Can you have a work life and write a best seller?

Working on a book. Any advice from writers? How do you manage to find time to write your book AND live your life with your day job?

Working on my best seller, book turned movie, but I feel like there's not enough time in a day. Advice? Suggestions?

Adventures in time management - It's 10 am already?

With work picking up, getting deeper into married life and (the latest update) my brother living with us, it doesn't seem to get much busier than this. I find myself waking up at 5:30 am working all day until about 6 -7 pm and heading home to get ready to start it all again. On good days, I will force myself to quit around 6 and go to the gym. The good part of all this is that I'm losing weight because I don't have time to eat AND I am forcing myself to workout. Go figure!

I've always known that I work much better under pressure, but the whole time management thing comes up again in my life. A friend and I have recently hired an Assistant Account Executive, which immediately lessened some of the smaller tasks at work, however, I struggle with not giving her 'assistant'-type tasks just to cross off things on my to-do list.

Slowly but surely I am learning how to reorganize my time and making sure that I am taking time for myself. I stay away from the computer as much as possible on the weekends, that doesn't actually seem too hard for me.

After all is said and done, I have to remember that I am a human and can't work like a machine....or can I?????? What do you do to take time out for yourself and enjoy life a little?

I've let my fans down....

Ok, I probably don't really have any fans, but I've definitely let myself down. For the past year I have been struggling with (and depressed about) my weight...starting and stopping diets and just not really getting back to the way I need to feel and look to be happy. I use excuses like stress (which is a really big one), lack of time, my wedding (which is a really bad one), being tired and others to avoid really focusing on any particular plan. Yesterday, I decided NO MORE!

I know, I know.."we've heard this before, Ronjini, you always fall off"..Not this time my friends. yesterday I took the bold step of stepping on the scale, something I have feared to do for months now. Anyway...I can't tell you the embarrassment that is my current weight, but I can tell you have 22 pounds to lose..Can you believe it??? 22.

I don't want to, but I had to face facts. So, I got home, took a shower and went to the post-its. I got out my big fat Sharpie and wrote my weight largely on three post-its. I posted one on the refrigerator, one on the bathroom mirror and one right here next to my keypad on my Macbook. Now, I can't get away from it. Every week from now until minus 22 pounds, I will update my weight (hopefully it will get smaller), to keep my motivation fresh.

I'm cutting out carbs, excess sugar (but not sugar completely), sodas (but not fizzy water) and pretty much anything artificial. I will make healthy salads, eat tons of boiled eggs, tuna, stuff like I did the last time I had a huge weight goal (unfortunately that was only a 10 pound goal). And of course promising to work out everyday, twice if Tennis is one of the workouts (to me, Tennis doesn't count for some reason). Lately, I've been struggling on runs and I now think its because I weigh too much. Oh well, I'll check in soon and you'll see...don't worry... you'll see.

Settling into married life.

Blog friends,

So here we are, nearly a month of being married and it's definitely different. I feel like it shouldn't be since we lived together prior-to, but it is. It's sweeter, we're married. I can see that we are definitely in a "Honeymoon phase", or perhaps its just the fact that the stress of the wedding isn't impairing our judgement and pestering us anymore. We are relaxed, happy and things feel light again. I'm beginning to feel closer to normal, but the new pressures of marriage and my own personal goals for 2012 are definitely keeping me on my toes.

The gorgeous weather in SoCal is helping our transition into married life and giving us our daily dose of Vitamin D, but my mind is pondering the thoughts of moving away some place new for another great adventure. The Hard Rock Hotel & Resort, Punta Cana was a beautiful honeymoon destination, but we could have used a couple more days there to fully de-stress and enjoy the island, but a fantastic getaway nonetheless and our first time in the Caribbean.

Well...now we're back on our feet and preparing for the next big thing. I'm not quite sure what that is yet. We still need to situate little things like monthly chores, who's responsible for what, stuff like that. I hate organizational conversations, they feel like a business meeting, but are necessary for US to maintain a sort of balance. We've become pretty good at that already, so its not too taxing to figure out. More soon, I'm sure he'll do something very husbandly that I'll need to talk about.

Cheers,

Mrs. Ronjini Joshua

The end of an era!

As you may know, the last year of my life pretty much revolved around planning a wedding day, one single day that would be imprinted in my mind forever. I LOVE thinking about this day and finally realize why people say that it is the most important day in a girl's life...probably a man's too, depending on if he's a jerk or not.

My wedding day was the most strangely tranquil, magical and happy day of my entire life. It is just an indescribable experience to have everyone you love and that loves you, to share a ceremony that is magnifically (<--new word) important with the most important person in your life.

To make a long story short, it was a great ceremony and crazy fun party. I feel like everyone really had a great time, which was my main goal. It wouldn't have been as great without someone handling all the day-of details. (NOTE TO BRIDES: you MUST have a day-of coordinator if nothing else.) I am so excited to begin my life with my new husband. We are taking the month of January to organize and situate ourselves and plan for the rest of the year and set timelines and goals. I love January for that reason, I end up feeling so organized.

Oh yes, we got great wedding gifts and I have enlisted the help of my new CrockPot to make this Chili recipe, as my very first slow-cooker recipe. Wish me luck, 4.5 hours to go.

Married life, here we go.

Things that make me right round baby, right round...

I have acquired some things that I can't live without most new, some old, but I wanted to share with everyone because they are awesome and may be interesting for you too. It would be crazy for you all to like the same things I do, wouldn't it?

Here we go. First and foremost....

(Philip Stein Large Gold Chronograph Watch, I've been dying for this thing and

finally decided to make the purchase. Woohoo!)

(Zebra Piggy Bank from Target, on sale for $5. You can find other great designs here.)

(Palmograph and Elephant posters from Urban Outfitters, for the guest room.)

(Marc Jacobs, discontinued Gardenia and Cucumber body mist. I had to find them on eBay. Perfect fresh mist when you want to smell and feel fresh.)

(Precious gold-plated floral measuring spoons set (no longer available, Urban Outfitters). UO has some really cute housewares right now that are worth taking a look at.

What are some of the things that you can't live without this month? Beauty secrets? Housewares? Gadgets?

Simple Pleasures

- Riding my bike to Trader Joe's
- SoCal in the summer time
- Playing football with Chaka
- Trying a new recipe
- Fresh-squeezed Watermelon and lime juice

Busy, busy, busy...

As you can see, I've always been somewhat of a busy bee...

It's more true now than ever. Alongside the launch of my new website and business, I've been doing a lot of re-organizing. I've been spending way too much time with Cupcake's and Cashmere's Home Improvement blogs. I have cleaned up the junk in our place and reorganized my office space, to be a more conducive work environment.

Along side reorganizing, I've been doing a lot of traveling for new business (and of course, recreation) and lining up networking events to go to. I almost forgot the most important thing...maintaining my new diet and workout regimen, which actually can be accomplished with my 'new' life.

In fact I have been so busy, I let this blog slip by for way too many days. I've lost myself in running and work. I guess that just happens when making new life changes, but I was caught off guard about how much work and time it eats up. The best thing of all is that...it's all for me. The changes I wanted to make in my career and life are slowly becoming reality and its all very tiring, but so exciting at the same time.

I can't wait to see what happens next. I gotta start working on that book of mine.

The good life - TheSilverTelegram.com

The week before last, I launched my new business, TheSilverTelegram.com a public relations consultancy, focused on brand building and good PR. This is a huge change in my life, along with helping to build another business as well (to be announced later).

It's so much hard work, but also completely rewarding. It's funny that being on your own work schedule can be so much more physically demanding, but the mentality is so different when you're working for yourself. It is definitely only for certain types of people. For so long I have wondered why my focus and interest wasn't quite right at agencies I've been at, now I know.

With my persistent ADD, running my own business feeds all aspects of my mental hunger. Now I just need to stay organized, which isn't very hard for me anyway. I am so excited to pursue my business and hopefully maintain successful relationships in the coming years. This way I can continue to travel regularly, enjoy life at home, cook more and be in better physical shape among other things.

I have also considered getting a small loft in Downtown LA, which would be nice. That may be coming soon, depending on the next few weeks. Anyway...I am officially an entrepreneur and hope to continue expanding my portfolio to the other two businesses (now three) that I hope to pursue throughout my life.

Frustrations of a chronic dieter - part 2011

AHHHHHH! This will be a short blog post, and it's probably not even a good one at that. Why can't I get my dieting act together? It's really not enough to workout, the key is what you are putting in your body, I know that but it still doesn't help.

What I decided that I need is a personal chef to make my meals and put healthy snacks at my fingertips. The best solution would be to stop eating altogether, but REALLY? That's not going to happen. I realize now, with my rapidly increasing age, if I'm going to do anything life changing about my diet and/or my body I've got to do it now. I'm definitely not getting any younger.

This weekend we went to Fiesta Hermosa, which was a wealth of small retailers and independent artisans, it was really quite lovely. We came unto a group that is a family farm and signed up to get fresh produce delivered to our place bi-weekly from Farm Fresh To You. That is the start I guess, first delivery comes on Friday. I'm pretty excited about it, but I just have to make sure to cook the stuff and not let it go to waste.

This will be the organic, nutritious part of our diet I guess. I'm really eager to try this out and see what kind of fresh produce that I get in my box. Wish me luck, I need LOTS of it and some motivation (I may just be PMS'y though, grrrr).

Cheers and happy hump day!

A few of my favorite things...

I was reading some of my recent blogs and saw that I've become so serious lately, which is what happens when you bury yourself in a hole to make something big happen. Anyway, to relieve some of that musk that has come over the blog, I decided I needed to be a little bit more frivolous by sharing just a few of the things that I love (partly inspired by Cupcakes and Cashmere's Five Things).

Brooks Green Silence Running Shoes, my most recent footwear purchase. I got them at Sport Chalet, but you can get them at Zappos.com. Minimalist shoes that change the way you run and make you feel barefoot without looking like an alien with those foot glove things.

I have always loved Orchids, but never know how to take care of them. This baby is nearly a month old and lookin' strong. I'm proud of myself and she is beautiful.

My version of 'the little black dress'. Diane Von Furstenberg blessed me with this little number from my favorite place, Nordstrom, of course. She didn't bless me herself, she led me to it is more like it...in spirit. LOL

What's more important to go with a fancy dress, than some great shoes!?

Vera Wang Lavender Pumps. I stalked these shoes online and waited for them to go on sale before I bought them. When I put them on my feet, it was more than worth the wait.

Okay, so I inherited this from a previous beau, but I'm so glad I did. Getting through long work days when you're working from home, is much easier with your turntable at your side. You can find them for reasonable prices on Craigslist or even from Guitar Center.

One of my more recent finds was this earring stand and the necklace stand behind it. Where did I find this phenomenal creation to organize my jewelry? Marshall's of course. I'm not so keen on going through racks of clothes at Marshall's, but when it comes to knick-knacks and home goods, its not too shabby.

Last but definitely not least (his ears must have been burning, because he came in here just now)...

My trusty sidekick Chaka. The love of your pup is something that NO person can give you. I wouldn't give this guy up for anything...unless he pees on me again...he's out tha door!

Happy Friday!

Swimming is DAMN hard!

Meet my arch nemesis.....

Yeah, so what it's a pool? This is the Lakewood YMCA pool. I have incorporated swimming into my training to build my endurance (which apparently fled from my body when I packed on the pounds at my last job). This morning was my first swim workout. The result? I am a sucky swimmer. Going just one length of the pool had me panting like my dog after a run.

Isn't waking up at 5 am hard enough, without gasping for air and choking on pool water? I couldn't cut the freestyle the whole time, that s*** is hard, so I went with the breast stroke, which is significantly easier for me. I warned the coach when I got there, that I am NOT a swimmer. The coach took pity on me and gave me some mini-goals to achieve, like not stopping between laps. Needless to say, it was VERY difficult for me to do that, today anyway.

By the end of the workout, I was controlling my breathing a lot better and interchanging freestyle and breast stroke. That's really what it was about, my breathing. Once I finally got into a rhythm, I felt like I wasn't totally anchoring everyone else and that someday I could catch up, maybe in a month or so. I am definitely going back on Wednesday! Once I learn how to breathe slower and get my strokes perfected, I can be a fish just like everyone else.

Until then, they will have to watch out for my slow a** in the right side of the lane. Right now, I do almost half the laps as everyone else, but I was getting the hang of it by the end of the hour, which gives me hope for Wed. morning. I'm stoked on this new swimming thing, not to mention the 20-minute bike ride to get to the YMCA. :) I can now project some crazy endurance in the months to come. YAY!

If you don't hear from me by next week, I probably drowned.

Interested in my workout? Check out 'The Workout Schedule' blog, to visualize my insanity.

**self censorship :)

Adventures of a Chronic Dieter...

After a couple of great weeks of getting back into shape and eating well, I faltered. How? you ask. Those damn yogurt covered pretzels from Trader Joe's. I know you are supposed to treat yourself once in a while, so you're not too far off on deep end dieting, but I felt like I lost control. I didn't actually eat that many overall, maybe like 12. But still, I felt the lack of control, as to everything else, I have been thinking through and controlling pretty well (as far as eating goes). Especially, since I've been working out so hard, it feels like a set back.

My body is beyond sore and if I drink any more water I'm probably going to have to move my things into the bathroom. I hate being this sore, it makes me realize how out of shape that I have actually gotten. I've been working out on top of the soreness, but after I finish, I can barely move again. Getting up in the morning is tough, because my body wants that extra rest and I feel crippled when getting out of bed, crawling to the coffee pot.

Today, I took an afternoon nap (and a walk with Chaka) of about 30 minutes, amazing what a nap can do for your mind and body! Hopefully, I will be off to play tennis shortly (like in the next hour), otherwise I have to go to the gym to run, which I'd rather not do today.

Next week...it's swim time. Monday will be my first master swim class at the YMCA. I'll ride my bike to swim at 6:00 am. That's some dedication there huh? It's my first time since beng a kid, but I think the water will help me get in shape and it's only twice a week. I'm hoping it will help melt away that nastiness that has gelled around my legs.

Back to drinking my water now. Stay tuned! I will feel fantastic soon, I just know it.

Who are you?

There are times in your life where you have to make life decisions. That's what I have done. After such a long time of not really feeling the 'right' feeling, I believe I have finally figured out what is 'right' for me.

Immediately after I made the most recent decision about my life, despite a little nervousness, I felt happy and realized that good decisions always feel...well...good! There are people that follow or believe in other people's paths and there are others that create a world of their own. I have never been a kid to follow what others were doing, sometimes by force. My mother always wanted to be different, do different things and set a tone to be an example and was NEVER someone that followed others; I think I get it from her.

With my parents being fathoms opposite; my mother totally out there, creative and whimsical and my dad, precise, on-schedule and conservative; I think I turned out to be an interesting and smart combination of the both of them. (Is it ok to call yourself smart, without sounding totally vein?)

So although, I'm being really vague right now and can't reveal more at the moment, announcements will come (no, I'm not pregnant). This new chapter of my life, I can feel, will be the best one by far. With the wedding, work, life as I know it is about to change and I have a great feeling!

Return of the Chronic Dieter....Part...let's just stop counting.

Hahaha... I can only start this blog by laughing at how many times I've attempted diets. Ahemm..But let's get serious now. Women's tennis season is beginning and summer is approaching in about 2 months. I have no time to waste or eat carbs and loads of sugar.

Protein and vegetables are the name of the game here people. So...During detox I finally set a nice workout pace and I have been slowly guiding myself back into workout mode. It's much harder than it used to be now that I have outside factors

to worry about (i.e. the fiance, the dog, my social life), it confuses my mind and makes it even harder.

It's all good though, tennis is firing up, however I have a rotator cuff injury. For those of you who know my tennis style, I'm a monster server, so this rotator cuff business is all bad for my game. I am not pleased about this, but there is also nothing much I can do about it.

I was finally inspired to go back to my extreme diet, when talking to a colleague of mine. She doesn't eat carbs or dairy. I did that once and I felt great. Her explanation for why was because she didn't like the way it made her feel or look. Well damn, is that all you need? I wish my will power allowed those reasons to be enough for me too. I will make it enough...Thank you colleague, you have inspired me to really be in top notch shape. I was in such great athletic prowess about two summers ago. Just because I'm aging rapidly and my 20's are behind me doesn't mean I have to lug this extra 20 pounds around.

So all in all here are some daily goals I will be adhering to for at least the next 45 days:

1) drink lots of water

2) lay off the carbs and dairy (and juices, soda and alcohol)

3) stretch

everyday

( styrafoam rollers are great for this)

4) workout everyday (gym or tennis)

Got me some new running shoes for this bad boy!

Brooks Green Silence

5) eat healthy, no fast food

And by the end of all this, I will look like this:

Without the head cut out of course...and maybe a few inches shorter. Watch out gentlemen! LOL

The 'Spark'...

What makes someone want to be better than they already are? Is that something hereditary? Is it something you're taught when growing up, that you should be the best you should be?

Why is it that some people have it and others don't? Sometimes I think I'm too ambitious, and its true that I often put too many things on my plate of to-do's, which means only half of it gets done (Which is truly more than the average Joe anyhow).

Sometimes I really think I should have take some type of sociology or philosophy major that would have kept me in school for 20 years of my life getting masters' and phd's, but then I can spend my time thinking freely about inane ideologies that no one will ever really have the answers to.

I'm looking for the right 'spark' right now, the one that makes everything else make sense. It may just be adding something to my life that wasn't there, getting into a good routine or eliminating something completely. Who knows? Sometimes I think I may just need a little more Vitamin D intake and then all my energy would be well cooked and 'out there'...whatever that means.

See you when I see you!

Julie/Julia and Ronjini....

First and foremost, bacon is always the secret ingredient.

I was watching Julie/Julia the other day and saw the great scene of Julie eating that bruschetta. It made me want to make some crispy, tomatoey bruschetta. At first, it seemed like there was no way that it could be a full meal, boy, was I wrong!

Anything is possible, when bacon is your secret ingredient. Immediately, I made the recipe my own. I headed over to Trader Joe's to pick up some goods:

French Bread - check

Firm tomatoes - check

Basil - check

Garlic - check

Applewood smoked bacon - check

I got home to a spunky puppy, just waiting for a walk. We went out and then I began my cooking.

First, I made my bruschetta mixture:

2 medium tomatoes

3 garlic cloves

1 bunch of basil finely chopped

grated pepper

grated sea salt

Next:

for flavor and protein, grill bacon on the grill pan

I should have made it crispier, but it turned out well nontheless.

and thennnn......

grill the bread on the grill pan in the bacon grease....

Last, but definitely not least:

spoon the bruschetta onto the toasted French bread and add bacon crumbles on top. Perfection!

That was my Julia Child experiment for today. Assignment completed. I have a surprise coming this weekend though. Don't worry folks its just a phase, enjoy it while you can.

Random Rant: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO the World?

I feel like something has gone awry with the world amongst so many recent disasters. Not to make light of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but it feels like that just led to a series of ridiculous situations. What am I referring to?

First - Last night, Nate Dogg passed at 41. What a sad moment. People don't realize how much impact his smooth G-funk sound had on West Coast hip hop. Nate Dogg was featured in 45 albums with 255 popular songs (both solo and collaboration). That's quite an impressive body of work when you realize that most of those songs were great. When you hear almost any rap song that you can sing to in the last decade (not including the past couple of years, that's T-Pain), you can be almost positive Nate Dogg was in it. All of which were staples of West Coast rap, one of the most memorable for most being "Regulators".

Second - WHO is Rebecca Black? Please tell me this is a joke...I have nothing more to say.

On a lighter note (#3)....I was NOT chosen for PC World's Twitter Top 100, which I think was a miscount and a sham. I could have at least been #100. I have a lot to say dammit and it's important.

Fourth - Gas is a hitting a ridiculous $4/gallon, which means it's nearly $70 dollars to fill up my tank. Which also means that it's costing nearly $500 RT to Philadelphia, WHY?????

Fifth - the country's obsession with cracked out alcoholic, Charlie Sheen. WHO CARES? He is really not that entertaining other than the fact that he is so screwed up. Why do people find celebrities that are unraveling and in despair so entertaining?

Last but not least, it's nearing the end of March already. How is the time passing so fast? Did I also mention that apparently Talib Kweli (@RealTalibKweli ) is at SXSW and I'm not.

What else can go wrong? Wait....just kidding, I really don't want to know. There's my random rant for the day.

Life is full of surprises.

I guess 'they' were right when they said to 'expect the unexpected'. Nothing in life really turns out how you think and I have come to believe that everything works out in mysterious ways. The first two months of 2011 has been more than an interesting journey. In just 39 days of the new year. My fiance and I are planning to move into a great new house (rented, not bought), I have an amazing job opportunity in front of me, we've chosen a wedding date and venue, and there is so much more to come.

I can't wait to see what other great things are in store for us this year. We are planning to run our 3rd Chinatown Firecracker together this Sunday to celebrate. The year is already off to very quick start and before you know it our sweet pup will have a little puppy brother. I guess it is time to make the last year of my 20's as great as possible. How quickly time escapes after you join the 'real world'.

I think about all that I have already experienced and realize that it is not even half of what I will experience in my lifetime (assuming that I live to a nice ripe old age). I'm going to go with the thought that 'life begins at 30', so I better get ready for it now.

I have never been so excited to see what's next. Stand by for housewarming details.

How sweet it was...

I am amazed at how quickly 2010 came and went. I'm generally a big promoter of moving up and on and getting my resolutions ready for the next year, but 2010 was so full of things I thought I would reflect on all that went down.

Let Downs :/

• Didn't go to Macchu Picchu
• Had to get rid of Saabi
• Gained 20 lbs. (yea! I know, scary) - I already have the resolution for this one
• Lazied on tennis after August
• Didn't take the GMAT....again
• Didn't run more races

Achievements :)

• Saw my first live Celtics game at TD Garden in Boston
• Participated in my first season of mixed doubles
• Won a tennis tournament (Calabassas Country Club)
• Pueblo Ingles teens 2010
• Traveled through Spain, France, Turkey and Germany with my love
• Got a new car
• Attended my first PRSA International Conference
• Filed my taxes on time
• Ran in 2 10K's
• Adopted my adorable Chaka
• Celebrated the last birthday of my 20's
• Kicked Coffee (I like to celebrate the small victories too)
• Got engaged to be married
• Began planning my wedding
• Became a chocolatier

Overall it has been a pretty stellar year. I can't wait to see what happens in 2011, I already know of a couple pretty important milestones that will take place. It should be interesting. I will get on the 'list' of resolutions that I have...However, today (while in the gym), I realized that sometimes my over planning is self defeating and I should continue to follow the one motto that I have always loved "Just do it!"

Good luck on your resolutions and Happy Holidays!