another nyc day

I was left to my own devices for the day yesterday as Meghan and Sam both had to return to work.  I decided to take myself out to lunch at barnyard where I got a really amazing brussel sprout salad among other things.  I holed myself away for the better part of the day since the heat is really intense in the city right now.

But come the afternoon I did venture out to meet up with Kelly.  We decided to meet at 59th and 5th and then walk through the park.  When I got there I texted her saying I was underneath the spinning airplane.  She was confused at first but then quickly understood.

Kelly and I retreated to the shade of the park and found a nice bench to sit and catch up.  Make new friend but keep the old and all that.  It was really really nice.

As it got closer to 5 Kelly walked me up the park to the Met where she had to leave to go do homework but I was adopted by Esha.  Another person I was glad to get to see.

And a great person to walk me through Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit in Meghan's absence.  My only regret is that I didn't know that one of the dresses was made from monkey fur.

After uptown Meghan and I left Esha and headed down to meet up with Kim, Ariel, and JD for dinner.  We ended up sitting at thai son for several hours catching up.

All in all it was a whirlwind day in new york that made me miss living here a lot.  I was sad this morning to say goodbye to Meghan at the 51st St. stop.

I will be back soon though.

I can walk here

It took me maybe 15 minutes to get here from my apt.  The beach in general is even closer, you just have to walk for a ways to get to the beachfront part of a1a.

It's funny that in all the time I lived in nyc I only once had the circumstances of my life provide for me to not have to take the subway regularly for work/school.  Even then it was when I was doing my teacher training so I had to walk across central park four times a week to get to the west side studio.

So who would have thought that I'd have to move to Ft. Lauderdale to be able to be walking distance from everything.  I applied for a job yesterday that I walked to, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I would so love for my car to be just for fun, I hate commuting because it makes me get sick of sitting in the car, and I don't ever want to be sick of sitting in my car.

For now I am going to go for my first run, I think down to a1a.  We'll see how it goes, and I will of course update if I get a job.

Happy Labor Day : )

3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm

Colin walked me back to Meghan's and we had grand intentions of doing fun things, but instead just sat on the couch talking which was lovely.  It was also overcast earlier in the day so I was trying to seek refuge, but as you can see here the sky had opened up again by three so I decided it was time to head back out in to the world.

By four we found ourselves in Union Square looking for food:

What we found was delicious sandwiches.  Nothing is a better chaser for a green juice lunch than a blt.  Mmmm, now my mouth is watering.

At this point Colin and I parted ways, he headed to his church, me headed to meet esha, and meghan at her work when she got out at five:

and even though I got THOROUGHLY chastised for sneaking these pictures of the McQueen exhibit I just couldn't resist because it was SO INCREDIBLY INCREDIBLE!!!

Pictures really don't do it justice.  I don't know how else to say it.  You really need to find your way here to see it for yourself before it goes away in August.

After our immersion in culture we found our way to Central Park for the six o'clock hour:

I really love this specific spot, I think because it's the entrance that I would have used the most when I first lived in the city.  I've also had many a good picnic on that hill.

Esha and Meghan and I walked through the park and enjoyed each others company before separating shortly before seven so Meghan could go feed the cat she is cat sitting for.  I was all excited to take a picture of this precious precious angel cat but when we arrived we found that the people had come home from vacation early, making for a very awkward exchange when we opened their front door.  I felt like the situation was weird enough without me asking if I could take a picture of their cat so unfortunately my seven o'clock picture is of the hallway outside their apt:

I feel like this happens every year.  I try really hard to be somewhere interesting at the top of the hour but inevitably there are one or two pictures of the most random and mundane thing.  Like the year we had to put the camera in the cheese case at the grocery store and take a picture of us with the sandwich artists making our lunch at noon.

So yeah, not exciting but that was 7:00 and by this point I was (and still am) EXHAUSTED.  But oh god, it was still daylight.  So bright!

I had to come back to the apt because I needed water and a change of shoes and to not be wandering around anymore so Meghan took me down to the Bette Midler garden for some H2O and evening conversation.  I thought I could make it to nine but surprisingly eight o'clock was the final hour of daylight, and I am pleased that I spent it in the garden that Bette built:

And I am secretly pleased that this day is FINALLY over.  Omg, talk about the longest day of the year.  It was like, really long.

So goodbye, enjoy, and I hope you all congratulate me tomorrow on my one year anniversary tomorrow.

Groundhog Day

source

I apologize for my absence yesterday but I was stuck in groundhog's day. 

Before I left for work yesterday those two nice guys were being adorable and hugging each other.  I took a couple pictures and went on my way.  I downloaded an app on my phone that uses google maps to chart your walking and tells you how far you've gone, what speed you walked, and all this other cool stuff.  I was all excited to use it so I ended up walking to work again yesterday.  It was a completely different day, rainy and gray, which made the leaves seem even more vibrant.  Even though i wanted to keep up my naomi campbell walk for the sake of my workout app I still stopped and took picures here and there. 

When I finally got to work I realized that the things I had to post were pictures of kitty followed by pictures of leaves in central park...exactly what I had posted the day before. 

I decided I couldn't do it.  If the point of this blog is to make my life interesting I can't post the same things over and over again.  And I foolishly thought that something interesting would happen to me after work anyways. 

Instead I just cleaned the kitchen all night and then looked at pictures of kitties online until like 1 in the morning.  Not exciting at all. 

But it's halloween weekend so hopefully I will have interesting pictures to post and things to say for the next couple days. 

Wish me luck.

walking to work

I guess the leaves changed this weekend while I was away.  Today's walk to work was beyond beautiful.  These were the first trees I noticed on 3rd Ave and 96th St.  I actually know a New York Times journalist who went to school at this school right here.  I don't know if you knew that. 

My walk to work took my through central park where it was just incredible anywhere you looked. 

Right here at the great lawn is where I ran in to Meghan one day so now every time I walk past it I see her in the face of every passing stranger.  I was convinced that I saw her three different times today before I finally let go of the dream.  But if ever there were a perfect day for Meghan to be sitting on a park bench in Central Park it would be today.  

Further down in my walk I got to this spot, where I took a picture a few weeks ago.  I thought it was cool how much the landscape has changed in such a short time, with all the new colors on the trees.

What do we think the seating is for?  The NYC marathon?  Is that coming up?  I know I've seen a lot of subway commercials about how Jared is running it.  I can't ever keep track of these things.  Isn't there also a bike race right around halloween?  I feel like I got stuck in the middle of that last year while wearing a really embarassing halloween costume. 

This tree was so vibrant I think it overloaded my camera.  It looked like the leaves were made of gold!  I wanted to take a video because there were gold leaves swirling all around in the afternoon light, but there were a lot of annoying people around me and I didn't want their commentary on my video. 

Sadly all good things must come to an end and I eventually reached the end of my walk. 

Out of the park and back in to the jungle.  I always feel slightly intimidated looking at the buildings here from the edge of the park.  I just want to run back and hide in a tree, I know what awaits me as I go further in to that mess.

Actually I had no idea what awaited me today.  When I got to times square there was a team of zombies roaming around.  It was really cool, you would see a group of people standing at the corner waiting to cross the street and then realize that a couple of them were just stumbling around with blood covering the entire front of their bodies.  I was going to take a picture but I was afraid that if I engaged them they would turn on me and attack.  Better to play the cool new yorker, too busy to be bothered by the living dead. 

For all I know maybe they really were zombies.

Meghan walked me to work

We were talking about something really inappropriate having to do with sex when meghan looked down then quietly pointed to the plaque on our bench.  I guess we'd come to the right place.

I had to work on Saturday so Meghan graciously met me uptown and walked me through central park and down to my work.  It was really nice and made me feel not so bad about having to go sit in an office for the first of 6 straight days in a row.

We first stopped and sat at those weird stone benches that are built into the wall that overlooks the lake here:

the views in either direction really were nice.  The lake with the row boats on the one side (and nathanael's favorite stomping grounds, the ramble, in the distance), and then on the other side was prime time people watching:

but you can imagine from that picture how comfortable it was to sit on an ornate bench made of stone.  It reminded me of high school, meghan and i curled up on some hallowed piece of historical architecture desperately trying to kill as much time as possible before we have to go our separate ways.  it was also really hot.

We eventually moved to the dick bench which was down by sheeps meadow.  We had a nice view of sheeps meadow through the fence:

and even better people watching in the other directions because of that big entrance to the park right by tavern on the green.  it was a great mix of annoyed locals and dumbfounded tourists.

Besides being my personal therapist which meghan does so well anyways, she also bought me a freeze pop!  It was strawberry and delicious.  I made fun of her for warning me that my tongue might get frozen to it so of course it promptly happened.

She walked me all the way to work which was really unnecessary.  I mean, as unpleasant as it is to go to midtown west during the week, it's even worse on the weekends.  It's like a ghost town except for tourists with their wheely luggage.  And winos.  Always the winos.

But she did it and it was sweet and made my saturday.  So thanks meg : )

the woman of the wind

After the play meghan walked me back to the UES.  I told her I was probably more scared of walking through central park with her than without her as I figure more people would take me out to mess with her than would really care about me by myself.

But meghan said, "don't worry, it will be fine".  Famous last words.

No sooner had we started  up the hill to the reservoir and we saw the woman of the wind.  Well, there was much debate about it being a woman or a man, but woman of the wind sounds better.  It was a particularly windy night in Central Park and he/she was walking around the reservoir (barefoot) and when the wind would blow particularly strong he/she would stop, lift his/her hands over his/her head, and have their own silent prayer ritual to the wind, looking not unlike rose without her jack on the helm of the titanic.

When he/she spotted us he/she kind of looked embarrassed and hurried off down the path.  But we still ended up catching back up to him/her in the middle of another wind dance and chased him/her away again.  I don't know what he/she was expecting, we were walking around the reservoir, we were eventually going to catch up to him as long as he stayed on the circle.

I guess the hippie in me can understand this persons need to enjoy as much nature as possible when you live in the middle of the concrete jungle, but stumbling upon them in the dark of night was kind of disturbing.  Maybe the pre-show birthday drinks hadn't worn off, maybe we were still in a haze from having just seen a man in a loin cloth and a woman in tattered rags pretend to have sex on a stage not four feet away, who knows.

The point is I'm afraid we've angered the woman of the wind.  I guess as long as she doesn't bring the Lady of the Lake in to this we'll be ok.

great lawn

On our way from the UES to the UWS for the play Meghan and I stopped in central park to sit a spell.  This was the bench we chose.

and this was the view we had

much better than the view when we got to the west side and meghan made me sit in a corner facing a cement wall.  however, it did start raining when we were in central park, and meghan pointed out it  never rains on the UWS.

what are the chances

Yesterday I was walking to work through central park and ran in to meghan on her lunch break. It was so fun, made me think of seinfeld of sex and the city and how it seems so improbable that you would actually run in to somebody you know in a city this big, but you actually do a lot. The way I figure it, you probably pass people you know in traffic just as much in other cities but don't realize it because you are in your car and they are in their car. In nyc when you see somebody there's no escaping. Thankfully it was Meg who I was happy to see and we shared a tender afternoon moment by the main lake in Central Park.

I've run in to the strangest people in ny, lots of times I run in to people who don't even life here and I know them from a completely different place. Like the time I was walking home late at night and ran in to Sara with two strange Eastern European men. Or the time I was at a party and my best friend from 2nd grade recognized me after not having seen eachother in like 15 years.

I feel like a lot of people see me and don't say anything, or tell me later that they saw me but I looked busy. I did a photo shoot once and the make up artist asked me if I walk around downtown a lot. I said I worked downtown, so yes I guess I walked to and from the subway and he goes, "yeah, i've seen you walking". I guess it seems strange and not strange at the same time. I'm gonna miss this funny city.

perfect nyc day

meghan and i had a magical labor day in nyc. We met on the corner of 5th and Central Park South, where the people watching was phenomenal, and made our way to sheep's meadow. We played scrabble here and eavesdropped on confrontations with the police and weird people that didn't seem to be enjoying each other's company.

We kind of restlessly wandered around until we found our

selves at the gug

normally, I'm not such a fan of the Guggenheim, I kind of think it's overpriced and too highbrow for me. I usually just find myself hemming and hawing over a video of a ballerina trying to figure out how it reflects the impacts of globalization on race relations in modern Turkey, or whatever the exhibit is supposed to be about. But when I'm with meghan it's none of my concern because she just flashes her badge, gives a coy smile, and we are whisked past the lines and guards without ever having to pull out our wallets.

Which was nice because damn if I could figure out how any

of the things were "haunted" as the installation promised. I guess I just feel like that's a pretty broad category, you can rationalize anything as being "haunted". Trust me, I'm master at bullshitting and justification. I once got an A on a paper about "A Farewell to Arms" based entirely on the paragraph that I read on the back of the book moments before class.

Thankfully I didn't have to write any reports on our trip t

o the gug, but I did get some nice pictures of the interior before the guards scolded me

.

It was a really nice day, of course one of those, "i won't have days like this in L.A." but I tried to just appreciate it for what it was.

it is great indeed

i blame mercury in retrograde for my troubles with flying the past few days. I was supposed to go to North Carolina to hang out with Andrew and friends at Lake Lure but I couldn't get on a flight. Then I was supposed to come down to Florida but missed my flight because I couldn't figure out how to set my alarm. I am finally in Florida after having to fly to Ft. Meyers and getting my sister to pick me up.

But the silver lining was my afternoon on the Great Lawn the other day. It was really really nice, even though I had to move my stuff like 6 different times because of gross people who felt the need to throw footballs all around me. I wouldn't mind if you wanted to throw a football right next to me if you could actually catch and throw, but most of the guys who choose to throw a football in central park are nasty wall street types who are completely uncoordinated, and I am never in the mood to get hit in the face by a football.

But I still had a wonderful afternoon in the park, made even better when Jason met up with me for some lay out time. It was really nice connecting with an old friend and made me glad that everything happens for a reason and that's why I didn't get on any of the flights I was supposed to be on.

It did make me sad about the idea of leaving new york. Isn't that always the way, just when you have your mind made up about something the universe gives you all the reasons why you're an idiot for wanting to do what you want to do. blech,

my walk home from work

I was walking home from work and thinking how fortunate I am to have my commute include a trip through one of the most famous parks in the world. I often find myself on 5th avenue watching those weird double decker busses go by or seeing a tour group and I remember the first time that I ever came to new york city. I'm sure we were doing the requisite trip to FAO Schwartz and Tiffany and what not, but I distinctly remember walking along this stretch of 5th avenue by central park. I don't know why it made such an impression on me but I've always loved this part of new york ever since. I think central park is pretty phenomenal, and I like 5th because it makes me feel like i'm straddling the line between the fantasy land of central park and the reality of new york city.

I also love this walk because (for those of us who are tall enough) you will occasionally catch glimpses of the park over the stone wall and it always looks so picturesque. Growing up in the suburbs has made me really love the planned naturalness, you know, like a bunch strategically placed trees of different variety. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.

storms a brewin

Meghan and I met up for a lay out in the park today but the sunshine and carefree day quickly turned in to the perfect storm.

It was actually really incredible how suddenly it turned. I don't know if my photo really captures the scope of the darkness overcoming us. The rain was accompanied by really sudden death winds as well which caught everybody completely off guard. The first blast carried with it a swarm of bags, papers, and small children from the picnickers of sheep's meadow.

It seemed that today's storm mirrored last nights events for all of us. As I posted earlier I had a rough night last night, never even making it out to the bars because I got so hammered so fast that I was left completely incapacitated, but apparently so did Ariel and Meghan as well. Ariel just told me that she fainted in the union square subway station and had to be taken back to Ed's for a cold shower and she was done for the night. Meghan accidentally ate four pistachios and ended up in the emergency room last night. My favorite part of the story was when Sam tried to give her an epi-pen but ended up just jabbing her in the thigh really hard with the plastic cap that covers the needle.

Do any of my astrology friends know if the planets were aligned last night or some shit?