North River Lobster Company

So I think you’ve heard me mention this place a couple of times, ALL of which have been horribly rained out or thunderstormed out (The Farmer’s Almanac has been tragically correct). It stands to reason that the day we finally made it out to this boat, there was a chance of rain. However that threat soon passed and we had an absolutely incredible night. North River Lobster Co. is a brand new floating AND moving restaurant, on a lobster boat, on the Hudson. Get there this summer and FAST before the secret’s out (it’s kinda hidden gem!). It’s anchored on the west side of Manhattan,at Pier 81 on 41st, so relatively accessible for being on the water.

The boat leaves between 5 to 7 times a day depending on if it’s during the  week or on the weekends, and the trips are quick, around 30 minutes up the Hudson towards the GW Bridge and then back. It doesn’t matter how short it is, there is an absolute unparalleled thrill to be on a boat that’s a restaurant and that is showing you all of the glory of NYC. I recommend shooting for the 8pm cruise so you can watch the last of the sunset, and then hanging around till the 9:30pm cruise so you can see the city lights in all their majesty. They do have hard times that they leave however, and if you’re not on you will have to wait till it’s back.

There are 3 main levels to the boat, the bottom part is entirely indoors, with all windows of course and full bar, the second floor features a raw bar and a smaller outdoor seating area, as well as a full bar. The third floor is the floor everyone clearly wants to be on, it’s almost entirely open with a small covered area where the full bar is. There a picnic tables and smaller tables all with the most phenomenal view of the river (and sunset!) ever.

The Drinks Buckets of beer and Mason Jar Cocktails. Pretty much sums up the most epic experience you can have, I started with the collectible mason jar drink called Batten Down the Hat Hatches with Spiced Rum, Malibu, OJ, Pineapple Juice, Grenadine and a Dark Rum floater. It tasted like the grown up version of a pina colada (for only $2 more my mason jar had a lobster on it!). Then we had 2 buckets of beer, one Sam Summer and one Corona (with cute little baby cut up limes!) and they lasted through 2 journeys!

The Food Lobstaaaaaa. All lobster all the time. Plus a raw bar. We got lobster rolls, and shrimp, and french fries. I also had a lobster cobb salad with bacon (YES BACON) and avocado which was delicious. If you’re feeling particularly inclined you can also order an entire lobster dinner. Which on boat that is a moving restaurant in the Hudson is simply BALLER.

How Faymous Was It $$$, it’s not crazy expensive but it’s not super cheap either, however being able to eat lobster, drink out of mason jars and float down the Hudson at sunset is kinda priceless so DO IT.

Lobsta’ Cobb Salad

Views For Days

Lemme see your Lobster Rollll

Raw Bar (On a boat inside a boat!)

 

Faymous Faycation- Woodloch: Dirty Dancing Camp

I’ve had a lot of you ask me, where exactly WAS I for the past week on vacation. I shared a lot of epic pictures on my instagram, all of which epitomized some of the most fun I’ve ever had. I’m going to try to sum up what Woodloch is in a blog post, but I promise you it’s next to impossible to capture it all so I encourage all of you to head there if you can. In a nutshell, it’s basically a combination of Dirty Dancing and Summer Camp for adults (and kids!). With a spa, a billion activities, and more happiness than normal.

Woodloch is a hidden gem of a resort, nestled in the poconos mountains, with 155 pristine acres of idyllic lake and greens, with more to do in that space than most of NYC. (Yea I said it!). Activities are the name of the game, but they’re really more like cutthroat in-it-to-win-it death matches against some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. It’s a quintessential family resort with most of the families coming for the same week upwards of 20 years. I was lucky and blessed enough to be warmly welcomed with open arms by some of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. But I know you all want to hear about the activities. And the food!

Activities: Each day there are multiple events that allow you to form teams and try your hardest to win a gold medal. Before I go any further I should say gold medals are the most coveted, hard to attain, and exhilarating things to receive. The activities range from extremely active (Scavenger Hunt, The Amazing Race etc.), to a fight of wits (Name That Tune, Movie Trivia etc.). There are also themed games such as the Game of Thrones Field Day (where you actually have to throw your whole team over an ice wall), The Olympics, Pool Games and Lake Games.

Each of these give you the equal chance to win it, but there are no greater rivalries that exist than in The Scavenger Hunt and The Amazing Race. Teams stock up based on clues for months leading up to the scavenger hunt, bringing easy bake ovens and bowling balls all for 50 points. It’s absurd and hilarious and absolutely the most fun you’ve ever had. We came in second in the Scavenger Hunt (a sad occurrence that has happened to our team for the past few years apparently).

Redemption came in the form of The Amazing Race, we ran all over the property, in the pouring rain, miserable, yet exhilarated. With 5 minutes to go I decided to run back down to the lake for one more picture, worth 10 points, to make it back with 10 seconds before the cut off time. We managed to win by a margin of 7 points. An unbelievable victory that made ever second of misery worth it. In addition to all of these events ( of which there are at least 8 a day), the staff at the resort make all of these activities the most fun they can be, cheering and egging on each team and making us all feel like we’re family.

There are also nightly activities such as an entire craft fair, a theme show (WOODLOCH Goes Back to the 80’s!), Horse Racing, and the very best, a staff show (featuring the dirty dancing lift!). In addition, there are also unscheduled activities: sailing, paddle boats, paddle boarding, watersliding, volleyball, mini golf, golf, canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing, boat tours, bumper boats, bumper cars, go karting, a batting cage, a climbing wall, ziplining, biking, segway tours, an indoor and outdoor pool, two huge game room arcades, and an entire separate top ranked spa that gives the most amazing massages you’ve ever had. To top that all off there are multiple bars with the best miami vice’s, where everyone parties till the wee hours of the morning.

The Food: Bring your poncho dresses and stretchy pants people cause you are going to EAT. Woodloch is an all inclusive resort at heart which means 3 HUGE meals a day. There’s a joke that you need to survive the amount of food more than the activities. The food is delicious, with raw bars filled with oysters and alaskan crab legs, homemade brownie a la mode and ice cream sandwiches, delicious mojito marinated swordfish, ahi tuna etc. You name it, they had it. And you can order multiple entrees. Plus each meal comes with a homemade soup, appetizer, entree, and a dessert. They also have an entire bakery on premises that makes homemade apple streudel, pineapple cream cheese bear claws, pumpkin bread, blueberry pound cake etc. Each of which is better than the last. Good luck not waddling to your car when you leave, cause you will want to eat ALL of it.

In the end, besides all of the amazing activities, and the to-die-for food, Woodloch is really about family. And I don’t mean immediate, nuclear family. I mean the family that exists there in that week of time. All of these amazing and hilarious people have been coming there for years.Most of them over 2 decades of fun. They’ve grown up there, they’ve taken their first steps there, had their first kiss there, and shared more memories than most people make in their entire lives. It’s one of those truly magical places where time stands still, and kindness and happiness abounds, and you remember what it feels like to be unfettered and free and what it means to just simply have a good time.

How Faymous Was It: $$$$$ (Priceless people, priceless)

PS: They’re doing an ACTUAL Dirty Dancing weekend November 14th-16th if anyone wants to join me…

Game Room

Alaskan Crab Legs

Miami Vice (Half Pina Colada/ Half Strawberry Daquiri)

Activities!

Mojito Marinated Swordfish

Back to the 80’s Theme Night

Spa Serenity

Tropical Drinks and Firepits

All You Can Eat Oysters

 

Pool Games

Go Karts

Bumper Boats

Spa Serenity

First Gold Medal!

Sunset on Lake Teedyuskung

OOTD How To: Dress Patriotically (for the 4th of July)

So as you all know (and saw), I threw a surprise Born in the USA themed party! Luckily for everyone, this party fell on the same weekend as the 4th of July. Nothing is more fun than showing your country pride with outlandish Americana, but I wanted to be a bit low key for this OOTD. Added to that, I was also channeling the BOSS so denim was necessary.

I made sure the outfit I picked out was comfortable and cute, and wouldn’t bother me as I ran around and helped play host. I threw on my favorite (and sexiest…at least in my opinion) maxi dress from Urban Outfitters, my trusty denim jacket that I’ve worn so many times it’ll probably need to be patched soon, and this fabulous star spangled bandana I had ordered earlier in the year. Truly the easiest outfit to pull together, and I should add that EVERYONE came in costume for this party and absolutely KILLED it. I Included some group pics so you can see just how festive we all were.

Let’s hear it for America. And Bruce Springsteen.

 

Faymous Faycation: Cape May Beach Days

Recently my parents have decided to add an additional vacation to their ever rotating roster of away time. Their kids are mostly grown up, if not at the least entirely self sufficient and capable of doing everything on their own, and they’ve always wanted to do a yearly jaunt with their friends. So now a huge group of 3 extended families and debauchery ensues. My dad is always late and getting him up at 4am to join the caravan of all of our families was hilarious. As was our 7am stop in Jersey at a rest stop.

My parents (specifically my dad) are most definitely who I get my taste from. And their friends are no different. They filled an entire Escalade up with top shelf liquor, at least 30 porterhouse steaks, ribs, chicken, imported cheese, prosciutto, everything you can imagine. And then they went shopping upon arrival. And that was JUST for the 2 nights out of 7 that they were going to cook in. The fridge was more stocked than I’ve ever seen one and that was just in OUR house, and we had 3 additional huge coolers out back, stocked with coronas, coors, lime-a-ritas, you name it, we had it. They even brought 3 separate humidors filled with Davidoff cigars.

I only had the opportunity to go for 3 days since I am unfortunately an adult with more limited vacations than CEOs have apparently, but it was absolutely perfect. Cape May, if you haven’t been, is similar to a Charleston or Martha’s Vineyard. Horsedrawn carriages abound, and the entire town is quirky, victorian houses. The best part is, everything is walkable. So you can wander home from a night at the bar, stop at the beach to see the moonlight, and never have to worry about taking a cab. The beach was perfect and relaxed, and the night we spent on the beach was gorgeous, the water was inky and slick almost like oil in the full moon. The shopping is also great, I got some incredibly gorgeous jewelry including this absolutely to die for turquoise cuff I’ll be featuring soon I hope. I fell head over heels in love with Congress Hall, one of the older but elegant hotels there and I highly recommend checking it out. But of course no post by me would be complete without an itinerary of where we ate.

The Mad Batter: The Mad Batter is a delicious and laid back breakfast spot, housed in the Carroll Villa hotel, a nice reference to Lewis Carroll and the Mad Hatter. I had bloody mary’s, chambord mimosas and pineapple mimosas because what better way to start the day. I also had their perfect crab benedict and the most amazing (and gigantic) grilled chiicken avocado pita with sweet potato fries. #TakeMeBack

How Faymous Was It: $$

 

HotDog Tommy’s: Hotdog Tommy’s is a Cape May institution (I learned on my first day there). An epic loaded hot dog stand, affectionately known as a hole in the wall right by the beach. The toppings and combinations are EPIC but they’re most well known for their Tornado and Thunder Dog. I went for the Thunder Dog with mashed potatoes, baked beans, yellow mustard, chopped onions and shredded cheddar cheese. Hello heaven.

How Faymous Was It: $

 

The Washington Inn: The Washington Inn is a beautiful upscale restaurant we went to on our first night. We started with a huge bottle of delicious rose to cheers to our wonderful time being there. I then had the most delicate burrata with fresh peaches and peach puree, that was the perfect summer dish. For my main course I had organic black pearl salmon with parsnip puree, sauteed spinach, blackberry hazelnut salsa and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. Hands down the best salmon I’ve ever had, the hazelnuts MADE it.

How Faymous Was It: $$$$$

 

All in all, it was the most perfect long weekend and I can’t wait to go back next year. If you’re looking for somewhere to slip away for a relaxing weekend by the shore, look no further than Cape May. Victorian Charm  Chateau by the Beach Beachin’ Hangout Spots

Prosciutto, Truffled Goat Cheese, Spinach Dip, Manchego, Cloth bound Quebec cheddar and cheese breadThe Beach at Night Carriage Rides

 

 

The Mad Batter

The Mad Batter: Bloody Mary The Mad Batter: Crab Benedict The Mad Batter: Chicken Avocado Pita and Sweet Potato Fries

Hotdog Tommy’s

Hotdog Tommy’s: Thunder Dog

 

The Washington Inn

The Washington Inn: Rose CheersThe Washington Inn: Fresh Burrata and Peaches The Washington Inn: Organic Black Pearl Salmon

 

Mussel Mania: Mussels, Donuts and Truffle Fries

So plans were dashed this week to go drink on a boat and eat lobster (which hopefully will happen next week), due to severe thunderstorm warnings, (RUDE) and I was starving we had to make a last minute change. I still wanted seafood, so we decided to try this amazing mussels place I’ve heard a ton of people rave about called Flex Mussels. There are 2 locations in Manhattan, one on the UES and in Chelsea. I’m more of a downtown girl, so we opted to head to the one in Chelsea. A small but cheerfully lit subterranean space with a total beach vibe it was the perfect stand in. We didn’t have a reservation but they seated us within in 15 minutes of getting there.

The Food Hands down the best mussels I’ve ever had. This place is KNOWN for their mussels, with over 30 different varieties and specials. I had the Parma which is made with an unreal parmesan cream sauce, sauteed shallots and these little crispy fried onions that are to die for. And parmesan cheese (as always, give me ALL the cheese). We split the fish tacos to start with which were delicious with creamy aoili, small portion though so great for a starter. We also had the truffle fries to go with our mussels for mussels and frites (obvi) and they were to die for. Now I want to say, I am NOT a dessert person, I’d rather eat cheese, but I had heard through the grapevine that their donuts were to die for. So we got 4 of them. Served warm and with a vanilla dipping sauce, I had fluffernutter (yea that IS peanutbutter and fluff!) and salted caramel, which was beyond decadent, strawberry and chocolate. It was one of the richest, and most filling meals I’ve had in forever. I basically waddled home

The Drinks I started with a divine watermelon and jalapeno tequila cocktail, which was the perfect summer drink, a bit of a kick but not overly sweet at all and you could actually taste the watermelon. I finished with a delicious belgian beer I couldn’t pronounce if I tried, that was the perfect complement to the mussels (because belgian beer always is).

How Faymous Was It: $$$

It’s not absurdly expensive and the menu is phenomenal. It’s great for catching up with someone you haven’t seen in a while but maybe not for a first date, only because it can get kind of loud. To sum it all up, it was truly the most delicious and divine oysters (and DONUTS) I’ve ever had. Everything was impeccably prepared and the flavors were perfection. If you like mussels, you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere that does them better.

Watermelon Jalapeno Tequila Drink

Truffle Fries with Aioli 

Nautical Themes

Donut Heaven: Fluffernutter, Salted Caramel, Chocolate, Strawberry

The Glorious Perfection of a Fluffernutter Donut

Fish tacos with aoili

 

Outfit of the Day: Orange Creamsicle

So I’ve been bad about keeping up to date with the wonderful romance of summertime, but I wanted to blog about all of the wonderful (flowy, cool and comfy) outfits I’ve been wearing. This is a gorgeous peach colored dress that looks like melted sherbet and the happy middle of a sunset (before the deep reds and plums happen), and it is literally the perfect summer dress. It’s by an obscure Aussie brand I found on a particularly good shopping day with a great friend.

 

I paired it with my favorite lightweight white House of Harlow blazer that I wear with everything, (best investment piece ever), and threw on these buttery Franco Sarto heels. I wore this to an open air margarita and taco bar to catch up with 2 of my great friends and everyone loved the sophistication of the pieces.

 

 

How To: Throw a BORN IN THE USA party

Someone very near and dear to me had a birthday recently, and I thought it would be a lovely idea to coordinate a surprise party over the long weekend out east (we were on island time after all). Considering the birthday is a mere 2 days before the 4th of July, and that this person is one of the most die hard Bruce Springsteen fans I’ve ever met, it was only fitting to have a Born in the USA theme party. An inordinate amount of planning and coordination went into this party with a HUGE amount of support from some incredible people who helped me switch venues, dates, keep the birthday boy away, supply alcohol and food and in general just be amazing people. It takes an incredible amount of help to pull off a surprise party and I could not be more grateful to everyone who helped me pull it off. PLUS I mean we all looked amazing since we channeled the BOSS.

Decorations: We added red white and blue puffs, festive sparkly garland, american flags, american flag table cloths, all accented by the most patriotic of drinks, Budweiser. By the time everyone arrived it looked like the stars and stripes had officially moved in.

 Drinks: There isn’t a lot that’s more american than drinking beer with the American flag on it, but I decided to do everyone one better and created a lethal concoction of Patriotic Punch. Recipe is listed below:

– 2 handles of Vodka

– 1 bottle of Cherry Limeade Kool Aid

– 1 Bottle of Strawberry Lemonade Kool Aid

-2 cartons of Minute Maid Tropical Punch

-One gigantic carton of blueberries

-1 cup of everclear (or a liter if you’re feeling particularly risky)

I feel like this should come with a surgeons general warning, because while it is absolutely delicious, it is somewhat lethal (probably not what you should drink first thing). To that end, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when there was quite a lot left over in the morning and we had to dump it out (A lot of chipmunks are probably still drunk out there).

We watched fireworks, played KanJam, I lost repeatedly at Beirut (or Beer Pong), we made smores and we all successfully surprised the birthday boy. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate America than with strong drinks, great friends and the boss singing in the background.

 

PS…BRUUUUUCEEEEEE

 

On Doing Things You Don’t Want To Do

Holly GoLightly (or Truman Capote if you will) has a rather infamous quote describing the “mean reds”, which perfectly sums up my reluctance the other weekend to do a race. For your pleasure it is, “The blues are because you’re getting fat and maybe it’s been raining too long, you’re just sad that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?”

I wasn’t necessarily afraid but I was just not in the mood to run. Sometimes I get like that. There are days I’d rather gnaw my own arm off than go for a 5 mile run. Most of the time running is a treat, it’s an indulgence (especially running on the hudson as the sun sets), but this Sunday was not a treat. I had to haul my hungover butt all the way up to Corona Park in Queens for the NYRR Queens 10k (A marathon qualifier). Alone. At 6 in the morning. And I had forgotten my iPhone case, which meant I was going to have to carry my phone with all my ID.

Now I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is REALLY a non event. I’m lucky to have legs to walk on, to grow up somewhere that running is a sport and not something done out of desperation, and to be grateful that I’ve never had to physically run away from something threatening me. I am blessed. But some days you really just don’t want to do things. So I cried. (Really I did, I’m not proud but I figure you should all know my life isn’t always sunshine and daisies). And I stormed around. I tried to get out of going. I complained (I may not win races but I am a champion complainer). I moaned. I tried to rationalize skipping it. I took a cab 10 blocks to the subway. I was running late. But finally I decided that I was going to suck it up. Dig down deep, grind out those hot, sticky, miles all alone in Queens (till my best support system showed up to watch me finish).

So I did. It wasn’t particularly glamorous. I ended up slower than usual. I didn’t feel great. I wasn’t frolicking through fields of daisies. But I showed up. And I finished. And I did it through sheer dint of will. We all have that in us. Some of us have it lying dormant deep down inside of us, and some of us have wells of strength right under the surface. Regardless of who you are, regardless of if you run, we all have that ability to kick our own ass. And it’s kinda great when we do.

As an aside, Post race I made the executive decision to head out to the shore of Long Island to frolic in the sound as a reward to myself (in my running clothes no less, because why waste time changing into a swimsuit when there’s sunshine and boat time to be had?!).

 

 

 

 

Reunions are the best parties

So you’ve probably heard me mention them before, but my coworkers from my first job are basically my family. I began as an intern at Horizon Media a few years back and I’ve never lost touch with any of them. Horizon is a very, very special place, the largest independently owned media agency, and somewhere that’s really more than just a job. We still get together for drinks or Cards Against Humanity or just general revelry. Every single person on that team is an amazing and outstanding individual, with good hearts, dedication and respect for one another. I never call people out on my blog, but I want to say that Taylor Valentine (now Horizon’s SVP of Social) was truly the greatest and most inspiring person to have at the head of your team. He’s charismatic and driven and he has a vision that you’d be well inclined to adopt.

Recently, some of the coolest people in entire world who Horizon works with (Shout out to Henry, Seth and everyone also at ROI Influencer), threw one of my previous VP’s a surprise congratulations party for passing the BAR exam! He’s another incredibly kind, generous and brilliant person with more degrees than I can count (MBA and J.D.) and he’s a VIP. (Go Maikel!). Anyway the theme of this party was “Maikel passed the bar! so now he has to bar tend”, complete with gavels, robes, judges wigs and buttons to celebrate. Oh and a guest appearance by Kobayashi, the competitive eater.

 

Cue the ridiculousness that ensues with all of us together again and Maikel mixing drinks. He was surprised on the pool rooftop of the Trump SoHo and made me an absurdly strong vodka-sprite that was 95% vodka and from there we were off. I switched to champagne pretty immediately but it was still one of the greatest nights in recent memory. I smiled and laughed so much that night my face hurt, and I was thankful, once again, for whatever unseen force that thought fit to bring all these amazing people into my life.

 

 

Leather for Brunch

With the weekend comes the advent of spontaneity and risk taking. And so changes my outfit game. Risks I wouldn’t normally take to trudge to the subway to get to work are totally fair game for brunch and east village wanderings. I got these amazing, crushable leather shorts from Topshop and I’ve been living in them ever since.

For this outfit, which was brunch bound, I threw on a bright red knit sweater, leopard print platform wedges by Steve Madden, Stella and Dot statement necklace, and some tortoiseshell sunnies. I usually avoid big purses for brunch since so many restaurants are tiny in New York and I don’t want to concuss people (or get awkwardly stuck on chairs), so I grabbed my Louis Vuitton Speedy to toss my things in.

Voila! The sweater was a s comfy as a dream and  it managed to keep me warm since it was kinda cool out that day as well.