More than Words

The best words to describe what I am feeling are peace and gratitude. And they do not say nearly enough.

2011 WAS GOOD TO US.

These albums deserved every press of "repeat" that I gave to them.

I'm Hooked

I just can't help it. I love this little munchkin so much.

2012

All I can publicly say is that there is going to be more change coming for me this year. How's that for being mysterious?? The point is, I'm excited about 2012.

Also, I'm pretty goal-oriented, but never been one for resolutions. This year my head is exploding with them. Here are a few because I know you're incredibly interested:

1. Start an Etsy shop of some sort.
2. Practice more yoga, more deep breathing, more moving my body.
3. Keep in better touch with my far-away-friends.
4. Eat less fast food. Much less.
5. More water. Mostly to drink, but also to swim in.
6. Take a trip to somewhere I've never been.
7. Cut out the complaining.
8. Pay more attention to life and less attention to my iPhone.
9. GET AHOLD OF MYSELF! Ya know?

Change of Plans

I'm so fickle. I like this blog better. Can we all agree that since shifting to a new blog didn't get me to blog more, I should just give in to the tightness of keep it tight? I'm down if you're down. Okay. Let's get it then.

oh hey.

i MAY have started a new blog. I was too bogged down by the pressure of this blog loooooooming every time i just wanted to make a little random post. so if you want to follow me over there, it is at www.noinnuendo.blogspot.com. Peace out!

SUMMER BREEZE, MAKES ME FEEL FINE

Or should I say, "made" me feel fine. Gosh I miss this.

I'M A MINI-ME OF MY MOTHER. IT IS FRIGHTENING.

Looking through my pictures of last summer for blogging has made me SO ready for this summer to get here, and this winter weather outside is really pushing my buttons. Lucky for me, I am going on another cruise in two weeks! The Western Carribean is about to get you-know-what-slapped with this pale skin and I am NOT apologizing for it.

But back to last summer... my mom came to visit and we had a MUCH better time now that I've been here long enough to steer clear of the Bronx and Chinatown with her. But then, looking at the pictures, I noticed that we dressed similarly every day and it scared me a little. I'm trying to pretend that I am making it up in my head, but holy crap! I am a mini-me.

 Some favorite memorable moments of the trip:
-Chelsea market followed by a slice of Amy's Chocolate Cake on Highline Park
-Having my mom ask the hot Italian waiter at Grimaldi's to take a picture with me... loved that.
-Watching July 4th fireworks over the Hudson river from my rooftop with an amazing view
-Going to the American Girl Place for the first time. It was a lifelong dream come true!
-Freeman's Alley restaurant (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED little restaurant that is tucked away in an alley with the best atmosphere and amazing food) and then improv comedy at the Upright Citizen's Brigade

Anyway, needless to say I wore my mom out so badly that she pretty much crawled back to the airport swearing that she'd never come back.

We'll see about that... ;) mwahahahahah!

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Meet my new niece, Elliana. I am totally infatuated with her.

This is my first time being an aunt and all I have to say is HOLY COW is this the best thing that is ever going to happen to me??? Because I really can't imagine anything making me happier than when I saw her photo for the first time and burst into tears.

THE BIG FIFTY

{this is from way back in September, but I want to play a little catch up so that this can still serve as a kind of journal for me}

With Momma G making the half-century leap, I absolutely HAD to go back to San Diego and party with her for a few days. I mean, really, what kind of daughter would I be if I wasn't willing to spend the weekend in Encinitas, getting massages at the spa, staying up late with drinks and cheeses, and playing sequence all night? We all have to make sacrifices for those that we love.

  My grandma and mom had a shared birthday brunch at the Ocean House, followed by the always classy "Boomers" family fun center for an extremely competitive round of putt-putt golf. 

Grandma's a cheater.

And I threw a small dinner party for my mom with some [sub-par, unfortunately] live music and cuisine in La Jolla with some of her good friends.

I am such a good daughter to put up with so much misery only to please my mother. ;) 

The hardest part was saying goodbye after a weekend of much needed girl bonding... I mean it's not everyday I get to stay up until 3am chatting on the living room floor with a mom that lives an entire continent away. I wish I could do it again today. 

I think I'll go check flights......

BAM. LOOK WHO'S BACK!

I got jealous of other people's online documentation of their lives. Sooo... here I am once again. I'm going to take a whack at playing catch up since last summer, and then see if I can start actually updating this baby again. Look out— I'm makin a comeback.

ONCE, A LONG, LONG TIME AGO...

...I went on a cruise. I figured that now would be a good time to blog about it, since the memory is fading with age and "better late than never" is beginning to be my default life philosophy.  It is probably good that I waited because I got about 800 good pictures out of these glorious 9-days, and had I posted right away, you'd likely be stuck looking at at least 500 of them. Now that about 5 months have passed, I think I can dwindle it down to about 499! Success!

THE PRINCESS

My friend Jason had a great hook up with this cruise line which made it so that the 8 of us were able to go for 9 DAYS! Although you can see many windows on the side of this bad boy, our room is not behind one of them. We had 2 little cave-of-a-room's with 2 bunk beds each so we all got REAL close.

I don't think I have the time or energy to write about each port, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

FIRST STOP: BERMUDA

PUERTO RICO

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS- ST. THOMAS

GRAND TURK

CRUISIN

We were the only people under the age of 60 on the boat, so we had a good time being the only ones on every dance floor, competing in every show, and participating in every. single. activity.

I gained about 75 pounds eating amazing food non-stop. We had to order several entrees and desserts each night due to lack of decisiveness, and I am not one to turn down lobster AND steak when they are both being offered.

Needless to say, I had a pretty decent time. And made pretty decent friends. And came back decently pregnant. (Just makin sure you're still awake.)

PRODUCTIVITY IS SUCH A DRAG.

For the last few months, I've felt pretty guilty spending my computer time on my blog when I KNEW I should be working on my portfolio. So, work on my portfolio, I did.  (And needless to say, blog, I didn't.)

I just threw all my final stuff onto a templated website for easier access, and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom— I'm back in action. See what I've been working on at www.carlywilliamsportfolio.com.

Here's a little preview:

And PLEASE let me know whatcha think. Love!

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY TO ME

As of today, June 8th, I have been at Ogilvy for ONE YEAR!

I talk about my life in this blog... but truth is the majority of my time is spent in a white cubicle inside of a 12-story converted chocolate factory in Hell's Kitchen, otherwise known as Ogilvy. I've never posted about work, so with this very important milestone, it only seems natural to pay tribute.

To start I need to introduce (or reintroduce) Stella, my spitfire Ogilvy sidekick. This post is going to have to use the words "we" and "ours" rather than "me" and "my", so introducing her is key. In fact, my boss told me that in the private work reviews/objectives that we all turned in earlier this month, Stella unknowingly referred to herself as "we" and never once referred to herself as an individual. haha. Fitting.

For starters, we spend way too much time at lunch people-watching the same people day after day... check out the snoozer in the background of the picture below. That can NOT be comfortable.

Also, we are really productive with the whiteboards. We were concepting for Lapband last Fall and came up with the two brilliant ideas you'll see below, and the one on the top right is Stella and my joint drawing of what our bodies look like from behind on a subway. We are amazing art directors.

A few times we have extended our friendship beyond the factory to go on adventures in her home borough, Queens. This always is followed by a ridiculous slumber party and then trekking the hour and a half into work together the next day, both wearing her clothes and not in good moods due to our lack of sleep. This particular night we made a stop at the famous globe outside the Queens museum and took approximately 150 pictures. Of which, we ended up with 3 pictures that aren't terrible.

Ogilvy has themed parties on the rooftop on a regular basis. This is my favorite thing about this building. It may be quite the trek from the subway, but the view from the roof is enough to offset that annoyance. And being able to get an hour of sun during lunch every day is a life saver.

And just for good measure, I HAVE to mention the fact that I won first place in the Ogilvy bake-off earlier this year with this fruit pizza. I spent 40 bucks and three hours on this bad boy, and then won a fifty dollar gift certificate as my prize. Note to self: not worth it. Especially since everyone was acusing me of buying it at the store.

Okay, so unfortunately I don't tend to whip the camera out during moments of actual normal work, so now you all are going to think I have the most fun job ever and that I am a terrible employee. I swear that is not the case. But I will tell you one thing, this ain't no accounting job. Plus, Stella and I know how to whistle while we work.

So... yeah. Here's to finishing the first year of my advertising career, no matter how work-less it may appear in this post!

SPEAKING OF EXCUSES FOR FUN...

Jess is BAAAACK! And lucky for me, Lauren gave her an excuse to visit the east coast and... ME! Partaaaay! (side note: the other day, my middle-aged boss asked me who started the trend of writing words with repeated letters like that and was like, "even my wife will text me 'whateverrrrrrrrr' and 'thanksssss'" I thought it was pretty hilarious to hear his point of view about it; I do it without even noticing.) Anywayyyyyy, Jess came to NYC and Lauren joined her for a bit, and it was ridiculously fun to laugh and reminisce and get Jess up to speed with the world of worldliness. Unintentionally on the latter, of course.

I splurged and allowed myself to go to two of the three shows she saw during her visit, and although I had already seen In the Heights and loved it for the second time, I was particularly excited about Billy Elliot. It has been on my TO DO list forever, and it was so worth the wait. I loved to see this midget cast of dancing children, and our box seats made us feel pretty high class until we started hanging out over the edge to see the entire stage. Oops.

We stopped for a manicure... shocker... and jess made friends with the asians. Haha, she is more comfortable with Asians now than I am with my ghetto brothas and sistas. Or maybe a little more comfortable. But just a little.

Its always hard to have visiting friends leave and not know when our paths will cross again, but hopefully it won't be TOO long in this case. With my brother headed to her hometown, Eugene, Oregon, for college, our paths may cross sooner than later...