Hello, hi!

The beauty of your first blog post is that no one is ever going to read it. It is (hopefully) going to buried by a mountain of future posts featuring thoughtful content and lively photos. A clever colleague of mine told me that when she first meets someone, she likes to share an embarrassing story or fact about herself. This breaks the ice, makes others feel comfortable, and lets future friends know that she doesn't take herself too seriously. 

I love this piece of advice so to commemorate my first blog post, I'm sharing a couple stories about myself:

[1] My now-husband rejected me when I asked to him to prom. It was senior year of high school and my girlfriends and I had plans to ask our guy friends to prom in a creative way. My now-husband and I were just friends at the time. I had it all planned out - I'd find him after a school talent show and surprise him with a large pizza that spelled "PROM?" in black olives (his favorite toppings). He would say "Yes!" and we'd have an amazing night dressed to the nines. Well, I did find him and I did surprise him. Except when I opened up the pizza box, he stared blankly at it for what seemed like forever (it was probably less than a minute), eventually glanced at me, and softly said "No." Needless to say, my world and prom dreams shattered at that moment. I walked away and cried. (Don't fret, I eventually had a happy ending + fast forward years later, I married that guy).

[2] I accidentally walked in on my boss while he was at the urinal. Many years ago, I interned at a large financial institution. Mid-way into the summer, my department moved to a different floor in the same building. The floor layouts were exactly the same. On the first day on the new floor, I casually strolled into the women's bathroom and was immediately greeted by a line-up of urinals...and my manager's back. He was at a urinal. An expletive escaped my lips and my boss looked over his shoulder. Our eyes met. I panicked and ran away. I busied myself anywhere but my desk for the remainder of the morning. When I did return, I found a print out on laid over my keyboard. On it was a pictures of the men's bathroom sign and women's bathroom sign. Underneath, my boss had written: "This is for the women's bathroom and this is for the men's bathroom" and with arrows pointing appropriately. Not sure that I had flushed more red than I ever did than at that day! It turns out that the floor layouts were identical, EXCEPT that the bathrooms were switched. I hadn't bothered to look. Of course, everyone on the team heard about it. It was so hard to live down but my boss and I laughed about it afterwards.

So now that you know of my least proudest moments, I can tell you about this blog. The Nines serves as my creative outlet. I'm a career girl but I recognize the importance of having a life outside of work. So here's my blog on style, beauty, and lifestyle. I'm a beauty product junkie, perpetually testing new products that make my life easier or a solves a problem. I appreciate a well put together outfit but I'm not quite fashion forward. I'm a home cook, and know a thing or two making food that tastes good. I'm not an expert in these areas, just a regular Jane who is on the prowl for things that work. You'll find product reviews, outfits of the day/night, and general lifestyle posts. I hope that by documenting my experiences that it helps and/or inspires others to try new things. 

Cheers!