It's been one... something of a year.

2016 was something of a gargantuan cluster for most everyone around the world. When you list off all the happenings around the world in 2016, it's hard to believe all that chaos fit into 12 months. It really seemed like one massively disturbing or heartbreaking event after another. The trending memes about this year hit home all too well...

Happy Holidays, my dear readers!

Merry Christmas + Christmas Eve this weekend to those of you who celebrate, Happy start of Chanukah tomorrow to my Jewish friends, and simply wishing everyone a festive and loving time with whatever holidays they celebrate and rejoice in!

Firstly, THANK YOU to you all for your continued love and support this year. From always...

Starting right now, this season, let's live intentionally instead of passively.

Don't let yourself get lazy and live out of habit rather than intent.

The life, connection, and deeper fulfillment we all desire doesn't just happen upon us.
It's a result of practicing intentional living, day by day.

Being intentional with...

Happy Friday, everyone! 

We are officially in the single-digit countdown to Christmas! And it is FRIGID outside in NYC today, oh boy. But I'm trying to embrace that "Hygge" feeling, regardless!

If work and life have been keeping you busy and unable to join in on holiday activities like holiday baking, I've got a perfect roundup of festive holiday recipes for you guys today to jump right in.

Many of these recipes are super easy and don't require much advance cooking or baking skills, so there's no intimidation factor here! Also most of these are gluten-free and vegan optional for those with dietary restrictions....

Every year, I always write handwritten holiday cards to my loved ones.

No matter how busy I am, I make sure to prioritize this one thing during the holiday season above all. I know, the holidays are so hectic and it feels like you're always crunched for time.
So why do I go through such effort?

Think about how nice it is to open your mailbox to get a handwritten note via snail mail these days. Nowadays, in the time of infinite texts, snapchats, and other fleeting technological communication, those things feel more disposable. A handwritten card is much more personal, thoughtful, and you physically have something pretty to keep on your desk to perk up your day...

Happy Friday, everyone! We are heading at full speed 'til Christmas it seems!

Been busy gearing up for a lot of fun content coming your way for the rest of this month, and I'm thrilled to finally be getting my first weekend at home in over a month to catch up on some stuff. I'm also SO excited to get my new computer next week. That is the understatement of the century haha!

Here are the 7 things that inspired me, that I learned from, and that made me laugh/smile this week:  

Austin, Texas is known for its great local food, music, art, design, and rapidly expanding city. It's become a destination city for fun weekend getaways and bachelor/bachelorette parties. After all, good food, entertainment, and fun things to explore all make for the perfect weekend getaway, no?

While I'll be sharing an entire Austin city guide with you guys soon, I wanted to share my experience at the Archer Austin first because it just surpassed my expectations on every level.

When looking for the best place to stay in Austin, I discovered that the Archer Austin had newly opened. The newest addition to the boutique hotel scene down in Austin, it is located...

Staying healthy during the holidays. Haha. Ha. Hahaha. 

I know, it might seem like a faraway dream or false reality, but I promise you can actually enjoy yourselves during the holidays AND stay on track with your nutrition without choking down a kale salad while wistfully looking at people devouring holiday treats. All it takes is 3 simple tricks in order to stay healthy throughout the holiday season...

For all those New Yorkers looking for a quick weekend getaway, Beacon and Cold Spring have become the hotspot destinations in the Hudson Valley. Accessibility, nature, good food, and relaxing activities to do all have the makings of the types of weekend getaways that New Yorkers crave after hectic workweeks. 

Per my usual city guide format, I'll be dividing up these differing sections by where to stay, eat, and explore in both Beacon and Cold Spring for the perfect weekend getaway. But I have so many amazing pictures from this trip to share with you, but I'll be formatting this guide a little differently than usual, in the interest of efficiency!

I'm gonna be honest. With my crazy travel and work schedule this year until the holidays, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to squeeze holiday baking in. Which makes me sad, because I adore this part of holiday festivities and more importantly, I'll miss out on my favorite gluten-free gingerbread cookies. So my gingerbread granola is a great one to turn to when I want to make a big batch to eat throughout the weeks, BUT, I wanted to whip up something dessert-like that takes less time than baking cookies. 

Enter, these gingerbread pancakes. HELLO. That are gluten-free, vegan, unbeknownst to whoever you feed them to, because it just tastes like straight up fluffy gingerbread heaven in pancake form.

It is crazy pants that it is only 3 more days until Thanksgiving! 

Most everyone is probably finding themselves in a frenzy, trying to prepare for this holiday, so today, I've got my best tips for Thanksgiving and a roundup of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes to help you out. Whether it's your first Thanksgiving you're in charge of or a guest responsible for one or more dishes, I've got all the tips and tricks I've learned over the years to help you out.

This year is a year of firsts for me personally, as we used to always celebrate my Dad's birthday on Thanksgiving, so this makes my heart ache that it's the first Thanksgiving and holiday without him. Secondly, I won't be in charge of making a Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in I think about 5 years, as I'll be at my boyfriend's family's for Thanksgiving. 

So, it's a little strange not preparing menus and making pie crusts to put in the freezer, but I'm kind of enjoying it this year. First up, here are some of my favorite signature recipes I've made throughout the years for my family's Thanksgiving:

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

Hello and Happy Friday! Boy, do I have the best finds for you this week- not only fun and interesting stuff, but some straight-up darn useful stuff for the upcoming holidays!

How unbelievable is it that Thanksgiving is less than a week away now? It's hard to believe that we are already in full-on holiday season mode now, but I actually am already feeling the holiday spirit. I love seeing the holiday Starbucks cups all around, the lights and decor going up, gift guides, and other festive cheer. I think we could all really use the giving spirit of the season in many ways this year after a rocky November for a lot of people in light of recent worldly happenings...

I've switched over. I'm a convert. Even with my being so health-conscious with my food and exercise, I didn't really think I'd one day be using soap that has hemp in it. Or that I'd be parting from my failure-proof aluminum deodorant and delicious-smelling shampoos and hair masks, even though I knew there were things in there that probably weren't too great for me.

How big of a deal could it be, anyway? It just seemed too hard. Too hard to learn which of those unpronounceable ingredients were the bad ones because they all sounded too similar; too hard to dump out all my not-exactly cheap cosmetics and beauty products to replace them with things I didn't know would even work; too intimidating, basically. 

Have you guys felt this way before/now? Switching over to all-natural beauty products free of harmful toxins and chemicals can be really intimidating...

Whether we want to think about it or not, Thanksgiving is only a little over 3 weeks away! Trust me, I'm just as confused where time has gone this year. 

Even if you aren't involved with Thanksgiving cooking and simply want to enjoy fall's bounty of produce, I wanted to go over how to peel and cube a butternut squash without losing a finger (or two). I first put a little guide together in my recipe for Roasted Brown Butter and Sage Butternut Squash, but I figured I should do an entirely separate guide for this for all my new readers and for those who might have missed that recipe! 

Squash can be oddly intimidating, especially for someone who doesn't spend too much time in the kitchen. Breaking one down can seem too difficult, and a lot of us resort to using the canned stuff.

While I have no qualms about taking my shortcuts where I can and using the canned stuff sometimes, using a fresh squash while in season is so worth the extra 5 minutes to break it down. 

Happy first Friday of November! 

The leaves are FINALLY turning goldens and reds in Washington Square Park (see on my Insta Stories), and it makes me so happy. The little things will affect you as much or as little as you let them, so let the good little things fill you up and let the bad little things flow away!

Things are looking crazy until straight through the end of the year, and I'm going on half a dozen flights and hitting nearly ten cities by the end of November- whew! As I talked about in my post earlier this week on some autumn reflections, I've been focusing on counting my blessings and also immersing myself in the present.

I've been slipping back into looking at my social media too much and absentmindedly scrolling through feeds, so I've been making an effort to read more real content, less clickbait, and put my phone away altogether to be 100% present when spending time with friends and company. So there are some links below that relate to both of these themes...

It's really hard to fathom that we are now in November, and there's a mere 2 months left of 2016. The leaves are falling, storefronts are all on the Thanksgiving and Christmas trains already, and everyone is left wondering where the time has gone so quickly yet again. 

On the personal front, I'm feeling a bit melancholy these days. While it's easy to just say I'm feeling blue and call it a day, I'm working on digging a little deeper into those feelings, to better understand why I'm truly feeling this way. Which is why I've been ruminating and reflecting, trying to step back to see the bigger picture. It's been awhile since I've done a personal update, and so I wanted to share some of my autumn reflections and intentions with you guys incase any of you might be feeling similarly...

There's nothing worse than feeling healthy going into a trip, then arriving at your destination feeling like you got sick on the plane. Not only is that a good way to ruin a vacation or travel trip, but in some cases on work travel, you can’t afford to be sidelined at all. Whether it's too cold, too hot, or you're eating crummy airplane food, stiff from sitting for hours, nothing about flights do you any favors when it comes to staying healthy, honestly.

With my schedule being on the erratic side lately, it makes the times that I am home in NYC, it's super important to make that time count. But it can definitely be hard to feel connected and productive, when all you want to do after a some work travel or a big project is burrow in bed for a few days. Also, around this time of year, it's easy to feel a bit burned out with most peoples' work seasons being in peak right now.

If any of you are feeling a case of the Mondays, give some of these 8 easy tips to instantly feel more connected and productive a try: