The New Kid On the Block

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Carley Anne

As some of you know, I started a new job on Monday. So far, it has been awesome. A lot of training, understanding what my new role is and meeting awesome people. In fact, I’m not surprised that it’s so great — one of their core values is to “be awesome.” I think I’m finally in the right place.

But it would not be a day in the life of Carley McClintock if I did not routinely make an ass out of myself in a public setting.

In the interest of it being Hump Day and us all being exhausted, I thought I would share with you the lamest thing that has ever happened to me.

I had on a cute outfit the first day of work. Royal blue pants, white blouse, navy blazer and a turquoise belt pulled together with patent leather nude pumps. Really, it was kind of funky and fun but still professional.

I spent the day in an offsite location for training and popped over to my office to talk to my manager and meet a bunch of people. As I was getting off the elevator on the 3rd floor, my shoes touch one another. Because they are patent, they are sticky… so they end up clinging to each other and then it happens.

I fall flat on my face.
Just ate it so hard I thought I scuffed a hole into my pants or bruised my hand. Luckily my bag broke the fall.

Unluckily, there was a guy there to witness the entire thing. And because chivalry is dead, he goes “OMG ARE YOU OKAY?” while continuing to walk by and not even offering to help me up.

Cool.

My life is forever awkward and I am forever embarrassed. Not the way I wanted to start my first day.

But oh well, right? There is always tomorrow where I could… not make an ass out of myself…..

Yeah right, we all know it’s going to happen again.

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How Not To Handle Rejection

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Carley Anne

A few weeks ago I learned that I don’t handle rejection as well as I thought.

I handle it gracefully… until I shatter into a million little pieces when reality hits me.
To say the absolute least, that day was not a good day for me.

Basically no one knew this, but I was being considered for a highly coveted position at our corporate offices in NYC. I would be doing everything I love with social media platforms and new media at a corporate level and learning so much while I was there. It was… one of those too-good-to-be-true scenarios.

I made it to the very last round of interviews and finally found out two weeks ago that I was not selected for the position. This news literally destroyed me in a way I was not prepared for. I didn’t think I was so emotionally invested in this opportunity…
but I was.

To say I didn’t react well would be a small understatement.

I surprised my managers, coworkers and (mostly) myself with the way I reacted — which was a little bit of tears and taking a serious breather.

I followed that melodramatic act up by being all weepy for at least a solid hour in the stock room, trying to be useful but really just internalizing my frustration and channeling it into nothing but boo-hooing and general confusion. (Not a fun combination.)

Really, it was the least productive thing I could be doing and yet I seriously couldn’t help it. Every time I would pull it together, I would realize that everything I had been working for over the past few months was just put to an end and I’d freak out all over again.

It was not okay.

Having been removed from the situation for a few weeks now, I seriously started to wonder why the heck I reacted the way that I did.
Did I feel like I had wasted a year of my life working towards… nothing? Maybe.
Did I feel like the rug was totally pulled out from under me? Definitely.

The one silver lining in this is that the idea of advancing to this position pushed me to work harder in many areas in my life. I can say with absolute clarity that my reaction to this small hiccup in my professional life was incredibly unnecessary.

My main takeaway of this event:
Just because I might have been rejected from an opportunity I really wanted does not mean that one isn’t open somewhere else. I just needed to be patient and keep my head up – which is exactly what I did.

Truth of the matter is, we are not entitled to success in our life times.
We are born blank slates.
We build our successes through perseverance and personal drive.

Because I was so rocked to my core by this news, it forced me to re-evaluate the career path I am on currently.
Luckily, I kept looking and found that open door of opportunity elsewhere.

My hope is that this personal rejection story can help ease any rejection you’ve had lately.

If nothing else, you can imagine me lying on the floor, teary-eyed, and just laugh at me. I also laugh at that too. Embarrassing.

Ellie Goulding, The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Live Shows and Camera Phones (An Editorial Rant)

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Carley Anne

I am the first person to admit that I live my life through the lens of my iPhone.
I value capturing the things that make me happy on my camera (any of my cameras actually) and being able to look back on them. But is there a limit? Yes. I witnessed it on Saturday night.

I was very lucky to receive two tickets to a private Ellie Goulding concert to celebrate the DC Women’s Half Marathon presented by Nike and Interscope Records. To say the least, it was a very intimate setting and even though we arrived late, we were about 10 feet away from the front of the stage.

It was an awesome experience. She sang songs from both albums, bounced around the stage like a little pixie badass, put everything into her mini-concert and looked great doing it.

Because it was such a small crowd, it was easy to get close to the stage and get fantastic pictures of her, so naturally I snapped a few when she walked over to our side of the stage.

This was, however, the first time I was able to see first hand the negative effects of living life through your smart phone lens.

Recently it made waves in the media when The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s requested that after a certain point in the show people put their phones away and be physically and mentally present in the moment. Beyond that, the person behind you doesn’t want to watch the artist through your phone. They came to see them live.

At one point, Ellie came over and sat down on the stage and about 20 phones went up just to take pictures of her. How strange that must be to have more people jumping at the chance of photographing you then of reaching out and connecting with you.

I never thought I would admit this but…
Eminem really had the right idea about live shows.

You go to lose yourself in the music. To hear your favorite artist sing your favorites songs in a way that you’ve never heard them before. You go to make a split second of eye contact and get butterflies because your idol just looked at you and smiled.

When you record every song that you love, you aren’t all there. You are thinking about holding your camera straight, about getting the best shot. You aren’t jumping around and letting the beat pump through your veins.

You are missing out on an experience of a lifetime… just so you can “relive” it later.

Truthfully, there will never be another moment exactly like the one you’re in while you’re at that show…. so what is the answer?
Video tape/take pictures or put your phone in your pocket and jump around while your favorite songs are blasting through the speakers?

There was one person in particular who video taped LITERALLY every song Ellie sang. And he was standing directly in front of me. There were many times that I would just look at his screen because he was blocking my immediate view of the stage with his steady hand and smart phone.

Please see the phone screen in the bottom left corner of the photo.

Like, chill dude.
There are 4 million videos of Ellie singing like that on YouTube.
Being here is special.
Hearing her sing in a room of 400 people is… basically unheard of at this point in her career. I do not want to watch her through your stupid camera phone and neither does anyone else standing behind you.

I think it’s a strange dichotomy.
We live in a world where we share everything.
(In fact, the first thing my boyfriend did when we got to the venue was check in via Facebook and post a picture along with it). We want to share with our friends and strangers that we did something awesome.

In the same breath, are we missing out on the best things in life because we are constantly watching life pass us by through our iPhone screens?

And I know I’m going to hear it so let me address the “hypocrite” slurs.

So, I’ll probably hear…
“But Carley, you took pictures on your iPhone and put them on Instagram. I saw them. What makes you any different?”

Truth is, I’m not different.
I’m just as guilty as the annoying dude in front of me for watching a lot of one-time moments through my iPhone. This was the first night that it became very clear to me what The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s were talking about. In the hour we were at the concert, I probably spent a total of 5 minutes taking pictures. I refrained from using social media until after the show was over and we were leaving.

He probably spent a solid 25 minutes taking picture and video.

I suppose this was my “Aha!” moment. Seeing the difference between living for a fleeting moment and making sure you have proof that you lived through that fleeting moment.

I guess I’d rather have the memories than the videos.

It’s a weird world we live in, huh?

It’s Not Complicated… It’s FRIDAY!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Carley Anne

I’m psyched it’s Friday.
I’m off work. I’m seeing my best friends today. I’m going to a Nationals game tonight. I’m going to a private Ellie Goulding show on Saturday (more on that later!) and the weather is great.

I have very few things to be unhappy about right now, which is awesome.

In honor of Friday, I figured we could all use a good laugh. And nothing makes me laugh has hard as the “It’s Not Complicated” commercials. This is a great example of true genius marketing and innovative thinking.

And kids are so cute and unpredictable.

Enjoy!

San Francisco Fun (Part 2)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Carley Anne

I can’t believe I’ve been home from San Francisco for so long already. I’m sick of this VA weather. Seriously, more snow?! Okay. Maybe it’s not at this moment… but I heard it was supposed to again after Easter.

I’m not okay with it. I want to wear sundresses. Eat lunch outside. Day drink. Go got outdoor concerts. So many things!!

At least I have all my adventures from SF to hold me over until there. Enjoy!

I hope you all had a nice Easter! Did the Bunny bring you anything good?

xoxo

It’s Been Real, OkCupid.

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Carley Anne

It’s over.
OKCupid and I are officially broken up. It was real. It was…. good? But it was definitely not real good.

OKCupid is full of weirdos that message you at 4 am and ask why you’re on the website at all. Or message you and say something so random that you have no idea how to respond to it.

I’m fully convinced that about 90% of the people on there are probably in need of a few practice dates and really only 10% are actually ready and wanting relationships.

Welp. I found someone in that 10% and I’m super happy. Yeah, he’s the one that I kissed in a parking lot. He’s super sweet and I can’t even handle it sometimes. Did I find the one normal person on OKCupid? Probably not.

But we definitely would not have met without the assistance of this strange little website I decided to try out.

Is it going to be happily-ever-after? Ask me again in a few months.

(JUST KIDDING. He’s great.)

Sappiness, over.
Do you have any stories from your online dating experience? I seriously would love to hear them. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in this world!

xoxo

Split Bread // San Francisco, CA

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Carley Anne

One of my favorite things about SF comes as no surprise… the food. Everywhere you go, the food is insane. It’s healthy, it’s fresh, it’s expertly prepared. It seems that everyone dabbles in some type of foodie-ness there and it is awesome.

On our last day, Catherine and I met her sister at her work to say goodbye. Lucky for us, she works at a new restaurant/start up called Split Bread. It is a sandwich shop that has an incredible menu and also serves alcohol.

There was so much to try and not enough time, so we made some quick picks that turned out to be great decisions.

My favorite innovative thing they featured was their QR codes for scanning onto your phone. You use your phone to scan the code and then you can order your lunch and go pick it up!

It eliminates the line-time and probably works well in a city as tech savvy as San Francisco. (Does this exist in DC anywhere? I’m interested in knowing.)

We lucked out with the weather and were able to sit outside and enjoy the last few rays of California sunshine and really, really good food.

It is located right near Union Square, too. So there is a lot of shopping and things to do if you’re ever in the area. I highly suggest checking it out. Ask for Elizabeth and tell her I sent you!