Friday's five things: Back to school edition.

I started my fall classes on Wednesday. I have class on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I am so close to being done! After my two classes this semester, I only have my capstone [!] left. I can't believe it! I am 9 months away from having my Master's!

[Iced coffee + whole wheat everything bagel with light lox spread... so I can pretend it's healthy]

I got home early, early Tuesday morning and have been exhausted all week, but somehow managed to drag myself out of bed this morning to stop by H&H Midtown Bagels, a guaranteed good start to my day.

[Bracelets by Jessica Simpson, Betsey Johnson, and Fossil, all from Macy's. Watch by Michael Kors]

My mom bought me these three bracelets this past weekend. I'm finally taking part in the stacking bracelets trend... I loved wearing them to work/class this week because I seriously jingle the whole day with the Betsey Johnson charms. It reminds me of how much fun I had this weekend! And how much I love it when my mom buys me nice little treats...

[Hammie loves helping with my photos]

The kitties were happy to see me after the long weekend. I'm looking forward to spending some time with them tomorrow and Sunday. I need some down time, and they need some Mommy time.

[My new desk]

This was actually my cheap desk from Amazon, but my wonderful Martha Stewart of an Aunt Diane took it home, sanded, and stained it for me. She dropped it off in my apartment while I was gone, so I came home to find this beautiful surprise waiting for me. Now this weekend I need to reorganize all the junk that goes in/on my desk...

Finally, this one is self-explanatory. After hurricanes and storms, then crappy weather all this week, it is finally nice out. And I'm going out tonight in this lovely nice weather!

TGIF, everyone! Enjoy this beautiful evening!

Friday's five things: Hurricane Irene edition.

In case you haven't heard...

[Hurricane Irene's predicted path... right through Manhattan]

This big ol' Hurricane Irene is supposed to barrel up the Eastern seaboard and right through New York City as a Category 2 or Category 1. While I'm a little scared, I'm not sure how much is media hype. I am on a pretty dense block and out of the flood zone, so I think I should be fine... But still, I think my friends are going to come over and we'll hunker down through the storm together.

[With a stockpile of beer]

[And tuna... and applesauce... and other "non-perishables"... like Twinkies]

I'm planning to post pics/blog throughout the storm as long as we have power and internet... Stay tuned for tomorrow night as we watch movies, read all the magazines in my apartment, play cards, and make tuna sandwiches... It sounds like it will start Saturday around midnight and we will get the worst of it on Sunday, maybe even into Monday morning.

[I'll be reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano this weekend]

As for today, I'm excited to finally pick up my custom frames from Michaels. I will have completed apartment pics soon! I am finishing up my shopping for the storm today and having a "last supper" at Chipotle. One last indulgence before being stuck inside all weekend! Although, we may order/pick up pizza tomorrow night if we can before the storm hits... We'll see.

[Oh yeah, I bought my first flashlight yesterday. Get ready for a strenuous weekend, Brookstone Twist Light, get ready]

Friday's five things: 4th of July edition.

I turned in my final assignment for my summer class today. Finally. I now have just over 2 months off with NO OBLIGATIONS WHATSOEVER... outside of work... I'm off to Washington, DC/Maryland tomorrow to spend some time with my bestie B, my brother, my cousins in VA, and some other friends & sorority sisters from college.

I'm excited for B's family's Maryland crab fest tomorrow, brunch at Logan Tavern with my fam on Sunday, the Nationals vs. Pirates baseball game with my sorority sisters on Sunday, and then just chilling out for the rest of the weekend.

We'll hopefully see some fireworks somewhere on Monday/set off some of our own and try {not} to burn down B's neighborhood...

Can't wait for continued shenanigans with my bestie.

Love this beautiful cake from Glorious Treats. It looks really complicated, but I think I could even pull it off in my tiny NYC kitchen next summer for the 4th. I might even make it for Labor Day this summer, just to see if I can...

{photo via Glorious Treats also}

Also, I was in Minnesota last weekend {pictures to come next week when I finally take them off my camera} and went to pick up a new pair of Minnetonka Moccasins. They're made just minutes from my house, but have somehow become really popular in NY and DC in the last few years. Well, partially due to the fact that J.Crew has started some kind of partnership with Minnetonka Mocs and does a few special models each year {like these, that cost twice as much as the originals}.

Anyway, they were out of the style I wanted at our local Foursome boutique, but my mom ordered them for me, and I can't wait to get them! {Get your own from Zappos.}

I'm off to pack, get the kitties set for a long weekend alone, and try to squeeze in a workout of some sort before eating {delicious} junk food and drinking margies all weekend.

Friday's five things.

Did I mention how busy I've been lately?

I just started my summer class, Advanced Book Editing, which involves 6 weeks of intensive reading and editing of manuscripts... and a lot of work. So far, so good. My family was here last weekend. It was a lot of fun, but I've been exhausted all week now. And now I'm so ready for summer! I can't believe it's June already!

I'm looking forward to a weekend of relaxing and doing homework. It should be pretty quiet. I have no real plans except tonight.

1. Tonight, I'm trying Hospoda, a new Eastern European craft beer joint on 73rd Street. I just happened to walk by it the other day, and I'm really excited! It's only been open a week now, so it will be interesting to see how people like it. They boast craft European beer and wine and a modern European menu. I'm not too sure about the food, but the beer looks great! I'm meeting Nat there tonight after work!

2. I've been craving a seersucker blazer. There was an adorable one in the window at Barney's last week. I don't know who the designer was, but I'm sure it's out of my price range. They styled it with a nautical, horizontal-striped navy and white tee, white cropped skinnies, and navy wedges. Adorable for summer! Here's a similar blazer from L.L. Bean for $139.

3. I went to the gym last night (when I was exhausted and didn't want to go! But I'm happy I did) and picked up sushi from Bamboo sushi on the way home. I overestimated my hunger and ended up with a leftover roll for lunch today at the office. Score!

4. I ordered these for myself yesterday. I've been ogling them for a while and couldn't stop thinking about them. I even went and tried them on at Macy's last weekend, but held off because I didn't want to pay full price. Then by the luck of the draw (or email alert...), I saw them for 33% off from Nordstrom.com yesterday and couldn't resist any longer! So excited to get them in the mail!

5. I plan on walking home through Central Park this afternoon. This is the official start of getting out of work a little early on Fridays and strolling through the beautiful park on the way home season!

Have a great weekend everyone! I swear, I should be back to regular posts at SOME point this summer...

Friday's five things.

So, I still need to post my spring break breakdown... but I have not been at home on my computer for more than 53 seconds straight in the last 2 weeks. I picked up a third class (1.5 credits for 7 weeks) for the second part of this semester which started after break, and I am so freaking busy now!

For now, here are 5 fun things that will hopefully help me make it through the next couple weeks until summer!

1. Cole Haan Air Tali Rain Ballet flat in Sunflower Patent, $138 from Colehaan.com. These bright and cheery goodies will be so perfect for the spring showers when it is too hot to wear my Hunters. I can't afford them at full price, but you can bet I'm counting down until they go on sale... something to look forward to!

2. Snapfish photo books are 50% with the code 11BOOKSBD - just in time for me to make a beautiful new photo book of my trip!

3. NYU is hosting a gala tonight for all Masters, law, medical, MBA, etc. graduate students. With free drinks and hors d'oeuvres. And law students. I'm going with a few friends and need to head home after work to decide what to wear! (Possibly green silk dress... possibly black New Year's Eve dress... unsure.)

4. Reese's peanut butter eggs are officially on the shelves. These are my favorite part of every holiday. They have about 2 times the amount of peanut butter as a normal Reese's cup. And are my biggest weakness right now. (Pssst! Mom! These are the ones I'm talking about!)

5. I plan on finishing Jane Eyre this weekend (the book) so that I can complete the Goodreads Jane Eyre Challenge and see Jane Eyre (the movie) before April 15th.

TGIF, everyone!

Friday's... one thing.

I'm not dead. I'm just exhausted and sick of winter.

Remember how I thought things would calm down once school started and I got back in a routine? Nope, no chance of that! Because with the start of school again came 3 snow/icestorms back to back to back! So my entire life has been thrown up in the air for the last couple weeks. Yuck.

I'm so sick of salt ruining my boots and shoes and pants-hems.

I'm so sleepy from all the cloudy, dark days.

I'm so done with winter.

So what do I love today?

Just Stella. That is all I want tonight.

I have a pretty decent weekend ahead and will hopefully be able to recharge a little and actually get around to cleaning my closet (as I've been trying to do for the last 3 weeks...): grad program happy hour tonight on the LES, brunch tomorrow @ Northern Spy Food Co on Ave. B which I've heard is absolutely amazing, and I'm hosting a little Super Bowl evening on Sunday, complete with turkey chili, pigs-in-a-blanket, classic nachos, and some more Stella Artois, of course.

Have a good weekend everybody! Thanks for sticking with me in this, the winter of my discontent... haha.. get it?

(Why doesn't everybody make literary puns? It makes life so much better!)

Friday's Five Things: Snow, etc.

I actually accomplished something last night! I knocked off one of the essays for the department scholarship application that has been hanging over my head for the last week. One down, two to go! (All this to get someone else to give me money to go to school... what happened to good old begging?)

And then I woke up this morning to this:

My block was covered in snow! It makes me happy to see it, since it's so pretty, but then I took 2 steps outside my door and remembered why I hate walking in snow... but it was pretty...

I am carrying my new Lucky Brand purse today. I got it last weekend at Macy's (I can't find the exact style online, but here's a similar one). I love this bag! It's the perfect size, and feels so loose and casual for my fave casual Friday outfit (jeans + tank top + plaid blouse + black pointy-toe flats).

Spicy chicken udon soup from freshday on 48th street. This is my fave lunch in midtown Manhattan, in my opinion. For $7, I get a huge container of soup jam-packed with real grilled chicken breast (not the leftover random dark meat that some places use), udon noodles, broccoli, mushrooms, chives, tempura piecse and some other vegetables that I don't recognize. I can't exactly figure out the calorie content of this, but all the ingredients seem pretty innocuous on their own, so I accept it... and love it!
Because I haven't mentioned it yet, I seriously love my new phone. I have had the Droid Incredibly by HTC on Verizon for about 3 weeks now, and I love it! Since my camera is broken, all of my (terrible) photos have been coming from my phone (the camera is great; it's the photographer that is the problem!), and I've been using my phone for everything from my calendar to accessing SparkPeople (a FANTASTIC food/exercise tracker/healthy living program) to GChat. I adore it! Get yours here.

And lastly, I'm excited to go out tonight. I have been pretty lame for the last two weeks and now, I'm so ready for a pink, girly drink. I'm going to a poetry reading (at a bar nonetheless) for a friend tonight and most likely a friend's housewarming party tomorrow (and writing scholarship app essays in between, of course).

Have a good weekend everyone! Martha Stewart Sundays will be back this weekend with some sort of closet organization breakdown... since I WILL be cleaning my closet Sunday morning!

Friday's Five Things.

Another blog scheduling thing I'd like to try: Friday's Five Things, something I've picked up from Emily at Cupcakes and Cashmere, another blog I love. This is a simple list of five things (anything!) that I love or am lusting over or that make me happy right now, today, this Friday.

For today:

Smith's Rosebud Salve, $6 from Sephora. You can put it on anything.

Cuddly kittens. They were bombarding me this morning with snuggles when I was getting ready for work.

Planning my trip to Paris and Copenhagen in March. I stumbled across The Naughty Paris Guide... and don't think I will be buying this particular guide book... but it made me giggle.

Spring semester doesn't start until the 24th. Which means I now have 5 evenings a week to myself, to go to the gym, meet friends for dinner, and return things to Bloomingdale's. This makes me even more excited to finish my Master's next spring so I can reclaim my evenings again! (You know, and to be accomplished academically and achieve success in my career... but mainly the free time thing... JK)

January & February is always a good time for fresh oranges.

That is all.