Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts

November 7, 2012

Hurricane Sandy

Pin It now! It's been over a week since Sandy came through the area and although things are starting to get back to normal, there's a whole lot of devastation.  There's really no other way of describing all the destruction, ruin, tears, lives lost and lives displaced.  My office (of my new job!) is now downtown (and I'll leave how dearly I miss Midtown for another time) and because of the flooding and blackout, I was out of work for over a week.  Most of my time was spent watching the endless TV coverage of the storm.  It was like a car accident - I wanted to turn it off, but couldn't stop watching.  I felt like I had to tweet and FB all the updates I saw to others who didn't have power (or a house anymore) and send through messages of how massive the lost and destruction was.  Our building luckily was spared and didn't lose power, but it was still scary and surreal Monday night when the East River surged and sent water all the way to Kent Ave.  The next morning there was an actual rainbow over Manhattan.  I don't really get Mother Nature's sense of humor.

I'm particularly sad about how the Jersey shore is no more.  It's sad to see the places where you spent your youth completely gone.  I know that they'll rebuild, but when you see the entire Seaside boardwalk gone, it's hard for me not to reminiscence about spending the weekend after junior prom there or all the times Jenn and I went out there in high school during our Friday nights.

 (A neighbor's photos of the Rockaways and Staten Island)

There was a little levity in all of this though.  SNL had a hilarious sketch showing Mr. Robotic Bloomberg and his now-famous signer, along with Christie and a Jersey equivalent.  Yeah, sometimes you gotta laugh a little bit.

Oh, and there was an election.  All I can say is Yes!

August 30, 2012

Lately

Pin It now! Summer 2012 has been fabulous.  My blogging about it, not so much.  Here's a condensed version of life lately.

~swimsuit fashion show at beekman beer garden followed by torrential rains.  luckily the beer garden is under a huge tent and luckily the rain washed away all the guys' photos of swim suit butts~

~Hester Street Fair Nights with June~
~Yankee games~
We made it on the Jumbotron!  One bucket list item checked off the list.
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~Drinks at Nights and Weekends~
Granville is awesome and makes amazing slushy drinks.
~lots of beautiful sunsets~

~homemade airplane by a grandpa on the stoop by bedford ave. if you look closely, it's made out of soda bottles and a mini heineken keg, among other things..this is why i love this town!~

July 23, 2012

Rockaway Beach, Queens

Pin It now! Yes, we actually left Brooklyn on a weekend and yes, we actually went to Queens.  Have you been to Rockaway Beach?  I've always heard about it, and recently it's been dubbed the Hipster Hamptons, but I imagined it as being grimy like Coney Island (sorry it's true), but it's beautiful.  The beach is clean and gorgeous.  It's not too crowded and you can get there by public transportation.  It reminded me a lot of the nice Jersey Shore.  I hope we can get back there once more before the end of the summer.
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July 10, 2012

Lately

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{homemade sign for a co-worker's going away party}
{Jenga drinking game}
{ducky and matches}
{Maison Premiere, Prospect Park entrance}
{Sweetwater}
{Game of Life with the fam}

March 29, 2012

Buvette and the West Village

Pin It now! I always forget how charming the West Village is.  I love the town houses, the tree-lined streets and no skyscrapers in sight.  Tonight Clara and I made our way to Buvette on Grove Street.  The place is TINY and yes, I put it in caps because it's TINY.  The space is tight, the plates, water glasses and portions are small, but the food was wonderful.  Tartines, cassoulet, octopus salad and delicious glasses of wine.  (Martha Stewart also featured the place in one of her Living magazines.)  Go there!
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December 30, 2011

Something to Help You Start Your NYE Weekend

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Have an amazing and safe New Year's.  See you on the other side...

December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays!

Pin It now! Some scenes from the week...
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Have a wonderful holiday!

December 7, 2011

Washington Irving H.S.

Pin It now! Did I tell you that one of the schools we play Zogsports volleyball in is my Mom's high school?  It's strange and special to walk through the same halls that your mother did 40 years ago.  I sent her these pictures and she remembers it to be exactly the same.  We go through living out these fantastic days of our lives in the city and I blog about the places that we've been to, and I forget that my mom and her friends did the same thing decades ago.

December 6, 2011

Urban Exhaustion

Pin It now! Apartment Therapy posted an article few weeks ago about how living in a big city can be exhausting and you have to finds ways to get away and relax to keep your sanity, even if it's retreating to your apartment for the weekend.  Living in NYC is definitely stressful and can take its toll.  From high-stress jobs and high standard of living to the tourists (apparently the greatest number of tourists ever this year), noise, grime, crime...  I hate the honking (although I can sleep through ambulance sirens) and the $11 lunches.  I wouldn't trade it for a quieter and slower living and love the flow and pace of the city, but it definitely can become exhausting sometimes. 

This blog has certainly helped in beating the New York City urban exhaustion.  By chronicling our life here and finding hidden gems to visit/eat/photograph, it makes the city more unique.  It feels like all my own that I get to explore.  I think moving out of Manhattan has helped too.  Brooklyn, especially Williamsburg, is its own beast and even though it can crowded, I love walking down the street and seeing only 6 story townhouses - no skyscrapers!

So how do you beat the city exhaustion?

December 2, 2011

52 Weeks: Week 48, Roosevelt Island Tram

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August 18, 2011

52 Weeks: Week 33, Alan Wolfson's Canal St. Cross-Section

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I read about Alan Wolfson's work awhile ago and was so excited when the Museum of Arts and Design had one of his works on display.

August 9, 2011

The (Long) Weekend

Pin It now! I took a couple of days off from work and this past weekend felt like a whole week off.  It was great.  On Friday, I started my day trying to find vanilla vodka and then making a test batch of orange creamsicle jello shots (more on that in a bit).  We agreed to dog-sit our friends' dog which seemed like a fantastic idea - I've always wanted a dog.  Our friends came by to drop off Allie, an adorable poodle mix, and told us she wouldn't be trouble at all.  Generally, she was a delight and such a cutie.  Specifically though, she freaked out wen we put her in her cage at night to go to bed and wouldn't stop crying and barking.  We felt bad so on Saturday night we let her stay in our room, but she was up all hours.  Every hour, she would circle the bed, want to play and tried to jump on the bed.  It felt like we were new parents with a newborn!  So sadly, I've changed my mind about having a dog.  Or only having a dog that doesn't shed and sleeps through the night.  I also met up with the girls that night to watch Crazy, Stupid Love.  Loved it.  It makes me secret crush adore Ryan Gosling, although not as much as when I saw him in the Notebook (in case you needed a frame of reference).  The movie was sad and funny at the same time, Steve Carrell was good like that.

On Saturday, Hubs and I were exhausted (him more than me since he got up to take care of the dog a few more times).  He was still able to haul massive bags of meat and vegetables back from the Meat Market in Hell's Kitchen (near our old apartment) back to Brooklyn for the party we were going to throw (more on that in a bit).  I'm not sure how he got all that food home in one try, but he did and saved a ridiculous amount of money since that meat market is so inexpensive!  The meat section is a big meat locker that you walk into and the butchers are inside butchering the meat right in front of you.  I'm not sure why it's so cheap though...  Saturday night, we celebrated our anniversary and Hub's birthday at Zenkichi.  We've passed this place every day and it's like a secret garden on the outside and a haunted house on the inside.  It sounds strange, but if you go there, you'll know what I mean.  We had the omakase menu and sampled eight delicious small dishes: Japanese yam miso soup, a late of amuse-bouche (my favorite was the baby yellowtail sashimi), asparagus-scallop-corn tempura, homemade tofu salad, miso cod, lamb chop tataki (I wish she had ten of these!), tuna donburi and frozen black sesame mousse (hubby had the Mineoka Tofu that tasted like panna cotta).  The meal was absolutely amazing!  We were both ridiculously full and ridiculously content after dinner.  If only we could go every night...

On Sunday, we continued our long weekend of anniversary and birthday celebrations, and Michael planned a full day of surprises.  I have to say I hate surprises... ok, not true.  I hate not knowing what the surprise is, I love the other side of the surprise and the end result of whatever the surprise will be.  I asked Michael dozen of times what we were doing but he held strong.  Finally, I found out (when we were actually there) that were were having brunch at Maison, one of favorite crepe places, AND the Cirque du Soleil show Zarkana.  The show was amazing - my favorites were the Wheel of Death, where two brothers are doing leaps and somersaults, at one point blindfolded, on two gigantic spinning wheels, and Ellen Chen who fingerpainted in blue sand these amazing (AMAZING) images of the first half of the show and then a preview of the second half of the show.

Ok, I think we need a little break before I get to the rest of the weekend....

August 4, 2011

52 Weeks: Week 29, Sunset over Manhattan from Brooklyn

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May 11, 2011

Bergdorf Fifth Avenue Windows: Alexander McQueen's Savage Beauty

Pin It now! Bergdorf's window are showcasing items (on loan) from Alexander McQueen's archives in London.  The windows are complimenting the Met's Alexander McQueen exhibition.

From the Bergdorf blog: "We designed these windows after spending several weeks researching the work of Alexander McQueen. We looked at every runway look from the past 12 years, as well as viewed videos of all his shows. In doing so, we uncovered the sensibility unique to Alexander McQueen: Gothic elements, love of nature, iconoclasm, unusual shapes, clothing-as-armour, rigorous tailoring, striking use of materials, exquisite craftsmanship. Among other revelations, we found that in McQueen there is seriousness of purpose with many parallels to contemporary British art."

I love how edgy he and his designs were.  Obviously it takes a little skill to take photos of store windows without the terrible glare of the glass reflections.  If you want more fabulous photos of the windows, you should also go to Bergdorf's blog.

April 26, 2011

52 Weeks: Week 17, Shake Shack at Madison Square Park

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April 18, 2011

As Seen in New York

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April 7, 2011

52 Weeks: Week 14, Milton Glaser's I Love NY (MoMA)

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April 4, 2011

As Seen in New York

Pin It now! Joan sent me this photo she took today at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I don't know why a parent would let their child get inside a container full of new bath sponges.  I do know I won't be buying bath sponges any time soon.

March 2, 2011

Sheep on Broadway

Pin It now! Have you checked out Kyu Seok Oh's "Counting Sheep" on the Broadway Plaza at 46th Street in Times Square?  They're there through Monday!