HoodLynn does Portland

Lets have a bit of an update shall we?

I took a position with Red Bull as the Oregon On Premise Manager/Musketeer almost five months ago. I am having the time of my life (please see smile to the left). P-Town seems to suit me well, like a great pair of fishnet stockings... both cozy and sexy, while everything stays up and ever-positive. I've met really amazing people and am fortunate enough to be surrounded by them constantly with work and play. I feel adopted and I'm totally ok with it. In fact, I love the 'sweetheart' adoration and acceptance I feel from these fine folks. Truly deeply, its the Bees Knees.

There is never a dull moment and adventures are constantly intertwined throughout my every day. I am challenged on a daily basis and I work all the time- or play all the time, it really depends on how you look at it. I realize that you are probably thinking (that is if you've even read this far), "lots of words HoodLynn, lots of words". Friends, words are like wrapping paper... sweet, fun, pretty, and lovely. I am a territory manager for Red Bull Accounts across Oregon and I get to be creative and polarizing in building Red Bull's Industry relationships and furthering the brand through moments of complete awesomeness and successful numbers.

Malik really said it best, "Opulence, I has it." I have yet to find any mini Giraffes in Portland, but I have found midget strippers.

HoodLynn

Survival Fires. Don't worry too much about fire safety... it's pretty safe in the Sound.

Did you know that the ability to build a fire and maintain it, is important to the survival of mankind?...

In Utah, I gave myself so many never’s and can't’s, it is no wonder I felt I so stuck. I didn’t allow myself room to breathe. Maybe I just wasn’t living the kind of life I wanted so I found it difficult to picture a future there, much less create one. I was there physically, but emotionally I was absent... absent of life. I was tired and empty, kind of like one of those metal fire pits up in the Uintahs that has a couple of old stick-probed soda cans, half shriveled styrofoam cups, and charred s'more sticks, all leftover from last season. It had obviously seen some better days and been the center of a lot of great stories, steaks and mallows, but for now it was just kind of there and forgotten. I wasn’t living my own life, which made the distance between myself, and my goals and dreams seem an empty canyon. I needed to build a grand and raging fire.

You know when you're camping and you collect the best pile of wood ever, and make the perfect boy-scout firewood teepee that would make cowboys light their last cigarette? Then someone comes along and throws some fire starter on it and you are like, “oh…ok, that works too”. That’s kind of how my move worked out. I couldn’t just make some solid, well thought out changes in my life; I doused myself in fire-starter and up and moved to a completely different state. The thing is, it was exactly what I needed.

So here I am in Seattle, the ‘Emerald City’, where possibilities are endless and dreams do come true. I am not sure if it is the change of scenery, or my attitude that has changed, or maybe a combination of both, but finally... I can breathe! I am filled with so much hope and faith, can’s and will-do’s, that I feel like I am actually living again! Living, breathing, and moving towards the greater good. I am blessed with being able to make such a change in my life. Furthermore I am very blessed with such wonderful family and supportive friends, and I mean really wonderful; some of them are extraordinary people. My life is good, real good, and it is going to be great. I am going to have an extraordinary life.

That kind of Monday

April 26, 2010

Today was that kind of Monday. Do you ever have those? I’m so tired of being the new girl in town! I wish I had a friend that I could just call up and go grab some coffee with, go catch a late night movie with, or take a spur of the moment run with. Everybody here has there somebody it seems. I know that this is only temporary. I know that I will meet my friends. I do worry though if I will ever find my Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. All my life I’ve had different types of friends. I don’t like to subscribe to just one group or a certain image. I like my people the way I like my music… I don’t limit myself to one specific genre; I have favorites all over the place. I like this aspect of myself, but sometimes I wish I did have that one spot, or that one group, that I really fit into. I wonder if a lot of people feel this way?

Anyways, so my rules of engagement in a new city are to make sure I go out and do something everyday, try new things, introduce myself, and discover some swanky new joints that I can subscribe to being a regular. On today’s outing, I decided I would go local, because it seems everybody who is anybody here supports local. I figured I might possibly make some friends that I would see more often than once if we shared a neighborhood.

After spending 30 minutes on the computer this afternoon researching places featuring free Wi-Fi, I decided on the ‘Green Bean Coffee Shop’. It supports locally, is non-profit, and features weekly support groups for unemployed professionals... how apropos. After spending 20 minutes looking for it, getting lost, and meandering my way through random traffic, I accepted the fact that I was Joe Schmo sans my Joe, and gave up. I found another spot, walked in, while all 15 or so patrons stared me down… “Yes I am the new girl in town, and Jesus, do I have a tail that nobody told me about?" They only accepted cash. So I left, as 15 pairs of eyes escorted me back out the front door. I drove further on back to where I came from, with my new tail between my legs. Just before I completely gave up I decided to check out the neighborhood market and see if by some amazing chance they had coffee and free Wi-Fi. It was pouring rain as I got out of my car so I decided to leave my laptop and purse while I checked on the Wi-Fi and caffeine arrangement. A sign on the door looked promising as I was getting out of the car, and I got so excited that I all-too-quickly hit lock and shut the door-- In the process, locking my keys, computer, and purse in my car, and leaving myself stuck out in the rain. So I tucked that offensive tail back between my legs and trudged home on slick sidewalks and high heals. Today, you see, I dressed up, because I was trying to dress for the job I wanted, not the job I have, which is an 'unemployed professional'.

I eventually made it back to the market, introduced myself to the owner ‘John’, got myself a Chai Latte (because it was raining, they remind me of Christmas, and I deserved it), and settled down to write. At the end of the day, which had taken way too long, and felt way too short, I decided that I like the Phinney Market with it’s expensive groceries, and two sided windows that overlook the rainy intersection of 60^th St. and Phinney Ave. Another plus, they have $5 glasses of wine… so it would only be fair to admit that, yes, I am still in love with Seattle.

Only the beginning...

April 14, 2010

It is strange to think how my life has changed so much in the last few months. I was living on the ledge of a mountain town tucked snug into the colorful and charming hillside overlooking Old Town Park City. I was a part of the snow globe, ski town world; intricately woven with winding and steep avenue roads, one Main Street, and always postcard worthy with twinkling string lights wrapped up in a perpetual blanket of snow. It held a distinctive charm, especially for the weary old traveler or hopeful young traveler—the primary colored wooden houses of Old Town, a mix between Cape Cod architecture and Guatemalan scarves.

A change of circumstance, and I moved from the ledge of town to the edge of town; a bigger home reminding me of Link-N-Logs settled on another hill. It was a little farther out of town, but not too far, with the most incredible view of all the mountains, marshes, and meadows that add to the reverence in people’s hearts when they think of Park City. People always come to Park City for the winters, but fall in love with it for the summers, and so they stay.

Then heartbreak happened, and I couldn’t bear to stay in such a beautiful place with such a sad heart. In a desperate moment I decided to leave everything and start over. I picked up all the pieces and packed my life away within just a few hours. Even though everything was out of order, somehow everything, all the pieces, my life, and this decision seemed to fit. 867 lonely miles, all because it made me feel something other than the pain— It felt maybe, a little bit of what faith ought to feel like, and so I went with it.

One of my dearest friends Sarah is a true advocate of pure and simple faith. She always seems to have an understanding of life, or maybe agreement is a better word. She does her part and then life does the other part, and everyone seems to fare out just fine in the end. Whenever something bad happens, Sarah says that we should pray. Before something good happens, she says we should also pray. Either way she is consulting the big guy, and it seems to work out for her. So with a little nudging on faith’s part, some reinforcement on positive-thinking’s part, and a handful of some really wonderful friends (Shout Out to Bill and Kate), I made the move to Seattle.

I know we have all had our share in heartbreaks but this one I felt could maybe go down in textbook history for being one of the worst. It was Hollywood material and country song worthy… My pain felt like a very deep and expansive crater— my soul needed a jump-start and I was beginning to wonder if my heart required a defibrillator. Is there insurance for this type of thing?

Plain and simple, I needed some magic. I needed a beautiful place and a very, very wise old wizard with a few real good words of wisdom, to heal my heart… and so I did what any adventurous, broken hearted, born again believer would do and I Google Mapped the Emerald City. Hundreds of lonely desert miles, a couple more hundred miles, replays of Otis’s ‘fa-fa-fa-fa-fa sad song’; and eventually bored of self-pity, I switched to some happy songs. Took a left at the cascades, discovered some tranquility when I hit the Columbia Plateau, then processed a bit of life’s roads as I drove straight on past the volcanoes to eventually behold… the ‘Emerald City’.

It was beautiful, magnificent, and alive… and so many colors. I had said goodbye to a place where every star had been blown out-- here I was now, walking in from a whiteout, ready to find the colors. Sometimes you have to completely let go in order to go forward at all. Find a big city, lose yourself, embrace the clichés, and remind yourself ‘not all those who wander are lost’.

It’s a funny thing, faith is. Big city, so many strangers, broken hearts and last minute muttered prayers. A stranger on the street tells me he hopes I choose Seattle. Small blessings and small kindnesses, a cup of coffee—I can feel it, life is starting to feel right again, and this is only the beginning.