Manhattan Goddess

Levi's & Curls: A Philly girl's love affair with NYC

PHL -> NYC.  New city, new blog.

August in Bethany

As the weekend comes to a close, so does my last "real" summer (as some cynical friends have called it).  On Thursday, I will move the rest of my life to NYC and begin a new life, a new degree and hopefully a new job.  My childhood summers are no more once my New York life begins.

To send off summer, I spent one final weekend in Bethany Beach, DE with my best friend.  We enjoyed the beach, a few good meals and a few too many drinks.  It was a wonderful end to my sad goodbye to college kid summers.

It's Not Easy Being Green

My aunt is considering starting a line of green baby and nursery products.  She has some amazing ideas, but is a little lost on what will make her business eligible for green certification.  So, here are my questions:

Why would you want baby products to be green?

What items would be better if eco-friendly (diaper bags, bibs, etc)?

What kind of price range would you expect?

What makes such items "green" - recycled or organic fabric, vegan, etc?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

(image via treehugger.com)

I Like Cold Beverages

As much as I loved (and still love!) Villanova, I never got used to living in the area.  The Main Line is a series of ritzy towns just west of Philadelphia.  I've lived in the Philly area all my life and have always loved the mix of city people and PA newcomers.  Unfortunately, the Main Line has always had a (well-deserved) reputation for being wealthy to the point of obnoxious.  The homes are magnificent and the area is wonderfully historic, but the high class atmosphere is inherent in the residents' attitudes.

Notoriously upscale and uptight, Main Line's most recent "news" story just fuels the stereotypes: Main Line Kids Busted for Selling Lemonade.  A grouchy man called the cops on 5-year olds "peddling" lemonade around their neighborhood.  He should be happy his neighborhood is safe enough to set up a lemonade stand.  Not 10 minutes away from his tree-lined street is one of the poorest, most dangerous areas of the country.  Someone has a good toilet-papering coming his way...

In happier news... how great of an idea is decorating "just married" bikes instead of a car?  So eco-friendly!  :)

(via Cup of Joe via Green Wedding Shoes)

Summertime & the Living is Easy

I spent a lovely weekend in New York after a very productive trip to Ikea.  My roommate and I managed to furnish our apartment in just one visit!  After furniture shopping, I headed into the city to visit my best friend since 1st grade, Ashley.  We went to the Mets game, ate delicious hot dogs and enjoyed the East Village nightlife.  I'm so excited to be in the same city as Ash again! My apartment is nice and close to hers, so we walked to Gramercy to pick up my keys and take a few last minute measurements after a delicious brunch.

Ash has been one of my best friends since we were 6.  She moved to the city for college and only came back to Philly for one summer, so I haven't seen her as much as we'd like.  Finally, we'll be back in the same zip code!

The weather has been so beautiful lately.  And finally after about a month straight of rain, rain, rain.  My next door neighbors have two little kids and they love to play outside and run through the sprinkler.  I miss the days of such simple pleasures!

And I Got a Feeling

Happy weekend!  All week I planned to have a fun packed weekend, but now that it's here I'm just too tired!  That's what 6:30am wake up calls and long days in the office will do, I suppose.

Here are few of my fun finds from the week...

• I absolutely love these pictures of ghost towns.  I like to go to the map and just pick a random town.  It's amazing to imagine what life was like many, many years ago.
• A smart, sexy and sophisticated blog for the modern woman.  (Plus my friend Colleen is a writer!)
• A picture a day keeps the sadness away...
• My fun job inspirations.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Ikea for my furniture shopping phone date with Magda, then heading up to NYC for some baseball and catch-up with my oldest friend.  Have a relaxing (and hopefully rain free) weekend ... have a dance party, break some rules!

Sparkle & Shine

Just some week-after-the-4th fireworks.  :)  I had such a hard time getting decent pictures of the Red Bank fireworks show, but I like the way this one turned out...

As the heat continues to rise in Philly, I'm getting more restless and move ready to move to New York.  After graduation, I had no choice but to move back home with my parents until I move in August.  I've lived on my own, away from home for four years and haven't lived home at all since I was 19.  Things are different and very difficult.  The public relations agency I work for can't afford to hire me full time, so I scrounge for hours and think of anything to get myself out of the house.

Now that we have a place to sleep at night, my roommate and I are about to begin the hunt for furniture.  We're thinking about keeping it simple and working with Ikea furniture, but we've also done a little research and found that a lot of places are having great sales!  We've found entire living room sets at regular furniture stores for the same or less than at Ikea.  On Saturday, we're planning a phone date from our respective Ikeas to make some decisions.  Any recommendations for inexpensive new furniture??