ShanaRay.com

I have 30 days left of my twenties, 30 days until September 23rd when I officially turn the big Three OooooooOoo..

This has turned me sentimental.

This past year has been filled with weddings, babies, breakups, new hope and all my high school friend’s also turning 30. It has certainly been a rough one with great highs and some low, lows.

Once again, this has turned me sentimental.

Many of my Pandora stations are titled 80′s New Wave of Awesome and I have at least 7 stations dedicated to my favorite nineties music ranging from Kris Kross to Biggie to Counting Crows to Matchbox 20 to Fiona Apple to Nirvana to Janes Addiction to Salt n’ Peppa. So much of my life can be summed up in the type of music I listen to (which btw is EVERYTHING).

So without further ado…. I give to you, my top 30 albums. In no particular order except randomness.

Tonight’s trip down memory lane is Sublime, the third and final album by Sublime.  While I love all of there songs and can easily say their “best of” album is better, this one has so much more meaning to me. I LOVED it so much in 10th grade. I knew all the words to each song and somehow thought that when Bradley Nowell was singing about tweeker pads he somehow was channeling my upper middle class urban lifestyle… Okay, I knew absolutely nothing about this lifestyle… But it spoke to me anyway.

My favorite of the Sublime songs: Garden Grove.

Inspired by a tweet from my friend Ashley (aka @TheBeerWench AND @TheVinoVixen) linking me to my Twitter birth certificate, I got to thinking about my first interactions on Twitter back in 2007. My first tweet was “This is stupid” or something of that nature and the only two people I talked to during my first few months was my co-workers at my old marketing agency, Tim (aka @let5ch) and Pete (aka @ptstringfellow aka my “Godfather” according to my twbirth certificate)

Thinking back of my early days on Twitter, I think about how silly I thought it was. I chose @sharayray as my Twitter handle because it was my nickname at my agency.  My name Shana Ray lends itself nicely to many different nicknames including Ray-Gun, Little Ray of Sunshine, Shana Banana (yup, my first name rhymes with banana), Raydar (which ultimately became Darth Raydar) and Sharayray.  The last was the one that stuck the most. So much so that the creative director of my agency would introduce me to clients as Sharayray.

Fast forward exactly four years later and I have made my living teaching businesses how to promote themselves on Twitter (and other social/digital media sites) and I even have my own Twitter tattoo on my wrist.  Wow. Things change.

There are so many other stories about why people chose specific Twitter names that I decided to start the Twitter hashtag #TwitterName asking people in less than 126 characters (the 140 – 14 for the hashtag and a space).

So….. What is your #TwitterName Story?

I have made it a mission to start doing activities that are healthy for me (yes, I am SO very aware that I sound like a broken record) and two of those activities are blogging more and getting out more (in a non-drinking environment). The past few trips to Spring Lake have reminded me of how easy it is to stop complaining and simply just DO the things I have made excuses not to do in the past…. A new weekly step to getting myself to blog more often is simply to write about my favorite sights, smells, tastes, etc. so here it is….

Taste ~ Veggie tacos and mexican coke out of the bottle from La Texanita Food Truck.

Listen ~ Laughter from my friend Melissa and I as we walked the 2.3 miles around Spring Lake.

Smell ~ Blackberry bushes, clean air and freshly made tacos.

Sight ~ Many people walking around the river this week. Makes sense because the weather is a perfect 72 degrees.

Feel ~ Energized and clear. I also love that by purchasing food trucks I am donating to the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation to help support parks. For more details, please visit the Food Truck Picnics at Spring Lake Regional Park page.

Wish/Hope ~ I can make my lake walk a habit, for a minimum of once a week.

What has been on your mind this week?

I thought the song Circles by one of my favorite bands – Soul Coughing was fitting to the introduction of circles and Google Plus. This new social network is still so new and everyone is still trying to figure out how it can fit in within whatever industry people are in..But the possibilities are seemingly endless. Once Google Docs are introduced to “hangouts” and we have the ability to make our circles public/private, I think we will see many brands and schools using this platform in some of the most innovative ways ever been done on the internet… And hopefully, I will be one to merge the two. :)

Add me to one of your GooglePlus Circles and make sure to say hello so I can add you! Oh, and make sure to check out my feature on Women of Google+ : Shana Ray.

When you were languishing in rooms I built to foul you in
And when the wind set down in funnel form and pulled you in

I don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in
don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in

When the ghostly dust of violence traces everything
And when the gas runs out just wreck it, you insured the thing

I don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in
don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in

Doom da doom da doom
Well I know what I’m doin’
Doom da doom da doom
Well I know what I’m doin’
Doom da doom da doom
Well I know what I’m doin’
Doom da doom da doom
Well I know what I’m doin’

But I can’t sigh now that you made the move
It has gone and gone to dogs, lay down on the floor
For the right price I can get everything
Slip into the car, go driving to the farthest star

I don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in
don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in
don’t need to walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in circles
walk around in

Apparently I am a happy foodie who is obsessed with wine.

Yup… Sounds like me.