People don’t give us enough credit—New Yorkers are active and competitive people. Summer has officially sprung when the city’s parks come back to life. Emerging from the dead of winter, the sounds of handball, stickball, tennis, soccer, children playing, and basketball take over the city soundscape. Similar to our crown jewel arenas, Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium, we have The Cage on West 4th Street. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the undeniable intensity in the air.

Today is my 28th birthday, and as I was looking for the 'right' photo to share today, one day in particular came to mind. For my friend's 27th birthday, we packed into her Jeep Wrangler and headed to the Six Flags' Wild Safari Adventure. With a car full of snacks and her boyfriend as the designated driver, everyone else in the car took a healthy helping of mushrooms and got ready to be transported from New Jersey to the Serengeti. During our excursion, we saw animals from all around the world in symbiosis with one another, casually frolicking around the grounds. My favorite animal of the day, hands down, was the giraffes. While other animals kept their distance from us, the giraffes seemingly performed for us, hoping to get a treat from the nearby zookeepers, peeking their long necks over our car as they walked alongside us.

If you ask any New Yorker what the 6th Borough is, they will unanimously say it's Miami, Florida. Direct flights leave multiple times a day, and if you time it right, your Uber to the airport might cost more than your plane ticket. Every year, I spend at least a month in Miami. Sometimes I head down for a quick weekend getaway, and other times for an entire two weeks at the end of the year for Miami Art Week. Regardless of how cliché it is, my favorite thing to do in Miami is going to the beach. There is something about the energy in the air that completely relaxes me while simultaneously inspiring me. It's definitely not a place I could ever live in full time, but I am always grateful for how Miami can press reset on my mind and bring me back to center.

Growing up in New York City, there is never really any pressure to learn to drive. Unlike 99% of the world where driving is essential, New Yorkers are blessed and cursed with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. For that and a few other reasons, I am not a big car guy and, to be real, don't know much about cars. A part of me hopes my first car drives itself. At 28, I still don't even have my driver's license, even though I did learn how to drive in college. When I was a teenager, drunk and naive to all that comes with car ownership, I used to take license plates off of parked cars. I realize how reckless that is now, but I sure did have fun being a menace on the Upper West Side.