THE VINTAGE CAREER GIRL VS THE CLASSY CAREER GIRL OF TODAY

My daughter Anna diligently writes a great blog called  the Classy Career Girl  which leads me to make a comparison between the classy career girl of today and the vintage career girl of the 60s and 70s. 

• In the 60s and early 70s women almost always majored in education, nursing or sociology -  today they have majors all over the spectrum and there are NO LIMITS to what they can accomplish. 
• Employment ads in all the national newspapers were then divided between female and male job openings.   Today the job search takes full advantage of current technology with no indication of gender.
• Managers had secretaries and, of course, my first job (even though I was a college graduate) was secretary to a Personnel Manager (now known as Human Resources).  Fortunately, I worked for a rather progressive female who I respected and learned a lot from.  
• I'm not exactly sure what the college graduates are getting for starting salaries these days, but I know it exceeds my $118.00 per week. I managed to live in Manhattan, New York on that salary in 1969.     
• While living in New York in 1969, I shopped at Alexander's and Orhbach's for discounted clothing - today I think it would be Marshalls and Ross.  I loved to walk through Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales and look at all of the fancy apparel, accessories and cosmetics.  Saks and Bloomingdales were then unique to just a few cities, so shopping in NYC was a very big deal. 
• In those days you needed to be at least age 26 with a good income in order to qualify for a credit card.  Needless to say we frequented banks and deposited our checks and we were forced to live within our means.  I think we all did.  You could only spend what you had - it was all pretty simple.  Frankly, it still is that simple-- (if we forget about keeping up with the Jones's).
• No Starbucks - just the best New York  coffee anywhere - we would stand in the "to go" line at the delicatessen to purchase it on our way to work.  Even the coffee carts had good coffee.   Maybe I should also mention the warm buttered corn muffins.  
• I  walked everywhere with comfortable shoes - I still do.   How can these career girls wear the high heels day in and day out?  

            Illustration from Octavine Illustration.

Travel Challenge #1

My life partner/ husband and I are planning another journey  (thank heavens I agreed to travel around the world with him when we were first dating because I think he believed that getting along on an extended trip was part of the prerequisite to a happy marriage.)   I guess I passed the test because we have been happily married for 31 years.
 Just a couple of weeks ago, on the spur of the moment, we purchased the Jet Blue travel pass.  We were having so much fun doing it that my brother, who was visiting us from California, handed me his credit card and said to sign him up too.  Another proof that shopping is contagious.  In case you are not familiar with the "all you can fly" pass - it basically allows you to fly anywhere on the Jet Blue system for one month beginning Sept 7.
I had some buyers remorse when it came to booking the flights because there were so many options and we had to deal with the connecting cities.  But we now have a plan and the flights are booked -  hopefully it won't be too hectic.  We leave on Sept 7th for New York City with plans to attend the US Tennis Open and wander around one of my favorite cities for 2 days  (my husband thinks NYC is too expensive and has very little appreciation for the city - so I'm lucky he wanted to attend the US Open).   I will be exploring Manhattan at my normal frenzied pace and as usual will be ready to leave when the time comes.   I am going to find the Steinway Piano showroom which peaked an interested after watching "Note by Note - the making of Steinways".  Great movie by the way. 
Challenge number 1 -  finding a cheap room in Manhattan.  So far my $110 bids on Priceline have been unsuccessful.