Lake George escape and a new Kickstarter song!

Sooooo remember last blog post, when I was freaking out about the fact that it was "snaining" (snow/raining) outside?

Welp. Looks like there should have been an emphasis put on the "snow" part of that. 

That photo right there is the view that I had last Thursday morning at the nice and early time of 8:00a.m... I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, walked about 6 blocks with a rolling suitcase through the snow, and then stood for about 45 minutes right in that very spot, waiting for my very first Megabus experience to begin. 

But it was SO wonderful! I don't know what it was (maybe the sudden downpour of snow the night before), but I met so many lovely, friendly people on the way to the Megabus stop. Everyone was all smiles, I had a cup of warm coffee, and I was about to get whisked away to my grandparents' house in beautiful upstate New York.

Sidenote: I realized later (after boarding the bus) that people may have only been smiling and so nice to me, because I was wearing my boots on the wrong feet.

They probably just thought I was insane.

Okay. Back to the Megabus! It was SO wonderful. Really. If you've ever been on the fence about taking a trip using the company, just go for it. It only cost me $16 round trip to travel 3 and half hours to the Glens Falls/Lake George area. Easiest thing I've ever done.

When I arrived at the bus stop, my grandparents had literally just pulled up. And off we went to Barnes and Noble to get lunch/catch up/look at books, of course.

After quite a long time, we made our way to their house, where we sat and talked some more. (I'm pretty sure I talked more in those two days of visiting my grandparents than I have in the last two months).

And I stumbled upon this little creation in the guest room...

This is what grandpa does in his free time. He claims, "it keeps him off of the streets".

For dinner, we had delicious (and ridiculously cheesy) pizza from Harvest House in Glens Falls!

After a long, eventful day (full of talking), my grandparents were pooped. They claimed that I had worn them out... but honestly, I think they wore me out even more. 

Before heading to bed, though, we all sat and watched my grandma's favorite show-- "Jeopardy". (They are both quite good at answering the questions. Alas, I am not. Sadly, I only knew one answer the whole show, and it had something to do with "Honey Boo Boo". I have no idea what this says about me).

Friday morning, we woke up, downed our multiple cups of Black Magic coffee...

...and grammy and I talked even more. Yes. More talking. :)

There she is mid-sentence. I had to catch her in action, in her natural habitat.

For breakfast, we had some good, old fashioned, diner food at Hometown Diner. 

That is an example of the SHORT stack of blueberry pancakes. I don't even want to know what the regular stack looks like. And check out that entire TUB of butter. Literally. It is a plastic tub filled with butter.

Don't worry, I didn't use all of it. But I did pretty much finish all of the pancakes. They were too good to leave on the plate. 

Afterward, we drove into Bolton Landing, and spent some time admiring the beautiful view of Lake George from the Sagamore.

I mean, just look at that.

LOOK AT IT.

Lake George is beautiful at all times of the year, but there is something entirely different about seeing it in the winter, when no one is on it.. so incredibly peaceful. We sat there for quite awhile, soaking up the beauty and the warmth from the sun. I'm pretty sure grammy would have stayed there all day if she could... grandpa and I practically had to drag her off of the porch.

Then, we walked around the gift shop a bit, grandma bought little things, and we decided to call it a day. We had leftovers for dinner, we sat around, chatted some more, and all went to bed. Such a perfectly peaceful day in one of my favorite places on earth with some of my favorite people on earth.

Saturday morning, we had our usual coffee, our usual morning chats, etc.

And we went to the cutest little restaurant (Celia's Table) in downtown Glens Falls for lunch.

That right there is a delicious salad with the most delicious bowl of chicken pot pie soup. It seriously doesn't get any better than that.

Later in the day, it was time for me to head to the Megabus stop to catch a bus back to the Big Apple. Although it was a short trip, I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was. Not only did I get to spend some time away from the city in a beautiful place, but I was able to spend some alone time with my wonderful grandparents (whom I love dearly).

And guess what?? Good news! I am actually going to see them again this week for Thanksgiving. 

Grammy and Grandpappy: I know you both read this blog, so I just want to personally thank you for such a perfect few days. I love you both.

Basically, the rest of the week has consisted of school, internship (the internet is still down, so I only really went in for one day), writing papers, an awesome musical walking tour of the East and West village for class, a Veterans day parade that I stumbled upon...

a trip to the Trader Joes...

Quite a few fruit and yogurt parfaits....

A really strong (and cheap!) margarita...

...and a NEW KICKSTARTER SONG!

Yes. You heard me. A new song for my Kickstarter campaign.

This one is for my wonderful Kickstarter backer, Elizabeth Jensen. She wanted a song, on the ukulele, for her NEW fiance, Kyle.

You can hear the story and watch me play it live (in my awesome NYC dorm room) here:

And you can download the song FOR FREE here: San Antonio Line.

I must be off! I have quite a lot to do in a few, short hours. Because guess what? BOBBY ARRIVES AT 3:00pm. 

:)

And it gets better: His family arrives in the city on Monday, my mom arrives on Wednesday, and my brother arrives (just in time for Thanksgiving) on Thursday.

All is well in the world.

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving. Eat lots of food. Give lots of thanks.. because we have a lot to be thankful for.

<3 Nat

22nd birthday, Brooklyn Nets game, and a website facelift

IT'S SNAINING OUTSIDE!

Snaining. Aka: It is snowing and raining at the same time.

I just attempted to take a photo of the little piles of snow accumulating outside my window, but I almost dropped my camera in the process, therefore, I decided it wasn't worth it. But believe me, there is some snow comin' down. My first snow in New York City :). This is a momentous occasion. 

But let me back up for a second. Last you heard from me, it was Halloween. Because my birthday was the next day, my wonderful, lovely Belmont East friends took me out for the evening to celebrate. And because we were all still stuck in Brooklyn (trains weren't fixed until this past Monday), we just stuck to our usual hangout at Floyd.

Here I am with my lovely roomie.

It was such a fun-filled evening with some great pals.

THURSDAY

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, feeling like a completely different person. Just kidding. I felt literally the exact same I had the day before. But, I'm 22 now! I love even numbers, and I love the number 2, so I think this is going to be a good year for me.

I grabbed some coffee at Tazza and walked down to the promenade to sit and think about my wonderful city, my wonderful friends, and my wonderful life. It was an absolutely beautiful day. I couldn't stop thinking, "How am I so lucky? I am so blessed." Now, if that's not a good way to start your birthday, I don't know what is.

Once Allison woke up, we both sauntered on down to Iris Cafe for a delicious breakfast of avocado toast and coffee (I know.. I had two coffees within the span of an hour. Oops.).

The rest of the day consisted of tons of relaxing, watching movies, and yummy scented candles.

(That is a cinnamon sugar doughnut candle, courtesy of the wonderful, Caroline Gaskin). 

And I also indulged in some good, old fashioned New York cheesecake.

It might not look like much, but I promise it was incredible. I tried to finish it. I really did. But I thought my stomach was going to explode. I did some damage, though.

It was such a perfect day-- filled with friends and food and New York City. It doesn't get much better than that. Here's to 22!

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

One of my professors, Dr. Maddox, took the trip up to New York so that we could have class. Yippee! Class on the weekend! (I'm being very sarcastic).

But in all seriousness, it really was an interesting class. Basically, it's called a "Senior Capstone" and it's set up only for seniors at Belmont... we sit around and talk about life after college, searching for jobs, and avoiding going into debt. It was extremely depressing, but it was also very informative. I just can't stop thinking about the fact that I'm GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE in May. What? I mean, really. What? 

It's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

SUNDAY

I can't remember. Nada. No idea. Oops.

MONDAY

I got to go to a Brooklyn Nets game for class! I know... you're probably thinking, "What kind of class is that?" 

The answer? 

An awesome class.

I get really into games when I see them live, so I was super pumped. It was only the second game EVER for the Nets, which is pretty cool, and the Barclays Arena (where it was held) is such a neat building.

Unfortunately, the Nets lost. I don't know what in the world happened... they were up by more than 10 points the entire game, and then in the last 4 minutes, they dropped the ball (badumpcha!). They ended up losing by 8 points, or something like that. 

I was pretty upset, until I realized something kind of neat. Seeing as they won their first game, we got to be a part of history. We got to see the Brooklyn Nets lose their first game ever! (I know.. a bit of a stretch... I wanted to pull something positive from it).

TUESDAY

I was supposed to go into my internship, however, the Internet is still down in our building. All of the work that we have to do at Bank Robber requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, everyone else is working from home until it's back up and running!

Because I had a lot of down time (and it was the first time I'd had the room alone in awhile), I decided it would be a good time to work on Kickstarter songs! I am proud to say that I've finished up my next original song for one of my Kickstarter backers :). I won't be posting it until the beginning of next week, but it is all finished and ready to go. Wooohoo.

Tuesday night, I did what everyone else in America was probably doing.

I watched the news to see who would be our 44th President!

Don't worry, I'm not going to go into any sort of political rant or speech (many people on my Facebook newsfeed did quite enough of that). All I'm going to say is that I think it's so wonderful to live in a country where we have the opportunity to vote for our leaders. No matter what your view or who you may have voted for, I just hope that everyone can put differences aside and support the man who will be leading our country for the next four years. That's all! Back to the usual shtuff.

WEDNESDAY

I've been working on music all the live long day. I have a Christmas show coming up in December, another show at the Evening Muse coming up in December, a wedding coming up in January, and all of my Kickstarter songs. I am one busy gal! But it's music, which I love, so I'm happy.

And finally, a quick announcement! Thanks to Bobby Herb, my music website has been given a beautiful facelift :).

Go to: www.natalieroyal.com to check it out!

I'm off to go run around in this snain (snow/rain). I have my fingers crossed that the roads will be okay in the morning, because I am off to my grandparents' in upstate New York via Megabus bright and early! Can't wait to see them.

<3

Nat

Another visitor and the arrival of Hurricane Sandy

Whew. It has been a whirlwind of a last week. (I mean this in the figurative and the literal sense).

Before I go into my usual spiel that consists of what I've been up to the last seven days, I would first like to thank those of you who have reached out to me during the last few days to make sure I was safe and sound. I am one lucky gal... not only to have so many people that love and care for me, but also because I made it out completely unscathed. You are truly some of the best. Thank you so much.

Before Hurricane Sandy decided to make her grand entrance, I had yet another visitor arrive to hang out with me this weekend.

Ladies and Gents: Meet Caroline Gaskin. One of my best friends since the 6th grade (crazyyy right?).

She arrived superrrr late on Thursday evening (I'm talkin' 1:00am), so it was straight to bed almost immediately. The next morning, we went for a little stroll around the neighborhood (and I took her to the promenade, of course).

After getting some delicious breakfast at Clark's Diner across the street, we decided to venture out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn (aka the hippest area of New York City) to try to find some items of clothing at thrift stores that could ultimately be our Halloween costumes for the weekend adventures. Caroline, being the fitness lady that she is, suggested that we run there. It was such a wonderful 3 mile trek! (I was slightly dying by the end of it all.... but she was completely fine. Didn't want to tell her that, though).

We were successful in our finds! Later in the post, you'll see what we came up with as far as costumes go.

Friday evening, Caroline and I made our way into Midtown Manhattan to get some Mexican food and a couple of drinks during happy hour.

We also found ourselves in Times Square.

And Caroline posed with some of the regulars.

And we indulged in some late-night pizza.

On Saturday morning, Allison, Caroline, and I decided to go to Iris Cafe. (You knew it was coming... I have to introduce everyone to this place).

Later in the day, we went to H & M and then strolled on over to my favorite area of Central Park.

It was such a beautiful fall day... all of the leaves were starting to finally change into their autumn colors.

With the storm making its way towards us, I thought that this might be the one and only time I would see the leaves like this. I soaked up as much of our time there as I could.

Later in the day, we had dinner at a little Polish restaurant down the street, called Teresa's (you might remember it from one of the breakfasts I had very early on).

There's a photo of my tasty avocado salad and Caroline's delicious dinner of homemade soup and a blintze... I think that's how you spell it. It was SO GOOD. Ridiculously good.

After dinner, we made our way back to the room to get ready for the evening... We decided to dress up (in the hopes that everyone else in New York would be doing the same).

And here are the final costumes! I decided to be the Morton Salt Girl (because it was supposed to possibly rain later in the night), Caroline was a cute, little flapper gal, and Allison was a jellyfish. It doesn't get any more eclectic than that in my opinion.

The whole night was a blast! We ventured all around Greenwich Village and showed off our costumes (Allison was quite the hit with hers in particular).

And so many other people were dressed up! Actually, pretty much everyone in New York City was dressed up that night. It was so much fun.

The next morning, Caroline and I decided to go BACK to Teresa's for breakfast... we just couldn't stay away. It was too delicious. Here she is with her brie and mushroom omelet.

Unfortunately, the threat of Sandy forced Caroline to cut her trip short. She was supposed to stay until Monday morning, however, she changed her flight to Sunday evening in order to get out while she still could... In hindsight, the fact that she was able to make this work is amazing. I've talked to people who are STILL stuck in New York City with no chance of getting home until the coming weekend.

I hated to see her go, but I knew it was for the best. And we had such a wonderful time :).

After she left, Allison and I decided to kick our preparation for Sandy into high gear. It was clear that she would be arriving (and would definitely cause some damage to the city), so we decided it would be better if we rode out the storm in Queens with her family.

Before leaving, I made a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on some apples and carrots. It was a mad house... took me 45 minutes to check out, and nothing was left on the shelves.

For the rest of Sunday through today (Wednesday), Allison and I were with her family. Although it was a slightly terrifying time (we didn't know if a tree was going to fall on the house or if the power would go out), it was also a very relaxing time. I have been "go go go" the last three weeks, so it was so nice to hunker down, sleep, and enjoy some home-cooked meals.

We watched a lot of Law and Order SVU.

And carved some pumpkins.

All the while, her dogs kept watch on the storm brewing outside.

I don't think I can say enough times how lucky we were during this storm. Millions lost power, many lost their homes or personal belongings, and even some lost their lives. We were all safe, and besides the lights flickering a few times, we never even lost our power. I felt (and still feel) extremely blessed.

These photos below were taken just down the street from Allison's house. Trees were uprooted everywhere... many of them pulling up the sidewalks with them. I've never seen anything like it.

I can't even put into words how much sadness I feel for the people of New York and all of the others affected by Hurricane Sandy. This city that I've fallen in love with is a little broken at the moment. It pains me to see it in shambles like it is.

My 22nd birthday is tomorrow, and as excited as I am to turn one year older, it is also a little strange for me. There are so many people who have lost everything from this storm... I don't NEED anything at all for my birthday. I've decided that all I want is a slice of some good, old fashioned New York cheesecake and to spend some time outside in this beautiful city. That would really be the best birthday of all.

If you were thinking of getting me something for my birthday (and even if you weren't), it would really mean a lot if you put it to better use (I like clothes and all of that, but this is a little bit better). There are several ways to help out those in need, but to make it easy, here is a link to donate to the Red Cross. All proceeds will go directly to storm victims and disaster relief. I donated just a little bit ago.

Thank you all so much! Now, to enjoy my last night as a 21-year-old.

<3
Nat

PS: This is on a church located right down the street from me. It's been up for awhile, but I find it very fitting at the moment.

Yeeahhh Oprah. You tell 'em.

Wine and cheese in Central Park, Sushi in Greenwich Village, and Donuts in Williamsburg

Another visitor has come and gone...

My wonderful, fabulous, fantastic boyfriend, Bobby, made the trek up to the Big Apple! And we had the best time. Ever. 

THURSDAY

From the moment he arrived on Thursday morning, we were on the move nonstop. Duh. That's the way I do things. There's no time to rest, relax, or sleep when you come to visit me! (This is a word of warning for those of you that were thinking about it).

Anyway, I immediately whisked him away to Tazza to grab a delicious cup of coffee. I showed him around the neighborhood, and of course, we ended up down at the promenade (hence the photo above). 

We didn't even go back to the room before I made sure he had a Metrocard in hand... and we were off to Central Park! The only thing that I've wanted to do since moving to New York City is have a "wine and cheese" date in Central Park. Obviously, I had to wait for Bobby to come visit to make this happen... and I was one happy gal.

We purchased the homemade cheese and bread from a place a few blocks from the East entrance to the park (called Grace's Marketplace). And the wine came from a place near the marketplace.

I don't know how long we sat there... definitely a couple of hours at least. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and I couldn't have imagined a better person to spend it with. Ah. One of my favorite moments.

After Central Park, we made our way to Times Square in search of the "diviest" of all dive bars. And we found it! Jimmy's Corner may be one of my new favorite bars in New York. You can tell that all of the "locals" (locals of Times Square?) show up every evening. It was simple... much unlike the insanity of Times Square, AND the bartender gave us an entire basket of Munchies for free. SO great.

Later in the evening, I introduced Bobby to the bocce call at Floyd's... If I can remember correctly, I believe I won. :). It was the perfect ending to a perfectly perfect day.

FRIDAY

Like every other person that has come to visit me, I made sure to bring Bobby to Iris Cafe for breakfast.

He ordered the french dip sandwich and I ordered the avocado sandwich. Both were prettttyyyy good, but I do have to say that it wasn't the best Iris Cafe adventure. That's alright! Still delish.

In the early afternoon, we made our way to the Lower East Side to go to some shows for CMJ (if you don't know what CMJ is, check it out here).

We were able to see Turbo Fruits at the Cake Shop.

As well as Twerps at Piano's.

I believe our favorite band from the day, however, was The Orwells... they are only in high school, and they absolutely killed it at the showcase. SO awesome.

In between the music sets, we decided to wander around. Somehow, we ended up in Chinatown, and Bobby got the fantastic idea to grab some bubble tea!

This bubble tea, which came from Kung Fu Tea, is seriously the most delicious bubble tea I've ever had (I haven't had a lot of bubble tea, but I can pretty much guarantee this is some of the best). If you are ever in Chinatown, GO THERE. I sucked my down in literally 2 minutes.

After all of the CMJ Showcase stuff, Bobby and I ventured to some bars in the Lower East Side and the East Village. For dinner, we had some delicious artisan pizza (near Times Square again.. no idea how this happened).

Once again, a perfect ending to a perfectly perfect day.

SATURDAY

After grabbing some much-needed coffee and muffins for breakfast at Tazza, we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge.

We almost walked all the way across. It was (once again) an absolutely beautiful day in New York!

Afterward, we made our way to the Meatpacking District so that I could introduce Bobby to The Highline.

I think he loved it as much as I do. We walked up and down the whole thing, and sat on a bench for a few minutes to rest our legs and do some people watching.

Then, we wandered around the corner to the Chelsea Market and bought ourselves a delicious banana and Nutella crepe to share!

Then, we made our way back to Brooklyn Heights to get ready for our evening. We got all dressed up for a date, but completely forgot to get a photo of ourselves. Oops. That's alright.

Anyway, dinner was absolutely amazing. AMAZING, I tell you.

We had sushi at Marumi in Greenwich Village.

Just look at that spread. I believe we devoured all of it (except for one, little piece of sushi that neither of us could even think of eating, because our stomachs were so full).

We also gave sake another try...

And it was SO. GOOD. Delicious.

This was another favorite moment from his visit.

After our incredible sushi dinner, we wandered around to some hilarious bars in Greenwich Village and in the East Village.

Once again, for the third time, it was a perfect ending to a perfectly perfect day.

SUNDAY

This was the day Bub had to leave :(.

...but not before I made him walk around the city a little more.

This time, I took him over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn so we could grab a delicious brunch somewhere. I didn't realize how hard this was going to be! It took us about an hour to find one that satisfied what we wanted (which was literally the most simple of breakfasts.. eggs and sausage/bacon).

But finally, we found it at a little place that I can't remember the name of. It was a diner. That's all I've got for ya. We were both delirious from our lack of food.

It was quite tasty.

But I was still hungry, so when we got to the Williamsburg Flea Market, I made Bobby split this donut with me.

That right there is an amazing, homemade, orange something-or-other donut from a little place called Dough. There is always a line for this place, so I figured what better time to stop and get one (when I could share it with Bobby)?

After walking around the flea market for quite awhile (and drooling over all of the furniture we couldn't buy), we decided to make our way back to Brooklyn Heights so he could get his stuff together to leave for the airport.

This time, I suggested that we take the ferry!

And it dropped us off right by Brooklyn Heights Park! We got such a beautiful view of the skyline coming in.

Before he left, I had to introduce him to some good New York falafel. We each had a huge falafel platter, and then we wandered back down to the promenade to watch the sunset.

It was so beautiful.

Yep. Check out Lady Liberty.

:)

It was such a perfect ending to a perfectly perfect trip.

I had the most wonderful weekend, and it was so hard to say goodbye. (But, good news: He will be back again in November for a few days. Wooohoo).

MONDAY

A day of such much-needed R & R.

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY

A LOT of stuff at my internship. I mean, it was extremely busy. I was sweating both days from how much I was walking around/lifting/carrying things, if that tells you anything. But it was still wonderful. I love the people I work with so much.

This little guy got me through most of it.

TODAY

I've been catching up on a lot of homework, etc. In a little bit, I'm heading up to the Bryant Park area to meet with the head of A & R for Warner Music Group. (How cool, right?!). Thanks to my wonderful songwriting professor, Drew Ramsey, for setting that little meeting up for me. I can't wait to chat and pick her brain a bit about the industry.

And laterr.... If you have nothing going on about 8pm Central/ 9pm Eastern time tonight, you should grab your computer and watch me take part in a LIVE stream of a writer's round, put on by Mod City Mag.

Stream it live here: www.youtube.com/modcitymag

And TONIGHT, another visitor is coming to visit me! One of my bests, Caroline Gaskin, is making the trek up here for a few nights :). Can't wait to show her around.

I will update you all next week. Enjoy your Thursday!

<3

Nat