Each year it’s become a tradition to blog on my New York Anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been 6 years and the amount of big life changing events that have happened. It make me so fortunate for this life path and makes me think of how everything could have been so different.
Last year I completed my first half marathon and got engaged on the same day. Went to Ireland, Savannah, and lots of trips back to Florida. Got a new job. Was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade again. Still have the cutest cats on the planet.
Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past year.
Every year, I try to take away an important life lesson that I’ve learned. This past year it’s tough. I’d say being at my old job was very challenging. I had no management or guidance, the commute to the city everyday was exhausting. I also felt that I wasn’t achieving my full potential, only pushing paper. In my new job I absolutely love that it’s not only closer to home but I’m doing event planning which is my dream job. Yet, maybe it’s the timing of things, but I’m currently taking on multiple responsibilities at the moment, leaving me back to feeling exhausted.
My lesson here is to try to listen to the signs. When I had one of my biggest meltdowns at my old job, I was on the phone with my dad, taking my usual commute and had heard gunshots behind me. A drunk man welding a knife at a police office was shot right outside my office. If I was literally a minute earlier I would have been in the crossfires. It was a huge sign, and I then took every ounce of energy to looking for a new job. I’m much happier where I’m at but again very tired. I’m hoping to get back into more meditation, reading, writing, walking. Things that will bring me more joy and calm.
As for this year, I’m excited for more trips, brunches, seeing friends and family, and marrying my best friend. xoxo
This past Thursday, January 21, 2016 marked my 5th year anniversary living in New York!
5 years ago I remember packing my bags and making my way to the big city. As my cab drove past Central Park, I looked out at the beautiful park and horse-drawn carriages. I remember locking that moment in my memory. Not only was it my first day living in NYC but it was the first time I’d ever seen snow.
Flash forward as I look back on the past year, I’m flooded with so many wonderful milestones. Last year I started working at WebMD, I moved into a new house upstate in Suffern, NY with my boyfriend, I bought a car, and adopted two of the cutest kittens alive – Earl and Lady Grey (like the teas). I also traveled to Iceland and was the first Monahan to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Photos of all these adventures below.
Every year I write an anniversary blog post. Each year I like to reflect on one thing that I’ve learned, and last year involved an overwhelming amount of change.
Adjusting to a new job involved change.
Living with my boyfriend, being a homeowner in a new town and having a new commute involved change.
Visiting Iceland, a country I’ve never been too – change both change of cultures and changing me as a person.
It’s been a rollercoaster of adapting, mixed with stress, and just trying to figure it out. For the most part I think I’ve learned that change is exciting and you never know where it will take you.
The best thing to do is to keep an open mind. Eventually you’ll get into a flow, and even if you’re not comfortable with that person, place, or thing that’s changed you, you can either embrace it or learn from it and move on.
Over the next year to come I’m excited to see where life takes me. I’ve already booked a trip to Ireland, Florida, and Charleston. I’ll also be running/speed-walking the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February.
Finally my main focus this year is to make new friends in my area and to focus more of my time on my passion for food. This means a lot more cooking, blogging about health and fitness, and of course continuing to eat my way through NY.
UPDATE:
While this blog post was sitting in “Draft”, I found out some very heartbreaking news that my grandmother passed away on Sunday, January 24, 2016 at the age of 88 years young.
I want to include her in my post because she means everything to me and who I’ve become as a person.
On Sunday my dad sent me this photo of the hotel bill from my grandma and grandpa’s honeymoon in New York. The date (1/21) is my NYC anniversary – only 60 years prior. I thought that was very serendipitous.
I miss you terribly but you’ll never be forgotten. I will continue to take you with me through every journey and milestone. Rest in peace grandma, love you.
Big day, ladies and gents. Today marks my 4 year anniversary living in New York. Ironically, I’m also traveling back to Florida today (where I’m from) and will be visiting my alma mater, UCF this week for the first time since graduating. So meta.
What I enjoy about writing these posts is the fact that I can take this time to look back at some of the highlights I’ve had throughout the year. Let’s begin here, seems like a good place to start.
The Big Egg Hunt:
Year four included this really wonderful Easter Egg hunt presented by Faberge which featured tons of local artists. Each artist would create their own egg and were then hidden throughout NYC. It was a fun twist on the game while catering to adults, plus it was a great excuse to explore the city.
Our Women Who Brunch “Breakfast for Dinner” one year anniversary party. This is something I was truly proud of this year. We were able to execute a sold out 100 person event with over 15 sponsors including Wix.com, Rent the Runway, and Lyft. A good 80% of which were women run businesses. It’s always rewarding to help fellow ladies!
My birthday was pretty epic this year. Not only did Women Who Brunch run a brunch giveaway in partnership with Food Network’s New York Wine and Food Festival, but also happened to score tickets to Trisha Yearwood brunch we helped promote. To top that, I waited in line for hours to snag broadway tickets to The Book of Mormon, only to be rewarded with winning their lottery giveaway and scoring front row tickets for $32! Lessoned learn, there is such a thing as karma.
Got to see my spirit animal, Mindy Kaling at the New York Festival.
This year I made trips to Savannah, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, and St. Maarten. Proving that I both love to travel and need breaks from the NYC chaos.
Savannah, GA
SCAD Chalk Art FestivalSCAD Chalk Art Festival – Oscar SelfieSavannah Crawfish Broil
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
St. Maarten
Lessons I’ve Learned from Year 4:
Last year I departed from Digital Dumbo. It was a fun year and a half journey, but what leaving has taught me was that I needed to go even if the decision was hard. Ultimately, I learned that I deserve more out of my career. It’s ironic that even as I say this now, it has still taken me six months after leaving to truly realize this. After leaving I spent months trying to figure out what I want… Did I want to continue freelancing? Take on Women Who Brunch full time? Or did I want a full time position? It turns out to be the latter. The overall lesson here is don’t settle for less in your career, especially when you have the skill sets. Ask yourself, where did I see myself in 3-5 years? I know, it’s a typical interview question, but I’ve recently realized that I’ve always blocked it out and ignored the question. It wasn’t until I actually thought about the answer that I realized that I want to work for a company that continues to challenge me in my professional and personal growth everyday, where I would like to eventually lead and mentor my own team and projects.
Bonus lesson learned is I need to keep negative people out and let more positive people in. This is actually something I’ve be trying to practice in the New Year. Life’s too short to surround yourself with negative people.
New Challenges and Milestones:
Last year, and even now, I wanted to make public speaking a priority. Although the act still freaks me out, I know I want to really learn the art of speaking my truth, hearing my voice, and telling compelling stories. I am happy to report that last year I took major strides in this goal by taking a storytelling class and speaking at my first event at Pace University!
This year I’d like to write and blog more in the professional aspect. Also, this year I’m working on 30 day challenges instead of New Years resolution, more on that in a separate post.
I’d like to say there were more milestones, but this year was equal parts failing and learning — it happens. I will say that my career focus is clear and can’t wait for what’s ahead for year five!
Side note: It snowed today in New York. My NYC anniversary– snow streak continues! I’m just glad I’m in Florida this time.
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.
In the Social Media air travel space, I have heard of such contenders as Southwest being noted time and time again as the ruler of social. Being that I love travel and Social Media research I thought I would take a deeper look into how these top airlines compare. Of these airlines I chose JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, American Airlines, and Virgin Airlines. And we’re off…
Nicole Monahan 