oceanside.nu

A blog about my life…

07 May
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Weekend Away

I spent this weekend in Seattle with Matt. This photo was taken on Saturday afternoon which was basically the only day of my trip where we had really nice weather. This was my last weekend visit before the big move and I was stunned by how many times I have made the trip back and forth since August. I’ve gone for visits five times now and I also made a one way flight back home at the end of August, the day before Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast. And I have one more flight to go. It can’t happen soon enough for me. The whole flying 2500 miles once a month has become exhausting, not to mention really draining on my bank account.

Enough complaining! My trip was great, I got to see many of my favorite Seattle-ites and eat at tons of great restaurants. My favorite for this trip was Serious Pie, in Downtown Seattle. We went for the happy hour special and ate so much pizza. It was awesome and so delicious. If you’re looking for good pizza (and as an Italian American with roots in the Bronx I am always looking for good pizza) check this place out! Have the potato pizza and swoon. We also had great sushi and great thai food. The only thing I didn’t get to check off my wishlist was ice cream from Molly Moons. Next time.

I’m excited for my next trip. Not only because it will be my last and represent the culmination of a goal I set for myself, to leave NYC after graduation. I’m also excited because my little sister will be making the trip with me. I can’t wait to show her around and also to not fly by myself for once!

Exciting things are afoot. :)

02 May
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New Portfolio

AmandaLodi.Com is up and active!

12 April
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It’s official

So it’s official, I’m moving to Seattle in June! I gave my roommate notice, my plane ticket has been purchased, and I’m going out to the West Coast in almost exactly 2 months. I can’t believe it’s really happening! :) This move will be a huge change for me (obviously) but I’m pretty excited about it. New York City has really been exhausting for me, especially this past year and I know I need to make a big change. I’m excited because this is a new adventure and I’m going to be able to do this with Matt. I’ve missed him so much this past year and it’s been really hard to be separated from him for such a long time. I’ll post pics and stories from my trip later, but the beauty of the Pacific Northwest definitely helped me with my decision.

04 April
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Traveling

I’m traveling off to Seattle tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it as always, and today I took part in my favorite pre-flight ritual ‘The Buying of Many Snacks’. I swear I go to Duane Reade at least 4 times in the days leading up to my flight to make sure I have enough food to get me to the airport where I then buy snacks from the Hudson News stand to supplement the many snacks in my bag. Sometimes I think that I need to have enough food to last just in case the zombie apocalypse happens when I’m in the air and the plane can’t touch down for fear of infection. Yeah. I’m a real treasure to fly with.

31 March
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Looking forward

Here is a question Matt always asks me. ‘What are you looking forward to right now?’ The right now part can be optional. The thing I’m most looking forward to? My trip in a few days out to Seattle to see Matt. We have a bunch of stuff planned that involves our future in the PNW but here are a few things I’m looking forward to beyond that.

1. Going for a run around Green Lake and then getting Zoëyogurt. I love this stuff. Really I love any pay by the pound and put whatever you want on top frozen yogurt place, but this place is especially good. And add in the reward after running and it’s practically guilt free. Yay! Hopefully this trip it will be warm enough for yogurt.

2. Also in the world of food and drink is getting coffe from both Fuel and  Zoka. I’m currently working my way through a bag of Zoka’s Tangletown Blend, and I’ve been dreaming about the latte I had from Fuel in February for almost two months! Aaah, I love coffee so much and there’s nothing like Seattle for coffee.

3. Working on all of my projects in a super tranquil setting. Seattle is worlds away from Brooklyn in terms of stress and general unpleasantness. One of the things I want to do most this trip is work on my Senior Thesis and Portfolio for FIT. I feel like I’ll have some great bursts of inspiration and moments of productiveness.

4. Celebrating Passover. This is my favorite holiday (and I’m not even Jewish). I started celebrating it when Matt and I started dating and I love cooking the Seder meal and then eating it. I’m so grateful that Matt and I can be together for Passover this year, even though our relationship is long distance at the moment it makes me so happy to know that we can still be together for important holidays.

5. Exploring Seattle on my own. I love cities. There’s nothing I love more then feeling the energy of people around me and getting to understand the soul of a place. So this trip I’m planning on doing some exploring on my own.

6. Hanging out with Matt. I saved the best one for last. I miss Matt so much pretty much constantly and I love our visits. Even though it’s become less painful for us to be apart I still look forward to just being with him and doing couple things with him.

So that’s my list!

25 March
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Hello Again

I know, I shouldn’t even be allowed to have a blog. I never update! But my life super crazy right now. I’m preparing for a few major changes in my life and doing so has taken most of my energy. I’m in the midst of my last semester ever as a student at FIT. After five years working towards my BFA it’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that this is it. FIT has been my Hogwarts, and now the journey is almost over. I’ll miss a lot about the experience but I won’t miss the way that I had almost no free time from the minute I started school there. Looking forward to guilt free weekends.

Right now I’m working on my senior thesis, an exercise in combining storytelling and graphic design. It’s forced me to work on my typography and my writing, two things I’m really passionate about. As a designer I’m always searching for the story that I’m telling with my work, the journey that I’m taking a viewer on. As a writer I’m always searching for the structure of a piece, the hidden grid present in the work if you will. Working on this project has let me combine the two things I’m most into. I’ll miss working on this piece when it’s done.

21 November
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Mini mini mania

I was absolutely transfixed by my friends mini loaf pan last weekend. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the tiny cakes and breads she could make. Cakes that were perfect for sending in little care packages to special people.  You could eat one for breakfast without feeling guilty about eating a whole cake! Perfection in mini-ness. And then it hit me. Mini loaf pans meant… MINI MEAT LOAF. Yes! Little tiny meaty treats. I was sold but unable to justify buying one of these.

Well, I guess it’s Brooklyn to the rescue? I had to go to Williamsburg for kitty supplies and was unable to resist slipping into Whisk . Only to browse, I told myself repeatedly. Ha, yeah right! That store is designed to make me covet every single thing inside, especially the individual loaf pans they had for sale. Yeah, I caved but you would too.

I know you want one too! For mini meatloaf…

 

19 November
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Brooklyn Bridge and Beyond

Is there a better way to spend Friday then by taking in this view?

I don’t think so! We had class at Brooklyn Bridge Park yesterday, it was lovely and clear but also incredibly cold. I love taking walks through Brooklyn Heights, it’s such a great neighborhood and the architecture is stunning. Love the old 19th century brownstones and the narrow streets. Brownstone Brooklyn is a dream, but I don’t think I’ll ever make it there. A girl can hope though.

This morning I ran for a full 25 minutes. I’m so happy with myself right now! Now I have a ton of energy for the rest of the day. Breakfast looked like this this morning:

Oatmeal with bananas and cranberries and dried kiwis. So good! Onto the rest of my day, which is packed with stuff, MOMA, NYPL, movies. Can’t wait!

18 November
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The harried life of a design student

This is my life right now:

I hit 1100 words on my thesis today. It felt great! Only 1900 words to go. :) I love my subject matter, the idea of integrating design and typography into storytelling appeals to all of my creative interests. I feel like I still have a ton of research to do at this point, but my direction is becoming clearer. I love Mark Z. Danielewski, working on this thesis only helps me appreciate his work more and more.

Here’s me waiting for my night class. I was in my favorite spot at FIT which kind of looks like this:

How perfect is that? It’s just a little ledge in one of the buildings. In other news Team Baby Moses (named for my cat Baby Moses) fought a really good fight tonight in the epic Javascript/CSS battle. Too bad we were bested! I love learning new things, especially when it comes to code and web technologies.

Man, I feel like this week will never stop.

13 November
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A good morning

I got stranded in Jersey City last night! I was visiting with friends and when it was time for me to make my way back to Brooklyn the PATH train wasn’t running. Luckily my friends are made of awesome and win so I crashed on the couch. This minor inconvenience allowed me to have a really nice morning walking along 13th street in Manhattan.

I got some coffee!More coffee

I got some coffee and it was great! Fall in NYC has come in really slowly so we’ve had some really nice weather.

I love this part of Manhattan. I find myself walking along 13th street all the time now. Also as an added bonus I found Momofuku Milk Bar’s new location. Score! Cookies whenever I want.

Delicious Cake

And then I had my friends delicious mini pound cake. So cute! So tasty!