things i should have blogged about

i should have wished everyone a very merry christmas. (and sorry jews, i missed the boat on hanukkah a few weeks ago. also, happy kwanzaa.)

i should have mentioned how pleasant the train is. i love train travel.

i should have written about how this year i got a beautiful digital camera, pie-baking accoutrements, the bobby pins i wanted (weird, yes) and other lovely things.

i should have blogged about how on christmas day, we went down to the ellipse opposite the whitehouse and saw the national christmas tree, and the trees from every state, and took silly self-portraits before walking to the national botanical gardens. the gardens have an incredible toy train set up made entirely out of wood and bark and mosses, and inside are wood-bark-moss replicas of all of the monuments and capital hill neighborhoods.

i should have described our wednesday with my mother's family, and today with my father's family, eating and talking and reconnecting with family members. i know every comedian makes jokes about holidays with the family, but since we grew up out west, i never spent a christmas with extended family, which means i still think it is special and fun. (i also will never get mother-in-law jokes, since i get along so well with s's family.)

but i didn't. so there you go. tomorrow i hop on the train back home to new york only to bus to new hampshire with s on sunday. world travelers, that's what we are. ok blog, love you.

hap-happiest season of all

while i have toned down my enthusiasm for the sake of my overtly enthusiastic blog, i am a big fan of christmas. not necessarily as a christian holiday, though i am catholic, and i will go to mass, and i love jesus and everything (though do NOT tell me "he's the reason for the season", because i hate rhymed cliches.) i love christmas as a time of year, as an excuse to put up silly decorations, eat a lot of chocolate (oh boy, do i ever work in a chocolate office), and wander around new york. this is a truly magical time to be here. this is my second winter in new york, and one thing i particularly love are the store windows. i am a frustrated interior designer, i love installations, i love fashion, i love creating unique vignettes, and if i could have found a way to become a window decorator, aside from just deciding to be a window decorator, i would have. christmas time is a perfect time to be a window display fanatic, especially here. i had to go up to rockefeller center to do a little last-minute picking up for others, and while it was crazy around there--oh, the lines to take a picture with the tree!--i used the afternoon as an excuse to go see the store windows. (i have been unable to convince s to come look with me. he flew home to indiana this morning, so i was free to ramble.) the best windows were in bergdorf's, celebrating the recent publishing of a book about tony duquette, a hollywood regency design icon with a thing for coral. (habitually chic has excellent pictures.) the windows utilize duquette pieces and inspirations, with incredible glitz and glamour, centered around the theme of the elements. my favorite was "earth"; i cannot resist a green giraffe. it was not particularly cold, but it did start to spritz a little, and i was wishing i had someone to coo over windows with, so i headed home early.

i leave for d.c. tomorrow, so anticipate some postings from another city soon.

$15 worth of awesome

i promised a weekend update (because i'm magical-newyork and you're not), so here we go.

saturday s and i began with our new tradition of bagels and coffee. (i am easily coaxed out of a warm saturday morning bed with the promise of terrace bagels.) after brunch, we took the train uptown to grand central station to go to the holiday market. this trip was not without adventure. there is no easy way to get to the 6 from the f, so we went above ground to walk to the bleecker street stop. not being familiar with this stop, we got a little confused in the light of day (and had to pull out a map. which i hate. i pretended like i didn't know him when it seemed as though someone might be looking.) it was a pity we had to get off the f, one of my most favorite subway stories happened. a man got on with us, the "mta volunteer santa," and sang us songs like "rockin' around the christmas tree/have a merry christmas now/you'll get some presents/we're having fun/in the sun . . . merry christmas!" he then harassed the man who went to sit next to a woman, saying "you can't sit next to her. she isn't interested in you, she's taken. once women get married, they start wearing pants." (i was wearing jeans. what could this mean?!) then he started talking about how he didn't need a woman since his wife had died nine year earlier. he just went a got a massage once a month and that was all the female contact he needed. he was crazy for sure, but his whole "job" as santa was to bring people together and enjoy themselves on the train, and as i looked around, people were laughing and smiling at each other, and we started talking to the guy next to us. so i guess crazy santa was doing his job. the grand central holiday market was a bit of a bust, kind of expensive and not much variety (i appreciate crafts as much as the next girl, but i still didn't want to pay $50 for a trashcan.) the bryant park market was more fun, although much colder. i found something for my dad and s picked up a gift for his brother, so it was well worth it. we took pictures in front of the tree and marveled that people would stand in line for hours to ice skate. then it was time to head home.

saturday night my friend jay invited me to an ugly christmas sweater party thrown by kat. apparently these are all the rage among hip young things; while shopping for my amazing sweater at burlington coat factory (so much more than great coats), the only other people christmas-sweater-shopping has similar looks of disdain on their mid-twenties faces. i should also note that i had read kat, and therefore knew about her, in a blog way. i am always hesitant to link to blogs i like if i don't know the person (except for clink; everyone feels like they know clink), but now i can add kat, because she's really funny and smart. in person and in writing. my roommate camp came with me and jay (s had to work.) we looked pretty ridiculous (their sweaters even had bells on the zippers.) and it was a lot of fun. we went to a couple of bars in the west village, and i got to meet some new people, and camp and i eventually made our way home in the freezing sleet. it was the most festive thing i have done so far, other than fluff out my small pink tinsel tree.

this week was primarily filled with work and falling asleep while watching movies. today i was teased by my coworkers for looking "french." when i got dressed this morning, i put on tights, cropped pants, flats, a top and a cardigan, and a beret. none of these elements alone looked particularly anything, but when i finally saw myself in a mirror (while shopping on my lunch break with a), i had to admit i looked exceedingly parisien. as m put it, "you look like carrie in those final episodes of sex and the city." which is basically the best compliment ever. so, merci beaucoup. tonight i baked cookies. now we are going to watch project runway. i have a really nice life and i know it.

piano man

i have lots of things to say about my very fun, very festive weekend. but i am at work, and i try not to blog at work, so i will post a big ol' update later. however, i wanted to mention this.

i was on the f train heading into manhattan, and i admit to being a people-watcher, and sort-of a people judger (or at least a people-make-stories-up-about-their-lives-er.) and i was looking at this man in a puffy tan sweatsuit, stained work boots, thick gold chain around his neck. he looked tired, and he was listening to an iPod of some sort. i don't know what i thought he was listening to, but i was thinking about how he probably worked construction and didn't like it, but at least he could buy the things he wanted (like said gold chain and iPod), and he started air-pianoing on the bar he was holding. not a light tap either, a full-on, "i am a maestro rocking out at my baby grand" finger-pound. on the subway pole. it really made me smile. and then i imagined him listening to billy joel, and it made me smile even more.

grown up life

my office had our holiday party this evening at the home of our executive director. she has a lovely apartment in the west 100s, a two and a half bedroom, two and a half bath beauty, with a kitchen you can cook in and an open living and dining room with a wall of windows. it was well-decorated, with pottery from south american travels and pictures of the family at the homestead in greece. the apartment felt chic but welcoming, and i just fell in love with it. it was the kind of new york apartment i dream of, where i could live and entertain and feel was an oasis in this city. (i really need to strike it rich asap. and how.)

the party itself was fun, with latkes aplenty (we are a formerly jewish arts organization.) i sat with the women i work with and we talked and laughed and drank wine, and it reminded me of when my sister and i were little and my parents would have their book club over. we would be relegated to the back bedroom with movies and snacks, already bathed and pajamaed, allowed to stay up past our bedtimes. every now and again, laughter would burst from the living room, and occasionally we would sneak through, on a kitchen pretense, to catch a glimpse of the adults talking and eating and drinking. it seemed like so much fun, that adult world of witty conversation and linzer torte, and tonight i felt like i had finally arrived. i was at a work party for my own office, not the guest of a parent, i was drinking wine with my fellow adults, talking about gala events, occasionally bursting into gales of laughter loud and happy enough to make a child in the next room curious. i had a real adult birthday yesterday, and went to a real adult work party tonight, and it is starting to feel less like i am playing at being a grown up, and more like i am actually growing up. and i like it.

"i worked really hard to be born"

i said that at work today, after we ate cake and someone said "thanks for having a birthday," and they all laughed. i think i'm the lovably wacky little assistant. (i am also famous for "soup and i are splitsville," among other gems.) it has been a very adult birthday. i got a bunch of cards on saturday (all moneyless, one of the sad facts of growing up) and got really excited. then today i had to work, and i thought they forgot about my birthday until i got called into a meeting about chocolate cake from balducci's. then s met me after work. we had planned to ice skate, but i was tired, and i thought outdoor ice skating might be more fun in the daylight, so we may try to go on saturday. we came home to brooklyn and went to an indian restaurant that had been recommended by friends. it was good, although the indian food i grew up with is still a measure by which all other is judged. plus, it was my birthday and i wanted to go some place special, and there were no tablecloths. but the food was good and i like indian food always, and we stopped to buy margarita fixings on the way home (and margaritas always make up for a lack of tablecloths.) i opened my presents from s after we got home (ratatouille on dvd and a purple hooded sweatshirt from american apparel--and yes, i turned 23, not 7) and we fixed drinks and watched last week's project runway. it was interrupted by birthday calls from my parents and old friends. today i have felt very loved. i never go through a day feeling unloved, per se, but today my facebook wall runneth'd over, and my newest friends bought me cake, and my dearest boyfriend was extremely patient when i fussed over a lack of tablecloth. (am i crazy? i wanted to go somewhere with $14 martinis.)

i love birthdays, and not just mine. i love picking out presents, i love finding cards, i love celebrating the people who are close to me with good food and great stories. this was my first birthday in new york (after turning 18 here back in college) and my first birthday as a post-college adult, and it was nice. but next year i want to throw a party.

bill cosby=totally right (minus the jello is for everyone thing)

kids do say the darndest things.

my soundtrack to the morning commute is usually the podcast of this american life. (are you there, ira glass? it's me, magical-newyork. please record me telling pithy life stories to an indie rock background.) anyways, last week i was listening to "kid logic," and it was one of my favorites. i had some crazy kid logic myself. (i thought all liquids turned into orange juice in your stomach, since urine was slightly yellow, and orange juice was the only yellow liquid i knew. and no, i did not think orange juice was urine, nor did i ever try to drink my own pee. i just figured that's what that was.) i work with children on a regular basis, at my community arts program, and last week i was in the elevator with a group of kids and had this exchange.

little girl: i'm the tallest person in my class.
me: are you? i was never the tallest person in my class. i was always the shortest.
little girl, considering this information: well, you do look pretty short.
me: yes, i guess i am. (mind you, she was about seven, and only barely came up past my waist. but i guess if she's used to looking up at adults, she didn't have to look up quite as far.)

and she's right, i am short.

white teeth

i grew up in a very white town. you could probably count the number of black students who graduated in my high school class on two hands. maybe even one. (there were two high schools in town; somehow i ended up at the "rich" one. rich is a relative term there.) because everyone looked like me, and lived like me (it was also a middle-class college town), and thought like me (liberal, too), i never really thought about people who might look or live or think differently. not in an ignorant or xenophobic way, just in a "it never crossed my mind because it didn't need to" way. does this sound terrible? i don't mean for it to. i'm just trying to explain where i came from. the first time i was the only white person in a room, i later told people about it, because it was such a wholly new experience. i had never been in the minority; i wasn't scared or uncomfortable, just really interested in how it felt.

one of the reasons i love new york so much is because so many of the people here don't look or live or think like me. most of them don't even speak my language. i love riding the subway and seeing unique faces, listening to languages i can't identify (but whose rhythm and cadence i can still appreciate). i like knowing that i am different for other people, too, that i'm not like every other girl they see or know, that i speak my own language. (travelers to the land of s and i would really feel in need of a translation dictionary.) this is also one of my most favorite parts of my job. i work at a community arts school on the upper west side, and most of our faculty are foreign-born or bred, and many are multi-lingual. our director and another coordinator also speak multiple languages, and as i sit at my desk, entering data or answering the phone, i get to listen to conversations in hebrew and russian, and the unique english spoken by israelis, germans, russians, poles, koreans, and native new-yorkers. i feel like this makes my office particularly pleasant to be in. we may give piano lessons, but our languages have a music all their own.

oh, and a spasiba to my readers (and commenters.) that's russian for thank you. it makes me glad to know i am not the only one finding the magic. or reading this. how many times can you read your own blog, really?

soda fountain

i think my blog life sounds like all i do is ride the subway to and from work and eat out. which is half-true maybe. i do fun stuff, too. but most of my entertainment (aside from the non-new york, but still quite magical time spent with my s or shopping for christmas presents online) is listening to subway riders (less so now thanks to my ohmyGOSHsocool iPod touch) and going to restaurants. i was starting to worry that i was as boring as they come, so when my darling friend jay invited me out, i took the chance. i should note, i like meeting new people and making new friends, but i am totally intimidated by meeting new people (perhaps latent middle school anxiety), and i happened to know from facebook photos that these people were significantly hipper than i. but i still wanted to meet them. it ended up being a lot of fun. we had drinks, which i like. i feel like a real adult when i get to "go out for drinks" with friends. jay ordered "a really, really dirty martini," and sounded like such a pro that she had all of us fooled (the girl had never had a really, really dirty martini. they taste like olive juice, and that's about it.) soda bar (whoever koku k is must have been there at the same time as us. the dj was fun, but the other room played johnny cash, peggy lee and then some weird angry techno mash-up that was too incongruous to be enjoyed) was a good place to hang out with people who just wanted to drink and talk. i think the other room was for dancing; we mostly sat on the couch drinking and talking. it was pretty empty when we got there at 9:30-ish, but by the time s arrived around midnight, it was so full the bouncer wouldn't let him in. it was a pretty good brooklyn crowd--just scruffy enough, but not so hipster that i felt like i needed a shower (and thus had no street cred for desiring that shower. i'm no baby terrorist.) i would like to go back, especially for what sounds like a pretty good happy hour. next time we'll take a car though; that hour-long walk home in the twenty degrees of one am was a little rough.

in praise of bagels and roommates

you always hear about the famous bagels of new york, but somehow the bagels i had been occasionally eating were not satisfying my new york bagel cravings. (tasteless doughy circles with a smush of cream cheese were not what my little stomach desired.) i have heard the russ and daughters hype, but the LES can be a bit of a trek when you are hungry for brunch on a cold december morning. and so when my roommates discussed their devotion to terrace bagels, i was unconvinced. but today, after a delightful evening last night of wine and games (both on the table and the screen), all six of us piled on the sweatshirts and headed out into the morning. i don't know why there isn't more hype about terrace bagels. i mean, i know the new york times mentioned them in six bagels worth the wait, but i feel like this place is a secret, and one only a block and a half from our house. about.com mentions long lines on the weekend; we were there around 11 am, and waited only a minute or two in each line. (you stand in one line to order, another line to pay at the cash register which an older man pecks at heavily with one finger.) i got my usual, a plain bagel toasted with cream cheese and tomato (when done poorly, gross, when done well, delicious!) and it was fantastic. crunchy on the outside, doughy and chewy on the inside, real cream cheese slightly melty from the heat of toasting, fresh tomatoes with an actual tomato taste. this place is indeed worth it, thanks new york times.

i should also note, in the ongoing saga of brooklyn vs. manhattan, that boyland is better than i ever thought possible. my roommates are great, they cook and clean (in addition to the video games) and watch project runway and silly tv with me and are appreciative of my baked goods. they are very good company, and they seem to enjoy mine as well. for awhile, s was working crazy hours and i only ever saw him at 3am, and so it was nice to get to come home to my other boyfriends. we are going to stay, at least until may when the lease runs out, and then who knows. it's sort of like college all over again, but with better paying jobs.

so come to brooklyn. we'll watch "the office" and i'll buy you a bagel.

sick in the city

i know i am a bad blogger. i had all sorts of things to blog about, but last week i was sick sick sick (really terrible cold; last week's office attendance brought to you by tylenol cold severe). then it was thanksgiving, which i enjoyed (despite still being sick.) i went to washington d.c. to see the fam, and we had a great time. i had all sorts of posts percolating about our various activities, including our visit to the incredible annie leibovitz show at the corcoran and my birthday dinner at pizzeria paradiso or somehow just managing to miss michael kors as he also spent the evening shopping in georgetown. ah, family. sunday night i was too preoccupied with the joy of getting to see my dear s again after a long time apart (6 days!)

and monday. oh, monday.

monday i left work at lunch to take s to the hospital. it was an almost seven-hour ordeal, my darling having been stricken by acute gastroenteritis (an inability to keep fluids down or in or anything else.) we made lots of jokes about how it was nothing like tv hospitals (although our doctor was tv-doctor handsome) and i spent a lot of time feeding him ice chips and hounding the nurses for more medicine. on a funnier note, i was in the pantry (looking for those ice chips), talking to a volunteer, and she asked me if i was a doctor. granted, i was looking professional on monday (having come straight from work), but i also look about sixteen, so i had to laugh out loud. i assured her that no, i was just there with a patient. but it did make me wonder, do i look like a doctor? does that mean i am the kind of person who could be a doctor? anyways, we got home around 10 pm and s went to bed and i tried to relax after six and a half tension-filled hours by my beloved's hospital bedside.

so forgive me if all my posts about cute puppies named nico on the subway just flew out of my head. i had other things i was thinking about.

back to the magic soon, i promise.

lovely weekend

i had an utterly delightful, mostly new york kind of weekend.

friday i had brunch with some ladies from work, and we went to boerum hill food company. i had an omelette with cheddar and mushrooms, potatoes and toast with raspberry jam. also, delicious chai. we sat at a big round table with a mosaiced top, and looked out the window, and told stories about our love lives and work lives, and it was delightful. also, we cooed over other people's babies. i really like these women. after brunch, m went home and a and i continued on to target. i have to confess, i love target, probably too much, and i was bemoaning a lack of target here in new york at work the other day and they were like "but there is a target! in brooklyn! we will go!" and go we did. i had pie baking plans, so i bought a pie dish, whisks, a zester, pastry brushes and snowman teaspoons and measuring cups (from that great dollar section! ah target, be still my little mid-western heart). i also bought two pairs of work shoes, mascara and a sewing kit. does a shopping trip get any girlier? i think not.

apres-target, i came home and went to the grocery. as i said before, i had pie plans. i baked the most delicious pie i have ever tasted, spiced apple pear pie with apples and pears i purchased at the farmers market that happens every thursday by where i work. this pie, i swear. i know this is not magical-pie.blogspot.com, but i served it to seven different boys, and i think every single one of them wanted to marry either me or the pie. it's delicious. anyways, i spent friday night baking and then some of the boy's bandmates came over and we drank beer and watched trapped in the closet.

today was a sleep-in kind of morning, and then s and i were off to the village to meet some old friends for lunch. (side note: i wish we had more couple friends. s has this friend from childhood who recently got engaged to a lovely girl, and they live in boston now, and every time we get together with them i really enjoy it.) it made me feel like such a grown-up, meeting friends for lunch at the cute, cozy, delicious french roast, drinking my english breakfast tea, talking about jobs and weddings and the price of condos. after a nice lunch, we walked around the west village (with the obligatory tour stop at magnolia bakery. this is totally magical-magnolia bakery.blogspot.com, have you noticed?) and then came home. i scored a vintage subway map during our wanderings, much to the chagrin of my dear s, who had been planning on buying me one for christmas. i have been thinking about vintage maps ever since a wonderful trip to the transit museum (which deserves its own post later.) we trained home and hung out with the roommates and i fell asleep on r's bed (that vera wang mattress will get you every time.) i woke up at 8 pm in time for dinner and illegally downloaded project runway (i gotta have my fashion reality tv!) and now it's time for bed.

a real famous person!

on monday (i know, much belated) i was walking to the columbus circle station to catch the train home and eat the taco salad i was planning to make (it was no-money mondays) and i was looking in front of me when i thought to myself "that looks like dustin hoffman." he was yawning. and then when i got closer to him and his tall companion, he moved from yawn to words and i heard his dustin hoffman voice, and i got very excited. i had a huge grin on my face the whole way to the subway, and i even tried to call my mother but i had gloves on and it was too complicated. he was very short, also. this is exciting for two reasons:

a) i love dustin hoffman. he has been in a lot of movies i love for a variety of reasons. (see: hook, kramer vs. kramer, i heart huckabees.)

b) i NEVER see famous people. i am famous for this inability. when i was in school, janeane garofolo banked at my bank; i never saw her. (side note: i knew how to spell garofolo, but not janeane, which i had to look up.) matt damon got coffee at my starbucks; i never saw him. ben stiller and christine taylor lived on my block; i never saw them. they filmed sex and the city outside my door; i saw only jennifer cooldige (whom i like very much, but she is no sjp.) i was once walking with my family and bernadette peters was walking in front of us and later they were all "ooh, bernadette peters" and i was like "when?! how did i miss that?!" so for me, to see a celebrity, is kind of exciting. next i want to meet one. or be one. whichever.

curly's and corduroy

my sister has been in town for the weekend, but i had to work today so we met up for dinner in the city. (she is staying with a friend with the most incredible name i have ever heard, but for anonymity's sake, suffice it to say, it is amazing.) sissy and i are both vegetarians, and i love fake meat (more than i ever loved real meat), so i took her to curly's vegetarian lunch (for dinner.) curly's is probably one of my most favorite dining spots in nyc. it is tiny (maybe ten two-person tables and one that could seat five or six) and they give you placemats to color that then get displayed on the walls and our waiter sang and danced around the restaurant and the owner came and talked to us after dinner, asking if it was worth the wait. it was, it always is, the food is really fresh and simple but well-planned and delicious. they don't use any meat, and almost every item can be made vegan (i even saw someone order vegan sopapilla.) i've taken non-vegetarians there as well, and it's always a crowd pleaser.

side note: if you didn't already go to the website, you should. they have a list of famous vegetarians with quotations. did you know russell simmons is a vegetarian? i just love him. he's like the sweet, gentle rap mogul. i mean, vegetarian, spoken word advocate, argyle designer, lisper. he's adorable.

also, this evening curly's gave me another excellent overheard:

hipster girl: so that club she got turned away from? it was for not having on two pieces of corduroy clothing. (male companion mumbles somthing indistinct.) you know what kind of club that is? a club full of poorly-dressed people.

christmas is all around me

i am a big fan of christmas, and all the holiday tradition that entails, but i had not thought about it at all yet, in large part due to my unemployment, and my time being more about countdown to job than countdown to holiday. but it suddenly was winter in new york this past week, and cold cold cold, and i have not been able to find my winter coat, so this past friday after meeting s for dinner (he worked eight hours friday day and then seven hours friday night, poor thing) i took myself shopping. i went into macy's for a puffy coat with a fake-fur hood (i know, i know, so ghetto-fabulous, right?) and i was taken aback by the christmas decorations. and i know that they've probably been up since before labor day, but there is nothing like cold hands and red tinsel to make me feel like the holidays are upon us. macy's just looked so lovely and cheerful and welcoming and it made me smile.

i need to make a list of presents to buy.

i heart nerds

i really do. i love nerds, i always have, i always will. i have crushed on bike nerds, theatre nerds, political nerds. s is a computer/video game/audio technology (in a hot way). and even when i am not attracted to nerds, i still appreciate them, and am thankful that they are there, obsessing over their niche interests, laughing their nasally nerd laughs and generally making me glad that some people are that comfortable in their own skin.

yesterday i was on a packed f headed home from work and a group of jewish nerds (my favorite kind) got on. they were talking about the onion, about how clever and contemporary it is, specifically referencing a recent controversy over the tongue-in-cheek article about the l.l.bean boycott. then they discussed the onion's political satire and how dead on it usually was, and then one of them said "the onion is a tidy little zeitgeist." he actually used the word zeitgeist. (which is defined as "general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time".) it is rare that i think that someone on the train is smarter than me, and it made me smile. he had the best nerd laugh, too. a man after my own heart.

brooklyn vs. manhattan part 2 of a multi-part series

right after i posted my cranky "overheard never listens to meeee!" post, i looked at it and lo and behold, there was something i had overheard. the universe is smiling on me indeed.

today was my first day of work. i was twenty minutes early, i got a tour of the building and met a million new people (none of them particularly "new-yorky", which is a little disappointing--where are the new yorkers? not working for arts non-profits, apparently), i learned the ins and outs of a grouchy old computer program, i charged credit cards for expensive private recorder lessons, i cleaned out my new desk (p.s. i have a desk and a phone and a computer all my own, like a real adult with a real job) of the crumbs left behind by the previous owner, i was taken to lunch by my boss, i wished i hadn't worn my brand new high-heeled boots without breaking them in first, i answered the phone in a scared voice, i left work at 5:45 and met s and his roommate at bed bath and beyond and bought boyland safari essentials, i rode the subway to windsor heights and ate some nachos at clemens, i walked home, i took off the offending boots, i got a present (!) from s, i am blogging. this was a full day, especially considering i spent last week sleeping in, working out and watching movies.

i also thought more about brooklyn vs. manhattan. in round 4, brooklyn has the advantage, because s's favorite roommate wants to switch rooms with us for a couple of months. we would have a bigger room, that doesn't share a french-door-paneled wall with another roommate, and only be paying about $450 a month each. which is tempting, i must admit, the prospect of saving some money for awhile sounds really good. and this morning's commute wasn't even that bad. am i converting? i'm not anti-brooklyn, not by any means; i like the people and their neighborhoods and the cute restaurants; i like prospect park and when the f goes aboveground for two stops and the skyline. but i fell in love with manhattan first, and i want to live in this city for the city living. and the possibility of walking to work is just so exciting. i just need to break in those boots first.

sigh. to be continued. indefinitely.

overheard near FIT

i love overheard in new york and i have overheard many a funny thing, but they never seem to post my excellent snoopings. i guess i'll just have to post them here.

suit on cell phone: it just fell from the sky, like that feather in forrest gump, it literally just fell from the sky.

--overheard on west 27th near FIT.

i just loved this. of all the fell-from-the-sky examples, he picked the feather in forrest gump? excellent choice. very evocative.

tour guiding no.1

though i am not a native new yorker, and in fact lived there only one year before departing to the midwest before making my triumphal return this past summer, somehow i get saddled playing the role of tour guide every time i meet up with someone in the city. i shouldn't say saddled, i like showing people my favorite spots, but as i am not from new york, nor do i know new york very very well, coupled with the fact that i am not a great navigator (and often remember places as being "around the corner from that one place"), i am not a natural choice for tour guide. but it is a role i have found myself playing a few times in the past few months, and one i will play again and again as time goes by and i get to know my city better.

so i am starting a series of posts, tour guiding posts, about the different areas i know and love in nyc. first in the series is union square/the village (i admit it, i went to nyu. but it wasn't like that! i was the poor one!), the area i once knew best and still like to walk around in.

if you want to shop: first we will go to the strand for 18 miles of books. i love books, i love bookstores, and i think the strand is just a sight to see. plus last time i was tour guiding i couldn't remember how to get to the china town ice cream factory, and the strand has a whole section of new york tour books. perfect. then i will take you to my favorite paper store, kate's paperie. i live for birthdays, just so i can come to this store to pick out something unique and gorgeous and special. i'm a total nerd when it comes to cool paper products (i did grow up the child of designers) so i can spend hours in this store. but i wont make you stay that long with me. i'm big on wandering so we'll probably bum around the village, wandering into new places. i still want to find that poster store i used to love and now can't remember the location of. for unique boutiques (is that too cutesy?) we'll walk down bleecker street. i don't have any favorites yet (i'm too broke), but we were headed down bleecker anyway. because . . .

if you want a sweet treat: i will take you to magnolia bakery. i am not a sweets person for the most part (ok, i'll eat ice cream any day, but that's kind of it), and i am really not a cupcake person, but even i will walk a million blocks out of my way for these buttercream dreams. i take everyone here and they always love it. it's my goal to make everyone i know fat, one delicious, ridiculous cupcake at a time.

if you want some culture or history: you're out of luck. ha ha, just kidding! we'll start with union square, which was named for being the intersection, or union, of broadway and fourth. it opened in 1839 and was originally modeled on london squares, but unfortunately that was demolished in 1929 in order to build the subway, so the park we see today is totally different. like most manhattan parks, union square had to be reclaimed from drug dealers and deterioration, and now hosts a farmers market and playgrounds. i like to walk down 5th ave to washington square park, for the best view of the washington arch, modeled on l'arc de triomphe in paris. it was named for president washington and was a place for military celebrations, and is now where nyu celebrates its commencement. the park is a great place for people watching and performances, although it is also home to a lot of persistent pigeons, and there is very little on wings that i hate more than pigeons. there are a lot of sights to see, a lot of famous houses and squares and triangles and circles, so it might take us awhile.

so who wants to come visit me? i'll do more neighborhoods in the future.

gainfully employed

well, it's time to change my "about me," as i have recently been employed. oh frabjous day, calloo callay. it couldn't have come a moment too soon. plus, it is a very good job, and i refused to settle for previous not-so-very-good jobs, and it has finally payed off, and i am happy and it is fine if you think something needs to burst my little bubble, because something already has. we need a place to live.

this may not be the most magical of all posts, but bear with me.

s currently lives in boyland. there are four of them total, they don't have a tv because they have an hd projector screen and every video game player known to man, they drink most nights, and they are very, very nice. i like them a lot. i also feel that i am intruding every time i stay over. and now that i am done splitting my time between boyland and parentville as the result of my EMPLOYMENT! (i did mention this, right?), i am in brooklyn to stay. but i want to remain friends with these boys, and i feel the best way to do so is to move out sooner rather than later. i mean, i would still be friends with that cool girlfriend who baked cookies and cleaned the bathroom and never complained about all-night gaming, but i wouldn't want that girlfriend there for longer than a month. she'd just be messing with the boyland je ne sais quoi. so this leads us to the deliciousness that is finding an apartment (and yes that is serious, i love me some real estate), which of course leads us to:

BROOKLYN vs. MANHATTAN

in round one, brooklyn takes it. we like affordability, the cuteness factor of brownstones and gas lamps (but the village!, i say. but the rent!, s says), the night-time quiet, the whole block-to-prospect-park thing, the fact that a lot of our friends live in the slope and near-by, the fact that when we were walking around in windsor terrace s said "wouldn't it be nice to own one of those" (brownstones) which got me thinking "he wants to stay in new york! he wants to be rich! he wants to have adorable children we can give adorable names!" our only negative is that i am a wimp when it comes to a commute. mainly, i would like it to be a half-hour or less. i just don't love the idea of standing on a packed a train and then a packed platform and then a packed f train for over an hour just to get to work and back.

and so in round two, manhattan takes it. "but s, we could live two blocks away from my job. i could walk to work! or we could live downtown. you could walk to work! i could just get on one train for 20 minutes!" i wouldn't have necessarily been doing this thinking already had two things not happened. one, i got really excited and found a million adorable manhattan apartments online, most in our price-range and in neighborhoods i could find on google-maps and then sort-of remember. and two, s called me saturday night at 11:30 pm. he had just gotten off work and walked to his usual f stop, and it was blocked off, no trains running. so i looked up the next-nearest stop and sent him there, and he called me again when the train wasn't running from there either. (the service notice was given through a hand-written sign, too, which of course sent my brain running towards "terrorists! it's terrorists! and we'll only know to get to safety because of the bravery of an mta employee with bad penmanship!") i had to direct him to another stop where he could get the 6 and eventually the f, and he got home at 1:30 am. that's a two-hour commute, people. when he called me at 2:30 to say he was going to bed (after an hour of video games; he is still in boyland), i mentioned that wouldn't it be nice to live in manhattan, he could've just walked home! now, as far as i have known, this one doesn't want to move to manhattan; he wants to live no further than a block from boyland, which originally even i liked the sound of. but he agreed with me on the whole magical-manhattan idea. which of course got me thinking "he wants to stay in new york! he wants to be rich! he wants to have adorable children we can give adorable names but never afford to feed, clothe or send to school!"

so we're tied. round three, who knows. what do you think?

oh, and also, who knows why the f train was so wonky on saturday night?

more subway love

i have a love/hate relationship with the new york city subway. on the one hand, it is incredibly convenient (you can get everywhere, and i say this having lived in cities where public transportation did not take you everywhere), the fare's pretty darn cheap, and some of the best people-watching takes place underground. in terms of hate, it smells like pee and i'm pretty sure it's the next terror target. (at least i can ride it now without getting panic attacks.) anyways, we're focusing on the love.

i think the best thing about the subway is the buskers. and i am not talking about the candy bar kids or that guy selling spinning tops. a few weeks ago, s and i were on the 4 heading downtown and three guys got on. two of them were incredible acrobats, doing flips in place in the cramped aisles (literally, one guy did six back flips in a row in place, he was like one of those tin toy monkeys that flips over and over), hanging off the bars and twisting themselves around without once bumping anyone seated below them. (the third was eating nerds, and we debated whether or not he was involved. it turned out he was in charge of carrying the boom box. and eating nerds apparently.) i gave them a dollar; i was in awe. once they were done flipping, however, the chatty one started talking about how much he loves doing this, and we got quite the life lesson (a dollar well-spent, indeed). it makes him happy, and he is happy to make other people happy. and subway acrobatics are the only thing he wants to do. he went to college and it just wasn't for him. he is thinking about joining the armed services, but only the navy. (apparently you don't get benefits in the army.) but he won't join up until bush is out of office, because he hates bush. i was laughing, because honestly, to go from back flips to bush in only 3 stops is pretty entertaining.

i also love the musicians. (i didn't tip the mariachis on my f train the other afternoon, but in my defense i was hungry and cranky, and they weren't wearing costumes. i like a little effort.) yesterday i got an excellent barbershop quartet, who charmed the baby sitting catty-corner from me. it was too cute, them serenading the little boy, him looking up at them with wonder and delight. and all day today i've had "too young to fall in love" stuck in my head after listening to the sweet sounds of the subtations as i made my way uptown. they got seventy-five cents. not because they didn't deserve more. i was just saving up for coffee.

park posts

i know, i know, i never post, i'm so lazy, blah blah blah. here you go, reader. (just reader, correct? i don't think anyone but me reads this. and s when i remind him.)

i grew up in greenery, and there were multiple parks within walking, biking and bus-ing distance of my house throughout my childhood, so sometimes i miss me some trees. manhattan parks are certainly not the same lush wilderness we used to create grass tunnels in when i was still allergy-free, but in the last month i have "discovered" two new parks i adore beyond belief. for entirely different reasons. (when i say discovered, i mean new to me. reader will not believe i had never been before.)

new favorite urban park: bryant park. while it was a day in central park, in unbelievably perfect weather, that inspired this blog in the first place, bryant park has taken up a permanent residence in my heart. as an original and fervent project runway fan (back nov 14th, thank the gods), i had of course oft heard of fabled bryant park, but i had never actually been. s and i had time to kill (i know, these posts make it sound like we live a life of leisure, but really we live a life of unemployment and internship) and it was a lovely afternoon, so we walked to bryant park. he had been, and knowing me, knew i would love it. i did. first of all, i love a park with its own food kiosks (especially those of top chef's - another bravo fave - own tom collichio's 'wichcraft) and flower stalls and classy european-style chairs and tables. the lawn is a beautiful emerald green, and it is bounded by a new york mix of sleek new and funky old architecture. (who can tell me what that crazy black and gold building is? please? i want to live in it. or on it.) there were children toddling across the grass and a supercute dog at the table next to us, and a man even asked if we were jewish. (and there is nothing i like more than being mistaken for jewish. he wanted to bless us. it was a holiday.) bryant park felt special. in a fabulous way. does that make sense? it makes sense to me. i fall in love with parks on sunny days.

new favorite borough park: prospect park. slightly edging out bryant park for most favorite of all with its a) extreme proximity to the apartment, b) "cool things" factor (botanical garden, ZOO! - i love a zoo, a later post indeed - , boat tours), and c) dog heaven. i must explain. we are dog people, s and i. i come from a family of dog people (though my father might be a cat person), and we treat dogs as family members. the loss of a pet is terrible (our precious pup, alice the schmalice, died last christmas) and we always give the griever a copy of "dog heaven." (dog heaven you need to buy yourself a copy.) anyways, dog heaven features, among other things, rolling green hills filled with dogs of all shapes and sizes and plenty of balls and sticks and laughing children to chase. as it turns out, dog heaven exists on earth, and it is in prospect park. we first came upon the dog beach, which made me happy, as there dogs can leap with fuzzy abandon into the water, paddling out to sticks and balls and returning triumphant, smiling their doggy smiles around slick prey. after further park exploration (we were prospect newbies, s and i) we found dog heaven. and we just sat on the park bench and watched the dogs play. and it made me that bittersweet mix of happy and sad. i really miss my dog.

i also love prospect park for the audobon boat house business by the water. i love weddings, and wedding planning, and often view every new place i visit as a possible wedding venue. (this is not even a new thing. i fall in love with spaces, and then i envision them decorated while strands of love songs waft through my head. i get it, i'm a weirdo.) anyways, i love the boat house. i saw the front room filled with tables, the window-doors flung open to a cool spring evening breeze, and steps down to the water lit by luminaria. how famous do you think i have to be before i can ask new york city if i can get married in prospect park?

a rose is a rose

i love surprises. i love people surprises.

tonight on the d train a woman was wearing a rose in her hair. i was sitting in that uncomfortable spot on the inside of the L the seats make, so i was close enough to tell that it was real. and it was gorgeous. deep, deep red and sort of velvety, the size of a small fist. it was really lush. and i really wanted to touch it. (i am tactilely inappropriate--i always want to touch things i shouldn't, like sculpture in museums and roses in the hair of a random woman on the subway.) more than that, i really wanted to know why she was wearing it. she was not remarkably dressed, in gray slacks, faded black shoes and a t-shirt that read "save the (i don't know what, it was covered by her tabloid)" over a pink short-sleeved sweater. she was middle-aged and asian, wearing glasses and seemed sort of tired. the rose was not casually tucked behind her ear either, but secured with a long silver bobby pin, a rose-specific pin. it was purposeful. the rose seemed like a remnant of a more festive afternoon. it made her mysterious. and it really made me smile.

friends and funnies

there is something to be said for laughter.

s and i were walking through times square and someone asked if we liked stand-up comedy. normally i ignore those poor hawkers, but for some reason we stopped. he talked us into purchasing four tickets on the cheap (we were promised jim gaffigan and a taping for comedy central), and since we had no plans, we decided to go monday night. we headed up town to the broadway comedy club around 9 pm for the show. we got to sit in the front (and were pretty excited about the prospect on being on television.) it turned out to be the new york underground comedy festival's under 25 night and we had such a fun time. (margaritas definitely helped some of the comics, but most of them were great.) we saw a lot of very talented young comics and it was a great night. i laughed more than anyone else in the room, i'm sure.

tuesday night our dear friend z came out to brooklyn to hang out. we ate magnolia cupcakes (which i'm sure deserve their very own post; i delight in introducing them to unsuspecting people) and then headed out to skinflutes. (this is not actually it's name, but that's what s and i call it.) it's such a neighborhood bar. when we walked in, 3 fdnys were sitting at the bar while the bartender told a story about a girl getting drunk off the grenadine in a shirley temple. the three of us sat at a table and drank and talked. and laughed. and it was great. it was what i've been missing in this post-college world.

serendipitous

i have been spending more time than i like to away from nyc, which is why i haven't posted my thoughts recently. so here are the compiled moments.

my mother gave me a membership to the met as a gift recently. i had an afternoon all to myself, and decided to go to the museum to see the things i usually skip in favor of visiting my favorites. side note: alas, these are disappearing. for the longest time i wanted to get married in the american wing garden. all practicality aside, this is now completely impossible, as it has been closed for awhile (a few years?) now, in order to completely re-do it all. it will never look the same again, and i will never get married in a tea length cream dress in front of a statue of pan. sigh. the modern galleries are also partially closed, though they should re-open soon. back to topic: i went to the greek and roman galleries. as an art history nerd, i love to see pieces in person that i have read about in texts, so it was incredible to see the kouros figure standing at attention in front of me and to step into reconstructed rooms decorated with roman frescoes. my favorite new find, however, was ancient greek and roman jewelry. fine filigreed necklaces, elaborate diadems, beautifully simple rings. (poor s. he can't afford the art deco engagement rings i drop hints about; now i covet greek emeralds?)

speaking of my dear s, we had a lovely day this past week. it was a new york day, in the most touristy way. we met up at columbus circle, and walked downtown to lunch at grand central station. i wanted to eat at central cafe, which looks as adorable as they come, but it was a little pricey for lunch. grand central, home to the most beautiful ceiling i've ever seen (how much would it cost to have that recreated in my house i wonder?), has a delightful lower level full of restaurants and cafes. we enjoyed stacked-high sandwiches at junior's and then took pictures of ourselves and the station. down the block we headed to the chrysler building to see the art deco lobby. it is truly amazing--a mural on the ceiling, impressive wood paneled elevator doors, and a handy little computer that lets you look up every business in the building. that's probably not a tourist feature, but we got a kick out of the financial organizations with utterly innocuous names. also, who knew that the chrysler building was the tallest building in the world for only one year? then something newer, taller, more exciting was put up. i miss the days of rampant technological advances observable with the naked eye. doesn't it seem like bigger used to be better? it's harder to get excited about something getting even smaller. (except for iPods.) post-chrysler, we walked uptown to e 60th to serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate. world-famous frozen hot chocolate, that is. it lived up to the hype. s downed his peanut butter frozen hot chocolate post-haste, and ate most of my plain-jane original. i must admit, there is a certain amount of cachet to desserting at andy warhol's favorite spot. dylan's candy bar, the hippest sweet shop i've ever been in, is just down the street. we perused the wares (it's better to go to a candy store when you're already full of sugar--i could appreciate all the color and whimsy with no desire to purchase anything.) we are excellent city wanderers, so we struck out down the street towards the park. the best public rest rooms near central park are at FAO scharwz. plus then you get to dance on the giant piano (i played hot cross buns with my toes) and try on the sorting hat in the harry potter store (come on, ravenclaw.) then we went to the adult toy store: the apple store. do i want a new iPod nano? yes, yes i do. minty green and adorable, please.

magical, indeed.

but, why?

there is too much negativity in this world. (this may itself seem like a negative statement; so be it.)

i feel that i notice this particularly in blogs about city living, especially new york city. no, city living ain't easy, but it sure is fun. and i think people tend to forget the wonderful, lovely, magical parts of living in one of the greatest cities in the world, overwhelmed by stuffed subway cars and the scent of urban streets. but i have had many wonderful, lovely, magical moments here, and i want to chronicle them. and with that in mind, i christen this blog magical new york.

i will try to record whatever strikes my fancy; a funny encounter, a great restaurant or venue, a beautiful day. this city makes me happy, and i want to make you happy.