Things I Like About my Job: Dressing Corporate & Lunch Time

My favorite things about my new job are the dressing up I get to do and spending my lunch hours downtown.

When I was first hired, about a month and a half ago, I went on a bit of a (budget) shopping spree: I spent $75 on about 12 items of clothing at a really good Sally Ann near my house. That gave me about a week's worth of clothing to wear and meant that I didn't have to wear the same thing more than once in one week. But still, I was left trying to mix and match outfits so that I didn't end up with stock monday, tuesday, etc. outfits. It was an adequate strategy in the short-term but one that lacked serious long-term potential.

Then, Mark's aunt, who recently retired from her job as a corporate secretary, donated a whole bunch of clothes to my cause, giving me some very beautiful, very expensive clothes to wear to work. She owned a number of nice blasers/jackets that I could pair with my skirts, and a couple of matching dresses and jackets. Mark's mom also bought me a lovely present when we were in New York, a thing that I have been wanting for a while but have been unable to afford and/or find second-hand: a black suit-jacket. We went shopping at Saks and found an absolutely gorgeous DKNY jacket that had been rather conviently marked down 70%. So I am now the proud owner of a $350 designer jacket. Kinda fun.

Lastly, I have started making use of working in one of the Pacific Centre towers; this week, I thought to myself, "Dude! You work in a mall... there's no excuse to not shop occasionally!"
So, on one of my lunch hours, on a day I forgot to bring the book I was reading, I went down to check out the sales. Tristan was having a 70% off sale, and I bought a few things for $20 each. I'm still not an avid shopper, I would say, but I like the ease of wandering down to the mall on a whim. I will do more.

My lunch hours downtown are entirely enjoyable. If I'm feeling social, I can sit up in my office's cafe/loung area and visit with co-workers or watch TV in the lounge. If I'm feeling reclusive, which is most of the time, I can head down to the street and go for a walk in the bustling streets (anonymous in a crowd, my favorite way to be). I sometimes use my lunch to run errands downtown, because everything I need is there and because the area is so dense that I don't often have to walk far. I'm also planning to buy a membership to the art gallery ($35 for students) and to spend some of my hours wandering around there. I think I will spend rainy days there.

But right now, my favorite place to take my lunch on a sunny afternoon is to the art gallery steps. There I sit, with usually only 15 other people, eating my lunch on the warm concrete steps and reading. It's kinda like being at the beach, tanning in the sunshine and my 5-foot space bubble to myself with still people nearby, but with the trees around Robson Square and a somewhat less comfortable seat - concrete gives less than sand does. Having that hour to myself really helps me unwind, to forget the business of work for a while and to spend time doing only and exactly what I want. "Me" time. It's good.