Living it up while I'm going down

Two of the three subway stops I use in Brooklyn Heights (and the two I use the most) have elevators to get from the subway platform up to the street level.

I don't like them - the stairs are much faster but you know, every now and then there's a homeless person sleeping in them and the stairs are really bad for things like situational awareness and avoiding death and stuff. Ergo - I often take the elevator.

Elevator etiquette is always a little interesting but the subway magnifies it. One of the best parts of NYC is the annominity. You're out and about, completely surrounded by people at all times, but you're in a bubble of headphones, focused on where you're going, moving past people without acknowledging they are there.

Elevators put a halt to this; we all have to wait together for the elevator car to come after a subway has let us off at the station. We stand together - not looking at each other, attempting some sort of deference in terms of who was there first and who gets on next. A judgement call has to be made about when the car has reached capacity and when we've waited long enough for stragglers that it's time to shut the doors.

It's even worse when there are only a few people. How long is long enough when the doors have almost closed several times and people are still coming? Should we all know when it's only fair to wait and take the next one?

NYC is a fascinating study in behavioral interaction but the 'elevator in a subway station' is a new one for me.

Back in the NY Groove

Hi from the other side of 2013.

Back in the NY groove means back to work. So far our office has been freezing cold - I've been wearing my hat and scarf all day. Nothing kills motivation like being cold - was debating going to the grocery store and then just chattered out 'f it' and went home.

This is bad bc one of my goals for Jan at least is to eat out less. This is hard in NYC bc it's often just as economical to order take out and have a dinner and a lunch as to cook dinner. Esp when it's cold!

Other resolution type thoughts are to call my parents more - at this point I prob talk to them once every 2-3 weeks and Gtalk w my mom every few days. I also want to work out more - partially spurred by the Cherry Blossom 10K in DC in early April and hopefully the Cape Cod Ragnar relay in early May. Did my first kettle bell class in awhile on Mon - Tues and Wed were PAINFUL.

Had a delightful New Years Eve w v little drama. Ceppos and the boy hosted a party at their apt w lots of the NYC usual suspects in attendance including Cody, Mulley and Megh.

Vin also came in to stay for a few nights. We explored Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill on our quest for booze and baked brie. We also had a lovely diner w Rowena at a restaurant in the hood and discovered my new favorite dive bar Last Exit.

I have plans for everyone to fall as in love w BH as I have when I host my housewarming brunch at my apt next weekend. Not sure how 10 people plus my cousin is going to go over but looking forward to entertaining again.

Otherwise the LA boy is on my mind. Do I go see him? Forget him? Keep on as we are until he moves back? Keep on as we are until he doesn't move back? Been trying so hard not to mess it up (ie not drunkingly tell him how much i like him) that i may have already messed it up. Not sure but it's been 5 mths since we met and 3 since I've seen him and I'm still thinking abut him (and have started caring about Baltimore sports teams more than I ever thought I would). The Lord knows, and he's not telling.

303 and an overdue update

well hello! apologies, as usual, for the radio silence. this blog has been on the brain and though the spirit has been willing the words have not.

blogging today from downtown denver - came out here on thurs night for work meetings. it's such a funny city! one thing that always strikes me about the west coast is how much 'younger' the cities are compared to the east coast. not in the demographic sense but the historical sense. 1858 vs 1650? it's a tangible difference.

heading back to nyc later this morning - another week in the city before i go home to the cape for xmas. going to stay there for another couple days after the holiday - my dad is having day patient surgery and won't be able to get out of bed for awhile. there are dogs and ducks and chickens to take care of and wood to bring in so i figured i'd help my mom out.

here's the recap from the last 6 weeks:

florida - last week i was in florida for a mini break and to see my grandparents. it was wonderful to have a few quiet days to myself - i walked the beach in the morning and watched the sunset at night over the gulf of mexico. my grandparents seem to be doing very well too which i was really glad to see. i really cherish every moment i get to spend with them as we all get older. trying to recognize what we have while we have it.

dominican republic - spent a weekend in the dominican republic in late october for a friend from the cape's wedding. it was a long way to go for a quick trip and the hassles of the resort were ridic (lost reseverations and ridiculous policies) but the beach and the wedding were beautiful. after the reception everyone took our beer and rum into the ocean for some frolocking. laughing and splashing while tipsy with 40 other people under the stars was a definite highlight.

hurricane sandy - and then of course there was hurricane sandy - a storm no one thought would be as ridiculous as it was. at my parent's request i left brooklyn on sunday night before the subway shut down to go out to stamford and stay with my brother. we lost power there but the bar around the corner let us charge our phones and could cook up some food so we muddled through (incidentally the owner's family used to own the coolidge in white river junction. small world.) went straight from stamford to hanover for alumni council weekend (more on that below) so i didn't get back to brooklyn heights until late sunday night. it didn't appear that anything had happened to my area of brooklyn - in fact my microwave clock was still correct. we're up high enough (heights?) and the power lines are still underground that it didn't seem to be an issue but we were in a unique vantage point for the devastation in manhattan. i still can't take my preferred train to work, as the R train tunnel was flooded the worst,  but at least i can get there right? work - however - was another story. my office is on 21st and 5th in the flatiron district and not only did we not have power for a week but also our servers that were down in the financial district were completely knocked out when the financial district flooded so we couldn't serve ads. our tech team worked 24/7 for six days straight to move our servers to the cloud. to put this in perspective for the non-techies that's about two months worth of work. we're back up and running now - although we did have to manually move our servers from the 31st floor of the building which required a shopping trip to home depot for electric screw drivers, rope and headlamps - but crazy! poor kevin picked the worst week to come to nyc - he ended up stranded in manhattan without power for three days. i guess i can't blame him if he never comes back (but please do!)

alumni council - had my first alumni council meeting in hanover in early november - alum council is comprised of one rep from every class, club/region and affinity group and i'm the NYC rep. we meet twice a year in hanover to hear from the college and report back to our constituents. it was a busy two days of meetings but i did get some pong in and it was really exciting to be part of the alumni leadership board. i feel like i want to educate every d alum i know about AC as i knew nothing about it going in and it's an important part of how alums interact with the college. more to come from me i'm sure. in other dartmouth related news i saw megh at the holiday party in early december and he asked for more blog posts - so sorry for the delay megh!

otherwise - i'm still LOVE LOVE loving living in brooklyn heights - my apartment has really come together to the point where i'm not obsessing over what i still need to buy all the time. the neighborhood is so awesome and i love coming home to it. i'm getting to know all the shops and the stores and even some of the faces are starting to look familiar. it's amazing what a difference having a place that feels like home in nyc makes. i actually want to be there more. and it's so so so so quiet. to the point where the last time i heard sirens it was b/c someone was jumping off the brooklyn bridge. yeah.

another year winding to a close - it's been a good one. still, as ever, amazed by how far i've come since last year at this time. the fact that i'm even in denver right now is a testament to that. always liked the quote 'there are the years that ask questions and the years that answer'. this year answered. and i can't wait for what comes next.

goodbye upper west side

well friends. it’s been a busy couple of weeks filled with friendship and laughter and love. had a fantastic time at robin and ceppos's weddings these last two weeks. i'll do a separate post on them so as to do them justice.

next up is my move to brooklyn heights on sat (aka sept 1!). am starting the packing process tonight which i hope will give me enough time to get packed up, as said movers are coming at 8 am on saturday morning. i'm looking forward to having it behind me as i have all these ideas of things i want to do with the apt but i really can't make a decision until i'm actually in the apt and see how things work. wish me luck.

it’s time to write my traditional ode to my apartment with a list of things i will and won’t miss about the UWS.

things i’ll miss:

• my rent (super cheap!)
• the location – hello 2/3 subway line
• the proximity to central park – i especially have liked running around the reservoir in recent weeks with the sun setting over the nyc skyline beyond the trees of central park
• matsu – an amazing and cheap sushi place on 82^nd and columbus
• nails by young – an amazing and cheap nail place on 72^nd and broadway
• the dead poet – an amazing and cheap bar on 83^rd and amsterdam and one of my favorite bars in the city
• emack and bolios - a new england ice cream chain that has a couple of nyc locations including the UWS. it's like a taste of home when i get a strawberry ice cream soda. 

things i won’t miss:

• having a roommate
• my roommate's cat
• having a bedroom window that looks out on an air shaft

if the list of things i won't miss weren't so much more important to my general happiness i'd probably stay put as i've really liked living on the UWS. then again, brooklyn heights isn't that different so perhaps i won't miss it as much. i'll report back. 

welcome to brooklyn

hello from LA - i'm out here for a few days for work (my boss likes to take me on eating tours when we travel - so far we've been to randy's donuts, in-n-out and then drinks at the W hotel with a client) and am staying the weekend to hang out with kevin. still kind of can't believe i'm in LA - i've been all over the place lately - but i'm rolling with it.

so sorry to leave you hanging with that last post - took some time for things to sink in. basically what happened is i promised myself when i took my new job that if i was going to stay in nyc for a couple more years i was going to invest in finding an apt/making an apt that felt like a home. i was keeping an eye on craigslist for sept/oct apt options. i'd been to brooklyn heights to visit rowena and will and liked it and it was on my list of places to explore during my apt hunt. saw a posting for two apts in brownstones in brooklyn heights and emailed about checking them out. i get back to my desk the next day after a meeting and there's an email asking if i can come check them out at 5:30 (aka in 30 minutes). i debated for a second but seven years in nyc (yes seven!) and more moves than i care to remember paid off and i ran into my boss's office, stammered that i had a chance to go look at an apt and she told me to go so i ran out of the office and jumped on the train to brooklyn.

loved loved love the neighborhood - like all the things i like about the upper west side even more so - and got to see two apts and decided to go for the apartment i liked best. i had my letter of employment in hand and i got the cash deposit out then and there (it wasn't amateur hour) and went over to fill out an application form that night. met the management company and loved them (their office was in a vintage motorcycle showroom) and by monday i was signed, sealed, delivered and moving to brooklyn heights. easiest apt leasing process i've had yet.

was planning to pay double rent for september, since my uws lease isn't up until october, but i mentioned this to my roommate and he found someone for sept 1. so just like that i'm moving in 30 days. and i can't wait.

it's going to be a change from living in manhattan but i love the area and i'm excited for something new after all this time in nyc. it's a large studio in a third-floor walk-up in a brownstone right near henry and clark streets. just about every major subway line is there. i'm going to have to get creative on storage and furniture purchasing - it basically has no kitchen - but i have lots of ideas and it's going to be fun to get everything organized and make the place feel like a home. i really can't wait. people keep asking me if i'm going to become a hipster - rowena's response to that was 'tell them you're moving to the yuppie area, not the hipster area'. besides, can you see me as a hipster? :)

in other news, had two great sigma delt weekends - one for ceppos's bachelorette party in nyc and the other for our big sis/little sis reunion weekend on the cape. had a great time boozing and having some laughs with each other for ceppity's bachelorette - really wonderful to reune with cody, brogiin and diana and meet some of ceppos' friends from bschool. had a blast getting all dolled up in 80s gear for rubix kube and calling ceppos out all weekend so everyone knew she was getting married. the wedding is in a few weeks out in greenwich, ct - going to be a blast.

last wknd celeste and little kristen and i drove up to the cape to meet diede. unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate, but we did a lot of shopping, walked on the beach, got ourselves some lobster, and had girl time. our class years go '05, '07, '09 and '11 (and we're co-opting jill for a '13) so it really is kind of unusual that even though we weren't on campus with diede and little kristen we're still friends, but it was so nice to speak a common sd language, share our experiences and celebrate us.  celeste goes off to three years in chicago for her jd/mba at northwestern and little kristen is starting med school in nj but we're going to try to keep doing big sis/little sis reunions. it's pretty special. :)

i'm bummed i'm not going to make it back to the cape anymore this summer but excited for weddings and the move and the next chapter of my life. keep thinking about the storypeople 'feels like some kind of ride but it's just turning out to be life going absolutely perfectly.' :)

ruminations

with the demise of google reader's sharing function i can tell i'm going to have to share more stuff via this blog. not a bad thing for you lucky readers!

a writer should concern [her]self with whatever stirs [her] fancy, stirs [her] heart and unlimbers [her] typewriter - eb white

"I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of 
people and then me, on the outside. Because how do 
you meet a new person? I was stunned by this for many 
years. And then I realized, you just say, 'Hi.' 
They may ignore you. Or you may marry
them. And that possibility is worth that one word." Augusten Burroughs

new york can be a difficult place to describe. never has a city of so many paradoxes existed. there are moments i feel this indescribably deep love for it. and then moments and days and months where i can barely breathe here, where i want to run screaming from my own skin.


all new yorkers know you must constantly flee this place in order to sustain and cultivate your love for it. 

both from so-i-feel. amen.

fab fall weekends

hi! it's me! been on like a three week bender - so much going on every night and of course it all revolves around drinking and consequently, hangovers and not sleeping.

last week was a bday party for the old coworkers, a trip to a gay bar in hell's kitchen for drag queen open mike night with brogiin and huyett, the ad week closing party at wollman rink in central park with hopper  and hearn, fooseball and my brother's unexpected 10 hour appearance in nyc, another apt party on the UES (tons of time in the old hood) and then patriots viewing and long weekend-like behavior even though i did not have today off. i pretty much have zero voice and my boss was basically like go home but in the back of my head i knew why and always sort of feel like i have to suck it up b/c it's my own damn fault.

the party on thursday night was sponsored by linkedin and in a fantastic marketing move they were offering party-goers that chance to get their linkedin profile pictures taken. you could even get your make-up done by a professional before the picture. had been meaning to do this forever, but when do you ever take normal, sober pictures solo looking professional? right - never. thought it was genius though. 

did two day trips this weekend - first up was to new haven on saturday for the dartmouth-yale football game with stein. we went to a breakfast reception with president kim and the new athletic director, and then to the yale bowl. we were stunned b/c it seems like not only do people in the yale community go to yale football games, they tailgate. this was such a radical departure from dartmouth that we couldn't get over it. it was a blazing hot, sunny, indian summer day so we soaked up the sun (safely with sunscreen) and watched dartmouth play terrible football (they lost 30-zip. no parties at gamma delt on sat night).

we cut out around the 4th quarter to go road tripping through the middle of connecticut to the jones family farms for some wine tasting and pumpkin loving. it was gorgeous out, the wine tasted delicious and it was lovely to catch up!

sat night after the apt party we hit up session 73 on 73 and first. not sure why we never went there when we lived down the street, esp since it was a great party. 80s cover band, red balloons when nina played and hair banging to pour some sugar on me. def want to go back.

sunday rowena and i checked another item off the nyc bucket list by trekking out to the queens county farm museum. while i was under the impression that 'queens' and 'farm' was an oxymoron, it turned out that there really was a working farm on the very edge of queens that had a multi-acre corn maze. we've discussed doing a fall trip to vermont for awhile now, and since the weekends keep getting away from us, we decided it was the next best thing. the corn maze was a blast - took us an hour to get out - but it was another gorgeous sunny day, and the dj (yes, only in nyc do corn mazes have dj's) was playing great music and inspiring us all to persevere, hydrate and make it across that victory bridge.

i've really enjoyed playing the harry potter lego game for the iphone. $5 on itunes, great reviews, and so far a lot of fun. it's very true to the books and you learn spells along the way that you execute by tracing on the touch screen. so far i know reducto, reparo, wingardium levorosa, incedo and how to fly and i just defeated the troll in the girls bathroom. :)

next up is an sd mini reunion trip to philly this coming weekend to hang out with diana, ceppos and glassman, and we're hoping allette joins as well. haven't hung out in philly really ever (i don't count post jb concert number one soph summer when we were there for 10 hours) so excited to check that out and spend some quality time the girlfriends.

definitely needed some downtime tonight to take a break and think about what i've done, but on the whole, it's been a blast and i can't wait to see where my life takes me next. here's to the great adventure. ;-)

ode to the upper west side

since moving to the upper west side for the second time (the first time was in 2006 - i lived on 73rd and west end) i have experienced the totally novel sensation of thinking i love living somewhere in nyc. i like it because it feels like there's a lot going on, but the pace seems slower and quieter, there are more tree lined streets and i feel like i can breathe. it's a nice place to go back to at the end of the day.

next weekend is the move and i've already put together the list of things i will miss about my current apartment:

things i will miss

• the sound of the rain on the roof outside my window
• being super close to trader joe's
• how quiet my apartment is - i didn't realize how noisy 3rd avenue was until i moved into this apt!
• the natural light - i have two tall windows that lets in the sun
• the apartment across the air shaft has a black lab that sticks his head out the window occasionally and it's so CUTE!

things i will not miss:

• the lofted bed
• the shared bathroom (though to be fair this has been totally fine. i hardly ever see anyone on my floor, let alone have to wait for the shower. i know it's not for everyone but it worked out fine for me)

much less stressed about this move than last time around. i haven't even started packing yet! spose i should get on that. :)

look at me, i'm crying

loved this article about crying in public in nyc. i've definitely done it - both streaming tears as i walk down the sidewalk when a beloved boss suddenly announced he was leaving, and sniffling on the subway with the tears welling up as i waited for my stop the day after i reluctantly ended a love affair. sometimes i was drunk, sometimes i wasn't. but i think this article hits on a lot of what it means to live in nyc where so much of life is shared with strangers without ever interacting with them at all.

well worth a read.

full circle

well friends - reporting back after the 'side walk' - aka our walk circumnavigating the island of manhattan. we had great weather yesterday for the feat - about 65 and sunny for most of the trip. we started at 9:15 from the highline's south entrance and walked until we ended up back at 14th street around 9:30 pm- all in all we walked about 35 miles yesterday. it's no wonder my hips are killing me and i have some brutal blisters on the bottom of my feet!

when we did the 50 miler on memorial day of freshman year, we had wrapped up the crew season the week before, so i was in much better shape than i was yesterday, but the 50 miler is also an additional 15 miles and summits five mountains. still the side walk gave us a run for our money.

the team who completed the walk with me is olverson, vik, ece, hopper and ashley, and mallika and maura joined us for parts. it's mostly just really cool to think about the fact that we walked around the entire island, but we saw some unusual stuff and areas of manhattan that we never would have experienced if we hadn't done the side walk:

• the northern end of the island is actually pretty remote and wooded
• columbia's boathouse and a big painted 'c' on a rock face up by inwood
• the little red lighthouse beneath the george washington bridge
• a gazillion people washing their cars
• a public art installation where 2000 feet of jersey barriers were painted in yellow and black
• people on jet skis
• a park of seal sculptures down on east 20th street
• the financial district helicopter port building is quite nice
• a random portico along the west side highway
• a plethora of flowering trees, which often meant the walk smelled quite nice
• a 5k road race
• signs saying 'back in 90 seconds' parking
  

a great article from the ny times 'circumnavigating manhattan' sums it up pretty well too. money quote 'I imagined it was welcoming me to the circumnavigation club, perhaps one of New York’s more exclusive, if not exactly elite. ' amen.

i have to say i was pretty impressed with nyc parks commission for the many public parks and greenway areas, especially along the lower east side and the west side. someone's doing something right.

i also have to quote mark twain, as i did after the 50, 'i'm glad i did it, partly b/c it was worth it, but mostly b/c i never have to do it again'.

now that i've got that t-shirt under my belt i can look forward to a short work week, as i'm taking off friday to fly out to newport beach, california for diana's bachelorette weekend. will be a mini sd reunion as elise, brogiin and karla will also be joining some of diana's friends from home. all that's on the agenda is chilling, boozing and sunning with girlfriends. just what i need.

and a 'rabbit rabbit' for may 1st! it's going to be a busy month.

heavy fuel

'Last time I was sober, man I felt bad
Worst hangover that I've ever had' - Dire Straits

Tis the season of holiday parties, and this week was full of them. Tuesday got together ith the old coworkers to hit up Rudy's. Had a delicious beer with bourbon in it - winter's bourbon cask ale. the top of the tap was a snowman with sunglasses on - should be easy for interested parties to recognize. Have become friends with the bartender at Rudy's and he gives us food (pizza and banana cream pudding!) And takes away my bberry when I'm doing things I shouldn't.

Wed night mulley and I trekked to Battery Park City for vin's friend sam's holiday party. We loved the space and the view but not the hike from the UWS. Saw Vin's brother vik and discussed the questions that really matter - vibrators or sex and definition of a slut.

Last night I crashed a holiday party with the old coworkers at a warehouse in DUMBO (aka Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Kind of cool down that way with the bridges overhead and the water but I was afraid I was going to die as it was warehouses everywhere and deserted and i didn't know where i was going but i made it to the location and enjoyed the open bar for several hours, though they had run out of whiskey by the time i made it which isn't something that happens too often. usually you're stuck with beacoup left over bottles of jameson that no one wants to drink.

you may realize that this blog post is not entirely uniform, as i typed half of it on my blackberry while hanging out in chinatown waiting for my sister to get in on the fung wah bus. my 'w' key on my blackberry doesn't really work anymore - so if letters are missing it's most likely a 'w'. you wouldn't think that 'w''s are all that important, but as boxa and i liked to do in college, if you start thinking of words that start with 'w' you'll discover there are a lot. i present for your consideration the sesame street classic 'wanda the witch (brought to you by the letter 'w')'.

anyway - my sister (the youngest one) is here visiting for the weekend which i am quite excited about. she's never really been to nyc and we have lots of festive things planned including an afternoon of holiday decoration/nyc cliche activities (think fifth ave and 30 rock xmas tree) and then we're going to the nutcracker tonight. hooray for the holiday spirit.

also the five year anniversary of this blog was officially december 16th (first official post here.) seeing how the average lifespan of a blog is 6mths, that's a damn long time to have been publicly posting about my life. but as i've often waxed poetic, this blog is an outlet, an audience, and a chronology of events in the real world and i'm glad it's still something people want to read. here's to you sd4life!

that's the scoop! you heard it here first.

smiling's my favorite

chelsea market, where my office is, has many delicious food options and baked goods to choose from, but is not at all conducive to being hungover. all i want is greasy chinese food and diet coke and i have to walk two avenue blocks to get those things so i'm miserable and making do with spring rolls from chelsea thai.

the reason for today's hangover is heavy drinking last night (thank you captain obvious). vin's been working from nyc this week so there have been lots of delicious dinners and replays of the 'five day cocktail party' we did for my birthday last march.

we went to 'flex mussels' in the old hood when vin and vik, her brother who has just moved to nyc from boston (yay!), got in to to town on sunday. tuesday we went to 'back forty' in alphabet city where they had just gotten (captured? acquired?) a 450 pound elk, so elk was on the menu (i had elk sausage and risotto - pretty good!). really cute place - highly recommend.

after dinner we met up with a bunch of people at mcsorley's. i adore mcsorley's - perfect place for rounds of cheap beers in mugs (they only have dark or light beer), communal table sitting and being rowdy and loud with friends. despite these admirable qualities, no one ever wants to go, so i was selfishly glad vin wanted to go too.

last night we went down to tribeca to hang out after work. started at 'puffy's tavern' where they served you a personal pan cheese or pepporini pizza that they made in the bar (awesome) and then headed over to 'reade street pub' to meet up with some of vin's coworkers. they had a great guitar player who could play everything from billy joel to oasis to jimmy buffett. i got up there and sang 'son of a son of a sailor' with him to the crowd's dismay and my delight. we also asked him to play hall and oates 'you make my dreams come true'. he said he knew the song but not the words, so we looked them up on an iphone and i stood up there and sang/held the phone so he could sing the words. together we successfully performed the song (teamwork!) and if you haven't seen the 'you make dreams' montage from '500 days of summer', you should watch it now. guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

steger was out and about too - she's interviewing for jobs in nyc and san fran (selfishly hoping that she ends up in nyc) and we sent her and vik home with mulley to sleep, though vin insisted she and steger could fit on our love seat of couch (no way). didn't get to bed last night until 3, and vin and i have been staying up chatting the last few nights, so am very sleepy as well as hungover, but it's been a ton of fun so i can deal. besides - it's my own damn fault.

tonight i'm going down to dc to see aida who i haven't seen in maybe a year? and then tomorrow is my extended date, which i am quite looking forward to. went on a mini shopping spree on wednesday in preparation, but i'm excited for fun, dc at holiday time, and hanging out. anything else is an added plus. ;-)

back to the (other) island

i've sat down to write this post several times over the last few days, so i'm just going to hammer something out and you're going to have to deal.

the other island would be the island of manhattan. am back for a brief couple of days before heading down to dc this weekend and florida next week. had a lovely, long thanksgiving break on the cape - headed home last tuesday night and worked remotely on wednesday. (by remotely i mean from the movie theater while watching 'harry potter 7'). my brother and sister didn't come home, so it was a quiet holiday overall, but it was nice to sleep in and catch up on bondathon and the 'airplane!' and 'naked gun' movies (RIP leslie nielsen). even caught a ride back to new haven with a friend from high school on sunday so the trip back was less painful than anticipated. i reconnected with this friend during the high school cross-country alumni run on saturday at our old xc course. we've been doing this alumni run every year for the last couple of years, and it's always nice to revisit old memories and see people, but i am still sore and recovering. darn power line hill - they don't have hills like that in manhattan.

back on the other island, i'm trying to get things taken care of in the office and for the holidays as there's a lot to do and not a lot of time left to do it. vin is in nyc this week and staying with me, so we've been doing dinners and catching up. last night i went to dinner with some of my former coworkers, who i am happy to say have truly become friends, something i feel incredibly fortunate to have be the case. i loved the restaurant we went to - 'bobo' in the west village - and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy spot for a hot toddy.

speaking of hot toddys, it's strangely mild in nyc, but the christmas tree stands have appeared on the sidewalks. in manhattan vendors set up to sell christmas trees every couple of blocks, so every couple of blocks you walk through a little forest with the smell of balsam in the air. kind of unique to nyc, and quickly puts you in the holiday mood. it's one of my favorite things about nyc. i'm actually looking forward to the holidays this year for a change and december is one of the best times to be in nyc. :)

do the walls come down

the title of this post is a carly simon song. our wall came down today - am back to roller disco scenarios ala march of 2008. it's crazy to think how much has happened since we moved into this apartment. we lived here for almost three years. and it's all chronicled on the blog!

as nostalgic as i am, i am glad to have the wall piece over and done with. as christine said, a wall hasn't caused this much trouble since the berlin wall. now that it's out of the apartment, and the apartment actually still looks okay, it's one big piece behind me and one big step towards getting our security deposit back. major props go to hopper for stepping in at the eleventh hour by holding down the fort and letting the wall people in so i could go to work early today for an important meeting. i heart you hopper!

onwards and upwards, my sister is in town from houston, texas for a few days - hoping to get dinner with her and her boy tomorrow. my brother is also in town at the end of the week, making the recent grad pilgrimage back to hanover for wed night meetings and then back to nyc for halloween and heps on friday. if i'm not super exhausted on saturday then i'm hosting a stop on the 2010 'liquor treat' apartment crawl. disco skates optional.

ever forward, but slowly.

text book definition of 'erring on the side of raging'

got up at 5:30 this morning for an 8 am breakfast meeting. with the hour to travel, and the half-hour cushion so i wasn't late, it was a very early morning.

fortunately yesterday was a very leisurely day. saturday night went out with taylor and lidia for drinks at the rose bar at the grammercy park hotel to celebrate taylor's big news. got all the details, and had a quick catch-up over a dirty martini, before going to meet up with rowena and a few of the old coworkers for a former coworker's bday party in the east village.

on the way over we decided we'd better stop and do some more pregaming, so we went to cherry tavern for $5 PBRs and shots of whiskey. we thought it was a straight bar, but we found ourselves surrounded by boys in plaid shirts who taught me the meaning of 'docking' when i went in for a fist pound on our way out the door. gonna let you look that one up for yourself.

the bday party was at 'alphabet lounge' - on avenue c - super far east and pretty crowded, but great music, so we got to dance a bit. i left at a respectable hour, but ran into a dartmouth '08 on the street corner while looking for a cab and decided to go drink with them. after another several rounds of PBR and whiskey shots, i found myself in a union square apartment dancing salsa and drinking out of a giant beer mug with a friend of a friend.

and sunday morning around 9 am on the subway doing a walk of shame in hot pink heels - always a character building experience, though this time was nothing compared to the time i did it in a 'call on me' leotard circa halloween 2006. took the subway up to 86th street so i could stop for mcdonald's breakfast, canceled brunch plans with cody and went back to bed for a couple hours. hadn't been out like that in the city in awhile and it was long overdue.

chelsea market where i work is decked out for halloween. i mean above and beyond. there are creepy zombie scenes and things hanging from the ceiling everywhere, and the manhattan fruit exchange has pumpkins lining the walk ways in an almost farm stand kind of way. not really sure why chelsea market feels the need to do this, but my favorite decorations are these hologram type pictures of old fashioned people in frames that turn in to skeletons and zombies when you look at them a different way. they make me smile while also creeping me out.

and lastly, you can tell who the new yorkers are and who the tourists are very easily in midtown manhattan; the tourists stand on the corners and wait for the traffic to stop and the light to change, while the new yorkers stand out in the street and cross against the light. megh told me about this distinction ages ago, but nowhere is it more obvious than midtown manhattan around the holidays.

The joys of living in manhattan

My ipod died. It died once before and hearn revived it, but I think this is it. It was an 80 gig classic - I like having all my music on hand at any given time, but I don't think I'll be getting another classic. What's the over/under on how long I can wait to get a new one? a word to those considering placing bets - i don't leave home without my music and the faulty shuffle I'm schlepping around with isn't getting the job done.

Duane Reade is this horrible drugstore chain in the nyc metro area. I hate going into it, which is saying something bc I love drugstores. Can while away the hours in a suburban CVS with no trouble, but DR is another story. They smell, are disorganized and expensive and their
customer service sucks. I am not alone in hating them - the now defunct blog 'duanereadesucks' channeled the frustrations of other nyc residents. Lately DR (hereafter to be known as 'the evil empire') has been advertising flu shots for $29.99 all over manhattan. Believe you me, that is one place I would NOT go to be stuck with a needle, even with the accessible price and locations and the threat of flu. Hell no.

Friday night walking home from the play I was very thirsty so I bought a bottled soda from a street vendor in midtown. Cost me $3. And you can bet it wouldn't have been any cheaper at the evil empire.

--
Sent from my mobile device

easy like saturday morning

lying in bed this morning, listening to cool 102 while the breeze blows through my room. not quite as good as being on the cape, which i am INCREDIBLY homesick for, but it's nice to be able to sleep in for once and have a lazy morning just for me.

did karaoke last night with a bunch of coworkers past and present. we had to change the event name from our old team name to 'fun people that like to do karaoke' karaoke. we had a great turnout, of people who have now moved on to new jobs and people who are still on the old team, and i def teared up a bit thinking about how awesome it was that a group of people enjoyed working together so much that we all wanted to keep getting together and hanging out. made me really really really happy to see everyone and have everyone in the same room. good stuff and good people.

tonight is kjb's bachelorette party here in nyc. the plan is 'cowgirl' in the west village for dinner (great margaritas in mason jars) and then a burlesque show, which i'm looking forward to because i've never been to one. may end up doing more karaoke if i still have a voice - we'll see where the night takes us.

i am an idiot and managed to lose my personal cell phone during kickball on thursday night (i have a work blackberry too but i don't like using it for personal calls. just personal data in the form of email and gtalk. hmm). fortunately, i outsmarted myself by having insurance all these months that will replace it quickly and cheaply. i've been considering switching to at&t and getting an iphone as i am ridiculously fed up with not having a phone that works and i never talk to anyone on it anyway so who cares if the reception sucks? problem is, at&t can't port my phone number over - i would have to get a new number - and i'm still dealing with the trauma of what this would mean. i love my phone number - it has lots of 7s and is a boston area code; the thought of replacing it, plus telling everyone that i have a new number, is daunting. i asked hearn if it was stupid of me to be so attached to a phone number, and then remembered that he once lobbied telecom at work for several months to get a number that was sequential (ie - 1234), so either we're both stupid or it's a fairly common scenario. tbd.

anyone else really like discovering new blogs to follow? you find a blog that looks interesting, read a couple posts, decide if you like the person's perspective and post topics and if you do, you're hooked and into the google reader they go for easy reading (stalking?). my latest favorite blog is authored by a girl in the kickball league - 'wonderlost'. she's a nyc transplant too, so i can relate to a lot of her observations and feelings and she's into quotes and lyrics too. i really like this quote from tina fey about nyc that she posted:

“Sometimes the struggle to live in New York makes you think you’re actually living your life, but you’re actually only struggling to get from place to place. You say things like “I did two errands, and I got home!” Sometimes New York gets to you. Some days I win, some days New York wins.”

gonna get out of bed and make some breakfast and then go buy some underwear for this bachelorette party. will leave you with this gem from 'the bad girl's guide to the party life' - 'statistics show that women attending [under]-30 bachelorette parties yield the baddest behavior of all. and honey, if you're going to be a statistic - that's the kind to be!'

here's looking at you kid

believe it or not, i am coming up on my five year anniversary of being in nyc, which is a little crazy considering how i don't know how i ended up here in the first place. maynard was wrapping up her summer living in nyc in the east village when i came down to apt hunt and moved in - some of my favorite places to eat in the city (including 7A!) are places she introduced me to. she confessed (at a much later date) that when i first got here she wasn't sure i was going to make it, and now, like many other people, i am the person she thinks of when she thinks 'nyc', even though i am probably the least nyc-like person most people know. but i digress.

was searching through gmail for something and i stumbled upon the blitz i sent out to the crew team after my first day of work in nyc after i graduated. i'd lived in the city for about a day at this point i think. i didn't start this blog until december of my first year in the city, so a lot of those firsts from life after college aren't chronicled, but i'm republishing an edited version of that first email here in commemoration of the way i was when i moved to new york city five years ago. time flies when you're having fun eh?

well friends - have successfully survived my first day at work. was def understanding the meaning of 'today is the first day of the rest of your life'. happily - do not have to be to work until 9:30 - but work until 6:30 or 7 instead. however, just spoke with littlechen who was thrilled to be out of work before midnight - which QUICKLY put it all in perspective.

am loving le apt - we live above a bagel place, a pizza place and a chinese place - so it's like - mmm what's for dinner? a tasti delite is 1/2 a block a way - which is fantastic. getting to know the neighborhood - ie the pharmacys and liquor stores - that might take some time though. being in ny is rather surreal feeling - having trouble fitting my perception of myself into my surroundings - but that will probably take some time.

i think work will be good - spent the day learning how to work the phone system, the msn outlook situation, and msn instant messenger that we use to communicate in the office. oooo la la! it's ridiculously hot here in the city right now - but it's one of those dumb situations, not unlike studying in baker berry, where work is extremely air conditioned - so i must bring a cardigan to work so i don't freeze. good lord. am getting a crash course in media EVERYTHING right now - soon will be able to throw out names and media outlets with the best of them. there are SO many restuarants here - you could eat at a different place every night. which - at this rate - i think i will be doing. have yet to cook anything. tee hee hee.

nyc is a whole different way of life - had no idea people did things like they do here. weird.

anyway - miss you guys

love

lyon

is this heaven or is this hell and how long is it gonna last

well friends, sorry to leave you hanging for so long. took me awhile to process the latest and had to take a serious break to think about what i'd done.

had a fantastic weekend despite all that went down. got very drunk on friday night, first with the coworkers, then at marques's apt with vin, then at vin's friend, then put vin to bed and commenced with '08 hanging out with huyett and then things got out of control. was in a great mood, enjoyed seeing lots of people, the 'guy number 1 versus guy number 2' issue was raised again, resulting in a late night (early morning) 'dtr' fight, shower, and a bed time of 4 am. yet to be resolved i might add.

sat was much of the same - ceppos was down to visit, bringing with her a delightful present of vera bradley stationary and mousepad (attractive AND functional). had brunch with some of the sds in the city and then was back to bed to enjoy being inside and cozy while the winter weather stormed.

had a low key saturday night with ceppos and cody, playing pool in the east village. we closed down a couple bars after drinking all their bud light and demanding alcohol, and then ceppos and i fell asleep while chatting at 5 am. enjoyable all around, but not so good for the sleep schedule.

heading to florida this weekend for the mlk holiday with vin to visit my grandparents. it seems we will not be immune from the arctic weather that is on its way to the country, but 45 degrees at night is better than 8 degrees, esp when a hot tub is in the equation. looking forward to relaxing for a few days outside of the city.

speaking of the weather, i know we are on 'the arctic express' as the abc tv station in the back of the cab on saturday night is describing the cold weather on the way for the weekend, but given some of the north face get-ups you see on the subway, you'd think we lived in antarctica all the time. was coming back on the train from the gym and dinner with my coworker in brooklyn and the intensity and technical specifications of these north face coats - pouches and buckles and full-length down coats - well you'd never know we were in a metropolitan area and not preparing to scale mt. denali. i know the cache and appeal of the north face, i went to dartmouth for christ sake, where it was an off weekend if chi gam didn't blitz out about a 'lost black north face fleece' but really? (in fact, someone once forwarded me a chi gam party blitz that was comprised solely of compiled blitzes asking chi gam if they had found something someone had lost at an open party with the tag line 'come lose something at chi gam'. low-brow brilliant.)

music update - top 5:

1. lady gaga -'starstruck' - thanks to diede for encouraging a second look at lady gaga beyond the single 'just dance' (also amazing)
2. lady gaga - 'poker face'
3. mash-up set to ace of base 'all that she wants'. download here.
4. brad paisley with keith urban - 'start a band'
5. rockwell - 'somebody's watching me'. the song remixed is the theme for the new geico commercials.

fab fall weekend

well friends - it was an interesting weekend. i'd think it's safe to say it took me til now to kind of digest it, but i'm still not entirely sure i have.

the boston boy couldn't come down at the last minute - he ended up having to work - which, needless to say, was a huge huge bummer. was really looking forward to that. there's gtalk, and texting, but that's no substitute for the real thing. such is the downside of long-distance anything.

happily, however, christine had made yet another wise, spontaneous decision to come down on friday afternoon as well, so fun times were on the horizon regardless. when she arrived, we were at huyett's apt on the lower east side with some beer and red wine and sat around listening to music and telling jokes while christine made us all up and ready to go out.

headed out to fiddlesticks (frat bar in the west village) where, true to form, we encountered some sae '02s at a bachelor party (have to say - pretty lame bachelor party if you're at fiddlesticks, but whatever). some of us 'encountered' them more than others if you get my drift, resulting in a pretty amusing series of text messages circa 4 am - but those will have to wait. meanwhile, i ran back something i hadn't done in awhile, which was a lot more fun than i anticipated, though the ramifications have yet to be sorted out.

sat it poured rain, and christine and i went with huyett to the guggenheim. none of us had been before, and we really enjoyed the quirky exhibits and the use of the entire museum as a medium. there were all these 'unsettling phrases' (according to the ny times) stenciled on the walls in strange places. phrases like 'i know more than you think i know'. the exhibit was part of their current theme: theanyspacewhatever. this is concept is apparently supposed to evoke the idea of 'pure potentiality' - which i really kind of like. am a big fan of potential. anyway, read more about it here.

after some drinks at the apt on sat night, we all headed down to chinatown for soup dumplings and pan friend noodles. delicious. had been craving soup dumplings for a couple weeks now. and it's always nice to go to chinatown when one is not late and rushing to catch the bus with all one's worldy possessions. i'm just saying.

post-dinner we walked over to a club in tribeca for an '08s bday party. ran into (literally - it was dark in there) a bunch of kids i know at least, danced for a little bit and headed home on the early side. did figure out that i liked the lady gaga song 'just dance', and as a result, have listened to it 32 times since sat night. to be fair, many were on monday when i didn't have to work.

sunday turned out to be a sunny, gorgeous, 'fab fall day', as the weather in the taxi cab kept calling it, and we continued on our museum tour and went to the museum of natural history with vin. christine and i would both like to thank vin and huyett for working at gs and getting us in for free. nat history museum was a new one for me too, but i had been dying to see the dinosaurs. we also saw the whale (it's a whale thing), a strange gem room that was less a hall than an annex we decided, and some stuffed lions (roar!). then a trip to sephora before christine headed back. all and all, a very delightful busy weekend!

so you can't really blame me for spending my day off from work (yay vetran's day) sleeping in til 11, lounging about until 2, and then eating oysters, drinking beer, and playing pong with will. can't remember the last time i had a three-day weekend that i actually was in the city for, so wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, and as you can see, made productive use of it. or maybe that's the point, to not be productive with free days. either way, it was enjoyable.

now it's wed - feels like tuesday - up in the air on so many fronts. going to try to let everything be. they will work themselves out and could prob benefit without some over-thinking to be perfectly honest. then there's that.