Last Day in the City...for now...

6-12-10
June 12th was the last day that I got to spend in The City before moving back to Utah. It was a beautiful day, and I had plans to do nothing in particular, which is my favorite way to spend the day in New York City. I started out by going to brunch because whats not to love about brunch? Great food (french pancakes) and a mimosa is such a wonderful way to start the day, especially if its not early enough to be called breakfast! I went to The Village and ate at Yaffa Cafe on St Mark's place, its a great little cafe with so much personality (you pretty much have to have a ton of personality if you want to be a restaurant or establishment on St Mark's place) Yaffa stays open 24 hours a day so if you get there early enough on Saturday morning its basically full of people just wandering over from the clubs on Bleecker Street from the night before.

After that I just wandered The Village for a while. I found a little street fair going on and shopped and enjoyed myself there for a bit. Then I made my way up to Central Park to wander around there for a while. I went to Strawberry Fields to see the Imagine mosaic that pays tribute to John Lennon and to see The Dakota (which is the apartment building just outside the park where he was living and that he was shot in front of). I also just hung out for a while around the park and watched the tourists, the locals, and the rollerbladers in all their flamboyant wonderfulness.

After I was done hanging out in the park, I decided to go to the NY Public Library, cause it was one of the things I wanted to do while living back there but hadn't done yet...unfortunately that list is a long one...I went inside and looked around then just sat out in front of it and enjoyed the sunshine and the pulse of the city. I did a little more wandering around, got a little shopping in, and that was about it. It was kind of sad to me as I rode the train back to Connecticut and tried to imagine when I would be able to get back to NYC. Hopefully it wont be too incredibly long.

Unexpected Beach Day

Yesterday morning I went into the city to have brunch for book club one last time before I move home. It was great. We didn't talk about the book at all! Someone (I think it was Meg) pointed out how funny it was that when book club started and none of us really knew each other we all read the book and came prepared, with our list of questions and comments. But now that we all know each other and have become friends we show up to brunch and just kind of forget to bring the book up at all.

As we were finishing up with brunch I asked what fun things people were doing for the day. Meg (she's the other redhead in the photo above, by the way. Right across from me) told me that her ward in Brooklyn is going to the beach, so she was going to Penn Station to catch a train to Long Island to go with. That is when I recalled that on Friday night Sadie was trying hard to convince me to go to Long Island to the beach with her and our ward. I asked Meg if this was a multi-ward sort of an event and she said that yes, she thinks it is. So I invited myself to go with. I bought a sundress off the street on the way from the restaurant to the subway (Oh yeah the restaurant. Cafe Mei Mei in Brooklyn, which had the most amazing, cornflake battered french toast ever), hopped on a train with Meg, and went to Jones Beach.

This is a picture Patrick took and I stole off his facebook (thanks Patty) of Me, Sadie, Meg, and Sarah chatting just off the boardwalk

Meg, myself, and Karen (who I just met on this trip and is wonderful) hanging out on the beach.

And here I am with Sadie. We had a lot of fun. There was a volleyball tournament, frisbee, and just general lounging around. The water was SO cold, so I just put my little toes in for a few minutes...well, the cold water and the fact that I had no swimsuit is probably why I only put my little toes in. After we finished soaking up the sun and hanging out we (Meg, Karen, myself, and a number of Megs friends) got back on the train and went to dinner at the Shake Shack. It was such a great day.

Book Club Brunch

Today was fun. I met up with the book club that I joined (but until this morning hadn't had a chance to attend) for brunch. My friend Megan started the book club and I've been reading the books but have always been busy with work when they have met. But today I wasn't busy, and it was great. We went to Sarabeth's (a delicious restaurant near Central Park) and ate wonderful food (Apple-Cinnamon French Toast with banana. Yum!) and chatted. Then Megan, Jessie and I did a little shopping (I bought a great cardigan at H&M). After that I went to Bloomingdales then Filene's Basement and wandered around a little more. It was a pretty great day.

Another Day In The City

Yesterday I went to the city again. It was fun, the weather was beautiful, I wandered around for a while then met up with Sadie and some of her friends. We went to the Museum of Sex which was interesting, then to dinner at Blue Smoke, which was just alright (it would have better if I wasn't a vegetarian and didn't have to wait for two hours for a table at a BBQ restaurant...and if the service didn't suck...) but my favorite part of the day was when I (for the first time ever) hailed a cab in New York City. I'm not sure why that was so exciting to me...all I did was stand on the street with my arm in the air, but it was very cool. It was a pretty fun day.

I, just like Eric Clapton, Have a Rock & Roll Heart Too!

I just got back from the Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck concert at Madison Square Garden. I can't even explain how amazing it was! AMAZING!! Here are a few photos from the evening.

Jeff Beck played for about an hour, then Eric Clapton played for about an hour, then they played together for about an hour. It was such a great show.

Brooklyn Museum

Yesterday I went into Brooklyn to see an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum called Who Shot Rock & Roll. (I actually got the book, Who Shot Rock & Roll, from the Pags for Christmas and its pretty cool) The exhibit was a bunch of photographs and the stories behind them from the artists (The photographer artists, not the musician artists) of...well...Rock & Roll. Photos of the artists(musician artists this time), the fans, the album covers, the shows, and so on and so forth. It was incredibly crowded and the people that were there to see it were a little too artsy and pretentious for my liking but other than that it was really great. I really liked the Brooklyn Museum, and Brooklyn in general for that matter.

I was also able to help some people from Missouri figure out how the subway works and how to get to where they were going. Poor people ended up in Brooklyn when they were trying to get to the financial district, its a good thing for them that I could help I think cause they were pretty lost.

Anyway, that's about all that happened. I had a good time.

The Empire State Building

Last Saturday (January 23rd) Sadie and I went into The City to play. We went to Times Square to buy Sadie a purse, then went to Rockefeller Center cause she had never been there before. After that we went to the top of the Empire State Building, which she also had never done and I haven't done since I was about sixteen years old, so that was fun. When we were done playing in The City, we went back to her house for a "girls night". We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then went back to her house, got into our pj's and made virgin pina coladas. Yup, virgin...boring huh? hee hee, just kiddin Mom...um...mostly. It was fun.

My Merry Christmas-ish Weekend

On Friday, I was invited by Megan to go into the city to enjoy some Christmas festivities with her and some of her friends. We went to Bryant Park and watched them do some synchronized ice skating and some singing and then the lighting of the tree. Then we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center (which is pictured above) (and which was so amazing!) Then we went to a great thai restaurant called Room Service and ate dinner. We wandered around the city a bit then Megan let me crash at her apartment in Brooklyn so that I didn't have to ride the train back to Connecticut that night (did I mention that this was the first time I met this really wonderful girl? My sister-in-laws brother gave me her number when I was in Utah for Thanksgiving...thanks Kevin, she's really great!). The next morning Meg and I went to brunch in Brooklyn (FYI, I am now in LOVE with Brooklyn, I haven't spent much time there but its so great!) at this little restaurant that I WILL be back to because it was AMAZING! It was called Watty and Meg's and it was delicious, and quaint and spectacular. And delicious! Once back in Connecticut, I did some Christmas shopping and topped the weekend off with a little Christmas movie watching. Oh yeah, and on Saturday night, my dear friend Sadie came over with some chinese food and hung out for a while. It was such a great weekend!

Jazz vs Knicks (part II)

Oh man, oh man, oh man! What an amazing night! My employer Chris found out earlier in the year that I am a Jazz fan so he told me he'd try to get me a ticket to the game when they're in town cause he knows a guy. It turns out, the guy he knows is actually an agent to some of the Jazz players so not only did he get me a ticket, he got himself a ticket as well, took me to the game, and got us both passes so that we could meet some of the players after the game! It was so amazing!! The Jazz didn't actually play the best game. In fact we tried really hard to loose there at the end, but we ended up pulling through and winning the Knicks 95 to 93. It was pretty stressful to watch, but I had a great time!

This is me at Madison Square Garden before the game

Our boys warming up

This is me with Marsha. Marsha Kirilenko. She was hanging out after the game waiting for her husband (Andrei) and so we were chatting. She told me I should come be their nanny when I'm done here. (They have two boys, and just adopted a baby girl) Not the most tempting offer since just before she said that she told me that she has been through half the nannies in Utah and she can't seem to keep them...

Me and Kosta Koufos. He was really nice, he asked my name and talked to me for a minute.

That's Carlos Boozer down there, that was as close as we saw him though

Here I am with Andrei Kirilenko. Mostly he just took the picture with me then hung around with his wife and entourage speaking in Russian

C.J. Miles was really nice too. This guy is my little brothers age...weird huh?

I walked up to Mehmet Okur and told him I was a fan and its great to meet you, blah, blah, blah and he shook my hand and said hi then later Chris' guy went to introduce me and he said "oh yeah, we met earlier" and smiled at me. I'm standing two steps higher than he is in this picture.

It was such an amazing experience. I didn't get to meet a lot of the guys but I was so happy to meet these ones. Chris told me that I should get these pictures printed out and he'll have his friend get them to sign them for me. What a night! Thanks so much Chris!

Happy Day

These are just some of the great things that happened today:

• I woke up 3 minutes before my alarm went off. I love not being jolted awake!
• It was a little chilly, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day
• I got to the train station just in time to buy my ticket when the train pulled in. I was able to walk right onto the train without having to wait at all
• It was an express train to NYC. Hooray for minimal stops!
• I did some shopping on Canal Street. I've never been to New York Citys Chinatown before, so this was kind of fun.
• I wandered Fifth Avenue and did some shopping at the expensive stores too.
• I found a couple of Christmas gift type items while spending the day shopping in the city.
• As I was walking back toward the train station to head home, I bumped into Jesse, a guy that I've met a few times who lives here and attends the local ward.
• We decided that since neither of us had a plan, we should wander around and hang out together.
• I got a chance to wander the city a little and sit down and chat with Jesse, who I came to find out is a pretty cool kid.
• I found out that Jesse and I actually went to high school together for a little while at Bountiful...small world, huh?
• I was able to sit at a seat with nobody next to me on the train ride home and was able to put my feet up on the seat across from me. You can't imagine how nice this is after a day of NYC shopping!

Halloween in NYC

My friend Sadie convinced me to get dressed up for Halloween and go into The City with her and her friend Rylee. We met up at Sadies house where she did all of our makeup, and we were off!

I was a witch, but the hat was really annoying so it got left at Sadies after a few photos were taken.

Sadie (Tinkerbell), Rylee (Angel of Death) and Me on the train headed to New York City.

We found Peter Pan and decided Sadie needed her picture taken with him.

These guys were probably my favorite. They were dressed up like this and just hanging out in front of the Chase Bank. I was about to take this picture when some guy walked behind me and was VERY rude to me. The redhead in me came out a little bit and I think I shocked not only the friends I was with, but also a big chunk of people hanging out at Times Square. The area got pretty quiet as I yelled pretty vigorously at him. He deserved it. Jerk!

We stayed out so late that I spent most of today sleeping. It was a lot of fun. New York City is kind of a freak show on Halloween, I love this place!!

Rock On NYC...day two...

Sunday was day two of my Rock & Roll tour of Manhattan (if you didn't read about day one, go back a post and check it out). Day two was just as great as day one was, and just like day one there were WAY too many photos to share them all here, but here are a few of them:

One of the stops on the tour was at Washington Square Park. A plethora of musical wonderments! I spent so long just wandering around enjoying the beautiful weather and the people who set themselves and their instruments up all around the park. So great! This is me in front of the fountain and the arch.

This is me in front of The Bitter End. If you have a favorite artist, chances are they have played here. It claims to be New Yorks longest running night club, and the list of names who have played here is unbelievable

And here I am at Cafe Wha? Yet another amazing place, but I'm only going to write two names. Jimi Hendrix. Bob Dylan. WOW!

Speaking of Bob Dylan (one of my all time favorites, in case you didn't know) here I am standing on the street where the cover photo for the album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" was taken. This was such a cool thing to me. I was slightly overwhelmed at the actuality of it all and I really, really loved it!

And the last stop on the tour...where else? The Hotel Chelsea. It would have been hard for the weekend to have been any better for me than it was!

Rock On NYC...day one...

I'm not sure who in the blogging world knows this so I will say it as a precursor to my story. I LOVE music. I love almost all kinds of music with a passion that is hard to describe but I particularly love older Rock and Roll. The classic, groundbreaking, revolutionary, wonderfully amazing stuff. So when my mom sent me an email before I even moved out here (thanks mom!) about a self guided audio tour of a bunch of great Rock & Roll spots around Manhattan I was very excited. So I got on the website (citylisten.com if anyone is interested) and bought it (for $7.50) and downloaded it so I could do it today. The website said to plan on about two hours to take the tour, depending on how long you stay at each stop...I got through stop 10 of 26. Yup, all day long and I didn't even make it half way. It has been wonderful so far, and since its a long weekend I'm going back tomorrow to finish! Yay!

There are way too many pictures to share all of them, but here are a couple that I liked. I'm thinking the two day trip might turn into a scrapbook. Not a couple pages in a scrapbook, but a whole scrapbook all for itself, so ask me to see it sometime!

This is me on the train going into the city. I was so excited!

And this has been my favorite stop so far...although CBGB's was pretty cool...and I went on a non-scheduled (on the tour) stop to the Morrison Hotel that was also really cool...and the non-scheduled stop at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex was pretty neat too...

But that's not what this picture is of. This is the building pictured on the cover of Led Zeppelins' Physical Graffiti album! Cool Huh?!! I Know!! I seriously stood here and looked at this building for at least a half hour, at LEAST! It was really great! I asked a very nice guy to take a picture of me with the building in the background (he and his wife and daughter got very excited when I informed them what he was taking a picture of, by the way).

Anyway, that's it for today...I say that as if this post wasn't miles long, sorry :) I'll fill you in on tomorrows events later, you know, after they happen.

New York City

Today I went to New York City for the first time since I've lived here. I went with my friend April, and a group of her friends who were all really nice. It started out as a group of 9 girls, but we were all moving at a different pace so we ended up splitting up and I went with April and Sadie to hang out and see the city. We had lots of fun. It was Sadies first time ever being to the city and it was fun to see it through her eyes. The first thing I did was to get a bagel at Hot and Crusty in Grand Central Station. YUM!

And I discovered something wonderful today...there is ANOTHER Hot and Crusty! Its a full bakery! One day I will go in! Note to self: its on the corner of 104th and Broadway.

Then we went to the meat packing district and walked along The High Line (which is an old abandoned train line that is about one story up and they turned it into a little walking path/garden area. It looks out over the Hudson River and its really cute and fun).

After that it was just the three of us and we went to get lunch at this place that April knew of. I forget the name of it, but it was SO good! On our way to the lunch spot we turned down a street that was all blocked off from traffic and it had all kinds of booths set up selling things. I bought a new dress that is really cute!

Then we went back to Time Square so that we could wander around and have fun and take all that excitement in. It was pretty cool to spend the day feeling like I could be leisurely and relaxed because if there is something I want to do in the city that I didn't get a chance to do...I can just come back, cause I live out here now. Wow! It was a really great day!!