A Return to NYC

First off, thanks a million for all the kind words on my post about the new job – those words mean the world to me! As I mentioned in my last post, writing on the SHLB might become a bit less regular, due to some exciting changes in my life. Hope ya’ll didn’t miss me too much this past week, but I couldn’t resist popping back in for an NYC recap, for old time’s sake.

This past weekend, I travelled back to the Apple to meet one VERY special tiny little lady: my precious niece Lila Rose.

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While my parents flew to NYC immediately after she was born, I waited a whole entire month to meet the little peanut! 

She was well-worth the wait.

Lila is just one month old, and it’s incredible to simply watch her as she takes in the world and smiles up at her mommy and daddy. I’ve written several times about my big brother on the SHLB, and I’ve always thought he would make an amazing father. It’s very sweet to see him with his little baby girl! Continue Reading →

A Castle Getaway Over Central Park

When you wake up with a view like this, you’re pretty much disallowed the right of complaining about ANYTHING.

All of New York City...literally right before my very eyes. It's like a castle in the sky!

As mentioned in my last post, my parents are in town for the weekend. So, instead of heading to the beach with the rest of New York City, I’m camping out at my parents hotel room, which, as you can see overlooks all of Central Park.

Now this is what I call a room with a view. Continue Reading →

Birthday Recap and the 4 Stages of a Sometimes Healthy Hangover

It's BIRTHDAY TIMEEEE

Well, as predicted, I was unable to write a proper post yesterday, as I spent the day reveling in my Sometimes Healthy Hangover and eating ridiculous amounts of fro yo and pretzels and cream cheese. Luckily, I did take lots of pictures of Saturday’s Birthday Fiesta to ensure that I’d be able to recap all of the fun with minimal words.

 

Birthday Fiesta in Numbers

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Chill-Axin for the Holidays

A cake pop a day....makes the Work Week Blues go away?

Happy Short Week everyone! After 3-4 days of fun in the sun, I’m sure not one of us was extremely excited to get back to the grind.

Luckily, the picture to the right is how I started out my day.

Cake pops! Do these babies ever get old? I’m convinced that, like cupcakes, they’ll never go out of style 🙂 One of the ladies in our office is an incredible baker, and she seems to specialize in cake pops. Today, the flavors included Carrot Cake, Strawberry Cake, Key Lime, Piña Colada and Chocolate Cake.

If every work week starts out like this, I might just be sprinting to the office every Monday morning to ensure I have the best flavor pick. The only thing that could make this display more exciting would be if it was propped up by a can of Reddi Whip…

Hey, a girl can dream.

4th of July Weekend Round-Up

If you’re just catching up from the weekend, here’s what I did all weekend. Continue Reading →

Friendship and Frozen Hot Chocolate

Look at that smile!

As I mentioned on Thursday, my best friend, Emily, from Nebraska, was in town for a work trip. Believe it or not, I showed her more in NYC than just 16 Handles and PB & J Overnight Oats in a Jar. Although she was in town for only 3 days, we packed a lot into those three days. Here’s a recap:

Two Years Without Frozen Hot Chocolate

I’ve been in NYC for two years (plus a four month internship back in college), and I am ashamed to say I’ve never tried the infamous Serendipity frozen hot chocolate! It’s right around the corner from one of my favorite places in NYC, Dylan’s Candy Bar, but I’ve never gone inside because there is always a long wait. Well, Emily’s first night in NYC provided the perfect opportunity to sample this delectable goody!

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Turn that Monday Frown Upside Down: A New York-a-Versary

If you can make it here, you really can make it anywhere. But why would you bother to go anywhere else?Village Voice on NYC

Friday was a big day for me. HUGE. EPIC. RIDICULOUSLY IMPORTANT (I’m not melodramatic AT ALL) Two years ago on May 7, I finally took the plunge and moved from Chicago to NYC. After interning in NYC at a magazine at the age of 19, I had always wanted to come back. Six years, 3 jobs and a breakup later, I finally made it happen! It was a long time coming, and I couldn’t have been more excited. To say I entered the city all “bright eyed and bushy tailed” is certainly an understatement. Here’s a little exchange that occurred the day after I moved to the city. I think it demonstrates the whole enthusiastic thing: Continue Reading →

Takin it to the Tropics…Kitchen Sink Salad Style

Another Monday, Another plan astray! I had such a great meal planned for tonight, but by the time I finished work and put in my 7 miles at the gym, it was too late and I was just too tired to put some major time into dinner. THUS, another Kitchen Sink Salad was born…I think I may just need to rename it the Monday Night New Yorker’s Kitchen Sink Salad. I believe this is the third week in a row.

First we had the Fiesta, then the Thanksgiving Style and now…. Continue Reading →

And I Gotta Say, Today was a Good Day

Bye bye April Showers - helloooo sunshine! My walk to the gym was bliss

From country music on Friday, to a little bit of old school rap on this beautiful Sunday here in NYC. If you’ve never heard Ice Cube’s “It was a Good Day,” please check out the link at the bottom of this post. Rap music doesn’t always run deep (and neither does country), but sometimes it just captures my mood so perfectly. This song is as simple as it sounds: It’s about a good day; one of those days where everything just runs smoothly and it’s all good :-).

Well, as my friend Ice Cube put it so eloquently back in 1995, “Today was a Good Day” here in NYC. The rain and clouds cleared away from yesterday and brought lots of sunshine and surprises.

Started out the day with a walk and some kickboxing (my version of yoga), moved onto a little whiffle ball, got a little starstruck, enjoyed a bit of pampering and finally rounded it ALL out with a delicious Italian dinner.

Here’s the short recap. Continue Reading →