Bigger Better Bolder

The words of the day are: bigger, better, bolder. After assistant 1 posted I started thinking about coffee. How I've never given it up, even when I've been in the middle of crazy health kicks and everyone from my Dr to the shiny magazines on the stand have insisted I should. I LOVE coffee. Tea and I have a great relationship and a rich history going back to my early childhood - tea was my first word. It means home and family, and I literally dreamed of it during college. But coffee. Coffee was my first act of independence. It was the first thing I did differently from my mother. Coffee to me is the joys of adulthood, that rich flavor in your mouth, that time to yourself with a book or people watching in a cafe, and I never rush through it, I never drink it just for the buzz. I really enjoy it.

So I'm excited for the biggerbetterbolder Rwanda coffee, and I'm moving forward with the promise to myself to live out loud, to live bigger, better, bolder, to take wild chances and try not to get sucked into the easy, formulaic way of living miserably. I want to be excited. I want to be inspired.

So, today, the things I'm most looking forward to about Rwanda are:

1) Buy Local. I love "local". When I was in college, local was apples in the fall that literally fell off the tree into your hand, strawberries that tasted like heaven, and maple syrup you could watch come out of the tree. Here in DC, local is Maryland apples I pick myself and incredible cheeses from VA farms. There's nothing better. For the first time in my life, I'm going to get to try local coffee. This is both incredibly dangerous, and utterly amazing. If I die of a heart attack I promise I'll go out with a smile on my face.

2) Doing It Because I Want To. When I ask myself why I do most things, Because I Want To is not usually the answer. It's Because I Have Something To Prove, Because I Feel Obligated To, Because I Need to Pay My Rent. I'm going to do it because I want to. And that feels AMAZING.

3) Doing It Because I Believe In It. There is nothing I love more than watching women succeed. I'm not looking to start a flamewar here, but let me tell you, the odds are often stacked against us, and so much more in other countries, and in the whole continent of Africa, than I as a privileged white girl can begin to comprehend. And if any of you read that sentence and thought any variation on "Well women have the advantage of being able to use sex to get their way", friend, you are part of the problem, see me after class. Thaaaaaaanks.

4) Practicing French. Oh, my once mad skillz are for shit these days, yo.

5) Giraffes. I think I mentioned this. Dude, you know you're excite about the freaking giraffes, and you're not even GOING.

6) Leaving Behind. The following things: pencil skirts, high heels, mascara, the words "Have WE taken care of this yet?", getting crappy cheap coffee for someone else, being treated like a secretary when bitch, I run your life, your company and your city, and I do it in heels, the "hold" button on the phone, cranky taxi cab drivers, and the sense of entitlement that hangs heavy in the air here.

But that's a long way off, so you'll excuse me, I need to go order a fridge, get a picture framed, find a longer cord extension, and get some checks signed. Four years of college, people, true story. Go live out loud.