Another weekend

I'm going to try and post more than once a week. But until then, you'll just get a digestive of what I've done...mostly about the weekend.

I think my growing 'dread' towards blog posts is, while I really really want to do them, I also want to document everything! So my new game plan, before I get into an awful cycle of never posting, is to just post random things. You may not get all the details but it's better than nothing.

Last Friday was a work group outing to upstate NY for rafting and a pig roast. It was amazing. Can I just mention how wonderful the weather is up here? Fantastical. Of course my dad says that only way to maintain my love for the summers up here is to go back to Austin and remember what a real summer is.

Now...for a post in pictures:

Charter bus ride...2.5 hours...

Bus that took us to the drop off site for rafting

Views from the raft, on the Delaware river...I think this is NY

And this is Pennsylvania, but I may be wrong

Quaint town, so small there were no cell phone towers and consequently no cell service, just the way I like it

Bear...the most beautiful, friendly and fun golden retriever I've ever met

Our EVP's country house that hosted our lovely dinner picnic, it was GORGEOUS

There was even a port-a-potty for our convenience

100lb pig that had been roasting ALL day

Caterers from a local, gourmet restaurant

We relaxed...I gave Yesenia an Asian foot back-rub, hahah

The best meal I've had all summer probably. Slaw, roasted corn salad, cucumber salad, ROAST PIG, chick pea and beans, mac & cheese...I had shamelessly ate two loaded plates...

And we had s'mores for dessert!

NOM NOM NOM

Other miscellaneous items from last week:

Jackie came back from Europe and brought us macarons from the world-famous Ladurée, birthplace of the first double decker macarons

Vivian sent me an H&M gift card for my birthday, which I bought a 'much needed' new shirtdress, I love it.

I went to a private party featuring DJ Questlove (drummer from the Roots) and Janelle Monae

,

The beautiful building I work in

HOORAY FOR BIRTHDAYS

Despite my initial feelings of gloom and homesickness about celebrating my birthday away from loved ones, I woke up on August 3rd...okay, I left work on August 2nd with a spring in my step. Lauren and I celebrated early with Coldstone (it's only 1 block down...the end of my semi-flat stomach) in my favorite combo--cake batter with a brownie mixed in. We walked...off our ice cream...and found a liquor store. Liquor is sooo cheap here ya'll. And they sold flasks! My first second gift!

My actual birthday in pictures:

My birthday OOTD. My shoes got lots of compliments.

My favorite flowers from my team. My 5lbs of strawberries from my favorite nerd. Oh! And that is Larry. We both have the same crappy desks. We bond over that.

So I planned to bring a sandwich for lunch. But lo and behold, I left my lunch meat out the night before. I made a big fuss to Lauren about it. When it was lunch time, my usual lunch crew came over. We always discuss where we're going to go, get food from there and meet at a outdoor, roof-top lounge down the street. For some reason, I couldn't find my cards (needed to access my office and the building) and kind of held up everyone. Andy, a supervisor on my multicultural team, was like, let's just go Sandy. So I just stopped fumbling and followed him. There is an entrance through the conference room so we walked in there and...

SURPRISE!

Baked by Melissa, two-bite cupcakes. L-R:Sundae, Cinnemon, Cookie Dough, Mint Chocolate, Red Velvet NOMNOMNOM

Yesenia had planned a birthday lunch for me with the rest of the multicultural team filled with sushi and cupcakes! It was a total surprise, because I hadn't made a big deal about my birthday. I mean, come on, at this point in the day I had not even picked a restaurant to eat at even though I invited some friends to dinner. It was truly touching and I had a great time at lunch.

Afterwork, I was craving a taste of Texas. So Yesenia, Yolanda and I went to El Rio Grande...a Tex-Mex restaurant where we munched on chips and watery queso while sipping the strongest margarita EVAR.

Dinner was at Fig & Olive, a lovely, modern restaurant suggested to me by my seasoned New Yorker friend Henry. It's concept is built around olive oil. They only cook with olive oil and serve contemporary Mediterrenean food. It was quite lovely.

PENNE FUNGHI TARTUFO-cremini mushroom, parmesan, black truffle paste, fresh parsley & scallion - Truffle Olive Oil

Fun

Laughs

Birthday wishes

It was a wonderful night. And it didn't stop there, I'm still getting presents in the mail. I am deeply grateful for the love I have from my friends and family. This birthday has been one of the most enjoyable and fun, which is not what I expected at all. In fact, I half expected to just get drunk and cry about not being with loved ones. Haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my post with it's hipster-filtered photos (I used an app on my iPhone to change the appearance of the photos). Here's a little more just to end my post.

Thanks for the lemon Tommy and Thu. My favorite brand of candle. In my favorite color.

I don't think anything can express how much I love my mother.

Here comes the sun...

Okay, seriously, it's been raining every other day since I've been here. To the point where I had to call home and get my rainboots shipped to me. Which I'm so glad I did because it is rainy ALL THE TIME!

I'm not going to complain about the 60-70 degree F weather, it is really nice albeit cold when combined with the rain. But I am TIRED of the rain. It is really cramping my style...literally. I only brought like 2 pairs of work pants because I thought it was SUMMER here. So my dresses and skirts need to wait til it stops raining!!! GAH!

On another note went to happy hour (HH) with a bunch of McCann interns the other day. It was nice to meet all the other interns outside of work. We hardly ever see each other unless it's at intern lunch Wednesdays or if you sit next to people because the company is so large. There were 50 cent wings and I was so hungry but refused to pay half a dollar for a CHICKEN WING.

After HH I took a tour to Chikalicious Dessert Club even though it was late and I hadn't eaten dinner yet (GASP!) for 2 reasons: 1. It was one of my roommate's birthday and she didn't have any plans as we all had to work the next day plus she's been waiting on a package (filled with clothes) from home which has still not come in so she's pretty bummed and 2. I love cupcakes and have made it my goal to go to at least 12 cupcakeries while here...yeah.

So I made the trek around an East Village. Side note: I swear, buying the iPhone is the best imvestment I could have made especially living in NYC and exploring it. I use it all the time to find places to eat, subway stations and where to go in general. I've probably used it more in the past 12 days then I have all school year. It is sooooooo helpful.

The good part, cupcakes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBARA!

Clockwise from the top: red velvet, triple chocolate, s'mores, caramel

The were delicious! I only had some of the s'more frosting and it is hard to describe, not actually fluff but more like marshmellow frosting fluff. DELISCIOUS.

Oh and bonus OOTD from yesterday, what I usually wear even though the office is generally more casual: