New York, I Barely Knew You

Readers, this past summer has been one of the best of my life and leaving New York was one of the most unnatural things I’ve ever had to do. Sorry for the dramatics but it just felt wrong.

Sigh.

I’m going to miss taking the subway everywhere and walking everywhere else. I’m going to miss hearing about nine different languages being spoken as I make my way to midtown. I’m going to miss passing the New York Times offices and the Parsons School of Design. I’m going to miss talking to random people who always surprise me with the kindness that is stereotypically not New York.

I’m going to miss the mariachi bands that would come in the subway cars and entertain the passengers. I’m going to miss coming home from a night out when everyone else is going to work. I’m going to miss all the vegan restaurants.
I’m going to miss laughing to the point of tears with my sister; I’m going to miss her awesome friends. I’m going to miss feeling at home when I’m surrounded by thousands of strangers.

Looking back at this summer, I realize all those moments of complete panic and sleep deprivation were cushioned with these amazing moments of satisfaction with the work I was doing. The summer I once felt I was wasting away on my sister’s couch with my laptop was actually filled with these great little excursions.

My last day in New York was spent writing posts for Lovelyish.com. It almost feels wrong to say I was working when I enjoy what I do so much. I’m really blessed that "work" happens to be something that encompasses so much of what I love. So yeah, I blogged most of the day away, baked some chocolate chip cookies, got in the shower about an hour late, loaded up some bags with the goodies Amber put together and took the R and D trains into the city.

While it was fun going to Times Square and doing all the other “touristy” things, my favorite moments in New York were spent just chilling and enjoying my surroundings. So it was fitting that I spent my last night eating some vegan cookies, enjoying the perfect summer weather and watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind on a big screen in Bryant Park.
It was awesome; the perfect way to end a perfect trip people. We got to the park about three hours before the movie even started and there were already shitloads of people sprawled out everywhere. So we took our blanket, found a pretty good spot, spread that baby out and chatted as we waited for my sister and the moon.

The movie is a favorite from childhood so there were no surprises there but watching it again with a bunch of people who all had the same appreciation for it was just nice.

After the move and a tinkle, we headed to a bar called Hell’s Kitchen (in Hell’s Kitchen) for a few late night drinks before heading back to Brooklyn.

And that my friends, was my last night in New York.

I know this is the part where I say it’s been an incredible journey and thank everyone for coming along for the ride. Puhleeeaaaasssseeee, I didn’t get to blog about half the stuff I did this summer. There are loads of experiences that I wrote about in my journal that I will be sharing with you all in the next week. Not to mention the fact that I am still working for the boss lady.

That’s right, my internship has been extended into the fall peeps! My story isn’t close to being over : )

Click here for more pics.

Everyday I'm Hustlin'

Have you guys seen this? Hilarious!



Lol,I crack up like an idiot every time I watch that clip!

Anywho, in case anyone is questioning my hustle, here's a bit of what I've been up to for Lovelyish.com.

I Think I Have Hepatitis

You know how I’m having this crazy love affair with NYC? Well, we had our first fight. People, this place SUCKS when it rains. I got home last night (after heading to Midtown then back to Brooklyn then JFK) and all I wanted to do was take a shower. With bleach. I think I may have hepatitis. There are things in my hair that I’m afraid to even touch and I just straightened it yesterday! So now I look like a black Carrot Top; not a good look. Surely, there’s a better way to get around the city when it’s raining. What’s that? Drive? Yeah, that makes sense... I still hate driving.

Anyway, now that the venting is over, what’s up? I know I know; what happened to once a week right? Well, I’ve been so busy blogging for the other internships that I haven’t had time to write anything on mine. Ch-ch-check for yourself.

But I’m here now! What’s good? What’s poppin’ lockin’ yo? I heard about the Magic... Bummer. So are they completely out now or do they get to play again? Is there a second place prize like they do when you’re in elementary or primary school?

I’m still enjoying my stay in New York despite the bipolar weather. Here’s the gist on what’s been up:

Work:
You know when you mess up big time and it’s made worse because you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself? No? I guess that’s just my story. Well, it’s been a week since I royally screwed up at my internship. Some of you were asking what I did. Well amigos, I missed a really important meeting. I didn’t oversleep; I was actually awake writing a post for the blog. I had no excuse whatsoever. If I could beat the crap out of myself, I totally would because that was beyond dumb of me. And then when I was sent on an errand, I left a very important package with the receptionist without having him sign something. MY bad again. It was a very crappy week.

But I wallowed in pity about it and now I’m just working harder and being smarter about things. I started my second internship at Xanga.com; the offices are right across from the New York Times offices so that’s cool. Boss Lady 2 is really nice and I’m learning a lot from that one as well.

Boss Lady 1 sent me to represent the mag at a blog bash to celebrate Zandile Blay and her blog The Blay Report Thursday night. Zandile is a Ghana beauty who just happens to work as a writer and stylist. And she's so very nice. Her party took me to SoHo for a shindig at Bjorn Borg; an underwear shop. I walked over and found myself pleasantly surprised by the male models with their model bodies and model faces. : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
C’mon, that’ll put a smile on anyone’s face. I have never seen so many good looking men in one place in my whole life and they were only wearing BOXERS; I kid you not. I also got a chance to meet some really cool people; editors, writers, models, actors, people who work in PR and Marketing and just fashion people in general. I'm quickly learning that networking is a big part of this industry. Eeeeek. Thank you to Danica and Lola for letting me tag along for most of the night; attending parties solo can be daunting. Here’s a pic of the ladies and me.

Jaslene from ANTM was there and she is as skinny as she looks on t.v.; she’s also very pretty. I met Jason from the first season of Stylista and his amazingly cool boyfriend, also named Jason whose an actor and is actually from Florida. Jason and I had a great time talking about UCF of all things. Go Knights.

Excursions, Run Ins and Everything Else I do when I’m not Working:
So on a personal note, I saw my sister Yemi graduate last Friday! Yemi’s going to medical school to be a surgeon and help save lives. She gave a speech in front of her graduating class that was AWESOME! And I’m not just saying that. I was literally in tears when she practiced earlier in the morning. All the siblings were there and the mama; it was a nice time. I’m so proud of my family.

So I experienced my first “what the fuckity fuck” (excuse the language but get used to it) moment! Here’s the short version because I don’t want to bore you with details; I’m broke like you wouldn’t believe so I was on my way to a job interview and this guy grabbed me from behind. Many people assume that I’m very gentle (ha) and flighty (true) because I’m nice but mama don’t play that. I may not be a New Yorker but my survival instincts are strong and intact. If you attack me, I’m going to protect myself (duh). So I elbowed the grabber and stepped on his foot (thank you very much kickboxing classes) and yelled something at the top of my lungs that I wouldn’t usually say in front of a stranger, turned around - the guy dropped his arms strangely enough- and said “excuse me” when I saw grandpa in front of me. No, not my grandpa. The older fella said “Wha – we were headed in the same direction. We must have bumped into each other.” No, I was walking straight ahead not backward; how do you bump into someone from behind? The guy scared the crap out of me but what am I going to do? Beat up a senior citizen? I respect the elderly and I actually felt bad. I walked away, checked my purse and prayed because I was pretty shaken.

What else… I found vegan cake!!!! Thank you God; I thought I was going to die. Shola took me to the Tea Lounge in Park Slope, a tea shop/bar (cute bartenders) and I figured it was a long shot but I asked if they had any vegan desserts and they had not one but two vegan cakes. I ordered the macaroon one and it was really good. I’ll definitely be going back for the cake (not the cute bartender with the dimples).

It's sunny outside and I'm not working. I should be outside. Any suggestions? What would you do if you had the weekend to explore this city a bit?

First day of internship in the big city!

It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to get an editorial internship in NYC forever; I applied to almost 200 in the last two months. It was disheartening not hearing from anyone and I’m naturally whiny when I stress so you can imagine how much fun my family and friends had hearing me cry about my “nonexistent career.”
When I got my first internship, I was ecstatic. Xanga.com is this network where people (mostly teens) can submit personal blogs. My job is to edit submitted posts and create my own for the Xanga websites. I don’t officially start till June 1st but I’ve been writing for them since April. Check out my blog for Datingish.com
I applied to more publications even though I had an internship for the summer (I must enjoy being overworked). The editor in chief of AMBERmag.com, an online beauty and fashion magazine, emailed me. This resulted in a three day happy dance that lasted till I bombed the phone interview. By some miracle of God, I got the internship anyway and left for New York two weeks earlier than originally planned. I finally met the boss lady in person yesterday.
What can I say about the boss lady? She’s intimidating even though she’s a lot nicer than I thought she’d be. She’s a fantastic dresser and an authority in an industry I’ve wanted to work in forever. She’s cool. After my CMS training I headed to Varick Street for a meeting with an organization Ambermag is sponsoring an event for.
My job was to take notes during the meeting and contribute ideas for the fundraiser being held in honor of World Aids day. I was pretty impressed as I sat in a room full of teenage girls, listening as they debated over which celebrities should host their event. These girls opted to skip the Soulja Boys of the world for “socially conscious” celebs. One girl mentioned actor and activist Hill Harper. Rosario Dawson, Wyclef Jean, Hillary Duff, Kerry Washington, Pete Wentz and Mary J. Blige were also brought up. NO ONE wanted Rihanna because they felt she was no longer a good role model for women. Interesting, no?
So yeah, that was my first day. I’m excited about both internships but the Ambermag one has more to do with what I’m interested in; I get to interview artists, designers and photographers and write about everything from pop culture to the best boutiques in New York. So I’m pretty happy. The boss lady has given me a lot of responsibilities and she trusts me so I’m determined to make up for my lack of experience with my kickass work ethic and my star intern qualities : )
Here’s to not royally screwing up.