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What Is Your Magic? Marketing. It’s my field — my chosen occupation. But ... what does that mean, to me? Why do I love my chosen field? What are the parts that give me joy? What is my "magic"?

Marketing.  It’s my field — my chosen occupation. But … what does that mean, to me?  

A new friend recently asked me what part of “marketing” I love the most.  I answered with a standard answer; however, after our chat, I started considering the question.  

Why do I love my chosen field? What are the parts that give me joy? What is my “magic”?

The answer is this …

It’s not about…

Here’s my latest dilemma: navigating personal space — my own and that of the people around me.

I find myself questioning what is too much and what is too little. What do people expect and what do I expect? You’re probably thinking, what does she mean?

Airplanes ✈️

How are you supposed to know if someone wants you to save them a seat on the plane? So many people I know fly back and forth with me…

Lately I’ve had some big highs.

For the last year and a half I’ve been working on an innovative new project at work with literally my dream team of people (seriously I could just pass out from how excited I am to work with these people) and things are coming together. It’s exciting and scary and wonderful all at once.  

Over the last couple of months our work has started to bear some fruit,…

Life is a little slower here but don’t let that fool you … this is a town of people with drive and heart.

Elko, Nevada.

A town full of history, real cowboys & cowgirls and genuine people.  You’ll always have your door opened for you and a good morning, afternoon or evening as you walk by.  In this town, you buy your boots, hats and gear at J.M. Capriola, your coffee at Cowboy Joesand the best…

I’ve said before that I’ve never been in love.  But, the truth is I love people.  I sooo love people. 

There are a select few that I have given a piece of my heart. It was given freely and gladly to them because I know these amazingly wonderful people will always care for their piece.  And, I’m so grateful.

Then, there are is a very tiny group of people that have a piece of my heart that I never…

Lately, I’ve been struggling with the concept of honesty.  Not necessarily the moral aspect of it but how to actually get to it.  

How to get to your truth and to the truth of the people around you. 

How to be comfortable being honest and hearing honesty.

How to get to the real person and how to be real early in the stage of a relationship … and how to keep it up throughout the duration of the…

I took down my blog for awhile.  I had to gather my thoughts because everything seemed all wonky.  I don’t feel like I did at the beginning of the year.  Experiences over the last couple months have made me consider alternatives.  And today, I was talking to my sweet friend Lauren and she said, write about it.  

So here I am.  Again.  

I love people.  I love meeting them and discovering who they…

I am realizing, lately, that life is not something to plan.  

You can’t control it.  It just is.  

What is going to happen, is going to happen.  The people you are supposed to meet, you’re going to meet them.  The people that are supposed to stay, will stay.  

There is beauty in this.  Most importantly, there is beauty in accepting this.  

Accepting that each moment is special and worth savoring.…

Since I’ve already outed myself as being single with this particular blog post – http://bit.ly/1R9UKqr, I’d like to ask you, friends, a couple specific questions that have arisen from my jaunt into the dating arena. 

Oh and more importantly, tell you a few tidbits I have discovered or found curious while online:

Guys still open the door for girls right? I mean that’s still a thing, yes?

Is there…

This journey that I’m on to discover vulnerability … 

I gotta tell ya, it’s wonderful and fantastic and crazy and lovely all at once.

I’ve been enjoying the moments and truth be told, there are some of them that I know, without a doubt, are going to stay with me forever.

It’s interesting what life throws you when you open yourself up to whatever it wants to give.

I still have no idea where it’ll…

And then … I’ll fall.

I debated whether I was going to share these thoughts with the public (with you!), then I decided that of course I would.  We learn from each other, we realize that we are not alone.  If we keep things to ourselves how do we learn, how do we share ourselves?  

So to start I should say, I’ve always been single. 

Wait! You say .. Haven’t you been married?  Didn’t you have boyfriends? We’ve seen…

It’s so easy to get caught up in a direction that seems right.  There are so many paths to go down in this life and most of them are good, comfortable, happy, safe, content.  These paths would be great for most people.

But … 

I don’t want the comfortable path.  

I want to be challenged, surprised, excited … MOVED!  

That is where I excel.  That is where I feel like … Me.

Recently I found myself…

Women in Economic Development | Chicago | October 2015

Originally posted on LinkedIn

This past week I had the privilege of attending Area Development‘s SOLD OUT Women in Economic Development Consultants Forum at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower.  One hundred and twenty women with careers in the economic development industry all in one room, sharing incites and best practices.  What an opportunity!

I wanted to share some of my favorite takeaways.

DAY 1

Going to a new city, for me, is like starting a brand new love affair. So exciting and interesting and you can’t wait to just make out like crazy!

Well I’ve been kissed by Chicago, and boy is it a  damn good kisser …

  New cities are fun. Big cities are exciting. Maybe someday one will be bright enough and interesting enough for me to make it my home. 

Until then, I’ll always love the ride.  I’m…

I Believe That Things Happen For A Reason.

People say things because you need to hear them. Yesterday, I was able to attend Reno Tahoe Young Professionals Network’s Power Lunch. The speaker was Valerie Glenn. What did she talk about? Happiness. Sometimes, you need to reminded that “happiness is a matter of choice, not chance”. Songs come on when you need them. There is a new song out by Rachel Platten called “Fight Song”. I’ll be honest,…

Nate: Mom, can we go get a shake from Jack in the Box?  

Me: Do you have money?

Nate: Yes

Off to the Jack in the Box drive thru, Nate’s driving.

Nate: Can I have a chocolate shake, please?  

Drive Thru Window Guy: I’m sorry we are cleaning our shake machine and don’t have shakes right now.

We leave. Pull into Carl’s Jr. drive thru.

Nate: Can I have a chocolate shake, please?  

Drive Thru Window…

So This Is 40.

I figured this was probably the day to write a blog post.

Today,  I turn 40.

To be quite honest, I don’t feel any different.  Just like any other day, I’m grateful to be alive, to have amazing family, fantastic friends, a career that I love and to live in a town that is thriving.

So, instead of writing a long drawn out blog post, I chose to add a new section to my website, My Favs.

Here are my…