"All the influences were lined up waiting for me, I was born, and there they were to form me, which is why I tell you more of them than of myself"

For those of you that are unaware (or for my mother who still occasionally asks me what my major was) my Bachelor's degree is in English Literature. As it is, I have pretty broad taste in what I read...American Lit. is my favorite (Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Eggers, O'Connor...I could go on forever), but in general I dabble in a little of everything. While in school I barely had time to read for myself and although it's been nice to be able to read whatever I want now, I actually kind of miss having reading lists for classes. Ridiculous, I know. In order to take care of my odd nostalgia I've decided to read Time's All Time 100 Novels in alphabetical order. I'm super excited about it. First on the list is Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March. I'm only on page 135 out of 586, but so far it's classic American, rambling, and overall just excellent writing. 


Side note: OMG Mila Kunis' Oscar dress

"But so we are gathered here, each and every perfect warm-but-not-too-warm day, each day lathered in sun and possibility, probability, and while everyone drinks their lattes and eats their burritos, pretending not to be checking each other out, there is a feeling that we are, at least at this point in time, with our friends, on this lush grass, at the very red molten-hot core of everything"

Sunday was the absolute prettiest day that New York has seen in quite a while. The weather was in the low 60s, the sun was out, and everyone was in an excellent mood. Having already promised Kenny I would help with "post surgery rotation he can catch up on life for a weekend" tasks later in the day, I figured I should get out early and appreciate the weather before spending the afternoon in a dorm basement laundry room. And by early I mean noon and by out I mean ignoring my own catching up on life things and going to the coffee shop two doors down from my apartment with Nina. I got an Orangina, she got a Chai tea, we admired Biggie...it was lovely. 

Clinton St. girl

Saturday night was hands down the most Brooklyn night I've ever had. I went to House of Yes for an alien/black light/neon themed party, which involved some sort of techno band, neon face paint (see eyes above) and everything glowed. Quite the change of pace from Friday. 

Boy you got my heartbeat runnin' away

Dearest friends and family, this is Kenneth Clare Foxx III, my boyfriend. Note two very important things about this picture: 1. it's a horrible one of me, but I learned last night that Kenny is the least photogenic person I know and this is the absolute best of him out of the bunch and 2. I am in Times Square, which I really dislike, but it was literally around the corner from the formal and for some reason the red steps seemed like an exciting thing at the time.  


**Proof that I actually looked decent (even though you can't see my dress at all...oops) and that Kenny really, really could not manage to take a good picture:

Quinoa: a species of goosefoot

Prior to moving to New York I was a pretty healthy eater. Cooking was a stress reliever for me in college, so I did it often and as a result ate nutritious meals most of the time. This cookbook was my go-to...the granola recipe is to die for, plus it makes the whole house/apartment smell scrumptious. Since moving to the land of bagels and pizza though my eating habits have gone slightly downhill. It's just so much more convenient sometimes to walk around the corner and grab something than to lug bags of groceries home. After having a particularly unhealthy eating week (see Tuesday's post) I have vowed that from here on out I am going to try a new recipe at least once a week in order to get back in to the swing of things. Given that it is now Thursday and I did not feel like braving the after work line at Trader Joe's this late in the week, I had to make due with what was already in my cabinet, i.e. Girl Scout cookies, an abnormal amount of spices, and a bag of quinoa that was purchased at least 3 months ago. Despite its vegetarian health benefits I find quinoa to be bland and boarder-line disgusting, but it seemed to be my only option. Supposedly you can treat the weird little food like pasta. I tried it with vodka sauce and veggies a while ago and did not see the comparison, but decided to give it another shot. This time I stuck a chopped up onion in the pot when it was cooking in hopes of giving it more flavor and when it was finished added some butter, salt, pepper and an ungodly amount of parmesan. I'm now full and protein enriched, but it was still boring...as in I might as well just have had plain lettuce and dressing. I still have a huge pot of it left though, so maybe I'll attempt to get more creative this weekend. A quinoa burrito perhaps? 


*Speaking of making things more interesting I found a pair of black lacey, flowery tights to go with my dress for tomorrow. Pictures of the whole ensemble (and maybe a camera-shy boyfriend thrown in too) to come!

She said Father can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?

 Up until a few years ago I thought it was a normal childhood activity to go to a graveyard every once in a while to feed the ducks and look at old tombstones. Now I know though that apparently that was just an odd my family thing. Regardless, I still find them to be relaxing and pretty...kind of like a park. Not that I go and spend afternoons in graveyards, but when I happen to pass a nice one, I appreciate it. The same goes for creepy old churches. Once again, I would never want to wander around inside of one after dark, but viewed in passing from the outside, I like them. Brooklyn is quite the hub for things like this, but my favorite of them all is this one, which I pass on Lafayette whenever I walk home from visiting Aly. Night time pictures don't do it justice at all, but just know that it's massive, beautiful and 100% looks like Hogwarts.

Thistle & Clover, over and over

I love boutiques and tend to shop at them regularly for day to day clothes, but whenever I need to find a dress I somehow suddenly forget they exist. As mentioned the other day I've come to the point where all my department store options are worn out (haha), so last night I checked Refinery29 for some very helpful suggestions and headed out this morning to a couple nearby Brooklyn shops and of course instantly found a million dresses I was in love with. I came close to buying a goooorgeous hand-dyed mustard yellow Mina Stone at Stuart & Wright, but in the end settled on this classic navy blue one at Thistle & Clover, more simple but the fit is much better and fit wins over print. Either way, lesson learned...local businesses are always the way to go.

Also, these came in the mail from my sister today along with 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from my mom. I have suspicions they're trying to fatten me up before I see them at the beach this summer.

Somewhere the buildings give way to sunlight, give way to east and west Central Park

My favorite street near where I work. That's about all there is to say about it, other than the fact that it felt like spring a few days ago and then snowed today. ??

With you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless

Back last October when the boyfriend told me he had a spring formal for med school I didn't even think twice about finding a dress. I have a pretty serious addiction to spring/summer dresses and have some in my closet that have been waiting quite a while to be worn. However, two weeks ago I found out that spring formal actually means February formal, meaning that now IT'S THE SUNDAY BEFORE AND I STILL DON'T HAVE A DRESS. I ran all over Manhattan today and didn't find anything. I'm very, very concerned. Luckily I have Tuesday off and I'm planning on taking a break from department stores to scour some Brooklyn boutiques. Stuart & Wright and Thistle & Clover seem promising. Despite needing to get away from Manhattan shopping for a bit, I do love how unique even the huge name brand stores are here. In Atlanta Ralph Lauren is elegant and well-decorated I suppose, but it's right in the middle of not very charming Lenox...nothing like the pictured above mansion it inhabits here on Madison. Plus, having my go-to store be the flagship Bloomingdales and actually going to Fifth Avenue for Saks is pretty darn nice. 

Would you get old, old fashioned with me?

No picture today. I could say it was because I was doing something way too important/fun to be bothered with it, but in reality I worked all day and then went home and was in bed by 10:30. 

So instead here's a song I can't stop listening to lately:

It's the freakin' weekend baby I'm about to have me some fun

On my way to work this morning I passed by what I guess must have been an Egyptian bakery and was offered a "yay Egypt's free" cookie. I was so pleased and it was so delicious looking that I didn't even think to take a picture until after I had eaten a couple of bites.  Also, there was a fire truck gathering across the street from Track and Field and  Gossip Girl was being filmed at The Mark. Possibly the two are related? Either way I know all of this because the weather was AMAZING and actually felt like spring, so we kept the door open for the entire day, putting everyone in an excellent mood for the upcoming season (even if today was only a small preview) and the weekend!

And I remember when I first listened to your records

Typically once a week or so I find myself spending an evening lounging in jammies and/or athletic wear in Aly's living room. The entire room is very grandma-chic and put together, however my favorite part is the thrifted record wall, specifically MJ lounging with a baby tiger. It also reminds me of my Dad's office wall, which I've always liked very much:

Wild hearts, blue jeans, and white t-shirts

I have a pretty practical approach when it comes to clothes. I love to shop and could do it everyday, but I tend to stick to the basics. Solid color shirt/sweater most of the time, jeans (I live in these), boots (I've worn these nonstop since October), a printed dress mixed in here and there and I'm good to go. My only issue that I ever have to work around is that I have a tendency to wear too much mustard yellow. How it became my color of choice I have no clue, but this morning I almost walked out the door in a shirt, bag, and gloves all in mustard yellow. I'll have to start phasing it out come spring, but in the mean time this J.Crew long-sleeve is going to be getting some good use.


I also have a huge love for striped socks and this messy French bun:

Oh and for those wondering, the truffles turned out ammmmaaaaazing and not weird looking at all!

Bakerella?

Since I knew I wasn't going to see the boyfriend yesterday I put off making his Valentine's treats until tonight. The plan was to make these Oreo truffles. Everything was going perfectly fine until the grocery store didn't have the proper chocolate coating and I decided to just melt white chocolate chips instead. It's not the same. The chocolate just drips off. It was very frustrating, but I think I solved the problem by smothering them in Oreo crumbs so you can't tell how thin the chocolate is...we'll see when I take them off the sheet tomorrow I suppose. Worst case scenario I'll just have to make a Magnolia run.

It's a Mexican Valentine's Day!

One of the disadvantages of having a boyfriend in med school is that he has to study on Valentine's Day. One of the perks though is that there are med school formals that happen shortly after Valentine's Day, therefore making me perfectly happy with getting take-out from Choice and spending a night in with the roommate and another fellow Atlanta friend, Jackson, drinking Mexican beer and having a YouTube party.

Fun fact: Jackson worked on this music video...which is why he knows every word to a Justin Beiber song. Nina doesn't have an excuse. 

"When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I bought Vogue instead of dinner. I found it fed me more."

After having a lovely brunch with the boyfriend who is clearly never actually going to appear on this blog, I decided to buy an Elle and head home for a day of cleaning and lounging. The W is from October, but I just love the cover...Michelle Williams' lipstick...Ryan Gosling in general...ahhhh!

Love and wolves and eyes dadada

Saturday night Aly and I went to go see Josh Ritter at Terminal 5. We attempted a few pictures, but they all ended with being blinded by the flash and my camera died before the actual concert started, so our "close eyes and open right before" failed plan will just have to do. I saw JR in Atlanta last May only knowing one of his songs ahead of time and had a blast. He has such a happy summer music air about him, writes great lyrics and likes to play the harmonica every now and then, which are really the only pre-requistes for being a favorite in my book. It's just what I needed to get rid of my winter blues. The highlight of the night was in the middle of the concert when the lights all went to a giant disco ball on the ceiling and the crowd had one massive slow dance. Aly and I had a very romantic three-way dance with a dashing man whose boyfriend temporarily abandoned him for someone else. Also, Rainn Wilson (and John Krasinski...who came on stage right after my camera died) decided to show up. 

I got a lot of lovin', I got a lotta love in my heart

 I absolutely love New York and am so so glad to be here, but I've really been missing my family this week. So, in leu of an actual Friday picture (went to Sweet Revenge with Aly and forgot my camera, per usual), this one is of my parents, sister and me at The Common Man in Vermont for Christmas Eve dinner. Not the best we've ever taken and I'm not quite sure what's going on with the lighting on Britt, but it's from the last time we were all together and I like it. 

Lord I swear the perfume you wear was made of turnip greens

Keeping with my hermit habits this week, I've been living in my amazingly 90s Auburn sweatshirt. It was purchased in 1993 at the  Anniston, Alabama Super Wal-mart in preparation for my very first Alabama Auburn Day. Who knows how it's managed to stick around for this long considering my extreme closet clean-outs that happen once every couple of years, but as a result it's the softest, comfiest sweatshirt I own and therefore perfect for what should be my last day of being a grandma. If I mention anything about Netflix or tea drinking over the weekend someone needs to intervene. 

If you see me keep going be a pass-by waver

Most of the time I prefer to keep busy. Since high school I've liked to have a full list of things to do and people to see, even on weekdays.  Normally just one night of alone time a week is plenty, but this whole week I've really just enjoyed being by myself when I come home for the day. Maybe it's because I'm getting over a sinus infection or maybe being in a city where I'm constantly around people is starting to take its toll on me, but either way it's been relaxing/ my relationship with my Netflix has improved significantly. 

Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in

Even though I live in Brooklyn, a lot of the time I feel like I don't really do much more than sleep here. Today though, I started my first non-training day of volunteering with Girls Inc. and spent the afternoon in downtown Brooklyn. I've never doubted it's appeal, but up until now I had never noticed how much there is to do in this little borough. Once the weather gets a little better (I just ventured half a block out of my apt to buy ice cream for dinner and it's started snowing AGAIN) I'm going to explore much more instead of just hopping on the subway every time I need entertainment. 

You the best I ever had

Although I like to think of myself as more of a tea drinker, the truth is that I really like a good latte every now and then. For the past four years I've been under the impression that a honey nut latte at Blackbird is the absolute best, but then my manager introduced me to Oren's soy almond and now I must have at least one a week. There are a bunch of locations around the city, but everyone at Track and Field firmly believes that 79th and Lex is the only way to go. 

"Why they came east I don't know. They had spent a year in France, for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together."

I adore Fitzgerald. He is by far my favorite author and can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes. On this particularly loungey Sunday (hence the rumply covers) I decided to pull out and admire my sister's belated Christmas gift to me that has been sitting in a box in a corner for the past week. It's a poster of business cards of all the names mentioned at parties in The Great Gatsby. I KNOW...I discovered this in October and can't believe I had the willpower to wait till December for it. Also, my mother is very thoughtful and sent me some sticky notes. 


Oh and this was my favorite Super Bowl ad.

Do innkeeper's wives have naturally curly hair?

Every year since I was 15 my family has spent Christmas in a little town in Vermont called Warren. It's straight up storybook. Typically I go to my favorite bookstore in the whole wide world immediately and then spend the next five days in front of the fire eating tons and reading tons (with disastrous attempts at skiing thrown in here and there) all while having this as my backdrop: 

It's always one of the highlights of my year and naturally the rest of the winter is a bit of a downward spiral afterwards.  On my walk home from Saturday night's festivities (i.e. gnocchi and Sex and the City with Aly) I came across this lately discarded Christmas tree. I feel like it's owners must have similar feelings to me and were trying to hold on to the charming part of winter just a little bit longer, however the sad fact of the matter is that still having a tree up in February is weird and usually just interpreted as lazy.

This is the new year, a new beginning, you made a promise, you are the brightest

Apparently I am incapable of taking pictures on Fridays. Probably because it's the day of the week that's usually reserved for the boyfriend and I just feel so bad making him take a picture when he can't even change out of scrubs and take his shoes off before sprawling on the futon for the night. But, for those wondering, we watched Avatar. I fell asleep an hour in...it was an exciting night. This picture though is one that would have been included if I had actually started on January 1 and I like it way too much to not share. It was taken at one of my favorite bars in Williamsburg, exactly at midnight with champagne pouring all over us and All You Need Is Love playing in the background. Even with absent boyfriends for two of us (and no non-hipster kissing options for the single roommate and visiting friend) it was agreed all-around as being the most perfect way to ring in 2011.

Here comes the sun again

The past week's weather has been all freezing rain and grey all the time. Even though it's still way too cold outside, the sun finally decided to come out today, making my view from work quite a bit more pleasant and making me even more excited for spring (even though apparently the ground was too frozen for the groundhog to even come out yesterday ??).

"Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you, button, are none of those things"

One of the many perks of having a childhood best friend near-by is that if either she or I needs a little cheering up because ohhhh maybe you have to take New Jersey transit to see your boyfriend or maybe he's in hell year of med school OR, more importantly you are just having a small freak out about overall life goals and whether or not they involve Morocco or grad school...the other one is always there for support. Usually said support entails kettle corn and an appropriate movie for the issue at hand, but sometimes vodka infused key lime pie is the only option. And when the pie does not set quite right, vodka infused key lime pudding works as well.

Salt Lake City to NYC

Today I was at Track and Field from open to close. No matter how happy an athletic wear store environment can be, nine and a half hours of being in the same general 50 foot radius can go by a little slow.  Luckily, my co-worker and friend Dani was there with me. Dani moved to New York in August from Utah and has since become my gym buddy and fellow enthusiast of slightly cheesy, but really fun crafty projects, which obviously means she has a picture a day blog too http://365ofnyc.blogspot.com/!