Oh hello! Yes, yes I did just miss an entire week of blogging. There was my birthday and then a few projects got kind of consuming and before I knew it, it was Thursday. Seriously, where did this week go? Shit, where did this month go? Where did my life go? That would be how I felt last Friday on my 27th birthday. How the hell did I end up here?

A few days back, or weeks I'm not sure, my lovely Kristen did a post on positivity and I immediately put it on my never-ending list of post ideas. And now that I'm officially a year older and I basically skipped the blogsphere's mandatory "Today's my birthday!" post, I figured it'd be the perfect post to commemorate turning 27. Sidenote: 27 is such a weird number. For real. I'd much rather be 26 or 28. In fact, let's pretend like I'm still 26 and then next March 6th I'll just magically be 28. Like "poof, I'm 28!" (see that Sex and the City reference here for a good laugh!).

Something you love about yourself.
I really love how passionate I am. Or maybe I love how obvious that is to other people. Since I was a teenager, it's always one of the first things people use to describe me. Whether it's "wow, you're excited, aren't you?" or "you really throw yourself into what you love" or "you love hard" or "you feel everything" -- I translate it all to a note about how passionate I am about things. (Although, that first comment might actually be an insult in disguise :) Whatever.)
Passion is such an important value to me and living passionately is something I've always strived for and loved identifying in others, so I'm so glad others see it too!

Something you want to work on.
Kindness. Kristen mentioned being nicer to herself in her post, and surely I need to work on that too. But really - being totally transparent here - I want to work on being kinder to other people. Last summer I read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and a quote really stood out to me. "Be kinder than necessary." I've since learned that the quote originated with J.M. Barrie, but I'm still striving towards it. I don't really mean showing kindness to those I know and love. I think I'm a pretty nice person in that sense. But I'd like to work on being kinder to those around me, walking down the streets with me etc. I'm a New Yorker through and through, and we tend to move quickly and have a tough attitude. So yeah.
...There's also always losing a bit of weight and shiner hair :)

Give someone a compliment and mean it.
There are legit 50 different bloggers that I can genuinely compliment. I've met some amazing ladies over the past few years. But there are three ladies in particular who immediately pop into my head right now.
Dearest Kay and Deb, you are both such wonderfully supportive and positive people. You inspire me to dream because you never shoot down my fantasies, however unattainable they may be. As such supportive and nurturing people, you're bound to be (or rather already are!) wonderful mothers.
My soul-writer Mae, your kindness and sincerity are a rarity in this world! You dole out wisdom like it costs you nothing, and despite doing eleventy billion things, you find time for other people. They truly do not make them like you anymore.

Something you are proud of, succeeded in, or are just generally pumped about.
Generally, I'm really pumped about a few of the projects I've been working on recently (including Skylights Magazine launching in just a week! Get notified here!).
I think I'll always be proud of graduating law school, regardless of whether I practice or not, because it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Another thing that'll make me super proud of myself? Finishing the first draft of my novel, hopefully by the end of March. I also wouldn't complain about a two book deal from a well-known publisher :) Hello, Simon and Schuster!

Happy Friday! 

Twenty - EFFIN' - Six

In honor of the day I turn 26 (and because I've gained quite a few followers since I last did an "about me" kind of post), I present 26 random facts about lil ol' me. And by random, I mean completely and uttering freakin' random, which coincidentally might sum me up in one word.

1) Anything the consistency of baby food is disgusting to me, including mashed potatoes and applesauce.

2) I have so much more fun making the list than actually doing things on the list. Planning for greatness? Fun. Doing the things that make you great? Not so fun. 

3) I've memorized all my debit card numbers.

4) Anytime I watch a voice competition show, I mute the t.v. during the commercials and try to sing the songs I just heard. Just to see if I've got what it takes. I don't.

5) I would've been left-handed if my mom didn't force me to use my right was I was younger. That's why it was always so strange that I'm lefty in gymnastics (lead with my left foot) because most people's dominant hand is also their dominant foot.

6) Sleeping is my favorite. I've slept for 24 hours straight before.

7) I hate walking around barefoot, but I also hate getting my slippers wet, so I step into rubber slides when I get out of the shower.

8) Everything is better when drinking it out of a wine glass.

9) I'm an excellent rollerblader but can't skate at all.

10) Every time I buy milk it goes bad in my fridge. Every. Single. Time.

11) I kill every flower I come into contact with, but peonies are one of my favorite things.

12) It totally freaks me out when someone hands me a sharp object with the edge pointing towards me. Have you no concern for my safety?!

13) For about a month in 2000, I wore a backwards red baseball cap everyday because I swore I was a Limp Bizkit backup dancer (re: Rollin').

14) If there's music playing, I'm dancing. It doesn't matter where I am.

15) On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, I check the Disney channel 2:30-4am time slot in hopes that they'll play 'Brink!'. It was on last weekend. I recorded it :)

16) I have two middle names.

17) My dream apartment doesn't have multiple bedrooms, the best view or the newest appliances. I just want an extra closet to convert into a sit-in library.

18) I really dislike asking for help.

19) I can still wear a lot of the clothes I've had since I was 14 years old.

20) I prefer cereal without milk. 

21) There's no doubt that I have an addictive personality.

22) If you know me, I swear like a sailor. I usually filter it around people I'm not as comfortable with because I think it's so unladylike.  

23) I could play Crash Bandicoot on Playstation for days straight.

24) I have a pork allergy (including anything cooked in pork grease) and it tastes kinda like soap to me.  

25) Seeing people really happy makes me cry.

26) Falling off of a treadmill or stairmaster is a huge fear of mine. It's just so embarrassing. 


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How I Ended Up at Madison Square Garden Twice in 48 Hours

I can only remember going to MSG once in my whole existence of living in this wonderful city. That sounds really bizarre but, honestly, most New Yorkers don't visit the typical tourist-y hotspots. So when I found myself at MSG twice in just as many days, it was almost comical. And it ended up being the best days I've had in a while.

As long as I've known him, Mr. Big & Tall's talked about his biggest birthday dream: to see Kobe Bryant play at the Garden. Strangely enough, it always worked out that the LA Lakers played the Knicks either on or near his birthday. This past December, I decided I wanted to make that happen. And I kind of succeeded. It wasn't the Lakers (Kobe's hurt and isn't playing this season anyway), but the Sacramento Kings came to New York, and being the most amazing girlfriend ever, I got tickets!

But, of course, I couldn't just hand the tickets over unceremoniously. (How boring would that be?) So I sent him on a scavenger hunt around the city. You read that right - a scavenger hunt. And the poor baby didn't even know what awaited him at the end of it all, but he accepted the challenge anyway.

I purchased bold colored envelopes from Paper Presentation (my new favorite store!) to use for the clues because they had to be noticeable enough. And this 'antique gold' color was calling out to me from the shelves because of how metallic yet muted they were. I wrote clues on each card stock and placed them within the envelopes. The most difficult part was creating the riddles that would lead him from one clue to the next.

Of course, not everything went according to plan. Nothing ever does. He ended up going in the complete wrong direction at one point, I got multiple phone calls of confusion and we were a late to the game. But nothing can take away from the spectacular moment when he realized that we weren't just meeting at MSG - we were going inside. I wish I could've captured the look on his face; the childish grin from ear-to-ear that he wore from the moment he saw the tickets until the first timeout was priceless.

After researching for days, I finally decided on these tickets in Section 109. I literally spent hours on virtual tour type websites to make sure I knew exactly the view I was getting. And I was pleasantly surprised as we were way closer than I expected. In pictures, it looks really far, but we could see the details of the sneakers each player wore. That's really freaking close!

I was sure that it couldn't get any better - and then it did. We had decided to have a pretty chill Valentine's Day. In the past, like our first Valentine's Day, we took trips to resorts and did all the over-the-top things newly-in-love couples do. But over time, we've just used the day to eat lots of chocolate and watch movies. And that's what I thought was in store for me this past Friday. I woke up to 2 dozen roses and chocolates, which was a bit of a surprise but still pretty relaxed. At around 7:30pm, I got a text to take a taxi to 33rd and 7th. And there, he handed me a card with two tickets to see the band I love (second only to 30 Seconds to Mars & maaaybeee Imagine Dragons) in concert: Kings of Leon!

And even with the scent of sweat and smoke in the air, we danced, and drank beer, and sang screamed along with the songs. And I loved every moment of it ❤