My Journey in Trading in New Year’s Resolutions for 30 Day Challenges

March 10, 2015August 16, 2015 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

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]:

January: Work the Brain.

Practiced French lessons via Duolingo and trained my brain with Elevate app. Along this journey I was also introduced to NPR’s Invisabilia and National Geographic’s Brain Games, both are fascinating and have kinda changed my life.

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.

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:

Skinny fettuccine Alfredo — Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo

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.

June: Yoga / More Mindfulness

Favorite new mindfulness/meditation apps: Calm, Stop, Breathe, and Think, and Headspace.

July: Learn a new skill. Coding, calligraphy, or storytelling are on my list.

Took up calligraphy from I Still Love Calligraphy.

August: Read everyday for an hour.

Books read: Big Little Lies

September: Write/Journal every day for an hour.

October: Practice happiness and start a gratitude journal.

November: Finances & Savings. $$$

Have already started a 401K!

December: Random acts of kindness and giving. Donate blood, volunteer, make someone smile.

Planning and Selling Out My “Breakfast for Dinner” Women Who Brunch Event

September 25, 2014 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this month on September 4th, I celebrated Women Who Brunch’s One Year Anniversary the only way I knew how, with a “Breakfast for Dinner” party. I can proudly say that we sold out the 100 person event and had 15 amazing sponsors. I am also honored to say that the majority of these companies were women run businesses! Here’s a snap shot of all of our wonderful sponsors from the event.

We also had the amazing Christina Vuleta as our speaker. She’s the founder of one of my favorite websites 40:20 Vision, a resource to start conversations and facilitate mentoring between generations. The struggle of being a 20-something is very real and her advice was definitely a highlight of the evening.

Running Women Who Brunch has taught me a lot in the past year. Such as the harder you work the more it pays off — free drinks, brunches, great partnerships and collaboration opportunities, meeting so many great people. These are all great benefits but it really all comes from building a brand and community from scratch, putting love into your attendees and client relationships. Overall, what has been most rewarding has been making a great resource for women and helping to support each other.

This experience has also taught me to listen to my inner voice and go do something that truly drives you. Don’t settle. For me, this is event planning and management. I’ve learned I really enjoy the little details that go into events, from setup, finding the right speakers, potentially partnerships, to even designing the event. For example, for this event I took up calligraphy to make cocktail mixer tags and signage. I’m passionate about making experiences memorable.

Bonus lesson, it’s ok to #treatyoself. Events are a ton of work. Get the dress, manicure, and blow out. You deserve it and will feel like a million dollars!

I’m excited to find out where the next year will take us. There’s so many opportunities, for now we’re planning our next brunch. I’m also going to as many women leadership events as possible and going where the energy flows.

Until next time, brunch on! xoxo

Here’s a few of my favorite photos from our event, more can be found here.

Pursuing My Passion – Women Who Brunch

Women Who Brunch August Event at Five Points

August 20, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

“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!