When Things Fall Into Place...

I don't want to give myself the evil eye, but I'm just so happy right now and can't help express it. I know there are people who have it worse, but I have had a challenging past few years and have worked really hard to change that and this is one of the first times I really feel like I am in a great place. I know without some struggle success wouldn't feel as gratifying, and I am humbled by my experiences that have brought me to this place. I feel very blessed and thankful for the opportunities and acknowledgments I have gotten. I am so content in this moment right now. I love my family, I love my friends, I love my work, and I love my education and the leadership positions it has set me up with. These are the things that fulfill me at the end of the day and I finally feel like they are all in good places for me and I couldn't be happier.

Finding the Connection

Since this year has already been a lot of change, I thought it was a good time to get a new job. I stumbled into a job working for a temple of all places. I was the kid who always ditched religious school, so when I was offered the job, I thought it was the universe playing a sick joke on me. I thought they would offer me an internship working in their office and with the staff, of all things they offered me a job teaching hebrew school, the class I despised the most of all as a teenager. As I was trying to find a way to politely turn them down, they then offered me a paid internship on top of teaching. I decided to give it a shot, it couldn't be any worse than retail. The more time I spent working the more I started to like it. New York is a big city, and it can get a bit lonely at times, being a part of a community has been a really nice addition to my week. Don't get me wrong, I've still got a lot of learning to do before I become a great teacher, but my kids are fun and they are learning with me. On the weekends I help out with events and its more of my sociological internship aspect of my job, I get to talk to the members and the staff and get feedback, see what keeps the place going on a day to day basis and what I can do to make it better. Some of my students come to my events and services with their families, which makes me feel like I did something right that week in class. I feel appreciated for my work and very much welcomed into the family and I didn't realize how much I was missing that piece of my life until I got it back. It has nothing to do with religion, because I don't find myself to be a religious person, I happen to feel more of a connection to my spirituality. Its all part of finding a balance for me, which I know is part of most people's lifelong goals, as it is for me, but has been a highlighted recently for me as something I should focus more on prioritizing.

As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life -- delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay -- I hold this question as a guiding light: "What do I really need right now to be happy?" What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way.

-Sharon Salzberg

School Spirit?

So being the year of learning how to enjoy my life in New York, I decided to become more involved at school, and what better way then to join clubs on campus. So I started with something a bit educational and signed up for a international relations course with a club component that involved traveling to Washington, D.C. with my new delegation. It's something I did in high school and loved so I figured I would give it a shot in college. First off, its way different on the college and international level and second off, it's so much harder! It was all worth it once we won a bunch of awards in D.C. and I got to meet some really interesting people and made some new friends on campus. The second thing I've done has been shocking, even for me. I might have join the typical college club, I'll give you two hints; its all about sisterly love and has to do with something greek. Yes, me of all people, before you roll your eyes, I already did that, once I started to learn more about it and the group I really started to like everyone involved and really enjoy going to all the events. Its only been three months and I'm already exhausted by everything, isn't it time for thanksgiving break yet?

A Foodies Kind of Club

Since my mom, grandma, and cousin were still in town, we decided to have a fun girls night at Ajna Bar, formally known as Buddha Bar. We walk down a long dark hall into the bar area, and waited for our table over cosmos, we were one of the first reservations of the night at 8 o'clock so it was a bit quiet, but the restaurant was so fun to walk around and look at, we didn't really mind. The restaurant is also used as club space on the weekends and for events so, its quite the scene after midnight. It is an Asian fusion restaurant, with a great sushi menu as well as some French influence. The food was pretty good, but due to its club atmosphere, hard to enjoy over the noise and hard to see due to the dark ambiance. Since it had just been my cousin's birthday they did a huge dessert with sparklers, which was really the highlight of the meal. Overall it was entertaining, but not delicious, I would definitely go back and sit at the bar and people watch though.

Back To Basics

Since my mom is in town, we went to one of her new favorites in Los Angeles thats from Manhattan. Fig and Olive is well-known in the city and its Meatpacking location is fun to sit and people watch on the weekends. The concept is great, simple and fresh ingredients with classic pairings and beautiful plating. I also love they they have a whole part of the menu designed to let you taste a little bit of everything. Since part of their title is olive, they have many different types of olive oils for you to try that they bring over and they all have such distinct and bold tastes. I had this amazing fig, prosciutto and gorgonzola with aged balsamic crostini that was just outrageously amazing. Then we tried a few different chicken and lamb dishes that were so interesting and delicious. After a very large meal we decided to walk it off through the streets of the Meatpacking District and do a little window shopping at DVF and Christian Louboutin, just window shopping...

‎"Having a strong desire or being successful does not mean that you are going to feel great all the time. No matter how enlightened I become, I will not be positive all the time. You have to understand the swing of the pendulum. It must swing back and forth. The only other alternative is to sit still in neutral, which is precisely what most people do."
-Thomas D. Whillhite