Anyone who knows me knows I love food, photography, and exploring. With the NYC Pride Parade weekend with week I wanted to find the best rainbow themed foods out there, and NYC did NOT disappoint.
Having gone to school in Orlando the city holds a special place in my heart – with all the tragedy surrounding the shooting and all those innocent victims; I tried to find as many restaurants as I could that donated their proceeds to good causes and organizations within the LGBT community.
From doughnuts and cookies to ice cubes and burger buns, here’s my top picks:
Special edition Rainbow Doodle half pound cookie from City Cakes. They will be donating profits from every cookie sold to the victims and families of the Orlando tragedy.
City Cakes – Lower Level, 251 W 18th St, New York, NY
Rainbow bun at Joe’s Bar NYC. Back for pride week, and available by request.
Pride Margarita with a Rainbow Ice Cube at Quality Eats. All proceeds will go to the One Orlando Fund @oneorlando to help the families of the Orlando shooting victims.
We’re probably not thinking about or sticking to our New Year’s Resolutions by mid-March, but I am.
This year instead of making that infamous New Year’s resolution list, I decided to break down my goals and made 30 day challenges. Here’s what I’m on track for this year. [Will be updated each month]:
February: Photography. Take a photo a day and share it on Instagram.
I love this challenge because it reminded me of when I did the 100 Happy Days Project last year and countless of Project 365 Challenges I used to do in college. It makes me excited to find something new or unique or something that makes me happy in the everyday.
Potluck Brunch with friendsArt Inside 1 World Trade CenterTenement Museum
Made My First Acai Bowl
March: Talk to Strangers.
This 30 day task was especially hard. Who actually wants to talk to strangers in NYC? However one encounter with a stranger I met at an event really stuck with me. I was in the process of moving, a major change and next chapter in my life. This woman gave me a great analogy for life. (I know, that escalated quickly!) She had said life is like driving from the East coast to the West coast at night. You know you’re going to get to your destination, but with the headlights at night you can only see 20 feet at a time, that’s life. You’re going to get there but can only see or do so much at a time.
April: Cook More, Try New Recipes, Eat Healthy (No Junk, Less Sugar)!
Here are some of my favorite new recipes I tried from April’s challenge:
May: Catch up with friends, family, and acquaintances.
Caught up with a bunch of old friends. I was most surprise when I tried to reach out to acquaintances from NYC. Everyone seems “too busy” with lots of loaded excuses and “let’s try in a few weeks to get together”, which never happened. Nothing short of a surprise with New Yorkers though.
I used to love running… I’d wake up early. Get the runner’s high. Push myself further and further each run. The best part was getting toned and in shape, having buns of steel! Yet, I gave it up about two years ago. I had been training for a 10K religiously. I’d hit Central Park on the weekends for my longer 6 mile runs, and along the west side highway to the Chelsea Piers on weekdays for my shorter runs. I actually kind of miss the routine and structure of it all. However, hitting the concrete jungle’s pavement for too long really damaged my feet, before I knew it I had plantar fasciitis and was going to physical therapy.
I stopped running after completing that 10k, but I knew in 2013 I wanted to do the Color Run 5k. Pathetically I tried training again but at the root of it I ended up mostly run/walking most of the way. There’s no denying that the Color Run truly lives up to it’s slogan, the happiest 5k on the planet. I had a blast, completed it, but didn’t have much interest in coming back next year and messing my foot up any further.
All of this was thrown out the window four days before this year’s Color Run in Queens. My friend Megan, pounced at the opportunity to win tickets from blog celeb Gala Darling‘s Color Run giveaway. A few of the original winners didn’t claim the prize and now the Color Run was ours for the taking! We both responded to her and won instantly.
The whole giveaway was in partnership with one of the Color Run’s sponsors, Shout, which was produced by Edelman. Gala had to do a number of things like take part in photos and videos, Instagram/Tweet the event, and write a blog post recap. Overall, all of us got to reap the sweet benefits and were treated like royalty. We received ahead of time Shout/Color Run swag by mail, although I still never received mine due to UPS. Womp Womp. But they took really good care of me when I arrived there, showering me with shirts, bags, and tons of free stuff. We also got to skip the entire line and went straight to the starting line.
Other fun perks:
We had a videographer follow us around for most of the run, and one girl got to wear a GoPro through the whole race.
We got to cut the line for the Shout 360 Color Cam Videos.
We got to cut the line and go directly on stage for the orange color throw. (Shout’s brand color)
And overall I didn’t have to force myself to run or hurt myself. We all walked it and it was so much fun to hang out with a brunch of friends and meet a whole group of new friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my Saturday. These ladies were awesome!
Here’s Gala’s blog post from the Color Run adventure. And a few more photos below from the event.
About six months ago a friend had told me about a dinner event called Project Exponential. Each month, a woman named Michelle Welsh plans and carefully selects a group of artists, professionals and entrepreneurs to attend each dinner. It begins with an application and ends in stories and connections. Here’s my dinner story…
We started the night at Bacaro in Chinatown with a spread of food and place cards in front of us. Leading up to the event I felt totally disconnected from the whole event. My mind was racing with unanswered questions. What was I to expect? Who was I meeting? There was no flutter of mention or buzz on Twitter. No hashtag. I wondered if this was some kind of Fight Club thing. What happens at dinner stays at dinner. I’m so used to being able to find information I need, this unknown was rather exciting.
I’d come to learn that Michelle doesn’t share people’s names or titles ahead of time because she doesn’t wants these dinners to be confined to what someone does for a living but instead focus on who they are as a person. She also does heavy research on everyone ahead of time to form the perfect connections. With this in mind, when I arrived it felt like solving a puzzle with my group as to what’s the connection here.
At first, we were instructed to break into groups of the four people seated closest to you and ask each other a problem that you are facing that you would like to solve right now. The person that was supposed to sit next to me was sick and couldn’t attend. I’m still unsure if this makes a difference, but I soon realized everyone in my group used to work in finance, except for myself… Admittedly, it was a tough first round for me. I always feel uncomfortable talking about myself, I’m a much stronger listener. Plus, the problem I’m facing right now is the fact that I’m going through this adult/figuring it all out phase in my life right now. At the time it felt selfish discussing, but now as I write this and in weeks passing I’ve realized I’m not alone in this feeling. I’ve been diving into more meals and conversations with really interesting thought-provoking women and friends and now know I’m not the only one that feels this way.
For round two, we had to match the person with the same letter we had on our card. No match. Again, I think my match was sick so I joined in on the same group I started with. We were served our next course of gnocchi, salad, and steak, and Michelle passed around sets of small envelopes with questions for discussion in them. Mine said, “What relationships have been most meaningful to you? Who are your mentors?” while the guy next to me had, “Mistakes you’ve learned from. Dare to share.” Both great conversation starters.
Following this discussion we had to flip our cards over and find our match according to the symbol on the back of our cards. I finally had a match and had a really great conversation with this woman. She could relate to my problem and we shared an additional problem of connection, as we both felt that there should be better resources to connect people in NYC. I like to think I’m solving that problem in a way with Women Who Brunch, I want to connect more women in New York but feel it could grow to so much more… This short discussion with her and this dinner experience has made me really think about how we connect. I’ve always been a fan of curated and unique events and the connection between people, but how can these connections form stronger more meaningful relationships? It’s a problem I’m excited to dig deeper in.
Once dessert came we were asked to meet someone we didn’t talk to yet. I met a guy that does photography and asked him to tell me more about his personal photo projects. He told me about how he enjoys photographing hearts in odd places. He mostly shares these on his Instagram and calls it love in unexpected places. I love the thought of looking for love, almost like a scavenger hunt. He then pointed to the dessert cake where pieces of it had fallen and naturally formed a heart. It was one of the best things I heard all day.
Of course, then, another guy had chimed in with a photo project his friend told him about called 100 Happy Days. The challenge is, can you stay happy for 100 days in a row? According to the site 71% of people won’t finish the challenge because they get too busy or state they don’t have the time. I’m always up for a good challenge and have been doing it ever since the dinner. It’s honestly made me feel a million times better. I used to write everyday and do a similar project called 365 Project, where I’d take a photo once a day. It’s really made me feel more grateful about each day and I actually look forward to finding something in my life that makes me happy each day even if it’s something small.
Finally, Michelle wrapped up dinner with giving us these cards that say, what is your special, as a reminder that everyone has something special about themselves.
I’d love to hear what your special is in the comments. Let’s discuss! xo
“The best way to bring everyone together is through food.”
A few weeks ago I took the leap and pursued my side project with my good friend Megan Frantz, called Women Who Brunch. A monthly Meetup group and event series which gathers a group of women together over the most important meal of the week. Each month we curate the restaurant, conversation, speaker, and experience.
There were a number of reasons why I wanted to start this up. One of which was to meet new women, I don’t think that there is enough opportunities for women to support and connect with each other. The other reason was of course to have an excuse to eat delicious pancake carbs and check out a new restaurant. In all seriousness, I’m excited for what the future holds for WWB. I’ve always wanted to start my very own foodie community, while having the freedom to curate the best experience possible.
Our inaugural event on August 3rd, was more than I could have asked for, with two great speakers Megan Nuttall and Monica Lo. Both of which spoke on the subject of “Passion Projects”. I’ve known these two for almost a year now and have constantly kept up on their new ventures. Recently, they received Google Glasses to beta test and have been using them for a photography project in which Megan will in turn write a piece about their experience. During the brunch they were also so kind as to bring their pairs of Google Glass for our attendees to play with. Successfully, we also had a sold out brunch event and I got to meet a lot of amazing new ladies along the way.
Looking forward, I’m eager for what we have on the horizon. For our September brunch we’re bringing back Megan Nuttall, the theme will surround “Crafters & Makers”, as she also runs her own Etsy store called The Invisible Kitten. We’re going to have some fun icebreakers in the works and so far received a great discount off the Maker’s Faire, which is by far one of my favorite Queen events. For October, the lovely Angela Giacchetti of Eventbrite NYC will be joining us as our guest speaker for an “Events” themed brunch. And finally, we also launched our website this week!
The only thing that could make my life complete was if Jimmy Fallon showed up as an honorary bruncher – a girl can dream…
Join us for brunch on September 15th at the Jane Restaurant! Brunch on, ladies!
This past week The Daily Meal announced their picks for this year’s 101 Best Food Trucks in America. Personally, I’ve been a bit bias on a few industries that are still not always up to speed on the whole social media and technology thing, (Healthcare/Fitness, TV/Film, Hospitality and Travel, and Food/Restaurants industries.) So I thought it would be fun to check out a few of these food truck’s Twitter personalities.
Let’s take a look at 5 food truck’s from NYC that made the list and how they’re using Twitter.
1.) Big Gay Ice Cream Truck
They’re simply just amazing at social. They have the most followers on my small list of 5, and here’s why…
They have great Twitter conversations and responses:
They just do want they want and help out friends:
No social media rules. They speak their minds, with whatever comes to mind… It makes it personal, not just a brand:
Recently, I went to the East Village store a few weeks ago since they sadly don’t have the truck in NY anymore. Which isn’t really a terrible loss the tourist still rack up the line whether it was for a truck or shop. Point being is they now have drag queens that help make this terrible waiting thing both bearable and entertaining. They also do a fantastic job Tweeting about this experience while still making it relevant to what’s going on in the world. For example, this Tweet the day of the Tony Awards:
2. The Cinnamon Snail
Who doesn’t love to be updated on truck locations. They just seem to be a couple of streets off every day. That’s NY parking for you.
I don’t know who does their photography but it’s gorgeous. And yes, they also have a beautiful Instagram account.
Like: How they post weekly specials. Dislike: The mass social channel promotion. I don’t like to double-click.
3. Wafels & Dinges
They win just for coming out to Queens on weekends. Although I’m having a love/hate relationship right now with this question promotion (below). I get it. Engage with fans and offer freebies, I guess I’m just not loving the questions. Personally, I wouldn’t share a picture of my dad to a food truck. Plus I responded to one of these and no free dinges yet, what gives?
Constant updates=Love! This truck is everywhere and at all the best tourist locations.
4.Schnitzel & Things
Pre-order your food. If you’ve every experienced NYC lunch rush you understand how genius this is.
Womp, womp. Same basic formatting for tweets. We get it, it’s lunchtime. We thought we’d attempt a drunk Schnitzel & Things food truck run on 52nd btw 6th/7th at 2am. That’s actually not a bad food truck idea.
5. Red Hook Lobster Pound
I wanted to save the glory child, #1 food truck in America for last. Because they were that terrible.
I don’t understand most of these references. It’s not really explained and they keep mentioning Derecho like we all of a suddenly get it.
I’m a grammar snob. There was just too many of these mistakes: ITs, 2day, be4. It’s making me cringe. AND TOO MANY ALL CAPS AND OVERUSE OF THE WORD LOBSTAH.
So what have I learned?
If you have a great product I guess you don’t need to be good at social media. That’s where word of mouth marketing really helps. But, it doesn’t hurt to be relatable and fun with your fans. It only takes word of mouth marketing that much higher. Additionally, it doesn’t have to be all about where the truck is, it helps of course, but it should also be about your product and personality. Each food truck has its niche or else you’d never make it on that list or in NY, so emphasize what you’re made of. Trust me, we’ve got plenty of those doughnut and halal trucks.
Attempt at trying a Buzzfeed-y type post…For some of these places, only the South Florida 90’s kid generation will know these places best.
1.) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – The Ride at Walt Disney World
Best
Ride
Ever
2.) Funscape
Short lived but so magical. Funscape was located on Cypress Creek road right next to Regal Cinemas. It was like an indoor mall with 2 levels of arcade games, food, golf, bumper cars, and my personal favorite 3-D mini movie rides.
3.) Blockbuster Golf & Games
I had either my 10th or 11th birthday here. It was awesome.
4.) Discovery Zone
I miss you so much. We’ll always have that slide. RIP: 1990-1999
5.) Mars Music
Music store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1999-2002. I took my guitar and singing lessons here. 😦
6.) Tower Records
Music chain based out of California from 1960-2006. Had to visit there when I went on vacation to LA, long live music stores.
7.) Virgin MegaStore
At its peak, there were 23 Megastores in the US. My 2 favorites were the one in Orlando, FL which was the first I had ever been to, last time I was there it was a Lady Diana exhibit and it’s flagship store in Times Square which closed in 2009 and is now occupied by Forever 21.
8.) Peaches Records & Tapes:
I fondly remember the Boca Raton, FL location, and bought my first tape here, I’m pretty sure it was Hootie and the Blowfish. There’s still one location of this former chain still around in New Orleans, LA.
9.) Wally World
The only hotel to stay at when you were a kid headed to Disney World. Indoor pool, character dinners, arts and crafts, games, kangaroos, heaven.
10.) The Factory
I went to so many concerts here in high school. It was probably the best time in my life. It was also next to a porn store, my dad loved dropping me and all my friends off here.
Side note: I also took these photos from their Myspace page. I’m getting old.
Truth is this obsession has only been going on for about 2 months now. When I wanted to start my own “30 Day Vine Challenge”. I wanted to challenge myself to start taking a video a day of NYC life, then gradually became obsessed with the Vine community and all the Vine ‘personalities’. At first I wanted to make this into a ‘Top Video Personalities/Comedians to Watch” list, which it is. But the more I did my research the more I noticed how the top Viners each really have their own niche.
Let’s start with some videos.
Note: Best way to view these is by turning on/off the sound to each Vine one at a time.
KC James
Had to put KC at the top of my list because he’s a personal favorite. He’s hilarious and always changing his Vines up where most others on this list will stick to only one of two Vine themes they’re known for, but not KC. He has a number of “Vine Series” including: How to Recover After an Embarrassing Slip https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/335109992803868672 “Magic Vines” – Which are stop-motion Vines that create interesting concepts (flying, disappearing, etc.)
Best known for Huckle Bee Bob (He’s even brought this costume to Europe) and pretty much torturing is puppy with cat noises and dressing him up as a triceratops.
Rudy hasn’t posted too many of his Vine’s on Twitter. And Vine hasn’t quite figured out an easier way to share Vine’s other than your own but I did manage to find a “Best of Rudy on YouTube” — That’s right, someone other than Rudy has too much time on their hands.
He’s best known for his characters Isaac and Alberto, Isaac as Siri, chair spinning, mi madre, foreign parents (aka making his mom say really long sentences in English), and Lion King in random places. These all make sense when you follow his Vine’s as religiously as I do.
The key to standing out on Vine?These Viner’s create content that is unique, interesting, and funny, while pushing their ideas to the next level. All these Viners are known for their own unique themes, series, and ideas.This translates to a community of Viners. Remake Vines and collaboration between the rest of the Vine community start to begin.
I’m always so surprised when I see that most of these great Viners are from Cali, they all know each other and show up in each others Vines. And if they’re not from the same state they do collaborations or remakes of each others work. It’s amazing when it unfolds.
You can follow all these great talents by looking up their names on the Vine App — as well as myself, Nicole Monahan (shameless plug!) I mostly Vine NYC life, office puppies, events, and subways musicians. 🙂
Keep your team informed without the spam. Group mailing lists that automatically build and maintain your intranet while you work. Honey stores everything in the cloud for easy reference. Share once with everyone who will ever be involved with your project.
I’ve been currently using this with my team members to share articles and ideas found while browsing the web. Although, like the description says I’m sure it can be used for many other projects. There’s a plugin to use on your browser and find it more useful than when I tried using Stich/Evernote.
UP is a wristband and app that tracks your sleep, activity and food—then helps you use that information to feel your best and stay motivated with teammates.
Focusing on my health led me to this recommendation. It only works with iPhones and iPads right now, but the best part is that it tracks everything — you’re sleep, food, and activity. Knowing more about how I sleep, move, and eat have been so fascinating and helpful. New York is stressful enough, take care of yourself!
Applauze helps you discover, plan and attend the best events around you.
Just discovered this app and love the interface. You search your location and it pulls up both free and paid events in your area. Best part is you can purchase tickets right through the app with no hidden charges.
+++++++++++++++++++
That’s all folks! I’m now officially starting vacation. BUT I always love productivity and apps. Please send recommendations my way!
What started out as this month’s theme, turned into a recap of these sidewalk chalk signs I’ve unknowingly been collecting for the past 2 years. There’s a bit of everything from food to markets to holiday themes.
Are there any others out there like Birch Coffee that have a consistent theme? I think what they’re doing is so interesting. These examples are pretty much exactly how I like my content/social — with design, humor, interesting facts and language in mind.
Nicole Monahan 