NYC Swag

I'm in love with NYC. I seriously love this city so far. Every weekend I feel like I'm on vacation and I loovveeee ittttt!!


The last three weekends have been soooo much fun! First Brad was in and we had an amazing weekend. Highlight from that weekend I believe would be the dinner we had at Lincoln (or maybe Sushi Samba) - both were delish and amazing. (and obvi with amazing company)






Lincoln Resturant

Then Chauncey came to visit NYC last weekend for his sister birthday- so of course I hired him as my private tour guide of all the bars in brooklyn and manhattan. He def fulfilled his responsibilities. Sitting at the beach at Coney Islands drinking, hitting up some delicious food places (best bagel ever), seeing his fav places to hang out when he went to NYU, to going to the original Coyote Ugly was so much fun!

Hogs and Heifers

This weekend I was prepared to have kind of a low key weekend, not do anything crazy and try to not spend money because 1. I had work to do this weekend and 2. I'm leaving for Africa in a week and need to save!! I ended up meeting an old high school friend, Krista, on Saturday for a few drinks. Those few drinks turned into such a fun night! We ended up going to see Nunsense (just opened on Thursday) and sat in the first box next to the stage. Gonna be honest, it was awesome. And the show was good too! Also, because Krista has an amazing job (which I'm extremely jealous of and makes me want to quit mine and do something with the theater) I got a Marry Poppin's umbrella from the show... I can't wait until it rains now. Cannotttt wait!!

Today I got up and wanted to explore a little before I finished up my work and I'm so glad I did! I ended up hitting up soho for a little and then ventured over to the meat packing district and to check out chelsea market. Um, can I state for the record that Chelsea Market may be my new favorite place. LOOVEE IT!! So cool.




Chelsea Market

So I was worried about spending money this weekend so I decided to take a new approach. I took out $200 and promised myself that I wouldn't use my card at all and only use cash. I wasn't allowed to spend anymore than the $200. And guess what!! I did it! I actually came out with $25 left (and that was with spending $100 on getting my hair done w/ a mani pedi!) It's funny because my friend (BEN!) text me while I was out and was like 'be responsible! Don't spend too much money' and when I told him my plan with the cash he was impressed. I try... I try...


Yay for fun weekends! Can't believe I won't be here for 2 weeks. Gotta spend next weekend in Pittsburgh for work and then on Monday I leave for Zambia with my Baby! :) Yay Yay Yayyyy!!


Going along with the Mary Poppin's theme- I leave you with this for this post:



Peace, Love and aching feet from walking all over the city... haha

Finances

 

I've never really been one to be financially sound. I'll be honest about it- I'm horrible at saving money, spending money, anything to do with money. In my mind money really does seem to 'grow on trees'.
Growing up I always got along well with my Dad, except for the topic of money. I can't tell you how many fights stemmed from the subject. ESPECIALLY in college. I won't lie- I was very irresponsible. I would just charge everything and anything I want.

I have a very impulsive personality- in all respects. Normally this is fine and tends to lead to a fun life, but in respect to money it really puts a dent in my wallet. I'm a marketers dream. I always fall for the 'sales', the $1 bins or aisles, and all the little items they put up next to the cash register.

Moving to NYC and having a pretty decent rent payment and still funding my car back in Pgh (which, BTW, you should buy it: BUY MY CAR!!!) while still trying to maintain my not so cheap life is proving to not be so financially sound. I have an upcoming trip to Africa (yay! can't wait) and about a million other things I want to do and I really need to start thinking about my future. Turning 25 this year has affected me more than any other birthday. I realize I'm on a path that's really setting up my future (not saying the rest of my life didn't), but within the next few years I'd like to see myself married, starting a family, buying a house, etc. And the way I'm going right now I need to stop being so selfish and start to plan.

While Brad was in town we had a conversation about savings accounts and he was explaining to me what he does. I always find it interesting to see how people manage their money. It's funny, because I really do ask a lot of people how they manage their money, yet I've never really taken the steps to go down a road myself. (that's a lie... I have started and usually end up stopping because I find something that I really 'need' at the time)


Example of what'd 'need'... actually this is really cute.
I hope I don't see it out in the store.

So last week Brad sent me an invite from ING to open a savings account. I had to laugh about this. I've dated others in the past who have been just as careless as I with money (which really scared me because with my track record I need someone who's responsible with their finances) and was really shocked by the email. When I said something about it at work my one manager responded with 'Awe, he's starting to plan for the future' and the other responded with 'He probably just wanted the $10 you get from having someone else open up an account' Hahaha! Both made me laugh. Whatever the motivation was it gave ME motivation to get my act together.

I'm making a commitment (live on the internet haha) that from this day forward I'm really going to start thinking twice before I buy things. That I'm going to start planning for my future and really think, in terms of all my goals, what I need to save- how much I need to save- and exactly how I'm going to do it. (my Dad would be proud)

And with that, I leave you with this...


Peace, Love, and Savings Accounts

Flights

Ever since I was little I was fortunate enough to have awesome parents who took us on amazing vacations. We usually flew and I've honestly been on a ton of planes in my life time. If only they would have had this website from the time I was little!!

So my bff showed me this website called Flight Memory that you plug in all the information about your flights and it calculates all these statistics from number of flights, miles traveled, duration, etc. It's awesome! I decided since I'm finally a traveling consultant I'm going to keep track of all my flights! It'll be cool to look back and see all my flights!

http://www.flightmemory.com/signin/?go=statistik_erzeugen

I thought this was appropriate as the song for this post- hahaha!!



Peace, Love, and Airline Points

Honestly?

It just blows my mind when people release songs that are just so horrible....

Pittsburgh local morning radio show 96.1's Morning Freak show posted this today. Is this serious?
http://www.961kiss.com/pages/morningfreakshow.html?an=Rebecca-Black-Friday

#1. How did this girl even get to have a single released and make a music video?
#2. WHY IS SHE TRENDING ON TWITTER?

If you look on twitter the comments are ridiculous. Here are a few of my favs haha

Ok, so this unknown girl is totally getting her 15 minutes right now... but let's take a moment to chat about my bff Kim Kardashian. Anybody see last weeks episode where she works with The Dream and records a single. So basically he didn't even know if she could sing (which she can't) and wanted to make a single because he knew people would buy it (which I did). Watching her record the song was almost painful. The auto tune they needed to do to her voice is ridiculous. If you haven't seen the episode, watch it and then listen to this song.

But let's be real, you know I love the beat of this song and you know I'm listening to it nonstop. Ughhhh damn you Kim Kardashian, dammmmmmmmmmn you!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

So I leave you with my new favorite single, Jam (Turn it Up) by my dear bff KK.


Peace, Love and 15 Mins of Fame

Biebs And Rascal Flatts

I couldn't get the entire video to post onto my blog, but check out this video. I've heard the song on his Never Say Never - Remixes, but I don't think I realized how much I really liked this song until I took the time to listen to it and watch this video.

Justin Bieber And Rascal Flatts Lament “That Should Be Me” In New Video

Awe. I love their voices together... not a match I would have paired up to start with, but I like it :)

Check it outtttttttt!!

so happy.

Forewarning: mushy post.

Sometimes I really, honestly want to stand on top of a mountain and scream how happy I am.

It's amazing how much we take for granted. I know in my past and present relationships, romantic and friendship, I start to get into a grind and really overlook the amazingness people bring to my life.

The bf is currently working in Botswana and has been gone for 7 weeks. It's been interesting working on a fairly new relationship with a 7 hour time difference. One thing that's amazing about my boyfriend is that he honestly is such a thoughtful, selfless guy. He's the kinda guy that I know would do (and does) anything for me. He has an amazing family that is so much fun, and he really has his priorities in life straight. Although having him gone hasn't been ideal I really believe it's brought us even closer together.

This past week he was able to come home for a week!!! :) I felt like a little kid waiting for Santa to come last Thursday night. It actually took him so long to get home (a few hours driving & several flights over 3 days) and he arrived Friday morning. I couldn't fall asleep,then when I did actually fall asleep I'd wake up I'd look at the clock and count down the hours til I got to see him, and then at about 6am (which, if you know me, I have to force myself to get out of bed last minute to go to work) I decided I couldn't (or attempt to) sleep anymore and went to the gym.

The past week was amazing! Although we didn't do like a ton of out of the ordinary stuff I had the most fun and such a memorable weekend. Just being with him made me so happy.

We actually left Pittsburgh on Thursday and came to NYC for the weekend before he flew back to South Africa this morning. We did a bunch of fun things in the city and it was fun to experience them with him.

Having a few Guinness for St. Patty's Day (and Brad's Birthday!) in the East Village :)

I wish he wasn't going back, but the good news is I don't have to wait that long to see him again! I'm going over to visit him the first week of April so I only have to wait 3 weeks to see him!!!

Me and My Babe at South Street Seaport 

(contrary to popular belief they do not sell crab legs down there, but they do have good beer)

I was trying to keep myself busy all day (church, shopping, laundry, working out...) and trying not to think about how amazing this week was and how sad I am that he's gone again. Long distance relationships suck, but it's ok. It'll work out for the best :) It has to - right? 

21 days til I leave <3 yayyyy!!

Yup. This post's song is definitely from the bieb's. Somebody to Love. I think it's appropriate :)

Peace, Love, and African Boys.

Life is a ball and it should always be a costumed one ;)

FINALLY! finally, finally finaaaaaalllyyyyy it was GA GA TIME!!!!!!!

Last spring we went to buy tickets to the GaGa concert which was in September. Of course it sold out in like 1.3 seconds and we didn't get tickets. So they ended up adding another date and we bought tickets like the next week to the February show. So patiently we had to wait almost a YEAR to see her! And mannnn was it worth the wait!

She not only performed the hell out of every song, she brought such a strong empowering message that it was hard to not be touched by her concert. It honestly was like halloween. SO many people were dressed in leotards, caution tape, spandex, fun tights, ridiculous make up, and even a meat dress or two.

At one point of the night GaGa said:
"If there's ever been anyone or anything that's ever made you feel like you don't belong or you don't fit in. Or ever made you feel like you're not good enough or thin enough or pretty enough. Or you can't sing well enough. Or dance well enough. Or write a song well enough. Or you'll never win a Grammy. Or you'll never sell out an arena.You just remember you're a god damn super star and you were born this way. Make tonight be your liberation of all those things. And don't leave loving me more, but leave loving yourself more."

The crowd went willllllllddddddddddddddddddddd. There were honestly so many good performances I can't decide which one was my favorite. I've narrowed it down to Alejandro, Telephone, Paparazzi and Bad Romance.

Honestly, such a goooooooooooooood concert. I wanted to post some videos on here from the concert, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal and I'm trying to be a legal blogger ;) hahaha

Her new video came out today though!! Check. It. Outtttttt:




Peace, Love, and Little Monsters :)

Virtual Vision Boards!

My friend Agnes has blogged about vision boards and I've always wanted to create one. Vision boards are really a board of assorted pictures, quotes, etc that you envision you want to achieve. Something that can help push you to your goals and help motivate you everyday! Now, you know I'm a virtual person so I never made an actual 'board'. This evening I've been feeling really really crappy (I need a new immune system) and I decided to make my own virtual vision board!

So here it is... my VIRTUAL vision board

Listen to this:

I'm kinda obsessed with this song right now. Hope you like it!! :)

Peace, Love and Visions

-Juls

Ohhh hello NYC ;)

So this past weekend I totally had a 'dream nyc' weekend. I shopped, I walked around, got totally lost, got on the wrong subway going in the wrong direction (Al would have been proud of me), learned a lot about the city, tried new things, had so much fun!!!!

I went out on Sunday with a mission. $100. I wanted boots and all the accessories I could buy. I wanted to try pink berry. And I wanted to learn Soho (and see the Dash store- obvi).

I'll say I was very successful.I didn't go over my $100. I got 4 headbands, a hat, 2 scarves, a ring, boots, 2 tank tops, 3 candles, jeans, pink berry anddddddddd a hot dog haha! (and then I did buy hair dye and laundry detergent that pushed me over the budget, but that's ok- that doesn't count)

I found this store called So Good- it's on Broadway right past China Town (if you're walking uptown from my apt!). I won't lie- it's all costume jewelry and accessories, but if my mom, sister and I ever opened a store it would totally be like this. LOVED IT!

In my tour of Soho I definitely stopped at the Dash store. Obviously had to. Now I just need to make a trip to LA to go see the one out there so I can say I've officially been to all of them.

When I asked my roommate Rj if he'd heard that the Dash NYC was going to be carrying Scott's new clothing line he answered with 'I don't keep up with the kardashians' hahahaha I loved that line. I laughed for awhile.

Can't wait to explore more!! We did walk up to Bryant Park thinking that the fashion week stuff was going on there only to find that it was nottttttt and it was at Lincoln center... which was about 40 more blocks away. We had been walking for about 2 hrs at that point and we decided that we put in good effort, but we were done and didn't want to walk all the way up there. Maybe next year I'll see NYC fashion week! hahaha

Download itttttttttttttttt:
Came across an oldie, but goodie the other day. It came on while I had my ipod on shuffle and I got excited cause I haven't heard it in like 12 years.



Peace, Love, SOHO!!!!!

Hide Yo KIDS!

So there's a local band in Pittsburgh that's amaazzzinnngggg- Fountain Infinity. I've had the pleasure of meeting them through one of my friends. Check them out!! They're awesome https://www.facebook.com/fountain.infinity

I knew that some of my followers would really enjoy this video... I mean who doesn't love a little Antoine in their lives???

They played at the Hard Rock Cafe in January (I unfortunately wasn't able to make their show- was actually flying back from NYC at the time!) but I'm pretty upset I missed it!!!

Check it out on their youtube page. Guarantee you won't be disappointed: Fountain Infinity: Bed Intruder

Peace, Love and HIDE YO WIFE
- Julie