Q&A: Laura of Shorehouse Chic

Laura: Shorehouse Chic

1) Describe who you are in 10 words or less.
Rock star trapped in the body of a thirty-something homebody.
Too many words? ;-)

2) Tell us what you do for work, and who you do it for, OR how you spend your days. (besides blogging. HA!)
I work in marketing communications for a business-to-business company in NYC – I am a business writer, creative services, company organizer, event planner, schlepper by day. And night, sometimes. I used to have more exciting gigs in the media industry where I got to travel and do "important" (depending on your definition) things…Now I'm grateful for a much smaller job that is 100% local. The only work travel I do is to my own bed at night, and I'm at a point in my life where I'm pretty happy for that. (Unless someone's willing to pay me more to do otherwise. Then I'd be at Newark airport tomorrow!)

3) What organization methods do you use to keep all your bits and pieces in order?
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

4) Share a defining moment in your life, which had a direct effect on who you are today.
To make a VERY long story short…My first job out of college was at a small, fancy pants PR agency in Manhattan. It was heinous…no lunch breaks, no benefits (health or other) -- just the "prestige" of working there. My boss was tiny, but thanks to an incredible collection of Manolo Blahniks she could look you right in the eye when she was making you feel like a lump of poo. One day she called me in her office to say, give or take a couple of words, "You'll never, ever make it. You're not cut out for this business or this city. Maybe I could help you find a job in retail." In less than 10 years I was running the PR department at a major company in her building. I've often thought about writing her a thank you note for making my first "real job" so horrible: She helped me keep my eye on the prize, and by putting me down just made me work harder.

5) Please tell us the story of the biggest belly laugh of your life.
I laugh a *lot* so that's a really tough one. I come from a long line of belly laughers, in fact. I'd have to say my mother getting pulled onto a Broadway stage by Dame Edna is up there. And when I first heard David Sedaris read Santaland Diaries live, I almost piddled myself I laughed so hard.

6) What work of art, creation, project, photo, etc. are you most proud of?
I think you're supposed to say your kids? But I don't have any. Hmmm...I'm pretty proud of the house me and the mister have put together over the past year. That's certainly been a labor of love at times.

Digging back a bit in time…When I was in college, my fashion journalism professor was the former men's fashion editor at the L.A. Times, so when he submitted one of my class assignments (on tartan making a comeback) for publication I almost plotzed. I was pretty proud to be considered "publishable" by anyone, least of whom a respected journalist.

7) Which children's book influenced you the most?
Charlotte's Web. Read it. Loved it. Never ate meat again. And that was pretty close to 30 years ago!

8) What is your favorite pie? Favorite flavor Ice Cream?
I. Love. Pie. Making it…eating it…loving it. My favorite decadent treat is the sour cream apple walnut pie at The Little Pie Company in NYC.
And, hands down mint chocolate chip ice cream is mon favorite. Always has been my favorite, and (save me getting dropped on my head or something) always will be.

9) Which blog post of yours has had the most comments?
My house tours have always been crowd favorites, thanks to linking up to Hooked on Houses' online tours (http://hookedonhouses.net/2008/10/23/hooked-on-house-tours-the-fall-party-starts-here). The most comments were on my school house tour/giveaway post:
http://shorechic.blogspot.com/2008/10/back-to-school-house-tour.html#comments

And a close second was my tour of the wild Ocean Grove, NJ, tent community which had 45 comments (http://shorechic.blogspot.com/2008/08/they-live-in-tents.html#comments),
but was my most talked about post…and brought many new people my way that still read my blog (and vice versa).

10) What message would you like to leave for the world? (here is your chance)
Oh, jeez…That's way too enormous a responsibility for a dunderhead like me. :-) So I'll steal a couple of words from the late musician Warren Zevon…"Enjoy every sandwich."