Following Rabbits Blog

When my dad came down to help me move a couple weeks ago I was lamenting over not finding girl scout cookies in NYC. Yesterday I got a package at my office- he sent me FIVE boxes! Holy sugar overload. After work I went over to the library to return The White Queen (read it... I thought it was better than the Other Boleyn Girl). After that I went over to Duane Reade and got some nail polish and ice cream. These shakes are super quick to make and absolutely delicious! 

 I used vanilla ice cream, I don't like chocolate ice cream (gasp!). I've seen some recipes suggest mint ice cream, but I think that'd be overkill... the cookies made it perfectly minty. I also used soy milk, which tasted no different from a regular milkshake. (I'm the pickiest eater evvver... I'd tell you if the soy wrecked it.) Anyway, definitely whip one of these up! I may kill my pint of ice cream making another one tonight while I watch Paper Heart.

I love having my nails painted, but hate to spend the money on a professional manicure that won't last. I'm hardly a delicate type of person, and am usually involved in activities or projects that don't jive with painted nails (like apartment renovations). Once in a while I'll paint them at home, but inevitably I end up with a messy right hand (because I'm not ambidextrous) and I mess up at least one nail due to my impatience waiting for them to dry. Last night I went to Duane Reade to pick up a few things and grabbed a bottle of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for $4.95. The brush is very wide and shaped in a way that made it easy to "stay in the lines" and you don't have to keep dipping for every nail. It took me just a couple minutes and they really did dry completely within a minute or two. I'm so going to buy more colors asap! 

Like seemingly everything in my new-to-me apartment, my closets were a bit shabby looking when I moved in. Hence my clothes, shoes, and household things are still in boxes all over the place rather than tucked away in the 3 closets that I have. The shelves all had peeling contact paper, there were rogue hooks and nails all over the place, and the floors were splattered with paint. I went to Home Depot (my regular after-work haunt these days) and bought 2 rolls of contact paper- red and white for my living room and hallway closets, and blue and silver for my bathroom and bedroom. I started in the living room closet, wielding my hammer to pull out a dozen bent, painted nails. I swept the floor and pulled the shelves out, peeling as much of the old contact paper off as I could. I've never used contact paper, but I have a foggy memory of my mum using it back in the day. It's tacky enough to hold well, but not so sticky that you can't reposition it if you mess up. I wrapped the shelves like presents, putting the seams on the top of the shelves since I can only see the bottoms when they're in the closet.

I wedged the shelves back into position, and pulled out my trusty paintbrush and the white paint that I used for the bathroom ceiling. I painted the closet walls and then decided to paint the floor as well (security deposit be damned). It was already splattered with paint pretty badly, and I wanted it to look clean in there. I think it looks pretty good! I've already moved in my coats and board games, and tomorrow I'll toss my guitar amp in on that freshly painted floor. I'll clean up the other two closets before the weekend and once everything is stored inside, I'll finally be able to walk freely around my apartment! Small thrills, folks.

I've heard so much about ciao bella gelato, but never saw it in stores. I finally found a huge selection of it at D'Agostino on 3rd Avenue in my quest to find dipping chocolate for my Valentine's strawberries. They had pints and also little 3.5oz single-serving cups. The flavor that intrigued me the most was the coconut gelato (you can read about my coconut obsession here) but it was only in pints, so I opted to get the single-serving size so I could sample a few different flavors. I got the turkish pistachio gelato and 3 sorbets: blood orange, mango, and lemon. Yum! The little cups make portion control a non-issue, and they use all natural ingredients. I think their flavors are pretty exotic, especially compared to what else you get to choose from in the frozen foods aisle. (Plus it was born in 1983, like me!) Definitely a great little treat to have in your freezer.

I loooove music. I play my iPod and iTunes at least 5 hours a day. I listen to music that fits my mood- like I'm living in a movie and my iPod is playing the soundtrack. So I'm always trying to discover new music to keep my playlists fresh. I've had great luck with Pandora- I've got 5 or 6 stations on mine, all different genres of music for different moods. I try to listen at work and bookmark songs I like. Then once in a while I'll open up my Pandora profile and download all the songs that I have bookmarked. Instant new playlist of recently discovered music! I did just that yesterday afternoon. I found myself sans valentine and made myself a playlist to kick around the city with. I tapped my foot on the subway, shook my hips in the Forever 21 dressing room, and walked to the beat down to Spring Street to have dinner at Bread. I came home and danced down my long hallway to track # 9. Life is better when it's set to music. 

1. 11 am - Incubus 2. All We Are - Matt Nathanson 3. Poison - Beyoncé 4. No Envy No Fear - Joshua Radin 5. War of My Life - John Mayer 6. Won't Back Down - Mat Kearney 7. Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol 8. Wake Up - Arcade Fire 9. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit 10. Come Down to Me - Saving Jane 11. 2 O'Clock In the A.M. - Swati 12. Glitter In the Air - Pink 13. Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart - Alicia Keys 14. The Last High - The Dandy Warhols 15. A Clouded View - Ola Podrida