Taste the Rainbow for New York Pride Week 2016

June 26, 2016 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

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:

Pride doughnut at Doughnut Planet

Doughnut Planet – 220 W 23rd St, New York, NY

Rainbow shortbread cookies at Rex Coffee

Rex Coffee – 864 10th Ave, New York, NY

Rainbow Latte (Not from New York, found in Las Vegas – but still it’s beautiful!)

Sambalatte – 3770 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV

Rainbow bagel from The Bagel Store

The Bagel Store – 754 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY

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.

Joe’s Bar – 480 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY

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.

Quality Eats – 19 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY

Pride Flag Packs Cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. 100% of net proceeds will be donated to @lgbtcenternyc.

Baked by Melissa – Various locations in NYC.

Rainbow Jello shots from Mekelburg.

Mekelburg – 293 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

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You can follow along @WomenWhoBrunch‘s Instagram for more food finds

The Instagram Photo That Gave Me a Swift Kick to Start Writing Again

September 10, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ 2 Comments

Last week as I was scrolling through Instagram, this image and quote from Humans of New York caught my eye.

I’ll be honest, I don’t write as often as I should. But this quote was a true awakening. It reminded me of when I just graduated college. Almost every single day for about an hour I would just write and recollect my thoughts at nearby cafes. It was one of my most fondest memories. It was my personal getaway to recap the struggles (and still struggles) of the economy and post-grad life, finding my way, logging weight goals (I lost 80lbs in about a year during my senior year and documented it both on and offline), and reenacting fun I had with friends in college. I could relive it all or just reflect, even for a few short moments. It was pure bliss.

Immediately after reading this quote, I grabbed a new Moleskine notebook and got started. I’ve been writing every single day since then ( a whole week straight so far! ). Just like anything else you need to make time for it, and it’s definitely a habit I’m excited about forming.

I’d love to hear from you: What are your daily improvement habits? How do you strike a balance to make time for these habits?

For me, I’ve started to only bring a book with me whenever I’m running out the door, that way I can squeeze reading time into my commute time. Then, I’ll set aside an hour to write in the evening and use my Lift app to hold myself accountable. It’s also fun to check things off a to-do list.

Would love to hear from you! Let’s explore in the comments below.

SMWNYC Challenge

February 18, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Social Media Week is this week which means it’s going to be crazy! I’m also excited to announce that I’m producing my first event with Digital DUMBO — coffee should be my best friend this week. Additionally, I thought I’d use my own blog as a visual schedule to map out all the events I want to go. The biggest challenge to myself is: A.) Going to everything and B.) Writing out a wrap up by the end of this week.

Challenge accepted. Here’s what my Social Media Week looks like, what about yours?

Tuesday, February 19, 2013:

6:00-8:00pm: Doing It Live: The Integration of Social in Live Events

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013:

9:30am-10:30am: A Conversation with Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Warby Parker

6:00- 7:30pm: The 140 Character Resume: How Your Social Media Footprint Can Get You Hired.

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Thursday, February 21, 2013:

9:30am-11:00am: The Evolution of the Modern Community Manager

12:00pm-1:30pm: The Golden Age of Digital Storytelling

2:00pm – 3:00pm: 1197 Conference: What makes App Go Boom: The making of a great photo app

6:30pm – 9:00pm: dd:SOCIAL SMW – “Majors and Minors” Presented by Digital DUMBO & Translation

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Friday February 22, 2013:

2:30pm-4:00pm – The Future of Branded Experiences

9:00pm: 1197 Conference: Instagram This! Mobile Meets Funny Comedy Hour

Internet Inspiration: Weekly Wrap-Up: 2/11

February 11, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Trying something new – Every week I’ll post a weekly re-cap of what I found interesting, from social, technology, events, creativity, inspiration, and NYC. Enjoy!

Apps:

Vine

Over

Mailbox

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Articles:

Why You Never Finish Your To-Do Lists at Work (And How to Change That) – The Daily Muse

4 Ways To Amplify Your Creativity– Fast Company Design

10 Things Extraordinary People Say Every Day – INC.

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Events:

1197 Conference

Pancake Month

Creative Mornings with Jessica Jackley

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Wildcard (My life and interesting things I find along the way) :

This new Tropicana Subway Ad

Blue Apron Meals– This is a life changer. They send you 3 healthy meals per week to cook. I’m learning to cook and don’t need to do as much grocery shopping!

Snowpocalypse (Nemo) and the Smallest Snowman to Hail a Cab:

Pass on the NYCbaton!

February 1, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This week I had the honor of holding the NYCbaton. For those that aren’t familiar with NYCbaton, it’s a collaboration from the NYC instagram community. The idea is that a different New Yorker gets passed the baton (Instagram account) and has a day to shoot through the eyes of a New Yorker’s day. Recently I had the opportunity to hold it this past Wednesday.

After my first shot of the day got over 200 likes, I felt the power trip start to form.

I had the attention of 2,892 people. This was the largest audience I’ve ever been faced with one-on-one. It was terrifying and overwhelming all at once. With the limit of 7 photos for the entire day, the pressure was on. This is New York, I thought, realistically there’s far too many things to take pictures of.

Instagram comes naturally to me especially when it’s on your own terms. You have complete control of your own social presence. You have no one to blame but yourself. The only question you have to ask is, do you want a huge fan base or want to be an authority of awesome. I’d chose the latter. Followers will come when you’re original, interesting, and true to yourself. However in this moment I felt like this was my one shot. It wasn’t until the first few photos that it clicked. I had to ask myself, who really cares and what exactly do they care about? The answer’s simple. They care about your day. They care about a New Yorker’s perspective. As much as I struggled to take those scenic Empire State Building shots, I knew deep down inside people could see that anywhere and at WAY better quality than from my iPhone5. What they really wanted was to see our surroundings, how we live, what it’s like to be a New Yorker. We’re like one of those rare species of tree frogs in the wildness that scientists can’t help but study. And to my surprise a lot of people commenting weren’t even from here. All that was left was to give the people what they want. At the end of the day, my personal Instagram will still be there as my own creative outlet.

Here’s how the rest of my day turned out:

Social Hashtag Series #2: #AboveMe

Social Hashtag Series #AboveMe Instagram Photos: NYC Flatiron Building

January 17, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This month’s hashtag was # AboveMe. I thought I’d keep my head up instead of down. There are certainly some interesting perceptive up there.

Next month’s theme will be, store front chalkboard signs and messages.

In other Instagram related news, I’ll be shooting from NYCbaton‘s Instagram account on January 30th, 2013. Enjoy the day in the life of me. Any ideas of interesting people or places to shoot in the city, please let me know!

Oh yes, you could always be my Instagram friend now. It’s never to late to be friends.

NYC Winter Trees in Union Square. I got lost for a moment up there… and attacked by squirrels. It was a good day.

This is how some weekend markets decorate in the city. Just re-use Christmas lights.

C.O. Bigelow’s Pharmacy in Greenwich Village. I hadn’t been in this area in quite sometime. It’s probably one of my favorite signs in NYC.

Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Sea Cruise. The detail in this piece is just ridiculous.

Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Sea Cruise – Chandelier in the dinning room. Pinky up, fancy.

Backside of the Flatiron Building. Because everyone takes pictures of the front side.

Winter in Florida consists of warm and happy Nicole.

Social Media Monday + Tattly

December 18, 2012 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Social Media Campaigns I’ve loving this week:

1.) Patron’s Cocktail Share:

Love this concept and cocktails.

2.) GiltCity: #LoveYourCityMore Instagram

Amazing way to connect their community with their brand by asking fans to share photos on Instagram using hashtags #LoveYourCityMore and #NYC. I’m also loving how they highlight members on their Facebook Cover photo:

3.) Here comes the Advent Calendars:

The Yield 2012 Meme Calendar:

If you’re into Memes.

Wildfire by Google: Social Media Advent Calendar

If you’re into facts.

4.) Tasting Table’s: Food Fight Debate

Tasting Table gives their fans the chance to vote for the ultimate food debates and then throws an amazing party to reveal the results.

And the results:

5.) Foursquare’s 12/12/12 Robin Hood Relief Badge

Combining an opportunity to partner with Samsung Galaxy around the 12/12/12 Concert for Hurricane Sandy Relief.

6.) SiriTalks Instagram:

Creative finds-love this idea.

Bonus: My part-time gig at Tattly.

I was so fortunate to spend a few days at Tattly last week. Dream gig come true, I am the biggest Swissmiss fan girl- ask anyone I know. Over the week I ended up learning way more than just how these temporary tattoos are made and produced. The whole experience went above and beyond my expectations. I was initially dreading having to deal with the hour commute to Dumbo each day but the more I stayed the more I loved it.

Everyone was so sweet and welcoming. Daily coffee and lunch trips together were a must, then we would gather our food and eat together back at StudioMates. All this actually made me realize how miserable I was at my last job. How much I despised office politics, eating at your desk, and everyone only talking to you when they needed something. More companies should have the Tattly mentality. When you communicate and do things together is creates a much better working environment. Personally, I’m sick of working along side of people who are willing to throw each other under the bus — This was an epiphany. An epiphany of what I am and am not looking for in my next job.

Additionally, in my short time there I’ve learned a good chunk more about design then I ever had prior to walking in there. This is a piece of what I am looking for in my next job. I must be surrounded by creative and passionate people. The wealth of ideas was overwhelming.

Finally, I ran into mini celebrities. I don’t know the ‘who’s who’ in the design world, but many designers came in… so did author Jonathan Foer… and wandering photographer named Shantanu Starick who is on a journey around the world while spending no more, everything he gets is based on trade. It was quite an amazing story and definitely encourage everyone to check out his trades.

Many thanks goes out to Swissmiss and the amazing people at Tattly and StudioMates! You not only made my job dreams come true but you showed me there are amazing companies out there doing amazing things. I know now I want to be apart of that.