YUMMMO

So excited for Halloween.  Had a Pumpkin Spiced Latte the other day and it finally felt like fall!

Photo courtesy of: cupcakesandcashmere.com.

Necessary

Great songs + Sunday night cabin feever = dancing and jumping on the bed to the following:

3 FABULOUS songs! Enjoy!!!

Be Sure to Count Your Blessings

It is only appropriate for my next post to be a post dedicated to the people who have helped me achieve all that I did in the post below.  I am so blessed in knowing so many wonderful people and at a time when I was one of the hardest periods of my life, these people were there for me, no matter what.  With all of this being said: To the following individuals...THANK YOU! 

Bre-From day one you greeted me with open arms and allowed me to crash in your kitchen for the next month as I arrived with full luggage and huge dreams.  You were there to listen to me whether it was boys, jobs-or lack there of-, parents, dealing with life living in New York again, and/or the occasional going out-->usually resulting in our lives turning into shambles the next day.  Through the multiple song wars and long nights at Kiss & Fly you helped me get my foot in the door and brought me back to my one true love...this city!  Your personality and drive will allow you to go so far and I am now so excited to see where we each end up.  Thank you again for everything, you had such a pivotal role in making everything happen.  

Nicola-Your attendance at FIT is how we were brought together and through that we have decided to take our love for each other to a completely new level.  Between our wonderful chit-chats, fashion, being a real woman in a big bad city, and all the sillyness in life I have really begun to call you family.  Thank you for all of your love and support throughout the past 2 years as it has been one hell of a ride with being in NYC to IN and then back to NYC...only to stay! Your wit and spunk continue to inspire me in my own creativeness.  You truly know the meaning of appreciating the little things! :)

Z-TOWN-As another member of my new family you have become like a brother to me.  Thank you for putting up with a third girl in the humble abode.  I am so proud of your upcoming job and know you will do so well!  I can't wait to see where life takes each of us as we see our dreams to fruition.  Congrats on everything, thus far. I only wish you the best in the future to come! Get ready to see some REAL eating when we celebrate Thanksgiving together.  Perhaps you could provide music?

Kelly-Really? I don't know if it's even possible to put into words the love that I have for you.  Starting with gossip sessions at Indigo, to discussions about New York, to continuous slumber parties, I have always hoped that we would become good friends, but never in a million years would I have thought that we would have become this close.  You are the big sister to many girls, but more than a big sister, you are an inspiration.  Your poise, grace, taste, and ability to handle being a WOMAN in a MAN'S world continuously show me that it's possible to accomplish the impossible.  Thank you for ALWAYS being there!!! I honestly can't thank you enough for EVERYTHING.  SOMEDAY I will be able to repay you appropriately for all that you have done! 

Thank you again to you all listed above.  You have each made a difference in my life and I know will continue to make a difference in other's as well.  

xoxo,

Blair

explanation to my absence

Wow! It's crazy to think I've been in New York City now for 6 weeks now! The past month has been one of the craziest months of my life.  I don't even know where to begin.  I think I'll start by just picking up where I left off..(Thursday, September 9, 2010)

That night upon leaving Starbucks I met up with a friend, who introduced me to the hiring manager of a website that is trying to promote themselves throughout the sports/bar industry in New York.  That following Monday, I ended up meeting with the head of the company and receiving a part-time job as a Brand Ambassador with Blood, Sweat, & Cheers.

The Wednesday following, (September 15, 2010) I was to the point in this job process where I just wanted to give up.  Don't get me wrong, I wanted to give up way earlier also, but not this bad.  After becoming frustrated, gathering up enough strength to call a couple friends (who basically told me to suck it up  because this is what I was meant to do), and the saying a few prayers...I got a phone call.  A phone call that has changed my life.  As I think about it now, I begin to tear up, because the desperate emotions of trying to make it and survive in this city were so intense.  Anyways, it was Macy's and they had 3 positions open and wanted to contact me about one of them.    Long story short, I had a phone interview and then they wanted to bring me in on Friday.  Went in for the interview and within 30 minutes of walking home I received the phone call asking me if I wanted to accept the offer! MORE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY KNOW!!!!!!!  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  The woman that interviewed me absolutely loved me! I was so glad to hear that! It had been so long since I had heard something good in regards to a job! AND NOW I HAD ONE!!! I was scheduled to start on September 27, 2010 at Macy's.com in the Young Men's division as a Merchandise Assistant.  

A week later, I started my first shift with Blood, Sweat, & Cheers.  It was so much fun! I got to tour the bars of the East Village and ask drunk people for their signatures and e-mail addresses.  Easy Peasy. 

Following my first day with Macy's.com I have become so excited about my job that it's sickening.  People just don't love their jobs like I do.  I've always grown up in a home where a job was also called work.  Something you went to everyday and it was not fun!  Everyday during my first week was even better than the last, and I was literally running on pure adrenaline.  I would leave and couldn't WAIT to get back there the next day! 

The next step in the journey was now finding an apartment.  It was time for the next month's rent to be paid at my current residence, instead of paying for another month I decided it was time to move on.  That Friday I pack up half of my belongings and SHOVED them into my large suitcase in which I took to work and is now sitting underneath my desk until I was able to find a place of my own.  Later that day, after work, I moved my stuff from the middle of 15th street to 1st Ave, where I would be staying with three lovely individuals, whom I have now begun to call my family.  I couldn't thank them enough for allowing me (the 4th roommate) to pile my things in a small corner and move in with them.  I will never forget the night right before I moved to Kelly's...sitting on my "makeshift bed" and crying non-stop because i had never felt so scared in my life and was now technically "homeless."  At that point, I had begun the search for an apartment, but it was kind of put on hold with things.  I really wasn't sure where things were going to take me in the next couple of days.

But I guess that's the fun in it, right? What would life be like if we knew everything that was to come next.  It would kind of be like we were living as characters in a fictional novel.  Nothing would be a surprise, and just with that, think about all of the time that you have been surprised...To me, it's probably one of the best feelings.  One quality about myself that I love, is my ability to find, appreciate, and LOVE the little things in life.  I even get excited about Happy Meals, because I can request a toy for a girl and then end up giving it away to a little kid that I see/know.  :)  

That's all for now...blair

A Day on 2nd & 9th

*A shout-out to all my pledge sisters who will reunite this weekend.  Enjoy Bclub-BOILER UP*

Whenever I get into public places such as Starbucks.  I often think about things the way my mother always did.  She would always point out to us that everyone around us has a story.  Each person in this corner cafe has a home, a family, a place their going, and a reason as to why they are sitting with their Macintosh Computers (because let's face it...who has a pc these days? ha) at Starbucks.  As I look around I see a blonde girl, who resembles one of my friends quite well, sitting and talking to her screen as if she were Skyping or iChatting with someone.  Hmm...the guy next to me, with his hood up, watched the latest episode of Jersey Shore, which I was also going to watch while here.  And the man on the other side of me sat on Gmail the entire time and gchatted with 4 or 5 different people.  

The other thing I would like to point out is, and this is not me being naive, is how nice people are.  Genuine hospitality and manners are NOT gone.  The other day I left my cell phone in a cab and after texting it to contact my roommate's # if perhaps found, someone took it and contacted me to return it.  What? If I were at Purdue and that were to have happened it would have been sold in a matter of minutes.  I mean, also...let's not forget that the phone I own is a crappy regular phone that only gets text messaging and had a broken screen. NO ONE would want this phone. But to me...it was soo important and I was sooo thankful that someone found it...also-please note the man who found it turned out to be VERY cute! Tall, Dark, and Handsome! Perfect. 

So I guess as random as this post is, more or less it's just me rambling, I would like to note that I am giving the people of New York City my gratitude and appreciation for your kindness during my first couple of weeks here.  When people say that "New Yorkers are some of the meanest people" they are lying.  OR are perhaps too concerned with their own little bubble that they don't want to take the time to get to know us! That's right...I'm now associating myself FULLY with this city! 

for now...

Blair

To Chelsea...

This morning while watching the Today Show it made me think about the fact that next summer one of my best friends is going to be tying the knot.  Unfortunately, I am going to be living in NYC during the fun time of the planning, but as a diligent MOH I intend to fully be available via Skype, Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, Gchat, etc.  So this post is dedicated to my dear friend Chelsea in hopes that I will start to get many pictures via e-mail in regards to what your own dress will look like.

Here is the full article on the wedding dress selection the viewers are to choose for the current Bride-to Be that will marry her beloved in The Plazza outside of Studio 1A on September 30, 2010.

With all this said and done...Chelsea this day is going to sneak up on you! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Miss & love you! xoxo

with love,
-blair

Can a Single Girl Really Have it All?

Shoes. The apartment. The boy. The job. The family. The life...can a girl REALLY have it all? Or when we find certain things of interest, do we neglect or disregard the others?

I was walking around my new neighborhood and came across the CUTEST shoes and after gazing my hazel eyes into those glass display cases and seeing the most beautiful and most fun shoes, I started to think about needs, wants, desires, passions, etc.

We were taught in elementary school that we have 4 basic needs: shelter, food, clothing, and love.  While at FIT, I was taught that to be in fashion your basic needs become a bit altered.  For example:

Shelter-an apartment in Manhattan you can barely afford

Food- sushi, Thai, any seafood, any 5 star restaurant will do

Clothing-Balenciaga, vintage YSL, a Marc Jacobs tote, skinny jeans, and Christian Louboutin

Love-a rich older man to provide all of the above.

(marry for money, you can learn to love)--just kidding

After thinking about these for a while it made me start to ponder the thought of being single in a city.  Post graduation at Purdue, my best friends and I all moved miles away from each other in pursuit of accomplishing our dreams.  Where did we end up? Large cities where we knew very few people upon our arrival.

As a single girl in the city it's interesting to think about the fact that someday I'm going to find a man and get married.  Someday (hopefully VERY SOON) I will find a job and have a career and be more than "Blair Burkholder a recent graduate of Purdue University."  Someday I will become a mother and start a family with that man who I married and raise my children implicating the same morals my parents instilled in me, and I MAY actually have to become domestic! (scary thought).  Anyways, I'm sure you have all thought about your future and what is to come of it and or what it will bring.  The people you meet now may someday have an affect on your life in the future.  Weird.  It's crazy how life works out.  We are all put here with a purpose and it's just one crazy ride figuring out what that purpose really is. What we really need to do is just sit back and enjoy the ride.  Because who really wants to know what's coming next?

just some food for thought...

-blair     

I leave you with the "Ultimate Single Girl" Miss Carrie Bradshaw