I want to kick New York’s ass.

Pardon the language, but I recently read a Buzzfeed article called, “20 ways New York is totally kicking your ass.” I could not help but laugh and also be able to largely identify with nearly everything it listed, especially #19, #10 & #6. Sure this city is amazing, enticing and beautiful at times, but it can also be tiring, hectic, and not to mention smelly, especially in the summer.

But I also had a minor epiphany and I thought to myself, why am I letting New York kick my ass, why I don’t I kick its ass? Am I right here or am I right? And by kicking its ass, I mean that I want to turn the tables. I want to feel empowered rather than defeated, I want to be wildly successful rather than feeling down or sorry for myself, I want to feel like I earned my own little spot in New York and that one day it will be hard for this place to see me go.

In the mean time, while I’m working my way there with everyone else, scenes like this sure do make me forget my problems and make me thankful that no matter what, I’m happy to be here:

5 mile milestone.

In honor of National Running Day, I felt like now was as good a time as any to talk about a personal milestone that I hit yesterday, along with my running partner (and boyfriend, Josh): we finally hit 5 miles. As I always preface these type of milestones, I realize that 5 miles is not a lot to some people, but for me this was a huge deal. I mean, I have never ran 5 miles in my life! It’s so gratifying too to keep pushing myself. I felt proud of myself when I hit 3 miles, then a few weeks later getting up to 4 and now I’m at 5. It’s amazing to think, “hey, I can do this,” especially as a person that used to loathe running. I’ve even learned to love to running in the morning before work which is a milestone in and of itself. Although it certainly helps to have pretty views like the one below. It was nice to surprise myself and push myself to reach this point. I can’t wait to see how much further I can go.

a delicious friday.

This Friday, I ate, and I ate well. Since it was a beautiful spring day, and my boyfriend and I happen to work right near Madison Square Park, we planned ahead and decided to get Shake Shack for lunch. Now, I’ve had Shake Shack before, but it’s been awhile, not to mention I had talked about going since we moved up here 6 months ago, so I was pretty excited. Needless to say I had been craving it for so long, it lived up to its expectation. Friday also happened to be the same day that Madison Square Eats was opening, so of course we headed there to check it out after work. I then experienced what was possibly the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life. I know, that’s a bold statement. But I had heard rave reviews about Roberta’s before, and since they had a stand there, I just had to try it, and am very glad that I did. It was a very delicious Friday night and am so thankful that NYC has many more yummy places for me to test out.

Cathy’s wedding weekend.

This was one of those weekends that myself, and essentially my entire mom’s side of my family had been waiting for, for a very long time. Our family hadn’t had a wedding in so long, and we were looking forward to a fun get-together. Needless to say, this weekend lived up to its hype & then some! There was a lot of laughing, a lot of happy tears, a lot of dancing & good times all around. My cousin Cathy looked absolutely gorgeous for her big day, the ceremony was lovely, and the reception had amazing food, great music, and that’s all you can really ask for! It’s definitely one we’ll remember for a long time. Congratulations again Cathy & Kent!

Boston on our minds.

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I find that the older I get, the more I am deeply affected by tragedies such as the recent events in Boston. When Columbine happened, I was much too young to fully understand & grasp the severity of such an event taking place.

Then of course was September 11th. Again, I was young, but at the same time, knew that this was something that was going to change our country forever.

As a senior in high school, I was horrified to see the graphic violence that played out at Virginia Tech, exactly 6 years ago today. It really hit home, being a Virginia resident, and knowing so many friends and old classmates that attended the school.

Then, just last summer, we were hit with the shooting at an Aurora, CO movie theater. More senseless violence. Followed much too closely by the unimaginable scene in Newtown, CT.

Yesterday, was Boston. So much fear, so many questions, and senseless, horrific violence.

It makes it hard, for me to wonder, how people can get to such a dark place, and then to stay in that dark place and shove it onto good, innocent people and make us question so many things as a people, a nation and a world.

At the end of the day, we have to remember, that no matter what, there are still good people in the world. People who also don’t understand this violence. People who ran towards the gunshots, the twin towers, the explosions, because they knew they had to help, they knew that even if they couldn’t come back, they knew they had a chance at saving people. People who opened their homes yesterday, runners who kept running after a marathon to go donate blood at local hospitals, people who added to a Google doc. what space they had available for people to stay. In the end, good will triumph over evil. These people are that proof.

life lately….

….according to my photos. Happy Monday!

 

 

easily amused

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They always say laughter is the best medicine, and if that is the case, then I should be healthy all of the time. In other words, I laugh a lot, and am easily amused. Just wanted to share some of the things around the Internet lately that having been making me chuckle.

1. Life in Your Early Twenties vs. Your Late Twenties – hilarious and so true

2. Game of Thrones Actors Doing Normal Things – of course, you’ll only appreciate this if you watch the show, but it’s fantastic

3. This tumblr. Too amazing.

4. This Facebook page. Love the name-play off of the Huffington Post and the content is fantastic.

Enjoy!

bloglovin’

I am now on Bloglovin’! be sure to follow me on there 🙂

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4054153/livelavergne

a sister at 22.

Ok, just kidding. Sort of. My mother is not preggers and my parents are not adopting a child. What is happening though is that my cousin Alison, will be moving in with us today! For an extended stay that is, until she sort of gets her feet on the ground and can move out and live her dream of living in DC. I have always been close with her (we’re 6 months apart) and her actual sister, my other cousin, Andrea who is a year younger than me. We’ve always been three peas in a pod, the three musketeers, the three A’s and any other three’s you can think of! It will definitely be a change for my family and I, but hey, sometimes change is a good thing.

temp.

As swiftly as it started, it swiftly came to an end. My “funemployment” that is. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that I have received the opportunity to get out of the house, make some money and start my career in some way, shape or form. Probably the smartest decision I have made so far in my new life post grad was to apply to a temp agency. I did it on a whim, not entirely sure as to what I was doing but I had some sort of an idea. Luckily, I applied to a fantastic one, The Ford Agency, located in Washington, D.C. and within three weeks of working with me, they helped me to land an “open-ended temp position” with The Case Foundation. Even though I have only been with them for three days now, I can already tell that this is not only a great place to work but is a nice way to ease myself into the work force. I simply couldn’t get over the fact of how welcoming everyone was on my first day and how they have continued to be. I have a feeling that no matter how long I work here, it’s going to be a great place to make contacts, network, get my career launched and maybe make a few friends along the way. 🙂