25 Days...

Three weeks out! And a great news just in time, Im officially employed! Im really excited to start my new job, it will be back in LA, in the city, so basically its time to start apartment shopping. If I can find a place in NYC, LA will be a breeze. New job, new zip code, new chapter. Its definitely been overwhelming and crazy getting ready to finish up, but its also such an exciting time. Everyone I know is staying in the city after graduation, so its weird to be the only one packing up. I just want the last few weeks to be fun and spend as much time with my friends as possible. Cant wait to leave for Europe after graduation, its going to be amazing. I've been waiting for this trip for four years! Life is about to get crazy!!!

Spring In The City

As the weather starts to warm up, this weekend some friends are visiting and its the perfect excuse to try some new spots! First up, somewhere I've been wanting to go forever, Employees Only, a speakeasy themed bar and restaurant in the West Village. After walking through a curtain and past a tarot card reader, it suddenly turns into a dark bar, with candle light and lots of people, with a small area of tables for dinner. We quickly sat down and ordered beautiful drinks and dinner. Bacon wrapped lamb chops and duck confit salad were a hit! It was a great way to start off a long weekend!The next day after a day of shopping and fun, we went to one of my new favorite spots, Morimoto for an incredible dinner and then decided to grab dessert and drinks at The Standard Hotel. Our chocolate mousse came with spatulas and more chocolate than I could ever eat, it's officially the best chocolate mousse in the city! The night continued with lots of bar hoping through the Meatpacking District.
Saturday we watched the NYC pillow fight and then enjoyed the nice spring weather before one last night out on the town before my friends had to get back to their normal lives and the gym after too much chocolate! We had our last weekend meal at my second home, Trattoria Del Arte; with some burrata, pizza and prosciutto! A city fit for a foodie, and her friends of course!

Meet Baby Brooklyn!

When I got home from Texas, I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me, a new puppy! Meet little Brooklyn, we had been talking about a puppy, but she sort of fell into our laps and I just couldn't say no. Poor pup was left at the vet, and after the doctor had taken such good care of our other dog, we just couldn't say no. She still only four pounds, but she's healthy and now has a good home. Her name definitely fits her tough, outspoken personality already! It was nice to come home for the holidays to a pleasant surprise, I can't believe its the last time I will be in LA before I permanently move back! I've been crazy busy all week trying to get a job locked in, and after lots of phone calls and research, I can finally say that I am officially employed starting this summer! Its been a crazy four years, and I am starting to get really excited for the next phase of my life. Putting lots of positive energy out as I get ready for the big move!

Texas Time!

For my last spring break, Im starting off the week with a quick weekend trip to visit my brothers; we're all flying in from all over the country to see each other for our last break. Once we all landed in Austin, it was off to see the sights and enjoy all the live music and drinking. And it's completely true, everything is bigger in Texas; bigger, louder, and crazier in Texas! The city is beautiful, there's a great mixture of parks and rivers to enjoy along with downtown and University of Texas to explore. We had so much fun going out every night to 6th Street and bar hoping with all our new friends. They also took us to some of their favorite spots, like canoeing at sunset and barbecue on campus. The weekend was finished off with celebrating Holi, which basically is an excuse for people to throw colored powder and water balloons at each other and run around, pretty much our favorite new holiday. It was a great weekend!

65 Days and Counting...

Not to sound cliche, but its already the beginning of the end. I can't believe that it's already been four years! New York has been a bigger education for me than school itself. I can't really sum up the experience because I don't think I will know its impact on me until I leave. Its been a really difficult four years, but I know I needed to do it. So now it is time to enjoy the rest of my time on the east coast and get excited for the next chapter. Now to finish planning my amazing graduation trip...

Food Filled Weekend In Boston

For Valentine's Day and President's Day, I took the long weekend off to head north to Boston for some family bonding. After watching all the beautiful snow up the New England coast, we immediately headed of to dinner for Valentine's Day, we got the best table in the house, being a party more than two. The best part about eating with my cousin is we always end up splitting the best dishes so we can try more things. We ordered gnocchi and seared duck with cherry sauce, which was very similar to our favorite meal we grew up eating on vacation every summer. Our food journey was off to a great start, and with the weather still being nice, for winter in Boston that is, we headed out to lunch the next day. We went to Asana at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to have one on the most amazing lunches ever! Ordering the tuna melt with grilled yellowfin tuna, truffled cheese, pickled onions and capers all on a croissant and a short rib sandwich with melted cheese and caramelized onions. But the best thing had to be, hands down, the crispy brussels sprouts with parmesan cheese, garlic and thyme, they were incredible! We walked down Newbury Street which is one of my favorite spots to shop and enjoyed a sunny day. Later that night we went to The Beehive for some live jazz music with a great glass of wine and dinner. Afterwards we went out to a fun club nearby. The next day we started early with an all day V-Day Pub Crawl with a bunch of friends, if theres something Boston is serious about it's definitely their drinking, we finished off the day with much needed greasy Chinese food take out and an early night home. Unfortunately the next day we woke up to a snow storm and opted to stay in until later that night. In the morning after the snow cleared, we headed to Trident Booksellers and Cafe for ricotta and blueberry stuffed french toast and eggs benedict, amazing breakfast inside an old-school, quaint bookstore, just what we needed. After a beautiful day we met up with an old family friend for dinner at Lolita Cocina and Tequila Bar with tapas and margaritas including pork al pastor quesadillas and fried chicken tacos. It was a perfect ending to a crazy fun weekend! Its always fun in Boston, can't wait to go back!

Birthdays, Blizzards, and Shopping Bags

Nothings like Blizzard Nemo to slow down the birthday celebrations! As the storm started coming in, I couldn't help but fight it and go out anyways. After a very long dinner at one of my favorites, Poco, in the Lower East Side, I had to defy the snow and go bar hopping. Since it was a tuesday night, we didn't have a ton of options, but it was definitely fun! I was hoping to go out with friends the following weekend to celebrate, but we were all a bit snowed in. With crazy winds and over a foot a snow, the weekend became quite slow. Of course I still managed to do what I really wanted, have a day off to go shopping and other girly things, like afternoon with tea and macaroons. Hopefully birthday weekend part two in Boston will be more eventful!

Tapas With A Twist

After a couple crazy weeks of school, I deserved a night out with my girlfriends. We decided to try The Social Social on the Lower East Side. Since it was a last minute choice, I made an early reservation, but even when we arrived the place was already packed. We sat down in a very dark, loud, yet cool scene. I ordered a cucumber vanilla cosmo, and it was really good and equally strong. We ordered some of the restaurant's most popular dishes, starting with the french onion soup dumplings, we were all a bit confused, the concept was interesting, but the taste was just odd. We then shared sliders, my favorite being the kobe philly with truffle and goat cheese fondue. Finally we finished with arroz con pollo and shrimp and grits, they were both really good, not amazing, but definitely enjoyable. I would love to go back to try other items on the interesting menu.

Heading South of the Boarder

While I was home I visited my family and friends in Mexico City. I spent a week eating, exploring and catching up with some of my favorite people. There is truly nothing like authentic Mexican food, I couldn't get enough fresh tortillas, mole, oaxaca cheese and occasional tequila. One of my favorite parts of Mexico, that would be their eating schedule; breakfast, coffee break, late two hour lunch break, drinks or coffee in the afternoon and a late long dinner. We need to take a page out of their book, they truly enjoying their meals. I learned so much about my beautiful family and our history in Mexico, seeing where my dad grew up. It was such an amazing week, from the food, to the nightlife to the museums and parks, me encanta Mexico!

Year of Love

Happy New Year everyone! Its been an incredible year, and I know this year will be the most exciting year yet. Last year I did not set any new year resolution and just tried to enjoy the moment, and I think I have gotten better at that. This year I want to make my goal to love more. To love my friends and family more, love my last few months in NYC, love my new job and love my upcoming new west coast address. I want to put more love and happiness out into the world! So I will start with saying I love you all, may 2013 be the best year yet!

Home for the Holidays

After a crazy fall of storms, bad weather and craziness, I am so excited to head home and see my family. This break will be one of my last times visiting LA before I officially move home. Enjoy your holidays everyone!

Holiday Parties

Right after Thanksgiving it is already time for Holiday parties! This week we had a city-wide student holiday party at a fun restaurant in midtown and then a few days later we had a school event, followed by a work party. After three parties I decided to host two nights of hanukkah, starting with a Mexican themed night, to feel at home with a skirt steak taco bar, blood-orange margaritas and of course potato latkas. For the second night I did Italian food, with chicken marsala, vegetable latkas and quinoa with veggies and lemon vinaigrette along with a white prosecco pear sangria. Its been a fun two weeks of holidays during a chilly New York winter. Happy Holidays everyone!

My Favorite Family Dinner!

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal! After a crazy few months, I am so happy to be home for a few days. After preparing and decorating it was time to sit down with the whole family and enjoy some turkey. With an new addition to the family, everyone seemed to have baby fever all night. A baby always makes the holidays more fun and brings some new energy to the group. After lots of prime rib, turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes it was almost impossible to eat dessert, almost. Im a sucker for pumpkin cheesecake! The best part of the night is when my closest and oldest friends come over for dessert and catch up on three months of stories, along with photos and home movies! Since we were stuffed and had to move around, we decided to attempt the black friday midnight shopping. Just an all around bad idea. After sleeping all friday, I got to visit with friends and enjoy a sunny weekend before I head back to NYC. Saturday night we went out to dinner for my mom's belated birthday at Osteria Mozza, Mario Batali's amazing Italian restaurant. Enjoying fresh made pastas and mozzarella, delicious wine and dessert. A great end to a great long weekend with the family!

I learned what it is to be a tough New Yorker this week, so many incredibly sad images from this whole disaster, but I found this cover to be the most amazing of them all. Just thankful to be safe and warm. Watching and waiting for the city to get back to normal.

Chef-lebrity and Fashion Filled Weekend

        One of my best friends flew in for a quick weekend vacation so we hit the ground running! We started our weekend off at my favorite place, Trattoria Del Arte, only the best Italian food in NYC, there's a reason every celebrity eats there. Then we were off to some retail therapy and window shopping. For dinner we went to Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's tex-mex style restaurants and had a fantastic margarita and dinner. The next day we wandered around the village and rested up for a crazy night. We started off with dinner at Morimoto, Iron Chef's very modern sushi bar and restaurant, the food was incredible and so were the drinks, we ordered Morimoto's 'chicken soup' and fish along with the most interesting presentation of gyoza I've ever seen! Don't forget to check out the bathrooms when you visit!

Then we were off to the Gansevoort rooftop for drinks VIP style, and then off to a club! For our morning remedy we went to Buvette in the West Village for France's version of ham and eggs. The of course off to do some more shopping up town, where we fell in love with some more shoes that neither of us need, but desperately want, landed in designer heaven and just couldn't stop ourselves. Thankfully she had a flight to catch before either of us did any more damage! Gotta love part two of girls weekend!