April 15th 2016: Three suitcases, a couple garbage bags of untouched dry cleaned clothes, two overflowing boxes of sketch books and gouache paints, and a wooden easel I found at the Brooklyn Flea. Sentimental only because I bought it specifically for CKD's first collection launch party. Whatever didn't fit in that Uber XL didn't come with me. I watched my entire New York life, a life I worked so hard to get, to keep, to be a part of, cross the Canadian border tired and almost sad. Just like their owner. I slept for the remainder of April.
I didn't know then, but April 15th was a day that would completely change my life. Leaving the next eight months to follow putting myself back together, one broken bone at a time. The magic of New York City is its ability to make you feel like you can be a part of it. It's all possible if you just work a little harder. But there's a difference between harder and smarter. If I wanted Candice Kaye Design to work, to be a fully functioning company, I needed to get smarter. I needed to give it everything I got, and I needed time to make that happen. I needed home.
June 5th 2016: I was thankful for the summer. For a backyard and refillable coffee. For quiet, for re-discovering my love for country roads, and long car rides. I had all the time in the world to paint and create. However, I had gone from a New York-non-stop lifestyle to alone. Just me, myself, and my thoughts. And the thoughts that roam around in your head over and over create patterns. Those thought patterns will translate into your everyday reality. Mine did. Not with work, but with my personal thought patterns - and they got pretty negative. Now I had to deal with them along with everything else? So I did what I do best in a situation like this, I traveled.
Morocco, London, Scotland, Florence, Paris, Rome. I rode on camels, slept in the desert, watched the sunrise, fell head over heels in love with Florence, ate steak at Hotel Costes in Paris, and made three wishes in the Trevi fountain.
I now sit in my new studio, slightly more cultured than last year, consumed way too many episodes of Gilmore Girls, and am working on a new project for a cafe all the way in Sydney Australia. Maybe my happy ending of 2016 wasn't about moving to the next country, the next VISA application, the next something. Maybe my happy ending of 2016 was moving on just as I am and celebrating that.
