Although is been almost a month since we went to NYC, I still have 3 days left to cover on the blog (for my memories and for any families out there wondering if they can road trip to NYC with their kids and have a good time – spoiler alert …you can!)
The second day was planned as a full day in Manhattan and it did not disappoint. Our New Jersey hotel was a 30 second walk to the bus stop that went straight to Times Square, so we took advantage of that (with a backpack full of snacks). However, we did purchase tickets to the Big Bus Tour. I got a deep discount for the bus and we were glad we got it. More on that in the next post!
At Times Square we enjoyed all the screens, the people watching and the energy. And a few blocks away was Brant Park and the New York Public Library. Because it was so close – we just walked! Totally do-able!
The NYPL was on quiet hours so we didn’t get to explore any of the book rooms but the kids were just as mesmerized by the interior structure. Another few blocks away was Grand Central. Perfect place for more people watching and Magnolia cupcakes!
We then spent 2 hours at Empire State building LOL. Given that we’ve already seen sky high views at the CN Tower (Toronto) and the Twin Towers back in the 90s – I wasn’t sure there would be anything novel here. However the Empire State had a completely different vibe. Maybe it was the NY history (the story and details of how it was built) or the related culture of the landmark (King Kong move) or how art was incorporated into the experience (helicopter city sketch) – the whole experience was really all encompassing. We could easily have spent another 2 hours there.
After the Empire State building, we grabbed some NY Pizza and hopped on the Big Bus, which ended up being a great way to see some of the sights and learn history about the neighbourhoods. We did get off at the Brooklyn Bridge to take some pictures and get a few souvenirs.
The bus took us back to Times Square, where we grabbed dinner and watched some street performances. The girls did really great given it was a lot of walking and standing. But I think having a place to sit and just take in the sights as they passed through thru a window (without actually having to drive) – definitely helped the whole family.
Next up we have the MoMA, Statue of Liberty and DUMBO!
Not many people I know are like me in that they feel the start of a new week (ahem Monday!) or even the 1st day of the month is like the 1st day of school. It’s the feeling of fresh starts, dreaming big and new routines. I also love reading about people’s organization methods and goal setting – so I thought I’d share to abundance of resources on Google and share tips for a productive month!
Set up your monthly calendar: Appointments, Celebrations, Get togethers, Extra Curriculars, Fitness classes, Classes etc. Getting it out of your head and getting all down in your calendar just makes sense. I use a combination of Goggle Calendar and my paper planner monthly view
Set up goals for the month: whether it’s finishing a book, getting out 3 fitness classes/running x km or maybe it’s doing something you’ve never done before – working towards something helps get you out of your comfort zone and develop character.
Set up a monthly to-do list: I definitely think some of the activities on this list will be created from the monthly goals, but it may also include routine items (ie: run the washer clean cycle, sign up for swimming lessons) and bonus items (ie: artistic projects, going to the art gallery). I personally love the bonus activities – it makes my soul smile
Set a budget: Something is to be said about being mindful about spending. Not just because mindless shopping and over spending is a waste of time and money. But because it’s not good for our environment. So whether it’s a “no spend month” or a cap on eating out, it’s definitely worth a try.
Deep clean something! I think it’s a good habit that I’m starting to implement whereby I clean something that has piled up. Whether it’s a junk drawer, a basement closet or the baseboards. Schedule it in and get it done!
If you are in the GTA / Southern Ontario area, you are probably thinking what I’m thinking… aka waiting for Spring to actually spring!
Cold days mixed with wet snow precipitation do make it harder to get into spring spirit but I did welcome spring by celebrating Holi with my family, setting intentions for the new season and sending my friends Nowruz and Ramadan wishes.
And I also got to thinking about things I wanted to change as I entered the new season. So sharing below 7 ways I’m romanticizing my life this Spring!
Why would I want to romanticizing my life?
For me, I think it’s important to remember that this is a journey and I must always remember to enjoy the journey and find the magic in the process. I’ve recently read about the term “toxic positivity” which this isn’t. Romanticizing ones life is about working through and appreciating all types of experiences. But it’s also about ensuring your habits and routines allow you to be present and grateful. I’m a big proponent of the art of leisure and dreaming big – which I think folds well into romanticizing my life.
Drinking more Herbal Teas: I love me a double (or triple) oat milk cappuccinos! But I know I should be balancing them with lighter options. What better time than spring to infuse my days, evenings & body with orange blossom, chamomile and tumeric-ginger. Just writing it out sounds beautiful 💖
Wearing lighter & brighter colours: I wear many shades of black and this winter I think I to it to another level. Costco had these kirkland brand oversized sweaterswith pockets and I LIVED in those and black leggings. I’m not proud but I was comfy. That said, I need to step out of those threads and take pictures of myself fun/light/bright clothes that make me shine.
Finish art projects abandoned in the dark cold of winter: For someone like me, creating art for the sake of it means that you’ll want to abandon some projects that are too difficult or feel overwhelming. But I also think it’s okay to put yourself in comfortable for the sake of growth.
Deep dive into my HDC and Enneagram: A refreshed self-awareness, just in time for the change of season just feels right. Although I’ve dived into my HDC, I’ve yet to figure out my Enneagram. The potential in knowing these things about yourself can support your journey as well as broaden your horizons!
Volunteer in place of donating money to charity: With the weather warming I think it’s a great opportunity to connect with people through common interest and shared community efforts.
Start a Joy-Jar: I love this analog way of documenting your days. Instead of recording videos or taking pictures, take this opportunity to write down happy memories and store them in a jar. At the end of the month you’ll have handful positive reminders 🥰
Create for me: Kind of like this blog, I want to CREARE & SHARE my art for nothing but me. Something between a persona scrapbook on a digital platform. So I’ll be sharing more of the art gallery trips, WIP art projects and street art. They unique way I see joy in every day beauty needs to be shared with the world (for me…)!
On a whim, we decided to do a road trip to NY for March Break.
Going to NYC is a ALWAYS a good idea (well that’s at least how I felt before coming a mom) ha!
But I’m happy to confirm, it’s still a good idea with kiddos tagging along.
Since it was the first time our girls had been, we knew that we had to hit up some of the touristy spots. But we also wanted to try things we had never done before. And although the post says 4 days, it was actually 6 (because the travel days there and back were 10-11 hours each way! – which surprisingly also wasn’t as bad as it reads lol!
We decided the first full day post travel that we’d take it SUPER easy! We were staying in Weehawken and decided to take the kids to the Nickelodeon Universe Indoor Amusement Park. But not before hitting up Target!
In all honesty, this was the 1st of 3 trips to Target. This first trip was all about the clothes and accessories – spoiler alert I didn’t find much! TikTok made me think I’d be making OOTDs in my shopping cart 😆
The Nickelodeon Universe is located inside the American Dream mall. It’s a MASSIVE mall with every store, specialty restaurant + food court and every community amenity under the sun (ice rink, ski hill and waterpark!).
We spent some time exploring the Secret Garden. It’s a specifically designed garden made of moss, gnomes & crystals.
Then we spent about 3 hours at the amusement park. With height appropriate rides (both joy and thrill) the girls really enjoyed themselves – even going on their 1st rollercoaster!
Next up? Checking out the tourist sites in Manhattan!
As a working mom, blogger, etsy shop owner, wife, home owner – I’ve become really aware of how mindfulness plays into my day. My ability to focus, being intentional, doing this without rushing and not multi-tasking. I know mindfulness is important to me because it’s helped me have a greater enthusiasm for life and higher self esteem. Read on to learn some activities I’ve started incorporating mindfulness to help me observe my thoughts & practice the art of leisure.
Mindful art / art therapy
I’m still guilty of multi tasking. But I’ve found when I’m making art (painting, mixed media, photography) I don’t actually multi task! Making art is a great way to express myself beyond words. It encourages us to be present in the moment & experiences, through noticing the sensations we are experiencing as well as how our art (the way the paint moves or how the picture I just captured looks on my digital display) responds to our input.
Listening to solfeggio music:
Ever step into a spa and feel immediately relaxed? Spas help you relax because of their environment. And part of that environment is the music! I recently found solfeggio music and how the different tones can help you promote benefits to different parts of the mind and body. The use of tones and frequencies music dates back to ancient Sanskrit chants (read: Om) but the modern science is fascinating. Apparently DNA become more healthy (ie show increased UV absorption) when they were exposed to different tones (such as the Sanskrit chants). Further research confirmed that the certain frequencies of the Earth’s ionosphere matched that of the human brain wave patterns! (Notably the frequency that encourages cell regeneration & healing) Most musical instruments were tuned to match the earth’s vibrational frequency so by default listening to solfeggio music (specifically designed to recreate the earth’s & human brainwaves) can help you feel at ease and change the your DNA!
Deleting social apps
Mindless scrolling is the most obvious of activities to remove from your day. I delete social media apps which immediately stops the scrolling for no reason. This then improved productivity because I am more focused!
Anytime gratitude & visualization as often as I can
Being able to take control of your self talk/the voices in your head is an important way to be mindful. Not letting negative self talk run a muck in your mind can be prevent by training yourself to see the good (have gratitude) and be positive (visualize something that would be help you think the opposite of the negative self talk).
I’ll just have to start with, I really did not like this book. #UnpopularOpinion
So much so, I was tempted to abandon it. But I continued on…well because #2023ReadingChallenge.
And I’ll also say, the only reason I decided to read this book was because the internet made me do it. My preferred reading genre is scifi but I thought it Verity was good, maybe this would be do. I was wrong!
The characters were unrelatable and seemed too extra. The story line was so unnecessary. And the 2 leading men were so odd (eyebrows and adonis?! – like why?). The backstory about their mom was cute but the rest of the story was kind of a waste.
I’d give it a 2 out of 5 ⭐️s. And the 2 stars are because the quotes were so good that I annotated like crazy!
Quotes about being a woman, having a career, fashion, running,lifting up other women and owning your joy. It’s the quotes that kept me reading this book.
“One must always be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”
Adding some of my favourite quotes from the book here. They inspired me and I’m sure they’ll inspire others.
Career
One never really forgets the first time a colleague drove her to extreme unprofessionalism
That’s manageable, It’s fixable. List-able
Hidden there, under my rigidity manufactured sense of control and my checklists and my steel exterior, there is always fear.
I really do f—— love a checklist
C’est la vie
The ones [books] that speak to me are the ones whose final pages admit that there is no going back. That every good thing must end. That every thing does end. That everything does.
What is the right course of action when the planet’s been punted off its axis?
Maybe this is why people take trips, for that feeling of your real life liquefying around, like nothing you do will tug on any other strand of your carefully built world.
It’s just that, when hilariously bad things happen, I leave my body. I watch them happen from outside myself and think …Really? This is what the universe has chosen to do?
Most things, are a solvable puzzle
The more you tell a person about yourself, the more power you hand over.\
Is there anything better than an iced coffee and a bookstore on a sunny day?
Fitspo
I put the thought away and lost myself in the delicious burn of my muscles, the thudding of my feet against the pine-needles-dusted earth. The only two ways I’ve ever managed to get out of my head are through reading and rigorous exercise. With either, I can slip out of my mind and drift in this bodiless dark.
Womanhood
I used to think it was because people like me don’t get those endings. And asking for it, hoping for it, is a way to lose something you’ve never had.
There is still no happy ending for a woman who wants it all. the kind who lies awake aching with furious hunger, unspent ambition making her bones rattle in her body.
That’s the thing about being an adult…time collapses and instead of the version of you you’ve built from scratch, you’re all the hackneyed drafts that came before, all at once.
Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds away to surprise you.
My mind has become one of those FBI cork boards with zigzagging red string between every pushpin it can find, trying to make things add up, to make all of it fit into one uninterrupted pattern, proof that this can work, that I can have this, that its not too good to be true.
I can see the scene playing out like it’s happening to someone else. Like I’m reading it, and in the back of my mind, I can’t stop thinking. This doesn’t happen.
It’s a strange reversal, seeing the things my baby sister has mastered that I never got around to. It makes me proud, but also sort of sad. Maybe this is how parents feel when their kids grow up, like some piece of them has become fundamentally unknowable.
I have an intense nighttime skincare routine. I don’t like to miss it and it doesn’t all fit into a handbag. My mom used to say you can’t stop the passage of time, but you can soften it’s blow
Not every decision a woman makes is some grand indictment on other women’s lives
She definitely notices that my heels keep puncturing the grass and spiking me into place
Mom’s theory was that youthful skin would make a woman more money, good underwear would make her more confident and good books would make her more happy.
New York
New York is a great place to have no money. There is so much free art and beauty, so much incredible, cheap food. But having money in New York – now that would be magical.|
Once in college, a group of my transplant friends had unanimously agreed that “they could never raise kids in the city”, and I was shocked. It isn’t just that I loved growing up in the city – it’s that every time I see kids sleepily shuffling along en masse at the Met, or setting their boom box down on the train to break dance for tips, or standing in awe in front of the world-class violinist playing beneath Rockefeller Center, I think – How amazing it is to be part of this, to get to share this place with all these people.
But you cant eat, drink or sleep on top of dreams. I landed the next best thing. Everyone has to give up on their dreams eventually
I once saw a bike courier get hit by a car, get up and scream I become God. He tested this limits of his own mortality and found they didn’t exist.
Stayed for the next eleven years (in Alphabet city), working my a– off. Sold some paintings, applied for shows constantly. Worked for three or four different artists and spent every night trying to network in galleries.
New York is like a bookstore, all these trillion of paths and possibilities drawing dreamers into the city’s beating heart, saying I make no promises but I offer many doors.
New York is exhausting, yes there is millions of people all swimming upstream but you’re also in it together
I want to carve out a piece of the city and its magic, just of us. But carving turns your into a knife: cold, hard, sharp at least on the outside.
Would love to hear your book recommendations! Or check out my book reviews here!
