This Labor Day weekend I hopped on a bus and headed north to New England for a little exploring with two of my favorite people! First stop? The lovely, Boston!

Let me start by saying I LOVE this city! I visited a couple of years ago but somehow hadn’t made it back until this weekend. It’s about a 4 and a half bus ride from the city, so it’s a little way, but totally doable for a weekend trip. 

There’s just something about this city that just gives off good vibes. The city is gorgeous, clean, full of colonial charm and the people come across as very friendly! It didn’t hurt that the weather was beautiful when I hopped off the bus either! 

My bus ended up getting caught up in some traffic on the way up, but it actually ended up getting me into our hotel only a few minutes before the Hardersen, which worked out perfectly!

Kathy booked us a totally fabulous hotel for the evening in the Back Bay of Boston. The very nice man at the concierge desk explained to us that back in the day the area was very industrial, but in the last several years it had gotten a complete facelift and become a hub for new developments. I’m totally obsessed with the design and decor of our hotel too!

Industrial, yet super modern. Sliding metal doors, exposed pipes and beams, aw interior design heaven! Love the look! The area reminded me a lot of the Pearl District in Portland too. 

For the evening we took a walk across the water and went to a dueling piano bar called Howl at the Moon! I’d never been to a piano bar before and this location was a great place to be my first! How much FUN! It was remarkable to hear some of the piano versions of songs as well as a few surprises.. “Baby Got Back” and… “The Circle of Life”? Yep, that happened!

On our walk back to the hotel we ran into a fireworks show too! The perfect way to end the night! 

We started out the morning with an awesome breakfast at the hotel (please admire my first waffle I’ve made!) and then we headed to the North End with one place on our agenda…dun, dun, dun. Mike’s Pastry!

If you go to one place and one place only in Boston. Go to Mikes. Their cannolis are out of this world! The hype is real and delicious!

Once we had our cannolis in tow it was time to head to Route 3A towards Cape Cod! 

Along our way we came across Plymouth, the city where the pilgrims landed. Talk about going back to your colonial roots, right!? So that was pretty cool, we got to see Plymouth Rock too which, spoiler alert, was kind of underwhelming.

It was still cool to see though.. even if it probably wasn’t really what the pilgrims saw when they arrived. Did you know they didn’t talk about Plymouth Rock until over 100 years after they landed? Sounds a little fishy to me!

Either way, Plymouth was cute and we got to see a recreation of the Mayflower too. Let’s just saw, I’m glad I live in modern days and wasn’t traveling thousands of miles across the ocean in that boat. Can you imagine!??

Along our drive to Cape Cod we got to see some really adorable architecture. I’m totally a fan of the old colonial homes and the cape cod shake style homes. SO cute! We also got to go through some fun little towns like Sandwich! Yes, there’s a town named Sandwich!

The weather had clouded up a bit by the time we made it to our destination but we still got in plenty of adventure time! 

We definitely hit a couple of firsts for me on this trip! Another being trying a lobster roll from the Summer Shanty. I have to say, I’m not sure if I’ve even had lobster prior to that roll, but man was it tasty! Their chowder was seriously on point too! Cape Cod, you’re serious about that seafood thing ;-)

The next morning we did a little more sightseeing and stopped at this cute little beach style coffee house in Brewster. I really liked the town of Brewster, it was seriously cute! there were several Inns, antique shops, and art galleries.

The Cape definitely has a very laid back vibe. There’s some cute little shops to check out and some restaurants, but for the most part you can tell that people really go there to head to the beach and just relax with family and friends. Oh, and play mini golf, if you want to open a mini golf business, that is the place to do it!

To wrap up my time in the Cape we headed further up the peninsula to Provincetown so that I could catch an express ferry back to Boston to catch my bus back home, I didn’t spend much time in Provincetown but it looked like a colorful and hopping little city! Would love to explore a little more if I make it back one day!

And that’s a wrap! What a wonderful weekend with two amazing people! So thankful I was able to tag along their trip and check out a new part of the country!

I just hit the 3 week mark in my new apartment and I must say I am LOVING it! I was a little worried how transitioning from a one bedroom to a studio was going to go, but it really hasn’t been much of an issue. My new apartment is surprisingly actually almost the same size as my old place square footage wise — with my estimates at least. I estimated my old apartment was about 384 sq ft and the new place is apx 370 sq ft + a 99 sq ft balcony. So for the months I can use my balcony I actually have more livable space! It’s been a pretty easy transition too because I moved 2 blocks from my first apartment in the city so I’m very familiar with the neighborhood!

Over the weekend I had a couple of my girlfriends over for my first official BBQ to celebrate the new digs and now that they’ve seen it, it’s time to share it with you!

So drumroll please……Here we go!

When you enter my apartment there is a landing space (not sure it’s really big enough to be considered a hallway) that has my coat, hall and main closets. To the right, you’ll find my bathroom and directly behind that you’ll find my kitchen.

Hey little kitchen! One of my favorite things about my apartment is definitely my dishwasher! After not having one for four years, you really forget how amazing they are ;) I love the brick in the kitchen too. I’ve always loved the character of exposed brick, and even though this brick has been painted, I still think it adds a little something!

Then onto my living space!

As you might remember, my old apartment was very colorful! Not that this place isn’t, but you’ll notice I decided not to paint the walls. You can’t really tell in the photos, but the walls are actually kind of an off-white and I ended up deciding that I really liked having the light walls because it made the space feel brighter and more open. Plus, since it’s a studio I figured if I did paint it would just end up chopping up the space. So instead of painting I decided to get a little creative with some other options…

You’ll see above my bar cart that there’s some wall confetti! I saw this concept on Pinterest and fell in love. You can buy wall confetti wall clings, which are pretty affordable actually, but I decided to go the DIY route. All I did was buy a couple sheets of gold paper at Michaels — one solid and the other glittered. Then I took a circle craft hole-punch and cut out several circles. Add a little double-sided tape and walah, wall confetti! I also decided my new wall collage needed a little extra glitter, because, well, everything is better with glitter! So I added a little extra sparkle to a couple of my frames and my ampersand.

On the other side you have my bed. Not a huge difference in its setup from the last place.

Then onto the other side of my apartment! So not only do I have some fun wall confetti, but I decided to brighten up a couple of my walls with washi tape. I LOVE this stuff because there are so many options of what you can do with it. I decided to do a little bit of an abstract pattern to liven up the space. The great thing about it too is it peels off easily without hurting the surface, so if you decide you want to change it, it’s super easy to switch out. 

Here’s another angle of the space. 

Then onto my desk space.. You’ll see another dose of washi tape too. I just couldn’t resist!

The last room of the space… my bathroom! Nothing too crazy in here.. My bathroom is pretty small, but I really love the subway tile that runs throughout!

Now onto my personal favorite part of my apartment… My BALCONY in all of its finished glory! The previous tenants left me the table, so I decided to add a coat of spray paint to brighten it up a little bit.

I had one goal.. Have the cutest, brightest little balcony on the Upper East Side. Now, I haven’t been to all of the balconies in the neighborhood, but I’m pretty happy with the finished project. 

I think Scooter is too!

Awww, my BBQ! I got this propane grill from Coleman that I just can’t get enough of. It’s from their tailgating series and was the perfect size for the space. Plus, it folds apart which will be great to be able to bring it inside during the winter.

Then there’s my plants! Because I can actually have plants now! No promises on how long they’ll stay alive.. I don’t exactly have a green thumb, but I’m giving it a whirl.

I picked up some herbs at the farmer’s market too!

I didn’t want to go too overboard since we’re getting to the end of summer, but here’s the start of my balcony garden!

And that’s a wrap! Hope you guys like it! I had a lot of fun decorating and am really happy with how it turned out!

If you have any questions about the products/ideas I used, hit me up in the comments section!

When my TV isn’t on ESPN (Chris is a TV hog) it’s on HGTV! House Hunters, Property Brothers, Income Property… you name it and I watch it. You know I subscribe to the magazine too (of course!) You can imagine my excitement when I found out HGTV Magazine was hosting a block party for NYC bloggers! Oh heyyyy HGTV! 

Not only were they hosting a blogger block party, but it was their first blogger block party! So naturally I wanted to check it out and I recruited my friend Lynette, and fellow blogger, to join in on the fun!

Our day jobs got in the way of some of the fun during the day that included crafting, a flea-market flip contest, and other DIY demos, but we still got to join in on the fun in the evening!

Here’s a look at the DIY coaster table with some fellow bloggers getting their crafting on.

Lynette rocking it in front of the pink door! Mark my words, if I’m ever a home owner, I’m going to have a pink door ;-) 

It was so much fun to get a little behind-the-scenes of the magazine, do a little crafting, and get a look at some of the products featured in the magazine!

Happy we could be apart of the first blogger block party and will look forward to ones in the future!