I Am Meant for a Southern Life.

After being in NYC for 3 weeks I have finally gotten the swing of things and realized I MISS THE SOUTH! I miss driving my car, the lake and summertime, the slow-paced life, sweet southern people, not taking the Subway 82 blocks to go grocery shopping at Trader Joes, and of course my sweet family.  I truly am blessed to have had this experience (and thank my parents A LOT for all the money they forked over for me to be able to do this), and I truly have learned a lot about myself, other people and their lifestyles, and the way businesses work, but I have really realized I am meant for a slow southern lifestyle and not being so far away from friends and family. Funny how we all wish to go far away and experience something new, but end up wanting to come back home-back to where we were raised and are comfortable.  Skype is a blessing but I like to see everyone's beautiful faces in real life!

I got to attend an event on top of the Empire Hotel with my boss and it was the most gorgeous view I have ever seen! We were scoping out the hotel for one of our style shoots while enjoying some free cocktails, Hawaiian dancers, and appetizers!

I was blessed this weekend to have one of my best friends come in town for a visit! Boy, did we have fun! Andrea really came at a perfect time and helped me get my mind off some of the frustrations, internship life, and missing home.  It was such a blessing having her here! Thursday we shopped around, walked around the city and then hung out at a local bar that night with a few of my friends and listened to some good music.  Friday we went to the Chinatown and bargained with the Asians, ate lunch in Little Italy (YUM!), and went to the World Trade Center memorial and wow what an eye-opener that was.  My dad and I went to the site about a year and a half after the tragedy when it was still large piles of debris and a huge mess.  Now, there is a beautiful memorial where the towers were and they are currently building the Freedom Tower right by the site.  It was amazing to look at pictures and videos of September 11, 2011 and see how many innocent people lost their lives that day.

That night one of my friends in the building was turning 21 and her parents reserved us a VIP room at the top of the Gansevoort Hotel (where Kim and Kourtney Kardashian lived while in NYC!) and boy did we have a little too much fun! Saturday we relaxed and went to get pedicures and that night got dinner at my favorite Southern restaurant in the city, Brother Jimmy's BBQ! Sunday we went to Times Square and Magnolia Bakery to get some of the best cupcakes ever!! Devil's Food is by far my favorite cupcake there. Big thanks again to Andrea for coming and it truly means a lot to have friends come up for visits!! 

My internship hasn't taken nearly as much of my time as expected so today I reached out to a florist to try and gain some experience with her! It's important for a wedding planner to know every aspect of a wedding (catering, floral, photography, venues, etc.) and I know nothing about flowers! In the future, I want to be an independent wedding planner and own my own business.  When a bride comes to me, it is important that I am skilled in each area and I want to know about flowers so I can help with suggestions and bouquet styles and floral arrangements.  I am currently working on Style Shoots for my internship, which means we are pretty much photographing "fake weddings." We have picked out some of our favorite venues around the city and i have been working on inspiration boards for what type of wedding I see at these venues.  Next week we are meeting with a florists to see how we can create these types of styles for each venue then in a few weeks we will do the shoot! (below is my first Style board for the Trump Soho hotel.)

Wednesday we are having another venue meeting for the style shoot and Thursday, Diana Warner is having a "Mustache and Martini" party for the birthday celebration of her store! Me and some of the girls are going to attend and I am looking forward to this!

I am coming home June 27th and I am thrilled! I obviously talk to my mom throughout the day everyday and have talked to my dad several times, but I can't wait to hug my their necks! :)