a scooter ride to the donut shop

saturday J and I went to the doughnut plant to check it off my "things to do before I leave NYC forever" (but not really forever) list.  they have strange, delicious, and never before heard of flavors! and it was the perfect day for a scooter ride. that's why i have helmet hair. (please excuse) the donuts tasted real yummy and that's why i'm so into my bite and sharing my jelly one with J in these pics i guess?  peanut butter + jelly was my fav, naturally. if you're ever in city you should go. and just in case you're not, i made a little movie  for you so you didn't feel left out. 

sitting courtside with the knicks

basket ball is my fav sport to watch so when i was offered courtside seats at the KNICKS game i said, (capital) YES! this is my friend jonathan, we met in H.S. playing tennis and he just happens to be a ticket broker here in NYC so he has all the sweet hook ups like this! their colors are blue and orange so he wore this really obnoxiously awesome orange shirt with little mini "knicks" all over it and bought me this jersey to fit in with the crowd and then i wore my LADY DANGER lipstick from MAC because it's one of my favs and because it's a little orange too. (the filter on this pic does not do it justice) they were playing the BULLS which made me giddy because i have a crush on Kyle Korver and watching Derrick Rose in real life was like watching really fast magic. that was a couple weeks ago, last week we saw them in the playoffs. they really sucked it up against the Celtics but the pretzels were just as good! and win or lose, there is no complaining with such a nice view... i would have even blogged about this sooner if i wasn't afraid of peeps looking for me on ESPN. (i'm camera shy)

happy easter!

the Easter bunny found me in New York City this year. he wasn't quite as extravagant with the gifts as norm but i still feel so lucky because that's a long way to hop with a giant Easter basket strapped to your back!  

growing up is funny for me sometimes, because it helps me realize how naive I was as a little girl. i never would have known I was spoiled at all or that the holiday characters that visited my house and granted my wish lists were the best of the best; until i moved all the way across the country and celebrated without any of it. who woulda' thought an Easter without cellophane, an endless supply of real eggs to color, a basket stuffed to the brim with your all time favorite candy, $ Easter egg hunts, and real live bunnies and chicks hidden in the back yard wasn't an ordinary Easter? bless my little girl heart, i just had no idea!

this year i was spoiled with good friends and sunny weather in the city. we all dressed up in pastels and ate an Easter feast outside on the patio. i <3 spring!

i'm a vegas tourist.

i went to the mumford and sons show on friday. the venue was so incred. it was outside on the. most. perfect. night in vegas and up high so we had a view of the whole strip and could watch the show on a big screen in addition to the stage. we also had to stand in the longest line i have ever stood in to get in. i mean loooooong. i picked my friend up from the airport and he didn't have checked luggage or anything else to slow us down so we could be quick and then when we arrived we were pointed in the direction to get wristbands and it just kept going around and around so many corners. and then around some more. and we started laughing because it was boarder line ridiculous. it took us (walking at a brisk pace) a good ten minutes to get to the end of the line. thankfully i had really good company, it made the time pass so quickie and was well worth the wait. times two. or three or four.


we did some shopping, shared a really yum lunch and fondue at max brenner and then laid out by the pool. it was like i was a tourist. i kind of am these days i guess. because then we went to a fancy italian place for dinner before we saw Jersey Boys. that was fun.


on sunday we went to church like saints. then we ditched the last two hours because we had VIP passes to the pool called REHAB that i guess is so much fun it even has a television show named after it. we parked and walked up to the front of the line and stood there for a minute and then turned around and walked out because just the line was enough for us to get our fill of people watching. in my defense, i had not seen the show prior to this experience and i do not have any desire to after. i had no idea thong bikinis were "in" in the states? is it judgemental for me to say that it's usually the girls that shouldn't be wearing such scandal are the ones who usually do? actually... now that i'm really  thinking about it, that girl deserves some serious props for all that confidence. good for her! (really)


we got our tan on at another pool and then played tennis and had a BBQ at chad and marleahs. she's a chef and it tasted so tasty. i strive to one day be able to host such a fabulous dinner party outside on the tennis courts with homemade everything and individual sized desserts. 


if you think our tourist weekend in vegas could be complete without a roller coaster ride, you're wrong. we went to the NY NY to get a fix and were totally tricked by (spoiler alert:) that first dip. the second one is the big one guys!! riding next to a grown man who screamed kinda like this fat kid made me laugh so dang hard. the tears would not stop rolling down my face. i swear. i kind of wish i had bought the key chain picture so i could prove it to you right this minute. 


hot tub time, a movie with popcorn, and then eating strawberry popsicles at the park with weston. this trip to las vegas has really been a good time. and it's not even over yet!

i quit.

i quit my job on thursday.

i have known for a little bit now that it is what i wanted to do, i was just waiting a little so i could say bye to my favorite clients and have one last month of love for what i do. 

everything has been feeling so settled to me for a while and i just felt too young for that. i really believe in sucking the very best out of life and ceasing every moment and opportunity and so before i get too tied down i decided it was time to be a gypsy for the summer and travel the world. 

it was probably the most bittersweet moment of my life thus far. i have worked so so incredibly hard over the past three years to be where i am at in my career and walking away from it broke my heart. it so much more of a happy thing though than sad! you see, if i had stayed at my job for the next five years i know that so many great things could happen for my career, financially, and the experience would be great. but you have to understand, i worked ALOT. and weird hours. and with no time off. and for a little bird whose wings are aching to fly away, it would be hard to have all of that success at the expense of balance in my life and time to travel and do everything you should while you are twenty two. 

i did it. i moved  and i trained and i worked my little bum off and i became a color specialist at one of the best salons in new york city. and i am walking away a stronger, wiser, and more talented woman with such an incredible story to tell. 

there are so many adventures i have planned for my near future and i am just sure that this day dream of mine is going to be the best reality ever!! i am so excited to explore this giant world! and am so grateful, as always, for everyone who is so loving and supportive. 

i am in vegas right now enjoying the sunshine and getting kisses from the cutest little boy in the world. doesn't this pic just melt your heart? he has definitely stolen mine. 

hello world

i guess i should blog so people don't think i died.

i am alive! and i am so happy. life has been really great to me and i've been doing lots of fun things. mostly working, having lots of gf time and waxing a friends chest hair on the side. i wish i could post the pics but i wouldn't want to destroy that friendship. so, i'm hoping it'll be just as funny to tell you he had a freudian slip while i was ripping the hair out of his big burley chest and called me mom. which felt super weird and incredibly hilarious at the same time.  my roommate and i laughed until it hurt. and then it stopped being funny and started feeling guilty. but once you start you don't dare stop! especially when there is such a good looking chest to uncover!

i went to utah a few weeks ago and got to see so many loves in my life! i miss them dearly and it was oh so good to catch up. everyone seems to have babies or are growing babies or are planning on growing a baby soon since i was last there and it was refreshing to talk about life and all the silly things in my life compared to all the grown up things in theirs. i really have the greatest friends ev.

makell was such a dear and let me stay with her and this is the only pic i got while we were waiting at dinner for the sumo girls. it looks like i have a smooshed black eye but she looks like a beauty and i love her. she is so dependable and rolls with the flow and gets excited for my life with me and we laugh and play words with friends and stuff. bianca came too, who i have a serious girl crush on. she brought twins growing in her belly and looked as gorgeous as ever. she gave me the best advice of my trip that i really needed to hear that night. thanks B.


i got to see em-face and just talking to her on the phone about meeting up made me almost pee my pants with excitement! we drove around in sheila and stalked some boys like the good ol' days and we laughed and laughed and rekindled our lesssbian love affair (not really, we're straight. we just say that because saying bf's just doesn't do us justice)

i got to see some fam which always is a treat and on and on. it was really great and i loved it. i wish i had more crappy iphone pics but a girl can only have so many resolutions at once. as obsessed as i am with new york city, a break every once in a while surrounded with only the best of friends and family, feels like a long nap without any lost time. (sigh, that feels good)

'little lion man'

nathan steven usher is so hilar'. i just laugh so hard sometimes i think i may vomit and it's such a good feeling even though it has the word vomit in it.  i'm really good at documenting his life. i always whip out my iphone v. cam and film him like he is a movie star.  I have liked to keep it on the DL because if he got discovered I wouldn't have him all to myself. but sometimes pics just don't do the boy justice. i wish i had a video of his drop-it-like-its-hot-move but this vid of him flipping an omelet, for the first time in all of his ancient life, is my all time fav. (mostly because of his "proudest moment of my life" face at the end. you'd think he was holding up his first born son)

yep... skillZ.

nate made fun of his mom once for falling and getting a black eye and his coordination has been downhill since. he's fallen twice with me and  both times landed flat on his face because his hands were in his pockets. he is a tall giant so it makes it twice as funny as an average sized male and i bust up laughing every time. i'm super weird around him and he still likes me and i never ever let him take naps because i just poke him so he'll play with me instead of sleep. ( i hate napping) he says it drives him crazy but i know he actually loves it. 

anyways, i have a lot of hilar' vids of us doing all of the above but I don't want to build you up too much when you read this just to bring you crashing down when I tell you we broke up. it's true. he's the sweetest/hottest/hilar' guy ever and I couldn't commit. sometimes I just feel like a kid and want to play for the rest of my life. I am so in love with this man and feel bad that I tricked him into being my best accessory for so long and then bailed because i got scared. I wish I could think of something terrible to say about him so he doesn't get snatched up real quick and break my heart even more but I can't think of anything right now. lucky me for having him as my lovebird for the past year.

I know what some of you are thinking, BIG fail aubrey. grow up and marry the man, you are twenty two and twenty two is not that young! well to me it is. and I believe our lives are what we make them and right this very minute I'm not ready to make that choice. i guess I'll just be sad.

so that's my update. that's what's been going on.  he sang me a improv break up song on his guitar and i secretly videoed that too but i hold it too dear to  my heart to post. (it will  make you laugh. it will make you cry) I've been doing lots of taking cabs to work so I don't have to sit by strangers in the mornings, listening to mumford and sons, eating king size kit kats in one sittings, and today I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich convinced it would cheer me up but then I just ended up with crumbs in my bed and an ugly cry face.

im so sad you'd think the bachelor just sent me home and then at the girls tell all reunion show the girls ganged up on me and told me I was a bad mother! (brats) but that didn't really happen, me and my bf just broke up and I am human so I am sad. having sad days and trying to make sure I didn't make a gi-normous mistake by letting him slip through my fingers instead of letting him put a ring on my finger. I've been worrying about what if i made the biggest mistake of my life and wonder what a tragedy it would be if I one day pop a kid out and it looks just like nate! my baby's daddy would be so confused and then I would know for sure I messed up because my kids were created in heaven with the right guy and then i made a MISTAKE and chose the wrong lover and God sent them to me anyways since they were already made! ah tragedy!

(i know that doesn't really happen) but the thought did linger in my brain a little longer than i would have liked. we would have made hot super model children (does everyone think that before they reproduce?) who knows! maybe this world will spin around and we'll be meant to be! just in another season. until then i'm the new loner who is missing her best friend.

stuff my face.

i've been really into pizza lately. i'm not really sure where it came from but i've eaten it about almost every day for the past two weeks. the pizza delivery guy knows me by name now. (not really but we're probably only a couple orders away from that step in our relationship.) i tried breaking up with it on saturday but then i got starving around midnight and became weak and tempted and it ended up in bed with me.

and with my bf who was catching up on the latest ish' of ROLLING STONES magazine. brig had to see it to believe it and got out of bed (with his retainers in) just to see it with his own two eyes. (this photo is so crazy but is such a candid version of my life and makes me laugh so terribly hard). -and yes i am a blotter.

i crashed another car.

valentines day was quite the bust. we had such an extravagant christmas we thought we'd be creative and have a ten dollar budget. the plan was to set up the table real romantic and then get costco hot dogs (delish) and watch the bachelor. i put my new fancy dress on and red lipstick and we picked nate's car up to drive up to neverland where costco lives and he wanted me to drive (since i hate it so much) i obliged and just my luck... CRASH. a lady u-turned into me. so not my fault. but still, so my luck. 

we were starving by the time that was done so we ate before we made it back to the table and roses boyfriend bought for me. oh well!  i had planned for weeks to knit my valentines a smitten but procrastinated and then failed big time. i got both the cuffs finished and then got permanently stuck at that step. i am not a quitter, but i kindly placed the unfinished smittens in my drawer to put off until next february. our plans to watch the bachelor were not spoiled since we recorded it, obvi. but then when michelle got sent home i was officially heart broken. boo. valentines day was a bust.  
(i know what you're thinking, boo hoo aubrey. you live in new york and have a hot boyfriend who opens the door for you and buys you dinner and roses and spoons with you on the two seater couch during the bachelor. i  have such a hard life, i know.)

on the flipside H had her bf in town visiting and we all got together at Norma's for a double. this place is worth a trip to the city to try. it's so tasty.

nate got a chocolate waffle filled with peanut butter and toffee sauce. he made it 1/3 of the way through and gave up. 

i got french toast dipped in caramelized rice krispies and caramel sauce. yum!

 and H got juevos rancheros which won the prize. isn't she a beauty?

my random ordinary happenings.

i think i'm getting bunions! i guess that's what happens when you stand in heels all day at work. it's seriously freaking me out because i do NOT want surgery or crutches. as fun as they are to fake having, i would never be able to work and don't want sore pits. just a little side note, my fear of these is not dramatic. when i googled bunions, this (click here)  is what i saw! 

i have a weird love for pretty feet. so to maintain mine, i invested in yoga toes to stretch my feet back into position. and nate tried them too. 

ps. if you clicked on that picture and had to skip lunch i'm sorry. i should've warned you more

we helped my friend move and she had hundreds of pairs of shoes and all in their original boxes because she is 1. organized and 2. they're fancy shoes. one of my new years resolutions is to be more put together ( i am glad i have a full year to achieve this because i'm off to a slow start) well this particular friend is my inspiration and after filling nate's SUV up with her whole closet and then a whole second load with just shoes i now have completely justified spending my life savings to achieve this resolution. (not really but it's seriously tempting) especially when we didn't even make it to jewelry and accessories. anyways, it's worth blogging about because i was so inspired by her collection and nate says "people who help other people move go directly to heaven" and my eternal salvation is definitely important to keep everyone updated on.

all i pretty much blog about lately is my crush on shopping, food and my boyfriend. i guess that's pretty accurate as of late. (i am so shallow)

we have been to lots of dinner parties, birthday parties, oscar parties and i have been thinking about cleaning my room. i would post a picture of that but it would probably make my mother cry (she raised me better) and i wouldn't want that to happen. maybe i'll post one when it's clean?

i'm sorry if you think i blog about boring things sometimes. my life is sometimes ordinary and blogging is my way to k.i.t. with my family all at once since there's never enough time in a day to keep in touch over phone or email or through the post office. (even though i try) if you're bored you don't have to read it. and if you're my family, i know you will anyways.

okay i think that's everything. oh, and it's such a rainy day today. no snow? i think that means spring is right around the corner!

grumpy.

saturday i was really grumpy after work. and on this rare occasion i wrote my boyfriend and said,

"i am so grumpy. i don't want it to rub off, so i am going to order in and catch up on grey's anatomy tonight. xx. a"

and then i ordered chinese and wrapped myself up on my couch and then my boo buzzed up and came to the rescue with a pint of B&J's CHUBBY hubby. (my fav) he sat on the other end of the couch so our feet were in each others faces and he gave me a foot rub for the whole episode of grey's. 

my grumpiness dissolved the moment he walked through the door with that ice cream. the foot rub was like whipped cream on top. and you can never have too much whipped cream. 

nate treats me to a dinner in the city almost every night. or i try to brave cooking and we stay in (i will be real with you- we mostly eat out) (but i am getting better) and in my defense, i get off work late late which means by the time i grocery shopped and made dinner we'd be eating late late late and that is very late.
anyways, we kiss.  and if we are at my house there are usually candles involved   (because i just do that in bed most nights) and in my twenty first year of life i  discovered my obsession with chocolate that is still going strong. so, there is usually chocolate consumption on a daily basis too. which means, my life is basically valentines day everyday, on repeat. 

i am a lucky lady. and i probably shouldn't brag so much about my man or someone will try to snatch him up (i was pretending like they already don't when i said that) he can make me laugh so stinking hard, grumpy days or not and for that i am happy. we did put our heads together real hard and come up with some special way to celebrate v-day this year. it was definitely out of the norm. (even more than we had planned) but that's for another post. this was just a little preface i guess.

(and btw: these are old pics. my hair is still short.)

we are such a big deal.

tuesday was such a special day for me and my main squeeze. a year ago exactly Nate tricked me into going on a date with him. it's true, i didn't know it was a date. (but I would have said yes either way) so off we went, and ate sushi. it was grody. but he was charming and I was swooned.

so happy first date anni to us! I was in charge of the RS activity that night and baked three dozen giant fat heart shaped sugar cookies from scratch and then my beaters zonked out on me so I rushed them over to boyfriend's and we frosted hot pink cookies and reminisced on our year of happy times to celebrate. (we really just focused on the task ahead of us and tried to be quick and efficient and then got distracted and he smeared frosting on my mouth and licked it off. [we are so gross] and the whole time he gave me moral support while I vented about not having a table cloth and flowers and better decorations and everything else all the perfect leaders have for the activity) its times like that I feel bad about being a girl with hormones and he really pulls through being a good bf. (he may also have been motivated by the thought of getting the left overs after) (secret spill: even when there aren't sugary left overs at stake, he's still that sweet)

but dont think thats all we did to celebrate! nope. no way.  last night he picked me up from work in his car and I felt like a QUEEN. I surprised him when I walked out with hair like Claire. (she's the cutest doll on this planet earth) and then he surprised me and drove me outside the city and just over the bridge for dinner. we held hands across the table and had lots of PDA (not really because that's gross) (and because he was scared of my white girl afro) but it was so yum and fun and we even went to the movies after and pretzeled up in the chair really cozy. (for reals) 


and thought we'd better have a photo shoot so we could remember it forever...

k-i-s-s-i-n-g

Nate's sleepy face. and mine too i guess.

right now he is saying "that's enough aubs. i have to work now."

and then he left and i though "oh well"

and then he came back because he got a little jeal i was still taking pics without him. 

aren't we darling?

the end. 

heaven is probably shopping sprees and snow days.

did anyone watch the bachelor tonight when shawntel got to go on a real life shopping spree? 

my mouth salivated watching her buy whatever she wanted in the whole mall. it was the most envious moment of. my. life.  i am not even ashamed. i am that materialistic. 

ps. the whole city is frosted in snow. as soon as the sidewalks and tops of parked cars start re-appearing, another snow storm hits. it's really pretty and really cold. and every night before a storm i pray for a snow day to come when i wake up. (that means tonight.)

drowning feeling.

we made club sandwiches tonight for dinner. and i learned that my smoke detectors are sensitive and nate learned that they are "the most annoying smoke detectors ever."

don't mind the enormous skewers. a proper club needs them to hold it all together. and i was so frazzled from the smoke alarm i forgot my plan was to string all the fourths on to a single one. the upside to this story is that i have a handsome boyfriend to distract from the enormous skewers in this picture. 

i know i always talk about this guy's good looks but there is really more to him than just that i promise.

like how he participates in all my experiments. last week nate let me do my at-home-microdermabrasion to his face. good news is: he loved it. bad news is: the picture of him with the goo all over his face got lost when my phone died and never came back to life last week.  

he is fighting a cold so he tried the neti pot tonight. and had mixed feelings about it. even the drowning feeling it gave him didn't deter him from watching out for me. he waterfall-ed water into his mouth from my water bottle so i wouldn't catch his germs. and then kissed me goodnight. 

a little peek inside my brain would look just like this.

 it's so d___ cold outside. 

100% shea butter makes my body sticky.

i want to cut my hair shorter to my chin.

this must've been what it felt like the moment the word oxymoron was created.

eggs are best sunny side up + then best eaten in no particular order, just everything around the yolk. 

the more bubbles you have, the better the bath.

shopping on sunday is breaking the sabbeth... but what if you're shopping online?

if they're the last ones left + they're on sale, is it worth squishing your foot in them? 
your early twenties have got to be the best time of your life.
how is this boy so cute? even when he's drooling?

if i had to pick on piece of land to fall off the earth i would chose alaska.

five inch heels and snow is a bad combination, always.
my laundry is so overwhelming i want to push it under my bed and $ all new clothes.
lucky charms or honey bunches of oats?

pine green tights are just as cold as nude ones.

i wish i still lived across the hall. 

i secretly think laser hair removal causes cancer.
i want to go to italy.

i need a bigger closet.

i still believe.

dear christmas in new york city, 

you are so magical. i love it when they set up trees along your sidewalks with signs that say for sale. i love the way you smell and all the hustle and bustle and all the lights strung up around the already sparkling city. come back. all this snow everywhere just feels cold without you.

dear airplane,

thank you for getting me home safely in time for christmas this year. i forgive you for teasing me with a false take off and then being delayed for three hours on the runway. i probably would have died of an anxiety attack if i had been one of the people stuck at the airport for days. eating sleeping and being angry, until the food ran out and all that was left was just sleeping and being angrier.

dear nars funny face lipstick, 

thanks for being my fav and always being available when i need you, like on  my bedroom floor this night when i missed the memo and didn't want to feel left out of the picture when my sisters all wore purple accents. such a social life saver.

dear little brother, 

you are growing up to be a giant. remember last year when you were only this tall? thank you for taking me on a date to my very fav west coast restaurant and being my chauffeur while i was ill.

dear hair, 

remember when i was feeling spontaneous and cut so many inches off you on a whim? you're welcome for getting rid off all those dead guys that were stuck to your ends from all that bleach i over processed you with last spring. i am now last place in our never ending nelson girl's "who has the longest hair competition".  erica is winning. (but don't tell amanda because she is is denial of her place in third.)

dear saltines and gatorade, 

thank you for being all my diet consisted of over christmas break while i was on my death bed. 

dear kit kats, 

thank you for consistently being stocked in my freezer and for the perfect amount of chocolately crunch  you deliver to my taste buds. i'll always love you more than saltines and gatorade.

dear divorce, 

you're the most rotten thing i've ever met in my whole life. please leave my family alone so you can be past tense instead of consuming everything about our very present.

dear sister erica, 

thank you for going and getting me potato cheese soup and cornbread and spoon feeding me while i was not feeling well. a little treasure should be floating it's way towards you soon.

dear mom, 

thank you for driving slow and putting my bf on speakerphone when i was all drugged up. and for birthing me and passing along your big brown eyes. and on and on. 

dear body, 

i know you're so angry i've been feeding you crap and not been doing my salt scrub in the shower. i will be rekindling my love affair with the gym next week and i promise you'll hate me even more then. i also promise it will be worth it when bikini season finds it's way to this side of the planet one day.

dear spring, 

as long as you don't skip valentines day, you can come early this year. 

he makes me breakfast and grew a beard.

this is what my Monday morning looks like. rolled out of bed and drinking a diet coke.

i am pretty sure i am dating new york city's sexiest bachelor.