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The celebratantes, originally uploaded by Aubs.

So I’m knee-deep in first week of work stuff or else I’d write a huge long post on how awesome it was to see some of my oldest and dearest friends this past weekend in Cleveland. Or how the weather there far surpassed that of San Francisco, a truth that my Mom just couldn’t fathom. Or I’d wax poetic on how awesome my new job is going to be and how I can’t wait to be totally insanely busy and welcome this stress, the GOOD stress, the stress of excitement and doing things and changing things and MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. Yep, I’d write about all of that and more, but honestly, I’ve got stuff to do. Y’all will just have to wait. (Which yes, I recognize that I’ve said that a lot lately to y’all, so thanks for your patience. My life will settle down here one of these decades.)

Instead of that post that I just don’t have time to write, I’ll share with you stories of Daisy and my “Onwards and Upwards Party” last Wednesday evening. Over fifty of you lovely, amazing friends showed up to eat, drink and be merry. (Please note that I did the latter two amazingly well and completely failed on the former. Next time, more food). Both Daisy and I had an amazing time, and after my ONE DAY OFF prior to the new job, I came into it with a new, fresh set of exhilaration for all that lies ahead which I completely attribute to fantastic friends who are always, consistently supportive. Enjoy the photos and I promise, more to come soon….

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Farewell!, originally uploaded by Aubs.

I had hoped to have just oodles of time to write a long, thought-out post on this news, but alas, “oodles of time” is a pipe dream. Five minutes is more like reality.

Anyway, today is my last day here at Ask. “Didn’t you just start?”, you’re probably asking. Yep, back in May. But alas, opportunities – awesome, super-great, exciting opportunities arose – and I couldn’t refuse. On Monday, I’ll be starting as the Director of Marketing at Mashery, a company that provides for “On-Demand API Infrastructure” (Read: Helps you deploy, manage, & scale your APIs) and I honestly can’t wait. Big things lie ahead.

I’m sure I’ll be posting about this more in the coming days & weeks, but in the meantime, wanted to offer a sincere thanks and a bittersweet goodbye to Ask and the opportunity I’ve had here. Thanks, everyone, and Adios!

In case Lane’s masterful karaoke video wasn’t enough to keep you occupied, here’s more updates on what I’ve been up to the past few days.

I’ve been compared to Fergie (which I was initially flattered by only to later read that people think she looks like a bag of assholes as well as a tranny, upon which I instantly reversed my "well, she dates Josh Duhamel so that’s nice" consideration) and have been  accosted on a street corner, apparently mistaken for hookers.

Tranny.
Hooker.

Methinks I need to change my look.

Lane is Livin’ on a Prayer from Aubrey Sabala on Vimeo.

So it’s been a busy few days…ok, busy few weeks. Big changes ahead – more detail to come tomorrow – but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with an awesome lil’ video of my pal Lane singing some karaoke on his birthday. Note that I’ve opted to NOT post the video of Daisy and I performing "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and it’s only because I love you, dear readers, that I’m censoring myself. That, and the fact that I look like Daisy’s kid sister trying to emulate her masterful karaoke moves. 

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Golf Tournament, originally uploaded by Aubs.

This is what I did today.

So here’s the thing. The well has run dry. I’m all crushed out.

With nary a soul in my irreverantly proverbial ‘spank bank’, it’s time for a fill-up. I’ve clearly been a) too busy b) too grouchy c) too picky (or all of the above) in the last few days/weeks/months to find myself an acceptable crush. And now, in crunch time, I’m finding myself heading towards impending disaster if I continue on the "almost-about to-nearly there" quasi-crush path that I’m finding myself treading down. Trust me, people, this almost-crush is so unsuitable, it makes Tucker Max look like an angel. (OK, that’s maybe a bit too harsh. But just a bit.) It’s due time for me to get off Rogue Road and Cad Court and yes, Asshole Avenue as well and take the less-bumpy path of Suitable Suitor Street.

So alas, I’m on a mission for kissin’ as being crushless is a boring, boring life. Though, similar to shopping in that when you’re looking for a great dress for that upcoming wedding, you can never find it, actively seeking a crush almost entirely guarantees their absence. That’s why you buy a cute dress when you find it, knowing that some event will come up for which to wear it and why it’s a bad, BAD idea to let your crush well run dry. You should always have SOMETHING in your back pocket, a man (or four) waiting in the wings.

The End,
Love Aubrey

For work, I recently had the privilege/exasperation-filled-job of choosing a band & subsequent song for use in an upcoming commercial. The logistics of this are mind-staggering and unfortunately, we didn’t even get to use my two top recommendations, Josh Ritter and Band of Horses. This is apparently a blessing in disguise after I found out today that Band of Horses, those awesome rockers from South Carolina who graced the world with their awesome ditties including "I Go to the barn because I like the…" and "The End’s Not Near", have agreed to let Wal-Mart use the most awesomest of their songs, The Funeral, for the store’s new website.

Yes, you read that correctly.
WAL-MART. Using BAND OF HORSES.

I feel like someone just kicked me in the gut – I mean, selling out is one thing but selling out to Wal-Mart? That’s indefensible.

This past weekend I headed back to Chapel Hill, the lovely town of my beloved alma mater, Chapel Hill, for some much-deserved celebration. Instead of a full recap (you can get those from my Twitter stream, including my performance of an interpretive dance to Taylor Dayne’s "Tell it to my heart"), I figured I’d share the highlights of an awesome weekend with you. Including:

• Number of baby showers attended: 2
• Number of engagements celebrated: 1
• Number of 30th birthday parties attended: 1
• Number of resignations announced: 2
• Number of times the word "nipple" was mentioned: approx. 24…I lost count
• Number of baby items I didn’t have the slightest clue what one would use the product for: 3
• Number of times I was asked if I was married: 6
• Number of old-skool nightclubs we crashed: 1
• Number of former places of employment we frequented: 1
• Number of friend’s younger brothers that were smooched: 2 (one only on the cheek, though)
• Number of hours of sleep (total through the weekend): 10
• Number of months until we do it all over again: <2

Awesome weekend. See y’all for Homecoming!

Look! That’s me on Diggnation. What? Haven’t seen Episode 114 yet? What are you waiting for…find out how many O’Doul’s Kevin claims I drank, and what REALLY happened on Alex’s couch.  Sadly, the post-filming chugging contest hasn’t been posted, but I’m waiting with bated breath…

In my world, the land o’ the Internets, everyone knows about Digg. Kevin & Alex are recognized around town(s), hiding from the technorazzi stalking their every move…ok, perhaps that’s a stretch. But they are quite well-known, as is their show, Diggnation (and they DO get some good perks at the Apple store, so I hear.)

Yet the rest of the world, those not living in the reality that is the Web 2.0 world, isn’t yet attuned to the awesomeness that is Diggnation. I found this out firsthand when telling my college lady friends (yes, two of which are still single and still – if not moreso now than ever – hot) that I went to LA to watch/sit in on the filming of the latest episode since Ask was sponsoring it. They’re all "Digg what?" and "Kevin who?" (I won’t even go into my attempted discussions about APIs since their eyes glazed over and they started reminiscing about some less-flattering moments of mine at He’s Not back at UNC. The things we can will ourselves to forget…)

But I digress.

Diggnation. Right. Let’s just say it was a super-fun day, awesome experience, and I’m really excited for people to watch Episode 114, the newest episode. After all,  it’s about time that the rest of the world know what we do: that it’s pretty great to be geekyfantastic.

Oh, and Kevin, should you want that rematch in the beer chugging contest to redeem your honor, name the time and place (and I’ll beat you all over again).