Happiness is...

When I was in my late teens/ early twenties I always used to make the same wish- on birthday candles, lucky pennies, eyelashes, dandelions. I always wished "to be happy in the future." 

How strange am I?! I made this wish seemingly despite the current satiation I was in... I just always hoped for "true happiness" one day.

Well... Am I here now? Is this it? What is happiness?

For me, happiness is comfort, safety, security. And at least once a day laughter. And the little things that when you count, add up to a lot of things.

Like..

Costco purchases that remind me of "shopping" in my garage. Now I have a 600 count bag of Dixie bathroom cups all to myself. 

Waking up at 6am to rain pouring down on fire escape, only to remember I have the day off today... And snuggling back in the covers for a few more hours of blissful sleep.

Coffee. With cream and one sugar in my favorite Brooklyn mug.

Being reminded by a very wise person to e n j o y every moment of wedding planning. I only get to do this once :-)

On that note, getting to see the suite I'll wake up in on my last morning as a Babyatzky, and go to sleep in as a Clement (!!!!!!).....

Booking our 10 day luxurious adventurous honeymoon in Costa Rica!!!!!! And...

(Most likely) finally booking our photographer. Crossing off that to do list!

Having a parent tell me I'm their kid's favorite teacher. The years go by but that happy feeling doesn't fade.

Cleaning my ring with compressed air and watching it sparkle :-)

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Gosh. Choosing a photographer for our wedding is seriously stressing me out! There are just so many options and things to consider. Every time I think I found the "perfect" person, there is just one thing I don't like about what they have to offer.

Essentially our IDEAL package would be:

Photo:

• 2 photographers for 10 hours (ideally people who don't actually time it, and are okay with staying longer)
• Someone with 100% excellent reviews, someone who knows their stuff but is also willing to do whatever we want
• A mix of photojournalistic, traditional, vintage & creative style with an emphasis on natural light as opposed to flash
• Someone who uses smaller more modern cameras
• Someone willing to split time between bride & groom for getting ready time
• Online gallery available for viewing in 2-3 weeks
• 1000+ photos taken
• Complimentary engagement session (love to have)

Products

• A flash drive with all the unedited files + edited files
• A nice album or photo book, at least 10x10, 30-50 pages - for which we select the images

Video

• 1 Videographer who stays the whole time and uses a handheld digital video recorder
• Edited full length video (around 90 minutes, covers ceremony + important parts of the day)
• Edited cinematography "trailer" video w/ music (love to have)

Other

• Option of purchasing save the dates and/or thank you cards

If I could find this for $3500 or under I would literally sign a contract in seconds. Unfortunately, we have yet to find that exact "package" listed above... the packages that came close to what we wanted range from $4,500 - $10,000. No joke.

Anyway type that all out helped A LOT. Onwards.

Right now I'm reading "Resconstructing Amelia." I love it because it takes place in Park Slope. Its about a teenager who commits suicide. The book starts from the day of Amelia's death and then is written in three different points of view; Amelia's, in the few days before she dies. Amelia's mom, in the few days after Amelia dies. And then through a collection of technology snippets that Amelia's mom looks through to sort of figure out what happened (FB posts, text messages, emails, blogs post, etc). Its a pretty modern twist on a mystery and I'm actually loving it.

Today I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. I was so happy but felt a little bit embarrassed considering the social media mockery of white girls and their obsession with PSLs. :-/

Today is Brandon's (Marvin's nephew) 8th birthday party. Its crazy because it feels like just yesterday when we went to his 6th. Time flies

293 days until we say "I do" :D 

Some pics from the week:

Delicious Baked flounder dinner I made - I top the fish with fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, olives, olive oil, lemon juice and oregano and then bake it at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Served on top of sauteed yellow and green zucchini and whole wheat couscous

I read that bananas will live longer (not brown) if you put tin foil over the top. I honestly did not see any difference and we will still prob wind up wasting 2 of them :(

Some yummy things from our weekly grocery store trip

This adorable picture of Marvin with his parents that I just love!!!

Sun Day

I love when Marvin & I spend some of our Sunday taking a long walk down 5th avenue. Today was extra good because of our fun purchases

Farmer's Market purchases:

-Honeycrisp apples

-Green zucchini

-Yellow zucchini

-Onion

-Red heirloom tomatoes

-Yellow tomatoes

Other:

These cute Tom sandals! They were 30% off + an additional 20% off so they were $35! I <3 them. I just hope I can stand in them all day at work.

Homemade Mini Fennel Taralli from the new Italian store, Russo's

2 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc from one of my new favorite wine stored, Red, White & Bubbly

We've reached the 200s!

299 days to go until I marry my love! ❤️

Sort of copying Julie's post but here some highlights from this past week:

Spending Labor Day mostly relaxing since we got all our laundry done on Sunday. Venturing out only to get some Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger beer at the Montrose, and finally trying brunch at Alchemy. 

Having a relatively good meeting with my neurologist. 

Eating some delicious Vegan chicken salad from The Green Planet more than 2x this week. 

Surprised by The Rolling Bean at work, starting my day with an iced espresso and pineapple smoothie.

 

Absolutely loving my students this year, watching them grow as readers and writers already, hearing parents reactions (who are used to getting negative reports) when I call home to say how wonderful they're children are. 

Wine and long talks in the last balmy summer nights on the stoop.

Cooking some of the frozen wild-caught organic flounder from Costco, one of the many purchases I am so excited about. 

Making appointments for my next wedding dress adventure!!

Hearing back from our travel agent that's she's starting our "honeymoon wishlist"

New Lavazza espresso coffee we've been drinking. 

My mom getting (her words) her "dream job"

Today I'm off to the farmers market to find some inspiration for dinner. 

(My) Summer in (mostly food) pics

In honor of Labor Day, and the last official weekend of the summer, this was the way that felt least daunting to post again. Post a bunch of pics that represent my summer, in no order whatsoever.

This one's from last night! Homemade whole wheat chicken quesadilla with homemade guac and... (drumroll please) homemade mango/yellow tomato salsa!

Ok. This looks weird, but this is one of my new fav snacks/lunches from The Green Planet (down the block from my school). It literally tastes exactly like chicken/turkey salad, is only about 120 calories for the whole container, and is meat/dairy free. This one is not my fav because it has "smoked turkey flavor" as one of the ingredients, but the regular chicken one has all natural ingredients.

One of the best bowls of New England clam chowder I've head, at Betsy's wedding in Newburyport.

Crabbies alcoholic Ginger Beer, that Marvin and I tried when a promotion was going on at The Montrose during 5th Ave Summer Stroll.

An awesome salad from one of my new favorite seamless places to order salads: Canteen

Katie's centerpieces at her wedding at The Red Barn in South Berwick, Maine. Loved them.

Delicious double latte from Uncle John's bakery before me and Marvin's Prospect Park Zoo adventure.

One of my favorite pics of us - Laura's graduation Party

Another one of my new seamless staples - Tilapia steamed in banana leaves with veggies and rice from Columbia Park Slope.

One of my many summer lunches from Union Market salad bar. This one... olives, smoked gouda cheese, summer faro salad, blistered cauliflower with turmeric (and some of my own pita chips).

Brick Oven Grandma Pizza with house made sweet Italian sausage from another newly discovered neighborhood gem, La Villa Pizza.

Lunch from Whole Foods Salad Bar, another summer regular.

Sorrel Margarita from "Limin at the bar" at Sugarcane. YUM.

His & Hers (or her & his) homemade pizza

Complimentary frozen Margaritas at Rachel's Taqueria while waiting for our laundry next door.

Another summer lunch from Union Market salad bar: raw brussel sprout salad, summar faro, and orzo salad

The best part of this summer... our PERFECT engagement party!!!!

We drank this all summer long thanks to Key Foods: Bell's Oberon Ale

View of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park

WTC Memorial

Coney Island boardwalk on a perfect beach day

Summer strolls - South slope

One of (many) indulgent ring pics :D

And.... that's it!!! Onwards to a labor free Labor Day and back the grind tomorrow morning. Here's to updating a little more regularly??!?!

-1 year Anniversary!

In exactly 365 times, at approximately this time in the evening, I am going to become Mrs. Clement!!!!!! CRAZY! Time has already flown by since March, and I know its going to fly even faster. That is fine with me though because I cannot wait to marry the love of my life.

To honor our -1 year anni, I bought myself a Bride shirt from Target :-)

You can also see the cute polka dot tankini I bought behind it. Sadly, my first tankini. It makes me feel like I am officially growing up. Last fourth of July, I wore a bikini to Marvin's bros house and the whole time I couldn't help feeling exposed!

Life has been pretty quiet lately... I have greatly been taking advantage of my first official week of summer break by doing NOTHING. I feel zero guilt though, because its rare I can do nothing. And it feels great waking up with no agenda every day. Ok. So the rest of this post is going to be a bit all over the place. I uploaded some pics in no order whatsoever so lets just see where it takes us.

I have been experimenting with some homemade Frappacinos. This one came out good but I definitely need a new magic bullet



My little baby sister graduated HS! I honestly hate this pic of me, I was sweating and exhausted (and its blurry) but I felt I needed to include at least one of us at her graduation.



And of course one with Laura and her bro-to-be :)



I snagged one of her before she took off her cap and gown (she only kept it on for about 1 minute)



I tried making some baked zucchini fries. They were yummy but I think the bread crumbs were actually kind of stale, so they didn't get that crunchy.



During my last week of work, I pretty much did absolutely nothing. Literally one day I spent 5 hours tanning on the roof while reading The Bronx Masquerade (a young adult novel I had to write lessons for). It was awesome.



First oysters of the summer! These babies cost $3.25 each at Whole foods. A total rip-off but completely worth it.