Time for some of my favorite links of the week, Friday the 13th edition. Anyone else superstitious like me?! Needless to say, I think I’ll be keeping it low-key today! ;-)

1. First things first, one of my favorite things of the week is this faux fur hat from Soho Girl because we’re supposed to hit a nice wind chill of -10 to -20 today… Ohh NYC in the winter. So if you live here.. are visiting.. or are just dreaming about the city, put one of these babies on!
3. Personally I don’t actually know a ton of people that actually have New York accents, but this NPR article suggests that the accent might be on its way out. While I’m no linguist I can certainly see how this could happen in a city so diverse with transplants from all over the world.
4. Something alluring to me about the city is the amount of history it holds. There’s so many stories, change and yet preservation that has taken place in many New York buildings and apartments and I’ve always found it fascinating. Which is why I thought this article From Thrillist on buildings that have been converted into New York apartments was pretty awesome. The apartments aren’t too shabby either!
5. THIS donut. A seriously awesome NYC Instagram account I follow, EatingNYC posted this maple waffle donut from Underwest Donuts and I kind of need to have it in my mouth ASAP. Maple, waffle, and donuts..?? 3 of my favorites combined. Done.
6. And finally… it’s a busy weekend in NYC. It’s the NBA All Star Week, New York Toy Fair (where I’ll be working all weekend), and most notable Fashion Week. My last point is on the latter. I’m not huge into fashion week.. but the story about Jamie Brewer being the first model with Down Syndrome to walk in fashion week struck me. Mad props to Carrie Hammer for continuing to pick her models based on the theme “Role Models, Not Runway Models”. I think it’s pretty phenomenal that she’s used her platform to highlight people who might not fit the typical catwalk model.

I know I already had a studio update post for you earlier in the week.. but I’m too excited about another update to not share! Plus, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day this weekend! Necessary ;-)

I’ve been really into the marquee light look for awhile. Every time Joanna on HGTV’s Fixer Upper uses old letters in her designs… I just want that look a little bit more! So when my boss emailed me a photo from Home Goods over the weekend of some really cool marquee words, I immediately started looking around my apartment for where I could maybe put some. A minute later I was texting Chris to ask him if he wanted to go to Home Goods. His answer, “no”.. followed by a.. “Well, weren’t you just saying you still needed to get me a Valentine’s Day present…” from me. Lucky for me, that’s all it took to sell him on the idea ;-)

So please welcome the latest addition to my apartment! Thanks Chris!

And with that, my studio is officially full. I have one more project in mind, but it’s something that I need the snow on my balcony to melt for so I think I’m good for awhile!

It’s official, last week I turned 26. Call it sheer procrastination or a secret smart plan, I decided to quit making New Year’s Resolutions on the 1st of the year and instead focusing on realigning and reworking my goals on my birthday (or near it). Committing to resolutions after the holidays was always hard for me to jump into, especially now that I find myself usually traveling from coast to coast during the holidays, and so I decided to make a change! Besides, goals around my birthday make sense to me since it’s really my full year. Or maybe that’s just the rationalization I’ve made in my head.. either way, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it :-p

So what’s in the plans for my 26th year? Well, hopefully a lot! I have a lot of ideas running through my head. Sometimes too many considering there are only so many hours in the day but I’ve always been one to dream big!

If you read my blog anniversary post you already read about some of my blogging goals, which are a definite big part of some things I’d like to accomplish this year. So, on top of my blogging ambitions, here’s a few more personal things I’m working on in my 26th year.

1. Be more realistic with my to-do lists and weekly goals. I’m notorious for going big or going home. I want to do it all, and I want to get everything done all at once. What I’ve realized I end up doing though is setting myself up for failure. I make long to-do lists (I love lists) of things I want to accomplish each week and then end up beating myself up if I hardly make a dent in my list. Most of the time it’s not because I’m lazy, it’s just that I haven’t clearly thought out the tasks at hand before writing them. If I have 4 tasks all of which take several hours each, of course I’m probably not going to get them all done on a Tuesday after work. While I think it’s good to push yourself, I have finally realized I need to be more considerate with my lists so I don’t get so frustrated with myself.
2. Work at keeping my apartment neat and clean. I’ll be honest, I’m terrible at this. I’m not sure if my subconscious is rebelling for how clean my parents are or if I just inherited the messy gene (if that were even a possibility) but I am terrible at keeping my apartment clean for more than a few days and trust me it doesn’t take long to mess up a 300+ sq ft apartment. This is totally going to sound like an oxymoron, but while my apartment may look messy sometimes, I am actually very organized. That is, I don’t just throw things in the closet to look clean on the surface.. If it’s in my closet it’s put in the proper place and folded nicely. So this year I’m working on keeping things a little cleaner on the outside as well. I’m going to try and have check-in points each Sunday to pick up all of my clothes (which is 95% of the problem) and whatever other things I’ve left out throughout the week.
3. Follow my passions and know when they change. I’ve never been a quitter with anything in my life. Like, it’s really hard for me to let go of things.. Okay except for maybe going to the gym. I’m really good at quitting that.. For all other things though it’s been a struggle. I do my best to make things work or my best to practice and get better at those things for the sole purpose of not quitting, even if my heart isn’t in it anymore. And while not being a quitter is definitely for the most part a good trait to have I’ve found that I’ve stretched myself too thin on some things and then find myself feeling guilty if a project doesn’t go the way I’d hope or if life just eats into my time. This year, I want to work on being honest with myself when I want to go another direction. It’s okay for our passions or wants to change and I need to work on being okay with changing directions without beating myself up.

So there you have it.. they’re out on paper (in an Internet way of speaking)! I think there’s power in sharing and I hope to succeed on these couple of things!