Last week I was in the thick of things at New York Fashion Week and I ended it on my birthday! As exciting as this was, I can only be giddy about my next location to cover Fashion Week. This year, the Bahamas will have the Islands of the World Fashion Week taking place Nov 5th - Nov 8th! It is definitely going to be a lot of fun in presenting designers from various islands all over the world! These designers come from Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Madagascar, Fiji, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Haiti and British Virgin Islands. All the action will take place in The Bahamas at the British Colonial Hilton and Atlantis.

In addition, the entire team will make its way down with our Food Editor, Paul covering local foods and restaurants and our Development Editor, Arlene, covering hotels and real estate developments. Arlene is a new member added to the team who I am excited to have as apart of Kitten Lounge. With my love for HGTV's House Hunters (International and Domestic), when we have the opportunity to leave the city, she will look at the market from a tourism and a relocating stand point! This is a great time to enjoy beautiful weather and amazing hospitality. We'll give updates as we get closer and of course, I can't wait to give all the details as well.

Fourth of July was an interesting night! It rained a little but yet my boyfriend and I, saw fireworks in Red Hook at a great bar which made an amazing lemonade that had Triple Sec and Vodka - it went down nicely. We decided that it was time to check out some places that will be in our new area shortly and came upon Baja. Now, we had went past this restaurant before but ended up going to Sushi House (although we weren't pleased that they closed early on the Fourth of July even though people were still there and they were making fresh rolls). On this night, two revelers were looking for great food and found it here. This weekend's theme ended up being Mexican food as we had a lot of it but the chips and salsa hit the spot and I was quite a fan of the Enchiladas that had spinach and chicken! Although they were closing up soon, I could see why this is a favorite in Hoboken and that they also have another location in Jersey City.

If you can't pop in for lunch, dinner or brunch, you'll love their daily Happy Hour specials (I had a Pear Margarita that was really tasty). If you visit during a weekend for lunch, this is a nice place to stroll too and to also visit other places to get a drink and then to head to the many shops that Hoboken has to offer. I would also suggest this for a dinner as the food  had a lot of of flavor and the staff was so pleasant to everyone that was there. Take some time to visit Baja to see for yourself if you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Baja
104 14th St
Hoboken, NJ 07030

Today's installment of Mingling Mondays brings me to one of my favorite places. Originally, I found out about Amai on a trip to Tavalon Tea Bar on 14th street which has a variety of teas and carries baked goods that are from various bakeries. I had the best Green Tea cookie (since people know that I am such a fan of anything that has this in it). Thankfully, Tavalon Tea Bar provides information about who made such a delicious treat that I Googled it and came across the blog LovesCool. There I found that Kelli, was the owner of Amai and at the time, they were sold at area retailers. I let her know how much I loved her cookies and posted about it on a blog that I ran at that time. I loved that her blog was focused on desserts and I always checked in. Then I found out that Kelli was actually opening her own shop and was so excited that I could get these cookies and more. Amai Tea and Bake House opened late October and they have definitely been on the lips of area residents, celebs and she was also nominated in Time Out NY as well which is amazing.

Not only can you visit the shop (which is perfect for mingling) but you can also order the Green Tea Tea Sweet Cookies and additional sweet treats from the site. In terms of THINK CITRUS, the perfect treat would be the Lemon Grass and Ginger. If you buy the tins of cookies, you can reuse the container to store your tea which is perfect (and they are super cute)! Support this talented dessert shop and check out her blog as well.

Amai Tea & Bake House 171 3rd Ave (Btwn 16th/17th Sts) NY, NY