Let's talk busy-ness / business, shall we?

Wow.  It's been a week.  At the risk of over-doing it with paragraphs of "stuff," I'm going to give you the bulletized version.  So here we go:

Last week I wraped up work at MuleSoft (my old company which I loved and which truly still feels like my extended family) - it went a little something like this:

• Tuesday: fly to New York
• Wednesday: get name tags made (and hand cut by Lisa and myself because Kinkos (who had no line, had no time), re-work conference room layout, get team together for rehearsal (at ELEVEN PM - yes, caps, I'm yelling), read the boys a bedtime story over the phone (sob), mouth off to developer, fight with union, try to sleep
• Thursday: Mule Summit; during the event customers pulled me aside to say "best ever."  After the event, our CTO/CEO both said, "I can't believe you're leaving.  I don't." Then our VP Sales said "this is your swan song, kid."  Heart = happy.
• Thursday night: amazing dinner with Lisa and Andrew - I am so very lucky to have amazing friends.  So lucky.  And being an only child, I have the best "sister" ever.  Lucky x a million.
• Friday: woke too early with no energy at all, packed, and made it to the airport - boarded and noticed there were 2 sets of twins and 10 babies on my flight.  Funny thing is in the past I would have reached for earplugs, this flight I looked at pics on my phone the entire time.

Flurry of a weekend with the boys (heart = happy), Matty (can't say enough ... "cloud 9" might be it - how did I find Mr. Perfectforme?).  Saturday I flew to Seattle - during the two hour delay I saw our Mayor with his baby girl and wife in the airport.  Cool, but would rather've skipped the delay. Sunday was a house hunt.  And then there as Monday. 

So, above a week deserved one bullet per day.  This being my virtual diary/over-typing-problem of the fingers forum, here's today.

Monday (aka first day at Amazon - aka, I went from a 50 person company to a 30,000 person company):

• Drop to new hire orientation (NHO) because I didn't want to pay parking
• 4-hours of NHO
• Shuttle back to office
• Work, work, work
• Got on the wrong shuttle - went 20-min out of town
• Waited 20-min, got on the "right" shuttle
• Couldn't find car
• "Validation" didn't work
• Lost in market parking lot
• Grocery shopping (omg, I LOVE Whole Foods here)
• Couldn't find car
• Went to get apartment key - 45min later, they finally found it
• Went to pick up bags from hotel - couldn't park, didn't have cash for a tip, got uber nasty eye from baggage guys
• Key didn't work for driveway at temp housing - a stranger let me in, only to see the garage door start closing on my car.  Oh JEEZ!
• Finally got in - 2 GIANT suitcases out of the car + groceries + computer + 5 sets of keys Idon'tknowwhattodowith - went towards the "light" (lobby door) only to find stairs.  After a flight carrying EVERYTHING, I fell into the wall only to catch myself with my face.  Rad.  Turned around - camera was there.  Someone was laughing.  Nine trips and eight flights of stairs later and I crested my floor - turned around and saw an elevator.  No comment.

Here I sit, typing, looking for a house to rent, looking at pics of my family, and thinking "I'M DOING IT!" Because you know what?  I'm doing it.  I'm doing something out of my comfort zone that I've never done before and it sucks, but it's also friggin rad.  Here's what I know - "it (the vague /i/ word) will happen."  "Obla Di, Life Goes On." And most importantly, I have an amazing network who "have my back" and I know "this" (whatever this is) will work.

Thanks diary.  Next post will have to do with running.  I swear. 

Monkey Bar New York

Tonight Lisa and Andrew took me to a fab restaurant in New York - The Monkey Bar.  I felt a bit like a country bumpkin, but at the same time so good.  The food was phenomenal, the service under-optimal, and the atmosphere ... so New York.  It was spectacular.

Lisa and I enjoyed the same thing - striped sea bass with green beans, and fig salad.  Yum!!  Andrew had a perfect looking steak. During dinner because Lisa and Andrew were the picture of New York, I went to snap a photo - the waiter said uh uh (turns out, it's a hideout of many famous people - a while back, the publisher of Vanity Fair took over the restaurant and since then it's been an "it" place).

Is New York Oz?

When I arrived to New York on Tuesday, I had to go for a run (after a long flight where I sat in the middle of the two women who seemed to get up more than anyone else on the plan, and then got jostled on my way out with "very busy and important" people, I needed to hit pavement).  The hotel for the event we're at is in the heart of Times Square - this seriously feels like Las Vegas but without all the weird grossness and gambling.  Giant lights, no sleep, and hoards of tourists.

Running up 42nd, I started to think "Is New York Oz?"  Here's why...

• The New York streets are paved in gold - taxis are everywhere!
• Instead of a poppy field, Mary Poppins fans are flowing through the street
• Men (throwing empty boxes of food deliveries) rise through the street - before they appear, though, all there is is smoke and booming voices

Oh puke

With all great changes comes a bit of stress.  Things have been nutty for us - just last week we decided to up and move to Seattle.  On the current home-front, I'm finishing up a conference for my current company and flying out to New York tomorrow for the event.  I return on Friday.  Friday, Matt flies to Seattle to start looking for apartments.  I fly up Saturday and Paloma (super-nanny) comes to watch the boys over night.  Sunday Matt returns and I start work at the new job Monday.  Feeling dizzy yet?  No?  OK, here's more.  Wednesday I fly back here we pack up and move into a hotel.  Saturday the 4th we "move move" to Seattle where we'll be living in temp housing. 

Last weekend I decided to do a garage sale to get rid of some of our stuff (mostly baby stuff) and NO-ONE showed up.  That is until after my dad (nicest super dad ever) offered to pack up everything and try to sell it in Marin (rad).  Post pack up and when my parents hit the road, the doorbell rings (during nap time of course).  Someone wanted baby clothes and I had posted 9-1 but I wasn't outside - shame on my.  Bummer.  Also during the flop of a garage sale, the construction workers kept coming over to check out the shoes, it was about 50 degrees (or less) and misting (I know, good practice), and a few homeless people came by to try to get stuff for quarters.  Rad (insert eor voice).  On the bright side, my parents came over to watch the boys and Cole and Wilson LOVE love love their grandparents.

Anyhow, enough frantic life aside.  This weekend we got to spend time with great friends and family.  Friday Courtney came over.  Saturday Gabe and Amanda arrived to hang and stay the night.  They are the best aunt and uncle I have ever seen (except mine of course - so let me rephrase, they're the best aunt and uncle for this generation).  The boys were going nuts with them having so much fun ripping through the house.  We also practiced getting the boys ready for Seattle - notice the plaid?

Sunday I met up with Rye Rye (who I am trying very hard to convince she needs to move to Seattle) and Jamie (who wound up walking tons of hills with me).  Sunday night Rob and Emily came over and Emily cooked amazing fish tacos - so nice!

Because of the million and 25 things we have to do right now, I haven't gotten out for a good run in weeks - sob.  In fact, I'm going to have to walk away from my pre-paid race bibs for the Envirosports Angel Island run and the Nike Half - MAJOR bummer!  These are two of my favorite races and not only am I eating $150+ but I'm missing the trails like you can't believe.  Not to worry, I've already been scoping out the runs Seattle will have for me - GNW, look out!  I'm going to hit those hills hard!

Wanderlust: we ... are ... taking the Taylor Twins on the road ... Moving from SF to Seattle!

Whoa nilly - it's time for a change.  Well, change is hitting us at this time.  Recently I decided I needed to "expand my corporate horizons."  I love my company - amazing team, great products, and a phenomenal industry path (aka, we're moving on up in this technology world beating the big guys).  That said, I realized I can't move up within the company - we're small (50 people) and marketing isn't going to grow in the foreseeable future.  Also, I keep getting tired of trying to explain what "open source web middleware" means to my family.  So, over the past few weeks I embarked on an interview journey to find a new perfect company - I wound up getting 4 offers: a retail company, a GIANT in software, a online HR company, and a perfect-fit-for-me company (whose name I'll make public some other time).  During this interview odyssey, we were also in the process of buying a house and getting evicted (seriously, does everything come in multiples now?...)  Fast forward a few weeks and the house we were in escrow on fell out and our apartment dreams of living in SF were no longer ideal (two boys in just under 1000 square feet is not ideal).

So, we're moving to Seattle.  Yes, Seattle!  Here's the deal - the world kind of pushed us to a place where a) we were going to be homeless, b) I wanted to accelerate my career while being a GREAT mom (nothing less than A+ - just like my nanny (a constant A+)), and c) our boys would have room to roam. 

Here's the tough part - we have nowhere to live in Seattle yet after my business trip to New York next week, we're supposed to move in ONE day (yep, nuts?).  We also have no daycare, and no knowledge of the area.  But, I have cousins there and my old college roommate lives there - rad.  Also, Matt's company is going to let him work remote - awesome!

So, the isms will continue.  Here's my favorite funny for now - the hipsters (Seattle really is the home of hipsters):

Pop quiz, which is SF and which is Seattle?  Here's the deal (and my new favorite line from Matty), "our jeans are too loose and our bikes have too many gears to live in the (insert hipster hood) area."  Side-note, I actually secretly love hipsters.

Snap!

Our boys' picture was chosen for an SFGate Reader's Choice award - awesome!  You can check it out here.

If you can't open the link, here's another from the same shoot:

Wow - I'm a proud mama.  You know how people say "enjoy every minute because time goes so fast"?  Well, I absolutely agree - I was exhausted at 3-months, but looking back, those cuddles, coos, and all that sleep were awesome moments.

Road Trip!

We've had a lot going on lately - as if twin 13mo old boys wasn't a lot already.  We were in escrow but had to walk away - an expensive and painful lesson I'll share some other time.  So, to take a break, we decided to get out of dodge this weekend and head south - San Diego to be exact.  Friday around 3pm, we had a little conversation like this:
Me: "How you feeling?"
Matt: "Antsy"
Me: "Want to get out of town?"
Matt: "Eh"
Me: "San Diego?"
Matt: "Really?!"  (he knows I hate road trips)
Me: "It is your birthday weekend..."
Matt: "Rockin' - let's go!"

An hour later we were in the car - yep, we blitzed fast getting the boys from daycare and packing up a random mix of sweats and swimwear. 

So here are some of the highlights...
I picked the boys up at daycare around 3:30 and it was such a happy moment - they were playing with the "big kids" each on a different walker car with a different toddler pushing them.  Awesome!  They were so happy it was great to see.  We left SF around 4pm trying to beat the weekend traffic.  I sat in the back with the boys entertaining them as we drove the first leg.  We drove to Santana Row for dinner with the boys and sat with all the yuppie suburbanites eating Mexican food and watching the boys rumble around.  Post dinner and a quick play in the lawn, we hit it for the long long long drive down south.  The trip was going great up until the last 45min when I heard "rumble rumble."  Both boys were sleeping soundly but the "rumble rumble" kept coming. 

When we finally arrived in SD, we pulled the boys out of their carseats only to find that Cole blew out beyond belief.  There's no masking this one, and no being polite - he had poop from his shoulders to his feet and the only way to get it off was to stick him in the shower onsie and all.  Poor guy!  At 2:30am the last thing anyone wants is a shower.

Saturday we spent a lazy day at Matt's parents house.  In the afternoon we went to the pool with the boys which was AWESOME!  They are total water babies and it's so fun kicking and splashing with the boys. 

In the early evening Matt's family (aunt/uncle, cousins and their babies, and his grandmother) came over to celebrate Matt's 30th.  Great food and company and a few hours later we were all beat.

Today we hit the road rather early - at 8am just for the boys' first nap.  First stop?  Starbucks.  After getting out, running for coffee, and getting back in the car we were on the road again... until I heard a "thump - splat!"  And looked down to realize my coffee wasn't there - I had left it on the roof.  Boo.  Three more stops, four books, 5 games of "can you find mommy" as I hid under a scarf in the backseat, 8 songs with Matt and I singing to entertain the boys, and 82 binkie reloads later, and we made it home. 

The moral of the weekend?  Next time we'll fly.  Car trips are great for some, but with babies in tow long bouts of sitting are less than ideal.

Running toys

For some reason that reads a lot dirtier than it sounded in my head (running toys ...) Then again maybe it's just because I'm blogging at 9:30 and am feeling a little punch drunk high from an awesome day, awesome run, awesome night.

Today the group that joined Luna Chix (aka, moi and another rad LC-er) introduced me to a new running toy - Gmaps Pedometer.  Love it!  Today's run group did an easy flat 6-mile out and back along the water (but if you add the tourist dodging and random-dude-jumping-in-front-of-me-wanting-to-make-small-talk-about-running (how's that for a sub-story all hyphened to go with his "hyphee" run talk).

Anyhow, I'll jump to the finish (because that's often the most fun line) - here's a peak at my Gmaps Pedometer tracked run from today ... ok, many peeks (it's rad, can't help myself!):