giving thanks

I wanted to post this on Thanksgiving but I didn't get the chance to. I have so much to be grateful for this year. First off, I am so incredibly thankful that my brother is alive and well. I am thankful for my family and now my new in laws. I am thankful for my kind and loving boyfriend who is always so patient with me and never stops making me laugh. I am thankful for such wonderful friends who always support me. Lastly, I am so thankful for my career and all the exciting new side projects I have been working on that keep me so inspired. I am a very lucky girl.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. xo

bye y'all!

My boyfriend and I are making the 9 hour drive tonight down to North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife. I've only spent about 4 Thanksgivings with my brother so it's pretty darn special!

pics from my weekend

Lots of eating, drinking, and dancing (not pictured). On Saturday night, on our way to a post party, we walked past Katz's deli and my boyfriend and I both shamefully admitted that we had never been. The line was always just too long for me. But luckily that was where everyone wanted to eat at 2 AM. Hooray! I must say their pastrami sandwich definitely lives up to its reputation. It's fantastic! Earlier in the day, the taping of Pilot X was more fun than I ever expected. I was called up to be the Sound Tech and I think I've found my calling. I didn't stop laughing the entire time. Later that evening, before the Hot Rod Circuit show at Williamsburg Music Hall, we went for Vietnamese food and then to a bar that served huge 34 oz beers in styrofoam cups for $4! I'd say it was a perfect weekend.

have a fun weekend!

What are you guys up to this weekend? I have a crazy (but seriously fun) few days ahead of me. Tonight I'm attending a wedding with my boyfriend. I won't know anyone there so I plan on boozing and dancing the night away (which wouldn't be different from any other wedding). Tomorrow we are going to a pilot taping of a friend's new show called Pilot X. Later in the evening we are headed to Brooklyn to see Hot Rod Circuit, and then back to Manhattan for the post party for Pilot X. Eeeeeeee I'm so excited!

midday pick-me-up

While working from home this afternoon I hit a midday slump. I decided to watch a little tv while eating my lunch. Then I saw a commercial for Starbucks advertising buy one get one free coffee. I sure needed a pick me up. And two is even better than one. I walked to Starbucks in the rain, unshowered and displaying VPL (no shame- ok, a lotta shame). I ordered a double of my favorite Peppermint Mocha. Something about those red cups just make me so happy. Effective marketing, Starbucks. 

On my way back I caught a glimpse of Tracy Morgan shooting 30 Rock on Steinway St in Astoria. (Yeah, Queens!) He was hugging fans and posing for photos. I would've gotten in line for a hug (almost as effective as caffeine for a pick me up) but I had my hands full with the coffee (and I was very ashamed of my VPL).

coffee mugs

I'm not sure when my obsession with coffee mugs began but I guess I've become a bit of a collector. I don't know why but they just make me so happy. Maybe it's correlated with the fact that coffee makes me happy. I should've been a scientist. Urban Outfitters has a bunch of these flared coffee mugs that I'm in love with.

Bike, Dog, Beautiful.

baby's 1st birthday

A few weekends ago, during that freak fall snowstorm, my boyfriend and I drove up to Massachusetts for his cousin's 1st birthday. We were hoping for a beautiful fall foliage drive but got snow instead. Not that it mattered because I was asleep for the entire drive. We were going to drive back that evening to attend a Halloween party but, because of the heavy snowfall and dangerous road conditions, we decided to stay the night. My boyfriend was worried that I would be upset about missing a costume party but I honestly couldn't have picked a better setting to be stranded. The house was full of food, candy, cake, and booze for the party so we stayed up late into the night finishing it all while playing with all of his little cousin's toys and games. In all of my years of partying, who knew a baby's first birthday party would be one of the most fun?

long jane pajamas

It's cold, dark, and rainy here in NYC, and on top of that my allergies are unrelenting today. I had to drag myself out the door to work on some projects at a cafe. But when I opened my front door, I saw that my thermal long jane pajama order had arrived. I put them on immediately and they're just as cosy as they look. So today I'm going to stay in my pajamas and work from home. : )

sweater leggings

The temperatures dropped a bit this past weekend. (Anything below 70 degrees and I'm freezing)! As much as I hate the cold, I do love snuggly clothes. Madewell came out with their holiday catalog today and I am obsessed with the  Polka Dot Leggings and Fair Isle Sweater Leggings. Wouldn't these be perfect for lounging around on a Winter day?

PS- I've worn the same clothes for the past 3 days and I'm OK with that. Gotta love the life of a freelancer. :)

have a great weekend!

Happy Veterans' Day! I just wanted to say a big (HUGE) thanks to all of those who serve our country. 

What are you guys up to this weekend? I'm shooting two weddings this weekend and hoping to find time on Sunday to unwind and have a beer. 

Have a great weekend!

finding a work space

          

Source: starsmasquerading.tumblr.com via Nina on Pinterest

I mainly work from home during the week and I have the bad habit of crawling back into bed when I'm feeling overwhelmed by the mountain of work that I have to finish. It's extremely counterproductive and adds to my stress later, but for the moment the world just seems like a safer place under my covers. I was talking to one of my best friends who also works from home and she says she has the exact same problem, and the same temporary snuggly solution. We were glad to find out we weren't alone in our stress relieving tactic but decided we needed a better plan. Like maybe actually working on what needs to be done and it seems our "home office" is just not going to cut it.

We decided to meet at Queens Kickshaw, a local coffee and grilled cheese (and craft beer) joint that has free wifi, tons of communal seats, and a super friendly staff. I had an awesome El Salvadorian coffee, chedder and mozz grilled cheese with tomato soup, and later a brownie when I needed a pick me up. Oh, and I was extremely productive. Hooray for solutions! : )

personal demons

"There is nothing to fear except the power you give to your own demons." -Sally Gardner

I think one of my personal demons is comparing myself to other people. Yesterday I got myself down because I learned that a former colleague got a position that I would’ve been up for, had I not left the company. I know, I feel silly even typing this. It’s crazy because I’m happier than I’ve ever been with my career and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be happy with my former postion, and yet, I still felt the nagging “coulda, woulda, shouldas.” Do you guys ever feel like this? I wanted to snap out of it because I knew that feeling envious of something I don’t want is pretty ridiculous. So what did I do? I looked up pictures of puppies to take my mind off things. (OK, also pretty ridiculous).

weekend

Our anniversary was absolutely perfect. Despite having turned the clocks back, we were still feeling pretty tired so we decided to have a relaxing afternoon lounging around and watching a movie. We watched The Kids Are All Right, which I enjoyed (perhaps only because of Mark Ruffalo) but my boyfriend says he "poops on the movie." (His maturity is one of the things I love about him). Later we got dressed and did some window shopping in Brooklyn before we headed to dinner at Frankies (also in Brooklyn). We shared a bottle of Gaglioppo and some antipasti, and for the main course my boyfriend ordered the cavatelli (fantastic) while I had the sweet sausage with polenta (also fantastic). For dessert we shared the tiramisu, which we regretted not ordering one each. After dinner we came home to watch Dexter before going to bed. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day, or a more perfect person to spend it with. : )

cheers!

Today is our anniversary! It's so funny, a few months before I met my boyfriend I was so fed up with dating all the wrong guys. I drew a cartoon picture of my "dream man" with a list all of the qualities that I was looking for and said I refused to date anyone who didn't meet the criteria. My best friend laughed at me and said I was chasing a "pipe dream" and "there's no perfect man." But just a few months later I met my boyfriend who turned out to have all the checks on my list, even down to his beard and glasses. After I described him to another friend she said, "Give me a pen, I'm drawing one too." : )

"I'd cut up my heart for you to wear if you wanted it." -Margaret Mitchell, Gone With The Wind

(This photo was taken by Kate Connolly at my brother's rehearsal dinner).

have a lovely weekend!

What you guys up to this weekend? I'm so excited to celebrate my one year anniversary with my boyfriend on Sunday. I'm not sure what we'll do, but anything would be just perfect. With that, I will leave you with this quote:

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust

Legendary champagne brunch

I think I dodged catastrophe and my external hard drive was saved. So I can get back to posting some photos. We went to the "Legendary Champagne Brunch" two Sundays ago which was beyond anything I could've imagined. I was told that "they just keep bringing food out" and that I was going to be "so full that it hurts" and that I "wouldn't think about food again for at least a week." Sure, sure I can comprehend what being stuffed feels like. I mean, I have attended Italian Thanksgivings before. But I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. They only do one seating at 1PM and after that the waiter literally brings one course after another, along with never letting your champagne glass go empty. We counted and it turned out to be 20  courses (!). We started off with a piece of bagel with lox, pumpkin bread, fruit, caesar salad, eggs benedict, and then went full speed ahead with mushroom risotto, ham, apple fritters, lamb, steak, chicken, scallops, and coconut shrimp. I'm certain there was a lot more but that is as far as I can remember as I started getting delirious and losing oxygen. (It was a fancy place so we got all dressed up for brunch, although we've been told that people show up in pajama pants. The nerve!)

I asked everyone to make a face for how they felt after their 20 course meal. I think mine wins.

After we had our 20th course and thought it was all over, they brought over a tray of 6 desserts. There was creme brulee, raspberry and mango sorbet, chocolate burrito, chocolate cake, cheesecake, and pecan pie. I don't know how we did it but we licked the plates clean and asked for a second chocolate burrito!

The best part of the entire afternoon, aside from the delicious meal, was that at the very end, our friend knocked over his glass of champagne and the drink splashed onto a lady at the next table. We apologized profusely, and she was very understanding, but we could not stop laughing when he said to her, "I'm so sorry but I was just in such shock when I saw this bill that I threw my hands up." How could you not forgive someone for that?

Brunch is seriously one of the best things on earth. 

upcoming project: photo shoot

While my hard drive is down I can at least update you guys with images I have in my phone. Last Tuesday I spent the night at my best friend's apartment so that we could prepare the props and get up early the following morning for a photo shoot. The shoot is for an upcoming project that I'm really excited about. (Details soon!)

We stayed up late eating pizza, drinking wine, and painting, gluing, and even toasting our cute little props. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, I don't think slumber parties and crafting will ever get old for me, but my sleep deprived best friend couldn't wait to finish so that we could go to bed. I wanted so badly to keep the beach cruiser, pictured below.

Our photographers were so much fun to work with and at one point they hopped on the other's shoulder to get the shot. Now that's commitment! They called it the "totem pole." We had such a blast working on this shoot and really lucked out with the awesome fall weather.

More images soon!

Be back soon!

Sorry for the disappearance! I had gone out of town but didn't expect to be away for the whole week. And now that I'm back to work my external hard drive (might have) crashed. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's just resting. Be back soon!