Have a Fabulous Weekend

Image via

Hello Friday! I'm so glad to see you! Have you noticed how short work weeks seem to turn into the longest?

What are you up to this weekend? We're expected to get more snow (grrr!) so I'll be dreaming of our upcoming Jamaican vacation to get my thoughts on the positive track. There will also be some serious gym time and some serious Oscar's watching. 

Whatever you're up to, I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Think Pink

Boston was lucky enough last week to have two days of spring-worthy weather (high 50s - yes please!), and that has me thinking pink in everything I wear. I must admit that I'm not usually a girly girl, and I've never really been one for pink, but this year I'm craving every shade of the pretty color. 

I didn't hesitate to pick up this gorgeous Kate Spade skirt last week during the online sample sale, and literally squealed when it arrived over the weekend. Isn't this skirt just lovely? I'm already dreaming up different tops to mix with this skirt to take me through fall (did I just say fall? go ahead and slap me.) 

Kate Spade Janelle Skirt - buy it here

Ann Taylor Loft

LA Made - buy here

I'm also eyeing this gorgeous Ann Taylor Loft shell - it's perfect for a casual day at work with jeans and nude pumps. This LA Made dress is on sale at Piperlime, so snatch it up while you can. 

So are you thinking pink this spring, or do you, like me (in most cases) avoid the ultra feminine shade?

Hapy Lovers Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovelies, and especially to my lover. I just love this Valentine from Kate Spade's BMINE e-Valentine collection - it reminds me of Stephen in so many ways. 


What do you have planned for this special day? We're skipping our usual plans and I'm making dinner at home. Whatever your plans, I hope you have a fabulous day!

Winner Winner - Weekend Kick-Off

My weekend was already going to be awesome (hello snowboarding!) but today I got news that officially got the weekend kicked off on the right foot. 

The Lovely Ladies at Shop Mamie selected me as their giveaway winner for telling them how I'm beating the winter blues (hint). 

It doesn't take a genius to tell you that I'm over the moon about winning a $40 gift certificate to their site - the clothes are fabulous (or Mah-jor!), and the price is oh-so-right. It's going to be tough to pick just one or two things, but here's what's topping my list to keep me looking cute off the slopes: 

High Tides Cropped Jacket - Just $44!

The Honeycomb jacket - perfect for spring

The jeggings I have been lusting over

The Poppy Military jacket to fuel my craving for all things orange

So when you get a chance (like, now!) go check out Shop Mamie and stock up on their ultra great wares. 


Thank you again ladies, I can't wait to go shopping! 

Shredding It

Remember last fall when we went for a little relaxing weekend and came back with full snowboard setups? We thought it would be a great excuse to learn how to snowboard, plus it's a way to make the looooong winter a little more fun. 


Well, I've got to admit that it's been SO much fun learning how to snowboard. We've been twice now. The first time we went to Wachusetts, a little mountain about an hour outside of Boston. We stayed on the bunny trail that day, just getting familiar with our boards, learning how to stand up, how to stop and how to carve. The bunny trail was jam packed and we spent most of the day biting it while trying to avoid the crowds that just hung out in the middle of the trail. It was awesome, let me tell you. 


Last week we kicked it up a notch and went with our neighbors to WaterValley in New Hampshire. Our neighbors are good boarders; the guy grew up in NH, so he's been boarding/skiing since he could walk. His girlfriend (also a warm weather native like me) isn't as good, but has been boarding for a few years so she's way more advanced than we are. 


Stephen and I spent the morning on the bunny trail again, but after a few hours I was ready to tackle the mountain. Mind you, I was only ready to tackle a green trail, but still... HUGE step. So we took the lift to the top of the (little) mountain got strapped into our bindings and away we went. 


I wish I could say that my snowboarding style looks like this

Unfortunately I'm not quite there yet and instead, my ride down the mountain looked more like this

Still, we're having a blast learning how to snowboard, and I've got to admit we're doing a pretty decent job considering we're self teaching. I've got new found respect for what the professional athletes are doing, because I can attest that even standing up, let alone making it downhill standing up, is a considerable feat.

Shabby Apple Goes to South Pacific

My favorite dress shop, Shabby Apple, just launched its new line of dresses last week, and I think they must have heard the prayers of us northerners who have been getting dumped on by Mother Nature. 

The South Pacific line has me dreaming of our upcoming tropical vacation, where the sun shines forever, the crystal blue oceans stretches to infinity and the booze flows freely. Luckily we're only two short months away from that luxury, so to pass the time I'm going to snag up some of these new dresses.  Here are the ones that are at the top of my list. 

Nothin' Like a Dame

Bali Ha'i'

If you haven't already, I suggest you head on over to Shabby Apple and snag up these gems ASAP.

Let's Make a Deal

After a tough week of more Shaq snow (we're now up to 70+ inches!), exhausted arms (from all that shoveling) and an exhausted mind, I thought a little retail therapy wouldn't hurt.

What I love even more than retail therapy is retail therapy on sale. I've been hunting for some cute winter booties and thankfully Macy's delivered a shoe bomb in my inbox over the weekend that provided a fix for my military craving. I got this pair of wicked cute military themed booties that will complement about 5 different outfits that I can think about off the top of my head.

Guess Owens Ankle Boots

These beauties were marked off 50% AND Macy's had an extra 20% on top of that, so I got them for a steal. Deals like that just make my day.

Slowly Getting There

Type in a Google Search for the term "going crazy" and this is what popped up, and it's totally my life right now. 


Work is slowing getting better. I went from 5.5 accounts (it was 6, but I wasn't able to devote my full attention to one account, so I count it as 1/2) to four, and I no longer feel like I'm paddling just to keep my head above water. Now I'm in a position where I can think about my client's needs and offer them good, strategic counsel. 

It's so funny how things work out. I was talking to a former client yesterday and remarked about how much has changed in the three years we've known each other. Back then I was an entry level account executive who knew very little about tech PR. He was a product manager for one of my accounts. Now I'm an account manager and he's a VP of marketing. 


Looking back on three short years I've made significant leaps, and I can only imagine how much more I'll grow in my career in the next three years. The challenges I face now as a new manager will be old hat in three years and I'll be working on new challenges, and honestly those challenges are probably things that aren't even on my radar now. 


For a long time I thought I was ready for the step into a manager role. I knew what was expected (or so I thought) but I never had any idea the extent of what was expected. And I don't want to whine, but being a manager is HARD. There are decisions I've had to make early on that I didn't believe I'd have to think about for a long while. Yet, here I am, 5 weeks into being a manager with tough decisions to make. Knowing what I now know, I have new found respect for every manager I've worked with. I had no idea the challenges they were facing and what they were being asked to do. I realize now that they were doing the best they could, and 99% of the time they did a great job. And what's harder is that I've realized early on how thankless a manager's job can be. If we're doing our jobs well, our clients will be happy with the results the reps are getting, and all the background work we're doing will never be known. And for a Leo who loves the spotlight, I can honestly say that's going to take some getting used to. On the flip side though, if a client isn't happy about something (real or imaginary) the blame and the expectation to fix it is directly on the manager. Talk about a pressure situation!

I think the part of this job that's going to be hardest for me is not taking things personally. The thick skin I've developed over six years in this industry is going to need to get thicker. There are going to be days I'm not going to enjoy being a manager, when I have to deliver bad news, when I make someone cry/get angry/frustrated/you name it, and I'm going to have to remember that it's not personal, it's business. I told Stephen that my goal at the end of the day is to be respected as a manager. I may not always be liked (I know, I'm shocked at that thought too) but if people can respect my decisions, respect me as a person, then I will feel like I succeeded. 


So I realize that I'm slowly getting there. And hopefully I don't become like the comic above. I don't want to do what I'm doing just to avoid poverty. I want to keep doing what I love, especially because it's challenging.