Really Good People in a Really Good Town

Hello, sweet friends.

So not having a job this week is really fun. Like I said, I've been visiting my favorite vintage and thrift shops in Cleveland "one last time," and seeing my few - this is a case of quality over quantity - good friends in town before leaving. This includes the coach of our football team Shawn, who led my trip to Cairo in 2004, and Donna, my very dear friend and mother of my good buddy Lauren.

Donna and I had lunch at Umami, meaning "delicious" in Japanese and seriously living up to its name. I had a seared Tuna and Ginger and Edamame Salad that was incredible, while looking longingly at several other things on the menu. Afterwards, we hung out at a little design studio with a very New York feel, featuring a neverending, eclectic collection of inspiring pieces. Never before have I felt a greater need for a cool loft apartment to decorate. This place is fantastic.

The reasons to re-visit Cleveland in the future are coming together in one really irresistible little pile!

three.home

Donna and I did a little style consignment style scouting - she was made for this - and then I stopped by Anne van H. to pick up moving boxes. It was such a pleasure to share the week's stories with Anne, Marilyn, Erica, and Marina that I realized I've been pretty lucky - I ended up with a job that I didn't think I wanted - but that I still want to visit when I'm done. Funny how that works, isn't it?

I'm excited about Vermont. I really am. 

But I really feel blessed to have had my life touched by Cleveland -- and people like Donna and Lauren.

Scenes from Brattleboro

John and I are getting really excited about this next phase of our lives. 

Vermont is so clear and spacious and peaceful. 

It's going to be lovely!

He has a couple of job leads and is working on applications - fingers crossed.

Yesterday was my last day of work here in Cleveland's Little Italy. It was sad to leave a couple of friends there, and my boss Anne, but I'm too excited about what's to come to be upset. We celebrated right after I clocked out with Martinis and The Little Italy Pizza at Maxi's. It was perfect.

via flickr

via chesterfieldoutdoors.com

Sometimes it pays to work in fashion...

Maybe you get these for free and your boss encourages you to wear them every single day!

How fun and comfortable, especially with a little sock.

Maybe they won't be so practical in Vermont. But that's okay.

by 80%20

Anne

I'm now working for the fashion designer interviewed in the video from 2007 below. Please ignore the garish "fashion network" opening. In fact, skip it entirely. 

Anne is extremely talented, lots of fun, impeccably dressed, and charming in that totally un-American, elegantly detached way. She's gorgeous, but most importantly, she surrounds herself with great people. It's an atmosphere of creativity, the kind with a constant energetic undercurrent. I love it.