i keep waking up in a city that never sleeps

I have been enjoying the Beautiful Mess App a lot lately. it’s kind of fun to spruce up your pictures in silly ways… here’s just a few I’ve done over the last two weeks. 

1. loving our rooftop at the end of a nice day (when it’s actually nice)

2. a bike ride down to central park last weekend

3. iced coffee from Gregory’s is my new go-to!

4. we had a super fun karaoke outing with our community group last friday

5. the new “harlem shake” restaurant is finally open, just a few blocks from us! ps. genius branding 

6. an old-standard, shake shack… yum

7. HFNY’s Volunteer Appreciation Dinner - a fiesta-themed evening

8. Clif whipped up some delicious tacos

9. TWO floral bouquets that surprised me on our anniversary morning

10. this rainy, cold weather is really cramping my summer style - it’s supposed to be June! 

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life changes & adventure & 2 years of marriage

we’ve had a busy and exciting last few weeks! since memorial day i feel like i’ve witnessed a lot of life changes and adventure happening. to start off, my friend allison (one of my best gals from college) got engaged. later that same week i found out that a good friend of mine here in the city, gretchen, is pregnant. it will be their first child, which is super awesome! then… MY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED (!!) to his long-time girlfriend, Kelsey. they were hiking a beautiful trail in Zion National Park (Utah) when he popped the big question and she said yes! we’re so excited for them and looking forward to their wedding next year on May 10th! 

also, for the last two weeks my mom and aunt have been traipsing around Paris on the trip of a lifetime. we have all been living vicariously through them as my mom sends photo after photo of their food and drink! you’d think it would be photos of the sights but no, it was a true foodie trip. they’ve been on tours of Parisian bakeries, the Dom Perignon champagnery, and had meals cooked for them by 4-star chefs in their own apartment. they still have a few more days there and have moved on to discover Florence before they return to the U.S.

(exhibit A) I have loved getting these texts (few & far between) from my mom - she is having the time of her life and her excitement is contagious!

on our end, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary last Tuesday. man how the time flies! earlier in the year we talked about traveling to Toronto for the occasion but i needed to renew my passport and, alas, before we got around to making finalized plans the flight prices had skyrocketed and i would’ve had to rush my passport anyway. we settled for a very nice meal at a restaurant we’d been wanting to try out and it was a perfect evening, even though we weren’t in Canada :) we went to Babbo, one of Mario Batali’s restaurants that’s been around so long that it’s a true NYC establishment. it is still impossibly hard to get a reservation there, so much so that you have to call starting at 9am on the month before the day you want to get a table… luckily, on May 3rd Clif snagged us an 8pm reservation and we’d been looking forward to our meal there ever since!! it did not disappoint. we started off with an asparagus dish that had a fried duck egg and some sort of pesto on it. from there we moved on to “mint love letters” which was basically this amazing ravioli stuffed with mint and spicy lamb. we also tried one of their signature dishes, the black spaghetti, which is made with squid ink and contains tiny rock shrimp and calabrese. we split our entree which was the lamb chops (amazing!) and finished with a delicious lemon tart with ricotta ice cream. thanks for a great anniversary meal, Babbo! 

clif surprised me the next day with a necklace he had made with my lone pearl earring (for our wedding he gifted me a beautiful pair of pearl earrings and last august when we were moving to our new apartment i ended up losing one of them. we searched every inch of our apartment but it was never to be found - i was impossibly sad and the lone pearl set in its box for almost year). thanks for this wonderful gift, clif! 

it’s crazy to think we’re already on to our 3rd year of being married. all of it seems like it’s just flown by!! thanks for putting up with me for 730+ days, Clif Brown. (first wedding anniversary post can be found here). 

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our adventures in the Poconos!

our Memorial Day weekend in the Poconos was ridiculously wonderful! it all started with an idea back in February to rent a cabin somewhere and invite a bunch of friends. I am glad we didn’t end up picking the beach because it turned out to be quite cold, but our cabin tucked away in the Poconos mountains of Pennsylvania was the perfect antidote to the cooler temps. 

we traveled out on Friday evening after work and arrived around 10pm. our total group was: Alice & Kyle, myself, Clif, Kyle’s brother Brendan and his girlfriend Liz, and our friends, Andy, Courtney and Lauren Ross. our group was super fun and everyone jived together so well. we had the perfect combo of laid-back people and planners so everything got done efficiently but without any fuss, if you know what i mean. 

our cabin was gorgeously appointed (i feel like my dad using that term) right on Lake Harmony. it had a huge picture window in the living/dining room that looked out onto the water. It also had two porches, one with a hot tub and grill and another with adirondak chairs that were perfect for drinking morning coffee and reading. the cabin itself slept all nine of us comfortably and could’ve easily handled more. the furnishings were a bit circa 1986 but no one was complaining and honestly, i would expect nothing less from a rental cabin in PA. 

we had a private dock where we fished and kayaked, we were within a “lodge” of sorts so it was seemingly private and not busy at all. it was perfect for taking walks/runs and playing a lot of frisbee in the street (as we did). there was also a huge park close by that we walked down to one day to play frisbee as a large group. we cooked all of our meals at home and we feasted like kings - for the most part the men did all the cooking, and the food was delicious! the first night we made tacos, rice, guacamole and margaritas. the second night we grilled bratwursts with sauerkraut and some pork loin, we also had fresh grilled corn, baked beans and a huge salad. we finished off that night with cake in honor of Lauren’s birthday, which was just two days prior.

we ended every evening in the hot tub, of course, and the boys loved running between the hot tub and the lake to take “cold plunges.” clif was the leader of the pack in that regard and i actually did it once (and only once) with him. i screamed so loudly that it was probably heard from manhattan. it was COLD but so refreshing in an oddly wild way. after we all cleaned up from hot tubbing we would play games late into the evening. the weekend favorites were catch phrase, pass the pigs and bananagrams. there was so much deep-belly-aching laughter, especially during catch phrase. those will forever be some of my favorite memories! 

on Sunday we drove about twenty minutes to reach Hickory Run State Park where we hiked a funny trail called “Shades of Death.” it was only about a two mile hike but it was gorgeous and perfect weather for hiking and our group really had a great time. also within the state park was this thing called a “boulder field” that was recommended to us by the owner of the cabin. it took forever to drive there but turned out to be worth it because i’ve never seen anything quite so bizarre. it was formed by a massive glacier that once was there and shifted the bedrock, causing it to crack into these massive boulders, all very similar in shape and size. crazy! the only bummer all weekend was that Liz, who has a severe chicken allergy, accidentally ate some of the rice on Saturday evening that apparently contained chicken stock. she ended up feeling bad on Sunday and laid in bed for most of the day. she missed our hiking trip, which we all hated, but was back in the swing of things by Monday morning. 

Monday was the prettiest day yet and of course the day we had to pack up and go home. i started the morning by kayaking in the lake with Lauren, the boys fished and Alice went for a run. we all ended up convening on the dock, passing cheetos and grapes between us, telling stories and not wanting the day to end. by 2 we were packing the cars and cleaning up the cabin, it’s crazy how you look forward to something for so long and then, in the blink of an eye, it’s over. we rode back to the city with Alice and Kyle and ended up stopping in a tiny PA town for Sonic drinks on our return. it was really a perfect weekend and i am still so sad that it’s over. thanks for being so good to us, Lake Harmony, PA! we love you. 

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since May 4…

(with one of my favorite students, Jaclyn) 

that entire next week was a blur because on Thursday, May 9th my company hosted our huge Spring Benefit. i was heavily involved in the planning process, including the day-of logistics and setting up. these are the type of work situations that I THRIVE in and I loved everything about this day. myself and one other colleague went down to the venue that morning and we were there all day, setting up and prepping. by 7:30pm the place was transformed and we began to welcome guests. we had 500 people in attendance (!!), the largest Hope for New York benefit yet and we raised very close to the goal we’d set for ourselves. guests came all dressed up and enjoyed hors’d oeuvres and adult beverages and we had some fantastic music, including my friend and his group (The Daniel Bennett group — they rock!) after our program, guests stayed to dance and mingle. a ton of my friends were there, too! it was such a fun event and I was on a high the entire next day! (check out our profesh photos HERE and our instagram album HERE) 

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Clif’s House Concert

last Saturday Clif and his music partner Hayne gave a lovely house concert. It was hosted by our dear friends, Brendon + Theresa. Clif and Hayne played two pieces together, works by John Cage and Astor Piazzolla and then each played one solo piece. We had almost 30 people in attendance and the room was packed! It was so nice to have lots of friends come up to Hamilton Heights to support Clif and Hayne. We had lots of snacks and wine and friends stayed until almost midnight enjoying the evening together. Thanks to all those who came!

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