By Trina, October 17th, 2009 |
The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least with finding my groove in the new role at work and having my on-and-off-again long-distance Irish boyfriend move to Dallas, and I have found myself going a bit nuts… My zero-to-frustrated time is minimal, I’ve burst into tears twice and an early morning runner in my hose turned into an over-the-top dramatic event (there were witnesses too…). I may be a bit feisty, but this is too much even for me…something is out of wack.
In the past, I have written about the need to treat yourself for sanity’s sake and created a list of “treats” I give myself. In noticing my recent ridiculous and totally out of balance behavior, I realized that this list needs to be updated. What’s the additional sanity-saving treat? Blogging, of course.
By Trina, October 6th, 2009 |
The following is a post from one of my favorite people I have met since moving to Texas. Joel is a great guy who is definitely going to great places. He recently accepted a position working in China, and I’ve asked him to contribute to Trina Left Iowa with his experiences. He is another Midwesterner [...]
By Trina, September 22nd, 2009 |
We all dread hearing, “Company X has been acquired by Company Y,” especially when Company X is your current employer. In my mind, the word “acquisition” conjures up images of a company’s logo on a billboard being dramatically taken down and a new one unveiled in its place, hordes of men in suits marching arrogantly down their newly acquired corridors and worker bees spending their entire days speculating on what this new deal means to their jobs. That quote and the last of those images have never been a reality for me until this morning.
In between 6am alarm snoozes, I noticed some new text messages on my iPhone. They were tweets from my boss (yes, I have my boss’s tweets texted to my phone…) saying that our big company had been acquired by an even bigger company for X amount of dollars. Now, if that doesn’t make a person wake up, I don’t know what does!! I fired up my laptop and read the news via email from our CEO, various links on twitter and our official press releases.
By Trina, September 17th, 2009 |
Over the last few years, I couldn’t stop hearing about the Twilight Saga. I listened enough to get the gist of the story: a teen vampire falls in love with a teen human. I was not impressed and just could NOT understand how this plot was creating such a phenomenon!?!? Vampire romance was not appealing to me.
When the Twilight movie came out, I applied the same rule I used for Harry Potter: watch the movie and make the official decision on how I feel about reading the books. After seeing the second Harry Potter movie, I decided I would read the books when the series was complete and wound up reading (and loving) all of them the month book 7 was released. In similar fashion, this past spring I rented the Twilight movie. I thought it was okay, but I was still baffled as to what the big deal was… No plans were in the works for me to read the series.
By Trina, September 14th, 2009 |
We have all known a bully, been a bully or been bullied at one point in our lives. Learning to deal with bullies is an unpleasant but essential part of growing up. As we enter the real world, we are hopeful this sort of traumatic treatment is over. Unfortunately, bullies are as alive in corporate America as they are on the grammar school playground, only now they come in the form of leaders and managers.
By Trina, September 6th, 2009 |
There’s always a tough decision ahead when opportunity comes knocking: is this really the right thing for me to do at this time?? I’ve designed my twenties to be convenient for seizing opportunities, and it’s hard to know what the best move is when you’re completely open. That being the case, it’s best to look at opportunities from a realistic standpoint without letting fear of the details scare you away.
By Trina, September 1st, 2009 |
Most people imagine the life of a travelling associate is a glamorous one. Although there are perks, it is far from attractive a lot of the time. Dragging a controversially large carry-on suitcase around an airport at 5:30 on Monday mornings, sitting in an oddly-smelling rental car in Humidville, FL, eating overly-priced, mediocre room service [...]
By Trina, August 27th, 2009 |
Many of us have lived a life with minimal risk. It is in this riskless lifestyle where we create comfort zones allowing us to continue on in a steady state of happiness. Others of us have shattered our comfort zones by taking major risks, such as moving to Colorado or traveling abroad, as soon as we were able.
My life up to my twenties was mostly lived in my comfort zone: Iowa. I was born and raised in Ida Grove, IA (Northwestern Iowa). Although it was small with only 2,350 people and one stoplight, Ida Grove was a truly blissful place to grow up. I was among life-long family friends, close to a majority of both sides of my family, able to roam the streets on my bike at all hours and felt very safe—the only crimes I can remember were drug related and rare. My parents were happily married and both had steady, full-time employment. Life was grand.
By Trina, August 24th, 2009 |
Lately I have been stressed for unknown reasons. I can’t quite pinpoint what exactly is bothering me but something sure is… I’ve been wound up a little more than usual – yes, it is possible for me to be even crazier than my normal, baseline state. My attempts to calm down and relax have been unsuccessful as I’ve been on the go-go lately: a week in Fort Lauderdale for work, a wedding in Houston, a work week in Dallas, another wedding in Houston, etc.
I knew some time with my family was what I needed, because I find spending time with people who get you down to your core is an amazing way to refocus and re-center. This Saturday I boarded a plane to Omaha to spend a week at my parent’s house in my hometown. It has been almost 9 months since I’ve been home (a reality I accepted when I left two years ago).
By Trina, August 20th, 2009 |
I like to think I’ve got great style, but often times I lack the confidence to pull things off. Many an outfit makes me feel awkward or fat, and I find myself wanting to run home and change the entire time I’m wearing said outfits. My brain begins obsessing that everyone is looking at me and mocking my failed attempt to be hip and stylish. I am my own worst enemy, because it causes me to seek encouragement by asking others, “Do I look ok in this?” Fact: I need a considerable amount of external validation to just be me.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on this blog are all mine.
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