Bubble tea, dinner parties, and birdhouse jewelry

I have had the most relaxing last few days. It's so hard to believe that I'm technically still in school right now... I mean, this is my senior year of college... my last year of school EVER. Unless I decide to go graduate school for some reason. But right now, I am having the time of my life in New York City. It's going to be a little bit of a wake up call when I have to go back to a "regular school routine" in Nashville in January. That's alright, though! I'm just going to soak all of this up while I can.

THURSDAY

I woke up when I wanted to... I got so much sleep the night before, it was just wonderful. I ate my fruit and yogurt parfait, went to the gym, got my usual cup of coffee at Tazza across the street (they're starting to remember me now), and I got a shower for the day. By this time, it was 12:30pm already.

For lunch, Josh, Allison, Eric, and I all went to this little Vietnamese place down the street called Hanco's. I had already made a sandwich in my room, so I decided to get something else they were known for: bubble tea.

This was the most delicious almond green tea bubble tea drink. Although, the tea to bubble ratio was completely off.. I finished the tea in about two minutes and spent the rest of the time trying to suck up the tapioca balls.

Thursday night, Allison and I ventured over to the Bushwick area of Brooklyn to go to a dinner party at her friend Matt's apartment. I wish I'd taken more pictures of his place- it is such an awesome apartment, and it has so much character.

The evening was filled with lots of seafood dishes (including the most delicious crab-filled biscuits I've ever tasted) and endless amounts of hits from the 80s and 90s. And a little concert to end it all.

It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get back to our place, because the trains after midnight are incredibly sparse. It's alright, though. There was nowhere we needed to be on Friday, so even though it was about 3am, it didn't matter. Such a perfect, little night.

FRIDAY

Usual routine.

Then, Allison and I ventured down to 5th Avenue to do some shopping. Once again, I didn't buy anything, though. Nothing jumped out, and all of the stores are in this awkward "in between summer and fall phase" right now.

We planned on going to the MoMa that night, because they offer free admission every Friday starting at 4:30... but our friend, Josh, went home to Philly this weekend, and we decided to be nice and wait until he's back. Maybe next Friday!

Instead, Allison, Eric, Adam and I all went to some bars down the street. (I know-- big jump from a museum to bars). Once again, we found ourselves at Montero's (the one that's been around for 75 years), and then we wandered down to Floyd's (the one with the bocce ball court in the middle of the bar).

The list to play is always super long, but I think we're going to try next time.

SATURDAY

Ahh yesterday was the best. I started with... guess? The usual routine.

Then, I went off by my little lonesome to the Fort Greene area to check out the Brooklyn Flea Market (the one that Josh and I thought we were going to a few weeks ago). And it was just as perfect as I imagined it would be. There were so many vintage/antique booths scattered between so many food booths. That's all you need. I was in heaven.

And I walked away with this little gem:

The booth I got it from was called "Birdhouse Jewelry", and the woman was literally hand-making all of the pieces as people were perusing the items. This one caught my eye in particular, because I thought it was so simple and delicate and the blue was just beautiful to me.

That little thing on the side is a bird- I feel like it's my own, little cardinal. (Anyone who knows the story about me and my dad and cardinals and my album cover for "Savor"-- you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, I'll tell you sometime. Let's just say, I thought of my dad when I saw this, and I knew I just had to buy it).

I also picked up these little buttons for my aunt, Paula:

She's starting up some new business with a friend of hers, and she requested some vintage buttons if I found any. I hope these work :).

The rest of my Saturday consisted of doing laundry, watching The Princess Bride, and working on my Kickstarter song (which, by the way, I've pretty much finished.. be on the lookout for the blog post with that one soon!).


And that's it! Super lazy. Super relaxing. Super fantastic. Such a perfect weekend.

I'm not sure what I'm up to today yet, but I'm sure I'll find myself off on some adventure. I hope you all have/have had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Someone cookout on the grill for me- I don't have one here, so I'm going to live vicariously through the rest of you.

<3
Nat

Flea markets, proposals, and upside-down umbrellas

WHEW. Long time, no blog.

It has been a whirlwind of a last few days, and until now, I haven't had a second to sit down and breathe... let alone, post in my little blog.

I'm not complaining! It has been busy, but that's mainly my fault. For some reason, I felt like I needed to cram as many things into the last weekend as possible... I think a part of me forgot that I would be here for another few months. I'm just afraid of missing out on things, I guess. There are events CONSTANTLY going on in New York City, though. If I tried to do everything, all of the time,  I wouldn't be able to function properly. So, today I took a little break, and decided now would be a good time to update you :). Hereeeee we go:

SATURDAY

 On this lovely day in NYC, I woke up and went to the Williamsburg Flea Market with my friend, Josh to meet our friends, Allison and Chris. Well, we thought it was the Williamsburg Flea Market (clothes, vintage things, yaddayadda), but it was the Smorgasburg Flea Market (aka: FOOD)... and we had all eaten already. So we just walked around and took in wafts of the delicious-smelling foods. And took photos of ourselves.

Me, holding tightly to my daily fuel (coffee). This was the lovely view from the Flea Market.

Then, we all decided to mosey on over to Central Park (because it was such a beautiful day, and the park seemed like the best place to be).

And there was a carnival going on.

 

And we took more photos of ourselves.

And then I creeped on cute couples in the park (like Allison and Chris).

And to top it all off, we all saw someone propose on a boat in the middle of the park. Everyone on the bridge and on the bank erupted into applause for them. It was so perfect and cute, I almost cried.

I can't even remember what I did for the rest of Saturday.. is that a bad thing? I don't have anymore photos, and honestly, I've been running around so much, if there isn't a photo to document my adventure, I won't remember it. Sorry. We'll call it "The Lost Evening".

SUNDAY

I woke up bright and early, and ran across the Brooklyn Bridge! Ah. This was so wonderful. Such a perfect, perfect start to my day.

Well, okay, you caught me... it was more of a "run, take a photo, run, take another photo, run, take a photo for someone else" kind of morning workout. It was still a workout, though. And a perfect one at that.

Then, I met up with my longtime, high school buddy, Jack! He was in NYC visiting his sister, and I was able to chat with him for a bit about life, etc.

And then it was off to Greenwich Village to walk around, grab some lunch at a little French cafe, and head over to Washington Square Park to listen to the most wonderful music.

Yes. This man is playing two horns at the same time. He was more than fantastic. Don't ask me how he did it.

Anddd, I spied on cute, little men playing chess.

I've decided I love Washington Square Park. So much. I will definitely be back again and again!

It was my friend, Josh's, birthday yesterday, and it was his roommate's birthday on Sunday, so we all went out to celebrate on Sunday night. I don't have photos of this, but it was certainly fun. And Allison and I stumbled upon the most beautiful sunset. Just look at this!

And I saw this guy with an upside-down umbrella around his waist on the subway.

MONDAY

It was my first day at Bank Robber Music! I have no photos of any of this, but I will try to take a picture of my office building tomorrow. It's located rightttt next to Wall Street in the Financial District, and the building is really awesome. The semester will be quite fun.

TODAY

I woke up and walked a few blocks to get breakfast with Allison at the Iris Cafe. It is such a quaint, little place to sit down and grab a morning meal... and the coffee is fantastic. I got the most delicious cheddar and spinach biscuit, and Allison got toast with avocado and mustard on it. So. tasty.

Afterward, we both hit up with gym (which is awesome, by the way... there is a hot tub. We've already decided we'll be frequenting this when the weather gets a little cooler.). And the rest of my day has consisted of running errands and lazing around. I needed a little R & R.

My first day of class is tomorrow (which doesn't really mean a lot... I have one physical class, and the rest are online). But, regardless, I'm going to try to get organized with my life so I'm prepared for whatever assignments I have.

LIFE IS WONDERFUL. So wonderful.

<3
Nat