Oh, Life...

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-16300506-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} I’m a 25-year old OB/GYN intern and a wannabe (pronounced ‘want to be’ if you’re my Dad) interior/graphic designer and wedding/party planner who loves Ina Garten, sweater weather, and looking at pretty things. Welcome to my blog! Come in and stay a while :) ************************************ Follow me on Pinterest @sydney22 ************************************ For pictures and videos of Riley check out lebonchien.tumblr.com

[sydney22]

Can anyone guess what the Chang sisters are planning for tonight? ;)

[sydney22]

Sullivan's Island, SC

Our second day in Charleston was actually spent about 30 minutes away on Sullivan's Island, the quietest of the 3 beaches in the area.

The sand was pristine and the water was nice and warm after having all summer to heat up. It actually reminded me a lot of the beaches in Florida.

After a beautiful morning at the beach, we headed to Poe's Tavern for a burger and a cold beer.

Definitely worth checking out if you ever find yourself in the Charleston area.

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

Charleston

Andrew and I took a mini-vacation to Charleston, SC this past weekend. It was the most charming city, and we had a lovely time pretending what it might be like to live there one day.

Andrew booked us a room at the cutest little place, 1837 Bed and Breakfast.

Downtown Charleston is the cutest!

The infamous Rainbow Row, supposedly the most photographed spot in Charleston.

The City Market is super touristy, but also super awesome.

I wanted this alpaca hair lion SOO bad! If he had been oh, $15 less, he would have come home with me.

One of my favorite parts of the city is its proximity to water. Beautiful, crystal clear water.

And the doors, oh the doors!

Next up is a review of all of the amazing restaurants we checked out while we were in Charleston, and some pictures from our day at Sullivan's Island.

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

The Met

Last Wednesday, before I hopped onto a plane to North Carolina, Jordan and I decided to take a quick trip to the Met! I had never been before, and it was SO hot that the thought of going somewhere with central A/C was enough to convince me it was a great idea!

The Egyptian exhibit was fascinating. The sarcophagi were so tiny!

The period rooms in the American History section of the Met were awesome as well.

This was the courtyard of some rich guy's castle which was donated to the museum. Faaaaancy!

These were some of my favorite paintings from Monet, Matisse, and Stettheimer.

The Fabrege exhibit was sparkly and delightful, as expected :).

And of course, you can't forget the rooftop bar, with dazzling views of the city.

On our way home, we saw a lady with the four fluffiest pomeranians. They were SO cute!!

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

First Day of Vacation

Just started my vacation yesterday, and it could not have come any sooner! Since Jordan moved in last week, we decided to kick things off with a bang and went to wait in line for general rush tickets before the Chicago box office opened. And guess what?? WE GOT THEM!

I know Chicago has been on forever, which probably explains the reason why we were able to snag these seats so easily, but seeing as it was my FIRST Broadway Show, I was totally psyched!

On our way home, we decided to get the full tourist experience and stop by the M&M store.

We also wandered to the Garment District where we bought some supplies for some DIY projects :). One of my new favorite stores is M&J Trimming

They have every type of fabric, notion, or trimming you could ever dream of! I even found some that I liked for making pretty ID lanyards with. Super nerdy, I know.

After a brief rest, we headed back for the show, which is held in the beautiful Amsterdam Theater.

As you can see, our tickets were pretty awesome. The show itself was incredible, and the talent was phenomenal. I have a feeling we'll be seeing another show or two before vacation is over!

Afterwards, we strolled around Times Square and enjoyed the lights and people watching.

It's still sinking in that this will now be the city that I call home for the next 4 years! Heading back to Durham, NC tomorrow to visit my boyfriend, and to take a little trip down to Charleston, SC for a few days! So excited to revel in some of that good ol' Southern charm.

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

Labor Day Weekend

Andrew came to town for a visit over Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, I had to work the night shift, but we managed to squeeze in some quality hang out time, and Andrew and Riley had some good daddy doggy bonding.

Sunday morning we wandered around Central Park, and I discovered the boat house for the first time!

Rowing a little boat around that lake is on the top of my bucket list next time he comes back! So romantic!

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

230 Fifth

This weekend we headed over to a fancy rooftop bar, 230 Fifth (on the corner of 5th Ave and 27th St) to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the amazing view of the Empire State Building (embarrassing fact...Lauren and I couldn't figure out which building was the Empire State Building and which the Chrysler Building...worst New Yorkers ever!).

We had a pretty good turnout, with 6 of the interns showing up!

As it got chillier, we migrated downstairs for some dancing (they offer red snuggies apparently, but I am very scabies averse).

Needless to say, we had a fabulous time. Here's to living in NYC!!

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

Best Sunday Ever

Today Lauren and I had the most indulgent Sunday ever. After watching Flea Market Flip (and accidentally falling asleep on Lauren's couch) last night instead of going out, we were inspired to head over to the Hell's Kitchen flea market to try our luck.

Unfortunately, everything even remotely cute was wayyy overpriced.

I wish I had taken more pictures of our finds but I was too busy treasure hunting to remember to do so.

After a few swings and misses, we wandered over to Eataly, which I had always thought was just one big restaurant. Turns out it has a ton of little restaurants of varying degrees of fanciness, a gelato and sandwich shop, as well as a lot of Italian groceries (and pretty much anything else you could think of).

Then we made our way to ABC Carpet and Home to see if we could find Lauren a carpet in the clearance section.

Unfortunately, the "clearance" section starts at about $300, and includes things that cost up to a couple thousand dollars. We tried our darndest to find something though. We even made the guy help us flip through an enormous stack of rugs, only to decide that we didn't like any of them. Oops :-/.

Then just for funsies, we went over to the home store and sat on the really fancy couches. I loooved this one. If only I had an extra $4000 burning a hole in my pocket, and an apartment that could actually hold such an enormous piece of furniture...

We walked away feeling very poor, but not before hitting up the Anthropologie and J. Crew around the corner, and taking the subway up the West Side to stop by Home Goods and TJ Maxx for one last treasure hunt. And of course we couldn't help but stop by the Whole Foods since we were already there. How's that for taking advantage of your one free day off?

Hope you all had a lovely weekend,

Sydney

[sydney22]

Bedroom Progress

I have been obsessing over finding a navy headboard for my room, particularly one with either nailhead trim or tufting. Unfortunately, only ones even remotely within my budget were on Amazon and Wayfair, and there was always a little something off that would keep me from making the final click.

Along came this beauty. Navy, check. Nailheads, check. Under budget, meh not really. Oh well.

I've also been having a major moment with the lavender/navy color combo. It could be 'cause my bf got me this ridiculously cute purse for my bday, which I have been painting my nails to match on a regular basis.

So when this image popped up on One King's Lane, I knew it was meant to be. I immediately snapped up the headboard, quilt, and 1 of the large matching shams. To be honest, I probably would have bought the other blue pillows too, but they were already sold out :-/. This image is pure perfection.

It's hard to see from these images, but the design actually has a hand drawn quality to it that is really beautiful.

I've loved Roberta Roller Rabbit for some time now, but only from afar. I mean, how could you *not* love these patterns? The use of color, geometry, and the ethnic flair makes me so happy.

I can't believe that I am going to have my very own in just a few short weeks (please ship faster One King's Lane!). I am actually planning a little jaunt to the Roberta Roller Rabbit store in the Upper East Side to check out some extra pillow options to spruce up my new bed :).

Yippee!

Sydney

[sydney22]

First Restaurant Week in the City

A couple of the interns at Ouest for Restaurant Week. Our main criteria for picking a place was $$$ on Yelp :). The reviews did not lie. Food was amazing. But the service was meh. No matter, we shook it off and headed to a dive bar and relived our college days, but this time we had Patron instead of Cuervo ;).

Great success!

Sydney

[sydney22]

Happy 2 year anniversary to my ridiculously handsome boyfriend and best friend! I love you!

[sydney22]

Today, I decided I would go down to Chelsea and the garment district to wander around. On my way to the subway, I got a text from my friend Nolan asking if I wanted to go to MoMA PS1 Warm Up, which is an outdoor music festival that happens every Saturday throughout the summer. In an effort to be more spontaneous and spend my free time wisely, I said yes! So it was off to Long Island City!

In addition to "experimental" bands that played throughout the afternoon, the MoMA PS1 galleries were open for our viewing pleasure, and they were also serving beer and slushies with green-and-white-striped paper straws (super cute!). Definitely recommend it for any of you music and art lovers out there!

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

Tokyo Part 1. Here are some of the funny/cool things we saw along the way: game show props being driven around, over-the-top store displays, Harajuku lovers, lots of hello kitty everything, panda shoes, art featuring dogs with bows, hot meals purchased from vending machines, and babies in matching hats being pushed around in a cart.

[sydney22]

Standard Biergarten and The Park

Saturday night, a bunch of my co-residents met up at Standard Biergarten down near the High Line in Chelsea. It was 95 degrees out, but that didn't stop tons of people from hanging out in the large outdoor garden.

There were 3 beers on tap, and you could get 0.5L for $8, and there were also sausages and pretzels!

The food was delicious, but my favorite part was probably their employees uniforms.

Afterwards, those of us who didn't have to work the next day headed to The Park (also in Chelsea), and danced the night away.

There were a bunch of different dance floors- a rooftop one, and a back bar area that's also open to the outside. This would definitely be a fun dance spot once it starts cooling down outside!

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Sydney

(Images 1-4 from Google Images).

[sydney22]

Beauty and Essex

Friday night, I went out to dinner with my roommate Jess, her dad who was visiting, and her dad's gf. The place we ended up at was this ridiculously glamorous and delicious lounge/nightclub that is attached to a pawn shop in East Village.

The food was described to us as "family style tapas," and did not disappoint! We had the salmon ceviche, chile relleno empanadas, lobster tacos, asian spice rubbed pork ribs, sausage and ricotta rigatoni, mushroom and ricotta ravioli, broccolini, a box of doughnuts and mudslide milkshakes for dessert. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I had a fabulous cocktail- a Ruby Mojito, whose recipe happened to be shared on ABC.com (random, right?).

From their website: "The traditional mojito gets amped up with a dose of raspberry. This cocktail gets a sweeter touch with St.Germain and raspberry soda. 1.25 oz Zacapa Rum 1/2 oz lemon juice 1/2 oz St. Germain 6 mint leaves Raspberry soda Muddle mint with ice, add Zacapa, lemon juice, St. Germain. Shake and strain over new ice. Top with Raspberry Soda. Serve in a highball glass and garnish with a lemon twist."

Verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

XO,

Sydney

(Images borrowed from Beauty and Essex and ABC.go.com)

[sydney22]

Fourth of July

4th of July started with my favorite meal of the week...brunch! At Sarabeth's East, no less. My friend Aleha and I split the salmon eggs benedict, which was cooked to perfection, and a "fat and fluffy french toast" with strawberries. It was DELISH, and the portions were sizeable (these pics of are just my half).

Afterwards, Paniz and I did some light shopping at Homegoods, TJ Maxx, and Sephora on the Upper West Side, and then I meandered home through Central Park on my own.

Then it was off to a BBQ at one of our attending's houses. So much food and hospitality!

When the party ended, I rushed home to spend time with my baby, Riley, and of course took her to her favorite dog park.

Hope you had a lovely 4th!

XO,

Sydney

[sydney22]

I just realized that there are a ton of pictures from our Asia travels that I haven't shared yet, so I'll be interspersing my regular commentary on my new life in NYC with some travel pics! On one of our last nights in Shanghai, we took a river cruise on the Huangpu River. The bund looks incredible from any angle, but especially up close. Check it out!

XO,

Sydney