How did I get here? And where am I going?

Image by Chris Piascik

I’m a frequent visitor to IFB for their great posts on blogging. This week, they posted a prompt that is really quite relevant to me right now: why did you start your blog?

Between working full-time, keeping up with my friends and family, and doing all of those boring adult things (paying bills, doing laundry, cooking dinner, etc.), I often let my blog go stagnant for weeks at a time. Lately I’ve been trying to work harder at building my blog, focusing my content, and really making it a reflection of who I am, how I got here, and where I’m going.

When I first started my blog, I was on the verge of graduating from college and had just secured a new job and apartment in New York. It was a really exciting time in my life because I felt like I had finally crossed the border into ADULTHOOD, and I was filled with nothing but hope for what was to come. I didn’t really have a clear vision of what I wanted the blog to be, but I posted occasionally about things that I did, places I went, and (of course) clothes that I liked.

Going back today to think about what my vision (or non-vision) was for my blog has been really refreshing. I’ve realized that my content here hasn’t always been a true reflection of who I am, and maybe it’s time to change that. I have looked to a lot of very successful blogs over the years and wondered why I couldn’t be more like them — to have the money for travel and pretty clothes, to live in a perfectly styled apartment that provides a beautiful backdrop for photos, or to have hours each week to test out new recipes and crafts to feature. But that’s OK, because that is just not who I am at this point in my life.

I want to be able to connect with people here who, like me, are balancing the things they want in life with reality. And more importantly, I want to be able to show people that there is a positive way to find a balance — whether it’s updating their wardrobe while staying on top of their student loan payments, or finding time to whip up something homemade and fabulous in their kitchen despite their 9-to-5. So, cheers to the future of City Coeur! Here’s hoping that I can bring back that same new-graduate hope to this blog years later!

New York City’s Turtle Infestation

Something that I have always loved about living in New York are the times when you see something completely unexpected. It can be as simple as a beautiful arrangement of flowers around the base of a tree in the middle of a sidewalk or an incredible mural in an alleyway, or it can be a bit more bizarre — take my knack for finding turtles.

Ok, so they aren’t real turtles. But twice now I have discovered turtles sculptures in odd places. I found this guy inside a sewer grate a few years ago. I wish I remember exactly where it was, but I can’t! I think it was somewhere on a side street down in SoHo.

Then last week I was sort of wandering around my new neighborhood on the Upper West Side when I spotted this guy chained down in an alley! I’m not sure if the owners were worried that he would  be stolen or that he’d run away, but I wish I could take him home with me!