I Miss New York

I miss the hustle and bustle of the work day, but more than that I miss the wee hours of dawn when the streets are miraculously empty and the only people on the subway are construction workers. I miss seeing dogs on every sidewalk, especially when they're so exhausted they've just given up and lied down on the concrete forcing their owners to carry them home. I miss tall buildings full of offices and shops and restaurants and apartments, then when you think the whole world has become nothing but oppressive towering buildings and yellow cabs...Central Park in her multi-faceted beauty. 

I miss swiping my metro card and knowing it can take me anywhere. I miss all the cultures represented by the way people dress, the languages they speak, or accents they're all too aware they have. I miss new connections and missed connections and knowing that another beautiful, amazing person (or a handsome finance boy) will be along in the blink of an eye. I long for my roommates, the bonds we formed, and the great times we had together. I'll admit, I even miss going on Tinder dates. It's such an exciting adventure to meet new people.

I miss being a block away from a 24-hour Duane Reade, but I really miss being only a mile away from my brother. 

I miss getting caught up in the latest trend. And being too cool to get caught up in the latest trend. I miss coffee shop hopping with my roommate, and buskers in the subway stations, and Union Square Park, and drunk brunch on weekends, and I miss New York. 

I knew I'd miss it, but that doesn't make it any easier. In fact it just makes me more eager to return. And I will return.

KB

PS: If you've been to New York, what do you miss most?

How to Play(suit)

I was opposed to rompers/playsuits/jumpsuits for the longest time, but then over time I changed my mind. I love wearing dresses. They’re so simple, like an outfit you don’t have to put together. When rompers became popular (again) a few years ago, I just didn’t see the point of wearing a silly romper when it could have been a dress, especially since the shorts-parts were usually as flow-y as a dress anyway. However I have since come around to them.

I like the ones that look a little more like a dress, of course, because I still get that feminine feeling associated with wearing a dress, but I don’t constantly have to worry about keep the hem in its place (dress hems can sometimes have a mind of their own), especially leaning or bending. For this reason, they’re also great for picnics or other situations in which you’ll be sitting on the ground. Along with rompers, I’ve also warmed up to their pants counterpart, the jumpsuit, which is a different beast. I can’t quite figure out exactly why I’ve had this change of heart, but I’m sure it has something to do with their ubiquity in the city, not to mention my NY roommate’s wardrobe (read: the extension of my wardrobe).

I do still have some beef with the whole thing, though. First of all, it’s hard to find playsuits and jumpsuits to fit me, because my body doesn’t conform to the “accepted standards of proportionality” clothing companies seem adhere to. Secondly, I’m not entirely comfortable with basically stripping down just to use the restroom, which makes trips to the ladies’ room take a little longer than they should, but this can be overcome by planning ahead. Thirdly, there are times when I just want to wear a dress gosh darnit. That one’s not so much an argument against rompers as a case for dresses.

I love this solid black drapey playsuit on Ally, because it can be worn casually or dressed up a little bit for work or going out for drinks.

Much thanks to this guy for looking out for us.

To me this playsuit is a lot more like the ones my aunts would have worn in the 70s. I really liked wearing it for the evening.

In conclusion, I think rompers/playsuits/jumpsuits are super fun and flirty and a great addition to your spring and summer wardrobe, but I won’t be giving up my dresses or chino shorts any time soon.

KB

The Daily

At the Fitness Center we send out a newsletter every morning about each day’s activities simply titled “The Daily.” It includes our open hours, classes offered that day, and the massage therapist’s availability that day. Now, I work different hours every day, but rather than give you a blow-by-blow of each day, I’m going to generalize my daily routine into one post (but still quite detailed):

9:00 am – Wake up, have a delicious breakfast of yogurt topped with fruit and granola, help my roommate pick out an outfit and do her hair (she works in fashion and we don’t have a full-length mirror, so it really does take two people), maybe even go on an instagram mission with her (as photographed below)

9:30 am – general getting ready-for-work things like brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and packing my backpack, tidying my room, making a lunch

Read (currently A Clash of Kings) until it’s time to leave for the subway station

10:15 am – leave my room and walk the three blocks to the subway station in Union Square, this may be the last fresh(ish) air I get until after work

10:35 am – arrive at Rockefeller Center; I make a train transfer along the way so that I get on a train that takes me right into the basement level of 30 Rock; at this point I’m about half an hour early for work, so I might go to Starbucks for an iced coffee or just check out the shops in the concourse (there’s a J Crew on the ground floor-so dangerous to my wallet)

10:50 am – worry that I’m going to be late if I don’t get on the first elevator I can, so I rush to my designated elevator bank (who knew there could be so many regulations on which elevators go to which floors?)

10:53 am – walk into the Fitness Center, open my inbox, have a mini panic attack

from this point I really take my time getting settled into my work day

12:00 pm – take a scary group exercise class, sometimes two

1:30 pm – shower (the showers at the gym are much nicer than my dorm shower), have lunch

2:30 pm – meet with my supervisor, then really get cracking on the day’s work (and also reading buzzfeed articles), maybe run some errands around the building and pick up some free coffee from the sixth floor; most of the work I do lately is handling new member files, and making sure new members feel welcome at the gym

7:00 pm – time to go home, which means battling the tourists and everyone else leaving work and getting on the subway; it amazes me that so many people work at 30 Rock and so many tourists visit it every day

8:00 pm-finally home, the perfect time to catch up on my youtube subscriptions, and chat with my roommate about our work days, then I’m usually asleep around 10.

We tend to pick the most random places to stop for photos. This is right outside of a ballet school.

And this is outside Trader Joe's.

Dad walking his little ballerinas to their summer class. Too cute.

My "work clothes" are the best. I get to dress super casual because I work at a fitness center. My favorite work outfit consists of my navy blue Lululemon sweater (which they sadly don't sell anymore), Gap leggings (similar), and some cool sneakers. I usually carry my backpack, but if I don't need my computer, I'll just use my Longchamp.

So there you have it, a day in the life of a fitness intern/blogger/Southerner in NYC.

Are you the type of person to find a routine in chaos? Or are you able to go with the flow?

KB

Summer Reading List: Fantasy

I've been loving writing these posts this summer. They're a consistent challenge to think creatively without having to wade through all the post ideas in my head. I know what I need to write about, and all I have to do is sit down and let the words flow...then edit them a lot. So here's the third installment in my summer reading series:

Game of Thrones by George R R Martin

I’m a huge proponent of reading the book before watching the movie/tv show based upon the book, which is why I have yet to enjoy the HBO series. When she moved into our dorm, Ally was reading Game of Thrones, and after lots of tumblr gifs, I decided I was interested in the show, but not until I’ve read the books. So after a particularly bad day at work, I wandered into Barnes and Noble and picked up the first novel. I thought it’d take me awhile to get into it, but it totally grabbed me from the first chapter. I’ll admit all the different narration took some getting used to, not to mention all. The. Characters., but it didn’t take me long to zip through in my spare time. When I wasn’t reading it, I found myself longing for Westeros. Since finishing it I’ve started watching the first season, but I won’t continue to the second season until I’ve read more of the books. I’ll probably do an entire post on A Song of Ice and Fire things later this summer once I’ve read more of the series (I'm working on Clash of Kings now).

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

I love Neil Gaiman’s books and the alternate worlds he creates within the existing well-known world (I’ve previously read Anansi Boys and Stardust; American Gods is next on my list). This book is about a Scot living in London who gets more than he bargained for. Richard Mayhew, the main character, finds himself going on an adventure in London Below, an entire civilization occupying the space below, and to some extent above, London in a Doctor Who-esque twist of reality. Having read this book, I've found myself thinking about subway stations, buskers, and pigeons in a whole new way. (What I wouldn't give to be able to speak to subway rats!)

This story has also been told in the format of a radio play and a tv mini-series. So far I enjoyed the radio play (a certain Benedict Cumberbatch makes an appearance), but I haven’t watched the mini-series yet.

If you read any of the books from my summer reading lists, let me know how you like them. And I'm always open to new recommendations from any genre.

Happy Reading,

KB

P.S.: You can keep up with my reading on goodreads even after the end of the summer reading list!

Summer Reading List: Memoirs

It's time for the second installment of my summer reading list. This week, as I'm sure you've noticed, the theme is memoirs, but not the boring sad traditional kind. These will have you laughing and crying, but mostly laughing...until you cry.

I Was Told There Would Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

This is basically a collection of essays and funny anecdotes from a twenty-something living in New York. I picked it out for precisely those qualities, and it lived up to my expectations: it held my attention, but could be read in short bursts, and it was exactly the crazy kind of unpredictable stories that you never would have thought anyone else would be able to relate to. It’s a great, funny read for anyone, especially those of us in our early twenties who would like an idea of the chaos to come.

Here's Ally in an East Village coffee shop (#theusual).

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess)

Laugh out loud funny. The Bloggess was not a blogger I was familiar with previously, so I didn’t know what to expect, which made for an absolutely hilarious experience. In her book she tells stories of her unique small-town, west Texas upbringing, to which I was surprisingly able to relate (in the craziest ways), and the constant influence it has on her adulthood. I tended to read this in the middle of the night, luckily that was before my roommates moved in because every other page I’d be cackling with laughter, which would have really startled anyone in the same room.

I recently lent this book to my roommate Ally who was reluctant to read it at first because it’s about “the country,” but as I type this she’s laughing out loud in a coffee shop over Jenny’s high school experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who didn’t grow up in a rural area and wants a true account of just how bizarre it is, and also to anyone who did grow up in a rural area and is missing that connection to childhood.

What memoirs have you enjoyed (serious or silly) recently?

KB