My happy place.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

The other day, I was walking home to my new apartment and couldn’t help but think that I am so much happier with my life right now than I was a few months ago.

It’s not that I hated living in Long Island. I definitely made good friends that I will cherish forever and continue to keep in touch with. And, yeah, living 15 minutes from the beach didn’t suck in the summer. But…

You know how in movies, there will be a character who just doesn’t fit in and doesn’t fit in and doesn’t fit in no matter how much she tries? And then, one magic day, she finds out — surprise! — she’s an alien. And then it makes so much sense and the audience is like, “Oh duh! Of course you couldn’t fit in — you weren’t meant to!”

I sort of felt like I spent the last three years waiting for that moment.

Except, instead of finding out I was an alien, I just kept being reminded (over and over and over again) that I just was not a Long Islander. In three years, I found only a handful of people who thought about things the way I did, who had the priorities I did, and who cared about the things I did. I felt like I spent a lot of my day trying to react to things accordingly, because if I didn’t — and if the other person didn’t like my reaction — I would feel the wrath. Or, rather, the cold, cold chill of being iced out for not being exactly how other people wanted you to be.

And so, after one-too-many nights of breaking down sobbing in our car to Joey because I just couldn’t figure out how to be or act to fit in, the decision to leave had basically made itself.

But wait! This isn’t a sad story! Please push the image of me teary-eyed in a Civic out of your minds.

The point is, while I’m sure Long Island is a great place for some people, it just wasn’t my jam. And now that I’m living in the city, I actually enjoy the city again. You know, instead of spending just enough time there to hate it.

Now, I’m actually doing fun things. I’m eating and drinking at cool places. I’m living in New York instead of just working there.

Which leads me to the point of this post: Even though lately I feel like I’m doing more fun things and experiencing more than I have in a while, my blogging has really fallen by the wayside. And since the “point” of this blog is to serve as a pseudo diary of my life, those seem like the types of experiences I should be recording for posterity.

That’s why I’ve decided to share more. More reviews of things, more photos, more snapshots of my life now, in this moment.

Plus, some of my oldest friends are coming to visit this weekend! Which makes the next few days rife with possibilities for photo opps. And I shall take all those opps, thank you very much.

Because things are going pretty great. And that’s how I want to remember everything.

Living Room Update

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

Whaaat? I real-live apartment update? On this blog?

You betcha.

This weekend was particularly productive for us on the apartment front. Joey and my father-in-law installed a hanging bar and shelf in our front closet and replaced our shower head with an adjustable one that actually builds up enough pressure to properly rinse shampoo from your hair. (I didn’t include photos because even though the closet and shower head are infinitely more functional, they still don’t look that fancy in a picture. You’ll just have to use your iMaGiNaTiOnS.)

You know what does look snazzy in a photo? Our new couch! It arrived on Wednesday, and we built it that night!! Look how pretty it is!!!

I, for one, will not miss sitting on the floor/sharing our one upholstered chair with Joey. Plus, the couch has a bottom drawer for storing extra blankets, pillows, and sheets, and you know what extra storage does to me.

I also finished up the other side of the room:

Cute, huh? I like how colorful everything is looking. I might switch things around on the shelves (shelf styling is one of my secret hobbies), but for now, it’s staying. Bonus points if you can identify what we were watching.

By the end of the week, I’m hoping to be able to show you the kitchen and bedroom.

What have you been up to this weekend?

Shower on the love.

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

And that’s how I wound up naked in a building in the middle of Manhattan.

Hmm? What’s that? You find my Tarantino-start-at-the-end-and-work-your-way-back-to-the-beginning-style of writing alarming?

Well, DEAL WITH IT. It’s called a hook. Consider yourself hooked.

Anyway. Though it ends with me in the buff, this is a story that starts with trying to get buff.

As I may have mentioned, I recently joined a gym near my office. It’s a bit pricier than any other gym I’ve ever paid for (in my life), but it’s actually moderately priced for the area thanks to an employee discount I get through work, and it’s so dang convenient that I can’t even get home without passing it. Which, as we learned from my Brooklyn Y experience, help ensure I actually go on a regular basis.

For the last couple of years, I have been a staunch evening exerciser. While I would prefer to start my day with a trip to the gym, my crazy-long commute prevented that from being a viable possibility. (Unless I wanted to get up before 5 a.m. Or die at the hands of a (possibly) homicidal homeless man.)

Thanks to our recent move, however, my commute is much, much shorter, meaning I don’t have to wake up as early unless I want to work out.

I think you can imagine where this is going.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been telling myself that it would be a good idea to wake up earlier, go to the gym before work, shower there, and then walk the four blocks to my office. I’ve been telling myself this, but had yet to actually act on it.

UNTIL THE FATEFUL MORNING I DID. Also known as…this morning.

For the record, it had always been part of the plan that I would shower at the gym. And this is not the first time I’ve showered at a gym. It had just been a really long time, and I had completely forgotten how unbelievable awkward it is.

To be perfectly honest, I rarely even change at the gym. I’ll usually change my clothes at the office, in the privacy of the spacious handicap bathroom stall, before making my merry way to work out.

I mean, on one hand, I know I’m being silly. I know pretty much everyone averts their eyes awkwardly just like I do when I see someone half- to fully naked in the locker room. But I just…I don’t know. Nakedness. In front of people. Ehh.

I’m a prude, is what I’m saying.

Today, though, it just had to be done. Lest I want to become known as the “sweaty girl” in the office. (Not a very clever nickname, but it still stings.)

So after working out, I stripped down only to discover that…

1. …GOOD LORD those towels they provide are tiny. Who are they made for? Toddlers? I normal-sized woman can barely keep her dignity in one of those.

2. …few things make you feel less like a grown-up than showering in flip-flops. Though I was grateful I remembered to pack them.

3. …those hairdryers you’ve been seeing in the locker room for weeks and telling yourself “are so convenient!” because now you don’t have to pack your own? They suck. You still have to pack your own.

4. …showering at the gym is not your favorite thing.

Plus, as we covered in the first sentence, there’s something about being naked in the middle of the city that just makes you feel more…exposed.

So! My fellow morning gym-goers. How do you survive showering at the gym? Do you skip it? Do you bring fancy shampoo to make yourself feel more human? Tell me your secrets!

Sometimes I get to do cool things.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

It’s no secret that there are times I do not heart NY. Sometimes I down-right hate it. And sometimes it hates me back.

But then there are those beautiful moments that make me love it all over again. Like when I get to be a part of exciting things. And when I get to experience things like this:

YES THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

I was casually perusing Twitter today when I saw that someone I followed had posted a photo of the banana stand. I gasped audibly, and when my manager saw what I was freaking out about, she looked at me and was like, “Just go! Go now!”

She actually told me to “just run there!” So I did. (JK, I got a cab. But still.)

And it was everything I hoped it would be.

So, fine, point New York.

Sunshine on a cloudy day

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

Remember when I used to make you listen to my (many) thoughts about my hair all the time? (Okay, maybe it wasn’t that long ago…)

Well, a few months back, I embraced that seen-everywhere trend of dyeing my hair ombré.

As soon as my stylist stepped back to show me how it looked, I was fairly certain I had made a mistake.

It’s not that it looked horrible. (I don’t think.) It just…wasn’t me. And every time I looked in the mirror, my coloring just looked sad. The darker hair washed me out, and I felt like I just looked like I needed a highlight.

So last weekend, I accepted my mistake and went back to blonde. Here’s my best model pose, which those of you who follow me on Instagram have already seen:

The difference was immediate. My complexion seemed brighter, and I just felt more like my sunny self. (Damn right I’m sunny.)

Yesterday, Taylor, who sits next to me at work and hears my tales of woe about this all the time, said, “Remember how you always said that your ombré hair made you look different? I get it now. Because you really look different blonde!”

This is what I’ve been saying, people.

So anyway. We’re back to normal and ready for summer. You know. Because of the sunniness.

Another apartment update.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Justine Lorelle

Man, radio silence on the blog, amiright?

I promise, I have not forsaken you. I’ve just been busting my behind trying to get another corner of the apartment presentable to show you.

Here’s some of the progress we made last week:

1. Emptying TONS of boxes. Seriously, folks. We’re down to the last 11, and I have high hopes that we’ll get down to two or three by the end of next weekend. (Joey is out of town, which means I can spend all my time organizing.)(Is it weird that that thrills me?)

2. Ordered a couch! We finally made it out to IKEA and ordered this little baby:

He’ll arrive in about two weeks. At which point we will stop sitting on the floor. For the most part.

3. Built a kitchen pantry. I really should have take a picture of this, but the kitchen is still a bit too cluttered to show off. But the pantry is awesome. So much storage space!

4. Organized the bar area: