A Year Of Blogging | The NYC Recap

Phew! I’ve been wanting to publish this post ever since I got the idea … Which was a couple of months ago. But let me tell ya people … Writing a post that recaps everything I did and everywhere I went while living in New York with blog links to every NYC related post on this blog takes a while. A lonnnng while. Luckily, I only started blogging during my second year of living in the NYC or this post would’ve taken much longer to put together. But I finally completed it!!! Alrighty … Here we go! *Beware … This is a lengthy post*

2012

^^ In June: This here blog was birthed from my womb… And I published my first ever post about my visit to the Radegast Hall & Biergarten in Brooklyn! Really great place to visit for beer and sausages galore. Also in June, I met up with my girlfriend, Clem, for Mexican cuisine and drinks at The Lime Jungle in Hell’s Kitchen. The food was meh but the drinks? = Sooo good!

^^ In July, I celebrated my first ever Fourth of July as a New York resident …And because I’m sooo backwards, I celebrated in Hoboken haha. FYI: Never again will I drive in NYC on a holiday such as Independence Day. The traffic and security was crazy getting from Hoboken to the Bronx … Took us almost 3 hours to get back home when it should’ve taken 45 min..

^^ I started August off with a roomie camping trip up in the Catskills Mountains about 2 hours north of NYC. I also recapped a visit to the New York Botanical Gardens and Flight Club, an urban footwear shop bound to whet any sneakerhead’s appetite.

^^ September was spent with friends who were visiting from out of town. I checked out the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Kiara and Samir and got into some shenanigans around Times Square with Camesha. I also spent QT time with Charles when he came up to visit from Virginia for a weekend while staying within budget. We took a FREE tour through the Brooklyn Brewery & spent $20 for 5 drinks (awesome deal!). After that, we made our way across the Brooklyn Bridge to take in the NYC skyline on a hot but wonderfully windy day.

^^ In October, I found a piece of my hometown (DC) smack in the middle of NYC. Charles and I went to an official REDSKINS bar a.k.a Redemption Bar to watch RGIII in action and we had a ball! It was so great to watch a football game and be surrounded by burgundy and gold. I also hosted a couple of houseparties at my ah-mazing apartment starting off with a Wine Night that was a major fail (25 people said they would come but only 5 showed up.). But that didn’t deter me or my roomies … We ended up hosting a Halloween Party two weeks later that was a smash! Unfortunately, the next day … Hurricane Sandy came through, wrecked the entire city. NYC came to a complete standstill.

^^ November was a month for giving many thanks. Since I lived in the Bronx area, I wasn’t hit with any flooding but we lost our power for a couple of days. I shared photos of the effects of Hurricane Sandy in my neighborhood: the fallen trees, the empty groceries and the dire need for gas … What’s crazy is that just two weeks later, the snowstorm Athena hit NYC too! During November, I also went on the Staten Island Ferry (which is completely free) and caught of glimpse of Lady Liberty. And towards the end of the month, I ventured into Time Square to experience the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade! People, this parade is NOT child friendly … don’t listen to the hype.

^^ Closing out 2012, December was all about getting into the holiday spirit… kind of. I explored and purchased a few items for Christmas presents from the Union Square Holiday Market all while complaining about how expensive NYC is. Being the huge graffiti nerd that I am, I was so excited to finally go see 5 Pointz, the graffiti mecca of the world located in Queens! I got my Home Alone fix by stepping inside The Plaza Hotel only to decide that it was nice to look at … That’s all. (Very expensive hotel is an understatement). I also braved the crowds to go see the Rockefeller Tree only to arrive after the LIGHTS WERE TURNED OFF!!! I could’ve sworn the lights stayed on 24 hours a day. Mind you it was midnight in NYC and all the lights in Times Square were on around the corner … Can we say RockeFailure Tree people???

2013

^^ January started with a bang! I spent New Years in NYC with friends, saw my very first ever NYC penthouse and then to put it lightly … Got shwasted! I kept warm in the cold weather by eating some yummy ramen noodles from Totto Ramen. But then the weather got tooooo cold … So I stayed home and didn’t really blog about anything. And that’s when I got cabin fever which resulted in my posting this crazy video… Don’t judge.

^^ February was even more cold but I braved the weather just to get out of the house. I ate some yummy lobster, shrimp and cheese grits at Soco in Brooklyn. I finally “came to terms” with the weather so much that I even took a long walk through the snow just for fun. You just have to be careful of the doggy doo doo.Ugh, pick up your shit NYC. For Valentine’s Day, Charles surprised me at my job and we went to the Top Of Rock to take in the ah-mazing views of NYC. At the end of the month, I discovered the Tombstones of Central Park while strolling through the city and ended up dancing inside the huge Snowglobe dome at Bryant Park… Super Fun!

^^ In March, I made my first ever travel video diary of NYC. The quality is a bit crappy but I was super proud of myself for trying something new. I shared the view from my apartment window of the NYC skyline and also found the balls to attend a couple New York Fashion Week events … Alone! But there were free drinks everywhere, so much swag and I got to meet Aimee Song in person! Totally worth looking like a loser in my books.

^^ April was my birthday month and man oh man did I get down with the get down. I started the month off with a boozy brunch at Southern Hospitality in hopes that Justin Timberlake would stop by (he owns the place) but alas, he didn’t. The following week, I went to another boozy brunch and met some wonderful NYC bloggers in real life! Charles came up for a weekend and we cruised along the Hudson on a reggae boat before heading over to Max Brenner for some chocolate heaven. And then I shared with everyone my favorite bar is in NYC lovingly known as The 13th Step.

^^ I invited everyone to check out my New York apartment in May and shared with you all my living room and bedroom. I celebrated my roommate’s birthday at The Red Hat in Tarrytown, just 45 min. north of NYC in Westchester County and enjoyed the quiet/ calm views. And then I took a blogging break … Because every blogger has a right to take one haha.

^^ In June, I came back to blogging feeling uber refreshed and with a long NYC summer to-do list to check off. I explored the infamous railway turned elevated park, The High Line, all while taking Pickleback shots with friends at The Belfry. I went to the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park and rode a gondola across the lake. I spent quality me-time in Coney Island and ate yummy Halal food from my favorite street food vendor. My girlfriend, Peach, came to visit for a weekend and we explored the Chelsea Market and Washington Square Park among other places in NYC.

^^ At the beginning of July, I announced that I would be moving to Virginia (just 20 min. outside of my hometown, D.C.) to attend grad school. I finally made it out to a Yankees Game, met Keone and Mariel Madrid while bar hopping in Hell’s Kitchen, went to the Bronx Zoo, and saw a dance concert at The Lincoln Center. I also shared some of my favorite reflective views of NYC, had a hookah night at the Cloister Cafe, and got around to sharing photos from the ah-mazing Jazz Age Lawn Party. I witnessed Manhattenhenge in action, hosted a NYC Blogger Brunch, went on a Chocolate walking tour through Greenwich Village and the Meatpacking District. And lastly, I went to the Adirondacks as one last hurrah with my roomies before packing up my bags and saying Farewell to NYC.

It was a nostalgic process going through my archives and re-reading old blogposts while putting this recap together. This here blog has come a long way in just one year and you can definitely see the changes it’s gone through via my writing style and photo taking skills. As much as I beat myself up for not doing everything on my NYC to-do list, I can’t help but pat myself on the back for getting through as much as I did in one year and consistently blogging about most of it. Hopefully this post will be helpful to anyone looking for ideas of places to check out in NYC and its surrounding areas!

And That’s That. The End. But not really the end… I’ll be back to visit soon enough. I have a score to settle with that dang Rockefeller Tree ;)