Fuck it, I'm gonna have a party!

The last few weeks of the semester at school were super busy, so we didn't get to do too much Christmas-y stuff unfortunately. However, with the Rockefeller Center tree and SantaCon going on, it was kinda difficult to escape all the festivities - and I'm not complaining! When Zach came up for the last weekend I would be in NYC, he brought me some beautiful flowers which definitely helped to cheer me up.

The photo on the right just makes me smile. It's a picture of Zach through a little heart-shaped paper straw cover he made for me while we were waiting for our food at Crif Dogs. Crif Dogs is an amazing hot dog place on St. Marks and has an awesome speak easy which you can access through an old phone booth built into the wall. Awesome place, one of our favorites. Also, you can see on the bottom of the photo how the table is a vintage video game player, pretty cool.

SantaCon, santas, Buddy the Elf, and Christmas trees everywhere! Lining the streets with the bars!

Cupcakes for a mid-day snack after finding out some really sad news - the boyfriend always knows how to cheer me up.

On a cheerier note, the beautiful Freedom Tower getting festive and colorful. Unfortunately, since Sandy though, the PATH system has been all messed up so we've been forced to walk all over Manhattan to find Zach a way home on Sunday nights when he comes up to visit me for the weekend :(

A HUGE highlight to my (was it last?) weekend. Zach brought me to see Nada Surf playing at the Bowery Ballroom! It was the first time I'd been to the Bowery although it's literally about five blocks away from where I live. They put on an amazing show, and played for two hours! Zach was a trooper, he doesn't listen to them but he didn't complain once, and he actually said they put on a really good show! I thought they did incredible, and they played a great variety of songs which I was really happy about (since they put out a new CD last year which I wasn't too crazy about). FYI, I have a Nada Surf tattoo which says "Always Love" on my ribs, and they are one of my all-time favorite bands, so I was beyond exited to see them play, especially since I hadn't seen them for a few years.

Rockefeller Center, that's the tree down there on the right! 

Santa in a Cadillac at Rockefeller Center - Zach walked up and got a high-five from him. He said that the lady in the passenger seat was filming, so we said how one day we will find the video online somewhere and laugh about it.

On the right is an image from a quick stop for a snack at Pomme Frites, the best french fry place in Manhattan without a doubt, with delicious dip options. 

On the left is the Chelsea Market decorated all beautifully for the holiday season. On the right are the presents I got for Zach all wrapped up.

Here is a funny image from Christmas, we kept feeding Daisy but I guess we forgot to give her a bowl of water! So she started drinking out of my cup haha! :)

One Mile House bar is right next to the Bowery Ballroom, it's a great little local spot we keep going back to with tons and tons of beer on tap!

Zach got me a new iPhone case because I was in desperate need of one, and it's pretty and was only five dollars! On the right is Jayne sawing off her arm with one of my friend Lauren's cousin's toys. We celebrated my friends Lauren and Kaydee's birthdays who both turned 20 this year right before Christmas.

This live version of Without You by Lana Del Rey has been stuck in my head for at least the last month. I think it's so beautiful, and honestly I like it better than the recorded version.

There are two big things though which have recently happened and I think deserve mentioning. While I was studying with a friend for one of my finals I heard about the Massacre in Connecticut. My heart goes out to all of those families who suffered a loss. I can't imagine going through something like that. Also, my roommates mother passed away right before finals as well. My heart truly aches for her, and my thoughts are with her and her family right now.

Lastly, here are some photos from New Year's Eve last year - I know it's not quite here yet, but I really wanted to share these photos. I miss the old days.

Melissa.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Well this is what New York City has been looking like lately! There were some Christmas Carolers in Washington Square Park the other night which was really nice and cheerful for New York and also for the fact that I've been bogged down with work lately. It's nice to see a little bit of holiday cheer throughout the city, even if it sparingly. On the left are a few little decorations that I got to remind myself that it's Christmas and to be excited and enjoy the holiday season! They do cheer up our little apartment.

There is a lot of food in this post, because it just so happened that we went out to eat at new or interesting places over the last few weeks and I wanted to document them! On the left is artichoke pizza from the same-named place on MacDougal Street here in Soho. So delicious! And on the right is a croissant grilled-cheese with tomato from a little cafe around the corner from me that I just discovered, called the Little Fox Cafe. I believe it's a new place. Very charming, and extremely quiet, so when Zach and I went in to grab this special they were advertising we felt kinda strange talking while everyone was quietly studying. So, good place to study and bad place to go for socializing, I guess! Also, I went to pour some sugar into my cup of coffee I got there, and the entire lid of the sugar came off of the container and literally spilt all over the table and rendered my coffee un-drinkable! Also, our food wasn't very hot. The place is promising but all in all we didn't have a great experience there unfortunately.

My mister looking cute ;)

We also checked out AsiaDog for the first time, another place around the corner from me I've been meaning to try. They have delicious hot dogs and french fries, and it was interesting to taste the difference between hot dog joints in NYC (like, Crif Dogs is so much different, the two places just have such different tastes). Anyway, Zach got a hot dog with crumpled potato chips on top, and mine included chili and sweet onions, they were very good. Also, with the french fries we got some sort of delicious sauce that they recommended.

Eileen's Cheesecake, literally a block away from where I live, is ranked throughout the city as the best cheesecake place. This had only been the second time I had tried a mini cheesecake from there, but it was delicious. Actually, I had a raspberry, white-chocolate mousse, so not technically cheesecake but still delicious. On the right, back at home, I saw Daisy cuddling with Zach and couldn't resist a photo-op, although Zach thought otherwise.

At Spice! Can you tell we love this place? We're always here. Two words: Pad Thai.

This past weekend I was so happy to come home and find that my parents didn't get a Christmas tree yet, so I couldn't wait to go get some hot chocolate and search for the perfect tree with everyone! We actually went to a place we've never been to before because on a Saturday night at 10 PM apparently everyone was closed! Can you believe it? Anyway, the place we ended up in was really nice and had a beautiful little seating arrangement (on the left) where you could take pictures! And on the right is my mom decorating our tree, it came out lovely!

Zach looking charming under the lights while searching for a Christmas tree, and me posing with Daisy who wouldn't sit still.

On the left is the most adorable little puppy that Zach's mom is fostering for the time being. He came from a home with over 39 other huskies, because the owner was a hoarder of dogs. He is just so adorable and a really well-behaved puppy, surprisingly. And me with Daisy, on the right, because despite the fact that she is super stubborn, she still loves me :)

Also, I got my first internship! I applied for a position at the Editorialist, an online magazine for luxury accessories, went to an interview with the Features Editor, and then did some exercises via email. Then they offered me the position! I am so happy!

Once it is Thursday night, after 10 PM, I will finally be able to relax, but until then I have lots of work to do still. And even after then, I have to study for two finals...but each day that I finish another assignment, paper, or project, it feels that much better! So close, yet so far! And after this, I can't believe it, only one more semester (well, one and a half if you count a summer class..) and I cannot wait!

Melissa.

Well, it's been a while again! The last few weeks have literally flown by for a few reasons: Hurricane Sandy, Thanksgiving, and literally endless amounts of work leading up to the end of the semester. Also, during the last few weekends I've been broke (my money for the semester has officially run out) and so we haven't been able to do many things.. plus I've been home so much, so we're not spending so much time in the city.

Although last weekend we did get out finally! On Saturday morning we drove to the Giants Stadium and then later to Montclair. At the Giants Stadium they have a big flea market every weekend. It was the first time I went there, but it was really nice. There were a lot of people who had really good collections of items (like the mermaids sitting above left) or beautiful furniture (like the table on the right, which I wished I had asked how much they wanted for it because I know I'll never find something like it elsewhere!).

When we drove to Montclair, we got a late lunch at one of our favorite places called Cuban Pete's. The food was delicious, as usual. We got a few appetizers, which were red peppers stuffed with plantains, and deep-fried plantains stuffed with sausage. Also, we got some of their delicious iced-tea in a pitcher. I've been wanting to try their sangria, as well, because it's BYOB and we can add our own wine to it, but we will have to do that next time. For our meals we both got our usuals: Zach got a chipotle skirt steak, and I got mango salsa chicken.

Later that night we went to a big Barnes and Noble in Northern New Jersey. The book on the right we found in the children's section, and it reminded me of my dog :)

During Thanksgiving I got to see so much of this cute little puppy. And my dad brought home some delicious chocolate wine (I ended up drinking the whole bottle and getting more throughout the weekend). 

On the left is my mom and I at Thanksgiving :) And one day I hung out with my friends Lauren and Jayne. It was actually later in the day on Black Friday, so we checked out some deals at the mall and then went to dinner at a place called Cool Beans.

And now I'm back to school.. and back to dealing with this ridiculous schedule leading up to the end of the semester. Although it was nice choosing my schedule for next semester (as it was my last one to register for!) the end just feels so far away right now!

Melissa.

I feel like It's been forever since I've updated, just because so much has gone on and I was updating each weekend before this! Well, the weekend before Halloween was really fun! NYC was starting to finally look like fall with some beautiful, colorful leaves in Washington Square Park, and I picked up some of these beautiful decorated pumpkins (right) at the Farmers Market at Union Square. These flowers on the left have easily become my favorite type of flower just in the last month, I love how unique they are! I just wish I knew what they were called...

Our Halloweekend was fun! My dear friend Megan came down from New Hampshire because her birthday is on Halloween, so I got to see all of my best friends again :)

We waited until the last minute with our costumes, so we just rant to K Mart and got some face paint and painted ourselves as zombies in the bathroom of Au Bon Pain. On the right is the cutest little painted skeleton with a mustache I saw when we were walking in the West Village.

We also went to the High Line on the West Side, which was originally train tracks and has been transformed to a pretty garden/walkway. It has some really nice views.

And then Sunday came.. and then everyone was in panic mode about Hurricane Sandy. And Zach half convinced me to come home with him before I got an email that my classes on Monday had been cancelled. So I went home, and eventually all of my classes were cancelled. Monday afternoon, we lost power at both of our houses.. and it stayed out for about a week. So there were lots of candles and fires to keep us in the light and in the warmth.

Thankfully our houses were fine, and the majority of our neighborhoods were fine despite lots of trees and electric wires being down. But, other places, like Seaside Heights were not so lucky. Their boardwalk has been destroyed, including their piers and dunes. Lots of beaches got hit hard, and I do know some people who have lost their homes or have had their homes damaged and I am hoping that things turn out for the best for them. The beach down the block from my house was all flooded (above) and it was kinda cool looking.

Daisy in front of the fire place keeping warm. Luke and Tony in front of a lantern while Zach built a bonfire in his back yard for something to do in the aftermath. We consumed lots of Pumpking beer, as well, in the spirit of the holiday :)

Surprisingly! IHop was open only a few days after the storm. EVERYWHERE was closed, and it was our saviour to have delicious pumpkin pancakes.

And the gas lines have been horrendous... they stretch for almost a mile long down the road. It seems to have gotten better in NJ but now that I'm back in NYC I still see long, long gas lines on my way to class.

And since I've been back in the city I've been enjoying this delicious hot chai mix I got from Target (among many other things) for ridiculously cheap! And today it is snowing... on the right is me walking home in the snow and being soaking wet.. don't let the smile fool you I was pretty miserable actually.

But the snow does look quite pretty on the New York rooftops..

And if you haven't heard, we have the same president! I'm really glad Obama was elected. I would have loved to have voted this year (for the first time!) but I am registered in NJ and couldn't go home to vote yesterday.

Here are some photos from last Halloween.

Melissa.

Queen of Coney Island.

This is a photo of Zach and I on the Long Island Rail Road. This weekend was the first time I've been on the LIRR and only the second time I've been to Long Island.

We got off at Carle Place (the view of the sunset at the station on the right) because it was the closest stop to where we were going: Old Westbury Gardens. Usually, it's a botanical garden! Which was apparent when we got there because it was so beautiful. But we went for an event called The Rise of the Jack-O-Lanterns, which featured over 5,000 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns! It was pretty amazing.

This was the gorgeous mansion that was on the property. It was technically blocked off but we snuck through the trees to have a peek, shh.

Some handsome photographer who I met at the Gardens ;)

So many jack-o-lanterns! There were even Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ones! (Obama is the blue one on the right)

Coney Island on the right! I don't know how these artists made these pumpkins so intricate but they look amazing all lit up.

This was called the ghost walk! How cool, right?! We were told to refrain from taking pictures in this section, but the pumpkins all lined the ground (like the photo on the right) and most were eyeballs of all different sorts, my favorite!

For Breakfast this morning we went to the Little Cupcake Bakeshop on Prince & Mott. I always walk by and was so excited to finally try it! Zach got a Red Velvet and a Blue Velvet cupcake, I got a Black and White Cake cupcake.

On the left is our dinner from Friday night, when we went to the B Bar & Grill on 4th & Bowery. It was delicious but the service wasn't very good. Also, it was a bit pricey. On the right is dinner from tonight that we made: chicken cooked in Chipotle salsa, rice, and fried plantains. Delicious! We also went to Spice this weekend, which is our favorite place to get delicious Pad Thai for cheap.

I also liked how on my last post I added a photo of last year's jack-o-lanterns. So, I'm thinking that for these posts I'll continually post a photo at the end of the post from this time last year, or from last year in general that I'd really like to remember.

Us Halloween shopping last year on Broadway!

Melissa.