Mail Monday!

Here's the mail it never fails, it make me wanna wag my tail, when it come I wanna wail MAILLLLLLLLLL! -Steve, Blues Clues

Today I received three packages in the mail! After not receiving any mail all summer, and then maybe complaining about it... I have received more mail than ever in the last two weeks!

Care packages from my family and good friend Crystal! This made my day!

Who doesn't love a surprise? I opened my packages with Chessie on the phone. :)

The damages.

EASY MACCCCC

Some NYC stationary. Also, the Tupperware is filled with Chessie's new favorite snack she had to share with me, Nutella and Oreos!

Crystal sent me gifts from her time abroad in Italy. A lovely bracelet from Firenze (so me, I'm obsessed!) and some Love Therapy, Gnome lip balm. Crystal is one of my very closets and friends, and she knows very well that lips balm, gnomes and love therapy are three of my favorite things!

Goodies!

A letter from Chessie, sneakily hit in an NYC water bottle!

The adorable New York kitchen set my mom found at Target in KANSAS of all places!

All this marvelous mail got me thinking of all the postcards I've been collecting and using as decorations in my NYC dorm room.

The postcard of the old photograph of the couple is from my meal with Drew at Mogador, and the painting of the mailman with the exceptional beard is my very favorite Van Gogh, which I saw at the MoMa.

Girl with a long tongue was found at the Bastille Day Festival, the Brooklyn one and the one below it are actually business cards from a print shop in Park Slope, and the one below those is from a memorable night at a secret club we found on Ludlow St.

I loved seeing Starry night at the MoMa and the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. But most importantly, the holographic Disney princess postcard is from my best friend Amie! She got in while in Florida. And guess what? Amie is coming to visit me this weekend! We have an excellent time planned, I can hardly wait!

Some lovely couples. Forbidden Planet and a print shop.

Here are some well-wishing cards I've received! The top one is from the rents and the bottom two are from Drew's mom, Staci! <3 You guys are the sweetest!

Thanks for all the postal love guys, I can tell this is going to be a wonderful week! Miss you all and love you!

What's the best thing you've received via post?

Life's a beach! weekend adventure July 9-10

Our Long Beach Staycation. I took a beach's worth of sand home with me!

Last weekend, AJ and I decided we needed a break from the hustle and bustle of New York City. So we hopped on a train and traveled to Long Beach. The Long Island Rail Road offers an excellent beach package. For $20 you can get round trip train tickets and beach access. It turned out to be one of the best days we've had in New York. The beach was clean and not too crowded, it was a beautiful day, and the water was perfect temperature. I haven't been to the beach in years, which is sad for a girl who grew up in Florida... enjoy the mix of crummy iPhone pics and camera pics!

I was in Seventh Heaven!

Beach bums. We have the tans to prove it!

Picture of the city at sunset from the train.

Long Beach is the perfect staycation.

On Sunday we met up with Eva went to the Bastille Day festival! Bastille day is France's Independence Day. I tried macaroons from Macaron Cafe for the first time and now I am addicted. Too bad they're so expensive.

Spotted these sandwiches at the beginning of the festival, and at the end they were two for $5. They were a delicious deal!

We also got to go to the bathroom in the Plaza Hotel's basement. People who aren't staying or living there can go to the basement to see the shops. The Eloise store is adorable!

It was another adventurous weekend in NYC!

A wondrous weekend...part 2

Hello again! I am very behind on blogging! I've been doing some amazing weekend things, so expect some posts soon. Definitely seeing a different side of NYC, which is even better than the tourist version most people are familiar with.

BUT back to my touristy weekend with Drew!

Monday July 4th (I said I was behind!) was Drew's last full day in the city :( but, as always, we had a blast being the dorky couple we are. (See previous post... highlight of the day was Nintendo store? Yeah, dorks.)

Because we couldn't go to the American Museum of Natural History (ps living in NYC has taught me how to spell museum) we went on Monday. Thankfully, it was much less crowded.

Drew is studying geology to be an earth, space and science high school teacher, so when he heard about the AMNH, he was pretty thrilled about going. We had the best time seeing dinosaur fossils, studying Asian artifacts, something we're both very passionate about, and looking at all the animal exhibits. Drew even taught me a thing or two about geology! I like having a smart boyfriend.

Drew and the Teddy Roosevelt statue outside of the American Museum of Natural History. Ok, this one was taken the day before when the museum was totally crowded!

It's Amie Young! In case you didn't know, she's my pet dinosaur...it's a long story.

RAWRRRR

Drew loves turtles!

Celeb sighting a la Night in the Museum!

Drew was able to tell me all about this tablet because he learned about it in his ancient and mid-evil art history class. So naturally, I had to go find some Asian art I could tell him about!

Drew with a gem. What a geology nerd!

So big, you can't even count the rings!

If you go to the museum, make sure you give yourself at least 4 hours. It's HUGE! It's also pay as you wish, which means free in New Yorker... although we paid the $12 student price, because it was our first time (well I went when I was a youngin)

After our museum date, we met AJ and MB at TJ's to buy our picnic for the Martha Stewart 4th of July rooftop party! We had a scrumptious meal of wine, cheese, fruit and candy! It was a very Martha picnic!

My beautiful friends and I. We all wore red, white and blue!

This is where I work. Isn't it incredible? The Starrett-Lehigh building is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's so incredible, and the views are breath taking, so it's worth it!

Enjoying the picnic, being adorable.

Feast!

Italian meats, baguettes, and delicious cheese, including a fantastic blueberry goat cheese, I'd been dying to try. We have good taste.

So happy I could share this wonderful day with Drew.

Martha employees know how to party! I eat lunch up here with AJ almost every day.

After sunset the Macy's fireworks began! You can see them all over the city and in Brooklyn.

Um, yeah. Fail!

The display was incredible!

Happy Independence Day! Love, NYC

It was hard to see Drew leave on Tuesday, but we had a blast together. It was amazing being to show him the city through my eyes, and I hope he loved it as much me, because we're obvi going to live here some day. :)

A wondrous weekend...part 1

Is my Martha showing?

I made Drew a Welcome To NYC banner out of a Subway

map and a provided a few treats and vino from Trader Joe's.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing some of my favorite people: my dad, aunt Carol Ann, grandma Carol, Drew and all my NYC relatives! Sadly, what brought us together was my great grandma Rachel's funeral, but because her life was so long and filled with love and good memories, it was much more of a celebration of life. That part of the long weekend consisted of a scrumptious seven course Italian meal at Chianti's in White Plains, a shopping spree with my partner in crime, Carol Ann; and a fun night enjoying half shell clams, chowder and tuna sashimi at Legal Seafood.

Saying goodbye to my family was a bummer, but by Saturday I was ready for my weekend with Drew to begin! (Drew was originally arriving Friday night, but flew in a day early to be with me at the funeral, isn't he sweet?)

My weekend with Drew began Saturday afternoon at Ramen Setegaya on St. Marks, New York Magazine's choice for the city's best ramen. My boyfriend, along with most college students, is a big fan of the 18 cents a pack, microwaveable stuff, so when I told him we had the real deal here, he had to try it...first thing. And we agree with NY Mag, Setegaya is fantastic. We suggest completing your meal with the green tea mochi. You won't be disappointed.

Of course, the big bowl is mine.

Our next stop was Trader Joe's! After hearing me rave about it, Drew had to see it for himself. Then we ventured to Central Park, where Drew had his very first Sabrett hot dog. We enjoyed views of the city from the Belvedere Castle, saw lots of couples taking wedding photos at the Bethesda Fountain (DREAM!) and Drew fell in love with the Imagine mosaic in Strawberry fields.

Fun at Belvedere Castle

After taking many round-about routes to get to the sites in Central Park, Drew and I really got to know The Lake.

After the park we headed back to the dorm to hang out and enjoy Drew's welcome goodies! Later we went to the Famous Cozy Soup n' Burger, a delectable 24 hour diner right by my dorm. Drew got a munster burger and I got a vanilla milkshake and a reuben.

Sunday was grey and rainy, so we woke up early to visit the American Museum of Natural History. The line to get in was insane, and it looked too packed to enjoy, so we decided to switch it up and go to Rockefeller Center and the lovely, less busy attractions around it.

We lit a candle for my grandma Rachel and Papa Gene and enjoyed the architecture at St Patrick's Cathedral...

We built lego people at the Lego Store...

Lego Rockefeller!

Unleash the dragon.

We obsessed over the Psych merch at the NBC Store and met Pikachu at the nintendo store!

The cutest couple.

So while in New York, Drew wanted to try something he'd never eaten before, which is difficult because he's consumed things like rattlesnake and kangaroo. But luckily, my internship has introduced me to many real New Yorkers with insider tips, so we followed an MSW editor's perfect advice and had a wonderful dinner at Cafe Mogador, a lovely Moroccan restaurant on the same street as Setegaya! This could not have been a more fitting suggestion, we both fell in love with Mogador. For Drew to try something new, we ate Merguez, which is a mutton sausage. I got Merguez with salad, grilled vegetables and rice and Drew tried Merguez couscous. The slightly spicy and slightly sweet sausage was to die for. We both also tried the Moroccan tea, which is green tea with mint and sugar. I had mine hot and Drew's was cold. It was one of the most flavorful and aromatic teas I have ever tried!

Merguez...yummm.

After our meal, we traveled to the Whitehall terminal at sunset to take the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Although it doesn't take you as close as the official Statue of Liberty Tours, it's gets the job done and offers beautiful views of the city...and it's free! The foggy night made for a beautiful and unique viewing, and some great pictures! It was a very romantic evening.

The ferry we rode was epically called Spirit of America.

Hello, Lady Liberty!

Finally, Drew and I ended day two in Times Square, which was BEYOND crowded. We both decided that this tourist trap isn't out favorite part of they city, and missed the cool, laid back parts of East Village where Setegaya, Mogador and my dorm are. But we still had fun be being tourists and had a blast at the Hershey Store, where we invested in extra long twizzlers and a giant Mr. Goodbar. YUM. Drew is so relaxed and go with the flow, he is the best travel buddy!

Before we got to Times Square, Drew kept talking about the Coca-Cola sign.

Check in tomorrow for part two of my weekend with Drew, including scenes from the fabulous rooftop Martha Stewart 4th of July party!

SNEAK PEEK: