Happy Friday + Some Fun Links!

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This week has been all about getting my work life balance back. I don't know about you guys but whenever I travel for a weekend and come back I feel so out of sorts and it always takes me one too many days to recover. So logically this memorial day weekend I'm traveling out of the state (such a hypocrite I know, hehe). Well, I hope your 3 day weekend is full of sunshine and sporting your hot summer bod at the beach. I've been working really hard on mine and I even signed up for a personal trainer! I decided I wanted to go into the second half of my 20s the way I want to leave my 20s, in the best shape of my life. I'll be in a place that is raining ALL weekend long so please enjoy the sun for me (if your weather is permitting it.) Stay warm, get tan, and eat a lot of (tofu) hot dogs! 

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* A new secret speakeasy inside NY water tower.

* Obsessed with these 2 singers who cover popular songs.

*A great piece on traveling alone. 

*Oh Amanda Bynes....

*3 tips for having a dynamic cover letter.

*President Obama and Justin Timberlake, hanging out. Gawwwd I'm so jealous.

*The Mindy Project's words of wisdom. Oh Mindy, I heart thee.

*The 65 books that should be read in your 20s.

*The perfect party dinnerware serving set.

Friend Dating

My best friend / soul mate / brother from another mother, the fabulous Richard! Whom I met 11 years ago at a volunteering organization.

 The other day one of my best friends and I  had a conversation that went a little like this: Okay I'm going to ask her on a friend date. A friend date? Ya, you know casual drinks that don't linger too long but enough time to see if we click. Oh right good luck!

Having moved around the country quite a bit in the last 5 years I've had to master, get decent at, the art of making friends as a young professional. Let me be the first to say that it isn't always easy and sometimes it takes a lot of time and patience. Relationships need time to develop and sometimes when I see I click with someone I just want us to lock arms, run into a daisy field, and gab about The Real Housewives of Orange County for hours but apparently according to my friends that's coming on too strong...say whaaa?!

Malisa, one of my best buddies, whom I met at a social gathering through my friend Richard.

All kidding aside, making friends as an adult has it challenges especially when everyone post college is working on their careers off the ground so I've compiled some advice that I'd like to share that has helped me so far in my own friend making adventures.

1. Think About Yourself - Take some time to think about what you enjoy doing and create a list of said things.

Alyssa and I, whom I met at a Meet Up Event.

2. Join a Group - The great thing about technology these days is that it does allow us to be more connected. So start to do some research of all of the activities you listed above. Trust me there are so many groups, clubs, organizations for every interest and hobby. Some great resources are MeetUp.com (where I met my great friend Alyssa!), Blend About, and Supper Clubs.

3. Start With a Compliment - Everyone likes compliments, so if you see someone reading the same book as you go up to them and tell them how much you love that book as well or if they have on some fab coat, compliment their style and boom you've started a conversation with someone who you have at least 1 thing in common with. Living in NY has been really conducive to constantly running into people so if you're not constantly around people (i.e. riding the subway) then go out to a coffee shop, book store, park. Just get out there and start talking!

4. Make the First Move - Now that you've struck up a conversation, don't let the opportunity pass so ask for that person's number or email. Listen this part can be awkward but just be honest. What I like to say, and what has worked well for me in the past is, hey I really enjoyed talking/hanging out and I'd like to get to know you better want to go out for coffee? If you're up front with our intentions (just like in a relationship) then people usually respond better.

5. Nurture Your Friendship -Take time to make plans, and follow up plans. Also when you're out don't be on your phone! Nothing screams out, I'm not fully interested than not being present in the moment.

6. Que sera, sera - I've learned that letting things organically develop is best. Don't text the person 5 times a day. This is probably the hardest part because of course you've invested into this relationship but if it's meant to be it'll work out, trust me. Plus you want to be friends with someone who genuinely wants to be friends with you as well so let the duds fall to the wayside. I had to learn this pretty quickly especially after after a "friend" I made in one of my Italian language classes seemed to reciprocate the interest, we started going to yoga together, get ice cream, practice our Italian and then poof she disappeared. Ugh bitch. But you know life should only filled with the people who want to be there so that's that.

Giorgio, whom I met last summer while I was living in Rome at a yoga class.

I hope all this info I've learned about making friends as an adult helps. Remember to enjoy the process and if it's stressing you out then just take a break and make sure you're taking care of yourself 'cuz hey people always come into your life when you're least expecting it. :)

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*17 Tips for Making Friends as an Adult

*Friend Dating

*A very honest piece in the NY Times about making friends

*A great movie on friend dating: I   Love You, Man
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Todd, whom I met a gathering for a lgbtq group.

My dearest Ingrid, whom I met volunteering at church.

(Vegan)Munchie Monday: Homemade Pizza!

Ciao! This past weekend I was having a lot of nostalgia for my time in Roma last summer so I decided to make a pizza from scratch! It's actually a lot easier than it might sound so roll up your sleeves and tap into your inner Italiano! Arrivederci. :)

Ingredients:

3.5 cups of (gluten free) flour
1.5 cups of water
1 tsp of sugar
1 packet of active dry yeast
1 tbsp of sea salt
1 can of pizza sauce
2 tbsp of minced garlic
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
handful of basil
3 tbsp of olive oil
2 cups of (vegan) mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
2. In a large bowl mix all of the dry ingredients
3. After ingredients are mixed, slowly add in water and continue to mix with whisk.
4. Ball up dough into a round ball, add some olive oil to help it move together easily and let it sit for 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a hard surface and roll out dough with rolling pin, then sprinkle olive oil to baking sheet.
6. Place rolled out dough on baking sheet, sprinkle olive oil on dough, spread pizza sauce, cheese and toppings.
7. Bake for 12-15min max, let sit for 10 minutes, and enjoy...preferably with a glass of wine of course!

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* The Best Pizza Places in NYC.
* Wine and Pizza pairings guide.

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Some of my favorite pictures from my time living in Rome.

On my 25th Birthday at Piazza Navona

Crashing a beautiful wedding by the Palatino

Moseying around the Colosseum

Trying on and obsessing over this coat at an Italian boutique #Bananas

Via Cavor, I took this picture with my iphone! Amaze right??

Moseying around the catacombs

Happy Friday + Some Fun Links

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Wow to say that this last week was a whirlwind would be an understatement. I've been soo tired lately so I decided to try this detox juice cleanse, its been great. No wait it's been fine and I can't wait to eat solid food like asap. ANYWAY, here's to next week being better and getting things back in order this weekend! Thank god for weekends! I plan on doing A LOT of cleaning #HappyFace and finally watching the Safe Haven movie oh and SoulCycle. People of the world have you heard of SoulCycle? It WILL change your life. Happy Friday!

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*A hip-hop tour of Brooklyn, yo.

*Historic pictures colorized.

*I can't wait to go to this new art installation at the MoMA.

*I'm very fascinated by this fruit infused pitcher, very.

*This dog will make you instantly happy.

*How to piss off every New Yorker in less than 36 seconds, hilarious.

Spring Edit or the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe Part Deux

This past weekend I FINALLY, as Eminem puts it, cleaned out my closet. If you all remember this past fall I decided to find a tangible way to edit all of the dresses in my closet and that system really worked! Go me! Now I decided to move on to everything else. Okay so I have 3 drawers of tops, yes 3, full of t-shirts, blouses, fancy shirts, really fancy shirts, etc etc. Yes I know I have a problem and I'm actively trying to recover, anyway so to set up a good editing system I decided to take out all of my tops and put a piece of washi tape on all of the tags. Then in 6 months when I bring out all of my fall/winter clothes again I'll see what I actually did and didn't wear and I'll donate all of the unused clothing.

Also, as I went through my clothes I spent some time trying things on and I filled two bags full of clothes that just didn't fit me anymore. So I'd recommend to not forget to try things on that may not look quite your size anymore. Good luck peeps!

How do you organize or edit your wardrobe? 

Setting out all of my clothes

Trying on this dress to see if it still fits, after 7 years, it does!

These pants, not so much. :/

Marking all of my clothes with washi tape on the tags to show that I haven't worn it.

Also found my puppy dog costume piece, I should totally keep this right??

After marking all of my clothes, I separated my clothes into similar colors, it just helps to quickly pick a top.

Donating 2 big bags of clothes, finally letting go! #RecoveringClothesHoarder

Packed away all of my winter clothes.

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 *Loving all of these cute washi tapes.

*Have some designer duds that don't work in your wardrobe anymore? This online consignment store makes it easy to sell your pieces.

*Goop's golden rules for editing your wardrobe. Great tips! 

(Vegan) Munchie Monday: Macaroni and Cheese with Kale

Hey Jude want some Mac n' Cheese?

A few weeks ago I bought the magazine Everyday with Rachel Ray and I'm completely obsessed with all of the amaze recipes inside! I need to subscribe asap! Anywhoos, she had some great vegetarian recipes so I took one and of course veganfied it! Here's the recipe below, enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 lb. of (gluten free) elbows pasta

2 tbsp of (vegan) sour cream

2 tbsp of (vegan) butter

3 handfuls of (vegan) shredded cheese

1 1/2 cups of soy milk

2 cups of chopped kale

1 cup of thinly diced cauliflower

1 tbsp of hot sauce

1 tbsp of dijon mustard

4 cloves of minced garlic

Steps:

First: Boil pasta and stir continually to make sure pasta doesn't stick together.

Second: As pasta is boiling, cut up cauliflower, kale, and garlic then toss into a separate pan. Add butter and cook until the kale is wilted.

Third: Once pasta is cooked, drain and add in all of the wet ingredients, stir for 2 minutes.

Fourth: Add in cooked veggies and add in shredded cheese. Done and done! 

 

+ Also...

*Have you ever thought of starting a Meatless Monday tradition?
*P.S. I know I'm late but I just heard this song today and I'm obsessed.
*Lastly...the Met Gala is tonight! Follow all of the coverage here! Looking forward to seeing all of the amaze fashion, this year's theme is "Punk: Chaos to Couture." I can't wait!

Capturing Memories

So lately I've had a strong urge to start filming memories again. My family and friends (3 are engaged and 2 are having another baby!) are in a big period of change. So I really want to capture these memories before they fade away.

The constant desire and joy I get from photography, film, and music came from my Papa as growing up he always had a camera in hand. In my parent's home we have boxes full of home movies and some of my most treasured memories now are of going home and re-watching these memories together. 

Fortunately when I moved to the east coast from California one of my best friend's Greg gifted me this flip camera, I remember very clearly the note he wrote along with it: "You're going to see and do many amazing things in this new chapter of your life and I want you to capture them." Tear. Well for the first 2 years I did, I carried my flip cam everywhere and started making imovies and posted them to my Facebook so all of my family and friends back home could see what I'd been up to. My parents would get so excited to watch them and I equally found a lot of joy putting them together. All this footage that I had recorded was great because whenever I felt homesick I'd watch videos that I had recorded on my laptop and it gave me a lot of comfort and happiness.

After leaving my videotaping ways on the back burner, I'm going to start using this little guy again and begin filming again. Videotaping home movies has always reminded me of the things that matter and it's also nice to see how much things have changed over time. So here I go...

P.s. This year for my birthday, I told my family and friends that I wanted to film a music video. Umm can you imagine how excited I am for this? I'm currently working on the treatment (i.e. storyboard). It's going to be very a-la "22."

P.P.S. When I told my brother that he had to be in the music video he replies "umm we're not the Kardashians..." LOL.

Also...

*One of the imovies I made 3 summers back.

* DESIGN LOVE FEST talks about starting to record home movies with her boyfriend. Very cute indeed.

*This dad video taped his kids coming down the stairs on Christmas morning for 25 years.

* Marriage proposal to Bruno Mars' "Marry You" = best idea ever.

*imovie app and the best video cameras.

How do you capture memories?