slinking back in, tail between my legs.

so this little blog baby has been neglected for some time, no? apologies all around, but i've been cuh-razy busy this summer, including:

- a get-away to montauk, where we got ENGAGED (!)
(thumbs up for weddings!)

- visits nearly every weekend from family and friends
(eating our way around the city with guests--this was at co)

- major work events (including a promotion and the departure of two of my coworkers)
(the goodbyes are killing me!)

- some wedding planning
(didn't pick this one. duh.)

- trips out of town (upstate new york, d.c.)
(miss you, spitfire lake.)

consider this my (maybe) comeback.

the view from the top

s and i celebrated our five-year anniversary on thursday with dinner out at mexican radio and a surprise trip to the empire state building. the esb has been on the us map for awhile now, but tickets are a little expensive, and we'd heard horror stories about the lines, so we'd skipped it in favor of other excursions. i am so, so happy we finally went! (although i highly recommend going on a weeknight in the winter--we practically ran through the building. i cannot imagine waiting in room after room of lines.)

it was cold and windy and eerily quiet and totally beautiful. (ok, full disclosure: it was freezing cold. but getting the 86th floor almost completely to ourselves? totally worth it.) the view was incredible. i took great delight in pointing out landmarks we're used to seeing from ground level: theatres we've visited, the washington square park arch, the bridge we've walked across. it was also strangely silent--we were too high up to hear street noise, not even honking horns, which is unheard of (ha!) in new york.

i felt like i got a new perspective on new york from so high up. the city at once feels enormous and tiny. from the sidewalk, 10 blocks can feel far and neighborhoods are defined by individual blocks. from up in the air, the city is distilled into heights and lights. at one point, i turned to s and exclaimed "this is our city!"

as i explained to a friend the other day, i often have moments where i am thrilled that this is my life. i spent much of my youth wanting to live in new york. when it didn't work out the first time, i was disappointed, but i knew that i wanted to try again when i had the time and energy to make this place my own. moving here as an adult, i've been able to really create a space here (between career, friendships, apartment, and fabulous relationship) that has helped me fall in love with this city for real--not a film new york or a fiction new york but a true new york. and seeing it all from the top of the empire state building helped put it all into perspective.

comedy/drama

we've had lots of lovely visitors this summer, which always means getting to be tourists in our own city. it also usually means getting to see at least one broadway show, and this summer i was lucky enough to see three!

the s family came to stay (in our teeny-beany bk apartment) for a week-ish in july, and it was a lot of fun. they touristed by day while i worked, and then i'd take them to dinner or a show in the evenings. through tdf, i got us tickets to mary stuart, which was absolutely phenomenal. we expected it to be a bit dry (it is a history play, after all), but the story and writing were extremely engaging, and the action moved along quite well. the cast did a fantastic job, which helped as well. it is (unfortunately) rare that a show has one, let alone two, strong dramatic roles for women, and both actresses blew me away in their parts. harriet walter as elizabeth takes on an icon and humanizes her, letting her vulnerability show through her icy reserve at key moments in the play. janet mcteer is a powerhouse as mary--it was impossible to take your eyes off her onstage, and her vocal and physical life held such power and passion. it was a really powerful night at the theater, and i felt very lucky to get to see such wonderful women at work.

s' mother is a big american idol fan, so when she saw that constatine maroulis was performing in rock of ages, she decided she wanted to go for her birthday. i always love a good campy musical--and am an unabashed 80s hair metal fan--so i was happy to tag along with the family to the show. it was a surprising amount of fun. the music is loud and goofy and it was hard not to sing and dance in my seat. the cast was clearly having a great time as well--especially franz, who (among other things) just wants to make chocolate, and lonny, the over-the-top narrator. constantin has a surprisingly strong voice, which certainly helped sell the show. all in all, i had a lot of fun, and was happy to get to go.

we rounded our summer of shows out with the norman conquests at circle in the square (the show sadly has now closed.) it was my first time at an alan ayckbourn play, and i enjoyed myself immensely. i don't often laugh out loud at plays, but it was incredibly funny, and the cast (imported from london and the old vic) was really very talented. it's part of a trilogy--you can see one or all, in any order--and centers around a family house in england and the crazy family that's descended upon each other for the weekend. s and i meant to see the other plays, but we ran out of time, which is too bad. it was really a wonderful revival, and i'd love to see more.

modern art like whoa

my parents were in town this past weekend for work (my mom for a conference, my dad for a meeting) and to hang out with me. we had a great time (enough for multiple entries, lucky you), and spent much of the weekend in museums.

i like to say that i was raised in museums. my father worked at the virgina museum when i was born, and they used to sell a post card of our little family: mama, papa and baby me looking at artwork. my parents taught me to look at art with a critical eye, to appreciate the beauty and power of a work, to consider the context of time and tastes, to form my own opinions of what is worthwhile. going to MOMA with my father is different than going with anyone else; he has a love, a reverence for the works of modern masters that is inspiring. he will pause to consider a piece for minutes at a time, letting the colors and forms move through him, sharing his new perspectives. i don't race through the galleries, but i think i often move too fast to experience the pieces in the way that he does. it was so much fun to explore the MOMA's permanent collection with him, to take each piece at a time and truly consider it fully.

on sunday we savored the fair weather (come back, sunshine!) as we walked up to the whitney. i am embarrassed to admit that we hadn't yet been to the whitney, especially considering it is on the us map (not for lack of trying! when we went last summer it was packed, with a line down the block and then some.) somehow i missed the eggleston and calder shows, which i regret completely. but i am glad that we were able to go this weekend. the whitney is sort of a bite-size museum, enough to fill a few hours, but not so large that you miss out on anything if you've got less than a day. (or a week--i'm looking at you, met museum.) we started from the top and worked our way down, first through the permanent collection which is heavy on the edward hopper, though still enjoyable--i do love me some claes oldenburg. their two major exhibits were "synthetic", which explored both synthetic materials and subject matter, and "site", devoted to the impact of place and process on works of art. there was an excellent video installation called "electric earth" in the site-specific exhibit which tracked a protagonist in-tune with the world and its sounds as he moved (and danced) through a desolate urban landscape. the artist had arranged multiple video screens through the space, so that the viewer progressed with the character through the world, always able to hear (and often able to see) what had come before and what was yet to come. we spent the most time in that installation, overwhelmed with images and sounds.

they were finishing the new jenny holzer exhibit, and i hope to make it back to see her installation. "protect protect" runs march 12 through may 31, and is billed as her most comprehensive exhibit in 15 years. as a fan of both art and words, i am always interested in jenny holzer's works, for their cryptic, insightful quality and modern-age presentation. i think the whitney is definitely worth a visit, and i hope to get back soon.

in which i go on an adventure

i got a call this morning from s's mother, asking if i could do her a favor. his teenage cousins have asked for "big, knock-off dolce&gabbana purses" for christmas, and as she couldn't find any in indiana, she wondered if i knew where to find them in new york. i happened to be headed to chinatown for birthday party supplies anyways, so i said i would be happy to wander down there looking for the fakes.

i wasn't sure where to start, so i headed down canal street, the faux-purse runway, wandering into every storefront that wasn't already monopolized by diamonds and perfumes. usually when the hawkers whisper "handbag? handbag?" to me as i walk by, i ignore them, so i actually found it fun to say "yes, take me to the gucci" today. i had finally found a couple of cute purses (a "versace" and a "d&g vogue") at some unnamed place on canal and chrystie, when the woman helping me asked if i wanted to see more. she then ushered me and about 10 other women through a false wall and down some stairs into a hidden basement room filled with chanel, coach, fendi and gucci. (the whole day, i couldn't stop thinking about the episode of "sex and the city" where they go to los angeles and samantha buys the fake fendi, and she has to go to the valley and buy out of some guy's trunk.) they lock you down there until the sales people can confirm the coast is clear to emerge with some probably ill-gotten goods, which feels a little sketchy, but it was also kind of funny to me that fake purses are such serious business. the woman waiting on the stairs with me was from alabama, and i guess this is a big deal for tourists--everyone in the store had accents (eastern european, southern, scottish), and seemed really excited about buying their illicit purses. i ended up buying the two i had originally wanted, which were kept upstairs in the clear, and was even able to haggled the price down. it was a totally new experience for me, the hiding and the negotiating, and actually a lot of fun. only in new york, right? (oh, and la, i guess.)

art attack

i've had family in town off and on for the last two weeks, which is both fun and exhausting. it has meant some home-town-touristing, which i always enjoy.

this past weekend my cousin was visiting, and was very interested in visiting MOMA. i am always game for some modern art, so saturday morning we got up early (crack of 9 am!) and headed up there. we started from the top to try to beat the crowds, and s and i spent a good hour enjoying the fantastic show joan miro: painting and anti-painting i have long enjoyed miro's work for his whimsical reinterpretation of familiar subjects, a kind of soft picasso i think (all of the creative placement without the sharp edges of cubism.) my favorite part of the show was a series that placed collages side-by-side with the paintings they inspired. miro had given himself the exercise of painting from combinations of cut outs from machine catalogs, and it was incredible to recognize the curve of a handle of the plummet of a lever in the painting. it is the kind of display of process that you don't usually get to see, and that i think is so interesting. i think my love of art history stems from a kind of nosiness--i don't just want to look at the piece, i want to understand it in a larger context; who made it, and why, in what time and place, in response to what or whom. it also gave me an idea for a show i would like to curate (either in life or my head.) s was looking forward to looking at music, but i felt it was poorly arranged. there were some interesting pieces, but with little access (only one pair of headphones, MOMA? in a media exhibition? seriously?) we only had a couple of hours in the museum, so we moved much faster than i would've liked through their permanent collection and some new photography, thought it was wonderful to see what we could. and now i know i need to go back sooner rather than later.

(we skipped their big show, van gogh and the colors of the night, in part because it required timed tickets and in part because i didn't feel the need to stand ten-deep in front of the night cafe. i would like to try to see it some other time, however, perhaps on a weekday.)

a couple of weekends ago, i took myself to the guggenheim to see my beloved building uncovered post-renovation. i admit to being somewhat divided on the current exhibitions. catherine opie: american photographer is a well-curated look at her career, from early portraits of friends and self to later series' on families and nature ("icehouses" and "surfers".) her portraits are gorgeous, often close-cropped faces or bodies on display with vivid saturated backgrounds. her early portraiture focused on members of her los angeles community, with a lot of tattoos, piercings and indeterminate (or undiscovered) gender. (it was pretty interesting to watch the faces of my fellow gallery-goers.) i was especially taken with her later series, "domestic", in which she photographed lesbian families at work and at play, in really intimate, touching photographs. her outdoor work was really lovely as well, especially the "freeways" series, which looked like something out of an apocalyptic italian art film, all swooping curves and abandoned stretches.

i was less taken with theanyspacewhatever, the major exhibition that has taken over the rotunda. i enjoyed pieces, but felt the whole was lacking a unified theory. there were some interesting interactive bits--i took my shoes off to sit on the pillows and view "chew the fat", i enjoyed a beverage as i watched a film in "cinema liberte", and i would've killed to spend a night in the revolving hotel room. i particularly liked the hanging signs, though embarrassingly i now cannot remember who created them. i think that there were also pieces missing when i attended (this space left intentionally blank for performance, perhaps), which made it oddly empty at times, which felt strange for the exhibition supposedly welcoming back the museum after their big renovation. i don't mean to sound cranky--i love the guggenheim, i've just seen better shows there. i will go back, however, to see the jenny holzer illumination one friday. i love me some jenny holzer.

thank you, mood

my mother visited this week, in town for some work meetings and some nyc-touristing fun. we packed a lot into tuesday (i know, this is a much-belated post), so bear with me!

we started by heading down to brooklyn heights and walking along the promenade. i think brooklyn heights is one of the city's prettiest neighborhoods, and the view of lower manhattan is an unusual one (and something you of course cannot see when you are in the city.) we meandered down to brooklyn bridge and fulton ferry state parks, and through DUMBO, window-shopping and coveting (well, for me at least) bridge-view properties.

s met us at the morgan library to explore "drawing babar", an exhibition of the paintings and processes that created babar, the be-suited elephant my sister and i grew up with. the morgan is a beautiful space, especially now that they've completed a beautiful renzo piano-led renovation. the exhibition was really wonderful. jean du brunhoff created the story, and his son laurent continued the tradition. they both had very different processes. jean would sketch and re-sketch, in pencil, moving the text and pictures around the page up until the final draft. laurent, on the other hand, would paint huge swathes of color across the page leaving space for his text. it was a great exhibit, and if you grew up with babar, i highly recommend it.


fabrics galore!

we walked west and headed to mood, the fabric store of project runway fame (well, for us, at least. i'm sure FIT design students know it for their own reasons.) my mother used to sew us halloween costumes and christmas dresses, so it made her happy to peruse the organzas and satins.

my mother is a long-time fan of patti lupone, and gave me the recording of "evita" at an impressionable age, so i have long time as well. so i knew that it would be special for us to see patti in "gypsy" on broadway. we had a wonderful dinner at nizza, a new restaurant on 9th ave. it was delicious, and it is always nice to discover a new place to dine in the theater district. we had center-mezzanine seats at the st. james theater (thanks again to tdf), so we had a great view of the stage. unfortunately, laura benanti wasn't performing that evening, but the understudy to louise did very well. patti lupone, of course, was the highlight of the performance, putting her heart into every word. she has an incredible voice, not even always a beautiful voice, but so full of character and experience. i had chills during her final number, and we lept to our feet with everyone else for the standing ovation at the end of the show. she is a real treasure. when we were leaving, my mother noticed that people were waiting for the actors, so we decided to wait and see patti. we thanked her for her wonderful performance, and while usually i am too embarrassed to do this, we got her autograph, which was very exciting.

wednesday my mother had meetings all day, but we were able to meet up for coffee and shoe-shopping before i put her in a cab to the train station. ccome back soon mama! we've got so much more to do! i love having visitors. who else wants to come see new york?

the 'klyn

s and i went to terrace bagels--per usual--on saturday and saw a man wearing a t-shirt that said "the 'klyn", which i found hilarious. i assumed it referred to brooklyn, but if it is something inappropriate, please let me know.

my sister was in town this weekend, hanging out before her red-eye flight to uganda for a photojournalist assignment. (she's the exciting one.) usually when people come to visit, i run us ragged walking the island of manhattan, but i realized this weekend: i live in brooklyn. there's plenty of great stuff here. let's spend the day in my neighborhood.

we started out slow (i am a notorious over-sleeper), and then wandered park slope, checking out the greenmarkets and stopping by brooklyn superhero supply. we walked down to root hill cafe (on carroll st and fourth avenue), a newer coffee spot opened by a woman i used to work with. they have one of the last clover espresso machines made pre-starbucks, and they brew an excellent cup of coffee. even my sister, the snobby barista, liked her beverage. (if you go hungry, i recommend the amazing grilled cheese, although splitting it is better, if not for your stomach than at least for your heart.) we hopped on the R and headed down to court street, to wander through cutey-cute-cute brooklyn heights and walk along the promenade. my sister was very impressed with the view of manhattan, as she had never seen it that way before. we wandered along the water to brooklyn bridge park, which seems to be under-construction and headed towards a better, brighter future. (it looks like it is going to be wonderful... someday.) we walked around in dumbo, stopping into adorable, over-priced stores. it started to rain, so we trained back home to grocery shop and stop into a few stores on seventh ave. i made falafel for dinner, and we played rummikub (the fast moving rummy tile game!) and then i tried to get some sleep. (i've been having super-weird dreams lately; i wish i had a dream-decoder book, cause i want to know what vampires mean.)

we'll have dinner out tonight, someplace fun in the neighborhood, and then i will pack her and her backpack into a car bound for jfk and uganda. it was fun having someone to explore with.

guest post: magical-detroit

not really. detroit was a little gross. a little too deserted for my tastes. (as my dear zp said, he lives in bushwick, and there were parts of detroit that made him nervous.) but we were there for a wedding of two of my dearest friends, not to take in the sights of the motor city.

i always wanted an older brother, but i wanted him to be funny and smart and really nice to me and sort-of goofy and date someone really cool that i could look up to. that's how i feel about alex and katy, like they are my friends, but also like they are a part of my family. (i cried when he told me they got engaged. from happiness. that is how much i like them. and weddings.) so for them, i would go to detroit. zp, s and i flew out friday afternoon, escaping nyc's sudden torrential rainstorm on friday, and were picked up by alex and joe ro. we ate lasagna at alex's parents' house in grosse point and played pool and darts in the basement (i felt about as far from new york as possible) and then went to our hotel. the renaissance center (or "ren cen" as the locals call it) is three towers of hotel, gm office buildings (which explained the cars parked in the motor lobby), and restaurants, shops, bars and weird mall-like space where a country festival took place our first night. we caught up over drinks in the bar and then spent the rest of the evening filming lip dubs on the various hotel floors. (never done a lip dub? they're too much fun, especially with the boys you did improv comedy with for three years in college.)

saturday was the wedding, and we got up and ready and headed to the whitney, a well-restored old mansion. alex and katy got married on a landing in front of a gorgeous stained glass window with traditional vows and then some words they had written themselves. i cried, of course, as s squeezed my hand. then we had brunch in a warm, sun-filled former parlor, and laughed as their parents and friends toasted them in the main room. (and ok, i got a little teary again.) they cut the cake (seriously, so delicious) and took pictures, and we hung out with alex's little brother, a detroit artist. then it was back to the hotel for naps before we went to the russell industrial center, a space that has been converted into beautiful, light, enormous artist studios. (i said to zp, "this is what new york used to be like," except the stairwells smelled better.) there were some great things and some ok things, but i love wandering through studios or gallery spaces looking at new work. it was a great way to spend some time before we headed to the majestic for the afterparty, with bowling and karaoke and pizza and beer. i am not the best bowler, nor am i a stellar karaoke-r, but i have a lot of fun doing both, especially after pizza and beer, and double-especially with those boys i love so much. we hung out until late, and headed home to the ren cen for more drinks, food and goofiness before everyone passed out at four am. i was nervous about missing the flight, so i stayed up to pack and check their breathing, and slept very little.

sunday was quiet, and we napped in the cab to the airport. zp, s and i boarded our tiny plane in the rain back to nyc, and joe ro headed home to la. we spent the afternoon lazing, tired from the trip. it was one of the best trips i have taken in a long time. i am pretty good at fooling myself, distracting me with new places or people or shiny things, but then it hits so hard: i miss my friends a lot. zp, joe ro, alex and i saw each other at least three times a week for three years in college (we were in an improv troup together), more than i saw my family. they were my family, and i miss them so much. it was so great to see them again, to laugh at the stupid things we've always laughed at, but also to revel in grown-up life together, to celebrate each others' successes, and to celebrate alex's marriage. i write about what makes me feel like an adult, but nothing has made me feel more grown-up than flying in to see one of my dear friends get married, to have a reunion with people i love and haven't seen in almost a year. it was a great weekend, and while i was glad to come home to new york, i was sad to leave their company. (though it should be noted: zp lives here in bk as well, and it is shameful that i see him as rarely as i do. we made a promise to see each other more often, and i plan to try to follow through.)

now i am back, and with good news to boot! we got the apartment we thought we didn't get! we sign our lease wednesday, and i am already majorly nesting, daydreaming about sleeper sofas and wall colors. seriously, i am overjoyed.

oh, and also: i added a new blog to the list: cellphone pix, zp's photoblog. (it is as it sounds.) i like it a lot, not the least because you can see a picture of me trying to quick-dry my feet at laguardia on friday after the rain.

on vacation in my own backyard

i had a lovely long weekend with my parents. i really like my parents, in large part because they are my parents, and in large part they are also my really nice, smart, interesting friends who don't let me pay for my own cupcakes. we have a lot in common, aside from being related, and i really like talking to them. and i would write that even if they didn't read this.

friday we took them to clemens for incredible fresh tex-mex and my dad bought a mexican wrestlers mask from the proprietors. then we took the subway (it was weird for me to picture my parents on the subway; they don't strike me as train people, so it was funny to ride with them) up to bryant park, where their lovely hotel was. we walked a square up to fao schwartz (everyone loves giant toys!) and along the park to my office, and then down 9th avenue to a delicious little italian place. then back to bryant park and to bed for us all.

saturday we brought them terrace bagels (i am a really good daughter) in the city, and all trekked to various museums, my dad to the met for the jasper johns gray show, my mom, s and i to the guggenheim for the incredible cai guo qiang show. it was a really intricate installation, with site-specific work about the intersection of cai's ancient chinese heritage, modern chinese upbringing and current new york life. it is the kind of show best experienced in person (so that you can walk among the wolves or take the yak canoe through the built river), and really a once in a lifetime opportunity, since some of the pieces were created specifically for this space. it was a lot to think about, and we talked about it the rest of the weekend. after an adventure (two closed subway stations and a bus!) we headed down to the village and the deliciousness that is john's pizzeria. once on bleecker it is difficult, of course, to not go to magnolia for some buttercream love, and my kind pa stood in line while we cooed over marc jacobs. (in retrospect, i should have tried something on. i probably could have gotten the sweet gift of good design.) i then walked us back up to the flatiron (with a stop to buy cushier socks and shoes) to fishs eddy, where we all admired the cheeky dinnerware. my mother and i, always the avant-garde pair, saw a really great new play at nyu, "i have loved strangers" (by anne washburn.) it was set in ancient new york, and various plotlines about a corrupt king, true and false prophets, and revolutionaries were intricately woven together. (a post-modern apocalypse play is a great follow up to an installation about controlled violence and painting with gunpowder. and cupcakes.) we cabbed uptown (i think i walked them out) and met s in the hotel bar for a drink.

sunday they made it to brooklyn on their own, and we walked park slope, stopping in to cutesy shops and spending lots of time at brooklyn superhero supply. after a gourmet market lunch, i sent them off and spent the afternoon looking for apartments (we are still future-homeless.) it was a full weekend, but a grand one, and now i am looking forward to the next one. i plan to sleep in.

in blog.mode

i had a completely peaceful, relaxing weekend. we spent saturday lazing around (as i believe i detailed in my last post on that lazy saturday.) yesterday we headed up east to the met museum (thanks again, mom, for those memberships!) being a member of the musem is wonderful, especially on a day like sunday, when every single tourist in nyc is clamoring to see the temple of dendur (thanks, project runway, for featuring the met!)

i wanted to see the costume institute, as it was closed the last time i went. currently they are exhibiting blog.mode, which seems like a random assortment of pieces from the collection (a few old dresses, a bunch of new stuff), though perhaps the theme was something like "it made people talk!" as they combined a dior new look dress with a necklace that included vials of semen. (made by simon costin, who i wish i could have studied while i was at school. his jewelry art pieces are really fantastic. and very informed by art and art history and literature and philosophy.) anyways, now i am meta-blogging, i suppose, as blog.mode had a "blog bar" set up in the middle of the exhibit so that after you looked at all the pieces you could comment on the curator's explanations. from what i understood, it was meant to be about the way technology is such a huge part of our lives and now everyone can express themselves more readily and blah blah blah. it was an interesting idea, but it didn't make for such an interesting exhibit. even though we saw some fabulous pieces by issey miyake and vivienne westwood and olivier theyskins, we just didn't have much to talk about after we left. and it's not like i went with the wrong boy; s always has lots to say after project runway.

we then spent a couple of hours rambling through the met, which i think is the best way to see the museum. since we don't have to pay, we don't have to cram the entire thing into a day and i don't get nervous that we're going to miss something and never get to see it again, so we can do things like wander through the european decorative arts galleries talking about how comfortable the sofas might be. the met is currently under more construction that i would like (i think i have another year to wait on the american wing garden, and two more years until they re-open the islamic art galleries, which i just cannot wait to see) but i understand, and i certainly thank phillipe de montebello for all of his hard work.

apres-museum, we headed down to union square to catch a movie. every year i am bound and determined to watch all the oscar nominees and i usually fall short by one or two but this year i am particularly bad, so i have been resolved to see at least another before the ceremony. last night we saw "there will be blood" and of course i had heard nothing but good about it and of course i was not at all surprised when it lived up to my expectations. it is a slow film (in the best way, that the story-telling is not rushed or conventional), and a quiet film (save for some explosions), and it is full of tension with little release, and daniel day-lewis is again of one the best things in the whole world. we dissected the plot and the characters and the story on the train home and both agreed it was an excellent film. and such an incredible score. the music i felt was like another character at times. s felt it mirrored the internal stuggles of daniel plainview. (we both agreed it totally sounded like the opening sounds to lost at some points.) sometimes i am surprised when films are nominated for oscars; in this case i most certainly am not.

today was errands and more lazing and then s went off to work and i stayed home to read the new yorker. is it possible that i am ready to go back to work? i guess i like having some structure to my days; this has felt like a real vacation.

a me weekend

since i have discovered that i have at least one reader who is not related to me/a dear friend/in love with me, i will try to be better at updation. (and the rest of you: feel free to pipe up at any time.)

i had a perfectly me new york weekend. if you haven't guessed by now, i am not fancy. we don't go out to the hottest clubs, and i never know about amazing restaurants, and i will probably never go to a premier of anything, try as i might to finagle my way into friendship with a famous person or something. to me, a weekend should be fun, and rejuvenating, and a good way to start a new week. (a weekstart, perhaps? how about it, gregorian calendar, are we due for a change in terminology?) it includes food and drink and laughter and good company. maybe a new sight or spot. so this weekend was just right.

friday my bwf (best work friend) mk and i decided to meet for lunch. she only lives a few blocks away, so we met in the middle at the adorable 12th street bar and grill. it was pouring rain and the lightning made me jump once or twice on the walk over, so we got a cozy little table in the bar area and i watched it rain outside as we ate our delicious food. (sidenote: i love rain in new york. it is one of my most favorite things in the whole world. i love the way it smells when it rains on city sidewalks, i love the swish of tires on rainy streets, i like the way it narrows your neighborhood to the locals venturing out on errands. i love the way it brings people together, crowded under awnings, exchanging those "i can't believe this" looks and smiles. s once downloaded 30 minutes of rain sounds to fall asleep to, and i thought he was totally crazy until i listened to it one night when i was home alone, and i had the best sleep. rain on the roof is the coziest. anyways.) mk and i talked for three hours, about work and careers and boys and friends. it was great; i feel really lucky to have found someone i like so much so quickly, and through this job that i have. it felt so grown up, having lunch and talking forever about work and life. am i too much in awe of being an adult? somehow i feel so lucky to be living this life that while not perfect, is really what i always planned for myself (job, relationship, new york city.) after we realized we had sat there for a little too long, we went and got our nails done. i got scarlett o'hara painted on my toes, and i haven't been able to stop looking at them. i feel like a whole different lady. friday night boyland watched "the departed" in hd. a movie night? i'm in heaven.

saturday brought terrace bagels and project runway and the promise of a day in the city. i wanted a little museum time, but by the time we got moving and into the city (and had completed our errands), it was a little late. we wandered around the village, getting hungrier and hungrier, until s suggested we go out to dinner. i should note that my boy's two favorite foods are bagels and pizza. we picked the right city. we also like to think of ourselves as pizza connoisseurs. (though he wil eat dominos in a pinch, which is pretty much sacrilege.) we picked john's pizzeria, a legendary brick-oven spot (i would link you but their website is temporarily disabled.) i have witnessed people standing outside in freezing temperatures just to get a table, and boy is it worth it. a thin crust, fresh cheese, delicious veggies . . . i tried to take a picture for my blog (i am now one of those people, i am afraid), but it turned out a little dark. (the waiter asked if we wanted our picture taken with the pizza, and i said no. i think he thought we were tourists; i thought it might have been worse to say "i'm no tourist, i'm a blogger!" and refrained.) the place has crazy atmosphere, and little space to move around, but the food is worth it. i loved it; there were families, and hip young things, and slow old things, and it felt like a neighborhood joint that gets known, but still welcomes the whole neighborhood. which i guess is a new york thing.

we finished up the afternoon with gelato (mk said: "it sounds like you went to rome!") which is pictured in glorious technicolor above. mouthwatering andean blackberry, in all its pinky glory. i stayed in last night, as i was fighting a cold, and worked a long-ish day today. and now i am home, am fed and watered, and am looking forward to a little 30 rock on the big screen. it doesn't get much better.

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.

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.

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.