Goodbye and Hello

My new site is (barely) up and running! So I am officially retiring this blog (although it’s been so good to me) and switching over to the new one.

Goodbye, JessLovesNYC.

Hello, Principles of Panache!

Come say hi!

Stay tuned…

For anyone who still reads this, I will be moving blogs shortly, and it will be quite different! As soon as I figure out all that self-hosting nonsense, it’ll be up.

Yay!

December, Already?

Who can believe it? I can’t believe it’s the last month of 2009, and that at no point during this year was I ever in Hong Kong. I was talking to my manager at Thanksgiving and I mentioned how it’s crazy how quickly this year’s flown by, and how this year has been totally crazy. I said, and I quote myself, “I’ve done more this year than I’ve ever done in my life.” He paused and then said, “That is so freaking cool. How many people do you think could really say the same? Think about how cool it is that you can say that!” And then he repeated what I said, and it was only after he said that that I even really thought about it.

Most of the time I just think about how crazy my year’s been, what with working at least 2 jobs for just about half the year, running around like a chicken with my head cut off! But when I think about it, it’s true – it’s pretty freaking cool that I can say I’ve done more than I’ve ever done in my life this year, all at the same time. And sure, it was also definitely pretty stressful at times (and still is at times), but I also feel like I’ve gained so much experience this year in all aspects of life – from applying to jobs, to figuring out and finding a career, to actually moving and apartment hunting and finding roommates and making new friends and all of that…it’s been nuts!

Anyway. That’s all I wanted to say.

Thankful

It’s the annual Thanksgiving Day post! (Well, I’ve only had this blog for just over a year, but it’s gonna be an annual thing, I’ve decided. ) This year, I am thankful for:

1. My apartment. I love it, it feels so much more like home than my previous one! I have tons of space, don’t have to pay any utilities, and rent is way cheaper than it was for me at my last apartment. I just love it. That’s all.
2. My job. It’s tough going sometimes (ok, a lot of times) but every time I overcome another obstacle, I can actually see that I’m improving, and I get recognition every time I do something well, and on top of that I have a lot of fun with my coworkers (in fact, I’m heading over to my boss’s apartment for thanksgiving dinner later this afternoon!)
3. Obviously my friends and family. That’s just a given. But in particular I’m thankful to my parents for sending my sister over and having her here (miss you poopy pants!).
4. Getting to go home for Christmas. I am SO excited! Ahh. Can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve seen my parents and grandparents, and since I’ve been in Hong Kong. Can’t wait to eat delicious food and to go home.

What are you thankful for this year?

Balance

So work has definitely turned around for me. I confess I had a mini-breakdown a week and a half ago, simply because I’d been taking on a lot more than I was used to, but then I adjusted. I’ve been training people every day for the last two weeks, but my results are good because I now have a little team! (Go Ninjas!) This probably doesn’t make much sense to anyone, but basically for me to get promoted again I have to build a team and train them and teach them how to train other people.

And like I mentioned in my last post, my sister is here! It’s been awesome to have her here – she was really helpful in helping me put furniture together and unpack and all that, and we’re still getting my apartment together even though the housewarming was last week (so fun!). Today we went to the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, and I picked up two things to hang on my bedroom wall and a small silver-plated tray. Pretty! I love flea markets! I’ll have to keep going back until I find enough to hang everything together, but I’m working on it.

I realized yesterday that having a nice apartment makes such a huge difference. I’m just as tired after a day of work as I was when I was living in my last apartment, but my mood is considerably more relaxed when I come home now than when I went back to my old apartment. I think it’s partly because the apartment is so much roomier (my bedroom now is bigger than the kitchen/living room I had at the old apartment), and also because I’m not as stressed about cleaning as I used to be.

Still, all the flea market stuff this weekend plus browsing books on amazon and spending time with my sister and my friends has made me realize I need to work out a balance more than I had been doing. Work is so time consuming (I love it, but it takes up a TON of time – I’m in the office at 730 and leave around 7pm every day) and I get so tired at the end of the day that I’ve barely had time to read anymore (when books used to be my life!), or even to draw or do other things that I used to enjoy.

So, I’m going to work on balancing my life for the next month, so that I have time and energy to work as well as use my spare time to read or draw or write, and I hope that it works…any tips??

Better

The last month had been really stressful for me, and that explains my last post a little bit. I was stressed about a friendship, some drama, work, and being homeless. I was actually breaking out (well, breaking out for me, anyway – my boss said there wasn’t anything wrong with my skin) from all the stress, but now the friendship is right back on track, I no longer have drama, I got over the obstacle at work, and I just signed a lease today! Problems solved! At least for the time being, anyway! (And Friday morning I instantly noticed that my skin was starting to clear up!)

Work was a major one – for some reason my confidence was slipping, and it was affecting my performance which was in turn affecting my paycheck. This week I finally got it back, remembered how to have fun at work, and immediately my results showed!  Last night I had a one-on-one meeting with my boss, and I’m excited to get back on track to my next promotion. I know what I have to work on now, and am no longer worried about the sales portion of my job. I’m back to being a rockstar, like I used to be! It was actually probably the toughest struggle I’ve had so far at work, and although I know that there will be many more struggles as I keep going through the program, I’m feeling quite triumphant at the moment and am just going to savor it. My boss also said that this is major milestone for me I’m still determined to stick with it, I’m still determined to succeed, and I’m still very grateful for the opportunity. I love my boss, too, and it helps so much to have such a positive role model – especially one that’s your boss! So I’m also very grateful that he’s my boss. I just had to say that.

As far as being homeless, I am officially moving into my new place tomorrow! I love the apartment. It’s a great deal, and I’m excited to have my own bed and room again! And a closet! My clothes are so wrinkled from just being piled into a suitcase the whole time. haha I still need to get a desk & chair for my room, a dresser/drawers and possibly a nightstand, but I’ll do that after I’ve moved.

AND my sister is coming to visit next week! I am so excited. I still haven’t really figured out how I’m going to leave a key for her…but I’ll figure that out too. I can’t wait to see her, I’ve missed her!!! So much. Yay sister!

So, although it’s been a tough month, things are looking up again and I’m excited again, and everything seems to be turning around again and I am better.

In a haiku sort of mood.

No one told me life
was going to look like this.
Where was my warning?