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.

downunder

i know we put it to a vote, but we didn't get to go into the city this weekend for fun galore, because we are now important grown-ups who have to do things like shop for housewares and pack and watch episodes of "the wire." but we did have a lovely weekend.

we spent saturday afternoon walking around dumbo, exploring the many new and beautiful furniture shops and clothing boutiques that have taken over the former industrial neighborhood. while i had heard all sorts of things about dumbo, i had never actually been, and i totally fell in love. it is like a pretend new york, all old buildings turned into beautiful lofts, with cobbled streets and beautiful people, full of resturants and chic stores, with a view of the manhattan skyline to boot. we saw multiple weddings and a fashion photo shoot, so you know i'm sold. (another neighborhood to add to our "when we make it big, we'll live there" list--here's looking at you, west village.) we started with shopping along front street (pictured above), including a stop at the dreamy design store prague kolektiv and then wandered through brooklyn bridge park. the park was holding 125th birthday celebrations for the beloved bridge (you don't look a day over 124!) and while we were late for the music and too early for the movie, we did enjoy a stroll through the park. lovely, right?

sunday s had to work so i packed and did crosswords (a real lady of leisure, no?) today we had brunch with our couple friends, my owf and her boy (this is a goal of mine, couple friends. we sort-of had them in college, but i love couple friends and we've never gotten any great ones off the ground, but aa and p seem to make a great match) at cafe luluc, a super cute spot in carroll gardens. (can we just talk about how much i love the french tradition of eggs served with fries? it surprised me the first time, but then i was like "hello, genius." there are few things i like more than french fries. those french, they really get me, you know?) aa and p have lived in boerum hill for five years now, so they are like our sage old friends, full of "have you seen this?" and "oh, you have to go there!" i feel like a little kid when they get started, but it really is wonderful to have friends who are so happy to play tour guide.

the rest of the afternoon pre-s-on-a-train-to-work was spent packing (dear goodness, how did we fit so much into so little space?) and then napping. for me, that is. it is very suddenly summer here in our fair city, and my best defense, beyond ac (which we will not install until we move into the new apartment), is a nap. seriously, i am a southern belle, aren't i, napping away the afternoon. now i am sitting here, sweating in front of the fan, getting ready to do a crossword or two. it's back to work tomorrow, and then a busy week (we are having our gala on wednesday, which should make for exciting posting) capped off by our big move. i promise words and pictures later.

family part 2: 24 hours in boston

my sister goes to college in boston, a city i know mainly for airports and bus terminals, and that i've been wanting to get to know more about. she keeps insisting i come visit, and since she'd been to new york twice since my arrival (independent of my moving here, but here none the less), i felt i owed her a visit.

while fung wah and its tales of woe terrify me, there are plenty of other cheapie chinatown buses that go to south station in boston and twice now i have enjoyed lucky river. i missed my 9 am bus by ten minutes (me to s: "i missed the bus by ten minutes! what a bummer!" s: "i knew you'd never make it." my reputation precedes me, apparently.) after going bus to t (the boston t is like a baby subway, if your baby was dirty and not particularly convenient) to shuttle to campus, i was finally greeted by my sissy. i got a tour of her house first. she lives in the "arts haus," a campus housing option for particularly creative students. they live in a big rambling old house and throw elaborate costume parties (past themes include: 70s porn, space porn, circuses. a wholesome lot.) after meeting her lovely friends we went vintage shopping at garment district, a huge warehouse of clothing from a variety of decades and home to the famous (also: scary) "dollar a pound," a pile of clothing you literally wade through ("jump on in!" my sister said) and literally pay $1 per pound of. upstairs (in a more traditional shopping setting) we found the world's most amazing purple sparkly jumpsuit, and it was decided that i would purchase said garment to wear to the night's party. we t'd downtown to the ica and explored part of their permanent collection and enjoyed "the world as a stage," about the intersection of the art world and theatrical performance (gee thanks, college degrees in theatre and art history, for helping me to make sense of it all.) while there are four floors inside the brand-new building, only one displays art, and we had plenty of time to eat delicious tibetan food before the party.

friday night's party was in honor of the mash-up: only mash-ups were played, and you had to come dressed as a mash-up of two different people. with purple suit, big sunglasses, a symbol tattoo and a (faux) pet monkey, i went as a combination of prince and paris hilton (i was a big hit with the drunk college students.) we danced and danced and it was a lot of fun, although it made me realize i am done with that college world of big drunken parties and random hook-ups and vomiting unusual colors. i miss my college friends a lot, and i've had pangs of jealousy for the good times my still-in-school friends seem to be having, but the truth is, as i danced in my purple jumpsuit, laughing with my sister, i realized that i am an adult now. the next morning, they swapped stories about various night-before collegiate doings, and i listened, and smiled, because i remember those post-party debriefings, and it's just very far from what my life is now. and i really really like what my life is now.

anyways, we brunched, and sister gave me a tour of the snowy new england tufts campus and we took pictures with jumbo, their elephant mascot, and it was a pretty morning on a pretty campus, and then i packed up and came back home, to eat dinner with s and get ready to go to work the next day. it was a whirlwind trip, but just enough time to have fun and see a little more of my sister and her city. next time i want to visit boston in the spring, and stay while, to really get a feel for the place.

it's good to be home.

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.

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.

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.