A Night at the Opera

For my birthday, Alex took me out for a fancy sushi dinner and then to the opera. After a decadent dinner at a fantastic sushi restaurant by our apartment, we headed to Lincoln Center and walked up to the Met with the huge crowd of wealthy New Yorkers. We waited in the box office line and got our tickets before heading into the theater. The people watching at the Met Opera couldn't be better. Although my favorite was the father son duo in the front row wearing viking helmets and checking out the orchestra before the performance.



Second row tickets to the Met are insane. We could see directly into the orchestra. We barely had to look up from the individual seat tele-prompters to see the performers. I think my jaw was on the floor when we took our seats and saw our view. Behind us were so many rows and balcony levels of people and I felt like a princess to be in the second row with my favorite guy.

As the lights dimmed, the gorgeous chandeliers retracted four stories up into the ceiling. The curtain went up and my attention was entirely focused on the beautiful performers. The set was absolutely spectacular - planks manipulated electronically to form different sets throughout the performance. The singers were suspended from the ceiling floating around for most of the performance. It was breath taking. I was in love.



For Alex's first opera, he certainly chose an interesting one - Wagner's Das Rhinegold. A two and a half hour German spectacular with no intermission. But he was a great sport and actually enjoyed it - even asking whether I would like to see the "sequel"... little does he know there is a set of 4 operas that succeeds this one. I feel very lucky to have found a guy who enjoys the arts as much as I do. And I'm excited for our next adventure to the opera. I know it will be incredible.

28

I literally had a whale of a birthday!

Some back story (so you don't think I've totally lost it): Growing up on Long Island, and being a child who watched a lot of Nickelodeon, I was inundated with commercials for Carvel's Ice Cream where they heavily advertised the "Fudgie The Whale Cake" and that seemed like the most scrumptious, wonderful birthday cake ever! As a young kid, I was too embarrassed to ask my parents for a cake in the shape of a whale. So I put my wishes aside and was never ever disappointed on my birthday. But, in the back of my mind, I always thought about good old Fudgie. After a few years, I became too cool to have a cake in the shape of anything other than a cake... and my whale cake dreams faded. This year when I came home for some birthday celebrating and a delicious lobster dinner, my parents informed me that they had not yet bought a cake. And I decided it was the perfect opportunity to tell them about my dream from long ago. After a lot of laughs, my whale cake dream became a reality! We enjoyed a few slices of my delicious cake (which was a splash!).

On the day of my actual 28th birthday, I went to a nice, quiet dinner with friends at an Italian restaurant in the East Village. It was a relaxing, fun night of catching up and eating delicious pizza and drinking wine on a Monday.

At first, 28 didn't feel much different than 27. When people ask me "What's new?" my boiler plate response is typically "Nothing Much." But in the past year, so much has changed - between my career changes, the move into Alex's apartment, and the very exciting vacations, there have been so much new on-goings in my life! "Nothing Much" is so 27. 28 is full of "tons of cool stuff." I'm proud of all I have accomplished over the last year.

Here's to another year of love, laughter, and taking chances!

Keeping Clean in 2013

Every year I try to challenge myself with a new year's resolution that will keep me on my toes when I get too comfortable in my routine. This year I pledged to de-clutter my life. Living in a tiny studio, most people would think I don't have that much stuff and they'd be dead wrong. I had so much stuff, I was totally overwhelmed. After the new year, I took inventory of all the things I had to go through:
-An overflowing closet that I hadn't edited in years.
-Books from grad school (and embarrassingly enough undergrad school also) that I had no use for anymore.
-Kitchen items that were not working like they did when I bought them.
-Decor from so far back in the past that I couldn't imagine bringing it to a new place.
-Fashion accessories that had fallen out of fashion.
-And so so so much more.


It started with the packing, then the unpacking, and now the settling in. So far I've gotten rid of 6 boxes of clothing, 3 pieces of furniture, a box of shoes, a small bag of jewelry, and a huge bag of books.

Alex's long hours leave me tons of alone time in our room - which I spend organizing, sorting through things, and putting things away. We have been doing a ton of cleaning, organizing, and shopping to make our apartment feel like home. It feels good to have a nice clean slate to start our adventures living together. Although at first I thought it was a negative, it turned out to be a blessing that Alex had so little stuff in his apartment. It has lent us a ton of room to build a great home.

After many trips to the Container Store (my new favorite place to get inspired to clean and organize), I finally feel like we're making serious progress with our space. Anyone have any suggestions for organizing and declutterizing?