Power

is being told you are not loved,
and not being destroyed by it.

I didn't dress up for work today

and I feel under-dressed.  Awkward if I go home and change and come back. Dear me, remember this for tomorrow.



I only had 1 cup of coffee this morning so can I have another already?  I made the boy a smoothie this morning before work and that was before the coffee. Think of how much I've gotten done since then! Wait actually a lot. Caffeine I love you like no other.

Have I told you about Local 22 yet? It's the new kitchen/bar my company is opening up.  It's next to one of our other restaurants, Parizade  It's like Parizade's cool 22-year-old daughter.  The kitchen will feature gourmet, local ingredients on small plates and the bar will feature.. wine? Lots of wine. And hand-crafted cocktails- which I've had the really hard job of testing for you- and beer! of course. Website-in-progress, anyone? Also follow our instagram account @local22kitchenandbar and our twitter @local_22 duh. Ok, sorry to get promotional on ya.

Thank you girl who lived in my apartment before me for the fall '13 Madewell catalog, I needed a reason to be happy about the changing weather.  Getting my down comforter dry-cleaned also helped. Hello, fall.

We didn't come for money

In restaurant world weekend begins on Sunday night therefore POP BOTTLES AND TURN THE LANA HOUSE UP 

Fairy ghosts are real

I have a fairy. The boy is convinced its a ghost and excuse me if i sound crazy but she's anything but haunting. So far. It makes sense though, living in an abandoned tobacco warehouse from the 1800s. My fairy is making it clear she was here first. Turning on my bathroom light in the middle of the night. Should I be freaked out? Probably. We're cool for now. 

I think it's really fall this time. You know when the sun is still hot but the air is cool? I'm laying at the pool. And as much fun as I've had at all the Cary pools, a real-people pool in West Village is way freakin cooler. This blog post has already been interrupted to socialize and there's another girl named Shannon so I'm gonna put this away now to go do more of that. 

What is time when time is dedicated to work? Work is life and life is work and it's probably good that way because if there's anything worse than a poor girl it's a poor lazy girl. So here I go on hour 25 of Wednesday or Thursday or is it Friday already? to dine with work for the second evening in a row, which includes one of my boss' guests who is the smartest most beautiful woman I've ever met. Maybe it's work but I don't care because the people I meet in this industry are beyond gods and goddesses. Especially this couple. 

And the food isn't so bad either. 

Anything can happen

It's the morning after my work's glamorous annual "Greek Night" and I'm glamorously on my couch eating Greek yogurt and watching music videos- that is before I glamorously get to work on my laptop. Maybe you're wondering about my new job. Maybe you're not, but I feel like telling you anyways. Not because I want to rub my dream job in your face or because I'm okay with living at home while I find a new place in Raleigh's hippie girlfriend named Durham. But because dreams are precious and fragile and chasing them is so fun, that it's all I can do not to run up to the rooftop and shout about it. And hope the same happens for you.

It started with a silk jumpsuit. If you think your wardrobe can't land you a great gig, you're expectations of the business world aren't shallow enough.  Throw in a savvy business man and the words "you need me on your team" and if you're dreamer enough to chase it, pounce and kill, you can consider yourself hired.

I guess what I'm trying to say is no one offered me this position. No one came to my door one morning and said welcome to your new job! I saw the opportunity like a ripe, juicy orange and wanted it. It was impossible for me to walk away from so I made myself impossible to turn down.  In order to be different, you must be irreplaceable. Chanel said. And I agree.  Designers are a dime a dozen. I know people with portfolios to die for.  But passion. That can't be matched.  And if you believe in something, you're already half way there. Got that one from a Chobani yogurt lid.

After completing 2 branding projects and a design project for the new boss, one of the general managers came to me and said, "I've been working for [boss] for over 25 years.  He's a hard man to please and he said you've turned around [these projects] exactly how he wanted them, and fast. My compliments Ms. Smith."

Yea, I'm awkward that I memorized that because it's the nicest thing anyone professional has ever said to me. And where else to indulge in re-reading it over and over again besides the blog?  Not getting ahead of myself by any means, which is by far my worst fear, but it was a rewarding way to start this new position as creative director for a lifestyle design and concept development group. (official description, bet you didn't know sound and letter groupings mattered in the success of a name! shh, branding secrets!)

So cheers, or should we say YAMAS! to those times when things kind of really do work out.

And to doing good work, and fast.

put a logo on it so you know it's real