The Bittersweet Truth

....about working at URBN.

Why was URBN awesome?

Well, as you could imagine, the work space was beautiful....

Don't even get my started on the Free People building....

Jharoka, our coffee shop, knew I wanted a small black coffee and a breakfast wrap every morning...

I met wonderful, amazing people like Kathy, my supervisor, and Jen, my counterpart...

Free People Ruffled Up Cami

Johanna (pictured here) and many more people who helped me along the way, who I could also laugh with or ask a bizillion questions.....

Complete creative freedom in a fundraiser that helped puppies and kitties...

And I got to be Twitter famous for a day...

The view at lunch was great...

The view at my desk wasn't bad either...

Two words: sample sale.

Summer Party. Food. Drinks. Photo booths. Zip line. Rock climbing wall. Inflatable obstacle course. Screen printing. You name it.

And the best part of all....

Working on this one day...

 And seeing it online in a couple months and feeling like "I WORKED ON THAT!!"

Free People Printed Baseball Jacket

It was an amazing experience.

At the end of the internship I was hoping to be offered an temporary tech design job that would eventually turn into a permanent "big girl" job.

The offer I got instead was to extend my internship through the end of the year.

I wrestled with the decision to stay or leave for two or three weeks.

I loved URBN, but I [obviously] love the south.

I enjoyed Philly so so so so much, but it wasn't home.

I appreciated technical design, but I wanted more creative freedom.

My parents had helped me with rent of the summer (fortunately) and I think if the pay would have increased I would have stayed.

The door is still open at URBN, but I am happy to say I am back in the south.

My ultimate goal is to have my own store in downtown Asheville, but I realized quickly I'm going to have to do some work I don't necessarily l-o-v-e doing in order to save enough to do that.

Working part time and looking for more ways to continue learning about apparel construction and the industry in general isn't as glamorous as "working for URBN" but one thing I have learned in the past couple months is "Be who you want to be, not what others want to see."

God has a plan and that's all the comfort I need.

URBN, Exploring Philly, and All the Things I've Been Up To Lately

I'm so happy to be able to take a minute to let you guys know what I've been up to since getting up to Philadelphia.... having lots of fun and working my tail off for URBN, I can promise you.

This is the beautiful building where I work... B 543.

Pictures just don't do it justice.

Me and my roommate, Amelia, before our first day of work!

She is interning with Anthropologie for home good buying.

As for me, I'm part of the Technical Design team.

I get to attend fittings and enter measurements and do revised measurements and all the fun stuff that helps to execute the designer's intentions for that garment.

In my off time....

I've been eating Philly Cheesesteaks with this handsome guy.

And visiting the Philadelphia Zoo.

Annnnnddd... taking a quick blog pic at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Sakroots bag/ Sacntuary top/ Lucky Brand shorts/ Old Gringo boots

And stumbling upon the Philadelphia Flea Market.....

My new obsession.

Can you believe the beautiful turquoise jewelry I found (and there was no lack of selection) in PHILADELPHIA!? Heaven.

Also, I traded in my cowgirl boots for these guys.

JOKES.

I actually managed to find the only place in Philadelphia that knew the value of the word "Lucchese."

Gilly Jean's on South St.

Lots to pick from!

I've also been highly anticipating the premiere of Despicable Me 2.

Due to careful budgeting, this was my only haul from the Philly Flea.  But I'm really stoked about it.  $36 for this turquoise navajo sterling silver bolo tie... they obviously didn't know what they could have sold that for.

I've been stuffing my face with peach ice cream and rainbow "jimmies" (sprinkles) at the famous Franklin Fountain with my two partners in crime, Amelia and Melissa.

And trying not to adopt cute and crazy kitties from Paw Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society.

Other than that, I've just been trying to document my time here, via pictures, as much as possible.

Two of nine weeks with URBN has already flown by.

I can't wait to see what else I will have to share!