Decoration Station

Now that all my belongings are in my apartment- it is time to get furniture, make my room my own. My style has a tendency to be sort of a hodge podge. If left to my own devices, the living space would be a rainbow of bright colors with no rhyme and reason of why they are matched together. When I go shopping for decorations, I do not have a common theme with colors, I like them a. Sky blues, lime greens, chocolate brown, highlighter yellow and daisy yellow- the list of random colors I would want in my room and space is endless.

But as a some sort of emerging 20-something, I at least want my room to sort of match now, have a common theme. In high school and college, my walls were filled with notebook paper splattered with markers, along with rip outs from magazines and pictures of my friends at the time. Same goes for college, with additions like sorority composites and paddles. But now, what do I do? I still want to have my friends pictures around and the pictures that I have drawn hung up- so what is there a 20-something to do?

frames, frames, frames. For me, frames are the new tape. Just stick whatever picture I want into a brown colored frame, and it matches.

A good friend went furniture/decoration shopping with me yesterday. She has always had a knack of finding a theme and sticking to it. Everything she touches and arranges just looks nice and put together- no effort involved. Me, this is a different story- so I decided to bring her along for my adventure, hoping her talents would rub off on me.

Now, her talents didn't rub off on me, but she was there to tell me no. I would pick up a picture and say, "Oh my gosh, I love this, its so me." and all she would do was look at me, like I was a bit insane and say, "its cool, but it doesn't match." That was the indicator to put the picture down and move on to the next one.

Of course, I am still me- and purchased some things that are out there, but those items are what make the room mine. But for the most part, I have to say that slowly, the room is coming together and at some point, it will be finished.

Lesson Learned:

decorating takes time- and for me, I need help.

peace, love and progress,

b

Live and Learn

Yesterday, I learned a VERY important lesson. This is not a lesson that you can learn young or prepare for. This is a lesson that just comes along with time.

The lesson: moving just down right sucks and is a pain in the butt.

Apparently, my parents were watching me coordinate my move into the new apartment (which is AMAZING) and silently laughing. They knew that the way I was packing my boxes was not using up the right amount of space. They knew that I should not have waited until the night before to really packed up my stuff. They also knew that doing morning delivery for furniture is the better option that the afternoon delivery.

All of these facts they knew, I learned yesterday.

For starters, since my roommate and I could not even sign our lease until 10, I could not really schedule any delivery for the mornings. Don't moving companies know that not everyone is wide open and available from 7am to 12pm or 1pm to 6pm? Honesty day- people have other things to do-like my mom who was the one who waited around at my house for the movers to come, pick up my stuff and bring it to me at the apartment.

And then there was the mattress company. You would think that having something as simple as a mattress delivered would be simple. I give them my address and they say- ok great, its one queen mattress to move, no big deal. Wrong. Originally, they were suppose to deliver the mattress between 9 and 12. I had explained to them that I was unable to get into the apartment until 10 and that they would have to wait. The manager assured me that he would put my delivery in a later time slot for the morning and it would all work out great and he guaranteed me an easy move. Yea, he lied. The delivery guys showed up at the complex right at 9:00am. not 8:55, not 9:03- 9:00 on the nose. I tried to stall them, make them wait around until 10. I told them I was coming and be there soon- every excuse in the book, my car needed gas, I got pulled over, there were baby ducks in the road- but it was no use, the man told me that they would come back later. He told me that I was not the only one on the delivery route. Clearly, I knew that- its not like I think I am the only person in the entire world that bought a mattress and had it delivered yesterday- but what I am big on is customer service and satisfaction, which got a HUGE thumbs down. When he said later, I assumed noon or 3pm, not 9:45pm. Thats right, they showed up 13 hours later. And once they did show up, it took them 30 more minutes to get the bed upstairs. The most frustrating part of the entire thing: all I wanted to do was take a nap, the entire day, and for the entire day- I was bed-less

Now that I am done complaining....

Its over and done with, I moved in. And now that the moving part is done, the living part is SO great. Getting up this morning was a little weird though, something that will take time to get use to, but here it is- after almost a year of being out of school- I finally have my own space that is all mine. Not a space that was someone else's room (who still had their clothes in there) or a space that I knew was temporary.

For a whole year, I am here. Its an interesting sensation- knowing I have to stay put for awhile, but the feeling of relaxation that I am in my own spot that no one can take away from me is comforting, relaxing and just- happiness.

Lesson: Even though moving is painful and I hated it- Having my own place is amazing.

peace, love and time to decorate,

b

long distances.

Now that I am really moving into an apartment- lease signed for a year- I am realizing that my friendships I made in college, for the most part, are all going to be long distance. Like in real relationships, friendships need to be worked at. When we all graduated, I never thought in a million years that I would go a few months without talking to some of my closest friends. I never though that friendships needed to be nurtured- like any relationship. With no clear end to the distance between me and my friends- its hard to define the new friendship. The hardest part is the frustration that we can never go back to the way things were- its a part of life- progression- but the changing of friends (who are all amazing people and amazing friends)- just in all honesty, sucks.

The friends I had in college- best friends and semi friends- are the best people I have ever met and while living in Bloomington, we all were entangled in each others lives: from school, boys to clothes. We all shared everything- the drama and laughs. But now- without that web of life, every day interactions- or even weekly dinners, the bonds we all had on a day to day basis have loosened a little bit. There is a gap between the dream life of college and real life of what ever city we all live in. For me, most of my friends are all up in Chicago. By choice, I do not live there (I am so over the cold... thats the only reason)- but how am I suppose to keep up with their lives when they are all together and I am apart? Visa versa is the same- my stories do not quite make sense, because they don't know any of my new friends or the new places I am going.

The hardest part of it all is knowing, most likely, we will all never be living the same lives again. But whats even harder is finding how to make the friendships last. One thing I do know- they are friendships worth keeping, and figuring out how to evolve the friendships is worth it.

I just feel like a big theme of my life at the moment is long distance- long distance friends and long distance boyfriend. The long distance will end soon, and hopefully just be considered a plane ride- just a distance, get rid of the 'long' part. Find a way to feel closer, even with the distance.

Lesson learning:

all relationships are work.

peace, love, and procrastinating on packing,

B

Where do I fit in

I am having an issue.

The issue is not something huge- or life altering- just an issue. I cannot figure out my niche at work.

When I worked in New York, my role was easy: The bright eyed kid right out of college who just moved into the big city. I asked a lot of questions and experienced everything for the first time.

But now- My role is evolving in the work place and finding where I fit in and what personality role I need to take is kind of difficult. My personality has always been loud- I ask a lot of questions, I always want to know why something is and I tend to be very personable. When I was an intern, that role was easy to play- Everyone saw me as the kid in the office- and that was that. It was ok for me to be a little on the unprofessional side, because I was the intern. What I noticed as an intern though- my superiors responded to that, in my eyes, they saw someone ready to learn, someone who would listen to what they had to say and possibly, their words would make a difference in my life.

But now-I feel like I am lost a little in limbo. My e-mails (in my mind) are a little awkward- just not the way I typically communicate to people. I know that I need to be more professional, but the issue I am having is where can I draw the line between 'professional' and 'me'?

When is it ok to relate to others with my own spunk? Yes, I want to be taken seriously- and gain the respect of my peers and superiors, but how can I show them who I am if I am awkward communicating with them?

This is one problem that they did not teach us how to solve in college: how to hold one's identity when moving through the working world. I do not want to lose my spunk- my 'brandi-ness', but HOW do I actually do that?

Lesson learning right now:

How to evolve my self- not change (just because I do not believe people can actually change... they can evolve- but you are who you are)- into the working person- How to relate to others in the work place. If only they taught this in college....

Its funny, I can be friends with almost everyone- because for the most part, I like everyone i meet- but how can I work with them too?

peace, love, and keeping that spunk always,

b