things i love

No Bed? No Problem

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Growing up watching TV shows such as “That’s So Raven” and “Zoey 101,” my adolescent mind was distracted by the environments that these cool (well, cool for 2004) personas had the chance to inhabit. Everyone can recall the outrageous “dorm” that Zoey and her clique lived in during their years at Pacific Coast Academy. Pink and orange walls with beaded curtains and a window view of the Pacific Ocean – yes, it sounds like a Dunkin Donuts that serves virgin pina coladas and vegetarian sushi, but Teenick curated the dream room of its entire 11-year-old viewership, including me.

However, emerging out of adolescence and into young adulthood, my interior taste has evolved. Watching my brother search for the perfect NYC apartment and living in a New York suite of my own, I’ve been forced to not only mature quickly, but to also discover the necessities that a 20-something girl simply can’t live without in her first solo space – at least, in my industry, that is.
Driving myself down a track for a life in online media and editorial, I can picture myself in my future residence just like I pictured myself decorating my room pink and orange and beaded curtains in fourth grade: running around on the hardwood floors, arguing on the phone with someone of higher authority (maybe my editor, but most likely my mom), emails popping up on my laptop screen, and my microwave alarming to alert that I have a freshly-prepared Lean Cuisine.

Picturing the dream bachelor/ette pad post-grad, most of my peers would put several household goods at the top of their shopping lists – big-screen TV, big fridge, and, yes, a big, cloud-like, full-size bed. And while a big bed may be a 20-something’s field of dreams, my dreams at the moment are just a little bit bigger. That’s why the necessities for my first apartment are much more specific and much, much more important to me.

1. A Big Window. One of my biggest dreams for any home that I get to live in in the future is to have floor-to-ceiling Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired windows. The most luxurious of homes inhibit these attributes. With clear windows and a clear view, I get caught up staring at the sky and daydreaming. It may not be beneficial when in class, but it always helped my mind stay active when thinking of stories and brainstorming things I could write about. The more I get to see, the more creative I can be.

2. A Big Closet. I’d like to call myself a Closet Curator. Any fashion-centric female could agree with me on this, but no matter how big or small the space, I insist on dedicating a lot of it to my apparel display. By the time I reach post-grad status, I may have to pick and choose my favorite pieces, but I want to show off my pro-Parisian style. It may not be Carrie Bradshaw’s walk-in wardrobe, but a rolling rack of clothes I’ve curated will look just as chic standing next to the sunset shining against the window.

3. A Big Desk. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden was pleasantly surprised to find his younger sister in her bedroom, writing on a desk that took up most of the space. This description in the novel has resonated with me since I read it my sophomore year of high school and has since influenced the way that I refurnished my bedroom in New Jersey and, for absolute certain, will influence the way I decorate my future apartment. I identify myself as a writer. I sprawl material across my desk, from scribbled notebooks to multicolored pens to business cards. I envision my desk to be the defining piece of my apartment and definitely an important symbol of my adulthood, my story, and my career.

My dream desk? Glass, in front of my life-size window, and a sheepskin chair to seat me. I can picture all the other little details, too: a monogrammed mug filled to the rim with a skim latté (I would say it’s green tea, but it’s not nice to lie), my laptop open on one side, my iMac and bluetooth keyboard on the other, and a vanity set filled with pens and business cards I’ve accumulated over the years. And maybe a mini chandelier lamp.

My first apartment may be a few years ahead of me, but I don’t see anything wrong with planning my packing list early. But whether I’m dropped in the West Village, Gramercy, LA, even Paris, I’m not going anywhere without them.

This Is Your Life

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What I’m doing right now does not feel like a chore. But what exactly am I doing? I’m sitting at my desk, tapping my fingertips on the keyboard of my new MacBook Air, sipping a venti iced coffee and banging out this entry. I could take a picture of this with my romantic chandelier lamp in the background lit up and want to jump right into it like it’s Narnia. This is my paradise.

I’ve heard time and time again that the hobbies you picked up as kids eventually come full circle with your aspirations. It’s like a circle of fate. When I was little, three things in particular became my go-to activities when I was bored: drawing, playing on the computer, and writing “books.”

These books were, if I may say so myself, kind of adorable. I wrote about cats, I wrote a “novel” about a family vacation, I wrote comic books about superhero athletes. And soon enough, I worked my way up to even write a musical, with stage direction and songs written by me. I took it a few steps further in high school in my journalism class and assumed a role on our school newspaper.

My biggest fear, though, was that my writing skills were not up to par. I was fortunate to earn high grades and good reviews on writing assignments from professors, but I was thinking very far ahead of myself. I looked into the future and my career very young and a twinge of fear that I wasn’t good enough for the big leagues (ie. national newspapers,Cosmo, even travel brochures) hit me like a moving car.

Still, I was (and still am) intent on achieving a career in media no matter what and wanted to take a route in TV production. And that I did for my first year in college. But when the opportunity arose for me to go down the path at my current internship, I took it. I started out just doing social media for Guest of a Guest, but I volunteered to make any type of contribution I could, and so, the responsibilities picked up. I started to do the tasks that I not only saw myself doing for a career, but already enjoyed: writing and reporting.

Writing is challenging, but I have a passion for it. The ability to tell a story and be creative in this fashion is empowering. My words are out there and I want people to listen.

On a small, student-level scale, I’m “living my dream job,” writing, reporting, and helping to handle a publication. I’ve never had more fun being exposed to a potential career. And when work is fun, it doesn’t feel like work.

Ladies First: Elle Woods

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Imagine that you’re in bed one night, in the same bed you’ve been sleeping in for what feels like an eternity – your dorm bed, your bed at home – and it’s your pad of comfort. This is the spot your body and your mind know so well and you can drift into dream mode securely. But then, you wake up the next morning, and you’re not in the place you expected to be. Nothing around you is familiar. The people are different. The aura is different. How do you respond? How do you get out of this situation?

This is the spot that Elle Woods, the famed and seemingly blasé about life main character of Legally Blonde, found herself in after her boyfriend, Warner, broke up with her at the moment she expected him to get down on one knee. At that split second, her vision of her future was wiped out, almost as if she had become blind. Her high-pitched and heated reaction could make an objective viewer of this scene roll their eyes and switch the movie off, but you have to give it a chance – that’s only 10 minutes in. 10 minutes later, Elle Woods makes a full 180.

If someone were to ask me who my favorite fictional character was, I wouldn’t say Elle Woods (if I’m being honest, I don’t know who I would say). Elle Woods is not a fictional character. She’s present in all of us. The Elle Woods in each of us wants to be a loyal woman, but we also each want to be a well-respected woman. In Legally Blonde, it may have taken the motivation to win back her ex-boyfriend to do so, but in the end, she achieved this.

I have three favorite scenes from this movie. In the beginning of Elle’s studies at Harvard Law School, when her initial intention was to recapture Warner’s affection, Elle fell to the prank of dressing up for a costume party that never actually was a costume party. She honorably entered the affair and made the most of it, especially when she ran into Warner. But this moment was a turning point for her as a woman. He said to her, “You should do something more valuable with her time.” She stepped out of her hypnotic state, responding, “Am I on glue, or did we not get into the same law school?” Elle immediately stormed out, realizing that she was at Harvard not for Warner, but for her own personal and professional advancement.

The morning after her exit presented one of my favorite film quotes of all time when she visited her manicurist, Paulette, at the nail salon to break the news. From behind, one of Elle’s toughest educational critics, Professor Stromwell, happened to be at the salon and overheard the conversation. What she said to Elle not only stuck with her, but still resonates with me: “If you’re going to let one stupid prick ruin your life, you’re not the girl I thought you were.” Inspired immediately, Elle turned around and ran back to the courthouse to single-handedly win the trial for Brooke.

I get chills (and sometimes cry) every time the Harvard Law graduation scene appears on my TV screen. Elected as the student speaker, Elle quoted Aristotle’s “The law is reason free from passion” and then argued it:

 “I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law – and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world. Remembering that first impressions are not always correct, you must always have faith in people, and most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.”

After expressing these key lessons, Elle did become one of my role models. Before I had even watched that last scene of the movie, passion, conviction, and sense of self were three qualities that I made sure I presented. If I say something, I say it like I mean it, I know my worth, and I believe if you’re going to do something or some project, you must do it with passion or not at all. It’s all or nothing.