Good morning guys, it's Syd and welcome back.
I'm finally back in New York.
We're doing another alone but not lonely video, one of my favorites.
And it makes me really happy because I've been getting so many DMs on Instagram saying that you guys love these videos, and it makes you feel less alone and kind of just comforted.
And that was my goal.
My goal is to have this series just be like a comfort series for you guys.
I usually don't get ready in here.
I get ready over there, but I'm getting ready in here because the lighting is good, even though...
I'm standing in my shower.
So I just got back from Spain and Portugal a couple days ago.
If you guys follow me on Instagram, then you would have seen.
I posted a bit about it on there.
I didn't end up doing a vlog.
I'm really sorry guys that I didn't do that.
If you don't like me for that, I...
I understand.
But today I am getting ready for, honestly, there's a few things today.
The one thing for certain that I want to do today is I want to go to Central Park and have a cute picnic.
I ended up doing some paperwork and stuff for about an hour.
I'm so excited to go to Central Park.
I'm gonna get dressed and get ready for that.
My neighbor just texted me.
She said, there's a little something at your door because we had a stressful Monday.
What?
It's like Christmas.
Oh, that's so sweet.
Wow.
It doesn't take much for me.
This is all it takes.
My day is made.
Some days we try.
Some days we try to look cute.
Oh, that's my underwear.
And put together a cute outfit.
But today is unfortunately, I'm just gonna say it, it's not one of those days.
Because it's hot, I think it's 95 degrees right now.
When it comes to the heat, I don't play around.
If it's that hot out, I am just trying to survive.
So I'm just gonna wear this white t-shirt.
I got this from Aritzia a while ago.
And then these shorts, Land Rover.
They're so cute.
I wear these like every day now.
The answer to a boring outfit like this is jewelry.
You probably saw this coming.
I have on some bracelets already.
This is the stack I've been wearing recently and I love it.
What else can I do?
I think some fun earrings for sure.
Have these starfish earrings or these flower ones.
I'm gonna do the flower ones.
A little simple necklace and two more bracelets, because I'm gonna mix some gold and silver, some sunglasses, a cute little bag and now my outfit isn't so bland, but we're still comfy.
Before i go, i do want to throw on a little bit of perfume.
You guys know, i really like having a signature scent, like being able to smell something and associate it with someone.
I want to be that person that people are reminded of like.
Oh, that smells like sydney.
One of my recent favorite ways to test out new fragrances and find that signature scent is with Scentbird.
I'm really excited to be working with Scentbird because they're such a cool company.
It's essentially a fragrance subscription.
If you're like me and you're kind of indecisive with scents, you're able to test out a scent for 30 days and that way you're able to see how much you actually like it before committing to a full bottle.
They have fragrances from really popular brands like Versace and Prada, but they also have more niche brands.
These are my two favorites though that I got this past month.
And they come in these cute little containers and you can just unlock the magnetic container right here and open it up.
I think this first one is probably my favorite.
This is the Amore Cafe by Mancera Paris.
And it smells, it smells like you're, in France at a cafe.
It has hints of brown sugar, vanilla, coffee bean, and this is my other favorite.
This one is by the brand Dead Cool and it's extra milk.
This one's less sweet and it has more notes of amber and white musk.
I'm kind of still deciding which one I like better, but I'm gonna wear this one today.
The Amour Cafe.
This smells so good.
I wish you guys could smell this through the screen.
And it's so easy because I can just put it back in the package, throw it in my purse with me on the go because it's so small.
If you're interested in checking out Scentbird, you can scan this QR code or click the link below.
It's usually around 17 a month, but with my code Serena, you can get 55 off your first month, which ends up being about 8.
And you also get a free case and free delivery.
So make sure to check them out.
Now that I'm ready to go...
I'm gonna go to Central Park.
Let's go.
I'm getting flashbacks to my last vlog that I just posted because I just had a picnic last week too.
But in Minnesota, whenever I come to Central Park, I always stop at the little food kiosks.
So today I got a snow cone.
Oh, and the white shirt too kind of realized recently i need to like set aside solid time to not only just like be with myself and my thoughts, but actually like genuinely work on myself, especially when you're in your young 20s like it's so easy to feel lost and confused and like who you are, what you want.
I just want to be more in touch and in tune with myself and my emotions.
Something i heard recently is the most detrimental thing you can do when you're feeling bad about yourself is to feel guilty and bad for feeling bad.
If you're feeling sad or angry or upset, that's a completely normal human emotion and it's only hurting yourself holding yourself back from not allowing yourself to feel that.
If you guys have any self-help podcasts, by the way, that are actually really like introspective, please comment them below.
I could really use some good wrecks and you guys always give me the best recommendations.
I'm saying all this because right now I'm gonna do a little exercise that someone recommended.
It's a way to improve your self-concept and what you do is you just write out I am statements, so it could be physical, it could be internal, like I'm smart, I'm funny, I am ambitious, I'm driven.
Writing things out helps so much.
If I don't write it out like I will never think about it again because my brain's just like overloaded all the time.
This might seem like a really trivial exercise.
Truly writing things down like this is what works the most, at least not even just for me, but it's like a scientific fact.
If you write things out, it's more likely to be true.
So I'm back at my apartment now.
Since I just got back from my trip, I really want to do a deep clean.
This isn't like the type of clean where i'm like making my bed and stuff as you can see, my apartment's not really that messy but i need to do like a deep, thorough clean dusting mopping, cleaning off my countertops.
And then in a little bit i'm gonna go to the grocery store because i'm gonna get stuff for dinner and, if i have time i want to do a little walk on the west side highway.
We'll see how fast i can do this.
Um, and yes, i'm about to play sabrina carpenter like usual.
I underestimated how long that would take me, but i think it was worth it.
I mostly focused on my floors, like i said, and then i like dusted off all of my tables.
Also, i love this little compact mirror my friend got me for my birthday.
I need to go to the grocery store because i need to get a couple things super quick for dinner.
So I was in the grocery store and this older lady came up to me.
She asked me if I had a dog with me and I was like, no, I don't.
I was really confused.
And she pointed to my microphone, on my camera, because she thought it was a dog, because she saw it from behind me and she like, thought it was fur.
And she was like, can I pet your dog?
This is what that lady saw at the store that thought it was my dog.
This.
I can see why she thought that.
I would probably think that if I was turned this way and she just saw this part and she was like oh my, I was like oh, this is just my microphone.
I don't know.
Like sometimes I tell stories like that and like, it's not that funny.
I was like a good little I don't want to say lazy, but also lazy girl life hack.
What i mean by that is i like to take shortcuts in cooking.
The ideal way for me to make this chicken caesar salad is to get chicken breast, coat it in egg flour and bread crumb, and i think i've vlogged that before.
But since i don't really have much time, i was like i'm just gonna take the shortcut today.
Oh my god, the chicken juice just spilled in this bag.
I got patisserie chicken that now soaked everywhere.
And then I got some lettuce.
I really like butter leaf lettuce.
I'm gonna throw this together in my favorite giant salad bowl.
That makes salads so much more fun to eat.
Okay, so I have some time to go on a little walk.
I'm going to the Westside Highway right now.
It's my favorite little spot to walk, especially at sunset.
It's so pretty.
I'm gonna show you guys, because it's been my new routine guys, so i'm taking a little break on this bench.
If you ever come to new york or visit, or if you live here, you probably already know about this, but for some reason i was really late to this and everyone would always tell me to go walk the west side of highway, and i finally did, and now it's become my favorite thing to do and it's a way that i can get my steps in, because i've been trying to get 10k steps in every day.
This is so much more fun than walking on a treadmill.
Guys, as I'm getting ready for bed, I'm suddenly hit with sadness because Sabrina Carpenter's tour sold out and I forgot to buy tickets.
I guess that means I'm gonna have to buy a resale ticket because I guys, I love Sabrina Carpenter and I'm late, I'm late.
I also wanna see Gracie Abrams.
I don't think she's going on tour soon.
Maybe she is, but her new album is so good.
But anyways, I'm getting ready for bed now, doing some skincare.
