Favorite things from the past week

Last week we had a great time exploring new things to do (Opera in the park), eat (cheese! cupcakes!) and see (movies on a Hudson River pier), as well as celebrating birthdays and spending time with friends. It would be way too long for me to post a description of all of my favorite things from the week, so here are my top picks:

1) Beecher's Cheese Shop
On Tuesday while heading to the Hudson River I walked in the complete opposite direction of where I was supposed to be going, and I came across the newly opened Beecher's Cheese shop in Chelsea. Come Sunday I told Vlady that we just had to check it out, and let's just say that this place may be my new favorite spot.

The people that work there are super nice and they gave us free samples of any cheese we wanted, and we certainly took advantage of that. Of the ones that we tried we loved their award winning Flagship (and smoked Flagship) and the creamy Cremont (which we ended up buying). They also have an incredible mac n cheese (pictured below) that you can grab a cup of, as well as some awesome sandwiches and paninis made with their cheeses. We ate our lunch in a mezzanine overlooking a large room where they make the cheese, and although they weren't in the process of making anything at the time I would love to come back and observe their techniques.

After we ate we headed to the bottom level of the three floor store to check out The Cellar: a very cool, dim, candle-lit bar with mis-matched furniture and a "cheese observatory" room. They told us about their happy hour specials on wine and food (including the to-die-for mac n cheese) everyday from 5-7, and I guarantee we will be back very soon for that. All in all, this place is awesome.. and although the prices are a little steep for some of the cheeses, the friendly staff and amazing quality made it worth the cost.

2) Crumbs cupcakes
I picked up a dozen of these cupcakes for Vlady's birthday gathering on Saturday night. I've had Crumbs before, and they are probably my favorite cupcake shop to date (although I've never had Magnolia's, which I've heard is amazing). While I did over estimate the amount of baked goods that our group could eat after a meal, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't happy to take home the 6 uneaten cupcakes from the evening. Having a Crumbs cupcake buffet on my counter is a sign of a good day.

3. This OPI nail polish 

Bored with the colors in my current nail polish bag, I picked up this shade for an at-home manicure on Saturday. It's very different from anything I normally wear and I loved the name, "Skull and Glossbones", so I figured I'd give it a shot and try something new. I think this will be my new "go to shade" for everyday wear because it's light enough to not stand out too much, but it's not your standard light pink nail color. The below picture isn't my hand, but this is what it looks like on: 

4. This girl's blog

Since I can't go shopping (unemployment and all), I've decided to try and "shop" in my own closet by creating new outfits that I never would have paired together normally. The girl on this blog is my inspiration! Although I think some of the outfits she wears are a litttttle too creative for my taste, I like seeing what she pairs together, finding something similar in my closet and creating a brand new outfit. 

5. And of course, my all time favorite thing: 

Helping me read a book :) 

Blog identity crisis!

I got bored with the previous design of my blog, so I spent the last 2 days (no joke) changing it up and figuring out what I like. I've realized that I haven't found anything that I love but what I have it looking like now is good for the moment. We'll see how long that lasts...

My second choice for the background was a close up shot of a ton of jelly beans. Why? Because I love sweets and candy. I thought the one that I have up now was a little easier on the eyes.

If the fact that as a kid I would often change outfits several times during parties and gatherings proves anything it's that I change my mind constantly. Fickle, fickle me!

Weekend in the Hamptons

 The pool at the house

 Oh you know, just hanging out on a nice day at the beach

 Grilling out in the backyard

 Vlady in his (my) fancy hat

 Cloudy day at the beach

 Lobster feast on my birthday

 Betsy by the surf

 Jeb about to go boogey-boarding

 The house

Daynan and the green ball

And a couple from the 4th of July....

View from our roof top at sunset

4th of July fireworks!

Long time, no see!

I know, I know.. I've been a little MIA and it's been a long time since I've blogged. But you really can't blame me because I just moved to the greatest city in the world, so I've been enjoying my time here as much as possible! We have been able to take advantage of so many amazing things, so I thought it'd be good to share some of the highlights from the fun times that we've had.

On our second weekend here we headed to Madison Square Park for the annual Big Apple BBQ Block Festival. There were numerous tents for the different BBQ vendors that had everything from smoked brisket, to ribs, to fried pies. When we got there we took a minute to take advantage of the free samples (Jack Daniels caramel corn? yes please!), put on some pig ears and checked out the tents.

Most of the BBQ vendors had short lines where you could walk up, get your 'que and head on to the next tent. But there were two tents that had lines so long that the wait was upwards of 30-45 minutes! I felt proud as I realized that one of those tents was for the Raleigh based restaurant, The Pit, but we opted to not wait in that line since we were already familiar with how good their food is. We tried a few different vendors, tasted some local beer, and got our picture taken with a "pit master" (while still rocking the pig ears, naturally). We had a blast during the festival, and it made me proud to be a Southerner in the big city.

(Note: the below picture is not of the pit master, that is our good friend Meredith who also enjoys some good 'que)

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to see my first Broadway show, and even better is the fact that we got to go for free! A friend of a friend of a friend happens to do the PR for some Broadway shows, and her current project was the new "Spiderman: Turn of the Dark" show. She needed some "seat fillers" for the show so that the audience would be full, and we were more than happy to help her out with that!

The show was fantastic, and the first thing I said after we got out of the theater was: "I want to see that again!". Although the music was OK at best (it was written by Bono, he really could have done a better job), and I'm sure that theater enthusiasts would probably say that there was much left to be desired, I loved every second of it! The costumes, set, and aerial stunts were amazing and the show managed to keep me entertained the entire time. With the reputation of the show I was alert the whole time to see if there would be any accidents with the actors flying around the theater, but as far as we could tell the show went off without a hitch. I would see the show again in a heartbeat, and hopefully that friend of a friend of a friend will need more seat fillers in the future.

Other free things that we have been able to do include a Shakespeare in the Park showing of "Measure for Measure", a movie showing in Bryant Park, and a street fair celebrating Chinese and Jewish heritage called the "egg rolls and egg creams festival". There are many people who claim that summertime in the city is the best time of year, and now I see exactly why that may be true! Vlady and I both agree that we moved up here at just the perfect time, and I look forward to more fun (and free) events for the rest of the summer.