CITY LIVING, SUBLET STYLE

So as y'all know, I'm currently in New York. NYC is the land of many things - street hot dogs, Broadway shows, the Empire State Building, etc. It's also the land of teeny tiny apartments and astronomical rent.  I lucked out and am actually subletting an apartment from one of my friends that goes to NYU. It's a great place - pretty roomy, pretty new, and nice and clean and bright.  Since I'm only subletting, however, there's not a lot of furniture, and what there is is pretty plain. This is the actual IKEA furniture in my living room:

SOFA / COFFEE TABLE / CHAIR

As you can see, it's death by beige. Nice for going with everything, but in an apartment with white walls and brown wood floors, it's major snoozeville. But because I'm only subletting, it doesn't really make sense to decorate - I go back home in 3 months, and NYC is expensive enough as it is without spending a fortune on coffee table books and throw pillows.  My solution?  A few picks from places like Etsy and Target to make the room a little more lived-in - without breaking the bank.

 01. THROW PILLOWS in blue & beige to add some color and pattern to the couch.

02. A cozy THROW for curling up and watching a movie at night.

03. A yummy-smelling CANDLE to add some personality to the space.

 04. A NY SUBWAY SIGN PRINT - to fill up white wall space, add some more color, and pay homage to the city I currently call home.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

Happy Memorial Day! Raise your beer to all the brave men and women who've fought to preserve our freedom.

via

THINGS I PINNED AND LIKED

ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE

BOOKMARK

These two books ended up in my library bag during my last trip. I'd already read the first Freakonomics book and loved it, and of course, J.K. Rowling is J.K. Rowling.  Superfreakonomics is just what you'd expect if you've read the first book - filled with interesting observations and studies and ideas that you never would have thought of.  Extremely interesting and awesome dinner table conversation material!  

As for the Casual Vacancy, I'm torn. It was really slow in the beginning - not that much action, and so many characters/relationships that I couldn't keep them straight.  Finally, around the middle it got really good. The plot picked up, I got involved in the characters' lives (and because of all that build-up, felt like I knew them really well).  And then I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. Something you were lead to believe was important didn't end up being that important, and the end of the book felt a bit abrupt to me. Then again, I'm one of those people that likes a lot of closure, so you never know. I definitely recommend Superfreakomics if you like books that like, and if you've got some time on your hands or are a fast reader like me (it's a thick book), pick up the Casual Vacancy and see what you think!

SUPERFREAKONOMICS / THE CASUAL VACANCY

FIRST DAY OF INTERNSHIP OUTFIT

FORVER 21 BLAZER / BCBGENERATION HEELS / ZARA DRESS

The first day of your first internship is a lot like your first day of a new school. You have no idea what to expect - no idea what the culture's like, what's cool or not cool, whether or not they allow open-toed shoes in their business casual dress code...okay, maybe not that last one.  But there are the same first day butterflies, the same anxiousness that causes you to arrive 15 before you're supposed to and then have to loiter in a Starbucks across the street to kill time. And, of course, the same stress over what you're going to wear.

This is what I wore on the first day on my internship (Monday, for those of you keeping track).  This exact blazer, exact dress, and an older pair of heels that are similar in style.  I'm helping out with PR at a fashion company, where the dress code is business casual. I figured the heels would dress things up a bit for my first day, even though I'll probably wear flats/wedges from here on out, and that the blazer would make the outfit more conservative if needed. It wasn't - plus the intern closet (yes, it's actually called that) is sweltering.  But this cute, simple, on-trend dress that kept me relatively cool in the heat (and earned me some compliments!) was the perfect first-day-of-work look.