#Don'tJudgeMe

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JenSquared

You know what, no.  Eff that.  Go ahead and judge me.  Bring it on, I am so ready for it.  Here are some of the things I most commonly get judged for.  Let it fly people.

I love fast food.

I talk shit.  Like mad shit. 

I hate veggies.

I don’t eat spicy food. 

I am in a happy relationship.  Like super happy. 

My house is dirty.  And messy.  And crazy. 

I am mouthy. 

I rock a faux hawk.

I’ve never seen Star Wars.  Or Indiana Jones.

I like mainstream music.

I spank my kids.

I share my opinion. 

When I started writing this post I was fully prepared to defend myself, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I don’t have to excuse any of these things.  I’m fucking awesome.  So now that you have judged me up for my “negatives”, why don’t you go ahead and judge me for my awesomeness.

I am a good mom.  Actually, I’m a GREAT mom.

I’m also a great wife.

I can cook.  And bake.

I am very generous.

I am tough. 

I am an excellent friend.

I am tolerant and accepting. 

I’m funny. 

I have so much passion for so many things.

I’m teaching my children to be excited about the world.

I am good at what I do.

I always try my hardest.

I am a nerd.

So there you go.  If you want to judge me, pick something from list #2 first.  Or don’t.  Just know that if you want to pick at parts of me, there are lots of other parts that are great.  And whatever.  How about you just don’t judge me Mr. Perfect! 

Don't make me angry....

you won't like me when I'm angry....

Follow me on Twitter and make a friend for life!

Unapologetically #Awesome: Our Global Village

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @RisheGee

What a FABULOUS, AMAZING, AWESOME, insert superlative here, day!

Lucky I signed Jen’s permission slip way back in the day because this is it, children, New York is going to be pretty fabulouskies within the near future.

In a town populated with thousands, there are many who wander the island, alone. It’s a known fact that everyone runs to New York City to be alone, among the myriads. It’s a rare phenomenon, unique to this city that I now call home, and I’ve been a casualty of it myself in recent weeks. Meeting people constantly but wondering which of them I can actually call on to hang out when the going gets tough. Forging closer relationships with family and finding myself missing that casual social camaraderie that was always at my fingertips back home, and during the European adventure.

Today wasn’t supposed to be a big day, but I had some plans I anticipating a fair bit. I was meeting up with J, a brand ambassador and guerrilla marketer I’d met while we worked together at the US Open tennis; and then to perhaps head to my friend P’s cocktail party in midtown in celebration of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

Turns out in a city full of strangers, New York has it’s own way of springing surprises on you…

J and I caught up for coffee near the Columbia University area. I have no friends at Columbia – or so I thought. I had clearly forgotten my friend A, a fellow Aussie spending a few months here doing some study with a bit of volunteering on the side. He had mentioned his work at the Jewish centre at Columbia, but that didn’t stop me from being shocked out of my mind when J and I casually bumped into him cycling a Sukkah on wheels around the Columbia campus this afternoon!

We hung out, we chilled, and then it was time for J to go. No worries, I had a drinks date with my other ex-pat Aussie, D, an Upper West Side native and former classmate. We had drinks with D’s friend, also known as the lovely lady who donated her gorgeous Ikea furniture to me the other day, and I embarked on the trainride downtown to head to P’s cocktail party.

Not so fast, little lady – says the universe. Because as I head down into the subway, I bump into the gorgeous R, a lady I have known for several years who once spent some pre-college time studying in Australia and I have since encountered here and there on most of my trips to New York City. Oh, the Jewish universe. So tiny and so bloody beautiful.

It’s not over yet, though. P’s party downtown is gorgeous – twinkling lights under the stars in Bryant Park, and I’m trying to switch on the Ms Fabulous within me by talking to strangers the way I do. All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, a guy approaches.

Hell to the you have got to be kidding no.

It is none other than Mr J, a New Yorker I had encountered precisely one month ago, in a YOUTH HOSTEL IN SWITZERLAND. Mr J was attending an event put on by P’s organisation for the first time ever – and I just happened to be there.

J and I catch up and I meet up with his lovely Israeli friends. P introduces me to some more amazing people, and I head back to Brooklyn for drinks with my cousin S, who is in town with her husband Y for a short visit. I find an Australian beer on the list – Cooper’s, who wouldathunk it? – and start talking to the guy on my left – who informs me he is none other than P’s husbands brother. Yup. No kidding here.

Oh, little tiny Jewish New York universe. Today I love you so.

Click here to follow @Rishegee on Twitter!

Unapologetically Awesome Tour heads to #TEXAS!!!

... afterall, everything is bigger in Texas. #Rawr!!!!

WOOAHH!!!! Just found out, I'm going to be driving an Audi S5 back from Texas to Cali this week in celebration of unapologetic awesomeness!!!!!

WOAHH!!! Crazy cool!!! They told me I can plot out destinations etc, sooooooo if you want to hang out IRL shoot me a tweet, or Facebook my butt and let's get it on!!!!!

A Permission Slip to be Unapologetically Awesome

I'm an artist. This is my platform. Doesn't get much nerdier eh?

SOO, I want to try something. I've gone through a HUGE personal change, and since it's working for me - I want to see if it will work for you.

First, a little background ... up until a year ago, I was a terribly unhappy person. I don't even like the word unhappy, I was more like a robot. I always had a smile on my face, and was this little bundle of energy - however it was more of a regurgitation of information and stories; things I leased in life that temporarily defined my experiences but didn't define who I was. I actually had no idea who I was. I wanted desperately for someone to tell me that. I thought, well - I'm 24 ... right about now, I should be married with kids and that whole shabang. After all, thats what the people in movies do ... they're never wrong! So, I set myself up in a weird series of relationships with some not so very nice people in the hopes of them telling me who I was. YEAHHHHHH ... what a joke. I wasn't waiting for a ring, I was waiting for a life. I always had a lot going on, and a lot of really really really awesome things to be proud of. However, I was somewhere out to lunch. I didn't take ownership of a single thing. It was just something I did, because I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. 

This site managed to change everything for me. I did this. I created the concept, coded it, marketed it, promoted it. I eat, sleep, and breathe this site. Thinking of ways to expand, listening to people, finding out what is working and what isn't ...I took all the changes in things that I wanted to see and made it happen. Of COURSE I would not be here if it weren't for you all, however - I really just don't care. I would still be doing my thing if you weren't, and that is AWESOME!! I am unapologetically AWESOME, and FUCK that feels GREAT!!!

I JUST DONT CARE, and that is SOOOO FREEING!!!!!!!!! I would be doing this if not a single person came to visit this site - so that must mean that this is something deeply ingrained in my true essence and core, not just who I think I need to be. I don't sit there and say, my, my, my, today I guess I'll have to find something to post. I just DO IT because I FEEL IT! I am FEELING things I've never felt before. I'm feeling alive, happy, joyous, at peace. Don't get me wrong, I am still neurotic and potentially psychotic ... but again, I Just. Don't. Care.

I don't care what label you place on me - because I am a nerd through and through. Being nerdy to me is more than just some weird social excuse for being slightly odd, it is the ultimate permission slip to the greatest field trip in life. I get to see things, do things, talk to people, and relate to them on levels I could never otherwise comprehend. What is our common denominator? We're all NERDS!!!! I LOVEEEE reading all the emails, and posts I receive from you all expressing your passions in the nerdy realm - wow, they're just SO out there!!! AND HOW FABULOUS!!!! People have just been waiting for someone to say this is okay, this is cool - I know I was!!!!!! Had social media not come around, I don't know where I'd be. I've learned SOO much about people, and had such a great psychological shift in my own awareness and my own perceptions of life and being; it's incredible. I just am! I never have to debate my nerdiness to someone, they just know. So just BE!!! You already have all the answers inside of you to every question you could possibly ask yourself. We aren't afraid of failing in life, we are afraid of having TOO much power, being TOO successful, having TOO much .. SCREW IT! Focus on one drop of water filling the jug at a time, and buckle up. You're never given more than you can handle and I know through and through that the nerds of this world are about to dominate. Stop letting other people define you and your worth. You be you, and I'll be me ... now let's be AWESOME!

Here ... print this article out. Write yourself a permission slip for being awesome today. Use this as a get out of whatever card, and take this as an excuse to start living the life you always imagined.

To Whom It May Concern,

Please excuse ____________________ from _____________________ today. They are a vital component in world domination and their presence is being requested at the table of life.

If you have any questions, please email me at JenFriel@TalkNerdyToMeLover.com however, I probably won't get back to you right away, because I'm out living life and being awesome right along with them.

Thanks. 

Sincerely,

Jen Friel aka That Nerdy Chick

There's your permission slip ... now go be unapologetically awesome.