The Modern Girl's Guide To Being A Domestic Goddess
My Story
In 24 hours I changed my life.
Everything seemed wonderful in the picture perfect word I had created for myself. I was just beginning to experience my twenties; making money; driving a fancy car; living in a fabulous loft; having the best clothes, shoes, and jewelry. You name it—I had it. I was living between Milwaukee and Chicago working as a model and make-up artist and had all the trappings to show for it. I was the true definition of young and fabulous!
In my head, I had it going on—until I woke up one morning and my spirit just felt heavy! I said to myself, “I’m not happy. I don’t want to be here.” I had no idea why I was unhappy, where I wanted to go, or what I was going to do. I just knew that I did not want to be where I was; and I didn’t want to be doing what I was doing. Despite all the glam and glitter that made my life look so good on the outside, in reality I was miserable! My rent, car note, and every bill in my name were behind. Even though I was making great money, I never paid my bills on time. I was in a relationship with a man who I really didn’t want to be with, and I felt empty and powerless every single day. My spirit was telling me that something had to change—immediately!
I wanted to pursue my dreams and live a purposeful life—even though I wasn’t quite sure what that meant for me. Up until that point, I thought I had been doing the right thing. At 7:30 on that fateful morning, I decided to listen to my spirit. My heart said I needed to move, but my mind asked, “And go where?” So I flipped a coin: heads to New York, tails to Los Angeles. It landed on heads. Next thing I knew, I was on the phone telling people that “I’m moving, and I’m selling my stuff...” In about five hours everything was sold. My dishes, clothes, furniture, the art off my walls—everything. I put my apartment keys in an envelope with a note to my landlord and drove my leased car back to the dealership.
I called my family; they thought I had completely lost my mind. I took the money that I made from selling everything, packed one suitcase, and went to the airport. It was about 9:30 in the evening when I got a one-way ticket to New York City. I had no idea where I was going, what I was going to do, or why I was doing it. I also didn’t know a soul in New York. But I’ve always been known for doing wild, spontaneous things which usually don’t make sense to other people. I call it following my intuition. (And I will show you how to do that later on in the book.)
At this point my dreams started conjuring up visions of the good life in Harlem, being a mover and shaker in New York City, and playing with the big boys! These were my only plans: stay in a hotel, ride the trains, check out some neighborhoods, and set up shop. One day I wound up in Brooklyn and walked past a restaurant called Café Shane. The owner was outside, sweeping. I stopped and asked, “Excuse me, do you know where I can find an internet café? I need to look for an apartment.” That moment turned out to be complete divine intervention: As it turned out, the owner had a friend who had an apartment for rent, and I went to check it out.
The entire apartment was the size of my old bedroom—talk about tiny! And it was raggedy as hell. I thought to myself…
