Makeup galore!

One thing all girls love: makeup! I remember when I was growing up and excitedly collecting palettes , nail polishes and lip glosses (usually received as Xmas presents)...I couldn't wait to try them on my face! One online store that I loved buying from was agnes b., a French brand that no longer sells makeup! Now with the explosion of specialty stores like Sephora, girls can try on store makeup to their heart's delight!  When my friend over at comfybutfancy had her makeup done by a professional makeup artist for a trial wedding run, I knew the 14 year-old me (oh who am I kidding, the 26 year-old me) would be super psyched for documenting (and learning about!) every spray, swish, glossing! 

Every artist needs her tools and colors: here are the goods....the colors she picked out were perfect for a perfect bridal face!

Brushes, brushes and more brushes. One can never have too many brushes!

As a pro, its probably better to have colors in a palette than separate containers. Hint: diversify with many high quality cosmetic brands (some favorites of mine include NARS, MAC, Makeup forever) since color shades can vary and look different when applied to the skin! 

Airbrushing on foundation (Temptu) is a must for a long day of smiling and photos! Choose from six different shades for mix for even further customization.

Final touches including.... fake eyelashes, which come as either separately or a set! Plump up your natural lashes with mascara and then stick these on with special skin glue. We used the separate lashes, and attached several longer ones around the outer eye corners.

What was the final "look"? Well... that will only be revealed on the big day!

Corgi Rae Jepsen

The Cat playing the piano was probably the best part....

Birds in the Sky but no leaves on the ground

downy woodpecker (c/o google images)

great blue heron (thank you, google images)

The bf and I wanted to "get up and out" this Sunday. What should two lovely people do in the NYC wintry season that is nearly upon us, you ask?? Bird watching!

We trekked our way to Prospect Park for a free "Discovery tour" on a grey Sunday afternoon. With free binoculars, a bird-watchers pocket book and a knowledgeable tour guide, what else could two adventure seekers ask for?? The one-hour tour took us about 0.5 miles around the enormous Brooklyn landscape. New Yorkers are so used to looking down (and most likely, running into a dozen pigeons on your walk through the streets) that they never stop and look in the other direction: up. You begin to hear and see sights all around you which you quickly come to appreciate! We saw no less than a dozen different species of birds... including my favorite: the Great Blue Heron. What's even better, there were a handful of other people out bird-watching too....on their own volition! Take a look!

Leaves on the ground and none on the trees means winter is here! Though Prospect Park was by no means dead!

Prospect Park, reminds me of Central Park... with an absent skyline. 

Higher trees house hawks, the pond was home to several duck species, and shrubbery are perfect foliage for cardinals,  robins and woodpeckers!

What do you see????

Boston-ites

How can it be December already?!?!

With the coming holiday season, that only means one thing.... winter, cold weather and snow! What city better exemplifies this than the wonderful New England town of Boston?!

The last time I was here was my 11th grade Boston "Literary" Trip with my high school English class. We hit up all the classic literary landmarks such as Walden Pond, and cultural hits such as the Blue Man Group.

I had the pleasure of visiting this nice place last week and had some downtime to stroll around the neighborhoods. The beautiful cobblestone streets, common alleyways, little shops and brownstones aligned the streets, reminded me a lot of Brooklyn but drenched in a LOT more history. Here's some photos to remember the trip!

Famous Boston Common where Bostonian Patriots once strolled.

Beautiful old trees along the "Commonwealth"!

Old faithful tree roots drenched in so much history they're pushing up the brick sidewalk!

The infamous Charles river (with MIT in the background)... no rowers on a cold day like today.

This was a very non-Patriotic but delicious lunchtime meal so I just had to take a picture. A Chacarero (Chilean sandwich) with strip streak, Muenster cheese, tomatoes and guac spread on a soft homemade roll. The secret ingredient: steamed green beans! 

MM and Halloween!

Some mini-moments from the past week...

On a quest... to find buttons! I went to the Fashion district to find new buttons for my old interview suit. <$10 for these square beauties with a unique ornamentation. 

A very small glass of OJ or a large cup of coffee? Hmm....

My roommate's Halloween cupcake cat! He used Reese's cup for the ears, black licorice for the whiskers, sprinkles and lots of frosting!

Can never go wrong with double black choco cookies with white chips!

Happy Hallo-sandy!

Yikes how time flies! Sandy has come and gone. Not my first experience with apocalyptic NYC and its accompanying frenzy, but it definitely was scary! I spent the past 48 hours hiding inside and watching scary movies as the storm went by. Luckily, the part of NYC that I'm living in went by relatively unscathed from the Sandy-storm, but my lovely city and surrounding areas has been torn apart by this fury from Mother Nature. I will be back on a regular schedule of blogging soon, or soon to be blogging from the road as interview season starts!

In the meantime, here are some photos from the Food and Wine "Train and Trucks" event that I went to a few weeks ago. Some local NYC food trucks were featuring one item to sample from their trucks....I had everything from Big Gay Ice Cream sundaes to philly cheese steaks to brick-oven pizzas! Take a look!

"Bizzare Foods" host Andrew Zimmern's truck "AZ Canteen"

Mini sliders with carmelized onions, tomatoes on a pretzel bun from AZ Canteen

A beautiful fall day...waiting for food

Ice Cream sundaes!

Cheese Whiz or no?

NYC two week stay-cation

My two week NYC stay-cation has so far been excellent, including some several great mini-moments: see below.... 

Lotus Mooncake in celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival

A "ladies-who-lunch" luncheon at Northern Spy foods

Dylan's Candy Bar Halloween candy special!

Decorative wall decal I helped a friend put up

P.S. I blame my friend over at Pop Culture Scribe for getting me motivated and subsequently addicted to Breaking Bad. Thank you Netflix.