I must have done something good…

The screen was super tiny but the crowds at Vicky Christina Barcelona didn't seem to mind.

What a week. My first in New York. And so many beautiful moments to recount. Let’s start at the beginning:

1. Bumped to business class on my flight from Chicago. Leg room and pre-takeoff beverage service is the first of many reasons to make me feel that New York City is quietly welcoming me back.
2. My sublet for the month of July is beautifully decorated and perfectly situated in the East Village, with a lovely roommate who is the most delightful company.
3. I walk everywhere. My calves get a tan.
4. Ninth Street Espresso becomes my morning coffee ritual – it is right across the street from my apartment.
5. First day on the job am greeted by a GIANT welcome basket of vodka, gins and liqueurs from my team. My bar. She is officially stocked.
6. So good to be back at Diageo. Feels like coming home, especially at Thursday’s social hour where each team is dressed like the ingredients in a Pimm’s cup. Even finance – who rocks matching pastel polos and tennis rackets for a Wimbledon theme. Friday we break early and rejoin for an afternoon of cheap sangria and bay-seasoned fries on the Frying Pan, a ramshackle ship at Chelsea Piers.
7. The welcome wagon arranges a bevy of activities – a Philharmonic concert in Central Park, a screening of Vicky Christina Barcelona on the pier, brunches and dinners and cocktails with new friends and old.
8. My lovely roomie (who is boutique manager at an ultra high-end chocolate shop) brings me a delicious cake for my birthday. The palm-sized cake has been made in France with almond flour and tastes like a souffle. I eat it for my birthday breakfast.
9. Birthday afternoon yoga is a mental (and physical) cleanse, the perfect way to reset for a new year
10. Walking home from yoga I stumble upon a little arts fair on 9th Street, where I buy myself a beautifully hand-made necklace from a young jewelry designer – for $20. Happy birthday to me!

Feeling great because I’m looking forward to the evening’s festivities – a venue hop thru my new neighborhood, with stops for gourmet pizze, classic cocktails and a dance party in a garden. Cards from mom and dad and grandma and lots of calls and texts and Facebook messages from faraway friends. I am feeling very blessed indeed…

Countdown to NYC

 

a mouth-gasm waiting to happen

Earlier this week, I learned that I’ll be needed in New York a whole lot sooner than expected (July 13 to be exact) and so my days have become a blur of preparations for the move.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon shopping the boutiques on and around Division in Wicker Park. I made successful acquisitions at Habit, Mulberry & Me and Le Dress, which means I also put quite a dent in my new work wardrobe budget.

But the highlight of my day was definitely the mid-afternoon break for lunch at Birchwood Kitchen, where I enjoyed a baguette shmeared with goat cheese, piled high with wafer thin slices of crisp pickled beets and dressed with a sweet walnut pesto and arugula.

 

 

One of many abandoned warehouses I pass on my walk from the Ashland stop on the Green line to the office on Carroll at Damen

Spent last night sorting through twenty-one binders full of old course notes and cases, papers and exams, setting aside what will be recycled (I’m looking at you, Macro final, you too, Managing the Workplace midterm) and filing away the bits I want to save in labeled binders. It’s almost obscene, the physical space that these tomes occupy.

More walking around planned this afternoon – headed to Home Depot for boxes and packing tape, then to FedEx Office to print, sign and fax back my moving quote. The photo on the left was taken on my bi-weekly walk through the industrial district in which the start up I’ve been working with is located. This is one of many abandoned building I pass along the way.