conversation at the yogurt counter

I had been noticing the new yogurt place, Yapple, in the neighborhood the last few weeks, but hadn't made time to stop in and try it out until last Friday afternoon. I inadvertently ended up there at 3pm with all the teenie boppers, so my conversation at the checkout counter went something like this:

Yapple worker: Hi, do you have your student ID? You get a discount.

me: I have one, I wish I could use it...but...I think it's probably expired by now.

Yapple worker: Expired?! (confused look)

me: yeaaa. I've been out of school for a long time.

Yapple worker: OH...ooooh, you look good for your age!

me: ("for my age"? I didn't say I was 50.)

me: Well. Thank you. I'll take it...

kids these days

Some kid, somewhere in New York is running around the streets of the Upper East Side wearing a $178.00 JCrew sequined shirt. For the entire 1 month that it fits them. While I'm sure they look adorable, I'm also (almost) sure they have a spaghetti stain or something of the like splattered on the front, too. Is this really what parents buy their kids these days?

I was thinking about my friend, Meg, when I saw this shirt. Doesn't Miss Reagan need one of these for her 3rd birthday party? Just think about how fancy & sparkly she would look.

sticky's finger joint

I discovered the best chicken fingers in all of New York City on Monday night: Sticky's Finger Joint. That's a big feat considering I've lived here four years and tried hundreds of chicken fingers around the city, and I just made this discovery two nights ago. That's saying something.

I got a special coupon on Gilt City for a dinner for 2 that included two orders of chicken fingers, two sides, two slaws, 4+ sauces, and two drinks. And, for only $26 when that package normally would have cost over $45. I was pretty excited. But making our order was no easy task with 10+ options for chicken fingers and almost 20 options for dipping sauce, alone!

As we were trying to make our final decisions on dipping sauce (15 min after starting our order), we asked the woman for recommendations. She said, "If you like ranch, ours is really good." She had no idea who she was talking to but this was the moment I became a fan for life. 100% sold.

Sticky's: Before

Sticky's: After

a blast.

I had so much fun with my family this weekend while my brother and niece were visiting from Alabama. (Much) more to come later! Too bad they couldn't visit for an entire week instead...

a night at the ballet

[in front of Lincoln Center]

On Friday night, my friend Kyo invited me to go to a New York City Ballet performance with her for the world premiere of Year of the Rabbit. It's a new ballet choreographed by Justin Peck with music by Sufjan Stevens, and it.was.wonderful. I've been to only one other ballet since I've lived in New York, which resulted in Kyo having to explain a lot to me. (sorry, Kyo!)

There were two other pieces in the show that night, one that was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied (who happens to be Natalie Portman's husband!, and choreographed most of the movie Black Swan) and one piece choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. And, to top off the wonderful culture-filled evening, I had a perfect view from where I was sitting of my friend Harrison, who was on my Cape Town mission team and plays the bassoon for the ballet with the orchestra.

hi, from new jersey!

[At the cutest little cafe in all of Morristown: Cafe on the Green, with the best darn homemade hot chocolate & marshmallows I've ever tasted.]

citywide worship, tonight

If you're looking for something to do tonight, this is it: Citywide Worship at Mason Hall. I went to this event back in January, and it was beautiful. It's always a very powerful thing to see churches from across the city come together for worship and one common mission. Too bad I have to miss tonight. If you go, will you let me know how it is? I hope they take another photo like this.

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!