I have the privilege of seeing the Statue of Liberty every morning when I ride the subway to work. I don't know what it's like for many New Yorkers who had family that came to America through Ellis Island and feel a deep connection to what Lady Liberty represents - freedom, hope, a brighter future, the American Dream. But even though I'm usually listening to music or reading and, in general, shutting out the rest of the world, I typically stop for a moment to peer out the window as we cross the bridge, just to catch a momentary glimpse of this famous statue. I see her next to the skyline of one of the world's greatest cities every morning and evening but I don't think she ever loses her magic.
So, in the spirit of being American- I voted today!! It was one of the most rewarding and exciting things I've done since I've been here. I successfully registered to vote in the state of NY with only a couple of weeks to spare. So today I voted at P.S. 321 two blocks away from my apartment where they have the flea market every weekend (it's so versatile!). Samantha and I literally woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to the polls, hoping to beat the crowds. But, alas, there was already a line to the end of the street and down the block when we arrived at 6:02am. It actually didn't take as long as I expected and the end result was worth it of course. I haven't felt this American in a long time.
Lots of things have changed in the past 8 months I've lived here (has it been that long already?!) So here are some updates about a few areas of interest:
SUMMER
This summer was lots of fun, although I didn't get to spend much time just enjoying the city. I did, however, have the opportunity to do lots of traveling, mainly around the Northeast, which happens to be pretty spectacular during the summer. I kicked off the summer with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Ocean City, Maryland, and hitched a ride back with my roommate Samantha as she moved up to NYC from TN. I took a couple of trips to upstate NY to visit a friend in Syracuse. The 5-hour bus ride was a little excruciating but redeemed itself because of the breathtaking ride through the mountains. I wasn't used to seeing that much green (!) and it reminded me so much of home. I made a couple of trips home: one for Mom's 50th birthday bash in mid-June (Mom- you still look and act much younger than 50! love you!) and one for a family friend's wedding in mid-July. I celebrated July 4th in the Hamptons with my cousin Dee Dee, 
her kids, and some other friends. Unfortunately, the only fireworks I saw were the Macy's 4th of July fireworks on tv (which I could have easily seen in person had I been in the city!). Something a little out of the ordinary that I did was go to a convent in Scarsdale, NY, which is only about a 30-minute train ride north of NYC towards Albany. Samantha's great-aunt is a Sister of Charity there so we spent a lovely afternoon with her. I also took my first (and second!) trip to the Shake Shack here in the city. It was quite a momentous occasion because, after waiting an hour in line by myself on a random Saturday afternoon, I had the most 
amazing shake EVER (a Black & White shake, which is vanilla ice cream with hot fudge swirled in!). Do not miss this place when you come visit. The worst part of the summer was having my best friend Ashley move away to Houston. Fortunately, we were able to have a few afternoons in Central Park and general running around Manhattan before she left. I wrapped up the summer by spending Labor Day at home in TN with lots of friends and family.
HOME
About a month and a half ago, I moved to Brooklyn to a neighborhood called Park Slope. Don't get too worried.... Not all of Brooklyn is what you hear about or see in the movies. My neighborhood is safe and is mostly families; in fact, every other person is carrying a baby or pushing a stroller. I moved in with my roommate from TN, Samantha. We share a newly renovated 4 bed/2 bath apartment in a 4-story walk up building on an adorable tree-lined street with lots of other brownstones (which IS what you see in the movies). It's about one block from Prospect Park (the Brooklyn equivalent of Central Park) and an avenue away from lots of cute shops and restaurants. The first day I went to see the apartment, I spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood and fell in love. It's so quiet and peaceful and a WORLD away from the hustle and bustle of the city. My room is nestled in the back of the apartment and I have my very own fire escape (safety first!). I'm enjoying having my own space, cooking my own dinners, and watching primetime tv with my roommate.
WORK
I'm still working at the same company and have a little over 7 months under my belt. I'm hoping to get promoted sometime in the near future, so let's keep our fingers crossed. It might not be a possibility at this point with the economy the way it is going though.For those of you in the healthcare field (or about to enter it!), here is something you might find interesting: my company's holding company, Havas, has just launched a new "agency" of sorts known as Havas Drive. This operation will bring pharmaceutical companies in closer contact with health care professionals through the use of licensed virtual communication tools, such as a 3-D Virtual Convention Booth and Virtual Hospital. I first heard about these new creative initiatives a few weeks ago at an agency meeting, so it's exciting to see them come to life. You can read more about Havas Drive here: http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3idef185a6ef750b735ebfdaafa7dec55a
"EXTRACURRICULAR"
In my free time, I've started taking ballroom dance classes. It's something I've always wanted to do and is way better than watching tv. I took salsa classes last month and just started the tango this month. My roommate is taking classes with me too. I've also started attending Brooklyn Tabernacle church. You may have heard of the world-famous Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir or Pastor Jim Cymbala's books Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and Fresh Faith. I am fortunate enough to hear beautiful music and unbelievably good preaching every time I go. It's been such a blessing to have a church like that just around the corner because, at times, it feels a little bit like I imagine heaven would feel. And, as a final note, I registered to vote here! Guess I'll be one little red fish swimming in the overwhelming sea of blue fish.
Please write, email, or call anytime. And let me know if you ever want to come visit! I'll be back in TN again for about a week at Thanksgiving and around 2 weeks for Christmas. Hope you are all well and that I will be blessed by your presence in the very near future.
xx
First of all, life has been good so far if for no other reason except that it's getting warmer here and I don't have to wear a winter coat, sweater, scarf, gloves, boots, hat, etc. anymore. The beginning of summer always puts me in a good mood here and I think the overall mood of the city is definitely improving. There are actually trees blooming and flowers (in pots but flowers nonetheless) scattered around adding color to the otherwise gray landscape. It can be quite cheerful when the sun shines. A couple of weeks ago it was beautiful and in the mid to upper 70s, but it keeps fluctuating back into the 50s and 60s. It's not blazing hot day in and day out yet (have to wait for July/August for those days).
My job is going very well. Currently, I support the brands Genotropin, Selzentry, and Xalatan. Recently, I found out I'll also be supporting Prevenar as well. I'm getting acquainted with a lot of the people in my office (especially those on my teams), I'm not having to ask as many questions and I'm establishing my own system of doing things, etc, etc. I have made a few very good friends that make the days more enjoyable. I typically stay pretty busy and I've had some opportunity to actually learn about the brands I work on and how the pharmaceutical industry works. I work with some very intelligent people - science types - since we deal with medicine and high science (especially on the HIV brand I work on). It's interesting to have all types of people and educational backgrounds in one place.
Home news: Dee Dee's new house in the Hamptons is almost finished and she's in the process of moving in. Last weekend was the first official "move in" weekend but there's still a lot of odds and ends that need to be done and lots more furniture that has to be moved in. Landscaping is next on the list because right now it's kind of a big sandy dirty mess outside. We will be going there for Mother's Day weekend with the boys and hopefully everything will be wrapping up by Memorial Weekend. Because of the move, there have been changes in the New York apartment as well. I will have a big girl room very soon because all of the kids' furniture is moved out to the Hamptons. My room is becoming a guest bedroom of sorts, which means new paint, new furniture, etc etc. It's all very exciting... and Chewbacca won't be watching over me while I sleep anymore. However, I won't be at Dee Dee's for too much longer. Mantha, my roommate from Tennessee, has decided to move to NYC too! She will be here by the beginning of June, so I'll be moving in with her at some point in the near future. We will be living in her family's brownstone in Brooklyn. I'm very excited to have another friend here!
FYI, the next time I will be in Tennessee will be the weekend of June 14th (for Mom's birthday!!) So I hope to see you all then. Please feel free to write or call in the meantime. I miss you all.
xx
Just wanted to check in and give you an update about how everything is going in NYC! I'm having a great time so far but still trying to get completely settled in and used to the NYC life.
As most of you know, I'm living with my cousin, Dee Dee, at her apartment in Midtown Manhattan. The building is very nice and many of the rooms overlook all of Central Park and uptown Manhattan. She has two beautiful sons, John and Jordan, that also live here when they are not with their father. If it already wasn't crazy enough, the pets are here too: Farrah, her gorgeous 8 month old golden retriever 
"puppy" who is already huge and out of control, and Hootie and Ringo, the really old Persian cats who are on too many meds. In addition to that, Dee Dee's office is in her home, so her coworkers come in and out throughout the week... as does the dog walker, the groomer, the maid, random friends and family who are visiting, etc etc. Although it's a little like a circus, it's still a great place. I have my own room (formerly John John's room) that overlooks the Hudson River, New Jersey, and downtown Manhattan (I can even see a little bit of the lights of Times Square). I'm trying to get settled in but everything still isn't unpacked (3 weeks later....). But that's partly due to the fact that Dee Dee had a friend living with her before I moved in and all of her things are still not out of the room. However, I'm trying to make it my own so that I feel a little more at home. My own 600-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, White Bear (my childhood stuffed bear), pictures of friends and family I actually had printed from my digital camera, and some of my favorite music are helping with that! But the huge wall decals of Chewbacca and R2-D2 and the other Star Wars figurines that are still in the room aren't quite my style. Not sure what I'm going to do about those yet. It's still an amazing place to live and I'm so blessed to have family here that's so willing to help me out while I get myself established. At some point, I may move out on my own so that I can have a space to call my own (even if it's a few steps/leaps down from this place). It just depends on how long I decide to stay in New York and how much money I can save!
Leaving Tennessee was a little bittersweet. Obviously, I miss it desperately (despite the fact that I thought I wanted to get out of Knoxville so badly!). But the idea of experiencing a totally new place and meeting so many new people is exciting and I knew that I needed to leave the place where I grew up. I really felt like I was supposed to be in NYC at this point in my life. I know that God has a purpose for me here. I'm not quite sure what that is yet, but I'm sure I'll find out. And selfishly, I came here because I probably won't ever have a chance like this for the rest of my life, so I had to take advantage of it. And I've heard that you never truly appreciate where you came from until you leave. (I'm already realizing all the many reasons I love TN and the South!) My wonderful TN roommate, Samantha, and our friend, Shaina, graciously offered to DRIVE me up to New York so that I would not have to worry about storing my life in a couple of suitcases and flying here. After an 8-hour roadtrip, we spent one night in Maryland with her brother. Then we finished the trip the next afternoon. I officially arrived in NYC on February 2nd.
When I first got to New York, I didn't have much time to get settled before I started looking for a job. I had 3 interviews the week I arrived. After that, I didn't slow the job search down. I posted my resume on Monster.com (a job searching/recruiting website which was surprisingly helpful!) A few people contacted me because they found my resume on Monster.comand I lined up more interviews because of it. In a couple of instances, I went back for second interviews. I was offered a job at one place but wasn't sure that I wanted to take it. Plus, I had already committed to going to another interview and wanted to follow through. But, a week later, I accepted the position because I had a really good feeling about the company and the people I interviewed with. So, I officially have a job! I am the Administrative Assistant for EuroRSCG Life LM&P, which is a pharmaceutical ad agency, specifically on the brands Selzentry, Genotropin, and Xalatan. This ad agency is under the larger EuroRSCG Life umbrella, which is part of the EuroRSCG network. (I know, it sounds confusing... just companies within companies). EuroRSCG is a European company that was based in Paris until a couple of years ago when the headquarters was moved to NYC. My office is located on Madison Avenue, the street in New York City that is famous for Advertising. I'll be working with some great people and will have the opportunity to move up pretty quickly. In the meantime, I'll be doing lots of random things that Admins do and learning how the company works.... and going to lots of company-paid lunches and dinners!! This first week of work has been pretty good... mostly orientations, lunches with my teams, and getting a lot of work thrown at me. And I'm trying to get in the routine of going to bed earlier and waking up earlier (which has never been one of my strong suits). Here is an email that one of my bosses sent out to all of the Account Services people (and probably a lot more people) to welcome me to the team and the company:
_______
Howdy Y'all!
Its my pleasure to announce the newest addition to the account services (dysfunctional) family: Katherine Vermillion. Katherine comes to us straight from college via a stint at the Clinique counter at Dillards in Knoxville, Tennessee where she undoubtedly gave the Dolly Parton makeover 3 times a day. She is a recent graduate from University of Tennessee with a degree in Advertising. She has traded in the rolling hills of Tennessee for a life in the big city and don't let her southern accent fool you....one look and you'll see she's more comfortable at a debutant ball than slinging beers at the Boars Nest with Daisy Duke.
Katherine will support the Genotropin, Xalatan and Selzentry teams and we couldn't be happier to have her. In addition to offering up your prayers for her, please stop by and welcome her-- she sits where Logan Cooper used to (outside Marcy's office).
On a final note: she may have graduated from the alma mater of Peyton Manning but Heather Breslow and I have made it quite clear that she's in ELI country now!!!!
_______
Thank you all for your love and support. I miss you all and hope to see you soon. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I've made this transition. I've certainly felt the presence of God here and been reminded many times that He is taking care of me.
xx
I have the privilege of seeing the Statue of Liberty every morning when I ride the subway to work. I don't know what it's like for many New Yorkers who had family that came to America through Ellis Island and feel a deep connection to what Lady Liberty represents - freedom, hope, a brighter future, the American Dream. But even though I'm usually listening to music or reading and, in general, shutting out the rest of the world, I typically stop for a moment to peer out the window as we cross the bridge, just to catch a momentary glimpse of this famous statue. I see her next to the skyline of one of the world's greatest cities every morning and evening but I don't think she ever loses her magic.
