"IT'S NOT A SLIDE!"

I woke up today a lot more well rested and with a bit better outlook. I've been in freak out mode about life and the future and everything for too long and I realized today I just need to calm down and take things as they come. I've always been such a planner and I need to stop trying so hard to plan my life. Things are happening as they should and I need to let them.

So yeah. Decided today I'd mix it up a bit and wear a skirt instead of a dress. (I really wasn't kidding when I said I hate pants. And I really hate how I look in them now. Jeans excluded...but only sometimes.) I also decided to mix prints, which I think is fun. So here's the outfit:

(Please excuse the hair...the shower and I are still on poor terms, so I had to use the upstairs one again and for some reason it just makes my hair do weird things.)

But anyway. The under top I love and I got it a while ago, I think at Macy's. Yeah, I think it's either Alfani or INC. Either way, it's a really beautiful top with awesome handfeel and nice detail around the neck. But it has like a circular collar so my bra straps show, so I usually wear something over it. Today I decided to go with this striped top I got forever ago at Lane Bryant. It's a pretty manly top, but it works when I belt it. It's kind of funny how huge it is on me, though. I'm super pleased about that, but it looks AWFUL without a belt.

In case you can't see it, the macy's top has small abstract polka dots on it. I don't know how you all feel about me mixing these two, but I was pretty pleased with it. Oh, the skirt is the Belk one from the Ttown Belk before it got awful. (I still hold a grudge, JSYK.....)

So I was pretty pleased with it. It helped me mix things up a bit.

Work today was pretty good. We had a materials meeting, which was really long but really interesting. I sorted some catalogs, made some boards, and helped with the meeting.

I also figured out my 4th of July plans, so huzzah for that!

But what I'm REALLY excited about is Comedy Central Park tomorrow night!! Jim Gaffigan and John Pinette are two of my absolute FAVORITE comedians. I CAN'T WAIT.

In trying to find a good quote for the title, I reminded myself why I love them both. Seriously, if you haven't heard one or either of them, go youtube it. Now. Now now now nownow.

Okay, I'll do it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKVQY-LQ_3o

Well, that's John Pinette. Internet just went slow so you'll have to find Jim Gaffigan yourself. I couldn't find any of the manatee bit, but if you can, it's totally worth it.

I'M SO EXCITEDDDDDDD!!!!!

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who've been trained by it."

Megan, a girl who was in my art class freshman year, sends me scripture every Monday morning. I don't think I've seen her in person since freshman year, but it always helps start my week off right getting those text messages. She sent me Hebrews 12:11 today, and it seemed like perfect timing.

Szigi's birthday party was good. I love him and Marlene so much, but that's the side of the family we rarely ever see. When I went to Laura's wedding, I honestly had no idea who she was. She is amazingly nice, and she has a beautiful house, but I felt so out of place. Luckily Vicki was there. She is so much fun. We chatted for most of the day. Once the party was over, I rode home with Nagymama, two great uncles and a great aunt, in my great aunt's Cadillac. OHHH the stories I could share. I felt like I was being kidnapped by an elderly Hungarian gang.

Last night, I realized parking permits went on sale at midnight. I had already stayed up way too late accidentally because I had a solid internet connection to actually get things done, so I figured I'd stay up and just get the one I wanted. Midnight came and the server went down. Then I realized midnight my time wasn't midnight Alabama time. I asked Lisa to get mine for me, and tried to go to bed. I ended up not falling asleep, so when 1 am hit, I tried again. Still no luck. Oy. I woke up off and on all night, and probably got a grand total of 3 hours of sleep. Not good.

When I woke up, I logged on and Commuter West wasn't an option. UGH. So I got Southeast. I proceeded to get ready for my day. I went to the shower and all of a sudden it started sputtering like there was something blocking the line. I tried a few more times, and it wouldn't work. Obviously, on three hours of sleep, I was nowhere near rational, so I called my mom to figure out what to do. She reminded me that there was another shower upstairs. (Oops...) So I came upstairs and showered, all the while dropping things, hitting my head on the door, you know, all the little things that add up to a big rotten morning.

I was SO hot this morning, and so cranky, I knew the blow dryer would destroy me. So I put it on low, put some mousse in my hair and went for some waves. Thank you, 88% humidity, for ruining that plan. I ended up with poodle hair. I put on my black and pink paisley dress (not one of my favorites), attempted my makeup (somehow I managed to blush my nose so I looked like Rudolph) and then just said screw it, shoved my book in my purse and headed out the door.

The sun was blazing, my shoulder was hurting, and I was a scary cranky crazy person. Once we got to Penn, we ended up in the bowels of hell for a good 15-20 minutes because the stupid people didn't reverse the escalators. Oyyyy. Once I finally got above ground, I went to Primo Cappuccino (usually a haven for a quick iced coffee) and ordered a large iced coffee strong, aka give me that $1.15 shot of espresso in my coffee. I go to put skim milk and sugar in it and realize neither of those things are available. UGH. So I ask the lady to go get some, she finally does, I put skim milk and sugar in the raw in my coffee and somehow manage to suck up 89434092 of those nasty granules. Blarghhhh. I run over to 11 Penn and suck down the rest of the nasty coffee. I then proceed to eat my protein bar, not realizing it was one of the caffeinated ones.

By this point, I'm hot, frustrated, and I've just realized the Terry Lundgren broadcast is not tomorrow, but today, and I look like a nasty mess. On top of all of this, my heart is now trying to break free of my chest because I have tased it with five thousand grams of caffeine.

Oy.

I get some projects to do, finish them quickly, then make copies of my schedule so everyone can stop yelling for me when I'm not in the office. I also proceed to send an email to parking to say HOW could I not get west when I was up at 6 am, which is 5 am Alabama time? I guarantee I was one of the earliest ones.

So anyway. I finish things up and start to calm down. I realize with my cardigan on, my dress isn't so bad (my dress isn't bad at all, really. it's just not what I was planning to wear for this particular event) and if I put my hair up in a bun my bangs are actually working pretty well today.

At 1:15, Lauren and I head over to Herald Square for the broadcast. It lasts about an hour. I love Terry. I can't remember who I compared him to last year, but I remember how appropriate it was. He's a mix of Nick Saban and someone else. I need to look back at who I thought last year. He has that captivating good ol' boy charm of Walt Maddox, too. All in all, TL is just an inspiring human being. He's worked hard to get to where he is, and I believe he genuinely cares about every single one of his employees.

So after the broadcast we made our way back to 11 Penn. I finished up some projects, we worked on a big nasty project that has taken us forever, and then I helped fluff the room for meetings tomorrow.

I headed out around 6:15, caught the 6:23, then the 7, and got home at a decent hour. The weather tonight is beautiful.

During the day I got an email that because of technical difficulties, if I put myself on the West waiting list I will be able to trade in my SE pass in August. Huzzah! Really and truly, it doesn't matter, it was just an other thing on the list of things to make this a no good, very bad day.

But I am happy to report my spirits are raised again at this point. I just need to take things as they come and relax a little.

This week, I'm going to Comedy Central Park (I'M SO EXCITED.) and we're going to the parade studio (which is really neat). Then of course there is the 4th of July, which I really need to make plans for.

Bleh.

Summer Fridays are seriously the best days.

We listened to PA's and Design Assistants and whatnot speak, then we met for our group projects for 2 hours. We got some stuff done, so that was good.

After work, Prescella, Lauren and I went to Havana Central, a cuban place in Times Square. It was nice, the food was good, but our waitress was super rude and overcharged us. I'm going to have to call the restaurant. I pointed it out to her and she said oh, that menu is old. Even though it SAID Spring/Summer 2011 menu. okay. sure.

So then I took the trains back to Passaic, missed one by literally 10 seconds, but made it by like 4 something. When I got back, Diane and the kids were there. Yay! We hung out outside for a while, then Diane went to pick George up at the airport and I helped Nagymama cook dinner. After that, bed tiiime. The kids both wanted to sleep in my room, so we dragged beds in there. Oh children. So restless at night. Haha.

Today I got them to drop me off at Barnes & Noble so I could work on my portfolio. Unfortunately, my entire time here has been spent trying to download Illustrator, Photoshop and Open Office. So frustrating. Hopefully it'll go through soon.

When they come get me, we're going to try to fix up the backyard to get it ready for the pool. Huzzah.

Tomorrow is my great uncle's 70th birthday party. That should be interesting. :)

“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.”

Mass transit is out to get me.

No, but really. It is.

Yesterday...

Let's see. I went in late to make up for staying late, but somehow managed to leave too early so I ended up short on hours. My brain was not in the mood for math and the clocking thing was being dumb. AWESOME.

Once I got in, I spent several hours sorting returns and trying to find receipts. I also spent time on the fit book and FINALLY managed to track down that tunic. Huzzah! I went to Macys and used my no nonsense stare down to get a manager to let me do the returns without any trouble. Remind me to show you that stare down sometime. It's INTENSE.

After work, I went to see two apartments. Amber was supposed to go with me, but she didn't feel well, so Alanna met me at 86th. We went to the first one, advertised as an artist's place with like 7 rooms and a great place for creativity. We were greeted by a very nice guy, though he was either stoned or THE most mellow guy I've ever met in my entire life. He gave us a tour of this RIDICULOUSLY large apartment. It would have been beautiful had it not been covered in things that should have been put/thrown away at least a decade ago. I'm assuming it was some rent controlled miracle situation because I believe his grandparents owned it previously. The room I would be renting was HUGE and had it's own bathroom and A/C. The people living there were all singers/songwriters/composers/photographers/etc etc. If I weren't working 40 hours a week, I think I would be up for the adventure of living there. It is an absolutely ridiculous set up, with the guy teaching piano lessons, them having weekly musical events in the living room, and just the strangest mix of activities I've ever seen. If I were here just to do my own creative thing, I would have been all over it. However, I'm working corporate at the moment and I'm too drained by the end of the day to deal with so many people. It also made me nervous how many people come and go. I'd worry about my stuff all day.

Alanna was in love with the building, but horrified by the guy and the apartment. I found this amusing. Hehe.

Next, we took a few trains to get to Union Square. We grabbed dinner at Chipotle, which was WAY more expensive than in Alabama, or even in Midtown. Ridiculous. But anyway. When we left, we saw the Korilla truck and Wafel truck. I was like dang! we could have had a waaay better, cheaper dinner. But oh well, such is life.

From there we headed to the next apartment to see. It's literally like a block and a half from Union Square, which would be an amazing location. The apartment was described as "Escher-esque" which was completely accurate. It had a bunch of random levels. It was a 2 bedroom that was turned into a 4 with one bathroom. It was cute and all, but I just wasn't feeling it. It was pretty expensive, too.

After that, I left Alanna to buy shoes and groceries and I headed to the metro to head back to Jersey. I went down into the underbelly of hell, hopped on the Q downtown, then realized I NEEDED TO GO UPTOWN. And you know what the Q is? That's right folks, it's an express train. Four stops later, I'm at Prince Street, walking a million miles in the underbelly to finally make it to the other side to go UPTOWN. I get on the R because it's the first one to come. You know what the R is not? An express train. It stops at EVERY station, and sometimes in between just for the hell of it. Fifty thousand years later, I make it to Herald Square and walk to Penn Station. The next train to Secaucus doesn't come for another 30 minutes, meaning the next train I can catch out of Secaucus is the 10:08, an hour or so later. Ughhhh. I finally get to Secaucus and sit for a long while on a bench, frustrated. Luckily, I borrowed The Help from Lauren and got to distract myself with reading.

When I got home, I went straight to bed. Well, I talked to Mom for a bit then went to bed. Last night was not a good night for me. I was extremely frustrated, hot, tired, and not dealing with things well.

And then dawned a new day. Still frustrated, still exhausted, but at least well air conditioned, I tried to have a sunnier disposition today. That is, until I got to Secaucus, saw every train was at least 45 minutes late, and had to fight my way onto the train against a guy with one of those damn rolling briefcases. PICK IT UP!

But I digress. I get on the train and think hm, it's really warm in here. And it's kind of dark. I sit down next to a large balding man in a suit who is hemming and hawing over his blackberry. As I settle in with my book, the conductor comes over the loud speaker to explain that if they turn the air or lights on in this train, the engine will shut down. If we would like to wait for an indefinite amount of time for the next train, we are more than welcome to step off. Oy. So I try to stay as still as possible so as to not agitate the humidity triggers in my hair that feel that moisture and say WE'RE FREEEEE and make my hair fro-esque.

As we progress, SLOWLY, towards NY, blackberry man is not having a pleasant experience. He continues to sigh, shift uncomfortably, and reach behind his back the entirety of the ride. I try to ignore him and distract myself with my book, but his discomfort begins to make me uncomfortable. As soon as we hit Penn, I bolt for the door. And by bolt I mean I stand up and wait for 10 minutes behind rolly briefcase guy as we inch towards the escalator.

Once I got to work, I knew we needed to do all of the returns. I also knew it was supposed to pour today. Lauren and I work on some other things, I FINALLY get the tunic in the mail, and then we are off to the stores. We spent several hours out, but we had quite the adventure. We got free ice cream outside Manhattan Mall, almost got mauled by Bieber fans at Macy's, and were within close proximity to Daniel Radcliffe at Lord & Taylor.

All by complete accident.

I didn't know Biebs was coming to Macy's until the day before yesterday. Apparently he made a women's fragrance? Because a 17 year old pop singer knows how ladies want to smell. Actually, a 17 year old pop singer can tell 13 year old girls how they want to smell. So I guess it's a good idea.

But the Biebs fans, man. They're rough. Apparently there was crying, screaming, and someone rushed him and freaked him out. Oh boy.

The free ice cream was from USA network to promote their new series Suits. I'm realizing now that must have also been why they were selling men's suits for $20 yesterday in that same spot. I really should have bought one.

And then we get to Lord & Taylor and there's a HUGE crowd outside. We were like oh shoot, what is going on? We get closer and see advertising for How to Succeed in Business all over the windows. We go inside, and there is a mass of people taking pictures of someone by the Clinique products. Weird. We ask who it is and some girl is like IT'S DANIEL RADCLIFFE, DUH. And we're all, rude. But cool. They all squeal as he walks outside to talk to...I don't know, really. The crowd wasn't THAT big.

But anyway. We got free chocolate as we left, and the stage had already been torn down. Short appearance, I guess.

As we walked back, it began to downpour. NOOOOOOO. We ducked under an awning and the lovely man in the building told us it was much more comfortable inside. So we stood in the lobby of an apartment building for a while. I had an umbrella, but Lauren didn't. Then we realized the guy next door was selling them. She didn't want to pay too much, so I told her to just offer him five bucks. She goes out and comes back with an umbrella. I ask how much and she says, "three dollars." WHAT?! That's unheard of when it's a downpour. But that was neat. So we make our way back to 11 Penn, soaked and exhausted. I spent the rest of the day filing, printing dev sheets and sorting things. I had to stay later today, but thank goodness I did because they threw a surprise fitting on us for tomorrow so I was able to get everything ready for that.

Tomorrow is a really important meeting and I'm sad I won't be there for it. But I get to spend half the day with the other private brands interns and half the day working on that final project.

Oh boy.

Oh, my outfits the past few days have been quite boring and not at all new. Tuesday was exactly like that black and white DB dress, but it was green black and white flower pattern on top. Wednesday was my lovely amazing I love it so much black Calvin Klein dress. I love dresses with pockets. And today was the floral cotton DB dress that has the full skirt. Puuurdy.

So there you have it. Tomorrow is Lauren's birthday, so Prescella and I are going to take her out for lunch after work. Yay!

“Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.”

Work has been craaaazy.

Yesterday we were getting ready for the concept meeting. I spent the day helping get that together, searching for an impossible to find blouse, and putting together boards. I stayed late to help set up the room.

I was supposed to go look at an apartment at 7, but I ended up getting to the subway station at 7, so luckily I was able to email the girl and tell her I'd be late. I met Amber outside the building and she came to look at it with me.

It's about a 20 minute walk from Amber's place, which would be awesome. The room is HUGE, the building is nice, and it's right by Central Park. So, if the girl emails me back, I'm going for it for July. HUZZAH!!!

Anywho.

Outfit for yesterday: I didn't love it. I just couldn't get my brain to function. I also realized I really hate wearing pants. I'm going to be a dresses and skirts kind of gal for a long while.

Top from Gap. It's pretty I guess, but I shouldn't have paired it with black.

Bottoms are my magic pants from Marshall's. No seriously. Black dress pants have always been a nightmare to find. These fit me PERFECTLY. Too bad I don't like the way I look in pants anymore.

Black shrug from Gap. Who knew Gap and I would be BFF?

Anywho.

Today was just as crazy. We had all intern Tuesday for half the day and learned about MCOM. We had an activity in Herald Square, and then we were dismissed. Lauren, Prescella, and I grabbed lunch, then chaos began. We had to help finish setting up for the meeting, then we went to the meeting, then I tracked down the mystery blouse, then I sat in on fittings, then I had to leave early because I got there early. Tomorrow I have to go in late because I'm going to have to stay late tomorrow and Thursday.

OY.

But, I love Charter Club and I love my team. So that makes it worthwhile.

Oh, today I got to brave FoodBasics. The lovely ethnically diverse grocery store where you take your life into your own hands.

Gotta love Jersey.

“Get up and dance, get up and smile, get up and drink to the days that are gone in the shortest while.”

Ahooyyyy there friends.

Oh, the adventures of a 21st birthday. I'd say mine was as tame as you could get, but I still had a great time.

So, the reason I had to wake up at 5:45 yesterday morning (I felt like a zombie) was that Chris and Amy flew in for my birthday! Nobody knew except Paul and Sarah, because I had to make sure it was okay for them to stay with me.

AND DEAREST HUNGARIAN SIDE OF THE FAMILY: Let's keep this hush hush, shall we? We all know Nagymama would not be pleased to hear he was here without seeing her. And if any of you upset her and make her mad at me....we will have words. And then YOU get to find me a new place to live!

So anyway. Their flight got in at 8:30. Ah, the adventures of getting to JFK from Jersey. I took the 6:51 train to Secaucus, the 7:15 train to Penn Station, the 7:45 LIRR to Jamaica, and by the grace of God managed to successfully board the AirTrain to JFK. That place is MASSIVE. After circling Terminal 5 for what seemed like forever, I finally came to the actual terminal. (The rest were moving walkways on your expedition to the flight area.) As I made my way to baggage claim, I was met by Chris and Amy. Huzzah!

They both looked dead tired because SURPRISE! they hadn't slept. At all. Oh dear. So I bought them both coffee and we began our trek to Brooklyn. That was fun. AirTrain to Jamaica. LIRR from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal Brooklyn. Then the R aaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way to Prospect Ave. What a journey.

We put our stuff down in Paul's apartment, then went in search of breakfast. We ended up at a market/grocery store and got sandwich stuff. Paul and Sarah left me a bottle of champagne (awww. :) ) so we got some orange juice to go with it. We got back and made sammies and mimosas. Yay! After that, I let them sleep for two hours. I tried to sleep, but my brain was not having it. Finally at 2, I woke them up and said LET'S GO!

We took the R to 23rd Street and trekked over to the High Line. They aren't used to walking so much, and they hadn't slept much, so that was an adventure in itself. We finally made it, walked about 3 blocks on the High Line, realized it was WAY too crowded, so we walked 10 blocks to 30th and 10th, where The Lot/The Lot on Tap/Rainbow City are. We walked around Rainbow City for a bit, then made our way to The Lot on Tap. Got wristbands and a Happy Birthday from the drink ticket lady, and got our tickets for $7 beer. Which seems really excessive. But whatever, it's about the experience.

We got....Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold, which I thought tasted peppery, which is weird. A Brooklyn Pennant Ale '55. That one was my favorite. Sehr Crisp Pilsner by Sixpoint Craft Ales, which was alright. (Please keep in mind that I don't drink beer...heh)

(Yes, I did just google all of those. Shhhh)

Anywho. I was a little hungry, so I got some really yummy dumplings from the Rickshaw Truck. And he wished me a happy birthday (Because by this point I was wearing my crown... pictures below..). So we found some chairs and sat for a while. I ALMOST finished the entire beer...it was large and I don't like beer..

Amber came to meet us and we all hung out there until around 5:45, at which point we started the journey to The Bourgeois Pig. We walked to 33rd and 6th and took the F from inside Manhattan Mall. Did anyone know that was there? I didn't...

So we got the F to 2nd Ave, got above ground, and had no idea where the hell we were. We walked two blocks, I checked my phone and realized we were going in the wrong direction. Whoops. So we walked back the other way about 10 or so blocks and 2 avenues and finally found it, though it isn't well marked at all. We stood outside waiting for other people, then we decided to try to get a table. There was a dude standing in the doorway, who we assumed would move when we went to walk in, but then we found out he worked there. Oooookay. So we told him we had 8 people coming, he went inside to see, and then came back out to seat us. We were seated at big squishy couches around a coffee table. I thought it was the waiting area....it was not. It was our table. For 8 people. Oh dear.

The place was suuuuper dark with red velvety chairs everywhere and medieval-esque decor. It was...strange. But cute. I liked it. We ordered a veggie plate and a punch bowl. Ohhhh the punch bowl. It had raspberries, lime, some sort of sherry, and champagne. And it was literally served in a silver punch bowl. They even brought us punch cups. Chris and Amy hated it, so it was up to Amber and I to drink it. Hehe.

Heather, Brittany, Prescella, and Alanna showed up, and we decided what to order. Alanna was the only other one who was 21, and she didn't want the punch, so now it was up to Amber and I to finish it.

Good thing it was delicious.

We decided to order a 10 cheese variety cheese board and a mushroom cheese fondue. Portions were alright I guess. Definitely could have been bigger. Our waitress wasn't exactly attentive, but she wasn't awful. The food was delicious. The punch bowl was better. Haha. It said it would serve 2-4 people, but with just two people sharing it I got a little woozy. Ha. I chugged some water and sat for a minute before attempting to stand. But I did it. I went to the creepy all black, dimly lit Victorian style bathroom. So creepy. And the toilet was black. Uh, what? It's like hide and go seek with the freaking toilet.

Anyway. I think Amy and Chris were hating being there, but they were good sports about it. We opted not to get dessert fondue, paid the bill, and headed out. We said good bye to the under-21 gang and Chris, Amy, Amber, Alanna and I headed in search of ice cream. We went to Lula's, then I decided I wasn't really feeling ice cream. We walked around some more, then decided to go to Nice Guy Eddie's. They had Kiss painted on the side of the building, so really, how could we pass it up? Plus, I needed a gentle segue into the world of bars.

With a solid "B" sanitation grade (Chris says that means the glasses are clean but don't eat the food...heh) Alanna was totally horrified to be there, but I was so much more comfortable than if we had gone to say, the lounge across the street. I promised Alanna I would go to some bars in Meatpacking with her soon though. :)

Chris told the bartender it was my 21st and she asked what I wanted. We narrowed it down to something fruity, so she said she would make me sangria. She asked white or red, I said surprise me. What she made was delicious fruity gold. I now know I enjoy white sangria from divey bars. Ha. So I got that and a glass of water and we grabbed a high top. As any good sketch bar should, Eddie's had a jukebox. Chris and I picked out some tunes and jammed the night away. After I finished my sangria, Chris and Amy schemed and ordered me an orange cremesicle shot? I think that's what it was. It tasted like cough syrup with vanilla extract. Mmmm? Either way I drank it successfully. Heh. Then I got another sangria and we jammed some more.

After that, Amber and Alanna parted ways and Chris, Amy and I went in search of some food for them since the fondue wasn't really their thing. We ended up at Rocket Joe's, a sketchy little pizza place off Delancey. We ordered a cheese pie and garlic knots and sat on the stools outside. All of our feet were in great pain. We ate the garlic knots but the pizza was too hot, so we decided to bring it back to Brooklyn with us.

And thus began our adventure in hailing a cab in the wrong part of town.

Every cab that passed was full. Some of the black cabs pulled up, but I've always been told to only take a YellowCab so I said 'No thanks!' After probably at least 15 minutes of failure, we walked over to...Allen Street, I think? I don't know, it was in front of Congee Village and finally got one to stop. We made our way back to Brooklyn, ate pizza, and passed out.

This morning, I had to wake up at 7. Not happy Theresa. Very tired Theresa. I cleaned up the apartment, made sure Chris and Amy got into the car to the airport, said bye, then went back to make sure everything was clean. Eventually, I headed to the subway and took the R aaaaaaall the way to 34th. I walked to Penn Station and got on the train to Secaucus. When I got to Secaucus it was an hour and a half until the next train to Passaic. Oy. I got coffee and some breakfast and headed outside to wait. Luckily, it was really nice out this morning. I helped some people find their trains, and got back here a little before noon.

I walked in to the living room to find flowers and a balloon waiting for me from my sister. Awwwww. :) That was the perfect thing to come back to. I also came upstairs to find Nagymama had cleaned my room. Oh boy. =P

Anyway. Now I need to do laundry, figure out how to get myself to CVS, and go to sleep eeeeearly. Nagymama went off to the party at Vicki's house. I would have liked to go, but I need to rest. I'm so tired.

Now, after my overly long winded blog, I would like to say THANK YOU! to all of my amazing friends and family that helped to make my 21st birthday so wonderful and so memorable. I love you all so very very much. :)

AND NOW IT'S PICTURE TIME.

My outfit: (looks familiar, right?)

Ugh uploading photos on a crappy internet connection takes too long. If you want to see the rest, go on my facebook!

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

I NEED to be asleep right now, so this needs to be short and sweet.

(BUT I TURN 21 IN AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES!)

Alright, so today I got to go in at 10 because I worked late so much this week. Sleeping until 7:15 was amazing. I caught the 8:23 train, which was practically empty. So awesome. I got to Penn, filled out a time correction sheet, got coffee, then went to my desk. They asked me to come up with names for our June and July collections, so I made some lists and they picked the ones they liked. So my collection names will be used for Charter Club Summer 2012. HOW EXCITING! Everyone was running around like crazy, so Sarah grabbed me for a meeting in the conference room and I walk in and my entire team is in there with boxes of doughnuts with a candle. AWWWWW. :)

So they sang Happy Birthday, I hugged everyone and we sampled the yummy yummy donuts. They were from Doughnut Plant, and they were AMAZING. PB&J, Lavender, Chocolate, Salted Nut, Bluebuerry, Creme Brulee...the list goes on! It was so sweet of them. AAAAND they gave me a beautiful card that Joanna made! It was so pretty.

So after that I had to run to our group project meeting. We walked the store to get a feel for the customer experience, then chatted about our ideas. Prescella, Margo and I went back to my office to clock out, then I walked down to Sarah's office. I walked down 6th, which I hadn't done before. It's amazing the differences between 5th, 6th, and 7th. Got her keys and whatnot, then hopped the 1 back to Penn. Waited in Secaucus for a while for a train, grabbed lunch at Sbarro, then got home just in time for the downpour.

I got Dad's bday card yesterday. It was so cute. :) I also got one from Diane and George.

Mom sent me a birthday box today, which had decorations and a crown and cute things. :)

I told Nagymama for my birthday I wanted her to bake a cake with me, so when I got home we did that. It was a yummy walnut cake with chocolate whipped cream, all homemade. And I'm not allowed to share the recipe because it is a family secret!

After that we picked up (I can't spell his name) Fritzy (awful. horrible. someone please tell me how to spell it in Hungarian!) and went to the Chinese buffet, Nagymama's second favorite restaurant behind Burger King. (I know. I know.) It was comical, to say the least. Pictures were taken, many laughs were had (mostly by the wait staff and me) and then we headed back home. They sang to me, we had tiny slices of cake, and then I went on a mad search for a good birthday dinner restaurant. I think I finally found one. :)

AND NOW. I'm going to go to bed. I have to be up at 5:45 tomorrow. (More on that later...)

OH OUTFIT.

“I've waffled before. I'll waffle again.”

Ohhh boy.

Alright, so Tuesday (6/14)...let's see. Tuesday was rough. It was super busy and I got sent out at 5:30 to do returns. Yikes. Amber and I had planned to go to the Museum Mile Festival, but I didn't get to her dorm until like 7:30 and it was raining. So we sat around for a bit then decided to go for it. We caught the bus to 5th Ave, then realized the Guggenheim was 20 blocks from there. hahaha oy. Oh, the reason we were going to the Gug even though I don't really like it? THE WAFFLE TRUCK WAS THERE. What waffle truck? THIS WAFFLE TRUCK. THE waffle truck. Wafels & Dinges. hahaha I follow them on twitter (nerd.) and I've heard such great things about it. We were both starving so we figured it would be fun. We walked the 20 blocks, got our waffles and YUM. I got a liege with spekuloos spread. It was amazing. After that I was SO thirsty, so I pulled out my wallet and some hot dog cart guy comes running up, "CAN I HELP YOU?!" I laughed and bought a THREE DOLLAR gatorade. He was so adorable and helpful and chatty so I didn't mind. We walked around for a bit then realized we were both still sort of hungry and craving Thai food. (I tend to talk about food a lot on this blog. And how I want to lose weight. BUT as you'll notice, I walk my butt off around this city AND I don't eat ridiculously large portions. Huzzah for moderation! But I digress....) So I found a place called Tiny Thai on Yelp! and we walked. It was about four avenues and 8 streets away, so we got to walk the waffles off. Haha. Tiny Thai turned out to be REALLY delicious and reasonably priced. I got pad thai and Amber got curry and we both ate less than half. They boxed mine up in a cute little chinese to go box. The atmosphere was fun, and it was packed at 9:30 on a Tuesday night, which is always a good sign. I'd definitely go back.

Anywho. From there, I browsed maps to figure out the best way back across town. We were both super tired and the subways we needed required us to walk across that damn transverse road. That road is like death march. You're like, oh nice, I can walk three avenues through Central Park. WRONG. You can walk five million miles along a sketchy road that is below the view of the park and surrounded by bricks and dirt.

But I digress.

We figured out that the M4 stopped 3 avenues over, so we walked to Madison and waited. Luckily, it didn't take too long. We went back to her dorm, I took a cold shower because I couldn't figure out her hot water, and we went to bed.

Wednesday (6/15) I was like yay I can wake up at 7 instead of 6! Wrong. I was up at 6 on the dot and I couldn't fall back to sleep. Oy. So I got up and was ready to go by 6:50, though I didn't have to leave til 8. So we sat and talked and tried to plan birthday things. After that, I took the subway to work. I successfully transferred from the 1 to the 3 at 96th. HUZZAH!

Work was stressful yesterday. Everyone is way overextended and hitting deadlines and so there's no time to breathe. I ended up staying until 7 last night finishing stuff up, then I didn't get to sleep til midnight. Oy.

BUT I got to talk to Heather, who just got back from 3 weeks or so in Europe. SO jealous. I've missed her dearly, so that was really fun to hear about all of her adventures.

Today (6/16) was just as busy and insane at work. My desk is literally covered in things I need to get done, as are my windowsill (I've never had to think about how to spell that before...how interesting.), filing cabinet, and shelves. It should be an interesting week next week.

I left a little early to make up for staying so late yesterday and managed to catch the 6:28. Huzzah! Nagymama and I chatted for a while, I made dinner, and now I need to figure out my trains for tomorrow and go to bed.

This weekend should be REALLY fun. I'm SO excited. =D In case you didn't know, I turn 21 on Saturday!

OH OUTFITS.

Tuesday (6/14)

This is probably my FAVORITE outfit of this summer. The top is Elle from Kohl's and has a nice ruffle detail with some fabric flowers.

The skirt is actually from Forever 21 and is ADORABLE.

I love love love this outfit. It may very well become my birthday outfit.

Side note: The top ended up sagging a whooole lot throughout the day, so I'm REALLY glad I decided (after taking this picture) to throw a white cami underneath.

Wednesday (6/15)

I shoved this dress in my purse and luckily it didn't wrinkle at all. haha. This is from Marshall's I believe, but they sell the same one at Dress Barn. Haha. It rubbed my armpits in a really weird way. TMI maybe, but I was surprised at how strangely cut the armhole was.

Today (6/16)

This dress is beautiful and a little strange. It's the other Calvin Klein dress barn find. It has a beautiful print and these weird HUGE godets that give me fake pockets on the front and back that flare out into this massive full skirt. The construction is so odd, but it's so beautiful.

I paired it with a Rampage belt and a cropped suit jacket from Torrid. I was really happy with this outfit, and it was REALLY comfy.

I tried to break in my Cole Haans with this, but my feet were not having it. Maybe next time, kids.

ANYWHO. There you have it. Life is crazy busy right now, but hopefully things are going to turn around soon.

Summertime girls are the kind I like. I'll steal your honey like I stole your bike.

6/13

Some days you love this place, and some days it makes your skin crawl. Today was not a loving day.

I think it's because I didn't get enough sleep last night, and the sleep I did get was not very restful. Ah well, such is life.

Got to work at 8:38, worked on some stuff, then Diane gave me a shopping mission. I ran around the close stores, went to B&J and Mood (have I mentioned my love of fabric? I love it. A lot. A lot a lot.) then came back. Worked on some filing, met with Rush, went to a meeting, did more filing, did the fit books, and helped Lauren with some Illustrator stuff.

Nothing about my day was bad, really. I just wasn't in the right place to deal with being shoved around on the sidewalk, ignored at H&M, and snapped at in the fabric store. Once I got to do the fit books things got better. It's something I did all the time last year, so it kind of brought it all back down to earth and made me calm.

Trains SUCKED today. All of them were late, all of them were packed, and the one out of Penn, aka the bowels of hell, had no A/C. Loverly. Got back and Nagymama had made dinner. It was yummy. Sat and talked a bit, but now I'm exhausted. I need to sleep so I'm not so cranky tomorrow. More shopping so I need to get my mind right.

Outfit:

Top from I don't remember where. It didn't wear well. I already lost a thread on the front and there are threads coming loose in the sleeves. I was not pleased. But it IS kind of cute.

Skirt from Belk in Ttown before it got rid of it's plus size section and became a terrible place to shop.

Shoes were my Vera sandals, but apparently I put them on after this picture.

Summer 2011 - I'm going to stop numbering my days

Let's just go with dates, shall we? We shall.

Saturday (6/11) I did a lot of nothing. I slept til 9 or so, did my laundry, cleaned my room, watched tv and did a lot of nothing. It was great. I made dinner for myself and Nagymama. It was.....an adventure. She liked it all, except I didn't cook the broccoli enough for her. Then I got the sex talk and the "How is your relationship with God?" talk. Like I said, it was an adventure.

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of when Nagypapa passed away. I know Nagymama remembered a few days ago, but I don't know if she did yesterday. Either way, we talked about him a lot, which was really nice. I miss him a lot. It's still weird to be here without him. But as Nagymama says, at least we know where he is.

So yeah. Eventful dinner.

Todaaaay (6/12) I got up around 8:45, got ready, took the 10:51 train in, hopped the C to 81st then trekked across Central Park. That is a rough walk. It's just along this dang road that the M79 is supposed to run down, but it wasn't today because of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Oh yeah, I made a friend on the C. haha he was going to the parade and trying to figure out where to get off. I told him 81st was pretty far up on Central Park, so he could probably get a good view there. We ended up walking down that awful road at the same time, so he slowed up and we chatted for a while. It was nice. A little weird, but good. We talked about McQueen, Cobain, and Che, with a little about God thrown in the mix. He asked where I was headed and what exhibits were at the Met. He also told me I "don't look like the lonely girl type." hahaha It was strange. But a compliment I think? I don't know. I guess it means I look like I have friends. We parted ways and I made my way to the Met.

I waited for Heather and her cousin for 45 minutes or so sitting on the edge of the fountains in front of the Met. Saw lots of interesting people. When they finally got there, we went in and went to the cafeteria for lunch. I paid $15 for some rice, chicken, a teeny tiny salad and a teeny tiny lemonade. I was not pleased. I wanted to go to the waffle truck, which I've ALWAYS wanted to try, and was about 7 blocks from where we were, but we couldn't. Booooo. I will definitely catch up to it soon.

Anyway. After that, we made our way to the McQueen exhibit. We stood in line for 20-30 minutes before we finally got in. It was SO packed. I wish there were less people, but oh well. The exhibit was amazing. It's so sad to know McQueen is gone. He was a madman, but an utter genius. The exhibit had SO much stuff. It was amazing to see the details in all of the garments, and to see his serious construction skills. I was in awe. The way the Met set up the exhibit was amazing too. The backdrops, the lighting, the music. It all enhanced the experience rather than detracting from it.

I'm definitely going back soon. I want to go when it won't be SO crowded. I also want to get through the rest of the museum again. It's been a while since I've been.

After that, we walked around a bit, went to the rooftop, then we were all tired so we left. I made that stupid walk back through Central Park and caught the C to Penn, the 4:54 to Secaucus, and the 5:35 back to Passaic. Now I get to relax, watch some tv, make my lunch for the week and try to plan my birthday. =D

Sorry, no pictures of my outfit today. I'll try to get one later. It's CUTE though. =P

Summer 2011 - Day 5

Summer Fridays are the best days.

Trains were a mess this morning. Got to Secaucus and there was a train broken down on Track B, so all the outbounds had to go through Track A and they were all at least 20 minutes late. One came bound for NY but came on the wrong track. OY. So we finally caught like the 8:08 at 8:25. Hustled out of Penn, chatted with Sarah in the elevator (have I mentioned how much I love my team? I love them. A lot.) then dashed to my desk and up to the 9th floor to talk to Elyse Kretz, VP of Talent Development for Private Brands. (That was off the top of my head. If it's correct that's impressive, right?) She was really interesting. It's cool to hear about how private brands are beneficial for Macy's.

From there I met with my final project group, which consists of the six interns from last summer. Haha. We all had a lot of ideas. It's amazing how prepared everyone was. I feel good about it this year.

From there, Prescella and I dropped stuff at my desk, chatted with Kristen (Kristin? I never remember who spells it which way...oh well. I still love my team. Haha) then we walked down to Adorama. It was a little warm, but it was a nice walk. Returned my portfolio, then made our way to Madison Square Park. One of my goals of this summer was to make it to the original Shake Shack (or any SS, really) so we decided today was the day. We waited in line for an HOUR and finally got our food. We both got Shack burgers and we split cheese fries and a Hopscotch Concrete. And I got an Arnold Palmer because I was about to DIE of thirst. Srsly.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Hands down one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life. Everything else was super yummy too. Totally worth the wait. The funny thing is, about 3:30, there was like no line. I KNEW going into it that 1:30 on a Friday afternoon would be awful, but it was all part of the experience! After we ate, we sat for like two hours just chatting and catching up. I'm SO glad Prescella is back this year. We have way too much fun.

After that we walked to Union Square. She caught the subway back to Brooklyn and I went to Duane Reade to get an Honest T Lemonade because, again, I was about to DIE of thirst. (I DRINK A LOT OF WATER. I WASN'T HYDRATED ENOUGH. LEAVE ME ALONE.) So then I just waited outside Nordstrom Rack and observed people. It was hilarious. The Children International guys had a terrible time of trying to get people to stop. One guy finally did and stopped to listen intently, which I think surprised the crap out of the CI guy. Haha. I also saw a guy in a "Utilikilt". I kid you not, this thing exists:

I also saw a creepy clown. Sarah told me there is one around Union Square that likes to expose himself to people. Isn't that lovely? The fashions I saw were...interesting. Lots of questionable choices going on.

As I was waiting for Sarah, someone came up and was like, "Hey!" and I turned around and it was Heather Rousso! Yay! So we got to chat for a while and we decided to plan some summer outings on Sunday when we go to the Met for the McQueen exhibit (I CAN'T WAAAAAAIT). Then Sarah showed up, I said bye to Heather, and we went to Nordstrom Rack.

NR is dangerous. It's one of those stores in which you will go broke saving money. We walked around for a while then she found some good stuff. I told her I'm great at shopping for other people and spending their money. I was correct. Hehe.

So from there we walked to Grey Dog, this cute kitschy little restaurant just off Union Square. I loved it. I got a yummy country salad, just veggies. So delicious. So we sat and ate and chatted for a while. I LOVE hanging out with Sarah. She doesn't treat me like her husband's little cousin, she treats me like a friend, and that's SO nice to have. :) Especially because she grew up in the city so she's lot of help and lots of fun. :)

From there we started the journey back to Penn. We passed all the food trucks and found Coolhaus, a neat little truck that's supposed to have amazing ice cream sandwiches. Of course we were curious, so we went for it. I got a red velvet cookie with coffee toffee ice cream. Yummmmm. All hand made, all delicious. Sarah got a brioche cookie with lemon thyme sorbet. It looked delicious too.

We eventually made our way up 5th back to Penn, passing by all the weird wholesale places that look skeevy and sad when they are all shuttered at 8 o'clock on a Friday night.

Hugs and good byes and I was on my way back to Passaic. The people on the train from Secaucus were looooud and obnoxious. Bleh. But I made it home, chatted with Nagymama, and now I'm ready for bed. I'm SO excited to sleep in tomorrow. It's going to be amazing. Tomorrow will be laundry and organizing. 

I sort of wish I were going to the BBQ festival, because it was fun last year, but there's not really anyone around who wants to go. Maybe I can convince Heather to go Sunday. :P We shall see. If you are in the area, you should go. It's really neat.

Aaaaanywho. I need sleep.

Oh wait! Outfit!

Please excuse the mess.

Top: Target. You can't tell, but it has these adorable ruffles all down the front and around the neck. It's lined in jersey and super comfy.

Cardigan: Either Old Navy or Gap Outlet. I looove cardigans from any Gap, Inc. store. :)

Pants: Who knows, but they were a terrible idea. For one thing, it was HOT today. Not as bad as yesterday, but still pretty bad. Also, they were suuuuper baggy and I didn't realize it. They didn't start to sag til I hit Secaucus. Oy. I looked like I was wearing someone else's pants. Not cute. These are going in the bin.

Shoes: Toms for Neiman Marcus. You can't see them, but they are adorable grey lace up ones exclusively made for Neiman. Loooove them!

Fun story, I texted Rush last night to make sure they were appropriate for Casual Friday. They were. haha

So yeah, there you go. And you've heard about my meals.

Here's how I rationalize the food:

I eat pretty healthy all week. I make a point to. And when I go out, I make it a point not to over do it. But eating is just as much a part of experiencing New York as sight seeing, so I'm not going to refuse to go out just because some of the stuff isn't great for you. I showed control by splitting everything at Shake Shack with Prescella, and I got a SALAD for dinner, which is hardly bad for me at all. Sure, the cookie sammich was NOT good for me, but it sure was tasty, and I will make up for it. :) I also walked all over the place today.

Long story short: live a little.