NYC Will Always Have My Heart

I cannot believe it, but my NYC summer experience has come to an end. Unbelievable, right?

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New York City became my home this summer and I feel like I legitimately left a piece of my heart there. When I first arrived in the city, I kept saying “I think I am going to have a great summer but I definitely do not see myself here after graduation.” WELL, I WAS WRONG. This summer my heart grew fonder as the days went on.

From learning the subway to mastering the different areas of Manhattan, to becoming closer with girls in the classes and internship to discovering so many amazing restaurants, my summer in NYC is one I will never forget.

I lived in the Upper West Side, which I always compared to the suburbs of the city. My internship was in the Flatiron District and my classes were in Midtown. I loved my classes and I definitely learned a lot of about myself and what I want out of my future at my internship.

I interned at a fashion PR firm, which was definitely an experience I always dreamed about. For the past three years I have said my dream was to work in fashion PR, but after interning in a fashion PR firm, I learned that I LIKE fashion PR, but I don’t LOVE it. I am so grateful for the experience I had at the agency I interned for. I was able to work at both New York Men’s Day (the opening event for NYFW) and at New York Men’s Fashion Week.

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This summer was amazing, and I think one of my absolute favorite things was getting to try all the different trendy foods that were all over Facebook and the internet this summer. For example, Frosé, the roll-up ice cream and I went to the bakery , Union Fare, which sells the rainbow croissants, but they were sold out by the time I got there so I tried their cookies and cream croissant, which was just as fabulous!

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Exploring was also amazing. You would think in the eight weeks I was there, I would have been able to do everything I wanted to, but I didn’t. If I did not have class or my internship, I probably could have, but I know that I will definitely have to do the things I wanted to do this summer first as soon as I am back in the city!

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Another thing I loved about being in NYC, everyone wants to come and visit! My sister, Payton and best friend, Amanda came twice, my friend Mary came with Payton and Amanda on their second trip and my friend Erin came up for a weekend trip. The FUNNIEST thing was Erin and I sleeping in my twin sized bed in my dorm room, haha!

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During my friend’s visits we explored all around Manhattan and went to Brooklyn! In Brooklyn, we adventured in Williamsburg and DUMBO, which is in the picture below.

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DUMBO: Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass 

Dumbo was gorgeous! The architecture, the view of the Manhattan Skyline and the view of the Brooklyn bridge are out of this world. The area is located right in the middle of the Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn bridge.

This summer also included going to Her Conference. Her Conference is a conference hosted by Her Campus, an online magazine for women in college. I am a writer for Her Campus Kent State and I am also in their blogging network! They hosted a kick-off event, hosted by Rebecca Minkoff. I attended the event and had the chance to meet her. I fan-girled so hard! She was so sweet and even signed the inside of the bag I purchased that evening.

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I cannot believe all of the things I did within these past eight weeks. These were just a few highlights from my summer. I truly cannot believe this summer is almost over. Summer 2016 is definitely my favorite summer yet!

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BYOB- Build Your Own Birchbox! + A Giveaway!

Birchbox is the queen of all monthly boxes! We all know how popular these monthly boxes have become over the past year, and there is no stopping them.

I am fascinated how Birchbox continuously revolutionizes the monthly boxes and how customers try new products. I know so many who subscribe to their boxes, and now I am one of those people after visiting their store in Soho. In the last week, I have visited the store THREE times…you could say I am addicted.

This past time, I went with my two new friends, Morgan  of Mostlymorgan.com and Lara of Seafoananddiamonds.com! We went and created our own, customized Birchboxes.

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Me, Morgan (Middle) and Lara (Right)! 

Let me just start off by saying how adorable the Birchbox store is! Take a look at these pictures:

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Can you see all of the yellow? You all know I am in LOVE with the interior of the store, I mean how could I not be? It is YELLOW and MAKEUP!

After Morgan, Lara and I wondered around the store for a little bit, we decided to get to cracking and build our own boxes. Let’s take a look at the process~

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First, you choose one of the extremely cute box to put all of your items in, I chose the one in the middle!

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Second, look through all of the products and choose one from each other their sections: makeup, hair, fragrance, skincare and body.

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If you ever get the experience to go to the store, you will need at least 30 minutes to build a box because they have so many great products, it’s insane.

Here is a preview of the boxes that are full of sample size products for you to choose from!

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Birchbox has so many amazing options to choose from, especially things that you would be too nervous to buy a large bottle of, like a bee venom face mask.

We had a blast making each of our boxes. It was difficult to choose from each area of products. The only area that was not difficult for me was the hair section, because as most of you know, I get my hair washed once a week, so I do not need my own shampoo and conditioner etc., but I got this amazing hair tie made by L. Erickson.

At the end of a really fun hour and a half in the store, we had three amazing completed boxes! Lara’s boyfriend joined us and even made his own customized box in the Birchbox Men section of the store!

My box included: a Banana Hand Milk cream, a Stila liquid lipstick in the shade Fiore, a Ceramidin liquid skin moisturizer, which I used this morning and it is AMAZING, my L. Erickson hair tie and a Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot perfume.

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We love our boxes so much that we have decided to gift one to our amazing followers because we love you all so much! <3

We are gifting one of the Radiant Finish Kits. The picture below describes all of the products inside of the box. The summer is the perfect time to have that dewy, luminous skin that we all want! It even has a full-size beauty blender!

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To enter to win the Radiant Finish Kit all you have to do is enter down below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will start today at 6 p.m. and go until July 13 until 6 p.m.!

We are so excited about this giveaway and we hope you all are as well. I will announce the winner on July 13 on my Instagram: @Danieminor13.

After our trip to Birchbox, we had an amazing afternoon full of yummy food and photoshoots! I am so glad that this summer I met these two amazing women! I cannot see where the future takes our friendship.

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Cannot wait to announce the winner of our giveaway!

XODanieSparkle

Defining Danie takes NYC week 1

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So I know a lot of people who follow me on Instagram have been wondering WHAT IS DANIE DOING IN NYC?! I am not in my usual home, Annapolis for the summer because I am interning and taking classes at Kent State’s NYC Studio. I am taking a Fashion in the Media class and a tour class, where we get to tour around various places in NYC including The Met and the FFANY show. I am interning at the fashion PR agency, Agentry!

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Getting to know the city this week has been an event in itself. Being from right outside D.C., I am used to the city life, and I LOVE it, but being IN the city 24/7, it’s definitely an adjustment.

In addition to beginning my new classes and my new internship, week one has consisted of:

  • Finding amazing food on every corner of the city
  • Figuring out the Subway…the D.C. Metro is so much easier
  • Making some awesome friends at my internship
  • Attending a beautiful service at a new Synagogue
  • Attending a free preview of Ferris Bueler’s Day Off with a friend I haven’t seen in over a year! (I also had never seen the movie…I know I’m awful!)
  • Finding an adorable, on-the-road Flower truck called Uprooted (I posted an adorable picture on Twitter! @danieminor13)
  • And the coolest… My Roomie and I stumbled upon the Tony Awards and watched all the celebrities go into the show!

 

I cannot wait to see what the rest of the summer holds for me! I will be posting weekly updates of my time, so check back on Sunday evenings for weekly recaps.

XODanieSparkle

 

Traveling made easy to NYC!

So as many of you know that follow me on social media (if you don’t follow your girl @danieminor13!), this past weekend I went to Her Conference!

Traveling is one of my favorite hobbies; going to events is another favorite of mine. This past weekend, I took an Amtrak Train to NYC where the conference was being held. Amtrak allowed me to combine my two favorite things! 

Her Conference is a conference put together by the staff at Her Campus. Her Campus is an online magazine for “collegiette” women! Along with being an online magazine, they also have a blogger network, which I’m apart of.

So, when they announced the dates for the conference, which is held in NYC, I immediately purchased a two-day ticket. At the time it didn’t matter to me how I got to NYC, where I was staying or if anyone I knew was also going to the conference that I knew;I knew I was going! 

A month before the conference I had the place to stay, but still hadn’t locked down how I was getting to NYC… then Amtrak popped into the equation!  Continue reading

Holiday Travel Guide

traveling this holiday

Are you traveling this Holiday season? I am! I need to make sure that I am carrying everything I need with me to make sure that I have the best flight that I can have! I am going to have two carry-ons and a huge luggage!

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