That Kind of Night...

This weekend seemed like a dream. It was one of those weekends that people always tell you your twenties are about. It was filled with Citi biking, wine glasses, homemade dinner and Central Park strolls, each filled with girl talk and laughter. Nothing will ever beat a night in with a bottle of wine, brainstorming blog posts in journals and listening to Volcano Choir with a best friend. Those kinds of nights are definitely the ones I cherish the most. And as the weekend rolled into the work week, I feel a simple peace with myself that enlightened confidence. 

What are the nights that bring out the best of yourself? While you think of the times that will always spark a smile, watch and listen to the beauty that is Comrade. 

Hello Again

Good morning, readers! I'm not sure if there are any of you out there as I took a long hiatus. But, I am back and am planning on sticking around for a while and I hope you all do too.

Happy Saturday! Today in New York it is an absolutely stunning fall day with a big blue sky and crisp, chill in the air. My street is decorated with yellow leaves the color of something not found within a Crayola box. For me, it is only natural to wake up early and experience the whole day for days like this. I started the day doing the laundry I have avoided for an ungodly amount of time. For some reason, I always feel extra grown up when I do laundry in the building. It may be because I'm usually doing my bright colors next to new moms washing their childrens' stuffed animals or because of the new dad swearing next to me about shrinking the sweater his wife told him not to shrink.

Today I didn't feel so grown up as I locked myself out of my apartment and ended up having to use a credit card I found in my cardigan to break into my apartment. Oh, the sweet joys of apartment living.

After hanging all of my laundry to dry in the shower (oh, the sweet joys of being 22 and broke), I went for a run down the West Side Highway and swallowed down a cup of coffee to Greenberg playing the background. The day will continue to my first attempt at Citi biking and the Union Square Holiday shops. Wish me luck on my maneuvering two wheels through New York...anyone have an extra helmet? A life vest? Knee pads?

“A good relationship is when two people accept each other’s past, support each other’s present, and love each other enough to encourage each other’s future. So don’t rush love. Find a partner who encourages you to grow, who won’t cling to you, who will let you go out into the world, and trust that you will come back. This is what true love is all about.”

Being Alone.

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

Is it bad to be alone? Never before had this thought cross my mind, but a recent conversation has left me questioning whether or not I should feel strange about my comfort with the A word.

I have always been someone who likes to keep to themselves. After a long day at work my favorite thing is to walk home by myself, make dinner for myself and go through my daily blogs that I have missed. On the weekends, I like to walk around new parts out of town and try new restaurants or go to concerts - and if I do all of these things alone, it does not bother me. In fact, I have never even thought of it has strange. Would I like to have someone walking with me, eating dinner across a table or dancing circles around me at a concert? Of course and I do have these people, who make my heart wiggle in all the right places.

Is it okay to like to be alone?


Is this an insecurity?


Help?

Rain, rain, rain.

Good morning! New York City is dark and rainy today. These are the type of days I love waking up to. I love the dark overcast of rain that erupts a cozy feeling in everyone. I believe that the rain provides a sense of unity over strangers whether its having the same floral umbrella or laughing at how deep that puddle was that you just stepped in. And ultimately, everyone wants to be at home under a blanket streaming Breaking Bad, but none of us actually can due to the work week and so we all address each other in a new and friendly way.

For example, at my morning coffee shop where each day the three people behind the breakfast bar crack jokes with me instead of asking me what I would like because they already know it. We talk about the weekend and new music as if we meant to meet up like this. And on this rainy Monday we will talk about how we did not expect any rain on the forecast or talk about how it is the perfect day for a hot coffee instead of my usual cold one. Then, I will walk to work with my coffee erupting a cozy feeling in me and the rain will be a little bit more pleasing.

Do you like the rain?

Rainy day song from Neko Case's new album.

Friends, Drinks and the NYC Outdoors.

 Today marks my second week of living in New York and it is still very magical. From the early mornings of walking to work with a perfectly brewed cup of coffee from Gasoline Alley to the late dinner and drinks at The Smith - it has all been somewhat of a dream.

This weekend began with an after work adventure to The Frying Pan. The Frying Pan is a seasonal bar on one of the last remaining historic lightships that was rescued from the bottom of Chesapeake Bay. The views are very lovely with paddle boarders, sailboats and pier activity. The bar offers a great selection of beers, delicious sangria, and a bucket of Coronas for those who are truly feeling the summer vibe.

On Saturday, my best friends spent the day in the city with me. After the afternoon arrival, we headed down to the Financial District for Beekman Beer Garden. Beekman is the only outdoor bar where you can have sand between your toes and a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. We met up with a couple of other Ithaca alumni and giggled over the perfect sunny day and sipped on beer.

Beekman was followed by a night walk along the East River to dinner at The Smith. The walk was long, private and beautiful emphasized by fisherman and the large underbellies of the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. I was left in complete awe by the corners of these bridges being touched by the setting sun. It made these large structures seem to delicate and homey.

Dinner at The Smith was very delightful. The meal was catered with potato chips with melted blue cheese and burgers and beer. The Smith ambience and extremely delightful staff cannot be met by many other places.

And then there is today. Today, my friends took their separate trains back to New Jersey and I took a nice stroll to Brooklyn Heights to give myself thinking time and get my head back into the work week. Now I am ending the weekend with a glass of wine and Sylvia Plath with a few interruption of Breaking Bad. 

I hope you all had such wonderful weekends with lovely people. Tell me about it below. 

Here is a song to end your weekend right. 

Her.

It was confirmed last night that if I ever had an extraordinary love story, Spike Jonze would need to direct it. The trailer for the sci-fi rom-com was released yesterday and I am desperate to see the finish product. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde and Scarlett Johansson's voice as the digital girlfriend of Joaquin, named Samantha. Joaquin's awkwardness and need to have a relationship with anything really sets up a true romance with Samantha. This type of desperation and love reminds me of Lars and the Real Girl, where overtime these "characters" begin to take human form.

Spike Jonze is also an extremely talented director and makes this film look so unbelievably gorgeous. He has also teamed up with Arcade Fire again (see: The Suburbs). Arcade Fire will score the film, along with releasing a new album in October, with Her following after on November 20.

Watch below and keep your ears open for the adorable quote at the end about falling in love:

Stay With Us

Happy Wednesday. I made a promise to myself to update my blog each and every day. While this post will be short and sweet with a feel-good song, I will have a post to follow up tonight.

Since moving to the West Village, I have been walking everywhere and taking in everything that the city has to offer. Although I go back and forth on loving and hating the city sometimes, once I'm walking through all the neighbors and taking in the rich personality, it becomes clear that I am seriously in love. Living in a city let's me walk everywhere I would like, which means I have the time to listen to new music and rely on the old. Below is the song that will accompany me on my walk to work today and I suggest adding it to your commute playlist as well.

The band is Seoul from Montreal. The band keeps their music hush-hush and describe it as "blue, breathless, gentle and absolute." (Blue?) Anyways, listen to Stay With Us below and download it.

Green walls, waffles, and doing you.

I have always been the person who moves fast - when I get what I want, I want same-day delivery. For instance, I graduated from college on May 19, moved home May 20, and started my first job May 21. Two weeks ago, I saw an apartment and scraped up my bank account to get it and tomorrow I will be moving in.

There a three facts (at least) that accompany this move that leave me with a pit in my stomach. 

Tomorrow I will no longer call the room I spent my angsty teenage years in. Everything will have been moved out and all that will be left are my favorite green walls I used to sing and dance around in pretending I was the next Florence Welsh.  The room that has been my safe haven since I can remember. The one with the perfect view of woods and a tree with a branch meant to sit and read a book on. It's the fact of not be able to go back to my green room and stare at that branch while singing and dancing.  

It's also the fact of not seeing my parents each day when I schlep through the door at 9 pm and greet me with such positivity it makes me feel like Wheaties would make a box out of me. It's also missing the little things like mom buying me my favorite whole wheat waffles and new salad dressings to try. 

It's also about being terrified of trading in the familiar for the unknown and doing it by myself as the new girl. College defined the person I was for a while - it planned out four years of my life, it planned who my friends were going to be and planned out who I could be after four years with my friends. Now everything is left up to me and, you know what, it's scary and it fills my body with anxiety. But it's exciting and it's change and it's a test of everything I have done in the past four years. 

So while I sit on this train scared about what is to come, I keep in mind the three more facts:

1. Where ever you are and as long as you are happy, there will always be a big green room to dance and sing in but you have to paint the wall green and you have to know the song. 

2. Eventually you will have to buy your own waffles so you might as while cheer yourself on while you do it. 

3. You can have your green walls and waffles but it's no fun sitting with them wishing you had become what you wanted. 

A Nice Reminder.

"Sometimes you’re 23 and standing in the kitchen of your house making breakfast and brewing coffee and listening to music that for some reason is really getting to your heart. You’re just standing there thinking about going to work and picking up your dry cleaning. And also more exciting things like books you’re reading and trips you plan on taking and relationships that are springing into existence. Or fading from your memory, which is far less exciting. And suddenly you just don’t feel at home in your skin or in your house and you just want home but “Mom’s” probably wouldn’t feel like home anymore either. There used to be the comfort of a number in your phone and ears that listened everyday and arms that were never for anyone else, but just to calm you down when you started feeling trapped in a five-minute period where nostalgia is too much and thoughts of this person you are feel foreign. When you realize that you’ll never be this young again but this is the first time you’ve ever been this old. When you can’t remember how you got from sixteen to here and all the same feel like sixteen is just as much of a stranger to you now. The song is over. The coffee’s done. You’re going to breathe in and out. You’re going to be fine in about five minutes."

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  The Winter of the Air 

Is that you, Mister Sun?

I have a lot to update you all on! Firstly, how sweet is it to feel the sun again? While sitting in the grass yesterday, I got a few kisses from the sun. Now my hair is a bit lighter and my skin is bit darker. Lawn chairs, tanned skin and summer drinks always remind me of good music. During the warm months, I can't help but tap into some hip hop and tons of remixes. Below are some of my favorite songs right now.

P.S. 

My schedule has been super busy lately. This week I have created a new blog, called Marketing Shenanigans. Originally, this started as a mandatory assignment for a class but as turned into a larger part of my life. What the Mountains Said to the City will always be my primary, close-to-home blog. However, if you want more detailed things of my life as a student and social media account manager head over to Marketing Shenanigans.  

Lena Dunham for Rachel Antonoff

As you may know from previous blog posts, I have been in complete awe over Lena Dunham ever since Tiny Furniture. Of course, I love Girls even with all the nudity. I find it admirable that a woman can have such ease with nudity -- it says a lot about her confidence. Anyways, Lena teamed up with fashion designer, Rachel Antonoff, for her latest fashion concept video. Lena's younger sister stars in the whimsical, Wes-Anderson-like film that is filled with gorgeous shots and fashion.

What do you think?

I'll Try Anything Once.

Last week was a lot. A lot happened with friendships, school and work, and it all left me exhausted. But, as hard as it was going through it, I am glad these specific incidents happened when they did. Each incident contained secret messages of who I am as an individual, what I want in life, and how I need to work a little harder. 

This week I am going to take each of the lessons I learned and implement them into my daily life. With all the changes about to come my way, I don't want to fill my time with things I don't feel a hundred percent positive about and ease my mind with things that are shaping up to be positive things. 

I hope you all do this as well.

Happy Easter.

Falling.

archery is super big right now.

Track On Through...

Here is some music to keep your moods high to finish this week off strong. There has been a bundle of good tunes lately and here are my favorite for this week. 

I have been a huge fan of the band HAIM for quite some time now and they just released a track off their forthcoming LP. The track is called "Falling" and it is the kind of song to play with the windows down, shades on, driving past the California state line. I also like to envision myself on a sun drenched porch clapping and singing to the end. 

The next track is a music video for Local Native's "Heavy Feet." Since Hummingbird came out, I have not listened to much other music. The album puts me in a dreamlike state where I have the privilege to feel absolutely everything. "Heavy Feet" has proven to be the most stand out track and now it has an unforgettable and weird video to go along with it. In the video, three blind men make airplanes and have their sandwiches sing to them.

Kisses is a duo that I am quickly falling in love with. Although their debut album came out in 2010, they have come back with some tweaks for kind of an old British band (see: New Order). "the Hardest Part is the first track of their new LP called Kids in LA. 

Last is Kurt Vile's, "Walkin' On A Pretty Day." Pitchfork said it best: 

""Wakin On A Pretty Day" embodies Kurt Vile's ability to make songs that sound like they could've been written in two minutes and could also go on for twenty, with no complaints from our end."

Happy Wednesday! Track on through to the weekend. 

Are Food Bloggers the New Master Chefs?

This morning on the Today Show there was a segment on the adorable weblog, Smitten Kitchen.In the segment, they went inside Deb's tiny apartment, introduced her family, and  talked about the mom's new fame of being a food blogger. In the interview, Deb mentioned that no matter what anyone says she is: "not a chef." This comment got me thinking, are food bloggers becoming the new big time chefs?

I remember one season on America's Next Top Model, one of the judges criticized actresses for pretending to be models and that this was putting models out of jobs. So, could food bloggers who present themselves as moms rather than chefs, soon put the people qualified as chefs out of popularity?

In my opinion, I do not think that chefs will entirely be put away -- we all love Food Network too much. What I think is going on here, is that moms love the idea of reading blogs written by a mother, shopping at the local grocery store, and juggling kids and a gourmet-home-made dinner all at the same time. It gives a sense of realness to the whole concept of cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between.

(But it is also about how freakin' adorable Smitten Kitchen and other food blogs are.)

Any thoughts?

View the segment here.

What the Mountains Said to the City.

This is about being 21 years old and having absolutely no idea what is going to happen to me in the next years. But no matter what I have the simplicity of being raised around mountains mixing with the desire to make a name for myself in a big city. And so, on this ride that many of us are on, these are the things that keep me sane, motivated, smart, and creative.

This is the simple side of the big, complex, successful picture.

This is What the Mountains Said to the City.

Rebrand.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! So, as you may have noticed this blog has not been updated in a while. This is because I have been planning a kind of rebranding of sorts. While my blog now is a synergy of music, movies and random thoughts, I want to update it to have a more clear structure that really taps into what I am interested in. (It is also being changed to fit a requirement for a course.)

So, what will I be talking about now? Glad you asked!

What The Mountains Said To The City will soon have talk about advertising, marketing, social media marketing, public relations, and media focused conversations. Now, I will still have my rants about relationships and film reviews, but I find a better way to incorporate these posts to news articles or commercials or campaigns.

Hope you will enjoy it! Hopefully, this will go better than the Gap rebrand.

"I'll show you."

Do you ever feel like you don't have a strong support system? I do. And it has been a reoccurring thought and while I used to get so upset about it, I now look at it as a blessing in disguise. This lack of support makes a fighter out of me. It makes me want to prove to everyone just how wrong they are because everything they doubt I can do, I can do and I can do it even better than I thought.

Today, I came across a quote from Jennifer Lawerence (congrats on the Golden Globe!!!) that really exemplified this feeling.

“When I first got to New York, my feet hit the sidewalk and you’d have thought I was born and raised there. I took over that town. None of my friends took me seriously. I came home and announced, ‘I’m going to move to New York,’ and they were like ‘OK.’ Then when I did, they kept waiting for me to fail and come back. But I knew I wouldn’t. I was like, ‘I’ll show you.’” - Jennifer Lawrence


Don't you just love her?

Silver Linings Playbook.

I drove close to an hour today just to see SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. And the almost two hour drive was completely worth it. In fact, I suggest taking a long drive after for some clarity and quality time with you and your singing voice.

Have you seen SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK yet? If not, you should be looking up local times while you read this. I don't even know how to write a review on it.The film is so witty, funny, and yes dramatic but not in an over-bearing sense. The film engrossed every part of me. It felt so good to watch a film where there is so much humanity in it.Patrick (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) absolutely blew me away that I wanted to shoot up from my seat and do an air kick for them.

**Kind of a spoiler alert (but not really) below:

The montage of Patrick and Tiffany practicing their dance moves to Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash's, Girl From The North Country, will forever have a cabinet in my mind.

You have to see this movie.I have never felt so positive in my life.

excelsior. 

Hello I Must Be Going.

Whenever the road gets rough, I indulge my life into movies that have characters just as distraught as me. Last night I looked to Oscilloscope's, HELLO I MUST BE GOING, to even out my blues. HELLO I MUST BE GOING was selected as the opening film for Sundance back in 2012 and it is not a mystery as to why.

The film follows Amy (Melanie Lynskey), who has fallen into a depression after a divorce from her husband. She wears the same t-shirt as she feels sorry for herself around her parents house. Then, she meets 19-year-old Jeremy (Christopher Abbott) and the two of them have a very hot love affair as he helps her become the woman she once was. The plot line is simple but the talent of Lynskey, Abbot, and the cast make the film memorable. Right from the beginning of the film, I kind of wanted to be Amy. Then again who wouldn't want to be if she gets to make out in cars with a boy like Jeremy.

I highly recommend this quirky comedy.

Doesn't that picture just make your heart fill up with desperation to be with someone and watch a projector?

New Year, New Slate.

Happy New Year to you. New Years is such a perfect holiday because it offers the perfect starting point for change and I love change.I have started 2013 with a clean slate by getting rid of baggage, leaving the past behind and having resolutions that focus on bettering myself. 2012 has taught me that sometimes I put so much into something that just is not going to work out and exhaust myself until finally it ends, I do not give myself enough credit, don't give the right people a chance, and worry too much about silly things. But this year that is not happening.This year, I am going to have the confidence to not indulge into bad people, bad habits, bad situations, etc. This year I will succeed at what I put my mind to and not fill my head with silly thoughts or waste my time. I have started 2013 with a clean slate and I am going to paint it to MY perfection.This is the year of Shannon Kelly and damn is it going to be an outstanding year.

What will you do for yourself this year?