My week in Instagrams: 11/9/14

November 9, 2014Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 4 Comments

Hello friends! What a week it’s been. Between friend dates and church events, I’ve barely had a spare moment to post to Instagram, let alone this blog. Whoops! As fun as it’s been, I’m looking forward to a shortened work week and some nights in coming up. Meanwhile, here’s a tiny glimpse at the insanity, post-election:

On Wednesday, I had approximately two hours free in between work and community group. Convenient, since I hadn’t finished the reading for group! I headed to a Starbucks in midtown for my seasonal favorite – the delicious but expensive peppermint mocha – and some reading time.

Friday was the last Liberty Sisterhood gathering of 2014. Our fearless leader Andi Andrew stood onstage alongside some truly amazing women – including my dear friend Trish, pictured above – to talk about sisterhood and cast vision over our future. It has been such a joy getting to know the amazing women of Liberty and there are such great things to come in 2015!

Yesterday capped off the week with a night I had been looking forward to for many weeks! My roommate Becca and I bought tickets to Nick Offerman’s standup set at the New York Comedy Festival. Before the show, we headed to a diner in Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast (and beer) for dinner. We try to make Ron Swanson proud whenever we can.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful and restful weekend!

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My week in Instagrams: 10/26/14

October 26, 2014Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 1 Comment

Looking at my Instagram profile over the past week, one might think I am the sort of person who enjoys the “great” outdoors. I assure you I am not that sort of person. I do, however, appreciate how beautiful nature is this time of year, particularly here in the Northeast – orange is my favorite color and for now it is all around!

Early in the week I spent some quality time with my friend Breanna, whose birthday was yesterday! Bre lives in Park Slope, a neighborhood I had yet to visit, and I might have been late to lunch because I kept stopping to take pictures of the trees.

Wednesday was one of those days where I had a small amount of time to kill before work, so I decided to take the train a little further and backtrack through the park. Naturally I got caught in the rain, but somehow this city is still beautiful even when it’s wet.

On Friday I realized I hadn’t been to the High Line in a while, so I headed there to check out the foliage. Gorgeous, of course.

This week has wrapped up with a visit from my friend Jenny, who I recently visited in Toronto! Yesterday Jenny, Taylor and I headed to the East Village for bottomless brunch at Poco. It was one of those brunches where you completely lose track of what time it is because you’re just having too much fun. It’s been such a treat to have a bit of a vacation without leaving the city!

What have you been up to? Follow me on Instagram here.

My week in Instagrams: 10/19/14

October 19, 2014Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 6 Comments

Hello friends! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week. I’m finally feeling 100% after a week battling the common cold. I hear I missed some stunning NYC weather while I was sleeping away for days on end, but I’m excited to be back in action! Here’s what my life looked like lately, through filters of course!

Sunday was my first day in our company’s fancy new office! To be honest, I’d been dreading the move a bit because of the new commute – two transfers as opposed to zero before. But as soon as I found my new desk and saw the view out the window – all of my complaints vanished. The space is amazing too, and it’s already done wonders for my attitude.

By Wednesday I was feeling mostly healthy, so I headed to Central Park before community group to check up on the foliage. The leaves seem to be so slow to turn this year! But I did find some stunning colors near the pond and get this shot just before the skies opened up and I got rained on. Sigh.

Does anyone else use the Timehop app? It goes through your social media profiles and lets you know what you were up to on this date in years past. It’s so fun to go through every day – and when I saw this tweet I sent last fall, I couldn’t help but smile. Who knew that within six months I would sell that car and move to New York City! Dreams really do come true.

Finally: The week wrapped up last night with a churchwide kickball game! Emmie and I dressed up as m&ms and played for Team Manhattan. All of my middle-school PE dreams came true when I scored a run – no one could have seen that coming! I’m pleased to report that we won the game. Hooray!

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My week in Instagrams: 10/11/14

October 11, 2014Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 2 Comments

Hello friends! I hope your week has been fantastic! Here’s a peek at what I’ve gotten up to:

When I was in Dallas in September, I saw this gorgeous quilt in my parents’ living room (my mom made it, of course.) When she came out to visit a week later, she brought it to me! She’s quick to insist that it’s not a “keeping warm” quilt, but I beg to differ. It’s been perfect for curling up with!

With some time to kill after work on Wednesday before meeting a friend, I wandered midtown taking photos – one of my favorite things to do! The reason I posted this one, though, was to go along with my favorite quote so far from Let’s All Be Brave: “Sometimes, you set sail without a view of the destination, trusting the tools you’ve got. And once you get there, you stay. You move forward, not backward. You burn your ships.”

Yesterday I made my way up to Rockefeller Plaza – my favorite spot in the city – and was startled to see that the ice rink had already been installed! Winter is coming much, much faster than I anticipated. And yes, I did finally buy a coat.

Also last night, my darling friend Katie, who works for FEED, threw a FEEDsupper! Many of us gathered in her adorable Astoria apartment for a night of friendship and a home-cooked southern meal. Special thanks to Katie’s mom for coming up from Alabama and cooking for us!

Finally, the week wraps up with a celebration. Today is my very best friend’s birthday! I haven’t seen Jordan since I moved from Phoenix in March, but we will be catching up on celebrations in person in just 63 days! This gem is a throwback to our college graduation party in 2011, and I promise the knife was used to cut the cake and nothing more.

What have you been up to?!

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#BlogtemberChallenge Day 11: Inspiration

September 11, 2014Leigh Anne Zinsmeister 6 Comments

How do you stay inspired? Who inspires you the most?

I love this prompt and at the same time I don’t even know where to start! I am constantly inspired by the world around me, to the point that putting it into words is going to be a challenge – but then, that’s the point, yes?

I stay inspired by…

Maybe it’s my journalism roots, but how can you come to Rockefeller Plaza and not leave inspired?

Exploring the city I live in. I live in NYC, my very favorite city in the world, and it is constantly blowing my mind. I have my favorite spots to sit and read and ponder – along the Hudson in the West Village, Rockefeller Plaza, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade – but I also love to visit and explore new-to-me neighborhoods and sites. There is always something new to see or do here – how could one not be constantly inspired here?

Traipsing around the world. As much as I love NYC, sometimes a change of scenery is necessary to shake things up and remind me just how much I love my home. Whether it’s exploring a new city as I did in Toronto last weekend or re-visiting an old home as I’ll do in Dallas next week, it can be so refreshing to be in new surroundings, if only for a couple days.

This city girl isn’t often inspired by small towns, but Lucerne, Switzerland, is simply magical.

Listening to music. I have Spotify playlists for basically every mood – songs that make me happy, songs that remind me of Texas, songs about following dreams. I constantly have music playing when I’m at work, when I’m writing, when I’m cooking – OK, all the time.

Learning as much as I can. I read books, and I’m in a book club so I’m not always confined to my favorite genres (historical fiction and memoirs). I’m a magazine fiend – I subscribe to Afar and my roommate gets Bon Appetit, plus I usually pick up one or two others throughout the month. I have something ridiculous like 200 blogs in my feedly. I just love to learn about the world around me.

Surrounding myself with people I admire and respect. My friends are awesome, y’all. They own their own businesses, they are pursuing degrees in subjects I can’t define, let alone study, they do crazy things like quit their jobs and move across the country to chase their dreams (sound familiar?) But the best thing about these people is that they are kind and supportive and they love and respect me as much as I do them. So that’s who I’m inspired by – the people in my life who aren’t afraid to take a chance. You all know who you are. (Hint: If you’re reading this, you inspire me.)

What inspires you?

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A Life of Genuine Delight

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