A Fresh Start

So since last time I posted, I lead you guys onto a little to the fact that I was leaving the city and looking for new employment. Well, today was the day that I started my new job at Saks Fifth Avenue. I am currently working in Women's Wear as a retail associate in the Stamford branch. I know it is not the ideal fashion job that I am looking for , but I feel that it is going to be a great fit and the potential to take me to the places I want to go. My goal is still to work in the fashion industry in NYC, but through commuting it became clear to me that where I am working is not as important to me as what I am doing. This is just the beginning for me and I am looking forward to grow at Saks and become more educated on the high-end brands that they carry. My very best-friend told me, you have to be nobody to become somebody. That is how i view my starting point at Saks. Also Stamford seems like a great little city that I am excited to explore and see what it has to offer.

I'm sorry to all of the people that were offended during the transition between jobs and while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I really do appreciate all of your help, but this is the path that I have chosen to take. To some it may not seem like the right one or the one I should be on, but I am going to muster through it and work my way to the top, wherever that is because I truly have no idea what that is. Right now I have dreams goals and aspirations, no one knows if those will become reality or where I will end up some day, but right now this feels right.

SOOOO this is not the end of the blog, or the end of this adventure, it is simply an adjustment. There are going to be plenty of lessons I learn along the way and things that I discover that I will want to share while I am on my way to discovering myself as a professional.

Now I KNOWWWW some of you are looking for the dirt as to why I left my job in the city. I am not trying to hash up old feelings or make anyone look bad. The job simply was not for me, it is the right fit for someone, who is not me. Some people enjoy sitting at a desk with no daily tasks being assigned and ignored. However, that person is not me, I do not appreciate being told to sit at my desk and look pretty or to bring a book when I ask for something to do. Also as a college graduate I find it personally offensive when I am told that filing is too hard and to pick dead leaves off of plants. NOW those are just my personal feelings, that was simply their way of doing business, but it was not for me.

I have heard many comments from people some that were appalled by this treatment and some that say that can't be too hard. For those of you that don't think it is hard, be my guest and go sit at a desk for 8 hours and be bored there are not enough articles and blog posts I could write day in and day out to keep me entertained. I am a proactive person who runs on pure coffee and sitting around feeling degraded was not my idea of work. I felt like it was eating me up inside and I was genuinely not happy.

But now I feel like I have made the right choice. Everyday at Saks will be a challenge not only to establish myself, but also to exercise my restraints of saving money and not spending it on every little thing I "ThinK" I need.

This is not good bye

Today is my last day working in the city for a variety of reason that I will explain in later posts. However, being my last day in NYC for awhile I tried to make my lunch hour special. Things at work were also a little rough and awkward so as I previously read in a magazine I took that time to myself.

A coworker has been recommending a near by Mediterranean restaurant that he frequents. He swears that it has the best falafels in the area, being a fan of Mediterranean food I figured I would give it a shot. The place is called yummyummy, It is this little hole in the wall restaurant with about 5 tables and a little bar that you order your food from. However, as I have always been told by my father the ones that look the worst or deceiving are the best places to eat. That theory goes right along with yummyummy.

For lunch I had the yummyummy falafel, this not an average falafel it had hummus and avocado on it. And as all the posters claimed it was fast service and tasted very fresh. I am not Mediterranean food expert, but I can tell you that I will most certainly be making a stop back at this little place to get good food. Heck, I was ready to take home all of the side to try with my family.

After my delicious lunch I continued down Lexington to a jewelry store that I pass every day. I had been keeping my eye on this one particular necklace. I was planning on working to save up for it, but since those plans were cut short and I have thought about the necklace since the day that I saw it. I went with my shoppers impulse and bought it as a gift to myself for putting in the effort to work in the city and realizing that I can do it, and lastly as a memento that I will be back!

The necklace came from Torino Jewelers, which I researched on google and got great reviews that it was one of the best stores around. The woman gave me a great deal because I have been to the store a few time inquiring about the necklace. However, I am under stricted orders not to disclose the exact price. Anyway the necklace is a smokey stone set in silver surrounded by a cluster of turquoise stones also set in silver. To me it is one of the most beautiful and unique pieces of jewelry I have ever owned, I wore it right out of the store! I'm excited to wear it out tonight! I already have so many outfits planned out around it!

I even bought a little something special for my sister I would have bought everyone something by I ran out of money.

Down for the Count

I sat here on Friday and wrote a post that was a filler as I would call it. It was just a post to keep everyone reading an update because nothing special or monumental happened. Well clearly I wrote my post way too soon.

After just another ordinary day on the job, answering phones and putzing around the office it was time to go home and start my weekend. Thrilled that my day was finally over, I decide I would walk to the train even though it had started to rain. It was only a drizzle, how much harm could it do, right? Well, just as I was a couple of block into my walk the rain started to pick up, still I didn't think anything of it because I had my umbrella and I was all set.

Again this was a premature confidence because as soon as I stepped onto the marble landing at the Met Life building the worst thing possible happened. I SLIPPED. When I stepped onto the marble there was like a layer of water on top of it from everyone walking into the building. This combination was a guaranteed disaster. I immediately slipped and lost my balance and hit the ground in a sitting position, people crowded around me to see it I okay. Very embarrassed I quickly got up and gathered myself and assured everyone around me that I was fine. Trying to wrap my head around the fact, that just happened I started walking to the doors.

No sooner did I take one step I slipped again trying to catch my balance I slammed my umbrella into the ground, swung my arms, and lost control of my body. That is correct I fell again, and this time made an elaborate scene just to make sure that everyone saw. I am not even sure how I ended up on the floor again, but this time I was flat on my back in a five star. The same group of people crowded around me to see if I was okay and needed help. I laid for a minute with my eyes as wide as they could be, stunned at this point and pretty numb to all feeling, all I wanted to do was get up and on the train without anyone else seeing me fall.

As I tried to casually get up a little Asian woman, who is probably half my size was trying to pick me up by the back of my arms. I assured her I was okay and could get up, but she insisted on lifting me off the ground. This was causing even more of a scene because she couldn't lift me. If she has succeeded in picking me up I would have fallen again, simply because it was awkward positioning and needed to gain stability on my own. Very appreciative of the woman's help, I calmly told her I could get up on my own. Not sure where she went after that, but I continued to walk towards the door. Before I got to the doors the building secruity guard stopped me and asked if I was okay. All this attention was way to much to answer so I muttered out yes, trying to avoid anymore conversation.

During all of this there was a very nice girl, that had been standing right next to me through the whole thing, she gripped my arm the whole way until I was inside. She definitely did not want me to suffer through another fall and you could tell by her gripped, she thought it would happen again.

When we finally made it inside she said,"At least it was at the end of the day, if it was in the morning you would have just wanted to go home." I laughed and told her that was very true.

Without any further public humiliation I made it to the train back soaking wet and my white shirt now brown from the dirty water, I sat down and started out for home. I laughed to myself because this occurance is just a typical part of my daily life. Two gentlemen sat down next to me and started complaining about how wet they got from the rain. I causually chimmed in, trying to offer some pleasure and lighthearted conversation about my humiliation. I said, " At least you didn't fall."

The man stared at me "You fell? But you look fine, completely put together, noone would know."

"Well I fell twice flat on my back." I leaned forward to show him the damage.

He laughed, "How did you even fall. That is awful."

"I think it was because it was so slippery outside of the Met Life building."

He took a quick glance down at my feet and said, "No wonder you fell you have flip flops on, you deserve it. I don't understand women and how you guys walk in flip flops all the time."

This situation could not get anymore surreal. To top it off when I was getting off the train glad that I had finally made it home and hoping that nothing else could go wrong, I discovered that due to my falling I had split my pants. COM'ON, split my pants is this real life?!?!


Not sure if that was the classiest act a city girl could have pulled but it was probably one of the funniest, and I bet you those people that went home after helping me got a good laugh at the dinner table because of my mishap. My life is truly a joke! At least I wasn't laughing alone.

Two Down!

As my second week working in the city winds down all is still going well. The commuting has gotten easier I have finally remember to always carry cash to pay for my meter. However, one thing I did learn is not to put a 20 into the meter because you will get back 15 dollars in coins. It's fine because I have been using those to pay for my parking, but not ideal for keeping in my purse.

I found a little area on 57th that I like to eat lunch, I still am a recent college grad, trying to save a little bit of money and establish a savings, so unlike most people in the city I bring my lunch most of the time. It has got to be very expensive to get lunch out everyday and literally that is what the people in my office do. For me I think I would get tired of trying to figure out where to eat and I think it would take the fun out of it. Therefore, I get lunch out once a week at a restaurant that I have found on one of the side streets. One place I tried was called Napoli 57. I got a panini there with mozzarella, tomato and pesto. It was fantastic! But on the days when I am not going out to eat I like to go this fountain on 57th in between Park and Lexington. For me it is very relaxing, I get to sit in the sun and enjoy my lunch.


My first pay check came in this week and I treated myself to a new pair of black heels, they were only $20 and I need them seeing as how my old black heel no longer have a sole because I have destroyed them walking around the city. It was a quick fix and a little treat to myself for working.


I think the most comical thing that happened to me this week and was my first slip up as a new receptionist happened yesterday. So the air conditioning in one of the back office is not working well, a co-worker asked me to phone the lobby to get maintenance to come up and fix it. After I called I figured I did my part. I moved onto other things and the air conditioner issue slipped my mind. My co-worker came to me towards the end of the day and asked if I ever got in touch with downstairs. Shocked that I had totally forgot about it and that the issue had not been addressed, I told him I would call down and see what the deal was.

Trying to be very efficient and professional I called right away. "Hi this is Brittany from the 12th floor, I called this morning about an air conditioning problem and I was wondering if you guys got in touch with maintenance."

After a pause a mans voice replies, "Well no Brittany, I can't help you with the air conditioning problem because I did not know there was one and don't think I have the direct extension to the maintenance line. "

A little confused I replied with, "Oh okay."


The voice laughed a little and goes, " You see Brittany, this is Mark from the sugar trading room, if you need help trading sugar I can do that, but other than that I think you called the wrong room. "


I started laughing and said oops. As it turns out I had combine the number from the front lobby with the number for the trading room, which happens to be the room with the air conditioning problem. It was just one of those moment you have to sit back, laugh and say really? Next time I will definitely be reading the numbers more carefully!

Back to Work

In honor of being a new city girl I had no clue that Macy's put on a fireworks spectacular every 4th of July. I probably should have known since my family is a huge fan of the Macy day events like the Thanksgiving day parade. Next year it has been added to my bucketlist of things to do in NYC. Com'on fireworks set off at four different locations lining the river, it's every inner childs fantasy. So in 365 day I will report on just how amazing they are. But after a nice long 4th of July weekend, which I hope everyone enjoyed and got their fill of magnificent explosive fireworks, it is back to work.

Even though Tuesday is stricten with a case of the Mondays, the brightside is that it is a short week!

After my long weekend at home spent out of the city I did a lot of thinking. The most promenient thought in my head all weekend long was, dreading my 6 am wake up call on Tuesday morning. LAME, I know, but that initally opening of the eyes and first step onto the hardwood floor is pretty painful! However, all was sucessfully accomplished. The parking debocale is still in the learning curve because even though I found the correct lot, I neglected to realize that the meter is cash only. I arrived this morning with only my card, cool, yet again catching the train without paying for parking. We all know what that means. Yes another $20 ticket. I hope today is the day that the officer skips over my car, if not that this is the last one, I swear. It would just be so much easier to finally have everything under control!

They were a few things I misseed about my morning in the city. I have grown accustomed to my morning coffee from Breakfast Cart. I really don't think that you can beat it, a large coffee for $1.50. That is a great deal for a regular cup of coffee, it's no Starbucks, but sometimes the basics are just what you need to start your morning. It is like going to your favorite deli and getting your morning coffee, not because it is great just cause you like going there. However, in NYC there is no deli, it's a cart on every corner and instead of being filled with locals there is a line of people irushing to get to work. It's all the same, just right now it has that real city appeal. I also love the fact that there is a fruit cart right next door. My morning banana is only sixty cents or 3 for $1. In my that is a bargain for breakfast.


I stop by every few mornings, kind of trying to make my own tradition, and the people that run the carts are very nice and make for great morning chit-chat. As week two starts it seems like we are off to a great start for city life. As it continues I am sure we will lots to talk about.

Finally Getting IT

It is finally Friday and I have sucessfully completed one full week of commuting. There have not been any major issues (knock on wood). Except for that stupid little parking ticket that has found its way to my windshield every afternoon. I have successfully not been able to figure out parking at the Katonah Train Station and managed to continously get parking tickets. At 20 bucks a pop, I think that is a very expensive first week on the job.

For the life of me I really had no idea why the meter was telling me "sorry space is unavailable." I truly thought the machine was broken. Being new to this whole commuting thing I left my car in one of the numbered spots everyday hoping that they would skip giving me a ticket. I went so far as to leave a note on my car that said, "The meter is broken, it keeps telling me, 'sorry spot is unavailable.' I have money to pay, but don't know what it isn't working." I figured if the officer read this he would feel so bad an not give me a ticket, how mistaken was I. I arrived off of the train at 630 to find that the officer had simply placed a ticket right on my note, did he even read it, I will never know.

The following day on my way to another ticket I saw a sign covered by leaves and hanging branches. The sign read "meter parking does not start until 10 am, priority to permit holders." How the heck was I supposed to know that, was I supposed the climb into the jungle remove all of the leaves a read the sign, which I did not even know was there until yesterday. Right below was a visible sign that read parking meter this way, that was clearly the only one I paid attention to! Like come on, cut the trees back and make it convenient. So now I was in a situation, where was I supposed to park and I couldn't just call my boss and be like "yea I'm going to come in at 10 now bcause I can't park at the train station until then." Easy solution right, get a parking pass, not so easy, kind of expensive and gets issued in July. (which is today, yayyy parking pass!)

Anyway, on my way to the train today I saw a bunch of guys in suits walking from a lot down the street. They looked like businessmen in suites with breifcases heading to the train. Heck I'm a professional now, I figured I'd follow suit. Turns out right down the road all along was a commuter parking lot with.... yup you guessed it a parking meter that ran all day and did not start at 10. If only I knew or took the time to look, but I was so anxious about getting the train and being on time that I chose to get the tickets instead. My bad.

On the positive side it only took me a week and $80 to figure how to commute and park for $5 instead of $20. Now that that's over, I think i'll take the local shuttle for $1.50, gotta save up to pay my tickets. At least by the end of week on I'm looking more and more like an official city girl.

Learning my Way Around

In honor of learning my barrings and finding out what is around me in the city, I mostly spend my lunch break walking through the streets. This might be my favorite part of the day because I really get a chance to take in where I am and find little places that I want to try to eat or stores that I want to check out.

One thing that I have noticed and love about NYC is the stores. "O. M. G." There are not only little boutiques that carry uncommon clothes, but also brands people may have never heard of. But the regular stores like Ann Taylor, Victoria Secret, and New York and Company are all HUGE. When I say huge I'm talking multiple floors people. This is a bad thing to notice because not only am I a huge shopper with a passion for clothes, shoes, accessories...basically anything that has to do with fashion, but I want to go into these stores simply because they are so big! These multi-floored giants entice my shopping sensors and make me want to look around and purchase items simply so I can say I got this in a two floor Victoria Secret, have you been there? However, I am controlling my urges not to buy. However, the big huge red "sale, 40% off" sign does not stop me from going in to see what they might have.

Also among yesterdays accomplishments, I found something that I can not wait to do. As I was crossing between Lexington and 3rd Ave at I believe 60th st (if not I will just have to find it again) I came across a place that I have always wanted to try. A little restaurant called Serendipity, I have waited my whole life to try one of their frozen cappuccinos, and I fully intend on going one afternoon and fulfilling my long awaited dream!

Quick little story about my obsession about eating at Serendipity, well for starters anytime I come into the city I try somehow to incorporate it into my plan for the day. However, it never works out that way. Anyway this one particular day I had come into the city to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center with a group of friends. I thought it would be a brilliant idea if we went to get the famous frozen drink. Everyone was on board, but not quite down with the long walk. It was a very long hike to get to Serendipity from the tree. The whole time we were whining about the walk, saying "these frozen cappuccino better be the best ever." Long story short, we made the distance only to discover that the wait to get served was about two hours. Not wanting to wait and tired of walking, we turned around and went back to the car. That was the closest I have ever come to to having Serendipity, but now it is only a couple of streets over. I'M GOING!

On my walk back to the office I came across a little shop called Sprinkles. Sprinkles is a little cupcake shop that makes cupcakes of all sorts and flavors. The store was brightly colored with circle shapes in all decorating the window. Heck they had me at the name Sprinkles, and if I ate cupcakes I would definitely want to try them. I think I will bring them home one day for everyone to try and tell me how they are. The outside of the store seems as cute as the cupcakes looked.

Anyway, I'm still getting adjusted to city life and learning my way around, sometimes I surprise myself a little with how well I have been doing. However, I still have a lot to master. I have not learned to take my heels off at lunch while I am walking around. I am suffering the consequences from blister. I will learn eventually, I just have to get over the idea that they complete my outfit.