a week in my [charmed] New York City life

work, play, West Village Book Club, and everything in between (with timestamps)

happy Easter, friends!

whether you’re celebrating or not, I hope you have a gorgeous day with your loved ones on the horizon. I’m started my Easter Sunday in bed working on this edition of The Sunday Series, followed by a coffee walk to check out the West Village Easter parade before stopping at my beloved Casa Magazines. later this afternoon, my friend

Caylee Ashwell

is generously hosting Easter brunch for our

West Village Book Club

crew.

in today’s special send, I’m trying a little something new inspired by my friend Meghan who pens

The Noteworthy Edit

as well as well as running her lifestyle brand wit & whimsy and her travel company, En Route to Rêverie. she recently did a A Week in My (NYC) Life and I loved getting insight into how she runs her days. she’s one of the people in my life who I’m constantly like, “how does she manage to do everything she does?!” so it was fun to see her break down what a week at home for her looks like.

on a similar note, someone recently said to me, “I don’t understand how you do so much!” and I realized that we are all just basically wondering how the hell everyone around us is managing???? so today’s edition is meant to be a fun peek behind the curtain. since getting into this level of detail on my day-to-day life is a bit more personal, I’ll be reserving today’s post for my paid subscribers. I’m excited to get into it with you, including curated photo galleries to showcase the little things that compel me to pull out my iPhone to document and romanticize the everyday.

on that note, to access the complete version of this and future posts, upgrade today! paid subscribers of The Sunday Series unlock an exclusive section of paywalled content in each send, access to the full archives (including Your Ultimate Paris Guide, 100 Hotels I’m Dying to Check Into, My Holy Grail Rules for an Overnight Flight, 31 Ideas for Your Next Birthday Trip, A Playbook for How to Make Friends As An Adult, and 16 Prompts for a Personal Quarterly Review), the commenting feature on each post, exclusive giveaways, and more. plus, your support directly helps ensure this newsletter can continue to grow! subscriptions are $8/month or less than $7/month if paid annually—also known as less than one fancy Starb*cks order. but don’t let me be the one to tell you why you should upgrade! I’ll leave that to a fellow reader…

"I decided to become a paid subscriber because I appreciate how much info you still give to free subscribers *before* they get to the paywalled part of your email. Counter-intuitive? Maybe! So often a writer turns on paid subs and EVERYTHING is behind the paywall. That's how I thought yours would be too, but I've been pleasantly surprised. It made me make the jump to converting to paid!" – Alison Z., paid subscriber of The Sunday Series

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Sunday, April 12th: Tribeca brunch and WVBC hosting prep

7:03a: my body clock has me up earlier than I’d like, but I didn’t go out last night (it rained all day!) so at least I’m not hungover. I start the morning as I do all mornings…beelining to the coffee maker and scrolling on my phone.

7:34a: laptop is open and I’m editing the draft of The Sunday Series that I thought was 90% done, but could easily take me another couple hours if I want to add in all the links that currently are on my radar. I do. I also go back and forth testing them all while I think about how people really have no idea how long this stuff takes!!!! but I guess that’s the point (to make it look effortless).

10:26a: I finally press “send” on my roundup of 26 little luxuries that make an outsized impact on my life, accompanied by spring sales I’m eyeing. plus, for my paid subscribers, a roundup of articles, podcasts, and Substacks I’m loving…

10:45a: I eat one of my go-to breakfasts—three scrambled eggs in two Siete almond flour tortillas with Cholula hot sauce.

11:02a: my apartment is clean but messy (different from dirty!) all at once, so I go on a putting-things-where-they-belong spree before diving into menu planning for West Village Book Club. I’m up to host tomorrow and I have a solid amount of provisions from the Union Square Greenmarket (ramps, parsley, lettuce, radishes, pesto, lemon curd etc.) but no where near an actual plan.

after scanning through some cookbooks and Pinterest, I land on the idea to do a starter of radishes and good French butter (the only kind that exists in my mind), caviar and chips, pesto and pasta, and cake for dessert. I’m not really a big recipe person as I cook a lot from intuition, but I pin this Mint-Pistachio Pesto Pasta with Lamb Meatballs recipe for inspo and am excited to bake this Lemon Pistachio Cake!!

12:43p: I’m dressed and ready to go to meet friends for a 1p brunch followed by a barrage of errands! I take the C train a few stops further downtown.

1:04p: arrive to Frenchette a few minutes late to see my Laura, her cousin Aubrey whom I adore, and Aubrey’s friend Shyann. we order the baguette with butter, quiche and a salad for posterity. but the real showstopper is the pancake!!!! it’s now on my mental list of top New York pancakes.

2:44p: brunch is wrapped and I have a short window before my workout class to squeeze in some hosting errands! I start by walking to CB2 to restock on some glassware.

2:59p: glassware in hand, I Uber back to the Village for my next stop which is Murray’s Cheese. I pick up castelvetrano olives, crème fraîche, two kinds of butter (beurre d’Isigny and Beurre de Rodolphe Le Meunier Baratte with Île de Ré salt), Peccorino Romano, and heavy cream.

3:08p: now it’s next door to my FAVORITE BODEGA IN THE CITY. Bleecker Farm has the most insanely affordable prices for good produce, and I always wind up here when in a pinch. I pick up [more] parsley, chives, fresh mint, lemon, snap peas, and baking soda.

3:31p: I walk down the street (but not without peering into Bradley Cooper’s windows as I walk by on reflex) to Big Night for candlesticks, a caviar spoon, and a refill of Graza olive oil.

4:02p: I’m feeling like a capital “A” Adult as I walk into Petrossian to pick up 50g of caviar. my first time buying caviar to serve to guests and it feels so special!!!!

4:18p: as always, I’m running tight on time, but I’ve got just enough to drop the million shopping bags I’ve accumulated, put my provisions in the fridge, change into a workout outfit, and grab a water bottle before heading out for class. I take out a salmon filet from the freezer before leaving for class so I have something in motion for dinner.

4:30p: Liftonic full body with my favorite instructor, Rachael, kicks my ass.

5:28p: I walk out to the sunshine and feel like we’ve finally gotten through what was a long and hard winter—I text the girls a really gushy message to say as much before hitting up Gourmet Garage for Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, Torres’ Sea Salt chips, buttermilk, Topo Chico, and English muffins. ESSENTIALS.

6:04p: I shower, cook the salmon, and sit at my computer to try and bang out some work that’s looming on my to-do list. even though everything on deck this week is going to be fun, the Sunday Scaries™ are setting in because the amount of work I also need to get done feels daunting.

8:11p: work break to make the lemon pistachio cake!!! a batter test indicates it’s gonna be a good one.

11:07p: I finally manage to stop scrolling my phone, read a few pages of my book (Just Want You Here by Meredith Turits) and shut it down for the night.

Monday, April 13th: work, nails, and hosting WVBC!!!!!

6:13a: I wake up STRESSED about everything I have to accomplish today. I’ve got my laptop with a cup of coffee in bed with me and within 15 minutes of waking up, I’m laying out an email campaign that has to go out for us on Wednesday. I accept that I won’t be exercising today.

8:01a: every Monday at 8a, I have a standing therapy appointment. I’m grateful it’s virtual for the sheer convenience, not to mention the grounding it provides me. I’ve been meeting with the same therapist for so many years now that I don’t need to overexplain anything. she knows the questions to ask and is able to help me work through what I’m struggling with at any given time. such a gift.