Meeting Andrea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.