We’ve entered the third week of my month in New York, and nobody is working harder these days than my undeniably heinous Samsonite suitcase that I purchased while I was in college for my summer semester abroad. Do any luggage brands want to work with me? I cannot stress enough how uncool and loser-ish I look lugging my chunky bag around the subway system.
This is my first week of being fully in the city (i.e. not traveling upstate or to Long Island for a wedding) and it’s been so nice to be a tourist in a city where I used to live. When I did live in NYC (2018-2020), I was working a full-time food media job while attending culinary school three nights a week, which made doing pretty much anything else rather difficult.
Looking back, I barely had any time to really soak in all the things the city has to offer because I spent most of my time on my hands and knees at the gates of hell (the Union Square MTA stop) waiting for the L train to come carry me home to Bushwick.
I wish I could have had time to experience New York as the self-employed person that I am now, completely free of an employer telling me where I needed to be for upwards of 50 hours of my week. I also wish I lived in NYC when the tap-to-pay option for the subway existed. It is what it is, I guess!
I’ve spent my week strolling around Central and Prospect Park with iced vanilla lattes in hand, baking cookies for my cousin, going to Sweetgreen and Zara (sorry????), eating the burger at Swoony’s, and charging my crystals (which for me, means not speaking to anyone because these weddings are depleting me).
Happy 21st night of SeptemBAH to those who celebrate. Get after it this weekend!!!! In the meantime, here are some items I’m digging!
Marlo Ball Mesh Handle Bag
I am very much not a person who owns cute bags, but with all of the weddings I’m attending, I wanted to have something fun that wouldn’t ruin my whole look. I went to the professionals, my stylist pals at tthe Look, and they recommended this bag because it perfectly complemented one of the dresses that I wore. Turns out this cutie goes with a lot, and I’ve already gotten some pretty good use out of it. Guess I’m a purse girl now!!!!
Shoe n Tale Platform Heels
I needed a fresh pair of nude heels and decided I would take a chance on this pair from Amazon. They’re only $46, so I was nervous that they would immediately fall apart, but they’ve already gotten me through 2 nights of clonking around wedding festivities, making them Clonky Girl Approved™.
Magnetic Wireless Charger
One thing that is fun about staying with friends is getting to see all of their little apartment things, and a common thread that I’ve been noticing throughout this trip is that everyone is using magnetic charging stands except for me. Using this charger makes me feel the same way I felt when I put in Airpods for the first time in 2017—a technologically advanced woman of the future. I should probably get the magnetic case, too.
Brown Butter Halvah Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe by Eden Grinshpan
Since I’m still away from HQ, I don’t have a new recipe this week for you all, but instead I’d like to urge you to make these salted halvah chocolate chip cookies (the same ones that I made for my cousin) from Eden Grinshpan’s cookbook, Eating Out Loud. The recipe is available here, as well.
I doubled the recipe, and I also browned (and cooled) half of the butter for an extra toasty, nutty flavor. Freeze the dough balls, so that at any given moment, you are only 20 short minutes away from a warm, nutty, salty chocolate chip cookie. Happy baking!
You look DARLING! That purse is perfect.