Panties in the lobby!

Laundry day is something I think I will come to dread now. It takes real agility to swiftly transport undies from the washer to the dryer up the elevator (with people on it) back to the safegrounds of home. Standing fourteen floors with everyone hovering over your (at least clean) pile of lace and push-up bras isn't something I think I'll come to enjoy. Eye contact is a taboo.

During the laundry process, I kept forgetting things and running back up the stairs, like three times too many. It was meant to be. I ran into our neighbors across the way who were moving out of the apartment...to Africa! Phil is the U.N. chief security for the Democratic Republic of Congo and is moving to Africa before returning to his wife, ahhh forgot her name, in Virginia. They insisted on giving me their cleaning supplies; I also said ramen noodle soup is popular amongst college students. I got a sympathy laugh out of that one. They ended up giving us boxes and boxes of stuff.

Leaving our apartment tonight would have been a better idea?

Last night I went to a huge church service at St. George's Episcopal church for a combined service with several churches from around the city. While it was a little long for me, (and I got there 45 min. late, bad Christian! :/) it was a pretty awesome experience to hear hundreds of people crying out for unity in Christ for their city. I felt a little uncomfortable during some parts (I can never find the words for public prayer) until I sat down, put my head in my hands, and talked to Christ like he was my best friend. That guy's pretty cool, and it makes everything so much easier that way. I'd like to find a church while I'm here. Put that on the list with the perfect job and the perfect man? :)

Some bonding has def gone down with our apartment. Last night we had a nail party when we probably should have been out in the city... Seriously, it was a Friday night. Erica, whose boyfriend is studying in Egypt, always says she met the perfect man when she wasn't looking. Our apartment was then filled with shouts of "I'm not looking! I'm not looking...?"

In all seriousness, how can you find someone you want when you're not even sure what you want? I'm pretty firm set that I'm not looking for a job with my internship. While I'm enjoying it more and more, I couldn't survive on 28 grand a year (apparent pay) and I am a faces person. My passion is for people. I have to be interacting with people, face to face, public speaking, etc. to be satisfied. This office does some of that, and there are always people walking in and out of the conference room (a big table surrounded by pink chairs), but mainly ladies are addicted to their emails and AOL's IM(bringing back middle school mems anyone? LOL, BRB?) is a utilized tool throughout the office, even for those sitting a few chairs down... While I'm here, who knows, I could turn a 180 and go to law school, or turn to non-profit PR, or move to Europe (I'm not looking? (: ha...)

The beauty team (which I'm on) had an AWESOME meeting on Thursday. We discussed our intern duties with our mentors which daily will include sending out product to editors, bloggers, makeup artists, celebs, etc.; unpacking products we recieve from our clients for publicity uses (there's literally THOUSANDS of awesome product in shelves, desk drawers, closets...); and we also discussed some of what our team does as a group. Trends (Valentine's day, red carpet events, etc) is another component to monthly PR media packages and so is taking client calls. I offered my note-taking skills in trade for the ability to listen in on client phone calls, meetings etc. I'd like to get a feel for the interaction, client requests, and all that goes along with maintaining client relations, and my mentor would like to gain feeling in her fingers from typing so much, so we're square. We also discussed events, and (YESSSSS!!!!) fashion week is definitely something that interns will be useful for. I said I will hold jackets, run coffee, whatEVER.... Pretty sure I'll be able to go to an event or two. Fashion week is Feb. 9-16. Stoked.

One of the interns recently quit and moved back to Florida after only a couple of weeks. And so, the day after her emailed announcement, (she told management she found another job, she told us she was overqualified and unsatisfied) the girls of the office got together for a meeting to discuss the interns.
In the middle of the showroom where I was working. "The interns..." "We need to utilize the interns..." "Well they need to...you need to" "The interns..."

Awesome. So excited I could participate from the outside, complete with subtle glares and whispers. Awkward.

Ugh. Interns.

The upside to that is that management is pretty in-tune to the interns wants and our value of free labor. We are here to work and to learn the craft, and from this point on I think everyone is more willing to enable our goals of that. Joe, our professor here, said that was pretty awesome and rare that that kind of initiative is taken for the improvement of internship relations and responsibilities. After the meeting, I told my mentor, Danielle, that she was doing an awesome job and I really appreciate her working with me, because well... I do. As an ex-intern herself, she's pretty awesome with giving me responsibility and being very available for guidance, even if it's just to shadow her daily work.

The same can't be said for Audrey's mentor, who we passed this week on the street on our way to Bread&Butter (Awesome, awesome salad, soup, sandwich place) for lunch. I sweetly smiled which was reciprocated with an "Ugh...interns." to her equally gorgeous friend. Mean girls take two.