oops.

So another reason for my silence of late has been due to the fact that my new job happens to be down in Palo Alto,
and I live up in San Francisco,
which means I've got a 1-hour commute on each end.
(Which doesn't leave me with oodles of time to be posting musings on my ho-hum life.)

But yesterday something happened that I felt I had no choice but to come out of my no-posting cocoon and share.

I joined a gym down in PA so that I could beat traffic and drive down in the wee morning hours (read: 5am), work out, and then be into the office by 7:15am.  This plan has been flawless to date and I've loved sipping my coffee (while chatting with my mom), buzzing down an empty freeway as the sun begins to peak its way out behind the hills.

I'm all about easy-to-wear work clothes so most of the time I can just stick my wardrobe in my gym bag the night before and be good to go.  Yesterday, however, I was planning on wearing my favorite new suit dress:

Peplum Dress in Stretch Wool

from jcrew

But because it's best when perfectly pressed, I needed to bring it down on a hanger as opposed to stuffed into a bag.  The night before, I packed my gym bag with all the goods except the dress and left a note on the mirror that read: 

Yesterday morning when I got up, I tip-toed out of the bedroom, hit go on our Nespresso machine, popped on my gym clothes, grabbed my bags and coffee, and headed out of the apartment, all within 5 minutes flat.  I love efficiency.

I drove down to PA, happily chatting with my mom the whole 1-hour way (hands-free of course) and pulled into my parking spot.  As I got out of the car and grabbed my things, I realized I had forgotten something at home:

So what do I do?

Driving back to get it is a solid 2.5+ hour ordeal taking into account the traffic that is rapidly building up by the minute.
It's 6am and therefore no stores are open (and clothing stores won't open shop until at least 10am).
The only clothes I have on my person are my raggedy work-out clothes, a trench coat, and a bra + underwear.
AND I have a 9am meeting.

Unwilling to show up to my meeting naked underneath a trench coat, I resign myself to driving the torturous route back home to secure some proper over-garments.

Five minutes into my journey and it hits me - the answer to ALL prayers:

TARGET opens at 8am!

And they sell clothes!

And those clothes are reasonably priced!

I camped out at a nearby Starbucks to do some work until they opened shop and then stormed in to try anything and everything vaguely work appropriate:

pencil skirt + maroon blouse =

TOO STUFFY.

stretchy grey sweater dress =

TOO CAJ.

black dress with cap sleeves =

JJJJJJUST RIGHT.

I opted for choice #3 (for the bargain price of $27.99), paired it with my Tory Burch wedges (waiting underneath my desk at the office), Kate Spade studs (waiting in my purse), and Anne Fontaine black sweater (waiting in my gym bag), and my office-mates were none the wiser. 

(Or at least they didn't say anything.)

What would you have done?

xoxo

KK

money + moxie

So besides quite a bit of travel of late, the other reason why I have been a bit MIA is because I've been working on a little project.

For the longest time, I've dreamt of the day when I would have a blog dedicated to helping people think through their finances in a fun, simple, and sexy way.  I wanted it to be packed full of top-notch content on how to improve your financial bill of health, but also be juicy enough to compete with even the sexiest of lifestyle and fashion blogs.  

And that day is finally here:  

As my header suggests, the site will cover everything 
from managing your career and working life, 
to handling your pocketbook, 
to planning (and paying for) travel and vacations, 
to how to track those daily, everyday expenses (like tomatoes fresh from the farmer's market),
to saving for and buying a house,
and much, much more!

Hop on over to money + moxie to check it out.  

I hope to post 1-2 times a week with some interesting tid-bits about how you can improve your financial health.  Interested in a particular topic?  Let me know!

xoxo
KK

while i was gone

A lot has happened since my blogging break began.
Besides having the fabulous Charlotte in town for a weekend in Dry Creek, I've been in Florida, South Africa, Palm Springs, and Switzerland, for a second time this year.  I know, I know: totally and completely spoiled.

But - in my defense - no trip was without purpose:

Florida for a much overdue family get-together (my brother's last spring break before entering the real world),

playing gin with pops

soaking up some sun

South Africa for an investment conference,

pre-conference cocktails on table top mountain

power breakfast on my patio before sessions

Palm Springs for a bachelorette,

before a night out dancing

and Switzerland for Stefan's sister's wedding (and some other European escapades).

More on these adventures to come.

xoxo
KK

wise words

My apologies for the radio silence the past two days (and general sparseness of posts of late).  I've been down at the Foundation's headquarters hearing the story of our founders: the incredible and very inspirational Gordon and Betty Moore. 
For those of you unfamiliar with these superstars, Gordon Moore is the founder of Intel and creator of Moore's Law - you may have heard of one or the other. 

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As you now know (if you didn't already), I work at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation which is dedicated to advancing environmental conservation and scientific research around the world, as well as helping to improve quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area - Gordon and Betty Moore's home for more than 70 years

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While I'd love to say I'm responsible for all that do-good-ing, I'm actually just part of the investment team.  We're basically the caretakers of $5.5 billion in assets, investing them as best (and as safely) as possible, so the Foundation can really live on into perpetuity.

Anyway, as I was down at the Foundation's headquarters for our Founder's Spirit Day and listening to Gordon tell about what it was like to create some of the most important technology of our era (the micro-processor), I started wondering what the hell I was doing with my life.  At my age, this genius had his Ph.D. and was well on his way to revolutionizing the transistor. 

As I pondered how I might get myself on track to have even a billionth of his impact, a colleague asked him a question: "what is the one bit of advice you'd give to a young professional just starting out in his or her career?"

The room went silent as we waited for the precious words of wisdom from this sage. 

"Take it all in.  Take advantage of every opportunity.  You never know what might plop into your lap."

It's not necessarily novel advice, but somehow coming from a man of such success it seems worthy of following.

xoxo
KK

on interviewing

So my baby brother is in the midst of interviewing for summer internships and being the fabulous older sister that I am, I have been helping him prep.  While I consider myself quite well-versed when it comes to the traditional consulting-style case study interview (thanks to 20+ interviews my senior year and then a two-year stint in the biz), that wasn't always the case.

For those of you unfamiliar with the case study, it's basically a business problem - full of all sorts of mental math - that you have to solve on the fly. out loud. in front of your interviewer.  Not exactly the most fun thing in the world.

 
When I was his age, I didn't even know what a case study was.  For my first official consulting internship interview, I didn't prep beyond the traditional why-are-you-interested-in-consulting or tell-me-your-top-five-strengths type of questions.  I was actually ready to go in sans pen and paper - it was only thanks to the well-dressed applicant sitting besides me in the waiting room, that graciously offered me one of his six extra pencils, that I was able to scribble notes on the back of my resume as my interviewer spit an array of multi-digit numbers at me.

While I was able to miraculously get through my first round despite a complete and utter lack of preparation, I got mutilated on my final round - telling my interviewer that with 2.4 million customers buying 4 ice cream cones a year at $5 a pop, our client would have $48 trillion in revenue. 
Brilliant.

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When the real deal came around (interviewing for a full time position at the same firm), I was determined - spending countless hours prepping with my friends, my family, and my beautiful full-length mirror. 

I sat down across from my interviewer - a tall, but young fellow who looked like he had some difficultly cracking a smile - and introduced myself.

"So shall we get on with it then?" he asked pulling out his prep packet for the case that was about to ensue.
"Let's go for it!" I chimed cheerfully.
"Okay.  Now you've just been assigned to a case team working for the Milwaukee Brewers - "
I cut him off mid-sentence: "Oh. my. goodness. What a coincidence!  I am FROM MILWAUKEE!  Can you believe it?"
Awkward pause.
"Yes, I can.  I selected the Milwaukee Brewers because it says here on the top of your resume that you're from Milwaukee."
"Oh."
"So shall we get on with it then?"

Somehow, the rest of the interview ended up going surprisingly well and by some incredible miracle I ended up making it on the final round and nailing the job.  Just goes to show that sometimes this kind of stuff is just a whole lotta luck.  Sometimes it works in your favor, sometimes in doesn't.

So little bro - good luck on those interviews.  You're a hell of a lot smarter than me so they'd be crazy not to take you, BUT if they don't, don't sweat it - things have a way of working out for the best.
And there's always the full-time round.

xoxo
KK