KALE AND THE CITY – Week 1

WHEW… It has been a DENSE week.

I’ve been in NYC for one week and have met more people than last semester.

I’m currently sitting in Cha Cha Matcha while I sip on my cold brew ( YES – I’m “that” person who orders a cold brew at a matcha place ) and I am still in shock with the opportunities that have risen since I landed… IN JUST ONE WEEK !!

Last Friday, my parents and I flew in to LaGuardia, took a loooong cab ride to our hotel, then met up with my oldest brother for dinner. Alex, my brother, lives in Midtown and I’m living in East Village.

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We all drank of one too many cocktails, ate a few too many bites, and discussed fun summer plans. I may be living in New York, but I still plan to act touristy AF!

Saturday morning, I met up with Caila Quinn! If you aren’t familiar with this gal, you must be living under a rock…

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She was on The Bachelor and now lives in New York City as a full time blogger! Her blog is about beauty, style, and travel. She also shares her journey of falling in love in the city with her 350k followers on Instagram. And guess who she fell in love with…??

LOL – actually no, not my brother!

Caila is dating my friend’s brother – HOW CRAY IS THAT!!

I met Caila at Canal Street Market and we chatted about blogging, NYC, and some of her fave editing apps  – **more on this later! She is SO knowledgeable about all things blogging and she is so darn sweet !! Like – even more in person… If that’s possible ?!!

Sunday was move in day. Usually, my move in is an absolute shit show, but I packed super, SUPER light.

I only brought three suitcases of clothes, toiletries, and shoes. ( That’s UBERRRR light for me… ) I also mailed a couple boxes of clothes, but thats besides the point 😉

I have NEVER unpacked so quickly; I wish I could pack that light every time I moved into a new apartment at school…

Monday and Tuesday I interned at F Factor. So far, I’ve completed dietary analysis, contributed to Factor In/ Factor Out blog posts, researched products, summarized research articles, and highlighted what is considered “F Factor approved” on menus.

I met the AMAZING dietitians who work at F Factor including the CEO, Tanya Zuckerbrot!

Wednesday was supposed to be my first day interning at Nourish Snacks… If you aren’t familiar with this company, it’s a startup founded by the TODAY show’s dietitian, Joy Bauer. Nourish Snacks has granola bites and ancient grains that are absolutely ADDICTING.

I had to set my aside my Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites cravings for half a day and instead of taking a train from Grand Central to Port Chester, I took the subway to NBC studios to shadow Joy on her appearance on the Megyn Kelly show…

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MMMMK so I got an email a week prior to the actual show and I flipped my shit. I also did my famous “Hailey happy hands” where I basically shake my hands like an excited baby… :’)

I COULDN’T believe that I would actually be able to go backstage and see Joy’s appearance on the Megyn Kelly show. And let me remind you, this was the FIRST day of my internship. Can you think of a better way to start an internship??!

I met up with the Director of Nutrition at Joy Bauer before the show and she showed me in. We met Joy in her dressing room and she was a little ball of sunshine and happiness!!

Five foot Joy was wearing wedges and a gorge sundress. Despite the fact that she was wearing wedges, and I was wearing flats, I was STILL taller than her!

She gave me a HUGE hug and told me that she loved the YouTube video I made for Nourish Snacks.

A small tear may or may not have made an appearance.

She was sipping on hot coffee out of a straw and taught me her pre-show tip…

JOY TIP : use a straw when drinking coffee to avoid staining your teeth! The pigments from dark colored drinks ( like coffee ) can become embedded in the cracks and ridges of your teeth and can potentially cause permanent staining… OR WORSE – stain your teeth before an appearance on Megyn Kelly !!

Joy doesn’t only know the best healthy food swaps, but she also has THE BEST little tips.

Good thing I LOOOOVE cold brews! 😉

Joy then showed me toward the kitchen where the chefs were preparing Joy’s healthy summer side dish swaps.

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I have been crushing on Joy FOREVER and here I am, watching Joy practice her healthy swap script.

SOMEONE PINCH ME NOW.

I should note that she literally only practiced 2x. She may be little, but she is mighty !!

Joy then went on the Megyn Kelly stage and before the cameras started rolling, she pulled out her iPhone and recorded the audience saying happy birthday to her daughter! Soon after, she whipped up her healthy recipes with Megyn.

When the two walked off stage, Megyn Kelly said “hi” to me in her well mannered, journalistic voice.

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Pretty f-ing cool, RIGHT??!

Afterwards, Joy and I took a few selfies and I showed her my Selfie Diva Light. ( But yours HERE ). Joy loved the light so much that she asked me for the link to the light on amazon!😂

After a few fabulously ~lit selfies, we took a car back to the Nourish Snacks HQ. During the ride, we discussed our fave healthy food swaps, post graduation plans, and the dietetic internship. We also bonded over my Hungover Brunch Breakfast blog post!

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Coolest boss award goes to Joy Bauer !!

After seeing my blog posts, she asked me how I edit my food pics. I showed her basically EVERY app I use to keep my pics light and bright. One thing led to another and I ended up editing the video clip she took of the Megyn Kelly audience!

Remember when I mentioned that Caila Quinn showed me some of her fave editing apps? We used the video app she showed me!

That came in handy when I was helping Joy add text to the “happy birthday” video clip she took for her daughter!! BTW – the app we used to edit the video is called “VideoLeap”.

( 10/10 would recommend if you are interested in editing videos BUT get absolutely lost in Adobe Video Editing !! )

Aside from Joy’s daughter’s birthday vid., I also whipped up a little BTS video of my first week in NYC…. Enjoy!

xx hails