What is one of my absolute favorite thing about living in the city??

THE VIEWS!!! Okay, so I might currently have a view of construction and a crane.. buttt luckily I did get out a little bit this summer to celebrate all that is wonderful about our skyline.

You have to love friends with rooftop decks, right?! This shot is from earlier this summer from the UES.

One cool thing about being outside of the city is you actually get a full view of Manhattan.. like this apartment of an apartment my friend was cat sitting for in Long Island City, Queens.

And last but not least, a night shot from my friend’s new apartment with a terrace on the UES!

Maybe one day I’ll have a million dollar view too ;-)

One neighborhood I spent a decent amount of time exploring this summer was Astoria, Queens. I work and live in Manhattan, as do most of my friends so until this point I hadn’t really ventured out much besides the trip to Brooklyn every now and then. 

Astoria is located just a few subway stops outside of Manhattan, across the East River. 

I’m so happy I decided to venture out because I absolutely LOVE the neighborhood! It’s still close to Manhattan, but just far enough out that there seems to be more fresh air and space to take in. 

Another perk? The apartments tend to be less expensive and more spacious and it’s a safe area. I would definitely suggest the area to anyone looking for a less expensive neighborhood to Manhattan that still has many of the amenities that people look forward to in the city. They also have a few different beer gardens in the area that are awesome!

Such a great neighborhood really! Before I found my apartment on the UES I was really considering moving to the neighborhood. So I would definitely highly recommend checking it out or at least stopping by for a visit!

I have a friend visiting from Portland this week, so while I’m out and about I have some back-posts for you!

My summer adventures were seriously lacking this summer, so I’m trying to make up for lost time before the cold weather hits us hard. 

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan is the Upper West Side. I work in the area, so I generally don’t get over there much during the weekend, but made it a point to for this adventure. 

We started out by checking out Magnolia Bakery. There’s several locations throughout the city, but surprisingly I’d never actually been to one. We decided to pop in and pick up an ice cream sandwich to split — had to fuel up!

From there we headed towards Lincoln Center to hang out before the crazy of Fashion Week took over the beautiful space. One of my favorite sites was this cafe that had a slanted roof with grass on top. Grass that you can actually go up on and hang out on! Crazy right?

After Lincoln Center we headed to the Hudson River waterfront. Something a little different than our usual Central Park!

Along our walk we stumbled onto a Kite Festival! So cool!

Here’s a look at the skyline along the river. I see one Trump building.. two Trump buildings.. three.. four.. five. It’s kind of like counting sheep!

We wrapped up our adventure back on the Upper West Side with some dinner and yummy desserts from a new place called Treat House, which serves gourmet rice krispies! Yum!