Just a Day in the Life of a Spaz

So since this blog was mostly created for friends and family to read, I figured I really should write an update about what’s been going on in my life since I moved to New York. It has certainly been an adventure and I’ll try to give you all the good juicy details without it being too incredibly long – though I make no promises Life is about change right? Well this year was full of big ones. First marriage, then divorce, then a move across the country and finding out what love really is all about.

So I became a resident of Manhattan on June 1st 2007 and boy has it been a crazy year. The drive out here was the beginning of my adventures. Mom, Magnet (the cutest dog ever), and I all piled into a rented mini-van and drove all the way from Reno, NV to the island of Manhattan. I created a webspace just for Mom HERE if you want to read about it or see all the crazy pictures.

I moved here to follow my passion for art and design and fulfill my need and love of big city adventures And it just so happened that Richard (those of you who’ve known me long enough may remember him as my highschool sweetheart) was transferring to New York for his job and was in need of a roommate. (believe the rumors guys, housing prices in Manhattan are ridiculous). And yes I’m using the term roommate loosely here hehe, though he really did need one, heck it’d be nice to find a trustworthy person or two now so we could get a bigger place and all live it up Manhattan style. (I often have visions of convincing Kristi & Brian and Richard’s friend Lark to get a three bedroom loft and we could have our own little geek haven here in NYC.) Anways thanks to craigslist we found a gorgeous studio in the Financial District right on Wall Street in the cutest little flatiron-style building called the cocoa exchange. It’s small (370 square feet to be exact) but we have wonderful doormen, a beautiful chef’s kitchen and a bathroom that’s bigger than a closet. The closet on the other hand is a whole different story but I won’t bore you with that one .

The next step after finding a gorgeous apartment was finding a job. Something that I expected to be alot easier than it turned out to be. I had never really had a problem in Reno. I’d show them my gorgeous portfolio, they’d ask me a few technical questions possibly even do some work on the computer so they could tell if I really knew my stuff and usually I got the job I wanted. Here everyone wants an ivy-league or prominent art-school degree and of course no one has ever heard of TMCC, most think Reno 911 is non-fiction, and when I told them it was a community college out the door I went. Needless to say, it was incredibly frustrating. Though there was this one company that wanted to hire me – a lovely group of russian men who called me “doll” and where’d I’d be designing dvd covers for soft porn for $350 a week. I did say no, but after a few months with no job and funds quickly running out I can’t say I didn’t consider it. I joined a couple temp-agencys in hopes that it would allow me to make some good contacts and help me get to know the city better, and I did answer quite a few craigslist ads. I did some web work for a beauty company called beautyaddicts. It was cool and I got a ton of free makeup – which is really great stuff by the way (though sadly you can’t pay rent with that).

Then I met up with a couple who had the potential of making dreams come true that can only happen in New York. (This is where I also learned that my inherent faith in people is a fault that has worse consequences here than in Reno.) First I was doing some web stuff, then design work, then was asked if I wanted to play personal assistant for a while. I certainly didn’t have a problem with it. We were getting a company launched and it was exciting to see the process and the transformation and be a part of something that had the potential to be great. I got to go to a huge business conference in Florida and even got to hang out on the beach on the last day which was wonderful. Then I got to do some work with Paula Abdul, who is one of the most genuine, gorgeous and amazing people I’ve ever met. I was going to to design and manage a store on her website, but sadly the project fell through. Then things started to fall through more frequently, and the drama was unbelievable – It felt like I was in some twisted version of the movie The Devil Wears Prada. But the real problem was that I had to practically beg for money like I was a child asking a parent for an allowance or something, until finally I really couldn’t take it anymore. I realized after six months of working for these people I had only been averaging $400 a month which I could barely feed myself on and my credit card debt was slowly beginning to overwhelm me. So, lesson learned and back to the job boards I went. I still talk to these people and I am working on a project for a beauty product line for Morgan Fairchild (who is also a lovely and amazing person) called Fabulous – but I’m not holding my breath on actually getting paid for this project either.

I finally found the perfect job in January. Turns out that the guy who lived next door to us and who totally fell in love with our dog (and Magnet loved him as well) is a director in the marketing department at Fordham University. He saw me upstairs in the lounge one day when I was re-mounting some portfolio panels and had me come in to do some freelance work for them with the intention of ultimately hiring me, and was offered the position officially in Feb. I like it there a lot, everyone is really nice and laid back and I get to do what I love every day. Plus I get insane benefits like going back to school for free and a huge amount of paid holidays since they’re a Jesuit University (Richard’s jealous about the holidays and says he hates me hehe).

So that’s my life so far Hope it wasn’t too long, you really can’t tell in this tiny window they give me type in. There were certainly more “spaz” moments over the past year that I could have shared with you (like the time I left the bananas on the stove when I was cooking dinner – I’ll be sure to add the pic to my flickr account for you to be amused by), but I’ll save those for a later date. It’s certainly been an adventure but it’s been a good one. For once in my life everything feels right. Even when I had no job and didn’t know how I was going to pay for groceries, I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face when I got in the elevator to go home. Even though I only live in a 370 square foot box with a dog and a pack-rat boy who loves furniture more than me, I’m at peace. I’ve found someone who shares the same goals, the sames wants and the same ability to laugh at oneself and the world and I’m happy. And sharing this adventure with someone else is something that makes it even better. But enough gooshy love talk, I really should get to bed. Hope that was a suitable update – and the next post will be something more fun, I promise