daily dessert – sweet melissa

I had such a great weekend – I really needed it. I usually work on the weekends, but I decided to let myself off the hook so I could usher in the season properly.

On Saturday, we cleaned the hell out of the apartment, which always feels amazing. We collected five huge bags of shoes and clothes to donate and made some promises to each other about keeping up on our chores so we can maintain all our hard work.

Sunday was a day of complete leisure – a picnic in Prospect Park with my friends from The PIT, lots of drinking and eating and playing games. It was a blast. I slept hard Sunday night.

And today, Monday, I did some work in the morning, went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the afternoon (pictures later this week!), and met up with my friend Daniel for a stroll in Park Slope and a fantastic dinner in the early evening.

On our stroll, we walked by Sweet Melissa Patisserie – I’ve seen it a dozen times but I’ve never been inside. Today I left my real camera at home, but I snapped some shots with my phone – it’s such a cute little bakery.

We ordered two small bite-sized items: a delicious little Florentine and a thumbprint cookie. Both were excellent. I’d love to go back and sample some more of their yummy treats. Plus, they sell ice cream, coffee, have an adorable seating area AND a back garden!

Sweet Melissa Patisserie
175 Seventh Avenue (btwn 1st & 2nd Streets)
Brooklyn, NY
(They also have a Carroll Gardens location.)

I’m ready for June to begin tomorrow! I’m looking forward to a great week.

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unofficially summer

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody! We’re staying in town and I intend to clean my house, have a picnic in the park with friends, see SATC 2 (…despite the fact that my best gay bailed on me because he’s “read bad reviews” – pfffftt), and relaaaax.

I’m going to do my best to practice not worrying about what’s to come, how much money I have, how imperfect things are. I’m going to do my best to focus on enjoying how lucky I am to be a young woman living in New York City with the world’s best boyfriend, two funny cats and plenty of Criminal Minds episodes on the DVR.

Happy Memorial Day.

brooklyn margarita happy hour

I had a meeting this morning (Harvard Sailing Team met with some movers and shakers to discuss a new project) and now I’m home catching up on blah blah blah before my next meeting.

Except this next meeting isn’t quite a meeting so much as it is a HAPPY HOUR WITH TWO-FOR-ONE MARGARITAAAAAS!!!! I couldn’t be more pleased about this. My friend Michelle Ward (the delightful When I Grow Up Coach lady) and I have been wanting to get together for a while now. And today we’re making it a reality.

First we thought we might do lunch, but when we rescheduled for the late afternoon Michelle suggested Pequena in Fort Greene. She told me they have a margarita happy hour special and my head exploded. I love margaritas, okay?

I’ve actually been to Pequena for dinner once before with a friend – good food and booze, if I remember correctly. I’ll give a more official report after today’s experience.

Alright, I’m off for my happy hour margarita meeting. Tough life, right?

Update: The food was delish and inexpensive, the drinks were, indeed two-for-1, and we had a lovely time! Great place for lunch, happy hour, or dinner.

this ain’t a love song

My friends Billy and Adam are the rap duo SNAKES. They recently won the ECNY Award for Best Musical Act. They are funny and talented. (Yup, they’re also in Harvard Sailing Team.) And I’m in their new video!

You can download their kick-ass album HERE for FREE.

something to keep in mind…

Last week I wrote a post called “feed yourself – a word about diets and cleanses” and I told you about my friend Fitzalan, who discovered, after getting her resting metabolic rate tested, that she hasn’t been eating nearly enough calories to keep her body healthy.

Well, she has a new post up this week where she shares how things are going since she’s been increasing her daily calorie intake. She’s trying to eat more (while still making healthy choices) under the guidance of a nutritionist and has been doing so for a week. Guess what? SHE LOST TWO POUNDS. BY EATING MORE. Amazing…

Of course it doesn’t always work this way. Often we have to eat less to lose weight, but not in Fitzalan’s case. And it makes me wonder how many women are stunting their body’s natural processes by eating too little. Because they’re afraid to eat too much, because they think eating less is always better?

Now, F’s goal isn’t necessarily to lose weight – she wants to maintain her weight while being healthy. But isn’t it interesting as hell that she was eating less than 1400 calories a day forever and now she’s eating around 1700 calories a day – and she lost weight? The body is a fascinating machine. And it likes food.

Something to keep in mind…

i love may

May is my favorite month. And today was an absolutely beautiful day. It was warm, breezy, sunny and it cooled down in the evening. It’s supposed to reach 90 tomorrow. Eek! I love it.

I worked from 11am-7pm today and then took the evening mostly off. I’ve watched three episodes of Criminal Minds, The Biggest Loser finale and a Tori & Dean episode.

Busy day tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it. There’s lots of good energy in the air right now. I love that feeling.

want

Yes, mostly just because it comes in pretty colors.

($49.95 @ Sur La Table via The Frisky)

nice hat, bird!

This is a peacock, as you can see. What you can’t see is that this is a New York City peacock. WHAT!

He lives on the grounds of St. John the Divine, a massive Cathedral in the middle of Manhattan (the largest cathedral in North America, in fact). This guy and his brothers and sisters just walk around the stunning cathedral grounds and the adjoining school campus like they own the place. It’s amazing.

I only had my Blackberry camera with me or I’d have snapped a million more photos of this cool dude.

If you ever have an opportunity to check this place out, I suggest you do. Here’s their website. I was only there for a few minutes yesterday to pick up little Otto (he will be going to kindergarten at the Cathedral School in the fall!) but I plan to go back and explore soon. It’s one of NYC’s amazing treasures.

so I scrubbed the hell out of the shower

This day was a long one. I’m sitting on the couch now, at 12:30am, after a 15-hour non-stop day, grouchy, hungry and too stubborn to do anything about any of it. (I mean, I’ll probably have a snack.)

I’m tired. I’ve been working a lot. Long hours. For days. I don’t think I’ve taken an entire day off in a long time. Woe is me, right?

YES. WOE IS ME.

Today was a mixture of a lot of things – some pleasure, some business – but it may have been too much because I’m down for the count now. I’m lucky to have the option to sleep in tomorrow. Very lucky.

I was rereading old blog entries recently, entries from when I was still working at my desk job and trying to keep my negativity in check, trying to keep my situation in perspective, and daydreaming about, well, now. A time when I’d be freer and “happier,” I assumed.

I am MUCH happier in many ways. But this is also a tough, tiring road. Building a career from what often feels like scratch, working toward stuff that sometimes feels elusive, intangible and undefined, laying in bed every night wondering what the next day will bring, what the next month will bring. I know, I know, there’s only power in the Now.

Tell it to my bank account and my busy mind.

I don’t mind the struggle. It exists. And I wouldn’t go back to that desk job for anything. Things are…good. I’m content within my unrest, if that’s possible. I feel further along on this journey to figure out what the hell I’m gonna be when I grow up than I ever have before. Good things happen every single day.

I do yearn for a time when my career is not the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.

All in good time I suppose.

Anyway. I got home tonight, feeling all those things and a million others, feeling all mixed up and hot and sweaty and sick of everything. And I went into the bathroom to rinse off. I brought with me a sponge and a bottle of all-natural cleaner, almost unconsciously. And then I turned on the steaming hot water, got undressed, got in, and scrubbed the hell out of the shower.

I have no idea why I did that. I’ve never done it before. But it felt great.

who stands like that?

(image via Jezebel.com)

I’m not crazy about magazines like this one, but I’m not gonna lie – I totally read them from time to time. Like at the dentist’s office or the airport. Or when one winds up in my purse because somebody took money out of my wallet and handed it to the guy. Sheesh.

They’re candy, for sure. But I tend to agree with Jezebel.com‘s assertion that these types of magazines claim to be about women’s health, but are more often about how to lose weight, get thin and be a super woman while you do it.

Still, I usually feel hopeful when I open one up. Something on the cover catches my eye (“Get fit for life in 4 minutes a day and never break a sweat? NO WAY!”), but by the time I flip to the article, I’ve already seen 12 pictures of perfect women in bikinis who couldn’t pick a stretch mark out of a line-up, and four different “Lose 12 pounds in 2 Weeks!” diet menus that are so unrealistic for my lifestyle I might as well be homeless.

My self-esteem tries to pretend it hasn’t noticed the hot bikini babes or how different my thighs are from theirs, while I curse my inability to enjoy salmon. Or cook almost anything.

But, blah blah blah who cares, right? We’re all “victims” of our “culture” and who needs another blog entry about women’s magazines and how they make us feel bad about ourselves. (This won’t be the last one…)

I’m only bringing it up today to mention the following: Do you realize how far to the right Kim Kardashian is actually crossing her leg to achieve that weird angle? I mean, she looks good. But I guarantee, if you could see both her legs, they’d  look bizarre as heck. Who stands like that?!

Oh, magazines. We will never quit you. And you will never be honest with us. It’s the perfect dysfunctional relationship.

Pass the cookies!