ego-boosting) sweet nothings from the Match.com boys! As you can see... I'm certainly quite a catch - at least according to these strangers who have never met me but have just read my (kind of awesome) profile and checked out a few pictures.

Happy Easter Y'all!


Hey there...

You popped into my '5 New Matches' inbox a few days ago, and I couldn't resist sending you a quick email to say hello. Whether it is your profile, your looks, the fact you like peanut butter, or all three... I'm not sure? :o)

... but I was sure I should contact you.

I'd like to be able to tell you that I own a chocolate/peanut butter factory, or a shoe shop... alas I own neither :o( What I do own however, is a good heart, a fun outlook on life and a desire to maybe get to know you a little better.

If I can't persuade you, then I will of course do my best impression of 'not being disappointed' and bow out gracefully...

....I do reserve the right however to have a private ‘moment’ and stomp my feet a little though! ;o)

What do you think?

Rick x

Hello mystery American girl,
I am sure you get many many mails everyday and I wasn't going to even write to you.
But I thought why not.
I am at a complete loss as to why you need to bother with net dating as you are by far the most stunning and beautiful woman on here by miles!
Looking at your pics completely blew me away.
I just pray that you are a lovely person too.
If you are just as pretty on thr inside then you are going to make one guy very happy.
I hope you can open your mind and see the spark within me and let me ignite your fire.
Never settle for second best and always live like its your last day on earth.
Passion and commitment, they are the corner stones to a happy life.
Be Lucky,
Cheeky Jason x

Hey Miss,

You're beautiful. And I'm speechless.

Maybe I can show you around London town sometime?

Hope to hear from you soon.

A

My Friends are Getting Married, I'm Just Getting Drunk

I was once asked to join a Facebook group called My Friend are Getting Married, I'm Just Getting Drunk. I don't think I joined the actual group, but the name of the group really struck a chord with me. It seemed like (still seems like) the perfect description of my life. In fact, I think a more apt description would be All my Friends are getting Married and/or Having Babies while I'm just Getting Drunk.

Once upon a time in the not so distant past, it seemed like all my friends were single. Together we enjoyed girl's nights out that consisted of talking about all the men in our lives over glasses of wine, getting drunk, dancing, flirting with men, possibly going home with some man after flirting and dancing with him, then calling your each other the next morning trade stories and laugh about the many shenanigans that took place the night before... You know the deal.

But sometime, when I wasn't paying attention everything changed. It was like the rest of the people around me suddenly grew up and started being adults and I just stayed the same fun-loving immature single gal. Suddenly I look around and everyone is either married, getting married, getting divorced, getting married again, or having their first - and in some cases their second or third - babies!Let me give you some statistics to prove my point. Since last November, 5 of my close friends have had babies, this summer I will attend 5 weddings. And sad but true, I can only count 4 single friends and unfortunately not one of them lives in London. And with Facebook bringing you into up-close-and-personal contact with the daily lives of your 500+ friends and acquaintances through exuberant pictures and status updates (seems like the thing to do is post your baby's picture as your profile picture), I can't help feeling like there is some kind of massive marriage/baby boom going on out there? And how have I managed to miss this? When I decide to just get drunk and not get married?

I try to think back to when I was a little kid and what I envisioned my life to be like when I was older... Where did I see myself at 31 years old? Honestly, I draw a big blank. Besides wanting to live abroad and become an International Woman of Mystery (seriously - I actually saw that as my destiny but that's a whole other blog in itself), I didn't really ever see myself getting married and having children. But I didn't actually see myself NOT doing it either though. I just never had a visual picture of myself with a baby and a husband. I guess I just thought that at some point there would be some natural progression towards that lifestyle - that like all the others around me (or so it seems) I wouldn't have to think about it - it would just happen. However, so far. It has not happened. And actually, I still have trouble conjuring up an image of myself with a husband and a baby - I mean can any of you see me with a baby on one arm and a man I go home to every night? Exactly... See... that's what I'm talking about.


The very strange thing is that I feel that my childhood and upbringing should have given me a good view of marriage and kids. I mean my parents are still married. I had a great childhood. I love my parents and they love my brother and I and they brought us up well (although admittedly I might be a little biased here). And despite the fact that my brother and I both currently live abroad, we have an extremely close family and enjoy spending time together and try to do so as often as we can.

But if I reflect back on my childhood, I have to say that I have never really seen myself as a very maternal person, nor have I ever seen myself as a traditional wife. To me the word HOUSEWIFE has always equaled a dirty word. I knew early on that I was going to be a career woman. I think this in part comes from having a very strong and dominating Mother. There was no question who ruled our household. Even today she is more driven and ambitious than my Father - and she makes more money than him(Dad - if you are reading this - don't worry I love you anyway, you were the "fun" parent). My Mother taught me that being a strong woman was important. She was my role model from day one and I have admired strong women ever since. I can honestly say that I was shocked to find out that women were not the dominant sex in the rest of the world. In fact, it was my neighbor who pointed this out to me. I still remember the day that he tried to tell me women belonged at home with the babies cleaning and cooking. From that day on we became rivals and I set out to prove to the world that women could in fact dominate the world and were absolutely the superior Sex.

Another unusual reflection from my childhood involves "playing house." It is a natural thing for children to want to mimic the lives of adults or imagine how their lives as adults will be. Playing house is a natural part of childhood. However... being the strong-minded (and admitedly sometimes strange) child that I was, I had very strict rules on how I thought you should play house. I never ever ever played house in the traditional sense. In the elaborate stories I created for my friends and I to act out (I'm sure you are all very surprised to hear that I was a bossy child - shocker) we never had a traditional family unit with a mother, father, kids, dog, the house with the white picket fence etc. Instead I always insisted that we play run away children or even better, I liked to play that I was a single woman (an Aunt maybe) who adopted children. Although I often convinced guys to play with me, I never once wanted to be the mom or wife in the game of house. Can you believe that? Even as a child, I could NOT even pretend to have a husband or pretend to get married. It seriously grossed me out! And I never pretended to be a mother as in having actual children that were supposed to be my own. When I played with my dolls - it was the same thing. Barbie and Ken were always either boyfriend and girlfriend or brother and sister or more likely just plain friends. Actually, usually I was too busy enacting camping scenes in the woods and having them drown in the river and need rescuing to really care too much about the intricacies of their relationship (I was a bit of a Tomboy as a child). So, even as young as 5 years old, I already knew that I couldn't see myself as a mother or as a person who gets married. Or perhaps even at that age I was already doubting myself as the kind of person guys would want to marry.

It will probably come as no surprise then that Peter Pan was my favorite book as a child. I used to make my father read it to me over and over again. Even at an early age I felt a strong identification with Peter Pan and the lost boys who lived in Never Neverland and never wanted to grow up. I remember telling my Father that I was never going to grow up either. But I guess even Peter Pan had to grow up... I mean we all saw the movie Hook right? If you haven't, seriously - watch it. It's great!

The thing is... I'm not exactly ready to trade my international life and my career in tomorrow for a husband and kids - just the thought sends me into a semi-panic attack. But I'm starting to realize that kids, a husband, stability are probably things that I want in the future. I'm also realizing that partying every weekend, working long hours, and jet setting around the world is not exactly conducive behavior for fostering any kind of permanent relationship or settling down and there is absolutely no way to fit children into this lifestyle. I kept thinking I could do it all. But now I'm realizing that maybe it's just not possible. And since I can't run away with the Lost Boys to Never Neverland and hide away in some ageless world full of fun and games and pirates, the clock - oh that scary clock (much like the one that the alligator in Peter Pan swallows - I'm SO getting the deeper message of this book now) continues to tick, and no matter how hard I wish, I'm not getting any younger. So, if I'm really serious about settling down sometime soon, I guess I should start thinking about some making some changes in my life.... But don't worry! NOT YET! Fear not my faithful blog readers. At least for now, I will continue to amuse you with my silly stories of international singledom.

Luckily one of my 4 single friends is coming to visit me in London for the long Easter weekend. So, while my friends are all at home with their babies and husbands and boyfriends, well you know that we'll just be getting drunk!

What did we do Before Facebook?

I'm just back from an exciting weekend in Stockholm. Although I spent some very busy working days in the Stockholm office, I still managed to fit in some time for fun and catching up with old friends and as usual the girls had planned a big social schedule for us. I also had the great pleasure of meeting 3 beautiful new babies of good friends! It was really great to see my friends as new moms although it made me really realize how far there lives are from mine at this point ( do feel that this topic deserves a whole other blog). And as if to prove that it doesn't matter that everyone else is having babies and I'm still out partying like a 23 year old, I partied pretty hard 3 nights in a row despite having a massive cold that would have sent any normal person running for bed. I also went with a friend to the spa where we had great ambitions of having a work out session at the gym but unfortunately were so hungover we could only mope around and hang out in the outdoor (heated) pool and get a massage. Then, hangover still holding on, we met the rest of the girl group for an adventurous afternoon of pole dancing. Believe me. Swinging around a pole and trying to be sexy and graceful when you are hungover is something I DO NOT advise. However... hangover and all it was a really good time and I was amazed at how good we all were at the little sexy dance routine we all learned. The bruises in obscene places and the sore muscles on the other hand, are not so fun. Who knew pole dancing was such a good workout or so much fun?

If pole dancing was a high point... Unfortunately on Friday night I experienced a major low point when my friend (innocently enough and still feeling bad that she was the one to tell me) dropped the bomb that I knew was coming sooner or later when she said "Oh I hear the Beautiful Swede has a new girlfriend." Even though I was prepared for this kind of revelation about my Ex Boyfriend as I somewhat assumed that there was a possibility he had continued dating the New Year's Eve date, I was devastated. Directly after New Year's I had made a decision to not stalk him on Facebook (In one small moment of weakness over Christmas I did look at pictures of the girl I thought he was dating and then realized that I was only hurting myself and no good could come of following his life especially when I realized she looked like - to borrow a phrase from a friend - a "bad copy" of me). So, I "hid him" on Facebook so I would no longer see any status updates/relationship changes/pictures etc. Notice that I didn't actually "block him" which would mean that then he can't see my updates. I just hid him so I can't see what he's doing, but he can still see how great and wonderful my life is through my cheery status updates and frequent pictures of me with other men - as I might have mentioned before, I'm very very mature when it comes to relationships. So, because I had "hidden him" I didn't see when he changed his Facebook status to "In a Relationship." Luckily I have friends to watch out for me...

Even more devastating is the fact that that although we dated for over a year, we never changed our Facebook status to "In a Relationship." Ugh. Did I just write that? Oh yes I did. Ok. Let me explain. On the outside, I pretend that I think that changing your Facebook status is really cheesy and is not something I ever will do (I'm pretty sure that I expressed this to the Beautiful Swede) however, on the deep deep inside... I really secretly want a guy (ok - we're getting real honest here, I wanted that guy - the Beautiful Swede) to ask me to be "In a Relationship" with him on Facebook. I can't believe I'm saying this, but my deep dark secret is that I want a guy who wants to proclaim to our closest 500 + friends each on Facebook that we have a relationship. Ok... maybe I'm getting a bit carried away... I mean I haven't figured out if I will actually accept the relationship request - I have heard that you can always "deny" or "ignore" - but I still want to be asked. And it definitely makes me feel bad that he was so quick to jump into a Facebook relationship with someone else... Cue the insecurities... So, despite being prepared to hear that my Beautiful Ex had a girlfriend, it hit me hard. It ruined my night and it was in the back of my mind all weekend. And obviously I have been obsessing about it ever since. I only hope blogging about it will help me to get over it.

So, I was feeling a bit down about the Beautiful Swede having a new girlfriend, but luckily The Tennis Player (aptly named since he was a pro tennis player at some point in the recent past) thanks to my enthusiastic Facebook "I'm in Stockholm Y'all" status update, knew I was in town and sent me a message asking me if I wanted to meet up...

My relationship with the Tennis Player is a simple one. It doesn't really exist (outside the bedroom at least). But we have known each other for 3 or 4 years - neither of us can remember but it either way it seems like an extraordinarily long time for a relationship of this sort to continue to exist without any drama. We see each other from time to time depending on when we are both single. He actually fits my "perfect man" description exactly. He is tall, extremely handsome, dark hair, blue eyes, in good shape (he was a former tennis player), reasonably smart - well at least I think... capable of interesting conversation (mostly in the form of bedroom talk), a bit shy though and not seemingly a player, has lived in the US for 4 years while studying, close with his family, and whenever I see him, I want to rip his clothes off (just in case you were still in any doubt as to the nature of our relationship). But the relationship doesn't go anywhere (outside the bedroom at least). I think we are both happy with this set up. And seriously every perpetually single girl needs at least one man in their lives like this. Anyway, I had trouble deciding whether to contact the Tennis Player or not and had finally decided not to mostly because I was very tired from the night before and still sick with a never ending cold and I felt that a good night's sleep might do me some good. However, fate intervened and as I went to walk out of the club on Saturday night I literally bumped into him. We had a good laugh about our "destiny." And well I'm sure that you can guess the rest. Keeping in the PG-13 spirit of this blog, I won't divulge the dirty details.

So, all in all... A good weekend. Sad about the Beautiful Swede but saved by the Tennis Player. And as always a great time with the girls - and that's what's most important anyway.

But of course, back at work on Monday morning, the Beautiful Swede gets me on Google messenger to say: Hope you had a nice weekend in Stockholm. Guess he was also following my enthusiastic Facebook updates... I wish I could say that I easily casually ignored this comment, just easily brushed it aside and went on with my day - obviously not since I'm still thinking and writing about it now. Instead it threw off my whole day. First I created and rejected many one-liners to give him such as: Leave me Alone; Never Contact Me Again; Drop Dead Buddy; It was a fabulous weekend and the Tennis player was fabulous too (The Beautiful Swede wisely didn't like the Tennis Player - we had accidentally bumped into him out at least once)... See there goes that maturity shining through again. Then I wrote 3 different emails:

1. The angry never contact me again, I wish I never wasted my time with you email


2. The I hope you are well, I'm well too, my life is wonderful now without you. I know it must be hard, but I do hope that you might manage to have a semi-nice life without me.


3. The sad teary-eyed, I miss you lots but I heard you have someone new and I just want you to know that it's really hard but I'm trying to move on too and it's better for me if you never contact me again because it hurts so much, if I think we can ever be friends again, then I will let you know but don't hold your breath.

Finally the maturity kicked in and I decided not to send any of the emails but they are all sitting in my "Draft" section of Gmail just waiting for me to figure out which one to send... In retrospect, maybe I can just send him a link to this blog. Nothing else... Hmm....

But here's the test. Read this post again and look at all the ways that Facebook intervened in the dynamics of this weekend (say nothing of the fact that I used it to contact all my friends to arrange meeting up with them). So, I ask you all this one question. Where would we be with out Facebook? Seriously? What did we do before Facebook? How did people know what other people were doing and keep in touch with each other? How did they arrange to meet up? How did people make their Exes jealous or post fun pictures of girl outings like pole dancing so the memories of fun weekends can live on in cyber space long after the party's over. How did we know that our exes had moved on to someone else? How did people proclaim their relationships? And are relationships these days really relationships without a Facebook proclamation? Was my relationship with the Beautiful Swede less real than his relationship with "her" because we did not set our Facebook status to "in a relationship?" I mean there are probably hundreds of my friends who didn't even know I was even in a relationship with him because my status on Facebook always remained "single"! Ok - I'm kidding - kind of... And is technology really helping? In the case of the Tennis Player it helped him to know I was in town, but wouldn't we have bumped into each other in the club anyway? Or is it hurting? In the case of the Beautiful Swede, do I really need to know he is dating someone else? And do I really need to be tempted to go in and check out pictures of him and his new girlfriend? I have to say that I am for the most part, a real Facebook addict. With my international lifestyle, I find it an easy and fun way to keep up with friends all over the world. On more than one occasion Facebook has enabled me to meet up with people in random cities just because we caught each other's Facebook post that we were going to the same place at the same time. But a sometimes, I just can't help wondering were we all just better off before Facebook?

Internet Dating Strategy

Well, I'm back from my China adventure and realize that there are actually no boys on the horizon. I guess it's back to good old Match.com for me. The problem is that March is a REALLY busy month for me and I actually am not sure I have time to date. Between a launching a new product at work, a good friend leaving (and insisting we party every night this coming week), a trip to Paris next weekend (to party for the night with friends) and a trip to Stockholm the week after (a mix of work and fun), it seems that I have very few free nights! Well, maybe I will meet men the old fashioned way when I'm out and about in my adventures. We will see.

But this morning I took a journey into the virtual dating world via Match.com who byt the way have annoying changed their UI and I HATE it. But that's beside the point. I still managed to email and wink at some cute boys and that's what's important right? Which brings me to my Internet Dating Strategy which I would like to share with you all.

All in all, I think that my strategy for Internet dating has been pretty good. I have only been on one truly bad date and that was a second date. Boy managed to hide his true colors during the first date... Sneaky. All of the men I have met have been reasonably attractive, able to carry on a good conversation, and more or less what I expected from their profile. I have had no awkward silences and no dates where I have run screaming from the bar because they were old, overweight and balding and nothing at all like their attractive profile picture.

And now, because I'm a nice person, I will share with you my secret Internet dating strategy in case you want to try it out yourself!

My strategy consists of only responding to men with the following criteria:

• Tall - over 6'3 preferably (although I will consider anyone over 6 feet - all others are instantly deleted - I like tall men)


• Handsome (I've already told you I'm superficial)


• Must live in London


• Must have a picture - more then one, preferably lots


• Must be between 24 and 35 years old - Apologies to all the Grandpas who insist on writing to me even though I clearly state I don't like OLD men


• Must not have kids or be divorced - who wants unnecessary baggage when it can so easily be avoided by a careful criteria screen


• Must not post pictures of themselves posing in front of a mirror without a shirt on - Unless they are of course incredibly gorgeous and have a smart and serious profile to match


• Must not have the headline of "How YOU Doin'?" - seriously do you know how many men out there have this as their headline? Can you be any less creative or cheesy?


• Must have put some time and effort into writing there profile, not just write: "Don't know why I'm doing this. Friends told me it was a good idea. Hit me up with an email if you're a hot chick." -Ok, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but if if their pictures are really really great, I do sometimes write them back
  
• Must have reasonable spelling and Grammar - If they can't properly write sentences, chances are an intellectual or stimulating conversation is not in the cards either


• Must not list Dan Brown (or John Grisham) as his favorite author - seriously, do you know how many men do this? I have nothing against Dan Brown and I enjoy reading his books although I think they lack substance and have terrible character development - so if he's your all time favorite author... Nope. It's not going to work.


• Must be willing to write back and forth with me several times before I actually meet them - I think people do tend to reveal their true selves in emails
  
• Must be patient with me if I get cold feet and have to cancel the date and reschedule (yes, this sometimes happens to me)


• Must not solicit sex, make inappropriate sexual comments, or get too desperate in emails


• Must not be a stalker

But the most important rules are as follows:

• Never take Internet dating too seriously


• Use Internet dating, but don't forget the old fashioned way as well


• If one boy doesn't work out, another one is just a click away

Time to tear myself from the computer and my virtual dating world and go back to the real world for now. Hosting a party tonight then going out clubbing in Lodon. Maybe I will manage to meet a real life man! I'll be sure to keep you posted! Enoy the weekend!

International Woman of Mystery

I have recently had a very unusual experience. I didn’t travel ANYWHERE for 8 whole weeks! This is the first time in 5 years or more that I have managed to avoid getting on a plane for that long. And let me tell you it was AMAZING! In addition to getting to actually have a life (there is so much more free time when you are not waiting for planes, having dinner with colleagues and spending nights in hotels) and make plans with friends, I didn’t have to deal with the hassles of traveling or my fear of flying! It was wonderful. Unfortunately, I’m currently writing this post from the Beijing airport where I’m waiting for a very delayed flight to Shanghai… So, I’m back into travel mode again and for the foreseeable future will be on a plane every other week (at least).

You would think that being the International Woman of Mystery I am, flying and traveling would be easy for me. Just the thought of an International Woman of Mystery probably conjures up some image of a classy woman gliding through the airport with the perfect and appropriate travel bag clutched in perfectly manicured hand. She wears black and impossibly high heels and has dark sunglasses covering her eyes or casually resting on her head. She is calm and cool and never flustered. She definitely never looses her passport, her ticket, her phone… She never runs to catch a flight (she is wearing high heels that are not made for running). She is the essence of travel chic and her blasé attitude toward travel is admirable if not a tiny bit intimidating. She is who you wish that you could be. In fact, she is who I wish I could be.

For some reason, no matter how often I travel, I can’t really seem to get it right. No matter what, it feels awkward. First of all, I’m always late. Actually, that’s not true – but I always feel like I’m late and spend the 4 hours before the flight stressing that I’m going to miss the flight. The funny thing is that I’m late for absolutely everything except for planes and trains – then I have to be ridiculously early. My colleagues who have truly perfected the blasé attitude towards travel that enables them to roll up to the gate “just in time.” Actually, they miss a lot of flights this way – it stresses me out too much and therefore I usually just meet them at the gate, then I can arrive ridiculously early and let them sort themselves out on their own.

Second, I am bad at packing. I always bring too much stuff because I want to have “options” and also because I have a borderline unhealthy obsession with working out and always need to bring full workout gear for all the days I will be traveling (and yes, I do usually use them so it’s not a total waste) in addition to my business clothes and casual clothes (if necessary). I also have to bring an absurd number of books because I tend to read a lot when I travel (waiting in lines, waiting for planes, when I can’t sleep) and my worst fear is being stuck without a book. But although I always seem to pack too much but also I usually inevitably forget something really important (like underwear).

Third, my checked in luggage seems to have at best a 50% chance of arriving with me. Seriously. In fact, there are even people who don’t like flying with me because they feel that it increases the chance of their own luggage getting lost. So, I have learned that if I am checking in bags, that I must then pack a carry-on with essentials (which includes at least one set of work out clothes and 3 books). Therefore, I can never be that very chic woman with just her laptop and purse. (Update: Guess what? I arrived in Shanghai without my luggage! Luckily I had my gym clothes and books stashed in my carry on. However, that left no space for my work clothes so I had to wear the same clothes I wore on the plane to the office – shows you where my priorities are).

Fourth, I always feel flustered when I travel. I constantly misplace my ticket or passport, forget to carry a pen to fill out the landing cards, think that my phone or Ipod is lost (they are usually just at the bottom of my big bag) so you often find me kneeling on the floor of the airport while dumping out the contents of my bag on the ground and searching frantically through them to make sure I have not lost my: passport, tickets, Iod, wallet phone etc. Adding to this, for some reason I either have a ridiculously looong layover or such a tight a connection that I literally have to run as fast as I can from one gate to another.

Fifth, I never have manicured hands, and high heels are totally inappropriate for an airport (I’m always amazed at women who can pull this off) as you usually have to walk A LOT between gates – especially in London and China airports. Seriously, I am wearing low high heeled boots right now in an effort to look a little cool. I’m pretty sure I just walked two miles. I have a blister. Was it worth it? I don’t think so. But I’m also not ready to be one of those women who wear sweatpants and sneakers and carry their pillow.

Sixth, I have managed to somehow develop an unfortunate fear of flying. It has gotten worse in the past couple years – the more I travel… A little bit of turbulence or a strange noise from the plane, is enough to set me into a panic and cause other people around me to pat me on the shoulder and tell me it’s going to be ok as if I’m some novice flyer. At those times I want to whip out my massive passport and show them that I fly all the time and that I realize I’m being silly, but I can’t help it. And please just stop touching me!

I am not generally a religious person, but I literally pray the whole time during take off and landing as I have heard this is the most dangerous part of the flight. And during the rest of the flight, I can’t help thinking about how it would feel if suddenly the plane just dropped and nose dived down killing us all. I know it’s much more likely that I will get hit by a Double Decker Bus crossing the road in London because I forget to look the “right” way. But for some reason death by plane crash seems pretty dramatic. I mean, you KNOW you are going to die for at least a couple minutes. Imagine the absolute panic this must cause as you and the rest of the passengers are falling straight down out of the sky!!!

But in fact, I think my biggest problem with flying is the fact that I know I will not be able to control my environment for several (sometimes more than 20) hours. For example, you can’t control the temperature, or the people (I seem to always get to sit next to fat people who snore or sick people who throw up the whole way), or the food. Knowing there are just too many factors out of my control that can lead to an absolutely miserable experience, puts me into a panic about flying.

I should mention that there are at least 2 colleagues who will no longer fly with me. I think it might have had something to do with the Brazil trip we took where I had an all out panic attack in the Amsterdam airport which involved staff assistance and switching around seats and a whole bunch of people needing to calm me down in order to get on the flight. I did however get on the flight and managed to arrive in Brazil in pretty good shape despite it all. In my defense, part of the panic was brought on by external factors that had nothing to do with flying or traveling and more to do with the Swedish Ex and the fast that the night before said flight we decided that we would no longer talk anymore… This decision set me off on a long crying spree which included calling my mother and trying to convince her to London and come and get me (yes, I realize this was unreasonable – but a girl can still want her mom when she is feeling bad), and a very sleepless night. I then channeled all of these emotions into a general panic about the Brazil flight. Say nothing of the fact that just weeks before an Air France plane (same operators as KLM) had just fallen out of the sky on the way to Brazil and much was made of the fact that when flying to Brazil from Europe, the plane goes off the radar for 3 hours (and yes, I thought about this the ENTIRE trip and wondered at which point we went off the radar). And being the control freak that I am, the Brazil trip was especially hard for me because I had never been to Brazil. So, in addition to the flight, there were a whole bunch of unknowns at the other end. I find that knowing what to expect when I land helps a lot.

Seventh, I can’t sleep on planes. At all. Ever. Unless I’m so extremely exhausted that I just can’t keep my eyes open – which only has happened a few times usually after many days of getting 4 or less hours of sleep each night… If I DO manage to sleep, I have nightmares about the plane dropping out of the sky and usually wake up totally panicked only to check the time and realize that there are still 8 MORE hours left of the 12 hour trip. Needless to say, not sleeping on planes is not a good thing when you are traveling intercontinental as usually I’m expected to be in the office looking fresh and polished and ready to work a normal 12 hour day… Needless to say I do not do well with this. I try to schedule flights so that I can get in the night before. I don’t really believe in jet lag. I don’t really have trouble fitting into the local time schedule. However, I do believe that sleep deprivation is a real thing. But usually one good night’s sleep of 6 – 8 hours can put me right back on track. Just don’t make me do a full day in the office first!

Eighth, traveling these days is no fun! Planes never seem to do anything on time… and you face endless security battles For example, I’m currently sitting in the Beijing airport where my flight was supposed to take off several hours ago and as usual Air China is giving absolutely no information as to why the flight is delayed or when the flight will actually take off. And of course, I didn’t sleep one wink on the flight on the way here. I didn’t even try. I just watched bad movies the whole way and read half of a 500 page novel. So, I’m WAY tired and feeling completely out of sorts. For some reason for me being completely over tired manifests in the following: first I start to feel a rocking motion – like I’m on a boat; second I feel majorly depressed as if the world was going to end, as if all the happy parts have been taken away from me. And for some irrational reason, my instinct when I feel this way is to stay up and try to “fix” myself. Being the control freak that I am, I have trouble understanding when my body is not following it’s usual behavior and I always think that it’s just because I’m being emotionally weak and I just need to pull it together. I have learned that it’s much better to just make myself go to bed. I’m always just as surprised to wake up the next morning and realize what a difference just a few hours of sleep can make.

Well, I think that my flight is finally about to board. The International Woman of Mystery is off again! Hopefully I will make it to Shanghai safely.

Update: I did make it to Shanghai safely. But as usual, my luggage didn't! But this time it WAS ALL MY FAULT. Despite having taken this flight about 20+ times previously - the last time being just a couple months before. I somehow managed to forget to get my luggage in Beijing and bring it through customs. So, of course it didn't arrive in Shanghai! Ooops - see, I told you, I'm a super cool traveler.

However, I did manage to persuade the Chinese officials who tried to tell me to go back to Beijing and get my luggage (yeah right) that not only was I not going back to Beijing. I was not even coming back to the Shanghai airport to pick it up when it arrived (which they told me was absolutely necessary). I made it very clear to them that they were going to get it from Beijing and to my hotel by the next evening at the latest.

My direct approach worked. My luggage arrived safe and sound the next evening with no hassle. Note to any travelers - do not listen to Chinese officials at the airport, tell them what you want and make them do it. See... maybe I am kinda a cool traveler after all. At least I've learned a few tricks...