Water, Water Everywhere

As a newly laid-off individual, I've recently discovered that I now have a WHOLE lot more time on my hands. Too much, in fact. What do you do with yourself when you're suddenly and most unexpectedly given 13 hours back in the week? That's the issue I've been wrestling with recently. I spent the better part of these past few weeks doing absolutely...nothing. Not going to lie, it was pretty freaking sweet initially. Instead of having to dash from work to class almost daily, I now spend my mornings sauntering around the apartment in the nude and watching tacky daytime TV sprawled across the couch. It's great. And instead of dashing home from class to get some reading and homework done before yet another day at work, I get to spend my afternoons wandering through thrift stores and little coffee shops in the East Village. And with the weather warming up, this is basically a huge upgrade in how I spend my down-time. You would think this would all please me immensely, but with funds slowly but ever so surely dwindling, a girl's gotta wonder: what am I supposed to do now? To be succinct: I DON'T got money in the bank. And now that the seasons are changing, the clothes are too. Rompers, shirts, and sun dresses - oh my! Water, water everywhere...and not a drop to drink.

my favorite cupcakes in manhattan

Pretty self-explanatory. My favorites (in no particular order):

Butter Lane Bakery, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Amai Tea & Bake House and Babycakes.

I love them all for very different reasons. Let me count the ways!

1) Butter Lane Bakery -- Every cupcake is usually made to order. You are completely in charge of the choice of frosting and cake. The possibilities! My favorite thus far has been the mixed berry buttercream frosting with the banana cupcake. Ohhhh man.

Pros: Scrumdiddlyumptious freshness, sweet and less sweet frosting options.

Cons: Maaaaad expensive. Which makes this a weekly luxury instead of a daily one. I know, I know -- I have issues. (Read: borderline obsessive)

2) Sugar Sweet Sunshine -- Honestly, by and large my absolute favorite cupcakes in the entire city. I've been a loyal, unwavering fan since the beginning of time and will continue to be one unless someone can top their freaking amazing cupcakes or even amazing-er prices. My favorite is, hands down, the Bob cupcake: chocolate buttercream with a little almond extract on a yellow cupcake. I had to wipe off the dribble of saliva from my mouth after I typed that sentence.

Pros: Mind-blowing cupcakes, crazy turnover as they constantly have business, super-low price tag (in the cupcake business, at least), and puddings too. And cheap. I could go on and on. Really, I could.

Cons: Not much to complain about. Could do with a little more seating room, I guess?

3) Amai Tea & Bake House -- Not my favorite cupcake, but definitely an interesting and less cloyingly sweet alternative. Which is good for old people, I guess, but not for me! Their green tea cupcake is made with real green tea matcha powder and tastes absolutely delicious, but if I'm looking to satisfy a cupcake craving (and I ALWAYS am) I probably wouldn't turn to this one. Their scones, on the other hand, are a different story.

Pros: Mildly sweet, but super-strong in the green tea taste department.

Cons: I just like their tea sweets, scones, and lychee brownies better!

4) Babycakes -- Yet another interesting alternative, this time for all those healthy-minded wheat gluten-avoiding individuals out there. Babycakes makes delicious cupcakes without the use of wheat, sugar, gluten, dairy or eggs. So there is basically nothing. Which is not to say that they aren't delicious, but just that they have a different texture than one is probably used to. Kind've gummy.

Pros: The carrot cupcake with creamy vanilla frosting. And you won't feel as guilty eating one.

Cons: I am not willing to shell out $4 for a cupcake. If I won't do it before a recession, then I'm probably not going to during one. Sorry.

Off to devour another cupcake! - M

photo credit: seriouseats, foodinmouth, monkichichan, wendalicious

New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down

I've been doing pretty much nothing and fuck it, it's been pretty much awesome. Today was a GORGEOUS day in Manhattan and people are finally coming out of the woodwork! Something else that came out of the woodwork today was my nude-colored Zara romper. Got a lot of [dirty] looks with regards to that one. Can't a girl just have a little fun sometimes without being looked up and down like that?

There's something about the changing of the seasons that always fills me with a little excitement. Or dread. You never know what kind of adventures/misadventures the next season will bring. But I'm ready for you, Spring. Bring it, nigga.

Chapter One

While performing my daily ritual of browsing through my bookmarked style blogs, I came across a blurb from one of the first essays I ever read in college. It was Joyas Voladoras by Brian Doyle, an essay assigned to us from an Best American Essays anthology. I didn't think much of it back then, but after stumbling upon it again, it's given me a lot of food for thought. It's this particular paragraph that really hits home:

"When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall. You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman's second glance, a child's apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words I have something to tell you, a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother's papery ancient hand in a thicket of your hair, the memory of your father's voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children."

God, do I love that paragraph. I mean, whoa. The images he conjures up are incredible. It almost hurts to think about them. And I'm not exactly sure why I decided to start my blog in this particularly somber tone, but I somehow find some reassurance in his words. Life is supposed to hurt. If it didn't, everything good in our lives would therefore be meaningless, right?

On an ENTIRELY different note, here are some things that are currently piquing my interests -- in fashion, music, food, etc. Basically, the summation of my life!

1. Everything Coco Rocha-related.

So much love.

2. The God-send that is Yoga to the People.

Thank you for making my life that much happier =)

3. Banh mi sandwiches. Ohhhhh baby.

Nom nom nom.

4. My new tricked out necklace.

I'm an Office Tramp. But really, were you actually that surprised?

More to come -- this is only chapter one.