Goodbye, JessLovesNYC.

Hello, Principles of Panache!

Come say hi!

Yay!

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.

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?

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??

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.

I am happy with my life though, even though I’m currently apartment-less. I’ll most likely move to Jersey for the next year and save some money, and this time next year I can always move back to the city.

Goals for the next year (god, my job is so goal-oriented that I feel like I have a million of them in my work and my personal life!):

1. Have my own office up and running by this time, and have an assistant manager.
2. Be living with my sister while she attends law school in the city (come on, Lauren!!), and be in a position where I am looking to buy an apartment.
3. Take a vacation. It feels like forever since I’ve had one. I don’t know where I’d want to go – maybe back to Spain? Or even around the US – Napa Valley?
4. Take the family on holiday over next Christmas – wherever they want to go! And first-class everything all the way. That’d be nice, too.

Guess that’s it for now. Happy anniversary to me!! Cheers

I have roped my boss in to helping me move on Sunday, and I wonder if that means he’ll also go all the way to the Bronx with me at 9am on Sunday to pick up the UHaul, since I don’t drive…LoL Will ask him tomorrow!! Haha My hope is to get all the packing done Saturday, or before I pick up the U-Haul, anyway, so that once I have it all I have to do is shove everything in the pack and then put it in storage, not too far away from my current apartment.

In the meantime, I am procrastinating. I’ve figured out the cost of what it would be to cancel my current cell phone plan and switch carriers. Sadly, it’s still $94 more than what I’d be paying even if I upped my current plan. But when my contract’s over, I really think I’m gonna switch to Sprint. It’s so much cheaper! And I use my phone so much that it would be worth it. Besides, by then I’ll have my own company and I can pay for all of that with my corporate account, which saves in taxes too. Sounds good to me!

Anyway, back to the point. Packing sucks. I feel like I also may have underestimated how much I have to pack. Although I really don’t have THAT many clothes left to pack (only all my summer clothes and work clothes…), and I don’t have very many books. Though I do have shoes.

Um, guess I should get back to packing. Sigh. (I feel like my sister. She gets like this when she has to pack/unpack. At least she’ll be visiting when I’ll be unpacking! haha Actually…like I could ever get her to pack/unpack anything.)

I never would have guessed that at 25 I’d be living in New York, starting an actual career, or even that I’d be in the business world as opposed to something more literary/academic. Never! But I am so excited about my life! It’s still kinda scary, but scary is good because it means I’m still being challenged every day, which means I’m also still learning every day. And there is so much to learn, so much to improve upon, but at the same time I’ve also come a long way from college.

And yeah, I’m single right now and whatever, and yeah my mom at this point in her life was already married to my dad, but I know all that will come along at the time it’s meant to, and it isn’t something I worry about at all. I have my family (albeit half a world away), awesome friends all over the world, and am constantly meeting new people and constantly laughing.

The main point is, I guess, that I am really happy about my life right now (even with the stress of finding a roommate AND an apartment in 10 days…long story), and so excited for the years ahead, that there isn’t really anything else I can ask for. And THAT is truly a blessing!