Whoosh!

Are you swamped? Have you been feeling a little overwhelmed by the mountainous to-do list that seems to only grow larger and loom more dramatically as each little weekday goes ticking by? Have you begun to notice that even simple things, like picking up coffee on your way home, or popping in to the drycleaner, are becoming impossible to get to, exhausting, too much? I mean, are you busy? If you said yes, I'm not going to respond by saying, "Great! That's a good thing!" Nope, not gonna do it.

Admittedly, I am a dynamic person who takes big bites into life. I take on a lot of responsibilities and I'm active. I have a lot of energy. And yes, I tend toward an overactive schedule that can lead to an occasional meltdown based on a momentary peek at my week-at-a-glance calendar. I confess, I'm often running from point A to point B, lucky if I'm only 15 minutes behind the 8 ball. I do it. It's a good thing, sure, and then, it's something else, it's more than that. It is a constant reminder to keep searching out and keeping around places and spaces, people, animals, plants and lilting breezes to relax, revive and recharge. It's a marathon. I'm making sure to stock up on the stuff that keeps my feet on the ground.

I'm slammed, lately! I can't stop thinking about the four hundred gazillion things I have to do between 9 and 5 PM, followed by the ninety-seven thousand things waiting on me, starting at 5:01 PM until...whenever. I'm up at 5 AM, down at midnight. I'm kicking A and taking names. I tell people this and they're shocked or inspired or a combo pack of the two. They wonder how I'm getting it done with a smile and some sass on the side and I can tell them, I can tell you. It's because I spend at least 40 hours of every week in a space that is filled with zen, ease, fun, funk, peace, play, party, pizzaz, beauty, bounce and bountiful life. I work with the best, the brightest, the most beautiful, creative and killer personalities. My boss is the bomb. My coworkers are heart-filled, passionate humans. And it shows, all over us, all around us, every day.

Our rooms, like our personal and professional lives, are booked, and I'm not surprised. We go big, go hard and go all the way and we are busy. We like this, for sure. It's more than good or great or even fantastic. It's fabulous. It's also a reflection of our ability to maintain balance, support each other and keep a constantly connected, cohesive flow, followed by the strength and follow through to take it all, all the way home.

I love all the things in my life, and yes, time's flying by too fast and it can be scary to see it speeding so wildly, on. Fortunately, I'm surrounded by people moving with me in a spot that knows how to pull us all together, making rain. And that, my friends, is, indeed, great!

right on

I am a do-er. I tend to find satisfaction in getting things done. I'm not content to sit back and watch, too often. In fact, I tend to sit in the front of the class and raise my hand, regularly. It's my way. It's my style. It's part of why I like to be a queen. I get to do a lot, a lot of the time.

Sometimes, it jacks me up. I get to hustling, herding and checking off the list. I get to kicking A and taking names. I get down and I get it done. It's gratifying, satisfying, great. Yes! Another one bites the dust! It's just that, there are so many things that I can't just get done, even if I do everything I'm supposed to do, everything I want to do, in order to prepare. Some people and some situations just need time, agency and the winds of a new season to blow them my way. I can't make that happen. I can't shape that transaction. Arrival is not a static, fixed scenario. Life is fluxuating. This can be frustrating for a bossy hoss like me to accept. Except, lately, having finally acknowledged my own limitations in this tornado-like tango with time, having exhausted myself on the runaround, I'm rediscovering the beauty in deliverance. All the right things are showing up. Right on time. Aaah. It tastes good, the whole way down.

For what felt like an eon, we were hunting down a new sales manager. Many brilliant, tenacious and qualified individuals bustled through our doors, but none of them fit our exact specifications and requirements. We needed just the right fit. Us? A glass slipper. Aforementioned character? Cinder-frickin'-rella. A few weeks ago, we had a bear of a weekend, over here. We got worked. Our spot was booked to the gills with rooms and parties were going off the chain. The staff, including myself, all got our fill of fun. We were pooped. I was willing my way through the drive in on Monday. Faking it until I could get to making it. Wilted, zonked and wimpish, we made our way in and looked around. Who would inspire the shine? Me? Yikes.

Like a bubbling brook in a sweltering Sahara, she appeared! Our superstarlet sales goddess had been chosen and had arrived. Newly hired, vivacious and a veritable champion, she was and she is exactly the thing we've all been searching for. She's brought in fresh, new energy that is a perfect compliment to our many, shall we say, nuanced ways? She's incredible. She's savvy. Sassy. Sophisticated, but not stuffy. It's like we've been over here tasting soup for hours, trying to determine the missing ingredient to complete the flavor profile and boom, she stuck her little neck out from behind the oregano and squeaked out. Hello. Try me. Duh.

And her arrival has brought out all the best in all of us. Her direct, finite ways have helped me to feel grounded and steady. Her quirky curiosity has created a space to help open up our more reserved talent members, and we're all growing closer, together, more like a unit, less like a hodge podge, a random mix. I've noticed the way we're bringing this to all of our conversations, with each other, with our guests and probably with our spouses, loved ones, pets, plants and, in my case, daily interactions with the 7 eleven clerk who sells me my perrier and orbit spearment gum. I think Jamal thinks I scored a lotto ticket or a trip to Belize. Nope. Just Heidi. Just what I needed.

It's fabulous, because she's reminding me how important it is to have the right people around you, to have the right balance of personalities, character and, well, connection to your colleagues and coworkers. Her being here encourages me to know that there is magic in the things we go after, and still more magic in the things that arrive just when you'd given up hope they'd ever get there, or forgotten they were being sought out, in the first place. I am so grateful to work with the most fabulous assortment of people, across the board. I had almost forgotten.

I have a lot of access to a lot of vibe, but I don't control time and I can't move the clouds aside and demand the sun to shine. Those things are outside of me, thankfully. Beside me? Our new sales guru, Heidi Studer. Stop by and say hi. Whenever the time feels right.

come together

I have always been one of those connector-types. I'm like some wandering, traveling nucleus, always surrounded by forces that need me, that I need. We're like a ceiling fan, spin, spinning around a crowded, sweltering space and we've got to stay together to get the cool into the room. I love being the Queen, because I get to max out this level of my personality, all in the name of, well, vibe.

I was talking to a colleague, recently, and we were talking about all the different kinds of people that do what I do in all the different places in the world and it became clear. I'm not sure why other people in my position are doing what they're doing, but I know what I'm about and I know why I show up to drive the vibe home, every day. It's because I am a hub and I want to bring you people together. Around me. Over me.

I was always like this. Even as a tiny, baby Queen, I loved and adored all kinds of people. I loved variety and color, loved to mix and match us all together like swatch watches on my wrist. Throwin' a party? Can I help with the deets? Please and thank you? I just think people are so lovely when they get together. I see the way that we morph and soften to fit the shape of those around us, how we try to smile more, for the sake of each other. It touches me. People really like other people, inherently. Even when they're not aware of it. I've watched our business professional happy hour patrons befriend a traveling biker group, stopping in for a night, on their way to their next destination. I've seen housewives and mothers of three chatting up our pierced and tattooed front desk talent. It reminds me, constantly, why I'm doing this, why I love what I do.

It also reminds me to keep reminding you that I need you, that I want you and that I'm happy to have you in my world. My space is beautiful and powerful and alive. My staff is incredibly dynamic and inspired and fun. But we're not half as fabulous and fierce without you, here, beside us, urging us to smile wider, laugh louder and transform into the best possible versions of ourselves because you are here.

Remember, I am the center point, but I'm nothing without you to hold onto, encouraging me to keep turning the wheel that keeps us all in motion. Together.

say that you love me

Everyone is good at something or some things. We've all got aspects of ourselves that we have always thought, maybe secretly, maybe not, were unique, special, magic, lovable. When we're young and growing, we don't always move gracefully, we crash around a bit and bumble about, trying to get used to the newer, longer legs, the wider, bigger eyes, the seemingly smaller ceilings. One could say that it could be easy to get distracted by all the change and the discomfort, and to forget the secret ingredients that can't be touched by inches gained or lost, responsibilities awarded and neglected, recognition won and then, forgotten. Aloft is a brand new baby of a brand. We're an adoring piece of footwear, but we're unbroken by the right foot or feet. We're not completely comfortable in our skin, and we're learning the reach of our arms and the clip of our gait. While we're working through this time and learning how to move with ease, I don't want to lose sight of what it is I love about us. I don't want you to forget why we are unique, why we are special and why, ultimately, you saw possibility in us, in the first place.

We're positive. We are. You can't walk into the dag-on doors without being practically blasted with a specially crafted scent (Vibrance), a neon, glowing, pink piece of upholstery or a perky chanteuse of a songstress, rapping about a funky, fun scenario. Sparkly, little lights trickle out across the bar, around the perimeter of the lobby and wrap themselves, striped and beaming, around the circular front desk. Every color is bold. Every sound is pronounced. Each piece of furniture is funkily placed to feng shui your seated moments. We have ottomans, for days, begging your legs to stretch out. Want to play scattergories? Want to add a little jenga to your cocktail hour? We can help! We're bursting forth out of everything, like a wildflower garden gone to the devil and we're all about fun and freedom, but only if the vibrations are good.

We're creative. We fill our space with local artistry, local, live, talented musicians and DJ's, skilled and sassy bartenders and quirky, clever front desk staff. Our promise to ourselves and to our public is to deliver something fresh and new that will continue to inspire and enliven the senses. We don't want to just be another smiling face. And we want to do more than bring you cheer. We want to really connect with your sensibilities and impress ourselves upon the aesthetic experience of your life, even if only for a brief moment.

We're committed. We work really hard and we want to be great. We go and go and go because we want to get to the place we've been imagining: our fullest potential. And we are absolutely invested, bound and readied for the trek to get there. We stumble, but we don't slow down. We get tired, but we don't sleep. We don't break down, we just take breaks. We are on the only way we're willing to go.

I know it's not always easy getting to know something while it's getting to know itself. It would be easier if we were all a little older and wiser in our way, but we aren't. Isn't there some horrible cliche about not being able to be loved until you first learn to love yourself? Let me assure you, we may not always know our direction, entirely, but we know we love who we are, love all that we're becoming and we love getting to know ourselves, a little bit at a time, one day at a time. So, we're not worried. We know: You'll get here in your own time and in your own way. And once you do, we'll remember what we have to offer, and we'll remember all the reasons why: We're lovable.

alive

Music moves me. In any variety of different ways, it soothes me, it lifts me, it reaches me, in almost any and every moment. It rustles up memories, shakes up my blurring senses and sends me back into a truly felt life. Have you ever felt a little rickity and blasted, for instance, "Push It," or "Ain't No Mountain High Enough?" Have you ever been feeling a little wild and overly-hyped and rocked some Pointer Sisters in an effort to jump the jumping bean out of your system? Do you find that the only reason weddings are ever any fun, anymore, is simply because the dj's bangin', the band is on point and you just can't resist. You have to do the electric slide one more time? Well, maybe you don't, but I do. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I've spoken to you about the musically talented wunderkid who graces our sound system, every Friday night. You know that I know that we all ought to know, by now, that DJ Jeyone is basically the baddest brother around. In fact, he's been such an inspiration to the vibe, that team-queen has decided we need to add to all that he's been so artfully trying to do: Spice up our space through the art of sound. How are we going to do this? Live music.

We've begun hiring an eclectic and diverse array of talented souls to soothe you in person, in real time. Haven't you been longing to while away a wicked week-ending with sweet tunes, sweet cocktails and your sweetest Vibe Queen? I figured. Every Friday, starting July 10th, we'll be hosting Happy Hour on the backyard patio from 530ish to 830ish and the sound will be coming at you, live. Jeyone will still be on the set, hooking up this same bat station and bat time on the last two Fridays of the month.

Please join me in celebrating another new opportunity to get a little closer to the finer things in life. It may be hot and you may be tired. You may be feelin' a little less than fab. Naturally, you'll need a song sent your way on the lofty wind to pick you up and get your groove put back on. Fortunately, your Queen is here to provide.