New York, New York....a look back

Well, this is certainly the week for introspection, isn't it? I'm sorry for the lack of foodstuffs-I completely understand if you want to skip reading through this long post. I promise I'll have more food for you soon.

But...today I am moving. I am leaving New York City. And this post is my goodbye letter, my look back at the past 5 and 1/2 years of my life that I've spent here. This is where I became an adult. This is where so much has happened, and I think it deserves a little walk down memory lane. (Note: this post is going to be missing so much. I don't think I could ever fully sum up my time here or accurately depict my feelings. But I'll just do my best. Plus, it's not going to include any pictures from my last couple weeks in NY-which sucks because I'm sure they're good ones. BUT I had to write this post in advance so. Yeah.)

The Cooking Actress' 3rd Blogaversary --Original Recipes round up!

WOW....3 years ago yesterday I hit publish on my first ever post on "The Cooking Actress". I was bored, lonely, obsessed with food and thought it might be fun. I tried to think of a unique name, and so I pulled The Cooking Actress out of my head. And I fully expected no one to read this.

3 years later I am in awe. I have made such an incredible group of food blogging friends, people who understand me better than 99% of people I've met outside of blogging. Some of the most talented, giving, awesome people in the world-true story (there aren't even words for the outpouring of support I've gotten at various stages of this process-not the least of which was the overwhelmingly sweet response to my engagement. Seriously was enough to get me all teared up.) I've grown so much as a cook, baker-and even photographer (although I still have a lot of room to grow!--step 1, get a DSLR). This little blog has grown so much bigger than I could have imagined, and I've been blessed to work with fantastic brands that I never would have guessed I'd be on their radar! It's been crazy amazing. I now plan days around when I can photograph a new recipe, editing pictures, writing posts, etc. etc. It's a lot of work but it is so much fun! I love every second of it and I am so so SO grateful for YOU! You, whoever is reading this, you have allowed me to find this outlet and have completely altered my life. I've gained confidence and purpose and friends. Any time I get a comment, or email, from one of you, any time someone pins one of my recipes, it genuinely brightens my day. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU so much for taking this crazy ride with me. I am looking forward to everything the future will bring, and I know it can only be more awesomeness. I'm stoked to see what happens next!

Now, to celebrate my 3 year Blogaversary, I thought I would share a round up of every original recipe that's here on the blog. Recipes that I developed/created. This is a skill that I've really just been beginning to feel comfortable with, and it garners so much pride. Any time I know I created a recipe and it's good...omgosh I am so excited. I'm hoping to grow in recipe development much more, but in the meantime, let's take a walk down memory lane of what I've created so far...

Something Saturdays (4/26/14)

For those of you wondering about my going away party last week...it didn't go great. It was ok but....well...5 out of the 50 people I invited showed (but most of them brought at least 1 other person)--and they were staggered over the course of 3 hours. There were usually only 2 people I'd invited (and their additions) at a time. I felt pretty lame and obviously people were expecting a bigger party and the bar was expecting more people and...well...honestly...it hurt my feelings. I understood that not many people might come but there were people who RSVP'd yes and didn't show and just...I don't know. It just drove home one more reason I'm leaving. I just, for the most part, don't have any strong relationships with anyone here (sans my cousin Emily and a couple friends-and my food blogger buds!) So...yeah. I'm so grateful I was able to see the people I did, and I'm sad I couldn't see more people. But it's ok because....IN 4 DAYS I AM MOVING!

ohhhh my GAWD. S#!+ is getting reeeeeeeeeal!

It's going pretty well. I've arranged for the truck and set an appt. for cable/internet to get installed on Friday. I'm almost completely packed (although I have this whole weekend to do a lot of that). I think I have a few people on board to come help. Pretty much what's happening is this: Wednesday (eeearly morning) mom and Michael (and maybe his cousin Joe) will be driving here in my mom's van. They'll get here sometime late afternoon/early evening. Then we'll get the truck and pack up. Clean up and move on out. Depending on how late we get out we'll either just drive on home and pass out at my mom's or drive until we're in PA and crash in a hotel room and then head home in the morning on Thursday. We shall see. I'm really excited for the whole move to be over and to be with Michael again and be able to see everybody once we're back and to be in our beautiful new home.

But-I'm nervous. I'm not really sure what's gonna happen with my work stuff. And I'm gonna miss my cousin Emily. And-I'm gonna miss little Uma. She's the precious almost-2 year old I've been watching 3-4 days a week for the past 3 months and I have become pretty attached to her. My last day with her is Monday and I'm gonna try to mush her chubby widdle face and cuddle her and listen to her talk and watch her dance and make her laugh as much as possible. And, let's face it, I'm gonna miss NY. BUT I am very excited. And I'm feeling positive overall, I just have a variety of emotions right now lol.

This past Tuesday I met up with some of my NYC food blogger friends: Mallory (formerly of Total Noms, although she has a brand new SUPER exciting blog in the works), Jennifer (Bake or Break), Susan (The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen), Tara (Chip Chip Hooray), and Lauren (Keep it Sweet Desserts-not pictured because she had to leave a smidge early due to her current prego state :D) We met at Inside Park at St. Bart's--we met there because 1. It's adorable 2. The food is delicious and 3. I used to be a hostess there so there was a LOT of nostalgia-plus they took amazing care of us! It was so much fun and I'm glad I got to see these ladies one more time before leaving!

Oh aaaand tomorrow is this little blog's 3 year Blogaversary! Check back on Monday for a post alls about that!