from bad haircut to good friday...

so, this week began with getting a bad haircut... any gal that has had one can tell you that bad haircuts suck and can sometimes ruin your day, your week, and if REALLY bad, the months it can take to grow out! yeah, i know there are more important things going on in the world these days but....

one thing about having shorter hair (like me) is that with a few poorly placed snips you can easily start looking like a spinster teacher, a soccer mom badly in need of a makeover or a stereotypical butch softball player... and not the hip, groovy, fashionable, young looking for her age, gal about town that you might see yourself as ... well, my hairdresser (who i normally love) made a few snips when cutting my hair earlier this week that i fear brought my look too closely into the territory that i did not want to emulate.... that incident, combined with a friend who is an amazing artist sending me an image of "me" to use for my blog that also seemed to veer into that territory while aging "me" by at least a decade older than what i am almost pushed me over the edge... both happened within hours of each other and made me wonder if i am in fact not nearly as cool as i thought i was...

the thing about being an almost 40 year old intern is that between classes and working in my internship i am surrounded by classmates and fellow interns that are at least 15 years younger than me 90% of the time. so, that tends to make one slightly more sensitive to the aging process and i, for one, have no desire to look older than i am or like an almost 50 year old intern (in real life or in drawings) when i am actually 39 (and a young lookin' one at that!).  the good news is the haircut was fixed today and the artist friend said that what she sent was just a very early idea she whipped up quickly for me and the next ones won't be like that... i can't wait to see what she draws because she is an amazing talent!

today is good friday in more ways than one... i just learned from my drafting professor this morning that he is officially adding me to the class! so, the good grades i have been receiving these last few weeks will actually mean something! woo hoo! my perseverance has paid off! YAY! also, easter is in 2 days and that darn easter candy that i can't seem to say no to will finally be leaving the stores... i don't know if it is the colors or what but easter offers my favorite holiday candy... those darn cadbury mini eggs! i am addicted!

oh, and i met a cool guy at an event for a charity i support earlier this week who was inspired to write about me and my blog in his blog... how cool is that? here's a link to what he had to say... http://mediasetfree.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/the-art-of-change-for-happiness/

until next time....

good friends, great wine & cupcakes... what more does a girl need?

i ended my spring break week with a fabulous weekend road trip up to los olivos in the santa ynez valley to go wine tasting with a friend... if you haven't been, it is well worth a trip! the scenery is breathtaking and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for us!

we had a blast starting with immediately hitting the wine tasting rooms in town on saturday afternoon as soon as we arrived. we met all sorts of interesting folks that were also tasting... including a guy chatting us up that told us he was celebrating his 40th birthday with a very young man in tow that he claimed was his nephew... hmmm, yes, i know lots of straight guys that would like nothing more than a romantic 40th birthday wine tasting weekend with their young "nephew" while leaving their wife at home... and a fun couple from chicago that was laughing with us about the fact that we were convinced everyone serving us was drunk and exclaiming about the lack of food and restrooms in these tasting rooms... both of which would have come in handy!

they have a local guy known in los olivos as the "strawberry man" because he has a strawberry farm (imaginative name, right?) and brings his fruit into the local tasting rooms to sell. let me tell you, these were some of the most amazing strawberries i have ever had in my life. if only he sold at my local farmers market! i have been dreaming of them ever since.. anyhow, those strawberries couldn't have come at a better time... none of the tasting rooms offer food (other than crackers) and i have always been a huge light weight when it comes to alcohol so i was munching on strawberries and crackers like they were my last meal! after hitting a few of the tasting rooms we were in no condition to drive to our hotel and ended up sitting outside for a couple of hours and chatting with our legs tightly crossed (we never did find a bathroom!) and eating cheese, crackers and yummy cupcakes and enjoying the beautiful sunshine! the next day we visited some of the beautiful wineries in the countryside before heading home to LA... all in all, a really great spring break weekend that was far better than the daytona beach i remember from my spring break of 1990...

i got my first big drafting project back with a great grade on monday! woo hoo! my teacher called me a super star when he handed it back to me. YAY! and no, i am STILL not officially in the class.

interning this week has been a little slow. i was stuck filing a ton of paperwork for one of the designers as one of her projects is wrapping up. looking at the paperwork was pretty interesting... seeing where items came from, the cost (YIKES!), etc was fascinating...  still, i am hoping that thursday is a little more interesting.

one of my close friends just learned she is pregnant (a total surprise!)... and i am helping her design the baby's room. so excited to do this for someone i love like a sister! added to the jewelry store, i am going to have this for my portfolio! woo hoo!!

as for the jewelry store, we are close to locking down a logo design to have painted on the exterior of the store. i still need to do some fine tuning but we are almost there!  i was able to get them great publicity in the la times and a big local shopping blog for a sale they had last weekend and have talked the owner into the idea of a launch party of some kind to celebrate the redesign of the store when it is finished. yay!!  i can't wait for the day where i can do the same for a client that can actually afford to pay me!

one thing i want to say about writing this blog is that i feel like i have so many friends pulling for me to become a success at this... when i was in the midst of a moment last week where i was questioning myself and what the heck i am doing starting over a friend said the nicest thing to me.... she said, "you are one of the few people that i can say with confidence will be a success at whatever you do. the only person that can hold you back from it is yourself."  well, it was really nice to hear and probably true for many of us. its just that sometimes this starting over stuff seems a bit overwhelming...

until next time...

p.s. i found this fabulous vintage pink and gold 3 tiered dessert serving piece at the local flea market recently... i think it is perfect for serving my own cupcakes while entertaining at home!

the almost 40 year old intern

field trip!

so, my spring break began this week which meant no class on monday! instead i spent the morning hitting the gym and a very productive afternoon with my new jewelry store client... 

i love this guy, he is brazilian and has a great creative spirit and positive attitude. the challenge is, he has no funds to spend on this project so i just need to be very creative in developing my ideas and making them work on a budget... the last time we met i gave him a lot of ideas for both the interior and exterior of the store... it was tough for him to visualize them in his space and he was stuck on some of his own ideas that (in my opinion) just didn't make sense... so, in order for me to convince him that what i was suggesting would work, we spent most of monday on a field trip together!  i took him to various boutiques (jewelry and otherwise) in different parts of town to illustrate what i thought worked and what didn't.  it was a successful and fun filled day, especially since i was able to convince him that my ideas were good and that we should utilize them while making a maximum impact for minimum cost. 

the real highlight of the day was when we were in a clothing boutique and i was pointing various fixture ideas out to him and the gal working in the store observing us said to me "let me guess, you must be an interior designer." oh, heaven! my cheeks hurt from smiling so much after hearing that!  it made the celebratory ice cream at the end of our day that much sweeter! 

interning yesterday was unfortunately not so exciting. i have been able to successfully avoid spending a lot of time in the dreaded closet for the last month and sadly yesterday i was stuck there for many many hours sorting fabric swatches... after that i assisted a couple of the folks working on THE designers new venture.  oh, but remember the not so nice person that was working on the new venture (the one that complained i spoke too loudly?)?? well, that person seems to have left... hasn't been seen by me or the other interns in weeks...   the person that now occupies that cubicle space seems lovely and hasn't made a bitchy complaint at all. yay!

so, a friend's husband recently asked me why "don't you just own it?"... i asked what he meant by that and he said "i don't see why you call your blog the almost 40 year old intern instead of just the more simple 40 year old intern." i replied "um, well, that would be because I AM NOT 40 YET." he still didn't seem to get why i wouldn't want to claim to be 40 several months before i actually turn 40.  yes, there was a time very early in my career where i actually did round my age up on occasion to be taken more seriously by older colleagues... however, i think when most gals reach a certain age that stops...  no need to round up at this point in my life thank you very much. so, i will remain the ALMOST 40 year old intern until much later this year when the actual day that my second annual 39th birthday arrives.

until next time!

evolving? one text at a time...

so, i am going slightly off topic in today's post.... it's not so much about interning but about boys... i know that i am 39 and the guys that i am dating shouldn't be considered boys really, but men.. however, i still consider myself a girl (i am a very young 39) so boys it is....

anyhow, the funny thing about dating these days and opening myself up to new experiences (i.e. interning, going back to school, going out with different sorts of guys including one former intern that happens to be almost a decade younger than me (yikes!!)) is wondering just how open to some of these new experiences i should be... ok ok, for those of you venturing into gutter mind territory, just pull yourselves right back out immediately! come on!?! my parents follow this blog... no gutter talk coming your way....

so, as i was just about to say, the funny thing about this is my learning how to grow and evolve and perhaps change some of the slightly more rigid parts of my personality (did someone say type A???) and expectations from those that i am seeing while wondering if my expectations are too high or if they need to be modified for 2011...

for instance, cell phone texting. should i now be more open to that being the sole form of communication between me and one of the boys i am seeing??? i tried to lead by example and call him only to have him reply via text message... i have chatted with my friends, fellow interns and young classmates about this and the opinions differ.... guy friends my age seem to think that it's just the way things are now and that i just need to go with it (this coming mostly from guy friends that have been dating girls in their 20's for years now and actually prefer texting to having to make the effort and possibly resort to an occasionally awkward phone call)... 20 something classmates and interns agree that it sucks but it is the way it is now but they feel a few calls should also be mixed in... girlfriends my own age find it just as annoying as i do and have been able to stop the insanity of it with guys our age that they date (as i have been able to in the past)...

my issue is that texting, like email, offers so many issues with trying to decipher tone, what the underlying message is (yep, i'm a girl and we read everything into everything, every possible way), and if i should be reading anything into those darn emoticons (you know... smiley face, wink, sad face... ugh!) or a quick versus slow reply...   this is the first time i have ever encountered this over-usage of text messaging and it has thrown me for a loop.  texting is great for certain things but when you are new to getting to know someone, i have to say that texting sucks. the old man i dated for quite a while didn't even know how to text so i never had to wonder...  now i just wonder if i should stick with old men?  

so, that's that.... i guess i just needed to vent a little... any and all opinions welcome.... please shed some light on this and let me know if i am crazier than i already knew i was... oh, and  by the way, don't even get me started on those rude folks typing on their iphone or blackberry while on a date...

my school spring break starts monday and i am trying to convince some friends to go wine tasting up the coast for a few days... definitely a few steps above daytona beach, florida in 1990!

until next time...

breaking out of the comfort zone!

this week has gotten off to a pretty good start.... i spent a lot of my weekend cranking out a big drafting project that was due on monday... happy to say that when i turned it in it didn't look half bad compared to some of my classmates! woo hoo! i had to say no to an invite to a fun girls weekend in palm springs to stay in town and get it done but i am so happy i did... spring break starts next monday so i can plan a fun trip then!

interning today was all about getting out of my comfort zone... i was asked to sketch up some product ideas for a designer... while being asked i tried to hide the look of terror (!!!) on my face and play it cool that this was something i could actually do.... i still can't seem to get my right hand and brain to connect on making pretty drawings that match the perfect picture in my head but i think i made a decent effort... at least i hope i did!

my late afternoon was spent returning fabulous items that were borrowed from high end stores around town.... as i tripped, and almost fell, while carrying a bag containing a dish that sells for several hundred dollars i wondered if i would be responsible for picking up the broken dish tab? hmmm.... or perhaps they would take it out of my work for free paycheck? thankfully i didn't have to find out because i caught myself in time but i wonder if it has ever happened before and what the consequences would be... fingers crossed i won't be the first to find out!

i was reminded that sometimes interning can be dangerous work.... a fellow intern was given a project that i am happy to have missed out on.... she has the very tedious job of gluing tiny tiny sea shells onto a piece of art.... the poor thing has band-aids covering burn marks all over her arms from that darn hot glue gun... she has probably devoted 30 hours to this so far and still has quite a way to go! talk about getting out of your comfort zone.... that's taking it to a whole new level!

until next time....