summer starts to wrap-up

imagesI understand the need to acknowledge each year on a particular date and January 1 is it.  Personally I think of the beginning of the new year as post-Labor Day.  Maybe it has to do with the school years being part of my psyche.  Perhaps the onslaught of magazines telling me the new books, new restaurants, new stores, new art shows, new looks and more that I should be on the look out for.  I really think it has to do with the ease of summer and the movement from that back into the hustle and bustle of life in my beloved concrete jungle of NYC.

I always take time out about now to think about the year to come.  I can’t help but reflect on the past year.  Last September Fred and I embarked upon a new life that is called being “empty nesters”.   We had discussed how we were going to live ad nauseam prior to the day of reckoning.  We took a month long trip last September to acknowledge our new world.  We spent our winter in LA.  We did a fair amount of traveling and hanging our hats in Paris.  We spent time on the slopes and we spent time at the beach.   We ended up spending about 5 months this year in NYC.  We followed the plan that we set forth.

There will probably be a few tweaks this year and more changes as we evolve but the plan was a good one.  We will stick with it.  We are lucky that we can keep the Wilson family businesses running from wherever we are.  It allows us to work hard and play hard.  A combo that we have always thrived on.

I usually start to think about more play than work this time of the year.  That I should take it down a notch.  I do not feel like that this year.  I am super excited about all the companies I have invested in.  I am particularly thrilled to see a few of them pull out of the gate and get some great new mature institutional investors on board.  I am excited about connecting with more women angel investors too.  The biggest thing on the agenda is WeFestival that will be held at 1 WTC in April.  We (that would be my sister as part of the we who has become my partner on this) hope to bring that on the road to other cities and built an online community of women around that.  On top of that we are embarking on some big real estate projects to mix things up.  No rest for the weary over here.

What is the most exciting, as always, is seeing our kids grow in their worlds.  I have the kindle loaded up with the new releases for fall, the restaurant and exhibit list set, plans for fall travel in the queue and I am pumped.

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. fredwilson

    As Josh would say “lets goooo”

  2. Shelly Lipton

    Go Joanne Go! Hope we can find time to catch up again as part of the mix. ??

  3. awaldstein

    All I can saw is good for you both!

  4. Pranay Srinivasan

    Looks like you relaxed this past year and are feeling antsy again. Maybe alternate between years – 1 like the last one with travel and exploration and 1 with the old kinda working style – 🙂 Also Sincere request to create more meetups for GGV – We’re a tribe now!

  5. TanyaMonteiro

    Excited to see how the WE Festival expands, hope South Africa is on the list!