It's the little things headerThe Met: vaulted ceiling and atrium


This week was a busy one, catching up with old friends and getting acquainted with newer ones. As an independent businessperson, it’s critically important to stay connected to the outside world on a regular basis to share ideas and some laughs and to enjoy a change of scenery for a couple hours. I always find catching up with my former work mates and fellow independents to be highly energizing and uplifting. These get-togethers are just some of the things I’m truly grateful for this week.

• Catching up over lunch with my very talented creative director friend Renee.
• Slightly longer days.
• The upcoming Bring Your Dreams Into Focus workshop with the always insightful life coach and artist Alice Braga of The Rabbit Hole Report.
• The typography design class I started at SVA this week.
• Acquiring a cool Kandle light that clips on to my Kindle so I can read in bed in the dark. Kandle for a Kindle? Who thought up this perfect product name?
• Spur of the moment rendezvous with Anthony.
• Cleaning the clutter off my desk.


Met-Museum-exterior-detail


• The Kinokuniya Bookstore on 6th Avenue for carrying the best collection of special notebooks, pens, origami, fussy writing accoutrements, design books, manga and stickers galore. Hello Kitty!
• Staying in touch with Karen Schadow, the best-in-the-business voice coach behind the Voice of Success. We enjoyed reconnecting over the most delicious $10 bento lunchbox.
• My new Wacom Intuos 4 pen tablet.
• Late night reruns of The Nanny.
• The little footpath Fausto the doorman dug out in front of the building so you don’t have to climb over mounds of ice.
• Giggling at the smiley face snow relief sculpture someone created on a Ft. Washington Avenue tree.
• My upcoming trip to Milan with Kathleen less than two months away. Can I start packing yet?
• The smile-producing mariachi band that I heard play on the subway twice this week.


Floor tile detail at the Met, NYC


• My always warm and cozy apartment…even if I have to open my windows now and then.
• Meeting with my jewelry designer friend Kate to talk about her exciting and smart new business idea. Can’t wait for it to get under way so I can tell you all about it!
• Giant cups of decaf soy latte at Le Pain Quotidien. I’ll take that with a side of pain au chocolate, please.
• My feather lightweight and stands-out-on-the-luggage-carousel Eagle Creek suitcase.
• The unknown neighbor who plays perfect piano solo while accompanying herself with a symphony recording.
• Knowing how to relieve tight muscles with a tennis ball.
• Hazelnut gelato. Have I mentioned this before?
Alex of Ouidad Salon — the only person who knows what to do with my sort of frizzy, sort of wavy and definitely mind of its own hair.


marble-table-detail-at-the-Met


Go Greenbay? Not until I see that Chinese Rabbit hopping down Mott Street this Sunday.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Mary Maru