What Recession?

When the Great Depression happened, Americans got some little surprises in the way of great art, films, design, music and literature.

Today as we go about our daily lives, each of us struggling to stay afloat, I cannot help but think that we may be in for some little surprises of our own. I, for one, have already caught myself enjoying the arts and other small indulgences more than I ever did when money was flowing and I was too busy to stop and smell the roses. I’ve also been able to better notice some of the things in my life that are worth being grateful for. I decided to compile some these things into a therapeutic list– an activity I highly recommend for anyone who may feel like the recession has got them down.

Ten Things That Make Me Say (even if only for a moment) “What Recession?”

1. My baby grand piano. It is old, it is lovely and it is out of tune. Mike and I bought it on a whim last year when we had a loft with an empty baby-grand-piano-sized space. I plinked and plunked until I started to remembered what to do. Now, when I sit down at and play it makes me feel civilized and sophisticated.

2. freetranslation.com. I go to this website to translate anything I feel like saying in the language of love. I get to learn, I get to sound sexy (sometimes) and, as the name suggests, I pay nothing for this service.

3. My wonderful staff. We’re planning on making some pretty dramatic cuts over the next few weeks– including moving out of the new office that we love and into my detached garage. I worried about breaking this news to them but, amazingly, they each expressed that they would be happy to work out a cardboard box for me if that was what it took for us to keep going. The garage office will be much nicer than a cardboard box… we’re even planning to create an indoor/outdoor workspace because, hey, we live in Southern California!

4. My new camera. Recently my old camera fell off the shelf of my closet and broke. Since neither of us wish to have the first photos of our son shot with an iPhone, and because I absolutely adore photography, Mike ran out and bought me a Nikon D60, with two lenses. It was an extravagant Valentine’s gift… he was a prince and sold some of his coveted classic car bits in order to get it for me.

5. Barack Obama. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a president that Americans could truly look up to. It is even better than I thought it would be.

6. Cooking. A recession-friendly activity that I have grown to love. The other night I made my first rack of lamb– I was in the kitchen for hours and I enjoyed every second of it. Oh, and it was delicious, too.

7. New projects. Some little, some big. None of them are enough to single-handedly float us until the economy recovers but they are interesting and, surprisingly, numerous! We’ll be creating in ways that we never have before. We’ll be working with tighter budgets and we’ll be growing as designers.

8. Kim Marshall of The Marshall Plan. My fabulous publicist who is now bartering with me– we cannot bear to part ways just because some silly recession means I have no money to pay her. She is talented, creative and a wonderful human being. I dare you to find another publicist that you can genuinely say those things about. (Here she is with her adorable husband, Laz.)

9. My beach cruiser. It is pure bliss to ride around my beach town on my barbie-pink bike. Plus it has a basket.

10. Mike and the baby. Love doesn’t need funding.

(Pic of baby pending his arrival.)