the diary: week of 12/4

I've always enjoyed rereading old journals (cringe-worthy moments of past me aside). With this in mind, I've decided on new series of posts, as a diary of sorts, to share interesting articles I've read, pictures I've taken, and memories that I want to make note of. 

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watch / listen / read.

The Crown. Season Two hit Netflix on the 8th and *cough* I might be almost finished. I'm blaming that on a snowy Saturday where all I wanted to do was cozy up indoors. 

Fireworks by First Aid Kit

I'm currently in the midst of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I also recommend the following: 

• A beautiful Parisian apartment

• Ginger cookies a colleague made that I'm itching to recreate myself

• The new Pantone color of the year

• And, a piece to make you cry: Time's 2017 people of the year

• Jenna Lyon's Soho Loft

life. 

• breakfast with a friend @ Cafe Cluny

• digging "all on red" on my nails (Revlon)

• playing tourist with a friend in midtown, followed by dinner @ Hagi Sake bar

• catching up with an old friend @ Gemma

• the first snow of the year!

the diary: thanksgiving 2017 in lists and photos

highlights

• dinners at Shuka, Flex Mussels, & Quality Meats

• quick stop at a fave cafe (Irving Farm Coffee Roasters)

• exploring the west village before Sweeney Todd at The Barrow St. Theater (highly recommend)

• cheeky manicure at the Paintbox in SoHo

• seeing christmas lights along 5th and christmas markets around the city

• a clear and cold night at the refinery rooftop

reflecting on summer 2017

I've had this post in my drafts for about two weeks now. Every time I start writing it I get stuck. It's not that I have particularly profound thoughts about this past summer. Rather, it was just odd enough that I haven't quite figured out how I feel about it. But I suppose that's the value in reflection: muddling through ambiguity until you reach some kind of answer.

It was neither the best summer of my life nor the worst; it seemed to pass in a series of ups and downs. I graduated from NYU in May and, as someone who has never handled change with the greatest ease, transitioning from college has been a struggle for me. Many of my closest friends still have a year left. (In fact, I recently watched them all return to the scheduled and yet, paradoxically, care-free university life). And while I know they're still my friends, there's a new distance that wasn't there before. Of course, it was to be expected. Not only did I move on from NYU, but I also physically moved out from my old apartment where I lived with some of my closest friends for the majority of my college life. 

I've moved into a new apartment and started full-time at my job; I've felt lonely, and loved; I've cried, and I've laughed; and, I don't think I've ever been this confused. But — finally — the confusion is stabilizing. Which is not to say I know all the answers, but instead I'm becoming ok with not knowing.