Katy Was Here

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-01T15:15:00.002-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years eve and is already enjoying a satisfying 2011. I did and am. Jake and I had a few offers for activities to celebrate New Years but in the end decided to spend our first New Years together ever, alone together. We had a gift card for our favorite sushi restaurant so we headed there first for a delicious sushi feast. Wow, it was probably one of the best sushi dinners we'd ever had. We chose five different rolls, each a little different. There was a bit of a wait for the food as the place was pretty crowded, so when our food arrived we definitely gobbled them down. Yum!

After dinner we headed over to Jake's grandparents just to say hello and happy New Year to them. They were celebrating with their best friends Anne and Joe and the four of them had finished supper and were toasting early, getting ready to play cards. It was certainly a merry crowd and as we were leaving they offered us a bottle of champagne they had extra. We were happy to accept.

Next we went to Wal Mart for a little and then headed to the Regal 14 to watch True Grit. It was TERRIFIC. We both loved the movie and halfway through we looked at each other and started whispering about how much we loved it, wanted to own it, couldn't wait to tell everyone to see it. I've never seen the John Wayne original version but I must say I adored this version and think the old one has a lot to live up to if its really better. When it finished I could have watched the whole thing over from the beginning again right then. About halfway through the movie the clock struck twelve and Jake and I shared a kiss in the dark theater.

After the movie we headed home and set up a new Digital antenna we purchased at Wal Mart so we can watch TV without paying for Cable. We also made some chocolate champagne fondue and enjoyed it with strawberries, marshmallows and champagne. Yum!

This morning we are enjoying some Cranberry-Pomegranate juice with champagne and in a bit we are headed out to grab some bagels and tour a couple of gyms.

My goals for 2011 are to exercise much much more and hopefully lose some weight. Take more photos. Smile more. I have so much to be thankful for and can't wait to see what the new year will bring. How about you guys? Any resolutions or goals?

Something Borrowed

2010-12-29T19:46:00.002-05:00

Sarah N. posted this song on her blog today and I'm totally thiefing it because it moved me and made me very happy. Sarah is visiting home for the Holidays but I'm very happy to be living here again. I miss New York, although less right now, that snow storm was no joke! I hope to visit soon and often but until then I'm so glad to be home all for good. Here's the song:

The Old Dominion - Eddie From Ohio

You think you'll find some mountains in Western Colorado

Fifty weeks of snowy peaks is where you're gonna be

But babe the rocky mountains are gradually eroding

The Hills of Coors are nothing more than Blue Ridge wannabes

A turkey on it's belly, a chicken on it's back

Anyway you look at it you'll find her on the map

She revels in the seasons, shakes hands with the North

Hugs the land of Dixie while dancing on the porch

You think that autumns in New England are the greatest of them all

But give me sweet Virginia for the fireworks of fall

The prettiest October in all the fifty states

Just drive up to the Skyline, park the car and wait

So grow up Colorado, excuse me Tennessee

If you don't mind, North Caroline

Here's where I want to be

When you're talking home you mean the Old Dominion

Just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills

She's the best of thirteen sisters and thirty seven more

Sweet sweet Virginia always keeps an open door

They're fiddlin' in Galax, pickin' up in Floyd

And in the land of Patsy Cline they're songs you can't avoid

When you're walking after midnight, I'll fall to pieces, too

I'm crazy back in baby's arms with sweet dreams of you

They're sailing down in Norfolk, skiing up in Bryce

Climbing up the Devil's Stairs against the ranger's advice

They're harvesting in Loudoun to Shenandoah winds

And in the land near Washington they're rooting for the 'Skins

Fight for old D.C.

Pack up your Impala and make your move out west

Past the Blue Ridge Mountains, you'll find you passed the best

And when your dreams have ended where mountains are concerned

Me and sweet Virginia will await for your return

When you're talking home you mean the Old Dominion

Just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills

She's the best of thirteen sisters and thirty seven more

Sweet sweet Virginia always keeps an open door

Our Holidays

2010-12-29T19:16:00.002-05:00

I just completed my first Week 4 run from the running program. I've had trouble keeping up with it so my "weeks" are starting to spread out. I'm strongly considering joining a gym in January when there will be New Years specials. Since we don't have cable it could probably fit into my budget and be really beneficial for me, plus I'll be able to get back into Yoga. The options in our area are kind of stressing me out but I've narrowed it down to three.

We had a great Christmas. On the 23rd I drove up to Reston to visit my friend Kirstin for her birthday. I had to overcome my fear of driving the hard way for that one. Happily I made it safe and sound and celebrated Kirstin's birthday with her family and a few close friends at her Uncle Rick's house. I love spending time with Kirstin's family. I always feel so welcome. We ate some pizzas, drank some and finished the evening by watching Shep and Tiffany Watch TV: Best of 2010 Special on Bravo. Tiffany is Kirstin's cousin who lives in CA and Shep, the show's creator is her boyfriend. That was cool! I'm so glad I braved driving to spend Kirstin's birthday with her. I miss the time when we lived close by and could spend lots of time together.

In recent years I've been no fan of Christmas. I tried not to be too much of a scrooge but each year I seemed to find more disappointment than merriment. I'm happy to report that this year was vastly different. While not our first Christmas as a couple, this was Jake and my first Christmas as cohabitants. We decided to get gifts for his family as we'd be spending the holiday with them. We Christmas shopped! It was kind of fun! Also kind of stressful. We got a tiny little table tree and decorated it with ornaments we both picked. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped. I'll never be as good at wrapping as my mother is, and I sorely missed her skill this year, but I managed to get the paper on there and taped. Finally Christmas arrived and we celebrated with Jake's family. I made my family eggnog. We drank, talked, opened presents, spoke on the phone to those who couldn't make it, remembered those who were no longer with us. It was really pleasant. Then it began to snow.

Hope all of you had lovely holidays too!

Catching Up

2010-12-04T12:03:00.003-05:00

My apologies for letting my blog get so dusty recently. I miss blogging but had just gotten into such a whirlwind this fall that it took a back burner. Hopefully I'm back now.

I got a job! Yippee! I work for the freight division of a major national shipping company. I work in accounting, doing a specific and tedious computer task all day. I've been there a little over two weeks now and I have barely met anyone at all, but I have becoming very close with my Pandora radio account and using my phone to check facebook and e mails on the sly. My office is so quiet and my desk is really quite isolated but when I do speak with people they seem very nice and its great to have a job!

Jake and I have gotten to book 5 of Harry Potter and he is really enjoying it. Last night I went to the movies and saw 7.1 with some other friends and LOVED it. I can't wait to get to book 7 with Jake.

Since moving away from NYC and all its wonderful walking, I have put on some weight. Unemployment makes you eat and I was really unemployed. Well, I've grown out of my pants. All my pants. Its awful and got even worse over Thanksgiving. I suffer through too-tight pants at work all day and then come home and put on my yoga pants faster than you can say elastic waistband. So I'm doing a couple of things to get back into my jeans. Firstly, inspired by my friend Kris, I've started the Couch to 5k training program. I've so far gotten through all of week 1 and half of week 2! I'm so proud of myself and hope I can keep it up now that its getting really really cold and I'm not getting home from work until twilight. Couch to 5k wasn't working fast enough for me though so I made a little wager with some friends and am hoping to win our 'Biggest Loser' pool by the end of January. Wish me luck.

Today is Saturday and I have a mountain of laundry to do. After a while we're going over to Jake's grandparents house to help them decorate for Christmas and I'm going running over there so I can have a little change of scenery.

Sorry for leaving you hanging recently and I sure hope I can get back on track on this blog. Next time I'll try to be a little more topical too!

Birthday Birthday Birthday

2010-11-10T20:19:00.003-05:00

What a tremendous week it has been! On the first of the month I turned 30!!! Jake and I have been celebrating ever since. The night before Halloween we went to a party at Jake's friend Jason's house. Jake won best costume with his 'God's Gift to Women' costume, earning us a bottle of liquor. Then we schooled everyone in beer pong and flip cup until the wee hours.

On Halloween we watched the Skins game at Jake's grandparents house and afterward Jake took me to Best Buy to buy my Birthday present which was Wii Fit. Yessss. We came home and I proceeded to play it for two hours. On my actual birthday we got up and played Wii Fit some more. I got lots of great presents from Jake and his grandparents and then we got a cheapy sushi dinner at a little place nearby.

Last week passed in a blurr of unemployment and Wii fit and then it was time for my big Birthday part weekend. Amy and Jessica began cooking something up a few days before the party and somehow managed to put together an amazing carnival themed party. There were arcade games, bingo, a ferris wheel cake and a terrific photo booth. I had SUCH a good time. It was so great to see everyone and relax. Amy and Jessica and everybody did an amazing job.

Sunday we grabbed Melting Pot with The Kelly's and Kris and then headed to my Dad's house. I hadn't seen my dad since moving back to VA and wanted to stop in and visit for a while. Whenever we're there he gets out all kinds of broken electronics to see if Jake can fix them, which sometimes he can but often he cannot. We also showed him Guitar Hero and had a good time playing that. After a couple hours we were on our way back to Richmond once again.

Yesterday Jake and I had reservations for Melting Pot Fondue because I got a gift card for my birthday. I had had it before but Jake hadn't so I was excited to share it with him. We chose Tuesday night because they have a special menu that costs a bit less. It was still delicious!!! We had such a good time and were so so full coming home that I had to undo my pants. The best part of the evening (besides the chocolate, of course) was the look on Jake's face when our waitress brought out the six different dips. He looked like Christmas came early. Or twice.

The Grand Finale of my birthday celebration this year was today when I got a call from the temp agency offering me a job I'd interviewed for over a week ago. Hooray! The long wait is over and I will soon be a contributing member of society again! I'm so excited!

I'm thinking this year was the best Birthday ever.

Spooky Adventures

2010-11-02T13:55:00.002-04:00

Because Halloween was approaching Jake and I embarked on a couple of 'Spooky Adventures'. We don't have pumpkin patch or hayride money, or a functioning DVD player and we certainly don't have Busch Gardens money so we decided to try and invent our own Halloween thrills. I borrowed a book about all the various hauntings and legends in Virginia from Jake's Grandmother and one night after midnight we set out to find some of the places listed from the area. Unfortunately the spookiest story in the book was about a haunted toll road and the rest of the spots were either closed at dusk or remarkably well-lit. We ended up cruising around Richmond late late at night while Jake pointed out all the innocent points of interest.

A couple days later we headed to Hollywood Cemetery during the day. Hollywood is a very old and historic cemetery right on the James River. Two presidents are buried there (three if you count Jefferson Davis) and lots of other historic figures. The layout is amazing and the stones, plots and crypts are beautiful. You can get a map at the front office, which we did, and go on a self-guided tour of the highlights, or you can show up at 10am and have a guided tour. We happened to visit the cemetery in the late afternoon during a tornado watch so the sky was a deep threatening grey. The atmosphere was amazing and so were the views, so although it was technically daylight it was a successful spooky adventure. I had a fantastic time photographing the cemetery too. Here are some of my favorite shots:

This is President Monroe's Grave

President Tyler's Grave with Monroe's in the background

Easton's Birthday

2010-11-02T13:23:00.003-04:00

Hooray! I have a computer that works and I have internet! Sorry to have been gone so long. No, I really am very sorry. Its been kind of bleak at times.

Last weekend Jake and I traveled home to attend Easton's 3rd Birthday Party. As we were leaving town on Friday I got a call on my cell in response to a resume I'd submitted to a portrait studio down the road. The studio is part of national chain and the national recruiting person called to set up interviews with me for a full time job there. The salary and benefits were beyond compare and I was super excited. Once we'd gotten to Strasburg we grabbed my mom and headed out to print up a professional portfolio to take to the interview. We also grabbed some dinner and spent lots of time dreaming of my future as an employed citizen.

Saturday was Easton's party and it was so fun. Amy really went all out planning it. Jake and I were put in charge of temporary tattoos which resulted in Jake immediately applying one to his face. We both ate way too much and after the kids went to bed everyone was too full to work up the energy to play games.

We headed back to Richmond Sunday and my interview at the studio was Monday. The interview went really well I thought, but a couple days later I heard back that they went with someone else. This news was pretty devastating. Its been a while since I had a paycheck and things are certainly tight. Nothing has panned out at all. After the bad news I redoubled my resume submitting efforts and got three call-backs but nothing too promising. Keep your fingers crossed!

Taking a Break from Laundry

2010-10-13T13:10:00.003-04:00

Well I guess I'm settling in here in my new home. I still haven't really unpacked, but I'm getting there. I'm really liking Richmond now that I live here. Its actually pretty different from anywhere I've ever lived. Its not a small town like home, but its not quite the same brand of city and suburb as the Northern VA/DC area. Its much bigger and more urban than Roanoke/Salem too. Its like its own little mini-urban bubble. I'm finding it hard to describe but I'm enjoying it. Everything you'd want is accessible, and I'm loving that. A huge difference from New York is the walking. I haven't walked anywhere. I'm cooking from scratch lots and eating at home every day and I can feel the difference. As soon as I get a job I'm definitely going to have to join a gym.

Last weekend my friend Allison took me to the Richmond Folk Festival while Jake stayed home to work. It was really fun, though we mostly strolled around talking. Allison is a friend from camp and there is always plenty to talk about. She works for Social Services and we're hoping she can put in a good word for me should a position open up in that agency. It was a really nice evening and I'm looking forward to spending more time with her and her boyfriend Ray.

In regards to job hunting I'm making headway. I signed on with a second temp company and they have a position for me making plenty more than I did at my last job and working full time. Its temporary through January so it'll get me by and give me time to find something more permanent. I'm feeling pretty positive about it and wish I could start today but there's plenty of paperwork and so forth to be done beforehand.

I joined meetup.com on the suggestion of my friend Sarah and am considering going to a book club meeting tomorrow night. I need to finish To Kill a Mockingbird by tomorrow evening if I want to go. I've read that a few times but I feel like its cheating not to have it fresh in my mind. It would be nice to meet some new people though.

My laptop still isn't working but Jake's friend Jesse may be able to hook me up with another one which would be terrific. I miss the internet very much and sharing is hard. Jake doesn't think too much of facebook so he gets antsy if he sees me using it. I always did enjoy a leisurely facebook browse. Because of my lack of regular internet access I've started using foursquare on my phone. Foursquare is a social networking game where you post updates about where you are when you're out and about and you can see where other people you have as friends are too. You can also see what other users say about different locations and sometimes you get special deals. If you check in at a location more than once you can sometimes become the mayor of the place which often means nothing more than that but sometimes there are prizes. I'm now the proud mayor of the county library and CVS. Jake thinks this is hilarious and laughs at me for it whenever it comes up. Anyway the idea is to explore your neighborhood so I'm enjoying it very much and encourage everyone to try it. I wish I'd had it in NYC.

Well the laundry is beckoning. I do NOT miss laundromats in the least but I will say that when you only have one of each machine it seems to drag on. I need to start setting an alarm to remind me to put in the next load because I keep forgetting to stay on top of it and there's always another load to be done.

Katy is Still Here, Somewhere.

2010-10-03T16:04:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to stop by and let you all know I'm still alive! Jake and I made it back to Virginia easily and took care of all the U-Haul business. Unfortunately we've been so busy I haven't unpacked much of anything. We spent several days in Strasburg last week so I could attend the funeral of my Great Aunt Bettie. We got to see a lot of my friends and hang out with my mom which was lovely. Now we're back and I'm becoming a pro at putting off unpacking. I always manage to find an unrelated task like laundry or cooking a meal from scratch to take up my time and attention and help me ignore the boxes. Today, for example, we're heading to Jake's Grandparents' house to watch the Redskins game. I mean, we don't have cable and I'm not going to just miss the game! I have to make up for last season when I was living in New York and couldn't just turn on the games.

Tomorrow though, I'm heading to the temp agency and I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday to my Blog!

2010-09-19T22:13:00.000-04:00

My blog is a year old today! Thank you for reading it! To celebrate I will share some facts and statistics about my blog.

This is my 141st post. I have averaged a little over 11 posts per month. I posted the most times last October. I posted the fewest times in June. I think this is more because I was too busy doing things to blog, than because I wasn't doing anything interesting.

I began tracking my blog in February using Google Analytics. Since then my blog has been visited 1,251 times. Granted lots of those times were me. The day of the most visits ever was July 5th, the day I posted my post about spending the 4th of July with all different friends over the years. I shared this post with all the people mentioned in it and it brought 27 visitors to my blog that day. The second most visited days were April 20th, when I wrote a post about going to a fancy restaurant with my friend Rachel, tied with July 7th. On July 6th I wrote a post about my brother's visit and on the 7th I wrote about helping my friend Kim clean out her Grandmother's home. Each of these three times I shared the posts on the facebooks of those mentioned.

According to Google my blog has been visited by people from 22 different countries! Lots of places have brought visitors once or twice but a big Hello to my Russian readers. I have had eleven visits from that country!! Hi to the UK and Hey to Gee in Hungary! I think I can guess that that is you.

Here in the US I've had visitors from places I've never visited myself. Hello to my readers in Las Vegas, Beverley Hills and Niceville, among many others. Most of my visitors are from New York or Virginia. The highest rate from a place I don't live is Tallahassee. Hi to my brother!!

Thanks to all of you for reading, I hope you keep coming back. Now, if I can just get you to comment now and then!

Saying Goodbye to My Coworkers

2010-09-17T22:58:00.004-04:00

Last night some of my coworkers met up on 9th Ave for a Goodbye Happy Hour for me. We got drinks at Lincoln Park and then headed to Delta Grill for appetizers. Shannon made me a card and everybody signed it. I love it and I had a great time being out with people from work. I wish we had done it more times over the year I worked there. They are some pretty cool people and they made my job fun.

Mattie, Brian me and Shannon

Q&A II

2010-09-17T14:13:00.007-04:00

So its been a year. Actually I started this blog a year ago Sunday. Back then I started off with a Q&A post to explain why I was moving. Well guess what! I'm moving again! I thought I'd do the same today.

Why are you moving?

A few reasons. First and foremost my lease is up, its been a year, and I don't have the money to renew. I had a great job at the portrait studio and enjoyed working there. I learned a lot but I didn't really make enough there to live in NY. My debt is really catching up with me and its time to get back to where living is a little more affordable and start paying down some of my bills. Secondly I'm moving in with my boyfriend! This is a super exciting next step in my life and I'm really really happy about it. Jake and I survived a year of long-distance and now we'll try and survive close proximity. It'll be fun and a challenge for both of us. I'm looking forward to all of it. Finally, I missed Virginia every day. I liked New York, I still do, and I'll come back and visit, but I'm a Virginia girl through and through.

So where are you going to live? Are you coming back to Strasburg?

I'm going to live in Richmond, which is where Jake lives. We'll start out staying at his place, where the rent is mega-cheap and save some money. In a little while we'll find an apartment in the area. Jake is still working on his CD project and his clientele are all in the Richmond area. Don't worry, I plan to visit the Valley every chance I get.

Where will you work?

I don't know yet. My plan is to sign on as a temp a.s.a.p. and worry about the rest later. My main goal is to make some money.

Do you want another job in photography?

Hey, maybe! Its almost the holiday season and I can see getting a job at a studio. I love taking pictures and am hoping to get a real camera for my birthday. I'll always be taking pictures, whether I'm getting paid for it or not. I just want to make sure I have a full-time paying job first and foremost.

Will you miss New York? Will you ever go back?

Yes. There are lots of things I love about living in New York and Brooklyn. I also have a lot of great friends there. I'm sure I'll visit often. Everyone knows I can't stay away from Coney Island long anyways.

Will you stop blogging?

No. I doubt that moving away from a city will put a damper on my adventurous spirit. I have loved having my little blog and I hope to do lots more fun things that I can write about, and you can read about. I hope you won't find my change of address boring.

The New York adventure doesn't end with me of course. I hope you'll always read my blog because I love you and like having you around. I encourage anyone who wants to hear more New York adventure stories to read Sarah's and Natasha's blogs. They have both moved to the city in the past couple of months and their stories are just beginning. I know I will continue to live in New York vicariously through them and am so glad they are both blogging. Enjoy!

A big thank you to everyone who supported me through this year-long adventure! Thank you if you came and visited me, if you sent me presents, if you commented on my blog or if you became my friend while I was a temporary New Yorker.

A Billion Birds

2010-09-15T17:19:00.002-04:00

Remember in my post about the weekend when I described the memorial lights at Ground Zero? I said the beams were filled with a billion moths that looked like glitter. Well today I saw this article from NPR which linked to this article and video. It was birds! Please please click the links and go and look at the video. Fascinating and beautiful and I feel very lucky I got to see it up close!

Who's BAD?

2010-09-15T10:19:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was my day off and my one goal was to get some packing done. I slept it, watched a little tv, drank a very large cup of coffee and packed a very small bit. I really need company to pack. Its just too daunting. More about this later. What I did do which is much more noteworthy than procrastinating was go on an adventure with Sarah. We took a little trip to Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station. This subway station has a platform that has been out of commission for many years. Its off-limits for subway travelers but is often used as a movie and tv set. Coming to American, Warriors, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Wiz and Crocodile Dundee have all filmed on this platform or the above off-limits mezzanine, but we were there for a specific film that shot there. The music video for Michael Jackson's BAD!!!

Sarah met me at my place and we took the Q to the Franklin Ave Shuttle at Prospect Park and then the C to Hoyt-Schermerhorn. The mezzanine looked all wrong; much too small and not nearly enough tiled columns. We figured a lot must have changed since the video was shot, not knowing then about the abandoned mezzanine and platform. We posed for photos by an imaginary grate and then struck MJ dance move poses between the columns.

Wow, is my Michael Jackson Dance Pose ever HOT?!

Sarah's was so good the cops came by to see what we were doing!

We must have looked pretty crazy because we drew the attention of a police officer from the NYPD station in the subways station there. He came out to ask what we were doing and we told him we were being BAD. We asked if he knew anything about where they filmed the video and he said it must be in the abandoned part of the station. He said we couldn't get in to see it and even if we did we'd be covered in dirt and grime. He was so nice and talked to us a long time about Michael Jackson fans who wandered in now and then and also about some of the other films shot there. He also told us that the movie Warriors, one of Jake's favorites, and one I love very much too, was an accurate depiction of New York City life in the late 70s early 80s when most of the nicest parts of Brooklyn were then unsafe, unsavory places. He talked to us for a long time, all the while eying passing people and interrupting our conversation once to get after a young man who had skipped the turnstile. He was a great cop and I'm so glad we talked to him.

I'm sad we didn't get to see the real BAD mezzanine but I got a picture of the abandoned platform, which you can see from the in-service ones. Sarah and I parted ways, she to go finish her homework and I to go put off packing. I'm glad we both took time out to explore!

Abandoned subway platforms are creepy!!

Life, Tribute, Redemption and Victory Against Dallas

2010-09-13T22:27:00.005-04:00

Its been a busy and fun weekend for me! I hope you had a good one too. Here's the rundown:

Friday night I stayed in and watched 20/20 reruns and an episode of Dateline, all of which were about murders. My roommate was out of town and I was here, getting the freak-out royally. It didn't help that the MTA was running these utility locomotives up and down the subway tracks behind our apartment. The subway is loud in its way, but I'm completely used to that noise now. The trains are light and fast moving so its more of a 'clickety-clack'. These utility locomotives are huge, heavy and slow-moving and they grind and moan down the tracks. They come by rarely, bearing dumpsters of trash from one part of the city to another for who knows what reason, and sometimes equipment when there is track work. I've probably seen four or five total before this weekend. Friday night it was constant and spooky as the trains roared outside and sometimes stopped just behind our building for five minutes or more. I was plenty jumpy when I went to bed that night.

Saturday morning I woke up and was having a leisurely morning getting ready for work when I realized I hadn't heard a train go by in a while. Like I said, I'm used to the sounds and figured one had gone by while I was busy but I'd better get a move on as trains are always few and far-between on weekends and I did need to get to work. Just before I left, almost as an afterthought I checked the mta website. BUSTED. No train service all weekend. They stopped our train line four stops away at Prospect Park and you had to catch a shuttle bus to get there. I ran out of the apartment not even knowing where to go. I went to the train station hoping for an informative poster and found none. I went inside and luckily there was an attendant whom I asked and who rudely informed me it was two blocks down on Ocean Ave. Thanks lady, and sorry for whatever got you so grouchy. I headed over to Ocean and waited under an MTA poster for a bus. Unbelievably I got to work fifteen minutes early!

After work I met up with Sarah who took me to her new favorite spot: Life Cafe. This cafe is famous because the play RENT was written in it. We sat eating and talking for hours. Afterward we went back to her apartment and watched the last half of Pretty Woman with her new roommate Liz. Then Sarah and I watched 102 Minutes That Changed America, a documentary about September 11th. After that we thought we'd go up on Sarah's roof, which was a little creepy, to see the Memorial Lights shining over at Ground Zero. It was amazing to see from the rooftop and Sarah even got a picture.

After that I had to head home but was super nervous about catching that shuttle bus at night alone. I checked with Jake and my sister and they both said I should take a taxi, which I felt guilty about because of the money. I'm SO GLAD I did though! The taxi driver took an unusual route for me, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel instead of the Brooklyn Bridge like usual, and lo and behold, while on the phone with mom talking about this taxi ride I had to take I drove directly beneath the lights! I can't even tell you how amazing they were up close. The lights seemed to be made of many beams set in a square pattern so it really looked like a ribbed sky scraper at the base. They went up forever and ever and within the beams all the way up were a billion moths going every direction, creating the illusion that the beams were filled with white dust motes or glitter. I can't think of a better angle to see them from and was trying to describe every detail to mom on the phone as I looked out of every window in the taxi in wonder and awe! What a treat! I got home safely too.

Yesterday I worked again and after that I met Sarah and Tasha, and later Sarah's friend Meagan at a bar called Redemption on the Upper East Side. Redemption had advertised, via a Redskins forum, that it would be hosting Washington Redskins fans for all the games this season. I brought extra sweatshirts and jersey's for the girls and was really excited and nervous to go. What if they weren't really a Redskins bar? I'd feel so silly. I was so relieved upon arriving with Sarah, to see the place FULL of Skins jerseys! We got a table and I passed out the Skins gear and that's when we got the specials menu from our Redskins halter top clad waitress! $3 for burgers and $8 for a pitcher?! I had died and gone to heaven. A heaven full of Redskins Jerseys, where they sing Hail to the Redskins after every touchdown, and when the Redskins win. Which they did! Against Dallas! The place was wonderful, clean and nice, the crowd was mostly great, with the exception of the guy who temporarily blocked my view of the game to get a better view of the MTV VMAs. Some people just aren't raised right. Sarah, Tasha and Meagan were great company too and it was a completely successful evening. I was thrilled.

Tasha lives right around here, in the same apartment as my friend Laura DeWitt, so I thought we could manage the bus together last night. Good thing we didn't go it alone. We did catch all the right trains in a timely manner, which is important on a weekend night, and then did manage to find the bus. Unfortunately as soon as twice the capacity of the bus had crammed inside and it departed things got rocky. The driver headed immediately in the wrong direction and didn't stop for a long long while. Keep in mind he was supposed to be following the route the train would if it had been running, so a few blocks south for Parkside, a couple more for church and two more for Beverley. It instead headed east blocks and blocks. People began to stir, not easy on an overcrowded bus. People got upset. People shouted for the driver to stop or at least tell us where he was going. He did neither. Finally he stopped on Church and Bedford, skipping Parkside altogether and many blocks from where the train route and my neighborhood are. If I weren't with her Tasha would have had no idea where she even was and I would have had a very long walk home alone. Luckily I walked Tasha to her street and then got on the phone to Jake for the remainder of my walk. Yuck. I am NOT looking forward to doing it again next weekend. What an awful thing the MTA did.

Tonight I'm wearing my Redskins sweatpants in celebration of our terrific win and watching Steel Magnolias and eating Tootsie Rolls. Happy Week everyone!

Carnival Jump Up

2010-09-07T18:10:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was Labor Day and here in Brooklyn it was also West Indian American Day. Since Laura is Caribbean at heart we were all excited to celebrate with her. Laura was in it for the long haul, attending J'Ouvert which is a block party to bring in the dawn of Carnival. She left the apartment at 2 or so in the morning and danced in the street with her brethren, flinging paint on one another and getting down to drums and bass until around 7 when she came home, showered and went back to bed. I was still very very sick and decided that early morning reveling was probably not medically advisable. I couldn't even breathe enough to sleep but was sorry to see Laura and her friend Matt go out without me.

Late yesterday morning though I was up and more or less feeling better enough to see what Carnival is all about. I managed to rouse Laura and Matt and Sarah showed up to join us for the big Parade. Laura got decked out in a complete St Vincent outfit and lent Sarah and me each a St Vincent rag to wave. She looked amazing and it was fun to be with a real participant, not just observers in this very cultural affair.

We walked north from our neighborhood to Eastern Parkway which is kind of a long way. The parade went down Eastern and was already in progress when we arrived, moving slow in fits and starts. It was comprised of floats and bands.

The floats were tractor trailers with wooden structures built atop a flatbed trailer. Within the wooden structures there were big speakers blasting music if we were lucky, or drums and bass. Scattered among the speakers were costumed dancers, sometimes, and a variety of riders and leaders or speakers. These people had microphones and were trying to organize that band. A couple of times there were performers on the floats but not usually. The floats weren't decorated so much, though some had banners or signs. They were mostly just boards, speakers and people.

The bands were not musical bands but bands of masquerading carnival partiers. They were often decked out in carnival costumes with beads, feathers and huge head-dresses. Some outfits were so big and ornate they both worn and drawn, as the outlying parts had to be supported by wheels. For the most part the bands were not dancing to the music or listening to the leaders. Other than costumed dancers there were just people, many many people, wearing or carrying flags of their Caribbean home, walking along beside the float among the costumed band, looking like they were simply walking down any street on any day. It was kind of strange, and since we were right by the Judge's stand, there were lots of time lags while floats and bands proceeded past us to be judged and others had to be held back. At times large crowds of non-costumed people would be sent back up the parade route by the band leaders to get them away from the judged costumed band.

A Costumed Band Member

The whole affair was completely fascinating and I wish I could attend a carnival in the Caribbean one day and see what its like with MORE dancing and MORE music and excitement. The crowd was a lot of fun and we were happy to wave our rags whenever we saw other St Vincent flags on floats and such.

Sarah and I also shared some delicious chicken and fries from a Caribbean food stand. You could smell the delicious food and see lots of exotic foods too. The weather was also beautiful and we managed to snag a shady spot to watch the parade. At the end of the parade we walked back down to our apartment, exhausted, especially poor Laura who had gotten considerably less sleep than me.

Common Ground and Coney Island

2010-09-06T10:47:00.004-04:00

Saturday was a good day for me. I gave two weeks notice at work, but more on that later. Its sufficient to say this is a good thing and all is well. So to celebrate I went with Sarah and Natasha to Common Ground on the Lower East Side. Common Ground is a layed back bar that has alcohol, snacks and board games. This, along with the afore-mentioned company sounded like a terrific combination so I was pretty excited.

We got there and ordered drinks and then Natasha said four words that were music to my ears: How about Trivial Pursuit. Sigh. In case you're not related to me or maybe haven't spent a lot of personal time with me, Trivial Pursuit is my favorite game. I own three editions myself but certainly NOT the edition we played. It was a really different set up, with color category cards and questions ranked in difficulty by the roll of the die. If you rolled a 6 you were given a difficult questions, 1s were easy and so on. I was skeptical of this gimmickry at first but actually it was totally fun and I loved it. I lost really badly by the way, but enjoyed every minute of the game.

We called it a kind of early night as everyone was tired and I was sick. Natasha is living with Laura DeWitt for a while though, so we had the same ride home to make and that was lovely as I hate coming home late from Manhattan alone.

As I mentioned I'm very sick with a severe chest cold right now. Since no one else I know has any symptoms I assume I caught it on the overnight bus ride back from VA. I feel terrible and medicine isn't helping much so I hope it just passes with time.

Yesterday instead of resting like a smart girl though, I went to Coney Island. I had been making tentative plans with Andrea to do something and never following through because we were both so busy so once we'd made a solid plan to go to Coney, (her first time) I didn't want to break them. I stopped at Duane Reade to stock up on meds and then headed down to meet her. We got Nathans and Andrea had her first Corn Dog ever.

Next we walked down to the Child's building and then down the pier. Laura and her friend Matt caught up with us there and the four of us headed over to the Wonder Wheel for a ride. We walked through Deno's and then Luna park and then went to the history exhibit which I love. This time we saw new things and also watched a film of people doing fun and wild things at Coney over the course or time. Some of the rides shown in the film looked like so much fun and probably wouldn't be legal anymore.

After the exhibit we went to Lola Star so Matt could buy a t shirt and then headed home. I felt awful, although I'd had a lot of fun, so I spent the rest of the evening resting in my bed.

I Love The County Fair!

2010-09-03T21:44:00.004-04:00

This week back home its time for the Shenandoah County Fair! I took the late night bus to DC Monday night. After a little mix-up with meeting Jake (ahem, waiting for 2 hours outside the Red Roof Inn with Clarence the night watchmen and conspiracy theorist because Jake was a schoch late) we ended up getting into Strasburg and going to bed around 6am. When we walked in the door my sister and mom were both up and in the kitchen waiting for us! I thought we'd sneak in to a sleeping house but they were excited to see us and got up early, I guess.

After sleeping most of the day we were up just in time to have some of Jake's Famous Omelets and head to the fair!

The fair is a can't-miss for me. I love it so much and love visiting it with all my friends. Last year I think Jake and I went 5 days with different friends each time. This time I only had three nights to visit and we ended up mixing up all my friends and family into two big trips. It was fun to see people interact and to get to see so many people that I love so.

Tuesday night Jake and I drove up with my friend Kris and met our friends Jessica and Brett and their daughter Olivia. First we hit up some dinner. Jake and I got Shaffers Barbecue which is delicious. Next we walked through the barns and then hit up the midway and exhibit buildings. The Shoot the Star Out carnie even remembered Jake from last year. Jake tried again but didn't get that star.

Jessica and Brett hung around the midway for a while letting Olivia ride the kiddie rides while Jake and Kris and I checked out the Poultry Barn and Vegetable exhibit. Jake has a long conversation with the poultry barn night watchmen about which chickens were the meanest and whether or not chickens are intelligent. The man kept putting his hand in the cages to show how mean they were and how much it hurt when the went at you with their spurs and beaks.

Then Jake spent some time on his second favorite Shenandoah County Fair attraction: Dunk the Clown. He loves dunking that clown. Kris said she thought the clown's laugh would give her nightmares. I like watching Jake try and then agonize over whether or not he should spend the money to try 'one more time' or not.

After dunking the clown a couple of times (so proud) Brett was determined that he and Jake were going to ride the mechanical bull. Brett even had a plan and a strategy to get the most out of it. Jake was complaining of a bellyache but I convinced him Brett really wanted him to be in on this so he decided to give it one try. Brett was first and when he finally fell off he had cut his thigh on the saddle and didn't get back on. Jake was next and he stayed on a long time. When he fell off the operator told him he could get on a second time and he did but when he got off that second time he cracked us all up by grabbing his crotch as he rose from the padding and exclaiming "it really gets ya, don't it!" It was hilarious. Jake was so glad he'd ridden the bull and might have even done it again but we were all getting pretty tired and ready to go. After a funnel cake that is.

Wednesday night we met our good friends Amy, Jason and their adorable kids Easton and Bluebell. We also met Devin and later my Dad and Step-mom Markee. We got dinner first again, Jake sitting down to a meal of THREE barbecue sandwiches, while I got a modest hamburger and fries. YUM.

Next we took the little ones through the barns and looked at the animals again. In the goat barn Jake and I ran into our friend Joy from camp who was looking radiant. It turns out Joy had never been to a fair before! We stopped and chatted for a bit and hoped we'd run into her again later.

Next we went down the midway so Jason, Jake and Devin could take shots at the old clown again. Everybody did several tries and Jake dunked him twice. Joy and her boyfriend happened by and he took a turn too. This is when we met up with my dad who rolled his eyes at the boys while Amy and I stook back and waited patiently for these boring boys to throw their baseballs. Next it was more exhibits and a stop at the Tupperware booth for me and Amy. We finished the evening with funnel cake, sweet tea, fried Oreos for me and Jake, Dad got a polish sausage and Amy's little ones had ice creams. Then we sat down for the last two rounds of Bingo. Then we said bye to the Edgars and Daddy and Markee and headed home.

Here's a run-down of every one's highlights at the fair:

Me - My friends, the Ferris Wheel (Even though I didn't ride this year!!), The Tupperware Booth (don't judge me, I didn't buy anything this year) seeing everyone and everything else too.

Jake - Dunk The Clown, Shoot the Star, The Poultry Barn Man, The Mechanical Bull.

Kris - Watching Jake and Brett ride the bull and their respective injuries and reactions and the Goats (Me too Kris!) and baby pigs.

Devin - Dunking the Clown and hanging with us.

Jessica - The food (specifically barbecue chicken, fries and sweet tea) and getting to hang out with us!

Brett - Riding the Bull and hanging with us.

Olivia - The rides, specifically the Bees, the Trucks and the Scrambler! Also Hand Sanitizer.

Amy - Funnel Cake, Goats and Tupperware and seeing us!

Jason - Food, Goats, Horses and Clown Dunking.

Easton - The Ferris Wheel, The animals, winning a toy hammer and ice cream!

Bluebell - Going barefoot, eating ice cream and seeing all the lights.

Dad - The Exhibit house and the Polish Sausage.

Markee - Visiting and Anytime she got to be cool.

*One last thing about the fair. You may remember from last year that each night of the fair Jake and I made sure to visit our favorite Fried Oreo booth and made friends with the girls there. Jake even got into the newspaper as their biggest fan, as the stand was new to the fair last year. Sadly there was a terrible accident last Sunday and Manda, the booth's owner and another man were very badly burned. I included this as one of our favorite things about the fair because even though the booth was closed we love Fried Frenzy and were sad each time we walked past the empty booth. We sure hope our friends are better soon and back at the fair next year!!!! We love and miss them!

Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson!

2010-09-03T21:27:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was hands-down one of the best days of my life. Sarah and I had planned for weeks, since I first heard of it in fact. to attend Spike Lee's birthday celebration for Michael Jackson in Prospect Park. Spike Lee's film company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks was hosting and filming this block party for the second year in a row right in our neighborhood. So yesterday morning after making a delivery for work we headed to the park, arriving around noon. We met Natasha, Laura DeWitt's new roommate and Laura met us just a little later on.

The party was SO much fun. There was a stage from which a DJ spun Michael Jackson music all day. Every so often Mr Lee or someone working with him would make an announcement about the free Pepsi and Ben and Jerry's they were giving away in back. Also from time to time they put lyrics on the jumbotrons and called it Karaoke, inviting everyone to sing along. Since it wasn't really a concert there was no push toward the stage and the atmosphere was completely relaxed and celebratory. And the DANCING. We danced ALL day! We danced and sang and danced and sang and everyone everywhere was dancing and singing with us. People had out cameras of all types and were snapping and filming all kinds of things. Outbreaks of group dancing like Thriller dancing over here, Beat it dancing over there and 2 outbreaks of the Electric slide drew the cameras and film crews as did the many impersonators and tribute displays. A popular favorite for the jumbotron were the costumed children busting out their best MJ moves. Everyone was happy, everyone was dancing, singing, smiling, clapping. It felt like we were all friends. Throughout the hot day there was never any kind of hostility and that is really remarkable and made it even more fun. And the event was absolutely free and not even overly secured or fenced.

We could barely hear one another speak but we did request our favorite songs among ourselves, wishing aloud to hear Man in the Mirror and We are the World or Beat It and celebrating when someone's favorite was played. Toward the end, or when we thought the end should be they began handing out posters that had phrases from the song Wanna Be Startin Something. At different parts of the song people with different phrases would hold up their sign, ending with the signs that said Ma Ma Se Ma Ma Sa Ma Ma Coo Sa, the chant at the end of the song. We all had a good time holding up the signs ( I didn't have one so I got to wave my arms to all the phrases) and at the end they looped the chanting so we were all jumping and shouting and chanting together for a nice long while.

An outbreak of the Electric Slide

A 40 Acres Cameraman catches the dancers in action

Sarah holding her Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' sign

I thought this would be the finale of such a fun-filled musical day but NO! Surprise! Spike Lee announced a surprise guest and it was none other than SNOOP DOG! What? Ok! Snoop came out with one glove on and performed Gin and Juice and Drop it Like Its Hot and then Warren G came out and performed Regulator.

THEN they did more Michael Jackson music! Finally they put up Man in the Mirror, which we had been anticipating all day, as one of the karaoke picks and we all got to sing along. The highlight of the whole day for me was at the end of that they played it a second time, cutting out the sound at the chorus so only the crowd could be heard, everyone singing the chorus together. Amazing. Absolutely one of the best moments of my life. After just a couple more songs we all went home, happy, tired and sunburned.

A Proud Moment for Laura

2010-09-03T21:18:00.002-04:00

Again I apologize for the excuse, but I've found myself overwhelmingly busy these past weeks! Laura is back home in the US and by Laura I actually mean Lauras plural. Laura Mulcahy is home from St Vincent and Laura DeWitt is home from England. I am not the happy owner of some Bennett clan coasters, two English floaty pens and two more Caribbean Feed Sack tote bags. Our apartment actually has so many Caribbean Feed Sack bags laying around I believe we have a stock pile bigger than any outside the Caribbean.

Like I said I've been almost non-stop busy with work but I did have a nice time with Sarah and Laura DeWitt last Friday. Sarah met me in the afternoon and went on a fruitless quest for packing boxes and then a fruitful quest for hot dogs down at Coney Island. We poked around a bit at Coney with bellies full of corn dogs and cokes and then headed back to my neighborhood where we took some snacks over to Laura's to watch an episode of 20/20 featuring HER MOM!

Laura's mom had the opportunity to host a woman who was a victim of a crime targeting people with Albinism in Tanzania. Mariamu came to the US to receive donated prosthetic arms and stayed with Laura's mom who took her in just like family. The 20/20 episode showed just how generous and caring a soul Kitty is, which I assure you she handed down to her daughter.

We were all so proud and moved by the episode and had a good time hanging out and eating chips and ice cream together. I barely scratched the surface of the story of Mariamu so please check out Asante Mariamu, as well as Sarah and Tasha's blog posts about it.

Walking the Bridge Again (I forgot!)

2010-08-19T21:32:00.003-04:00

I forgot to mention in my last post about Jessica, Brett and their kids visit that after all the shopping and toy buying and dream realizing we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge together. I was tired and grouchy last night and I'll get to that momentarily but first I'll tell you about the bridge.

I suggested a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge on the subway trip into Manhattan after seeing the family marvel at the tiny dot Statue of Liberty view you get from the train on the bridge. I doubted they would be up for it after a big day and especially didn't think we'd drag the poor little ones on such a long walk. I always suggest it though because its something I've really enjoyed doing and want to share the simple pleasure of the bridge walk with others. Anyway to my surprise, after all that shopping they actually were up for it. We took the train down and headed across. All the kids carried their respective prizes and Jessica was snapping pictures left and right. Brett was herding kids and I was taking more Retro Camera shots. Its really lovely up there I have to say. It was after THAT on the train that we decided to go for hot dogs.

The reason I was so distracted and tired is that I've been working like CRAZY this week. Its really not all that much compared to a regular shift at a regular job but I've been getting so few hours for a while now that suddenly its exhausting. Anyway we're really swamped with appointments because of a special promotion we're offering and a couple people have gone on vacation so I am rolling in shifts and hours. My back is KILLING me but my wallet will be very happy here in a bit.

The American Girl Experience

2010-08-18T18:57:00.006-04:00

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting the Kelly family once again in NYC. This time instead of staying in a hotel they stayed with me! It was a flying trip for them and their main goal for coming was to take their older daughter, Samantha to the American Girls store to buy her very own American Girl doll. I was really excited because as a little girl I always dreamed of owning my own American Girl doll. I would dog ear the catalog whenever I got it. Back then they only had a handful of dolls, each with a time period and story and I went back and forth about which girl I'd pick if I could ever have one. Sadly I never could but its ok. Now there are more girls with stories and lots lots more accessories and you can get a doll that looks like you to have.

My guests arrived Friday night really late and we got them settled in and parked pretty quickly and got to bed around 2. Saturday morning we got up as early as we could stand and I made breakfast and coffee to get us started. After eating we headed out to American Girls. We spent some time finding the perfect doll and looking around the store. They have a salon where you can bring your doll to have a new hair do and a cafe where you can have a special luncheon with your doll. After Samantha picked her doll we headed to Lego. We did a quick walk-through because the Lego store is so small and always crowded. Next we headed to FAO Schwartz. We spent lots more time here browsing and finding toys for Jared and Olivia. Jared chose an orangutan and some lego kits and Olivia got a stuffed owl.

After all this we stopped for a snack and a break outside FAO Schwartz. We were feeling really tired after that late night and long day of shopping. We headed to the subway and decided to go home and make some supper, trying to keep things affordable for everybody. Halfway home though, Brett and Jessica decided they wanted to at least SEE Coney Island and Nathan's hot dogs sounded awfully good. We took the train all the way there and got a delicious feast of hot dogs and corn dogs and fries. Then we took a moment to take in the boardwalk and then decided we'd definitely had enough and headed home. It was an early bedtime for everyone once we got back.

Cleaning, Celebrating and a New Phone

2010-08-11T13:53:00.004-04:00

Monday I had the day off from work so I cleaned my kitchen from top to bottom which was very little fun and a lot of sweat and grossed-outedness, BUT so rewarding in the end. Its so nice to go in there now. After this Sarah came over and we celebrated my newly spic and span kitchen by ordering take-out. We ate a sushi feast and watched some DVR tv and relaxed.

Monday evening we went to a party at a bar in the city called Therapy. The party was put on by Broadway Impact and it was a celebration for the overturning of California's Proposition 8 law. At the party we heard from a few performers, saw a short video and heard from several speakers about what happens next in the fight for equality for the gay community. It was very interesting and inspiring, though I could have stood for a little more celebrating. We had a good time and some good conversation and then headed home not too late, which was good since I had to work Tuesday.

At work the next day I did some shoots, I think three. I like the practice of shooting, but sometimes the pressure really gets to me and I hate feeling at odds with the parents or getting in trouble with my boss for the pictures I take if I make a mistake. I'm definitely getting more comfortable.

After work I went to the Sprint store to try and get my little purple phone fixed. It had been acting slow and secretly eating texts I thought were sent to people. Also Jake swears I'm inaudible when I talk on it but I denied fault for that one. Nobody else ever says they can't hear me. Anyway the Sprint store at 34th st was closed so I got to go to the Sprint store in the Flatiron building, which is cooler. Once I'd gone to two different stores and waited in a long, stagnant line I was in no mood. After briefly reviewing my account my Sprint person informed me I had no warranty and no insurance so she could fix my phone for $100 or I could upgrade for the same price and to fix it I had to leave my phone there for some hours. I don't even know what I'd do without my phone for hours. I wouldn't even know how many hours had passed! Like I said I was in no mood and agreed to the upgrade which is why I now own an Android phone. This is cool, not life-changing, but cool.

But what's REALLY cool is...

I GOT RETRO CAMERA! HOORAY!

Now there will be no stopping me. Well as long as the battery holds.

A Memorable and Simply Fun Day

2010-08-08T21:33:00.005-04:00

Here's something one doesn't often get to do: meet a relative for the very first time as an adult. Yesterday I did just that.

But wait a moment because FIRST things first: I saw American Idiot on Broadway yesterday. My sister and her boyfriend Andrew came up to the city to see me again. They are taking my very very grown-up nephew Gage on a special 16th birthday trip and stop one was NYC for the show. I'm thankful I was invited to join! The show was great! Very visual with a set unmatched by anything I've ever seen on a stage. The musical performances were spot-on. If you like Green Day you'll love it.

After the show we met up with Nicole for dinner at Dallas BBQ. It was the second time for me this week but they have great sauce, and I love sauce! Nicole brought me a floaty pen she found at work! I am thrilled, it has Will Ferrel on it and his pants come off! Dinner was good and the company was great, we talked about how Sarah and Nicole got to know one another. We all ate plenty food and then it was time to leave because we were going to meet our cousins Carolyn and Mitch!

Carolyn and my Dad are first cousins and Mitch is her husband. Mitch is a music producer with a studio in Manhattan and they divide their time between the city and Florida. My sister hadn't seen Carolyn since she was five and I had never met her. First we met them at the studio and got a tour. The studio is old school and lots of great performers have recorded there. They have a vocals booth and larger room for bands and a control room and office. It was too cool. Mitch has pictures all over the walls of many clients and performers. We sat for a bit in the office, chatted and enjoyed the view of the Hudson.

Me, Gage (how tall can you get?) Carolyn and Sarah at the studio

After just a little while Carolyn and Mitch suggested we head up 9th Avenue for dinner at a nice Italian place they liked. We didn't let on we'd just eaten. We thought we'd be waiting a couple more hours before dinner! We took a nice walk to the restaurant getting acquainted all along the way. It was amazing how well we all got along, without any pretense or awkwardness, as though we'd been family for years and weren't just now meeting. Even Nicole was chatting comfortably with Mitch as we walked along.

I had a moment to talk to my nephew which is a nice treat for me. He asked me how I felt about turning 30 coming up. I told him I was really excited. I can't wait for my birthday and I have a feeling my 30s are going to be so much cooler than my 20s were. Then we talked about his college plans, which is weird. I wonder how sick he is of hearing we all think he should be 7. I know I hated it for years, I just can't HELP it! He was SO much younger than me and now he's going to college?!

The restaurant was called Ralph's and it was everything you'd want an Italian restaurant to be. Small, authentic, delicious and just fancy enough to make you feel special. I was afraid we'd all get salad and I'd feel bad that they took us out but instead we ALL ordered pasta dishes. Carolyn, Mitch, Nicole and I shared a bottle of wine and I had Penne Caprese which was divine. We sat and talked like the oldest of friends for what MUST have been two hours, and we all even got desserts.

After taking up a beautiful window table for far to long for the comfort of our waiters Carolyn and Mitch suggested we head up to Lincoln Center to see what free music was available. We stopped to admire the fountain in front for quite awhile, taking tons of pictures together. Next we walked around to the band shell to see what was playing. It was a nearly indescribable middle eastern flavored rock band called Mucca Pazza and we all took seats and enjoyed ourselves. Mitch and Carolyn even stood and moved to the music and gave us a couple glares for being on our butts. They're just so charming!

After that we just couldn't part company so they invited us to the East Side to see their apartment. Its adorable and full of art and charm. Carolyn showed us tons of pictures and got out all her beautiful handmade jewelry. We ended up staying and chatting there for a long while until I realized it would be a long train ride back to Brooklyn and I had work in the morning. I was sad to have to leave and promised I'd bring Jake to see them the very next time he comes up. I think he'd really hit it off with them (but who wouldn't) and I wanted him especially to see Mitch's studio.

Sarah and I shamelessly pose with Mitch's Emmys

I didn't have much trouble catching trains, thank goodness and got to bed eventually. Sarah, Andrew and Gage are off today to Boston and Laura is off to St Vincent. Laura DeWitt is away too!

A Very Bad Day Gets Good

2010-08-07T12:02:00.003-04:00

Man yesterday could not have started worse, nor finished better. I woke up in the morning thinking I had the day off only to get a call from Mattie at work who was up to her neck because I really was supposed to be there and hadn't shown up for a shift. I forgot I had agreed by e mail to come in yesterday and hadn't written it down anywhere. Without even showering I threw on some clothes and ran to work.

Everybody was mad and I felt terrible. I had also told Sarah we'd celebrate her birthday yesterday and we'd do anything she wanted so I felt like a jerk texting her that I was going to work and wouldn't be available until much later. Work ended up ok though, I did three photo shoots and they all went pretty smoothly and I think I left on good terms with all, although I was still wracked with guilt.

After my shift I caught up with Sarah down on the Lower East Side and we decided to go to a movie together. We went up to the Union Square Regal and saw The Other Guys, which we both liked. After the movie we went out for supper at Dallas BBQ in Sarah's neighborhood and got DELICIOUS Barbecue. Wow, that place has some good sauce. We had great conversation, as usual and both ate a ton of delicious food. Afterward we walked back to Sarah's place and had sangria on the fire escape again to cap off the evening. If I haven't said it before, I sure am glad she is living here now, although I am sorry we'll only live in the same place a very short time. I think we'll end up making the most of it while it lasts.

Sweet Music and a Boardwalk Breeze

2010-08-07T11:51:00.005-04:00

Thursday I had to work and knew I wanted to meet up with Sarah for another free concert down at Coney. This time we were going to get to see John Legend who I absolutely love! Problem was: the concert started, all the way down at Coney, at 7:30pm and I had to work, way up on the Upper West Side, until 7. I tried and tried to arrange it so we could meet and fly down but I found out no cameras allowed and I had my camera and didn't want to leave it at work. So I had to take the train to my neighborhood, meet Sarah, drop my camera off at my apartment and then get back on a train to Coney Island.

We got on a B train at 8 and only when it stopped three stops early did I remember that the B train doesn't even go all the way to Coney. I felt like this excursion was doomed and it was all my fault and was already working on making the best of it with Sarah, discussing how it was a free show so its not like we lost any money on tickets and we could at least get a cold drink and enjoy the ocean and Coney for a moment even if we missed all of John Legend.

We got off at Brighton Beach and began to walk down the boardwalk toward Coney. We started to hear to concert and came to a small gathering on the boardwalk. The concert itself was in a park across Surf Ave from the Coney Island Boardwalk, but you could see and hear everything PERFECTLY from our position above. bout 15 people had spread blankets out on the boards or were sitting on the park benches backward watching. We decided instead of heading down to the crowded concert, to just sit here and watch whatever was left of the show from here. Well a lot of the show was left and the atmosphere of the small, layed-back boardwalk crowd was wonderful. We had the ocean behind us, terrific music in front of us and people singing and dancing along. Passers by stopped to see what the gathering was all about and then either joined us or moved on and the group was so diverse, comprised of older folks and families with children. From our position we could hear the crowd sing along with the music at times and that was sweet. It was the most perfect way to see a concert ever!

After the show we headed to Nathan's Famous boardwalk stand for food and sat on a picnic table nearby to eat it. Then we caught our respective trains back home. I'm very glad the night didn't turn out the way I'd planned it because it turned out way better!

Free Music Every Night

2010-08-04T11:49:00.004-04:00

Monday night Laura, Sarah and I ventured into a neighborhood called Lefferts Gardens for a free concert at Wingate Park, part of the Martin King Luther concert series. We got to see DJ Slick Rick, Naughty by Nature and Salt-N-Pepa. Its amazing how many cool free things are available to us in NYC this summer.

We all met at our apartment and took the train over to Lefferts Gardens. We had to stand in a long line and not until we were almost in did I find out there were no cameras allowed. I hid my camera as best I could in my purse and was relieved to get in without being found out. Once inside we found a spot to stand toward the back of the sizable crowed. The concerted opened with prayer led by a local reverend. The crowd was boisterous and fun to watch as they danced and sang to the music.

Slick Rick was fun, although he didn't often finish an entire song and let the crowd fill in holes a lot, which broke the beat a lot. Naughty by Nature was terrific and although we hadn't remembered their songs on the way there we were happy to hear OPP and Hip Hop Hooray.

Salt-N-Pepa were amazing! Their set was quick but satisfying and they even brought out Busta Rhymes, a local, for one song.

Yesterday I went to work and had a particularly difficult photo shoot of a woman, two children under three and two dachshunds. Yikes. After work I came home and was eating my supper when Rachel texted me to see if I wanted to meet over at her place for drinks. I changed and headed over there, which is quite a hike.

We sat out on Rachel's fire escape drinking beer with some of her friends from work and talking as it began to get dark. Eventually her friends all decided they'd like to go for food at some ethnic restaurant. While people were deciding what they wanted to do and milling about the apartment Sarah came home with her friend Stacey. They had been at a show at Rockwood Music Hall around the corner. They had already decided they were going back for the 10 o'clock show, and since it was free and since I wasn't hungry I opted to say bye to Rachel and friends and go with Sarah and Stacey to the show. Also the venue was right by the subway station and I had gotten lost the last time I tried to walk to the subway so that was also a factor. Plus I love me some Sarah.

Rockwood was small and cool and Stacey was full of stories of famous people seen in the small crowd from time to time. We saw an act called Hugo which was pretty great. We sat on stools in the back and watched the show and the small army of videographers filming the set. The show was fun and I look forward to seeing more acts here with Sarah. After the short set we left and I got on the subway home.

Alphabet City

2010-08-02T12:47:00.004-04:00

Yesterday after work I traveled waaaaay down to the East Village to help my very very good friend Sarah move into her new Manhattan apartment! She and my friend Rachel are going to be living in Alphabet City which is a neighborhood I had previously never visited. Its very diverse, interesting and full of young people. Maybe too many young people. When did I become an old crank? When groups of college-aged people walk by me why do I find myself grumbling things about 'kids'? It worries me.

Sarah's parents were there and we all unloaded the truck and put her things in her new place. Its a nice place, the neighborhood feels comfortable and they have a huge street-side fire escape so you can sit out there and actually see something other than a train.

After all the moving we got pizza around the corner and then Sarah's parents left to get back to Long Island before it got to be too late. I stayed with Sarah and took her to a nearby liquor store and treated her to a bottle of bottled sangria, a new favorite guilty pleasure of mine. We sat on her new fire escape, outside her new, fabulous room in New York City, and sipped spicy sweet sangria.

Afterward I got so lost trying to find the subway I had to get a taxi because I was somewhere beneath the Williamsburg bridge and there were NO people anywhere around. But that adventure ended fine too.

Brooklyn Bowl

2010-07-30T18:23:00.003-04:00

Last night we went to Brooklyn Bowl which is a fancy bowling ally, to dance during ?uestloves's dj set. I didn't get a lot of pictures but Laura and her new school friends and I had a good time dancing. ?uestlove was right by us in a dj booth, close enough to touch and radiating cool from every pore. Wow, what a presence. I hope to get a chance to go back another night. I'd love to take Jake to see.

Today I had about 25 errands to run all before noon and was very very sleepy. I managed to do everything on my list and came home and took a two hour nap. Now I'm up and groggy, wondering what I'll do with the rest of my Friday.

Here's a picture of some brownstones I saw on one of my many errands today.

V.I.P.

2010-07-25T18:42:00.005-04:00

The Reflex came to town again and this time I was on the guest list at the club which is totally cool. The show was amazing and everybody was having fun, singing along and dancing. They had a substitute lead singer which was mind-blowing but all the band members waved to me from the stage. I'm so famous.

After the set we were down in the bathroom area when we saw Marco who took us to the Green Room to party with the band. We had a great time sitting and talking with the band. Silly me, I let Darron give me drinks and before long I'd had a bit too much. Darron drinks straight vodka.

We got home fine and slept until 3pm. Laura just made us a delicious stir-fry and we are watching a marathon of Mad Men. Its so novel to be home on a weekend day.

Coney Island Art Reception

2010-07-22T23:36:00.006-04:00

So word has kind of gotten out that I adore Coney Island. I certainly don't mind it when people associate me with my favorite thing about New York. So many nights I get off the train at my stop and think about how nice it would be to stay on and go all the way down to the breezy beach and watch the Wonder Wheel turn in the dark. But I usually just come to bed and get on Facebook. I need more friends with weekdays off like I have.

Anyways my good friend Laura DeWitt heard about an art project taking place at Coney last weekend and immediately thought of me. The father of one of the students she's had as an NYC public school teacher was doing an art installation/project in which he put large canvasses on the boardwalk at Coney and invited passers by to help make them into art. You really must click the link and read more about it. Anyway people were encouraged to drive radio-controlled cars through paint on the canvases, jump and dance, use toys like balls, jump ropes and koosh balls to spread paint on the canvasses. One woman even used her hair, which was weird to read about.

So I was in Virginia this weekend and missed it. Laura had texted me to invite me but I couldn't go because I was away. Tonight though, the art was dry and hanging in the Brooklyn studio of Laura's former student's father and he had a little opening reception. I got to meet him and his family, talk to his collaborator, and see all the paintings. Also his son Sam, Laura's former student at Laguardia, is now majoring in film and made a short documentary film about the project. This way, even though I didn't get to be there I could see how these wonderful paintings got to be.

The whole thing was AMAZING. I thought the artwork was cool and accessible and the means by which it was made are great. The whole project was inclusive and fun and the artists were SO warm and welcoming when we met them. They really wanted to talk about the art and were so excited about the whole project. Nobody at the reception was even remotely stuffy, they treated me like family. The artist even kissed my cheek when we were leaving which made me feel terribly sophisticated, indicating I'm not so sophisticated at all.

Close-ups of footprints and kooshball prints

I loved the film and wish I could share it with you. Several parts brought tears to my eyes, which is inappropriate because it was nothing but joyful. My personal favorite were the two older folks on hover rounds who were asked to drive over one of the canvasses. You should have seen the pleased look on their faces and they spun and swirled and reversed while sitting back comfortably in their motorized chairs. The hair lady was kind of weird. The break dancer was great.

Hover round Painting

Laura and me in front of the hair painting

Everyone who participated in the paintings at Coney looked so happy and you could also see that they were totally into the project even though they were just passing by. They all looked methodical as they spread paint around and you could tell they really cared about the outcome of this project. I imagine the warmth of the artists asking them to participate contributed.

Anyway I'm thrilled and if I had $5000 I'd be one painting richer tonight. I was completely charmed.

After the reception Laura took me to a bar she used to frequent when she was a student at NYU and we chatted over burgers and nachos. Its so great she lives in my neighborhood, we even got to ride the train home together.

Happy Birthday Jake!

2010-07-21T13:49:00.006-04:00

I'm back from my trip to Virginia. I had a great time and was sad to leave again. Seriously, how does time go SO quickly?

I got in early morning on Thursday and rested a bit. Then Jake and I got up and spent the day relaxing at his Grandparents. We went on a fruitless search for a camera battery for my pink camera and then had dinner and that was pretty much the whole day. That bus trip really takes it out of me so it was a short day. Also shame on Kodak for making their dang batteries so hard to find and for making so many unique models. Really now.

Friday we took Oren and went for a swim in the James. It was totally fun, though cut short by thunder. Jake is so hard headed, I had to plead with him to get out of the river. Blockhead. We made it to the car before the storm really hit and it poured and poured but when we got back to Grandma's it hadn't even rained. After that we went shopping for all the food we'd need for the party. It was a two-part shopping expedition: part 1 at Costco where Jake was a pig in mud and wanted everything he saw and part 2 and Food Lion where he was less enthused. We brought everything and headed back to Grandma's with some Chic Fil A.

Saturday was my big prep day. First I made a carrot cake from scratch, my first scratch cake ever. I followed that up with a buttermilk vanilla cake with blackberry buttercream frosting. Then I got really tired and took a break. THEN I got back up and made Michigan sauce for hot dogs and Jake mixed up some apricot mustard sauce for grilled chicken. By the time this was all done I was very tired.

Blackberry Vanilla Cake

Carrot Cake

Sunday we got up much later than I planned and lugged all the meats, buns cake and whatever else out to a city park called Belle Isle. Its an island in the middle of the James in the middle of Richmond. Something I didn't now about Belle Isle is that there isn't automobile access. We had to carry everything almost a mile out to the picnic shelter for the party. This resulted in two moderately cranky party people. Pretty soon though our friends began to show up and we weren't cranky anymore. Not quite as many people as I'd hoped were able to make it, but those who did were key and we had a great time. The cakes went over well, especially the carrot and Oren took several dips in the river. We stayed until that evening when storms were threatening to get us on the mile walk back to the cars. We made it back with only seconds to spare and said our goodbyes in the parking area. Jake's friends Larry and Tracee had just joined the party so they went back to Grandma and Pete's with us and we hung out for a while there. I was so tired at this point though I had to go upstairs and lay down. I had worked really hard.

Good Looking Birthday Boy

Melissa, Ryan and Tony

Allison

Tony and Kevin

Monday we just relaxed all day and Monday evening Jake took me to Ichiban, his favorite restaurant for sushi dinner. We had a great time there and when we got back Jake's grandfather Pete took us to Best Buy to get Jake Beatles Rock Band, the game he really wanted for his birthday! How exciting because I really wanted that game too. We brought the whole set up back and stayed up until 2am with Jake's little brother Evan playing. Just so you know, I'm an expert at singing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Tuesday was my last day and we spent it relaxing around the house again. We dug up the game Rummikub and figured out how to play it and spent a few hours playing it with Jake's aunt Amy. We also played some more Beatles Rock Band. Then Jake's grandparents got some fresh burgers and we had a delicious dinner of grilled burgers, beans, chips and deviled eggs. Jake finally beat us at Rummikub and he and I got ready for my overnight bus trip back to NYC.

Retro Camera

2010-07-19T13:17:00.005-04:00

Two things have happened on my trip to Virginia. Number One: I made some delicious foods and threw a successful party for Jake's birthday. Number Two: I discovered the 'Retro Camera' App on Jake's droid. I think I'm in love. Here are some photos taken with Retro Camera of my trip so far.

Jake and Oren on our way to the River

How cool and mysterious does this one look? Taken in broad daylight.

Melissa, Ryan and Tony at Jake's Party

Allison

Ryan

I can't even choose which of the four camera settings is my favorite. This will hopefully satisfy my wish to buy some of the novelty cameras they sell at Lomography.com while I'm trying to save up for my big camera. Too bad its on Jake's phone and not mine!

I Got a Secret...

2010-07-15T19:44:00.002-04:00

I'm in Richmond to celebrate Jake's 30th birthday. We're having a party on Sunday; a cookout if weather permits. I don't think Jake'll have time to check my blog so I am going to show you this:

Shannon made his birthday card and I'm so excited about it!!

Shhhh don't tell. Of course if he does see it its my own damn fault.

Shannon is so awesome!

Trailer Park Lounge with Nicole

2010-07-14T10:41:00.004-04:00

Last night I met up with my sister's friend Nicole for dinner and drinks. She took me to a place called Trailer Park Lounge in Chelsea. It was pretty funny. I think I could've counted twenty Elvis pictures from my seat. Nicole is totally cool, I hope we can hang out more often.

I, unfortunately went Floaty Pen nuts on the waitress. In the restroom there was a poster that reminded patrons to hit up the bar for souvenir t shirts, mugs and pens. I knew that a kitsch themed restaurant could only have one kind of souvenir pen so when I was back at the table I asked the waitress about them. She said they were the kind where the ladies clothes fell off and that they aren't made anymore. I told her I could give her a website to find them. How embarrassing can I get. I had to explain my love of and enthusiasm for floaty pens to Nicole on our first time out together.

Anyway I had a sloppy joe and two margaritas, which was about half a margarita too much for me. I came home and went to bed without finishing packing. Gotta get on that now! Tonight I take a late bus to Richmond for Jake's BIRTHDAY!!!

Come Learn from Shannon!

2010-07-11T23:02:00.003-04:00

My friend Shannon (you remember Shannon) is having a collage art class at our store. If you live in NYC or have any means of getting here, I really suggest you take it. Shannon is so super talented that it might at least rub off a little and if not she's also fun so you can just be messy and enjoy yourself. She's super excited about the class and I know its going to be terrific. Just look at the poster she made. She didn't mention that that poster is on canvas and its beautiful.

Celebrate Brooklyn! Ok We Will!

2010-07-11T22:32:00.006-04:00

Tonight The Roots and Talib Kweli played a live set at the band shell in Prospect Park as a part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series. I was trapped at work until 6:30 but as soon as I got off I rushed down to catch it.

Laura was already there with her friends from Teaching Fellows so I had to dodge around security (it was a free show but they weren't letting you just walk in anywhere) to meet up with them. Once I got in I found Laura and company on a blanket listening to an African band playing on the stage. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it honestly should have been and the weather was fine if a little humid.

We didn't wait too long before Talib Kweli and the Roots came out. Their set was amazing! They were terrific performers, moving all over the stage and the music was great. The crowd was dancing and singing along and it was the perfect evening.

I can't believe how lucky I was to get to see the Roots at all, let alone for free.

Laura, Lauren and Josh

The Roots!

Meeting Andrea

2010-07-10T18:58:00.004-04:00

Today I met a new friend. It was a kind of international introduction so to begin with I'd have to tell you about my dear friend Gee.

Gee in 1999

To know Gee is definitely to love him, and I'm not just being effusive. He's hilarious and wonderful and has always been there for me. We met in 1999 when I worked at camp. Most of the other international staff were cool, but they tended to keep to themselves. Gee was always in the thick of it with us crazy American kids. He is a lot of fun and terribly funny in a very European, dry, deadpan way.

To truly appreciate Gee you must hear him speak. His accent is wonderful and the things he says can knock you out. I can imitate it a little but nothing is the same as hearing him call me Little Girl in that thick Hungarian accent.

Gee has a pirate tattoo and he likes small things. Once we were all down by the lake lying on our various beach towels and Gee came and spread out what amounts to a tea-towel on the grass. We all laughed and asked Gee what the story was on his tiny towel. Gee looked at us with disgust and said "I am not a big man. I do not need a big towel." Point taken.

Anyway a while back Gee told me he was sending me a present. A post-modern book that he knew I would love. He was sending the book via his friend Andrea who was moving from Brussels to New York City to attend Columbia.

Shortly after this I began e mailing with Andrea but she was so busy with school we weren't able to meet until today. She is so super nice and interested in exploring the city and trying new things, which is right up my ally. She also asked if I would take her to Coney Island. Um. Yes. Will I ever! How exciting!

Here is the book Gee sent:

Treasures in Cobble Hill

2010-07-07T16:10:00.009-04:00

Today I saw a new neighborhood in Brooklyn, AND got some free stuff! An old friend (and former camp counselor, naturally) was in town going through things in her late Grandmother's home in Cobble Hill today, and invited me to meet her for lunch.

Kim was my counselor at camp in 1997 and her Grandmother was a bit of a hoarder. The house where she lived had been in Kim's family since it was built in the 1800s. There were two stories to the apartment and a store beneath that was an Ice Cream shop in the 50s and is now a high-end women's clothing store. Kim's been up there working for days in 100+ degree heat and no AC. I was happy to come help out and was promised I could have any cast-iron cookware or cookbooks I liked.

I didn't find any cast iron but I did get a pressure cooker, a set of dishes, a set of baking pans, a set of canisters and an edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook from the '50s.

Cobble Hill was a really interesting and happening little neighborhood and since I was bringing so much home Kim drove me which is always a treat. Too bad about the cast-iron though. Now we'll just see what happens when Laura gets home and sees this stuff.

Adam's First NYC Experience

2010-07-06T12:31:00.011-04:00

Picking up where I left off the other day: My brother arrived Thursday evening while my sister was still here and we had a nice little surprise family reunion. Poor Laura: all three Bennetts in our tiny apartment. Friday I had to work so Adam and Sarah met up to hang out in Sarah's new RV. While I was at work I had a pretty heinous allergic reaction to the pain medicine I was given for my back. I took a bunch of Benadryl so by the time my shift was almost over I was looking pretty terrible, still itching and spaced-out.

Adam and Sarah parted company out in Jersey and Sarah and Andrew headed home to Virginia while Adam headed uptown to meet me. We first headed to Five Napkin Burger for lunch, which was delicious! After this we started down Central Park West on foot. As we walked along Adam was amazed at the tall buildings and architecture. We came up to a sign for the New York Historical Society's exhibit about the Grateful Dead. Adam wanted to go in so we paid our admission and headed in. Adam loved it. New York was really agreeing with him so far.

After the exhibit I got a soda and we were about to head around the block when I fell. The sidewalks in this fancy neighborhood are marble-smooth and there was a leaking trash bag on the corner and the next think I knew I was on my back and everyone around was shouting. It did not feel good and didn't help my back at all. Also, that soda I had just bought was all over me, I had garbage grease goo all over my butt and everyone was looking. Not cool. I did my best to shake off the embarrassment and the shock of falling and checked for injuries. I didn't find anything hurt besides my pride so we continued down the street.

I didn't tell Adam but we were headed straight toward The Dakota. Adam is the family's biggest Beatles fan, which is saying a lot for him. He was admiring the neighboring building as we approached when I finally indicated what was ahead of him. He was blown away. We took a ton of pictures and looked at the building and neighborhood for a while. Next I took him into Central Park to Strawberry Fields. We had our picture taken there and then did some fun people watching. Finally I was still feeling terrible from all the medicines and the fall and dragged him home to Brooklyn.

Saturday we got up and headed to the Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. We took a free tour and bought beer tokens to try some of the beers. Adam got a t shirt and we watched all the hipsters interacting in their habitat. Afterward we headed home for supper and then went to 773 for the evening. I was ready to turn in after a little while but Adam wanted to stay. We ended up staying pretty late.

Sunday was the 4th of July and we ended up spending a slow morning getting up and getting started. We watched the Hot Dog Eating contest on TV and didn't head out to Coney Island until late afternoon. The first stop once we arrived was the cool historical project exhibit. On this day some older gentlemen were manning the booth and the recommended I look at a book they were selling called Coney Island Lost and Found. The book looked amazing and both of them had their pictures within. They even hinted that the author was about and might sign it for me if they could get ahold of him. How could I resist? I bought the book and had them sign their respective pages. It was really hard to resist the urge to find a shady spot and begin reading it right there.

After that Adam and I headed to Nathans and got delicious food. Adam loved his hot dog and I am always happy to eat a Nathan's corn dog. Next we had our Wonder Wheel ride. I was happy that Adam seemed to love it almost as much as I did! From up there you could see the hordes of people on the beach and in the parks. It was cool and breezy and a lovely view of Coney Island in all directions. Adam even carried his beer from Nathan's along, a special thrill for him. Gotta love Coney Island, right?

After this we walked the packed boardwalk and took our ride on the Cyclone. Holy hell they had it turned up EXTRA fast or something. I was beaten UP, and combined with my fall from the other day and my delicious Nathan's food I felt not that great after that. We walked through Luna and then found a pretty great spot on the beach for fireworks. I sat and read my book some and we both watched the crowd. We sat there a long time and after dark and a little longer it became evident that there weren't going to be any fireworks. Around 10pm everybody just kind of got up and left so we did too. We were both pooped out anyway.

Monday we got up a bit earlier because we had tickets to the NBC Experience tour at 30 Rockefeller Plaza! We got there in plenty of time and after a hot dog stand lunch we were ready for our tour. The tour was really cool. We got to see Dr Oz's studio, Jimmy Fallon's studio and the studio where they shoot Saturday Night Live each week. We liked it a lot, the only bad thing was NO PICTURES. I was not happy. I was cheered, slightly, when they showed us a film that contained clips of Shaun White and Michael Phelps winning Olympic Medals.

After the tour I ran down some options of things we could do with the rest of the day that were inexpensive and Adam chose the High Line. We headed South and West to Chelsea and took a nice stroll there. Then it was in to VYNL for supper and air conditioning. Then to Union Square and a quick stop at The Strand before it was time to get back to our apartment to straighten up before Laura returned from her weekend trip.

Today Adam is on his way back to Florida. I think he had a terrific time. He was taking pictures on his Blackberry every other moment and happily updating things all along the way. I'm glad his first visit to the city was fun and that I could be there for it, especially seeing the Dakota and Strawberry Fields for the first time.

Its 102 degrees here in Brooklyn so for the rest of the day I'll be sitting very still and experiment with our freezer's ice-making capacity. Hope you are somewhere cool.

Here is a link to the book I bought too!

About the 4th of July

2010-07-05T00:59:00.016-04:00

So lots of people have Holiday traditions and my family does too, but one Holiday we always kind of wing is Independence day. Its not that we don't care for it, it just always sneaks up on you, doesn't it? We don't often have hard and set plans like we do for the rest of the big holidays. When I was a kid we watched fireworks at different places from year to year. For a while we watched the National Fireworks practice fire in Harpers Ferry at my Grandmother's house. Other years we saw them at Half Moon Beach.

Since I've been an adult I have continued to treat my 4th of July plans casually and tonight I thought back on the 4ths of the last several years and had to smile at how wonderfully they've come together.

For the summers of 1999, 2000, 20001 and 2002 I would have been at camp for the fourth. We generally did sparklers and maybe sang God Bless America. My memories of these nights are pretty faded into the general celebration that camp always is.

In 2003 thought I visited Niagara Falls with my friends Amber, Trey and Jessica. We gambled and took in the amazing sights and sounds of the falls, but by far the best part was the moment when we happened to be walking across the bridge from Canada back to the USA to head home and both countries set off KILLER fireworks simultaneously, in an effort to outdo one another. It was a sight I'll never ever forget!

In 2004 I lived in SE DC with Laura and had an internship at Children's Hospital. We loved living in DC and went to the huge Capital 4th on the Washington Mall with our friends Meredith, Lauren, Kelly and Emmy.

In July of 2005 Laura took me to her family's home place in Upstate New York for a week. We did lots of cool things upstate like boating on Lake Champlain and going to Vermont for maple-flavored ice cream but for the 4th we traveled to Fort Ticonderoga for fireworks and a carnival.

In 2006 I went tubing on the Shenandoah with my friend Kelly which was an amazingly relaxing and fun trip. I really want to do this again!

In 2007 Sarah, Kris and I went to the park in Stephens City to see Jefferson Starship and fireworks. The fireworks were great, Jefferson Starship not so great. We all had a good time anyway!

In 2008 I watched the fireworks from my very own porch and relaxed with my mom and our neighbors.

Last year Jake was with me for the 4th and we went, along with Kirstin, Aaron, Chance and Kirstin's awesome family, to the town park in Middletown for fireworks and to the Civil Cricket for drinks. The fireworks were so so but the company was terrific.

This year my brother Adam is in town and I will write much more about this coming up. For the 4th though we headed down to, where else? Coney Island, my favorite! We hoped to see fireworks and were a little nervous about the huge Hot Dog Eating contest crowd. What we got were delicious hot dogs, a ride on the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone and some awesome people watching. We didn't get a whole lot of fireworks but neither of us were disappointed.

What a fun holiday! Can't wait to see what I'll do to celebrate it next year!

A Visit From My Sister

2010-07-02T22:26:00.006-04:00

My sister came to visit me this week bringing her boyfriend Andrew to meet me too. I was excited to have some family up and spend some time with Sarah. Sarah and Andrew got an RV and are super enthusiastic about RVing so they jumped at the chance to get on the road for any reason. I just needed a little TLC. Good enough for them.

Wednesday they came to my work right as I was finishing up so we headed to Times Square because Andrew had never seen the bright lights of NYC. We snapped some pictures and then hit up Tad's Steakhouse, Sarah's favorite. We had steaks and then took a nice long walk to Rockefeller Plaza. At Rockefeller we checked out the brand new Lego store which was completely fun. Its almost inspiring. You definitely want to grab handfuls of Legos and start building.

Next Sarah wanted to see Trump Tower so we headed up 5th Ave. We stopped in at St Patrick's Cathedral which was beautiful. We window shopped and people-watched all the way up 5th Avenue. After stopping in at Trump Tower we went inside Tiffany and Co. I don't know what kind of lights they have in there but they do something to make the stuff EXTRA sparkly. I saw things I liked but was very careful not to look too long at anything. Tiffany is definitely not in my price range these days.

After Tiffany we were pretty tired. We decided to head back down 5th to the New York Public Library to get some pictures with the Lions. We did so and then went inside but didn't make it past the first marble bench. After sitting quietly on the bench there we decided to get a taxi down to the Path train station. Sarah and Andrew headed back out to their campground in Jersey and I headed home.

Thursday I didn't have to work so I got up as early as I could bear and waited for them to come out to Brooklyn. Once they got here they both popped open their laptops and ravenously checked their e mail and facebooks. After they got their fill I forced them to take me to COSTCO because I knew my sister was a member and I was dying for some bulk frozen food. The super markets in this area have next to nothing available in the frozen food sections and frozen food is such a good value when I can't afford food that goes bad. I also wanted lots of granola bars and healthy snacks as I've been living on cheese and crackers. Sarah and Andrew were certainly good sports and didn't even complain about dragging my rolly cart halfway across Brooklyn and back.

After unpacking the groceries and more Facebooking and Gmail, Sarah made plans to meet up with her friend Nicole. We headed out to Cowgirl Hall of Fame for supper. Cowgirl Hall of Fame was pretty tasty and we all got little tiny toy steers which was fun. Nicole was totally cool and we made plans to meet up again soon for drinks.

By this time my brother Adam was actually landing at JFK for his visit. Sarah hadn't revealed her location to him so we headed home so we could surprise him. She and Andrew hid in my room and when Adam finally arrived from the airport I showed him into my room to put down his things and there they were. We all had a good laugh and then came out to play CatchPhrase with Laura. Laura and I beat everyone else two out of three games. Finally Sarah and Andrew headed back to Jersey and we all went to bed here because I had to work in the morning.

The Apollo and The Canal Room

2010-06-27T15:25:00.007-04:00

Friday was the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. Sarah told me she thought there would be a celebration of life of some sort at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Our friend Kelly was visiting Laura and me from VA so we all decided to go up and see what was happening. After work and class we met at Welcome to The Johnson's to have drinks with Laura's new friends from school. We all had a good time and enjoyed cheap PBRs. Next we went across the street to Mason Dixon to have some supper and watch people ride a mechanical bull. After supper we were off to Harlem. It was exciting to see the Apollo Marquis, emblazoned with a tribute to Michael, but the rest of the affair, I'm sorry to say, was weird. There was definitely not the love filled street vigil Sarah and I were hoping for. When we got to the Apollo there was a small gathering. Maybe something more formal had happened earlier and it was breaking up but whatever was going on it was small. There were a couple of street vendors with t shirts etc and people and music playing quietly. What was weird was, for about 150 people, there were at least 25 cops and a riot van. When we arrived they were busy putting up fencing because they didn't want anyone in the street. After they had fenced everyone in, they moved the fences in further because they decided that there needed to be a walkway ON the sidewalk too. So basically they took a smallish, VERY peaceful gathering, and created a tense security issue. I have been to several gatherings in the city, and any moment of the day is more crowded in Times Square and it was absolutely clear that the problem was that the people gathered were mostly black and gathering in Harlem. It was really really upsetting. I must stress that it was VERY peaceful. NOBODY was rowdy or out of hand or even loud. The people were friendly, festive, relaxed. Everyone was rolling their eyes at the two dozen cops there to make sure nobody had ANY fun. We stayed a while but there wasn't much to see. The people were in good spirits but subdued both by the seriousness of the occasion, and the fact that too much fun would probably be seen as a riot. There were a few impersonators for comic relief. Also plenty spangled gloves.

Saturday was a busy busy day. Laura and Kelly got up to pick up a desk Laura had gotten from Craiglist in another neighborhood in Brooklyn and then met India and Jessica for brunch. I got ready and headed to meet them in the city for the USA/Ghana World Cup match, a part of Drew's birthday party. By the time I got to the bar where Drew and his friends were, the place was full and not letting anyone else in so Laura texted to head uptown and meet at a bar called Tonic in Times Square. We got there at the same time and headed into the very crowded sports bar. We were lucky though, and scored a giant booth when Jessica's husband, who was also there, had to leave with a friend who was being ejected from the bar. Lucky us. We had terrific seats for the match and even beers the guys didn't get to drink before leaving. Unfortunately we did not win the game but we all had a good time cheering and chanting USA and dancing to Waka Waka.

After the match we got back in touch with Drew so we could meet him to celebrate. We met up and headed to the Standard Biergarten in Chelsea, under the High Line. After beers we went up on the High Line, which was gorgeous and walked around a bit. Then we came down and found a diner for some supper.

I was super excited because my favorite band from home, The Reflex, booked a gig at The Canal Room for Saturday night. We went there next and waited a long time for the show to start. Once it did though it was terrific. The crowd was completely out of hand. We had as much fun people watching from right by the stage as we did dancing and singing to the music. The band played until 2 and by then it was time to go home. Laura and I were both hurting to sit down for a while and Kelly needed some sleep before she hit the road back to Virginia in the morning. Fortunately the band plays again in July and I hope to go again, and bring more people with me.

A Short and Long Blog About The Wonder Wheel Photo Booth

2010-06-24T21:46:00.008-04:00

The first time I rode the Wonder Wheel I was awfully excited. When Rachel, Laura and I stepped out of the car and were exiting the ride I saw an old school photo booth and got in immediately. Photo booths are a rare find these days, especially non-digital ones like this! I put in my money and the booth quickly snapped the four pictures of the three of us on a red backdrop. In 4 and a half minutes I got the best souvenir of my first ride. Each time since then I've done the same thing. Now I have a little collection of strips taped to my mirror. Photo booth strips are wonderful, I love how spontaneous the little composition of photos is and how ephemeral the strip itself is. These are already starting to fade. I took them to work and scanned them today so I could have them for always.

And yes, I've now ridden the Wonder Wheel five times and counting.

Fun, Fireworks, Film and Hair.

2010-06-22T23:34:00.016-04:00

Its been a hectic and amazingly fun couple of days for me! My dear friend Sarah Nilsen came to visit me here in Brooklyn and the fun didn't stop all weekend. Sarah is moving to New York very very soon and this was her chance to get some quality time in with her new city home and meet her new roommate, my friend Rachel!! I'm happy to report that Rachel and Sarah got along like a house afire, which is great as setting up your friends is always a little stressful. I introduced the two through e mail and phone several weeks ago because I knew they were both looking to move around the same time and needed roommates. Rachel is soon graduating from culinary school and Sarah will be attending Fordham for a cutting-edge social work program. I'm so proud of both of them and happy that they'll be together. I like to keep my friends as condensed as I can. If it were up to me we'd all live in a compound somewhere centrally located, with access to mountains, rivers, the ocean and the county fair. Also none of us would have to work, ever. Also before getting into all the fun we had I have to congratulate my roommate Laura for being accepted into the NY Teaching Fellows program. All my friends are terrific achievers.

Sarah arrived by Megabus friday afternoon. Word on the street was there would be fireworks at Coney Island so as soon as she had settled in and had seen the apartment we headed down. Sarah loved Coney and we had just enough time to ride the Wonder Wheel before it was time to get a good seat for the show. We watched from a table at Ruby's and were not disappointed. The show was wonderful and the crowd was tons of fun.

Me and Sarah on the Wonder Wheel

Saturday was the world famous Mermaid Parade at Coney. UNFORTUNATELY I had to work so Laura and Sarah headed down to see what was up. I heard they had a lot of fun people watching and had seen some crazy things. I hope I get to attend the Mermaid Parade some time. As soon as I got off I went down to meet them and we all went to the Brooklyn Cyclones game against the Long Island Yankees. We all love minor league baseball, and this game also had a fireworks show at the end. The game was good, we staked out some seats and I got some dinner after waiting in a long slow line. The line was awful but I did overhear one of the worst/funniest quotes ever: "Our seats are so good! Its like watching the game on an HDTV!" Oh New Yorkers. Once again the fireworks did not disappoint. I wish I could have seen the crazy mermaids but baseball and fireworks is nothing to sniff at.

Sunday Sarah and I made plans to go to the TKTS discount ticket booth and try and get tickets to see Hair on Broadway. Sarah loves Broadway shows, especially Hair, and was hoping to see it before it closes next week. You can get tickets from this booth for 50% off some days, especially if you show up early. We got there in time but Sarah surprised me by treating me to some really good seats I wouldn't have been able to afford any time soon. She had it all planned so I couldn't refuse. What a treat! After that we met Rachel for brunch at a bistro called Marseilles. Rachel and Sarah met for the first time and were fast friends. Also Sarah's friend Casey from high school met us. She lives in Brooklyn too. Brunch was amazing. That's no surprise either, considering Rachel chose the spot. We were right around the corner from our theatre so we had a chance to relax in the outdoor seats before our matinee.

The show was terrific. I had never been to a show on Broadway and was definitely not disappointed. The show is fun and bright and a little interactive so I had several Hair cast members touch my hair and one told me I was very pretty in the middle of a dance number when he jumped over my seat. After the show we waited by the stage door and I got my playbill signed by the entire cast! After such a successful Sunday we headed back to Brooklyn. We went for an evening walk in Prospect Park to see and hear the weekly drum circle held there before finally heading back to the apartment to rest up.

For Monday Sarah said she wanted to ride the Staten Island Ferry because it sounded like fun and was free. We also decided to try and make our own little tour of the city. I did a bit of googling and found a guidebook to the New York of film so we planned to find a bookstore and see what we could find from the book. We got up Monday morning and headed to the city and were happy to find the book quickly. We got a little brunch at the Gee Whiz Diner and found some places of interest in our book.

The ferry was lovely and we enjoyed the nice weather and took some pictures. After our ride it was time for some inventive sightseeing. We headed to Greenwich Village, a neighborhood I hadn't yet visited to find the house from the Cosby Show! Even though the Huxtables lived in Brooklyn, their house is on a quiet street in Manhattan. Somebody lives there, which is intriguing to me and I firmly believe it still looks just the same inside. so don't even try to tell me differently. Right around the corner is the apartment building from friends! Bet you didn't know they were neighbors! Next my book told us the Waverly theatre, a movie house mentioned in a song in Hair was in the area. We stopped at Starbucks for a drink and then found it, but we didn't find Frank Mills. Oh well.

Huxtable House

Friends Building

The Waverly was conveniently by a subway stop so we got on the train across town to the East Side. We were right by the UN and thought we'd try to stop in if that was allowed. We got through the airport-like security and into the UN lobby which was very very quiet. We didn't go on a tour or anything but there was a really interesting exhibit in the lobby about the Earthquake in Haiti, the UN workers who died and the UNs efforts to respond to the emergency as both aid workers and victims.

After the UN we walked up a hill, which you don't see every day in Manhattan, to find the apartment that Marilyn Monroe shared with Arthur Miller. Sarah also saw on a map that we were close to the Queensboro Bridge on 59th street so we decided we'd go that way since we were feelin' groovy. Har. The East Side neighborhood where Marilyn lived was very pretty, very clean and quiet. Lots of fancy apartment buildings and more dogs being walked than there were people. I never saw so many dogs and am certain they are all wealthier than I'll ever be. There was a tiny park, really just a bench on a patio, by the bridge but it was a lovely view and we sat for a moment. As soon as we were seated we realized how tired we were getting. I had to be on the Upper West Side for a meeting that evening so we decided to jump back up before we got too comfortable and head uptown.

59th St Bridge

We stopped for a bite to eat at Texas Rotisserie and were revived a bit. I went to my meeting and Sarah and Rachel met at Riverside Park for sunset over the Hudson. Once I was done I met them and Sarah and I came back to Brooklyn for some VERY much needed rest.

I'm so glad we got that book and I'm going to read it cover to cover now and find even more cool things to go and see. I'm also really glad I got to visit Greenwich Village and the East Side. Oh, AND a Broadway Show. So cool. I'm so excited that Sarah will soon be living here too.

Here's a link to the book we got.

Jake's June Visit + A World Cup Announcement

2010-06-17T16:23:00.010-04:00

Jake came for a visit and ended up being able to stay for an entire week! (Special thanks to my sister who dog-sat her puppy niece for a few days). I've been having a rough couple of weeks so getting to spend some quality time with Jake was really helpful and relaxing.

Although we spent a lot of time chilling in the apartment, hanging out with Laura, cooking and eating together, we did manage to do a couple of really nice things.

Friday I took Jake to Coney Island and he finally got to ride the Wonder Wheel. He did not love it, exactly, but he didn't hate it nearly as much as he wanted me to believe. Look at this picture:

He wants to impart that he is terrified and there only by force but I believe his smile says differently, don't you agree?

Here's a funnier photo series from our Wonder Wheel experience:

Jake is the tough guy while waiting in line...

Not so tough now, huh?

Notice also that I look overjoyed as usual. In that picture there are a couple of my favorite things on Earth.

Jake LOVED the Cyclone however and we rode it twice in a row. I also love that roller coaster and could ride it lots and lots, but maybe only twice at a go. Its not too jerky but it does shake you up a bit. Plus I never can wait to ride it before I eat my Nathan's, on account of Nathan's is directly outside the subway.

Jake also loved the beach and we took some pictures with our toes in the sand and watching the intriguing beach behavior or people swimming.

Tuesday evening the weather was so beautiful that Laura suggested we all go to the park and toss around the football for a while. This sounded terrific so we walked up to the park and found a nice grassy spot full of frolicking dogs and picnicking Brooklyners and played a little catch. Aside from Laura being clobbered by an exuberant red dog barreling toward a fumbled football we had a perfect time.

Afterward we walked over to Sushi Tatsu for the $11 special and then home to bed.

Jake left last evening and it was hopelessly sad to see him get on the bus. I came home and once Laura was back from work we met and she took me on my first ever run. I'm going to try it out and see how it goes, in the hopes that some exercise would do me good in more ways than one. It went fine, I went about 2 miles, with running and walking mixed in to take it easy at first.

Now its time to straighten my room and do a ton of laundry. My good friend Sarah Nilsen will be here tomorrow afternoon and I have to de-Jake my room a little. I love finding things like boxer shorts tangled up in the sheets and a bottle of chocolate syrup behind the closet door. Boys are so weird.

Oh one more thing: Laura, Kirstin and I have cooked up a new blog for your viewing pleasure.

Presenting: Your Hot Footballer of the Day!!

Enjoy :)

My New Favorite Photograph Ever

2010-06-14T17:50:00.005-04:00

Jake is visiting this week so I'm much to busy to blog but I thought I'd take a second to share something with you that has made me happy this week.

So I'm a photographer and I understand the importance of composition, angle, lighting and using the proper settings to get the clearest sharpest photographs possible. BUT I also have a huge weakness for pullbacks. A pullback is that picture I take a couple dozen times with everyone, holding the camera out in front of us and grinning a huge excited Katy grin. They make me happy. They're fun and a mix of posed and candid in the same picture. They're spontaneous and fun and wonderful. Or maybe my mother is right when she says I take too many pictures of myself.

Oh well.

Anyway, I took this picture of me and Jake the other day and I am just crazy about it.

Missed Opportunity?

2010-06-06T23:58:00.004-04:00

The other evening I was coming home from work on a downtown 1 train, sitting across from the doors when the train stopped at 72nd St. A girl got on there and the logo on her shirt caught my eye. It was a generic enough looking logo, circular with some mountains and a stream running between the peaks, but my first thought was that the mountains looked like home. I was a little surprised then, when I read the text beneath the logo and it said Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The girl sat down right next to me, she was drinking a coffee and playing with her iPhone and did not have headphones on. I wanted so badly to say something to her. To ask her where and how she got the shirt, if she'd visited Skyline Drive or even if she was from home but the train car was small and close and she wasn't paying any attention to me to make starting that conversation anything but awkward. I sat there next to her struggling with what to do and then the doors opened at 50th street and she got off. Its been bugging me for days and I expect I might not soon forget it.

A Weekend in the Islands

2010-06-01T16:14:00.010-04:00

Memorial Day weekend fun continued Sunday as Prospect, Laura and I headed down to Coney Island. While Coney Island certainly hasn't lost its luster we were very excited that we were going to see the grand opening of the all new Luna Park. We saw a cool new (maybe temporary?) exhibit about Coney Island by the entrance to Luna which we loved and then headed over to The Cyclone. After the Cyclone we took a walk through Luna Park, which was very hot and very very crowded. Its lots of shiny new rides including a super tall swing and an old-fashioned swing. There were a couple rides not yet running and a roller coaster type thing called The Tickler that looked crazy. Once we reached the boardwalk we decided to get some lunch. The crowds were unreal everywhere at Coney but we persevered and made it to Nathan's. We opted for seating on a shady patch of sidewalk rather than a table out in the hot sun and enjoyed what has to be the world's best people watching while we ate.

At the new Coney Island history exhibit

Next it was time for another ride on the Wonder Wheel. This time it our car was extra swingy and made me nervous. It was wonderful as always and there were excellent views of Luna Park and the throngs on the beach. Afterward we rode Spook-a-rama for the first time. It was twisty and dark and we probably wouldn't ride it again.

On the Wonder Wheel

View of the crowded beach from above

We did some more people watching and had a couple beers before leaving that night. I also took a walk through Deno's Wonder Wheel Park and Luna Park to photograph the rides after dark. Then it was time to get on home.

New swings at Luna Park

Entrance to Luna Park

Yesterday we got up early (well, as early as we could bear) and headed to Battery Park to stand in line for the Statue of Liberty. Tickets for the Ferry Ride to the National Park are $12 which is affordable but the wait is two hours. We were determined to stick it out and it wasn't so bad in the end. The line moved relatively quickly and there were vendors and some street performers along the way. Finally we got on the boat and headed to Liberty Island. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was excellent. We got lunch at the cafe and floaty pens from the gift shop and then met a ranger for a free tour. We were really disappointed we couldn't go into the statue, the pedestal or even the museum without special buy in advance tickets. I would have loved to at least see the museum! After our tour we took some pictures and then headed back to the boat to go on to Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was really interesting. We got there in the late afternoon and ended up staying until closing time and running for the last boat back, but we all agreed we could have stayed there hours longer and not seen everything. I really want to go back and I really want to bring my mom there. I know she'd really get a lot out of it. My favorite part were some of the quotes from immigrants telling how they outsmarted the officials when they were almost denied entry. I also loved the photo exhibit about when the buildings and the island were abandoned for years during the mid 20th century and photographs of different people who came though.

After being kicked out for closing time we took the boat back to Manhattan and decided to head for Little Italy for dinner. The streets were closed and the neighborhood looked like a lot of fun but we were all so tired we just kind of ate and headed home, dragging the whole way. I hope they keep it closed like that at other times over the summer. I'd love to explore more when my feet aren't killing me.

I love when we have visitors that want to do touristy things! This weekend was right up there with Amy and Jason's visit for being packed full and amazing.

Lightship Frying Pan

2010-05-30T02:38:00.007-04:00

Oh the joys of a Holiday weekend. One where I didn't have to beg, borrow and steal to get free time is even better! Laura and my good friend Prospect from our RC days came to visit all the way from Ohio and we have been very busy. Friday we intended to go see the Statue of Liberty, but when we got there the weather was gross and the line was very very long. There was a street show nearby and Laura got roped into being jumped over by street performers so that was pretty terrific. We will try again for Lady Liberty on Monday morning.

Laura, about to be jumped, in the street show.

We decided to head to midtown instead, to see Laura's friend Jessica, also from RC, who recently moved to the city. Jessica's apartment has a terrific balcony and we sat out there all afternoon, drinking wine and watching the Sailors and Marines walk back and forth. It is Fleet Week in Manhattan. After drinking we went to Five Napkin Burger for supper, but I don't have eating out money so I just got an order of 'Tater Tots' which turned out to be some sort of potato fritter hushpuppy and nothing like the things you are thinking of.

Wine in the afternoon on Jessica and Peter's balcony

Afterward we headed home. Laura and Prospect went to 773 but I decided to go home as I don't have beer money either.

I had to work today, which was no fun. After that I felt gross and ugly but Laura was texting that she and Prospect were at a restaurant in Korea Town and headed to an explorable boat park. I didn't know we had a Korea Town here! I met them at the restaurant and we headed to 26th and 12th. This location was familiar to me, as you may remember, from Cinco De Mayo. Remember when I tried to meet Rachel at an address that turned out to be out in the Hudson River. I knew it was a bar but it turned out to be so much more!

The Lightship Frying Pan is a party boat, docked on the Hudson. Its a barge, a lightship and, right now, a fire boat, kind of hitched together and used as a bar. If you haven't yet you really should click the link and read about it because guess what: it USED to be SUNKEN and they pulled it back up and now its a bar! Go look! I'll wait. Ok welcome back. So the weird thing is there you are on a formerly sunken ship/rust bucket/bar which is just crazy but very cool, but everyone else acts like its totally normal. People all over the boats were just sitting, drinking, talking, being regular, but we were on a rusty creaky, creepy, formerly sunken boat. Laura, Prospect and I combed the whole place and it was really freaky and wonderful. A floating scary basement, and we all know how I feel about scary basements!

Scary jars with things suspended in liquids, for no reason evident to anybody

Of course, every formerly sunken boat bar needs a bootleg piano

...and a DJ booth!

...and a caboose?!?

After that we headed home to recoup before embarking on a totally AWESOME second half of Memorial Day Weekend by going down to Coney!

Elton John Was Wrong

2010-05-25T13:50:00.002-04:00

"I thought I knew, but now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City."

Roses are EVERYWHERE in our beautiful neighborhood. I always thought roses were hard to keep so I wonder if they begin to thrive when they are older because these roses don't seem to need any help. They are huge and lush and busting all over with fat blooms. Its late May so it shouldn't be any surprise that things are feeling summery. It really seems like summer has been holding out on us this year though, so the warm sunshine I saw today on my walk to the liquor store and drug store was lovely and welcome.

Does anyone out there know what the kids do in NYC when the weather gets hot? So far we have the park, the beaches at Coney Island and I guess a fire hydrant if Sesame Street is any indication. Anyone know of pools you could go to? Anyone know anyone with a roof? We're definitely accepting any tips.

Today, once I finish my pitcher of iced tea, I'm going to make my first pitcher of sangria. Cointreau is expensive so it better be amazing. I'll report back.

Concert List

2010-05-25T12:28:00.006-04:00

Because I was talking about this with Jake last night, and because Gmail is an imperfect place to store such information: Here is a list of all the acts I've seen in concert over the years.

Ricky Scaggs
Kenny Chesney
Moxy Fruvous
Barenaked Ladies
Guster (x3)
Carbon Leaf (x6)
Ben Folds (x3)
Weezer (x2)
Tenacious D (x2)
Jimmy Eat World
Sparta
Dashboard Confessional
Pete Yorn
Remy Zero
311 (x2)
N.E.R.D.
Jay-Z
Nappy Roots
Hoobastank
2 Skinnee J's (x2)
Something Corporate (x2)
Bacon Brothers
Har Mar Superstar
Bowling For Soup
Welbilt
33 West
All American Rejects
The Ataris
Simon and Garfunkel
Phantom Planet
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Less Than Jake
The Virginia Coalition
Counting Crows
John Mayer (x4)
G Love and the Special Sauce
Better Than Ezra
Jessica Simpson
Cyndi Lauper
Maroon 5
Trace Adkins
Dave Matthews Band
Sheryl Crow
Rooney
Ben Lee
Jefferson Starship
Scythian (x4)
Flogging Molly
Fools and Horses
The Reflex (x?)
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Souled Out (x?)
Harper Simon
Michael Franti and Spearhead
Mika

The Roots

Talib Kweli
Naughty By Nature
Salt-N-Pepa

John Legend

So a Photographer Walks Into a Dentist's Office...

2010-05-23T20:01:00.007-04:00

...and gets her filling replaced. Sorry, not a funny joke. A couple of nights ago I was flossing my teeth and popped one of my fillings out. At least I hoped it was a filling; it was tooth colored and alarmingly tooth-like but also a perfect little square and since my teeth didn't hurt or anything I assumed it was a filling. Anyway I grabbed a bus back to VA on Wednesday night to go see my cousin Heather and get that sucker fixed.

I saw Dr Heather on Thursday morning and then visited my old workplace for a little while. It was terrific seeing all the kids and my old coworkers again. Highlights were all the two year olds remembering me right away, Elaina telling me she loved me, and Ainsley spotting me down the hall and remembering me. Good to know they haven't all already forgotten who I was! Everything looked good there and most everyone was happy to see me. I missed my old boss Stacey so I called her on my way out and asked her to have drinks with me later that day.

Mom and Jake and I decided to have lunch at Cristina's Cafe in town. Our food was delicious and the owners; Wendy and Crissy stopped by our table to chat. We were all friends from my Koo Koo News days. After lunch Jake and I took a walk around town and then headed home to get ready for drinks with Stacey.

At 6:30 we met Stacey at Brewbakers where we were immediately treated to free beers from some Bud Light girls. Thanks! We sat and chatted for hours. It was great to catch up with Stacey and hear all about her new house and how things are going for her and tell her about life in NYC.

Friday morning I got up before Jake to make him his breakfast in bed. In case you hadn't heard already, I lost a bet with Jake and the stakes were breakfast in bed for the winner cooked by the loser. I lost and am here to tell you everybody does not like the Michael Jackson song 'Black or White' better than the song 'Smooth Criminal'. Anyway I had gotten a little grandiose with my menu planning as I was sure my victory was a lock. I had to make him stuffed french toast (with strawberries and cream cheese) and bacon. I got so wrapped up in the process of slicing and stuffing and frying I completely forgot to expect it to taste good. It was divine!! Everybody won in the end.

Finally it was back to the bus to get back to NYC and work on Saturday. I love being home in VA and miss everyone and everything very much. A little snafu occurred when my bus was an hour and half late to pick me up so I didn't get home until 4 in the morning, but I did get home.

Also, I've been entering photography contests lately. I entered four photos to one with a theme of 'Happiness' and am scouring my files for the perfect picture for a 'Baby' theme contest this week. The prizes for these contests will help me reach my goal of getting a digital SLR, the right camera to make my photography stand out when I'm not at work using proper equipment. None of my Happiness photos were chosen but I think they were great anyway and have gotten some feedback from other entrants in the contest. Wish me luck and if you happen to see any other contests feel free to let me know!

One of my 'Happiness' submissions

The Edgar Family Visits NYC

2010-05-18T15:48:00.010-04:00

Amy and Jason and their two kids Easton and Bluebell came to NYC to see me this weekend. We had an absolute blast. I was amazed at how much the Edgar's were willing to do. They made a list and I was really looking forward to doing some of the things on it but I assumed that with two small kids we'd be lucky to do a couple touristy things each day of their visit. Not so. We did everything on the list. Here's the rundown:

Saturday Night the Edgar's arrived around supper time. I met them at their hotel here in Brooklyn, where they checked in and dropped off some stuff. They were ready to go even after a long car trip so we decided to take the subway back to my apartment and get some supper at Picket Fence. Picket Fence never disappoints and Amy and Jason loved the macaroni and loved Brooklyn Lager too. After supper I rode them back to their hotel on the subway so they could rest up for a day at Coney Island.

Sunday I met them at their hotel in time for free breakfast. We all ate together and then headed to Target to get a second umbrella stroller and then on the Coney Island Q by lunchtime. Easton and Bluebell loved the train ride and we were all cheerful and ready for a big day at Coney. As soon as we walked out of the subway Jason mentioned that he thought now was a good time for a hot dog. Nobody argued. We all got Nathan's and had a nice lunch at the outdoor tables in the sunshine. After hot dogs and corn dogs we walked toward the amusements and Amy and Jason took the kids on the carousel in the kiddie park. Then Easton rode a train ride by himself which he kind of liked, and a submarine ride with Bluebell which he did not like. We played some games and then Amy and I rode the Wonder Wheel.

Lunch at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

Amy on the Wonder Wheel

After rides and games we decided to walk along the boardwalk awhile and then out to the pier. On the boardwalk we stopped into a gift shop called Lola Star which had lots of really cool coney island stuff. I loved everything in there and then I found a floaty pen. I got so excited I bought four! I never want to be without one. It even had the Wonder Wheel on it. Floaty pen + Ferris Wheel = Happy Katy. The pier was bustling with locals fishing, sunning themselves and chatting in various accents. We even saw a couple and crew making some sort of wedding video on location. After all that sunshine we all decided we could go for a little ice cream. I thought the family must be getting tired so I was really surprised when they decided they were ready to take the train back to Manhattan and see the lights of Times Square!

Wonder Wheel Floaty Pen!

Bluebell looking cool at Coney

We took a nice long subway ride and I made sure we sat so we could see the Brooklyn bridge from the window as well as the Masstransiscope. We came out of the train in Times Square and there we were in the middle of everything. Amy and Jason really liked it. Times Square is something to see and if we weren't so hungry I don't know if Amy ever would have stopped walking and taking pictures. We stopped in Sephora for Amy and Toys R Us and a souvenir stand. Amy took pictures of horses and taxis and lights lights lights. The kids took it all in and I feel like the strollers kept the comedy show guys at bay. We didn't get one offer. After lots of walking and seeing we were all hungry, tired and kind of queasy. We decided to go to Ruby Tuesdays for salads and water and then back to Brooklyn for some much needed rest.

Jason and Amy in Times Square

Monday morning I met them for that free breakfast again and then we got everything together and headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. I was really excited because I have been wanting to walk across it for a while and had recently watched a documentary about how it was built. We started in Brooklyn and walked across, stopping often for this or that or to take pictures. I loved it. The bridge is lots of fun, with beautiful views and tons of people coming and going. It was beautiful weather. The kids were content and there was lots to see.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Once we got to Manhattan we took the 6 train to Midtown and stopped for lunch at Prime Burger. The price was right, especially for midtown, and the food was terrific. After lunch I took the Edgars to Rockefeller Center to see the Today Show window and NBC studios.

Outside the Today Show window

Next we walked further uptown to FAO Schwartz. Amy and Jason got Easton an NYC Taxi matchbox car and Bluebell an alphabet book of artwork from the Met. We spent a long time in the toy store browsing.

We were starting to fade, not to mention feeling some sore tired feet. We came out to go see the park but first stopped to drink some sodas on a bench. We were sitting right by the Plaza where the Central Park horse carriages wait for riders and Amy and Jason started discussing buying a carriage ride. We all thought it would be fun and a nice break to have a ride and I was very happy when they decided to go for it. Its definitely something I always wanted to do and never thought I'd be able to. The carriage ride was wonderful. We took a loop through the bottom part of the park and saw some of the sights of Central Park. The driver told us what different buildings were and what places were featured in the movies. My favorite part was when he pointed to the zoo and said the Central Park zoo was featured in the movie 'Madagascar'. We also rode past a huge corporate event hosted by the Fox network. We saw a paparazzi line and tons of camera flashes as Escalades pulled up to bring famous people to the network party.

Carriage Ride in Central Park

When the ride was over Amy and Jason wanted to walk in the park for a while so I took them back they way the carriage had gone so I could walk them up to the Bethesda Fountain. We walked by the Fox tents again but we still didn't see any famous people. The walk was beautiful as usual but the fountain was covered in scaffolding and drained. Yuck. Everything else was great though.

After all that we all decided we were ready to call it a day and go back to Brooklyn for pizza and beer at their hotel. We finished off their trip with Brooklyn Lager and New York pizza and Laura had a chance to stop by and see the babies too.

Amy and Jason were such great visitors and they have the best behaved kids around. They're all welcome to come back anytime. There must be something we haven't done yet, although I can't think of a thing.

Rain Boot Love

2010-05-15T00:19:00.009-04:00

So awhile back I posted a blog that extolled my appreciation for my rain boots. The very next day they leaked while I was walking in a rain or snow storm. I was very sad and had very very wet socks. Then I began to search for awesome rain boots to rival the coolness of my old ones. That didn't happen so I got some plain ones. Here they are:

After that I took them to my friend Shannon at work. I asked her if she would like to graffiti them for me to make them unique and she told me to consider it done. I was so excited. I told Shannon she could honestly do whatever she liked but I wouldn't be sad if they said Brooklyn somewhere on them and that I love Ferris Wheels. She didn't disappoint. Today I got them and I'm crazy about them. I'll let the pictures tell the rest. After she gave them to me at today's staff meeting we did a little photo shoot for them and the pictures are so fun. They were taken in the studio where I work!

Katy and Katy take Manhattan (pt.1)

2010-05-11T20:56:00.004-04:00

Today was my very dear friend Katy S's birthday! Her girlfriend Sam brought her to NYC for a semi-surprise birthday gift. I love visitors but I was crazy excited to see Katy as we are partners-in-crime at times and we always have a blast together. We met up yesterday evening and took a taxi (always a treat for me) downtown to go to a bar Katy had heard about called The Cubby Hole. The bar was a really fun lesbian bar with lots of kitsch on the ceiling and amazing drink specials. We sat around catching up for a bit and then went next door for a burger. I got the Bistro Burger at a place called Corner Bistro and was definitely one of the top five burgers I've ever eaten,. Wow! I have to make sure to go back there sometime. Plus: the burger was only like $6 and had bacon and cheese! What?!

After eating we headed back to The Cubby Hole and celebrated Katy's birthday until the early morning.

Katy wants to go to Coney Island and I insisted they come back for a visit over the summer when they can stay longer and we'll stay at my place and go to Coney. Can't WAIT!

I Was One of a Crowd

2010-05-07T23:53:00.003-04:00

Something I surely inherited from my mother is a love for public broadcasting. If you know me and have spent any time with me I'm sure you've heard me quote NPR. I seem to do it every day. Since I've moved to New York I've been seeking out information and history about New York City everywhere and have found a lot of great documentaries done by PBS. I've been watching, and really enjoying, their New York series of eight documentaries especially. I've just finished watching Episode 2 which deals mostly about the 1863 Draft Riot. Something that really stood out to me from that episode was a poem written by Walk Whitman. Whitman was a native New Yorker, and witness to the city's early growth. He wrote this poem to future New Yorkers. A portion of the poem was read during the film but I looked it up and thought I'd share it with you.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

1
Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west--sun there half an hour high--I see you also face
to face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious
you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning
home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more
to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.

2

The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,
The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme, myself disintegrated, every
one disintegrated yet part of the scheme,
The similitudes of the past and those of the future,
The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on
the walk in the street and the passage over the river,
The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away,
The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them,
The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.

Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the
heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and small;
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half
an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others
will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the
falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.

3

It avails not, time nor place--distance avails not,
I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many
generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,
Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the
bright flow, I was refresh'd,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift
current, I stood yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the
thick-stemm'd pipes of steamboats, I look'd.

I too many and many a time cross'd the river of old,
Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air
floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies,
Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left
the rest in strong shadow,
Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south,
Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,
Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams,
Look'd at the fine centrifugal spokes of light round the shape of my
head in the sunlit water,
Look'd on the haze on the hills southward and south-westward,
Look'd on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet,
Look'd toward the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving,
Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me,
Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops, saw the ships at anchor,
The sailors at work in the rigging or out astride the spars,
The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender
serpentine pennants,
The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilothouses,
The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels,
The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sunset,
The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the
frolic-some crests and glistening,
The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the
granite storehouses by the docks,
On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug closely flank'd on
each side by the barges, the hay-boat, the belated lighter,
On the neighboring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys burning
high and glaringly into the night,
Casting their flicker of black contrasted with wild red and yellow
light over the tops of houses, and down into the clefts of streets.

4

These and all else were to me the same as they are to you,
I loved well those cities, loved well the stately and rapid river,
The men and women I saw were all near to me,
Others the same--others who look back on me because I look'd forward
to them,
(The time will come, though I stop here to-day and to-night.)

5

What is it then between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?

Whatever it is, it avails not--distance avails not, and place avails not,
I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,
I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the
waters around it,
I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,
In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me,
In my walks home late at night or as I lay in my bed they came upon me,
I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,
I too had receiv'd identity by my body,
That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I
should be of my body.

6

It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
The dark threw its patches down upon me also,
The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious,
My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?
Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,
I am he who knew what it was to be evil,
I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me.
The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,

Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting,
Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest,
Was call'd by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as
they saw me approaching or passing,
Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of
their flesh against me as I sat,
Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet
never told them a word,
Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping,
Play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,
The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,
Or as small as we like, or both great and small.

7

Closer yet I approach you,
What thought you have of me now, I had as much of you--I laid in my
stores in advance,
I consider'd long and seriously of you before you were born.

Who was to know what should come home to me?
Who knows but I am enjoying this?
Who knows, for all the distance, but I am as good as looking at you
now, for all you cannot see me?

8

Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than
mast-hemm'd Manhattan?
River and sunset and scallop-edg'd waves of flood-tide?
The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the
twilight, and the belated lighter?
What gods can exceed these that clasp me by the hand, and with voices I
love call me promptly and loudly by my nighest name as approach?
What is more subtle than this which ties me to the woman or man that
looks in my face?
Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you?

We understand then do we not?
What I promis'd without mentioning it, have you not accepted?
What the study could not teach--what the preaching could not
accomplish is accomplish'd, is it not?

9

Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!
Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg'd waves!
Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the
men and women generations after me!
Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers!
Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn!
Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers!
Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution!
Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house or street or public assembly!
Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my
nighest name!
Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress!
Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one
makes it!
Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be
looking upon you;
Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet
haste with the hasting current;
Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air;
Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all
downcast eyes have time to take it from you!
Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any
one's head, in the sunlit water!
Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sail'd
schooners, sloops, lighters!
Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lower'd at sunset!
Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at
nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses!
Appearances, now or henceforth, indicate what you are,
You necessary film, continue to envelop the soul,
About my body for me, and your body for you, be hung our divinest aromas,
Thrive, cities--bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and
sufficient rivers,
Expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual,
Keep your places, objects than which none else is more lasting.

You have waited, you always wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers,
We receive you with free sense at last, and are insatiate henceforward,
Not you any more shall be able to foil us, or withhold yourselves from us,
We use you, and do not cast you aside--we plant you permanently within us,
We fathom you not--we love you--there is perfection in you also,
You furnish your parts toward eternity,
Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.

Cinco De Mayo

2010-05-06T16:18:00.002-04:00

Yesterday after work at the studio I decided to have a walk. I got off the train at 72nd and Broadway and walked all the way to Times Square. I stopped and got a magazine and went to Ruby Tuesday because I've been dying for a salad bar for a long time and although there wasn't anyone around to eat with I was there and hungry. My salad bar dinner was delicious and not too expensive, especially considering I was in Times Square.

After I ate I walked to 34th st. I was about to get on the train and go home when I heard from Rachel that she was with some friends at 26th st and West End. I went down in the subway and tried to figure out what trains to take to get over there but it wasn't clear to me how to manage it and it looked so close on the map I decided I may as well just keep walking. I walked out to 11th Avenue on 34th st but things started to look a bit creepy and industrial. I backtracked to 10th Avenue and then walked down to 26th. Then I walked to 12th on 26th but that is turns out to be the Hudson. By now my feet hurt, and I was clearly at a river not a bar. I called Rachel and was about to just walk back toward midtown and find a subway but she and her friends came out to find me. The bar where they had been was on a pier. No wonder I couldn't find it! Anyway they had reservations at a Mexican restaurant for Cinco De Mayo and urged me to come with them. They grabbed a taxi and we headed to Dos Caminos at 14th and 9th. I was still very full from my huge salad dinner so I only had one margarita but the company was lovely and the restaurant was crowded and fancy.

After they ate Rachel and her friends decided to hit a bar across the street but I headed home. I had to walk two more avenues back to 7th to catch the 2 train to Brooklyn. In the end I walked about 4 and a half miles yesterday. Today my feet are very sore because I was wearing flip flops that rubbed me wrong. Time to go soak them in some cold water.

My First New York Street Fair

2010-05-02T22:17:00.004-04:00

Today at work we had a booth set up at a street fair on Broadway. Mattie, my coworker, was born and raised in Manhattan and took me for a little walk on a quick break and gave me some NYC Street Fair pointers. Basically its like a midway, but there aren't rides, just vendors. They sell a variety of things; some on the hand-crafted side, others tacky. Mattie says all street fairs are exactly the same but that doesn't take away from how great they are. Street fairs also have fair food. New Yorkers love different fair food than I love. For one thing they all eat grilled corn on the cob. I'm not saying I don't love corn on the cob! Who doesn't!? But for every vendor of any kind in that fair, there was a second booth selling ears of grilled corn. Most of the people walking by were eating grilled corn. Mattie was very effusive about how great corn on the cob is and how exciting it is to have at street fairs and then bought an ear. I guess us southerners are just used to having corn on the cob all summer. It was kind of weird to me for sure. Mattie also got something from a pickle stand that was, allegedly, a 'New Pickle', but was in fact a cucumber with vinegar on it. Mattie said 'new pickles' are her favorite kind of pickle. Also New Yorkers are very excited about Zeppole, which is another kind of fried dough, but, as Mattie put it, so much more than fried dough. They have funnel cake and crepes too, but nobody was nearly as excited about that as zeppole. I heard about them all day. I had a corn dog. I wasn't feeling very adventurous. My mistake, as it wasn't nearly as good as Nathan's and I felt kinda gross after. The sun was very hot and the fair was crowded. I spent the rest of the day teaching little kids that wandered by the booth how to make a tissue paper flower.

Also today I noticed that New Yorkers all call those inflatable jumping structures 'Bouncy Houses' while I grew up calling them 'Moon Bounce'. I thought this was a regionalism but I'm not sure now. What do you call them?

One thing they didn't have at the street fair were fly swatters. I sure could use one! Its hot tonight and I have my windows open. There's a fly buzzing around my room. Earlier tonight I had my fire escape window open, with the curtain closed and someone went up the fire escape! That's not really allowed and I'm very curious as to what that person was up to. Shortly after I closed and locked the window whoever it was came back down. Weird! I have my hammer though.

WONDER WHEEL!!!

2010-05-02T21:26:00.010-04:00

The day finally arrived! Yesterday I got to ride the Wonder Wheel. It was no disappointment.

Laura, Rachel and I took the Q to Coney Island yesterday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and sunny and breezy when we stepped off the train. We headed straight for the Wonder Wheel. I have been waiting SO long to ride the most famous Ferris Wheel in the world. The Wonder Wheel has two kinds of cars on it: the white ones are stationary, as it were, and will give you a standard ferris wheel ride. The red and blue cars run along a track and rock and swing, like beads on a bicycle wheels spokes. Of course we got moving cars. It was so fun. The ride was so pleasant and the moving car was exciting but not scary. I am over the moon for that ride.

Laura and Rachel on their way in!

I have my ticket!

Fun!

View from the Wonder Wheel

Afterward we headed to Nathan's for lunch and then to the Cyclone, Coney Island's other famous ride. The Cyclone is a 100 year old wooden coaster, but you wouldn't know it from the ride. It was 20 times smoother than the wooden coasters at Kings Dominion, and a more thrilling ride to boot. When you get to the end you don't have to get off if you want a second ride, you just hand them cash so we rode twice and both times were great fun.

Next we headed to the boardwalk for some cold beers. We walked along the boardwalk with our beer in cups and stopped to watch 'People Loving Music Loving People' which seemed promising at first as it was public dancing on the boardwalk, but upon closer inspection, was creepy middle-aged people dancing to techno in broad daylight. Then we went down to the shoreline so Rachel could put her toes in the ocean.

Toward late afternoon we decided to try and find a bar that had a television in it so we could watch the Kentucky Derby. None of the places on the boardwalk had tvs (there's no need at all, you must experience the people watching at Coney Island someday) so we headed inland a couple blocks trying to find a neighborhood place to watch. We didn't find any bars but we did see an off-track betting shop. I was nervous at first but Laura once worked at a betting shop in England and lead us in. What a terrific idea! What better place to cheer for your horse than the place where people REALLY care about the results. We all picked horses to win and stood among the various gamblers watching the beginnings of the race. I tried to sing My Old Kentucky Home but only know some parts, even though its my favorite part of the whole tradition. Then they were off and we were cheering and it was a lot of fun. None of us picked Super Saver so it was for the best that we hadn't bet in the heat of the moment there in the betting shop.

Now the sun had set and the ocean breezes were getting to be a bit much. We headed to a gift shop and all bought Brooklyn sweatshirts for the rest of the evening. We headed back to the boardwalk to check out some Coney Island microbrews at Beer Island. We sat in the outdoor sandbar at Beer Island drinking our Coney Island Lagers and enjoying the juke box until it was dark and all the lights of Coney Island were twinkling. We decided to head to 773 for the rest of the evening.

Reppin Brooklyn

I can't wait to go back and do it again. I'm so glad I live close by. I love Coney Island very much.

VIP at the Dodgers - Mets Game

2010-04-30T19:19:00.008-04:00

Wow, I didn't mean to go a quite so long with no posting. I've been working a lot lately and let my blog slip. Sorry. Luckily the adventures continue so you shouldn't be too disappointed with what I have to tell you about today.

Laura has a lot of cousins all very close in age. Her family has an Irish branch, a German branch and a Ukrainian branch and they seem to be all over the place. Anyway, one of Laura's second cousins is James Loney who plays first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I'll give you a moment to click the wikipedia link and go and see Laura's legitimately famous cousin's wiki page. Cool, isn't it? So this week the Dodgers played the Mets in a three-game series at the new Citi Field. Because most of the Ukrainian branch of Laura's family lives in the New York area, James' agent provided them with an executive sky box at the game! Laura's cousins contacted her parents and let them know that she was invited to come as well and I got to tag along! It was totally cool.

James in the dugout before the start of the second game

The weather was terrible for baseball. It was really cold and windy. The box had outdoor seats that had overhead outdoor heaters but they were kind of ineffective with the high winds. Luckily there was also an indoor lounge with sofas and big screen TVs. We weren't too fancy so we we went downstairs to get our hot dogs (Nathan's! Mmm!) and beers. I also got a Mets hat, even though we were there to see the Dodgers technically, because I love the Mets.

We were actually there during a double header because the previous days game had been a rain-out. We watched the last couple of innings of the first game and saw the Mets win 4-0. The second game was only a little better, with the Mets winning 10-5. The most exciting part for us was when James was up to bat in the 4th inning. The bases were loaded and there was a full count and the ump called him out on what was clearly a ball! Everybody in our box was on their feet anyway and we were all angry but then James was thrown out of the game for arguing the call! The umpire thought he was throwing his batting glove at him but James told us later he was just throwing his glove so the bat boy could pick it up.

Yep. That's right. He told us later, because we totally got to meet him after the game!!!!!!

Laura and me waiting in the Family Lounge

After the game we went down to the family lounge and waited a while with some people who were from other branches of James' family. We waited and waited and after a while he came in and we all got to meet him for just a moment before he got on the bus with his team. They had another game against the Mets the next day. He was tall and handsome and really gracious and told us about getting thrown out of the game and what a bad call it was. He brought a couple of signed balls for Laura's cousin who was having a benefit auction and he posed for pictures with us and then he had to go. It was totally cool. Did I mention how cool it was?

Heres's us and a Major League Baseball Player

Lower Manhattan and Staten Island Ferry

2010-04-24T13:21:00.012-04:00

Yesterday I got to leave work at about 1pm. My friend Laura DeWitt texted me and we decided to meet for lunch/happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Atlantic Terminal. It was a beautiful day and this sounded like a terrific idea. When we were finishing up our wings Laura asked what I had planned for the rest of my afternoon and if I'd like to do anything in particular. I asked what was something good and New Yorky we could do. Laura suggested we take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry which is free and takes you past the Statue of Liberty. I was very excited because I've never seen the Statue of Liberty except from a distance from the Manhattan Bridge on the subway.

We went back to our apartments and changed clothes and then met again on the train. I'm so glad Laura lives in my area now! First she took me on a little tour of lower Manhattan. She showed me her old TriBeCa apartment, and took my by City Hall and the two courthouses where they film the scenes on the steps for episodes of Law and Order.

City Hall

U.S. Court of Appeals

United States Courthouse

Next we walked to the Ground Zero area. I had never seen Ground Zero and I also wanted to go to Trinity Church because I've recently seen a documentary that said that Alexander Hamilton was buried there. You can't really see anything in Ground Zero because its all high chain-link fences covered in plastic. You can only see cranes coming up from it. The crowds were also very thick because it was about the time when people were leaving work. Directly across the street from Ground Zero is Trinity Church's St Paul's Chapel. I wasn't sure this was the church I was looking for but we walked around to the entrance to see if we could get into the church yard and look for Hamilton. Instead we found that the inside of the chapel was a memorial to the September 11 rescue efforts. It was very moving and I really enjoyed the exhibit. Laura and I walked down the block a bit and found Trinity Church, which was closed. We walked a round and looked through the fence and I was able to see Alexander Hamilton's marker anyway.

Next we walked to the ferry, past Battery Park which was very pretty and green. The ferry was not too crowded and there were two open bays where you could take photos, if you are on the poor-man's tour like we were. Most of the other people near the bays were tourists speaking various European languages. I was happy to be riding the boat on such a pretty day and took tons of pictures of the Statue of Liberty at sunset!

Laura got one of me being me

Statue of Liberty

As our day drew to a close and we headed home I felt really achy and overly tired. I figured it must have been the mojito I had at BW3s but before I went to sleep last night I noticed I was feverish. This morning I woke up at dawn with a fever of 102!! I feel terrible but even worse, today was the big day we were going to finally go and ride the Wonder Wheel! I can't believe my bad luck. A weekend day off and the weather is beautiful and I'm sick!! I've taken ibuprofen and Tylenol and my fever is only down to 100. I hope that I can perk up enough to go to work tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

Fine Dining and Fine Company

2010-04-20T17:10:00.002-04:00

Hey, remember my friend Rachel who attends Culinary school here in NYC? Well, she pretty much rocks. The other night she invited me to dinner at Blue Hill in Greenwich Village. Blue Hill is a restaurant, located in an old speakeasy, that specializes in serving fine cuisine made with all local ingredients. The restaurant has its own farm where many of the ingredients are produced. Rachel is especially interested in the local food concept so she made a reservation as a culinary student in the hopes that she might have a chance to speak with the chef. Anyway I was lucky enough to get to go along because some other foolish soul cancelled on Rachel last-minute.

Blue Hill is by far the fanciest place I've ever eaten. The dining room was appointed in leather and mirrors, with a large vase of blossoming cherry branches in the center. It wasn't very large and seating was banquette style.

I enjoyed every minute of our meal. Rachel was such good company and we discussed the flavors, preparations, ingredients and presentations of each course. I learned a lot and really savoured the whole experience.

So the food. The menu was overwhelming so I told Rachel she could order for me. After ordering food just began to come to our table. First they brought us bread which was shaped like a bread stick and served in a glass cylinder, wider than a water glass. The bread came with three little dishes on a slab; one with fresh butter, one with carrot salt and the third with arugula salt. You pinched the salt and sprinkled it onto the butter. Rachel could taste the arugula but I thought both just tasted like salt and the butter was so good I didn't bother with them after a taste.

Next we got our first 'amuse bouche'. Amuse bouche is meant to be a taste of something, that you can eat in one bite, that experiments with texture and flavor and surprises the palate. Also it helps use up things you have too much of in the kitchen. Our first was 'asparagus burgers' which consisted of an asparagus relish or spread between two pieces of brioche which is a very sweet dense bread (kind of doughnutty to me). The burgers were no bigger than a golf ball and we were served one each on a slab of slate. Delicious and they were complimentary.

Next we were served some sort of meat slices that were really fatty and melted in your mouth. One slice for each of us, about the size of your palm. It was great but not as good as that asparagus burger thing! Next we were each served four bites of Grilled Spanish Mackerel with dandelion greens and ramps. This is on the appetizer menu but we didn't order it. I am pretty sure we were getting special treatment because of Rachel's culinary student reservation. The fish was delicious. The sauce had anise in it, and I picked up the flavor immediately to Rachel's surprise. Then I got really tickled with myself for knowing and recognizing a spice. Finally we received the appetizer we had actually ordered: This Morning's Pullet Egg which was a poached egg atop ramps with spec, which is a kind of cured meat, and brioche. It was delicious and rich and wonderful. This is the kind of restaurant you see on television where they served the dishes in the middle of a huge empty plate, on top of a smear of sauce, all stacked up and fancy. It always looks so tiny and unsatisfying and silly on television but the tastes are so rich and there are so many interesting things yet to taste, you don't want more than a few bites of any one thing. I understand the small portions now, though not so much the huge plate.

For our entrees the waitress recommended the Pig and the Chicken. Rachel had the Pig and ordered the chicken for me. Rachel's came with a piece of sweet potato that was cooked in miso and peanut butter. It was decadent. I am going to have to find a recipe that combines sweet potatoes and peanut butter because that is a flavor combination made in heaven! The chicken was served with a sauce of mushrooms and raisins. The breast meat was poached in buttermilk and it was out of this world, especially texture-wise. The thigh was fried crispy and delicious. I loved it!

When we got our dessert menus I noticed that cheese is considered a dessert. Rachel says that is common in France. We both noticed that one of the cheese plates comes with a Grayson cheese from Galax, Virginia!! We weren't up for an entire cheese plate but we asked for a small piece of the Grayson because we are from Virginia. It turned out to be stinky and very strongly flavored, not in a way I enjoyed. Oh well, can't win them all! Then we ordered the coffee cream which was a layered ice cream dessert served in a green glass jar. It was so creamy and delicious. While we were eating this the hostess came and invited us to the kitchen to meet the chef. The kitchen was BUSY and very small. The chef was young and listened intently to Rachel describing her culinary school career and interests while I felt completely in the way of all those cooks and waitstaff bustling all around me. Our trip to the restaurant paid of for Rachel though: She got the chef's contact information and an invitation to work as a shadow in the kitchen, watching and learning in a real restaurant and helping with some prep work! Yay!

When we got back to our table we had been served a fancy chocolate plate that had passion fruit truffles, cocoa covered almonds and coconut crusted, house-made marshmallows. The truffles were so strongly chocolate, and so tart at the same time, that both of us made faces while we ate them. They weren't bad, but you'd only ever need one bite of it. I finished the whole dining experience with the coconut marshmallow, which was the perfect punctuation to the entire affair. Delicious and perfect. Getting the bill was an entirely different feeling. Lets just say Rachel let me keep the ticket as a souvenir, especially since cellular phones and photo flashes aren't tolerated in the dining room. Too bad because I would have taken a photo of every last dish we got!

The meal was so satisfying and the whole experience was so rich and fun that I went to sleep that night smiling, and woke up happy the next morning.

Thank you Rachel!!

Moving to Brooklyn

2010-04-16T19:27:00.003-04:00

No, not me. I already live here.

Laura DeWitt is in the process of moving from Queens to Brooklyn. I have been helping her and let me tell you, things haven't been easy! I agreed to meet her Tuesday to clean the apartment with her but when we got there we found that the electricity wasn't on. Besides being dark, the apartment had construction dirt everywhere. The walls were covered with a thick coat of dust and there were drops and smears of caulk and plaster in the brand new tub, kitchen sink, on the new tile and on the floors and windows. We cleaned a little in what light was left but then gave up and ate the cupcakes I brought.

Then yesterday I was going to meet her at 3 but before I left the house the bank called to tell me my atm card had been compromised and the only way I could get to my money was to go into the bank and withdraw some cash. Finally I got over to Laura's apartment but the power STILL was not on and it was already getting dark. By now she was getting REALLY frustrated and was playing phone tag with everyone on earth. I told her I was available all day today and to call me and I could even be at her apartment to let the electricians in.

This morning she texted me to let me know she had taken the day off work. She has movers scheduled for tomorrow and needed to have the apartment ready, with clean floors and power, for her things to be put in it and for her to stay there. I got there first and went to the dollar store and bought a sponge mop and a big bottle of Mr. Clean. I was determined to get that coating of dust off the walls before nightfall, power or no. Laura arrived and soon after the super and electricians came in. I mopped the floors and walls of the bathroom and then cleaned the kitchen cabinets. All the cabinets and fixtures in the apartment are brand new and very nice but everything is covered in this plaster dust and caulk. Its awful and it stinks for Laura that they didn't clean the thing before renting it to her. After the electricians left we realized that they had fixed the power, for ONE of the light fixtures and ONE of the outlets. So we could see what were doing, in the hallway and we could plug in the stereo. And that's it. The electricians never came back while we were there but we did get very much of the apartment cleaned and Laura had to head home to pack.

She is off to a rough start, but I hope Laura loves her new apartment in my same borough. From now on she'll only be TWO subway stops AWAY! I'm very excited.

County Kids in the Big City

2010-04-11T21:06:00.002-04:00

Last night after work Laura wanted me to go with her to a party in the Meatpacking District to celebrate her friend India's birthday. We both know India from college, but I also knew her from growing up in Shenandoah County. She grew up in Woodstock, but our moms had water aerobics classes together when we were kids. Anyway India lives in Brooklyn now too and she and her friends were out on the town in Manhattan to celebrate. By the time Laura and I got to Manhattan on the slow weekend subway service, they had ditched the bar where they had been and were heading to one of India's friends apartments nearby. We joined them on their way there and had a good time chatting and eating cookies. The company was very pleasant and the conversation good but the funniest part of the whole thing for me is that most of the people we met last night were from Woodstock. Most of them remember my mom as a fifth grade teacher or they knew my friends Sarah and Emily and we all had a good time talking about the County Fair. At first they were a little reserved about the fair. Some of them hadn't been for years and don't have the same deep-seated fondness as I do but after discussing the various wonders of the Shenandoah County Fair they all agreed that it was pretty magical and some even affirmed a desire to go back this year. I tried to drum up interest for an all-county happy hour sometime but the crowd seemed kind of lukewarm about the idea.

Art in DUMBO

2010-04-09T13:14:00.004-04:00

I've had a couple of days off to catch up on sleep. Yesterday I swore I wouldn't do anything other than rest and eat. It felt good to lay around watching television until I started to feel bored and lonely. Bored, lonely but still tired.

Laura wanted to go for drinks after meeting one of her old college friends after work so I eventually did get up and shower. Then I got a voicemail from Sarah Humphrey asking if we'd like to go to an art exhibition she and her colleagues were doing in DUMBO. The exhibit was projecting the work of four different video artists onto the side of the Manhattan Bridge, with a reception at a bar called Rebar. Laura and I were up for it so we met Sarah there. We saw the videos both in the bar and projected on the bridge and enjoyed the wine and champagne.

Today I'm still feeling really tired. The only thing I really have to do today is get some groceries, there's nothing here for me to eat, but I am seriously putting it off. I don't want to do anything! Seriously!!

Rearranged!

2010-04-08T14:13:00.002-04:00

At the end of my Easter Vacation I made the choice to take the overnight bus back to VA and arrive the same morning as I was supposed to be back at work. That way I got an extra day with Jake and would just have to sleep what I could on the bus and stick it out at work on Wednesday. So at 1am on Wednesday I got on the bus and I arrived back here at 7am yesterday morning. I came back to the apartment and had a nap before I went in to work at noon. When I got up again and had my shower and coffee I was thinking it wasn't going to be so bad but when I got on the train I only wanted to lay down.

At the end of my train ride I get out at the 96th street station. It has been under construction since I began working up there. They have been building an above ground station in the median section of Broadway. Anyway when I got off the train yesterday morning the stairway where it had always been was covered in plywood and instead of going down it everyone was going up a stairway that didn't use to be there! I was so confused. I stood on the platform looking at the boarded up down staircase and looking back at the staircase up. Finally I followed the crowd up the stairs and out into the bright sunshine in the center of Broadway. Since the station is new the intersection was a mess as people who used to come out of the station on one side of Broadway or the other were now all coming up in the center and everyone had to cross the street. Once I had gotten my tired brain and body through all this newness and was headed down Broadway in the usual direction to work I thought seriously about going to a different stop to get back on the train. I didn't think I could handle all that again, as tired as I was feeling. Unfortunately for tired, mind blown me, when I got to work things didn't improve as they had rearranged the entire store! Everything that was on the left side was on the right side and vice versa! Also everything that had been in the window was gone, leaving much more visible through the windows and the upstairs area had been completely filled with frames on the walls. They even moved the clock. I felt like the world had moved a little, and like I'd been gone a LOT longer than 4 days! Geez!

Then I found out we had a birthday party scheduled for my shift.

Today I slept until 1pm. I'm feeling much better now :)

Easter Break

2010-04-07T22:18:00.005-04:00

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work I tried to call my mom three times. By the time I got to work and had a moment to check my e mail she had sent this e mail:

haven't heard since sat. did you get back ok? Could not find recent blog. mom

Mom sends e mails like they are telegrams or something. She'd be great at texting if she got into it.

Anyway to ease my Mom's worried mind and catch everyone up HERE is a recent blog post.

I just got back from a wonderful holiday with Jake. I took the Chinatown Bus down to Richmond on Thursday night which was mainly uneventful, though very long. I got on the bus at 5pm and didn't arrive in Richmond until 1-something am.

Friday we got up late at Jake's grandparents house and headed to their rental condo at the Wintergreen resort. Jake's grandma had packed us tons of great food and instructions that we were to try out the grill and make sure it works. Ok, if you insist! Jake invited his friends Jason and Gordie over for grill. After eating we watched Jason's favorite movie, The Warriors, which is about 70s street gangs in NYC and culminates in a battle on Coney Island.

Saturday we came to Strasburg for my Grandma Betty's 80th Birthday party. It was really nice to everyone from that family and catch up. Everybody was really excited to hear about New York and wanted to come and visit. It was fun and Grandma really enjoyed it. She was surprised and some of her family members had come from far away just to see her. All her kids were in one place which doesn't happen often.

Jessie, Grandma and me at Grandma's party

After the party Jake and I headed up to my Dad's house on the way back to Wintergreen. We went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel for Markee's birthday and then went back to Dad's for cake and Trivial Pursuit. Dad also told us some really spooky stories about Jerome, where his family are all from. He told us stories passed down from his great grandparents and aunts and uncles about mysterious lights and sounds encountered if you went down by the creek at night. Jake and I really wanted to go out to Jerome and try to see scary lights, that is until we got in the car to go back out to the mountains for the night. Then I got seriously creeped out. Anyway, Daddy and Markee both stomped us at Trivial Pursuit and then we headed back up for the night.

Sunday we were supposed to go to Church but we didn't get up. We spend Easter relaxing together at the condo, playing cards and watching tv and just generally enjoying the quiet time. Monday was much the same but we did leave the condo for dinner at the Edge restaurant which was fabulous.

Tuesday we came down the mountain and hung out in Richmond until my 1am bus back to NYC. I wish it hadn't ended. I sure love VA and spending time with my family and friends there.

Laura DeWitt's Birthday Party

2010-03-28T21:58:00.006-04:00

Wednesday was Laura DeWitt's birthday and to celebrate she reserved two lanes at Frames in the Port Authority Bus Terminal last night. Frames is a fancy New York bowling alley which means that is is luxuriously appointed and offers fancy specialty cocktails. Oh and it costs a lot more than Massanutten lanes. Laura is super generous though, and for her birthday her mom provided the lanes. I abstained from fancy cocktails as my stomach was in an uproar from the Jello shots mentioned in the previous post.

We had two lanes and our own waiter named 'Reddick' who had dark wavy hair and an accent. I told Laura he was my birthday present to her and our party did our best to annoy poor Reddick all night with orders for drinks and appetizers and more drinks and more appetizers.

Without beer my bowling wasn't so great, and I didn't get that second beer boost. We all had a lot of fun and I think Laura had a great time!

The Birthday Girl

Elizabeth and Laura are posing for 'headshots'

Today was opening day and the Blessing of the Rides at Coney Island!! I had to work. Laura took her friend Ashley down but they didn't ride anything, and by the time I got off work and all the way down to Coney everything was closed up again and deserted. I almost feel like Laura was making it up. Soon enough it will be warmer and the rides will stay open and I'll be able to ride the Wonder Wheel. We even tried to go to a boardwalk bar we'd heard about from the guys at 773 but that was shuttered when we got to it. We did get corn dogs at Nathans and then coffee and a doughnut each at Dunkin Donuts in the subway station.

Shot Girls

2010-03-27T11:47:00.004-04:00

A few nights ago Laura and I grabbed some pizza after work and then went for drinks at 773. We were talking and watching some basketball and chatting a bit with the regular crowd. Billy, the owner came over and was talking to us about how the bar was having a band Friday night called Memphis Train. He asked if we wanted to come sell Jell-o shots for cash so that he wouldn't have to charge a cover to have the band. We could keep all the tips and he would pay us a little something after as well. Of course we jumped at the chance. Getting paid to hang out at the bar and listen to a band?

Yesterday was my day off. After Laura finished with work I met her, along with our friend Ashley, visiting from Maryland, in Union Square and we went to the movies. We had been anticipating the opening of Hot Tub Time Machine since the first time we saw the commercial on television.

After the movie we came back to our apartment to change for our working bar night. We got to the bar around 9 and it was very very quiet. The band was setting up and the regulars were there but the band crowd Billy had anticipated wasn't there. We got some beers and sat for quite a while talking. Once the band had begun and had been playing a while we headed to the back to fill our trays. We loaded up with dixie cups filled with jello and liquor. We made a round and sold most all of the shots on our trays. Some people were excited and bought a lot, some people were less enthusiastic but played along and bought one or two. We attempted a second round to empty the trays but couldn't so we decided to take them back to the kitchen to sit in the refrigerator for a bit. After another hour we went back for the trays and tried to make another round but everyone who was going to buy jell-o shots had already bought all they wanted. We probably sold a third of the shots that Billy had made for us. It was not the success we'd hoped for for the bar, but we drank and ate for free and the bar payed us more than they took from the cash we did make. When we finally took the trays back to the refrigerator to call it a night we might have thrown a couple back ourselves. We might also have done a little kitchen dancing. I don't wanna say for sure though.

All in all I'd say it was a pretty successful venture. I'd be happy to repeat it if asked. I think we need to go to the bar one night soon and pay for a change!

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy.

2010-03-23T19:43:00.003-04:00

This morning on the train I decided to write a blog of 'A Day in the Life of Katy'. I was a little groggy at the time but grew more and more determined throughout my commute. I even e mailed myself notes once I got to work, which is more thought than I usually put into a blog post. Lets see if its as interesting as I was sure it would be early this morning.

8:00 Alarm goes off but Laura is in the shower. Going to work a half hour later messes up the morning flow around here for me. Try to lay in bed and listen for the shower to stop but my radiator is going absolutely nuts. Get up grudgingly to start the coffee.

8:10 Get into shower.

8:30 Our of shower, get coffee, get dressed.

8:55 Head to train station.

9:00 Catch Manhattan bound Q. Its rush hour, still, so even though I walk all the way to the front car I have to stand. Feel grouchy about standing. Try to stake out who will vacate a seat first and stand near them.

9:30 Arrive at Times Square and transfer to the uptown 3. I do not have to stand. I notice a man in Ralph Lauren overalls and wonder why. Feel grouchy about overalls.

9:45 Arrive at work 15 minutes early but notice that the opening person hasn't shown up, leaving me a hot second to do everything needed to open the store. Scramble to open the store by 10. Feel grouchy about scrambling.

10:00 Boss arrives. Manager calls and gives me a to do list to complete. Boss gives me more not so fun clerical tasks. Nobody knows where opening person is.

10:15 Begin tedious clerical task which thankfully involves sitting at a desk.

10:17 Opening person arrives 45 minutes late.

2:00 No portrait appointments today. I begin to wonder if 4pm will ever get here. Feel grouchy about Clerical task and all customers.

4:00 Head home. I get to sit on both trains and read my book which makes me very happy.

5:10 Arrive home, call Jake to say hi. Eat some candy. TV and supper and Facebook await.

Most of my days involve a lot less feeling grouchy. Today was just a crabby day from start to finish. I blame the weather. Also most days I do not do anything clerical although I do do a lot of tedious things. We didn't have any photo appointments today at all so we all had to do those tasks we'd been putting off for a while.

I have a lot of fun things coming up this weekend and also I can't wait to see Jake at Easter time.

Sunshine and Photography

2010-03-21T20:30:00.003-04:00

Its been so warm and beautiful the last couple of days. It makes it much easier to feel positive and cheerful, unlike the harsh New York City winter. I hope it holds. I'm certainly ready for nice weather. Apparently so is everybody else. The sidewalk near where I work was so full of people it took me twice as long to get from work to the subway. I had to dodge and weave among all the people walking slowly, four abreast, and chatting.

Today is decidedly cloudy though. Good thing its my day off. I'm meant to do laundry today but I might not get to it. That's bad because the baskets not getting any less full but its such a hassle. I'm getting really good at putting it off.

At work we have been doing training for a month! Since we are offering people a free print to come have their picture taken by trainees we've been booked solid and I've gotten lots of opportunities to take pictures. They want me to begin doing solo shoots after this week! I'm getting better in the studio setting although sometimes I still get completely overwhelmed by the pressure and the baby or child who doesn't feel like performing and the parents who don't feel the need to help or just be helpful. Sometimes I feel like hiding behind a big light until they go away or just tagging out and letting somebody else at work do the pictures and I'll confirm appointments or count the drawer or something I've mastered in my months of not being able to take pictures alone.

It'll be a quiet couple of weeks and then I get to go to Richmond for Easter with Jake. I can't wait!

They Don't Really Celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the Upper West Side...

2010-03-18T19:15:00.002-04:00

But down in Brooklyn:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To Do List

2010-03-15T15:38:00.005-04:00

Today I had a big To Do list for my day off.

I needed to clean my room because it was completely and overwhelmingly messy.

I also needed to do my taxes and to cook something with the ground beef I've had in the freezer for ages so that I have something to eat during the day.

First things first though, I needed some sleep.

When I finally got up I set a goal to work on my room for a full hour with no breaks and in the first hour or work I got most of my room cleaned up, just by picking things up off the floor and putting them away!

Then I spent an hour working on my taxes. I had to enter 5 W2s this year! Yikes! I came to a stop there when I realized I need paperwork from my student loans and car loans. I usually love doing my taxes. I put it off and put it off, don't get me wrong, but once I start doing TurboTax I get a little thrill watching the refund box amount get bigger and bigger. I will be happy to finish it this year and get it out of the way.

After that hour I spent another hour cleaning my room and now its all clean.

Since that I've kind of lost steam and haven't started cooking the chili I have been planning for days. I just made myself another cup of coffee and am having a sofa break hoping I get some motivation back. I certainly have been productive today, even if my whole list isn't checked off just yet.

Here's something that makes me smile today:

I love all the Joe's cups Amy has gotten me in Oklahoma. I hope I get to go to Joe's one day. These cups are the best. My new favorite is the pink one.

THANK YOU AMY!

Flat Lydia in Manhattan

2010-03-14T20:55:00.003-04:00

Besides being a portrait studio, my workplace is also a scrapbooking boutique. We sell lots of fancy and unique supplies and there are also crafting classes and events regularly. One class they have fairly regularly is Scrapbooking 101. Its a four part series and as an employee I can take it for free. Last time I was busy or out of town, I forget which but this week I got to attend. The focus of this class was painting and during the class I made this layout:

Each of the tags uses a different painting technique that we learned. The picture is from my days at the Yoga Pilates Studio, the place where I met Kris and Maggie. Kris brought in her niece's 'Flat Stanley' doll and we all took a photo with 'Flat Lydia' doing yoga at the studio.

Yesterday at work I had a couple of firsts, all at once. My first head shot photo shoot and my first solo photo shoot. I did really well! Head shots are cool because adults are predictable, adults getting head shots WANT to do what you say to look good in their pictures and the poses are basic and easy to remember. I did two shoots and both customers were very happy with their head shots, and both made purchases. I did another shoot today and the customer was absolutely thrilled with her photos and bought more than she had planned. Its so good to feel confident in the studio. I like the pace of head shots a lot.

Last night after work I was taking the train home when it shut down on me! Apparently because of the rain and wind some trees had fallen on the tracks near my stop and they shut down the whole line. I was four subway stops away from mine and had to walk forty minutes in the wind and rain to get home. Yikes! My umbrella turned inside out so I had to walk without one but the rain wasn't too heavy and there were plenty of other walkers along the way so it wasn't too bad. After I got home Laura and I went to a St. Patrick's Day party at 773. They had corned beef and cabbage and we had a good time hanging out with the employees and making fun of the hipsters. We even found out that our friend John from the bar is our neighbor! He lives in the house on the corner with all the stained glass windows in the front and said we could come grill in his yard during the summer. I love our bar!!

I have been very very achy lately and I'm not quite sure if I'm over-tired, coming down with something or just aging. Tomorrow I have the day off and plan to clean my room and do my taxes. Yuck. I don't think either of these things will help my aching back, or feet or get rid of the stitch in my side. I also plan to make some chili and divide it up to eat for a couple of days.

Welcome to the Johnsons

2010-03-13T14:03:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a day off for me so I got nice and comfortable on the couch in my pajamas and was watching tv thinking about how I wasn't at work when I suddenly realized I was supposed to be at a mandatory staff meeting in half an hour. I didn't have time to shower or anything, just throw on some clothes and run run run to Manhattan just to make it a half an hour late. When I got there it was ok because mostly everybody was late. I wasn't even last.

Last evening I met Laura and India when they got off work and we went to a bar in SOHO called Welcome to the Johsons. I encourage you to click the name and just read some of the reviews about it. I'm not sure anything I write about the place will do it justice but I will say that we almost missed it because the outside looks like something that was closed down 8 or 9 months ago.

Home Sweet Virginia

2010-03-10T22:58:00.003-05:00

I'm back. I'm back in New York after the most fun, amazing, refreshing weekend at home. Here's a rundown of the highlights:

Melting Pot with Amy, Jason, Easton, Bluebell, Mom, Sarah and Jake. The best wings I know of, Delicious amazing pizza, and cold delicious beer. Amy surprised me with presents but best of all RAINBOW STRIPED CUPCAKES that were not only beautiful but delicious. At least three different waitresses came by the table just to see them. Also Amy's kids are huge and delightful.

Church! So glad I decided to go. I asked Jake to come with us and thought it would take convincing but actually he was totally up for it. A good service and Jake was tickled with his free mug and holy water spritz.

Japanese Steakhouse with Jake, Mom, Sarah, Gage, Tony, Kristy and Tea. It was Jake's first time ever at a hibachi grill and it was so fun to see his reactions to 'big fire' etc. Also, I mean really, Japanese Steakhouse is delicious. I sure ate well on this vacation.

Oscars and movies at Kris's. With wine. And magazine reading. Miss you Kris!

I made snickerdoodle cupcakes and Picket Fence Macaroni from scratch and everybody ate and loved them both.

Phase 10 at Jessica and Brett's. I could get used to that game.

THE WEATHER!

It sure was hard to come back. I treated myself to a haircut today and got to do two photo shoots. So I am back in NYC, and I have a job to do. Other than that I have a messy room to clean and some upcoming visits (this means you SARAH N and AMY AND JASON.) Oh and Easter with Jake.

The Kellys Take Manhattan

2010-03-04T23:02:00.007-05:00

Jessica and Brett came up to NYC to take their daughter Olivia and their friend Georgia and her daughter Mikaela to the American Girl Place, among other New York highlights. I got a chance to meet up with them for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. I had a delicious hamburger with grilled granny smith apples and a really good time hanging with the Kelly's.

Work's been busy. I'm getting to do more and more photo shoots, and learning a lot. This week we are doing training sessions with twins. Its super hard. After 8 toddlers at a time who'd imagine 2 could get to me, but at one point yesterday I was actually shaking because both babies were crying, nobody was happy and I was in the studio alone with no idea how to soothe, let alone pose, these babies. Hopefully this training will help me build up my confidence in the studio.

Also today I purchased my ticket for a Chinatown bus trip to VA tomorrow afternoon! Can't wait to see my home sweet home!

Sisterly Advice

2010-03-03T21:36:00.006-05:00

I've been reorganizing my e mail. A momentous task to say the least. I have all the old Your Hot Olympian of the Day e mails in there for example. Also half a dozen recipes I'm always looking for and can't find. Anyway one of the oldest in the box was this forward from my sister. Its probably been three or four years since I read it but it certainly got me thinking. Looks like I have a few things down, and a few to work on yet. How about you?

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE

One old love she can imagine going back to...
and one who reminds her how far she has come.

Enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own...
even if she never wants or needs to.

Something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour.

A youth she's content to leave behind...
and a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age.

A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

One friend who always makes her laugh...
and one who lets her cry.

A good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family.

Eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored.

A feeling of control over her destiny.

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW

How to fall in love without losing herself.

How to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

How to change a tire.

When to try harder...
and when to walk away.

That she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents.

That her childhood may not have been perfect...
but its over.

What she would and wouldn't do for love or more.

How to live alone...
even if she doesn't like it.

Whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally.

Where to go when her soul needs soothing.

what she can and can't accomplish in a day, a month, and a year.

John Mayer and Rain Boot Failure

2010-02-27T17:34:00.013-05:00

Boy have I had a great couple of days! My very dear friend Laura DeWitt loves John Mayer with a love that rivals my love for Michael Phelps. She goes to as many of his live shows as she can and this week treated me to two tickets to Madison Square Garden on Thursday and Friday night! Both shows were absolutely phenomenal.

Madison Square Garden is giant and very very cool. For Thursday night we were in about the tenth row, stage left on the floor of the arena which was amazingly close. Friday we were in the first row of the second section, right in the center. These seats were pretty much directly in center court, which is cool in its own right.

The opening act was Michael Franti and Spearhead. If you haven't listened to Michael you should go get him right now because you like him. I know this. He was a great opening act and ran all around the arena during his set. He danced with audience members, hugged people, brought people's kids to the stage to sing with him and basically had a blast with everyone. He's so positive and his music is totally cool.

I think John Mayer is one of, if not the, most talented musicians of our time. He's very very good live. He also has some of the best backing musicians you'll ever see. His drummer was my favorite. Both nights he did drum solos that were so good they could stand alone as songs. I was moved to tears several times both nights, but then again, I'm kind of a cryer. Also John does terrific covers in his shows. In the two shows I saw he covered Tom Petty's Free Fallin, Alicia Keyes' New York, Fleetwood Mac (that song about thunder only happens when its rainin') and Paul Simon's Homeward Bound. NYC is his hometown so he was very excited to be playing for the Garden and everyone was excited to be seeing him. It was so much fun.

Madison Square Gardens is BIG

Love You Laura!

Some bad news is the status of my rain boots. The very same day I posted that picture of my trusty purple rain boots they failed me. You may have heard, we had a huge snowstorm here and conditions were nasty out on the street. On my way to the first John Mayer concert I stepped in an unavoidable and gigantic puddle and BOTH of my boots filled with nasty street water. It was awful and cold. So now I'm on the hunt for some good, cute boots. On the Upper West Side, where I work, the puddles can be almost knee deep and there is often no way to avoid stepping in them to get onto the sidewalk and not get hit by a taxi. Right now I have to wear grocery sacks inside my boots which is mostly effective, thought not totally comfortable.

By the way, there is not a link to my Amazon Store on the sideline, above the link to my Kodak Site. Anytime you are going to amazon to buy something, go through my store and help me out. Feel free to buy anything I have up and if you know you want somethign specific in advance, let me know and I'll put it in there for you. It would be a great help to me! Also I added more of the pictures I took at the concert to my Kodak site so go there too.

Post Card From a Snow Storm

2010-02-25T17:02:00.007-05:00

I went to work this morning but they sent me home because the snow will keep customers away. I was going to be off tomorrow but they asked me to come in for a birthday party and of course I said yes. I stopped at Target on my way home for groceries and then got comfy with some soup and Olympics. I took some pictures to show you what things are like here at the apartment today:

My rubber boots are getting a little worn around the edges.

My hat and scarf drying from going out in the wet, wet snow this morning.

My pilates spot. I've done pilates every day since Ash Wednesday.

View of the subway tracks from my room.

Picking up extra shifts at work means no time to do laundry.

Olympics viewing area.

Pedro doesn't care about you, your Olympics or your snow storm.

Art: Update

2010-02-24T21:36:00.004-05:00

I just found out Lisa has an Etsy shop and wanted to make sure to link to it. Her artwork is beautiful and a source of great joy in her life. If you like something please buy it, Lisa has a LOT of grandchildren to spoil. :)

Job Satisfaction

2010-02-24T19:36:00.003-05:00

Nothing too much new to post about. Its been rainy here this week and I have been watching the Olympics contentedly when not at work. I absolutely love the Olympics and have not been disappointed by the games this year.

At work we are having training appointments where the people who book the appointment know that they will be photographed as part of a training so I am going to get more opportunities to shoot and learn. Today I photographed an 8 month old boy named Alexander and he was an absolute delight. He was so giggly and smiley and his mom and grandparents were helpful, positive and kind. The best part was showing their photos after editing. They all loved the pictures, they agreed that my personal favorite one was theirs too, and at the end the grandfather patted me on both shoulders and told me how well I did. I wish it always went that way!

Word on the street is we may get some snow tonight. I sure hope we do!

Art

2010-02-20T20:17:00.005-05:00

When I first moved here, a couple of weeks before my birthday I was feeling lonely and homesick. My friend Jenni's mom Lisa posted some artwork she had done on Facebook and I commented about how much I liked it. A couple of weeks later the UPS man brought me this:

All framed and matted and everything. I love it. It hangs on my bedroom wall just between my closet doors and above where my full-length mirror would go if I ever managed to afford one. My sister, who knows about these things, once told me something that had to do with owning original artwork making you more legitimate in some way. Ok, obviously I need to listen more closely to my sister, who knows about these things, but I got the message: Own art. Real original art.

I've mentioned Shannon from work before. She is an artist specializing in mixed media collage. She's really talented and inspired and some of her work used to hang in the crafting room at the studio. Today I bought this from her and I am SO EXCITED:

Let me tell you all things I love about this:

I personally know the artist and she's awesome.
As indicated, the photo in the center was taken in Brooklyn.
The second lady from the right is Shannon's Grandma Emily.
These women are clearly awesome.
Shannon sketched the Brooklyn Bridge and skyline in the background.
Shannon has no idea what or where The Lost Weekend is.

I love my new piece of art and can't wait to put it up in my room. Its something I feel I'll always have in my home, even when I no longer live in NY and it makes me really happy.

Several weeks ago on a yucky wintry morning on my way to work I saw an old cardboard album cover on the sidewalk on the way to the train. It was Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass "What Now My Love?" The picture of old Herb and his horn and lady friend were priceless and I picked it up and took it directly to Shannon at work. I can't wait to see what magic she works on it.

The last piece of original art in my collection was made by me:

This was taken at the fair, my favorite place and it hangs on my door. Its the first photo I've ever enlarged. Of course my room is full of other photos I've taken, but the Ferris Wheels are by far my favorite. Can't wait until I can photograph the Wonder Wheel up close.

Lent

2010-02-19T21:30:00.003-05:00

Jake was here from Monday morning until just a couple of hours ago. I'd love to tell you all the fancy and fantastic things we did together, taking in the sights and sounds of NYC in winter, but the truth is we didn't leave the house. I went to work for a shift and a meeting but Jake didn't walk out the door until today when he was leaving for the bus. We just ate takeout and watched Olympics. It was FANTASTIC!! There's a reason we get along so well. I wouldn't say I'm a complete homebody but during the Olympics in February I see no point in going to any trouble. We had a wonderful time. It was so sad to say goodbye and see the bus off over in Chinatown and I am missing him already.

Its now lent. I don't ever make New Years Resolutions but I always try to observe Lent. Several different years I resolved to drink a certain amount of water every day but that is no longer a discipline for me as I can easily drink two or three quarts a day now. I have also given up soda a time or two. I don't like to give up things as much as observe disciplines as I think the purpose of Lent is to make you mindful of Jesus times of hardship and sacrifice and not whiny about how much chocolate or whatever means to you. Plus I get REALLY whiney when I want sweets. This year I am resolving to pray every day of Lent, and to use my prayers to give thanks to God for all the things I have. I already pray every day but most days its quick prayers asking for help and support when I'm feeling unsure in situations. To this end, I have started a journal where I am going to write down all the things I'm blessed with to help me grow toward being a more grateful person.

Also I'm taking up pilates, in the hopes that strengthening my abdominal muscles might relieve all my back pain and help prevent the injuries I seem to prone to. I'd love to be able to just lift something without that sinking feeling that I'll be paying for it later! I have a couple choices on Netflix Instant and the one I did today was 30 minutes long. Some parts were very simple but some parts were very hard and had me shaking and moaning a little, so until I can do all parts of it without sounding like a grandma I'm going to try and stick with this one.

So I don't know that its altogether appropriate to say Happy Lent, but hopefully you are all growing and learning in this, the homestretch to SPRING TIME!!

I'm thinking about taking a part time job to help with money since I have fewer hours at the portrait studio. Right now the studio knows I want the hours and have had anyone that needs a shift covered call me I'm just not sure it'll be enough unless I get more hours sometime soon. Anybody have any ideas of retail jobs that are fun? I'm no waitress, that's for sure.

Olympics

2010-02-15T07:41:00.004-05:00

My Hot Olympian of the Day blog has been up and running for three days now and its so much fun. I always loved sending out the e mails and am having fun with the blog too. There are just a couple of small differences. When I sent out the e mails people always replied to them and I sometimes had e mail reply chains that were 20 or 30 replies long. There is a space for commenting on the blog but so far nobody has used it. That doesn't mean nobody is looking though! Kirstin, who designed the background and header of the new blog, also showed me a website that gives me data about who is viewing my blog. From that I have learned where all my readers are located. Its so fascinating to see, Most are from the Eastern US, naturally, but there are three other countries represented. Its pretty obvious how I got a reader from St Vincent and the Grenadines, but Quebec?

I am so so happy the Olympics are on. Laura and I have been watching every night. Its the most pleasant television ever. I wonder if I'd ever get tired of it. Last night we watched Moguls and Pairs Figure Skating. Laura got to watch the biathlon yesterday while I was at work.

Its very early morning here. Jake is on the subway on his way here from the Chinatown bus station. Almost as soon as he gets here I will have to leave for work, but I hope to at least get to say hello and good morning before I leave. I sure hope today goes by quickly. After that it will be a couple days of nothing but quality time with my boyfriend and the Olympics!

Be Mine?

2010-02-14T12:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day! Romance is in the air here in NYC and the Empire State Building is lit in pink and red. Jake didn't make it up for the Olympics opening Ceremonies or Valentines Day like I'd hoped but it looks like he may be here tomorrow and we'll get to spend some time together.

Friday evening Rachel, Laura's friend Drew, Laura and I got together to watch the ceremonies at our apartment. Rachel brought wine and sausage smoked by her chef at culinary school and we ordered Chinese food and settled in to watch. I have to say the ceremonies were a little bizarre at times but its still the Olympics and we had a good time making fun of Canada. We also saw the new video for We Are The World and I immediately purchased the single and love it. I'm so very happy its the Olympics again!

Yesterday I worked and picked up my 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, another seasonal tradition for me. Can't wait to sit down and read it cover to cover.

Today I am at work and since its slow I get to blog for my work and sit for a while for a change. Hope we have an easygoing day today. Just to keep the store in the mood I put Pandora on and made a station with the keyword Al Green. Hope everyone has a terrific Valentines Day!

Announcement!

2010-02-11T15:34:00.003-05:00

We finally got some snow here in NY! It was pretty, it accumulated about 9 inches here, and now the sun is out and everything is fine. Its quite slushy outside but not a big problem. Surprisingly, NYC public schools had a snow day yesterday. I always thought New Yorkers were above snow days.

Last night during the storm Laura and I went over to the bar and stayed much longer than we meant to and drank a little too much. Whoops! What is it about 773?

Since 2004 I have sent out a daily e mail each day of the Olympics called Your Hot Olympian of the Day. Each e mail highlighted a good looking Olympic athlete participating in the games and came with around 3 pictures. This year I decided to make it a blog so that people can forward it and share it and to keep them all in one place. I'm very excited. Both that blog and the new header on this blog were designed by my friend Kirstin at Purple Monkey Designs. If you ever need any web design or similar service I highly recommend her work.

Your Hot Olympian of the Day

Fancy Hotels and Cheap Chocolate Candies

2010-02-08T20:35:00.002-05:00

Another working weekend has passed for me. Both Saturday and Sunday we had birthday parties at the studio and it was fun and insanely busy. Best part: sometimes we get tips and sometimes we get cupcakes!

Last night was the Superbowl and after work I met up with Laura and her college friends India and Meredith. Meredith was in town from NC, where she works, for business and just happened to have a room at the Waldorf-Astoria. We thought it would be fun to watch the game in sweats there. The hotel was beautifully appointed as far as the lobby was concerned but the room was just a really nice hotel room. The windows and window dressings were ornate and remarkable and it had a really nice bathroom and a mini-bar which I've rarely seen, but otherwise it wasn't as shockingly lavish as I'd hoped.

Today Sarah came over and we made chocolate suckers with a kit I had gotten at work. I had a babysitter when I was in elementary school who made chocolate suckers for every occasion as a little cottage industry and I couldn't resist the kit when it came in a shipment of Valentine stock. Decorating the suckers was much harder than I anticipated, but the project was totally fun and the candy is as good as I remembered it.

Laura is home now and we just had leftovers from Rachel's feast and will soon be watching The Bachelor and playing Trivial Pursuit. I love Monday's off. Unfortunately I'll soon be trying to get temp jobs for all my weekdays off.

Please keep you fingers crossed that Jake can get a bus up here for the weekend. I don't really know what the bus route looks like, or what precautions the New Century bus service uses or what kind of cancellation policy they may have. I just know that its going to be the Olympics AND Valentines Day and I really want Jake to be here for both things. I'm really worried that the weather might hold him up.

Zabar's

2010-02-06T22:44:00.004-05:00

I can now say I have lived the Upper West Side Life: I've shopped at Zabar's. No I don't live on the Upper West Side, but I work there and have been learning a lot about UWS culture. For a reference point: think Seinfeld. Tonight after work I met Rachel and we had to go and get ink for the printer at the portrait studio. The plan was for Rachel to make me dinner (she is a student at the French Culinary Institute) at my apartment in Brooklyn. Since we were already off the Subway and weren't sure Met would be open when we got home we ended up going to Zabar's. Fancy! Expensive! Yikes! Rachel was running around like a kid in a candy store grabbing mushrooms, spices, pancetta, a whole chicken! We were both shocked when the total came up! Oops! So right now Rachel is cooking me a dinner that cannot be beat. Can't wait to taste it.

I've been hearing loads about the huge blizzard in Virginia and its making me so homesick. I can't even explain why. I'm just longing for that snowed-in nowhere to go feeling usually accompanied by, well, company! Not that I'm lonely, I just miss my family! And home friends! And boyfriend! I mean really!

Also some really bad news: I had my work hours cut back drastically and now will have to find a second job. Not my favorite. Nothing bad happened, they just don't need to have as many staff on at any given time now that the Holiday rush is over. I'm really sad as things were so good with my employment status, but I'm glad I still have the job and and scouting out opportunities of all kinds.

An Appreciation of my Galoshes.

2010-02-04T15:48:00.004-05:00

Something interesting I learned the other night is that when it snows its as quiet outside in Brooklyn as in Strasburg. That is something I never would have believed before living here. Tuesday night it snowed and the ground was white when I got up yesterday morning but it was all gone by the time I got to work really. I hear they have quite a bit more snow back home.

About five years ago I bought purple paisley rain boots on a whim while shopping at the mall in Towson. We were there because it was 'Michael's mall' and I always thought of those boots as my Michael's Mall Boots. I had the boots all that time and never wore them. Too much hassle to have to change shoes when all I ever needed was to get from the house to the car and the car to wherever. Sometimes I even felt bad having them when I didn't need them. I'm so glad I held onto them though, now I couldn't do without them. Rainboots are a must in NY. The puddles are deep here, even days after a rain and that's not just water pooling there in the street. You don't even wanna know what it is! I do so much more walking in weather nowdays. Thank you purple boots! And thank goodness rain boots are in style these days.

Today is my day off, so of course its sunny outside. Hope everyone in VA is safe and warm and has plenty Milk Bread and Toilet Paper. :)

We Are The World!

2010-02-01T19:53:00.005-05:00

A couple of nights before the Hope For Haiti Now telethon and concert aired I commented to Laura that this would be an excellent time for the stars of today to come together and rerecord We Are The World. The lyrics to the song are completely applicable and I have been thinking for a while that its time we brought back the charity pop/rock collaboration anthem. So I was thrilled when I finally got up today and was greeted by a note on the bathroom mirror from Laura:

We Are The World for Haiti being released today :)

I remember when the first We Are The World music video came on TV when I was a little kid. I remember watching the whole thing and loving Michael Jackson and feeling so excited and I remember going to the dining room after and finding my dad's old pair of giant earphones by the hifi and putting them on, swaying and singing a chorus of the song, pretending to be one of the artists. I do not remember if this imaginary performance was private or if I did it for the benefit of mom too.

Today I've been watching the internet eager for updates on the artists and format of the new recording. I can't wait for the actual release and watching the video and reading the Wikipedia entry about the original I hope the new one has everything we love. I intend to buy the single and I hope it makes history just like the first one. I hope that it raises lots of money for Haiti and I hope it spurs a resurgance of the charity power anthem. I'm so excited!

Sunday: The New Friday

2010-02-01T00:23:00.004-05:00

Everyone else's weekend is ending on this Sunday night, but my weekend begins now. I usually have Monday and Tuesday off and this week is the same. Weekdays off are fun and different than standard weekends. I get better tv, and its not as though work prevents me from going out on weekend nights if I like.

Friday evening I met up with Laura DeWitt and some teachers she used to work with at a bar and grill called Delta in midtown. The place was southern themed, with barbecue and gumbo and po'boys. It was pretty good although, don't go to NYC if you want to eat really good barbecue. I'm just saying. The company was great though and the atmosphere was fun.

Saturday morning I got up extra early to go to the Doctor in Harlem. Laura DeWitt met me for coffee at whole foods in Columbus Circle, which is where Trump Towers is. Whole Foods is a grocery store but this one was super fancy and had about a trillion different kinds of breakfast breads and a coffee bar and cafeteria seating off to one side. Then I went into work. I ended up doing three shoots!! First was a family with a 3 month old baby girl and a dog. We worked and worked but didn't get the greatest shots ever. Next was a couple with a little girl that they had been bringing in every month since she was born. They gave her lots of toys and it was a disorganized and distracting photo shoot with the parents shouting from every direction in the studio and not letting us manage things. I didn't finish this shoot because my boss called me out to come help edit the previous shoot and give me some pointers about getting better shots. It was really helpful to see what she was talking about. Third was a shoot with a sweet baby girl and her mom and dad. I got the best pictures of the day from them.

Last night Laura and I went to a party over at Sarah's. Her sister is moving in with her and it was a sort of housewarming/welcome for her. It was so bitterly cold out and I was tired of long underwear and jeans and sweaters so I decided that despite the freeze I was going to wear a cute dress. I wore regular tights, then socks up to my thighs, then a pair of boxer briefs on my bottoms. I wore a tank top, a slip, a long sleeved t-shirt, then the dress as my top. Then I wore a jacket and then my coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Then I put my hood up. I was still cold. It was fun though to wear an outfit for a change. Work is casual and some of the girls wear cute stuff but mostly I just wear the standard Katy dress and lately its the standard Katy three or four layers as it is always cold in the shop and on the walk to work. Anyway the party was fun and it was nice to go do something a little different.

Today I worked again. When I got to work they were having a huge birthday party for a one year old. The family of the birthday girl had hired a children's musician and while he performed in the studio my boss photographed the kids and their families and the reactions to the performer. Each child got to take home a print of themselves in a frame with their name on it. While they had cake etc they all watched a slide show of the photos from the performance. We have several different party packages, based on the age of the party people but this family pulled out all the stops, bringing bagels and coffee, cheese trays, a gorgeous cake and cupcakes for the baby guests. They had a catered meal too. Manhattan mom's crack me up because they all have beautiful cakes at their kids birthday parties but they don't let their kids eat cake, apparently even on special occasions. Unfortunately the family took all the leftovers with them when they left. All the leftovers except one bottle of wine they had opened. Oops. After that I got a $25 tip from helping with the party and the store pretty much cleaned out. Shannon and I finished out the day and the bottle of wine and it was kind of fun being in the store while it was quiet and having some wine.

Something awesome that also happened is that a woman from one of my good photo shoots last week came back. They had bought a pretty sizable package right after their shoot but she came back to the store to buy another $150 of extra prints. She loved them and was so happy with them and I am so happy with them and I'd had a little wine, but I just couldn't help but feel great about it.

STELLA!

2010-01-26T20:43:00.003-05:00

Today I braved the Laundromat once again and got all my laundry done. I had also planned to clean up my whole room now that my bed has fresh clean sheets and all my clothes are clean but instead I threw out my back lugging the laundry cart up some steps and now I can't move. Nice. So tonight I'm laying on my heating pad and watching TV with Laura.

Speaking of TV, my friend Rachel lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and showed me some pictures she took of Tom's Diner when she first moved in. You know, Tom's Diner, that 'restaurant' neon place from Seinfeld and also the inspiration for the Suzanne Vega song? I was excited to see it and planned immediately to eat there with Rachel as soon as possible. It also inspired me to start recording Seinfeld episodes. Seinfeld reruns have been on since before the show even went off the air but I pretty much only watched the show in its original airing. I thought watching them now that I'm a bit older and also living in New York would be interesting. Anyway tonight Elaine threw out her back and took some muscle relaxants, reminding me that I have some muscle relaxants so I just took them. Hope it works soon and also hope I don't embarrass anyone by yelling STELLA like Elaine did because she took too many.

Olympics and Baby Portraits - My Life in a Nutshell

2010-01-24T21:56:00.003-05:00

Were you aware that I am crazy about the Olympics? If not then let me fill you in. I am crazy, absolutely mad for Olympics. All of them. Summer or Winter, team sports, individual sports, races, 'athalons', whatever. Seriously. Someone who didn't know this until last night was Rachel. She learned quick while we were watching movies at the theatre and the new Coke Vancouver Olympics ad came on before the previews. I gasped and grabbed her arm and when she said 'What the...?' I told her to look at my shirt. Only 18 days from now and I have full Olympics fever. Can't wait.

Otherwise I've been back at work after my illness. I've been doing lots of shoots, some great, some less good. Not all babies want to smile and there's just nothing my boss, the parents, the grandparents, the other people at work or I can do about it. No amount of A-CHOO!ing, BOOPBOOPBOOPing, or telephone ring/raspberry noises will change their little minds. Its rough at times and I feel a lot of pressure to get perfect breathtaking photos every time. That's why we don't charge for a sitting. Kids are unpredictable. All the same I've been selling plenty pictures too, some I absolutely loved and some I was sure the parents would hate. And no, I do not make a comission, but it doesn't bother me. There's a good deal of satisfaction in selling hundreds of dollars of your work, even if you only see your regular hourly wage at the end of the month. Somewhere in Manhattan right now a family has a picture I took framed on their wall. I know because I sold it and framed it myself. More than one time too.

I've been writing a lot in the studios blog so if you want to know more about where I work and what we do there feel free to read it. And if you know anybody in NYC or nearby with kids please send them our way.

More Fun With Asian Food

2010-01-21T20:06:00.004-05:00

I had a tremendous visit with Jake while he was here, as expected. What a sweetheart my boyfriend is.

Yesterday, unfortunately I felt very sick to my stomach and he doted on me all day and made me a ton of soup to help me feel better. I had to come home from work early because my stomach was so cramped. I was feeling a little better last night so I agreed to go with Jake to the Upper West Side to meet Rachel, whom he hadn't seen in way too long. We went out for Thai food at a restaurant Rachel had researched on yelp.com called Land. It was pretty tasty and Jake also bought me a present and a rose. After that we headed home and my stomach started to loosen up a bit. This morning the cramps were back and so I called into work again. I HATE missing work, I really do. But at times I have been doubled over from the cramping etc.

This evening Jake had to catch the bus and it was very sad for me. I miss him so much when he's not here and hate hate HATE to see that bus leave but he will be back very soon for the Olympics, or rather, Valentines day. The Olympics is two days before and he's going to watch the opening ceremonies with me here and that is super exciting. He loved the scrapbook I made him and his new Olympic team t shirt! Now I have to think of a valentines day present.

One last thing is that my studio put a picture that I took up on one of the blog posts talking about our new backdrops. I'm so so tickled that a portrait I took is up on the studios website!!!! Hopefully I will make it back to work tomorrow to take more!