18.10.12

Boston

So last weekend I went to Boston, which I have to say is by far my favorite city - I can't wait until I get to move there :)

I spent all day Saturday exploring and walking about - it's such a beautiful and historic city!

Pictures after the jump!...

11.10.12

FALL!


That's right- Fall is here! The weather has officially cooled down here in New York- a lot- and that means I get to wear scarves, drink hot cider and bundle up with my adorable kitten and boyfriend :)

Fall has always been my favorite season but it wasn't until I moved to the East Coast that I really understood what Fall was and now I of course can't get enough of it! 

In fact- just to get the full effect I'm headed to Boston this weekend to spend some fall time in New England. Hopefully the leaves will be turned there. One of the things I miss most about my college campus up in the suburbs is that now I really don't see that many trees on the day-to-day - talk about a difference from my California roots! But ultimately it means I haven't seen changed trees in abundance yet so hopefully the bus drive up north will fix that for me tomorrow :)

I'll post pictures when I get back!

xo

3.10.12

Rainy Days




It’s been a couple rainy days now here in NY and I have to say as much as the rain is often a drag this one has been oddly enjoyable. Maybe it’s the fact that I spend my entire day in the office- or maybe it’s being able to come home and cuddle my kitten while drinking hot cider and watching the [newly released on Netflix] eighth season of The Office. Whatever it is that’s making these rainy northeast days enjoyable- I’m glad. Afterall, my hometown in California has apparently been experiencing quite the dramatic heatwave and frankly I had enough of those this summer in NY to last me a lifetime. Fall has finally begun and seeing as it has always been my favorite time of year- I say bring on the cold weather, the wind, the crisp air and the rain- I’m loving it all!

+M

P.S. I think I might finally really be getting my iPhone5 tomorrow! I'll keep you posted :)

2.10.12

I'm Back!

I’m back!
Sorry about the delay’s - life inevitably got busy and I have fallen way, way behind but in the meantime I have come up with a ton of great posts that I can’t wait to share with all of you!

For starters I got a kitten!

Talk about big changes. It all happened so fast! It was Labor Day weekend and my friends found him stranded on the streets crying in the rain [insert tears] so they inevitably brought him back into shelter and one thing led to another and I’m now the proud mother of a beautiful [obnoxious] energetic and healthy kitten. (and yes, he has a name but to be honest I only ever call him “kitten”)My main goal now is to avoid becoming a crazy cat lady who only posts pictures of my adorable kitten so I will grant you a couple adorable snap shots today but will resist from overloading you with many more in the future - just know that it will be a struggle. 

Pictures and more after the jump!

8.8.12

Home again home again...

So I'm back from San Francisco!
I've actually been back since Sunday but have had such a hard time adjusting to real life I haven't been much inspired to post.

But now I'm back into the groove and enjoying New York again- which was harder than I expected it to be because I fell in love with San Francisco and that left a better taste in my mouth about New York. There's something cleaner and brighter about San Francisco- crisper- which is funny because there certainly is a lot of gray fog in San Francisco... and it's more or less sunny and hot here in New York, though I do have a VERY STRONG aversion to humidity which may have something to do with my preference to San Francisco.

Anyways, my trip was AMAZING, San Francisco was beautiful, we had great weather and during my time there I had REMARKABLE food, tons of great family time, lots of beer, great wine, champagne, and LOADS of relaxation time.



Read on for more images of my trip...

27.7.12

Upcoming trip to San Francisco


Yep, that’s right- I’m headed to San Francisco in a week and I couldn’t be more excited!! 
I’m going for my step-grandmother’s birthday which is bound to be elaborate and very, very fun (eg: I have already received the week’s schedule in the mail with all of the dinners, lunches and outings that will be happening). But in the off chance I have free time I’m really hoping to get in some activities of my own.
1) Take an early morning jog through the hills (mountains) and streets of beautiful San Francisco
2) Perhaps check out this place: Local Edition, a bar that I read about recently on a blog I adore (vmac + cheese)
3) Find a Churchkey brew-skee as seen on Forbes.com and only found I select US cities (San Francisco being one of them)
4) I would love to get some research in before I go and find some “can’t miss bakeries” that I should check out in my ongoing research of bakeries (reason and ultimate goal to be announced at a later date)
5) And finally as a CA girl born and raised I can’t wait to see me some palm trees J expect many photos of them! – In fact maybe I’ll pull out some “Yes Man” and take photos while I run!

Does anyone else have any SF suggestions! Anything I can’t miss while I’m there??

23.7.12

J. Crew

So I realize I’m totally behind the times with this but I just found J. Crew and OH MY GOD. Everything is so adorable!! Granted I think it’s best at this point in my life to continue living in H&M and Forever21 but you can bet that you’re going to be seeing a lot of J. Crew items in my future “I Wish I Owned”/ Inspiration posts! For starters, LOVE THESE OUTFITS:



Source: J.Crew
I just love the outfits that they come up with! I love the satin shirt with jeans- perfect way to spice up a weekend outfit.
I also love how comfortable and cute yet totally sophisticated that second outfit is!
What do you guys think of J. Crew? Are you a fan already?
xo

I also want to take this time to make a shout out to my wonderful father whose birthday is tomorrow!! Unfortunately I'll be 3,000 miles away and therefore unable to celebrate this national holiday with him ;) but I am excited to see him in two weeks!!

21.7.12

New Blog Suggestion


So I have recently found a new hobby-- reading lifestyle and design blogs and of course the occasional foodie blog. It also helps that a certain element of my work day consists of searching through these very blogs on a daily basis soooo I bring you my first ever blog recommendation post!

I give you my newest favorite and the source and inspiration behind my regeneration of blogging:  VMAC + Cheese.

(Image from VMAC + Cheese "about me", designed by Victoria)

To put it simply, Victoria, the author, creator and driving force behind VMAC + Cheese, is my idol. Okay, so that may be an extreme term, but since I read about her on PureWow I’ve fallen in love- she not only has a similar background as me (formal undergraduate business education, culinary school afterwards, and lifelong interest in all things food design and wonderful). She has recently launched her own business and is now attempting to make it in the world as a consultant for all things food, party and graphic design. To say that I admire her work ethic and style is putting it lightly and she can ultimately claim full responsibility for my devoted (re)entrance into blogging.

I love her concise, simplistic style that has the most subtle and powerful flair is inspiring. And the fact that she’s currently planning a wedding is only a bonus :)

Her posts are never overwhelming (too long) so they’re always a fun and easy read.
So may I suggest checking it out? Now?
Let me know what you think!
xo

18.7.12

Look What I Bought Today!


So I made an impulse purchase today:

(Image from One Kings Lane)
I just decided that it was too cute and affordable to pass up!

What you should know is that I have a small obsession with travel bags- duffles, large purses, pretty much anything “carry on.” And this bag just called out to me, plus it will be adorable for weekend trips, beach outings, picnics and other summer fun! I can’t wait :)

Plus the beauty of a backpack is that I won’t be left with one shoulder in total pain from hoisting the weight of all of my things! I love backpacks for this reason and yet have trouble finding one cute enough that won’t make me feel like I’m back in middle school, which made the discovery of this bag all the more exciting!


Can’t wait until it gets here!
xo

A Late Recap of My Weekend


I realize this may be coming a tad late but seeing as I had to do a “I’m rejuvenating my blog” post on Monday my “Recap of the Weekend” post had to wait until today. 
So for your entertainment- my weekend in photos!

I may have cheated a tad with these and taken most of them while out on just one run.... to be perfectly honest I spent the majority of the weekend inside. The weather was muggy and yucky, most of my friends were out of town and quite frankly I was feeling very lazy the result was the images above annnndddd my introduction to Die Hard. Which I’ve now discovered is one of my favorite movies.
I also got a lot of room cleaning done so don’t think too lowly of me.
But as I said before I went on a very long adventurous run (probably close to 6 miles). l went through the many parts of Queens I had left unexplored until now. Starting with a giant park with a wonderful lake, lots and lots of families out having picnics some people playing cricket. I also fell upon the grounds from the old New York World Fair, City Field (a number of areas I don’t want to go back to ever), the Queens Zoo as well as the Queens botanical gardens. I took a quick walk through Flushing Queens as well and saw a lot more of Forest Hills. It was fun to see more of my neighborhood than I was used to seeing (aka more than the 5 blocks to the gym and the 3 blocks to the train station).
Plus then after I was able to make myself a delicious balsamic and thyme burger with avocado, onion and tomato and not have to feel too guilty about it (sorry forgot to take a photo of this :/ I’m still getting used to the whole "blog about everything therefore take pictures of everything" idea)! I've found that the best reason to work out is to be able to eat guilt free.
I also painted my nails quite elaborately. A feat I'm very proud of though they are already chipping :(

Hope ya'll had a great weekend as well!
xo

16.7.12

Making A Comeback

So I’ve been inspired lately to start fresh with my blog- thus the format, font and name change. The new title, “Thinks and Links” stems from my constant compiling of links that I come across every day. That or the thoughts I write down with the hope that one day I would have time to get back to them. Truthfully most of them get lost in the array of lists that I have now curated never to be seen again. So here is my spot to condense my thoughts, give you my inspirations and suggestions and in return occasionally get your opinions on what you suggest should be done ASAP and then of course what you may deem totally not worth my time. So you can look forward to an array of posts about random tidbits-  but then again I suppose that’s essentially what blogging is!

To start off Starbucks recently launched their latest “Refresher” drinks and thanks to their kindly email (and my gold card) I was able to get a free taster of one. I went for the berry blaster which was pretty yummy-ish. They put real berries in (not fresh) but berries none the less. Of course, the issue with this was that now there were pieces in my cup that made the entire enjoyment process a little strange only because as I sipped I would randomly get a very hard seed that needed to be chewed not sipped, for me that kind of ruined it but the taste was otherwise good only slightly too sweet but pretty refreshing! Unfortunately, the seeds mean I probably won’t buy it again but rather stick with my passion fruit and lemonade beverage. 
Have any of you tried these new drinks? Do you think you're going to? If you do wind up being adventurous, be sure and write about your experience in the comments!

xo

7.4.12

still not keeping up

So I realize I'm still not keeping up with this blog. buuutt since I last wrote I had a birthday (21 part 2); because there are just too many adventures needed for being 21 and 365 days wasn't enough- heck if Harry Potter can do it so can I.

For my birthday I went to Boston with 8 of my friends which wound up being quite fun. 
Pictures!:


We went and got a tour of the Sam Adams brewery, which was AWESOME!


The whole team!
Of course there's always the drama that comes with trying to do anything with 8 people but it worked out quite delightfully in the end :)

In other news the weather is starting to get amazing- though I can't say it was ever really bad... I think it snowed twice in NY this year and once was on Halloween. Regardless the sunshine and the lack of having to wear 20 layers is a nice change.

Now this weekend is Passover and Easter and I'm spending it with Cal and meeting his entire family (lots of Gefilte (sp?) fish and matza!) which is going well so far- wish me luck on the rest of the weekend!!

Keep you posted... or at least try
-Megan

22.2.12

I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote!
To be fair I've been extremely busy and scattered and all over the place (literally). I believe the last time I wrote I was still living in Staten Island. Since then I've lived in New Jersey, I've gone back to California for 4 weeks and I've gotten hired as a full time employee at the company I was interning for anddddd the biggest excitement: I GOT AN APARTMENT!!! More or less it's still sinking in and the internet is a fairly new addition (and so nice to have!) but I love that for the rest of my life I'll be able to say that my first apartment was in New York City (a thought that only occurred to me this morning).

Me and my roommate have already started breaking in the apartment: we've had friends over every weekend. We had a taco bar dinner party for Valentine's Day and have had a couple people break in our couch.

We also are loving the fact that our landlady who lives on the first floor of the house has already cooked for us a couple times and she makes the MOST AMAZING homemade food. Which is a nice addition to our haphazard quesadillas, mac and cheese and baked veggies.

But hopefully with a little more stability and internet I'll be able to write more often- no promises ;)

Till then I leave you with some images of the new place :)



Kitchen
Dining Room- the lamp came with the house, totally groovy
Coat Rack :p This hall leads to the master bedroom (which is currently empty and looking for an owner) and D's room.


The Pink Bathroom
Half the Living Room



Entry Way
Other half of the Living Room

My Room


My Bed