Coach! (and more)

Well, it has been nine days since my last post... and so much has happened. I just completed my first week as a design apprentice at Coach! Thank you to everybody for the well wishes, good luck, vibes, thoughts, prayers, etc! They were so encouraging and absolutely paid off, so thank you SO much! I was tremendously excited when I received the call at the end of last week. Life has moved at a very rapid pace the past few months to accommodate new goals, transitions, and opportunities, but it has been so amazing how quickly and perfectly everything has fallen into place. Sometimes I feel like I need somebody to pinch me so that I know this is real life!

As of tomorrow, I will have been in NYC for exactly two weeks. It blows my mind that two weeks ago, I moved up here with two suitcases, zero friends in New York, and one scheduled interview with Coach. Since being up here, I have met a ton of great people and reconnected with a few. It seems like everywhere I go here, I meet a friend of a friend or someone who grew up in Tallahassee. Its funny how that happens in a city this big.

My job is off to a great start. I'm going to learn so much in the next few months, and Coach seems like such a wonderful place to work. My team is great, the other apprentices are so nice, and I'm really eager to begin designing my collection. Week 2 should be busy, but productive!

Today it snowed for the first time since I've been in NYC. I'll always be too much of a Florida girl for weather like this, but I guess I better start getting used to it.

You know what I could get permanently used to up here? The food! There are way too many tasty treats in NYC. I'm sure a decent portion of my paychecks are going to go towards trying new restaurants. If only someone would want to pay me to be a traveling food blogger!

Anyways, here are some pictures of my time in NYC so far!

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Still waiting! Fingers crossed for good news tomorrow!

New City, New Post!

I arrived in NYC two days ago. I can't believe this is my new home! Its a giant playground- so many restaurants, coffee shops, stores, etc. It is a completely different world than what I'm used to. Parts of it will be an adjustment, but mostly I just look forward to exploring my new surroundings. I'm also realizing that with new surroundings will come a new lifestyle. There are so many delicious and healthy food options everywhere- so that will be an improvement from my once a week Chili's outings. It is my goal to try something new every day and to avoid familiar chains while here. Also, I'm realizing how much you walk in the city! Today I walked from my apartment in East Village all the way up to Grand Central Station and back. It was really pleasant- and there was so much to see along the way. So I'm looking forward to healthy living over the next few months!

I've been snapping pictures everywhere that I walk. At first I was worried about looking like a tourist- but the great thing about iphone-photography is that its stealthy and discrete! The buildings are so beautiful here. I love the juxtaposition of old and new. It is so easy to overlook all of the amazing architectural details- both because people are too busy to notice and because they are hidden in this concrete jungle, and it is easy to be overshadowed by other buildings.

Tomorrow I will be preparing for my final interview with Coach. I am eager to meet the rest of the design team on Wednesday and hope that they like me enough to want me as a part of the team! My fingers are crossed! I think I'll take a break from my preparations tomorrow so that I can venture into SoHo and see if I can find any intriguing stores or lunch spots! I'm sure there will be no shortage of either.

On a funny note about my travels-
My mom had booked a car to take me from the airport to my apartment since I couldn't handle all the luggage on my own. Well, she had booked a small (tasteful and discrete) sedan. But, I missed my connection from Atlanta, so by the time I arrived in NY, apparently there weren't any sedans available. I did not know this... neither did my mom. So upon walking out of the airport (by myself, might I add!) I am greeted with a stretch limo. Yes, a tacky stretch limo complete with lights and various crystal decanters of liquor (that I don't want to know who has sipped out of). I am humiliated. There I was in a car that could fit my closest friends, family, and probably a handful of strangers- and I was all by myself, shouting directions at the driver- who seemed to be a half mile away. I could only imagine the looks on my new roommates faces when they looked out the window to see the 'new girl' pulling up in a limo. I felt like I had worn a Valentino gown to the neighborhood Olive Garden. It was horrible. To avoid embarrassment, I had the driver drop me and my luggage off on the sidewalk and I waited until he was a block away to call my roommate to let me in. It was utterly ridiculous. But I'm sure when I look back on the day I moved to NYC years from now, the situation will provide a very good laugh.

I hope everybody else has had a marvelous week! Here are some pictures I snapped while walking around!