Korea trip
 Had an amazing work trip with the team. Was my first trip traveling to Korea. The first of many trips w the team. We actually travel four times a year which is quite a lot but definitely productive and fun.
 
 One of the best parts of the trip is traveling business. After years of traveling with the G team and traveling economy it truly makes a big difference.
 
 The factory Simon is one of the largest factories I have worked with and another thing is that the amount of attention that we get is really amazing.
 
 The owner spends so much time with us and give us all of the resources we need. The company has worked w them from the beginning so it just goes to show their loyalty to one another.
 
 Also one of the great things is that Daniela was also with us on the trip. She will be going with us on all trips which is also really great. She pointed out that we have known each other over 11 years which is insane!
 

So after about two months in at MK I am loving i so far.
 
 The people are all really great so far so its like completely night and day compared to my experience at C.
 
 I have a wonderful boss as the SVP director of design and am so happy.
 
 Looking forward to our trip to Korea in May and hope that the line turns out to be really amazing. Also looking forward to getting a chance to bond with the team.
 
 

I finally got a job!

One full month of misery and stress. I was stressed out every week I didn’t get a: call back, interview or a reply.

I’ve realized it really is about who you know and about timing.

I emailed my entire connection list and it made me feel really supportive when people I didn’t hear from for years actually replied.

I am so happy and relieved and one of the best parts is that I get to work with my girl Michelle.

We worked together around three years ago and now we get the opportunity again. I’m really looking forward to this and can’t wait.

The president and VP have been really supportive about my roll here and it just makes me feel so much better about my decision to join the company.

About to attend orientation and feeling a little bit nervous but excited.

So it has been officially one week since I lost my job.
 
 I honestly wish I enjoyed it more. I was mainly focused on emailing my entire contact list and also with reaching out to friends who could help.
 
 Now that I had the week to cool down and process things, I realized that I really need to save alot of money so that I can retire and eventually do something else or just simply retire.
 
 Eventually when I become really high paid and if a company feels like the sales are not doing well than they will just fire the me and hire someone younger and cheaper.
 
 This industry is so difficult because when you deal with design its difficult because if designs don’t sell the company starts making changes.
 
 This is not the type of industry you work for for years and years and eventually just retire. I’ll keep this in the back of my mind and hopefully something comes my way.
 
 I have a few leads along with an interview next Tuesday. I am going to stay neutral on this because I’m afraid i’ll jinx it.
 
 

Let’s just say there’s always a first for everything.
 
 Yesterday morning at 9:30am I was fired from my job at C.
 
 I worked so hard there, spent many days working late and in stress mode all day.
 
 Her reasoning for letting me go was that although she saw me put in so much effort I was not the right fit for this position. She is super controlling and so insecure that she was never happy with anything she worked on. I think when you get too obsessed with perfection you lose focus on the real goal of designing beautiful product. Most people don’t even notice the crazy things that she made me work on.
 
 Looking back I really don’t regret my performance there. I gave it my all even though I was so unhappy there. I questioned my reason for being there almost every day but I just dealt with it because it was a job at C.
 
 I dealt with my bosses rude comments to me on several occasions and put up with her shit for three months straight.
 
 I guess this was really the best way it could have happened. If that was only three months of misery I can’t imagine the person I would have become after a year of working with her.
 
 After working in corporate I have realized that design is such a small part of the job, it’s really about how well you work with the other teams and people in the company. Maybe she was threatened with my ability to be social and well liked?
 
 It really doesn’t matter anymore. God does work in mysterious ways so I do believe that something better will come along. I just have to stay positive and focused.
 
 The best part of my day yesterday was that after I got let go Adis called me and told me that she took the day off and was on her way to come visit me. :-)
 That was super sweet of her. Another funny thing was that Lollise after I told her what happened she immediately said “i’m coming over”. I was kind of shocked and surprised and was so happy that she’s my friend.
 
 We spent the afternoon just hanging out at home and then Adis and Ariel showed up. Talked about how shitty it all was and everyone I spoke to about it is actually happy for me since they knew how unhappy I was.
 
 It’s really awful that they have that culture there. When you are working there you are so blinded by the C goggles that you believe that this is a reality and it is OK. It’s just freaking handbags but they just take it to this insane level. Is this a good thing? I’m really not sure but I do also know that they could do it with more of a positive vibe and not be so crazy about little things.
 
 
 
 

Location:W 22nd St,New York,United States

It has officially been three months of me working here and it has been very difficult.
 
 I honestly thought it would be much easier settling in to a larger company but I was totally wrong. It has been tons of work along with the stress of trying to get on the same page learning about process and a whole bunch of things.
 
 It has been really tough and I am struggling. I guess I could say that I know what to expect now so at least thats a good thing.
 
 After hanging out with Gaeul yesterday she brought up a good point. That i should at least stick it out for a year just to get enough experience on the res which is so true.
 
 Let’s see how my review goes. :-(

So this weekend I am headed to China for a business trip.

Not really looking forward to this trip because for starters the 16 hour flight sucks!
Secondly the people that I am traveling with that I thought I was cool with are not as cool as
i thought they were.

Turns out that they are shady bitches and I am just not cool with that. Don’t pretend like your cool with me and be all flaky and shit behind my back.

I guess she is just a jealous person and some people are just evil. After speaking to B, Adis and my Mom about it I feel much better.

Adis said that I should just ignore it and just pretend like it doesn’t bother me. In the end I am a huge believer in Karma and what goes around will definitely come back around.

Who knows, maybe when I get there it will totally be cool but we’ll see.

Today was Petes bday. Perfect way to celebrate. Stella’s and chips plus some basics from jcrew.

So I have been working at my current company for over four years now and have been waiting to have my final review with my boss.

It has been really frustrating because
I was told in August that I was promoted and that I would receive an increase in Jan. the upsetting part was that I just met with them and that my increase would happen in August of this year. Basically six months away. The good news is that it would be retroactive which makes a huge difference.

I trust that they will make it happen but it just makes me frustrated because I feel that I have been patient enough.

Lets see how it goes. Sigh……

I finally decided to go with Virb.com for my portfolio.

Honestly one of the main reasons why I decided to go with them was because they have easy password protection which allows me to keep my portfolio private.

I really think that having an online portfolio is the best way to go. Always accessible and definitely easier to update and maintain. Plus if you ever go on an interview no one notices that your carrying your book.

Im sure I may get some stares from people who are used to actual hard copies of their book but Its definitely the way of the future.

www.atwork.virb.com

Ok so the CFDA has this project that they do every year that basically raises awareness to counterfeit products. One of the things that they do is they give all of the members a basic canvas tote and its up to the designers to design and modify the design to make them special and unique.

They are then auctioned off on Ebay and are sold off to the highest bidder.

I was super thrilled that I had the oppurtunity to work on this with Joy. This image was taken at Lincoln Center! Super proud!!

Got crazy food poisoned from something I ate last night.

I knew that I got food poisoned from the weird feeling of not being able to digest the food and then I got a stomach ache.

For the rest of the night I had ED the entire night every single hour. It was awful and so annoying.

I woke up to the sound of my room phone ringing which was my co worker waiting in the lobby downstairs. It was bad because I ended up being an hour late to work. Really glad that it was a small meeting so didn’t matter that much.

We had a simple Chinese lunch with the team and after that we went our separate ways. Relieved to be leaving the MCM office.

Kenny took us back to our hotel and we hung around, ahopped for a bit and then grabbed some coffee.

Afterwards Kenny took me to this fantastic place for a massage. It was perfect since after the food poisoning my I had body aches.

We then headed to a simple Korean dinner close to the hotel and then called it a night.

Was nervous about the presentation today because i though Ms Kin would tear us to shreds but it turns out she was very happy with the collection.

Had a wonderful day because We had a great meeting.

Our groups had samples that did not turn put that great since only 1 style of each was represented for each group.

After the long ass meeting we all went out to dinner at this nice Korean place. After the meeting I went with the team to Gam gang San which is a huge mall with all kinds of stuff. I didn’t end up buying anything.

I got home kid of feeling sick. I didn’t know what was going on but after trying to go to bed with stomach pains I realized that I was still full. The last time I felt like that I had food poisoning. It’s like your body know when to digest food.

I ended up puling the dinner up and then woke up every hour to diarrhea. It was so awful. I’m super exhausted because I only slept this few hours in between going to the bathroom.

Sick in Korea. :-(

Landed at the airport around 6pm and learned something new.

Go to the international taxi Stand at airport to get flat rates to go to the hotel. This nice guy told me that if you wait in the regular taxi stand they rip tourists off.

I got to the hotel around 7ish dropped off my luggage and went out shopping for a bit. I was kind of just browsing first to soak it all in and then plan to go back to those shops tomorrow.

Had dinner at Pho Tai a vietnamese place. Tomorrow definitely having Korean food.

Got back to the hotel around 10:30pm and unpacked and called Furry for a quick chat before bedtime.

Joy brought me to the Chris Benz presentation today at Lincoln center.

His collection was amazing. Full of lots of color and amazing fabrics. I saw a few famous bloggers- Susie Bubble and Bryan Boy. Also saw Kelly Osborn. Not that friendly but she must have been so annoyed by all of the photographers wanting to shoot her.

One of the other surprisingly people I saw was Monica. I was completely shocked to see her since it has been so long. It was kind of strange to see her outside of working for her but we had a great chat.

Wow so today had a crazy day. It all started with pickup up the Uhaul to deliver the bags and furniture back to the office.

When I got back to the office it was back to MCM presentation boards. We had to complete them and get them ready for their presentation next week.

At the end of the Day I had my 3 year review. They both gave me great feedback and both love me to death. I really care about being here and am so happy that they appreciate me so much. We also discussed Toy and how they wish for it to become even more successful. In the end after a very long conversation I got a wonderful raise. It will not take effect until November but I honestly am so grateful. Nite nite.

So today enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Hotel Peninsula which was so amazing! I honestly don’t think that I would ever get the chance to stay at that hotel ever again but it was definitely a place I will never forget.

I met with WG a factory we use in HK that works on only Exotic leather goods. Super excited about working with them because they are such a great resource.
I finished the meeting probably around 1 or 2pm and was dropped off at the hotel and then I was off to SHOP! Finally free time to shop a bit. Its such a tease to be in an amazing city and not be able to take advantage of all of the wonderful shopping.

The beauty of HK shopping is that they have TONS of brands that I have never heard of and they are not that expensive. Lots of small boutiques which is where I like to go.

As the clock was ticking I ended my shopping with a trip to Muji of course! I found all of these freaking adorable little baby boy clothes for Kiran, Los little BB. She is going to be super excited since Muji is always our MUST SHOP place in HK.

After that I headed back to the hotel and taxi’d to the airport.
The end of a wonderful trip and definitely a memorable one.

So after checking into the hotel I skyped the office and then went out to shop! My first night in HK (after a whole week in china) – I was so excited. Afterwards I went to the DNA shop but when I arrived everything started closing. Will definitely visit again. I at least had 5 min to get the vibe of the store before it closed.

Wow. Last night I stayed at the Peninsula in HK and it was fucken amazing!

Top notch luxury. I mean seriously LV, Chanel, Prada and Hermes boutiques in the lobby say it all.

I couldn’t find the Kleenex box and eventually found it embedded behind the marble wall. Lavish luxury honestly. Rey had a TV embedded into the bathroom wall above the tub. Of course I took advantage of that and had a lovely bath while watching Bizarre Foods.

When I checked in someone came to brig a tea pot with tea. I even had a note with My name on it welcoming me to the hotel and giving me a box of chocolates and fruit to welcome me.

In the morning I had a delicious breakfast in the lobby. I really felt the luxuriousness of the hotel because even the mini solver coffee pot had a branded napkin.

I enjoyed staying here so much and really hope that I get the opportunity to stay there again.

So this morning woke up at 6:30am. I love traveling because it always fucks up my sleeping patterns which in the end help me restart my clock.

This morning I had breakfast at around 7:30am and had a lovely face time chat with furry. I had my usual china breakfast which always consists of congee and of course bacon and eggs.

After breakfast u had an hour to kill so decided to chill by the pool and catch up on my book while soaking in the rays.

I’m so happy that I’m staying in a new hotel and new area of china. That other hotel I use to stay at was too old.

Waiting for Michael to pick me up who is the merchandiser we work with. Looking forward to visiting this new factory since I am sure it will be so much nicer than out old one.

Just arrived to JFK again en route to China again. This time will be my first time traveling without a co worker. Other people from the office are traveling however they will be at different factories Which means that we won’t even be with each other.

I actually prefer traveling alone because it’s so much less stressful. You basically do things on your schedule.

So the main goal of my trip is to make sure my samples leave the factory in time to arrive in Ny by the 19th of august. I need to hand carry them back if possible.

It’s funny how I just found out about this trip not even two weeks ago.

16 HRS Later:
Every time I survive this long ass Plane ride I am always amazed. So glad I’m on the ground :-).

Ok just landed in HK and cannot believe how clear it is. Every time I have been here the weather sky has been kind of cloudy/smoky and I always assumed it was the pollution but this time it’s as clear as it is back home.

I really wish I scheduled my trip to my hotel in china since it’s only 2:00pm and I could shop a little but that would be a pain with all of the luggage that I have.

So today I met up with Diana and Gaeul at Grand Central station so that we can ride a train together to go over to Marias house in Scarsdale for a goodbye barbecue.

Maria husband got a new position Kansas City so her entire family is moving out there. Its pretty insane and I cant even begin to imagine how much stress she is going through to sell her house and move her kids to another state. Insane also because she has been living her in NY for 15 years.

We had such a lovely time out there at her house. Maria made delicious ribeye steaks that she grilled and we had a delicious salad and fingerling potatoes.

We had such a blast also because we were outside of the office which was so refreshing considering how much time we spend at work.

I am really going to miss Maria so much. She is such an amazing person and an amazing mom. She truly is an inspiration and she totally inspires me. TRULY going to miss her.

So I have been completely stressing over spring designs. Basically we are several months late on spring designs and I had to crank a shitload of designs out.

The good thing is that yesterday alot of my concepts got chosen. Actually this is the most stressful part of the season. It’s strange because sometimes you feel so tapped out and completely not creative. It’s scary but once you get some positive feedback it really helps to push and be more creative.

What is success? What defines success. Is it money, happiness or is it simply what your family thinks of you.

B has been interviewing at some companies and if he switches over into a new job title he will probably get a pay cut but that’s ok because happiness is what pushes you to go the extra mile. If your not happy with what you do you’ll never really be successful.

I am happy and feel good about my efforts. I given it my all and for the most part I always see a return so life is pretty good.

Life is never easy but definitely rewarding. :-)

I am on the plane right now after an amazing trip at Lineapelle leather fair in Bologna.

Joy and I stayed this time in bologna and it was fantastic. We stayed at hotel Commerciante near the Duomo in Italy.

We first arrived on Wednesday morning with only like three hours of sleep on the plane and off we went to the leather fair straight from the airport.

We worked right through the whole day and even skipped through lunch. We met Jeff at the end of the day and went for a drink near the Duomo.

It was hilarious because after our appertivo we went to the taxi stand and gave our address to our hotel and the driver said that actually the hotel is walking distance away. We laughed and walked to the hotel.

The 2nd day we went to the fair very well rested and and split up and walked the show. After that we had to attend a meeting at 4 so that was kind of a short day.

After we went back to the hotel worked on corrections and then went to meet Jeff, Tony and Dragana. We had dinner at Scacco Matto. It was so amazing and the food was so delicious.

After dinner Jeff and Tony stayed the night at our hotel. A slumber party.

Wow. Milan is so amazing. It’s very cool industrial city. There’s lots of run down buildings and stuff but it honestly adds to the character of the city.

After we got to our hotel we dropped off our luggage and decided to go shop at Il Corso Como. It’s basically like a Barneys.

We had such a great time there and they even had a Barneys warehouse type sale that we went to. I got these amazing RAF Simmons kicks for like 160 or something. I also got a new Parfum fragrance called Untitled by Martin Margiela.

We then decided to grab some lunch at this pasta place and had An excellent lunch.

After lunch we went back to hotel to drop off bags and go to the office to get work done.

OMG the MCM office is incredible. The front entry way is insane and the interior of the space is totally breathtaking. Loft like white space.

After the office we head into the shopping area and stopped by a few shops. And as we are walking BAM- it’s the Duomo! Fucken so insanely gorgeous. That totally made my day.

We ended the night with dinner at La Rinacente on the top floor restaurant called MAIO restaurant.

Just landed in Milan. Wow. Leaving for the airport was stressful as hell because I had like no time todo anything.

This was my saturday before leaving:

– Went to apple-store
– Att wireless store
– Forever 21
– Dentist and got cavity filled
– Went to office and sketched-for 3 hours.
– packed for my trip
– went home to pick up Miki and take to happy paws
– ordered sushi
– went home got luggage
– picked up sushi

Hoping this will be a fun trip- after we set up for the meeting I think that were going to have some free time today.