I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected to participate in the field test of the Mini E, a 100% electric, zero emissions Mini. I was at work on Monday when my cell phone rang. When I answered it, the caller informed me that I had been selected to be 1 of 500 Field Test participants. 250 from the East coast, 250 from the West coast. Out of all of the applications they received during their one month application period that ended 12/10/08, I guess something about mine must have stood out. No idea what that was, but I don’t care. I’m going to be driving a Mini E and participating in this groundbreaking program.
Today, I stopped by Morristown Mini, met the guy I’ll be working with from the Dealership (who was really nice), and submitted my lease financing form. He e-mailed me 2 hours later and informed me that I’d been approved.
So I’m official.
Next step is that I will get contacted for the Wall Box Installation, need to get insurance, and then await delivery which is due in either late April or May. I plan on blogging all about my Mini E experience. There will be logs I have to keep, notes to make, maybe even interviews with the Mini folks to help them understand the strengths and improvement opportunities for the Mini E.
My dream of some day having a Mini will come true at last!
I was tagged on Facebook to write 25 random things about myself. This should be fun. The last time I did something like this I had to come up with 100, so this was easier. I did a new list, generated from Stream of Consciousness…
1. I am completely and irrevocably in love with my husband. Every day I fall more deeply in love with him. We dated for 11 weeks before deciding to get engaged (after being friends for 1 year). He quoted When Harry Met Sally when he proposed to me on a boat in the Central Park Boat Pond. I’m a hopeless romantic.
2. My two little girls are more important than life to me. They teach me something new every day and I thank God every day for them.
3. I always assume the best of people when I meet them.
4. Some say that’s naive.
5. I believe that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.
6. I have a very firm handshake.
7. I’m a dog person. Growing up, we owned Collies. I used to show them in obedience competitions. I’m now slightly allergic to dogs, and my husband is very allergic, so sadly we can’t own one.
8. I’m the oldest of 5 children and the textbook oldest kid. I’m a recovering perfectionist and consider myself lucky to have such a wonderful family who loves me no matter what.
9. The quickest way to make me angry is to attack someone I love. The quickest way to make me happy is to surprise me with something fun to do.
10. Between my junior and senior year in college, I visited my father’s home country of Bolivia. In a random village there, I helped my cousin push our car down a dirt road. The villagers stopped and stared at us as if we were crazy. That summer was one of the best of my life.
11. My Spanish gets much better after a few glasses of wine.
12. The first story I ever wrote was about my sister and I escaping a haunted castle. I was seven.
13. I hope some day to be a published novelist.
14. I have two scars of any significance. The one on my inner right ankle is from my mother-in-law dropping a knife on me while she was helping us unpack after moving to the first home we owned in Plymouth, MA. The one on my lower lip is from when I was 1. My parents still don’t know how it happened. You can see it when I smile and I kinda like it.
15. I wanted to be a lawyer since the age of 13. I decided against it the day before the LSAT and occasionally wonder if I made the right decision. I would have enjoyed putting criminals behind bars. The paperwork would have driven me nuts though.
16. I met three of my best friends in my sorority in college. We went to convention together and sang a rush song to the tune of We Didn’t Start the Fire. It involved a silver pot.
17. I lost 35 pounds on the South Beach Diet after I gave birth to my younger daughter and couldn’t exercise. I have an iron will that both helps me succeed and also undermines me when I’m being pigheaded.
18. Now I practice yoga as often as I can. It has transformed my body and mind. And I’m not just saying that because that’s what you’re supposed to say.
19. When I entered college, I thought that some day I would be President of the United States. My Freshman year roommate thought that she would someday be President of the United States too. We hit it off, of course.
20. I’ve since refined that ambition to include things like getting the laundry done or my blog updated. But hey, you never know. We’ll keep you posted.
21. I can’t sing on key to save my life but I took piano lessons for 13 years and miss the creative outlet.
22. My brother Chad died in 1997 and I find myself randomly crying about it without much warning. I believe in Heaven and that he’s there partying it up with those we love who have moved on.
23. I used to interpret dreams my Freshman year in college and still have a talent for it, but it freaks me out.
24. I like driving fast. I don’t like getting speeding tickets so I don’t get to do it often enough.
25. I believe in love.
I’m thrilled to announce that with today’s mid-issue update, I’m officially a Contributing Editor at All Things Girl.
My first column Women in Business: An Introduction posted this morning. Read, enjoy, and share. You will also find posts from me and the other talented women on the ATG staff at the All Things Girl Blog.
On a personal note, I feel that this is an important step in my joruney as a writer. The opportunity to combine what I’ve learned from my work experiences with my passion for writing to help other women achieve success is so inspiring.
[Originally Written: November 11, 2005] The other day I returned to South Station. As I rode the escalator up and the interior gradually came into view, I felt a sense of nostalgia grip me tighter and tighter.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Boston area landmark, it’s the train station located in downtown Boston. I first entered South Station riding up from the connecting subway station on that same escalator about ten years ago when I had recently moved to the Boston area.
Now, as it did then, the station has the look of well-worn majesty. The beautiful brickwork frames and supports the edifice. The dust on the floors shimmers in the sunlight cascading through the large windows located high above. The busy magazine stand capped with an old-fashioned ironwork design is still in the same place, as is the black schedule board that makes that distinctive fflip-fflip-fflip sound when its display changes.
I’m different than the twenty-four-year-old me who first set foot here. She was engaged to be married, living in an apartment in West Somerville, and trying to figure out what to do with her career. The older of her two brothers was still alive. She was much more idealistic and still hadn’t done a tremendous amount of self-examination. Her body, life, and soul hadn’t yet been changed forever by having children.
I don’t recall why I came to South Station for the first time ten years ago, but my most recent visit was because I’m meeting with an important client in the financial district. As I stand in the center of South Station looking my corporate best, I can’t help but smile as I think about the other versions of me that this station has seen: wearing a suit with sneakers and running to catch a train, in jeans with my hair in a scrunchie waiting to meet a friend, in business casual attire with work associates looking for a quick lunch.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I understand better the motivation of those who work tirelessly to preserve landmarks like South Station. In an ever changing world, exposure to a place that remains untouched by time provides the opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate its impact.
[Originally Written: February 13, 2008] Something that’s always been a challenge for me is slowing down. Being worse than a type A (if there were a letter before A, I’d be that type), I have a tendency to walk quickly, sit on the edge of my seat, and rush around to get things done. I speed down the highway. I listen to loud music. I attempt to do a million things at once. But the problem with being that way is that I miss out on so much that makes this life enjoyable.
I’ve been practicing yoga almost daily now for the past two months. The stillness and quiet of my time on the mat is giving me more awareness of the many things that I’d previously missed in my rush through life.
Take the ritual of making tea, for example. Instead of opening up a quick can of Diet Coke for my morning caffeine fix, I’m now having chai tea. Not only is it healthier, but it forces me to take a few minutes away from my desk while I wait for the tea to steep. On really busy days, when my calendar is double-booked and I’m focused on a deliverable, I’m still required to wait 3-5 minutes. I stand in the quiet of the office kitchen with nothing to read, nothing to do, except bob that little tea bag up and down on its string.
That slice of peace, with the aroma of my tea spicing the air in the quiet of the kitchen, is the perfect way to start my morning at the office. My head is clear, my senses are in tune with what’s around me, and my heart is open to enjoying the moment of stillness, of soft, slow reality; the calm before the storm.
The novel I am working on is a YA novel called Gabriel’s Torch. This post is a placeholder for a better description once I’m ready to share it with the world. In the meantime, I’m busy on the first draft.
