Happy Birthday Mme. Pink Lady

"One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she'll tell anything."  

                                                                                                                            -Oscar Wilde

Sunday was Madame Big Apple's (the mother of Mme. Pink Lady) TH? birthday. A lady should never reveal her real age, or her mother's for that matter, but you are only as old as you feel, and my mother started taking Zumba classes last year. Need I say more?

How does my mother’s birthday relate to the terms style and the act of finding a job? Let's start with style. My past posts have described her fondness for footwear and flair for party planning. Let's move on to the word job. The hardest job in the world, according to me, is that of a mother. She may never have to hear the words “You’re fired!" or “I am very sorry to have to tell you this but we are eliminating your position as of today.”  but that is a trade off for sleepless nights, unnecessary anxiety, and the “occasional” confrontational argument.

Because of current financial restraints, I am unable to buy my mother as many birthday presents as I would like to and since we do not live in the same city, I will not be there to celebrate it with her. What I can do is show you what I would give her if things were different and as they say, it is the thought that counts. (If Harvey Weinstein options my blog for a book or movie deal, I could buy Mme. Big Apple all of this and so much more.)

Breakfast in bed.

A beautiful flower arrangement.

Calorie-free French Macarons

Tickets to the Book of Mormon

Brace Yourself

Love these oversized Hermes bracelets.
Hermes, Madison Avenue.

Brace yourselves. The Pink Lady is coming out of retirement as of this Monday. In an earlier post, I mentioned that any freelance position that requires me to be on-site will be referred to as "positions that take me out of retirement." Since this is a three-month maternity fill-in and not a permanent position, I am going to refer to this transition as "semi-retired."

I am excited to embark on my new adventure and feel very fortunate that I secured this opportunity because job listings for someone at my level, or for someone at any level for that matter, tend to slow down in the summer. A maternity fill-in is also a good test to see if both the employer and employee would be happy working together if a permanent position was to materialize. In this case, the freelancer is usually the first candidate they will consider.

I will continue to write about style and design but instead of sharing the trials, tribulations, and tales about my job search (aka coming out of retirement) I will recount the funny and interesting events of my life from the perspective of a first-time freelancer.

Don’t forget to tell your friends, family, and co-workers about The Apple of My Eye. Harvey Weinstein will never discover the Pink Lady and commission her musings for a book or movie deal unless you spread the word. Don't worry, she will never forget where she came from or thank the people who helped her get there.

A Playlist to Search to a Job To

Searching for a job can be a very tedious activity. It involves copying, pasting, attaching, and deleting copies of your resume as well as revising your cover letter to call out specific points of a job listing, all the while hoping that your Internet connection does not time out. After a few hours of doing this, you may find yourself jumping out of your seat and giving yourself a high five every time you see the words “Your application has been successfully submitted.” appear on your screen. Looking for a job is a workout in itself so if there are playlists to run, jog, and bike to, there should be a playlist to search for a job to.

As I flipped through the July issue of Self  magazine during today’s mid-morning-job-search-gym-break, I found an interesting article on page 99 entitled “Get a Rockin Body.” Followed by the sub-head,”Music may just be the ultimate trainer. Studies show it helps you to work harder and helps you fight fatigue. Harness its power with tune-up tips and exclusive moves that keep top pop stars fit. Note to pounds. Just beat it.” Since I consider searching for a job a workout, I reviewed the tune-up tips to see if they could help me improve my results.

I love this record player!

Tip 1: Music pushes your pace.

Will this help my job search? YES. The more resumes that I can fill out per hour the better but just as you should not sacrifice your form to complete more reps, make sure to remember to check for spelling errors. I tend to make stupid spelling and grammar mistakes when I am in a rush.

Tip 2: Music motivates you to keep going.

Will this help my job search? YES. If  music can keep me from getting up every 30 minutes and creating unnecessary distractions for myself I may be able to submit an additional 4-5 applications a day.

Tip 3: Music makes the work feel easier?

Will this help my job search? YES. I am all for anything that will make the arduous process of filling out a job application easier.

Tip 4: Music helps you pump iron.

Will this help my job search? MAYBE. I am not sure about this one but I guess I can type with my right hand and do pencil arm curls with my left or I could type with both hands while doing plies. I will have to try both of these exercises.

Tip 5: Music gets you grinning.

Will this help my job search? YES, and sometimes I even start singing and grooving in my desk chair.

 

Based on the above analysis, music should help me “Get a Rockin Job.” That being said, here is my Playlist to Search for a Job To. (All songs available for purchase on itunes.)

A Recipe from the Kitchen of the Recently Retired

My Saturday ritual goes a little something like this; I get up anywhere between 7 AM and 8 AM, do what it is necessary to make myself look presentable for Saturday morning viewing, and walk five blocks to the Farmer's Market where I purchase my groceries for the week.  

I have to thank my friend L for bringing this little local treasure to my attention. I have lived in my current orchard for a little less than four years and had no idea that this Saturday-only purveyor of some of the freshest regional produce, baked goods, jams, hummus, spices, flowers, and everything else you need to prepare a quick meal or host a dinner party for 10, was so conveniently located. (Although, some of the vendors are seasonal, the market is open all-year-round.)

My weekly shopping list includes a variety of fruits and vegetables that I can throw into my Breville juicer. A juicer was never on the “must-buy” list of appliances. Actually, I have never had a list with anything kitchen related on it except for paper towel. The word juicer conjured up images of me slaving over a sink cleaning it and Jack LaLanne. I was spending $7 or more a day on a 16-ounce juice. Then I Googled “Best juicer, easiest to clean” and found the Breville Compact Fountain Juicer, Model BJE200XL. After reading several positive reviews, I made my purchase. I am obsessed with my juicer and use it daily.

Preparing to juice.

A few additional tidbits of information you should know about the Pink Lady. Besides a few glasses of wine on the weekend and indulging in a large bag of movie theater popcorn (with butter) on occasion, I exercise daily, watch my diet, and do whatever is necessary to keep the wrinkles at bay. I am also a vegetarian but if that was not the case maybe I would have called this blog Prime Beef, Fresh Selections from a Purveyor of Fine Meats.  

My unexpected retirement has me cutting back in certain areas and one of those is dining out. I used to despise cooking and when I was coming home from work at 9 PM every night, the last thing I wanted to do was cook. If I did not meet friends for dinner, I was ordering in. In a previous post, I mentioned that retiring has allowed me to things that I did not have the time to before, and one of those things was cooking. Lately, the bill from the Farmer's Market has increased from approximately $30 to $50 a week but I am saving at least $200 because of my new found hobby. I am becoming quite the chef  and “bakress.” I will admit that some of my initial attempts were rather unsuccessful. For example, the cranberry pumpkin scones that you see below. They look more like flat bread than the latter but I have improved since then.

Pumpkin Cranberry Scones

Asking my friends with discerning palettes to be my test kitchens, I have been told that my banana cranberry quinoa bread and pumpkin cranberry muffins are bakery-worthy. Going forward, I have decided to dedicate one post a week to cooking. Here is the first in the once-a-week feature that I like to call, Recipes from the Kitchen of the Recently Retired.

Banana Cranberry Quinoa Bread

Two medium ripe mashed bananas

1 cup vanilla soy milk or almond milk (or any other type of non-dairy milk)

1 tbsp ground flax seeds

¼ cup canola oil cup agave nectar or pure maple syrup (I prefer coconut nectar. I purchased it at my local health food store but if you cannot find coconut nectar the agave and or maple syrup works just as well.)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour

¼ cup almond flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cardamom

1 ¼ cups cooked quinoa

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup pumpkin seeds and or slivered almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees

2. Spray a 9x5-loaf pan with an organic non-stick cooking spray

3. Mix the bananas, milk, ground flax seed, canola oil, agave nectar, and vanilla extract in a bowl

4. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl

5. Add the dry and wet mixtures together and mix well

6. Pour into loaf pan

7. Bake for 60 minutes, let cool, and slice (should make 10 slices)

Banana Quinoa Cranberry Bread

Only In New York

What the taxis would look like in the Pink Lady's ideal world.
Visit http://www.portraitsofhope.org/git/index.php to read the full story
about the 2007 Gardens in Transit Program. 

Up until yesterday, the Pink Lady was not having a very fruitful week. The Norton fiasco, which I recounted to you in great detail earlier this week was one thing, but pair that with the fact that I did not have any interviews scheduled this week, and you get a Pink a Lady that was feeling like one rotten apple. That was until Wednesday afternoon when things started looking up. I received a phone call from one of the recruiters I am working with (If you would like to receive a list of the Pink Lady's Top 5 recruiting agencies, please email me at orchardofstyle@gmail.com.) and an email responding to a job application that I had submitted on Monday. By the end of the day I had two interviews scheduled for Thursday. And what does that have to do with me calling this post "Only in New York?"

This week the weather man had no misses. The forecast called for five days of steamy temperatures and that is exactly what we received. Unless you suffer from agoraphobia or your body is made up of 50% ice water, I am going to assume that you found the last few days as uncomfortable as I did, and then add a 10lb portfolio into the mix. After standing 10 minutes too long on the steamy subway platform enroute to my first interview I decided to grab a taxi for the return trip.

Great dinner plate featuring an image of an NYC taxi.
Salad plate and soup bowl available. Available at:

I don't know if the words "I love having conversations with random strangers." or "Let's make small talk; subject, your personal life." are written across my forhead but it seems as if some people do. One of them being the taxi driver from Thursday morning. It went something like this:

Taxi Driver: "I share this taxi with another driver who has been on vacation. I have not had a break for two weeks. I only drive this taxi to pay the bills. I am actually looking for a full time job and I have a job interview on Monday. I called my boss to tell him that I had to take Monday off and he had the nerve to ask me if I could wait until the other guy was back from vacation. It's an interview. I can't wait."

The taxi driver and I had something in common. We are both looking for a job. So I decided to tell him that I am also looking for a job and that I started a blog recounting the trials, tribulations, and tales associated with my job search.

Taxi Driver: "I have a blog too. Here is my card. Follow me!"

ONLY IN NEW YORK.

On the topic of tableware, I love this new collection from Hermes.

The Nanny Diaries-On Hold Until Fall

You will be happy to know that the Pink Lady’s Internet is working perfectly, thanks to Angelo from Norton, and the “getting out of retirement” program is back on track. I spent most of the morning catching up on emails, one of which was a letter from J regarding the nanny position.

Dear Pink Lady,

Although, you were our first choice, as of right now we are putting the position on hold because we are currently using their mom's nanny part time, and it seems to be working.  In addition, with M going away to sleep over camp soon, we will not need someone full time until the end of the summer.  Can I check back in with you in August to see where you are with your “getting out of retirement plans?”

All the best,

 J

I will make a note to follow up with J in August. Perhaps I will be picking up the kids from school wearing one of these three new nail colors from Chanel's Fall 2011 makeup collection. Availabe in late August 2011.

The Chanel Fall 2011 Nail Color Collection

To be or Norton 360 Premium Edition to Be?



What I would have rather been doing this morning.

Have you ever used your computer, gone to bed, and woke up the next morning only to find out that less than 24 hours later your computer is not operating properly? In addition, when that happened, did you forget to take a deep breath and instead proceed to burst into tears of frustration, and cry out “Why is this happening to me?” Well, that is exactly what happened to me this morning and that is how I reacted to said event. I then spent the next four hours trying to resolve the problem. This is not a good use of time for someone who is actively looking to come out of retirement.

I know what you are thinking. “Is the Pink Lady positive that she didn’t do anything differently?” no, not exactly. What I did do was take the necessary course of action when Norton alerted me about the recent program updates that it made to the original version of the software in order to protect its subscribers’ computers from new virus strains. The Norton pop-up box prompted me to install its new 360 Premium Edition and I followed the instructions. “If someone told you to jump off a bridge would you do that?” I know you want to ask me that question. If Norton tells you that your computer is in danger of contracting a virus then you do what Norton says to make sure that your computer doesn’t get one. I followed the instructions, restarted the computer, went to bed, and woke up this morning to find that both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome were failing to launch.

After I freaked out and partially composed myself, I hopped onto my kitchen counter to take the Norton box off of the highest shelf in the cupboard only to find out that I would have to visit the Norton website to access a customer service phone number. Why the second step? Most important, my internet is not working. How does Norton know if I have a smart phone whereby I could access this information?

I called Norton. A short computer prompt and one beep later a customer service representative picked up the phone. I explained the problem. He then proceeded to explain that the software, the new and improved Norton edition had corrupted the files on the computer and that I would have to reinstall the software. Maybe Mr. Customer Service could sense that I was about to lose it because he proceeded to inform me that I could download the new software myself or pay a nominal fee of $39.99 to have someone from the Norton family download the software onto the computer. How could I say no when I installed the software the first time and it did not turn out so well. Therefore, I am literally paying Norton to fix the problem that Norton is responsible for. He then processed the credit card payment, gave me a case number, and transferred me to the department that handles reinstallation. Angelo was the lucky customer service agent who picked up the call.

Angelo has the patience of a saint. If that is not the case, then he must have a high maintenance mother, girlfriend, and or wife because he did not sound the least bit annoyed when I asked him 100 questions about what he was doing and how long it would take, in a voice that sounded like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He never told me to “relax” nor did he raise his voice. He continued to reassure me that everything would be OK. (I think he was referring to the computer and not me personally.) When he realized that my subscription was expiring in 49 days, he said that he had a present for me. “A refund of $39.99, the price of the cost of this call to perform a service to fix a problem that your software caused?” I said sarcastically. Ha-ha, ha, he laughed and answered “No, I am adding 90 days to your account.”  At this point, it sounds better than an Hermes scarf and I want to jump out of the phone and give Angelo a hug.

40 minutes later, Angelo had successfully removed and reinstalled the Norton 360 Premier Edition and Internet Explorer is up and running. Angelo told me that he would call later that day to make sure that the system was operating properly. We even agreed on a time, somewhere between 4:40 PM and 5:00 PM. I said, “OK”, in the same tone of voice as if I met someone I was interested in but knew that they may not be that into to me. We bid adieu.

I had to get out of my apartment and clear my head. I went to my ballet bar class and walked by the Bergdorf Goodman windows to see the innovative installations that Linda Fargo and her staff were showing this week. I think they heard about my mini-morning breakdown because the doctor’s office was open.



Bergdorf Goodman's Sigmund Freud Inspired Windows



This morning’s events were just memories best forgotten. I arrived home to find one voice message. It was from Angelo. He was trying to reach me. Two minutes later, Angelo called my cell phone. He confirmed that it was me via the six-digit secret passcode I was given in the morning. He performed a series of successful tests on the computer and ended the call by giving me his direct line in case I had any problems in the future. (This is probably because his associates told him that he would be kicked out of the carpool if he ever transferred me or a subscriber like me to them.) We then said our goodbyes for the last time as he transferred me to his supervisor so I could confirm that Angelo did his job properly. I gave Angelo a glowing review and made sure to mention that he was incredibly patient throughout my histrionics. Just when I thought that I would never hear from Angelo again, I received an email at 6:10 PM with a message telling me that I was a pleasure to work with and that the case was filed as resolved. If Angelo was a potential boyfriend, he was definitely earning points, but sadly, this was not the case.

The morals of this story are the following; protect your computer. If you detect a problem with the protection, make sure to call for back up. If you do call call Norton, ask for Angelo, and tell him the Pink Lady sent you.

Image of a phobia-themed Bergdorf Goodman
window. Do you think that there is a fear that describes
the fear of answering a phone call
from a women on the verge of a nervous breakdown?