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.

My life is sweet like vanilla is.

Hello there! So I'm not sure what this blog will be about, yet, but I think for now I will have it be a lifestyle blog to help me remember all the wonderful things I have been able to do. So, it is currently October, and I went pumpkin and apple picking with my lovely boyfriend Zach last weekend. We went home and carved our pumpkins, and baked the pumpkin seeds. The jack-o-lanterns came out pretty nice!

Zach in the tree trying to get the best apples for us :)

Last weekend I also had Monday and Tuesday off from school, so I got to stay a few extra days at home for the weekend. On the left is my mom posing somewhere in New Jersey where she made us stop to take pictures of the ducks (below) and let Daisy, my dog, chase them. On the right is Daisy running around at Admiral Faragut, one of her favorite parks near our house.

If she wasn't afraid of the water she would jump in to get them, I'm sure.

Awkwardly posing with the ducks ;)

And now I am back at my dorm, and it is an extremely rainy and miserable day. So I've been trying to get in the sprit of Halloween - since it's my favorite holiday! - and decorated a bit the other night. It looks pretty charming in here when it's all lit up. And today I've lit some candles and had a bunch of tea.

Right now I'm listening to Lana Del Rey's album Born to Die. And I am about to continue reading The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I must note that this is the first book I'm reading for pleasure since some time last year when I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I've read journalistic works by Didion here at school before, but this is the first novel of hers that I've read. I actually got it for free a few weeks ago when my town had their annual town-wide yard sales. So far I really like it, and if you're in the mood to get really sentimental and appreciate the things you have, then I'd say read it!

Melissa.

p.s. I just found this photo of our jack-o-lanterns from last year and decided to post them because it's fun to look at the differences!

Zach's is on the left, mine is on the right!