HOW I SUNDAY: ISSUE 34
6 min read

HOW I SUNDAY: ISSUE 34

By: Alyssa Greenberg

My version of Sunday Scaries is a bit different than most. Since I am a freelance photographer, I never really stress out about Monday and the start of the week. I don’t have the typical 9-5.

Mostly, I get anxious about being by myself in the apartment.

Being a freelancer is a very lonely career, surprisingly. I knew I wasn’t going to have co-workers, happy hours or summer Fridays when I started my own business 6 years ago; however, I wasn’t prepared for the amount of time i would spend in my apartment alone staring at a screen.

When I first moved to NYC, I took any and every job I was offered. This often meant working weekends and late nights. I am thankful I am now at a point in my career where I can pick and choose what jobs make me happy. I try my best not to do any work (which includes taking photographs) on Sundays. It’s the one day I look forward to the most.

That day has a name: Sister Sunday.

Image: @smallgirlbiglens via Instagram

Three years ago, my sister Erica and I moved in together (in Manhattan) and we adopted the saying, “Sister Sunday.” no matter what is going on, we always spend Sundays doing something together. We are only 15 months apart and have always been close - best friends to be exact. And, thankfully, we have all the same interests.

This includes: a strong love for Law and Order SVU marathons, bad romantic comedies that no one has seen (this gets pretty intense around Lifetime Christmas movie season), frequent visits to sample sales, Aiden Shaw supporters…the complete list is too long to include here but you get the gist.

So even though we share an apartment, we still love to spend our Sundays together. I am always up first, at around 8:30am. I put 3 drops of beauty water into ice water and sip while i slather on the resurfacing mask from Tata Harper. I let this work its magic while I watch Sex and the City reruns.

A benefit of living with my sister is that she knows me better than myself. For instance, Erica knows that I can barely function without an iced coffee. I tend to get grumpy without it so she usually lets the sass slide in the early morning if I am pre-coffee. Once my sister gets up, I place a pick up order at Dunkin Donuts next to our apartment and quickly grab it on our way to workout.

We love to start Sunday morning taking the 11am 305 Fitness class with Katie. Starting Sunday off with a cardio class sets the intention for exercising and eating well for the week. If you haven’t taken a 305 class, I highly recommend it. We dance to lots of top 40 music and sweat out all the bad choices made Friday and Saturday night. After class, we typically head to brunch or grab a matcha latte at Cha Cha Matcha. We take this time to catch up on what we did over the weekend and go over our schedules for the week. Lots of times we just end up gossiping about pop culture news.

Self-care is a big part of how I spend my Sunday. Grocery shopping, oddly, is self-care to me. If Erica and I do it together, we have more hands to hold bags, which is a plus. I prefer heading to a farmers market in the summer, but if I am feeling adventurous I will try to go to trader joe’s and shop amongst the crowds and chaos. I usually try to convince my sister we need to go home with at least one new plant for the apartment.

Image: @smallgirlbiglens via Instagram

Sunday is also the day I water all of my plants, a collection of 12 or so. For
some, this might sound like a boring to-do task, but I actually love this part of the day. Watching my plants grow is rewarding. My recent fascination with plants and plant care came from my love of Youtuber Kristin Johns and the over-abundance of sponsored content I get from The Sill. I can’t wait to get a bigger place so I can get some fig and lemon trees for the apartment.

I continue my self-care Sunday by cooking dinner at home. Whether it be a recipe from Sakara Life “Eat Clean Play Dirty” or experimenting with what I purchased at the farmer’s market, I find cooking to be relaxing and therapeutic. I rarely make the same thing twice. This week is extra hot in NYC, so I am making a cucumber gazpacho and watermelon feta salad.

After dinner, I attempt to do my what feels like a million step nighttime routine involving a double cleanse, glossier solution, and estée lauder night repair eye cream. with my hair swept back in a pink velvet scrunchie, I plop on the couch alongside Erica and we watch a movie or show to wrap up the day. We were watching big little lies over red wine and popcorn, but sadly season 2 ended. Feel free to DM me new show recommendations.

Once I’m in bed, I unwind by watching Youtube videos by David Dobrik on my phone. If you haven’t seen any videos by the Vlog Squad you probably have no idea why this relaxes me. What can I say - I like to end the night with a good laugh.

How would I describe my perfect Sunday? A day filled with what I love most: cardio, food shopping, cooking, plants and most importantly, my sister.

ALYSSA IS A FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER BASED IN NYC. SHE STARTED HER FREELANCE CAREER AS A TEAM PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE BOSTON CELTICS. HOWEVER, HER FASCINATION WITH NEW YORK FASHION WEEK LED HER INTO THE GLAMOROUS WORLD OF FASHION AND LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY. HER CLIENTS INCLUDE COACH, DKNY, OSCAR DE LA RENTA AND IMG TO NAME A FEW. FOLLOW HER WORK AT @SMALLGIRLBIGLENS