Way Below Status Quo (http://waybelowstatusquo.com/) is a group of three prolific bloggers and entrepreneurs (@colinismyname, @TMFproject and @instigatingandi) who are road tripping across the United States this summer, stopping in cities and towns to learn more about the community and give back.

Throughout the way, they will be tweeting, blogging and video blogging about each stop, location, local business and people they meet.

Boulder is one of their stops!

Thursday, July 29th. Come join for the day at the various events we’ve hosted and planned for this group.

Schedule:

• 10:00 AM Hike
  

• 12:00 Lunch at The Med, downtown http://www.themedboulder.com/
  

• 2:00 PM Co-working at Atlas Purveyors (tables reserved) http://atlaspurveyors.com

*At 2:00 PM, a team that’s part of TechStars, http://kapost.com/ will be meeting with the WBSQ team at Atlas to discuss entrepreneurship, their new product and looking for feedback/ideas from bloggers.

• 7:00 PM The Bitter Bar is hosting a party with special drinks, mingling and get together!

If you can’t make the events during the day, come to The Bitter Bar to learn more about their project, mingle, show what a great community Boulder has and enjoy a delicious drink.

More information here: (http://social.waybelowstatusquo.com/wp-content/uploads/files/wbsq_mediakit.pdf).

See you there?

You can RSVP for any/all of Thursday’s plans here: http://statusquo-boulder.eventbrite.com/

*If you want to participate or have a good idea to be included on their schedule, please reach out to any of these three Boulder gals:

• Grace Boyle: gracekboyle at gmail dot com
• Doniree Walker: doniree at gmail dot com
• Joni Klippert: joniklippert at gmail dot com

I’m a new freelancer/independent contractor with a huge heart for social media, technology, Idea People, and Cool New Things in general.  Obviously, with Boulder being home to startups like Lijit (I work there part-time), events like Ignite (it’s what sold me on moving here in the first place), and groups like Girls in Tech, I felt immediately like I belonged here.

More than Geeks

But there’s another side of Boulder that I love just as much as the start-up and tech scene here, and that’s the strong focus and priority that this city places on health, wellness, and activity.  I have yet to meet someone who isn’t involved in SOME sort of hobby that is a physical activity – yoga, biking, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, climbing, running, you name it – people out here are doing it.

Shortly before I moved to Boulder, I completed CorePower Yoga’s teacher training program and it changed my perspective on yoga as more than a healthy choice, but as a lifestyle.  I’d known for a long time that I wanted to use my teaching certification to work with young women – adolescents really – in some sort of in-school or after-school setting.

Enter The Wellness Initiative.  I met Mara Rose through Grace Boyle before I was even settled into my apartment here in Boulder.  Mara is the Director of The Wellness Initiative -

Mission Statement:

The Wellness Initiative is a local Colorado organization whose mission is to improve the physical health, social and emotional development, and academic performance of low-income youth through yoga-based wellness programs.  The Wellness Initiative will serve 1,700 students in 19 schools this year, teaching them to manage their stress, control their anger, strengthen their bodies, and focus their minds.

Mara was looking for people with a passion for yoga, kids, and both to jump on board and help her plan and execute their first ever Yogathon.  I didn’t hesitate, and we’re thrilled to announce the upcoming first ever Yogathon, a yoga-filled, community-involved fundraiser to help continue to bring yoga to kids in our schools here.

How you can participate

This is where YOU come in.  You the yogi, you the parent, you the local business.

Yogis and parents. Chances are that if you’re in Boulder, you’re into yoga.  Ok, so that’s a sweeping generalization, but I’m finding it to be true all the time.  Come participate!  We’ll be doing 108 Sun Salutations guided by nationally recognized yoga instructors, including Richard Freeman.

Note: Children are welcome and are encouraged to participate and attend with their parents and family members. Kids between 5-12 years old are invited to enjoy the Yogathon in the kids’ room and do crafts, listen to music, and play games with The Wellness Initiative’s talented yoga instructors.

The details:

When: Saturday, May 1; 1-4PM
Where: Boulder High School
How: Registration is $20 and participants are asked to raise $108 in donations prior to the event.  You can register here and set up your own donation page (like mine!).

Local Businesses.  Want to be involved either through donation, team-building, or sponsorship?  Shoot me a note and we can talk about different levels of sponsorship.

Everyone else. Not in Boulder to participate?  You can still donate here, and if you want to specifically sponsor me and my team from Core Power, you can do so here.

The Nitty Gritty

Registration is required before the event and will be open through April 16.  To register, you can visit (http://www.firstgiving.com/wellnessinitiative), and for more information, please view The Wellness Initiative: (http://www.wellnessinitiative.org/yogathon.html).

Thanks for your support, Boulder!  Namaste

That didn’t stop Mateo Restaurant (@mateorestaurant) from making me feel like one while simultaneously giving me the most fun story to tell for more than one of the publications I write for, as well as a nod from @boulderbars, for whom I’m also a reviewer.  Delicious food, impressive service, and great company for me – - killer write-ups, totally free press, and a sold new customer for them.

Here’s the story of how one local Boulder eatery used Twitter to not only simply engage me, but won my business, my taste buds, and my little social media-loving heart.

It started last Tuesday. I follow @mateorestaurant on Twitter, and they’d tweeted:

“Inviting all of Boulder to @mateorestaurant tonight! Love to see you tonight… Great happy hour tonight!!!”

So, I responded:

“Well, what IS your happy hour?”

The following conversation ensued:

@mateorestaurant: Amazing drinks and food special… 5-6:30pm.
@doniree: but, but, what IS the special?
@mateorestaurant: frits $2, salade… $3 cheese tasting $7…more..Drinks…house wine $4 Stella $3… just a little taste!
@doniree CHEESE TASTING?
@mateorestaurant: daily selection of cheese, fruit, wine jelly, nuts, and grilled bread
@doniree: SWEET! I’m a cheese FREAK. How about your wines? Anything special? I’m tapped into a neat wine blog and would love to chat
@mateorestaurant: All kinds of specials… You will need to come in and taste everything…
@doniree: Sigh, that’s a tall order, but I just might be the chickadee to do it!
@mateorestaurant: We would love to see you!

I didn’t make it in on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, I tweeted this:

“Need to: make dinner, pack for MN (!!!) and get some writing done, but all I can think about is cheese and wine @mateorestaurant; any takers?”

I quickly got a response – again from the restaurant:

“We hope to see you soon!!! Come see us anytime…”

Not wanting to be a tease, I showed up. I beat my dinner companion (my roommate) to the bar, so I saddled up, ordered the house red and the bar nuts while I waited. The bartender, Alex, and I started chatting about the wine and the menu and I mentioned the cheese plate.

Alex the Bartender: “Are you on Twitter?”

Me: “Why yes, yes I am! Are you the one running the Twitter account for this place?”

Alex the Bartender: “No, actually. That’s the owner’s wife. She called not long ago and mentioned that we’d have a couple of girls in for wine and cheese plates, and to make sure to say hi. So, hello! And thanks for coming in.”

I waited until Alex the Bartender turned around before I let my jaw hit the floor, but I was SO impressed that not only had someone at Mateo got me through the doors, but they made an extra effort to welcome me once I got in there.

Further conversation with Alex the Bartender revealed that the owners were Matthew and Megan Jansen (Matthew is also a chef there), and that Megan was the one behind the Twitter account. A few moments later, I checked in with Tweetie and found this:

We hadn’t even gotten our cheese plate yet, and I’d been welcomed by @mateorestaurant on Twitter, Alex the Bartender (care of Megan the owner’s wife) and then byMegan herself (and Megan?  I’m going to try to swing in this Friday to say hi).

Color me impressed, y’all.

And that’s not even getting into the awesomeness that was the food.  Those details can be found on my own little food blog, NomadicFoodie.com.  Remember, I’m not a food critic or expert of any kind - I just LOVE to eat.  And drink great wine.  And enjoy great service.

And I totally and completely adore when my love of social media meets my love of food and dining.  Mateo Restaurant, you have won my little tweeting heart.

When I decided to move to Boulder, I’d planned to consider part-time work, but wanted to initially keep freelancing so that I’d have time to explore the community and get settled.

Be prepared to modify your plans

I met Grace Boyle through the blogging community and mutual blog friend and Colorado girl, Sharalyn Hartwell.  Between Grace and Cali Harris, I was encouraged to attend Ignite Boulder 7 and learn about the community, the start-up scene, and just meet people in a fun (read: there’s wine and beer!) setting.

I could write a whole separate post on how much I loved the event (and might after tomorrow’s Ignite 8!), but will stick to the point here.  I was able to meet so many (friendly, welcoming) people in this community, and knew after that night that I was going to love living and working here.

The next morning, Grace invited me to stop into her office at Lijit Networks to meet her coworkers and continue networking my way into the tech community, even if I wasn’t sure how I’d be a part of it once I landed here.

That was back in December, and after a series of conversations with the Vice President of Market Development that ranged from informal chats about possible upcoming job openings, to all-afternoon interviews with other brainiacs on the management team, I accepted a job with Lijit as a Publisher Services Manager.

A seamless fit

The beauty of this job for me is that it’s part-time for the time being, which for someone with her hands already in a lot of other projects, worked out perfectly.  I’ve been there a week now, and am absolutely loving it so far.

My professional background is in online media buying (Campbell Mithun and Adfusion, both Minneapolis agencies), and my personal hobby list is topped by blogging, blog-reading, and blog-friend-making.  The fact that this role is based on a knowledge and utilization of all of the above is an absolutely beautiful thing.

My time in the office is spent identifying new users (blog-hopping, reading, and hunting), making introductions (meeting people, networking), and helping bloggers get set up with Lijit search and stats (something I already used and loved, prior to this opportunity ever being on the table).  I get to learn a side of the tech business I’ve never been a part of (start-up scenes, search, etc.) and am surrounded by brilliant minds who are introducing me not only to new knowledge and professional growth, but hiking, biking, Paleo (I’m learning about it, I’m not doing it), and how the Rock Chalk Jayhawk cheer started.  It’s incredible being in a role where I’m actually getting paid to do a lot of what I was already doing (reading blogs), but even cooler when I realize that I get paid to not only find awesome new blogs, but to also check up on and check out loud and proud Lijit users FAILblog, LOLcats, and Lamebook.com.

Moral of the story

While relationship-building proved to be a massively significant factor in landing what’s a serendipitously perfect job right now (and my professional background lends itself quite nicely to what I’m going to be doing), those relationships started because I just jumped right in and put myself where my soon-to-be colleagues were hanging out, reading, Tweeting, and Igniting.

So… I got involved and then got a job.  What’s next?  Work hard, play hard, right? This city seems to have that completely nailed down, and I can totally fox with that.  I’m learning to hike… maybe one of these days I should put on a pair of skis and give that a shot, huh?

*Ok, so maybe not domination.  But I do intend to be a super involved part of this community.

I moved here from Minnesota (unique, I know) knowing that there was something special about this place, knowing I felt some kind of connection to the people and environment here.  I wanted a place that fit me – my wannabe-geek side, my yogini-in-training side, my I-can’t-stand-one-more-sub-zero-no-sunshine-day side.  I knew within 24 hours of planting here that I’d found such a place, and I would feel guilty or obnoxious about raving every single day about how crazy in love with this place I’m falling… except every single person here seems to be under the same spell (or curse, as it’s been explained to me).

Thanks to the community that the blogworld is and can be, I was fortunate enough to have met a few locals (transplants?) prior to landing last week.  Grace Boyle and Cali Harris have been a couple of those people who have already become incredible friends, resources, and inspirations as I plant roots here.

Grace recently tipped me off to Girls in Tech – Denver/Boulder (our local chapter of a national effort and organization) and invited me to join her for their first chapter meeting Wednesday night, January 27.  I came, I networked, I loved.

What is Girls in Tech?

Girls in Tech is a social network enterprise focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology. As young women with the capacity to inspire, we made it our personal desire and passion to create and sustain an organization that focuses on the collaboration, promotion, growth and success of women in the technology sector.

Created in February of 2007, ‘Girls in Tech’ (GIT) was founded by Adriana Gascoigne. GIT and was born out of a need to provide a place for women to cultivate ideas around their careers and business concepts involving technology.

Girls in Tech aims to offer a variety of resources and tools for women to supplement and further enhance their professional careers and aspirations in technology. Some of these resources include, educational workshops and lectures, networking functions, round table discussions, conferences, social engagements, and recruitment events. (from the GIT website)

Being a girl [who wants to be even more] in tech, I knew this would be a great opportunity to meet other like-minded women in the Denver/Boulder area.  And sure enough, I did.

Who are these girls – and what do they want?

The backgrounds represented by the women who attended last night’s event included a great variety of careers and skill sets: marketers, social media professionals, software engineers, small business owners, career coaches, filmmakers, designers, a librarian and a variety of others.  We discussed exactly what we wanted to get out of such an organization and the initial ideas were inspiring and exciting.  While there is a national, parent organization, each local chapter is encouraged to set their agenda as they see fit, with regards to the specific needs of each community.

Most importantly, the women in attendance wanted to support other women in a traditionally male-dominated career path.  We discussed ways of providing education and information to middle and high school girls so that the tech field is an option as a career path when it might not have been otherwise (I can’t wait to be involved in this part).  Other exciting ideas tossed around included workshops so we can learn from our varied skill sets, networking events, help and support for job seekers, speaking opportunities and engagements, and general fun-having on a regular basis.

What’s next and how can you be involved?

An event planning meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 17, to set the agenda for Girls in Tech – Denver/Boulder 2010.  We also settled on a happy hour meet-up just prior to the next Ignite Boulder (details TBA).

Women in the Denver/Boulder tech scene can get involved by attending the meetings, events, and sharing their knowledge, expertise, and personal experience with other women just waiting to learn, support, and grow.

And for me?

I’m so very excited to be jumping head first into to the Boulder community, tech and otherwise.  I’m shiny and new here, and want to meet every single person here that I can.  Making it my mission to explore my way around the city, I want to find great places to work, eat, drink, learn, mingle, laugh, and live.  Boulder vets?  Let me know where I should go and what not to miss!  New to the area also?  I’ll be documenting my dive into the Boulder tech scene (and outdoors scene… and happy hour scene… and yoga scene…), and invite you to join me as I plant roots and learn my way around this cursed charmed city.