January 2019 update

Hello, everyone! 

I'm sitting here, in the jury duty waiting room with a lot of quiet time.  I forgot to bring my book that I've been reading - so, decided what better time than now to get back into my blog.  Lots to catch up on and so many learnings to share.  The biggest update is that as of the end of September 2018, I am no longer with Storm.  Yes, so it's been about three months since then, and I've been working on focusing my full attention on what matters most in life.

Life tip: You can tell a lot about a person's values by 1) what they spend most of their time on and 2) what they spend most of their money on, and the 3) kinds of friends a person associates with closely.  It's very telling.  

October, November, December Summary 
(Not necessarily in any order): 

1. TIME WITH FAMILY - This is one of the biggest most important part of my life that knowingly and willingly I did not spend enough time with over the past several years.  I'm lucky in that I have a full family, my husband and extended family that was willing to jump onboard to do all that they could to enable me to go out and be in the trenches of startup life.  I'm now daily able to cook for my family, sometimes more than three meals a day.  I get to talk more often with my husband.  One thing is that even while living with a spouse, it's easy to get caught up in life and forget to really connect - so we've been coming up with creative ways to really connect regularly.  We've been solidifying our relationship even more these days.  I get to have quality time with our tot, who is just so full of joy and wonder.  Watching him and being a part of his life is simply the most amazing creative experience I have ever been through.  It's very difficult - and it is so rewarding too.  Nothing worthwhile comes easy.​​
2. HOME OPERATIONS - Last week, to spend the week putting up family photos of all the love and memories we've created together was so refreshing.  I even enjoy laundry these days - particularly doing the laundry of our tot.  Folding his little shirts and pants melts my heart.  I had no idea that as a mom, I would love smelling him and his scent so much.  Intoxicating with love.  My next project is to start the cleanse before our next baby miracle arrives in April 2019.  Cleanse the home of unnecessary items and donate away.
3. RECLAIM MY HEALTH - Over the past couple of years, my health got worse and worse, and worse.  The bottom of my health woes happened in March 2018 to June, 2018.  In June, especially with my birthday and turning another year older, I decided that enough was enough.  An example of what can happen to your body under extreme stress over a long period of time?  Head to toe psoriasis.  Yes.  Head to toe.  Psoriasis.  Personally, to understand how shocking this was for me, is to know that I've been so very lucky to literally have had a handful pimples my entire life (of almost 40 years).  No skin issues ever.  Since then, I've been watching my food intake, getting enough sleep, drinking a lot more water and then some.  I've even done the phototherapy sessions three times a week, changed all of my shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and topical lotions head to toe.  Life changing.  It's only now, more than 10 months since my health plummeted that I've been able to get the psoriasis under control (and I'm one of the lucky ones to be able to do that.)  Side note: once I decided in June that "enough was enough" and that I had to get my health back, shortly after in July we were able to finally miraculously conceive our second child.  It's amazing what can happen with the mind is in sync with the heart and body.
4. COOKING - Not having cooked regularly for years has been draining for me, and my family.  My husband appreciates this language of love, the act of service - and I know it means a lot to him.  While perhaps the modern "feminist" woman may not believe in cooking any more, I am in the camp that to be a truly whole human in this life experience, knowing how to curate, cultivate, and cook your food from start to finish is a really important piece of knowledge that can only better the quality of life for me and my family.  I'm not the best - with continued intentional practice, I know I'll get better and better, and better.
5. GARDENING GOALS - Speaking of which, gardening is not my forte. At all.  I have always had a brown thumb.  Guaranteed.  It has bothered me - and so, one of my life goals right now is to experiment, iterate, and learn to find my green thumb.  I started with this basil plant (it's struggling, but still alive after a few months now).  I'm now on to green onions.  I'm now thinking about adopting an indoor house plant - one of those NSA approved plants that help detoxify the indoor home air like the spider plant or peace lily.  Practice makes perfect.  
6. READING BOOKS - I used to read 1-2 books minimum a week.  I completely fell off the book wagon the past few years and it's been a shame of mine.  My husband will attest, that my book backlog however has continued to grow as my book acquisition habits are still going very strong.  I'm happy to downsize on dresses, shoes, whatever - my books, I will haul them box by box to whatever home I reside in.  Each year consistently, buying books is where I continue to spend.  Kindle still doesn't do it for me - I need to smell, the crackle, and feel of a real book in my hands when I read.
7. SEEING FRIENDS - As we all go through different life stages and chapters, I've noticed friends come and go.  Mostly go off to the side to focus on having a family, or rather, surviving.  This change that we go through as we field life stages used to really bother me - now, I hold on less tightly and assume that the friendship will outlast all the craziness of life.  Made peace.  Now it's literally letting people that are important to me know that I'm here, and that I am thinking of them. Sometimes, the stars of various schedules/ timing have allowed us to meet in person recently.
8. STEALTH PROJECT(S) - This is taking up a lot of time.  A lot of time.  Some parts of it are great because I'm meeting some very interesting new people and disciplines.  Some parts of it are amazing because I get to reconnect with some of the most brilliant minds I've ever known in hopes of working together again soon.  Some of it is trying to wrangle up enough of the right kind of energy to push a ball forward into the light.
9. WTIA BLOCKCHAIN COUNCIL - This also takes up a bit of time, and it's worth it.  Humans do what we do, we tend to work in silos and we each want to be the owners/leaders fighting for the same principles in many ways.  The Blockchain space is no different.  The Council is about: 1) bringing those of influence together to lift Seattle to be one of the great global hubs for blockchain technology.  It only makes sense when you think about Seattle as being the cloud capital (with AWS/Azure), enterprises, technology talent, and more.  The Council is also about 2) helping bring about awareness and educating the general masses about blockchain.  The current dialogue is wrong in that blockchain equals bitcoin which equals evil and money laundering.  We can change that, together --> and together, we shall rise.  
10. MENTORING & SERVICE - Something I will always do until I die.  My husband calls me the "social worker" who can't help it.  I want to help others, I want to bring people together, and I want to do good.  I've been that way since I've been very young.  I can't help it.  Mentoring students at the University of Washington, working with other female founders of the Female Founders Alliance and Ready Set Raise, meeting founders at Galvanize, and more.  It's always great for me to stay fresh in learning about how other founders and entrepreneurs think and the problems they are working to solve.

Okay - that's the update in a nutshell.  More updates to come.

​--Arry