A guide to your city! Share some of the hot-spots and hidden gems of where you live.

If you’ve read even a single post on this blog, you know that I love my city. It’s my favorite city in the world. I went through hell and high water to get here, and frankly, I go through it every day just to keep living here. It’s worth it.

My city is New York City.

The view from Hudson River Park

I’ve only lived here for six months, though (almost to the day!) so I’m still learning myself. I think I could live here forever and still be learning. I sat next to a family on a flight Monday that was going to visit NYC for the very first time. Every time they told me something they were planning to do (Phantom of the Opera, a helicopter ride over Times Square, the Statue of Liberty…) my response was, “Oh, I’ve heard that’s so fun! I haven’t done it yet, though…”

So, what have I done? These are some of my very favorite ways to spend time in NYC:

• Sit in a park with a book. My favorites are the High Line, Hudson River Park, Central Park (of course!), Bryant Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
• Smorgasburg. Every weekend local restaurants set up at a riverfront park in Brooklyn (East River State Park on Saturdays and Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sundays) so you can stuff your face and stare at the city’s skyline.
• Eat. Nearly all of the food here is phenomenal, whether you’re getting a fancy dinner at DBGB or a slice of dollar pizza at a corner shop.
• Drink coffee. Visit local coffee shops instead of one of the 8 trillion Starbucks. Trust me – you get not only fantastic coffee, but the owners are always great fun to chat with. My favorites are Happy Bones and Two Hands.
• Sit on rooftops. As much as I love admiring the skyline from across the East River, sometimes it’s fun to be in the middle of Manhattan and rise above the madness. I love the Empire Hotel for drinks (bonus: It’s Chuck Bass’ hotel on Gossip Girl) and Rockefeller Center for views.
• Wander aimlessly. If I want to explore but don’t want to plan, I take the subway to a random station and explore that neighborhood. There is so much to see and do here, and that can be a really low-key way to do it.

The view from the Empire Hotel

What’s your favorite thing to do in NYC? I’m always looking for ideas!

Tell us what you’re loving, hating, reading, eating, etc.

I’m currently…

Doing: Work. Yep, I’m spending my Saturday in the office. I work one Saturday and one Sunday every month – and get three-day weekends the rest of the time. Totally worth it!

Reading: My Mistake by Daniel Menaker. I usually read a pretty even mix of fiction and non-fiction, but the last few books I’ve read have been novels (mostly for the book club I was a part of back in Phoenix – it’s so fun to read along with them!) I’m excited to dive into this memoir.

Wearing: My “uniform” – jeans, cotton shirt (today’s is white and orange stripes), sandals.

Buying: I wasn’t planning to buy any clothes or accessories this month because it won’t be long now until I have to invest in a winter coat. But yesterday, I was eating my lunch in the park and got pizza grease all over my favorite silver polyester skirt. Sigh. Since I had plans last night and didn’t want to worry about hiding the stain, I ran over to H&M (perks of working in SoHo!) and picked up a new skirt. It was only $13 and it should go with almost everything, so not a huge setback.

Listening to: Spotify’s Girlpower Anthems playlist.

Eating: Nothing at this exact moment, but I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch that I’m pretty excited about.

Drinking: Coffee and water.

Watching: I’m almost done with the third season of Gossip Girl on Netflix. That’ll probably go on hold in a couple weeks when fall shows start back up! Keep an eye out for a post on what I’ll be watching this season.

Planning: It’s been a crazy-busy week, so I’m excited to spend tonight and tomorrow at home watching Netflix, reading, drafting blog posts and generally relaxing. After I run to Trader Joe’s tonight, of course.

Processing: Sarah Dubbeldam, founder of Darling Magazine, spoke at Liberty‘s Sisterhood last night, and if you read my piece on what I want to be when I “grow up,” you can surely imagine how incredible this experience was. As in, life-changing.

Excited for: SO MUCH. Last night, Liberty’s lead pastor, the fearless Andi Andrew, shared her vision for the women of NYC and it is incredible. If you’re in NYC, you’ll want to be at She Is Free next April – I’m already registered!