Quien es esa niña?*

When I was growing up, I always imagined that I’d be married by about 23, as my mother and grandmother before me had been, that I’d at least be pregnant with my first child by the time my 10th high school reunion came around, and that I’d live in Costa Mesa all my life.

When I graduated from high school in 1994, I’d used e-mail, but I don’t know if I’d done anything with the Internet yet, and I certainly didn’t imagine the Internet would have any kind of role in my future. When I graduated from college in 1999, I was working at South Coast Repertory Theare, planning a career in theatre administration and dating the fella I thought I’d marry.

Suffice it to say: things haven’t turned out like I expected. (Although according to my mom’s journals, maybe I should have seen more of this life coming…)

I’ve been working in marketing and PR since 2001, and my specialty has been the strategic use of social media and blogs since 2006. I love what I do, and I feel like I’m in my right place career-wise. I’m still unmarried, although I do have a wonderful (and eccentric) man in my life. I’ve lived in the midwest, the Bay Area, and the pacific northwest, and I consider St. Louis my home-away-from-home, although I have bounced back to my home turf again & am now near the beach in Orange County. I’m very happy, fairly fulfilled, making progress every day… just not where I thought I would be in my mid-thirties.

Part of what I do professionally is teach people how to blog with purpose and intent. For the past couple of years I’ve been writing so much for other sites that I haven’t had anything left for a blog of my own, but it seems like it’s time to start putting my money where my mouth is again, so here I go.

My life isn’t where I’d expected it to be, and I suspect I’m not the only person who feels that way. I think I’ll use this blog to talk about some of the joys and frustrations of my surprising life. If you think you’d like to hear about being a go-getting career gal in her mid-thirties, life in a cushy beach town, pop culture (often of the 1980s), marketing, social media, and the other things I think about, this blog’s for you!

*Who’s that girl?