Atlanta!

Off to Atlanta for the weekend for a leadership conference, wish me luck ya'll!

Birthday Weekend!

Being a big birthday I decided that I had to have one crazy night in New York, and that's exactly what happened. It was a weekend filled with great music, great food, and great fun! Being overly involved with work and school I could only take off friday and cancel sunday meeting for my birthday weekend, so I took full advantage. I started off with breakfast at Sprinkles, which are the best cupcakes ever and New Yorkers just don't appreciate this Beverly Hills obsession quite yet, everyone needs to try Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes. This month they have this amazing salty caramel cupcake that I could eat a dozen of all by myself. Then it was off for a bit of birthday shopping for the afternoon. The next day we checked into the Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District, where all the great restaurants and clubs are located. I have to say the hotel was gorgeous and in the most perfect spot! We all grabbed dinner at Poco, one of my favorites before we headed back to get ready to go out. After some explosive champagne and midnight toasts we went out clubbing for the rest of the night. After living here this long I've never gone out clubbing before and now that I have it's fun, but not something I will start doing regularly. After getting home early in the morning, everyone slept over and we were starving in the morning. What better than Shake Shack! Since it was Superbowl sunday we went uptown to beat the crowds and patiently waited for our cheeseburgers, milkshakes and fries. As an avid In n Out lover, I have to say Shake Shack is the best burger on the east coast. It was truly the best birthday meal ever. The weekend was so much fun, I was so happy to be with my closest friends and and even some family.

Birthday Brunch

After some amazing weather in Los Angeles, I decided before I leaveI I would love to have lunch somewhere outdoors. Since I always head back to school right before my birthday, we celebrated a little early. Eveleigh is a great new restaurant off sunset, named best patio in LA, so we went for sunday brunch on sunny Golden Globes day. With an Australian themed menu in a beautiful cottage restaurant, it's very different than anything else in West Hollywood. From vintage lamps and furniture to large chalk boards and bird cages, the restaurant have a homey and rustic look. We started out with with a great cocktail, a chamomile-infused tequila with lemon juice and honey, making for the best lemonade I've ever had! I ordered corned beef and fingerling potatoes with a scotch egg. A scotch egg is a soft boiled egg, that is then fried and it was amazing. My friend got spelt pancakes with pear syrup and we also ordered french fries with truffle aioli, that no one could stop eating. Not only was the food really good, but it was also very different than your usual sunday brunch, which made it interesting. Between the food, the fantastic patio view, and most importantly all the Aussie/actor waiters I had so much fun trying out Eveleigh.

Happy New Year!

Looking back through my posts of this year, and my goals from last New Years, I can't help but to feel proud. I told myself I wouldn't have any regrets this year, and I haven't. I tried to push myself to become a better person, and find more balance to my life. Although there has been some hard moments, I have strived to find more joy and happiness. I have surrounded myself with more positive and motivating energy and learned more about myself and what I want out of life. My family and friends have been my solid support system and helped me every step of the way and for that I am always grateful every year. It has been a year of change and growth, but I will always be humbled by the wonderful people around me that teach me every day how to be a better person. I've been thinking a lot about what my goal would be this year, and I've decided that I don't want to set one. I just hope for health and happiness and to enjoy the journey along the way. This year I am putting more joy, love, understanding, passion, forgiveness, excitement, and laughter out into the universe and hope everyone else does too! Happy New Year everyone!

Celebration of Life

As I landed at LAX to see my family for the holidays I received an unfortunate phone call that my great-grandmother had passed away. While I walked through the airport alone, and found my luggage I tried to process the information and grasp the news I had just gotten. Although I thought the appropriate emotion was sadness, I could't help but to feel a sense of calm. My great-grandmother lived an amazing, adventure filled, exciting life for 99 years and enjoyed every moment of it. She was never sick and was loved by everyone she met. She was wise beyond her years and yet so relatable at the same time. She always had a perfect manicure and lipstick on wherever she went, and loved to dance, even at her 98th birthday she demanded a live band! I enjoyed every moment we shared and loved her very much. Born in Rhodes, Greece she lived her life very relaxed and used her care-free attitude in every aspect of her life. She taught me not to sweat the small things and enjoy every day and for that I will forever be grateful. Although I am of course saddened by the loss of our family's matriarch, I feel so lucky to have had her in my life. She truly was one of the most amazing people I ever met. Love you Nona Lucy!

Much Needed Mac & Cheese

After a very long night of fun at Formal with my sisters, we decided that we should probably eat something, and what better than some cheesy, gooey, greasy goodness from S'MAC. S'MAC in the Eat Village is a tiny restaurant the makes all sort of crazy macaroni and cheese concoctions that are addictive. After walking through the village and all the people dressed up for Santacon, holiday version of halloween for NYC, we finally got the S'MAC and all ordered our own crazy type of mac and cheese and tried to claim one of the few small tables. Although it is a bit of a hassle to enjoy these mac and cheese, trust me, its well worth it. I ordered the Mediterranean, which has kalamata olives, goat cheese and spinach, my friends ordered everything from the Parisienne, with figs and brie to the All American with four types of cheese. The serve them burning hot in their own skillets with extra melted cheese and bread crumbs on top. This was exactly what we needed after our night. Since we were already out and the city seemed to be in the holiday spirit already, we decided to go to the Union Square Holiday Market, your one stop shop for everything holiday related. You can find anything from hand made jewelry to children's toys. And since we weren't completely stuffed already, we stopped for hot chocolate and then for apple and pear cider and crepes of course. There's nothing like the city during the holidays