Dark, Mysterious Places

I always get attracted to interesting, even weird, places, people, events. That is why when we were walking around in Philadelphia and saw this hidden dark alley, I wanted this place to be the background for my photographs. I think places like this add a character to the photographs. Places like this, while dark and uninhibited, have a very unique personality which transforms regular shots into something mysterious.

 Coat: Donna Karan;  Sweater: H&M;  Bag: Michael Kors

Dream Saturday

I have dreamt about a day like today for quite some time now. The past few weeks have been crazy – busy work, busy weekends away, no time to slow down and relax. Today, I finally got a chance to do exactly that – slow down, relax and spend some time focusing on the little things that make me happy. I have a list of things I have to do this weekend. Some of them are chores, some of them are little enjoyable projects. Today I decided to only focus on the enjoyable things, leaving most of the chores for tomorrow (I did manage to do my laundry today though, so that does feel great). So just in a quick summary, here is a recap of some things I got to enjoy today:

1) I finished a wonderful book I have been reading. I highly recommend this book, especially if you live in a country that is not your native country. This is very relatable for me in terms of the emotions I go through when visiting Russia.                                          2) I lit some candles and really enjoyed the ambiance of my room.                                           3) I made some nice green tea.                                                                                                            4) I spent some time playing with the kitty cat.                                                                               

Lunch Break in Bryant Park

Ever since our move to the new office, I feel like in general I have been in a better mood. It’s interesting because technically nothing really changed in my life – I still have the same issues with my health, relationships, studies, workload; the only thing that changed is the location of our new office. However, even with this little change, somehow I feel like lately I have become better at focusing on the positives in my life and not letting all those issues get to me as much.

This definitely might be because I get inspired every morning on my walk to work, when I exit the subway station and walk towards Bryant Park, then along the broad 6th Avenue and into a beautiful glass building where our office is located. The walk only takes about 10 minutes, but somehow it always seems to put me in a better mood.

In addition, now I have an option of walking to Bryant Park (one of my favorite places in NYC) on my lunch breaks, which is exactly what I did today. With the Winter Village shops and iceskating rink out, the park has been transformed into a picture from a charming Hallmark movie. I truly treasure the feelings I experience when I immerse myself into this atmosphere of seasonal beauty and happiness.

Early Morning Weekends

Do you know how much I love New York? You probably do already because I keep talking about it, but days like this remind me just how much I love this city. Today I got up on the earlier side and headed over to the city to spend time with my parents (who were staying at a hotel downtown). Nothing can compare to an early morning walk through the city on a weekend. The city is still asleep and the streets are just starting to accept their first early-bird pedestrians. Everything is calm and quiet and you can reconnect with the city before its typical craziness begins. Moments like this truly make me happy.

The hotel my parents were staying at is Gild Hall, a Thompson Hotel. It is truly a wonderful hotel with outstanding service. It is also very close to such attractions as the World Trade Center Memorial, The Oculus, as well as lots of shops and cafes in Financial District.

The Move

Three weeks ago we moved our corporate New York office from 8th Avenue and 39th Street to 6th Avenue and 43rd Street. To be honest, originally I was not so excited about this move because the way it was explained to me by one of my co-workers, we were going to move into “a tiny little office with no windows, carpeted floors and drop ceiling.” It sounded absolutely horrific. I was upset, I almost wanted to quit. “How can we move from this beautiful, big office with huge windows to something so awful?!” Horror of all horrors!

And then, the day of the move came. I got a chance to check out the office before everyone else, and to my surprise, what I saw was not as appalling as it was presented to me by the co-worker. In fact, turned out the new office was in one of the most prestigious business areas of Manhattan, in a huge, gorgeous building, surrounded by other gorgeous glass skyscrapers, and only one block away from Bryant Park. Yes, the office itself is quite small, but it is a very nice and cozy space, which after three weeks has already become our new home.

Lesson of the day – stop listening to and being persuaded by other people’s opinions, especially when they are such negative ones. We all view every situation in different light, and something that may be appalling to one person, may be absolutely beautiful for another person.

Last night, for the first time in three weeks since we moved here, my friend and I decided to check out local spots for some nice happy hours deals, and we lucked out with the very first place we stopped by! I am certainly looking forward to exploring this area more and getting to know this part of Manhattan better.

Happy hour place we went to is Point Break

Almost Late

Today is a happy day. My mom, who has been visiting our family in Russia for the past three weeks, is coming back. As usually, she bought her flight tickets for a Saturday, so my stepdad and I could come pick her up at the airport.

The flight from Russia that we normally take lands at the JFK airport at around 5:20PM, which is great because it gives my stepdad time to drive up to Brooklyn from Philadelphia to pick me up from my apartment so then we can go to the airport together. This time he came over a bit earlier, so we decided to go to Prospect Park and have a little photoshoot.

The photoshoot was so much fun that we did not even notice that we were running out of time. Until, as we were leisurely walking back to the car, we got a text from my mom letting us know that they landed (30 minutes early). We ended up running to the car and driving like maniacs to make it to the airport on time.

What I am wearing:
Jacket: Old Navy (similar); Bag: Valentina (similar); Boots: Aldo; Glasses: Zenni Optical 

Snowy Brooklyn

When it snows, I take my camera and capture the moment! I was also lucky to be accompanied by this extremely friendly kitty, who kept running up to every passerby and asking for pets.

Central Park in the Winter

One of my favorite places in Manhattan is Central Park. There is just something so calming and inspiring about walking around the park, thinking about how many times it has been featured in some of my favorite movies, thinking about my own dreams and goals, and of course capture the moments on my phone camera.

NYC Sky

Sometimes the sky in NYC (as probably anywhere else) is just unbelievably beautiful. Here are a few photographs of the different shades the Manhattan sky can be.

Christmas in Philadelphia

At usually, I spent Christmas in Philadelphia, visiting my parents and celebrating this wonderful holiday with them. Here is a quick summary of our holiday.