Live from VT

It's been 11 days since I arrived in Vermont and I am already feeling the relaxing effects of this beautiful landscape. I honestly don't think my jangly nerves could handle moving by myself to any place more urban than this, and if there's one thing Montpelier is not, it's "urban". I miss Tom terribly and cannot wait for him to come here and see how great it is and for us to go out and explore. But things are going surprisingly well for someone who is a nervous Nelly like me when it comes to change. I've been walking around this small town in the evenings and mornings and enjoying the simplicity and happiness it has to offer. I look forward to checking out the farmers' market this coming weekend and going for a hike in the park on the hill above the capitol building.

I arrived in New York on May 1st and my brother, Andrew, came to town the next day. He helped me buy my car and we spent some time with my parents, then he kindly drove to Vermont with me. My brother is a professional driver. He has taken some incredible defensive driving classes for his work and recently completed one in which he had to do all kinds of crazy things that frighten me. The fact that he let me drive the entire way without once commenting on my poor driving skills was pure kindness in itself. It was so nice to be on the road with him and to get caught up. We hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving and I'm so happy to at least be on the same coast as him now and hopefully have him be more of a presence in my life. Here's a photo of him with our grandma and our Aunt Marie. Grandma made us Italian sausages, slow-cooked with ricotta and served with crusty bread for lunch the day we went to get the car, thus the smiling faces:


Andrew left me in Montpelier on Sunday May 4 after we spent Saturday night with Tom's family, which was a great way to spend my first hours in the Green Mountain state. Since Sunday I've gone through various emotions of elation, loneliness, contentment and doubt, all to be expected. I just love my new job. My co-workers and new bosses are really great and the workplace itself is unbeatable: a barn in the middle of nowhere down a dirt road with a goat farm on one side and a beautiful pond on the other. I had the good fortune to be able to train with the previous Zutano designer who came back to town for a few days to work with me. Natalya and I hit it off so well that I wished she didn't have to go back to Boston! She is an extremely talented illustrator and designer and I only hope I can live up to the standards she set for Zutano. Take a look at her website: www.natalya.com. (Yes, can you believe it? She was able to snag natalya.com!)

Working for Zutano will be a great challenge for me and will help me refine my design skills and learn more about illustration. I'm so excited to be there and to be working for Uli, the creative director (she and her husband Michael own the company). I feel she will be a wonderful mentor. I look forward to learning more about Zutano each day and to all the great design projects going on there. It's so fun to learn a little about clothes and fabrics. Plus, it's a business that's all about babies, color, sweetness, patterns, and simplicity: a really great combination of things! I do miss all my cohorts at Juniper Ridge, though...(On a side note: I got to see my great friend Alli from Juniper Ridge in Boston last weekend. We had a blast!)

That's it for now. I'll leave you with some photos of the baby goats. The first day I was at Zutano we walked to the goat farm and found all these babies hanging out in the barn. You can buy one for just $35. I can't even tell you how great that sounds to me, but apparently goats do crazy things like eat your laundry and climb on your car. They sure are cute, though. The bottom image is a blurry Natalya with the babes...