Am I a Yuppie?

Are you a yuppie? I didn't think it was possible! Surely yuppies died with the 80s? I don't drive a BMW nor do I wear Lacoste...but recent rumblings make me think the yuppie may have returned in a new, environmentally conscience but still premium product prefering form, and that you and I (gasp!) may be one of them.

Evidence Point #1: An article from Time magazine in 1984 titled "Here Come the Yuppies!" inquired, "Who are all those upwardly mobile folk with designer water, running shoes, picked parquet floors and $450,000 condos in semislum buildings?

• Ok - I don't have the $450k condo but have you seen housing prices in Seattle lately? I am guilty of the other 3 points. Are you?

Evidence Point #2, #3, and #4: From the most recent issue of European Harpers Bazaar:

• "The 21st Century Yuppie - Y07, if you like - is a more mellow beast, with a heart as well as a wallet. But the genetic link to the city slickers of 2 decades ago is this: a burning ultra-materialism, fuelled by a love of premium products and prestige brands (though we wouldn't want anyone to know it). This is yuppiedom by stealth, and - let's face it - anyone who has ever spent four quid on a bottle of Fiji Water is at it."
• "It's all very subtle. Yuppies 07 (Y07) do their social grandstanding with a nudge and a wink...Call it inconspicuous consumption, but it is still hooked on the right badges; it lives at the right address and basks in the right annual income; it eats the right foods and drinks the right coffee. Looked at this way, isn't the yuppie, in fact, the most conspicuous urban demographic of age? Aren't we still wedded to status as ever?"
• "Scratch the surface of your latest purchase and you'll find the purring heart of someone pretty pleased with themselves, who knows, deep down, that their taste rocks. If you want a definition of today's yuppie, then surely that's it."

So the argument goes that we still want our premium products (iPod, hybrid cars, sushi anyone?) but we want to feel good about our premium products. We are slaves to our ideals AND our bright shiny objects...dear god, I think I might be a yuppie.

What say you?

Playing in a Traveling Band (whoo!)

Being the Rockstar that I am, I will LITERALLY be travelling the globe in the next month: I'm doing 4 continents in 30 days.

Wish me luck.

Found out last Friday that I need to be in Seattle next week for some client meetings and other work so I am off to PNW on Saturday for a week. I haven't been to Seattle in over 6 months so I am looking forward to it and am booking my dentist, eye doctor, physical (please Doctor, can I have some Ambien?) and lunch/dinners with as many people as I can.

Not sure when I am actually going to have time for work to be honest...

When I return the following Saturday, I will be in the UK for exactly 4 days before I head off on holiday to Singapore and then Perth, Australia, for Melody & Leigh's wedding for 2 weeks. I will visit the Shaun and the Rob for 5 days before getting some sun and surf and wine in that fabulous oversized island on the other side of the world. This is my first trip to both places but from what I have heard I am sure I will be going back for more!

When I get back from Australia, I will be in the UK for about 4 days before I head off to Portugal for the long Easter weekend with the Kate and the Danelle. We're renting a car and driving the coast - drinking Port (and hopefully actually going to Porto) along the way. Hopefully by early April it will be warm enough there to keep my Australia tan going!

I need to get some roadies.

Friday's Top Five: iPod Repeat

Because I am not only a deceiving vixen but also a sometimes lazy one, the top 5 on iTunes repeat today....

1. Close to Me - The Cure
2. Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips
3. Love Will Come Through - Travis
4. Fidelity - Regina Spektor
5. Rehab - Amy Winehouse

It's an eclectic list (for me) today - all random lovelies that I found through clicking around iTunes...and truth be told, looking at Jim Carrey's Celebrity Playlist (yes, I feel a little bit dirty).

Happy Friday all!

Which Super Villain Are You?

Inspired (again) by CherryRide (seriously, he finds all the good crap on the Internet first), I took the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz today.

I'm "Mystique". I thought I'd never heard of her but apparently she's the one Rebecca Romijn in the X-Men movies:

"Sometimes motherly, sometimes a beautiful companion, but most of the time a deceiving vixen."

Yup. Sounds about right.

Meow.


Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

Overheard in the Office Today

"I am incredibly urban. I'm street"

"No, you're actually more cul de sac"

Identity Crisis

Sorry for the constantly changing Profile photo this last week.

Inspired by CherryRide's updated photo (which I took!), I thought I would do the same, but then, like a woman, I just couldn't decide.

I think the main reason for going with the non-photo avatar is too keep your privacy but since I don't think any of you would ever stalk me (considering the majority of you are in another country) and many of you work with me (hence not a lot of blogs about work) I don't have a strong need to remain anonymous.

What do you think dear readers? A blog profile photo actually of you or something like the "Famous" girl I have on the right?

Thoughts?
Your will is my action.

Sad and Lonely

We all knew the day was coming and last Saturday it finally did.

Lauren left me. I am once again flying solo at the casa de Recken.

Sadcakes.

Really, she was never mine to keep - she was always just a rental - hanging out at my flat for a month after her sister left and before her work visa ran out. We always knew it would just be a month...but it went SO FAST!!! I feel like she just arrived and now she is gone again...off to the greener pastures of Switzerland, Italy and eventually home to the USA.

I really enjoyed having someone else around - way more than I thought I would. Lauren was so fun. She made me miss having a flatmate and that I like to have someone else in my space. It's more fun with two. When I came home last night after my weekend away it definitely felt a little bit more empty - part of me kept listening for her to come up the stairs.

I think the other part of it is that Lauren leaving represented the closing of a chapter in my London life. Her sister, Jess, came over to London within a week of me. Jess and Aaron were my family here. When they left a month ago, I didn't really feel the impact because Lauren was still around. Now with Lauren gone, I really feel it, and I look around and realize it's not the same place as when I arrived.

Jess & Aaron, Jen & Eric, Kate, Sean, Rob, Shaun, and even Cat have flown the London coop.

That's the thing about London, it's a transitory place.

Suzanne and I have often talked a bit about how our life here feels a bit like college...and I am not referring to all the beer drinking (though that does help the comparison). I mean in terms that everyone is here for a temporary time. No one lives here and does this forever. We work in a mobile business, in a mobile location, where people come and go after a few months or years. We have been shoved together for an intense and wonderful experience -- but we all know the momentum can't last forever.

People change, people graduate, people move on.

So Lauren leaving isn't just about Lauren leaving (though I do miss her dearly). It's a bookmark on a chapter of my London life that is now closed. It signifies the beginning of my own last chapter in London...an idea that saddens and thrills me all at the same time. I am the last of the ex-pats standing. - the others have all gone "home".

What I Learned This Weekend (Versailles Edition)

• Versailles* is HUGE. HUGE. It is a Grand Chateau (the Court), a smaller palace (for the family away from the court), a house for Marie Antoinette (away from her family - a girl needs her space) and a hamlet (small village of about 6 buildings) + a grand canal, a petite canal, 2 large fountains, 2 smaller fountains. and several hundred acres of grounds and gardens.
• You can rent bikes to peddle around the grounds at Versaille. I did. It took me 35 minutes at a leisurely pace to peddle all the way around the canal.
• You do not need to purchase a ticket to spend 5 hours at Versaille. I saved the Grand Apartments for my next trip (I will go back!)
• Marie Antoinette was completely out of touch with reality (yes, I know this is what we all think of her anyway but it takes seeing the complete village she had built so she could 'pretend' to be a milkmaid/commoner to make this a reality)
• No matter how hard I try to mimic the French words exactly as I hear them, I still have an English accent.
• Nutella crepes are always a good idea.
• I can live on croissants, wine and cafe au lait alone.

*photos in Flickr

Friday's Top Five

In honour of my quick trip to Paris this weekend for work on Monday (haven't been to Paris in AGES), top 5 things I love about Paris when I am flying solo or with friends:

1. Musée d'orsay
2. The Cafes: Un cappuccino, et un croissant si'l vous plait
3. Vin Rouge, Vin Blanc, Vin!
4. Walking anywhere along the Seine (so much better than the Thames, nicer bridges, less foot traffic)
5. The Bookseller's Stalls on the Quai de Montebello, just opposite Notre Dame.

I think I might take a little trip out to Versailles on Sunday as I have not yet done that. Photos on Tuesday!