DESERT SHENNANIGANS

Remember when I went to Palm Springs almost two months ago? If you follow me on Instagram, you probably remember this all too well. So why am I only posting about the glorious trip now? I would really love to blame it on a "busy schedule," but lets be honest, I've done nothing but go to the gym and watch lots of Netflix since I got back from Japan two weeks ago.

One might ask what possesses people to do a desert vacation in the middle of summer.

I, too, asked myself this question quite a few times during the days leading up to the trip. But with the promise of a pool, air conditioning, and amazing shoot locations, my friend Georgia and I set out.

Very wind. Much racy. Much Calvin Klein.

This trip was INSANELY fun. Like, more amazing than I ever expected it would be. While our initial plans were to stay at the Saguaro Hotel, it came to my attention that you have to be 21 to check-in, which I am not. So with only an hour left to cancel the hotel booking before cancellation fees (aka the full cost of the room) would be charged, I rushed to find an alternative place for us to stay.

Without thinking, I clicked on the first available airbnb room with an opening. All I can say is, unexpected changes to an initial plan can actually be a good thing. Our stay with airbnb at 

The Wesley

 was absolutely amazing. For an incredible price of $130 a night, we stayed in beautifully furnished room with a couch and lounge area, great TV, king bed, beautiful bathroom, fully-outfitted kitchen, AND a private patio. Oh, and we also had full access to a beautiful pool, all the trendy pool floaties one could hope for (they had the donut one!!!), beautiful canopied lounge chairs, and the kindest hosts. I could go on and on.

After floating around in our amazing pool and cooling off in our beautifully decorated room, we set out for an evening shoot a little ways out of town. We were really going for that road trip/middle-of-nowhere vibe.

Take two girls who love fashion, photography, and Instagram, and what do you get? Two girls who spend hours running through the desert in their Calvin Kleins, sprinting across the highway and gushing about how beautiful dusk light is. We really looked like a pair of idiots out there, but we had the best time. No one got run over, either, which was really somewhat of a miracle.

On our second and last day in Palm Springs, we decided to venture further out to Salvation Mountain, an art installation created over the course of 28 years by Leonard Knight. This piece was truly incredible. In between trying to not pass out from the heat and wiping buckets of sweat from our bodies, we couldn't help but gape at the immense size of it. It's not even just the main "mountain" part. There are caves, with a million and one nooks and crannies, all painted and decorated with care.

So the next time you have the opportunity to drive a few hours out of the way and into the wild...go for it. (Also, make sure to invite me. Because I really want to get back out there.)

Tee - Brandy Melville |

Skirt - Topshop

|

Lingere - Calvin Klein

| Jacket - Levis (thrifted)

SOHO DREAMS

I know that, on my Instagram, I promised I was done posting pictures from New York...but I never said I wouldn't continue posting about my trip on here!

See what I did there?

I don't know if any of you are Pinterest-lovers, but if you are, grab a box of tissues now. Because you aren't ready for this.

One of the first boards I created when I started my Pinterest account maybe five years ago was my "Dream House" board (

take a look if you dare

). It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that such perfect living quarters exist. Like...you're seriously telling me that, somewhere out there, there's a beautiful loft space overlooking Central Park, with floor-to-ceiling windows and to-die-for hardwood floors? I refused to believe these places actually existed.

And then, I visited

The Apartment by THE LINE

, and my Pinterest dreams became a reality.

The Apartment is a fully-furnished living space that really gives customers a taste of the SoHo lifestyle. Everything you see is available for purchase -- from the dainty cosmetics lining a sunny windowsill, to the clothes hanging in the walk-in closet, to the marble cheeseboards in the dining area.

I have honestly never been so in love with a living space my entire life. From the moment I walked in, all I wanted to do was spend hours walking around and seeing every single item in every single room. I contemplated just staying there, perhaps hiding in the bathtub and hoping no one would notice I was still there when it came time to close.

I mean, really though. See this clothing rack, filled with beautiful yet simple pieces, stationed right next to a pillowy bed atop a bohemian rug, the sun filtering through the large windows and tinting everything gold?

And who wouldn't want a walk-in closet with the aesthetic of a Hollywood star's wardrobe?!!

I'm not even exaggerating when I say there were tears in my eyes. Yes. A living space -- specifically, this one -- brought me to tears.

This is the dream. This is where I want to be one day.

I have no idea where I'll be in 5, 10 or 15 years. I have no way of knowing where I'll be, what I'll be doing, or how I'll be doing. It can be hard when you want something so badly -- when you know where you want to be but you don't exactly know how to get there. Nothing is for certain, but I'd like to think that with hard work and a bit of soul-searching, I'll one day live in a space like this one, with good company and a job I love. These are my SoHo dreams.

**I realize that that was a really dramatic (maybe even pretentious) ending to a blog post, so I'm just going to top this off with some food pics, because...well...food.

You know who does healthy food best? The Australians. I absolutely adore

Two Hands

in SoHo, with their sunny vibe and authentic (very Australian) employees and delicious bites.

And last thing -- there's really nothing better than a gourmet ice cream cone. Call me a food snob, but I LOVE gourmet ice cream. Sure, I'll occasionally dig into my personal pint of Ben&Jerry's Cherry Garcia, but give me some weird, pretentious-sounding flavors (like Earl Grey, or Lavender-Honey), and I'm 100% on-board.

Morgenstern's

is an adorable ice cream shop with a plethora of unique flavors. After much indecision, I settled for one scoop each of the Cardamom-Lemon Jam (is that food-snobby enough?) and Burnt Honey, all nicely tucked into a sugar cone. I even added some dark chocolate chunks in to make things even

more

interesting than they already were.

Moral of the story is: if you love ice cream, go to Morgenstern's for a unique experience (and the cutest little interior you've ever seen in your life).

And just to conclude and highlight my major points here:

  1. The Apartment by THE LINE is the most beautiful apartment I've ever seen, and I will do everything within my ability to one-day live somewhere like it.
  2. Australians make great food. Like, really, really great food.
  3. Morgenstern's does gourmet ice cream best.

NEW YORK - DAY 4

I'm going to start this post with an apology: I sincerely apologize to all those follow me on Instagram, and who read this blog, who have seen nonstop uploads of pictures from my trip to New York, which at this point, ended almost three weeks ago. You might say I have somewhat of an obsession with the city. We're all I a little crazy, I guess.

That being said, here goes a super belated post about day 4 in the "city that never sleeps."

I spent the second day of my trip in Brooklyn, where I visited a flea market-type indoor shopping spot. It was there that I found the

Fig Collective

. And I'm so glad that I did.

My eye was immediately caught by the most incredible bomber (besides the

rose gold Acne Studios bomber...I swear, I cry every time I see it

) I have ever seen. The perfect shade of green - something between forest and olive. I tried to tear myself away as soon as I heard the price was $200 (*wait, I just looked it up online and retail is $260???!!!!).

After the devil and angel on my shoulder bantered for a bit, I was able to talk the shop owner into letting me buy the jacket for $180, no tax. I was actually pretty surprised with my bartering skills.

Fast-forward to Day 4, when I went to the Fig Collective showroom in Brooklyn to pick up my baby (the bomber; I do NOT have a child).

From the showroom, we went to Toby's Estate, where I ordered a Roast Turkey Melt with mustard creamed kale, Gouda, and maple sriracha. Heavenly. I expected the sandwich to be really heavy, but it was surprisingly light thanks to thin but crispy slices of Pullman bread.

When you're thinking about that goal summer bod, but you're also thinking about all the delicious food out there...like this roast turkey melt with mustard creamed kale, smoked Gouda and maple sriracha from @tobysbrooklyn... #thestruggle
A photo posted by Caitlin (@caitlinntayy) on Apr 12, 2015 at 11:16am PDT

(Also I am SO sorry the embedded Instagram picture isn't centered. It's bugging me SOOOO much, but I don't know how to fix it :( Someone who knows coding, please help!)

Out of all the amazing cafes, restaurants and other eateries I visited in New York,

Toby's Estate

is definitely the one I miss most. The coffee was flawless, the food menu diverse yet simple, and interior nothing short of perfect. In all honestly, I would have had absolutely no problem living there.

Like in the coffee shop.

I never thought I would say a coffee shop represents everything I want in my future living space, but here we are. 

From our coffee stop, we decided to play tourist and headed to the High Line. The weather was perfect - clear blue skies and warm if you stood in the sunlight (but frigid in the shadows). I was actually surprised by how long the High Line was. I don't remember the total distance, but I think we walked something like 20 blocks each way (that might be completely off, but my point is that our walk on the High Line was the fastest we traveled, even considering car and subway rides, the entire trip)?? It was actually somewhat surreal because there was so much greenery along the High Line, that it was as if we had traveled to some European countryside. It felt nothing like New York, and yet, the apartment buildings on either side brought us back to reality. Very cool.

NEW YORK - DAY 3

When you hear the words "Spring Break," many things come to mind, including, but not limited to the following:

1) James Franco's character in

Spring Breakers

 creepily saying, "sprang break forever"

2) A week of questionable levels of alcohol consumption in Miami or Cabo.

3) Generally just getting very intoxicated

4) Getting the chance to work on the tan that you're pretty sure you once had, but which has somehow faded to a pale, ashy shade over the winter...

5) NOT SCHOOL.

I'm still asking myself why, when my friend who attends Columbia asked me to go to a class with her, I agreed. What was I thinking??!!!

I somehow convinced myself to get up at 8:45 in the morning and make my way uptown in the freezing cold (No, seriously. The second I stepped outside the apartment to head to the subway, my eyes started watering. It was

that

 cold).

After a torturous two hours of listening (but not really) to a woman talk about fossils and geology and something about chemistry, I could officially say I had attended a class at Columbia. Worth it? Maybe not.

Hungry from all the time I had spent listening (or rather, not) to a lecture about rocks and who knows what else, I was excited to meet up with my cousin for lunch at

Sarabeth's

, one of New York's most well-known (an somewhat bougie) brunch spots.

We decided to split the avocado toast and coconut-rum waffle. So healthy, right? I mean, avocado has great fats in it...and coconut is also good for you...and um...rum is uh...good for your happiness?

I was somewhat let down by my experience at Sarabeth's. After hearing and reading so many rave reviews, I was expecting a lot. I mean, the food was pretty good. The avocado toast was topped with feta, which was delicious, and the coconut-rum waffle was a cool twist on a traditional breakfast item, topped with mango-pineapple jam, toasted coconut and rum syrup. But the service was terrible. Absolutely awful. In conclusion, the food didn't disappoint, but I would rather have my bougie brunch experience somewhere where the waiter actually asks how we're doing and doesn't throw the check down on the table. Yikes. I said that.

As if we hadn't already stuffed ourselves at Sarabeth's, we headed directly to

Lady M

. Lady M is known for their mille crepe cakes, which I had known about for a long time, but had never gotten around to tasting. Apparently, Lady M has locations in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, so I really don't have an excuse for why I haven't gone yet. I guess it's because I'm not really a cake person? I'd much rather go for an awesome ice cream cone, or a super fudgy brownie, or a chewy chocolate chip cookies.

This place made me a believer, though. After much debating, my cousin and I decided to share the green tea mille crepe and the chocolate-raspberry torte. I don't know why we thought we were going to finish both. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.

There's no exaggerating when it comes to Mille Crepes - Lady M does it best. As delicious as it was, I couldn't even finish the green tea crepe cake and raspberry-chocolate bar I split with my cousin 🙊
A photo posted by Caitlin Taylor (@foodieescapades) on Mar 30, 2015 at 4:38pm PDT

When we could finally breathe again (we actually sat at our table for a solid half hour until we didn't feel like we were going to throw up from being so full), we headed to the New York Public Library to take some pictures. In my daily Instagram scouting for cool spots to eat or shoot at around New York, I stumbled upon pictures from the library and knew I had to go. To get that picture. Not to read. From the very moment I knew about the New York Public library, I was attracted to the beautiful chandeliers and detailed architecture, immediately excited by the prospect of all the incredible pictures I could take there. Not once did the amazing collection of books contained within come to mind.

What does this say about me??

Ok ok ok last pic for today, I promise. Sorry for the spam. Blame it on New York.
A photo posted by Caitlin (@caitlinntayy) on Mar 25, 2015 at 6:37pm PDT

Bomber Jacket - Topshop

|

Sunnies - Toms

|

Beanie - Mary Meyer Clothing