Tata '09!

"..I'm ready for a fresh, bright start!"

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Last post of 2009 and, yes, of the decade.


Christmas has come and gone...it was so good to be with my family and in the snowy winterness of beautiful Vermont ::sigh::

"Things! Things! Things!" -- Helga Crane

A few of my favorite Christmas goodies:

--Little portable sewing machine! So excited...first project is a bag. Then moving onto vintage shopping and adding my own little tweaks here and there to the pieces I find. Also looking forward to adding lace to a denim skirt I've had for a while....peeking through from beneath the hem. Yessssssss...and much, much more!

--A Marc Jacobs vintage brown purse. Need I say more?!

--The most amazing apron I've ever seen...I should really post a picture in the near future. It's the perfect cut, embroidered with beautiful birds, flowers, etc...

--black leather gloves and black hardcore winter gloves (thanks, Justin!)

--A onesie. Yes, a onesie. My new PJs are a one-piece cotton navy/white horizontal striped onesie. It even has the butt flap in the back!

--An incredible visual history of typefaces and graphic style from 1628-1900


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Here's a little re-cap of my 2000-20010:

It's been a full 10 years for me....I remember kicking off year 2000 at Shelburne Farms in the main, beautiful barn at a fancy shmancy party with family, friends, and probably 80% of our town. It was really exciting. And i recall everybody's silent, embarrassed sigh of relief when the world didn't blow up as the clock struck 12 (remember Y2K?!).

Anyway, after one year of public high school, I went on to a boarding arts school in 2001 and graduated in 2003. I was set to matriculate at Butler University (as Dance Major, Journalism Minor) for Fall of '03, but pulled a classic Julia last-minute realization of life path and 2 weeks before school started, I deferred and moved to Memphis to dance professionally. Something within told me that spending 4 years in college as a dance major may be a mistake...and I was right.

After one season and many ups and downs with Ballet Memphis, I hung my pointe shoes up and decided it was time for college, time to shed the dancer identity and unveil the person at the core.

Freshman year (2004) was at University of Vermont, Sophomore year brought me to Chicago at Columbia College, Junior year I waved a temporary goodbye to the states and headed to France, and Senior year I went back to my VT roots and graduated from the University of VT.

After graduating with a degree in English, Film, and French....I sat back and started to contemplate what I could look into as a career. It seemed obvious after I asked myself, "Where could I go to get paid to be around books?". Book Publishing...to the source!

By August '08 I moved to NYC and started my new job at Random House. 5 Months later, the new president of the company sent around an email saying he had plans to merge the Doubleday imprint with two others. I was working for Doubleday and, along with over 100 others, was laid off. Boom...5 months in NYC with my 1st dream job and I was already feeling personal woes of the economic sh*t hole our country was in.

BUT, as these things tend to be, 'twas a blessing in disguise. In March 2009 I started my current job at Henry Holt & Co. (another book publishing company) and am loving it far more than the Random House job. The job itself is much more multi-faceted, the people are wonderful, it's in the Flat Iron Building, etc.

Hm, more about this decade...made friends, lost friends, fell in love, fell out of love, learned about self-respect, shed one identity, spent years finding , nourishing, and cultivating another, etc. etc. etc.

10 years is a long time! This decade started when I was a mere 14 years old...wowzah!

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When I look into 2010 and beyond, I see a vast open landscape of opportunity, warmth, passion, community, and love. Something about this new year....I really do feel it's going to be a very, very exciting year...