LINEWORK

Hello Baby Dolls,

Happy, happy Friday...well make that Saturday!! It's past midnight in NYC and the city is blanketed under the spell of Nemo. What a way to treat New York Fashion Week (Hello Mother Nature, don't you know that this is like the most important time of the year?!!). Anyway, I'm barely awake and riding high off of my first week at Collection 18, my drawing session Thursday night at the Society of Illustrators, and some FANTASTIC NEWS I received at around 10:30 PM ce soir eeekk!!

Thank goodness I practiced my illustration linework the other night because it looks like I'm going to be drawing at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week this weekend YAY!! Oh and super bonus: my sugar free diet is working like a charm (minus the maniacal daily cravings). I have more energy now than I have for years and I'm feeling like a superhero illustration | design machine yipee skipee. Well friends, it's time for ZZzzz. I have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious weekend ahead.

Can't wait to catch up with you soon!!

HUGS & KISSES,
Meag xx

SUGAR FREE

New Year - New Lifestyle. Lovelies, I'm going sugar free.

It isn't so much a choice as it is a necessity. Sometimes when you go to one extreme, you have to swing the pendulum back the other way to get on track again. Needless to say, I'm relearning how to eat...well.

Those of you who know me, and I mean really know me, would probably describe me as one of the most indulgent people on the planet. I love decadence. I love champagne, and steak tartar, and duck confit on a Wednesday night just because I can. That is what makes me, me. I have a real thirst for the luxuries of life.

This is also why up until now, living in the center of Manhattan has coincided with every fiber of my being. You can live life here to the absolute extremes. Sunday brunches with fantastic dj's and unlimited mimosas, dinner dates with friends any night of the week, bar openings, gallery hoping, movie screenings, soho shopping sprees...there are no limits here, period. But when you're told pretty explicitly that you need to quit eating sugar NOW, suddenly there are limits (BIG ones).

You don't realize, until you are forced to pay realllly close attention, just how much sugar the average person consumes daily. From your milk/juice in the morning, to your salad dressing at dinner, just about every meal contains sugar. Perhaps the biggest shock of all for me is realizing just how much changing the food in my life affects absolutely everything else in my life too.

Suddenly living in a shoebox apartment in the West Village with no kitchen space doesn't seem so ideal for a person who now needs to prepare their own meals. Going out dancing a few minutes from home doesn't have the same 'win' feeling when having to explain why you can't drink with everyone else. Everything from where I eat to where I hangout is now influenced by my new diet.

Now I'm on the eve of starting a new job and I can't help but wonder how I will maintain a sugar free life in the face of new stresses and deadlines. When you change your life-source (ie food) you undoubtedly change your whole entire life. And despite whatever alarming inconveniences/cravings I faced in beginning this new chapter, I feel my body changing for the better. With less sugar comes diminished anxiety, fatigue, and weight, which is replaced with clearer skin, more energy, and a much more balanced life.

This is just the beginning for me and with it comes a new thirst for life (a much healthier one too). And I'm beyond excited to see where this new lifestyle takes me.

Have any of you gone sugar free? I would love to hear about your experiences below.

Much love,
Meag xx 

For the Love of Blog!

Hello My Loves,

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Fortunately, I wrapped up a very exciting two week project which left just enough time for some Friday self reflection. I started sifting through the archives on my slowly dying vintage MacBook and came across this bloglovin' icon I designed for TWD two years ago. And like a floodgate, all the incredible memories I have of starting my blog came rushing back to me. Of all the new ventures I embarked on in NYC, by far the most rewarding has been my blog.

When I look at this luggage tag icon, not only do I see how far I've come stylistically, but I'm reminded of the thrill I experienced joining the bloglovin' community. I remember discovering Danny Roberts' blog Igor + Andre and realizing the power, the magnitude, of starting your own blog. I never dreamed that my words would connect with people in such a meaningful way; that my fears could be stifled by complete strangers rooting for me from behind a computer screen.

To say that starting my blog changed my life is a bit of an understatement. I overcame so many personal and professional hurtles just by taking the leap and putting my voice, my portfolio, out there. I feel so lucky to have blog readers write me and ask for advice. So often they ask how I got started. And the truth is, at 25, I decided to stop thinking and start doing. Like anything in life, you learn as you go. Fortune favours the bold, so stop standing in your way, and start making moves.

Clearly I'm no blog expert. I'm not a superstar illustrator or some sort of anomaly. I'm just a girl who takes risks and isn't afraid to share parts of my world (the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly). I guess what I'm trying to get across in this post is that you never know when or where you'll find your greatest passion. Bloglovin' helped to put my blog on the radar and make me realize a world of possibilities, a community of like minded, and inspiring individuals.

Maybe take a moment this weekend to think about some things you've always wanted to do but never believed you could do. And know first hand, through me, that nothing is impossible.

Bisous,
Meag xx

TWD Darling: Kelly Cutrone

"I happen to believe the world will change only when we change ourselves. And that starts with finding ourselves. And that starts with listening to ourselves: learning to quiet the clamor in our minds and the voices of everyone around us and move toward what feels right - toward the things we know, for reasons we can't explain, that we're meant to do, the things that make us feel alive."

- Kelly Cutrone 

You know the expression "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear"? Well, I think that might be the most accurate way to describe how I came to read (thrice) Kelly Cutrone's "If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You". Cutrone is a wildly successful PR maven who is known for her no holds barred attitude and honest approach to business. But above all else, she is a woman who lives in her truth. For this reason alone, I felt compelled to read her book, paint her portrait, and become closely engrossed in the world of Kelly Cutrone.

When I initially started the TWD Darling portion of my blog, I had always hoped to draw (both literally and figuratively) attention to truly inspiring individuals. I never imagined, however, that I would be moved this profoundly by another person's written words. The truth is I found myself again by finding Kelly. For the past year and a half I had felt so lost and confused at times trying to navigate my career in New York. So much so that I stopped hearing my own voice and replacing it with the deafening noise of doubt and fear.

Can I make it? What if I fail? Is this ever going to happen for me? were the mantras that played on rotation in my mind.

And then I opened the book of Cutrone, and was reminded why I began the journey to New York, why I started this blog, why I've made decisions to pass on certain opportunities and not others. I was reminded to always be my most authentic self because "ultimately, if you're doing what you're meant to do - if you're in your truth - doors will open for you." And that "even when your wallet or your need to be on a VIP list is calling you, stand strong and remember what your brand is about." I was reminded of what I've known all along, to stay true to me.

I could write pages on the amazing pearls of wisdom overflowing in this book but rather I will advise you just to read it on your own. It isn't just for the young NYC fashion hopefuls, but for anyone venturing through life with a quest for the truth. Ultimately, your life comes down to you, what you want, what you hope and dream for. You are the foundation of your own world and you manifest your own destiny. Start with you and the rest will follow. Kelly, if you ever read this, thank you for being so brave and sharing your truth with this book. You helped me to find mine again too.

Much love,
Meag xx 

Armani: Through the Eyes of Illustrators

Armani SS13

Happy, Happy New Year Everyone!!

I hope you had the most spectacular holiday season with your loved ones. I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted here. The final month leading up to Christmas was quite hellish for me. My life sort of came crashing down and I was really forced to reevaluate things. In any case, here I am, back and recharged; perhaps still thinking things through but much stronger than I was before.

Best of all, my first post of 2013 is a celebratory one. I have been dying to share here, since late October, that I had been contacted by ARMANI's Digital Communication Worldwide and asked to contribute an original illustration to their facebook album Armani: Through the Eyes of Illustrators. I was so unbelievably honored and excited that I nearly burst at the seams.

My final piece has been added to the beautifully curated album alongside several other EXTREMELY talented illustrators worldwide. Be sure to check it out here and stay tuned for many more TWD posts to come. Lastly, but certainly not least, thank you to all my amazing followers (new and old) for keeping me so inspired and motivated every step of the way. I love you all.

Much love, many hugs, and so many kisses!!
Meag xx

On The Fringe

Coco Rocha VOGUE Mexico

I have a small confession to make friends. I'm on the fringe.

In fact, my whole life I've been on the fringe.

I was never popular in school. For better or worse, I've always marched to the beat of my own drum. It dawned on me recently, as I inch ever more closely to my five year mark in New York, that I still very much exist on the fringe.

Before I moved here I imagined my life looking very differently. I believed so naively that New York would embrace me like a coveted gem. I would be invited to all the "in" parties. I would make an impression, do things differently, really be a "somebody". Truth be told, that couldn't be further from reality.

Somehow after three and a half years here, I still exist on the fringe. I still peer from the sidelines, hoping, praying for my big break. I wonder if my affinity for integrity, for sincerity, has somehow relegated me to no man's land in the business world. If only I could schmooze better, have a little more edge, maybe, just maybe, I could get ahead.

But by the same token I wonder if being on the inside is really anymore fun?! Perhaps being on the fringe is really where the exciting stuff happens. When you aren't looking over your shoulder all the time, wondering who is watching you, whether you look the right way, or are associating with the right people, maybe you actually just get to be...

Not long ago I listened to the remarkable David Downton speak at FIT. He said that he never wanted to be "in" fashion because that meant you eventually had to be "out". So perhaps, after all is said and done, being on the fringe is really where I ought to be...

Meag xx

Hard Rock

Jason Wu - KARLIE BOX CLUTCH

Hello My Lovelies!!

I've missed you oh so much. I finally had the opportunity to paint just for me this weekend and it felt incredible. A big weight was lifted from my shoulders a few days ago and I feel like, for the first time in possibly three years, I can really think clearly about what and where my life is going. Since obtaining my work visa in the United States I had really lost sight of why I even came to New York in the first place - to be a fashion illustrator. Sometimes the universe smacks you right in the face in order to steer you right back on track.

So how does this GORGEOUS Jason Wu clutch fit into all of this?! Firstly, and quite simply, because I loved the giant gem/crystal trend that happened this fall (ahem Prada). Secondly, because I had just done an interview with FASHIONISMYWAY and talked about how New York requires a little a lot of armor in your wardrobe. It's such a hard knock city, not for the faint of heart, and something about this clutch felt very metaphoric of how I feel most of the time here; shiny, vibrant, and polished on the outside - vulnerable and delicate on the inside.

Anyway, I'm feeling some big changes coming in my life and I couldn't be happier. Sometimes when everything is falling apart it is actually falling into place.

Much love,
Meag xx