life.

warning: long blog post. mostly about nothing. but hopefully still interesting.

let's backtrack to Tuesday/Wednesday, my two days off that blended into my awesome 5 day 4th of July weekend.

didn't do too much. surprised? But, on Tuesday I walked over to the Chelsea market because I heard they have great asparagus there. Really. Kirsten made some for dinner the night before, I tried a piece and was like wow, I need to get myself some of that asparagus. And being a fan of Milwaukee Public Market, I figured I should also become friends with the Chelsea Market. So I went. Ended up getting asparagus, broccoli, squash and a cucumber. Then I went to the bread place and got a loaf of bread, even though I was so flabbergasted a bread place wouldn't have a bread slicer. like what am I supposed to do with a loaf of unsliced bread? the butter knife I have back at the apartment wasn't gonna be too much of a help, either. oh well.

walked back to my place and stopped at this bagel store on the corner called Murray's Bagels. I've never been there and have been meaning to... so glad I finally discovered it because wow. best bagel ever. I had a multigrain bagel with strawberry cream cheese and it was delicious. then I went to Trader Joes for some real grocery shopping. Trader Joes is not that affordable back home, but in the city, it's the most affordable grocery store. welcome to new york. and no matter what time you go, there are always lines, and it's always a can of sardines. In a city there isn't a lot of space for a big grocery store, so they kinda pack it all into one small store with narrow aisles. Whole Foods has the right idea with its two-floor concept, escalator for grocery carts and all. Now, if only their food wasn't so overpriced.

On Wednesday we had an ASME lunch at Real Simple, which thankfully was in the Time & Life building so I knew exactly where I was going, working a few floors above it and all :)

Up until April, I had never heard of Real Simple. It wasn't until I saw it on the magazine list for ASME and after I heard several fellow interns rave about it (cough Chelsea), that I kinda got the idea of it. We met with the managing editor (aka editor in chief) and several other editors of Real Simple, and they all told us how they got started in the industry and how they ended up at RS, and then gave us some advice for our career pursuits. Real Simple is a very clean cut magazine, lots of white space, very organized, and graphically designed to be very straight forward and eye appealing. Although it appeals more to middle aged women of a higher income level, and isn't a magazine I would necessarily subscribe to, I can certainly see why it's so successful. According to the editor, for the readers of RS, it usually is the only magazine they read, and in the past 10 years the magazine has been around, circulation has increased to well above 1 million. Oh, and the editor, was very Real Simple. Wearing a white, clean cut dress, not overly made up, funny but stern when necessary, nice, intelligent and knew a hell of a lot about magazines. Basically, awesome.

Thursday! Finally got back to work. I was actually missing it. Missing work? Yes. I continued working on this reporting assignment, that I probably can't say anything about considering magazine privacy and stuff, but it involves me interviewing a lot of people, and handing over my notes to our SI writer so he can pursue further interviews and write this great story. I wish people did my research for me when I wrote stories! Then I continued my fact checking duties and the like. I'm glad I'm getting to do these interviews, but at the same time, I'm craving more to do. I feel like I'm capable of doing so much more than checking stories. Obviously it's important work and someone has to do it, but I want to do MORE!

Also, a great thing happened Thursday. my first paycheck finally arrived. they forgot about me the first go around, so a got a bunch of paychecks in one this time. All I have to say is, thank you New York for being that greedy with your taxes. Blah!!! i hate taxes.

Thursday night there was a happy hour for ASME interns and our assigned mentors, mine being the stylewatch editor at People.com, Katie is her name! She and I traveled to the bar together, where we chit chatted the whole night with a few interns and several mentors. I met the features editor at Time Out NY, which if you ask me is an awesome job... knowing about all these great things to do and see, and the best places to eat. I asked her to recommend me a great Spanish restaurant. She told me "Bocqueria" Ahh, it would be named after the best market in Barcelona <3 Then I also met with a newly named associate editor at InStyle, who was also very nice! Love these meet and greet sessions.

Friday--- much of the same thing. interviewing, fact checking. got lunch with Lizzie, we found this little hole in the wall deli where I got a really yummy chicken Caesar salad.

Today/Saturday--- ventured down to Herald Square in the hopes of finding some new shoes for work at the big Macy's there. Too bad the Macy's is a city in itself. 3 Starbucks, and 5 restaurants inside.. never mind 8 or 9 floors of stuff? When I finally got to the shoe department, I was intimidated by the number of people, and the amount of shoes they had. Crazy to say the least. And when I finally navigated to the shoes I wanted, of course they were sold out. Ugh. This is what I get for going to the Macy's, and on a Saturday afternoon at that. Online shopping, here I come.

I did strike gold at H&M, where I bought two work/nightlife dresses, and two sets of feathery earrings (one red, one brownish) If anyone was watching the security camera while I selected feather earrings... they must have been either entertained or wondered if I was absolutely crazy. I spent an embarrassing amount of time selecting the best, most in tact, un frayed red feather earrings.. finally chose a pair.. went downstairs to pay... decided I didn't want them anymore and wanted the brown feathers... returned upstairs, sorted to find the best brown feather earrings... went downstairs... returned upstairs to grab the red feathers so I could buy both pairs. WOW. I finally made it out of H&M a happy camper. best feathers I could find and all.

My oddities don't stop there. At that point, after shopping, I was craving, I mean craaaving Jamba Juice. It had to happen. So I looked up locations on my phone and headed to Penn Station where there supposedly was a JJ. Had to go inside the station, wander through what is probably the most sketchiest train station ever, and did not find the Jamba Juice. So, in frustration but determination, I went in route of another JJ that would be on my way back to the apartment. Stopped to get a quick bite to eat at Pret A Manger. The tuna sandwich is better at the Prets in London... probably because they put cucumbers on the sandwich instead of lettuce... a little British thing I still do with the sandwiches I make now :) gotta keep what little British is in me alive.

I'm leaving Pret, walking toward Jamba Juice, but then I see this sign at a burger place that say "voted best shakes in new york city" so, poor Jamba Juice craving could not beat out the new chocolate milkshake craving. Went to this place, threw down $5 for what I thought would be a life changing milkshake. The waitress lady goes to the freezer, pulls out a blender with pre-blended milkshake and pours it into a cup for me. Umm. Best milkshakes should be made upon order. So the milkshake was good, that's for sure, the best, though? Well, haven't had another milkshake in NYC yet, so I'll get back to ya. It wasn't too awe-inspiring. Tasted of hershey's syrup. Meh.

On my walk back, wishing I had gotten Jamba Juice, I ran into a street fair that went from 24th st. to 14th st. (aka a street away from my apartment), so I browsed through, stopping to look at some jewelry for sale, picking up a delicious looking cannoli for a late night snack, and grabbing a $1 lemonade.

I would say it was a successful day, wouldn't you? Weird? Absolutely. But successful nonetheless.

Tonight I'm meeting up with Julia, a good friend from high school, who is visiting the city. Julia studied abroad in London, too, and there I met two of her friends Caroline and Karen, both of who we will be hanging out with tonight! London reunion. Kinda.

.....

Not to make this novel blog any longer, but one quick thing:

I've had this recent idea about post-graduation plans. Call me crazy, but I'm really set on doing a month-long service project in Buenos Aires after I graduate. I'd still be able to move to NYC by the end of the summer and start job searching.  I know that if I don't do it now, I'll never get the chance. I've found a few great programs that don't charge much, if anything for the actual program. A lot of service programs do charge thousands, which is silly because why should I pay to volunteer? The programs I'm looking at ask for a few hundred, as a donation of the sorts, because they are non profit agencies. I'd have to pay for housing, at either a home stay, community living house where a bunch of the interns live, or even at a local university was one of the options. I'd definitely only go for 4-6 weeks, because I do not want to be gone for that long. Although, I'm sure I'll hate to leave when I have to.

Why Argentina? Well, my argentine friend David has only spoken good things about it, I know several people who studied abroad there, Buenos Aires is a really popular and hoppin' city these days, and Argentina is supposedly the safest country in South America.

Why a Spanish speaking country? I am wanting to improve my Spanish, and the only way I can really do it, is by immersing myself in the culture. Yeah, a month might not make me the best at Spanish, but it will do more than another semester Spanish class will... where I learn the same grammar rules and vocab each time...

Anyway. I want to do this. And I think, assuming everything goes well, that I will. I'm already getting excited about the thought of me in Argentina.