The Fabulous but Struggling Girl: Relationships and Being Honest

Finding just any body is easy but finding someone who you really love is hard. Just imagine it like this... You are looking for the perfect birthday outfit, and you search and search. By the time you find it you are so flustered and upset, you end up settling for something blah blah that works but its not what you imagined. On the other hand you are just shopping not thinking about finding something, and wham bam thank you mamma you find the perfect dress, shoes, and necklace and get 30% off. Its perfect and score your birthday is coming up! I guess the moral of the story is you always find the very best things when you are not looking for it. You just have to believe that one day you will find it. Being positive is very important, having good energy brings good energy. And when you are lucky enough to find it hold on to it forever because true, cant live without you, inconvenient love is once in a lifetime kind of stuff. The most important thing in a relationship is honesty, and you have to be so honest about everything because no matter what eventually everything and I mean everything comes out. Even if what the truth is seems like the most horrible thing you could ever confess to someone, lying about it to make yourself look better will only blow up in your face down the road and make you look even worse because 1.) they know what you were trying to hide and 2.) you lied and now they cant trust you. So just be honest from the very beginning, because if they really really love you and your meant to be then no matter what you tell them... it will not change the way the feel about you. You cant change your past but you have the power to change your future. We all make mistakes and have things we are not proud of but the best way to overcome it, is to admit it be honest, take a deep breath and breathe. The most important things in life is not your career or how much money you make, its the family we have, the people we choose to bring into our lives and love. The most important of these though, is love. How many successful women do you know who are single? Most all of them because why? They make their careers their number one love and in life there is so much more then that. I don't know about you but I want to be in real love. I wanna make a life with someone, give him my everything and build a beautiful family because really thats what life is all about.

The fabulous but Struggling Girl: Cooking

I always use to say how I would never cook, using the line " I keep sweaters in my oven" from carrie miss sex and the city. And honestly the most cooking I did ... well it involved a microwave. I even during this time dated a chef haha. I remember reading a few of my grandmas cookbooks when I was little. In the introduction of these things it would tell you that you should have the dinner ready and the children washed and properly dressed ready for dinner, all while wearing pearls and sunday best, when your husband arrives. This is 2011 and today we are just a different breed. Juggling a job, social life, and yourself haha all while trying to make a 5 course meal and be dressed to the 9's by the time hunny gets home is a little bit unrealistic. Remember these women were mostly housewives and well... if i stayed home all day, I could probably be little miss perfect too. But who really wants that anyway, I know I would be so bored. I have dreams that I want to accomplish and well hey im gonna do it. Maybe it's because im getting older or maybe its my super duper wonderful boyfriend, but I actually really am starting to enjoy this. (ps nothing impresses a guy more then a woman who can cook) Im pretty sure that if you can read and follow directions, you just might be able too as well. I recommend Fun, Fast and Fabulous Food by: Alison Taafe but the best recipes you could probably get is from your family. Call up grandma or mom and chit chat about your ideas and you know they will be happy to help. Its a great way to bond and hey you might just discover that you have some of the same cooking genes that your grandma has.

The Fabulous but Struggling Girl: Growing Up

The age when your basket goes from make-up and vodka to toilet paper and coffee creamer. I swear I used to be able to go out every night of the week... if I wanted. Now a days i just don't have a full day to recover from a hangover. When the real world starts and your career becomes your social life, whats a girl to do?? I miss the days when my friends would all meet at my apartment and we would pregame until 12am then jump in a cab for some downtown fun. Lately anytime I "go out" its for work related events and my idea of an ideal Saturday night is ordering some take-out and watching a few of my tvo-ed shows (that i didn't have time to watch during the week) with my wonderful boyfriend, who I am sure misses that little party girl he used to know. Finding the balance between being an active social butterfly and a level headed entry level career woman is rough but i think its very important. Part of being a fabulous girl is having a fabulous well rounded life. Week nights are a great time to have girls nights because you can always find a great deal, grab a few drinks, and call it a night by no later then 11... i mean its trashy to be roaming the streets wasted on a Tuesday. I always like to look at this website called www.chicagospecials.com You can find by day of the week where all the good food and drink deals are around the chicagolonad area. Bar Louie dollar burgers well thats my fav! My weekends lately have been work work work and anytime i get a day off is on a monday, tuesday, wednesday, or thursday So going out to a club lately is completely out of the question. Its important though to keep one saturday a month for some going out fun. Once every 4 weeks is a good way to still let loose and have a much needed night of fun and its a good way to conserve funds. The club scene used to be cool back when I was 21, but now when I go it seems like its just all people who are 21 and that makes me feel kinda old. I guess this is the point where we have to evaluate our lives and figure out what is most important. If we want to be successful and strong powerful women certain sacrifices just are made. And i don't know about you, but I do not want to be that 35 yr old in the bar hitting on 24 year old guys.... just not my style. I got bigger dreams, and while I still find time to get a little crazy I just do it in a more sophisticated and mature way. Heres a toast to all the fabulous girls I know, who are going through the very same thing!!!!!!!!

xoxo
Lexi

The Fabulous but Struggling Girl: Networking is Key

After graduation, things can be a little scary. Such as not nailing that dream job or just trying to figure out exactly what you want to do. A little tool that we all have but some of us rarely use is networking. For example... Yesterday while at work a older lady came in and asked if she could sit down for a little while her husband was shopping, sure no problem. Me being the talkative person I am, started chatting her up. Turns out we both have a passion for fine fabrics, sewing, and fashion! She was honestly the highlight of the day. I gave her my info and told her to contact me if she ever needed help with anything. Then to my great surprise she told me how her daughter opened up a store downtown for children with designer clothing! Crush boutique is located in Rosco Village here in Chicago. After she left my manager was like " So lexi what is your next step?" thinking to myself I didn't really have a next step... then my manager said " Go in there introduce yourself, have a look around, and tell her that her mom told you about the store, because if her mom liked you most likely she will as well" So monday on my next day off I am going there!!! My key advice is to talk to everyone, and if you stumble across something or someone who can help you out, take full advantage of it. Talent is something you either have or you don't, but how many talented people do you know that do nothing with it? The people who are most successful in the world, believe they can achieve something and do. Just think Madonna or J-Lo they aren't the most talented singers in the industry vocal wise but they knew what they wanted and they worked their asses off to get it. Sometimes its not as much as what you can do but who you know. And if you want something enough what you don't know you will quickly learn. So today's goal NETWORK and see where it will take you!

xoxo
Lexi