Reviews

What to Expect at Disney’s Art of Animation Lion King Suite

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

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It is time!

Time for a vacation, and the Pride Lands are roaring your name. Located at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, The Lion King suite is sure to pleeease anyone who grew up on the 1994 classic. With enough space to sleep six, it includes three rooms, two bathrooms, two televisions, a microwave, and a refrigerator. To top it off, this mighty little kingdom will make you feel like you’re the main event at Pride Rock, because it’s colored with fun scenery from the movie.

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As if that’s not exciting enough, statues of many of the story’s characters are placed outside all areas of the property, so make sure you explore to find them all. Characters include Simba, Pumbaa, Timon, Mufasa, Zazu, Scar, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and Rafiki (who was mysteriously missing during a visit in November 2017). Read More

My Day-Trip to Raleigh’s State Farmers Market

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

This was originally posted on my new adventure-based website, Sprangled! Check it out for fun times and inspiration, and submit your own experiences, advice, and reviews. We all share this world together!

Appropriately located on Agriculture Street in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Raleigh State Farmers Market stretches across a 30,000 square-foot building and is open year-round. There’s also a strip of market shops filled with homemade treats and crafts. There’s much to explore, but what if all of that food makes you hungry? No worries — there are three restaurants that dish out meals made of locally raised meats and fresh produce right on the market grounds.

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The main farmers market building is packed with locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Perfect for a day-trip that will please just about anyone, this North Carolina farmers market is in a category of its own. With an abundance of fresh crops, locally raised meats, wines, cheeses, jellies, jams, and household decor, it’s pretty much an ongoing miniature fair. And the best part is, by purchasing basically anything at all, you’re supporting local business. Read More

A Bite Out of Life: Tobacco Road Sports Cafe

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

First of all: five stars all the way.

When you think “sports cafe” what comes to mind is likely mediocre food, sticky floors, and men with oily fingers and wing sauce in their beards shouting obnoxiously with beer-coated breath at the huge flat screens above their heads. Tobacco Road Cafe in Durham, North Carolina, was packed with Duke University fans vocally expressing their excitement for the football game, as they should (because what would the athletes do without them?!) and it made for an animated atmosphere. The food here was knocked out of the park, the floors were spotless, and we scored great service.

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What reeled us in was the inviting location. Tobacco Road is located across the street from the American Tobacco campus, which is a beautiful collection of restaurants, businesses, and artwork. We toured the campus while keeping an eye out for what would soon be lunch, and since Tobacco Road Sports Cafe has a backyard view of Durham Bulls Athletic Park and fairly-priced eats, in the doors we walked. Read More

Stand up for Yourself: A Review on Using a Standing Desk at Work

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Although I’ve moved down to the great American south from my beloved but pricey, way-too-congested home state of New York, I’ve been fortunate enough to stay with the company I work for from home. Back in my company’s New York office, my work station was set-up like this:

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The typical office worker’s world.

It was your typical office cubical environment: two monitors, a phone, calendars and schedules tacked to the walls, and a chair to be sat in for about eight hours every work day. I’m closing in on working for this company for three years, and though I’m content with my job, sitting in that chair 40 hours a week was not comfortable.

I’m big on staying active both physically and mentally, but I had to suck it up once entering my first “real” full-time job if I wanted to earn those dollar bills and just make it by the seat of my pants each month, in my basement apartment. I’m not exaggerating when I say that my back (mainly the lower side), shoulders, hips, and neck would hurt and feel tense just about every day, and sometimes my feet and legs would go numb from sitting so long. And I’m not the only one: a few of my co-workers have reported the same. Desperate for some physical comfort, a few of us even bought back supporters that latched onto the backs of our chairs to help us sit correctly. They barely helped. Read More

SUP, Stand-up Paddle-boarding!

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Stand-up paddle-boarding (SUP) has been surging in popularity, and by now you’ve probably heard of it. If you live near or visited an ocean, lake, or river, you might have planted your feet on a board and hit up the waves already.

Part surfing and part canoeing, this rapidly-growing water sport originated in Hawaii, and packs a punch of a workout, especially for your core. Now pretty much offered at any body of water in the world, I found myself with my toes in the sand as I carried an 11-foot paddle board and its accompanying paddle toward the gentle shore of beautiful Jordan Lake. Read More

NYC Eats: Sugar Factory American Brasserie

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

This past weekend two friends and I decided to hit up the Big Apple to check out the Sugar Factory American Brasserie on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District.

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It doesn’t look like much, huh? A hole in the wall, maybe. But you know what they say, and you’ve heard it a thousand times, and I sincerely mean it this time. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The expression certainly applies here.

It was a rainy day when we visited, and we had to wait outside. In fact, the place is small (3,000 square feet to be exact) and was so packed that we couldn’t even get inside at first. But we were set on trying this place, mainly due to word-of-mouth from some trustworthy friends. Once we squeezed inside and made our way up to the hostess stand, we found out the wait for three would be two hours, so we put one of our names down on the waiting list and, since we had time to kill, found plenty to explore in NYC.

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If you’re sweet tooth is acting up while waiting at the Sugar Factory, there is plenty of candy to munch on.

Upon returning to the Sugar Factory, we still had to wait an additional half hour, and were just about to leave (since there are plenty of other delicious restaurants in the area) when the hostess let us know that a table was ready. We followed a waiter past the crowded bar, which was lit up with colorful, sweet creations of liquidy goodness, and over to a small table in the corner. Read More

Jawsome Adventures in the Shark Tank: My Shark Dive Experience

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Mark Cuban’s got nothing on these sharks!

Yesterday I went to the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center and made quite the splash. In other words, I took a chunk of my most recent paycheck and put it towards being locked in a cage and reeled down into a tank swimming with sharks — eight of them to be exact.

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So why did I put myself in this oh-so-dangerous situation? Why would I want to spend 20 minutes under water with nurse sharks and sand tiger sharks with only pieces of metal in between us? My first answer is because it’s not your ordinary daily activity — it’s an adventure — I felt alive down there, doing some crazy thing for the first time. Life is all about experiences, and this bucket-list-esque want of mine was possible, so I did it. I’ve also gained respect for these cold-blooded creatures. Having them inches away from my face, seeing their strongly-built swaying bodies and rows of sharp teeth is a powerful thing. It made me feel small and great at the same time. In the wild I’d never get this close to these magnificent creatures! So there’s that.

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So about the dive itself. Read More

Paint Nite: A Fun and Easy Way to Become an Artist

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

No matter if you’re an experienced artist who can work up a masterpiece with a few strokes of a paintbrush, enjoy dabbling on a canvas as a hobby, or have no artistic experience at all, it’s easy to express yourself at Paint Nite. This new concept blends two timeless pastimes: artistic painting and drinking cocktails, as a way to draw patrons into local pubs with the opportunity to be creative and socialize. Paint Nites, which are two hour step-by-step painting classes with a nice glass of whatever-you’d-like, are held daily around the country, each with 25 people in attendance.

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Since I’m drawn to anything artistic, Paint Nite caught my attention, so I signed up for the spring blossoms painting this past Thursday night at a wine bar. It was a fun, cheery way to welcome the spring. Since the classes fill up ahead of time, I signed up about a month in advance, when there were only a few seats left.

Theresa Christensen was the lead artist of the night. She had us women and one man (my boyfriend, Tim) dip our paintbrushes into the cup of water and run it across our canvases. After it dried, we used some blue to create a circle, which would eventually become our sun, and then cover the rest of the canvas in blue. Read More

NYC Eats: Brendan’s Bar & Grill

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

It was the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day and the manfriend and I were hanging out in the Big Apple for the day. We had some time to kill before our final destination to see a rock show in Brooklyn, so we decided to scope out a spot for appetizers and drinks, preferably near the R train, so we stuck nearby the Herald Square area. From way out in the foggy, rainy distance we saw a giant shamrock and yellow vertical letters that spelled out “Brendan’s.” It sounded Irish enough, so away we went, Brendan’s-bound.

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We were expecting the typical Irish pub: dimly lit, small and cozy, bottles of alcohol lined up behind a bar that took up pretty much the entire place. But Brendan’s was a place of its own. Let’s step inside and you’ll see what I mean.

Enter Brendan's

Brendan’s was bright and spacious, and a friendly hostess dressed in black came to us immediately. As she led us down the large hall, we entered an open room of tables. The windows were decorated in stained glass, and it gave the place an old-fashioned church-like vibe. Read More