Blogging About Bloggers

Tonight at work, we had an event called "Blogger Preview".  It was a really cool opportunity for a group of the fashion bloggers in Houston to come to the Galleria and get a sneak peek of some of the looks that will be shown at Simon Fashion Now, our huge fashion show event coming up. 

We had about 8 retailers show up with mannequins/models dressed in a look from their store.  They got to talk to all of the bloggers about how their fashions will fit into the spring wardrobe landscape.  There was food provided by Daily Grill, a great restaurant in the Galleria and the champagne was flowing freely. 

The event set up was basically my responsibility and it got a lot of praise, which made me so happy.  I was proud of how everything looked and how the event went.  I got to make some good contacts with a lot of the retailers and restaurateurs, too.  Marketing might really be for me after all!  Who knew?!

Better Photos!

The other marketing intern just emailed me a MUCH better group photo (with the exception of the fact that Page Parkes is licking her lips...) than the professionally taken one.  This one was taken on our company camera (which, shockingly, is a Sony) and it's SO much clearer and I don't look as crazy!!  HOORAY!!!!

Here's the group shot, and then because I'm rude like this, I'm posting a photo I cropped so it's just me and Tim.  Sorry people I cropped out!  It's because of you guys that I have this job and am able to have a photo like this in the first place!!!

PS.  If you click on them, I think they get bigger.  Enjoy!!!

Please, Please, Please Somebody...

...cut off my feet.  O.M.G.  They hurt so bad.  I wore a new pair of heels to work today, and I'm definitely paying for it now.  Magically, they didn't leave any blisters, but the balls of my feet are KILLING me.  It was a long day full of lots of walking and standing and I really thought I might just weep by the end of it.

But enough of the bad!  Let's move on to the good!  And I mean GOOD!  Today was the day I've been waiting/working for all week!  Tim Gunn Day!  For those who don't know, today at the Galleria, we had an event with Liz Claiborne.  Tim is the chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne, so he hosted the event.  It was a runway show, with commentary from Tim and another member of the LC team, followed by a cocktail hour during which time certain people got to wait in line for a chance to meet Tim and have a photo taken.  It was neat being on the behind-the-scenes team, because I got to go backstage and see the space where the models would be getting ready, I got to see Tim being walked over to the runway before any of the shoppers realized he was there and I got to be inside velvet ropes right by the runway and Tim while all the commoners (ha!) waited in line to meet him. 

Another perk we were all anticipating was meeting Tim ourselves.  We did get to, and in my opinion it was awesome!  But, a little bummer was the fact that we had to wait until all of the paying customers finished meeting him before we got our turn, and by that time, Tim's team was apparently ready to go.  So instead of getting an individual photo and some precious 1-on-1 time with him, we had to take a quick group photo.  But like I said, it was still awesome.  I was the first person in line with our group, so while the rest of our people joined me and Tim on the runway, I did get to shake his hand and talk to him.  Basically I said it's nice to meet you and thanked him for being there, but he spoke back to me, so I'm going to count that as valuable conversation.  And then, the way the group filed on stage, I ended up standing right next to Tim in the photo!  His fashion-geniusy hand was on my shoulder!!!

It was all great.  Here are a few photos of the magic.  Excuse the fact that I look moderately crazy in some of them...I was pretty excited and I daresay it shows.

After Tim Gunn, as if that wasn't enough, I also passed right by Chris Brown and his posse/security.  He was there "shopping".  Really, I'm sure he was just walking around soaking up the attention, but still: AWESOME!  I was literally two feet from Chris Brown!  We made eye contact, so I'm going to go ahead and consider that as us meeting.  Ha!  And look, I know he hit Rihanna, and no.  That's not okay.  BUT, he's still famous and talented and I'm still going to listen to and love his music and be amazed by his dancing, so I was really excited and had I not been a) alone and b) without a camera I would have DEFINITELY asked if I could take a picture with him. 

And just to put the cherry on top of the already awesome day, I also got to meet Page Parkes, of the Page Parkes Corporation, which is an amazing national modeling agency known for discovering/representing the likes of some very famous people (Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Channing Tatum, Hilary & Hailey Duff, Tyson Beckford, Alexis Bledel and Josh Holloway of LOST fame, just to name a few...).  It was exciting to know that maybe I'm now one degree of separation from some mega-stars.  I wish I could have read her mind while I was talking to her, because I'm sure she sizes people up in her head.  Then again, maybe I'm glad I couldn't!  (Oh, she's the one on the far left in the group shot with Tim Gunn, if anyone's curious.)

I know this is a long post, and thanks for reading all of it if you did.  It was just a really fun day!  Everything (from a work perspective) went really smoothly and it was an overall success! 

Except for my aching feet...  Ha!

Busy Little Bee

Oops!  I forgot to blog yesterday!  It's all because, for once, I had a busy evening of fun.

First, Tyler and I went on a walk at a really cool park.  There's a big track around the whole area and some ponds, lots of playground and exercise equipment.  Here's the park, called Arthur Storey Park, for any Houstonians.

Last night, the weather was really nice and apparently we weren't the only people who had the park idea.  There was a TON of people there.  We just walked along and talked to each other.  Tyler didn't even pull out his blackberry!  It was great.  Definitely worth it to get outside and spend some quality, technology/entertainment-free time together.  

After the park, Tyler and I came home and made dinner together.  Steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus and salad.  It was YUMMY.

And lastly, we watched the greatest show on television, aka LOST.  It was such a great episode.  Some very powerful acting and lots of "Whaaat?!?!!!" moments.  Good times.

Overall, it was a very couple-y kind of night and I really liked it.  I love just spending time with Tyler.  And I love going to bed with a sense of "Ahh, this was a productive (or at least satisfyingly busy) and fun evening."  Therefore, I hereby deem yesterday a success!

Weekend Fun

This weekend, Tyler and I went up to College Station to meet some friends for a good old-fashioned crawfish boil.  It was really fun!  There were about 20-25 of us there, and we all devoured about 100 pounds of crawfish.  YUM.

It was also great to spend time with friends that we haven't seen in a little while.  We all ate, drank and were merry.... until the Aggies lost their basketball game.  Then we ate, drank and were un-merry.  But it was still great fun!

Today, it was back to the grind.  Still loving the job.  I can't believe the Tim Gunn event is this weekend!  It's so soon!  I need to pick out an outfit ASAP.  And hopefully this time next week, I'll have an impressive picture with the one and only Tim Gunn himself to share!

TGIF

Phew, thank goodness it's Friday!  I'm loving work and I'm having a surprisingly easier time waking up in the morning than I thought I would, but I'm still getting used to having something to do all day, every day.  I'm tired when I get home from work!  Luckily, it's March Madness, so I can veg out on the couch and watch the Aggies play for a couple of hours. 

This weekend, Tyler and I were going to go to New Braunfels and go out on Canyon Lake on the boat, but the weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow so we're having to postpone.  I'm bummed, but at the same time, this is my last free weekend until April 17th and I'm looking forward to taking it easy.  I have a ton of work events coming up and I'm gonna fit in as much relaxing as I can. 

Again, nothing too riveting to blog about, but we are going to College Station on Sunday for a crawfish boil, so maybe something fun will come of that!  What about you, dear readers?  Doing anything fun?  Hope so! Have a great weekend!

Lunch Breaks for Bookworms

I'm so excited! 

Where I work, I have a really flexible schedule, including breaks for lunch.  The only restriction is that I'm not supposed to work over 32 hours a week (it's technically a part-time internship).  That leaves me a lot of wiggle room. I want to be working as much of a normal schedule as possible, so in order to clock in and out at normal times (i.e. 9:30ish in the mornings and 4:30ish in the afternoons), I'm encouraged to clock out for long, luxurious lunch breaks. 

Since I can't exactly spend an hour and half eating the little lunch I bring, I have devised a brilliant plan.  I'm going to go downstairs to the Borders bookstore and read!  I know that is super nerdy, but I don't care.  Our offices are a floor above Borders, so I'll meet a friend of mine who works nearby for lunch and then spend some quality time in the comfortable Borders chairs with a good book.

This brings me to my plea for suggestions.  If you have read any great books recently, let me know!  I have an entire bookstore to peruse.  I know it's probably cheating they system somehow, but I'm planning on finding a good book on the shelves and reading it in the store, remembering my stopping place and picking up where I left off the next day.  So leave me a comment with as many book suggestions as you'd like-- money is no object!

Random Ramblings

I don't really have anything riveting to blog about today, but things are definitely still going well.

Still loving work and getting more confident in the things that I can do by myself.  I had a meeting today with a couple other girls to go over all of the events that we have coming up and WOW.  We are going to be crazy busy for the next month or so.

Other exciting things: Tyler and I have finally concreted our plans for our anniversary.  We'll be going to New Orleans for a long weekend, so I'll be munching on beneigts and exploring the Audubon zoo in just over two weeks!  We've also decided that we're going to Canyon Lake this weekend, so that should be fun.  We're apparently all about racking up the miles on our cars.  And lastly, I'm still keeping up with all of my Daily 7!  The photo-taking is sadly the most difficult for me to do, but I've at least been reading at night if I haven't snapped a picture all day.  With all the fun things coming up at work though, I'm sure I'll be taking lots of pictures soon!

Tuesday, or As I Like to Call It: LOST-Day

Does everyone know what day it is?  LOST-DAY!!!

Just like it were a holiday, every Tuesday when I wake up, I get pumped because it's the day I get to watch the best show that's ever graced the television screen, LOST.  I love this show and I know WAY too much about it.  If anyone ever has any LOST trivia or questions, come see me and we'll forever be best friends. 

Today at work, though, I learned some sad news.  No one in my office watches LOST.  So tomorrow, when the crazy happenings of the Island are rattling around in my brain, I'll have no one to discuss them with!!  BUMMER!

Also sad and work-related (though a complete deviation from LOST), today I remembered that a dress I almost bought about a month ago would have been PERFECT for an event we have coming up.  Last month I found this Nanette Lapore dress at TJ Maxx, which means it was hugely reduced in price.  It was so so so cute and fit me like it was made for me, but it was definitely a cocktail dress and despite the price cut, it was still out pricey, so since I didn't have a job yet I left it hanging on the rack.  Now, I'm kicking myself.  The upcoming event is a fashion show of our high-end, luxury brands and the attire is "Dress to Turn Heads" so all the girls are going to look great and I would have loved to have worn that darn dress.

Mute Monday

Hello all! 

A couple of things.  I've decided that I'm going to try to blog every day M-F, and only on the weekends if something blog-worthy happens.  Trying to cut down on the boring-factor.

Also to reduce the snooze, I'm going to do something called Mute Monday, where instead of posting just another plain old blog, I'll only post a picture that I've taken on Monday, with little or no description (hence the "mute").  Hopefully this will help me to actually take pictures and to give you guys a more interesting peek into my day.

Here's today's:

This one might need a little explanation to be sufficiently hilarious.  See, our little mail man, bless his heart, wrote "Put names in boxes please" above the mass of mail boxes at our apartment complex.  He was only trying to ease his troubles.  But some people are just SO literal.

I actually laughed out loud by myself in the mail station when I saw this.  I love my neighbors Rob, Jill and Dave.  Never met 'em, but they seem like swell folks.

The Daily 7

This is an idea that I found on another blog and I really like it.  I feel like it will help me along the way to becoming more of a domestic goddess.  All it is is a list of 7 things that I'll make sure to do everyday. Some of the items are simple little things that will help keep our home cleaner, some will help us stay more organized, and others are on the list because they're things I love and wish I'd make time to do more of.  So here's my Daily 7:

1. Make the bed, first thing in the morning.  I have always been TERRIBLE at this (sorry, Mom!) but I've been doing it for the past 3 days and I actually really like it.  It takes such little time and it just makes everything seem so much neater.
2. Do a quick bathroom wipe-down after uses.  The white sinks in our master bath are like magnets for toothpaste and I can't stand the sight of them sometimes, but I hate having to bust out some major elbow grease to clean them.  So instead, I'm going to keep a small, old dish towel nearby and wipe down the sink and counter top after brushing my teeth or doing things that leave watermarks or other gunk.
3. Do a 5 minute pre-bed clean up.  Before bed each night, I'd love to do a fast cleaning of the apartment.  Nothing big, just folding up blankets, straightening up pillows and putting things away anything that we've used during the day. 
4. Keep the kitchen sink empty.  This one's easy.  Just making sure that all the dirty dishes are rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher at the end of every day.  Nothing's worse than a sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes.
5. Get and sort the mail.  We are surprisingly bad about getting the mail.  It's at a little mail station that's just a short distance from our front door, but still we'll go 2-3 days without checking it.  So I'm adding it to my routine.  When I get home, I'll walk from the car to the mailbox and then to the apartment.  The next challenge will be opening and sorting the mail immediately.  That'll be hard, but it will simplify things so much if we can address necessary mail right away instead of adding it to a pile.
6. Balance the checkbook, in a manner of speaking.  We don't keep physical checkbook registers, but Tyler has made a super-sophisticated Excel document with all of our financial information and he made it really easy for us to just enter our spending and keep track of how much $$$ we have to play with.  I need to get into the habit of balancing things at the end of each day.
7. Take a photo or read a book.  These are things I love to do, but so often I'll forget to do them for extended periods of time.  So I'm making a rule for myself that I need to take a photo a day, or else I'll be "punished" by "sentencing" myself to read some of a book before I go to sleep.  FUN!

So, those are the 7 things that I'm going to be trying my hardest to incorporate into my daily routine.  I think I can do it, and if I do I think it will really make a difference.  You should try making a list of your own!  It really makes you think about your little goals.

First Day at a New Job

Well, my first day at my new job was a grand success!!

I'm working in the marketing department at The Galleria, which is the HUGE premiere retailer/mall in Houston. I'm technically an one of two interns, but the program has no set end date (meaning I can stay as long as I want/as they'll have me) and there is room for eventual promotion to a full-time gig.

Time for visual aids.  Here's what I wore on my first day.  It looks kind of school marmy in this photo, but it wasn't:

And here's my new desk space, including ancient computer:

Here are some of the highlights:

• Everyone is freaking amazing. Seriously, they all seem like so much fun and really seem to know how to get their work done AND have a great time while doing it.
• The other intern, who has been there for 6 months, and I are going to be super compatible. She had even set up my desk for me and stocked it with all kinds of goodies. See the picture on the right? So sweet! I already like her!
• The office is really nice and I got a fun new badge that I swipe to get into a special reserved part of the parking garage, which is right across from the stealthy keyed-door entrance to our offices.
• I packed a lunch today but didn't get to eat it because it was the General Manager's birthday and they surprised him with a fully-catered (and fully-delicious) lunch, complete with cupcakes and a giant cheesecake. Everyone stopped their day, came into the conference room, yelled surprise and chowed down while talking about tv shows, movies and the party they'd had a few nights before. LOVE.
• Everyone dresses really stylishly (naturally) and I'm pumped about getting to dress up. Being a news producer is kind of a jeans & t-shirt type job, so this will be a nice change.
• I was told by one of my coworkers that I need to make sure I know the words to "Fancy" by Reba McEntire, because that's one of the 2 other girls' favorite song to sing back and forth from their offices. And I'm told I'll need to be ready for anything, especially fun. Ummm, I think I can handle that. Score.
  

Anyway, I just can hardly believe how excited I am about this job! People are professional and efficient, but not stuffy at all. The next couple of months will be crazy busy because we have a HUGE fashion show-filled weekend, the Easter Bunny is arriving (ha!) and there is a Tim Gunn event coming up, but I am so glad I'll be involved in all of that!

Eeek! Okay, I hope everyone is having a great day! Tomorrow is "Demin Day" so I get to wear jeans to work-- gotta go pick out an outfit!

Fascinating New Thing

I'm going to attempt to have a blog!

Lately, I've been filling my abundance of spare time with random blog-reading. I'll stumble across a great blog, on which the writer will recommend another great blog, which will lead to another great blog and so on. A lot of the ones that have caught my interest lately have been about creative and domestic things and I'm ready to start having some creative and domestic adventures of my own!

I feel like now's the perfect time for this new quest, because there's a lot of "newness" going on in my life right now. Tyler and I have been married for almost a year (time has passed at a speed that I can hardly believe!); we've moved to a new city and into a great new apartment that feels so much like home already. Tyler has started a great new job. I got to experience a full-blown job search for the first time (not the most fun a girl can have...), but out of it came an exciting new job, which I start tomorrow!

On this blog, I hope to keep people updated on what's going on in my new and semi-exciting life, and to tackle the to do list in my "About Me" section. Enjoy the ride, one and all!