Surviving Busy Season: Let it go

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone that I am a Type-A, anxiety-ridden individual.  A lot of people in my profession are certainly Type-A, and a lot of people in my family deal with anxiety. 

Even as a baby, I showed signs of anxiety.  I mean, seriously, look at those little fists of fury!  What infant gets so stressed?  Not much has changed 23 years later - I find myself balling up my fists when I get tense.  Since during busy season, I’m tense approximately 90% of the time, I’ve noticed this happening more and more. 

Some things have helped.  Yoga, for one, has been a huge help.  By focusing on my balance and my breathing, it’s hard to focus on much else at the same time.  Even just 20 minutes in the morning helps start the day on the right foot.  Running helps too, but not as much.  I am able to take out any frustrations on the treadmill, and I feel so strong after a good run. 

Sometimes though, the stressors swell up and it feels like all the yoga or running in the world won’t wash them away.  It gets a little hard to breathe, everything irritates you, and you have to peel your fingers out of the fists you catch yourself making.  What if it’s the middle of the workday, and you know that since you’ll be working until 10pm that you won’t be able to lay your anger out on the treadmill until the following morning?

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up from an article I read in Real Simple a few months ago.  This is one of the few articles that I keep returning to over and over – I should just tape it to my refrigerator!  I hope this helps you all ease your mind when times get rough.  You can read the whole article here… and I really hope you do!

1)  Make it worse.  There have certainly been times when I start to panic.  “OMG I have to lead this conference call, what if I forget what I’m supposed to say?”  “OMG I can’t believe the senior manager saw me trip.  What if he kicks me off all his jobs because I’m embarrassing?”  Real Simple says that instead of controling your anxieties (which only makes them worse), exaggerate them instead,and see what happens.  Go ahead and trip in front of your manager.  Maybe he’ll tease you a little bit for it, but chances are he won’t even notice.  (Take my word for this one.  I almost fell on my face last year in front of a manager, and yet somehow I’m still on all his jobs!)

2)  Set aside worry time.  I love this line from Real Simple: “All too often we take a “Crackberry” approach to our worries: They show up unannounced, like constantly dinging e-mails, and we stop everything to address them―even if we should be doing something else.”  In case the crackberry wasn’t bad enough with real emails – then we get these stressors pinging ups all the time.  I have observed in myself and my coworkers that we spend so much time focused on how much everything sucks that we could have spent that fretting time doing something productive.  Real Simple suggests writing down your worries throughout the day, and forgetting about them.  Then take 20 minutes later in the day to look over your whole list – how many of those worries do you actually still care about?!  Chances are there will be very few.

3)  Breathe it out.  This one really hit home for me.  Ever notice how you hold your breath when you’re stressed?  Think about it – you probably do it more than you realize.  (I was doing it just now!)  We can’t forget to breathe, guys!  As if you weren’t already worried enough – your body is worried that it’s suffocating, and it just makes you feel worse.  Concentrate on your breathing as though you are in yoga class.  For a minute, just breathe.  Don’t let anything else cross your mind.  Even a few deep breaths will help you relax and stay focused!

I hope these few tips helped you out.  There are so many more in the article itself, and I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.  Godspeed my friends – busy season is almost over!

What do you do to stay relaxed?

Shoes, Sun, and Water Ice

Greetings!  Looking outside today it’s hard to believe that we had such gorgeous weather this weekend!  It started Friday – we ate lunch outside, and it was actually HOT!  I’m so glad spring is here. 

I was meeting a girlfriend from work at Cheesecake Factory after work, and thought she said she was in DSW.  Turns out she wasn’t - but that didn’t stop me from looking around!  And I’m so glad I did!  Check these babies out:

World, meet my wedding shoes!  I know, I know, they’re purple.  I’m pretty much over the whole white-from-head-to-toe thing, although some brides definitely rock it.  What it comes down to is that I’m pretty jealous of the fact that my best friends will get to wear pretty purple dresses and I won’t - so I’m incorporating my favorite color into my own ensemble. 

Funny story actually.  When I first got engaged, somehow it came up that I wanted to wear purple shoes under my gown.  My mom… well, she wasn’t quite a fan.  She’s far more used to traditional bridal garb, and was never allowed to even dream about anything else.  I figured, ok whatever – we’ll fight that battle when we actually decide to buy shoes.  Fast forward 2 weeks.  My fam and I are driving down to my uncle’s house, and I’m reading a book.  Mom is talking to my aunt about my shoes.  She goes “Cassie wants to wear purple shoes.  HOW COOL IS THAT?!”  I put down my book and went “you said that?  really?!”  Hahaha!  Oh well – no matter how it shook out, the moral of the story is that I found my wedding shoes -  by accident, on the clearance rack.  Gotta love it!

Saturday after work (the last Saturday of busy season, woo hoo!), we had another lunch outside, this time from my all time favorite place in the city, Tampopo.  I will go into my love of Tampopo in more detail when I have the proper time to devote to it.  It is certainly worthy of its own post!  But for now, lets just say my fresh tuna and rice bowl was amazing, especially in the sunshine. 

(That’s a stock picture from their website, but it’s amazing.  Look at all the fresh veggies and the avocado!)

We followed up the amazing lunch with a pedi and GELATO!   Since it was the first day of spring, I was hoping for some free Rita’s water ice, but I couldn’t find a close one in the city.  We made our way to Capogiro, which was a new-to-me gelato place close to the office.  I tried a handful of flavors (kiwi, I’m coming back for you next!)  and settled on chocolate banana, and burnt sugar.  The burnt sugar was the exact flavor of the top of a creme brulee, and it was divine.  And the chocolate banana…. swoon.  To my surprise, the flavor of the banana wasn’t overpowered by the chocolate – it tasted so fresh.  It was true love at first bite.  The only downfall was that the counter was a little small, and couldn’t fit enough employees to deal with the crowd.  We made it out unscathed though, and enjoyed some ice cream in the sunshine!

Despite our sweet treat on Saturday, I could still hear Rita’s calling me.  Anyone who is from around the Philadelphia area knows about Rita’s.  Free water ice is a tradition that goes back to high school for me – on the first day of spring, we’d all load up as many people into Bill’s smelly car and visit as many Rita’s in one afternoon as we could.  And of course you have to try a new flavor (because you’re not paying for it!).  This year I was dying to try the peeps flavored water ice.  YES – PEEPS flavored water ice! 

Since Robert and I were pretending that it was free water ice day on Sunday, I committed to trying the peeps water ice.  Let’s just say it’s a good thing I had a sample first… wooooo it was SWEET!  It definitely tasted like peeps though – but I knew I wouldn’t make it all the way through a regular sized ice.  Instead my strawberry margarita gelati hit the spot.  And with that, it’s officially spring!

Do you have any specific traditions that define spring or summer for you?!  I get so excited to get my water ice!

Feeling Like a Girl Again!

One thing “they” forget to mention when it comes to busy season is how behind you feel with not just the cleaning, cooking, and sleep; but the little things like getting a haircut and taking care of your appearance.  I know these are silly, superficial things, but it just makes you feel really out of control.  Lately I haven’t been able to wear my hair 100% down because my bangs are atrocious, I’ve had two caterpillars crawling above my eyes, and my nails have taken the brunt of my stress.

Luckily today as we were walking back from breakfast, I found a salon in Ardmore that was open on Sunday.  I couldn’t believe it – this place has been sitting right under my nose and I never even knew it existed.  Huge props to Coco Blue for helping me feel more like a girl today!

The salon was gorgeous and the store owner was so sweet and helpful.  The salon was busy too – I guess I’m not the only one who needed a pick-me-up today

(Clearly this picture is from the website and NOT from my trip today!  I promise it was packed!)

I feel so much better now!  Check out the fun color I picked – I wanted something happy and spring-y.  Do you like it?

I also channeled my inner girlie-girl today by picking out a dress for some bridal showers and events I have coming up.   I have gotten into the habit of buying one quality dress that I will wear over and over instead of 3-4 cheaper dresses that might only get one wear.  I saw this dress in the window of  Styche in Ardmore last weekend, and the dress has been on my mind ever since.  The owner of the shop was so lovely, and even personally helped another customer pick out a great blouse for an upcoming party.  I loved the great service – and all of the beautiful clothes.  Most of them were out of my price range, but luckily this little girl fit the budget perfectly

I tried on two different sizes, and noticed that each dress was different – the patterns and colors were not identical on both dresses.  This makes it so special to me – it’s virtually one of a kind.  It will be so pretty for all the spring and summer events I have coming up, and I can dress it up or down with flats, heels, and cardigans.  Let the celebrations begin!
What’s your favorite way to channel your inner girlie-girl?  I love shopping, even if it’s only window shopping!