"The English Language, Barackafied"

Slate magazine has been Barackafying words since Febuary, and what has transpired is this hilarious and insightful gadget. Click on "more" to flip through the new words and their definitions. Enjoy- and remember, its a long way to election day, so we may as well have some fun!

NSC Blog #2: Martha!

In the past, I was never a huge fan of Martha Stewart. At times, I felt like her parade of perfectionism did nothing more than make the everyday woman feel inadequate. However, after our interaction with Martha at the National Sales Conference I now admire her as a business woman and appreciate her sense of humor and aura of self confidence. 

Martha and her former CEO Susan Lind were interviewed by our CEO Dr. Eric Schmit in a "fireside chat" format. Martha talked openly about building her business, demanding nothing short of perfection, and even her incarceration.

After the open discussion and the offering some great business advice to our teams, Martha took the stage with our very own Larry Paige and Sergey Brin and demonstrated how to make Cherry Mojitos. Hilarity ensued. It was an unforgettable afternoon and another great experience from this year's sales conference.

I was laughing, so the video quality isn't that great- but you'll get the idea.

Cheers! To a great experience with Martha Stewart.

NSC Blog #1: Union Square or Bryant Park?

Whew, what a week to be a Googler!

Last week, I attended the ultimate corporate KoolAid drinking event, our National Sales Conference (NSC) in San Francisco. I have a number of exciting experiences, stories and pictures that I want to share- so I am going to post a series of blogs dedicated to NSC. Before I get too excited, I must state that these are my own opinions and experiences and do not necessarily reflect that of my most glorious employer, Google.

NSC is a once-in-a-lifetime event, but lucky for me it takes place once a year! 1500 members of the Google sales team gather together to listen to and learn from the brightest minds in business. This year's speaker line up included the CMO of eBay, the CFO of the NFL and the CMO of Visa. Then, after a day filled with amazing content, we kill all of our newly-educated brain cells by consuming copious amounts of alcohol (a.k.a. “celebrating our success” and/or “teambuilding”).

This year the conference began with a lovely cocktail reception on Tuesday evening in the middle of San Francisco's Union Square. Under the stars- and the equally glorious bright lights of Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Saks- we sipped drinks and re-connected with team members from offices across the US and Japan. The set up totally reminded me and my co-worker Andra of the tents at Bryant Park for NYC Fashion Week. The production of the event was top notch and it definitely set the tone for the remainder of the week.

In my next blog post I will share the highlight of the conference...our time with Martha Stewart!

I loved that the tents were clear!

The exciting energy of the evening definitely set the tone for a great conference.

A Blog about "The Bump"

It goes without saying that I am ecstatic about Barack Obama's decisive clinch of the final delegates needed to receive the Democratic nomination last evening. I found his speech to be moving and appropriate, specifically when he honored the achievements of Hillary Clinton, and when he spoke about being humbled by his own accomplishments and the challenge of what lies ahead.

There was a moment that stood out to me last night- the unexpected intimate gesture of a victorious fist bump between Michelle and Barack prior to him taking the podium. I found this moment to be extremely genuine and tender, only enhancing the likability of the potential First Couple.

Handy Hubby

If someone would have asked me 5+ years ago, "what are you looking for in a man," my answer would have been lengthy. However in that answer, I wouldn't have included the trait "handy."

After marrying Chad and completing several condo DIY projects, this trait is now pretty high on my list! Over the course of the past few weekends Chad has been building a set of custom fit flower boxes for our patio. He drew up the design, took note of the existing patio measurements, and built them out of deck wood so that look like they have always been attached to our deck. Here are a few photos of Chad working on this project.

Assembling the flower boxes:

Installing piece #1. "Look, no hands!"

Piece #2 ready to install:

Today, just as we wrap up the installation of the boxes, I started to plant the flowers. Once the plants begin to flourish, I will post some "after" pictures in a follow-up blogpost. Great work Chad, thanks for being my hunky, handy, hubby!