Headed from an East Coast State of Mind to MONTANA!?

I have to admit that I am a little nervous. I am going to Montana!  I am not new to traveling and it won’t be my first time in Montana, but for some reason this trip has me feeling a little bit out of my comfort zone. Well, maybe, more than a little bit. But I am up for the challenge!

To provide context, I grew up outside of Washington, DC in Bethesda, MD and have lived for many years in Main Line Philadelphia, named for the railroad line that connects the towns running west from Center City Philadelphia (what we call "downtown" here). As some of you know, I provide outsourced lifestyle management services, meaning executive assistance, personal assistance and estate management services to clients who typically have busy complicated lives. I take things off their plate to quiet the chaos and preserve their time.

This trip to Montana is a work trip with several objectives. I will make and build relationships with people with whom my clients do business that will enable me to better support my clients’ business and personal priorities. I will also provide in-person support at two events that my clients would like to attend, but will not be able to due to conflicting schedules. Additionally, I will complete other various tasks as needed.

Although it sounds trivial, my first worry about the trip is my wardrobe. After many years of working in an office environment and attending events of varying dress code, I do have a decent wardrobe. However, when I watch Yellowstone, frankly I don’t have those clothes. I am more likely to wear yoga pants than jeans and I do not own any cowboy hats or western boots. I watched a video from last years’ version of one of the events that I will be supporting, and it really did look like Yellowstone – lots of denim, flannel, floral flowy dresses, boots, hats. I am not a hat wearer. I have two baseball hats in bright colors that I use for sun coverage at the beach, but definitely no cowboy hats.

About three weeks ago I visited my favorite local women’s clothing boutique in Wayne, PA, Wardrobe, and bought this denim dress. I am pretty pleased with it as I anticipate it will fit in well out West and I will also be comfortable wearing it in my “regular East Coast life," very versatile! My resourceful friend, Amy, suggested that I also check out the vendors at the Devon Horse Show to look for Western attire. I stopped over at the horse show last week and ended up with some chestnut-colored Ilse Jacobsen flat shoes from a kiosk by Zest out of Wellington, FL.  While not Western, Wellington, FL is certainly horse country, and Zest had lots of fun options. Not only will the shoes look good with my denim dress, but they are also both comfortable and washable. Washable is not a characteristic I was looking for in shoes, but will be very handy as I will be wearing them in fields. If I step in anything in said fields, I will be ready!

I look forward to sharing the highlights of my trip with you over the next few weeks when I will be performing some non-traditional executive and personal assistant services with creativity, humor and through strategic relationship-building.  

Please contact me to discuss how I can help you expand your bandwidth with fractional lifestyle management.