Hot Damn!

Welp, I haven't done this in quite some time!

Well, I have a bunch of interesting stories that have happened over the last month or so...not sure where to begin. First of all, I must first and foremost say how much I love work parties. That's right, I said it. I.LOVE.WORK.PARTIES. What could possibly be better than enjoying beverages with people that you feel as though you live with (and suffer with) day in and day out? Not too much. I also love Christmas. Or do we call it "the holidays" now to be PC? Well, whatever it is they are calling it these days, I love that, also. When you smush the two together, you get the infamous (and I really do mean infamous) Work Holiday (Christmas) Party. Above all, what I love even MORE than the Work Holiday Party is the OPEN BAR at the Work Holiday Party. Not only can the open bar element be amazingly fun and exciting (and really bring out peoples' true colors!), it can be terrifyingly dangerous, especially when two co-workers find themselves in one of their apartments afterwards....together. May I offer you one piece of advice: do not shit in your own nest. No, you did not misread that. Do not shit in your own nest. Hooking up with a co-worker, in my case, we'll call him Luke, is never a good idea. Correction: it SEEMS like a GREAT idea, but it really isn't. However, let it stand that you do learn some pretty interesting things about people from seeing the way they live in their apartments (i.e. no cups to drink out of, but instead a 2-liter empty Fanta bottle that is constantly filled up with water and put bedside for the mid-sleep parching that happens...and no, this is NOT an exaggeration AT ALL. When asking for a cup for water, I was either offered some water from the Fanta bottle or he would hold my hair back so I could drink straight from the kitchen faucet...I chose to die of thirst). And let me also state that he is not as barbaric as he sounds, although lately we have not been getting along, but nonetheless it's a great story and will be an excellent chapter in the book.

The Holidays were fabulous! Went back to my parents' house in Rhode Island and spent about 10 or so days there with family and friends. For the first time, I spent most nights staying in with my family than going out with friends, and I must say, I truly enjoyed it. Granted, I was reading students' college applications and essays which is half of the reason I was staying in and the other half was out of pure laziness. Spending time with the family is always quality.

Holy crap it's already February. Some exciting things coming up a.k.a. SPAIN in exactly one month from today! Ayiyi (haha, just getting ready), I need to purchase the plane ticket and save moolah. I expect the trip to be nothing short of phenomenal and I'm really ready to go because CT gets old after a few minutes.

I think I have more stories and will post them later when I think of them. In the meantime, have a fantastic evening.

It's been awhile...

So I haven't written here in awhile and I'll try and catch you up on what's been going on. Work has been great--I love the people I work with and I'm not sure I could ask for much more. Secret Santa is currently going on in the office and I am pimping my Secret Santa out. It's pretty awesome. This week will be many festivities pertaining to Christmas, which is also a lot of fun and I really can't wait. I love it!

My semester has ended and it feels AMAZING. I was getting so sick of the classes, so it's nice to not be too busy right now and to be moving on. I like that feeling and I'm excited for the moving on part. However, it's always a little bit disheartening to know that with each semester passed, you're getting older. Not to say that my old age of 22 is anything too painful, but sometimes I play the numbers game, ya know? My age is completely irrelevant to anything, but still sometimes I just don't like the idea of getting older. Complex? Maybe, but oh well.

I can't believe that there are only 12 days left until Christmas and I have not finished shopping. I bought some pretty sweet gifts so far, but there is still much shopping to be done. The mall that I went to today was insanity. Pure and utter chaos and almost annoying. I feel as though shopping around Christmas ruins the Christmas cheery feeling that you're supposed to have, because you're too busy cutting cars off in the parking lot, fumbling through racks of clothing to find your size medium shirt and hearing about the break-ins of cars around the holidays. It really sucks that things like that need to happen.

Currently, the thought of going back to RI for the holidays is awesome. I love living in Connecticut now, but RI is just so Christmas. It's what I relate to when I think about Christmas and think about all of the great things we do around Christmas. I'm really, really looking forward to the girls' Christmas party this year, as it's always something that brings old friends back together. Unfortunately this year we will be down a participant or two.

I'm dying to have an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party but I'm thinking it may need to be post-Christmas. I need to consider the details a bit more and then figure out whether or not it could happen.

Have a great weekend!

My Quilt?

No, no, children--I'm not talking about any form of bedding whatsoever. I kind of (and by kind of I mean totally) stole this idea from a fellow blogger, Chelsea, and completely ganked it. I figured it would make a good post and that I need to hustle with these posts, as I have been slacking. And for those of you who have complained that I haven't written in awhile, I recognize that I've been slacking and everyone tells me that admitting you have a problem is the first step.

So here goes:

GOOD SQUARES
-I have kick ass (I need to stop swearing so much) family and friends who get me through every single day and I am beyond thankful for that.
-I have a pretty standard group of readers who read my blog and read about my shenanigans and that’s pretty awesome as well.
-I’m in grad school and doing well
-I’m currently manifesting old relationships as new ones and in turn talking to about 4 different boys. Text messages are a dime a dozen and dinner/drink invitations are plentiful. This, I totally place in a good square.
-I got buy one, get one coupons in the mail from Yankee Candle. No, I’m not 45 years old, I just have an insane obsession with candles. Just bought Eggnog and Christmas Wreath and I could not be more excited for the holidays.
-Tucker Max is writing a new book called “Assholes Finish First” and the “I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell” movie comes out in 09. I’ll be counting down the days!

RANDOM SQUARES THAT HAVE NO TYPE OF MEANING IN THE PATTERN OF THE QUILT
-LOST. One word, means so much.
-My “The Office” theme song ringtone is amazing and I find myself either humming along to it or dancing everytime it goes off
-Bagel King. I’ve never tasted a bagel so good as this one and the blended iced coffee is to die for. It’s a Sunday morning tradition around these parts.

BAD SQUARES
-Kind of broke. Kind of wish I got paid to write this blog.
-The fan piece of my laptop, I want to smash it. It makes this terrible buzzing noise anytime the laptop is on and it sounds like it’s going to airlift and fly away. I need to look into getting this fixed.
-I work too much and don’t get paid enough…the story of everyone’s lives, right?
-Homework. So over it.
-I have successfully put almost 17,000 miles on my brand new Corolla and I’ve only had it since March. Do the math. Not good.

So that’s my quilt. There ya have it. I’m pretty sure I could have made this another indecently long post, but I neglected to do that because I actually have homework. Which sucks, by the way. I’ll be sure to write about last night’s bar adventures soon…probably after I finish the stupid homework.

Long Awaited Return?

Yes, yes...I'm back by popular demand...well, sort of. Granted, there are probably only like, 5 people who read this and 1 or 2 that read it religiously and even then I think it's a stretch.

Nonetheless, I am back and jonesin' more than ever. I just kind of wanted to use the word 'jonesin' because I've never really used it before. I am, however, jonesin' for a passion fruit vodka and cran right about now, and in my neck of the hood, on Tuesday's it's "Two Dollar Tuesday's" a.k.a. almost every drink you can imagine (especially at my favorite watering hole in CT) for a mere $2.00. TALK...ABOUT...A...DEAL! Sadly, I'm missing this weekly occasion this Tuesday and, quite frankly, I believe I've been missing it too much lately. I mean, how can you pass up a deal so great as the one that is placed in front of me each and every Tuesday night. Just a thought but now I'm going to move on because it's going to get me even more engulfed in the idea of how much my life has evolved in one year. Oh, and not to mention, one of my favorite co-workers is at my favorite watering hole right now as I just found out through a text message, which makes me even more upset because he's a riot.

Moving on, this post is going to be a lot of random thought. Sometimes I wish I could write in that fluid, creative style that is just random thoughts with no punctuation, no transitions, nothing. The name of this particular style of writing escapes me at the current moment, but I wish I could write like that. I have a bunch of stuff I wanted to cover in this post, but I'm not so sure it'll happen.

So I think it's actually been a couple of weeks since I've written, but as they say "absence makes the heart grow fonder", so I'm hoping that's what you're feeling right now. I promise I'll have a lot more to say in future. In the meantime, be sure to check out John Mayer's blog because it's amazingly profound and I need to meet him (www.johnmayer.com/blog), Angelina Jolie's photo spread in the November issue of W Magazine and The Office this Thursday night at 9pm, I believe.

Keep it classy*

"Next!"

So, my best friend, Anthony, has a very strong opinion when it comes to me and men. First of all, I ALWAYS has his opinion, so I can't scold him for having one. However, I will say, he never thinks anyone is good enough. Whether it be their name, background, etc., Anthony NEVER can say "yea, good call, good choice". NEVER.

Just a thought...because currently there is someone...who Anthony thinks is not good enough due to his name.

Weekends in Italy

Over the past few days I've been thinking about a great variety of really random things. These things include, but are not limited to, and in no particular order, are the following:

1. Weekends in Italy

2. How much I want to study abroad in grad school

3. How much I hate the untag option on Facebook

4. How thankful I am for my life

5. How I'm so sick of talking about the Presidential election, global warming and the "economic crisis"

6. How I love my job, but I wish it was full-time...and at the same time how I'm happy it's NOT full-time.

7. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Most of these are general thoughts, however numero uno seems a little peculiar, I'm sure. I was thinking about the weekends in Italy from 2007. When I studied abroad, I was never eager for the next day. I was never anxious about getting a day finished and onto the next. I never wanted the weekdays to fly by and get to the weekends. Not saying that I didn't love my weekends (that's what this post will eventually evolve into) but more commenting on the fact that I honestly and truly "lived each day to the fullest", as cliche as it may seem. I literally seized each and every friggin' day. Not many people can say they go through life doing that, and I'm not going to claim I'm still doing it, however, I know that I should.

In Italy, my days were full of class, exploring the espresso, exploring the surroundings and exploring the nightlife. Granted, this does not sound like the most stressful of situations, and I'm not going to say that it was, by any stretch of the imagination. Basically, I was constantly busy. I napped twice in Italy. Twice. Count em. On average, I got about 5 hours of sleep each night, getting home around 5am and waking up at 10am for my first class. Give or take a few days, and a few hours. It was about 90-something degrees each day with full humidity and I remember actually having the nerve to complain about how hot it was. What was I thinking? WHAT the HELL was I THINKING?! I would do anything to be back in that humidity, walking 4 miles to school every morning with my roommate, Veronica. Veronica would make me walk everywhere, everyday, and in the end, I'm so glad we rarely took public transportation. The things I saw on the old city streets of Rome are things I will never forgot and can never be replaced.

This past weekend, I was thinking: we would travel every weekend in Italy, never spending one weekend in Rome. At the end of each weekend, even though we loved all of the places we traveled, we were always ready to be back at home in our apartment in the middle of Trastevere, Rome. Why was that? I'm not quite sure. I was trying to think of a reason myself, because I'm typically not like that. I live for adventure. I live for being somewhere different, always. I'm not sure why we would always be excited to get home. I'm thinking it was because we never ran out of things to do in Rome. I never once said "wow, I'm bored".

I aspire to someday live in a place that feeds me constantly, more metaphorically than anything. I want to be in a place, maybe Rome, that isn't boring, that doesn't have that "end of the weekend" feeling like Connecticut does (haha). I love Connecticut, sort of, but I mean, for obvious reasons it does not compare to Rome. If you have any ideas as to why I felt this way, let me know. I just really wonder why I was so content. I want to feel that way again with home. However, I think I left my heart close to where I left my dreams. I'm not sure if I'll ever really feel like that about Connecticut. Ya win some, ya lose some, Constitution State.

"I like my money right where I can see it...hanging in my closet!"

Ohhh, Carrie Bradshaw--how you epitomize my thought process, time and time again! So here's the thing: I am absolutely OBSESSED with fashion. Not only fashion, but style. The artistic process of having an idea, putting together a garment, choosing color and everything else in between all of those steps, and not particularly in that order. I've always been a fan of clothing in general, especially designer items and quite frankly it's in my blood to be a part of this industry, I'm now sure of it. My grandmothers have always designed and sewn up clothing, one of them worked for Vogue in New York City in the 40's and 50's. My mom had instilled in me when I was younger that although we weren't making clothes as a means to get by, it always gave you what you wanted. It was, I believe, her way to get exactly what she was looking for and put her own creativity into the mix.

Needless to say, with all the women in my family being creative in the aspect of fashion, both the design and production of a garment, my mom signed me up for sewing lessons when I was younger. It was a pretty legit place, actually and I hate to say it but I don't even know how many times a week I would go. Let's just put it this way, I felt like I freaking lived there. While most little girls were still in dance lessons, I was learning how to produce what I loved, and that was clothing. By age 11 I had my first fashion show, which showcased 4 garments I created. And let's be real here, I know for a fact one of the garments was a bubble skirt that had bright red, purple, yellow and white tulips all over it...another garment was a pajama set. It was nothing haute couture, believe me, but it was something. After that point, I became a little sick of all of it and moved on.

However, sophomore year of high school we had a term paper. I had been known for carrying around a (fake..ugh...) Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 bag and decided I would write my term paper on the evolution of fashion and style. I did great on it, and debated a career in the fashion industry.

Lo and behold, I was a Business Economics major in college, but had a few really great opportunities in the fashion industry. I was an intern for Betsey Johnson in NYC and actually, in the end, got to work at Fashion Week where she showed her Fall 2007 collection. I also recently ended an internship at Hanesbrands in NYC where I assisted with the Bali, Barely There and Wonderbra lines in the Merchandising department. I loved all of the color and design that surrounded me, which kind of leads me to the place I am at currently.

I want a full-time job in fashion. For awhile I was unsure if it was REALLY something I wanted. After interning in, I swear, EVERY aspect of business, I really, really enjoy the style industry. Creativity, design, production, merchandising and what have you...I love it all! It can be a tough industry to work in, I'll say that. There are times when it seems like it's dead end and there are times when you are so high off of the excitement of being under The Tent at Fashion Week in Bryant Park. I wanna do it. I definitely wanna do it.

So, there you have it. My history in the world of style and fashion. Know any contacts in the industry? Holler at your girl.