Running out of time

One thing I have recently taken up is running. For anyone who knows me I DO NOT run!! Well at least I didn't...I also thought I couldn't which I have happily been proved wrong about! Probably the only time I will admit to being wrong...
Anyway there is a reason for all this extra cardio: me and my sister will be doing the Great North Run for the British Heart Foundation at the start of September. I am currently trying to get my head around that it is HALF A MARATHON, 13 MILES, TO THE MOON AND BACK.
To put it simply: I am scared.
Although training hasn't been as much of a arduous task as I had originally thought, it is in under 3 weeks time and I feel slightly unprepared. Mainly due to the fact it took me most of the allotted training time to pluck up the courage to run actually in the outdoors; as beetroot face, major sweating and fear of being seen took over.
I have since conquered my fears, I can be a lone runner but I will always still believe in safety in numbers; I will never understand why people will honk their horns at me whilst I am flailing and red-faced and in no fit state to shout obscenities back. At least pick me up and drive me home.

My original reason for applying for the Great North Run was for saying I'd completed it (pretty impressive sounding for an original non-runner, add to CV, motivational skills oi oi) and also hoping in the process it would increase my fitness, which it has. But the other huge reason is to raise money for the BHF which are a worthy charity that do amazing work for fighting and researching heart disease.
Hopefully I won't need their services after the race though...

Here is their website:
http://www.bhf.org.uk/

And here is my Just Giving page if you're feeling generous:
https://www.justgiving.com/Anna-Richardson3/

Back in business

So you could say I've been a little slow with these posts, but only because time (over half the year already!) has gone so incredibly fast! Moving home from London, seeing in 2014, getting settled back up north and finishing my third year at uni combined with a whole load of other adventures kind of took over for a bit.
I forgot how much I actually love writing and research for my final major project for my fourth year in Newcastle has prompted me to start it up again.
I can't really say it will be informative or helpful to you at all, I'm just hoping my ramblings will kind of help me discover what avenues to go down within my year long project with Fashion Marketing.
This has actually made me look back at the stuff I've been doing over the last 8 months and it's been pretty great and apart from a busy, slightly stressful(!) last term at uni I've had lots of amazing times travelling, exploring and trying new things with some lovely people!
This year has flown by (time flies yada yada!) Well I had been having a lot of fun but now I'm pretty flippin' bored. So I s'pose boredom has spurred my blog writing...I need a hobby asap.

Manager's meeting

Before the animal instincts of the managers came out at the sample sale, they had all been pretty civilised at the manager's meeting. It was one of my high points of my time there as well as a top event in the company calendar.
All the managers from over the country come together to see the new RTW, shoe and bag collections and be talked through them by the designers. This allows them to get to know the product before it gets to store as well as letting the designers and merchandisers know which items are popular among the staff, what they think might sell well and deciding whether anything should be removed if it gets a bad reaction.
There were also updates from the press, web and wholesale departments on sales progress and best sellers, expansion to other countries and where the products were featured in magazines and newspapers.

Oh also: Champagne, mini sandwiches and cakes. Need I say more haha!

Placements are hard.

They really are. It's hard not to think why the hell am I here when you've been sat in silence at a computer for 7 hours pretty much being ignored. Don't get me wrong I love being independent (London has forced me to have this attribute) and being 'left to it' when you're sure of what you're doing and you are enjoying it but there's also a feeling of 'I'm working here for free, I'm getting no direction and I should be learning a shit lot of stuff.' 

I'm all for the experience of things but bit annoying when you come out the other side feeling empty. TEACH ME STUFF GODDAMNIT. 

My last placement taught me that you learn a lot more stuff at a smaller place as bigger companies just don't have the time or the right kind of people to help you along the way. I felt a lot of the time I was being annoying if I asked for help or things to do, when I was expecting to be rushed off my feet and have a proper supervisor. I would much rather be busy than spend half my day on Daily Mail, even though that is a truly enriching experience...

So I left.

The only thing I'll miss is the lunch vouchers and Oyster card. That kind of says it all really. I was becoming wayyy too much of a regular at Pret. WHERE ARE ALL THE GREGGS?! 

And the sample sale pretty much killed me off. It was feral. There wasn't really anything I liked and people thought I was mad for not having my arms laden with everything I could carry.

I was pretty happy with my free bag and shoes but the lady with 12 bags was over the moon.

Time flies...

Can't believe how fast my time's going in London, it's nearly Christmas! I'm actually the most excited I've been in years for it because I've been on a proper lil jaunt rather than just a hop and skip away to uni. At the minute I'm going through phases of being in love with life and London and on the other hand; being excited to get back up north where people talk to each other and I don't have to avoid awkward eye contact on public transport. 

Although London at Xmas is just MAGICAL to say the least, as long as you can manage some shoulder barging on Oxford Street. 

So the new placement... Let's just say it's a lot different. I always knew it would be with the company being on such a bigger scale and it's merchandising rather than being a PA/hand-sewer/errand runner which I now realise I enjoy a lot more than spreadsheets and computer work.

I thought I'd be really into a job like merchandising or allocating but it seems I can cross these off my list. 

Firstly I definitely don't have the attention span for computer work (to quote a friend I have 'the attention span of a pie'...yes) and secondly staring at a screen for 8 hours a day hurts my face.

As everyone says you put it all down to experience and it has definitely opened my eyes into other areas of the fashion industry, unfortunately just ones I don't want to go into!

So onwards and upwards, wonder where my next adventure will take me...hopefully in the right direction. I've only just got used to actual journeys in London, never mind metaphorical ones, help anyone?

Makes you realise things don't turn out how you'd sometimes hoped or expected; was buzzin' to work in central London everyday...until I got my first central line tube at 9am. 

Lord have mercy. 

I was late for my first day because I couldn't get on the first 3 trains. We were all crammed in like sardines, people were fainting around me! (Okay so that last one's a lie, but it's definitely happened before!) 

So I arrived for my first day late and sweaty. Maybe that's where I went wrong. 

Rewind

So let's turn back the clocks a bit. After the collection launch, we had the showroom for two days at Wolf and Badger during London Fashion Week. This meant me going to stand next to the collection in a room full of up and coming designers and talking passionately (half blagging) about it to buyers and anyone else that was interested in the hope of getting some orders. Luckily for Teija she already had some interest, so she knew when to expect some visitors and it was nice to see other people so interested in the collection and the concept. Some of the other designers were amazing, personal faves Judy Wu and Krystof Strozyna had really strong, colourful collections.
So looking at clothes, talking about clothes, drinking tea and eating croissants isn't a bad way to spend the day, apart from the next day when not a soul came into the showroom. 8 hours of standing with the fear of leaning or sitting down in case someone important came in is not fun. And the croissants were hard that day.
(First world problems)
Luckily I made friends with a slightly eccentric lady with a lot of pink eye shadow. She gave me a vodka and told me how she'd met Michael Jackson. It was lovely.

New adventures

So forgive me for the delay I've been a little busy. It's not easy making the transition from one placement to next, juggling having interviews throughout and lying to employers about why I needed a day off. I hate that you have to lie just in case you don't get the job, thing is it's even harder trying to persuade a busy fashion designer who needs you pretty much 24/7 that you have some 'uni work' to do. buulllllsshiiitttttttttttt. I'm terrible at lying too so I sent an email to avoid eye contact and a lot of sweating. Basically it didn't go down well but weirdly I got an apology on the grounds that said designer was stressed with her collection. (How bad do I feel now?!)
Turned out I got the next placement so the next leap was telling her I was leaving. I get so worried about these things (sweating) and then in the end everything's fine and dandy. I think she was sad to see me go, I bloody hope she was anyway..!
My last day in her studio was just me and her finishing some work off from the previous day's shoot (info to come later!) It was dark outside and a Friday night so we decided to call it quits, then she announces she doesn't have a key to lock the building, we're the last ones there and the building has been burgled before. Fucking fantastic. 'What are we going to do?' she says...There's me thinking WE aren't going to do anything.
Then we proceed to stand outside fretting as she won't let me leave because someone got mugged here last week. OH MY GOD. I can honestly say, perfect sitch right there.
Eventually I left (ran) with prosecco in hand (lil treat off the boss, not so chuffed as was leftovers but whatevs it was free booze) and got home with all of my possessions.
I never did find out what happened to the unlocked building.