On things coming full circle.

The past year of my life as been the hardest, most trying, most informing year of 23 years on this earth. Not only did it question what I “thought” I knew, but also put in perspective the things that I DON’T. As a Type A personality-control-freak, the past year has been really rough.

Not knowing where or how my life was gonna go (graduating grad school, starting a full-time job, ending a serious relationship and some friendships, navigating new ones, etc., etc.) made me completely overwhelmed. And there were many a night where only pad thai, my bed, and Netflix could solve the problem.

Sometimes life throws you hardships to see how well you can handle them, and other time life throws you a BUNCH of hardships at once to see if you, well, survive. It’s now March, almost a year after I graduated, a year after all the confusing changes I can’t even begin to skim the surface of began. But I celebrated coming out alive in St. Lucia this past week. It was in St. Lucia that I realized how true the saying is that goes “things sometimes have to fall apart to come together.”

And while on a beautiful beach in St. Lucia, with a Pina Colada in my hand, with that guy who ended up back by my side, I felt like I could handle anything  else that life decides to throw at me.

 

Seasons Greetings.

Wow. It’s been a long time. Being a grad student at an ivy league university has made me lose my mind, my bank account and all my free time. It’s making this next few weeks off, extra, extra special and extra sweet. I can’t explain how full and free my heart feels now that it’s Christmastime.  Here are some of my favorite things of this holiday season…enjoy!

OK so this is from Fall… but this was one of the precious weekend days I had no homework and was able to frolic about NYC. My first stop was obviously @BabycakesNYC for a gluten-free carrot cake cupcake. Amaze.

Starbucks holiday cups and red nails were my favorite first signs of the season.

White lights line the gated entrance to my campus. I adore white lights…simple, classic, and elegant!

Santacon 2011 with my best friends. If you don’t know what Santacon is, it’s an all-day bar crawl that (basically) the whole city dresses up for.  We started the day with baileys and hot chocolate and ended it with a great choice for drunk food- chopped salads. If that’s not the definition of balance I don’t know what is.

A festive OOTD- this was for a presentation and I decided to work in some holiday cheer with a statement necklace, ruffles, and sequins.

And my most favorite part of the season-

My boyfriend being home for the holidays. While long-distance may be hard (especially after almost three years of it), it’s always worth it when you get to share this time with your one and only. We did a drive-by photo shoot by the Rockfeller Center tree last night…

…and dinner on Restuarant Row post-theater (Rock of Ages- raunchy and awesome- great show!).

This week is full of festivities- holiday baking, getting the Christmas tree with my fam, and going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (which should be sick!) I also need to finish up my shopping and wrap my presents! Now that’s the kind of homework I’m more than OK with doing.

What’s on your holiday to-do list this week?!

XOX, Cass

#salutationnation

{if I fail out, at least I have cute notebooks.}

Grad school is hard.

My summer classes were kinda a joke, so let’s just say the past week was a bit of a wake up call.

My professors slapped me in the face and said “It’s fall now, bitch” (not really.)

Armed with a grande coffee with steamed soy and 2 pumps of pumpkin spice extra-hot, I have been reading my way through 1200 pages worth of material and 500 pages worth of notes for next week.

I’m gonna need some more Starbucks.

And another job.

With that, it was a much needed break from the madness of grad school this weekend when I joined my fellow NYC yoga lovaassss for Salutation Nation.

What a glorious morning spent in Central Park, practicing and being adjusted by some of the city’s top yoga instructors.

Lululemon, thanks. This was Awesome.

 

And much needed.

Like my next latte.

xox, Cass

Love Asheville (part 2).

Well, it’s official. I’m moving to Asheville. I’m leaving the big city, and moving to North Carolina and eating my weight  in vegan food and shopping all day in vintage shops. It’s been real, NYC.

Downtown Asheville is for tofu and tie dye lovers- vegans and hippies everywhere. Since I am convinced I’ve been both in my past lives, I absolutely loved walking around the city today.

Everything in Asheville made me smile. 

From the emphasis on buying from local shops and artisans….

to the endless vegetarian dining options,  I was eating it all up.

Literally.  

BBQ Tofu Sloppy Jo’s to-go from Laughing Seed Cafe

and their organic, vegan, gluten-free Chocolate Chip Coconut cookie- and it was unreal.

I loved shopping in all vintage stores, talking to all the friendly people, and just being there.

While I can’t imagine leaving Manhattan now, Asheville screams the my kind of place to, well, be an adult.

And in case there was any doubt, there was a lululemon showroom, so now I know I could live here

What’s your ideal place to live? City or country livin?

xox, Cass

Faves for Fall.

Good morning! Happy September 1st

I know it’s not *officially* Fall just because it’s September, but let’s just say it’s close.

Because I’m way too excited, unofficially or not.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Fall and please, let me know if you agree

1. The return of hot oats. Preferably with banana, egg whites, cinnamon, almond milk and vanilla cooked in.  With a hefty dose of White Chocolate Wonderful and more banana on top.

So maybe I had this the other day. But I’m excited to eat this without breaking a sweat the next time around.

2. Back-to-School Supplies: Back-to-school shopping is a must for people like me who are delaying adulthood by furthering their education. On my list include a new planner (I’m obsessive about my planner), new marker pens (for color-coding said planner. Again, obsessed), moleskin notebooks, and my new Lulu backpack-gym bag-lunch box.

And the award goes to lululemon, once again.

3. Fall fashion: It’s just better to dress in fall than summer. Blazers, colored jeans, menswear shoes. All fall trends I love and will happily oblige by.

Loving urban‘s take, as always- comes in tons of colors too.

4. Pumpkin….everything? Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbs, pumpkin beer and pumpkin butter from TJ’s- I just can’t get enough.

I’ll be the one outside Starbucks at 3AM on September 6th.

5. Essie’s New Fall 2011 Collection:  Normally I say that Essie is the “it” polish for spring/summer but O.P.I dominates for the colder seasons. But, Essie’s new collection is the perfect transition from summer to fall and I want every.single.color.

6. Halloween: Without counting Christmas for obvious reasons, Halloween is my favorite favorite holiday. I love dressing up. . Now I need to find a way to top my couple costume from last year. It.was.awesome.

Really though, my boyfriend looks nothing like Russell Brand in real life.

I’ll hopefully be back later with some more road trip recap, although I never really know with wi-fi these days

So for now, what are your faves for the Fall season?!

Asheville, part 1.

I’ve learned a valuable lesson over the past few days.

I will never again underestimate a real bed after sleeping on a motor home table-turned-bed for two straight nights.

Yes- the TABLE turned into a BED. And yes, that is an oxymoron.

Today we woke up bright and early and without showering, changing out of our pajamas, or taking the day-old eyeliner off our faces (ok, that was only me), we made our way to Asheville, NC. 

Thank the RV gods, we didn’t get pulled over.

Our day was centered around touring the Biltmore Estate. the largest privately owned home in the country.

This “house” was 4 acres wide and made Monticello look like my Manhattan one-bedroom apartment. Sorry about that, Thomas Jefferson.

No photog allowed inside, but take my word for it. This place put rappers on MTV Cribs to shame.

We ate lunch at “The Stable Cafe” at the house which promoted a “farm-to-table” philosophy, and used fresh and organic produce from the grounds of the estate.

I had a delicious roasted vegetable salad, with butternut squash, peppers, onions, articokes, goat cheese, and the housemade quinoa veggie burger on top.

Biltmore estate lunch, #ftw.

After some touring of the gardens and basement (which had a produce ROOM), we came back to the hotel and I hit up the gym for a cardio sesh.

Fast forward to 9:30 pm- I just ate a room service dinner in my comfy hotel bed in my yoga pants and fuzzy socks.

I love ya, RV- but this is just more my style .

My plans for the night include sleeping- so, so, peacefully.

And maybe a little of this chocolate cheesecake action.

Yeah, just maybe.

Love to know: your personal favorite eats of the day?

Charlottesville!

Hello from our east coast road trip (finally!)

The first stop on our RV roadtrip was Charlottesville on Tuesday. Since then, I’ve had zero contact with wi-fi, cell phone service, or basic electricity.

I know, scary.

Tuesday was a great day! After mentioning on Kath’s blog that I was coming into town, she was kind enough to get to the bakery at the same time we were rollin’ on by.

I totally forgot to take a picture with her (starstruck?) but I did take a picture of my delicious Curried Tuna sandwich. The bread, Cville Crunch- ridiculoussssssssss.

Thanks, Kath- this was awesomeeeeee.

We ate waiting for our shuttle to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s humble abode.

 

Oh hey, TJ…. nice casa ya got there.

It was a great day that ended with some scenic views from the Blue Ridge Parkway, my mom’s vegetarian chili, and dark chocolate almonds.

Next up, Asheville!