An NYC Weekend

[I've definitely been doing a lot of this lately, and it's made such a difference.]

Totes forgot to do my Week in Review post, but I had such a lovely, productive, NYC weekend that I will do a weekend in review and work week wishlist, if you don't mind. :)


Weekend in Review
- fabulous brunch w/ friends, old and new, @ Blue Ribbon Bakery (It was my second time there, and I've decided I'm perfectly okay with not going back. The place itself is adorable, but the food is overpriced and mediocre.)
- baby shower for my NYC big sis on the Upper East Side
- The Met's member preview weekend for "The Steins Collect" gallery
- a surprisingly lovely impromptu Italian dinner with my roomie post-Met (we may have split a bottle of wine... yes, it was that kind of week)
- viewing (my first) of Shakespeare in Love
- a wonderful church service (minus the loud, annoying kids sitting behind us)
- a haircut and delectable brunch @ The Roebling Team Room (My second time, adn I will definitely be returning.) in Willamsburg
- solo Oscars viewing party whilst working in my planner and munching on my newest fave - Trader Joe's roasted veggie frozen pizza


Work Week Wishlist
- 3 runs
- goodbye dinner avec dear friend moving back to TX
- black tie optional party at which I will not be wearing a ballgown 
- weekly a cappella rehearsal
- potential TV appearance
- comfy Virgin America flight to San Francisco
- host fun and fabulous baby shower for Ma Soeur
- spend quality time in NoCal w/ Ma Soeur and Momma Park
- easy breezy redeye flight back to NYC


 

Le Weekend (in pictures)

I managed to squeeze in not one, but two nights of art journaling. Voila my Springspiration collage and fitness goals for the next 3 months:

My guy BFF and I are doing a book swap for February. He's reading a book of my choice, and I'm reading one of his. My choice for him is Eating Animals (bien sur), and his for moi is Anna Karenina. Admittedly I'm surprised at how much I love it and have found myself unable to put it down lately. Thank goodness for my new Kindle Touch - the hard copy is HUGE!

I've decided that fresh flowers are a new "must" for moi, particularly now that Spring is right around the corner. My room gets very little (read: ZERO) sunlight, so I need something to remind me of the beautiful outdoors. I picked up these babies at a corner bodega yesterday afternoon and felt very SATC-esque whilst doing so.

I hope your weekend felt long, luscious and full of creativity. Gros bisous!

 

3-Day Weekends...

{image found Brenda Mullen}

,,, are heavenly, aren't they?  They just seem to go on forever, that is, until it's Monday afternoon, and you wonder what you did all weekend.  That's sort of the feeling I'm having, anyway.  I had an absolutely lovely afternoon tea at Lady Mendl's, which might be the most gorgeous tea salon I've ever seen.  It was exactly what afternoon tea should be, in my humble opinion.

I've yet to decide how I plan to spend the rest of my holiday, but I wanted to leave you with some quotes I've been pondering/enjoying lately.

"Faith is taking the first step, even if you can't see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself."

- Leonardo da Vinci

"Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better."

- Flannery O'Connor

"Happiness depends upon ourselves.  To live happily is an inward power of the soul."

- Marons Aurelius

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

- Bertrand Russell

"When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering."

- Miguez Ruiz

Le Weekend

{photo found here}

Indulging in a much needed pedicure here

Brunching here and there

Trying to get fit here

Hopefully running here

Shopping here (15% off for VIB's!)

Reading this, this and this  

(psst - have been on a reading spree and have an upcoming post about all the goodies I've been reading)

Praying here

Bon weekend, mes amies.  I miss you.  Gros bisous.

To a Good Week

{source: weheartit}

This weekend felt short, and I find it hard to believe that it's already Monday morning.  Nonetheless, I've already done my hair (ok, I just redid my bangs), made oatmeal (on the stove, y'all!) and sipped my iced coffee (may or may not have just poured myself a second glass).  And now I'm just... stalling.  Still need to do my makeup and get dressed and then begin what is bound to be a tough week at work.  I'm determined to stay positive, and for now, will remind myself of the fun I had this weekend...

Meeting dear friend at my fave wine bar on Friday night to catch up and discuss her upcoming nuptials 

Sleeping in on Saturday

Having some solo moi time on Saturday, spent leisurely running errands and window shopping

Learning our hot water heater is broken and realizing that I can go have a lovely, hot shower at Equinox post-workout

A fun night on the town for my friend Will's birthday (club in meatpacking, table & bottle service, so not my norm, but a fun change of pace nonetheless)

A not-too-hungover brunch at my NYC big sis' apt on Sunday morning afternoon

Buying a "goal skirt" on Sunday (I've never purposely bought an article of clothing knowing it's too small, but I wonder if it might serve as some sort of inspiration - it's a gorgeous skirt - and if it doesn't fit in 29 days, well then, I'll just return it)

Breakfast tacos for dinner

P.S. Thanks for the kind, encouraging words.  I know I'm a bit hard on myself, and I'm working on it.

Working Eating Eating Working

Hi, y'all!  How's your week been?  Hard to believe it's already Friday, eh?  Work, for moi, has been going pretty well.  Slowly learning the ropes and getting to know everyone - it's fun.  :D  Nonetheless, I am EXCITED for the weekend!!  Can you believe it's already Halloween?  Nuts!  This Fall is flying by which makes me tres tres sad.

Working has definitely shaken up my eating routine.  I'm ravenous by the time I get home from work and typically end up eating the first thing I set my sights on.  I know I should have a snack in the late afternoon, but I just haven't gotten my act together yet, and I don't want to go buy something from the cafeteria.  Tonight, I had just enough time (like 15 minutes) to whip up a quick, easy meal before heading uptown for a concert w/ friends. 

Trader Joe's frozen garlic naan and veggie masala burger aka the BEST VEGGIE BURGER EVER!!!  Seriously, I thought it sounded weird when I first heard of it, but then I tried it, and OHMEMGEE - it is taaasty.  I think it's going to become my favorite go-to meal component.

I also had a bag of spinach that was about to go very, very bad.  I made one of the greenest smoothies I've ever made in my life!  It was also very simple - just spinach, almond milk, frozen banana, frozen mango, touch of raw honey, and ice.  It was surprisingly delicious sans peanut butter & flax per my usual green smoothies.  Very light and refreshing.  And GREEN!

Naturally, as soon as I got home from said concert, I was hungry again.  So I made another veggie burger and shoved it in a small whole wheat roll.  Mmmm I need to buy lots and lots of boxes of these...  Get them.  You won't regret it.

As for le weekend, I plan to do the following...

Friday: Get brows waxed at the Boom Boom Brow Bar, go for a run, catch up on my DVR, hopefully finish my book club book

Saturday: Brunch w/ old friend, shop w/ NYC friend, gym, then OUT for HALLOWEEN!

Sunday: FINALLY getting my hair did (it's been 6 mo since haircut... appalling), church, run, 

get ready for week :D  

What're you up to this weekend?

Weekend Cookin'

WARNING: Picture-heavy post, y'all.  I went a little crazy with my iPhone camera today...

One of the pleasant side effects of reading Angela's blog is that it makes me want to get in the kitchen and experiment.  I can definitely whip up food sans recipe, but I'm not much for experimenting.  If I have a recipe, I use it, and that's that.  But Saturday morning I woke up and decided to be uber daring (ha!) and just go with the flow...

I immediately knew I wanted pancakes!  PUMPKIN pancakes!!  I bought some multigrain pancake mix from Whole Foods the other day (this is the exact brand I bought - really really good) and dumped some into a bowl.  Then I added about 1/2 cup of organic canned pumpkin.  Then some almond milk.  Then some pumpkin pie spice.  And whisked.  It was pretty thick at first, so I added a touch of canola oil (will replace with applesauce now that I've purchased unsweetened applesauce) and more almond milk.  5 minutes later, I was flippin' pancakes with the best of 'em! They were DELISH!  Topped with a touch of Earth Balance and pure maple syrup... yum.

Enjoyed with Trader Joe's Wintry Mix blend coffee and a touch of soy creamer.  Mmmmm...  (Oh and the reason the pancakes are in a bowl is because we were out of clean plates.)

After a kickass run on the treadmill (too cold to run outside today!), I got dolled up and headed out to Hill Country, a TX-style BBQ joint.  We had a UT Law Alumni Event organized by my friend Stephanie, and I was promised free food and drink.  The entire downstairs was FULL of burnt orange clad Longhorn fans.  The game was super fun and we WON!!  We beat Nebraska who were ranked #5 (we weren't ranked at ALL).  Unfortunately, a lot of the free food was meat, meat and more meat, so I ordered some veggies and cornbread on the side.  ;)  

Longhorn fans are CRAZY devoted.

After the game, I went to Trader Joe's w/ my good friend David.  

 (No idea why we are so orange.  TX pride?)

I needed to get some ingredients for tonight's din.  I wanted to make mujaddara since I picked up these lentils last week.  I've never cooked with lentils before, which is nuts considering my mostly-vegan diet.  They are PACKED with protein and fiber.

(I label all my TJ's food now since all my roomies shop there, too.  I probably didn't need to label these though... I doubt my roomies even know what lentils are!)

This is what the lentils looked like after I dumped them into a pot.  I added more salt and pepper and lots of cumin.  Next time I'm going to make the lentils myself!

Mujaddara is essentially a dish of lentils and rice topped with onions and yogurt (or sour cream).  

I LIVE for caramelized onions - they're so good!  But they shrink up SO much.  I should've used 2 onions.  Before:

After:

I made it with brown basmati rice.  I suck at making rice in a pot, but I don't eat it enough to buy a rice cooker.  Sigh.  After the rice was done (I use that term loosely), I topped a bowlful with the lentils, the onions, and a dollup of Fage 0% greek yogurt.

I also roasted some adorable potatoes (also from TJ's).  They're so teeny!  (That nifty contraption on the far left is my oil mister from Williams Sonoma.  It rocks my face off!)

(Please ignore my hideous, unpolished fingers.)

I also roasted some broccoli.  Don't ya just love roasted veggies?  So easy and so good.

The mujaddara was pretty good!  I love how easy it is - just a few ingredients.  The onions and yogurt definitely make the dish so I would not recommend skipping them.  (To veganize the dish, you could always use Tofutti sour cream.  The rest of it is super vegan.  :D)  You can also play around with more spices, but all I had on hand was cumin.  I have plenty of leftover lentils and brown rice and plan to use them up next week in as many different ways as possible. Any suggestions?

I'm now sitting in bed and debating whether I should watch Criminal Minds or Beauty and the Beast (released from the vault!!!).  My friend Steph and Roomie Deux both invited me out, but I am soooo happy to not go out this weekend.  I'm sure they think I'm lame, but so what?  I love being lame.  :D  In fact, I think I'm going to live it up and make a big mug of Vanilla & Cinnamon black tea from TJ's.  Mmmmm... tea.  Dude, this stuff is GOOD.  I'm going to STOCK UP b/c it's seasonal.  How cute is the lemur on the box??  It's also only $1.99 - HOLLA!!

Have I mentioned how much I love TJ's???  Not sure how I ever lived without it...

Do you tend to cook from recipes or do you freestyle it up in the kitch?  And do you want to smack me for inserting so many pics or does it make things more interesting?  :)

Solo Scene from Le Weekend

I went out both Friday and Saturday nights and spent all of Saturday walking around the Lower East Side, but per my usual, I failed to take any pics.  Instead, I decided to snap a photo of my sneaks before heading out for another run along the Hudson (despite my shuffle dying 10 min into it, this run was even better than the first!).  It takes 2 keys (sometimes 4!) to get into my apartment, and since I made the mistake of cutting out the key holder in my Nike running shorts (it annoyed the crap outta me), I decided to lace my keys up in my sneaks.  Special, eh?  (I'm in desperate need of new running shoes btw...)

All my keys have "covers" that I purchased at either Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters.  When you have 4 apartment keys, you need a way to quickly distinguish one from another.  My roomies think I'm a trip... I think I'm smart.  :)

I had a crazy/awesome/productive/unexpected Sunday!!  Waking up was a bit painful (maybe one beer too many last night?), but I agreed to go volunteer at a conference with my friend David at noon so I was up early enough to pick up a grande soy misto before walking to meet him.  After a couple of hours, we parted ways, and I went home, changed, and headed out for my run!  Post-run I took a shower, ate lunch/dinner (eating at 3:30 really messes you up) and got ready to visit a new church with my friend Ryan.  Sermon was GREAT, music was terrible.  :(  Sometimes I forget how lucky I was to have the Austin Stone.  In any case, I felt good about my Sunday.  Instead of lazing about in bed complaining of a hangover, I volunteered, went for a run, and went to church.  Hurray!

How was your weekend?? 

Fit for Fall: Le Weekend

First things first, here's another pic from my trip! This was snapped after we hiked to a lake (the name of which completely escapes me now... something "Falls"). Ma Soeur and I were relaxing by the water on this awesome giant log/bench. J'adore hiking! At this point in the trip, I had no option but to braid my hair because it was a giant frizzy mess!


Beginning my detox with a weekend was probably not the best idea, but luckily most of my friends were otherwise engaged this weekend so I laid low pretty easily. Also? It took me awhile to recover from my day 'o traveling and just being out of the city in general. The thing is, there's no easy way to acclimate here... you're just thrown into the mix, especially when you live on one of the busiest streets in Chelsea. So I kind of sorta didn't leave the house on Friday. Yup, that's right. After a VERY late Thursday night, I slept in and spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, not doing much. BUT, I did eat vegan! And on Saturday, I redeemed myself a bit by hitting the gym. Did a little cardio on the elliptical and then hit a 70-minute Fluidity class (SO. FRIGGIN. HARD.).

Also, I stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home from the gym and picked up some much-needed essentials: loads of fresh produce (broccoli, grapes, carrots, celery), hummus, tomatoes and whole wheat pasta (made spaghetti tonight), tortillas, and multigrain bread. So far, eating vegan hasn't been too tough (no grilled cheese cravings yet!), but I did want a coffee the size of my head this morning (and okay, I could go for a cupcake right now). I think the hardest part for me is going to be when I'm forced to eat out and the working out... I'm not so good at the working out. I need your help and motivation tricks!!!

As for Sunday, I met some friends for brunch/lunch at a place that luckily had a veggie burger, and confession time: I had an iced coffee. Definitely not decaf. Eek! But I bought decaf coffee to fix that craving. I'm sure it's not much better than the real thing, but I can't help it, j'adore my coffee! Oh and another confession: I had a small brownie. You see, I went ALL day sans eating (bad bad bad idea) and was ravenous by the time I finally got home and was SO hungry whilst waiting for my pasta water to boil, sooo I broke down and ate a small brownie that one of my roommates had made. Oops.

Umm other than that, weekend went great! Only a few days vegan, and my clothes are already feeling better (seriously!). Love.

How's it been going for y'all? It's only been a few days but weekends are the hardest! I'm excited for the upcoming week. I've got lofty goals of running, pilates, and yoga. We shall see!

Thx & Le Weekend

{image: Smitten Kitchen}

Thanks for letting me vent, y'all... I needed it! And double thanks to my readers who pointed out this hilarious and scarily accurate article from The Onion. I'm glad it's not just me!! I'm still completely over NYC, but fun weekend plans, dreams of Fall, and my trip to Cali next week are keeping my spirits high. (Also - I cranked up the A/C in my room and happily shivered whilst reading my stack of September issues and slurping spicy hot Korean ramen noodle soup soooo the hot & humid weather didn't bother me!)

On that note, TGIF, oui? I'm writing this at 3:35 AM on Saturday morning. No, not because I had a wild and crazy night out, but because my sleeping schedule is still entirely off. One day I can wake up at 9 AM if I need to, the next noon. Makes no sense! I need to pick up some more melatonin. Cup of chamomile w/ lemon & honey + one tablet of melatonin seems to work for my insomnia.

Luckily I have no reason to wake up too early tomorrow. My plans include hitting the gym, picking up some storage containers at The Container Store (duh), and getting ready for evening festivities, including a fun partay at my friend David's and a night out on the town. On Monday, my friend Steph and I are throwing a huge brunch on her patio (weather's supposed to be nice for once!), and the menu includes yummies like spinach and cheese strata, biscuits and homemade strawberry jam, cherry cornmeal upside down cake, and oodles of bubbly & OJ. I can't wait!

What're you up to this weekend?

Scenes from Le Weekend

Sorbet and live music @ MoMa Thursday Nights

I really wanted to take this home avec moi from the MoMa store, but it was a bit small.

Sad moi.

On the bathroom wall at MoMa... neat, huh?

Martinis (gratis!) at the hotel bar before dinner

Ma Soeur's artsy shot at Beco (seen below and highly recommended)

Ma Soeur's artsy shot on the streets of Williamsburg

Too much fun at the Museum of Natural History

I had an absolute blast avec Ma Soeur over the past few days, and I cannot WAIT until September when I'll spend a heavenly week in NoCal with my beloved Lola! Hope y'all had a fantastic, happy, love-filled weekend as well.

My Friday Night Lights

I'm having the most divine perfect Friday night. Moi. In bed. Munching on a homemade pizza (pesto/artichoke/feta on TJ's dough... my dough was not the best - I need tips on kneading or spreading it or whatever!), sipping on TJ's vintage root beer (made with cane sugar) and settling in to watch It's Complicated (ADORE this flick, esp. the scene in which chocolate croissants are made... yum). This is, of course, the conclusion to a pretty fantastic day overall: baked biscuits for breakfast, went to a solo matinee of Eat Pray Love (review forthcoming), and hit the gym pretty hard (felt awesome!).

I love days like today, and I never thought I'd be able to enjoy this kind of at-home-nesting-luxury in this city. I thought my room would be too cramped and my kitchen impossible to cook in (it's challenging but not impossible). But it's almost like being back at my darling pink palace in Austin, except I am sans Lola-bear. She would make this night beyond blissful, but at least I can count down the days until I see her. Yay!

I hope y'all have a divine weekend planned. As for moi, I am hoping for the Time Warner guy to actually show up when planned tomorrow, more gym time, and hopefully another beach day. Bon weekend, mes amies!