What We're Loving Lately

Sorry we've been a little MIA recently. Things have been a little crazy but hopefully life will slow down soon. Today we are co-hosting the Loving Lately link up and we are so excited to share some of the things we are loving right now:

ASHLEY'S PICKS:

How cute would these little cotton candy sticks be for party. I think they would be so sweet for a Dr. Seuss themed baby shower. 

 {via}

I'm in need of a new watch and I really love this one. It's a great mix of the masculine and the feminine. 

 

{via}

I love this twist on a gingerbread house. I'm not the biggest fan of gingerbread so I would much rather eat a rice crispy house!

 

{via}

With the cooler temps in NYC I'm finding myself wearing a coat every time I venture outside. I think a great way to switch up my boring black coat is with great gloves. I love these studded ones. 

 

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I'm a big fan of tights in the winter. These ombre ones are right on point this season. 

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SHELBY'S PICKS:

How amazing is this shelf!? I wish there was room in our apartment.

{Via}

It's been 3 months since I have been home. Love this shirt as a reminder of good ole Texas!

{Via}

Wine and Ice Cream!!? My two favorite things!

{Via}

Love this Kate Spade/Keds Collaboration!

{Via}

In honor of me sleeping on the street for these boys here is a little eye candy!

{Via}

This is a weekly link up hosted by the fabulous Carly, Kristen, Niki & Rachel!  Join us and link up what you're loving lately! Whether it's fashion, color, crafts, interiors, beauty products, yummy and delicious, or really anything else, we want to know!

Please be sure to read the rules before linking up!

Rules

1. Follow Your Hosts and Co-Hosts

They are the first 8 in the linky! Carly @ Lipgloss and Crayons Kristen @ The Wright Stuff Niki @ Glossy Blonde Rachel @ La La Lists This week's co-hosts are: Ashley and Shelby @ Sisters in the NYC Jessica @ Jessica Who Emerald @ Sweet Tart Beauty Ashley @ Dancing with Ashley

3. Link Up!

Link up your post on what you're loving lately! Please do not link up your entire blog or any posts that are not "Loving Lately"!   We are so happy to have you link up, and we do go through and read all of the posts, so if you do not give credit, we will have to remove your link.  And we don't want to have to do that!  So please share the love and include a link back!

3. Mingle

It's a linky party after all!

Visit some of the other posts in the linky and say hello!

4. Tweet!

Help us promote and grow this party!

Send a tweet and let everyone know you linked up!

Tweet

5. Co-Host!

Shoot one of the hosts an email or complete the form here!

6. Grab a Button

Or link back to one of your hosts, and help us promote Loving Lately!

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Hanging out in Bryant Park

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in the northeast. Between hurricane sandy and the snowstorm we had this week we lost internet at home. I'm not complaining. I know a lot of people have it way worse right now. However, since I work from home internet is kind of important. I've been living st Starbucks, Panera, and Barnes & Noble...anywhere with free wifi. After the crazyness of the week Shelby and I decided to go meet up with some friends in Byant Park on Friday night. Their holiday market is already in full swing and we just wanted to do a little early Christmas shopping and hang out and relax. 

 

The park was so pretty at night all lite up and surrounded by the tall buildings. 

 

Hanging out by the ice rink

 

 

It was pretty chilly so we decided to get some hot chocolate

 

This place had ALL KINDS of interesting flavors like cinnomon, ginger, orange, etc. Shelby and I both chose the almond hot chocolate. 

 It was the best thing either of us had ever had! If you make it to NYC this holiday season you need to make this a destination.

 

 

Shelby bought a chocolate syringe at Max Brenner. It's literally a giant syringe filled with chocolate ganache. Weird...but yummy!

 There was still a lot of snow around!

 Overall this was a great end to a crazy week! 

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

Snow!!

Just one week after hurricane sandy NYC got hit with a snowstorm. So many people are still without power and have damage to their homes and this just contributed to the mess. However, being from Texas, snow still excited us. We had a little adventure into the blizzard last night.

 We did get snow in Dallas but it was generally just about once a year. Because it always felt like a magical treat when it snowed going out and playing in it was always on the agenda when the opportunity presented itself.

 

Our friend Chandler was displaced by Sandy and she's staying with us. She's also from Dallas so she happily joined in our snow adventure. 

 I think it's time i finally break down and buy some winter boots. It was extremely hard to walk in this.

 

Shelby made a snowball. 

  

 

 

Sisters in the Snow :)

 We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow wich broke all kinds of records. So crazy. If the past couple of weeks are any indication I have a feeling this is only the beginning of the crazy weather.

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley

Hurricane Sandy

I want to start out by sending everyone on the East Coast positive thoughts during this tragic time. Shelby and I were also affected this week but not nearly as bad as in some areas. We live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and were very fortunate that we never lost power and our area only sustained minor wind damage. Downtown Manhattan was not as fortunate. Everything south of 34th Street is still without power and it's not expected to be restored until Sunday. Public transportation was completely shut down starting Sunday night and was partially reinstated today. Public transportation is the primary mode of travel for thousands of New Yorkers so for this to be shut down as well as all the bridges and tunnels closed for a time earlier this week we were literally stranded on an island. Stores are finally starting to re-open as business owners are able to make it into work. The city is slowly starting to get cleaned up and come back alive. It's almost like there are two cities in Manhattan right now: one to the north that is almost back to normal and one to the south that has no power, no public transportation access, and is basically a ghost town. Shelby and I have a friend staying with us that had to evacuate from her apartment downtown. Her building flooded and she's not allowed back until it can be inspected and cleaned. 

 

 

We found out we were going to take a hit from the storm on Saturday so we ran out to grab some supplies. We got a couple of gallons of water and some non-perishable food that didn't require power. On Sunday as the storm neared and the prognosis for NYC wasn't looking good we got nervous that we didn't have enough water in the event of a lengthy power outage so we ran out to find some more. The stores were wiped out. It was incredible. We did eventually find some water and we grabbed a little but more food. 

 

Since the power never did go out and the tap water in NYC was declared safe to drink we didn't actually need all this. Oh well...better to be safe than sorry!

 

 

Monday morning we started to see the first signs of the storm. It was very windy and was starting to drizzle. 

 

 

 

We decided to get out of the apartment before things got to bad and took a little walk around the neighborhood. We didn't know how long we might eventually be cooped up. We ended up walking over to the East River and the water had already overflown onto the FDR. The storm was still hundreds of miles away at this point so we started to fear the worst as far as potentially flooding. 

 

The worst of the storm hit us Monday night between 8 PM and 10 PM. Since it was obviously dark outside it was hard to see any damage on Monday night. Tuesday morning I looked out my window and could immediately see the fence that had been torn out of the concrete wall as well as the tree in the street. 

 As the day went on pictures of damage from around the city started to surface. The flooding at LGA airport, the front of a building completely missing, and the flooded subways were among the more shocking pictures I saw.

 Today Shelby and our friend that's been staying with us ventured downtown to the financial district to survey the damage. Trees were still down, workers were pumping water out of buildings, and many business looked like they were hit with an earthquake. Our favorite restaurant downtown, Cowgirl Seahorse, was filled with sand.

 As I mentioned so much of the city was/is without power and I've seen several pictures like the above. The sign reads "You can charge your phone if you want". While this natural disaster is such a tragedy it's so nice to see people coming together in this time of need and new yorkers helping new yorkers.

 The subway partially came back starting today. This map is a helpful illustration of which lines were running. As you can see nothing is accessible south of 42nd St and there are no trains from Brooklyn to Manhattan. They has shuttle buses running from Brooklyn to Manhattan today because of this and I heard that lines were 6 blocks long and the trip was taking up to 4 hours. Hopefully they can pump out these subways quickly and restore power so the whole train system can be up and running soon. I've never been more thankful that I work from home.

Hopefully by Monday most of the remaining issues in NYC will be resolved. I know that other areas of the East Coast particularly the Jersey Shore fared much worse than we did in NY and I hope all the people affected get the help they need as quickly as possible.

Until next time

XOXO

Ashley