Yesterday I rekindled my love affair with New York City.  I sort of have this on again/off again relationship with the city, but at the beginning of spring each year (minus my frequent sneeze attacks) it is SO ON!!  New York is amazing in the Spring.  Everyone seems to have a new outlook.  People are smiling, trees are blooming and the light is sort of magical.  Everywhere I go lately, people are striking up conversations with me… which is not so atypical… I take after my mother and constantly find myself in conversations with strangers.  But lately, it’s been even more than usual!  Yesterday, I was on the 1 train coming home from my Harlem/Columbia University excursion and this little Yugoslavian woman started talking to me.  She had a bunch of dandelions wrapped up in paper and went on to explain that she is making tea out of them for her allergies.  Apparently she’s had allergies for years and years and has tried everything, but dandelion tea has solved the problem!  Of course, you have to find dandelions that are in a ‘no dogs’ zone so they’re not toxic!  Meanwhile, she separated a little bunch and gave them to me for me to try out on my allergies!  This all happened in a 10 minute time frame between 116th street and 59th street Columbus Circle.   Such a sweet little interaction with a stranger.  I credit the Spring… I’m walking around in a wonderful mood, happy and in awe of the beauty around me.  I probably have this idyllic, inviting look on my face because the spring makes me feel like life is good and anything is possible.  I think people can read that and it results in little interactions like that one.

On another note, I had a bit of validation this week, which could be another reason for my very happy mood.  One of the major challenges for me, in not having a paying job currently, is that I’m not getting external rewards for the time I’m putting in to my interests.  This has been hard for me.  I’m the type of person who likes to know I’m doing a good job.  In the past, that has come in the form of grades (I was a total striver for A’s in college) or money (sales offered me commission – so I would always know when I was kicking butt and got handsomely rewarded for it).

This week, my wedding was featured in a really awesome, classy wedding blog http://www.labellebride.com/2010/04/massachuettes-wedding-with-rustic-style.html.  This made me super proud.  Of course, to me – my wedding was the most perfect, amazing day of my life.  But to have it recognized by this swanky wedding blog felt so good!  Now, planning a wedding was sort of intimidating to me at first – I am not an event planner, I don’t know the first thing about flowers, I don’t know much about decorating… but I learned a couple things from this experience that I will take with me through this transitional stage in my life/career.  First,  I realized that I totally do have a style and a voice all my own.  And when I remained true to that voice, I created a vibe that made a lot of people really happy and THAT makes ME really happy.  Second, I learned that I am much more capable than I give myself credit for sometimes.  I learned everything I needed to about weddings ‘on the job’… flowers, food, music, invitations, seating arrangements, etc.   And it it all went off without a hitch.  So the next time I am faced with something I’m intimidated by – I am going to have a little more confidence that I’ll not only be able to handle it, but that I just might really enjoy & have fun with it!  Less fear… more fun.