Update on My New Place

June 19, 2013 at 8:10 pm | Posted in Life and Living | Leave a comment
Tags: , , ,

When I was engaged and in the planning stages for my wedding, I had a vision of what I wanted.  It wasn’t anything too extravagant, but it was pretty specific.  I wanted straps on my wedding dress.  I wanted my bridesmaids to wear black leopard jacquard print dresses.  I searched and searched for these things before finding items that didn’t match my vision, but matched me.

Building a home has been very similar to this.  When I first walked into my new apartment, I was already mentally buying furniture and decorating.  I had dreamed of doing this for a while, and having given up on my old apartment a long time, I took this is my chance.  And, similarly to my wedding, I have a deadline.  I want this place to be complete by Labor Day weekend.

But my self-imposed deadline mixed with my very specific vision has once again proven to be at conflict.  I don’t want to wait forever for furniture and I need to get this image out of my head and find things that fit me.  At the end of the day, my desire for decisions to be made in a timely matter beats out my vision of perfection.

Because nothing is perfect.  It would be like trying to find the perfect man.  It’s not that you shouldn’t be picky, but you need to be open to possibilities.

So I am working to let go of my vision.  The first step was purchasing a couch that was not the color I was originally looking for.  This changes everything I had in mind for my living room, and that’s okay.  A week from today, I will have somewhere else to sit in my home besides the toilet, and that’s what counts.

But there is still so much more to go, and I have to remember that my deadline is in fact self-imposed. I have a tendency to put a lot of pressure on myself and I think it is taking a toll on my body.  I know it will all come together in time, and it will be perfect even if it doesn’t meet my vision.

A Sweet Dream: Introducing Cookie Jars Couture!

June 12, 2013 at 4:33 pm | Posted in Career Moves, Friends Then and Now | Leave a comment

When I was younger, I was always very focused on the future. I knew what I liked to do but I didn’t know how it would play out. But I did know that I would be going to college. I thought about college a lot. But not everyone is like me. Not everyone goes on college tours, does their research. Some people just do whatever their best friend does. Even smart, talented people.

So that’s how I ended up at college with my best friend. She just figured whatever worked for me would work for her. So we broke the rules. I lived with my best friend my freshman year of school, and it was awesome.

But before we went, we had to coordinate. Our dorm room wasn’t going to look like your average dorm room. We bought the same sky blue Wamsutta comforters and she made these beautiful picture frames for our walls. We had a white curtain connecting our closets and white Christmas lights on the windows. We were going to be classy ladies.

So when she told me she was going to start a business that would call on her strengths in decorative arts, I was not surprised. This was her calling. Having worked in the catering business as long as I have known her, she found an untapped market. She was going to create custom cookie jars — party favors and gifts for all occasions.

cookiejarsAnd so Cookie Jars Couture was born. I thought this was an awesome idea and see a lot of potential for growth. As part of her 30th birthday celebration she is launching this new venture and I couldn’t be more excited for her. As the person who decorated my wedding cake and spent countless hours doing my hair and makeup growing up, I know she will do well with this.

It is a sweet dream that she has worked hard to make a reality, and I can’t wait to see what great things come of it.

So with this, I am pleased to announce the launch of Cookie Jars Couture. Check it out today for your next party!
http://cookiejarscouture.com/

cookies

Our Cousin Vinny

June 4, 2013 at 8:53 am | Posted in Friends Then and Now | Leave a comment

In this day and age, it seems there are few things that can stop a person in their tracks.  But there are some things, and one of those things is the sudden loss of an old friend.

In the midst of the craziness that consumed my life last week, I received the terrible news.  A childhood friend of mine had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  This terrible reality stopped me in my tracks.  I was going a thousand miles per hour to pack up my home when I was hit with this terrible dose of reality.

Though I hadn’t seen him in a long time, I had recently been posting photos of him, thinking of him.  While he certainly had closer friends and family, I couldn’t help but feel a part of me die along with him.

There was a time when I wanted to break free from everything that I had known.  I didn’t want my hometown, the people I grew up with, to define me.  I needed to stand my own ground, be my own person.  I wasn’t in touch with people for a few years, and I know people lose touch, but not me.  I don’t forget. I don’t leave people behind.  In recent years, I’ve been reconnecting with many of these people because they are a part of who I am and the person I have and will become.  It is undeniable the impact my childhood friends had on me and that includes Vinny.  I grew up in a close knit community.  My classmates were my friends and my family.

Vinny was a smart, fun-loving guy.  I never knew him to have any enemies or problems with anyone.  I would follow his adventures online — how he moved out to the west coast, how he traveled the world.  It seemed he had a lot going for him.  He loved his family and his friends.  I found photos of us from nursery school and more from middle school, high school and from college breaks.  He was at my Bat-Mitzvah, my sweet 16.  He was always there, ready for a laugh, ready to enjoy life.

And just like that, he’s gone, and it just doesn’t seem right.  I can’t erase the image from my mind of his family following his casket down the aisle at the church.  I can’t erase the image of his best friends serving as pallbearers.  I know these best friends well, too, and hurt for them, too.  I can’t understand how this happened. It just doesn’t seem real.

But I know Vinny.  My cousin Vinny. Our cousin Vinny.  A friend to everyone, someone who lived the hell out of life, wouldn’t want everyone to stop living.  Vinny would want us to live our lives with joy.  Vinny would want us to go on.

And we will.  Somehow, we will.  But we will do it with his memory with us forever.  His footprints side by side with our own.  We will carry his memory through the journeys of our lives.  Through us, he will live on.

We love you Vinny.

Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 331 other followers

%d bloggers like this: