Sweet Somethings.

Look at you, you made it to Monday again and just in time for the new weekly post, "Sweet Somethings." Each Monday, I'll supply you with a list of things that have made my heart dance in the past few days and hopefully make a case of the Mondays disappear.

+ Speaking of sweet...a new study has found that love makes things taste sweeter 

+ Free People has added love stories as a new category on their blog 

+ Kendrick perfected my favorite song to spin to 

+ Zooey Deschanel has teamed up with Tommy Hilfiger for a new line of dresses 

+ Indoor tents from Etsy

+ Brooklyn just created their own Shuffleboard Club 

+ Kittens and Kale

+ Last day of Madewell's extra 40% sale items 

+ Finally, my favorite quote from last night's GIRLS episode:

"If you died the world would blur. I wouldn't know what a tree was." -Adam 

The Train Seat.

Hello Sunday night, we meet again. While I giggle over Jonah Hill's SNL episode and pick my favorite outfit out from the Grammy's, I thought I would share a little piece of writing I did this weekend. Yesterday, I woke up early to take the train to my parent's house for the night. I absolutely love spending the weekend away and catching up with myself. It's nice to be out of the city and listen to your thoughts and play with adorable cats. So, for the first time in a very long time, I wrote a little something-something while traveling. (Side note: I think trains may be my favorite way of transportation.)

I wonder who sat in this seat just the other day - who saw the things I’m seeing, who passed the same stops I’m passing and who smelled the horrible smell of the train’s burning tar that I am smelling now. Do you think they were on their computer too? Maybe reading a book that made them think about the person who makes their heart skip a beat? Were they happy to be leaving and then arriving or were they wishing the train could turn around?

I wonder if they saw the same creek I just saw and thought about the one behind their childhood home they used to jump in when it was warm and how there was always a deep green frog dancing along the edges.

Maybe it was a couple sitting in this love seat on the train going to meet the girlfriends’ parents for the weekend in Princeton.  I bet the boyfriend said something really funny and had the girlfriend laughing loud enough for the boyfriend to start giggling and telling her “shhhh, everyone’s looking,” but the more she held the louder the laughter got. Finally, they both managed to pull it together and sit quietly holding hands with little smirks on opposite edges of their mouth, creating an illusion of a big smile when they put their heads together.  

Perhaps it was a child who sat in this seat. It was the child’s first train ride and every little movement made the child gasp and smile. Each time another train passed the window the child's hands would stick to the window as if they could touch the train. 

Maybe, it was each and every one of these people at different times of the day and finishing off with a girl in a green beanie writing all about them. 

One More Rep

On Monday night, my best friend, Katelyn aka Bucks, and I made a vow to put the wild child in the corner for a bit and trade one more round of beers for one more rep of workouts. I always wanted to live a very healthy lifestyle filled with spinning classes, hiking excursions and killer boot camps. I also really want to spend the summer rocking a Mara Hoffman bikini. So, what better time than now, right? Right!

The first step was trading in my empty refrigerator for shelves filled with vegetables and healthier choices. I've always loved to eat healthy and have a soft spot for all things vegan, but lately I have found myself ordering out bar food and living off mass amounts of pasta. Sorry Seamless, but it's time to close my account. One trip to Trader Joe's and I was on my way to making my refrigerator look like a rainbow. I packed up on brussel sprouts (favorite!), kale, mushrooms, peppers, greek yogurt, nuts, asparagus, eggplant and so many other scrumptious gifts from earth. I also kept some goodies like tons of cheese (now, you know why I'm not still vegan).

The second step was figuring out how I like to work out and beginning a routine to keep me focus. I have always been a fan of high impact cardio classes such as kickboxing, boot camp and cycling as they keep my mind off of what my body is doing and always have amazing soundtracks. So, I began Insanity for the third time in my life. My college roommates and I accomplished about a month of it and I never felt better and dare I say, looked better. Insanity is very much so insane, but its the type of work out I love with no mercy and even more squats. Beyond Insanity, I plan on incorporating more spinning classes and outdoor runs and hikes to keep boredom away.

The third step was beginning to blog about changing my lifestyle so, I could definitely not whimp out. Although I'm not sure who reads this thing...

Additionally, be sure to check out Katelyn's blog here:  Classically Prepped. It's a wonderful sweet and girly lifestyle blog about all things fashion, running and healthy cooking. 

Shameless Girls

I'm not sure my body can control any more excitement after the return of HBO's Girls and Showtime's Shameless. These are my definitely my two favorite shows outside of anything that is reality television (I'm such a sucker). Both premieres expanded the characters I always wanted expanded and kept the others exactly where they should be.

For example, have we ever seen so much Shoshanna in one episode like we did in "Truth or Dare?"Not only did we just see her, but we got to hear what really goes on in her head from eating off a fluffy pillow to being smitten by Adam calling Hannah his best friend. Speaking of, I love that Adam and Hannah are back together but do you think it will last? I hope so but in the world of Girls nothing can stay together for too long (see: Marnie). I've never been quite sure about Jessa because she is such a free spirit that it frustrates me when she is sad or not using rehab to her full potential. I need time for that review.

As for Shameless it was a little bit of a slow start to the season but it can only pick up! I miss Steve/Jimmy already, crave more Lip at home than Lip at school and wish Debbie all the best with her new arcade boyfriend.

I also think the marketing team of these shows are both absolutely brilliant to have the shows available on YouTube. It's good to see companies understanding their target audiences and their bank accounts.


What did you think of last night's premieres?

Also, you go Judd, Jenni and Lena! Read here why.

Pieces & Poems

Do you ever find yourself missing a piece of yourself? I do. For me, it is how creative I was in high school. I was always out taking photographs, reading new books, finding new music and, mostly, writing poetry. I loved poetry so much that I barely went a day without writing a poem or two. I kept my poems in a leather bound journal with JOURNAL scripted on the front and a golden touch on the side of the pages. Once that journal was full, I began writing on the pages of a suede journal I had found on the street in New York City (thrifty, I know). However, once I left high school I never looked back at the suede journal again. It is almost as if I hit the stop button on my poetry.

My poems were about everything from Bob Dylan to a boy I spent the weekend with at the Jersey Shore to Jackson Hole. I remember my poems hanging up in my then-boyfriends room, published in the student poetry journal and recognized by Rutgers University and poetry festivals (yes, they have those).These moments were thrilling and wonderful and are very much missed, yet each time I set myself down to write I cannot think of a single word to even start with. Which brings me to ask do you think some pieces of us just stay in the past because they were so wonderful in those certain moments? Or maybe we just put our energy towards something else to create new pieces?

On that deep note, I leave with the work of one my most loved poets, Richard Brautigan:

ALL GIRLS SHOULD HAVE A POEM

            For Valerie

All girls should have a poem
written for them even if
we have to turn this God-damn world
upside down to do it.

            New Mexico
            March 16, 1969

In Defense of the Relationship.

Lately, I have found myself reading many articles and blog posts that include extensive thought processes and definitions of what it means to be single in today's society. Many of these pieces include lists of why it is okay to be single and that being single will lead to one or many of the following outcomes: independence, self-awareness of needs and wants and the ability to not blame others for your mistakes. These articles are very inspiring and true, but also portray being in a relationship as the destination your independence and self-worth go to die. While I completely agree that being single is a great time to bare yourself to yourself and learn personal ins and outs, I do not agree that being in a relationship prohibits someone from feeling the same things.

For a very long time, I thought there was nothing better than being single. In fact, I refused to imagine myself being with anyone ever again. When my girlfriends brought up their idea of the perfect guy or what their future wedding would be like, I would simply roll my eyes, say that "my man only needed to have a beard and like beer" and "I was never ever going to get married."  This was not due to any horrible ex-boyfriends or  daddy issues, it was because I loved being single. Being single means complete freedom emotionally, mentally and physically. It means having absolutely no distractions or limits. I had the independence, the self-awareness of personal needs and wants, and the ability to take the weight of my mistakes - but never as much as I have had within the past year while being in a relationship.

                                         

If someone had asked me to define myself on a piece of paper a year ago, it would have been a bunch of bullet points of ideas that I would hope to become but maybe I was not actually there yet. Today, those bullet points would still be a ramble of things, of aspirations, thoughts and definitions not hopes and guesses. I would also be able to name some of my flaws such as the tendency to be a ball of anxiety and self-doubt. These two powerful emotions can lead to poor consequences especially in a personal and professional life. Recently, I have learned to be patient and think things through before jumping to conclusions; adjust my negative thoughts to positive thoughts and realize there is a lot less to doubt about me than I thought.

In the past nine months, I have done more for myself than I ever did in my life. I have graduated college with a bachelor's degree, landed my first job and moved to my own apartment in New York City. I have finally put money into my empty and two-year-old bank account, "Wanderlust." I have learned to smile in the mirror and tell myself I look really good today and may even look better tomorrow (and fill the parenthesis with this rather than "probably not though.) I even write in my old journal that I adored in high school.

What I am getting at is that the feelings these articles and blog posts talk about do not come from being single or being in a relationship - they come from you. It is your duty to have independence, self-awareness of personal needs and wants and responsibility, but only if you let yourself. Simply put, do you. Always.