Thankful.

I'm writing this tonight because maybe some of you are heading out of town tomorrow and may not check in. It's a busy time of year.

I had a really tough day at the 'real job' today. So I came home and lost it for a couple of minutes (okay, it was at least a half hour) then I hugged my dog, thought about the good stuff in my life and one of the things at the top of the list is this blog and you readers that read it.

It may seem silly, but interior design is a career I let go of many years ago, mostly because I couldn't make a living at it. After graduating from design school, I started in furniture sales, and I kid you not, my boss at the time actually brought me in on a Saturday to pass along his 'mantra' to me, in hopes the chanting might help me make more sales. Wow, how L.A. can you get? It didn't help a bit - because I was really bad at trying to talk people into buying something I wasn't sure they wanted. So after a while I abandoned something I really loved to head into the world of advertising and pay my rent.

I am proud of my achievements in advertising, don't get me wrong. I started as a receptionist and worked my way up the ladder to become the director of creative services and art buying at a San Francisco ad agency that I am lucky to be a part of. But a day like today, dealing with trying to keep a very large and diverse group of talented, individually opinionated and creative people happy, and all that crap (and believe me, it can be a lot of crapity-crap), I was so glad to come home and have another purpose - writing this blog and learning as I go along. My blog isn't perfect and I aspire to so much more, but it does make me happy. And they say if you can do what makes you happy you'll do it well. So with all that said, I just wanted to say how thankful I am that I have your interest, and you occasionally like checking in to see what I have to share with you. Seriously, it really means more to me than you know. I hope you all have some good things to be thankful for too. It's a tough world out there sometimes, and we all need to remember to be a little kinder, a little more patient and just be there for each other. It may sound lame. Perhaps. But isn't it easier to be optimistic, strong and happy when part of a community?

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Design on people!
Victoria

Photograph compliments of the lovely Astrid. Thanks so much for your talent, girl.