Checklist for Bringing the Suburbs to the City

Dalas skyline and suburbs

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I grew up in the suburbs so moving to the city was a bit of a culture shock for me. It’s always a bit of worry when you’re moving to a completely different town or city. You have no idea what to expect.

Grow your own vegetables – My dad has a garden that is his pride and joy in the summer time. He grows tomatoes, kale, basil, peppers, zucchini and lots of other veggies. So going outside to grab an eggplant or a squash was super easy growing up. But now in the city it’s a bit more challenging to grow a garden.

Host a garden party on your fire escape – Okay, so it won’t be your typical garden party with gazebos and fancy hats – but it is possible to bring a relaxed, outdoor vibe to a fire escape or roof deck near you.

Sign up for a farm share – To get that home grown feel in the city, why not join a CSA. Farm shares work with family farms to deliver organic and naturally-grown produce from a small local farm directly to your door. The shares allow you to become a “member” of the farm for a season. It’s great because as the harvest changes you get to discover plenty of new tastes and foods.

Watch an outdoor movie – You can’t get much more suburban the laying in the grass, stargazing and watching a movie with friends. Now you can experience this in the city too. Bryant Park runs a summer film festival every year showing all of your favorite classics.

How do you bring the suburbs into your life?

5 Things to Say to A Celebrity

English: Gayle King at the Vanity Fair kickoff...

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In my career, I’m fortunate to have a ton of opportunities to meet interesting and influential people. Every once in a while, this includes a celebrity! When I knew I would be meeting Betty White, I was so excited because I’ve always been a huge “Golden Girls” fan.  I actually got the chance to chat with her and even appear in a segment with her quickly.  It was lovely and she was fantastic.

However, I don’t always keep it so cool when I meet famous people. I’ve been a fan of Oprah my entire life but when I saw Gayle King in an elevator, I completely froze! I didn’t want to blurt out, “I love Oprah too!” so I said nothing.

It can just be so awkward! When you meet a celebrity, you know so much about their career and their personal lives but you are a complete stranger to them. No one wants to be asked about their divorce or have someone they don’t give them career advice, and I imagine celebrities feel the same way.

So what do you say? I made a list of specific questions to ask Oprah in the past, but now I realize I needed a more general list in case I ever run into Stedman or Gayle!  To avoid being rude, embarrassing myself, or saying nothing, I came up with this list of things to say when meeting a celebrity: Read more

List of TV Shows Based on Books

9781476735481If one of your favorite books has ever been made into a movie, you’ve been in that uncomfortable state of great anticipation. Part of you can’t wait for the movie to come out, and to see the book come to life. But part of you wants it never to come out, so that the story will remain untainted by Hollywood — when the movie version ruins the story is just the worst! Like with The Other Boleyn Girl: Loved the book, lukewarm on the movie.

Recently — books are being adapted into TV shows, too. In some ways, I think this works a little better, especially for book series — there’s less pressure to fit everything in a 90 minute movie. So, of course, I made a list of TV shows based on books that you might want to check out! If you don’t have any TV streaming subscriptions, you could always see if you can find any of these TV shows on a proxy site like pirateproxy, for example. These websites allow you to download the latest movies and TV shows on to your devices, so hopefully you will be able to find these shows to watch. Who knows, you might even be able to find some shows that you haven’t seen before, and you might even want to read the books afterwards if you enjoy them that much! Out of this list, which ones are your favorites?
  • The White Queen
  • Sex and the City
  • Game of Thrones
  • Friday Night Lights
  • Bones
  • Gossip Girl
  • True Blood
  • Dexter
  • Vampire Diaries
  • Sherlock
  • House of Cards
  • Pretty Little Liars
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How to Know You’re an Obsessive List Maker

Lists (8)A friend of mine shared a Buzzfeed list with me a while back: 27 Signs You Know You’re an Obsessive List Maker. As I read through the list, I realized that, as so many Buzzfeed lists uncannily do, nearly every item applied to me!

 

So, in true List Producer fashion, I decided to make a list of my own.

 

My List for Beating the Heat

Times Square, NYC

Times Square, NYC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Walking through NYC is basically like walking through pea soup these days. We’ve had several days of over 90 degree weather and I’ve had quiet enough.

Every TV station, including my own, is cover the heat. They have reporters in Central Park, at cooling centers, pools and local stores getting the pulse of the city.

One of the very first stories I covered as a summer intern at WLNY-TV was a heat wave. I was sent out with a videographer and had to ask people how they were “beating the heat.” So I hold a special place in my heart for heat stories. So what are you doing to stay cool?

  • Take advantage of the heat wave — Keep an eye out for special promotions. A lot of cities offer free public transportation during heat waves. Companies can have a few special offerings, too. NYSC is opening its doors to all visitors in the extreme heat. And JetBlue is offering some promo codes for up to 90% off when the temperature goes above 90 degrees. Read more