I’m sitting at a coffee shop working on homework and filling out my planner for the semester. Thinking about the trip to NYC I just got back from with my momma. It was the first trip that we have taken, just the two of us in a long time. We had no expectations for the long weekend and really went wherever the wind took us…we went to see Aladdin on Broadway, went to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, got a manicure in Tribeca, bopped around the MET and Chelsea Market, shopped through Bergdorf’s, SOHO and DUMBO and walked the Brooklyn Bridge. Most importantly we found a new favorite drink over lunch at BlackBarn in the Chelsea Market and we asked for the recipe. Cheers to many momma daughter trips to come.

Some of my favorite eats from the trip:

Coffee: Toby’s Estate, Maman

Brunch: Celestine, Jack’s Wife Freda

Lunch: BlackBarn, Hudson Market

Dinner: The Mermaid Inn

It’s been a very lazy first of the year, writing in my goal journal and sitting by the fire. I don’t think I left the house at all today but it’s all good because I ended the night making superfood salmon covered in blueberries and garlic while ‘working out’ on my portable, pink stair stepper and saying, “Alexa, play Louis Armstrong music.”

INGREDIENTS

1 avocado

¼ cup almond butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbs. cacao powder

½ tsp. baking powder

½ cup cacao nibs

handful of dark chocolate chips

1 cup pitted  & halved cherries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Mash avocado and mix with almond butter, eggs and vanilla extract

Add cacao powder and baking powder

Fold in cacao nibs, chocolate chips and cherries

Spoon into greased muffin tin, 3/4 full

Bake for 12-15 minutes

1. Walking is the best form of exercise

In New York you can walk everywhere…or at least walk to the subway which will take you everywhere! This was a little bit of a shock coming from Iowa where it’s a twenty minute drive just to get into town. Walking hasn’t really been an option. The first few weeks living in the city, my legs were a little mad at me… I was walking to work, walking to and from the garment district to visit factories, walking home, walking to dinner, walking to the store and walking just for an escape. I left NYC with the strongest legs I’ve ever had and motivation to keep walking as part of my daily routine.

2. Spend time in places that inspire you

Some of my favorite memories of living in New York are the days I spent in places that spoke to my heart. I would visit the MET often and spend my lunch breaks wandering through the art galleries in Chelsea. There is no lack of shopping in the big city and don’t get me wrong, the top design houses are very inspiring but I found it more rewarding to spend time in the places where those designers were inspired. In front of famous paintings, and surrounded by other art forms besides fashion. Somedays it was tempting to stay in my (very small) apartment, drink some tea and watch a movie but I never regretted exploring the culture and artwork all around me. I also found that I was more productive when I went somewhere else to get work done.

3. Dive in head first

If I have learned anything in the past few years it is that your life isn’t going to fall into place if your don’t take initiative to put it together. Before applying the my internship I would have never thought I would spend a semester in New York and I definitely did not think I was prepared to make that kind of jump. When the opportunity arose I decided to go for it and apply even though I wasn’t fully confident in my skill set. Before I knew it I was on a plane to New York with one too many suitcases and only an idea of what the big city would be like. Fast forward a few months and I am so much more confident in my career path, my skills and the apparel industry itself. Without taking that jump I don’t think that I would be as mature, knowledgeable or as good of a designer and I am so glad I chose to dive on in.