Katy Perry & a fullllll weekend of fun

i suppose that when you wake up utterly exhausted on a Monday morning and have trouble being a real human, you can look at it two ways:

1. complain about it (“ugh Monday”), or
2. chalk it up to the fact that you must have had a reallllly great weekend.

imma go with the latter. so, let’s pretend it’s a Marvelous Monday, then, shall we??

first, let’s please take a moment to acknowledge that my girl crush absolutely killed the halftime show yesterday, did she not?! gosh, how i love Katy Perry.

photo: Getty Images

after telling everyone i was rooting for her to win the Super Bowl when i was out on Saturday night (i fully acknowledge that i probably thought this was cuter than anyone else did, but i’m okay with that), i was thrilled with her fun, energetic performance. she can do no wrong in my eyes and i may or may not have some weird delusions that i think we really should be best friends. just saying.

but oh yeah, i’m glad the Patriots won, too. and i learned a few things about football last night from everyone else at the party, so i consider that a success. learning is fun.

some other marvelous things about my weekend:

*staycation. my friend Michelle lucked into apartment/dog sitting at this gorgeous loft in the West Village and graciously invited me to spend the weekend with her in this mansion of an NYC apartment, so that was all kinds of amazing. one of my fave touches: a gramophone and a gorgeous feather quill-and-ink accoutrement built into the granite marble top. my little writer’s heart did somersaults.

it was such an amazing place in which to relax and call home all weekend, so i’m thankful to have had this opportunity to experience how i will never live in NYC. 🙂

*workouts. i had two stellar workouts this weekend:

Saturday morning, Michelle & i went to the Planet Fitness around the corner from our pretend apartment. my workout consisted of 20 minutes of high incline/resistance on an Arc trainer, followed by about 35-40 minutes of strength/plyo, followed by 2 miles running on a treadmill. i left feeling really sweaty and gross and so happy about it.

Sunday afternoon (pre-Super Bowl festivity preparation), i ran about 7 freezing miles along the Hudson River. the first 3.5 uptown were bearable; the last 3.5 downtown were almost not. i actually considered stopping, calling my mom to cry about not being able to feel my arms and hands, and then praying they’d send a helicopter from Albany to come pick me up and wisk me home. it was seriously miserably cold, but i’m counting it as a success because i neededdddd those miles to feel like a human again after a fun and late Saturday night out!

*eat. lots of Kind bars this weekend. these two are seriously good:

Vanilla Blueberry Healthy Grains bar

Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt bar

on Saturday night, we had a lil girls’ sushi date at Sushi Samba in the West Village. i’ve been here a few times before, and while the sushi is pretty decent, i think it’s main draw is that it’s a lively, always-busy, party sort of a restaurant with a fun atmosphere and a Latin-inspired twist on a sushi restaurant.

we had some sort of refreshing cucumbery drink, split edamame and a roll that had a bunch of types of fish in it, and finished off with cold sake. a nice, light meal to start off our Saturday night festivities….

*drink. we ended at our new fave speakeasy, Dear Irving, of which i raved previously when i first went a few weeks back. it’s so charming and delightful and spacious and has an amazing drink menu, and the bartenders are awesome and sweet. definitely a must-go for the speakeasy seekers in NYC. we were seated in a different room this time as well, which was lovely.

i was perfectly content curled into the corner of that darling red plush sofa on the left. this is my idea of a perfect little spot in which to tuck away on a freeeeezing Saturday night.

while waiting for our text from Dear Irving to let us know they could accommodate us, we popped downstairs to have a glass of wine at Adalya, the Mediterranean restaurant that surely cleans up on customers awaiting their turn to enter Dear Irving. it’s actually a really cute, comfortable space, and the bartenders and staff are fabulous. we had a lovely bartender who gave us our drinks on the house, and we agreed this would be a great little wine bar to make our “regular” spot in that area…not to mention that we’re going to need some place to wait every time we’re trying to get into Dear Irving. 🙂

*film. i have boundless love for Robert Downey Jr, so i’ve wanted to watch The Judge for a while now. we rented it on Friday night, and it was a phenomenal movie, and much deeper and more heartfelt than i ever imagined. i really, really enjoyed it.

*festive fun.  how adorable is this chocolate Rice Krispie treat football from Treat House that  friends brought to a Super Bowl party last night?! it was quite the hit.

i haven’t been to Treat House, but i definitely want to check it out and love reading about their foundation and their partnership with Food Bank for NYC. they started as a bake sale and now run a flourishing bakery, where almost all treats are gluten free, dairy free and nut free! pretty awesome success story (and super tasty, adorable treats).

and the highlight of the Super Bowl festivities (aside from being with amazing friends, of course): my great friend/former roomie and her husband live in a beautiful corner apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows downtown, and we had a straightshot view of the Empire State Building — which flashed and changed different colors in honor of both teams every time a touchdown was made! it was sooooo cool and kept us way entertained all night. 🙂

way to go, Pats!

Tell me some highlights from your weekend!
Best Super Bowl treat at your party?
Katy Perry — yes or no? and if it’s no, then please, lie to me. 🙂

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3 films {and RDJ has to get a mention, obvi}

so today is movie day. 3 of ’em. hmmmmm.

i’m definitely lacking in the knowledge of all the widely-accepted great movies out there and i don’t go to the movies very often, but there are certainly some that i absolutely adore and can watch over and over again. and they’re usually not the ones everyone else would choose (Pitch Perfect? 500 Days of Summer? Aladdin? yep, they all very nearly made this list. and yet i’ve never seen an Indiana Jones or Shawshank Redemption or Godfather…)

and although i’m not going to include Iron Man or the Avengers in this list of faves, i feel compelled to note that if Robert Downey Jr makes a movie, i will be there. opening night. front and center. i actually texted my brother asking for help remembering movies i like best and he wrote “anything RDJ.” what can i say — when i like someone, i like them. 🙂

anywayyyyy, so yeah. here are 3 i really like (picking faves is hard but i’ll go with these for now!):

1. Ten Things I Hate About You. this is my all-time fave and i can watch it incessantly. first of all, it’s based on Shakespeare’s play Taming of the Shrew, and i’m all about anything S-peare. secondly, Heath Ledge and Julia Stiles have the most adorable chemistry/relationship any teenagery movie has ever had, and thirdly, i’m not sure i’ve ever wanted someone to do something for me as much as i want them to sing “You’re Just Too Good to be True” over a stadium loudspeaker and have a band play along with him.

just sayin’. this movie is the best. and also started my Heath Ledger thing, understandably.

2. Labyrinth. i remember watching this as a really little kid and being totally weirded out, and years later it became one of my and my bro’s all-time fave movies ever and a pretty stupid awesome Christmas gift (thanks Ry) a few years ago. it’s trippy and dreamy and weird and fantastical and magical and fun and you can sing along to David Bowie. and Jennifer Connelly is, like, so gorgeous and i totally wanted to be her, walking through that crazy maze and answering riddles and having an epic adventure of mythical proportions.

or maybe i just wanted to wear that ball gown.

either way, this movie rocks super hard and you should see it if you haven’t. it’s the best kind of weird imaginable.

3. Good Will Hunting. just such an all-around awesome movie on every level. the cast and characterization is incredible: i love Matt Damon always, and this was definitely one of his best roles. one of the movie’s strongest aspects is the development of the patient/psychologist relationship between him and Robin Williams — the whole theme of searching for meaning and direction in life, and learning about yourself through this reciprocal relationship that forever changes you is depicted in such a raw, realistic way. the writing is great, the characters are amazing (except i wish anyone else had played Skylar’s role other than Minnie Driver, she just annoys me so), and the story is entirely engaging. so, so good.

 Your turn! What are some of your all-time fave flicks?

 

What I Love Wednesday

1. Waking up early on a flawless September morning and finally having a great run again, after a weekend of hilly humid hell. Nothing like a clear sky stretching across the Hudson (and an uber flat path) to make a girl fall in love with the world in running sneakers all over again. Not to mention that I kinda felt like a rock star sporting my new fun running pants. I swear, they added a pep in my step just knowing I was the envy of every little pigtailed girl being pushed on a scooter by her father along the river path.

2. Walking into work this morning and finding these sitting on my desk like it was Easter and some wonderful mythical creature left me a great gift.

Really it was my awesome co-worker who sits across from me and also happens to be this amazing Iron Man triathlete marathon super human wonder boy who doubles as the nicest man ever. I am pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I am soooo blessed to work with a slew of incredible people. I really love my co-workers. And not just the ones who bring me runner’s goodies. (The ones who buy my drinks are equally great.)

I haven’t used Shot Blocks before but am looking forward to trying these as a welcome alternative to the gel, which really doesn’t suit my fancy very well. I love my chewable multi-vitamins so I’m thinking these will be right up my alley.

3. Iron Man/Robert Downey Jr. I can’t really separate the two — RDJ IS Iron Man and visa versa, world without end, Amen. Even when he’s Sherlock Holmes, he’s just Iron Man playing a part. And when he used to be all notorious for the drug and hookers things (no judgment, nobody’s perfect), that was just the craziness he had to get out before Iron Man could rally in all his wonderfulness.

It makes perfect sense to me that RDJ is clinically bipolar — he has to be two people in one! You try that on for size and tell me how sane you’d be. I just saw Iron Man 3 this weekend and it reinvigorated my (minor) obsession. He’s my guy. Not surprising I can’t find a plethora of “my type” of guys in NYC: there seems to be a lack of shrapnel-flecked, arrogantly adorable brilliant scientist types flying around in super suits. Weird how that happens. Maybe I should try my luck in Cali.

4. Vivino. Welp this app is a wine-lover’s dream. I had previously downloaded Wine Notes, but without fail, every single wine bottle whose bar code I scanned said “Product not found.” Pretty sure there’s a defect there. Vivino, however, hasn’t let me down yet. You just take a picture of the wine label and the app scans it, locates the wine, and downloads all its information and saves it in your list. Bam, you now have a growing database of your favorite wines to pull from, complete with full descriptions and pictures. I discovered this light, crispy, dry rosé this weekend and was really happy with it:

I’ve been on quite the dry rosé kick this summer and am thinking it might have to extend to a year-round affinity. It’s like a new focused way to enjoy my favorite libation (and start a collection at the same time). Win-win.

5. Birchbox. Well geeze, I just realized that I haven’t mentioned this fabulous little phenomenon yet. Shame on me.

So, what’s a Birchbox? It’s the gift that keeps on giving: a monthly box of designer beauty & health products delivered to your house for a flat rate of $10/month. Each month brings you different goodies, and the website sells all the full-sized products, so if you like something you can purchase it there. For those of us who aren’t married to specific products and who like surprises and care packages (if that isn’t you, you need some fun in your life), this is a little bit of Christmas every month. I’ve received some really great items and am totally hooked. Like, for life. Or at least til I’m 40.

You have to sign up on their site to request a box, and there’s generally a bit of a waiting list, so you’ll probably have to wait a few weeks until you hear from them that you’re on the list.

Question: What’s one beauty product you can’t live without?