This week has been full of BIG changes. I’ve officially ended my barista career (for now), but I’ll continue to be a Starbucks diva and offer unique coffee recommendations whenever you want it. And as of yesterday, my roommate and I found an amazing apartment, thus relieving my fear that I would be homeless in Philadelphia. So between thinking about packing, procrastinating packing & popping champagne, here are some other things I’ve been liking & favoriting during this exciting week.
This past weekend, I traveled to the city that never sleeps for a Her Campus Media Conference. It was my first ever real life conference, and while part of me was excited to wear my killer pumps and go to journalism workshops, the other part was not thrilled about spending a significant amount of time on the subway. Well, I survived the subway (barely) & went to all my fancy workshops, plus I made some friends & memories along the way. Here’s a special edition of Likes & Favorites from my travels to the Big Apple.
Call me a nerd, but I actually enjoyed sitting in on panels about blogging, journalism and how to succeed in this industry. There were also super cool speakers who came (like the editor in chief of Seventeen) and because we were a bunch of college-aged-aspiring-journalists, it was appropriate to fangirl. Beyond that, I got to rock my business casual swag, received a TON of freebies/giveaways & made some really nice friends. {In case you forgot what I write about on Her Campus, i.e. the reason I attended this conference, check out my work here!}
As I mentioned before, Michelle Tan, the new editor in chief of Seventeen, was the keynote speaker the first day, and I’ll be the first to say that she is hilarious. Besides cracking us up the whole time, she also dropped some awesome wisdom. I love this quote she said about making it in the journalism industry, but I think it also just applies to life. Shout out to Krista for making the cool graphic.
Because he’s an amazing boyfriend, Ryan surprised me on Saturday night after the conference and took me to dinner at this incredible Italian restaurant, La Lanterna Di Vittorio. While it took us a little while to get there (stupid subways make me so confused), the romantic atmosphere and delicious lasagna was worth the wait (Couples in NYC, you have to go). Then on Sunday, it was my turn to plan the date, so we went to Jane’s Carousel (made in 1922) by the Brooklyn bridge and then had pizza and ice cream.
Despite how much I hate the dirtiness, busyness and subway system of the city, there are quaint parts of it that truly are lovely.
At the conference, there were a few vendors there, one of which was chloe + isabel. If you’ve never heard of them, you definitely need to check them out. They make beautiful statement jewelry AND you can sign up to become a merchandiser for their products! You can literally be your own boss in the fashion industry. I adore this necklace I got from them!
be creative, be confident, be you
On a similar note… I’ve decided to host Ampersand’s first ever giveaway!! To thank you for being loyal readers, I’m giving away a chloe + isabel wrap bracelet to one lucky winner. All you have to do is like Ampersand on Facebook & fill out the form below. I’ll be randomly drawing a winner next week so stay tuned to see if you won!
Here’s the prize…
a lil bit of bling
And here’s the form!
{PS. I’m launching a new section soon with some exciting news! Yay surprises!}
Liking my NYC adventures & favoriting being back in NJ.
A quick look at my desk: There’s a checklist and a blue pen, a hair tie, my car keys, tangled Mac charger, a buzzing cellphone, laptop case, a cup of coffee and The Associated Press Style Book (2013 edition, if you want to get technical about it). I’m listening to Justin Nozuka on Spotify while sitting cross legged on my chair. My hair is in a messy bun. I’m not wearing makeup. I’ve worn these shorts three days in a row.
This is post-grad life at its finest. And I’m starting to be okay with it, which has been a long time coming. (Just like this Likes & Favorites post). Let’s begin, shall we?
So I have Starbucks seasonal favorites (really, don’t act so surprised). In the fall it’s pumpkin spiced latte (duh), winter I get peppermint lattes, spring I dabble with iced coffee and in the summer I’m obsessed with peach green tea lemonade. It’s refreshing, it’s sweet, it’s tart, it’s amazing. Well, I recently discovered that you can ~*buy*~ the Tazo peach green tea at your nearest grocery store and basically my life has changed forever. Combine equal parts tea and lemonade, and you’ve basically done what I get paid $9/hr to do as a barista.
{Don’t want it as sweet? Substitute water for the lemonade. Also, I feel like this would be really good with alcohol. Someone LMK.}
I once had professor tell the class, “For ever word you write, read 1,000.” While I definitely don’t hit that mark, I do read a lot. One of my mentors actually gave me the book Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. According to the cover, it has “some instructions on writing and life.” It’s definitely chuckle worthy, but I love it because it perfectly describes how I feel as a writer. If you love to write, I highly recommend it.
{Sign me up to be a Starbucks sales associate, because I’m about to promote another one of their products.} Us college kids/recent grads love our coffee. Most of us have realized that buying it from ‘Bucks every day is expensive. Cue Keurig. Everything is great and dandy, until you realize that K-cups are also kind of expensive. Introducing: the reusable K-cup. That’s right, there’s a plastic K-cup that you can reuse and fill with your favorite ground coffee (I like Starbucks Veranda blonde roast). Buy them here. Boom, roasted.
This weekend, Ryan and I had a date night (dinner & a movie, how cliche of us). We ended up seeing Trainwreck and it was HILARIOUS. Highly encourage everyone to see it. It’s like the perfect rom-com to see as a couple because there’s obviously romance but also a ton of sports references, so everyone wins! Plus, you’ll actually cry from laughing so much at parts, which is always fun.
{On a somewhat related side note, we also streamed Inside Out illegally online–oops!–and that was ALSO so good. That time I just cried because it was so touching. Twice.}
This week was full of seeing my most favorite people. From spending the weekend with Ryan and seeing my Blue Key peeps at Deanna’s grad party, to dinners with Haley and Katherine and reuniting with my fave Villanovans, I’m always reminded how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life. Sorry for being a sap, but I love you guys.
{P.S. I’m currently obsessed with Renegades by X Ambassadors. If my life were ever made into a movie, this would be the soundtrack for the opening credits.}
Liking post grad life a little more & favoriting having spare moments to blog.
Ampersand 