LOVING it here!

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been almost a month since I last updated - very busy and tired from running around this city!

Work as been extremely rewarding and exciting. Jason asks for our opinions constantly while creating is Spring 2010 line and acutally takes our advice which couldn't be MORE exciting as an intern! I run around the garment district all the time still, sit in on design meetings, sew on buttons and labels, work on the computer for random tasks and I'm loving it. Working for Jason and Jill is so much fun, we're always laughing and having a blast - I feel so spoiled that this is my first experience in this field and I'm not so sure if I'll ever get this lucky again since the industry can be a little crazy.

In the beginning of the summer I wasn't 100% sure if I loved it here enough to move back after graduation - I miss my friends and family back home and the whole Minnesota summer experience of being on a boat, and on a lake somwhere, bonfires with friends, laying on the beach all day - mostly just being around nature. However, slowly but surely I'm falling in love with it just like I thought I would. I feel at home and safe here and I really am a city girl at heart <3

As I said earlier we eat lunch in Bryant Park almost everyday and here is a snap of it:


Lauren, Katie, Marisssa and I rencetly went to Central Park for the first time and immediatley fell in love with it because in the city you forget about how much you don't see nature - needless to say it was amazing.



It was acutally kind of funny because we saw more wildlife in Central Park than I ever would have seen in Minnesota - we were two feet away from an opposum and saw a family of racoons cleaning themselves off in the pond :)

One Saturday my friend Eric from High School (who is living in Upstate NY for the summer) came to visit and we spent the day in Brooklyn with Shelly and her boyfriend for his birthday - we even played Tug of War in the park which was SO MUCH FUN and pretty hilarious to say the least. I was on the loosing team all three times, though.



Then the next day we went to the Gay Pride Parade that goes down 5th Ave. IT. WAS. SO. MUCH. FUN. The floats were amazing and there were SO many people there to support the gay community - I LOVED IT!









Fourth of July was also a blast! We started out the day getting some sun on our rooftop (where you can kiiiiiind of see the Manhattan skyline)



Then we went to Battery Park for a free concert. Rilo Kiley performed and a few other people, but we barely paid attention because we were far in the back sitting on blankets with some of our other friends that are in the city for the summer. Very fun and totally free which was a big suprise in the most expensive city in the country.





Then we took a trip to LONG ISLAND for the night. We met up with Shelly and her friends and did a bit of a pub crawl around Long Beach. I love meeting new people, especially ones with accents (I LOVE ACCENTS!) We had to take a special train to get out to Long Beach and the one back to Penn Station didn't arrive until 3:30 in the morning so we hung out and played in the ocean until then. I think that honestly, was the highlight of my month. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!





This last week we had a lot of fun. Monday night we went to Bryant Park because they show free movies at sunset. We grabbed dinner and found a table and watched Dog Day Afternoon.



Then Wednesday Marissa and I met Lauren and her boss (Angel Chang, who was on BRAVO's Fashion Show) at a trunk show in Soho. It was fun - something I had never been to. Wine, purses, jewelary, and photography. We were only there for a little bit, but it was fun to be there.

Thursday we went to the Met to see American Ballet Company's Romeo and Juliet. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. We only spent $26 and we had a little problem seeing the entire stage, but nevertheless it was very much worth it and so beautiful and I almost cried twice.





Thanks for reading my blog everyone!! Love you and miss you all!!

Love,
Kor

Two Weeks Down - 11 TO GO!

Hi Everyone!!
It's already been two full weeks here in the Big Apple and I am so much in love with this city. Only in this city can 14 days feel like 30 because of how jam packed the days are with fun and excitment.

Work has so far included: sewing on buttons, organizing my boss's inspiration for his next line, listened to (extremely informational) arguments, eating lunch in Bryant Park with the other interns, running to our pattern maker, trim stores, and other little odds and ends around the Fashion District.

I get every Friday off which is definitely a luxury and I spent the first Friday, the 5th, in our apartment just relaxing because it was raining the entire day (also, just bought some very cute rainboots which I was told from Shelly, my cousin who lives out here that it's quite the necessity) This most recent Friday, the 12th, Lauren and I walked around near I work to have fun in the AMAZING fabric stores that we don't have in the midwest.

Saturday the 6th Marissa, Lauren, Katie, Sarah and I spent the day in Manhattan shopping. We went down to Soho which is near Canal Street. Soho is such a beautiful part of town - the buildings have an old architectureal feel to them - kind of an old town charm meets Times Square.




SOHO!

We grabbed a quick bite in that area then traveled to Astoria to meet Marissa's friend, Veronica at her apartment. We went to this hilarious place called Beer Garden where it's an open area with probably 100 picnic tables and hundreds of people - all drinking pitchers of beer. VERY FUN!

Sunday the 7th was a little LESS fun - a little more trouble. We all decided that we missed Target and tried to venture out to find one. After getting slightly lost on the way there, shopping and then since we didn't know the right way to get back, we ended up in a slightly bad part of the city at night searching for our train. LUCKILY there were police that drove up and helped us find our way (and even drove next to us the entire way to the train and got on their megaphone to tell people to leave us alone) HILARIOUS NOW but not humorous then. Needless to say, no more walking around where we're unfamiliar. I PROMISE I'LL BE MORE SAFE FAMILY :)

This most recent weekend, we went to a bar in midtown with Marissa's boss's cousin. It was a lot of fun and I love going out in this city - but trying to get back to our apartment is kind of a pain because the trains run less often so it takes A MUCH longer time to get back - but we always make it back ok!

Also, there's a nice laundry place near our apartment and it's definitely different wheeling over our luggage full of dirty clothes, paying $5-6 dollars to do laundry, sitting and waiting for it to be done and then wheeling it back. Every little thing is such an adjustment going from the suburbs to the biggest city in the United States - but I've never felt so great - even taking the subway to and rom work makes me SO HAPPY.


Us Four on the Subway!

I love everyone and thank you for keeping up and reading my blog - means so much to me! I would give everyone my address, but there have been a few people that say they've sent us mail but we haven't received it. SO here is my cousin, Shelly's address: 515 East 75th Street, Apartment 1E, New York, NY 10021 - just address it to me, she'll understand.

Love,
Kori <3

May 30th - June 1st

Hi Everyone! Lauren, Marissa, Katie and I all made it safely to our apartment after quite the "hilarious" morning of not knowing what airline we were flying on and taking the light rail to the wrong stop - needless to say we made it there with only about three minutes to spare before we were able to board our plane. After meeting up with our shuttle at the JFK airport we drove about half an hour into Brooklyn/Queens where our apartment is!









After we talked to Nelly, the woman we're renting from, we decided to walk around our new neighborhood and get familiar with it. There is an amazing organic food store with really cheap fruits and vegetables and everything organic that I know I'll be buying from and a regular grocery store pretty close to our apartment which is nice. We stocked up on little necessities for our apartment and purchased some food and wine for the night and came back to our place and made a really nice dinner. Then we had some wine and hung out on our fire escape - it was all-in-all a really great first night!

Sunday May 31st Lauren and I found out that the above ground M train 3 feet from our apartment will keep us up half of the night:) (our room is closest to it) but like everything else here it's something to get used to and I'm sure I'll think Menomonie is too quite once I move back in September. BUT we woke up kind of late and decided to exlore Manhattan and find the locations of our jobs. Both Marissa (who is working for JonValdi) and I work in the Uptown Fashion District area (I'm located on 39th and Broadway) and Lauren(who is working for Angel Chang) is farther away than us on 8th Ave. Katie (Marissa's friend who is living with us) Marissa and I have all been to NYC before so we showed Lauren Times Square and she fell in love just like we knew she would! After our little exploration trip we got in touch with my cousin, Michelle who lives and goes to school out here and met some of her friends in Brooklyn and had the best BBQ I've had in a long time. It's so nice having someone out here that we already know, it makes this giant city feel a lot more homier.

Monday June 1st was the first day of work. I was supposed to meet the two other girls I'll be interning with (who both happen to go to Stout with me) at Starbucks about 45 mins. before our start time, which is 10am. BUT we accidently got on the wrong F train and ended up way down at the beginning of Broadway and luckily Lauren was with me and we navigated our way back to my place of work just in time - which was about an hour and half of traveling around the city. The place I work is called Dallin Chase (www.dallinchase.com) and the main designer is a really nice guy named Jason and we're working closely with his assistant designer, Jill - who also went to UW-Stout and couldn't be nicer. The day was filled with many errands for trims, fabrics, trips to our pattern and sample maker around the Fashion District. We get about 45 mins for lunch 12:30-1:15 which is nice and there are definitely a lot of fun places around Broadway to grab a quick bite. Walking around all alone was really intimidating at first but by my second trip I knew exactly where I was. I sewed on labels, worked with patterns, sewed on belt loops and got to hear the designers input on some fun stuff. I definitely belong in this city and I'm so happy I found this internship - which also happens to be perfect for me, everyone is very laid back and slightly messy (just like me) and so far, I'm in love.

After work I met up with Michelle and Katie who were on 35th and 3rd at a bar for dollar beers to celebrate our first day of work with Marissa and Katie and another girl who is from Stout, Sarah came too. We ordered Thai food (yes they delivered to a bar) and had a lot of fun!

Living in NYC is my one and only dream and having it finally come true is such a blessing to me and I feel so lucky! Please keep in touch! I would give you all my address but I'm not 100% sure what our apartment number is, but next posting I will definitely let you know!

LOVE YOU ALL AND I WILL UPDATE SOON!