Dear New York,

I did it.

I moved.

I rented an apartment in Manhattan.

I hauled two suitcases all the way from LaGuardia to my new home on 116th.

I bought my first set of "groceries" from the neighborhood market (since when does yogurt and bananas cost $18?).

I walked 9 miles all the way downtown.

I wandered down every street within a mile of my apartment.

I spent an entire afternoon reading in Central Park.

I interviewed.

And now,

I wait... for an email, a phone call, for someone to simply say, 

"Yes, we want you. You've made it.  

You belong in this city."

I have to admit that it's a lot harder than I imagined... sitting here with free time and just waiting.

But I'm being patient.

Because I've always believed, from the bottom of my heart, that with patience and hard work comes big rewards.

Soon enough.

Love,

The girl from Michigan with big dreams and an open heart

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Rachael Ray & Thai Food Adventures

Dear New York City, I've got my sights locked on you.

I'm back - again! It feels like it's been far too long, even though I was *technically* here last month. Guess that's a good sign, it just feels so natural to be back!

My morning started with a 4:20 am wake up call and an early 6 am flight out of Grand Rapids to LGA. I landed a little after 8 am and took the bus/subway into the city. 

By the time I made it down to 23rd street, near She's the First HQ, I needed to stop for an early "lunch" at Starbucks while I answered a few emails and enjoyed a vanilla steamer.

After catching up with Tammy and Christen for just a few minutes, I packed up my stuff and left for my first city adventure of the weekend --- The Rachael Ray Show! I was so thankful to be picked out of the stand by line (w/ the help of a good friend of mine!).

Check it out -- have you ever been to a TV show taping? They are quite the production!
(Pun intended).

 We left the show with copies of Rachael's magazine - I never turn down a free magazine! :)

After the show my friend and wonderful hostess, Opal, took me to Pinkberry for a little "pre-dinner" dessert. I loved the new greek yogurt that Pinkberry serves - it's fabulous!

After Pinkberry, we decided we were still hungry and ventured for an early dinner at a Thai place a few doors down. The food was excellent! I ordered spicy noodles and vegetables - so much flavor and definitely lit my taste buds on fire!

After dinner, we made our way down to the Financial District area to drop my stuff at Opal's dorm at Pace University. Such a pretty group of buildings right next to the Brooklyn Bridge and the new Freedom Tower. You should see her view, it's to-die-for!

After re-charging my phone for a few minutes, I decided to go on an after-dinner walk on the Brooklyn Bridge and through Opal's neighborhood. I just can't get enough of street-roaming in New York. I could literally spend days on end just wandering and watching.

This city is just so full of life.

 What a beautiful New York sunset over the skyline... A perfect way to end my day.

 I took a break in the middle of the bridge and found these hidden treasures :)

The night finished with a trip to see the progress they've made on the Freedom Tower - so beautiful and such a sign of strength, solidarity and reconstruction. You never cease to amaze, New York City.

Until tomorrow! (I've got exciting plans.... stay tuned!)

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Purple Townhouses, Piles of Pasta and Sustainable Innovation

I can't believe my last full day here for Spring Break is already coming to an end! The trip has gone by so incredibly fast, but I also feel like I've done so much at the same time. My flight back to Detroit (given we don't get a huge snowstorm in NYC, which is possible...) is around 4:45 pm tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be making the most of my morning by getting up early and being productive!

This morning started around 7:30 am when I woke up, ate breakfast and got dressed for the day. Around 8:15 ish, I left Tammy and Erin's apartment and started walking towards where my first meeting was scheduled, midtown west. I convinced myself that I'd walk as far as I could before I thought it'd be smart to catch the subway for the rest of the journey (I started on 106th and was going to 37th!). I made it to about 72nd street—and saw a lot of unique architecture, apartment buildings and more residential areas—before crossing over to Broadway to catch the subway.

Isn't this purple townhouse on the Upper West Side just adorable?

After walking a few blocks from my subway stop, I met up with Sarah Bruning, a She's the First volunteer who also works as the Associate Features Editor for Time Out New York. She wanted to meet up at a cute place called Cafe Grind, and agreed to give me advice on moving to New York after college, how to manage an editorial career, and what life in Brooklyn looks like!

After that meeting, I hiked across town to Madison Avenue for a lunch meeting with Selena Soo. Selena has also been involved with She's the First, and I met her this summer and knew that I had to connect since I was back in the city. She offered to have me over for lunch at her gorgeous apartment and talked with me about how she built her own successful business (S2 Groupe), what it's like to work on your own away from a corporate environment, and what an impressive interviewee and potential job candidate looks like. I really appreciated her advice on how to conduct informational interviews and what makes for a powerful and compelling "pitch."

After lunch, still feeling a bit like a "foodie," I decided to take a pit stop in Eataly, one of the largest Italian restaurants/grocery stores/food emporiums in the city. The amount of fresh pasta and incredible smells was almost too much for my full stomach to handle. I wanted to try a bit of everything in the store!

Feeling a bit "winded" (both physically and mentally, since it was very windy here today), I decided to walk over to She's the First HQ for a little break from being on my feet and a chance to meet Kristin, the new creative intern!

I hung out there for a few hours until it was time for Tammy and I's meeting with Jessica Kleiman and Gennifer Delman of SANDOW, an innovative company that delivers and develops mutli-platform luxury, beauty, design, and fashion brands. Their current office is home to one of the world's largest libraries of innovative and sustainable materials for the construction of new products. In other words, it was wildly creative and such a fun place for a mini-tour. After a quick peek into the library itself, Jessica and Gennifer told us a bit about what makes the company so innovative, what projects they are currently developing and what advice they had for me as I approach a "career."

Jessica and Gennifer agreed that it was important to be 1) flexible in finding my first job (although careful in selecting the "right" one for me) 2) extremely proactive in cultivating relationships and 3) moved to NYC and ready to work!

I guess that's next on the agenda...

After that meeting, I stopped at Whole Foods on the Upper West Side before heading back to the apartment for an early night. I've got another action-packed day tomorrow with several meetings before my flight home!

This is me after a LONG day with many meetings! (Whew!)

Goodnight!

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From Student to "Mentor," Lunch in Wonderland and Lottery Tickets to Annie on Broadway!

Tammy (one of my lovely hostesses) keeps telling me that I like to keep busy while I'm in NYC, and I can't say that I disagree with her :)

This morning started bright and early as Tammy and I left the apartment on a journey to Jamaica, Queens. We both agreed to speak on a career day panel for seniors at The Young Women's Leadership School in New York, representing our work with She's the First as a President/career woman (Tammy) and college student/campus co-founder (myself). I was a little shocked when they asked me to speak --- this was the first time I had ever been invited to speak to a group of younger students, usually I'm the one sitting in on the "expert" panels and asking questions!

How do I look? Professional?

After a pretty long commute and a stop at Dunkin' Donuts for coffee, Tammy was obviously thrilled to be "back in school" for the morning, as was I!

Woah, I have a "hot job?"

I was so honored and thrilled to be sitting in on the panel with one of my role models. You could definitely tell that the students really look up to her and all that she's accomplished. And then when she tells them she used to work at Seventeen, their faces light up even further :)

The girls did such a wonderful job asking us questions, and a lot of them were even intrigued about what college was like so I think they really did value my knowledge! My favorite question had to be if we still had time to nap in college. I responded by saying that although I myself don't nap... I know many, many of my friends who enjoy naps daily. That seemed to ease her mind a bit.

After our morning in school, Tammy and I parted ways and I made a pit stop on the Upper East Side for the early afternoon. I had remembered talking about a place called Alice's Tea Cup with Tammy yesterday, and when I stumbled on it while walking I knew that I just had to stop for a "scone lunch." (Because when are sweets and berries not the perfect lunch?)

The buttermilk scone with homemade whipped cream and jelly was to die for. Seriously, so good.

 And, the atmosphere looked like I had stepped right into Alice in Wonderland! SO adorable!

After lunch I had about an hour and a half to kill and decided to take Tammy's advice and visit the Museum of the City of New York near Central Park. I took a short subway trip uptown and found myself back on "Museum Mile!"

The museum itself was awesome, so intriguing and lots to take in! The exhibit on "winter in the city" with all of the old paintings and artifacts was cool, but my favorite exhibit was definitely one that allowed you to walk through an "apartment from the future" as part of a brainstorm competition designed to envision the future of sustainable NYC living. It was almost like walking through a more intense version of IKEA!

After the museum, I made my way down to Union Square Park for my first informational interview of the day with Leslie Zaikis of Levo League. Levo League is an online and in-person community designed to help Gen Y women (like myself!) look for mentors, jobs, career advice and networking opportunities. I highly recommend checking it out—they've got a lot of great partnerships with a lot of MAJOR companies and brands. And their office hours events online (that Leslie has created and facilitates) are super helpful and give website members access to a wealth of really important executives from various industries.

The office was AMAZING. It was a converted apartment, so they had a full kitchen, jacuzzi tub, skylight and staff YOGA sessions. HOW AWESOME? Is it time to stop school and start work now, please?

Leslie and I talked about a variety of things, one being that she graduated with U of M and was a member of Alpha Chi as well. It was so fun chatting about what my job hunt process has been like and she even provided me with a bunch of tools for becoming more marketable and "techy" on the web.

After our meeting, I went really quickly to Times Square where I entered the Lottery drawing for Annie tickets at the last possible second. I'd love to say that I was lucky... but not that many people entered so my chances were pretty good to win :)

I ended up with front row seats for the 7 pm performance!

The show was FANTASTIC—highly recommended. The young cast members were absolutely incredible and the entire show was just fun and high-energy. I even enjoyed singing along to myself a bit.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love ya, tomorrow, you're only, a day away.

Goodnight, NYC! I've got a busy day planned for tomorrow!

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