she's on her way!

[ waiting on a delayed connecting flight in Chicago last night ]

My 11-yr old niece is going to be in the Big Apple this weekend! She and her dad have already made their way to New Jersey as of last night. I can't wait for all of the fun things we have planned, which may or may not include a trip to the Crayola factory in Pennsylvania...

what makes you beautiful

I love this unconventional rendition of the very popular One Direction song: 

"What Makes You Beautiful"

I could watch it 100 times over.

a happy birthday to a special lady:

MY MOM!!!

I won't tell you how old she is, but I do know she's older than 26. This is a picture of her on her birthday in 2010, celebrating New York-New Jersey style (that's why she looks so excited)! I wish we could do it again, but there's always next year. Happy birthday, Mom!

feeling sheepish

I'm feeling a little sheepish around these parts these days. I only posted on this blog 3 times during the month of September, and if the truth comes out, I barely posted anything all summer, really. Now it's been so long I hardly even know what to write about anymore. I have so many pictures and stories from the summer that I still want to share, not to mention the 500 new things that come to mind each day to post, but it's hard to jump back in again after taking an unplanned summer-long hiatus. (Where do I start? Does anyone even read this anymore?) But with the new season and a new month to ring in, I'm turning over a new leaf and feeling good about that. But no need to hold your breath; I'll be keeping my word on more blog posts coming soon, & I'm glad to have you here!

[photo from pinterest]

hello, october

It's October again. And New York City sure is beautiful this time of year. Somehow I seem to forget that every year, but I've quickly remembered.  Oh my, it's wonderful. Fall is here at last!

[photo taken at the Bodega on 73rd and Columbus.]

scenes from the weekend

This past weekend was meant to be a restful and relaxing weekend. And for the most part, it was. Even though I didn't get to sleep in either day, it was nice not to be on the go for Saturday-Sunday.

L to R clockwise: [1] eyelet & goodbye summer. fall days are here. [2] I saw this sign on the street and was so, so very tempted to pick one up. [3] We had tornado warnings in NYC on Saturday night. This seemed appropriate for a rainy night in. [4] beautiful Sunday night view of the Upper West Side, close to sunset. Ah.

indeed.

I, for one, can't argue.

[thanks for this little reminder on your strawberry lemonade, Pret.]

scenes from the weekend

It was so nice to have a long weekend before the fall gets crazy. I was in New Hampshire for the weekend to celebrate Labor Day and I got to try out a new restaurant I haven't been to before: Parker's Maple Barn. I had a peach-raspberry cream cheese stuffed french toast that was better than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. Really, it was so good. And, it was served with home fries, which I was very skeptical about that combination, but it turned out to be a brilliant combo. The only bad news is that this was their "Flavor of the Month" so if I go again, I'll be out of luck on recreating this heavenly meal.  Either way, if you find yourself in NH, I would recommend it!

Ironically, I didn't take any pictures of the meal, on the premises of the restaurant. You can see, it's a pretty fun place all around.

welcome back to america ✌

Oh, and I forgot to mention: our lunch at Big Blue Bagel was also a celebration of Anna's homecoming to America! She had been in Korea since last August, and just moved to Birmingham a few days before I visited. You can read more about her time there on her blog: Curl in Korea. 

(During my first year in New York when Anna was still in school at Auburn, I used to randomly get care packages in the mail from her with a bag of bagel chips from Big Blue! I, sadly, couldn't return that favor while she was in Korea, but it only made sense that we would choose a Big Blue lunch for our glorious stateside reunion.)

big blue bagel. in birmingham.

Anna and Rose Lynn

I had an after-church Sunday lunch (just like the old days!) with these two gals 2 weekends ago in Birmingham. One of the nicest treats I've had lately. Both lunch and the company! Not to mention, we happened to run into three other dear friends from Auburn during our meal. That made for one happy heart in this girl.

pretty, pretty mantle

I could look at it all day. So pretty and homey and calm. And, it happens to belong to Mrs. Eads. So I'm sure I'll get to stare at this again one day very soon.

little man in a big hat

But these things don't phase him...especially when this huge, new, cool hat is from his Grandpa.

we entered the madness.

How could we not? I'll do just about anything for Hot Now donuts - and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. That includes waking up at 4:50 am to be at Krispy Kreme by 5:30 to beat the crowd. It sounds crazy, but surprisingly, we weren't even the crazy ones.

Last year during a horrible tornado that destroyed much of my hometown, Krispy Kreme was one of the businesses that was completely obliterated. Now - just over 1 year later - Ttowners have apparently missed their donuts something fierce.

On opening day, my mom and I tried at 3 different times to stop for a donut (once at almost 9pm at night) only to have at least an hour wait ahead of us - in both the drive thru and inside. There was a police directing traffic, with traffic backed up half a mile. And according to the local news, 125,000 donuts were sold that day. Needless to say, we finally succeeded at getting in the door on Day 2. And it was worth every Hot Now donut I ate. Especially at 5:30 am.

I know one thing: I unintentionally picked the right week to visit Alabama!

scenes from (last) weekend

I know it's already, er, Thursday but I had such a fun weekend in Alabama last weekend that I wanted to share. I spent a short weekend in Birmingham that might as well have been a weekend during my college days in Auburn. I stayed with the new Mrs. Eads, and practically everywhere we went, we ran into old friends. It was so refreshing to see familiar faces out and about and catch up with friends I haven't seen in years (yes, years?!). That's a much less frequent occurrence in my days in the Big Apple. Birmingham is no small town, but it sure did feel that way. I miss that.

L to R clockwise: [1] Shindigs, the hip new Birmingham food truck [2] Frank, AKC's pet fish [3] Harrison, aka: Harry-dog, Rose's little sidekick [4] Evidence that there's a Big Blue Bagel in Birmingham now

it's the sparkle

...that gets me every time. How can you see these lights shine and not be dazzled!? Earlier this week my roommates and I ventured to Times Square to see a movie, and I took this photo as I was walking into the movie theater. However, as much as I'm in awe of these flashing, sparkling lights, I'm reminded that everything that glitters isn't always gold. Or, at least not pure gold...

today's post on 843 acres

I was given the opportunity to guest post this morning on The Park Forum's 843 Acres morning devotional blog. I wrote a quick reflection on Psalm 20:7 in light Ms. Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, passing away this week (see her obituary here).

If you want, you can see this morning's devotional here: The Future: Desires of the Heavenly Kind

[photo credit: NYT]

tomozzacado.

I made up that name, just now. Because, in a mad dash to think of something quick and easy to eat last night, I made up this sandwich. After a quick trip to the grocery store and after throwing together some items in my fridge that I already had, I came up with this delicious, better-than-I-was-expecting combo. If you want to recreate it, it's so simple:

• french baguette slices
• sliced roma tomatoes
• a tiny sprinkle of salt on the tomatoes
• sliced avocados
• whole milk mozzarella cheese
• a dash of pepper on top
• a light drizzle of olive oil, to top it off

Tomozzacado, it really is the perfect summer sandwich. Enjoy!

a thursday night dinner party

Despite three blown fuses that resulted in three entire-apartment power outages, I would say our 9A dinner party was a fun time anyway. We pulled out the Girls Night Out "questions to start great conversations" cards and they did not disappoint. After two rounds of questions, dinner and dessert and one last power outage, we called it a night. I'm ready for the next one, already!

cutest hair I ever did see.

I challenge you to tell me any hair you've ever seen that's cuter than my niece's is here in this picture. Add the cute hair to the adorably cute face, and I practically swoon every time I look at her!

 I'm dying to try this out for myself...I'm taking fashion tips from my 11 year old niece, now. Yep.

a true classic

I always love a modern representation on a classic piece of art.

[I snapped this picture from the High Line somewhere between 25th - 30th Streets]