Blondie in the Bronx: Summer upstate and in the city

Since getting back from Utah I have tried to live up summer in NY as much as possible. It is pretty miserable outside considering it is about 90 degrees plus humidity but I've been trying to make the most of it. I went upstate and saw mom for a long weekend before the forth, which was amazing. It rained I think everyday I was there and I honestly didn't mind. I spent the majority of the time going through my room and reorganizing and getting rid of things I no longer need. Also, mom's garden is exploding because of all of the rain, which made for some pretty BOMB salads and snacks while I was home. MMM!

Me and mom also went and got our necessary mani-pedi at our favorite spot. We decided to go with gel nails in a french mani and I went with red toes, while mom went with purple.

Worth every penny.

The only other thing to do in NYC when it is this hot is to bike, run, and go to the beach! (Oh and go on one or two dates with my main man, of course) We are THRILLED they have a huge bike lane connecting Queens and Brooklyn. We have friends in Brooklyn so it makes is very convenient and safe(isn) to get there and back in only 30 minutes.

<- My favorite restaurant/date place right now. La Lanterina in Manhattan. Indoor patio which is adorable with divine italian food. As close to the real thing as I've found in NYC.

<- The family I nanny is in Malaysia for 10 days, hence all the play and little work I've been doing. I sure do miss this little nugget though.

<- There is an awesome and huge cemetary right down the road from the apartment where Zach and I go running. It has been super hot but it still feels cooler running through grass with trees then running on concrete through buildings.

<- Rockaway Beach is my new ultimate favorite spot this summer. Oh and Rockaway Tacos is a MUST for anyone that goes. $3.50 fish tacos, and at least a 30 minute wait but are well worth it. (picture to come with next visit, I ate it too fast and realized I missed the photo op)

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Oh I almost forgot, JULY 4th! We kinda celebrated on July 3rd and went to the Mets game. They had student tickets for $9 and had a firework show after! It was AWESOME. The fireworks went all around the top of the stadium, down in the field, and had a crazy light show included all synced to music! I was very pleased with the fireworks we got this year, even though it was a day early.

On July 4th Zach had to work so I was left home organizing and unpacking from my trip upstate. I texted my friend from elementary school who I've recently gotten in touch with and went and met her on 2nd ave at her friend's apartment. Her friend just happens to dance with ABT (American Ballet Theater), no big deal slash really big deal. I think I talked his ear off about dance and was so excited to meet an actual NYC ABT male ballerina, who happens to be from Mobile, AL (shout out to Mom's birth place) I may have embarrassed myself a little by all the Q&A. Anyway, we spent the evening hanging out on his back porch and made our way to a southern BBQ restaurant where Zach was able to meet us and share some Southern BBQ nachos. Mmm. Three of the friends there were Auburn alumni where Allison and I are Alabama fans so there was the obvious rival of "war eagle" "roll tide" comments all night. They even had a bottle opener that played the Alabama fight song when it was used. Awesome. Oh how I miss the south.