It’s been a cloudy and rainy week in Seattle. Before I moved here I would have thought that’s a normal sentence, but it’s really not. Seattle is a wonderfully sunny place. Even when the day starts out crazy cloudy it’s sunny with a clear blue sky by the afternoon. This week has not been like that. We have been experiencing downpours this past week, which have kept the skies grey. It being January the fact that the sun rises at 8am and sets around 4pm has not been helping. Continue reading “Letting Motivation Come”
This month is an interesting milestone. 3 years ago my mother retired from 30+ years of full-time work. Work she hated. Work that kept her from spending time with me because of a long commute (that allowed my step-siblings to go to a school near their mother). Work that wasn’t very compatible with my own long commute to school downtown. Work that allowed her to retire early at 55. I can’t believe it’s been 3 years already. 
I set up LinkedIn 6 months into my career in 2012 when I was starting to think of my first job hop. That also happened to be the time when I lost 30 lbs in 3 months by starving myself (coincidence?!…yeah I think it was…) As a result, the picture I used showed a skinny me smiling (also wine glasses…you have to show who you are, you know?) I’ve had that picture on LinkedIn since then: 6 years. 
My partner and I have a kind of mantra. At random moments we’ll yell “No marriage! No kids! No pets!” and high five. Part of our life philosophy is “No responsibilities.” I’m not sure where this came from exactly, but I’m so glad we’re on the same page. We love the knowledge that we can decide at the drop of a hat to travel or change plans and do it without issue. If we had to find a babysitter, pet-sitter or anything like that I would feel held back. 
My Mom has been going through old emails to paint a picture of all the places we’ve traveled together. During her investigation she stumbled across an absolutely hilarious email I sent her 5 years ago. It was a response to an email she sent me with a link to an article about the different ways to retire early. Let’s see what my response was 5 years ago: 
I’ve been playing with the idea of owning a Kindle for over a year now. I vacillated between thinking it would be a helpful addition to my life and thinking it was too much for what it adds ($80). Currently I read on my phone or computer depending on where I am. I prefer actual books, but find them unrealistic to bring on a lot of travels. I also love the wonder of library eBooks that allow me to read anything without leaving my home (Laziness FTW?) 
I’m obsessed with data. I love tracking everything and then looking back and analyzing, optimizing. It basically gives me a high. When I don’t have anything to analyze and optimize I get a little sad and offer my services to friends. That…doesn’t usually go over too well 🙂 .