Settling in

So, I'm settling in at the new job pretty well. The upside of leaving Chelsea, the neighborhood of bakeries and gourmet coffee shops, is that I'm eating healthier meals; opting for oatmeal in the morning instead of those insanely good chocolate croissants at City Bakery. What I'm doing in my 9 to 5 isn't so different from what I do here on the site. I'm reading food blogs at work and at home. I'm scouring the internet and the food magazines for foodies who inspire me and make me excited about what I can do in the kitchen, and what I can do with my life. I'm drooling over Cherry Bombe and Lucky Peach, and Saveur, and Food & Wine.

And here's what I've been loving during my internet hunts:

food

Thug Kitchen posted this goddamn asparagus risotto recipe last week, and it's all I want to make now. Plus, I cannot wait for their book!

I made orange chocolate banana bread recipe from White on Rice last week, and brought half of the loaf in to work the next day. It was honestly the most rich and flavorful banana bread I've ever had. I used very dark chocolate chips and a ton of orange zest.

Here's some coconut cashew granola from Katie at Yes, I Want Cake. Add that to my list of gorgeous breakfast options. Now if I can just prioritize things tonight, I'll make a batch.

Without fail, Beth of Local Milk always has the best recipes. Or is it the way she titles them? Either way, she has me running to the store to pick up ingredients for this soft, sweet buttermilk honey bread. Seriously, have more beautiful words ever been put together?

interior design

Bri Emery's bedroom makeover is seriously my dream come true. All white, airy, and fluffy, it has elements that I already have in my own bedroom (hello, fluffy white diamond rug!) but contains a ton of inspiration.

I'm on the lookout for white lamps to hang over my dining room table. I'm thinking about this Nelson bubble lamp or perhaps this gorgeous Ikea beauty. There's definitely some kind of huge bubble lamp trend going on at the moment. I'm seeing them everywhere! I love the thought of a white lamp above my dark wood table.

I want to share my new office decor with you guys, but it's not quite ready yet. Either way, it's never going to look quite as cool as Anna Dorfman's open plan office.

hard to classify

I think I found someone who stays up as late (or early?) as I do! This Design*Sponge profile on Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. makes me just love her even more.



We were in DC this past weekend, and I can't wait to show you my shots from that. It was a glorious weekend (and we got to stay at the W right around the corner from the White House!)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Changes

Until last week, my days in New York City always started the same way, after family duties in the morning, I'd slough off that role quite easily and charge off to the subway, with some kind of hip hop or rock pulsing in my ears. My eyes barely had to lift and focus because without fail, my feet unerringly steered me every morning towards Chelsea. Stepping off the train at Union Square, this was my neighborhood. Here I knew where to get the best cappuccino and croissant; if it was to be a healthier morning, then the best places to get my green juice and oatmeal. I knew the best streets to take photos of the gleaming Empire State Building. I knew what time of the day the sun slants just so down 18th street so that it broke your heart just a tiny bit.

So I changed jobs last week ... and not just any job. A job I held for 10 years. TEN YEARS. That's the longest thing I've done ever. Longer than I've been married, longer than I've lived in one apartment, longer than I've had my dog. I started there as an intern, a baby really. A wide-eyed girl still getting her footing in New York City; still getting her footing in life. Sometimes I thought I would be there for my entire career in publishing, a mind-shatteringly naive thought when you think about how much people job hop these days, true, but a nice one nonetheless. 

And then suddenly, it was time. So I said goodbye to the hallways I'd walked and ran down for 10 years, goodbye to the office that helped me grow up, goodbye to the neighborhood that I knew like the back of my hand, goodbye to the office mates who had grown into dear friends. "It's just a job" I told myself. But it was more than that. So much more.

My new commute is one of gleaming beige marble, and a dark rushing river of people in suits. I find myself constantly wondering where they are all hurrying to so quickly? There's a new skyline to look at, a new set of buildings to marvel at. A new set of coffee shops to explore. A new set of office mates to hopefully become my friends.

That's my new sky, and those are my new buildings, and I know I'll find my coffee shop. And there's no eloquent way to close this post, because at its essence this really isn't a closing, but rather a beginning.