Subway Stories

Day 9:

Today I met Vlad to help him deliver a few garments. One thing I've learned about the fashion industry is that people are always late... and usually when they know you're coming they will rarely be there. So, I had to bring the garments to a back-up factory a few blocks away on the subway while the initial office enjoyed their lunch break. Once I did that I walked into H&M and Forever 21 to buy socks.

In the midst of packing I somehow forgot socks. I have one knee-high, ridiculous, plaid pair that i wear with boots and other than that I am empty handed. So a few days ago I borrowed a pair from my cousin and I've been wearing them for four days. It'd like to say I was delicate with them but that would be a lie because you already know the running and walking around I do in this city.It was time for a change.

I'm really great at saving money if I refrain from passing through those double doors. I have potential to be an amazing window shopper. But, once those double doors are behind me I tend to convince myself that each outfit is a necessity. I NEED this top for the interview I'll be getting. I NEED that skirt because it will look great with the $5 top I have in my hand... and who can turn down a $5 top. I mean, really? Anyways, I did some self reflection while in line and dropped a few items before getting to the register. Now I have new socks, plus a few other things.

SUBWAY STORIES:

Street musicians are ALWAYS lurking in the depths of the subway, however today I was particularly intrigued. There was a Jamaican guy in dreads that played the guitar without stopping to hassle a single passerby. He was truly in his own world yet he had a genuine smile for everyone that left him as much as a dime. He also displayed his facebook profile on a cardboard next to him which I thought was clever. Nothing too exciting, but he radiated good vibes.

And, he got my dollar.

The second situation was a little more interesting. An older Italian woman with a wild mane of box dyed red hair was lost. She was oddly familiar to me and I couldn't place my finger on it until now.

She is a deadringer for George Castanza's mom on Seinfeld. Please take a minute to picture the yelling, raspy new york voice before continuing to read this post.

Anyhow, I got off at my stop with the crazy Italian lady at my heels and walked past a middle aged guy trying to sell himself as a one man band. He had tied and taped random objects to himself and was tapping away with no tune. It was so dysfunctional I honestly had to ask myself if he was "all there". Behind me I heard the lady yell: DOES THE M TRAIN TAKE ME TO BROOKLYN? HOW TO DO I GET TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE? WILL YOU STOP BANGING ON THOSE THINGS AND LISTEN TO ME FOR A MINUTE? HELLLLO!?!?

I swear it sounded like nails on a chalk board.

At this point I had already turned the corner and couldn't, nor did I want to look back. Until I heard this awful sound: AGHHHHHUCCCCKKKK!

If I had not already assessed the situation I would have thought somebody was being murdered. But, no. This lady was screaming in agony of being ignored by this handicap street performer.

I'm running out the door to grab some items for my first snow day! Tomorrow New York City schools are closed and we're expected to get quite a lot of snow. Hopefully I get caught in the first few flakes on my stroll back home :)

Chicago is not the only Windy City

Day 8:

First of all, before I rant about my daily New York escapades I have to address the Super Bowl Game. I am so glad the Saints won and wish I could've been there in person to feel the excitement. I have a short attention span with sports (unless I'm the one playing) and this game had me glued to the t.v. the entire time.

Last night I watched the game in my cousin Danny's building. Lucky for us the boyfriend and girlfriend duo throwing the party also knew how to cook. I was given homemade baked ziti, garlic rolls, wings, and cookies along with my choice or liquor or beer. Although it was weird not to watch the game with the same group as the years past it wasn't too difficult to fight off the good feeling of a new football crew, free food and drinks. Afterwards Danny, Americk and I went to a club in the West Village known as Quo. Definitely a hip hop scene, I could only recognize a few of the rap songs while everyone else went crazy singing along with the lyrics. It did cross my mind to use the word Watermelon as a cover up. In third grade I learned that if you mouth watermelon it looks like you could be saying any of the words in a song. But, instead I just danced and kept my eye on the live drummer free styling along with the DJ's music.

Monday. Today. I sent out a few resumes and emails before I treked over to the FedEx Kinkos to print out copies of my finished resume. I had thrown on leggings, my new 6.0 Nike high tops, sweater, and a fedora because it looked sunny outside. Now I feel like I should inform you that looking out my window and creeping on the street walkers has taken the place of my former weather.com obsession. What I didn't suspect from this stalking was the presence of wind tunnels I've so sweetly avoided since my arrival. On the way to Kinkos the wind lifted my hat of my head and carried it somersaulting halfway down the block. Naturally I had to chase after it while gaining an audience in the process. Then on my way home from Whole Foods I had my hands full and accidently brushed past a guy in a group of foreign men. I quickly apologized and kept walking while they yelled after me that they had seen me in my movie. What was it called again? I walked faster relishing the fame, and allowing them to believe they had just ran into their first American actress. Other than that I just ordered business cards, cleaned, and cooked. Tomorrow I'm back at the internship.

Superbowl Sunday Funday

Day 7 (One Week Survival Mark):

I woke up this morning in my clothes and make up from the night before. I need to loose this lazy habit because it's no longer acceptable in the real world and my skin hates me for it. It wasn't so much that it was a crazy night, but more that it was a crazy Saturday in general. So in an effort to regain my dignity and prove to myself that Super Bowl Sunday won't be a total failure I threw on my sneakers and took on the Williamsburg Bridge. There was still snow sitting at the top and the run was really challenging but again, I was fighting with my own ego so I finished it off with watching a skateboard sesh in Brooklyn before forcing myself to keep up the pace and run back towards my side of town. Today I finished editing my resume which needed to be done and I plan on hitting the streets Monday with a few copies in hand. Super Bowl plans are still in the works.

Day 6 (Saturday)

Saturday I woke up early and changed, trying to check my email while looking up subway directions all at the same time. After looking at the snow on the ground and deciding I didn't want to risk showing up late to the photo shoot I hailed for a taxi and got to the shoot ten minutes early, making myself the first to arrive. My dad will be proud, he always tells me to arrive early for work and stay late to make an impression.

The owner of the studios, Marc, was a rough guy with a dry sense of humor but we got along great and he was my buddy for the rest of the shoot. If anyone needed Marc, they sent me, mostly because I don't think anyone else bothered to remember his name. It was exciting to see the behind the scenes view of the time and effort that goes into making a fashionable look book. It really takes an army of people: hair dressers, make up artists, stylists, models, photographer, etc. I met the other intern Amber, who was a small town girl like myself from Kansas. We also got along well and I hope I get to work with her again. When ideas of lunch started rolling around the fashion camp my favorite response I heard was laxative tea. The cliche fashionistas do exist. I also passed a model casting going on downstairs. Sometimes it's easy to forget that models are literally glorified clothing hangers with a pretty face... their legs are the size of my arms and it made me feel a little better when our models told me they were only 16 and 17. Little girls that were also sophisticated and smart business women. I was supposed to be helping out at the shoot till two but ended up leaving around 4:30 when I realized how late it was getting and I wanted to meet my friend Casey and her friend who were visiting the city from Jville for her birthday. We walked around and went out to dinner. I have to admit that although I haven't gotten homesick yet it was really nice to see a familiar face. It was just as nice to devour a turkey burger instead of PB&J or grilled cheese like the past three nights.

When I got home I got a text from my other friend Casey who was in classes with me at FSU. She lives in the UWS but was literally a block away from my house drinking $5 martinis with a friend. Even though I was tired I freshened up and met the girls out for my first night on the town since I got here. When I got to the bar, Verlaine, I had an instant like for the place. It was packed and the girls had been sweet enough to have a lychee martini waiting on me. The guy next to them offered me his seat but in doing so knocked into a girl carrying a bagged up bottle of wine to take home. It hit the floor with a bang. He picked it up, handed it to her sloshing around inside the bag and ran out the door. Chivalry at it's finest.

It was a good night bouncing around to different parts of the city but I was so tired I was drinking on fumes, while the other girls were full party mode. At one dive bar we all paraded into the bathroom together thinking nothing of it. A manly woman bartender followed and yelled at us saying there would be no group drug rings going on in the rest room. If we wanted to couldn't we have done it alone anyways?

Casey decided she wanted to head to Brooklyn so her friend and I walked back towards our part of town. The last place we went was swanky and I had offered to buy our next drinks since the girls had paid for the cab ride earlier. Over $30.00 later and striking up an interesting convo with two guys next to me from Amsterdam I decided to call it a night and head home.

I wish my best friends from back home could've been right there with me.

TGIF

DAY 5:

Today was one of the most uneventful ones I've had. I dragged myself out of bed this morning after a late night of studio searching and began calling all of the studios I had lined up for our potential photo shoot, as well as continuing the search for a hotel. After getting some free time to make breakfast I went towards the fashion district to pick up some hook & eyes, buttons, etc. from one factory to deliver to the next. In my excitement of getting new shoes and being adamant about tossing my Ugg boots to the curb I slipped on some heeled boots and a beanie in addition to my outfit sans shower. The two factories sounded close on paper, but once I arrived in the area I realized I was going to be doing a good amount of walking. I even became delusional and arrived at 237 instead of 247. I only realized this when I went to head to the 9th floor and realized it only went to the 7th floor. Great.

After that task I came home and crashed. Literally slept for a good 2 hours until I regained consciousness. Did I mention on my way home I stopped halfway up the stairs to kick off my heeled boots and continue the second half in socks? I woke up and sent out a few resumes. Soon after I received a frustrated call from my mom. The second half of the rent check I had written Mike on Tuesday had bounced. It was completely my fault, I thought my money had cleared by then. I realize as I enter this real world I might have to take money matters more seriously. I hate checking accounts, balances, writing bills, etc. Maybe I was supposed to live in the old days where if I wanted milk I went in the backyard. If i wanted new clothes I sewed them or traded my chicken's eggs for the latest fashion. Yes.... let's go back to this. Or, maybe I'll marry a nice gentlemen who enjoys these things. Or better yet. I will make enough money to pay someone to do this for me. Photo shoot is tomorrow at 8a.mmmm

Stair Master

Day 4:

I almost didn't write tonight because I need to be doing work for my internship, which has devoured a large part of my day already. But if I don't do it now I'll forget stories or lose touch altogether so I've forced myself to type out a few lines.

Time is flying by. I've calculated that with rent I am paying about $40 a day to live in New York. The saying "Time is money" has never been so right. And I'm thrilled to have the whole city waiting for me at my doorstep.

I went to three different grocery markets last night before caving into the mainstream Whole Foods following. I get it now. It's much easier to pay the up charge instead of trying to read labels in a foreign language or double checking expiration dates. I DID however, find a Guava jelly in one of the spanish markets that I couldn't pass up and plan on giving the old school PB&J another try. The grilled cheese I made last night turned out delicious but I learned that the big knife I found to slice the cheddar was in fact my room mate's prize birthday gift: a $200.00 knife from Germany. I could only compare this mistake to him using one of my nicest heels to kill a cockroach, so I felt a little bad.

This morning I made my favorite breakfast. Eggs, spinach, salsa and avocados. I've also single handedly finished off the entire carton of orange juice. I'm hoping all of that Vitamin C puts my oncoming cold at bay. I received an email from Vlad to begin searching hotels for THIS weekend as in, today and Saturday for a certain price... after I send him a few options I am asked to look for a venue for the photo shoot Saturday in a particular area also, and THEN find a hotel close for the models. Sounds simple but it's taken up a majority of my day. Many people aren't willing to bargain when it's last minute, and the other 90% are already booked. I unpacked the two boxes of towels, pillows, and shoes that I had shipped up today. I am so psyched to toss my Uggs to the back of the closet. I'm sick of looking at them and ready for some new kicks.

I run into my UPS man everywhere around town and have begun to wonder if he's my soul mate.

Just kidding. Or I am....

The stairs are keeping me in check. If anyone in this city is out of shape they must be rich and afford taxis because all of the walking and climbing I've been doing is kicking my butt. The stairwell picture I posted with this is real and in no way exaggerated. Sixth floor people. I'm going to be the stair master come March...

InTheAbundenceOfWaterTheFoolisThirsty

Day 3:

I woke up to find snow on the ground and made it to Starbucks by 9:22 this morning when I was supposed to be meeting Dana's assistant Vladymir by 9:30. I was only capable of this because I arranged my subway trip online the night before (on the way home it was a different story taking an army of locals and two NYPD to steer me in the right direction). After realizing I didn't have his number or know what he looked like I texted my friend Courtney, knowing she'd be at work and able to check any emails from him. Of course, he had texted me at 2 A.M saying it'd be better to meet at 10 A.M. The funny thing about New York City is that these miscommunications or struggles throughout the day aren't frustrating. They allow an unexpected window to people watch, catch up with friends from back home, etc. I also discovered at that time that I can check email from my ghetto Go Phone. My good friend had written me an email and ended the normal catch up with...

"Please promise me you won't get too sucked into the celebrityism of fashion - like your worth or success is measured by whether Nicole Richie is considering wearing one of your ensembles to the post, post, post welcome home home party for Paris' lost Chihuaha."

It made me laugh and I'm glad I'm surrounded by people that will keep me grounded.

Luckily Vlad had saved my number from an email and gave me a ring when he got close. Against all odds, thinking he was of Russian decent, he was a svelte African American giant. It was a lot of fun running around to different fabric shops and picking out fabric samples for Dana's Fall line. I took pictures with my camera while Vlad held on to the swatches to give to her back the the office. All I had to do was get home, upload the pictures, and send them to her via email including the pricing and fabric content. This simple task became much more involved when my email service decided it was going to rebel against sending any pictures and I was eventually driven to an internet lunch cafe around the corner while I patiently waited to upload them on photobucket. It seemed like time was turning backwards and I felt inadequate. Two hours later, the task was complete and I'm so psyched to work with them again on Saturday for the photo shoot.

I'm attempting to make my room mate and I dinner tonight on a NYC budget. I gave him three choices and told him to pick two. I figured if it overlapped my top two we would have a decision made. Looks like cheddar grilled cheese on wheat with tomato bisque! It's going to be another lazy night of job searching...

The New York Diaries

DAY 1

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. As far as the big city goes I suppose you either love it or hate it. There is one unanimous opinion, no matter who you are, where you come from, or how old you are that can be agreed upon. The city of New York has energy. It begins the moment you arrive and if you embrace it, it’s contagious. Boredom has immediately been lost from my language and is like a foreign dialect.

I arrived yesterday to meet Mike, my new roommate standing outside my new crash pad. He helped me haul my luggage up six narrow flights of stairs, and the older lady with the cane was more than happy to let us attempt this before she began the challenge. I made it half way up before Mike was back down to relieve me. My thighs were burning and I immediately think I’m going to have a great butt by the time swimsuit season rolls around. Current weather conditions: 28 degrees.

The apartment is perfect. Wood floors, a bohemian rug posing as a welcome mat, maps of yachting trips, and old records meet my gaze upon walking in the front door while the Rolling Stones are playing. My room has an antique chandelier. I have always claimed “when I grow up” I want a chandelier in every room (the Lighting District is my favorite block of New York City) needless to say- this place couldn’t suit me better. Mike left me a Not for Tourists Guide to NYC on my bed and helped me hang a curtain over one of my windows. We now both have one of our two windows covered, what a team player. As far as the NYC Guide, he’s probably saving himself from my phone calls of being dazed and confused, begging for directions in the city while he’s at work. I think this is a clever way to vanish this annoyance and disguise it as a nice gesture. Any doubts I had about this spontaneous trip have vanished. I am home.

Grabbed a quick bite to eat with my cousin a place called The China Star for dinner on Monday night. While we dined, a fluffy Maltese wearing a warm sweater labeled “Stud” sat at my feet. Typical. I convince myself this is a pet and not a menu item.

Day 2

I thought I was locked out of my place all day today because I, along with the UPS man who happened to catch me in the act, threw our bodies against the door while unlocking it and couldn't make it budge. Then the petite next door neighbor who is half my size opened it with ease. Apparently I was doing it wrong the entire time. At least I know now. My place has no television and I haggled a deal with one of our foreign neighbors for internet access to keep me connected to the outside world. He gained $20.00 and I gained his wi-fi password. Another piece of good news today is that the designer, Dana Maxx emailed me and wants me to work with her assistant tomorrow to get ready for Fashion Week. I can’t wait… Goodnight!