Reading Willie’s post about his first week in New York made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Willie is one of my Project Domino teammates and someone who I fell in friend love at first sight with. 

Opportunity is Everywhere

What’s incredible about being paired with five strangers is that you all come together for one purpose, one mission, and an insatiable desire to do something meaningful. (More on the team in a future post.)

Working with Seth is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It’s been one week. ONE WEEK! And I feel like I’ve learned a year of lessons about myself, what scares me, and what I’m good at in just six days.

With Seth, what you see online is what you get in person. How he writes is how he talks. What he says is what he does. It’s beautiful. One thing I appreciate most is how he’ll call your bluff. He’ll throw you up to the dry erase board to play pictionary so that you learn what it feels like to be wrong and why it’s okay to fail. He’ll take you on a car ride to “brainstorm” so he can understand what’s holding you back. Then, he’ll push you to start instead of hesitate and contribute instead of fear. 

From Night Owl to Morning Glory

Getting into the morning groove has been, by far, the most difficult transition for me. I spent the last year going to bed around 3am and waking up around 11. Transitioning to a 12am bedtime and 7am rise has been quite the wakeup call. I’m glad to say I’m finally getting the hang of it.

Energetic Amber went away for a little while but my skipping down sidewalks and jumping up and down when I feel excited is starting to come back. (Yay!)

My social life is definitely taking a big hit but I gotta say, it’s been a nice catch of breath. 

I <3 the Upper West Side

I thought I was a below 14th street kind of girl. Then I moved into a lovely little apartment in a pretty and quiet neighborhood called the Upper West Side. Elevator building + personal bathroom = win. Best roommate in the world = yay! Close to Central Park and Whole Foods = :). Only a 20 minute ride on the 2/3 to Wall Street = <3. A lovely little balcony = !!!!!!

I must say, I’m really loving it up here. 

2011 is the Year

No, seriously. 2010 was about exploration and discovery. 2011 is about focus and commitment. It’s about shipping great work and surrounding myself with people I love. It’s about deep joy, feeling fulfilled and helping others feel this way too.

<3

Forbes features Ben, Allan, Jonathan & I re: the NYC tech and start-up scene:

Fisher’s vision of a business built within the community and to help the community is indicative of a larger trend—and the commitment of the New York scene to stay strong and innovative. Like Liou, whose Meetup event aims to connect entrepreneurs, programmers and investors, Adopt A Hacker is rooted in strengthening the community from the bottom up.

Fisher also runs a multi-city event called The Lean Startup Machine, a startup competition rooted in the “Lean Startup” principle, a method of using customer feedback to adjust the product or service on the fly. His colleague and friend, Amber Rae, is a founder of New York Night Owls, a weekly meetup of working professionals who’ve found there aren’t enough daylight hours in a week—and commit to working together from 10pm to 4am every Tuesday at the New Work City space.

If offering up couches to strangers and extreme late night commitment isn’t a sign enough of the strength and electricity of the community, consider the Night Owls’ rapid growth. Since March, what started as a late night Twitter conversation between Rae and cofounder Alan Grinshtein has exploded to over 700 New York members and outposts in 30 cities worldwide including burgeoning US scenes in Los Angeles and Boston as well as London, Stockholm and Tel Aviv.

The full article is here. Thanks Meghan for the write-up!

My friend Jason brings 16 friends and 5 courses together for his monthly Reel Tasty get-togethers. This September 18, he invites you to join him for “a very groovy evening! yeah baby! grr” aka Austin Powers meets British grub. Check out the menu and reserve your spot!

kilas:

After 12 years and countless El Zarape burritos, my days living, working and playing in San Diego are numbered. It was 12 years ago this month I sold my drum kit for gas money and convinced my college roommate to drive me cross-country. I was 22, broke and didn’t know a single person, yet open to all possibilities.  Fast forward to now and I’m feeling nostalgia kicking in on the corner of India and A. It’s been a total ride, filled with some of the most amazing experiences people only dream of - and others (especially as an entrepreneur) where I was just trying to hang on.  Would I change a thing? Absolutely not. Do I feel incredibly fortunate? You bet.

San Diego has been very good to me. From the  moment I set foot in this city I never wasted a breath in going after everything I wanted to do. From music, art, film, philanthropy, technology or playing soccer in balboa park, it’s been an epic ride. I feel incredibly fortunate to have made a career out of helping others - my commitment was never about me, it was about showcasing the talents of so many incredible people in the hopes of making this world a little more vibrant and colorful. San Diego made it comfortable for a young entrepreneur with a big heart and lots of passion to get out there and make something of his life. Of course it wasn’t always easy but what in life ever is? I made a shit-ton of mistakes and I’ve learned it’s not about making the mistakes, it’s how you bounce back and push forward. Even with all the bumps, I hope my mark on San Diego is left with positivity and creative optimism.  Contrary to popular stereotypes, San Diego is filled with passionate visionaries - there’s a small army of creatives that are getting things done. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know, and if you don’t - then you should do yourself a favor and seek it out, because you’re really missing out. 

So what’s next? An empire state of mind. I’ve taken a full-time job with a company in Brooklyn that enables people to make a living making things. I’m thrilled to be a part of a community and company whose vision is to build a new economy and present better choices. The handmade revolution is in full effect and in just a few weeks, I’ll be joining the mothership.

And what of Holiday Matinee? After 11 years, I’m happy to report HM is fully alive and continues to grow. The blog just surpassed 120k readers and we even got booted from our hosting provider for having too much traffic. Moving forward, Kiran will be representing HM in San Diego along with amazing contributions from Monique and Catrina. Plus, we just hired an awesome new writer from San Francisco and (hopefully) soon Chicago. We’ve also got an exciting (and totally addictive) iPhone app/game in the works. So, no matter where we end up, I hope you’ll continue to peep HM for your daily dose of creative inspiration.

But for now, I gotta get packing…

EXCITED TIMES INFINITY ABOUT DAVE BROWN MOVING TO NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!