April 2025 Highlights
Has spring sprung?
April showers bring May flowers, but I don't remember much rain because of how much running about the City I did last month without an umbrella. So what did I get up to?
Most beautiful restaurant/bar experiences
I am spoiled in the NYC restaurant scene, where good food is almost always guaranteed, especially if you go to an influencer-hyped or recently opened place. To survive in the restaurant space here, well, really in any industry, you have to be at least above average. Couple that with working from home surrounded by the same plant babies and neutral furniture (my home is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I do look at it every day), beautifully decorated food and drink spots are a feast for my eyes, not just my palate. So I was excited to check out the Warren St Hotel, whose decor did not disappoint! Every inch of the hotel was whimsically curated, much like its sister hotels in NYC and London. I want to go back for their afternoon tea experience.
Another memorable dining experience was The Third Kingdom, where every dish was centered around mushrooms! I am a massive fan of funghi and am happy to report that being meat-free did not sacrifice any dimension of palate at the restaurant. As an honorable mention, I also checked out the new Locanda Verde location at the Hudson Yards. It felt like a fresh version of their TriBeCa location while maintaining the quintessential old-school NYC restaurant feel.
Best Cultural Event
If you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out the Whitney Museum’s Amy Sherald exhibit. She is the artist behind Michelle Obama’s portrait, and I loved walking into the exhibit, being surrounded by very large, striking faces looking back at me. Also, starting on the top floor and making your way down is probably one of my favorite ways to enjoy the museum (e.g., Guggenheim).
Cultivating my inner artist
Continuing to work on my 2025 goals, I tried out for the second time at figure drawing. This time, the art teacher was more instructive without being overbearing, which is my favorite type of instruction. Learning new hobbies as adults is so much more fun when you can pick the type of instructor you want. I wonder if I would have stuck it out on the piano if my teacher hadn’t forgotten how fun music can be for a seven-year-old. Next time I want to try a water painting class.
Best professional event
I flew into Boston for a day for my annual pilgrimage to Harvard Medical School for my yearly talk. Around the end of April and May, I speak to (mostly) graduating PhD and Master's students about the skillsets they need to be successful in the “real world.” There aren’t many skills you can completely teach in an hour, so I use the time to instill into them that they are valuable capital to the world, even if academia beats away their confidence. Every time I land in the Longwood area, I am immediately transported to being that 25-year-old PhD student whose mood was singularly dictated by how well the experiments were going. I sit outside my old research lab for a few minutes, reliving those years, and reflect on whether I am proud of another year around the sun since the year before.
New Identity Alert: Pilates Princess
You know how much I enjoy working on my wellness and fitness, especially now that my physical goals are set! This month, I was inspired to add pilates to the routine by a friend working to improve her fitness after a health setback. Pilates works out back and core muscles, often overlooked in circuit or weight training classes; even if you are extremely “fit” or in shape, Pilates offers a very different challenge, as evidenced by pro footballers swearing by it.
I am writing this in May, and I can already tell you, May is an exciting month for me, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!