What I would tell my 25-year old self

The day after Valentine's, friends gathered at the Gilt restaurant at the NY Place Hotel to celebrate Tessa's engagement.  Over a bottle of the France's finest bubbly, Tessa's friends, myself included, cooed over the clear rock which proudly, if not prominently, occupied Tessa's manicured finger.

Over at the next table, a 4some of women in their mid-twenties were gathered with no apparent reason to celebrate other than their youth.  Their admiration of a man in a baby blue tie could be heard over the loud clinking of their rmartini glasses filled with rainbow colored liquids.

"Ah to be 25 again."  Sara sighed while rolling her eyes at the noisiness of 20somethings next table.

"Would you really want to be 25?"

"Yes."

"But with better hair"

"But with my current income."

"But I wouldn't be dating that jackass that I wasted my 20s on."

"But no way I would ever start my career at [insert large investment bank here]."

But, but, but....

So, I've been pondering, what would I tell my 25-year old self?

• Make more friends.  It's great that you have your core group of close-knit friends, but it's OK to cheat on them once in awhile.  Trust me, a few years from now, they'll all cheat on you with your husbands and bambinos.  
• You are much more hip than you think you are.  
• Find a way and time to write.  There is this thing called "blogs"; look it up.  
• Just say no to bangs.  It's not a good look for you.  Trust me. 
• You know that tall blonde blue eyed European you just met (or will soon meet)? Do not sleep with him.  I repeat, do no shag him.  You'll sadly be disappointed with his performance.  Just admire his pecks from afar.  
• Don't sell yourself short.  You are a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for.  That grad school you've been silently pondering?  You'll get in.  Oh, and that thing called GMAT that you don't think you could take?  Your score will be somewhere around the 96th percentile.  
• Accept that you are a foodie at heart and explore the food-scene in your city.  Calory-schmarlories.  Oh, and there is no shame - actually, it is totally cool - in going to a restaurant by yourself. 
• You will come to love - I mean, love, - your cousin Victoria.  Be nice to her.  She'll be good to you.  

Things I do during a 6 AM conference call

1. Don't get dressed
2. Eat doggie bagged steak from the night before
3. Make muffins from scratch
4. Open a twitter account that I may never use
5. Sit ups
6. Push ups
7. Dishes
8. Paint toes
9. Knit
10. Watch porn on mute

"Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it"

My new favorite quote from a book I've been enjoying reading immensely: 


“Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next - and disappear. That's why it's so important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.” 
― Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything


What this quote tells me: 
1. Always eat dessert
2. 6 am is for sleeping and not for spinning 
3. Ignore Il Duce and go for regular walks during working hours
4. Vacations to exotic locales - Fiji anyone? 
5. New dates
6. Create memories, including clandestine ones