January 2016 Recap | NYC & Austin, Texas

I can’t believe everything that’s happened since December, which at this point feels like it was 3 months ago. This month was packed and I was super productive – yes, I am tooting my own horn, but I’m proud of running at 10,000 miles an hour recently. I don’t even know how I did all of the below and still managed to fit in the entire series of Making a Murderer, a repeat viewing of all seven seasons of 30 Rock, my last two events as a TriviaAD host, my French lessons at Fluent City, and two and a half books.

NYC | Oh Yeah, I’ll Tell You Something

The Beatles played a large role in my upbringing, as I’m sure they did for most of you reading this right now. When I stayed home sick from school, I would beg my dad to let me watch “A Hard Day’s Night” or “Help!” over my other options of Laurel & Hardy and The Three Stooges. I locked myself in my room and listened to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on loop for years. I adopted “Let It Be” as my mantra.

Get More NYC | "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"

I can’t help but think of my first NYC apartment, on 54th and 10th, whenever I hear it. Bruce is singing about the formation of his band on the streets of *his* 10th Avenue, but I always think of the formation of my New York City life on *my* 10th Avenue.

NYC | Marie’s Crisis Cafe, You’re the Top

Now that summer is winding down, the nights of drinking on boats are coming to an end. My friends and I have decided this fall that instead of going to whatever bar has the cheapest happy hour specials, we are going to finally explore NYC’s most historic bars. This idea was sparked with a trip to McSorley’s earlier this month and brought a few of us to Marie’s Crisis Cafe in the West Village last week.

Get More NYC | The Avett Brothers – “I and Love and You”

A friend just had me thinking about my favorite songs about New York, which works well for my new blog feature, Get More NYC. As I sent over my list, which in fact is mostly made up of music from a CD my sister, Katie, made for me when I moved to New York (seriously, how great is she?!), I also starred my favorites and I couldn’t help but star this next one 3 times.

Get More NYC | Greg Holden – “She’s Got Something”

The most frequent question I’ve gotten over the last two weeks has been “Are you going to do a 29 Things list?” The short answer is no, but the long answer is that I always have a few to-do lists running in my head anyway and I’d like to reduce the pressure I put on myself with time limits this upcoming year.

NYC | Going Global

On Saturday, Emily, Aubrey, Annie and I attended the Global Citizen Festival, a concert for charity to help fight extreme poverty with performances by K’naan, Band of Horses, the Black Keys, Foo Fighters, and Neil Young. I couldn’t think of anything better than free music, Central Park, and raising awareness of a huge global issue.

You Ain’t a Beauty, But Hey, You’re Alright

Bruce Springsteen is basically a member of my family. I can’t listen to him without thinking of my dad, sister, or cousins, and we would be more than happy to have him at our Thanksgiving celebration (and it *is* a celebration) this year. If anyone can hook this up, let me know STAT.

NYC | Don’t Listen to a Word I Say

I’ve been introduced to many new artists over the last few weeks, including the incredible Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men – you may know their singles “Little Talks” or “Mountain Sounds”. I had been listening to their Pandora station almost exclusively for about a week when a friend got free tickets to their concert so I definitely wanted to go.

NYC | Just Because I’m Irish

Just because I’m Irish, he thinks that I should know, Every Irish bar in Manhattan, He who was born by Galway Bay,
Where they socialize more than we do here in the USA

NYC | Dancing in the Dark

I am from New Jersey. Therefore, the fact that I am a Bruce Springsteen fan will not cause anyone to fall off their chair in surprise. But (hold onto those horses, now), I was not *actually* a fan until a few years ago when I finally allowed myself to listen without covered ears (I’m nothing if not incredibly dramatic).

NYC | Justified

If you told fourteen-year-old Erin that she would attend two free intimate Justin Timberlake concerts in one week and end up talking to some of his buddies about him, she probably wouldn’t have believed you. She might have posted a section about it on her *N Sync website (which is still online and which you will NEVER find – go ahead, try) and stared at her four closet doors plastered with posters of him and the other *N Sync members for hours, trying to imagine what it would be like, if ever the moment were to actually come.

NYC | Mondays, Music, & Movies

It is really necessary to get out of the city in the summer once in a while as I mentioned before in my Hahhhhmptons post, especially when it is as consistently hot (read: sweaty and gross) as it has been the past few weeks. Luckily, for those of us who still need to be in the city during the week, there are lots of fun outdoor events to reward you for sticking it out in the hot hot concrete jungle. Two of these events are Central Park’s Summer Stage and the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. Last Monday I did the former, this Monday (today) I did the latter.

NYC | I’ll Follow You Until You Love Me

This week, I pretty much should have worked for US Weekly. I don’t know why, but I was stalking stars all over the place. And like I talked about in my Gossip Girl post, I am *sooooooo* not a cool New Yorker when it comes to celebs and I really don’t care.