White Dress

As you've probably gathered, the Pacific Northwest is wearing a very hefty sparkly white dress of snow today! My neighborhood have gotten 4-5 inches of snow already. But as I sit at home enjoying the view of it all from my warm living room, I figured I'd share my adventures from my sleepover at work!

The snow had already started falling when I got into work yesterday and the buses had chains on them, and re-routed to suit their snow routes. Part of the trouble of working in Queen Anne, is that when it snows (and it rarely does in Seattle), it becomes incredibly dangerous the buses don't run up the hill. So throughout the morning, the opportunity to stay in the building overnight was presented to me and I decided I would do that instead of risking missing work hours during the high point of our publications cycle. Then, around 11 a.m., the surge protector in my office made a constant beeping noise. Shortly after that, all the computers in my office shut down, along with the electricity in every outlet. We tried to find alternatives to get the computers back up and running, but nothing was working. Shortly after, my boss noticed a smell coming from the area just under my office. It smelled like burning sulfur. We weren't sure exactly where it was coming from, so we checked around and waited to see if the smell would dissipate. Apparently, there was some kind of electrical fire brewing inside the walls close to my office. We had talked to someone and they said it shouldn't be a problem, so my boss and two others stayed overnight with me.

We went out for dinner at a great Indian restaurant called Roti and we rented a movie from Blockbuster so that we could have a fun time waiting out the snow. When we got to the store, we were torn about renting either THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT or PIRATE RADIO. We walked to the counter with Pirate Radio but right at the last moment, one of the other co-workers ran to switch it out with The Kids Are All Right. We decided to spend the evening on the couches in the lobby area so that we could be present if the smell of the electrical fire continued to grow. We made it about 20 minutes into the movie and decided to turn it off because it was just too sexually graphic for our liking, there was too much bad acting, and it just wasn't a worthwhile movie. So we watched THE KITE RUNNER on Netflix instead.

After e-mailing a few people earlier in the day, we got a call later in the evening from an electrician that told us to shut down the power to the building and get out of there. We turned off the movie and moved all of our stuff to the next building over, and just stayed up talking and laughing and having a fun time!

We woke up this morning safe and sound and my boss gave me the day off with pay! So now I'm here at home, relaxing with a hot latte, watching the people walk in the snow, and finishing up watching The Kite Runner (and crying like a baby from the story).

We found out that it was part of the remnants of The Great Pen Fire of October and they got the problem fixed. All in all, my Snowpocalypse Sleepover at work was a lot of fun and it gave me a chance to build stronger relationships with my co-workers. I think we all agreed that we should each keep a change of emergency winter wear handy at the office though . . . just in case.

Here are some of my pics from the snow storm. Enjoy!

"Sorry, we're closed!"

 It was crazy watching cars slide down the hill

Don't worry guys, I wore my snowshoes

 As I was waiting at the bus stop,
I saw this news crew filming a segment
about a traffic post that a car had
taken out when it skidded off the road

Snow covering the Experience Music Project Building

We Didn't Start The Fire

As a young girl, I was lucky enough to learn the fine art of using a hot glue gun  to decorate knick knacks with fake jewels. My hot glue gun skills were  rivaled  only by my ability to weild a bottle of puffy paint. For the longest time, I was sure my hot glue gun skills would lay waste and never come in handy. Today, that all changed.

It's getting a bit colder here and though I tried my best to brave the elements, I resorted to turning on the heater in my office. About 10 minutes later, our IT guy came into my office and asked, "What is that smell?!" I took in a whiff and said, "Hmm. It smells like hot glue gun. That's weird."

So after moving my desk and searching all over my office for the origin of the smell, we discovered that a pen had fallen into the heating grate and was melting onto the panels. I think it's safe to say we were mildly worried. After turning off the heater, thus preventing more toxins burning in the air, we aired out the office and retrieved the melted pen. We then decided that until we get it fixed I should either use one of the office space heaters or invest in a triple-layer Snuggie.  After hearing that temperatures are going to be dropping significantly next week, I'm contemplating moving my office to Hawaii. ;p

I've also taken the liberty to change my office name from PUBLICATIONS OFFICE to THE FIRESIDE LOUNGE. I think I'll redecorate with jewels outlined in puffy paint. And of course, I'll apply the jewels with a hot glue gun.

The moral of the story: There's never a dull moment in my office. Also, only you (and a combo of tweezers, tongs, and scissors) can prevent office fires

It's In Your Blood

I think if I was a Care Bear, I would choose to be Playful Heart Monkey. And just FYI, I totally count the Care Bear Cousins in the generality of "Care Bears," so Playful Heart TOTALLY counts!

Like Playful Heart Monkey, the world is my playground!
Take today for instance.
You see this bear?

Yeah. This one.
Well, today, this bear was my accomplice.

Every Wednesday, I attend a staff meeting at work. We usually go over all the basics: Buildings and Grounds, Publications, Computers, Office, and Appreciations. Appreciations is a new category we recently added to our meetings. It gives us an opportunity to share a short, sweet appreciation of someone on staff for something great we've noticed.

Today, a small number of other staff members and myself arrived to the meeting early and we were sharing some fun banter. Generally my co-worker H— sits in the same seat for staff meetings, but today I dared him to sit in a different spot just for fun and to shake things up a bit. After he moved, we laughed and then we all noticed the little bear you see above. It was just randomly sitting there, chillaxin' on the couch. So I schemed with my other co-worker, S— to coerce H— into "appreciating" the bear when it came time for the Appreciations category in the meeting.

The meeting was fun and light, and so when it came time for Appreciations, I looked over at H— and gave him the raised eyebrows hinting look. He looked at me, eyes wide, and then I motioned with my eyes toward the bear and he looked at it, looked back at me, and broke into a bright-eyed chuckle. Well after that, it was all over for me, I LOST it and started laughing and snorting. I just kept imagining what he would have said about the bear—how quietly it was sitting, how attentive it was, how even though it was blue it was seemingly happy. We dismissed shortly after that, and even though the bear never got its due appreciation, we laughed all the way out the door!

I LOVE staff meetings and I LOVE that I work with people who know how to have fun!

Stay Just A Little

Hey everyone! Meet Puff!! Puff belongs to my co-worker Katie. He kept me company this morning in the office. He's such a sweet little bird!

Today was another FAST paced day. It came down to the wire, but we made it (like we always do) ;p

I will say though, that with the panic of the day, came some sweet treats throughout it. First of all, one of my co-workers brought me a copy of She & Him for me to add to my iTunes playlist and relieve some of the tension with some smooth tunes. And THAT helped a bunch!

As the to-do list was dwindling down, it seemed that more and more things just kept getting tacked on. I'd gotten a large chunk of it done, when I got a call on my intercom. It was my boss calling me down because one of our volunteers made fresh homemade Pico De Gallo for the whole office! It was such a needed break and a GREAT treat!


I finally got the journal done and sent off to press and tied up some loose ends and then I got a text from my dad that said: DINNER IS ON US TONIGHT! GO CRAZY! WE LOVE YOU!

And at first I texted him back and was like, "Are you serious?" Cause it just totally caught me by surprise. But he confirmed that I could in fact go out for dinner and have whatever I wanted—and that was AMAZING! I decided to go to Red Mill Burgers, since I had heard rave reviews about it but had never actually been. I had the chicken sandwich and a lemon chiffon shake and it was DELICIOUS!


And then I went to my comfort spot: Cupcake Royale and had one of the Toasted Cocounut Lime cupcakes and some coffee.

The funny thing is, even though he said to "Go crazy," I only ended up spending a total of $20 bucks . . . but it went a looooong way! After going in to the office around 7 a.m. the past few days and working late, I decided it was a nice night for a treat. I'm just glad I had help along the way. And the best news of all . . . tomorrow is Friday and I'm not going in early and . . .

7 more days until I fly to the east coast!

Steady As She Goes

Some things you should know:

1. I LOVE my job—the workplace, the co-workers, the atmosphere—i just LOVE it all! I seriously wish people could spend a day with me and get to experience all the greatness of my workplace!

2. My office building is an old church renovated into offices.

3. My personal office has 2 huge round portal windows with beautiful views.

4. One of those windows is removable plexi-glass so that I can get a fresh breeze when it warms up in the summertime.

5. There are no elevators in my office building.

6. I work on the 3rd floor

7. There are still more offices higher up than mine.

8. When you gotta get things from one place to another, you get inventive.

9. When you sit and work at a desk all day, it's nice to get interrupted with these inventive ways

10. When these inventive things happen, I will most likely take pictures of it!

One day last week, we had to get a whiteboard into my boss's office, but there was no way to get it through the stairwell up to his office. So, my co-workers got inventive . . .

They tied rope around the whiteboard so that we could
hoist it up from my window directly into my boss's office

It wasn't holding right the first time, so they kept trying different knots

Finally found one and made sure it could handle being hoisted

We lifted it up out of my office and began to hoist it up!
(i promise i helped!)

Then they hoisted it up

Up . . .

Up . . .

And away!!!

It's a good thing my boss's office is directly above mine ;)

Don't You (Forget About Me)

I'm back in blogtopia folks!!

This past week has been pretty "go—go—go" and I'm finally at a point where I can really unwind. :) I was able to meet our press deadlines for our two latest journals, which is a pretty big deal for me because I seriously had about 3 days to make one of them press-ready and it was kind of hectic. But I love to test my limits and push myself, and now I feel pretty accomplished. Tomorrow should prove to be a slower day, though, and that's also a really good thing! :)

In an attempt to unwind from today's adrenaline rush, I've been watching funny videos on YouTube :D I think I hit the jackpot when I found a collection of AMC commercials advertising Forrest Gump, in which they created movie trailers for it in different genres. They are still making me laugh!

In other news, I'm going to be home in one week! I still have so much to do. I told a friend of mine that I was already shopping for gifts to take home to my family and she thought it was silly that I would start planning for my trip 2 weeks out. But here's the thing, I'm a procrastinator when it comes to that sort of stuff. Seriously. Like, I generally don't even pack 'til the night before and even then, I'm really slow about it and I get distracted. So, come 1:30 a.m. the day OF my red-eye flight, I'd normally be saying to myself,

"Crap! I forgot to get that _______ for _________! Great.
Now they'll be the only one I didn't get a gift for. How awkward."

Trust me, it happens more often than you think. So I like to plan things out so that I don't leave anyone out. That's like, the worst feeling in the world to me.

Tomorrow I get off of work early and I'm going to get the rest of my family gifts, that way they're all in my room, ready to be packed! Next week will be another busy week, since I only have 3 days to get things ready for a big mail-out after I get back from my trip. Plus, I have a lot of stuff going on in the evenings as well.

PS: I can't wait to go to the beach!!!!!!!!! :D

Better Days

Today was a fun day at work! Every Tuesday, our publications team (4 other people + me) meets to go over details, update everyone on what we're working on, make any necessary announcements, and share artwork that we've done recently. Well, we just got done with a crazy busy publications season producing 2 huge projects in a short amount of time, with another project still needing to be maintained. It was definitely a trying time for us, working together to make sure things got to press successfully.

Well today for our publications meeting, I decided we needed to take some time to relax and celebrate—so I threw us a small fun little party! We had so much fun just reflecting on things and enjoying each others' company. I really am blessed to get to work with the team I get to work with.

One funny thing I will point out, is that on the sign, you'll notice an asterisk and a little lined footnote at the bottom. This is a play on our publication style ;D We have a lot of people that we ship resources to in different countries, and sometimes our English colloquialisms don't translate well. To remedy that, we include footnotes at the bottom of the column that that particular word is in. The majority of the time, we use the phrase, "In this context, _____ means ______." So I figured I would add some fun flair and made a little footnote about our team. :D Also, the RIP stands for Rational Island Publishers, not Rest In Peace. I know, I know, it's a bit confusing. ;) It feels really good to have those big publications done, and it's also relieving knowing that we are back on our steady publications routine.

Letters From The Sky

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. As you can tell from the previous post, the morning was filled with tragedy on a broader scale. But my personal afternoon was marked with success, relief, and elation. For the past four months, I've been managing a big project for the company I work for. It is a 128 page journal that consists of articles jam-packed into every available space possible to get the maximum content, while still maintaining readability. The thing that made it especially challenging is that the editor-in-chief for this particular journal has been sending all of her edits and corrections via correspondence. She lives on the east coast, and I work on the west coast. And if the time zone issue wasn't tricky enough, the co-editor lives in another state, not on the west coast, and has been sending in HER edits around the same time. So timing, mixed with conflicting ideas and edits, and a rushed deadline can be very overwhelming! Normally when I work on journals at work, it's all done in-house, with the editing team readily available to work with me to make things work. This project was almost solely my "baby." My in-house editors were busy with their own projects, and my bosses were pushing for a speedy release of the journal, while also including their "final say" on the content. This equals A LOT OF CHANGES.

So after a lot of hard work and making it through stressful days, all the while, learning to hone my craft through it all, I was successful in meeting my deadline—even down to the last comma. Right before (no seriously, like 10 minutes before) the courier came to pick up the package, we looked over everything and noticed that we had missed a comma. My boss said it was okay to just ignore it, but my dedication to the project, and need for excellence in my work, forced me to run up the 3 flights of stairs to get to my office, fix the file, reprint the page, and burn a new CD, run it all back downstairs, and package it up for the courier to pick it up. And I got it done JUST in time! I had the BIGGEST adrenaline rush I've had in a while. I seriously did a "happy dance" as the courier walked out the office door with our project package in his hands.

So I got the job done, and took off of work early. I decided that it was cause for celebration! One of my absolute favorite places to eat is the Red Robin down by the waterfront where I can sit and enjoy my Clucks & Fries and look out at the beauty of Puget Sound. I got to watch the sunset and then I went for a walk around by the pier, enjoying the sound of the water and the reflection of the lights onto the water. Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon and evening.

Moodswings and Melodies

One of the perks of my job is that from time to time, I get to take breaks and draw! It's so much fun and very therapeutic. Sometimes when the workload is overwhelming, it's good to get in a bit of a disconnect. Anyway, I thought I would share some of my fun drawings with you guys :D








Now QUICK—take a five minute break and just doodle something for FUN!! :D

Endlessly, She Said

Today is one of those days. No, not one of THOSE days ;)

But one of those really stressful days. I like to call them DEADLINE DAYS. Working in publications, time is money and money is time, and we are constantly producing publications. This past week has been super important because we've been working to publish one of our most important resources ever. The good thing is that my boss has been SUPER happy with my work, and that makes me feel awesome! But I gotta get real—deadlines stress me out. I like to think that deadlines stress the majority of people out though.

Anyway, so for the deadline today, I had to get this publication ready for a last round proof for our CEO to look at. I would run up a draft proof to his office, then 5 minutes later, I'd get a call that he wanted something added, or something tweaked, or something taken away for clarity purposes. Then he wanted 4 copies of the pamphlet made for the proofreaders to check over the weekend. And he was leaving out of town at 1 p.m., so all the final changes for the last proof had to be made before that. So needless to say (but I'm gonna say it anyway), I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and then I was hunkered down at the computer, frantically working to make things perfect.

By the time 1 p.m. rolled around, I successfully handed in the proof and delivered the other 3 to the respective persons. So I got to eat lunch around 1 ish. I was soooo hungry from running up and down the 3 flights of stairs over and over again (we don't have an elevator at my work).

It takes me FOREVER to come down off of the adrenaline high of rushing to meet deadlines. My stomach ties itself in knots, i get a huge headache, and my heart beats super fast while my mind races on endlessly. I ate my lunch, and thankfully, my boss brought me some Oreos as a type of treat to help me ease out of the rush, but it still took another hour or so to come off the adrenaline high. 4 Tylenol later, the headache begins to subside and I try to regain focus and figure out what the next step of action is.

That is a deadline day in a nutshell. They're crazy. I'm really glad they don't happen THAT often, but they do come. I now have 3 more huge projects to work on, along with on-the-side stuff for friends. It's weird because I live for the rush, but the rush kicks my butt!

I seriously have mad respect for all the other people working in publications. Ours isn't big name and it's intense. If I could go up and hug all the people working at big magazines and stuff, I would—they need it!

The good news is that I won 2 tickets to go see AFI at the Showbox tomorrow night! Nothing like an evening of rocking out to start off the weekend, especially after a deadline day. :)

Mayday

Today is a big day for me! It's my first ever Holiday Party at my new job! I'm really really excited. :D I'm doing a lot of new things today. I made a baked squash casserole thing for everyone and I hope it tastes really good. Also, as part of tradition for the office party, everyone does a "show and tell" thing. I WAS going to sing Winterlove by Parachute, but when I met with the entertainment coordinator, she said that it would be really cool to perform something I wrote myself. So I am. I'm going to be singing one of my favorite songs that I've written. It's called Mayday. It's all about how we get to choose whether we are going to see life and its trials as positive or negative and that we get to choose our response accordingly. Hopefully I will get someone to record it so I can share it with you all, but if I don't, you can at least see the lyrics to it below:

CHORUS:
Mayday. Mayday.
You say Everyone's as comfortable as you
But baby
Someday
You'll see that tomorrow is up to you

Fingers on the smoking gun
Everyone is trying to run
Away
Let the rhythm take control
Take you to a place where you know
There's a star, a ray of hope
and everyone's the same

Mayday. Mayday.
You say Everyone's as comfortable as you
But baby
Someday
You'll see that tomorrow is up to you

Laser lights and telegrams
Try to define who I am
Alright. Alright.
Let the damage take it's toll
Move beyond and then you know
There's a goal, a common thread
and everyone's alive

Bridge>>
The tracks for trains racing away
They call you melancholy
But every day is a brand new way
and your chance to sway and

Mayday. Mayday.
You say Everyone's as comfortable as you
But baby
Someday
You'll see that tomorrow is up to you

Tomorrow's up to you
And you know just what to do.

Back Again

Amanda Martinez is a fan of

Parachute

Create your Fan Badge

It's SOOOO true! I'm a fan!

I LOVE this band so much! So much so in fact, that I'm thinking of singing their song, Winterlove for my work's Holiday Party! I know it's gonna be this huge brave thing, but since moving here to Seattle, I've noticed that a lot of the things I do lately are huge brave things. So why not, y'know? The great thing about the people I work with is that they are not as judgmental as others, so I'm sure that even if I suck they'll at least pat me on the back. ;)

Here's the song (i would of course sing a girl version subbing the "her" for "him" and sounding slightly less manly ;) heheheh)


In other news, Kelley gets here on tomorrow and I'm SO excited to have her here!! She's been such an amazing friend and I really really really love spending time with her! :D And we get to have lots of fun together for the next 2 weeks!

Here's just some of what we got planned:

- Space Needle
- Experience Music Project
- (maybe) Ride the Ducks
- The Aquarium
- Exploring Neighborhoods
- Parachute/Kelly Clarkson Concert
- Justin Nozuka/Sam Bradley Concert
- Pie Night

and that's just the beginning! We're gonna be having sooooo much fun!

And then, in just a few more weeks, I'll be heading home to Austin for some much needed family time :D

I can't WAIT to hug all my friends and family! :D They make my heart happy!

Midnight Land

This morning started a bit rough. The good news is I went to bed WAY early, so that I wouldn't be sleep deprived. Nonetheless, I woke up with a scratchy, swollen throat. I tweeted about it, which updates my Facebook status. I thought for sure my dad would see the update and then give me a call and ask me #1 why I was up so early and #2 if I had gargled with warm salt water yet. Now, if it's one thing I strongly dislike (though I probably shouldn't, but eh. whaddayado?) it's gargling with warm salt water. Something about salty water is just not appealing. Now cold salt water that I accidentally swallow while swimming is one thing . . . warm, nay, hot salt water is gross. :( True story.

It was so weird getting on the bus and going to work this morning. I guess I never realized exactly how PITCH BLACK 6 a.m. was in the Pacific Northwest. I wasn't able to see a lot of the landmarks that remind me which bus stop to get off at. So I kept my head plastered to the side of the crowded bus like a moron so I could try to make out little signs that were dimly lit along the way. Oh yeah, so, my bus was WAY crowded this morning. The first bus I took made it 5 blocks to the transit center and then we all had to de-board and wait for the next bus because the one we were on had a flat tire. :( Lame-ski. So now there's two groups of hostile non-morning people waiting to board another bus that's half full of other non-morning people trying to hurry to get to work. I imagine it's something equivalent to choosing to give a giant plate of steak to only ONE select lion in the den. It was madness.

I haven't eaten meat for the past two days. I think something's wrong with me. The carnivore inside of me declared war this morning, so I decided to eat a turkey sandwich at Quiznos. So I order a regular sandwich and the guy charges me for a large. So I notice for a second that the total is higher than i expected, but today i'm blaming everything on the drugs (it's just easier that way and i'm sure in some way it's true) so I use the swipey and go sit down to eat. Then the lady that made my sandwich comes to the register and calls me over because he OVERCHARGED me. So then she goes to fix it and he goes, "Why don't we just give her two cookies instead of going through all this hassel?" And i just smile . . . because i'm thinking how much i'd like to slap the guy in the face . . . just sayin'. So then she fixes it and gives me my money back and i was SO tempted as i left to go up and say to her, in a loud mexican manner, "Thanks for fixing my order total. You really deserve a raise. That other guy only deserves two cookies."

My day was made better by my boss. We are on a MAJOR deadline and things have been so hectic. But this afternoon, my boss came to my desk with the latest corrections and was seriously near tears. She was just saying how glad she is that I've been working so hard to get things done and that she's so proud of me for being part of the team and taking on such a big thing and just following through. She said she had been really stressed out about everything but that she was so thankful that I've followed through and haven't complained and that it's really made things easier for her to know she can depend on me. That really made my day. Here's why—my boss . . . is AMAZING. no. seriously. she is. she's not just this chick that barks orders. She is so giving and so loving and isn't afraid to give me a hug or a word of encouragement. She counts me as part of the team and she's just so fun to be around. She lets me talk to her about Parachute and about movies and pop culture and all sorts of stuff. And she is so understanding and so patient with me. I really love working with and for her :D

So now that I've given you a basic rundown of my day and I've hosed down my room in Lysol, I'm gonna call it a night.

Goodnight.
Sleep tight.
Don't let the bed bugs talk you into gargling with warm salt water.

Love always,
Amanda and the medicine ;)

Party In The U.S.A.

Today was our company picnic! We went to Seward Park and had a giant potluck and had a great time. I was really brave and tried some new foods . . . I ate TOFU! So crazy! I never would have thought I would, but I did. I'm not really a fan. I had to follow it up with some watermelon and some frozen custard. I usually don't eat seafood, but the main dish was salmon, so I ate a little bit of it. It was kinda weird tasting, but not terrible. I also got to try some caramel goat cheese . . . crazy right??

I really enjoy all of my co-workers and all their fun personalities :D Some of my co-workers brought their kiddos and so we had a giant water gun fight and that was a lot of fun too! :D One of the kids that was there was commenting on some food that another co-worker brought and said, "She paid a lot of money for that. She bought it FOR SALE, not ON SALE." It was so cute :D

The view was BEAUTIFUL and we all talked about everything from the VMAs to the glory of Mi Tierra in San Antonio and the beauty of Chuy's and BBQ in Austin :D Overall it was a really relaxing fun day :D

Some photos from the day:

the Tofu i ate :D