A Day In The Life

August 9, 2015Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 5 Comments

By popular demand (aka my friend Kathleen of Los Angeles requested it), I’m giving you guys a little glimpse into my day-to-day life in New York City! On Friday I filmed some moments and below the video, I’ve got a little write-up with some more detail. I honestly don’t feel like daily life is much different here than anywhere else, but looking through a lens (literally and figuratively!) definitely made me notice the more special things.

A Day In The Life from Leigh Anne Zinsmeister on Vimeo.

5:45 a.m.: Wake up with the sun. Spend some time in the Word (you’ll notice my one-year bible is turning into more of a one-and-a-half year bible, but I’m actually very OK with that. I’d rather take my time and soak it all in than rush through it.) Get ready. Eat a little breakfast. Out the door by 7:15!

7:45 a.m.: Take the scenic route and walk through Washington Square, as I often do. When the weather’s not as nice, I make a transfer or two to end up closer to my office.

8 a.m.-12 p.m.: Work work work. I make my lunches at home and eat at my desk so I can take advantage of the full hour I get for a break.

12 p.m.-1 p.m.: Lunch break! Reading in Washington Square (it is my favorite park, after all.)

1 p.m.-5 p.m.: Work work work.

5 p.m.: I’m a “leave the office right at 5” kind of girl, but most New Yorkers don’t have that luxury, so I spend a lot of evenings killing time on my own before evening plans. On Friday this entails more reading, this time in Union Square.

7:30 p.m.: Dinner with my lovely friend Katie! We have some church things to discuss and decided that was best done over guac (as most things in life are). We go to Tortaria – my first time there and I have nothing but high praise! I also have a pulled-pork torta.

8:30 p.m.: Take the scenic route back to the train – the same station where the day began.

9:15 p.m.: Back in my Brooklyn apartment! It’s a quiet and early night – I’m asleep by 10:30.

I hope you all enjoyed this little glimpse into my life! Feel free to let me know if you ever have any requests for what you’d like to see on here!

Catching up via Instagram

August 3, 2015Leigh Anne Zinsmeister Leave a comment

Hey friends! Just a quick photo post today to catch up on life in NYC in between the trip to LA and having my sister in town.

In honor of National Fry Day and National Mac and Cheese Day being back-to-back, I indulged in both on the same evening at Schnipper’s

. Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.48.52 PM

My brother and his girlfriend got at cat, and I am obsessed. Meet Tuna!

Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.48.42 PM

Nothing like Christmas in July to break up the sweltering summertime heat.

Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.48.34 PM

National Ice Cream Day also fell this month, and I indulged in my favorite – Van Leeuwen – in between work and church. (It was National Ice Cream Day last year when I first had their strawberry ice cream, and it remains the best!)

Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.48.27 PM

The day before I left for LA was the birthday of S’MAC, a mac and cheese place I discovered thanks to my mom last fall. Their all-American dish was only $1 that day, so really, it only made sense to indulge.

Another picnic in the park ruined by thunderstorms, but aren’t those clouds pretty?!

Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.47.57 PM

I couldn’t believe it when this little guy flew up to me in the park and settled on my arm. He sat there for several minutes!

Screen shot 2015-08-02 at 10.47.40 PM

Finally: I purchased a Giving Key with the word ‘trust’ after receiving a generous gift card from my church. I love it so much!

Follow me on Instagram here.

My week in Instagrams: Los Angeles Edition

July 29, 2015Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 2 Comments

I’m back from another fab vacation! This time I jumped on a westbound plane and spent five days with friends and family in Los Angeles, California. It was, I believe, my eighth trip to LA – but my first in nearly two years!

Upon arrival, I dumped my bags and jumped in an Uber to the beach, because obviously.

On Day 2, I spent some time with my mom’s brother. We always have such a blast! He took me to lunch at The Grove farmers market, shopping on Melrose Ave, and strolling along Rodeo Drive to the Beverly Wilshire hotel.

OF COURSE I wasn’t about to visit LA without tacos and margs at Don Antonio’s. Best tacos in America!

On Thursday nights there are free concerts at the Santa Monica Pier! Such a great excuse to picnic on the beach. Check out that sunset view.

The one and only thing I especially wanted to do on this trip was visit the Venice Canals! They were built in 1905 and are absolutely gorgeous. Many more photos to come!

After the canals, we hopped on beach cruisers and rode to Malibu and back. I’m not much of a biker, but it’s always a good time once I get rolling (last time I rode was in the Netherlands over a year ago!)

On Saturday we ventured to Brentwood to visit the Getty Museum with my aunt and uncle. Check out those views!

Probably my favorite activity on this trip was picnicking and watching Willy Wonka at Hollywood Forever Cemetery! There are movies in the parks in NYC, but this was truly a unique experience.

Thanks to my college bestie Kathleen for letting me crash with her, and for driving me all around and buying me brunch! Can’t wait to see you in NYC sometime soon.

Lately on Instagram

July 12, 2015Leigh Anne Zinsmeister Leave a comment

You may have noticed that with the exception of my trip to Boston, I haven’t been on Instagram quite as much lately. I attribute most of that to my new Snapchat obsession, although I’ll admit that life has just been a little hectic lately with fewer moments to slow down and appreciate the little things. Still, I wanted to share a bit of what I’ve been up to in NYC lately!

My friend Breanna has been driving our church’s truck back to its home in Brooklyn after services lately, and sometimes I get to ride along! I snapped this while cruising over the Manhattan Bridge a couple weeks ago and it basically carried me through the next few days of early wake-up calls and work on work on work.

I popped into Best Buy a couple weeks ago for new earphones – for someone with a reputation for being “adult” and “responsible,” I lose and break those things more often than is really reasonable. It gets expensive, especially when I grab other trinkets off the shelves such as this Kate Spade phone case!

There was a crazy storm here one evening that seriously reminded me of the monsoons we used to get in Colorado and Arizona. But the payoff was an incredible sunset!

The Fourth of July weekend was weirdly gloomy, but that didn’t stop a group of us from gathering under the Brooklyn Bridge for a six-hour picnic (getting good fireworks spots is seriously competitive!) Eventually the skies cleared up…

… and we were rewarded for our perseverance with another stunner of a sunset! As well as an incredible fireworks display.

Wednesday was the anniversary of one of the best days of my life – four years ago, I woke up at 1 a.m. (seriously) to drive from my Orlando apartment (betcha didn’t know I lived in Florida for about 5 minutes!) to the coast to watch the last-ever space-shuttle launch. I got to report, photograph and blog about the event for the Orlando Sentinel and it was 100% the highlight of my career.

I guess July is always my month, because Thursday was also an anniversary – one year from meeting my best friend Emmie! We met up at the spot where we met – Chloe’s Soft Serve near Union Square – to stuff our faces, reminisce, and hide from a rainstorm that came out of nowhere. Here’s to another year of adventure!

And yesterday, by some miracle, my roommates and I were all free so we gathered for some Korean BBQ (cooked right at our table!) and the Minions movie (which I highly recommend).

Follow me on Instagram here.

Twenty-Five

April 21, 2015Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 5 Comments

Did anyone else see The Imitation Game? I only saw it because I felt like I should see at least one best-picture nominee before this year’s Oscars, but it ended up making me think. A lot. And not about the things I was probably supposed to be thinking about after seeing a movie about World War II, homosexuality and (spoiler alert) suicide.

Partway through the film, the only female character in the male-dominated intelligence team announces she has to leave and go back to her parents’ home. “It’s my parents,” she explains. “I’m 25, I’m unmarried, I’m living alone, and they want me home.” The protagonist responds with, “that’s ridiculous.”

It is ridiculous, isn’t it?

At this point, my roommate turned to me and jokingly said, “You’re not moving to Texas in April, are you?!” No, I’m pretty sure if I showed up at my parents’ home with suitcases today they would laugh in my face (in the most supportive way possible, of course).

At 25 (today!), as an unmarried woman working in a male-dominated industry who lives with another unmarried twenty-something woman in the same industry, I couldn’t be more grateful for the fact that it’s 2015 and I live in America.

I’m so blessed to get to live the exact life I want – to work in a newsroom and live in my favorite city and spend all of my money on plane tickets and hotel rooms.I’m even more blessed to have a supportive family and the most insanely wonderful group of friends, near and far.

This year, I’m taking advantage of this freedom. I’m fully committed to spending my twenty-fifth year writing, traveling, sitting in the sunshine, drinking lattes with friends and eating as much cheesecake as humanly possible. And I’m so excited to do it all with you at my side!

A Life of Genuine Delight

Menu

Widgets

Search

friends