merci !!! intern bar xxxx

so..let me just explain this intern bar life we are living...

every friday and saturday, "intern bar" sends us a location for the open bar... every night/weekend it is different and they are nice, new, young bars in manhattan. we show up at 10:00pm sharp and kid you not...drink FOR FREE....until 11:00pm. if you are smart; and believe me, we are... everyone stocks up on drinks so really we drink til about midnight for free :)

last weekend intern bar took us to the grace hotel. we had no idea there was a pool there, or we would've brought suits of course! ....didn't really matter though, we went in wearing our going out outfits with no regrets ! of course we had to come home and change afterwards then we went down to the irish pub and of course ended at happy days. didn't get by without falling though.... typical hanna and yet another scrap to add to my knee.

last night was great... we were at bar 12 and chloe (new intern/friend from firmenich) as well as a last year intern, kelsey came out with us. nothing too out of the ordinary happened except that we went to skyroom as well.. the rooftop bar robbie and i had went to a couple weeks ago. it has the most gorgeous view ever and it is right off of time square! again, we were at happy days for 4am breakfast <3

cannot believe i am drinking cheaper in NYC than moscow, id ...but i'll take what i can get...and the way its looking i'm going to be playing the "intern" card for many more years. its the way to go!

in store the last couple of weeks living in brooklyn....

1. goodbye lunch with hilary...tomorrow :(

2. mark. interns come to firmenich for the day!

3. yankee's game with chloe tuesday night !!! eeeee!!!

4. dress for success philanthropy day: wednesday

5. going away party at hilary's house!--friday

6. intern bar...lets be real!

7. sean comes to visit in 2 weeks!

8. little more shopping in soho!

9. walk the brooklyn bridge (still haven't this summer and its 5 min away from where i live!)

10. live it up--no regrets-- nyc summer 2011!

be home in 19 days! see everyone then! xxxx

it's called the "baked" apple.

i think i'll break this into separate posts... so much to tell; i haven't blogged in weeks!

first, i cannot believe i only have 3 more weeks in NYC. where does time go?!

work has been amazing! i have been so busy working on my presentation (which is going very well), doing small little tasks around the office, and running errands for perfume, cupcakes, wine, etc :) haha...

one of the other interns caroline that i used to sit near left a few weeks ago, so essentially i am doing everything she used to do along with all my work now too...but i absolutely LOVE being busy and helping out at the office. everyone who i work with always feels bad asking me to do these little errands but secretly i'm in love with it!

2 weeks ago i got to meet the perfumer olivier cresp, who created angel and d&g light blue which was an amazing experience. he works for firmenich, but in our london offices.

my mentor hilary got offered a job at the offices in london for 2 months to cover for someone else, so she is leaving me this friday already...i'm sooo happy for her though, but i'll miss her so much!

some of the other great things that have happened in the past couple of weeks...

1. i met up with my old mentor anne-marie for lunch; we picked up right where we had left off two years ago. it was absolutely wonderful seeing her :)

2. attended a CEW event: young executives with a bunch of the girls from work. the event had a much bigger turnout than expected...but getting to know many more people from work was great!

3. we had our 625high event that i had been on the board for... it turned out great and i got mentioned in the president of our company's email... so that was exciting :) we had 60 clients show up from several brands including estee lauder, avon, batallure, coty, vs, sephora, etc... for every client that came firmenich donated 1,000 to haiti schools <3

4. ....after 625high the firmenich interns decided to go out for drinks...bad, bad, bad idea considering we all had to show up at work at 8:30am. lets just say half day friday was miserable but the night was fun :)!

5. we had a made their mark lunch with liz kaplow at the mark offices. she opened kaplow pr agency 20 years ago.

6. experienced the hottest day ever in nyc... it was horrible. just saying...

its going to be so weird to leave ny in 3 weeks! everyone at work is so kind and i love what i'm doing.. just more to look forward to when i graduate...

i have also came to decide that i will live in new york city for at least 5-10 years after graduation.. i love this life... i'll i ask is that a few friends from back home move with me?? and that my family comes to visit at least every 3 months.

.....now that would be the life!

sunday=not fun day

.... so just realized i forgot to mention my entire day sunday. since the fam left at 7 am i had the pleasures of sleeping in at the hotel and checking out at my leisure..

amanda and i decided to venture to ikea since neither of us had been which entailed taking a bus; easy enough..right. WRONG!

to sum up our day, we went the wrong way (10min) to the end of the stop, back the right way to where we got on (10min), the right way (20min). IKEA! back on the bus; wrong direction (30min) to the end of the route, back to the right way to ikea (30min), then back home (20min)....

NEVER EVER taking the bus again..

and all we left ikea with was 2 79 cent bowls, a 99 cent toilet brush, and a lamp with no lightbulb that was on sale for $3.99

definitely had better days.

nothing can beat a weekend with family.xo

this weekend, i got to spend with my dad, kat, and elle :)

it was an absolutely wonderful weekend minus elle whining of course, but we'll just pretend that never happened...

they arrived thursday night and we ate at my favorite little restaurant here in brooklyn heights called colonie. they all got to see where i am living including brooklyn heights which my dad fell in love with... i think after him seeing this neighborhood he would actually be okay with me moving here for a few years! woohoo :) elle slept through dinner which was a much needed nap for her considering the fact that they were awake at 3am to get on the plane... of course this meant she was WIDE awake at midnight and receiving cookies from the bellman at the hotel as the clock stuck 12. boyyy was that a mistake. nothing like going to work on a friday with about 4 hours of sleep under my belt all because of ellebelle jumping off the walls!

friday went by quickly at work because i was so excited to meet up with them... once i got off we went to carnegie deli and enjoyed ginormous sandwiches all of which it looked like we hadn't even touched by the end. we spent the later half of the day roaming 5th ave. and the american girl doll store which is an experience in itself... i would have died for that when i was 7 years old. elle got her first american girl doll, julie, which looks almost exactly like her... and they even have matching clothes for the dolls and the little girls (of course elle is the proud owner of several outfits that match julie's now too...) luckily we didn't have to eat at the american girl cafe, go to the american girl "doctor" or the beauty salon, dentist, etc. (yes, that all exists..creepy right?). finally we made it to soho for shopping and then to the palms restaurant for a wonderful steak dinner.

--flashback-- 2 years ago when dad and koleen came to visit our waiter was antonio at the palms and after chatting and getting to know him we came to find out his uncle was a professor at university of idaho and his (antonio's) dog is actually named vandal.. of course, my dad being the vandal fan that he is, they became buddies and antonio ended up buying our entire meal for us which was definitely not cheap. to return the favor, my dad sent him a very nice bottle of wine and u of i jacket... when we went back this past weekend my dad requested antonio as our waiter and he remembered us after we reminded him of who we were and he actually had to excuse himself from the table because he was choking up and was so appreciative of the jacket and nice gestures... leave it to me to start crying, cuz that i definitely took care of. haha. just goes to show "what goes around, comes around"... its nice to do nice things for people. :)

saturday was spent uptown near columbia. we went to my favorite breakfast place, artopolis, and then went and visited the church that is up there, st. john the devine. we attended the broadway show, wicked, which was good...but still not the top of my list. however, it is amazing the talent everyone on broadway has...its so admirable. more shopping was done in soho that afternoon in spite of kat's birthday (shopping is always our main priority) and then dinner in soho that night at a very modern chill restaurant. Our last event before their 7am departure sunday morning was a trip to the top of the empire state building. pictures cannot do the view justice... it is more one of those things that just has to be admired in person and taken in while you are there.... breathtaking though, you can see the entire city!

all in all, the weekend was wonderful... elle wasn't a huge fan of the subway because i wouldn't allow her to treat the polls as a jungle gym... she was all for hailing the taxi's any chance she could get... reminds me of myself when i was that age and how i thought a block was soooo long!!. everyone was happy though, and i was happy to have them here.

the only negative part was realizing everything that they are going through still with the tragedy in our family... its so easy to remove yourself being in NY from the situation when your not constantly being reminded of the death by sweet little elle even though its constantly running through my head. hearing her say little comments about her mom really changes the way i have learned to appreciate life and family/friends in general and to not take anything for granted. its impossible not to choke up at least a couple times a day when you around her and think about what her and the other kids are going through...everyone is doing good though and it seems like everyone is getting through it the best they can. i will always worry about the kids and my dad too and just pray that time will heal everything (as much as possible) and it will all be okay. koleen is missed very much and as elle mentioned a few times this weekend it would have been great to have had her here with us. i miss the times we had 2 years ago when her and my dad came to visit for the fourth of july weekend... we had an amazing time and i can't believe that will never happen again. still so many things don't feel real... instead elle saved her favorite postcard and was writing a postcard to her mommy with my dad saturday night before their flight left sunday morning... [we love and miss you koleen<3.]

on a more postitive note, she is in a better place and watching us everyday..

i can't wait to see my family/friends in a month again though!! even though i'll miss new york, i really miss my family! love you all (mom-dad-kat-elle-michael-madeline-zack-michael-matthew-alli-benjamin)hugs and kisses from NYC!

and to my gamma phis---- can't wait to be back to 709 elm! see you in a month xoxoxo <3

happy hamptons forth of july!

i spent the long fourth of july weekend in the hamptons...what could be better than that...just about nothing!

since i haven't blogged in weeks and i have a lot to catch up on i'm choosing to list my top 10 favorite moments from that weekend instead of actual writing...its faster, more simple, and in all just better. so here's the top 10

1. penn station experience. nothing like having to run for a seat on the train. good thing peter was with us so ariel and i could take our time
2. the amazing house we stayed at...it was absolutely perfect
3. the beach of course!
4. the bar we went to the second night we were there was so much fun! it was all outdoors and had a live band and dance floor; minus the little tumble i took it was an amazing night
5. sleeping outside on a blowup twin mattress by the pool...cool until we woke up with bug bites everywhere!..and times that by 2 cuz the idea remained the same the third night.
6. beer pong in the hamptons (some things never change no matter where you are!)
7. my amazing concoction of orange juice, vodka, and a splash of cran.... drink of the night!
8. going out night 3.... or lack there of (i took a nap instead :)
9. & 10.(this deserves two spots)... picture peter on the train with hundreds of people, more hungover than ever... we had to make about 3 additional stops to pick up everyone in the different parts of the hamptons in which peter took the initiative to get off the train and "get a fresh breath of air." it was miserable for him.... kinda hilarious for the rest of us :)

that sums up the 4th... managed to get by without seeing a single firework which was fine by me... one weekend for the books!

catchin some rays with firmenich

time for another post before i head out of town for the weekend to the beautiful hamptons!

nothing too out of the ordinary went on at work this past week...we were really only here for about 3 days though (short week). we did on tuesday have a luncheon at mark. with the director of national sales Elenor Mak which was a nice way to break up a usual workday. Yesterday however marked one of the best days anyone could ever have at "work"....

it was beach day! i met my mentor hilary in brooklyn (we're neighbors) and we made our way to 34th street...meeting at 8am put us to the dock at 8:10... 50 min prior to the ferry setting sail... a little excited?...maybe :)... the entire FIRCITY team climbed on board and we made our way to longbrand, nj where we enjoyed a catered lunch which was amazing, lounging on the beach, all afternoon open bar, sand volleyball...and every other little detail associated with a day on the beach! if you can only imagine...it was absolutely amazing! it was also a great opportunity to get to chat with people in the office i dont usually work with; i feel like i know everyone even better now!
it was definitely hard to leave but we were all exhausted. the ferry ride home was beautiful...as we came up the east river we could see all of brooklyn including the pramenade, staten island, govenor's island, statue of liberty, and the entire manhattan skyline. picture perfect!

last night i somehow blanked out of my mind we had a karaoke event at the local irish pub that i promised the other girls i would be attending.... that was the LAST thing i wanted to do after being out in the sun all day...but due to peer presure we all arrived at 10pm to the pub and managed to stay til about 2am... the night included probably too much singing from the 5 girls. i'm sure by the end of the summer the locals will have had more than enough of us! haha... but its fun for now!!

today was an interesting day considering i only got about 4 hours of sleep last night, had to get up and pack for the weekend and work half day friday.. i'm meeting peter at penn station hoping he knows what he is doing..because the last time i took a train i got more than lost. i'll just go with the flow i'm sure we'll make it to the hamptons; we have to!

i'm so excited for the long weekend! never been to the hamptons and definitely on my bucketlist--one more thing to check off. planning on being back to brooklyn park for the fireworks monday night!

happy 4th of july to everyone! be safe and have a blast! i know i will! :)

more photos to come next week...it takes so long to download them all, but there are definitely some goodies in the bunch!

time to wrap up week 3! ...it was overall another great week in the city. still continued to keep busy in the office with small tasks for my mentors and worked further into my project. tuesday night we enjoyed dinner with all the interns at julia's apartment located on the lower east side; it was great to spend some extra time with all the interns since i don't go to work with them at all and hardly get the opportunity to see them. thursday went by extremely quick because word on the street was that justin beiber would be stopping in to meet the perfumers who created his new fragrance that just launched earlier this week...instead, the team went to meet him at Macy's and left the interns to work :( haha. i ate lunch with 2 of my co-workers dana and megan at a local sushi restaurant and my half day friday was primarily spend smelling new creations for several different projects!!

friday night robbie and i attended yet another "open bar". we paid $5 and drank from 6-7 for free on a rooftop bar in time square...can't beat that! the rest of the night..and well into the morning was spent bar hoping and meeting more new friends. last night (saturday) i met up with peter and his brother scott and his friends for a birthday dinner. thanks to scott i had one of the best meals in a long time.. for free! it was nice hanging out with someone from back home and made me miss everyone even more! ....overall it was a great night though!

today of course we had to attend the gay pride parade that ran throughout NYC! ohhh the sites you will see! ...or should i say "we did see". wow. hahaha... we did a little more shopping and ended the day early back in brooklyn!

also saw a lightning bug tonight..most amazing little bug ever :)

still enjoying and appreciating every little bit of NYC. there is always something new to do or new to see which is what i love most. also i have finally began to find the quiet and relaxing places to be by myself which puts all the chaos to rest.

looking forward to the week ahead

--day at the jersey beach with all my co-workers

--fourth of july weekend <3

--and so many more adventures...!