A Weekend of Firsts’

HI!! I know I was absent for a hot second from this little blog of mine – but I was running around doing a whole bunch of stuff and want to give you all a look at what I’ve been up to.

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get a quick workout in at the gym before volunteering a little later on in the day. As part of my ‘New Years Resolution’ I wanted to volunteer more, and to accomplish this, I signed up through an organization called New York Cares. NY Cares gives volunteers the opportunity to give their time at soup kitchens, animal shelters, after school programs and more. It just so happened that I had my Saturday free, and signed up to volunteer at a shelter that houses families trying to get back on their feet.

The experience was wonderful – it was everything I wanted and more. The other volunteers and I (there were about seven of us total) were each partnered with a child and took them to the library for an hour. The child either read to us or we read to them — I tried my very best to help the cute little girl I was partnered up with, Fatima, to enhance her reading skills and encourage her. After the library, we took the kids back to the shelter for a pizza lunch and to play some games. My UNO skills are very rusty.

That’s Fatima and I in the above picture! I promised her I would print it out for her so she could have it next time I volunteer at the shelter It was a very humbling experience and I am already looking forward to my next day of volunteering.

After leaving the shelter, I headed back to my apartment to get ready to take a trip to Jersey for the night! My friend Eva, her two sisters, and I all wanted to watch the Beyonce interview with Oprah as well as Beyonce’s documentary, ‘Life is But a Dream’. Needless to say, Beyonce definitely runs the world. After our girly night, we decided to head out for some drinks and wound up having a great night filled with dancing.

Upon arriving back to my apartment on Sunday, I quickly got ready for a brunch that Gracie was hosting through her organization, FreelyBe. I’ve been blogging for about two years now and following Gracie’s blog for maybe three – and this was the first blogger hosted brunch I ever attended!

The brunch was held at The Ainsworth and I ordered the Baked Eggs which was two eggs, sunny side up atop some sort of spinach/tomato mix and a piece of sour dough bread underneath. I finished both eggs and the spinach/tomato combination and the flavors were amazing. I really enjoyed my choice for brunch. I have to say, it was so nice to meet a fellow blogger in person. Gracie is such an inviting and kind person, and it was worth it to go to a brunch where I didn’t know a single person! I can’t wait to attend more Freelybe events in the future.

Now it’s Monday and luckily enough I have the day off from work so I’m about to go do some shopping! I am very good at shopping

Now share with ME! What have YOU been up to?