New Yorker Festival

Just received the New Yorker Festival schedule and am happy to report that it’s going to be a good one. Last September, I traveled on my own to New York for the festival and it was such a cool experience. For the past few years, the New Yorker has orchestrated this cultural extravaganza where New Yorker contributors interview actors, directors, writers, artists, fashionistas, etc. Each lecture or event is like encountering a New Yorker article live—an in-depth, fresh, literary experience. I attended about six or seven festival events last year and thoroughly enjoyed each one. Traveling from one event to another is a great way to explore the city.

I’m a huge fan of the New Yorker. I try to read it every week, although the keyword there is try as I do get a little backed up as new issues appear on my doorstep nearly every week. Any who, I ‘m going to attend more than a few events this year… Right now, I plan on seeing David Denby interview Pedro Almodovar (a favorite Spanish film director of mine) either Manolo Blahnik or Anthony Lane, The New Pornographers, Zac Posen (love his designs), and I might even take a master class in editing (wanted to take the master class in criticism, but it conflicts with Zac, and I can’t miss that one )

Last year, I attended a book signing where a photographer spotted me and asked me to essentially model for her. She took so many candid pictures of me reading Lane’s Nobody’s Perfect, hailing a cab holding my New Yorker bag in hand, standing next to the sponsored VW New Yorker Beetle… she followed me all around and asked me to pose, which I have to say was a little awkward for me, but it was a funny moment nonetheless. I’ve never seen the pictures anywhere, but wonder if they will somehow appear? Probably not, but it would be a trip if I spotted myself in marketing materials.

Anyway, friends if you are ever in town for the festival, I highly, highly suggest you secure your tickets!

Old Stompin' Grounds

Every time I visit Bellingham, Wash. my mind is flooded with memories of my college days—my old boyfriends, midnight hikes along the train tracks, many late nights spent talking till the wee hours... there are so many good memories. My sister lives and goes to school at WWU now and this weekend my mom and I paid her a visit. Bellingham has changed in the past four years, but it has definitely kept its charm.

It’s a strange feeling to go back to a place that was perfect for a period in time. Years have passed but all the fond memories remain (lucky for me). I've felt a little trapped in my own little land of nostalgia lately. The Northwest is such a beautiful place and everytime I look around I'm reminded of that. Ah, but I'm ready for a change. I’m not sure when I’ll be back to Bellingham, the“city of subdued excitement,” but I look forward to it.

Yadda, yadda, yadda....

Every year my office partakes in a “day of fun.” It’s a time where all us PR workerbees get together, forget our client work and play. This time we chartered a boat that took us around Puget Sound and led us to Poulsbo, WA, a little Scandinavian town full of candy shops, kayak rentals and tacky Swedish schwag (no offense). It was alright, lots of drinking and gossiping of course, but one thing kind of got to me—everyone has an opinion about my move to New York. Most people are happy for me, but there are a few who are super cynical about the city. I’ve been told what my NY experience is going to be on more than one occasion and sometimes I just want to yell STOP! I’ve always sought my own path, a course I feel comfortable with. I have my own ideas about “living in New York,” but I realize that there is no need to speculate. I don’t want to hear about stereotypes and generalizations. Everyone has unique experiences and by generalizing those things you belittle them. Ugh, maybe I’m overly optimistic, but let's just live life and enjoy it!

Coining the term "de-friended"

I’d like to pose a question. How many of you have actually been de-friended, meaning someone has deleted you from their online circle of “friends” whether that be on MySpace, or on any social network? Well, my friend count dropped down one the other day. And, I have to say I have accepted it, but I was a little bit shocked. Yep, Adam de-friended me on MySpace. Adam is my ex-boyfriend. We dated for a year and a half and when I came back from a long vacation I realized, “hey, there’s probably a reason I left my boyfriend in the U.S. while I went and explored Italy.” Well, there were a lot of reasons for our breakup and I know he knows why I ended it, but as breakups always go we all have our own ideas of what went wrong. All I know is that it was a good move for me. At times, I get a little sad and I miss him, but every time he does stupid, immature things like de-friending me, I’m reminded that it was the right thing to do.

I was thinking the other day about all the ways MySpace has changed relationships, particularly my own. I remember I once got really pissed off at Adam for adding slutty girls to his MySpace page. These are the girls that have about 10,000 friends and emphasize how much they love sex. And you know I’m totally fine with guys who accept one or two of these requests, particularly if they have a lot of friends. Pornography is pornography and I don’t have major issues with it as long as it is not an obsession. But, if slutty girls are outnumbering regular friends then there’s a problem, especially when they drift next to your girlfriend in the top eight. That’s not okay. He didn’t seem to understand why it bothered me.

I guess, I was a little bit comforted by his presence on my page, even though we weren’t really talking. I recently told him my news that I’m moving to New York. I’m sure he thinks he drove me there, but the reality is I freed myself from the relationship which allowed me to be more free alltogether. And, when an opportunity that you’ve wanted your whole life comes up, you have to take it, regardless of the situation.

Wedding Season

It's officially wedding season in the Northwest and to kick it off my younger brother married his longtime girlfriend this weekend. I know I'm a bit biased, but it was really a beautiful day. Elise was a stunning bride, the bridesmaids were pink, pink, pink, the groomsmen’s outfits nearly all matched, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day weather-wise. Family came from all over, some even as far as North Carolina. It was so nice to have all my close family from my Mom and Dad's side together. I even set a date with my Grandpa to attend the rodeo with him when I make it back to Eastern Washington for my friend's wedding... another wedding that I'm in!

Interestingly, really no one in the bridal party's family is a very strict Catholic, but somehow our families managed to pull off a very traditional Catholic wedding--something I had never seen before until this weekend. It was quite a sight! During the entire ceremony, the priest kept giving the organist dirty looks and everyone seemed to notice. You could hear people laughing in their pews each time he gave her one of those looks. Also, I think some of the guests were a little bit beside themselves with all the ceremony. There were definitely times when they didn't know when to stand, sit, kneel or pray! I myself was having some trouble. Regardless, of some minor confusion, the wedding was beautiful and I couldn’t be happier for my brother and my new sister-in-law.




Here I am with my sisters... we're a vision of pink, aren't we!?

A new dance...

A friend sent this to me... I think next time I'm on a treadmill I'm going to have more fun with it :)

Erin, New York

So, I'm moving to New York! Ahhhhhhhhh! I've finally decided to take a leap and do something I've dreamed of doing my whole life.... I know that sounds dramatic, but if you know me you'll know my statement to be true. Anyway, I'm in the process of figuring out exactly how I'm going to do this. My job is transfering me to their NY office, so I can check off "secure job" from my list. Now, the second major to-do is "find a place to live." For some strange reason, I thought this was going to be a cinch and I'm finding it to be somewhat painful. Finding a distant roommate is like online dating... you really don't know if the person you are interested in will write you back. I'm finding it hard, being oh 3000 miles away, to write an email that capture's my coolness and reflects my unique, fun and responsible-bill paying personality. I mean really there is only so much you can really write in the first email, anyway.

So, I'm exploring craigslist and roommates.com and I'm finding some really cool apartments and coming across some really creepy places too. I've found the perfect 2BD apartment share in the W. Village, however, NY is such a competitive market that I'm sure the person I emailed won't even email me back. Most people want to meet you before they decide to live with you and unfortunately the next two months are so busy I won't have time to make the trip out there. Oh, and did I mention the creepy ones... on craigslist some men actually post that women can stay with them for free. This one guy was like "pay me $50 and we'll share my bed." Eek! Now, that's scary!