On Spontaneity

Today I did something I had wanted to do for a while but decided to take the plunge just two days ago...

Words of the Day

Words of the Day

On Tattoos

I currently have two and am getting that itch again...

Words of the Day

On Today

There are some days when all you want to do after a long day at work is come home, eat a (veggie) corn dog, have a glass of wine, and cuddle in bed with your cat.

On Motivation

When things are all sparkly and shiny and new, and you're all excited to start a new routine, let's admit it — it's a lot easier to maintain a four-times-a-week running schedule than it is a month-and-a-half in. 

My Style: Accessories

Words of the Day

My Style: Weekends

On Non-Internet Gems

Yesterday, my coworker, Betsy, and I were leaving for a lunch break when we spotted this sign posted on the brick terrace across from the entrance to our building...

Words of the Day

On Hitting Walls

I'm finding recently that when things happen, they tend to happen all at once. Most recently, for me, it's hitting walls (not literally, thank God).

Internet Gems: Thought Catalog

I have a love/hate relationship with this website. There are days I can barely stumble through the first few lines of an essay, then there are days like this when some obscure writer from across the country seems to perfectly document your life at the moment.

And with that, I give you 9 Things You'll Regret After Breakup.

Words of the Day

My Style: Warm Weather

Words of the Day

Words of the Day

Words of the Day

Blogspo: Cheetah is the New Black

I have a fairly long list of daily blog reads, two of which I already listed here and here. Another favorite, focusing mainly on fashion, is Cheetah is the New Black.

My Style: Interior Design

On Change

 

I think it's safe to say, I'm a creature of habit. However, within the last month, so much has changed, happened, and been tweaked in my life, that I'm learning change ain't so bad after all.

Words of the Day

Words of the Day

On Powerful Women

If I had to pick two women who I can truly say I'm inspired by, it would be my mother (a given), and Kelly Cutrone. Cliche, I know, but I don't know too many people who can build and then sustain the type of career she's had after two divorces, a child, a drug addiction, and then a stint on ANTM.


Just kidding. I'm choosing to forgive her for that...

My Style: Lazy Days

Words of the Day

Blogspo: Betsy's Blogel

I had been toying with the idea of starting a blog for months, and I can honestly say it wasn't until my coworker and friend Betsy started her own, that I finally mustered the courage to sign myself up. Betsy is a web producer at my firm, a musician, and a bagel connoisseur, so, it only makes sense her blog is aptly named "Betsy's Blogel."

I've concluded I have a sincere amount of respect for people who can take an idea and run with it. Betsy's found a niche all her own, all while injecting her interests in music into the blog as well. And it works! 

I was also flattered when she asked me to write the first guest post for the Blogel. Granted, it was on the bagel-disaster known as Dunkin' Donuts, but it was a fun experience just the same.  

On Internet Gems

I'm an avid reader of CNN, and more specifically, anything by LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly opinion piece. Today's is, by far, one of his bests. Read it here. 

Words of the Day

My Style: Easy Tees

On Living in Maine

If you had told me two years ago that at 24, I'd be living in Maine, I honestly think I would have cried. I went to school in Boston and wanted nothing more than to be a magazine writer living in the city. After moving back home to Connecticut after college, I suddenly found myself living my "dream" after being offered a job at a publishing firm a few months later and moving back to the Boston area.

If I've learned anything in the two years since graduating college, it's this — plans, or dreams, when realized, usually aren't half as good as we thought they'd be. Case and point: I hated Boston.

I lived in an adorable apartment but in a sketchy city and paid a ridiculous amount for rent. I was never not grateful for the fact I had a job that allowed me to afford this (and, basically, having a publishing job period that wasn't at a dying weekly newspaper), but the daily hustle and bustle, plus the traffic, was really too much for me. I found Boston dirty, rude, and nothing like the city I thought I wanted.

I ended up in Maine mostly by accident. My coworkers and I showed up to our publishing firm in Boston one Monday morning, only to find out that over the weekend, the company had dissolved. I see that now as the universe's way of shuffling me out of that city, and two weeks later, I was offered the only job I had applied for in Maine.

Granted, my now ex lives in Maine, so there was that obvious reason for making the move. But, even though we're broken up, I'll always be thankful that mostly because of him, I found my way to Portland. It's an amazing little city: more cultured than Boston, friendlier, artsier, and, for me personally, more enjoyable. I know many people who scoff at the idea of "Maine" instead of Boston or New York,  but I'm convinced it's because they've never experienced it themselves.

My infatuation with the city aside, I'm also extremely lucky to have a job where I'm progressing (that's another story soon to come) and pays well. Rent is about one third less than Boston, I have a new car, and I live near the beach.

Although after reading this, it's easily to misconstrue my love for Portland as trashing on Boston, which really isn't the case. I've learned that to each their own. But, more importantly, I'm learning as much as we like to think we can map out the future, we can't — it's impossible and not worth our time and worry. As for me, I'm enjoying Portland, and Boston aside, I don't plan on writing off any city until I've lived there.

Words of the Day

My Style: Fancy Pants

Words of the Day

On Hair Color

I started dying my hair my sophomore year of college. Granted, my hair is a very dark brown, so nothing was ever too drastic (except for the one time I first bleached and then put turquoise streaks in my hair). Ever since then, and every few months, I would get the itch to dye my hair again, whether black, red, blonde highlights, purple-black, etc. It's also interesting to mention I always did it out of a box and have never had my hair professionally colored.

Sometimes, I really wish I had lighter hair so I could play around with color, especially considering all Crayola-inspired looks I can't seem to escape. Case and point:

But then again, knowing me, I'd probably get bored with it a week later and dye it all green.