10 Things I Did This Week

Hello from Atlanta! Another weekend of traveling which means I'm going to try to be posting from my iPad. The sad part is that I haven't yet figured out how to post pics on here without them being ridiculous in size, so until I figure that out these iPad posts will be pic free.

Here's 10 things I've done this past week:

1. Celebrated Adam's 30th birthday! Birthday dinner at Trulucks in downtown Austin with presents and love.

2. Worked out with my personal trainer twice. My thighs, glute and pecs are so sore that it hurts when I sit, climb stairs, or take off or put on shirts.

3. Wrote an email to everyone in our house with 'house rules.' There are currently 7 people loving in our house... That email was necessary so we don't piss each other off. And by that I mean so they don't piss ME off. :)

4. Went to a single release party in downtown Austin where AFC Pictures (Adam's Film Crew) filmed a live stage performance! Adam was in charge of the film crew with a 4 camera set-up complete with a crane and a presenter! I was the bodyguard. :) My job was to make sure no one walked in the roped off area where the equipment was. I can be intimidating when I need to be. Hehe.

5. Unpacked my bags from last weekend in Seattle to repack for this weekend in Atlanta. Always on the go!

6. Stayed in bed for a full day and a half and went through an entire roll of toilet paper from blowing my nose. Then drank hot chamomile tea with honey to soothe my throat and slept for 15 hours straight. Crazy congestion, sneezes, sniffles and throat scratching up in here. Also rocked a packet of Emergen-C every day. Is it possible to overdose on Vitamin C?

7. FaceTimed with my parents. Becky and Ray live in Chicago and we're in Austin. Adam and I convinced Becky to get an iPhone and she now thinks FaceTime is the best thing ever. Skype was great but you're not always at a computer and when you use it you're then tied to the computer. The phone is easier, more portable and more convenient. And I love being able to speak to and see my parents in betweennthe visits back up to Chicago every few months.

8. Tried the SleepCycle app on my iPhone. It's an app that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you up in your lightest sleep phase. You tell it what time you want to be woken up by and for about 15-30 minutes beforehand it monitors your movements to find the optimal time to wake you up. I had heard GREAT things about it and it lives up to the hype. There is no jarring alarm that startled you awake, it's very natural and relaxed.

9. Ate proper English style fish 'n chips from an English pub. Adam says the fish and chips from this pub, Ri Ra, are the closest thing he has eaten to real fish and chips from London. The chips are more like thick potato wedges and the fish is lightly breaded and fried instead of deep friend fish sticks that we get here in the states. Yum!

10. Made Adam a creamy and frothy gingerbread hot chocolate! It's his favorite. I warmed up 1.5 cups of nonfat milk and .5 cup of dark chocolate soy milk.... Then mixed that with dark chocolate cocoa powder and melted milk chocolate. Added a few pumps of gingerbread syrup (we got the bottle from Starbucks... They don't sell it but it's a seasonal flavor and when winter was over we asked if they had extra bottles!). On top of that, I made my own homemade whipped cream to top it off. It was so good and Adam asked me to make him another cup right away! Our instructor Cary even asked me for the recipe. :)



That's my week in 10 quick points. What's something fun or interesting that YOU did this week?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Christmas is coming! We finally put up our tree and it took over 24 hours to do so. We have a 12-foot tree and I was really the only one to assemble and decorate it so it took a while. Adam was busy filming about 50 videos with our marketer this week so I was on my own while he worked hard!

I've been asked what is on my Christmas list and there is actually nothing extravagant or glamorous on it. Since we just purchased a new condo and close on it this week one thing I was is an interior designer to come in and make it pretty and livable. I decorate like a 2-year-old and nothing matches! Another thing I was is one of those iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaners. It vacuums on its own! So domestic.

So there's my list. No handbags, no jewelry, no shoes.... All practical. What's on YOUR list?

Want it Wednesday!

Here's a list of things I currently want. Some are practical, some are totally out of my league and price range. But a girl can dream, right?!

Les Chiffoniers Zig Zag Dress

7 For All Mankind Skinny Cargo's

Joie Santo Criss Cross Booties

Alexander Wang Beanie

Budoir style bedroom... So Sexy!

Manhattan Condo

What is something that you want? Christmas is coming up, time to add things to your list!

Truthful Tuesday

Here's the first installment of something I will be calling Truthful Tuesdays. I will be jotting down my true thoughts, ideas and anything else that comes to mind. Hope you like it!

• Blogging is something I wish I was better at. I read other blogs that are so pretty have great layouts and am jealous that I don't know how to do it and can't devote more time to creating that.

• A goal of mine is to get a junky old piece of furniture and refurbish it to look new and beautiful.

• Never in my life did I think I would love kitties but my two little girls have stolen my heart. But I'm still a dog person.

• Baking is something that I looove and I wish delicious goodies didn't have calories.

• We have had our Brita water filter for about a year and a half and have only changed the filter twice. Maybe I should get on that.

• Considering my occupation I find it ironic that I don't know how to make new friends. Making 'couple friends' baffles me even more.

• The desire to babysit a child under the age of 2 is overwhelming. I need someone to just lend me their child for a day or two so I can get baby fever out of my system.

• I crave my husbands cooking more than any other in the world, excluding desserts.

• Never in a million years did I think I would own a house, a condo, two cars and a business by the age of 24. Even writing that now still blows my mind.

• Anything leopard print makes me happy.

• I haven't drank beer in almost 6 months and miss it terrible but I can't justify the empty calories. I'm waiting for that mindset to kick in with cupcakes and cookies!

• If heels are shorter than 4.5 inches I don't consider them "dressing up" heels.

• NYC is my favorite city in the world with London as a second. I would love to move out of Austin.

• Yoga has become a new love, especially hot yoga.

That should be enough for my first Truthful Tuesday! Let me know what you think. :)

Halloween at the Lyons Den!

Halloween is so soon! It is my favorite holiday, I love dressing up and love getting spooked. Last year we did a crazy horror Alice in Wonderland theme and this year should definitely top it.

I will post pictures of our costumes this weekend but for now just putting up a quick pic of my favorite decoration in our house. These skeleton guys are 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil' and they're adorable. They're small, only about 6 inches tall, and fit anywhere. Check them out on Amazon if you're interested!

I am obsessed with these girls. They are so talented, so adorable, and insane dancers. Enjoy!

Should Girls Waste Your Time Just to be Polite?

Since I work in the field of dating, relationships and pick up, here is a post related to that.

I get approached a lot. Whether it's at the grocery store, airports, the gym, or a bar/club, I get approached just about every day. While it is very sweet and VERY flattering it is something that I find myself having less and less patience for. In my high school and college years I loved being approached because it was new, it was exciting, it made me feel pretty and I was young and naive. Now that I am older, much wiser and more experienced it is a different story.

One thing I have battled with a bit is how to politely say thanks but no thanks. I have tried a ton of different methods and lately have decided that the very honest, "Thank you, but I'm not interested" line would be my default. Simple, effective, to the point, and doesn't waste my time or theirs. Seems fair, right?

Wrong. Every time I have ever told a guy immediately that I was not interested they get angry, aggressive, call me a bitch, say "Well f*ck you" or "You're not good enough for me anyway," and in one instance got REALLY aggressive to the point that Adam and a few of our instructors had to step in.

Last night we were out in downtown Austin on West 6th Street. I was with Adam, our interns and instructors and we were teaching some students. A guy approached me and here is how the interaction then went.

Random Bar Guy: "Excuse me *extends hand toward mine* - What's your name?"

Amanda: "Thank you honey, you're very sweet, but I'm not interested."

Random Bar Guy: "That's a bit harsh... You don't have to be a bitch."

Amanda: "Actually, I didn't think I was bitchy at all. I said it very politely, was upfront and didn't waste your time."

Random Bar Guy: "Hmm.... I guess you're right. What could I have done better?"

Amanda: "I'd have to charge you for that." *wink*

That guy immediately called me a bitch and said I was harsh when I, very politely, thanked him for showing me interest, said he was very sweet, and then kindly said I wasn't interested. Only when I explained it did he then see my point.

So I decided to dig a bit further and put up a status on my Twitter and Facebook saying this-

"Guys: Would you rather a girl tell you IMMEDIATELY that she wasn't interested, or talk to you for a bit to be polite to then just turn you down anyway?"

The responses that I got to this was almost 100% of guys saying they would rather be told immediately. Check out some of the replies below:

These guys are all very confident and assuring that they would like to be told imediately when, in real life, the actual reaction is the exact opposite.

So is it ego? Is it because they like the idea of being told immediately so they don't waste their time and efforts yet in reality they can't handle that type of rejection? Is there a better, more sweet way I can be wording it?

Hmm...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Dinner at Joes Stone Crab, Alexander McQueen Scarf

24 has always sounded older to me than it really is. I am now 24 yet still feel like an 18 year old fratty college kid. Peter Pan syndrome definitely... I don't know if I'll ever grow up!

My 24th birthday was perfect. Laid back and chill, exactly how I wanted it. We were in Miami for a few days so I got to hang out down there and sneak in a day at the beach over my birthday weekend. Adam woke me up with snuggles and a present. Nothing over the top, just exactly what I wanted. My birthday was on Friday and on the Sunday we had dinner at Joes Stone Crab, my favorite seafood restaurant ever.

Maybe we'll do something big for 25th birthday. But this year was amazing... Not just my birthDAY but the entire year overall. Can't wait to see what 24 brings. I'm excited for it.

CPR Certified!

Cary and Melissa practicing chest compressions on the dummy

After watching shows like Lost, the Colony and Burn Notice Adam and I decided that learning CPR would be a great skill to have. We work with people for a living and you never know when an emergency situation might happen.

Last week we gathered our interns and coaches and had an instructor from the American Heart Association come to our house and teach us CPR! We learned basic First Aid to go with it as well as how to use a defibrillator. It was a cool class to take and I am so glad we did! We are Infant CPR Certified as well which is something I also wanted to do.

This is a skill I hope we never have to use, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. It was only $35 a person and this is something I think everyone should do. Contact the AHA in your area, learn this skill and get certified! You might just save a life some day.

PUA Summit

Pleasure Doing Business dress from ShopBop, Christian Louboutin Banana pumps, David Yurman bracelets and ring

Happy October everyone! This time of year is when a lot of conferences and seminar for our industry take place and a few weeks ago was the PUA Summit. The PUA Summit is the biggest conference each year and takes place in LA. This was the fourth year that Adam was invited to attend and speak so we headed over to the west coast for it.

A lot of the big names in the industry go and this year was no exception. There was David Wygant (the guy the movie 'Hitch' with Will Smith was based off of), Bad Boy, Tyler Durden, Mehow, Hypnotica, and others. There were over 70 speakers total over three days and it was held in the Level 3 nightclub in the Hollywood and Highlands shopping center. This was one of the first years that we didn't have a camera crew or journalists following us around, so that was refreshing. We could speak freely without a sound guy hearing our every word.

This is the very first year that I was actually invited to speak also. :) I was asked to speak as part of the female panel that they had and I was the only woman who actually teaches 'pick up.' The other women on it was Erika Awakening who teaches Holistic Belief Reprogramming, Marni Wing who runs the Wing Girl Method, a life coach, a woman who teaches embodiment exercises, and a couple of fashion and image consultants.

That picture at the top is one that Adam took while I was on stage. I was originally under the impression that we would be doing a Q&A panel but about an hour before I went on stage I was told that it wasn't Q&A and I should have a speech prepared. So off I went with my iPhone to take notes on and outlined a talk based off of a question that one of the attendees asked. His question was that as a man he knows what it is like to approach a woman, but he doesn't know what it is as a woman to be approached. So I spoke on a basic 5 point guide on the do's and don't of gaming and what women (generally) think as it is happening.

I have done dozens and dozens of bootcamps and small lair talks in the past where I speak to 10 to 50 guys at a time, but this was my first time in front of a big crowd of 200+ people. It was a lot of fun speaking, I got GREAT reactions from the crowd and I hope I am invited back next year. :)

And of course, the best part.... Adam was voted, for the second year in a row, as the Number 1 Pick Up Artist in the World!!! I am such a proud wifey and I know how hard Adam works for and with everyone we train. And PUA Training was voted the Best Pick Up Company! So I have the Number 1 husband and I work for the Number 1 company.

Weather Inspired Baking

Fall is here! Even though the 88 degree Austin weather will make you think otherwise, the nights are getting cooler and I can feel a change that is saying summer really is over.

Adam loooooves ginger flavored things. Gingerbread, ginger tea, ginger snap cookies... Since ginger is a nice fall flavor I made some mini Ginger Lemon cupcakes. Gingerbread cake with yummy lemon frosting. I topped them with some candy corn to add some coloring and get us even more in the spirit.

Happy fall everyone!

'Til Death Do Us Part!

Blogging two days in a row! Lindsey called me out for not updating so I'm actively trying to do it more often. :)

One of the big things we have coming up is next week and it is when Adam and I go in to the USCIS (US Center for Immigration Services) to finalize our marriage visa! We have done a lot of paperwork and preparation for it and our attorney has helped us gather everything. They ask for a lot of documentation and it is a bit stressful.

The meeting will take place in front of a judge and on top of all of our paperwork (such as application, copies of several forms of identification, birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, tax forms) we are to bring proof of our relationship and love. Things like love letters, notes, pictures, proof of name change, joint bank accounts, insurance, images from our wedding/honeymoon, pictures with family at joint family events.... It will be fun to look through that stuff and decide what is appropriate to present to a judge.

Our appointment is next week in San Antonio so we will go and visit the town also. It will be a good excuse to sneak in some husband and wifey time also. :)

I am happy when this process will be over so that Adam will officially have his visa to stay permanently in the states, we can travel outside of the US again, and can have a normal marriage without different countries laws coming into it!

There is of course one downfall though... When this is done we're going to have to do the process all over again for me with the United Kingdom. *sigh* Being an adult is complicated!

Goodbye Summer

This summer really has flown by. I remember being a student and always counting down the days until the semester was over so that I could do nothing all day and just lay by the pool to get my tan on. This was my second summer as an 'adult' and I actually didn't have much of a summer at all! I remember this past February when Adam and I actively started going to the gym and I told our personal trainer that I needed a hot bikini body for summer. My body was in a bathing suit for a total of about 6 hours this summer.

Even though there wasn't much pool or tanning time I did have a great summer. Here is my end-of-summer recap.

• four trips to NYC
• 18 days in Los Angeles
• trips to Chicago, San Fran, Seattle, Atlanta, and Orlando
• Adam spoke at three seminars
• celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary
• made a trip to the largest water park in North America, Schlitterbahn! (my one time in a bathing suit)
• had a feature story published in the sixth largest newspaper in the United States
• saw three Gay Pride parades in three different cities
• hiked the Austin Green Belt
• went to my cousins high school graduation and had a mini family reunion
• had my bestie come visit
• housed up to 6 house-guests at once (lots of visitors!)
• finally saw the bats on Congress bridge
• went out to Lake Travis on the 4th of July
• took on 4 new instructors and 3 new interns for our company

While it doesn't seem like anything too earth shattering or exciting happened, it was pretty non stop which is how our life seems to always be. I do love fall and now that summer is over I'm excited to see what this season brings! What was your favorite event or activity you did this summer?

Ready, Set, GO!

Hi blog world! Things have been hectic lately, so here's an update on some other changes happening in mine and Adam's life. I am not a runner... I do not like running, I will think of any excuse not to run and I think there are a thousand other ways to do cardio besides run.

Well. With that being said, Adam and I are training to run a race! We are starting slow and will be doing a 5K. I haven't decided which race we will be doing yet, but there are dozens of them coming up in the fall so I will choose one soon. I found a program online called the 'Couch to 5K' training plan and the idea is to be able to take anyone, even the biggest couch potato, and turn them into someone who can successfully run a 5K. Now we aren't exactly couch potato's but we are NOT runners by any means so I thought we would start out slow.

In all honesty, we could probably just go out there and run a 5K right now but it wouldn't be something that I enjoy. I want to learn to enjoy the process of running as well as feel that sense of accomplishment every time I push myself to run a bit further or get better times than my last. So far we are in week 2 of the 8 week training program and I really am enjoying it and looking forward to our runs!

Another huge inspiration for this is my daddy. :) He is turning 52 soon and just completed his first half marathon a few weeks ago.... If he can do that then I can run a 5K!

Dream Design

This is my dream house in terms of decoration. The only change would be to have red accent pieces instead of yellow. How do I get my house to look like this?! We really need an interior designer.

New Work Additions

I have been a bad blogger lately! A lot has been going on around here so here's a quick recap.

We have had about 6 people living in our house for the past month. It's me and Adam, our lead instructor Alex, our tech guy Cary, and Adam's BFF and best man, Kevin is here for 2 weeks and we also had Adam's other good friend, Justin, come visit for a week while he has some work vaycay. Before that we had Richard Gambler, the owner of PUA Training here. Needless to say it is a full house with a lot of people always coming in and out. It's fun but exhausting at the same time. I think we have too many friends! (kidding.)

Besides debating if we should install a revolving door, we have made some great new additions to our business and work. We have taken on 2 interns and a personal assistant. They are all students here at UT-Austin, which we didn't do on purpose, they just happen to all be students, and they each work roughly 10 hours a week for us.

We have them doing a bunch of intern-y stuff like press cuttings, organizing our media folders and videos, monitoring our online presence on forums and Web sites and responding to it, setting up the film studio for when we make videos, running the teleprompter.... It's great to have extra hands at the house when we are doing work.

Our personal assistant is even better. He is a guy that comes in and does work around our house. We aren't home often and don't get to take care of stuff that needs to get done. He has cleaned out our garage and organized it by installing shelves and putting everything away, cleaned out our attic, taken care of the massive ants nest and wasps nests around the house and yard, wiped down and cleaned the window blinds throughout our house and random other tasks that we have.

I never thought we would be in a position in our company where we would actually have or need interns. It's crazy how we have grown over the past 2.5 years and now have a full team of staff that are working with us.

We have been in Austin for a few weeks and will be heading to Atlanta soon. Every time I go it is cold, so this 'hotlanta' thing is a lie. Let's hope we get a real feel for the city this time!

Instilling Good Habits

There have been a few lifestyle changes being made and I thought I would share them with you! The first one, which you can see in the pic above, is floss. Yes, flossing is something our dentist always tells us to do, but how many of us actually do it? I usually do it for like a day or two after visiting the dentist and then just forget. Well I have been making a conscious effort to actually floss daily. Every night when I brush my teeth before bed I floss. So now my routine is brush my teeth, wash my face, and floss. I'm still trying to figure out if you should floss before or after you brush your teeth so I have been experimenting with both.

The next positive change we have made is finally implementing a recycling system in our house. We have a big recycle bin that we take out weekly but that usually just has some big cardboard boxes. We are now recycling all metal cans, plastic bottles, cardboard food containers, and paper items. Most of what we eat and drink comes in a recyclable container and now it feels good to recycle those also.

So those are the good changes we have made. They're nothing huge or Earth shattering, just small steps to help ourselves and the environment. What positive changes have you made or are you working on to improve yourself or your surroundings?

What's in the Box...?

My bestie has turned 24 and with birthdays come presents! I sent Eileen a fun little package and honestly, I'm quite proud of the box and packaging. My kitty babies thought they would help me put it together for their Auntie Leesh also.

Maaaaaybe Eileen will even let you guys know what she got by adding a comment... :)

Call me Betty Crocker!

Yesterday I decided to play housewife, because I do NOT do that enough, and thought I would put my baking skills to the test! And by baking I mean preparation skills because this dessert actually required no baking whatsoever.

Adam loooooves lemon bars and on the back of a graham cracker box in our pantry was a recipe! One quick trip to the farmers market and I was ready to bake. Here's the easy process.

9 Graham Crackers - Crush them up into crumbs

1/2 Stick of Butter - Melt and combine with graham cracker crumbs

::Take this mixture and press on the bottom of a 9x9 pan

1 qt Nonfat Frozen Vanilla Yogurt

6 oz Lemonade Concentrate

::Combine both together in a bowl and beat until mixed and softened

::Pour the Yogurt/Lemonade mix on top of the crust in the pan and spread so it is even

::Freeze for about 3 hours or until hard!

::Top with whipped cream, Cool Whip, or lemon peel to garnish

That's it, the easiest Lemon Bar recipe ever! Adam has a bit of an obsession with ginger things, such as ginger cookies, ginger bread or ginger cupcakes, so I made a second batch and instead of using graham crackers for the crusty base I used ginger snap cookies. He has eaten almost the entire pan!

I enjoyed making them and am hoping that I will be able to cook and bake a bit more. We have a beautiful, fully-stocked kitchen that I don't get to enjoy enough. :)

Do you enjoy the process of cooking or baking? What's your favorite thing to cook or bake? Leave me a comment with your thoughts and maybe I can try out your favorite recipe!

One Year Anniversary!

This past Thursday, July 15 Adam and I celebrated our 1 year Wedding Anniversary! It really is weird that we have been married a year. At some points I think, "Wow, has it really been a WHOLE year??" and then other times I'm thinking "Meh, it's just a year."

I don't consider one year a milestone by any means, but it is still exciting and a cause for celebration. We decided on no presents (let's be real, we buy ourselves anything we want anyway) and just spent the day together instead. We took the entire day off of work and then had dinner at a nice French place off of 6th St., Chez Nous, and then watched the bats under the Congress bridge.

I am more happily married now than I was on my wedding day. We are growing together, learning together and falling more in love every single day. That's exactly how it should be. :)

My husband is my best friend. Cliche? Yes. True? Incredibly.

(photo courtesy of Cary Wan. balloons and flowers courtesy of my amazing husband.)

Joys of Homeownership!

Here's a quick rant on being a homeowner. Our air conditioner has been a bit sketchy lately but it seemed that every time we were about to call an AC man it would jump to life and work fine. Well last week we went to NYC and returned this past Monday. When we got back to our home in Austin, Texas we walked into our house and it was over 100 degrees indoors. The thermostat told us that.

Holy balls, it was hot. It was about 9 p.m. so we call the AC people and tell them what's wrong. Adam asks if it will be able to be fixed tonight or if we will have to wait until the morning because if we have to wait then we will stay in a hotel. The AC guy says someone will definitely be out that night and estimated arrival time is no more than 2 hours.

Fast forward throughout the night, they did not come within 2 hours. When 11:30 p.m. hits Adam drops them a call and they said to wait a bit longer but reassured that someone will be there shortly. At 2 a.m. Adam calls again and gets no reply... He then calls every hour until about 7 a.m. Poor guy, he was up all night! Adam couldn't sleep with the heat in the house and we were all miserable. The kitties looked like they were melting on the floor and were panting all night. We were cooling them down by running ice cubes on their fur.

Anyway, at 7 a.m. the AC company called us back and said they will get someone out between 2 and 6 p.m. At that point Adam flipped his lid because we were told NOT to get a hotel room by the company because they assured us someone would be out to repair it the night before. So with some heavy words and being transferred to the manager of the company, they finally got someone to our house within 30 minutes of that call.

The guy came, did some stuff and left. The AC started working a bit but after about 2 hours the temp of the house only managed to drop to about 85 degrees. Yes, better than 100 degrees, but still very hot and unbearable in this Texas heat. So we called back and they came out again.... long story short, they had to return about 5 times throughout the day before it was finally fixed.

It is now 3 days and a thousand bucks later and our air conditioning seems to be working well without any problems. I now understand why people (especially parents) insist on saving money for emergencies, like health emergencies and home repair. I cannot imagine not being able to fix it because you don't have the money and we are very blessed that it wasn't a big issue.

I do miss the days of renting an apartment or leasing a house where if there was an issue we can just call the landlord or rental association maintenance office and it was their problem and their expense. But we're the owners now, so it's our responsibility.

Oh, the joys of homeownership... And adulthood. :)

Support Local!

One of the things I have become relatively passionate about is supporting local businesses. Texas, Austin specifically, has so many family owned shops, restaurants, products and services and there's so much support towards them. When you walk into an Austin store or restaurant they have decals on the door saying "Thank You For Supporting a Local Austin Business!" I love that and have found myself lately shifting my habits to help them and go to their stores as opposed to the corporations.

The little blue book at the top of this post is one I purchased the other day called CRAVE Austin: An Urban Girls Guide to All that You Crave. It's basically a book of restaurants, boutiques, spas, salons, and any other type of trendy place or service that are all local to Austin with independent owners. That book being published is such a cool idea with awesome places that I might not have heard about otherwise. Now I am going through the book and adding a ton of places to my to-do list so I can keep exploring my city.

One of the easiest ways I have found to support local businesses is by going 'locovore' which is the practice of eating food that is grown locally. We have been shopping at our local farmers market for produce, dairy and meats, all of which are grown or made locally. Another thing to do is look for local items at your own stores. Apparently Texas is big on honey farms and our grocery stores let you know what is local by putting a bright orange 'local' or Texas sticker on the bottles! The picture at the top left is an actual honey counter at one of our fresh food markets where you can bottle your own fresh honey that comes from a local farm.

As a business owner I don't want to keep seeing the Wal-Marts of the world take over. I encourage you all to shop local, eat local, and support local as much as you can. Parents who are able to support their families while doing what they love will thank you and so will your neighborhoods as they continue to thrive. Go Local.

Seattle!

Just wanted to do a quick post about our recent trip to Seattle! It was very cold there, it was in the 50s during the day, and for a Texas girl that is not acceptable for summer time!

Business: We had a workshop there. There were 16 students so we had 4 instructors. We went out downtown in the Bellvue area which was trendy and fun. No real exciting work stories, everyone was fairly normal which is always a blessing and makes for an easy weekend.

Shopping: None happened. SHOCKER! It's a really indie, artsy town so everything had a grungy flair to it which is just not my style. And besides the regular stores that you can find in malls, nothing was special.

Food: Because Seattle is such a seaside town there is seafood everywhere! We ate so much salmon, fish and chips, fish tacos, and shellfish. It was so fresh and delicious. You can see Mr. Shrimpie at the picture above on the right. We went to a restaurant that piled all of the shellfish on the table in front of you and you whack the crab, shrimp, mussels, oysters, lobster and shrimp open with a mallet. That restaurant, The Crab Pot, was featured on Man vs. Food and we ate the meal on the show. It was a LOT of food.

Another cool thing we found in Seattle was The Crumpet Shop. If you don't know exactly what it is, a crumpet is the English version of an english muffin (english muffins are not British at all, it is completely Americanized with just English in front of it). Adam LOVES crumpets and I do also but we have not found them in the states yet. It was so exciting and fun to find a place over here that does them and gives us a little slice of the UK. I know Adam misses London and little things like that always put a smile on his face.

When we were in Seattle it was the weekend of the Seattle Marathon and Gay Pride so the city was a buzz with people. I love pride parades and the eccentricity of it so I loved being there for that.

So that's a summary on my Seattle weekend. I have been to the city a few times before and it still hasn't left a real impression on me, neither good or bad. If you have any thoughts on Seattle let me know, I would love to hear them!

A Week in the Life....

A lot of people assume that because we do our main instructing on the weekend that we just work 3 days a week. In fact, I have had a lot of people even make comments such as "I wish I could work only a few hours a week and make as much money as you." So I would like to give a brief run down of an average week.

For anyone that stumbles across this blog and doesn't know who I am or what I do, my husband and I own our own company. We are in the dating niche and teach men and women, mostly men, how to approach, interact with and escalate things with the opposite sex. Whether it is to escalate it to a friendship, physically, sexually or romantically, we teach it all. We work closely in the 'pick up' community and consider ourselves dating coaches. The name of our company is Attraction Explained, LLC. and I own 100% of the shares in our company.

Now, with that out of the way, here is our week!

Thursday: This is usually the start to our week. Thursday's for us are travel days so this is the day we pack, lock up and shut down our house, and head to the airport. It's usually 1.5 hours pre-flight to get to the airport, check in, get through security, and board the plane. Then about a 2.5 to 7 hour flight (depending on where we are going and if it is a direct flight or whether we're connecting) and another hour once we land to get to our destination. We try to do work on the flights. Thursdays are also usually the days that we meet with any journalists that will be covering our workshops.

Friday: If we have a press piece in the city that we're in, which we often do, this almost always happens on Friday. We have been on either FOX, ABC, NBC and others in every single city we have been to, not to mention the newspapers and magazines, which is amazing and a blessing! Friday's are reserved for prepping for that, going into hair and make-up if needed, and then the media piece itself. Our workshops then begin at 6 p.m. and go straight until 1 a.m.

Saturday: Our workshop continues throughout the weekend and starts at noon, going until about 1 a.m. again. Let me tell you, I spend a lot of time in heels! And that is not a complaint. :)

Sunday: This is the final day of the workshop and it begins at noon and ends at 6 p.m. When it is finished we do a dinner meeting with our instructors and then either explore the city we're in or get some rest. We usually try to sneak in a work out on Saturday or Sunday also.

Monday: Traveling back home is what we do on Mondays. So again, packing up, getting to the airport and actual travel time. Also, this is the day that the reports and write ups are done on our clients along with mail-outs, entering info into our database, etc.

Tuesday and Wednesday: I would love to say that these days are our Fridays and Saturdays but they're not. These are the days that we do all of the home stuff and admin work stuff. Laundry, unpacking, organizing and cleaning our house take up a lot of time. Then all of the admin stuff that has piled up needs to be done! We get hundreds of emails a day (literally hundreds!) that need to be responded to, do interviews with other Web sites and companies, write articles (we write regularly for sites like AskMen.com, have a featured column in FHM, and of course our own site), film and edit videos for our site, book flights, hotels and seminar rooms for upcoming workshops, deal with financials like expense reports and payroll, and do other training like phone consultations.

Also, we do private week-long training in Austin that consists of 70 hours of training over 7 days. Our instructors do a lot of the work (because we're obviously not in town to run them) but we do a few of the sessions as well as most of the organization.

This is not a post about me complaining about my job or lifestyle. In fact, it is the opposite! I love my career, I love what I do and I love the positive impact we have on dozens of men every week. This is definitely an unconventional lifestyle that we live and I wouldn't trade it in for ANYTHING, however it is not a walk in the park.

The reason why Adam and I do so well and are successful is because we work so hard. My dad told me that when you work for yourself you never stop working, and that is so true. If we need money we need to generate that money, there is no one we can go to to get a raise or promotion. But as the saying goes, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

So this is us, the life of a dating coach entrepreneur! We definitely have a lot on our plate which is why we have recently taken on a personal assistant and intern! I will write a post on that soon.

Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July and spends time with loved ones. Leave me some comments about your work, I love to read what others out there do also. :)

Hopped off the plane at LAX with a Dream and a Cardigan...

Adam and I spent most of the month of June in one of my favorite cities, Los Angeles! I love LA because of the weather, different areas of the city, shopping, trendiness in terms of restaurants and boutiques, and of course celeb spotting. We went to run a weekend workshop and then stayed for an additional 8 days to see and explore the city more.

I had a ton of things I wanted to cross of my list and got to do bunch. We went to Santa Monica to hang out by the beach, drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to go to Malibu (which is a GORGEOUS city! - I'm jealous of people who went to Pepperdine), did a tour of the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, and went to Disneyland and California Adventure. Adam and I are planning on investing in property in the LA area within the next few years and plan on buying in the Santa Monica area. We love the beach and the property there is a lot less expensive than the rest of the city, so it was great to see that area more and look into it.

If you ever go to LA here is my list of must do places in the city:
-Kitson on Robertson. Great boutique with amazing clothes, shoes & accessories
-Ketchup on Sunset. Amazing food and Sundays are 50% off!
-Sprinkles Cupcakes. The original Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, incredible cupcakes
-Aroma Cafe on Sunset. Open until 3-4 a.m. and has amazing Mediterranean/Israeli food
-Fred Segal. It's the Barney's of Los Angeles and there are a few throughout the city. The one on Melrose is easy access.
-Neptune's on PCH. Gorgeous view of the ocean and mountains, great fish and chip shop where a lot of biker guys go.
-Fashionphile in Beverly Hills. Luxury consignment store. They carry Chanel, Hermes, Missoni, and tons of other high end designers. If you're looking for a vintage 1950s Louis Vuitton trunk, this is your place.

One of Adam's best friends, J, is originally from San Diego. He is in the military and pretty high-ranked so he doesn't get much time off. He happened to be home while we were in LA so we flew down to San Diego to see him! He picked us up in his private plane which was awesome. It was my first time in a private plane and it was SO much nicer than flying commercial. No checking in, no security lines, no long boarding process, no needing to turn off your electronics... Seriously, it was travel heaven. Adam and I are now working towards getting our own private jet. ;) I wish! So seeing J and spending time with his family in San Diego was great. And that picture at the beginning of the post was a quick pic I took on my iPhone before boarding the plane.

We will be back in LA in about 8 weeks and I am looking forward to it. I am in Seattle as I am writing this post so I will write a future one about this trip. :)

If you have been to LA and have your own favorite restaurants, shops or venues, let me know! I'm always looking to explore new places so I will add it to my list. :)

First Blog Post!

Hey guys, thanks for visiting our blog! Reading blogs has become one of my favorite past times over the past few months and from others starting their own blogs, like Margaret, it inspired me to start up my own for Adam and I to share our lives. Let's be real, I doubt Adam will be posting much, if at all, but this will be about our travels, our work and our family.

So again, thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy what you read!