When Ingrid, Alexa, and Sam go out to dinner.

Last night after work, Ingrid, Alexa, and I met up for dinner at The Smith in Midtown. Now you must remember, each one of us has our own blog and each one of us enjoys food just as much as the other. So what happens when you mix food and blogging? Pictures – lots and lots of pictures. We first order an appetizer to share and before the plate even hits the table, Alexa and I prep our phones for some food photography. As we both struggle to find the perfect angle, aesthetic, and lighting, Ingrid whips out the big guns. That’s right, in her tiny little satchel bag was her not-so-tiny DSLR camera and as she snaps away I slowly tuck my iPhone camera away in shame. This process continues for our main courses as well. I ordered the roasted tomato soup and Mexican corn off the cob – it hit alllllll the right places.

Alexa and Ingrid in their natural states.

Then, us food-enthusiasts all agreed that no amazing meal is complete without an equally as incredible dessert. Ingrid has been wanting to try out the cupcake ATM and Alexa insists that we try this weird place with a name I cannot for the life of me pronounce. I am intrigued by both, and with a route mapped out we decide to give each a shot. First stop – the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM. Unlike dinner, everyone else around us is equally as amused by this vending machine serving fresh cupcakes. So we (just like everybody else) take videos of the process of purchasing a cupcake from an ATM. The process was pretty cool, but I must say – not as magical as I envisioned it to be.* Then was Momofuku Milk Bar – home of “cereal milk.” What is cereal milk? Well, now that I’ve tried it I can tell you – “cereal milk” is cereal milk. It’s really that simple. It’s corn flakes soaked in milk then strained to create that sweet tasting milk we enjoy after a bowl of cereal. It was interesting and a fun little thing to try but far too sweet for my liking. I also picked up one of Karlie’s Perfect 10 Kookies which I enjoyed on the train ride home. This I thoroughly enjoyed every last crumb of – nearly guilt free thanks all natural ingredients!

*I imagined something more along the lines of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, maybe Johnny Depp would throw on a wig and some cooky sunglasses and hand out cupcakes himself?! With golden tickets in the wrappers??!!!!? When Sprinkles comes out with something like that – puh-lease let me know.

 

Ingrid ❤ cupcake & proof that Sam doesn’t just photograph food, she eats it too.

 

Samantha

P.S. I linked to all the food places I mentioned incase you are interested in checking any of them out (which I highly suggest you do).

I wore pajamas to work today – well, kind of.

I slept through two (yes, two) alarms this morning. Now, the last thing I want to do in that 10 minute early (too early) morning blur of rushing to get ready is put on a pencil skirt and heels, or anything of that uncomfortable nature. *CUE THE HAREM PANTS AND COTTON T-SHIRT.* These babies were made for those roll-out-of-bed mornings and if you’re someone like me, those mornings happen more often than not.

I would like to give a shoutout to the creators of slouchy silk pants and “dressy” cotton shirts. If you happen to know these genius creators/designers give them a nice warm hug for me and let them know the comfort-seekers of the world l-o-v-e them.

Pants I stole borrowed from my mom’s closet, t-shirt is from Banana Republic, shoes are by Franco Sarto, and jewelry is by Susanna Galanis.

 

 

 

I am finally home after a very productive day at work and headed to go change into my actual pajamas – until next time!

Samantha

It’s an orchid invasion!

I feel like I can’t walk a single block in New York City without spotting an orchid. These things are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Don’t get me wrong, these delicate and easily mantained plants are beautiful, but it’s gotten to the point where one showed up in my dream last night and I’ve become officially creeped out.

There are three in my office alone, one of which sits directly infront of me. There’s also one sitting downstairs in the lobby of my building as well as one in the lobby of another building just a few doors down. There’s also that huge bouquet of orchids I found on the upper level of Louis Vuitton a few weeks ago (pictured below). Oh, and then there’s an entire wall of them at Dior’s Fall 2014 Haute Couture runway show in Paris (pictured above).

What I found most fascinating about Raf Simon’s (creative director of Dior) decision to create a backdrop of orchids for his couture collection, was how closely the flower mimicked his designs. The structure of his couture gowns are exactly that of the shape of an orchid petal. And the pure white color of the fabric is an exact color match to the orchids surrounding the runway (as well as the orchid on my desk – I’m so “in”).

I’d also like to aknowledge the scrutiny Mr. Simons recieved for his Dior couture collection – yes, his designs were completely understated compared to previous Dior Couture designs and the collection would’ve been better off shown as “Ready-to-Wear.” Though, nonetheless, every single piece was beautifully designed and I would still kill to get my hands on any one of them – especially the set pictured below.

 

Have a “haute” weekend!

Samantha

Food and NYC makes for the perfect evening.

After work last night, Alexa, Ingrid, and I headed over to ACE’s First Annual Foodie Ball hosted by E! Entertainment on the TOWN Private Roofdeck. With a beautiful view of the city, an array of food, and two very sweet girls – I had an amazing time.

 

Let’s talk about the location for a minute…

I look to my right and what-do-ya-know, it’s the empire state building.

I look to my left and what-do-ya-know, it’s the high line.

And if that’s not good enough for you, the roof was in-between the Diane von Furstenberg building. P.S. Ingrid’s the girl in white with the super pretty blonde hair – she was pretty fun to look at too ha ha.

 

Now, on to the good stuff – FOOD….

The lovely Dean & DeLuca catered.

This tattooed man was assembling a sort of sushi.

There was honey lavender and sweet cream ice cream – let’s just say, I went back for seconds.

These little French pastries and I bonded on a personal level – so yummy! I’d also like to acknowledge the people who were handing them out for being so fun and sweet.

Now, when the cute bartender recommends you try the Spicy Pina Colada – you try that Spicy Pina Colada. And I’m glad I did because it was deeee-lish!

 

And then there’s me…

And incase you were wondering – peplum top is from Express, jeans are from J.Crew, shoes are from ALDO, necklace is Susanna Galanis, and the nail polish is Essie’s “Bikini So Teeny”.

 

As for today, I’ll be frolicking around in my sweatshirt and boxers with a huge grin on my face because life is too good.

Samantha

I’m home now *sad face* and reminiscing about allllll the fabulous memories I made while in Block Island.

 

1. Celebrating Daddy’s 50th birthday at his favorite restaurant on the island – Eli’s. 

 

 

2. The Mohegan Bluffs – I hope this is what heaven looks like.

 

3. Having the softest feet ever, thanks to nature’s natural foot exfoliant (i.e. sand and rocks).

 

4. Watching my dad channel his inner little boy while building a rock tower (and then ordering chicken tenders for lunch… how old is he again?).

 

5. Sail boats on the coastguard beach.

 

6. Flowers…. EVERYWHERE.

  

 

7. This guy.

 

“Oh yaaa feed it to me mmmmm”

 

8. The foggy weather we had on Monday.

 

9. Beach roses that smell absolutely heavenly.

 

not photographed

10. When my mom got tipsy off half a Bloody Mary at lunch and had to walk her bike home – I LOLed the entire time.

11. The amount of times I heard “that’s what she said.”

12. A much-needed two hour nap I took on Friday.

13. And eating peanut butter fudge ice cream with rainbow sprinkles THREE days in a row.

 

Until next time Block Island,

Samantha

More fireworks and ice cream.

My 4th of July weekend was extended an extra day when my sister, cousins, and I took a trip down to the beach to watch yet another town’s fireworks. Hurricane Arthur really messed up everyone’s schedule, causing one town to post-pone their fireworks to Monday night. I’m not complaining though, as we had an amazing time. Our night started with a little grilling in my cousins backyard and ended with ice cream – those are the summer nights I live for. Here’s a little of what happened in between:

Fireworks – I seriously can’t get enough of these pretty little exploding things.

My cousin brought a few paper lanterns to the beach which were so beautiful to watch light up and fly away in the dark sky.

Me running away from the lantern like a baby, good thing my sister had it covered!

And that’s how I turned the Fourth of July into the “Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh of July.”
Samantha

Because it’s Monday morning and I’m low on caffeine. 

When I find something I like I tend to “overdose” on it until I can’t stand it. It’s kind of like when you hear a song on the radio you like, but then the radio over-plays that one song until you can no longer stand the sound of it. Except for me, I do this with everything. This sort of obsessive behavior can’t be healthy, but I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. Even as a little girl, I must’ve replayed my Britney Spears CD a million times on my Barbie BoomBox, despite my parent’s pleading to “MAKE IT STOP.”

I still LOVE anything and everything Britney Spears (once a Britney fan, always a Britney fan) but here are a few of my more recent obsessions…

Avocado toast – I’d eat this at every meal if I could.

Blue Print Cleanse Lemonade a.k.a. overpriced crack – seriously though, this stuff may cost you an arm and a leg but it’s soooo worth it.

Strawberries and Raspberries – the recent hot temperatures have me craving fruit 24/7.

Notorious B.I.G. ring I found at a Brooklyn flea market – I wear it every chance I get and love to show it off.

Lana Del Rey “Brooklyn Baby” – this song has been on repeat since Lana dropped Ultraviolence a few weeks ago.

This picture of my dad – isn’t he fab??

 

Now, back to work.

Samantha

 

Thanks to Hurricane Arthur storming up (literally) the east coast, I spent 4th of July at the mall – but I’m not complaining. So my 4th plans subsequently got postponed to the 5th. It was a b-e-a-utifal day spent at my cousin’s pool full of family, sun, and THE BEST ribs! Oh, and there were a few fireworks.

Now I’m home “recovering” after a day at the beach, snacking on a few s’mores and bonding with my couch. I’m off to Block Island this Thursday for a mini family vacation and oh baby am I excited!

Life is good, my friends, life is good.
Samantha

A blessing in disguise.

Last night, I was in my bedroom and accidentally knocked over a glass of water on my night stand. Shards of glass flew everywhere and water poured onto my floor. It was a rough moment but with my dad’s help everything was quickly returned to normal, or so i thought. I had noticed a few drops of water made their way onto my laptop but didn’t think much of it as it was covered by a protective case at the time. Though, a few hours later I open my laptop to wrap things up for the day and notice it won’t turn on. Maybe it needs to be charged? So I plug in my charger and still no signs of life. I went into full panic mode. What could possibly have gone wrong? After all, I hadn’t noticed any traces of water inside the laptop itself. I have to be up in eight hours to get ready for my internship all of which revolves around the usage of my computer. I stared at the dead, black screen as my mind raced of the idea that I’d never be able to access my documents, photos, or music ever again.

Coincidentally, my mother returned home from her business trip in the chaos of me trying to perform CPR on my laptop. That woman is like Mother Theresa, herself, a saint I tell you! She calmed my nerves as my father devised a plan to “air out” my laptop overnight and by the morning it should be working again. I seeked comfort in a little Netflix to take my mind off my dying laptop and fell asleep.

My alarm is set for 5:30AM on the weekdays, allowing me 30 minutes of “waking up” (rubbing my eyes and checking my phone) but this morning I leaped up at the sound of my alarm and ran into my parents room, hoping to resuscitate my laptop from the dead. I held down that stubborn little power button down and still no signs of life. By this point I was past the mourning period and ready to get my sick child (laptop) cured. I e-mailed by boss, informing her of my unpleasant circumstances, and waited for the “computer-saver place” (as I like to call them) to open. I left my poor, sad, and dying laptop in the hands of a few professionals and waited.

Unsure on how else to spend a Tuesday than at my New York office working on my laptop, I sat on the couch (pitied my situation for a little) and had a major epiphany:

I put a lot, and I mean a lot, of pressure on myself to accomplish things. These “things” usually consist of being a good intern, perfecting my assignments, writing for my blog, growing my blog, and making sure I’m healthy. Though, when I’m too absorbed in building myself as a person I neglect the little things in my personal life. For example, I had a dress at the dry-cleaners that needed to be picked up a week ago but I haven’t found the time to get it. Or there’s this book I’ve been wanting to pick up for myself but haven’t had the chance to drive to the bookstore. And most importantly, I haven’t had time to reflect. I am at a major point in my life, doing things I’ve only ever dreamed of, but I’ve forgotten to put aside my work and goals for the future to appreciate how far I’ve come.

Today I suffered without the companionship of my laptop, but the absence of my laptop has allowed me to fill in the empty spaces I’ve created in my life.

Bad news – my laptop is dead (r.i.p.).

Good news – my laptop is in fact replaceable and with a little help from my parents’ pockets (i.e. cash), all of my saved information can be recovered. I am also being lent (a very old) laptop in the mean time so I can still work and write for my blog.

All-in-all I am very happy to have suffered such an unfortunate series of events. I also can’t thank my parents enough for their help last night and today, including everything they’ve done and continue to do for me. (I know they’re both reading this, so – hi! love you guys.)

 

Now I am exhausted, to say the least, and am super excited to be back at my internship in the morning. Off to bed! Goodnight.

Samantha