Swindler Cove Before and After
I have a million things I want to talk about this week but I thought I would start with something philanthropic to start the week off on the right foot.
Whenever we have a client call us screaming about something like their pillows not arriving on time, I always shake my head and say, "It's not brain surgery! It's decorating!" We do our best but things happen and you know what, no one is going to die if they don't have their pillows today! Let's keep in mind that there are more important things going on in the world.
I attend a lot of charity events in New York and am especially involved with arts related groups but it's one thing to write a check and attend a fancy event and it's quite another to get your hands dirty...and your shirt, pants and shoes!
A few years back, I had the opportunity to work as part of group cleaning up a park along the Hudson River on the Upper Upper West Side of Manhattan through New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit group founded by Better Midler in 1995. See before and after photos of one project above and many more on her website. Their work is amazing as I saw first hand. The girls and I mostly cleaned up garbage along the river bank while guys who were bickering and fighting in the office just hours before, were working together to plant trees and drive in posts. Not an easy task! We had a great day and felt like we really accomplished something and it made me very careful to recycle and always throw my trash away in the proper place. And by the way, Duncan Donuts should think about getting rid of their Styrofoam cups! Those things were all over the river bank and never decompose...or at least not in this lifetime!
Anyway, I hope to profile other wonderful groups as I go along and in the meantime, I'd love to know what you do to give back and what philanthropies you're involved with because as much as I love the frivolity of decorating, there are definitely more important things in life to worry sometimes besides pillows! I just wish someone would tell our clients that!
Whenever we have a client call us screaming about something like their pillows not arriving on time, I always shake my head and say, "It's not brain surgery! It's decorating!" We do our best but things happen and you know what, no one is going to die if they don't have their pillows today! Let's keep in mind that there are more important things going on in the world.
I attend a lot of charity events in New York and am especially involved with arts related groups but it's one thing to write a check and attend a fancy event and it's quite another to get your hands dirty...and your shirt, pants and shoes!
A few years back, I had the opportunity to work as part of group cleaning up a park along the Hudson River on the Upper Upper West Side of Manhattan through New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit group founded by Better Midler in 1995. See before and after photos of one project above and many more on her website. Their work is amazing as I saw first hand. The girls and I mostly cleaned up garbage along the river bank while guys who were bickering and fighting in the office just hours before, were working together to plant trees and drive in posts. Not an easy task! We had a great day and felt like we really accomplished something and it made me very careful to recycle and always throw my trash away in the proper place. And by the way, Duncan Donuts should think about getting rid of their Styrofoam cups! Those things were all over the river bank and never decompose...or at least not in this lifetime!
Anyway, I hope to profile other wonderful groups as I go along and in the meantime, I'd love to know what you do to give back and what philanthropies you're involved with because as much as I love the frivolity of decorating, there are definitely more important things in life to worry sometimes besides pillows! I just wish someone would tell our clients that!
