Eat mostly home-cooked meals and just kind of get back into my meal prep grind.
I'm not gonna lie, that was a little bit stressful.
One of those things is the way that I speak to myself and my identity and whatnot.
It's been way too long since I've taken you along on a few days of my life vlog in the city.
So I thought I would film a couple days of my life this week.
Today's Tuesday.
We just had Avery's mom in town this weekend.
She left, I want to say like yesterday around noon.
And then I just kind of spent the day getting my life together, getting the apartment organized.
Because I was actually not here for pretty much all of last week and the weekend before.
I was in Chicago for a couple days for work.
And then I came back here for like 12 hours.
And then I was in Milwaukee the rest of the week.
So I'm excited to have a week at home to just get back into a routine and just kind of pick up where we left.
Anyway, I'm about to run to a casting.
I have a casting in Soho.
And then I also have a coffee meeting after that, which I'm doing at Bar Lume.
I'm just like taking everyone to Bar Lume these days because why not?
And then after that I have to go to Soho again and pick up a dress that I'm wearing to a bar mitzvah that we're going to this weekend.
Neither of us have ever been to a bar mitzvah.
So I was kind of like, not worried, but just curious about what to wear.
Apparently the dress code is pretty flexible.
And so Mel is lending me a dress to wear.
So I'm going to pick it up from her.
What else?
Yeah, hopefully by that time I get home and I have some time to meal prep because, like I mentioned in a couple of videos ago, it's something that I really want to prioritize.
And last week was a little bit of a wash because I just wasn't here.
But this week I definitely want to eat mostly home-cooked meals and just kind of get back into my meal prep grind, if you know what I mean.
It complies instantly by initiating a matching set of reactions, directly in alignment with what the brain is thinking.
I'm going a little more casual today because the brand that I'm casting for is also a little bit more casual.
So I always try and keep that in mind.
I'm wearing sneakers and my favorite daughter trouser and my spring jacket because, as much as I love my winter coats, I'm very much over them.
So even though this might be a little bit chilly this morning, I think by this afternoon I should be fine.
Okay, I'm not gonna lie, that was a little bit stressful.
I had planned to take the subway downtown, because by the time I left I just wasn't gonna be able to walk there.
And then, by the time I got to the train, it said the next train was coming in 10 minutes, which is super unusual.
Usually it's between like two and four minutes.
So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna wait 10 minutes.
It gets to like six minutes and then the train time jumps back to 12 minutes.
And I'm like okay, I can't wait 12 minutes for this train, because then I'm gonna be late for my coffee appointment.
So I decided to look up how far it is from the train.
It says 25 minutes.
And I was like I think I'm just gonna have to walk because otherwise it's just gonna make me late for everything else today.
So I ended up walking Got there on time.
Casting was super quick.
I think the casting took like maybe five minutes.
And yeah, now luckily I have enough time to get to Barlume.
So, glad it all worked out.
Oh my god.
Anyway, I'm glad it ended up working out.
Ended up getting a little bit of a walk in too.
I was gonna tell you guys about this book that I'm listening to right now.
It's Joe Dispenza's book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself.
I'll link it in the description box.
He's one of those guys that I always knew about, and One of those guys that I always knew about and I knew a little bit about his work, but not a whole lot, to be honest.
I tried to get into his work maybe like five or six years ago.
Honestly, maybe even longer.
I think one of my parents was listening to some of his material for a while.
But it just wasn't the right time.
You know, when you find a book and you just can't get into it, or you find a meditation or whatever and it's just not sticking with you.
That's kind of what happened to me.
And then...
Recently found this book again, and now I feel like I'm in a place where the stuff is really making sense and I'm really enjoying it.
So the book kind of talks about some of the stuff that I was mentioning in my spring reset vlog, which I'll link up here.
You guys should definitely check it out if you haven't watched it yet.
It kind of talks about where I feel like I'm at in my life right now and the things that I'm focusing on.
And one of those things is the way that I speak to myself and my identity and whatnot.
This book just talks a lot about that and actually talks a lot about the science behind how the stuff works, how you can change your mental patterns and ultimately change your life and change the way that you look at your life.
So I thought I would share that with you guys.
I'm gonna head to Barlume right now. and I'll see you in a little bit.
I can't remember if I told you guys this or not, but for Christmas Avery's mom got me an Instant Pot.
She clearly knows me very well because I will take anything that's going to make my life easier in the kitchen.
But then, when she was here this weekend, she asked me if I'd used it, and I had to honestly tell her that I hadn't used it yet.
Probably partially because I can be a little bit lazy when it comes to new things and also I just felt a little bit intimidated by it.
The whole steaming venting situation kind of scared me a little bit.
But then I promised her this weekend that I was gonna try it and at least like try and cook some rice in it and stuff.
And so today I used it for the first time.
I made my rice.
I actually think it turned out pretty good.
The only thing is, because I was so focused on it and so focused on not blowing up the apartment, I actually ended up not making enough rice, so I didn't really do my full meal prep and I also just didn't really vlog anything.
But I'm gonna make the rest of my meals tomorrow and just consider this a test run of the instant pot.
But if any of you guys have an instant pot and you have some good recipe ideas or tips and tricks, things that I should know about it, please let me know.
I have like all my Instant Pot instructions and stuff here.
Obviously cooking rice in it is super easy.
It's probably even easier than cooking it on the stove, but I'd love to learn how to cook chicken or like other kinds of proteins in it.
I feel like it would just be fun to switch it up. and do something different from my normal routine.
Anyway, I'm gonna have this for dinner.
It looks very light and very plain, but I ended up snacking a lot while I was making the rice because I was a little bit stressed out.
And I basically ate a whole bag of carrots and half a pack of crackers.
So this is gonna be my actual dinner.
I'm heading over to Whole Foods right now just to get a couple of extra things.
I'm actually having Renee over for lunch today, so I wanted to just grab a couple things that I didn't get at Trader Joe's yesterday.
Avery made this insane fennel salad this weekend while his mom was in town, and it's really easy to make, actually.
I just never think to make something like that, so I'm gonna get one and I'll show you guys how I make it later today.
Okay, quick grocery haul.
I was trying to vlog outside and it just was not gonna happen today.
One of the things that I feel like people don't talk about is how, as soon as it warms up in New York, it's also like prime construction season.
They're just doing construction everywhere right now.
And I just feel like you end up having to have a lot of patience because it's just noisy all the time.
Anyway, I was telling you guys that Avery made this really good fennel salad this weekend.
So I got some fennel.
He ended up getting a really big one.
So I ended up just getting two smaller ones and I'll show you guys later how I chopped this up.
You basically just cut off all of this part and then you can like use this for other things obviously, but for the actual salad you just cut off the top and then you slice it down the middle and you basically slice it like you would an onion, just very finely, and then I'm gonna add some mint, some parsley and a blood orange.
And then I'm just gonna drizzle it with olive oil and lemon.
And that's gonna be our little salad.
I also just got some chips and guac for us to snack on.
I feel like Whole Foods always does really good guacamole.
And I love these Siete grain-free tortilla chips.
I love the lime flavor.
So I got some of those, and then, for just some protein to go with the salad, I was gonna make my own chicken, but then I ended up seeing this pre-marinated chicken, which sounded really good.
This is a lemon herb.
Boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
I feel like this is actually a really good Chicken hack.
If you're someone who likes chicken but doesn't necessarily like to cook it or is a little hesitant when it comes to making chicken, is just buying it pre-marinated like that.
And I would probably get it at somewhere like a Whole Foods or more of a natural store, because then you know the ingredients are better.
This just makes it so easy because you cut it open.
You don't even have to touch the chicken or handle it yourself.
You just throw it into the pan and kind of like takes care of itself.
Also with chicken thighs, and this is something that I learned from my friend Laura.
Chicken thighs are actually the safest option because it's harder to overcook them versus like chicken breasts or chicken strips.
That's something that I always remember when I'm having people over is I usually tend to go for chicken thighs because They're just a little bit easier to deal with and you just kind of throw them in the cast iron, if you have one, or even in a stainless steel pan, and just cook them on medium to high heat super easy.
The reason I don't vlog when I'm with my friends is because they don't help me remember that I need to be filming something.
We ended up at Barlume, which is really predictable, but they're doing a new happy hour, so.
Obviously had to come and try it.
So good.
Just got back from seeing Renee and It's already 6 30.
I can't believe how fast this day went by.
But we had so much fun.
She came here.
We had like a salad and snacks.
And then, after my Pilates class, I remembered that today was the first day that Barlume was hosting their happiest hour, which is their version of happy hour.
But instead of doing drinks and bar snacks, they're essentially doing like three special offerings.
So they have the spritz and the pizza, which is what we both ordered.
They're like little personal pizzas.
And then they also have champagne and oysters.
And then the third one is a martini and truffle fries, all for like a special price.
And so on my way back from Pilates, I texted her.
I was like, I think we just do something light at home.
We'll make the salad.
I'll do like some chips and guac.
But I think we have to go to the restaurant and try their happy hour.
So We did that.
It was so fun.
And she actually hasn't been there yet, so I'm glad I got to take her.
I figured, before it gets too dark outside, we should probably try on the dress that I'm going to wear tomorrow.
And then I also kind of wanted to show you guys some apartment updates, because we've made a couple little updates over the last few weeks.
We have curtains now, which I'm sure you guys saw this morning when I was opening them up.
We just got these like little linen curtains for the living room and it's so funny because for a long time we didn't really think to put curtains in the living room, because we have curtains in the bedroom and we tend to just like change and get dressed in there.
But it's crazy how big of a difference it makes in terms of how cozy it feels in here at night and also it's just like an added layer of privacy.
Like we have buildings across the street but they're not close enough to where it feels like people are looking in, and they're also not like all apartment buildings, if you know what I mean.
But still you just never know like who's looking in.
And even though we're not like changing in here or whatever, like I am still home a couple days a week.
I'm still working from home, you know.
So it's nice to like be able to have the curtains and also just close them at the end of the day and like hang out on the couch in privacy.
So we got those curtains.
We also got a little something in the living room.
Avery and I recently went to the print store where they got a lot of the prints and art for Barlume and they had this huge selection of New Yorker covers.
And we saw this one of the farmer's market and him and I both love the farmer's market and we love the colors on this one, so we thought it would be really nice for in the living room.
I feel like it goes really well with all the books that we have on the bookshelf, and we got a frame that matches the sconce and also the bars on the bookshelf, so I thought that this was really cute.
So that's the one that I picked, and then Avery has one actually in the bathroom, which It's kind of funny because when he first picked this one out, we'd picked out like six different ones that we liked, and then we decided to each just take one.
And when he picked this one, I wasn't quite sure about it.
I was like, it's nice, but I couldn't really see the vision.
And then when we got home and we were like playing around with where we were gonna put it, he decided that he wanted to put it in the bathroom.
And I'm gonna show you guys, it actually goes perfectly.
It's kind of funny showing you guys our bathroom, but we have these towels which I showed in another vlog.
We got these from Brooklinen and they're like a darker cooler toned green and we love them.
We have this like green theme going on in our apartment and I don't know if you guys can tell, but the roofs in this photo or in this cover are also green and they perfectly match our towels.
So I don't know if Avery knew this when he saw the picture, but it goes perfectly with the towels and like the accents that we have.
And I don't know, it's kind of fun to have something on the wall in the bathroom.
Okay, so this is the dress.
I'm obviously not wearing shoes right now, but some of you guys might remember that I have this in red um, and this is mel's leopard dress, and it's crazy because i think this one is actually longer than the one that i have and i'm a little bit annoyed by that.
I wish mine was longer, but i think it's such a fun dress.
I also think that it's still appropriate enough because it is long and it's not like skin tight um, but it's still gonna be really comfy for me to wear pretty much like all afternoon and evening tomorrow.
So originally, when I was thinking of wearing this, I was gonna buy a pair of brown boots because I've kind of been wanting a pair of them for a while, and I figured, because it was March, I was probably not gonna be ready to wear heels.
But then I saw another girl who has this dress, style it with black boots and a black handbag.
And I was like I have both of those things and going into spring and summer, I'm probably not gonna wear the brown boots for a while.
So I think I'm gonna try it on with a black bag and black boots and see what it looks like.
Okay, we're definitely gonna do this bag.
This is the one that I pretty much wear.
Whenever I go out, it is my go-to black bag.
And then I have two boot options.
These are a little chunkier.
And I actually, I don't know, I might like these better.
I thought I was gonna like these little guys better, but they might be a little too sock-like to wear with the dress.
And then I'm probably just gonna do simple gold jewelry, blow out my hair, and that's gonna be it.
But anyway, I just wanted to show you guys this because I know at the beginning of the vlog I promised I was gonna show it to you and sometimes I can Now keep my promises when it comes to showing you guys outfits and clothes and things like that.
But I will link this dress below, even though I don't own it, because they are having a sale right now.
And they only do maybe one or two sales a year.
I'll also link the one that I have, the red one, so you guys can see the difference.
But I think the original price of this dress is $250 or $260.
And then with the discount, it's probably going to sit right around...
$200 because their discount is 25% off.
Which I know is not the most affordable for a dress, but I have to say this is one of the most flattering cuts that I've ever seen on a dress.
I do not regret buying mine for a second.
I've worn it a ton and it's a pretty out there print.
Like.
It's not like it was a black dress or like a plain dress or anything, but it's just one of those dresses that makes you feel like a million bucks when you're in it.
This one specifically, I also feel like you can dress up or down really well.
I'm gonna wear this with boots, but I can wear it with heels.
Mel actually wore this to the Barlume opening party.
She wore it with these high boots underneath and then she put her hair in like a slick back pony with a braid.
And it was so cute.
I thought I would share that with you.
Hopefully by the time this video goes up on Sunday, they still have the discount.
Okay, I am gonna get cozy and I'm gonna spend the rest of the night editing this vlog so that you guys can watch it on Sunday.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video.
I really enjoyed just taking you along for a chill, couple days in my life.
If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up.
Don't forget to subscribe.
And if you guys have any content or things that you want to see in the upcoming months, definitely let me know in the comments down below.
I love you guys so much and I will see you in the next one.
