Author: Allie

I'm a 30-something mom, writer, and dreamer at heart.
NYC

5 Signs of Spring in NYC…

by Allie1 Comment on 5 Signs of Spring in NYC…

You know the feeling.  It’s the first spring-like day after a long winter (if you can call it that this past year) and your mind immediately fast-forwards to summer.  You’re in a great mood, you’ve broken out your sunnies and you’re feelin’ good.  Besides the actual weather, my favorite thing about that first hint o’ spring day is the predictable and often comical actions of the great people of this city.  Here are a few of the classics!

1) Sundresses, flip-flops and other assorted resort wear make their ridiculously early appearance.  Yes it was warm out today but let’s get real, it was NOT sundress weather.  Plus, no one from NYC looks good in a sundress in March.  You’re pasty and out of shape from a winter of eating, drinking and laying on the couch for hours at a time watching House-Hunter marathons.  You owe to yourself and the rest of the city to AT LEAST wait until mid-April before baring shoulders and thighs.  Agreed?

2) The line at Starbucks is extra long because everyone needs an iced coffee or frappucino to celebrate the sunny weather and also, you’ll take any excuse to go outside mid-afternoon and bask in the pre-spring sun.  (editors note, I was indeed one of the “I need a frozen beverage” people today.  See?  Us NYC’ers are sooo predictable!)

3) Sun-worshippers take to social media to express their excitement about the weather.  Facebook statuses about summer and tweets about rooftop bars ensue.  And don’t forget to instagram a picture of yourself outside “enjoying the fab weather!”

4) Every women in the city needs a pedicure immediately.  Nail salons become THE after-work destination for every respectable NYC lady (unless of course you’ve found one of the coveted early-opening outdoor cafes which brings me to number 5…)

5) Random folding chairs and laughably small tables suddenly appear on the sidewalk outside of every establishment that can clear a few feet of “outdoor space.” Even the local deli or coffee shop joins in on the action throwing a few haphazard chairs on the sidewalk. Some places even go so far as to advertise, “yes our outdoor terrace is open! Umm newsflash NYC, 7 chairs on the sidewalk amidst a sea of afternoon foot traffic is NOT an outdoor terrace.  Visit any New England beach town for more insight into the term “outdoor terrace” and then come talk to me! 🙂

Spring is in the air folks and that means the days of tanning at Central Park can’t be too far away.  And we all know how I feel about that….  Happy Spring friends!

In the News, Life Lessons, Social Media, Worklife

My fifteen minutes…

by Allie4 Comments on My fifteen minutes…

It’s funny how things work out.  I just got back from a trip to LA and everytime I go there, I come back to NYC thinking I may be more of a west coast gal then an east coast one.  This trip was no exception.  Also, while I was there, I connected with someone who got me thinking about my life path, my destiny – you know, all that good LA-ish type stuff… Kidding, but seriously, this person did get me thinking deeper than my NYC brain usually thinks, but hey, I also had a 5 hour flight to sit through… 🙂

Anyway, I remembered (or rather reminded myself) that I love writing and would start doing again and I also told myself (see last post) that I would start doing more things to make a name for myself.  Well call it fate or call it a coincidence but the very next day I get contacted by CNN to appear on their CNN Newsroom show.  I also got a tweet from someone at CNN who told me he “lives for my blog” which pretty much made my life since I didn’t think anyone except my parents and my loyal Newport buddies actually read this thing!

Someone once told me that if you leave things in the universe’s hands they will work themselves out and I’m pretty sure that’s true.  There are highs and lows, ups and downs, setbacks, surprises, and things to work out, but at least tonight, I’m giving my crazy overactive, overanalyzing, ball of stress, plan-making mind a rest and having a lil’ faith…

Here’s a clip from my network television debut.  It was only about 3 minutes so I figure I got at least another 12 minutes of fame left in this lifetime! 🙂

Comments welcome…and yes, I know I say “I know” a lot!  Rookie mistake, I’ll do better next time!

Livin' and Lovin'

5 Reasons Why I’m Blogging Again

by AllieLeave a Comment on 5 Reasons Why I’m Blogging Again

Ok I get it.  I’ve been gone for months with no explanation.  I’ve completely ignored my personal blog and personal brand and I’ve got no good reason for it.  I’ve been tweeting and facebooking and instagramming and pinning (my latest obsession – view my boards here) and doing some blogging for work but I’ve been neglecting my often therapeutic, sometimes vent-y personal blog…until now! I’m not really sure why I stopped writing – the answer could be 1) I was busy (lame excuse) 2) I felt uninspired (depressing but true excuse) and 3) I am in a transitional period of my life (my personal life at least) and was waiting for a more permanent situational life change before resuming blogging and finding my voice and my niche.  What I’ve decided though, is my right now is worthy of some coverage so you can expect to find some action over here while I re-discover my voice. In true blogger fashion, here’s my top 5 reasons for getting back on the blogging bandwagon!

1) Post-30 life IS blogworthy! In my twenties, I thought my life was a lot more exciting, funny and blogworthy, but post-30 Allie Life is actually quite interesting and hilarious – maybe just in a slightly less obvious “crazy night out” kinda way…

2) THE LDR community needs a voice! I’ve been in a long-distance relationship for nearly two years which I thought left my in a sort of blogger purgatory, meaning I couldn’t really blog about the single life OR the couple life.  I realize now that I have LOTS to offer fellow LDR’ers and could totally start a whole new genre of relationship blogs!

3) To explore other interests! (also known as “get a life!”) The last few years I’ve pretty much been functioning in the typical NYC mode of “live to work” rather than work to live, which I’m not complaining about because I love my job, industry and coworkers but I do have have other interests besides social media that I want to write about and explore. Social media, marketing and branding play a big part in my life and will obviously be present on this blog BUT I’m excited to have a space to chat about random stuff which may include my travel aspirations, my relationships, this crazy city and anything else that moves me.

4) Personal Branding.  Ok this may sound a little “marketer-speak” to my non-industry friends but hear me out.  I bought the alliezog.com domain more than 5 years ago  and have been going by the nickname Zog (and Zogger, Zoggy, Zogette, Lil Zog, etc.) for as long as I can remember. For all my loyal Zog-supporters and for myself, I want to make sure I am harvesting my personal brand and keeping the Zog traditional alive!

5) For the writer In me. I majored in Journalism in college and thought I’d be a newspaper reporter or magazine columnist as a career.  I wrote my first “book” at age 7 which was infamously deleted from our old Commodore 64 computer never to be recovered.  One of my life goals has always been (and still is!) to write and publish a novel.  I can’t claim to be a writer unless I’m actually writing (more than just emails, to-do lists and occasional non-sensical ramblings in little notebooks).  Step one, write often, Step two, repeat!

I’m open to suggestions for future blog topics as well as words of encouragement to keep me going!  What do YOU want to hear about?

PS – what do you think of my redesign?

Livin' and Lovin', Travel

Back from Vacay…

by AllieLeave a Comment on Back from Vacay…

I’m back! Back from a week of relaxation in the mountains of Arizona, where my biggest concern was how I wanted my eggs prepared each morning and whether I would prefer to ride bikes, go sightseeing, do something “sporty” or just lounge on the patio reading my new Kindle all day. It was a lot a different from life in the big city so for that reason, it was truly a vacation.

That being said, I realized the beauty of vacations – they are an escape from your normal everyday life and are meant to be temporary. When I lived in Newport, RI people used to tell me my life was like a permanent vacation (which was kinda true) but that got me thinking…what’s so wrong with that??

I think you can determine where your truly meant to live by where you’d vacation if money were no object. My vacation destination preference always, always, always would be a beach. It could be argued that if I lived by a beach I might choose to explore big metropolis’ or jungles or deserts on my vacations – not true. When I lived ON a beach, I still vacationed to other beaches. To me, beaches are like snowflakes in that no two are exactly alike. I dream about experiencing new beaches and beach towns and comparing them all one-day in some giant interactive info-graphic… (the nerd in me speaks)

Sure I want to see other cities (London, Paris, Sydney and Rio De Janiero top my international list), sure I love escaping to some fresh country or mountain air and there are definitely a few non-beach places on my list of must-go’s (Alaska and Central America’s rain forest region to name a few) but my ultimate win vacation destination is beach.

I understand why living at the beach may not be the most practical. I get why people flock to big cities. I obviously appreciate how “lucky” I am to live and work here. I just think that people who do live here aren’t always outwardly honest about how it really is (unless their rich, then yeah, their life probably rocks). If you’re like me and don’t have a trust fund, a rent-controlled apartment or a driver, then you probably do that thing NY’ers do where you convince yourself that your life is really awesome and it’s totally normal to spend $2000 plus a month to live in a glorified closet because yeah, you can tell all your friends that you live in “the city” (because to NY’ers there is only one!). <– *Editor’s note – I sometimes do this too…

I know how after a glorious NYC filled weekend of brunching and central parking and frolicking or even an excitement-filled weeknight adventure (complete with bar-hopping and bomb scares on a Tuesday night) you start to feel that “I love it here and could never live anywhere else” feeling. Despite all my whining on this blog, I’ve felt it often – I promise! My one difference is when I leave the city I am not filled with that “omg I miss it and need to go back” feeling that I hear others are (or claim to be). I am more often than not thinking how I could be happy in X-place and how if I lived in X-place I’d probably be able to have all the things I dream about but can’t afford in NY (little things like…say…a closet, or outdoor space, or somewhere to store my beach chair…)

So what do you think folks, is life meant to be a beach or should I stick it out in NYC just a little bit longer? Comments please!

 

Livin' and Lovin'

Last post before 30…

by AllieLeave a Comment on Last post before 30…

The next post you read I will be 30! I’m sure you’re all pretty sick of hearing about it by now so you are off the hook for a while…until 40 approaches 🙂

Tomorrow I head to AZ to visit an old friend, spend time with my family & the boyfriend and do a little relaxing and soul searching in between. I plan on spending my 30th at the Grand Canyon! Coincidentally, it will probably be cooler there than it is currently is NYC (it’s close to midnight here but the temp is still triple digits!). They’ll be lots of pictures and reflection to come – but you’ll have to wait a whole week since I am digitally detoxing and will likely not touch a computer for the next 8 days. *GASP*
Disclosure – I WILL still have my iPhone so I won’t be totally out of touch. Stay well NYC – see ya in a week!