James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia

Posted on March 17, 2012 by MAL

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and I realize that I don’t have a lot of time to write anything remotely profound about this week. However, this week was pretty damn profound.

On Monday, I was lucky enough to have a client fly me and one of my account managers to James Madison’s (yes, our founding father) Montpelier (over 2,500 acres of land) in Virginia for the first-ever excavation of the grounds. (Evelyn, the account manager, was live-blogging and live-tweeting during our time there. We set up Minelabevents.com for this purpose.)

What was so interesting about this is that my client (Minelab Metal Detectors) partnered with Archaeologists to dig up artifacts only 4-6 inches below ground – this had never been done before. Not a group that typically works together.

However, as Evelyn wrote, “Whether the interests revolve around Civil War artifacts or Native American reservations, everyone seems to have a passion for history and what lies below the ground. The difference, as [Justin] Herbst, Archaeology Intern at Montpelier, puts it is “shovels to trowels.”

Since this was a private estate, no one had ever plowed over anything, so all the finds were just below ground level. I was only there for the first two days, but during that time they found:

a Civil War Officer’s button on a jacket,
a bullet from the Civil War era,
lots of rusty nails (doesn’t sound exciting, but to an archaeologist, this will tell them a lot!)
a wrench from the 1920′s
Metal chains

These guys were so passionate about what they do, and some have been in the metal detecting business for over 30 years. A community that I never really knew about, and here they are working with archaeologists to uncover history about one of our founding fathers.

To them, you could tell that it got emotional while down there. As soon as George Washington passed away, his entire estate was entombed, but that hadn’t happened for James Madison. They were deeply proud to be a part of this part of our nation’s history.

I never really considered myself a city girl, but to them – I was. And after sleeping in a house full of lady bugs, japanese beetles and ghosts, and having to pee in the woods – I realized that the city was definitely where I felt most safe.But these were true blue group of men (and a few women!) – I felt like I was meeting the heart of America.

Not to sound cheesy, but they were so kind, so humble and so passionate about what they do, that I couldn’t help but feel so proud of my country in that moment. There are so many ridiculous things happening in the United States right now – talks of closing (or taking away federal money from) the only nonprofit birth control clinic in this country, Planned Parenthood, bumper stickers that take us back in civilization 70 years, millions of people still without jobs…it’s nice to be a part of something that is positive, and reminds us where we came from.

A New Year’s Resolution – quite literally

Posted on January 8, 2012 by MAL

I was very excited for New Year’s eve this year. Last year, we spent it with Jock’s brother and girlfriend and had an amazing time. See examples below:

So, this year was MY sister’s turn! For Amanda, it had been her first time out on New Year’s for nearly 5 years – being a single mom, and then pregnant last year will do that to you. We also had a fabulous time. See examples below:

During all of this merriment, however, my purse was stolen. Those f&*%ing bastards!!!

Despite the club being a private club where Guillermo (my sister’s fiancé) knew 60% of the people inside, and despite the fact that we had a private table, someone yanked my purse from underneath my coat, and ran off with it. It gets worse – not only was my wallet, new Windows Phone and makeup in there, but Jock’s $200 Hugo Boss wallet with all of his cash and credit cards was in there as well. He never gives me his wallet to put in my purse when we go out out – so this stank even more.

We searched the club up and down for about an hour before we gave up, and decided it was a lost cause. I tried to rationalize – perhaps someone took the purse by accident, thinking it was their own. There was only one problem with that thought – my purse was BRIGHT orange. Jock’s brother had bought it for me for Christmas from Top Shop in London, and I highly doubt there was another purse in that club even remotely similar to it.

So, at 2AM, we went home, and suffice it to say – all that fun we had earlier in the night was sucked out by the fact that neither Jock nor I had a wallet, any money or any credit cards. You start thinking about the little things that you lost in that wallet when you’ve been violated like that – such as the lucky $2 bill that my best friend Courtney gave to Jock, or my USC student ID that never expires, and allows me to get discounts all over Europe, or the one pound coin that we found in our backyard in Bristol that dates back to 1882. The credit cards and ID’s can be replaced, but that kind of stuff can’t.

We called the cops, and I met with them the next day in Baltimore City. At first, they acted as if I were the suspect – asking me questions like, “Well, why didn’t you call us as soon as it happened?” Quenching the urge to cry and yell, “I didn’t steal my own purse, damn it!!”, I simply told them that Guillermo knew the owners of the club, and we decided to wait until the next day to see if it turned up because we didn’t want to waste the police officer’s time.

They liked that answer. We filed the report, they left for ten minutes to “search” for my purse, and came back with no answer.

THANK GOD Jock and I had just been abroad and had our passports in our suitcases, or else there is no way we would have been able to get on that plane the next day back to Chicago. And, as much fun as we’ve had over the last months, we were really ready to get back.

We got back home to Chicago, slightly depressed and really annoyed at what happened. I kept going over and over in my mind how it could have happened – there was always someone by the table, and my sister’s purse was right next to mine, but they didn’t take hers. Then, I decided I would be grateful for what I did still have, and tried to make myself feel better by realizing that it was just a material object.

I kept checking our credit cards, and nothing had been charged. Jock urged me to cancel the cards, but I just had a feeling something might happen. I decided to just carefully monitor them.

Two days later, at 10:15am, I see a call coming in from a number I don’t recognize in Baltimore. My stomach lurches, and I have this feeling…..

MY FEELING IS RIGHT!!! A kind woman and manager of the Professional Arts Building three blocks away from the club (named Charmaine) has found my purse. I should say that the janitor found my purse in the trash chute, and handed it in to her. My business cards were in the purse, and she called me.

I couldn’t believe it!!! She said everything seemed to be in tact, and my ID and credit cards were all in there, as well as Jock’s credit cards. There was even cash in an envelope that my Grandmother had given to Jock as a Christmas present. When we received it two days later (thanks to my incredible sister and mom for picking it up), we saw that everything had been shuffled around, and actually, there was no cash nor any sign of Windows Phone.

So, clearly, someone had stolen the purse after all. I just can’t believe the janitor found it in the trash! The likelihood of it being buried under something, and never being found is quite high. I feel so lucky. You can laugh all you want, but I truly believe I have a guardian angel watching over me.

My thoughts before the purse being sent back: 2012 is going to be a really shit year.

My thoughts after receiving purse in the mail: 2012 is going to be the best freaking year of all time – I’ll get a book deal, a movie deal, and SocialKaty will become the best social media marketing company in the country! I’ll get engaged, grow my hair really long, and get in kick-ass shape. Hell yeah – bring on 2012!!!

Clearly, I was very excited. I know it seems crazy, but this has made me truly remember how good people can be (and how bad), but mostly how good they are. What a whirlwind of a week.

What are your goals for 2012? And do you have any crazy stories from the holidays??

What does success mean to you?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by MAL

Giving back isn’t something I’ve been particularly good at.

One year my family and I worked in a soup kitchen for Christmas, I was the spokesperson for the National Rainforest Association at USC, and I went to impoverished schools to teach them improv during high school. But, I could do more. We all could.

Digital Hope is an organization that reminds me that I want to do more.

Digital Hope is a nonprofit organization that performs volunteer projects around the world for high-impact, independent organizations – places like orphanages, wildlife sanctuaries or schools – and they use the power of social media to fund each project.

Johnny Roa, the founder of Digital Hope, asked me a question last weekend – “If you found a large amount of money lying on the floor, what would you do with it?” I paused, thoughts of movies being made, flats in Paris and travel immediately entered my mind. But, I honestly didn’t know exactly what I would do with this large undisclosed sum.

He did. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with a large sum of cash (mind you, he didn’t find it, he earned it.)

That’s also a similar question he asks donors: “If you are going to donate money, wouldn’t you want to know exactly where it was going?”

Well, many nonprofits give less than 50%, some as bad as only 1%, of all donations to the actual cause – allowing the rest to go to administrative fees, salaries and well, could you call it profits? Johnny tells me that there are even a few cases where for-profits masquerade as not-for-profits. (Click here and here for examples of both.)

Another thing that Johnny discovered while researching other charities and non-profits was that many of their CEO’s were making nearly half a million dollars, sometimes more. Upon first glance, it seems fair that if said CEO’s work hard, and contribute to the well-being of others that they should be given a fair wage. However, what most people don’t realize is that this means the first 15,000 $20 donations would go directly into the CEO’s pocket. If you donated your hard-earned money, wouldn’t you want to know that it was going to the people and the causes you were fighting for, and not the CEO living in his/her penthouse apartment?

Johnny wanted to find another way to live his life.

I interviewed Johnny back in December for a completely different thing entirely. He also happens to own a few companies himself, one of which is a user-experience strategy and design firm called AKTA. The interview was for a presentation he was giving at a midVentures DESIGN + DEVELOP series (midVentures being the company I used to work for, and who recently threw Chicago’s TechWeek). He answered the email from a bus driving through the Chilean mountains.

At the time, I thought: This guy certainly has it all. Successful businessman, world traveler. What more could you ask for?

But, he had already started thinking about the “best case scenario,” as he calls it. Before Digital Hope, his “best case scenario” basically involved making money, making other people a lot of money, employing others, traveling as he likes, etc – all that comes with a comfortable lifestyle. He writes in a blog post:

“I posed this question to my best friend when I was first thinking about Digital Hope: “can you imagine the best case scenario of a day’s work being that you saved a child’s life, or put a roof over a family’s head?”. Even as I was saying it, I knew I had to have that. I must know what it feels like to have an outcome other than the traditional definition of success.”

So, he started Digital Hope, he gave a large sum of his own towards this charity, he’s finding incredible investors to put money into the administrative day-to-day operations (to make sure that 100% of money donated by you and me goes to help those in need and NOT pay for their operations). He and his best friend Ruairi Hyland, are trading the big city life for a life on the road, living out of a backpack, traveling the world helping those in need.

Yes, they will change the world, I have no doubts, one brick at a time.

They are searching for underfunded charities the world-wide who have great people behind them, but just need a little more money, a little more time, and a little more help. Digital Hope will use social media to find donors, to spread the word, to film their interactions with the locals, and to show you how they are helping. They want the donors to see where their money is being used (and no, their airfare and accommodations will not be included in that).

They are literally giving hope to others through digital means.

Jock is inspired, I am inspired. If I go missing in January, it’s because I have packed myself into Johnny and Ruairi’s suitcase. If you want to find out more, please follow them on Twitter, and check out their website.

Wedding Highlights, Part 2

Posted on July 8, 2011 by MAL

It started with a country road.

And ended with a roast dinner at “The Snooty Fox Inn.”

Somewhere in the middle, we slept in a loft on Knowles farm, got lost for over an hour and a half on other country roads in Wales, watched as the most lovely couple in the world walked down the aisle to exchange vows, toasted champagne, listened to a doting father boast about his beautiful daughter on her wedding day, ate the best paté in the world, danced in heels til our feet got swollen and took some pictures in a fancy dress photo booth (images below to prove it).

And no, we won’t talk about another bouquet landing at my feet – because, my God, that would just be RIDICULOUS!

One bouquet at a wedding thrown in my direction. Fine. Second bouquet at a second wedding, I’ll admit, I may have dove for it.

But a third bouquet??

I stared at it as it sailed past all the hopeful bridesmaids, the bitter friends and the gleeful wives (yes, there were some wives mixed in – hoping for another marriage?) towards my head on the far right side of the hill. I summoned all my telekinesis power to inch it in another direction so as not to look the desperate fool that I apparently am becoming at weddings. But alas, I stepped an inch away, and the darn bouquet landed at my feet…AGAIN.

Jeers and bewilderment from the crowd as they didn’t understand my torture and embarrassment. What woman could dare step away from a bouquet coming towards her head, they all thought to themselves (some said out loud). Surely, had they known, they would have pushed me out of the way themselves – thinking Selfish Cow, how many bouquets do you want to steal from other women??

As the bouquet smashed to my feet, I unwillingly picked it back up, and tossed it back to the bride. “I’ll have another go,” she yelled back, catching it, and smiling in understanding. I nodded modestly, and picked up a loose rose, tucked it in my ear and watched as she expertly tossed it to her willing sister in the front row.

The rest of the night I fielded many questions as to why I let the bouquet go astray, and I understand! What single gal wouldn’t want to catch it? Well, I have my pride! And as a three-time bouquet catcher, I will not be marred as the “one who hogs the wedding bouquet spotlight.” No, it’s time to let the other women shine, and let them hope that they might be the next to get that ring on their finger. I’ve had my time.

Time to sip some more Jameson.

The rest of the wedding couldn’t have been more perfect. Her lacey dress was glamorous, sophisticated, modern-yet-vintage and they both were glowing.

The ceremony was in a church that only holds one wedding per year (hence why Gini from our bed and breakfast referred to it as “The Wedding”), and the sun shone the entire day. Everyone was in great spirits, dancing the night away to a live band crooning out oldies to the tones of Marvin Gaye and James Brown, and mixing cider with beer with champagne and shots. Gemma thought of everything – her attention to detail was impeccable.

Besides the cab getting lost on the way back to our farm house, and taking nearly an hour to find it – it was an incredible time. I’m so so happy for Gemma and Liam.

These type of weddings make me believe that true love is possible, and will last.

Plus, it was so great to be able to catch up with Jock’s family. I do miss them all, as I know he does as well. Little Olivia (Jock’s third niece) has grown up so much in a year! She’s walking and babbling, and I swear she said “Meagan” once! Ok, maybe it was more like “Magum.”

We picked up his other nieces from school a couple of times, and I love seeing them growing up to become wonderful little girls. At one point, the middle child, Grace, said to me – “Can you hear yourself speak? Do you know you are speaking like an American?”

Back in England

Posted on June 30, 2011 by MAL

Did I mention I was back in England?

I am! It’s our good friends, Gemma and Liam’s, wedding in a small town at the very West of Wales called Pembrokeshire. We’re stopping off in Portsmouth back at Jock’s parents house before picking up Tommo and Greg in Bristol, and then heading off to the wedding.

I don’t remember everything being so small. I mean, I do, but I think I thought I had imagined it. But no, the houses and cars and streets and buildings all remain very small, and dare I say it? Quaint…

The past months have been a learning time for me – learning to readjust to working life, learning how to live in the midwest, and almost re-learning a bit of my independence. When we lived in England, I was very reliant on Jock for most everything – directions, money, car, friends, social life and support.

Now that we’re back in the states, a lot of that has changed. We’re both working, I am making my own friends, as is he, and we don’t have a car, so directions aren’t needed. It feels good to reclaim that, and now that I’m back in England, I feel like I’m looking at it all with fresh eyes – the past, England, his family and what it was like to live here. I could certainly live here again…

I don’t often admit this, but I think there was a bit of shame in me living off someone almost completely. Granted, I was writing my novel, and tending to my running, etc…but in the back of your mind, you can’t help but feel a bit useless for not bringing in money or contributing in that way. Jock, at this point, would shrug and say ‘it was what it was,’ and we had to make ends meet, and I would have done the same, etc. All very true, but as much as you tell yourself that, it still feels (for lack of a better word) icky.

I look forward to seeing all of our old friends and reconnecting.

I can’t say what it is yet, but there are more changes to come in the next year. Everything feels so exciting.

I was watching the movie, “The Adjustment Bureau” on the plane ride over here (while the woman next to me rested her baby on my lap and took a nap, and her other son screamed in my other ear…and did I mention the 50 Americans all wearing purple shirts that literally had a big crown on it with the words “What Makes a Man a King?” – embarrassing) -

ANYwho…the movie, “The Adjustment Bureau,” is mostly about these “angels” or “men in suits” who tinker with a human’s free will. They adjust events so that everything goes “according to plan.” I’ve often felt this throughout my life, why I dropped my bottle of water on the way to the plane, or bigger events – like walking down a back alley in Amsterdam only to run into old friends from LA, or in September walking into LaGuardia just at the moment that my 2005 roommate from Paris was flying out – but I really do feel like there are angels who have my back, and steering me down the right course.

But more on that later…(and why my plans are coming together)

Now, it’s time for some tea.

P.S. I got into the country safely, obviously. I was questioned by the guard, but he said I would probably have to be detained each time because of the Visa that got denied a few years back. Such silly legal advice we got. But he was very nice, and said that the more often I come into the country, the better it will be.