A Beautiful (New York state of) Mind

Grown up crayon art

2011-09-01T11:33:00.000-04:00

Super cool! Might need to try this on a smaller scale, except I think I'd take the crayons off when I was done. Maybe a fun piece for my kitchen?

via Apartment Therapy

Summer swing

2011-06-09T13:05:00.000-04:00

It's my dream to spend my summer in a backyard like this:

(via Apartment Therapy)

The older I get, the more I crave the suburbs and space, especially relaxing outdoors space. How pristine and relaxing does this look? I'm adding this swing to my "In 10 years..." goals list right now.

22 reasons

2011-05-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

The thing about boyfriends is that sometimes I think the girls forget to give them credit for all the things they do. Yes, they take us on beautiful dates and buy us dinner and drinks and pay for cabs but what about all those other things - the little things, both romantic and completely mundane, that nobody else gets to see and that, even when you say thank you, they'll never know how special and happy it makes you feel that they humor you and go out of their way for you?

Well, bf, this is for you.

A few reasons that Danny is the best boyfriend:

1. He makes me dinner when I work at the gym all night on Tuesdays (heating up leftovers counts too! the food being ready when I am home is all it takes to make my heart flutter)

2. He never ever lets me take out the trash, because "that's a boy job!"

3. When I travel and have to go the the airport straight from work, he walks me to work and carries my luggage so I don't have to take a cab

4. He never complains when I ask him to retreive said luggage from the upper echelons of our bedroom closet so that I don't have to get the step ladder

5. Same goes for our pyrex casserole dishes and the blender in the kitchen cabinets

6. When I come home from a workout in a silly mood because I've been listening to loud pop music, he not only lets me plug my iPod in to our speakers and blast Justin Bieber but he'll dance like a crazy person around the apartment with me

7. He listens to my stories about all the dogs we're going to own someday and doesn't tell me that I'm being ridiculous and that nobody can own 17 shiba inu's

8. He will visit multiple dog parks in one day with me

9. He always lets me sit in the window seat on airplanes

10. I'm a slow eater and, when we're out to eat, he never lets the waiter take his plate off the table until I finish with my dinner

11. He (almost) always asks me if I want to order dessert

12. If I fall asleep on the couch, I always wake up to find my favorite blanket tucked around me

13. He doesn't complain when I pick out chick flicks for us to watch

14. He tells me that everything I cook is "amazing" and "the best thing he's ever had!", except for that one time when I made some really really salty tabbouleh

15. He never laughs at me when I ask him to explain things about the stock market or math

16. When I flew to Vegas last month, I opened my Kindle on the plane and found $100 hidden in the cover for "some fun money and to buy Bridget drinks!"

17. He comes halfway across the country with me to things like my brother's graduation because he knows it's important to me

18. When I'm sick or even just have a headache, he is the best nurse EVER

19. He always carries the groceries home for me (over 20 blocks!) when we go to Trader Joe's

20. He puts his arms in front of me like a crossing guard and looks both ways before he lets me cross the street so I don't get hit

21. If we're brushing our teeth at the same time, he always lets me spit first

22. Every night during the summer, he takes me outside on to our balcony to look at the lights on the Empire State building, gives me a kiss and tells me he loves me

Shiba Inu puppy cam is back!!

2011-04-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

If you know me at all, you know that the thing I want most in the whole world is a dog. And not only a dog, but a Shiba Inu. (Danny, are you reading this??) They look like mini-Sabrina's!!! Apartment-sized Akitas, if you will.

Do you guys remember this post from last year?

Well....THEY'RE BACK!!!!!

These little critters will be living on my desktop everyday for the next month and a half.

http://www.ustream.tv/sfshiba

Summer's coming!

2011-04-27T17:02:00.000-04:00

I feel like all I do is post super sweet desserts that I want to make/eat. Sorry for my one track mind. Besides all of my busy spring activities with showers, bachelorettes, weddings and graduations, but I have thus far spared you from all of that talk - probably soon to change.

Anyways! I really really really REALLY love s'mores, so these might even one-up the double chocolate chip oreo cookie sandwich that I posted a few weeks ago in my book. I WILL be making these this spring/summer until our weekend away in July with all our friends at a house upstate where we can make real s'mores. The weather is finally just starting to be really warm and lovely here in NYC and s'mores are the essence of summer and relaxation.

Is your mouth watering yet? Here's the how-to!

Street style

2011-04-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

So, my busy season has officially started! There's no stopping until June 25th....literally. I went to Vegas last weekend for mu friend Bridget's bachelorette (it was amazing and I love checking off places to visit on my life to-do list) and have mucho pictures but for now, lets talk about one of my other dreams - being photographed for a street style blog. Despite my rather boring work clothing choices, particularly in the winter (pretty sure I've worn black tights and boots every day since November 11th), I like to think that I have some semblance of style, especially if you give me enough time to get ready (and maybe a little more money to shop with).

And thus, Garance (of The Sartorialist) has provided us all with this wonderful guide as to how to attract those street style bloggers running all over the city.

I guess I really need to put my black flats away and start hailing cabs gracefully. Does anyone want to loan me a floaty Prada skirt?

26

2011-03-21T17:20:00.003-04:00

Today is my 26th birthday and I swear I don't feel a day over 20 :)

Cereal flakes

2011-03-02T16:39:00.006-05:00

I never liked cereal that much until I became a real person (aka until I graduated from college). Living in the fantasy world of college awesomeness where parents pay for everything, I regularly bought egg, cheddar and roasted red pepper bagel sandwiches from Cosi every morning before I went to class (seriously, try them, SO GOOD). Anyways, when I A.) started having to pay for everything myself and B.) moved to NYC where I could afford nothing, I realized that I needed a breakfast makeover. So I started making myself like cereal, because it was cheap and easy to eat at my desk in the mornings at work. (side note: cereal in general is not cheap in New York, as boxes are regularly around $6.50 at the grocery store. But CVS always has great "2 boxes for $5" specials and there is one in the building I work in)

Fast forward 3 1/2 years later and I eat at least 2 bowls of cereal a day - always one in the morning and then another as a snack around 4:30. You know about my favorite cereal - I wrote all about it here. Anyways, check out what I found in this afternoon's cereal snack:

It's the biggest cereal flake EVER. Like, the size of a potato chip. I took another so you can get an idea of the actual size.

Anyways, sorry if this was a dumb post. I was just really excited about my mutant cereal flake.

The double/triple cookie

2011-02-17T12:53:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know that this looks like a heart attack and a half, but don't you just sort of kind of want to TRY one?

(this kind of recipe perusing is what happens when I eat only salads for lunch)

Good mood

2011-02-04T12:09:00.003-05:00

I love Hale and Hearty but almost never buy it because their prices are outrageous. $7 for 12 oz. of soup? No thanks, I will buy the $1.05 Campbells.

But today, I didn't have anything to eat for lunch at work and since I brought my lunch every day this week, didn't eat out for any dinners and I had a "snack-y" dinner last night over at my friend Emily's, I figured I could splurge for the soup.

Happiest day ever! I just got back to my desk and looked at my receipt, only to see that they mistakenly charged me $5 for the split pea soup instead of $6.59 for the Tomato Chicken Orzo that I got. Score! ALSO the nice man behind the counter gave me a packet of bread with 2 pieces instead of one.

It's my lucky day!!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Grilled cheese

2011-01-27T10:41:00.009-05:00

My friend Cathay blogged about grilled cheese and tomato soup the other day. While I enjoy a good old American-cheese-on-white-bread grilled cheese, I mostly make what I call my "gourmet grilled cheese" with goat cheese and cherry tomatoes and it is SO delicious. With the cold snowy winter (hello 12.6 inches in NYC toady) I have been really craving this as a comfort food and am not ashamed to admit that I made these on Saturday, Monday and last night. I know you're dying for a step by step how-to guide, right?!

I like to start with La Brea sourdough bread that I slice about half an inch thick, goat cheese, and about 10 cherry tomatoes which I slice in half lengthwise (makes for better sandwich binding later on!)

I slice off about 1 inch of the goat cheese per sandwich (yes I'm making 2 for myself, don't judge) and sprinkle until the surface of the bread is covered. This is a weird picture though, doesn't it look like I've covered my break in popcorn?

Then layer the cherry tomatoes on top of the goat cheese...

And top with the other slice of bread and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, spread evenly over the bread. I like to use olive oil on these instead of butter - healthier and makes them crisp up really nicely.

Turn your burner on medium heat and plunk those sandwiches on in! I have no method for how long these should cook, and totally depends on your toasting preference, but I'd say 3 minutes for the first side and 1 1/2 for the second. You can test them by pressing down to see how melt-y the goat cheese is - I like mine to ooze out the sides.

Et voila!

I like to eat this paired with Amy's Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque. However, Danny thinks that this soup is too chunky and marinara-y, so I make plain old Campbells for him!

Trust me, you will never go back to American cheese grilled cheeses ever again!

Pretzels

2011-01-24T13:40:00.008-05:00

I really hate when I buy the wrong thing at the store and don't realize it until I open the item, rendering it un-returnable. (is unreturnable a word?)

Anyways, one of my favorite afternoon snacks at work is pretzels and dark chocolate m&ms. I adore salty sweet combinations (i.e. french fries dipped in honey are HEAVEN) and I love that I can eat just a few pretzels (1 m&m per nibble is my rule) and feel happy and satisfied. And not guilty, as it takes me about 2 months to make it through a bag.

However, not happy or satisfied that instead of my favorite pretzels:

I accidentally bought these:

For some reason I didn't notice the Extra Dark display banner on the bag OR bright orange sticker alerting me to this fact. They are not the same as the plain sourdough and taste just shy of burned to me. I'm mad about my wasted $2.49. Yuck.

And now I'm hungry for french fries and honey...

Back

2011-01-19T10:44:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I want to be better about blogging. Really. I even have a list at home - a long list of things to blog about, but now my list has reached a daunting point and I don't know where to start on it and some of the things I don't even want to write about anymore. So lets just pretend like i haven't been absent for 2 months and pick up where we left off, ok? You didn't miss much, I promise :)

I'm going to Brooklyn tonight to see my distant cousin Michael's band Hollus play. I'm actually not sure what level of cousin is even correct - our grandparents are cousins, so does that make us 3rd cousins? Cousins twice removed?

Anyways, his grandparents used to own the house across the orchard from our lake house, so we spent our entire childhood summers playing outside together for hours and hours and hours (a few of those hours spent watching X-men, with me wishing there were more girls my age around for me to play with...). Anyways, we haven't seen each other in YEARS - maybe 15 years? And my grandparents saw his parents at a funeral (sad) and found out that Michael's band was playing a show in NYC. Michael and I found each other on facebook (I guess it is good for more than me stalking people's wedding/engagement photos) and I'm so excited to hear him play and get to see him tonight! This is one of the things I will always love about living in New York - everyone eventually comes to you at some point!

Now...what does one wear to a rock show in Brooklyn? I don't think any of my "I only buy clothes that I can also wear to work" clothes translate to that genre.

Google maps

2010-11-03T10:49:00.004-04:00

Funny game of the day, thanks to my little brother:

Google map Directions from China to Japan. Check out direction number 42.

Google map directions from San Diego, CA to Honolulu, HI. Check out direction number 14.

I could play this game all day! It is now my mission to find all of these crazy directions. Who sits around and types up these directions? Google is so clever.

ALSO happy 4 year anniversary to us!!!!! I'll probably do another full post about that - just couldn't pass up sharing this game.

A is for apples and autumnal leaves

2010-10-07T11:00:00.018-04:00

You can tell it's fall around our apartment because:

A. There is a homemade apple crisp on the stove (provided by last weekend's apple picking adventure upstate! More pictures are at home ready for a follow-up blog post!)

B. The fall decorations are out, namely my bittersweet candle wreath and my leaf garlands

C. The balcony door is closed because it is chilly out - I don't think this door has been closed since the middle of May!

So let me tell you about this apple crisp. It's my mom's recipe (I actually think that most crisp recipes are probably very similar, yes?) but it is amazing and so easy to make! Do not be intimidated by the crisp!

Ingredients:

10 medium to large apples

Cinnamon and sugar

1 stick of butter

1 cup of oatmeal

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of flour plus 1 tbsp.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking pan (I always use my 13 X 9 inch glass pyrex but whatever you have on hand will work!)

2. Peel the apples (very important, the first time I ever made crisp on my own, I forgot this step and trust me, the crisp is not very tasty) and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices.

3. Liberally sprinkle the apples with cinnamon, sugar and 1 tbsp of flour (the flour will help thicken the juicy sauce caused by the apples in the cooking process)

4. Mix up the crisp by combining the oatmeal, brown sugar and flour (sometimes I add an extra sprinkle of cinnamon in here). Cut the butter into pea-size cubes and add to mixture. Combine using hands until butter has been completely incorporated into oatmeal mixture (should be crumbly and clumpy)

5. Sprinkle crumble mixture evenly over apples.

6. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I promise, you can't go wrong! It's so delicious and comforting and keeps well on the stovetop covered in aluminum foil.

TGIF!

2010-10-01T13:28:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday! The rainy weather on the east coast is SUCH a bummer this week, right? I was beautiful fall weather, not rainboots every day! I can't even tell if the leaves in Central Park are changing yet.

Since it's October 1st and we don't seem to be having any more of those crazy 88 degree days, I'm going to say that it's now OFFICIALLY fall, as made my first apple crisp of the season and I'm planning to make chili for dinner tonight. AND I think I've successfully convinced Danny to get out of the city and go apple picking with me tomorrow! Who needs football when you can spend the day tromping around in orchards eating cider donuts?! I might even pull out my favorite Crate & Barrel fall leaves and decorate the apartment a little bit tonight to get us in the mood. Fall and Christmas are the only house decorations I own because you can leave them up for a long time, unlike holidays such as Easter or the 4th of July (it would be very odd to put your bunny things out from February until April, but my leaves and bittersweet can be out from September through November!)

I know, don't you all think I'm the coolest person ever, spending a whole paragraph talking about my house decorations when I haven't blogged for 3 weeks? :)

The second official profession of my love for lasers

2010-09-08T15:38:00.006-04:00

Electric Zoo, round 2! Remember this from last year? You all know my feelings on lasers and dance music. You can't go wrong.

Forgot my camera this year, which was pretty sad, but here are a few shots stolen from my friend Meher. Plus a video of the best act of the night, Pretty Lights. If you have a chance to see them, GO.

The Rembrandt Affair

2010-09-07T22:38:00.002-04:00

I'm reading The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva.

It's AMAZING. Couldn't put it down all day on Monday, I'm now halfway through after only half a day of reading. It's this amazing blend of art history meets WWII fact book. Sort of like The Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Anne Frank. Or something like that. Anyhow, it is so riveting. I bought it on my Kindle, but when I was just looking it up on Amazon.com, I realized that this is actually the TENTH book featuring one of the main characters, Gabriel Allon. Has anyone ever read any of the others?!! I'm really interested to know if they are as good. I feel like this is sort of how I read the Da Vinci Code and then realized that Dan Brown had previously written Angels & Demons. You don't need to have read Angels & Demons to love and appreciate the Da Vinci Code, but it's interesting back story to have that information going into the book. And I actually ended up liking Angels & Demons more, once I had read both of them.

Since I'm totally hooked, I'll finish The Rembrandt Affair before backtracking and reading the other books.

p.s. I also bought Eat, Pray Love and was pretty disappointed. I ALWAYS finish my books, and I couldn't even make it through the Italy portion of that without losing interest. My plan was to read the book before I saw the movie, but I think I'll just see the movie and call it a day. I feel like a traitor to books by doing that, but perhaps this is an instance where the movie is better than the book?

Iceberg, straight ahead!

2010-09-01T14:12:00.004-04:00

I can't think about icebergs without thinking about (duh) Titanic and (obviously) Leonardo DiCaprio. Sigh. Anyways...

HOW super cool does this iceberg vacation home sound? I mean, I do prefer more light than one can find below the water surface. And I bet running errands is a huge pain. But I would love to sign myself up for a couple of nights in one of these babies to catch some sun and watch my fish friends float by underwater. Because who doesn't want to walk out the door in the morning and be right on the lake? (literally, ON the lake)

Back from the bachelorette

2010-08-16T15:48:00.007-04:00

I have no excuse for my month plus absence from here except that I am having an exceptionally busy and wonderful summer, thus no time to blog!

So I just got back from my friend Lindsay's bachelorette weekend on Fire Island, which was amazing and one of the most fun weekends ever. We played on the beach and had so much girl talk and staying out dancing and loving life until 5 a.m before coming home for a giant 12 girl slumber party. I have a minimal number of pictures I can post because most of them are filled with penises of various sizes (inappropriate). Here's one of the very beginning of the night...hopefully a few more to come :)

So the summer has been amazing and I have been away every other weekend since Memorial Day, and while I am pretty tired and ready to be home for more than a few hours in the evening, I complained SO MUCH my first summer in NYC about it being hard to get out of the city. So I feel very lucky and thankful that I've gotten to do so much this summer. Makes me feel much more established living here.

p.s. do you know that spell check doesn't recognize the word bachelorette? It keeps trying to make me say bachelorhood or baccalaureate.

New Hampshire and the Bronx Zoo

2010-07-01T11:21:00.015-04:00

Hello hello, happy July!!!

I am in such a good mood today, since I have a lovely extra-long weekend in my near future and I get to go back to the midwest :) I get to fly back to Iowa tomorrow afternoon and then on Sunday morning, I'm driving with my family up to our lakehouse in Wisconsin until Wednesday night. It's going to be so wonderful and relaxing and I just can't wait!
I am going to make it a point from here on out to pack my summers with amazing weekend getaways. Between Baltimore and New Hampshire in June, getting away for 6 days this month, and going to Fire Island next month for Lindsay's bachelorette (my first bachelorette party!), it ALMOST feels like I have a summer vacation. Getting out early from work on Friday's helps too!

So, I guess I owe you pictures from our New Hampshire trip, yes? Miss Emily P is my hero for offering up her family's house for the weekend - it was incredible. We layed on the beach and ate lobster and crab for 2 days and I could not have been happier. I even enjoyed the 5 1/2 hour drive up to NH from NYC! What can I say, singing Glee songs at the top of my lungs for a couple of hours puts me in a pretty good mood, even though I couldn't convince Danny to sing the Finn parts along with me... :)

We went to the Bronx Zoo this past weekend, which took us a very long time to get to (1 1/2 hours on the subway, yuck) but was SO much fun. The zoo is in the middle of Bronx Park, so it really felt like the animals just happened to be there naturally in the open fields and hills, rather than caged up and fenced in and lumped together in a zoo area. Aside from the fact that certain attractions were extra money (not sure the Congo Jungle was worth an extra $6 but it did look like fun) the zoo was really well priced and a perfect thing to do on a sunny Saturday. It felt almost like another weekend getaway!

Sorry for picture overload on this post! I wanted to get all of my pictures out of my camera before I go home and once I get on a roll...you can't stop me with my picture posting!

2010-06-21T12:57:00.008-04:00

Oh Taylor Lautner. I love you.

Excerpt from a recent interview:

Lautner suggests the Olive Garden for lunch. "Do you like this place?" he asks, a little unsure, adding: "My father turned me on to it." Without glancing at the menu, Lautner orders the Toscana soup, then asks to substitute the Caesar salad for the house. Before the waiter can reply, Lautner interrupts innocently: "I know," he says, "it'll be a dollar fifty extra. That's fine."

So so cute. AND he loves Olive Garden. I mean....I can't even handle it.

ALSO!!!!! Totally unrelated to Taylor Lautner...

My best friend Bridget is engaged!!!!! I am filled with smiles and screams and hugs and kisses and happiness for Ben and Bridget, I'm just beyond excited for them! I've been grinning ever since I heard the news can't wait to hear more details now that she's back from her romantic weekend away at the lake. I hope Ben knows how lucky he is to be marrying Bridget (I'm sure he does, just checking!) Love you B! I'm so excited to be in your wedding and to help plan!

(Selfshly, all of my pictures are of us (not her and Ben) so Bridget, please bring Ben to NYC this summer to that I can have pictures of the two of you that I don't have to creepily steal from facebook)

Barcelona

2010-06-17T23:55:00.014-04:00

Paris

2010-06-17T23:37:00.010-04:00

Broken internet = no blogging :(

2010-06-11T10:37:00.004-04:00

SO it's been a super hectic work week (no lunch breaks even, boo) and our internet at home isn't working (Time Warner sucks and won't be able to send anyone to fix it until next WEDNESDAY, double boo) so my blogging has very sadly been lagging. Lacking? Anyways. HAPPY FRIDAY!

I went to Baltimore last weekend to visit my bff since 9th grade, the lovely Bridget. She is super amazing and is finishing her last year in med school at Johns Hopkins, plus she owns a cute classic Baltimore row house near the Harbor, and I was very overdue in my visiting! We had such a fun weekend filled with amazing food, pool time, relaxation, and good girly chatting. Don't you love weekends like that?! It couldn't have been better, and Baltimore is such a nice short trip from NYC on the bus! I will be making at least 1 more trip this summer....Bridge, I owe you since it's the first time in 3 years (embarrassing) that I've come to visit you!

By the way. I know I am still SO BEHIND on putting up my Europe pictures! But I only have them saved on my home computer, and with no internet, you're going to have to wait just a litttttle bit longer.

So it's Friday and I am so looking forward to a weekend with really nothing too specific planned. Since I was out of town last weekend and we are heading up to the beach in New Hampshire next weekend, I'm going to make the most of this one with a trip to the Farmer's Market and lots of reading...I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (alarming/disturbing but SO GOOD) and bought The Girl who Played with Fire on my kindle, so I'm ready to rock and roll for what looks like a rather rainy weekend. Hopefully we can fit some grilling in too!

Random thought as I'm watching my fingers type...I painted my nails a sort of bright baby pink last night, which I don't normally do (kind of clashes with my red hair) and I think I need some suggestions for a good flattering red-head polish color. I always gravitate towards light colors or bright splashy corals for summer...any other suggestions?

Introducing....the reason I've been a bad blogger

2010-06-01T22:28:00.003-04:00

Promotion = busy!

Between doing my old and new job last week and training the new assistant this week, I am so busy tired and it has only been one work day so far this week! Totally shouldn't complain, but I haven't even had much time to gchat during the day! Horror, I know.

I am feeling really badly because I have been so bad at my blogging the past few months. I have been stretched rather thin and I am looking forward to a regular work week once things go back to normal after this week - except when have my weeks ever been regular?! I will be glad to not have gym work in the evenings, or really any other commitments that go on during the "school year".

Also, since I've sort of been cheating on this blog with the other blog that I got paid to do, I thought you all might like to see some of my hard work :) Here's a link to the other blog that I just finished - 2 months of blogging about NYC for Wrigley's 5 Gum to promote it in Europe.

And yes, I am Elise Andrews. Wasn't sure how popular the blog would be and didn't want my personal life to be bombarded if I became a hit! :) I enjoyed doing it a lot but it did take away more from here than I thought it would. Sorry BNYSOM, I promise you're my one and only from now on!

http://after5.in/newyork/

I'm back!

2010-05-21T10:00:00.003-04:00

Helloooooo everyone!

We got back on Sunday afternoon but it was literally been the craziest week and I haven't had a single moment of free time.

Got back to work on Monday and was given a promotion, which is super super exciting, but doing my regular job plus learning the new one has been rather draining. Kind of a lot of jump back into after a week being out of the office and cut off from email and the like. I will be glad when the new girls starts to take over my position! Anyways, I am really excited about the promotion and get to cut back to only 1 night per week at the gym (enough to keep my free membership!) so all around, this is just a great thing to have happen. But between the 2 jobs at my regular job, the gym, jet lag, trying to sift through the 791 pictures I took in Europe (literally), and just getting acclimated to being home, I am EXHAUSTED. So excited that it's Friday. So excited that this is the last full Friday before summer Friday's start!! And so excited that this is the last week that I will work at the gym 3x per week.

I promise picture updates this weekend!

Au revoir, America!

2010-05-07T13:27:00.002-04:00

Wellllll today is the day! The day I've been anticipating for 4 months...or, more accurately, for 25 years. We are off to Paris (by way of Geneva, Switzerland) tonight, and then Barcelona on Wednesday :)

I have packed 3 memory cards in my bag, for a total of about 4000 picture possibilities. So expect quite a few picture postings when I return!

Trying to finish up some last minute things at work, so I gotta run, but I got my Euros, my passport, my sunglasses, and my cute sneakers. All packed very conveiently into one medium tote bag and one carry on duffle bag. If you know me, you know this is a HUGE FEAT for me to bring so little on vacation. I'm making danny bring an extra empty bag for shopping purposes though... :)

à bientôt!

To do

2010-05-05T22:42:00.003-04:00

Finishing up work at the gym. Just made the longest to-do list and am starting to feel a leeeeeeettle frantic about how much I need to get done in the next 24 hours. OH how I wish my body could handle skipping a night of sleep. No, that's a lie, I love to sleep. If I could just add an extra 6 hours in to tomorrow, that would be great.

I am not ashamed that my list includes things like "exfoliate" and "buy new necklace". Those are very important things that take time and need to be accomplished before I leave just as much as "pack" and "do laundry". My list doesn't discriminate.

Sandwiches and manicures

2010-05-05T16:41:00.003-04:00

2 things happened today that I need to share

1. I bought a $5 footlong turkey subway sandwich at lunch today, intending to eat half for lunch and half for dinner (we're running low on groceries and I don't want to buy more since we leave in 2 days). I thought this was an exceptionally brilliant and money-conscious thing to do until I realized that I ate the ENTIRE sandwich for lunch without stopping to think about it. I eat their 6 inch sandwiches all the time and am perfectly full. How did I eat double what I meant to? So depressing.

2. I was getting a mani/pedi this afternoon and the woman said first that my feet were looking "really very dry" and that I should consider letting her use the scrub on them (the scrub costs an extra $10, no thanks) and then later on she mentioned not once but twice that she thought I could use a facial because "my pores were looked clogged". Now, not that my skin is perfect, but I have always had super clear skin and I am a pretty put together person and if I had a serious issue with my skin, doesn't she think I would take care of it? I was really frustrated that she kept bringing up other things that I should take care of while I was there. Note: if I wanted a facial or an extra scrubby foot thing, I would have asked for it when I came in! Your tip is decreasing the more you try to sell me on your other spa services.

PHEW. Ok, just had to get that off my chest. At least my nails look nice now. And what does she know? I use pore strips and wash my face religiously twice a day. My skin looks pretty darn good. So there!

p.s. 2 DAYS 2 DAYS 2 DAYSSSSSS!!

Almost there...

2010-05-04T10:33:00.002-04:00

I LEAVE FOR PARIS AND BARCELONA IN 3 DAYS!!!!

So so so much to do in such a short amount of time, but I also feel like I have eons of work days/hours to get through before I can scamper away on Friday afternoon. Still need to:

Brush up on my French (oops, should have done this earlier)
Find a good maps of Paris and Barcelona
Write up blogs for while I'm gone (for the professional blog)
Get some Euros from the bank
Get a mani/pedi (I know, so important)
Do laundry
Pick up dry cleaning
Pack/somehow whittle down my extensive wardrobe/shoe choices into a very small suitcase that can be easily carried around Europe

I have been such a busy bee lately, I just need to push through a few more days until glorious glorious vacation...

The little summer dress

2010-04-27T11:39:00.006-04:00

I salivate over almost everything at Anthropologie, but these dresses by artist Nathalie Lete really take the cake. Are they not the most beautiful things you've ever seen? Paired with a pair of espadrilles or cute slip-on sneakers and beachy, mussed-up hair, I think I could literally live in them all summer. I WANT!

(images via Design*Sponge)

CUBS/Mets game

2010-04-23T09:41:00.010-04:00

First attempt at allergy medication in my life today. Claritin, please pull through for me, the sneezing and watery eyes is getting reeeeeeally old.

I went to my first NYC baseball game last night! Honestly, I think baseball is rather dull, but the Mets were playing the Cubs, so I was mildly invested in the game! I went with the group I do mentoring for...have I ever talked about that on here? I participate in iMentor, and I am the mentor for a high school senior girl. Anyways, the group arranged this big outing to the Mets game, and while I would have preferred the Yankees, I am totally into anything that involves the Cubs! The only disappointment of the evening was that Citi Field's food is rather gourment....no nachos?!!!!! Pshhh. I contented myself with chicken fingers and kettle corn, but it really wasn't the same as sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley with a big plastic tray of nachos...

See me pretending to hit a home run in front of the home run sign? I thought it would be funny...obviously the handbag and scarf totally add to my believable baseball player-ness

Sneezy

2010-04-22T09:16:00.004-04:00

Can you develop allergies after 25 years of not having them? I have had an itchy nose and sore throat all week, and I sneeze an average of 44 times per day. Not joking. And always the double sneeze...one right after the other. And then I woke up this morning and my ears were completley plugged. Yuck. Anyways, I don't FEEL sick or anything, so I'm thinking it might be allergies, since the pollen count is apparently higher than it's been in a really really long time. Maybe I should buy some Claritin and see if it helps...

Also, please keep your fingers crossed that the other volcano in Iceland doesn't erupt also. I will be seriously upset if my trip gets ruined. Who would have thought that volcanos would be a major stress for my Paris/Barcelona vacation??

I have sneezed 4 times since I wrote this. BOO ALLERGIES. I feel like one of the 7 Dwarfs.

Totally picked the wrong month to go to Paris

2010-04-09T16:10:00.004-04:00

DAMN. Mr. Taylor Lautner. In Paris. I missed him by one month.

Tay, why can't our schedules sync up a little bit better?

Let the countdown begin!

2010-04-08T12:42:00.004-04:00

Official countdown: 29 days until Europe!

I am SO EXCITED now because we finally have everything booked...hotels, travel, the whole shabang (shebang? shbang?). I had done a bunch of research mid-March and pinpointed 4-5 hotels that I liked the look of in each city, but between travels, work, family visiting, work, my birthday weekend, work, friends visiting, and gmat classes (for D, not me), Danny and I have literally had NO time to sit down and pick/book the hotels. I had a mini-meltdown on Sunday night when we tried to do it and all my favorites were either booked or $50 more expensive per night than when I had last looked. Lesson learned: if the price looks good, book immediately!

Once I chilled out a little bit, I did some more research and actually found some hotels that I liked even better than the first ones. Hmm, so maybe it's: Lesson learned: don't be so rigid in your planning Lauren? Anyhow. As of yesterday, we finally have 2 gorgeous Parisian hotels (couldn't decide which I liked better, so we booked a few nights in each!), a flight from Paris to Barcelona, and an awesome modern hotel in Barcelona all booked and just ready for us to arrive in a month!

Feels like I can relax and just enjoy anticipating the trip! Now that the hard decision making part is over, anyone have suggestions for places to see or things that I MUST do in either city? I feel like I have a long list of things I want to do in Paris but I don't know much about Barcelona besides Gaudi and the beach! Suggestions? Recommendations?

Did I mention that I'M SO EXCITED?!!!!!

p.s. I added my pics of the Union Square pillow fight to the post below!

Happy post-Easter/Passover!

2010-04-06T10:04:00.004-04:00

Back to normal life I guess! I had the best time with my family visiting last week, and then my two roommates from my senior year of college happened to be in town in this past weekend! We had brunch at Friend of a Farmer, one of my favorite brunch places on the cutest little street, Irving Place, just south of Gramercy Park. Afterwards, we shopped around Union Square and witnessed the largest pillow fight ever in the middle of Union Square Park...I have never seen anything like it! Definitely going to remember to research when it happens and bring my pillow next year.

Easter was on Sunday and I was so happy to have Danny home this year! (remember how he was in India last year?) We went to a lovely Easter service at a church nearby and then had our friends Emily and Stewart over for a huge Easter brunch/dinner, featuring chocolate croissants, ham, baked macaroni & cheese, asparagus, melon & proscuitto salad, and cupcakes and cookies. And of course Easter candy! We ate around 2:45 and I couldn't eat ANYTHING for the rest of the day! The weather was amazing too, so a nice post-dinner stroll rounded out the day.

So, PHEW! Our marathon weeks/weekends have been packed since my birthday 3 weeks ago, so I'm quite excited for a regular week and low key weekend coming up. Now the name of the game is relaxation and money saving for the next few weeks until we leave for Europe on May 7th!!!!!!!!!

March showers bring April flowers

2010-04-01T09:54:00.003-04:00

BAH, I'm such a bag blogger! Sorry sorry sorry, this month has been super busy for me!! Lets catch up, eh?

My birthday was just wonderful, I had the most perfect weekend you could ever imagine. The weather was amazing, mid-70's and sunny (basically unheard of in NYC for March) so I got to be outside enjoying the park and walking around with iced coffee all day. My wonderful amazing boyfriend arranged a little surprise birthday dinner for me with a few of my friends at the Crosby Street Hotel restaurant, which was incredible. Delicious food and the decor is gorgeous. I already can't wait to go back in the summertime when the weather is appropriate for outdoor dining, as their patios looked absolutely fabulous. I had my "party" at Arlo & Esme, which hosts one of my favorite dance floors in all of NYC - fun and filled with flashing lights :) It was pretty crowded, but all my favorite people came and I just had the best time. I think I'm going to stick with 25 from now on; I'd like a re-enactment of this birthday from here on out please!

My dad and stepmom Liz and little brother Cam (7 years old, cutest thing) are visiting this week, thus the reason for my blogging absence. I took the evenings off from working at the gym, and took yesterday off from my regular job as well so that we could spend a day together in the city, since only my Dad and Cam were here this past weekend. I love having family here, it's so fun to have an excuse to go to all my favorite spots in the city and to do some touristy things that I wouldn't normally do! Even though the weather has been rainy and pretty miserable along the entire east coast this week, things cooperated yesterday and we were able to enjoy a day out and about, hitting Chelsea Markets, the Highline, lunch in the West Village, shopping in SoHo, and the evening in Times Square. Quite a quintessential New York day! And, with all the rain, the flowers are in full bloom and the trees are bursting into fluffy white blossoms. It's so nice to get to see them for family dinners every night too, really makes me wish I lived in Chicago so I could be closer.

The other reason I have been a little MIA here is that I have a professional blogging deal right now, so much of my blogging energies have been focused on that! I don't really want to use this blog for promotion or anything, but you can email me if you want to know more about that :)

So, today is April Fools Day and I have never been a good practical joker. My brother Jonathan used to prop little paper cups of water above all the doors in our house so that when you walk into the bathroom or something, you get doused with water. I have never been able to think of a good April Fools joke, I am always afraid that it will come off as mean instead of funny! Anyone have any good suggestions for jokes that have worked for you? I have approximately 14 hours to pull one off...

The new Thursday night

2010-03-19T12:13:00.006-04:00

I think it's official. Can I make an official announcement??

It is finally finally spring! As in, when I walked to work this morning, the birds were chirping and all the trees are budding. And I got my first pedicure since last September. All signs indicate that spring is officially here. And it is supposed to be a gorgeous weekend here, with temps in the 70's! Oh right, and it's my birthday on Sunday...

25 is kind of scary and I wasn't that excited about it, but I've started getting cards and presents in the mail and now with the weather being so fantastic, I really can't wait! My birthday always feels like an off time of year...it was always during spring break when I was in school, so friends were away and I could never have big parties. And it's never super spring-like, usually still cold and chilly. With all my friends being around this year and the kind of weather that everyone wants to be out in, I think this weekend is going to be really fun! Honestly, my birthdays post-college have gotten so much better :) How many things can you say are better without spring break? I think my birthday might be the only one.

Also, this was my first week of my new gym work schedule, or more importantly, my first Thurdsay in almost 2 years where I didn't have to work in the evening. I did some stuff for the mentoring program I'm involved with for a few hours, and then met Danny for some jeans shopping in Soho and the first round of al fresco dinners for the season. We went to the SoHo Grill, which I'd highly recommend. Delicious burgers and a live DJ at dinnertime!

Anyhow, everyone was out and about and so happy and relaxed...is this what I've been missing out on all these Thursdays?!! Good thing my schedule is a little more open now. I think Thursday might be my new favorite day of the week!

Spring's a-comin'

2010-03-16T10:42:00.002-04:00

I am feeling so refreshed this week....the weather was horrid this past weekend, windy and rainy, and I literally left the apartment to go to the gym and the grocery store, and that was it. I tried to be ok with it though, because spring is coming and I always feel guilty being inside doing nothing when it's gorgeous outside. So I decided to indulge myself with one of the last gross weekends of winter and do nothing but read, watch tv and movies, and eat things like peanut butter cookies and macaroni & cheese and not feel badly at all. Have I mentioned my love for mac & cheese yet? Probably. I really really love it. And not fancy mac & cheese, the fake/delicious Kraft stuff. I prefer the Scooby Doo noodle shapes, in case you need a recommendation. I just think they hold the cheese better.

I probably also feel refreshed because...I start my new gym schedule this week! So, my regular job (I usually call it my "real" job but don't want to insult my fellow gym co-workers so I am trying to get in the habit of calling it my regular or full-time job) is 8:30-5:30 Monday - Friday, and for the last year, I have been working at the gym Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6-11:30. Long day, I know. However, there have been a few people leaving and needing to change their schedules, so as of this week, my new schedules is Monday 6-9 (!!!!!), and then the regular Tuesday and Wednesday. I know it doesn't sound like much of a cut back, but let me tell you, those extra 2 hours make a HUGE difference in my mental well-being for the week. It feels like I am barely at work and all of the suddent I get to go home. AND I will have Thursdays off, so I won't be a zombie-person on Fridays :) See how nicely everything works out?

Oh yes, it's also my birthday this Sunday. 25! A quarter of a century, eeks. Still trying to decide somewhere to go and celebrate - I want somewhere fun with music and dancing, but not a crazy club where everyone has to pay $18 for drinks and wait in a huge line outside to get in. Any suggestions from the NYC crowd??

Buzz buzz

2010-03-08T09:36:00.005-05:00

Such a busy bee these past few weeks!! Sorry to have been in absentia. Danny had a little tooth surgery a few weekends ago, so I was busy playing Nurse Lauren with smoothies and pampering and such. And then last week I had to work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday at the gym. On top of my regular job. Soooo...haven't had a ton of time for blogging. Or fun for that matter!

But this past weekend was wonderful, and on top of that, spring is finally finally here! It was 55 degrees both days this weekend, and it felt like the whole city was energetic and so so happy. Danny and I wandered around the Union Square Green Market on Saturday and watched the puppies run around at the dog park (one of my fav nice-weekend things to do!) and we went to Central Park and sat on a bench in the sun and read for a few hours on Sunday. It felt SO lovely to be out of the apartment and in the fresh air! Everyone who walked by had a smile on their face.

We had fun stuff to do this weekend too...one of Danny's best friends was in town and his girlfriend threw him a little surprise birthday party on Friday night at 675 Bar. Highly recommended...they have Jenga and foosball (foose ball?) and other delights such as chocolate-covered bacon.

We went to an engagement party for our friends Lindsay and Drew on Saturday night at The Bubble Lounge, a champagne bar, which was so much fun and made me so excited for their wedding in November! Congrats you guys!

Future bride and groom

All "the kids"

And of course one of us :)

ALSO yesterday marked the official start of our Europe trip countdown! 2 months and I will be in France and Spain. Not even a scream of happiness and a bajillion exclamation points could convey my excitement!!! Now I just need to get researching on hotels...if you have any recommendations for places to stay in Paris or Barcelona, please please send them my way!!

VERY important announcement

2010-02-24T15:58:00.004-05:00

Hmm it's hard to do math problems with pictures on blogger.

Anyways, you should know that Post Cranberry Almond Crunch does not in any way equal the deliciousness of Trader Joe's Cranberry Almond Clusters (exact cereal box not pictured here, because I couldn't find the image, but you get the idea). Sigh. What a dissappointing waste of $6 at D'Agostino this morning. I knew I should have just bought those Cocoa Puffs instead.

Resolution #2 - check!

2010-02-20T16:50:00.002-05:00

Remember this?

Well, danny and I just booked a 9 day trip to Paris and Barcelona in May

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please?

2010-02-17T16:15:00.002-05:00

Things I want right now:

* A nap

*Some yogurt covered pretzels

*Cute new striped sneakers from Urban

*To book my trip to Europe

*To not have to go to work tonight

*A cherry lollipop

*A bigger tax refund

*A puppy

Also, to dance like the girl in orange

January flew by

2010-02-04T12:37:00.002-05:00

And this was such a busy week too! I feel like all my moments that haven't been taken up by work have been taken up by my to-do list! It's Danny's 25th birthday tomorrow (!!!!!!) so I've been trying to prepare for that with gifts and cake baking and decorations...all on my lunch breaks. Not easy. If only I was home for enough time to do more than sleep, take a shower and leave again! Anyways, the presents are purchased, hopefully more meaningful/useful than last year's gift. I am going to wake up really really early tomorrow morning to bake a cake and can you guess what he wants to do for birthday dinner? Order one of the new Domino's pizzas. How can I not love this boy?! He is so easy to please...pizza and a funfetti cake.

The bigger birthday celebration is that we are going skiing this weekend! I'm so excited to get out of the city and be in the mountains to enjoy some snow and snowy sports. I haven't skiied in about 5 years, but I used to ski every single winter in the Rockies, so I'm hoping that my skills haven't gone too awry in the last few years. We're going with a group of friends and we have a big house with a hot tub rented, so I am anticipating a super fun weekend!

Things have been going well at work for the past few weeks also...I got a raise at my regular job, which is wonderful and SO appreciated, and I won the award for "Outstanding Desk Associate" at our staff appreciation party for the gym. Nice little plaque and everything!

Not much other fun news to report, I've just been so consumed with work and my busy schedule. I'll update more (with pictures) after our weekend away!

puppy cam puppy cam puppy cam

2010-01-28T21:53:00.002-05:00

OMG OMG best news of the week (aside from my raise, YAY!)

THE SHIBA INU PUPPY CAM IS BACK!!!

If you missed this wonderous event last year, you missed out. It's a couple in San Fran that started a live stream of their new litter of puppies (to keep an eye on them while they were at work) and became an internet sensation for 3 months. And now the female Shiba has had another new litter and the PUPPY CAM IS BACK!

Below is the link...prepare to have this open on your desktop all day at work for the next few months. No joke.

http://www.ustream.tv/SFShiba

I wish I was Jewish

2010-01-27T09:29:00.013-05:00

So, I know you are all dying to hear how the Bat Mitzvah went! I said my "mazel tov!"s and danced the Hava Nagila and while I was expecting the night to be so-so, it was SO MUCH FUN. I totally missed out by not being jewish. The only Christian equivalent of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah that I can think of is Confirmation. Totally not as fun, who throws a Confirmation party that rivals a wedding reception?

The night is really best described in pictures.

The girls from work

Not sure if we're doing this right...also, nobody passed us the memo that you're supposed to bring socks to dance in all night. Brilliant.

Chelsie was so confused about the whole Hava Nagila ordeal

Figured I should include a picture of the Bat Mitzvah girl

And the boss gets his turn.

And then they passed out feather boas, flashing rings, and kanye glasses, which I later wore out in public. No shame.

This is totally appropriate behavior

my new bad habit

2010-01-22T09:22:00.003-05:00

THANK YOU all for the Bat Mitzvah suggestions and help! I feel a lot more prepared to not make a fool of myself at the party tomorrow night :) Hopefully I will sneak a few pics to post on here.

Lets see....so it's Friday. Finally! I didn't get a 3 day weekend like everyone else...my office is always open on MLK day, so this week feels particularly long to me. I feel like I know a lot of people who are always taking random days off, or long vacations, and I don't get how they do it! My 15 vacay days never stretch as far as I'd like them to. Especially between President's Day and Memorial Day. There needs to be a federal holiday that occurs in early April. Maybe I can petition to get April Fools Day off?

Oh yes, I wanted to jump on the bandwagon about 5 weeks late to the party and proclaim my love and amazement for Avatar. Have you seen it yet? If not, go NOW. It was incredible. I thought about it for 3 days straight afterwards. It was actually quite depressing to walk out of the movie theater into the city. I wanted to stay and live in that beautiful forest world. I totally see why there are reports of people being actually depressed by real life after seeing Avatar. I am already anticipating a glowing forest and simluated banshee ride at an amusement park sometime in the near future. It's so wonderful though, and really deserves every award that it will inevitably win. I saw it in RealD 3D, not the IMAX like I wanted (completely sold out), but it was still amazing, so even if you can't make it to an IMAX, see it in regualar 3D.

I'm also getting into a really bad habit that I must confess. There is a pet store near my office and I have gone twice on my lunch breaks this week and held the puppies. Well, one in particular. The cutest little girl Pomeranian. And now I want her so badly that I could cry right now just thinking about it. Except she's $1800. And I am gone from 8 am to 11:30 pm most week days. So I know that there is no feasible way for me to properly care for a dog right now, but it breaks my heart to put her back in her cage and see her big eyes look at me and wonder why we've just had such a fun playtime and now I am leaving her. It's almost as bad as those Sarah McLaughlin abused pet commercials. Anyways, my birthday is 2 months from yesterday, so if you're looking for a birthday gift for me....

Help! My first Bat Mitzvah!

2010-01-20T21:44:00.006-05:00

Help me! Particularly my Jewish friends and readers. I have to go to my first Bat Mitzvah ever this Saturday night. It's for my boss's daughter, lest you wonder who I know that is turning 13, and our whole company was invited to the event.

My friend Lindsay has already informed me that I need to give money in increments of 18 (it's a lucky number or something I believe) but I need help with the decorum of the party! A few questions:

1. Is this the sort of thing you arrive on time to, like a wedding? Or can I be fashionably late (within a half hour of the start time)? I only know my co-workers, and reeeeeally don't want to be the first one there. Awkward convos are to be avoided.

2. What do I wear? Cocktail attire? The sort of dress you would wear to a wedding? Don't want to be too fancy, also don't want to be shown up on bat mitzvah fashion by the middle school kids.

3. Should I give her the check by itself, or in a card? Do I use a birthday card, or are there special Bat Mitzvah cards? Will there be some sort of table or area for the cards, or am I supposed to mail it to her?

4. How do I greet her? "Happy birthday!"? "L'chaim!"? "Congratulations!"? "Mazel tov!"

5. Is there an "end point" in the party after which it is not frowned upon if you leave? Cake cutting? Dancing starting? Post- dinner?

ANY help is appreciated... I don't want all the fancy 13 year olds from Scarsdale to laugh at me! Now I need to go buy some new shoes so they aren't all dressed better than me as well...

Help Haiti

2010-01-14T13:54:00.004-05:00

The videos of the people in Haiti are wrenching my heart.

It's so easy to donate $10, and I promise you won't even notice it's gone, but it will make a HUGE difference to the earthquake victims. Please help out by texting 'Haiti' to 90999 to donate to the Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=15c0c5a210826210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

Glee Auditions!

2010-01-11T15:39:00.001-05:00

I was in show choir in high school, and I practice in the shower ALL the time. I think I could totally be one of the 3 worthy winners of this contest, yes?

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/01/11/scoop-fox-renews-glee/

My New Years Resolutions

2010-01-06T22:50:00.003-05:00

Maybe if I write them down and put them out for the world to see, I'll stay on top of these, eh? So, here they are! My resolutions for 2010

1. Pay off my Visa and Mastercard balances

2. Get stamps from at least 2 countries on my passport (current count: zero. so sad.)

3. Clean out closet: donate at least 3 bags of clothing to GoodWill this year

4. Take a trapeze class along the West Side Highway

Keep me honest people! Make me follow through with these! I know that number 1 vs. number 2 are sorttttt of counter productive. But I am optimistic. I do think that it's highly possible for all of these to happen this year. Talk to me in December and we'll see where I'm at :)

Hawkeyes

2010-01-06T09:25:00.001-05:00

My home state boys won their bowl game last night!!! If Northwestern couldn't win, this is the next best thing for me :) I love you Iowa!

kitchen woes

2010-01-05T21:17:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this makes me feel a little bit better about my small kitchen. I guess I don't have it so bad

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-tours/kitchen-tour-kitties-compact-kitchen-105172

Thankful for a wonderful 2009

2010-01-05T10:54:00.016-05:00

Back in the real world! Isn't it funny how you wait for your vacations for so long and then they are over in a flash and you're back to the usual schedule? I feel like I anticipated being home for Christmas for so many months! I mean, I used almost half of my vacation days last year to take off for 2 weeks (I like to do it around Christmas/New Years so I can maximize my time) and now it is over! Although it feels *kind of* good to be back in a schedule, because in the winter I can spend the whole day inside reading and watching movies and puttering around and suddenly, the day is gone. However, I do enjoy a good day of winter hibernation. I'm sure there will be plenty to come, when it's below freezing and windy, I find it really difficult to convince myself to leave home!

Anyways, being back in the midwest was so lovely and relaxing. I literally have 200 pictures that I took while I was on vacation, between seeing friends, seeing family, opening lots of presents, and celebrating NYE. Here are a few favorites

Have to be mushy for a second, but I am so thankful and blessed to have my incredibly amazing boyfriend to come home to. It's always hard for me to say goodbye to my family, but knowing Danny was here waiting for me not only made coming back easier but it made me excited to get back to my NYC life! I'm so lucky to have someone who makes coming home something I always look forward to.

p.s. check the holiday party post 2 below this one...i finally added my Plaza party pics!

2009-12-28T18:14:00.001-05:00

So sorry for the long absence! I am home in the midwest and my mom doesn't have internet in the house (she sticks to using her email at work) so I have been sadly disconnected from the world! Expect updates and pictures after the New Year :) Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season with your families!

Holiday party season

2009-12-18T10:00:00.022-05:00

Wellll I just had the best week. Don't you want to hear all about it?

New furniture finally came! We got the cuuutest bench/wall shelf set and I have been waiting for it for almost 2 months! Here's a pic from the website (love Target) but I'll post a pic of it in the apartment later

Also you know how I am always complaining about working at the gym. I had a bunch of holiday parties this week and I never take time off work all year, so I didn't feel guilty having someone cover for me. I mean, I work hard all year, I should get to enjoy the party!

*side note, I am done with work at the gym for the next 3 weeks, woohoo!!!*

On Wednesday night I had Danny's annual holiday work party and his company knows how to throw a party. Back in 2007 when the economy was still good, they had it at Cipriani 42nd Street and had Blue Man Group perform. Like, a private performance. They also had a party at FAO Schwarz, where the store was shut down and everyone could run around and play with all the toys and eat a million gumdrops at the candy bar. Last year they had it in the big whale room at the Museum of Natural History. Always open bar and ridiculously delicious food

This year, in my book at least, was the best party yet. At the Plaza Hotel. I mean, could you get more New York than that? The Plaza at Christmas is the ultimate and I had been looking forward to this party for 2 months/my whole life. And it was amazing. They had the Terrace and the Grand Ballroom space filled with tables and tables of delicious food (I think I had three helpings of the black truffle risotto), bars filled with delicious drinks (the Winterberry Fizz was my personal favorite), desserts everywhere (again, I think I had three of the 24K gold leaf caramel brownies), 2 dance floors, a live jazz band, a DJ, and beautiful flower arrangements, not to mention lights, Christmas trees, and towering sparkly white branches everywhere. It definitely lived up to all my expectations.

Then last night I had my work holiday dinner. We do a luncheon holiday party every year (did I already write about that? It was at Locanda Verde in the Greenwich Hotel and I saw Christy Turlington) but the President of the company (the boss's son) always takes the 4 assistants out for our own slightly trendier/drunker dinner. Last year we went to Gotham Bar and Grill, which is possibly the best meal I've ever had in New York, and this year he took us to The Standard, the restaurant in the new hotel over the Highline. It was SO amazing, and we sat next to Victor Garber (he played Mr. Andrews in Titanic) and Sean Hayes (Jack from Will & Grace).

Drinks

Brownie topped with toasted marshmallows

Lauren and Chelsie (the other Lauren!)

Matty B, our host/the best boss

Jill and I trying to sneak a pic with Victor and Sean. You can see the back of Victor's head over Jill's shoulder. Kind of.

Anyways, I decided that I'm going to quit my job at the gym and just go out to dinner at fancy places around NYC during the week from now on because that is sooo much more fun and interesting than working for 15 hours a day. Making money is so overrated. I could just give up food or electricity or something.

Also, Danny and I did our Christmas gifts last night and he got me a Kindle!!! He knows me so well, I am an avid reader and can't wait to use this. My biggest dilemma is not letting myself buy $100 worth of books to download onto it! Thanks baby!

Doggies

2009-12-14T14:53:00.010-05:00

This is Panera. Panera the lab mix (meaning she won't get as big as a purebred lab). She is 2 1/2 months old and has all her shots already. She needs to be adopted. Can we please please pretty please get her? (Danny loves Panera too, just from her pictures)

This is Danny's dream dog. Soft ears, big honest eyes, blue bandana. Classic American. I love the labs too, but I think I would feel bad having one in the city where there's nowhere for them to really run and stretch their legs. Tempting though. Doesn't his little face just melt your heart into warm syrup??

If you know me, you know I loveeee the poms. I want 3. Sawyer, Paxen and Cheddar. I think the poms are sooo cute, they look just like little foxes.

Also, I love the Shiba Inu's. I think maybe a Shiba would be a really great dog for us...not as big as the lab, but not as poufy and high maintenance as the poms. Good apartment size, and not too "girly". Plus, they look like mini-Sabrinas! I adore the pointy ears and their curly little tails :)

This is a great reference, in case anyone out there is still wondering what to get me for Christmas...or as a very early birthday present.

Storytime

2009-12-10T21:15:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I have this great story that I just have to tell. However, it's about one of our clients at work, who I can't mention for obvious confidentiality reasons, but it's a huge one who you would recognize. Anyhow, the guy who came in to our offices for a meeting today is one of the Chairmen of the company, so needless to say, I had pretty high expectations for him.

I'm hesitant to provide too many details, but I sooooo want to. Let's just say one of the highlights of his visit to our office was the he removed his socks and shoes during the meeting. And walked around the office barefoot.

Stupid public blog. I would share so much more if I wasn't afraid of getting a trouble at work. Sigh. What an anti-climactic blog post.

My Alma Mater

2009-12-08T15:54:00.001-05:00

The poor Northwestern students fighting their endless struggle...

Happy December!

2009-12-01T10:01:00.016-05:00

Happy official holiday season 2009!!

Thanksgiving back in Chicago was wonnnnnnderful. I hadn't been there since last Christmas and I love the comfort and familiarity I feel there (even if it is really really cold). I flew in early Tuesday morning and spent the whole time with my family until I left on Saturday. We shopped, went out to eat, cooked, and relaxed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday, we had 16 people over for Thanksgiving!! Here's a picture of all of us the evening after Thanksgiving, at the town square tree lighting in Lake Forest, which, by the way, is my favorite Thanksgiving-time/pre-December tradition, gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it!

And one of my grandparents singing Christmas carols at the tree lighting, because they are the cutest ever and I am just so glad that I got to see them!

Also, the turkey and some side dishes. Because they were really really good.

Momma came into the city on Friday and J and I went downtown to celebrate her birthday with her. We looked at the holiday windows, shopped along Michigan Avenue, ate at our favorite Chicago restaurant Bistro 110, and took a million pictures in Millenium Park. I love Chicago so much. My goal is to make my next trip during warm weather because it's hard to fully enjoy yourself when it's 25 degrees outside. Brrrr

I really can't believe November is over! This entire year really feels like it has flown by. But I love December, and Christmas, and Christmas music, and Christmas decorations, and Christmas cookies, and the Christmas feeling...you get the idea. For the next 25 days, I couldn't be happier! I even bought a little tree last night and decorated it while listening to Christmas carols so I feel like the season is in full swing now!

Rats and Mixers and Vampires, oh my

2009-11-20T13:03:00.007-05:00

Andddd it's finally Friday. My whole work week revolves around a countdown to Friday. BUT it is the Friday before Thanksgiving, which is the best, mostly because I only have to work on Monday and then am flying back to Chicago on Tuesday morning. What better way to head into a weekend than knowing that my next week will have 1 work day, a gigantic turkey/stuffing/potato dinner, the midwest, and 17 members of my family? I know you're jealous. And excited because this obviously means another picture montage at some point next week.

If you reference my twitter feed over yonder ----->
you will see that I am a stupid person who did not wait and see why there were crowds of screaming people, police, and barracades all over in front of the Sunshine theater on Houson last night. I thought "Oooh haha you silly people, standing in the rain to see the Twilight movie at midnight" whilst they were thinking "Oooh you silly girl, why are you walking right on by and going into Whole Foods when Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson and (most importantly) TAYLOR LAUTNER shall be arriving in a matter of moments?" That's right. I walked right on by the Twilight NYC premiere, took a photo to document what I thought was your average Twi-mania, and had NO IDEA that the stars of the movie were actually going to be there, at that exact location. I will never leave a crowd of people again (that is, without finding out what we are waiting for, because as Emily so helpfully pointed out when I told her this, I would have trouble ever going anywhere here)

In other exciting news, my cute little ruffled flats almost made contact with a very large dead rat on the sidewalk this morning and I ran screaming down the block at 7:55 a.m. while people stared at me.

Also, Danny's horrid 8 hour test is tomorrow and then it will FINALLY be over and I can have my boyfriend back on the weekends! The library and I have been having a serious disagreement over get his attention, and she is sadly beating me by a mile.

Also also, mom bought me a KitchenAid mixer and it's here it's here it's here!!!! I have to pick it up from my doorman tonight and I can't waittttt to try it out this weekend! I'm thinking of making something along the lines of homemade french bread and maybe some whipped cream. Not to go with each other. Just in general.

p.s. in case you were wondering, I am planning to see Twilight the Sunday after Thanksgiving, in an attempt to avoid all the crazies seeing it this weekend. Except that's totally a lie, I wish I were one of the crazies seeing it this weekend too. I just don't have time.

Cause you're a criminal as long as you're mine

2009-11-18T09:38:00.006-05:00

I was just looking at a friend's blog and was reminded that I forgot to write about my love and undying obsession with the new Lady Gaga song/video "Bad Romance". Confession: I have watched it at least 10 times a day since the video premiered last week. And I do the dance moves along with her. That would almost be embarrassing, except it's not because she is mindblowingly fantastic. Ok. If you haven't seen the video yet, seriously, watch it. Truthfully, I thought it was really weird the first time but it only gets better the more I watch...

And, now that you love the video, here's "the making of". It's worth a watch if only to see the crazy animal-headbands-headdresses that she wears in some of the shots that you can't really see in the video.

I wish I was edgier. Maybe I need to get some scraps from a screen door glued to my nails during my next manicure. Or get sold to the Russian mafia while dancing in crystals. You know, whichever.

Skillz

2009-11-13T10:51:00.002-05:00

I feel like this is a pretty handy skill to have in your arsenal. You know, for when you desperately need to open a bottle of wine on the street. In the middle of the day. What? I don't do that...

Fainting Friday

2009-11-06T09:34:00.002-05:00

It's Friday!!! I can't wait for an entire weekend to get things accomplished in the apartment. I would really love to get the living room painted this weekend (I think we're going to do an accent wall in a bright Mexican-ocean azure blue) and to get all of our furniture in place and hopefully purchase a new living room lamp and a wine rack. I'm so glad the moving hassles of last week/weekend are finally over and can't wait to really make the place feel like our own now that I have a few days free.

And now for the fainting goats, because, well, this video cracks me up and they're just so cute and hilarious.

I'm a magical, super unpredictable, fancy pants vampire

2009-11-05T13:29:00.003-05:00

The credit for this little gem totally goes to Cathay but it is too good not to share. For real.

http://lucylou.livejournal.com/566295.html

No peanuts

2009-11-04T14:54:00.003-05:00

I just ate a fun size Snickers bar that had no peanuts in it! What a dissappointment. It might as well have been a Milky Way, which are not nearly as delicious, in my opinion. Guess I'll just have to eat another one to get the full Snickers experience I was looking for...

3

2009-11-03T15:59:00.017-05:00

Happy anniversary to us! I love you the most ever.

Big weekend

2009-11-02T10:09:00.012-05:00

Well, I have no/spotty internet at home right now in the moving transition, and our internet at work was out for 3 DAYS last week, hence the fact that you have not heard from me since Tuesday. Let me tell you, work without internet is pretty awful. Not only can you not get any work done but there is literally no way to distract yourself throughout the day. And I am a gchat addict. Thank GOD it's working again today.

Anyways, so much happened last week!

Danny moved his stuff in with a Uhaul on Thursday night, followed by lots and lots of trips carrying things back and forth on Friday and Saturday. (p.s. never underestimate the time/number of trips it takes to carry 12 couch cushions 2 blocks.) But, it's all finally in and we officially live together! The apartment sort of feels like a furniture maze right now, as my flex wall is still up and we can't fit any of the couches or dining room table through it. So, our living room and entryway now has 2 tv's, 2 couches, a desk, a dining room table + four chairs. Oh yes, and we have 2 beds still. I went from not having any furniture to having too much! But the bed is being sold on Wednesday, so I can handle that. AND the wall is coming down this morning!!! Seriously, it feels like the fall of the Berlin Wall. The apt will be amazing tonight, I really can't wait to see it. So we're only a couple of days away from total organization! Can not wait to feel settled. I don't do well when things are in disarray. However, we have been handling the mess and move amazingly well, barely any fighting/crankiness :) And so far, living together is really wonderful. We're both so happy and excited to be doing this - exactly how things are supposed to feel when you move in together!

On Friday, Danny and his roommate Kunal had a big goodbye party at their old empty apartment. The only things in the apartment were speakers, a beer pong table, and a fridge full of alcohol. It didn't even feel like their place without their things everywhere. It really was a perfect way to cap off their 2 year run. I think the post-party dancing was my favorite part of the night though...

I have a bunch of other pics of Halloween and the NYC marathon to post, but I feel like I always have 10 pictures in each posting, so I'm going to spread it out a little bit and save the costume pictures for a little entertainment in the middle of the week.

Oh, and Happy November!

Apples and Outlets

2009-10-27T10:20:00.015-04:00

This is the rainiest year I've ever encountered! It is raining again today, in addition to the monsoon that we had on Saturday. Luckily, the rain was intermittent enough for us to enjoy the beautiful leaves and go "apple picking" this weekend -mostly taking pictures with the trees and then buying apples and cider doughnuts from the orchard store, but shhhh. I know you want to see some pictures...

(Photography skills courtesy of Miss Emily. Transportation and navigation provided by Miss Amy and Miss Jamie. Thanks ladies!)

p.s. Notice the purple shirt I had on under the black one? Told you I was going to wear purple on honor of Northwestern!

We also went outlet shopping at Woodbury Commons, where no pictures were taken but much money was spent. I forgot how tiring outlet shopping can be! We were all exhausted and soaked and a little bit cranky on the ride home. Oh well, how often do I get to go to outlets anyways? I had to stock up while I could...

My roommate Courtney moved out of our apt on Saturday and into a new place with her finacé. It was so surreal saying goodbye to her and watching her pack up all her things and empty out the apartment we've lived in together for 2 years. Seeing her leave really made me feel like a chapter of my life was closing, but also made me realize how many good things have happened in the 2 years I've lived in NYC. Now we are both off to live with boys - good thing we made it a girly apartment while we could :) Goodbye pink wall, I will always remember you fondly!

Danny is moving his stuff to my place on Thursday night and I'm so excited not only to be really living together but to have furniture again! Right now, my living room has 2 big flat screen TV's and no couches. Also, a camping chair. Classy Manhattan living, right? Combining our things is definitely a big step but it's so so exciting! I've been super stressed with all the moving plans and trying to coordinate everything and I haven't given the whole situation much thought. I switched my clothes into a different closet last night and he brought some books and his golf clubs over and it was the first time that the move-in really started to feel real. I'll be so happy next week once the extra wall in my apartment has come down and we can really relax and get settled. Until then (and in general), I'm trying not to be the organizational control freak that I usually am. It's a work in progress.

Mismatched rain gear

2009-10-23T16:21:00.004-04:00

The weather is just not cooperating. It has been beautiful, sunny, in the 70's all week, and of course tomorrow, the only day I have an outdoor activity planned, it is supposed to rain. All day. No rain today. No rain Sunday. Just tomorrow.

Maybe apple picking in the rain will be really really fun? I'll just deck myself out in rain boots and leggings and my raincoat and not do anything to my hair in the morning and just not care. Exept I hate that my pink rainboots do not match my red raincoat. Pink and red onlylook good together on Valentine's Day. Apparently I didn't think of this 3 years ago when I purchased these items. Anyways. Do you they'll still let us climb the trees and find apples if it's raining and thundering outside? Maybe that's an insurance liability. I am hoping that, like the last few weekends, the forecast says it's going to rain but the day turns out to be beautiful. However, considering the solid green radar map stretching from Chicago to the Atlantic, I feel like I might not get so lucky.

Woodbury Commons (apparently the best outlets around to you non-NYC'ers) is also on the docket for tomorrow while we've got the car (Thanks Jamie!!) and we've all signed up for the discounted VIP weekend pass, so I guess if apple picking doesn't go as planned, we can drink apple cider and buy some apples (sadly, not as fun as picking your own) and shop for the rest of the day. I'll never turn down a day of shopping! Am I a huge loser because the store I'm most excited to go to is Williams-Sonoma? Ick, I'm such an adult.

Also, I'm going to wear a purple sweater to the orchard/shopping day tomorrow in honor of Northwestern homecoming - hope you all have better weather than we will here!

Sorry I'm 13 years old

2009-10-19T11:30:00.002-04:00

New Moon. 32 days away. I'm excited.

I can't even think of a good title

2009-10-19T09:56:00.003-04:00

Ok sorry, I have been so bad about posting on here the last few weeks! My mind has been going in a million different directions all the time and I'm always thinking about things, yet when I try and write something on here, nothing comes out! It feels like I can only focus at random times during the day. Last week, I woke up at 5:45 a.m. because of an ambulance and couldn't get back to sleep because all I could think about were....couches. Should we keep Danny's couches or get a new one with a sleeper? If we keep Danny's, should we get new covers for them? Can we find an affordable one if we want a new one? Do we even need a pullout couch? What color should it be? Then, what color rugs and coffee tables would we need? Would I need to paint the walls or get new artwork? I can't stop thinking about it. Urgh, welcome to my overactive mind.

The apartment search is progressing along. Right now, we are waiting to see if my management company will drop my rent price significantly - that way we could just stay in my current apartment and not have to hunt around or move. Would be amazing if this would work out! I'll keep you posted. We renegotiated last year when they tried to raise our rent, so I'm hoping that I'm able to convince them that our rent price (which has been the same since November 2007) is now incredibly overpriced for the economic situation.

Exciting news...after much debate, I finally settled on a Halloween costume! I'm going to be the tooth fairy! I have wings that I used a couple of years ago for a Tinkerbell costume and I'd like to get one more use out of them before I reach an age where it is inappropriate for me to run around the city in a pair of wings. Yesterday I bought a fluffy white tutu and a long blonde wig (the tooth fairy just screams blonde to me, don't you think? plus fun, it'll be exciting to be blonde for a night) and I'm going to get a wand a tape a toothbrush to the end of it. And draw a tooth and somehow affix it to my costume so people can tell what I am. And carry a coin purse full of quarters. This all looks really fantastic in my head, so I hope I can make it a reality.

My mom is redecorating my bedroom at home and had a mishap with the yellow paint this weekend. We wanted to do a soft good-morning-sunrise yellow and she accidentally got bright divider-lines-in-the-street yellow. Haha, poor mom. Sorry I wasn't there to help you paint! Planning the new room with her is making me really excited to decorate the new (or same) apartment when Danny and I are finally settled. Although I have a feeling that I'll have to pick more gender-neutral colors for our walls :)

New-sies

2009-10-12T09:35:00.008-04:00

Not Newsies as in the movie - although I do love that movie, "Arise and sieze the day!" - I mean new-sies as in lots of new things going on! I'm glad to know people occasionally read this blog, one of my friends actually asked me this weekend why I hadn't updated in awhile! Sorry I've been MIA for a week and a half...anyways.

I cut my hair, finally! It's a couple of inches below shoulder length now, and I'm very happy with it. I had been putting it off because it's so expensive to get haircuts here, but I walked by a salon on Saturday that was having a grand opening with haircuts for $20, so I decided to take the plunge. Here's a picture...I just took this at my desk on my blackberry, so it's not the best, but you get the idea. (Linda, this is mostly for you)I finally got a ticket home for Thanksgiving! I wasn't sure I could afford it (buying Christmas and Thanksgiving tickets around the same times gets hard, and Thanksgiving "break" isn't that long) but my Dad and Liz came through and bought my ticket, so I'm heading back to Chicago for 5 days at the end of November and I can't wait! I've been missing my family so very much, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday besides Christmas (mashed potatoes and stuffing = my idea of heaven)

The biggest reason I've been so busy is the apartment search. However, a big development happened last week...Danny and I decided to live together! We're really excited to take this step, but oh my goodness, now that the decision is made, there is so much to do! We have to figure out exactly when we want to move - his lease is up at the end of October and mine is up at the end of November. We don't need to move by November 1 because he could just stay with me for a month, but I don't want to move right after Thanksgiving and be stressed about it the whole time I'm gone, so I'd like to start something on November 15th so that we can slowly move things in from my apartment. Also, we have to figure out what we're going to do with all his stuff before then if we don't move by November 1 - sell it, store it, etc. And I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff we'll need to buy once we actually find a place and sign a lease. Those of you who have apartment searched in NYC know that it is no easy feat, but I saw a few great places this weekend and have some more phone numbers to call, so hopefully something great will come up in the next few weeks. D, sorry for making you run through 17,000 different scenarios this weekend :)

Oh, and the last exciting thing that happened this past week is that my roommate and her boyfriend got engaged! Congrats Courtney and Tim! He proposed at an apple orchard over the weekend and her ring is just gorgeous and absolutely fits her style and personality perfectly. I couldn't be happier for them! I actually cried a little while she was telling me the proposal story.

Hope I don't bore you all too much in the next few weeks with my apartment search/moving centered blog posts. I'll try to find other exciting things to comment on so it doesn't seem as though I have a completely one-track mind!

Friday lunch in Manhattan

2009-10-02T12:18:00.002-04:00

Oh Hale & Hearty, you are so delicious, I am not even upset that a medium cup of soup cost me $6.92 today

Rabbit rabbit

2009-10-01T09:54:00.000-04:00

Happy October! When I was little, I always said "rabbit rabbit" first thing in the morning on the first of the month. It's supposed to bring you good luck. But is it really fall already? Time is flying this year...I'd probably believe it if someone told me today was June 18th - I don't know where the last 3 months have gone.

I keep meaning to write this week but everything has been quite busy at work. And I feel like my mind is being pulled in 5 million different directions. "Yank yank, tug tug, don't forget about me!" Thats how my brain feels right now. Maybe I'm developing ADD? Anyways, where to begin? I'll go with my 2 big stresses right now.

Money. Why can I never make enough of this stuff? No matter how hard I try to save and be frugal, I always feel like I'm waiting for my paycheck. There is constantly something that needs to be paid for/purchased: rent, utilities, credit card bills, student loan bills (ick), dry cleaning, food, gifts, plane tickets, new boots, a stupid run to the drugstore for shampoo and body wash that somehow costs $30, a new coat, etc. Ok, so I know the clothes are not exactly a need and I've been really working on talking myself out of most of the new things that I could use. But sometimes a girl just needs a nice winter coat that's not 3 years old from H&M. But the main reason money is making me crazy right now is...

Apartment. I am moving at the end of November when my lease is up and moving is a huge pain and a huge cost. Not only will I need to put down a security deposit and 1st month of rent for a new apartment (while I'm paying my current rent and before I get my security deposit back from my current apartment, great) but I am trying to factor in moving costs and furniture that I'll need to buy (sofa, table, new dresser - not from Ikea this time, etc) On top of the fact that I don't know where I'm going to find the time to actually look for an apartment between my 2 jobs, my dance classes, and my new mentoring volunteer gig. How do people ever find the time and money to actually purchase a home?

omg starting to stress again just reading through these last 2 paragraphs.

I know I'm being a huge baby because everyone worries about money and moving is always a pain, no matter how much time or money you have. And, granted, I am luckier than many and I do have it pretty good. But it's not Friday yet and I'm cold so you get to listen to my whining :)

Also, I need to find a Halloween costume and I don't know what I want to dress up as. See what I mean?!?? There is SO MUCH TO DO.

Banned Books Week

2009-09-28T10:30:00.001-04:00

We are so used to living in a country where we are free to educate ourselves and voice our own opinions that we have a tendency to take such things for granted. It's hard for me to believe that there are those that are still trying to silence certain thougths and opinions even after how much we have accomplished in the world of acceptance.

This is an important issue to be aware of and to fight for, so please visit the Random House Children's Books website to support Banned Books Week to learn more about the issues and what we can do to protect our freedom of speech and the right to read what we choose.

Ukranian sand

2009-09-25T09:09:00.000-04:00

Really one of the most incredible things I've seen in awhile. I was captivated for the entire video.

Haircut Help

2009-09-24T10:19:00.000-04:00

My hair is really long. I've always had hair on the shorter side, usually around shoulder length, until a couple of years ago when I really started growing it out. I've tried side swept bangs, blunt bangs, layers, etc. and can't seem to settle on a style I really like. I fight and struggle with my hair every morning to try and get it to do what I want. Now that my hair is long, I am worried that I will miss it if I do decide to part with it.

However, I'm in desperate need at a haircut and feel like I'm in a rut, style-wise. Here are some of the cuts I've had in the past....anyone have any preferences or suggestions for my next cut?? Helppp

2005 - chin length

2006 - shoulder length

2008 - bangs

2008 - long, with bangs

2009 - really long

Hoedown Throwdown

2009-09-23T13:31:00.000-04:00

My mom is an elementary school music teacher, and is nearing her 30th year in her school district, so needless to say, she's had to "keep up with the kids" as times have changed for quite a few years.

She is currently working on the Hanna Montana "Hoedown Throwdown" and said that the kids all know some dance to it and that she feels like she needs to learn it too.

Being older than 12, I don't watch Hanna Montana, but I found the video online and OMG the though of my sweet mother doing the "polka dot it" and "shuffle in diagonal" along with the 4th graders is making me giggle. What adults will go through to make the kids happy.

Here's an instructional video, if you want to learn too :) I'll obviously be doing this dance the next time I'm out.

New Amsterdam

2009-09-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

Hm, has it really been a week since I last posted? I really don't know where the time goes...even now that I'm done with school, fall is still the busiest season!

Jury duty was not as painful as I had anticipated...I was lucky enough to go on an incredibly slow day, case wise, so I didn't have to answer any questions from attorneys and I didn't have to go back for the 2nd day that New York requires. Glory! And I got out at 3 pm, which was amazing. Now I can forget about it for at least another 4 years...

Here is a picture tour of my trip to Hyde Park, NY 2 weekends ago with Danny's family...it was a great weekend, and it was the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson founding New Amsterdam (New York), so everything was free!

Outside of the FDR family home

Danny's family in front of the FDR home

FDR rose garden

Eleanor Roosevelt's cottages Stone Cottage and Val-Kil

View of the Hudson River from the Vanderbilt mansion

Vanderbilt Manson

Hiking on the Vanderbilt property

Railroad tracks cutting through the property

Vanderbilt Italian Gardens (trying to convince D that our next stop needs to be Monet's gardens in France...)

Impromptu handstand contest with Sonja (I'm winning!)

D and I on the shore of the Hudson

Sorry for the picture overload. More writing tomorrow!

Jury duty ugh

2009-09-15T22:31:00.000-04:00

Is it Tuesday night already? I feel like this week is flying by...hope it keeps up like that until Friday!

I will update soon on my weekend trip up the Hudson River Valley with Danny and his mom and sis. We had a ton of fun touring the FDR and Vanderbilt homes and grounds, learned a lot, ate delicious food, and it was especially nice to get to spend some solid time with them - they really made me feel comfortable, like part of the family.

Lovely weekend aside, all I can think about right now is the fact that I have the dreaded JURY DUTY tomorrow. First time ever. How is it that people I know who have lived in Manhattan for 25 years don't have jury duty, and I have to go when I've only been here for 2? I'm nervous (that I'm going to be picked) and annoyed (that I have to trek allllll the way downtown). At least I'll get to catch up on my Vogue reading, eh?

Cross your fingers that my jury duty serving is very short - I plan to go and be extremely opinionated in my answers so they don't want to keep me around :)

Lasers and fog machines

2009-09-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

Danny and I went to the outdoor techno festival Electric Zoo this past weekend on Randall's Island, a piece of land in the East River of Manhattan. He is really into electronic music and has definitely gotten me to listen to more of it - I've always been mostly a pop music/broadway show tunes kind of gal - but now my iPod is full of techno playlists.

Quite honestly, I don't believe people when they say they don't like electronic music. Yes, it might be loud and a little bit visually overwhelming at times, but how can you not like music that just makes people want to dance and enjoy themselves?! I love that you don't have to understand techno to be able to feel it in your body. NOBODY at this festival unhappy - everyone was having a blast, no matter how hot and sweaty and uncomfortable they were!

We ran around and saw a ton of different DJ's and played with glowsticks and danced like crazy and just had the best time. Definitely one of the most fun things I've done in awhile. Steve Aoki was my favorite DJ, but I must say that Benny Benassi's lasers stole my heart

21 Questions

2009-09-09T10:45:00.000-04:00

NYMag.com does a segment called 21 Questions that I love to read. I always find myself thinking how I would answer these, so I'm going to do one of my own for you...

Name: Lauren
Occupation: Executive Assistant
Who's your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional? So cliche, but probably Carrie Bradshaw. And maybe the evil Olivia Palermo.
What's the best meal you've eaten in New York? I dream about the ChixPotle pizza from Vezzo and the Red Snapper Taco's from Stanton Social
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job? Set up meetings and travel, coordinate conferences, research fashion people, read blogs, gchat
Would you still live here on a $35,000 salary? Did that already for my first year here, but hopefully I'll never have to again
What's the last thing you saw on Broadway? Wicked
Do you give money to panhandlers? Not unless they're playing a musical instrument (well)
What's your drink? Tom Collins, or Firefly & lemonade in the summer
How often do you prepare your own meals? Almost all the time, I only eat out once or twice a week.
What's your favorite medication? Playing with an exuberant puppy
What's hanging above your sofa? I think it's a rendition of Paris?
How much is too much to spend on a haircut? Ugh, I will never get over the $110 "haircut" (aka trim) I got when I first moved here.
When's bedtime? 11 if I'm lucky, usually around 12:30 though
Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square? I mostly prefer not to be in Times Square if I can help it. But new I suppose, since I don't remember the old one.
What do you think of Donald Trump? Now that is a man who should spend over $100 for a new hairdo
What do you hate most about living in New York? How expensive it is to leave Manhattan, even just for a day. And loud sirens ALL THE TIME.
Who is your mortal enemy? Jealousy
When's the last time you drove a car? When I was home with my family at the end of June. Too terrified to drive in NYC.
How has the economic downturn affected your life? More cooking, less shopping, and an extra part-time job.
Times, Post, or Daily News? Post for PageSix, Times for everything else
Where do you go to be alone? My hammock in Iowa
What makes someone a New Yorker? Standing in the street instead of on the sidewalk when the light turns red, and crossing the street before the light turns greet

5, 6, 7, 8 and 1....

2009-09-04T08:58:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day weekend! I get out of work at 1 pm today and am SO excited to be off until Tuesday! I have very little planned this weekend, except for the amazing outdoor concert Danny and I have tickets for. Getting ready for lots of lasers and fist pumping...

I'm taking my first dance class in over 2 years this afternoon, and I feel so silly about this, but I am incredibly nervous! Like, woke up with butterflies in my stomach nervous. It's been a long time since I've been in a class with a people I don't know and a teacher who's style I don't know. I'm afraid my body won't remember how to move. I'm taking a hip hop class (NOT my forte) so if I don't do well, I can say "well, it was the hip hop, I'm better at contemporary anyways!" and then I can feel better about myself and take a nice jazz class next week :)

Wish me luck...

Happy Anniversary...

2009-09-01T12:29:00.001-04:00

to NYC and me!! And may we have more happy years to come :)

I moved here exactly 2 years ago today and can't believe how the time has flown by. I was recounting the move on the phone with my Mom this morning, and sometimes can't believe that I really did it...

I decided to do the actual move on my own, without the help of my mom or Danny. I remember waking up the morning of September 1st, 2007 in Danny's almost apartment (because mine was completely empty by then) and helping him take his mattress down to his sister's apartment before he took me to the airport. We stopped for doughnuts and coffee and I cried most of the way there - I was so nervous! I finally got excited (and accomplished-feeling) when I got on the plane and remained as such until I landed at JFK, picked up by 2 checked bags (49 lbs and 57 lbs) and encountered something I'd never seen - a 45 minute line to get a cab. Phrases such as "You mean you can't just hail a cab?" and "You can't just call NorthShore?" and "Damn these bags are really heavy" and "I want to go HOME" ran through my head.

A little advice here...if you are moving to NYC via plane, call a car service. Or take one of the many shuttle buses. I didn't know such things existed, and stupidly waited in the neverending taxi line. Also, don't be a tough guy and decide to move yourself. 2 carry-ons and 2 checked bags stuffed with clothes and shoes are TOO HEAVY FOR 1 SMALL PERSON. My shoulders were actually bleeding by the time I had dragged all these bags 2 feet every 3 minutes and gotten to the end of the line - I cried for the 2nd time that day and couldn't understand why nobody offered to help me carry anything. Welcome to the east coast?

I took an taking an extremely expensive cab ride into Brooklyn, where a neighbor aquaintence from back home was (very generously) letting me stay in an extra "bedroom" in her apartment. Calling it a "bedroom" is pretty generous too actually. It was roughly the size of the closet I had just left in Evanson. It fit my inflatable double AeroBed and 1 of my suitcases, leaving just enough room to sort of open the door enough to wiggle out. I'll post some pictures later when I find them at home...

Anyways, the "bedroom" was only $400 a month (which actually makes me cringe thinking about how much I spend on rent now) and I wasn't living with creepy strangers, so I really shouldn't complain. She also immediately took me into the city (1 hour ride on the F train to the stop on 14th street) to Bed Bath and Beyond so I could buy pillows, a fan for my room, and a couple of mesh bags to carry groceries (I remember asking her why I needed these and she just laughed). So really, thank you to Ms. Chelsea for getting me settled on that day, I would have been even more of a wreck if she hadn't been there!

I like to think of this story when I'm feeling wimpy and whiney because hey, I dragged 4 suitcases around New York and moved by myself to somewhere I had no job and didn't really know more than a few people and was completley unprepared for how different things in NYC are than anywhere else. All easier said than done.

**Update**

Here is the picture of my room...notice how both the head and foot of the bed touch the walls. Still can't believe I crammed all my stuff into that space for 2 1/2 months without going crazy.

Summer jam

2009-08-28T11:13:00.001-04:00

OMG, why am I completely in love with this amazing piece of work from Fire Island? It not only makes me laugh but it makes me just feel happy. I need more friends that make videos. Ok, I'm going to go watch it again.

Math equation of the day

2009-08-26T09:28:00.000-04:00

Bath & Body works Nectarine Mint hand wash smells EXACTLY like pez candy. It doesn't smell like it straight from the bottle, only when I add water and wash my hands.I'm not sure how I feel about food/dessert scents in the bathroom. Maybe I wouldn't have this problem if I hadn't eaten so much Pez when I was younger (slash um...now)

Up north at the cabin

2009-08-25T09:14:00.000-04:00

And back to the reality of work after a beautiful peaceful weekend in the moutains...are you sick of my pictures yet?

Puppy chow challenge

2009-08-19T15:11:00.001-04:00

We are heading out of town with some of our friends to a cabin in the Adirondacks this weekend, and I've been planning to make puppy chow for the car trip up there. I went to the grocery store on my lunch break just now to buy all the ingredients and was shocked to find that there was no original rice chex cereal ANYWHERE in the store.

Isn't that like, a very basic cereal staple? They had Cinnamon Chex and Honey Nut Chex, but no original. I am in disbelief. Stupid fancy Manhattan grocery stores - I had to go to CVS to find the Chex! I bet you there is not one single grocery store in suburban america that would be caught dead without Rice Chex in the cereal aisle.

Art is everywhere

2009-08-18T15:05:00.001-04:00

Coolest picture of the (now old) patio chairs from Times Square. Thanks for providing distractions for my workday NYMag.

Patriotic weekend

2009-08-18T09:03:00.000-04:00

Danny and I took a mini-vacation to D.C. this weekend and had a blast. Neither of us had ever been before and we had a great time exploring around. I liked D.C. a lot, much more than I thought I would! There were such nice green spaces and there was a lot more to it than just government buildings.

We stayed near Capitol Hill and saw all the "big" monuments, a few of the museums and the White House on Saturday. We took an evening stroll along the National Mall (at the suggestion of Bridget) and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip, so pretty and peaceful. We took the metro to Georgetown (failure here, the D.C. metro is NOT like the subway at all, it took us about 10 minutes to get tickets and figure out how to swipe them, because you can't double-swipe cards. The ticket guy was not happy with us) and had a fantastic Italian dinner at Pizzeria Paradiso. The next day, we saw the National Archives and the accompanying documents....so considering we were only in town for about 28 hours, lets just say it was a whirlwind weekend! I think we did a pretty good job of navigating the city by ourselves (with the help of a map from the hotel of course).

Here is the influx of pictures that Danny was wonderful enough to put up with me taking :)

Right now

2009-08-13T16:15:00.000-04:00

I am eating 2 toasted brown sugar pop tarts

I exchanged the sliver paper clips on my desk for multi-colored ones

I bought 2 for $5 cereal at CVS today

I can't wait for our D.C. trip (take 2) this weekend

I have the best boyfriend in the world

I really need new iPod headphones

Perks of the corporate world

2009-08-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

Danny's office knows how to throw a swanky party

Secret

2009-08-10T13:42:00.001-04:00

Mixing a spoonful of sour cream in with the milk and butter when making Kraft Mac & Cheese is my new secret weapon.

(Idea stolen from my stepmom and proved amazing this weekend. Twice. Yum.)

English lesson

2009-08-07T13:12:00.000-04:00

Last video for this week, I promise!

How could I resist a literal interpretaion of a popular pangram...that includes an Akita??

Can I have one please?

2009-08-06T13:28:00.000-04:00

This might just be the cutest thing I've ever seen

Also, an old favorite, Sleepy Spudgy. Can't get enough of him.

Sweet like cherry pie

2009-08-04T09:17:00.000-04:00

My family is vacationing in Door County right now.

I would like to be there:

Instead of here:

I love the city but sometimes I crave nature and simplicity. And um...pie.

Or maybe I just need another vacation.

Ginko, anyone?

2009-08-03T15:08:00.000-04:00

I have a really terrible problem with remembering people's names. I mean, people that I have met and conversed with more than once. I see them out on the street and they (of course) remember my name and I am stuck doing the awkward "hey there you!-verbally-dance-around-the-name" jig.

Ugh. I need one of those memory improvement video games that Beyonce has such fun playing on those commercials.

Of course, I can't think of what that video game thing is called right now.

Pics from the storm

2009-07-30T18:00:00.001-04:00