A simple Easter turned into something pretty amazing when we saw Steve Buscemi and Vampire Weekend parade down 5th ave during the Easter Bonnet Festival. As we were admiring the silly hats and costumes, all of a sudden a video crew backs up and stops in front of us. Steve Buscemi with a megaphone performed a simplified version of one of Vampire Weekend’s songs “Diane Young” in advance of their upcoming album Modern Vampires of the City coming out May 14.

My photo on Instagram made it on a Vampire Weekend fan blog  as well as was displayed on Coup de Main Magazine  with a story that further explains the connection between Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio and Buscemi (they are distant cousins ?!). Pitchfork also picked up the story as well.

The experience was pretty cool since I love them and saw them perform their first album in St. Louis while still in school. Now I live in NYC where you can run into random experiences like this!

“Steve Buscemi with Vampire Weekend at the Easter Bonnet Festival#onlyinnewyork” (via @lalaparks and @parkre)

And you can see Parker‘s video with Buscemi singing below:

A very happy Easter indeed!

In Spain, holy week is so important that students and teachers are given the entire week off to spend time with family and celebrate the holiday. Instead of using that precious week off work to travel, I used it to see what Semana Santa in Jerez de Los Caballeros was all about!

Let’s compare that to Easter in New York. Here, churchgoers will attend morning service and head to brunch. Some will particpate in NYC’s Easter bonnet festival is where crowds walk along 5th avenue either wearing crazy Easter bonnets or  taking photos of people wearing them. Drag queens take their place among the hat hobbyists who create fascinating  creations to wear on their heads.

While the Easter Bonnet Festival is fun, Semana Santa was a magical experience – each night had a special ritual and parade through the town. Different cofradias, or brotherhoods, led each celebration culminating in Easter Sunday where doves were released into the sky and boozy brunches commenced (that part is not so different from NYC afterall).

To help you as you prepare for your own Easter celebrations, I included some selected photos from each day of Semana Santa. If you’d like to see more and learn about  each day, just click on the link. Enjoy!

Lunes Santo

Martes Santo

Miercoles Santo

Jueves Santo

Domingo de Resurreccion

Needless to say Semana Santa is a tad different from Easter in New York, but I’ll be thinking about all of my Spanish friends during this time and enjoy the Easter Bonnet Festival all the same.

Have a Happy Easter!

I figured one way to recap the year is to go over some of my resolutions from last year and see what I accomplished.

These were my 2012 resolutions:

Continue to work out- Completed, got the most out of my gym membership at New York Sports Club. It’s not the best gym, but there is a location close to my home. I became a regular at the Sunday spinning classes. Working out is all about consistency and routine, which I have established.
Bring a project in - Completed and made comission for the project I brought in!
Blog at least once a week- NOT completed, this is a new goal for 2013 (a carryover goal, if you will)
Join a sports team- Completed. Did leagues through New York Social Sports Club (both kickball and dodgeball) and met great new people that way.
Cultivate friendships- Never can be completed with this one, although I’ve met some awesome people since moving here and continue to meet them. One of the hardest aspects of living in NYC is how hard it is to meet up with people. There is constantly something else to do, people are busy and we all live in different neighborhoods.
Find a cute apartment and decorate- Completed. Found an apartment in Sunnyside though still working on the decorating aspect.I do travel to flea markets and antique stores to uncover new treasures! Sunnyside is a great neighborhood, and I spend only 20 minutes on the train getting to work. Not to mention a puppy friend!
Travel to DC and Boston- Traveled to Boston and through Mass. and will plan a trip to D.C. to visit friends who have since moved there
Save $- Read Suze Orman, saved for retirement and continue to live within means. This is a great goal to ALWAYS have.
Try new recipes, cook more - Completed for 2012 with my new crockpot and food processor, and I have lofty goals for 2013 — more dinner parties, anyone?

I have a ton of great things planned for 2013 and one goal is to blog more so hopefully I will be telling you all about it.A big thank you to all of my supportive friends, family and networking buddies I met in the past year! I’ve had some great connections, conversations and I hope to continue to build upon those old and new friendships. Cheers to 2013!

I moved here, struggled, and found a job. Like I said, same story as many who have gone before and many who continue to move here every day. But I stayed in the game and made it work. For that, I’m happy to have made the leap, and today I marked my year anniversary as a video producer in New York.

Recently, I came across a photo that I’m so happy I have: It’s a photo of my living situation in Crown Heights when I first moved to NYC. I was only there a month, and it’s a month that I really appreciated having a free place to stay.

Take a bit to enjoy this photo. Would you want to live here? In the moment, I didn’t mind. It was a pathway to something bigger, and it was only for a month.

And I’d like to share a photo from my Thanksgiving, a little over a year later:

Big improvement, right? A lot has changed. I have so much to be thankful for. A cute apartment, a job in this economy, and family and friends who are super supportive and great. I’m greatly appreciative of how far I’ve come and how much I can look forward to in the future.

Here’s to a great year! What will next year bring?!

I learned more about the mission of the association and had some great takeaways about what other chapters are doing across the country. There was representation from chapters in California, Colorado, Florida and even Singapore!  I feel so lucky to be a part of the chapter here — it allows me a great opportunity to get involved, meet new people and network.

The Mizzou NYC Alumni Chapter received capstone status as well! Capstone status requires completing a list of activities that support the mission of the Mizzou Alumni Association. Receiving this honor earns the chapter a $4,000 scholarship to support incoming MU students as well as money toward our activity fund. Woo!

A highlight of the presentations was definitely Mark Windham, an SEC historian at the University of Tennessee, who gave an overview of each school. My favorite story was when a Mizzou leader raised his hand and asked “Maybe I’m missing something, but did you say you actually teach a college class on the history of football,” to which Mark responded, “WELCOME TO THE SEC! You have some catching up to do.”

The other takeaway from his presentation was saying, “You don’t have a Kansas anymore. You have 13 Kansases.” The SEC definitely has that feel, but it’s awesome for Columbia. I saw many local businesses proudly welcome the SEC. Maybe some SEC fans think we are too friendly, but hey that’s ok by me. It’s a great group to be involved with now. I’m also happy that Kansas and Missouri are no longer in the same conference. Yes, it was a great rivalry, but it was always one I didn’t enjoy to the fullest since I’m from Lawrence originally.

In NYC, there is a group of all of the SEC alumni associations that get together once a month for a happy hour and for weekend watch parties. It’s a great opportunity to meet people from other schools and see what other chapters are doing are doing in the city. Go tigers! See you at the next watch party.

This summer has flown by so quickly! There is a chill in the air and fall is nearly upon us. While autumn is by far my favorite season, summer has provided some really special moments of exploration in New York. What makes summer in New York so wonderful is the fact you can make it what you want. If you want to pay nothing for a weekend of great entertainment, you certainly can. There is no limit to what you can do/see/eat/etc, which is how I explored the city.

Beach: Rockaway was my go-to beach of the season. With Rockaway Taco, boardwalk beers and an easy commute to get there, it was a perfect place to spend a Saturday.
  
US Open: Congratulations to Andy Murray and Serena Williams! While I ended up seeing Andy Roddick and Victoria Azarenka in the matches that I attended, it was a wonderful experience all around. I will definitely go back, give myself more time to explore the grounds, shop and take it all in.

Baseball game: Go Yankees! Go Mets! I can’t say I’m a huge fan of either (I’ll watch, but not a die-hard fan), but baseball games are great and these stadiums are impressive.

  Governor’s Island: From a Civil War reenactment to a jazz festival, there is always something going on there. You can take a free shuttle from Manhattan to explore what the grounds have to offer.

Belmont Stakes: To the races! I will always remember that scene in My Fair Lady where Audrey Hepburn is cheering during the races when she should be acting like a lady. She can’t contain her excitement so she lets a part of her old personality emerge and exclaims “Come on Dover! Move yer bloomin’ arse!” I yelled that at Belmont.

PS1 Warm Up Party: Into electronic djs? The PS1 Warm Up Party was a great Saturday party with music, beer and the chance to explore Moma’s gallery in Long Island City (a neighborhood right next to Sunnyside). For LIC residents, it’s free.

The View: I was lucky to be invited to see a live show of The View. All of the hosts were there including my favorites Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters. The guest was Kim Kardashian who talked about Kanye, her past relationships and her new scent (which we got a freebie BTW). You can sign up for tickets for free online and cross your fingers.

Thanks, New York, for making my summer so special. Now we get to enter a new phase of our relationship – fall. I look forward to seeing the changing leaves in Central Park and new seasonal adventures.

Left: Beach photo that inspired the gift

I’m so happy to be celebrating my year long anniversary in New York . It hardly feels like it’s been a year. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come. I celebrated the actual day while heading up to a staff retreat in the Adirondacks.

There is so much to be thankful for — I live in a beautiful apartment in Sunnyside, Queens (my commute is 20 minutes to work), I have a cute puppy and bf to keep me company, I have great supportive friends, and I am employed in the city.

Pic of Weegee and view from my commute above

One year ago I was living at home in KS and got the phone call for an interview in NYC. I moved out here with one suitcase and all of my hope. I didn’t get the job. Needless to say, I stayed, utilizing the generosity of my friends and staying on couches and air mattresses around the city. My home for a month was the floor of a friend’s apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I found a temp job to get me through that ultimately led me to my current position as a video producer.

Now that I have the job, I need to take strives to continue to better myself and learn and grow. I took a position as President-Elect of the NYC Mizzou Alumni Association so I could give back to my university and gain leadership experience.

Meanwhile, I’m still searching for what challenges me, sometimes getting frustrating at not being challenged enough. When I feel frustrated by that, I turn to my mom. When I get stressed , she’s always around the corner to offer some sage wisdom:

“There are too many annoying things! You need an annoyance umbrella! Just get annoyed by the really big things that crash through the umbrella and ignore the rest otherwise you get too bombarded.”

Well, now I have a beach umbrella so I can do just that.

I’m loving living here. Now that the job thing is out of the way, I’m dedicating my time to working hard, exploring the city and being amazed every day even by the small things.

My mom got me a membership to the Met for Christmas, so I can go whenever I want. I’ve checked out a ton of museums including the Guggenheim and the Frick museums. The best thing is that there are SO many more great things to see and museums to explore. Some are even free!

No pants subway ride

Yes, the no pants ride was indeed free, though not necessarily the type of event I enjoy most. I wonder if people ever get tired of seeing silly things like this on the subway or in New York in general? It’s fun and amazing!

While I may get tired of seeing people riding the subways without pants, I’ll never get tired of the options. I sometimes hear “You live in New York? I could never live there. It’s so big!” While it’s true New York is not for everyone, it’s certainly worth a “trying chance”.

I equate NYC to my choice of the University of Missouri, a huge state school. To many it might be considered too big to have any real impact, although it quickly became clear that you could make it as big or as small as you wanted. I had a plethora of options, which was great. A small school can’t be any bigger than it is already.

New York has more than a plethora of options, which I look forward to continue exploring. Last week — hot chocolate food crawl. This week — first meeting with my dodgeball team. Next week — who knows, but it should be great!

Cheers, New York.

That’s right: The one-way ticket paid off. I got a job. A real, full-time job. After coffee meetings, interviews and networking events almost every evening, I found one. I’m now a producer at a video production company called Snippies, and I couldn’t be happier.

The way I stumbled upon it was actually through my temp reception job. I was introduced to the company, which was in the same building. I started freelancing for them, and when a position opened up, I jumped at the opportunity.

It’s funny how things work out when reflecting on how this opportunity came about:

1. Get a call from a temp agency about the need for a receptionist.
2. Rouse myself out of bed, head to the company only to find out they don’t need a temp.
3. Head back to the temp agency to do paperwork to not waste a trip into the City.
4. Call comes in for another temp job at a property management company while I’m in the office. Head over to start temping.
5. Job is extended for a week, then two weeks, and before I know it, I’ve been there for almost two months.
6. By the end of the job, get introduced to Snippies.
7. Start freelancing and learning about the company.
8. Get a call, go in and accept a job!

I couldn’t be more excited. I like freelancing and I like the freedom it offers, but I really love the opportunity to contribute in different ways to the success of one company. Now that the stress of finding a job is out of the way, I have been able to take that energy into exploring New York:

Dinos at the Natural History Museum

Interactive, participatory It’s a Wonderful Life play where everyone picks up a part and performs

Indoor park

Vintage subway ride with live music, costumes and swing dancing

With all of my adventures in New York and a very full Google calendar, it still means the world to go home and enjoy being with the family over Christmas.

I’m feeling very fortunate for all of the wonderful people around me. I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement, support and advice! There are nothing but great things to look forward to in 2012! Happy New Year!

Lord and Taylor had a classy display with motion and kids’ drawings. It was a traditional Christmas display and I followed the story through each window.

I ended my ventures to view the windows at Macy’s. In addition to the moving figures, there was 3D animation and ways to interact with the windows. Creative displays to be sure!

I’m extremely impressed with the creativity, design and execution of the holiday windows. If you have the chance, check them out! I am amazed each day by something new in New York and can’t wait to see more decorations and markets and attend some Christmas parties. The countdown begins…