After driving across the country and figuring out food and comfort to our best abilities on the road – we are now settling in and finding our best picks of localness in our new neighborhood – such as a cleaner’s, cobbler, grocery, yoga, take-out, dinner and breakfast restaurants, etc.

This being our first weekend as New York residents we took a full advantage of creating a perfect New York Saturday – starting with a delicious brunch at Balthazar (I had the Norwegian salmon poached egg dish), followed by home shopping at ABC Home. We ended up purchasing a bed and other home accessories, including beautiful crystal wine glasses that we spotted on the clearance shelf. The world of ABC is simply magical – six floors of beautiful furniture and home accessories. We had our heart set on a Jonathan Adler bed – but once we saw this one we were smitten, a camel color velvet headboard, just stunning. After more shopping, we made a visit to the Soft Serve Fruit – a mouthwatering vegan “ice-cream” place where I had a banana/blueberry swirl, made with only three ingredients: fruit, water, and a touch of raw cane sugar – I mean! After a full day out and about in the most fabulous city in the world, we settled in at home with a bottle of wine and a falafel from Mamoun’s.

When I woke up this Sunday morning and saw that it was raining outside I felt all cozy and fuzzy inside. There’s something about rainy Sundays that allow for solid writing time – followed by going back to bed with a book and calling it a day.  And yet, feeling so giddy about this new change in our lives, we had to step outside and have a little taste of the rainy day. I threw on my Marni jumpsuit (shirt attached to jean), Celine wedges, African beads (my daughter brought me from Zambia) – grabbed my brown Chanel classic and an umbrella. We walked to our local Citarella and bought ingredients to make a salad at home – including romaine lettuce, sardines, Italian butter beans, tomatoes, avocados and eggs.  On the way back home we peeked at menus of a handful of restaurants – since we haven’t made our dinner plans yet.  Bon appetit – and have a fabulous Sunday!

Xo, AR