Sometime earlier this year I answered an ad online looking for brand ambassadors with college degrees who were familiar with whisky and were interested in working local events.

Fast forward a month or so to when I found out they liked my work so much that I was asked to travel the country with them to help sell in the program. Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Harford, Denver, Phoenix and the list goes on… I got paid a ridiculously great amount of money to fly all out, speak for 20 minutes, and spend the night discovering a new city with that wonderful feeling of anonymity strange streets inevitable give you…

Then came the completely unexpected opportunity to conduct national portfolio tastings. I flew to Denver for the first presentation and I swear I thought my heart would thump right out of my chest when people in suits began trickling in. I skipped an entire section of the script, I got my facts crossed here and there and at some point I picked up a 12-year old bottle while candidly speaking of an 18. Next time, I only forgot one or two things, and after that it was just me having a good time, joking around, and wondering if I needed to reapply my lip gloss.

I had no idea you could have that much fun working! Was I really getting paid for this? I decided that everyone should feel that way and that there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t pursue it… or at least TRY. One day walking around Lost Angeles I strolled right on to the UCLA campus where I sat on the grass facing the library and thinking it was about damn time I put on my now-famous big girl panties and do something aaaawwwwwmazing.

The rest you know… school, love, life, bliss, carpe diem! and the eternal pursuit of all things anti-vanilla…!

The opening of a permanent national brand ambassador job was there with the company and I gracefully bowed out without a doubt in my heart. It’s a glamorous life – I can personally attest to it, but I knew I had other things to do (they really wanted red-headed Scotsmen in kilts by the way… I definitely can’t compete with that kind of authenticity!)

[Original pilot team - yours truly, sweet Carlos, and gorgeous Serena]

[First local event in Miami, FL]

[Portfolio tasting in Phoenix, AZ]

[Hotel in Phoenix... wishing I wasn't working!]

[15 minutes of fame when I found out my picture was plastered all over the venue in Springfield, MO]

[Aimless wondering in Boston]

[Rockies vs. Marlins in Denver, CO]

Lessons Learned:

• Never, ever, EVER under any circumstance pass up an opportunity to do your best. There is NO WAY to know where something may lead and what you might discover in the process.
• Never, ever, EVER underestimate the power of “thank you” and “good job” – it can make all the difference in the world. I never pass up the chance to thank them for the opportunity to learn and discover a side of me I never knew existed.
  
• Take chances and be fully uncomfortable and nervous as much as humanly possible – this is how you know you’re learning! What’s the worst that could happen? You’re terrible and now you know what NOT to do.
  
• Travel – make it a priority and just do it. Save up all year if you have to and take that trip to a strange city. It’s exhilarating!

I found out not too long ago that they initially interviewed over 100 candidates for the local gig…

…talk about meant to be, huh?

A Story About Chance and Opportunity

I’ve been so removed from writing and reading and doing anything artistic lately that I’m aching for a little sparkle. I have serious classroom withdrawal pains and I absolutely cannot wait to get back to school where imaginations are challenged and Professor Marcus gets to make his Daddy-said-go-to-rehab-and-I-said-no-no-no joke. It’s funny! (But I’m working on getting him new material… it’s time.)

In case you are wondering, all of my 27 graduate school applications are done and are on the way. Some needed to me mailed, some needed to be uploaded online, some needed to be uploaded AND mailed; all of them needed a writing sample and a personal statement while others wanted a writing sample and a statement of purpose with nothing personal on it. Some recommenders mailed in letters while others schools only accepted online recommendations. A few schools had cover pages to be signed while others wanted nothing to do with paper and email was king!

The GRE folks preeeeeeeeeeetty much screwed up on absolutely everything I asked them to do and mailed my scores to the wrong schools, failed to mail them to the right ones, decided that to change my date of birth on file and of course charged me over $500 which is a clear sign the world is indeed coming to an end. They wanted a faxed letter for everything because they don’t work online and if you needed yours scores sent to a different school, please fax in a signed letter. Toward the end of my frustration I actually said, “Do you OWN the GRE business?!?!?!? Get me someone who speaks human on the phone, please.” At least I said please, which was definitely NOT what almost slipped out.

Decisions will start trickling in late February through late April. I’m looking for five years of fully paid tuition plus a nice chuck of Benjamins for living expenses including but not limited to: eating, sleeping, studying and doing it all over again the next day… Yeah… *Fingers Crossed*

And so after all of this nerdy academic commotion plus the stress of a much needed full-time job… well… I’m craving a sweet story or a beautiful painting or a line or two of ANYTHING that makes my heart skip a beat. I cannot WAIT to read The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence and maybe… just maybe get up in front of a classroom and teach one of his short stories. I have the opportunity and I guess I’d be silly to pass it up. Might as well follow my own advice and sport my not-so-sexy-but-ever-so-useful Big Girl Panties.

Here’s a gorgeous piece by my friend Barry at Life in Quotations… it really touched me and I wanted to share it. If you love it just as much, stop by his page and let him know!

Released

What goes on in your good-girl mind
Hushed from temptuous thought and deed,
As if being done a favour.
“Please do tell me how to act," they think to hear,
"For I know not what I want.”
Oh, if they only knew of the strength of your desire
To unfurl your wings in their midst
And fly untethered.

But when night visits and your thoughts play alone
And you drift, freeing your will from another’s grasp
What do you dream as your eyes weigh heavy?
While The One beside you sleeps.
Do you welcome another to your door ,
To your bed?
Do you breathe his breath as your own,
Heart against heart
Feeling his life inside you.
Writhing beneath the weight of his mass,
Giving in to that beautiful release.
Breathless body strewn across crumpled sheets,
Spent, used,
But blissfully fulfilled.
And again.

And the hours pass unnoticed,
Their birth and decay measured only
In reckless heartbeats
Teeth-torn wrappers scattered around you.
Fading droplets in your glass.
This moment a lifetime.

All too soon the sun greets your window
And The One stirs,
Signalling a return to your world.
Accompanied, yet alone.

What goes on in your good-girl mind
What shadows lurk, what secrets to find?
Would you surrender yourself
For one night of sin
When the wind blows through your door
And the wolf creeps in?

(pictures via vi.sualize)

Back To Normal!

Ladies and Germs... Flight of The Conchords... H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. ;)

On a MUCH Lighter Note...

Holiday spirit didn’t necessarily abound in me this year. My Christmas tree was half put together, I wrote one card for grandma and I can count the presents I bought in one hand. I’m not exactly sure why it’s been this way for the past couple of years. Somehow the holidays lost their spark and even though I still believe in magic… Santa fell out of that equation.

But the family get together still carried on albeit not without stress. Something was in the air when I showed up and my family was upset about something or other. It’s a whole lot of work to host dinner for at least 20 hungry tummies so I’m not one to throw stones. It just wasn’t really a warm a fuzzy welcome if you know what I mean. But eventually it all went well and way too many presents were opened, make-believe Santa stopped by to greet the children, and all the pastries and wine were consumed.

The best part was that at the end of the night everyone was upset again because one bunch of folks decided to pack up 90% of the left over food for themselves without any regard for anyone else. Here’s the kicker… as long as I’ve been part of this family, they have ALWAYS done it and the rest of my family has ALWAYS complained about and mostly just laughed and dismissed it as “that’s just they way some people are.” I guess this year they went a bit overboard and it was no longer funny or amusing. It was rather sad and desperate looking to be honest. My cousin’s wife attempted to slip out unnoticed with a giant tray full of goodies and shrugged in surprise when she saw me watching her in complete awe. I thought it was rather hilarious, but that’s just me because I didn’t spend all day cooking and decorating. But again, if it upsets you… tell them! Tell them that closing your eyes and soulfully praying before meals doesn’t absolve you from common courtesy. Tell them that the hosting party has approximately 10 nephews and nieces who are probably coming over the next day and wouldn’t it be nice to have food on the table… being that they hosted Christmas and all…?

But no… let’s all keep it under wraps in order to avoid trouble and keep up appearances. So then live with it and stop complaining.

I watched the kids open around ten presents each only to whine and complain after that it wasn’t enough or that they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. I know we want to give our children the best we possibly can, but is this good for them? They’re good kids too…actually, very good kids that I absolutely adore. But I saw first hand how greed and materialism turns even the most wonderful child into a concentrated mini-body of jealousy and gluttony. Wouldn’t it be great to teach our children to just be less human… hhhmmm…

I had a girlfriend once who used to make her kids pick one present of the bundle they received, re-wrap it, and go to the local shelter and give it away to a less fortunate family. It wasn’t an easy task, but it certainly inculcated some great values. I’m pretty sure if I ever have children I will do the same.

And now it’s time for New Years! I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do which means I’ll probably spend it sitting on a couch watching a giant ball drop on television. I wish they understood how much fun life really is and that you don’t need a giant buffet of gourmet food to have a wonderful time. Memo to my family: I propose that one year we give up buying Christmas presents and fancy meals, and use that money to spend NYE on a cruise in the middle of nowhere drinking cheap champagne and dancing the night away.

That’ll be the day…

... but that's my plan from now on. If my family wants to join me... great! If not... great! The only way to prevent vanilla holidays is to bring a little Cindy-sparkle into the mix and that usually means doing the complete opposite of what everyone thinks I should do. I've managed to do so in every other aspect, but somehow for the holidays I get suckered into that superficial complacency that's slightly depressing and ever so booooooooring.

So I guess the holidays have become monotonous and rather stale. Love, peace, and harmony don’t quite abound and the Utopian gathering I picture always falls short… barely makes it really (it feels fake and forced... does that make sense?) Yet I’m thankful for the amazing meal and time we shared together. I’m thankful for having a great, big family here and back in Chile. I’m thankful for our health, our successes, and well-deserved failures. And Maybe I’m just expecting too much or maybe I expect much less. Either way, I’m hoping to recapture the goodness of the season somehow… I’m hoping to bake cookies again and wrap them in pretty packages and great big bows for people just because. I’m hoping to send everyone personalized holiday music CDs with glittery holiday greetings, and maybe just maybe one day I’m hoping to sit back, look around, and truly feel the season’s blessings in my heart.

Happy Holidays!
I mean it! :)

(pics via weheartit)

A Vanilla Holiday

Hey look! It’s a koi fish floating down the side of my street!

That’s right folks. A neighbor’s koi pond overflowed and there were giant fish on the street enjoying a few moments of grandiose freedom.

Why, you might ask?

Approximately fifteen inches of rain fell over a period of a few hours yesterday causing major flooding and my little town was ground zero. They said in the news it was very hard to predict because the major damage was literally over a few zip codes – mine of course being the MAIN one.

Wonderful.

I’m really thankful my car lived to tell the story since I got caught in the middle of it and BARELY made it back home last night. I had to cancel an event yesterday, and today I just couldn’t leave my house at all. It was cute when my co-worker, a recent New York transplant, thought I was completely exaggerating and offered to pick me up only to turn right back around so his car wouldn’t end up floating away. He did save the day and ran a long errand for me which I thought was awfully nice and I’m very thankful!

But there are horrible storms all over the country so I don’t want to complaint much. I guess once hurricane season is over, we assume it’s all fun and games in Florida and when it’s not, it sure takes us by surprise.

Well, at least after figuring out that I wasn’t doing much today I had time to write, read, and put up my giant Christmas tree. I have no idea what possessed me to buy a seven-footer last year but it’s mine and I might as well use it.

Never underestimate the power of a quiet Friday night at home watching television and reading a good book. Faaaaaaaantastic :)


Pics via weheartit.com and justnews.com

And Then There Was Rain...

Hi! I spent about 15 minutes writing and rewriting the first sentence of this entry and nothing seemed to capture the past 30 days. Let me just tell you that I’m healthy, I’m working, the family is doing fine, and school plans are still brewing. I just wasn’t quite prepared for EVERYTHING happening simultaneously.

School Update
I’m applying to 27 schools including NYU, UF, UCLA, SUNY, Emory, and Harvard… yes… Harvard. Professor Marcus (aka Phil) decided that I should have the chance at Ivy League although I still think of it as the longest shot ever known to man. Seventeen of the very, VERY time-consuming applications are done and the rest are due 1/1 or 1/15/10 so I have some time to finish them. The GRE also came and went and it was just as atrocious as I expected… maybe even more. “Rescind” was one of the words I couldn’t figure out and I can’t remember what I chose, but it was an educated, slightly desperate guess. I did, however, get a decent score and I’m fairly optimistic about the whole thing! Decisions come in March and April so we’ll just have to wait and see…

Work
Ugh.

Family
Thanksgiving was great! My cousins and uncles once again did an AMAZING job and put together a wonderful dinner. I brought bread rolls and mini-croissants because I honestly had ZERO time to whip of a side dish or something more substantial. My dad also made a toast and kind of announced my school plans to everyone and told them he was very proud of me. I thought that was awfully sweet.


Boys
This space has intentionally been left blank.

Fine…Back to Work
I don’t want to go on a huge rant about this because the truth is that is all better now. Last week I put together 17 events for Art Basel in Miami that my client was sponsoring. There was a whole lot of miscommunication, personality clashes, fear, frustrations, and just pure EXHAUSTION. For six straight days I woke up at 6 AM and went to sleep no earlier than 2 AM. I didn’t eat well, I ran around all over the city, moved heavy boxes, and was fairly dehydrated most of the time. My little sister was my assistant for the week and her schedule was just as dreadful. She was a wonderful help and I’m not sure I could’ve pulled it all off without her. In the end, this was the toughest part of the program and I’m looking forward to fostering relationships and just being positive.

I honestly think this couple of weeks happened so next year when I’m knee deep in books and crazy research, I don’t EVER (ever!) question my decision to study full-time. I just don’t fit in the real world and none of these sales goals and event execution time lines and silly project management software matter to me. I have ZERO desire to impress anyone. I always do my absolute best because that’s what I am hired to do. But it’s just a job. It’s a means to a purpose and the last thing I want is to work around the clock to always come up short in someone else’s eyes (that’s funny because I’m 6 feet tall... but it's not funny because I had to explain it... I'm tired!).

Alas… no more whining. ‘Sol good. As long I know I’m coming from a place of goodness and love everything will be okay.

I just want to read poetry for a living!

And on that note, thank you Phil for being the most amazing friend and mentor in this trying school application process. My writing sample is wonderful thanks to your input and the advice you have given me is priceless. Plus, you feed me all the time and God knows I need the nutrition nowadays.

Let’s hope life comes back to normal in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, whatever time I had to write my blog before, I now spend finishing school applications. I have about ten to go so by the end of the year I should be all set. I will, however, have more time to pop in and say hi so try and say hi back. I miss my BBs greatly and hope to reconnect soon.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. - Dr. Martin Luther King

What do YOU do every day that uplifts humanity? I'm working on my purpose... I suggest you start working on yours. It REALLY, really, REALLY is the best feeling in the world.

Carpe Diem!

Life in Cindiland