The Upright Citizens Brigade

I've mentioned I had family in town last week so let me tell you a little about my aunt Carla. Carla visits us here in NYC every 6 months. I kid you not. She first came up just a couple months after we moved here and since then she comes every spring and fall. Every time she visits, she has a list of places she wants to go, including tourist spots, restaurants, and half the time it's places JP and I have never even heard of. This time, I was able to take the entire week off from work, which gave us a ton of time to tackle her list.

Every time she comes, she plans a secret thing for us to do and doesn't tell us about it until she gets here. Once it was Accomplice, a walking tour/scavenger hunt/theatre show, though I can't tell you too much about it or I might get in trouble (for example, once you buy your tickets, you don't know where you're supposed to go until you get a voicemail telling you - and it ends by saying you must delete it immediately). Another time, it was taking a sailboat around Manhattan. So this time it was a night at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre!

We saw the show Death by Roo Roo: Your F'ed Up Family. For those who might not be familiar with this theatre, it's an improv and sketch comedy spot. It was started by Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh in 1999 - it not only has shows, but it also has a training center for people who want to train in improv and sketch comedy. The show was saw had two parts - in the first half, they talked to someone in the audience to hear about their totally f'ed up family. Unfortunately, the volunteer we saw SUCKED. He was weird and none of his stories were f'ed up and the guys in the show just made fun of him to his face. Then the improv bit they did based on his family also just sort of made fun of the guy most of the time - they were hilarious! It was great to see that even with a crappy volunteer, they could put on a great show. The second half of the show was them making up an entire scene for 30 minutes based solely on a word given by an audience member. It was equally funny and we had a great time.

I highly recommend this and any of their other shows!

A Mug Addition for a Mug Addiction - Unicorn Tapestry

I recently visited The Cloisters where they have a Search for the Unicorn Exhibit. Anyone who knows me knows I love unicorns and I've always loved the Unicorn in Captivity tapestry - I have a print of it hanging in my apartment. I'd never been to see it in real life, however, and I must say it was very impressive. I'd never thought about how big it actually is and it was so neat to be able to see the silver gilded thread woven through it. I wish I could have it, but they refuse to sell it to me (maybe because I could only offer about $10 - they refuse to haggle like they do in Chinatown). I did, however, buy a mug depicting the unicorn from the tapestry, which I'm absolutely in love with, so the day was still a success!

Also, for the record, I got to see a narwhal horn up close at the same exhibit. Apparently, during the Middle Ages when hunts for unicorns were popular, they didn't know what a narwhal was, so if their horns washed up on shore, then everyone would assume it had belonged to a unicorn. Anyone who knows me knows that not only do I love unicorns, but I also love whales, and narwhals are the unicorns of the sea so...this exhibit was very exciting for me.

A real narwhal horn!

The Unicorn in Captivity tapestry

A Mug Addition for a Mug Addiction - The Last Five Years

Last night, after loving the show and calling it my favorite for years, I finally saw The Last Five Years. And it was amazing. I won't bore you with all my critiques and the things I loved about it (which far outweighed the critiques), especially since most of you would just be lost and that's ok. Suffice it to say, I was great. Really great. Oh and if you ever get a chance to see Betsey Wolfe in anything, do it! She was phenomenal.

I leave you with a behind-the-scenes look of Jason Robert Brown (the composer of the show, which is based on his life, and also I just want to point out that he retweeted me on Twitter last night!) giving a little direction and working with the actors through my favorite song in the show. It's the one song that they sing together and it's when he proposes and they get married. It's gorgeous.

M is for Museums

 NYC is full of awesome museums. You can find a pretty comprehensive list here if you want to know about all of them, but I'm going to mention a couple of my favorites.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10028

The Met is definitely my favorite museum, though it may be just a personal preference to art. You can easily spend hours wandering around this giant museum and not get bored. Don't miss some amazing Van Goghs and Monets, as well as The Temple of Dendur (a 2000 year old temple that used to stand on the Nile River).

American Museum of Natural History

Central Park West at 79th Street

New York, NY 10024

source

There are two reasons why I love this museum. One, the life sized blue whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Two, the African Elephants. Besides that, they always have awesome exhibitions going on, plus there's the planetarium that I have yet to visit (it's on my to do list!).

Queens Museum of Art

New York City Building

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Queens, NY 11368

My aunt and me at the Panorama

Now I'll be completely honest with you...I was not super impressed with this museum as a whole. However, the trip out there was completely worth it for 3 reasons: the Panorama, the fact that it's in Flushing Meadows Park, and the gift shop. The Panorama is a built-to-scale model of NYC - all 5 boroughs. It was built for the 1964 World's Fair and is truly breathtaking at first sight. I was stunned at the size of the thing and all of the intricate details. I was able to find my apartment and the building in which I work! The gift shop had a lot of adorable little trinkets, as well as fun World's Fair mementos.

Flushing Meadows Park was once the site of the World Fair and is home to the Unisphere and Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The best part about all 3 of the museums I've listed? They're all by donation only!! Yes they'll all have signs that make it look like you have to pay $20, but nope. Just walk up and say "2 tickets for $1 apiece please" or whatever you choose to pay. I know people who only pay a quarter. It's great!

H is for High Line

The High Line is basically an elevated train track that was built in the 1930s to help get freight traffic out of the way of local traffic. It fell into misuse in the 1980s and by the late 90s there was talk of demolishing it. So in 1999, Friends of the High Line was founded in order to try and preserve the tracks. As a result of their efforts the High Line was transformed into a park that stretches up above the west side of Manhattan from Gansevoort St all the way up to 34th St.

When I went a year or two ago, the whole length wasn't open yet. I plan to go back soon and will post pics when I do, but when I first went it was really cool. It's really neat to be walking a path among grass and flowers...and also train track. There are lots of great views of the surrounding parts of the city and, kind of surprisingly, a lot of art to view along the way!

Their website is very informative and it even has different maps to download for free to help guide you as you take your walk.

D is for Diners

I have a great love for diners. I rarely come across one I don't like. Diners have all of your basic favorite comfort foods like chicken fingers, french fries, pancakes, unlimited coffee...basically, if you have a hankering for something, a diner probably has it...or something like it.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite diners in NYC:

Tom's Restaurant

2880 Broadway at 112 St (Upper West Side)

The exterior of this diner was used on the show Seinfeld (one of my favorite shows), which is why I wanted to go there. Don't expect the inside to look the same as on the show, but you can expect good food.

JP and me at Tom's

Big Daddy's Diner

Gramercy Park: 239 Park Avenue South (Between 19th & 20th Streets)

Upper East Side: 1596 2nd Ave (at 83rd St)

Upper West Side: 2454 Broadway (at 91st)

Yep, there are three convenient locations for your dining pleasure. This diner is more of a chain, but the food is good and the atmosphere is really fun. Six words: Chocolate Chip Molten Lava Cookie Cake.

Westside Restaurant

2020 Broadway (at 69th St)

This is one of those nondescript, not famous joints that I can't help but love. It's small but efficient and conveniently located a couple blocks from my favorite movie theatre, AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13. So pop over for brunch and a movie.

Lindy's

825 7th Ave (at 53rd St)

Lindy's is famous for their cheesecake - it's supposedly the best in the city - and you may recognize the name from the musical Guys and Dolls. Personally, I'd rather get my cheesecake from Junior's, but I hope to go back to Lindy's just for a cup of coffee. Yes, I'm serious. If I could have my pick of coffee from anywhere in the city (including Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts) I'd pick Lindy's coffee. I have no idea why it's so good, but it is. And that's that.

C is for Crumbs Bake Shop

You hear a lot about Magnolia Bakery here in NYC, but I must say that I love Crumbs way more. Their cupcakes are huge and to die for. NYC isn't the only place you can visit a Crumbs, but NYC has the most locations, for sure, since its first shop was opened on the Upper West Side in 2003. They have more than 50 varieties of cupcakes and every Monday there's a new cupcake of the week. Here are some of my favorites:

Yes, I'm a plain jane kind of girl - I promise they have way more interesting ones to choose from. But you have to admit they look pretty tasty, right? For New Year's Eve in 2011, I got this cupcake:

One of my favorite things to do is go to the Crumbs on W 42nd St between 5th and 6th Ave, grab a cupcake and a coffee, then chill out in Bryant Park. The view is great, there's a really nice bathroom nearby, and the cupcakes are delicious.

Did you visit their website? Which cupcakes would you want to try?

Weekly Wrap Up! 3.8.13

This week I got called for jury duty for the first time ever. I had no idea what to expect, considering how everyone complains about it, but I found it pretty enjoyable! The guy in charge (in my head I call him the emcee) was entertaining and funny, they showed movies (Night at the Museum and Die Another Day), and I basically just got to sit around and read all day. Pretty enjoyable, right?

I did get called for a panel and had to listen to 3 lawyers repeat the same stuff and ask the same questions over and over again, but it was still interesting. I find the whole process to be interesting actually. I was picked to be on a jury for a civil case and I'm pretty excited about to go through the whole experience. Plus, it's time I'm not at work - my days are usually 10 hours long, but even if I put in a full day at the courthouse, it's only been about 6 hours a day on average. Today I was only there from about 10:00 to 12:30, a great start to my weekend! I go back next week to actually start the trial.

Last weekend I had brunch with an old friend and we had a very...enlightening visit. She was once friends with a mutual acquaintance who unfortunately turned out to be a genuine sociopath. The unfortunate thing about sociopaths is that you rarely know what they are until they've already ruined your life and are attempting to get rid of you. It was nice to talk about that time and this person and correct all the lies we'd been told. Laura is an amazing person and I'm so glad we've reconnected and look forward to future brunches where Chris isn't the only thing we talk about! (If you have any interest in the sociopath story, including a couple of good resources about dealing with sociopaths, feel free to visit my friend David's blog post about it. He and Colby are open books when it comes to their former association with Chris.)

I enjoyed a night at Blockheads with my favorite Harlem girl, Molly (and Jayne showed up later too!). Blockheads has pretty good food, but mostly I LOVE their drinks. I had a Pink Bulldog, which was frozen vodka lemonade, topped with white sangria and then a coronita is turned upside down in it. It's delicious. I went for a second drink, which was a Black Flower: fruity sangria mixed into a frozen margarita. What a lovely night.

Rom Com Memorial Service

Recently my good friend Harper posted an article talking about the death of the romantic comedy. This is a truly sad thing to ponder - when did we, the movie goers of the world, stop clamoring for movies like You've Got Mail and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?? These fluffy feel-good movies do their job well - just like romance novels (which I love), rom coms offer you a chance to escape the stresses of life and be transported to a fun romantic moment in time.

So to mourn the slow death of romantic comedies, Harper and I decided to get together and have a Rom Com Memorial Service by drinking wine and watching When Harry Met Sally because - horror of horrors - I'd never seen it!

We made frozen pizzas and I brought chocolate wine that we poured over ice cream in a Disney princess mug, because that seemed appropriate. Of course it comes as no surprise that I completely fell in love with the movie.


Oh, and meet Winston.

Valentines and Galentines

Valentine's Day is my second favorite holiday. Growing up, my mom always made it a big deal by throwing a pizza party complete with lots of decorations, so for me it wasn't so much about romantic love as it was about love in general. It was about love, family, fun...and pizza and candy. Plus, the colors involved are pink, purple, and red, and you just can't beat that.

I've yet to gather my own Valentine's Day decorations, but I've resolved to do so next year. I did put together a super fun Valentine's Day outfit involving a new skirt that I'm so in love with. We had dinner at our usual spot, Trattoria Trecolor, where they had all the tables decorated with roses. JP surprised me by dressing up in khakis and a blazer - he looked so handsome!

Friday night I went up to Harlem for a little Galentine's Day shindig with my girlfriends. Katie made pizza bread in a bundt pan - sort of like monkey bread, only it was for pizza. She melted cheese on the bread and made a tomato sauce for dipping. Jess made a queso dip that was also delicious and I bought a heart shaped cheesecake with red velvet crumbles for dessert. Also cannolis. Molly had Valentine treats for us, even though she had to leave to go work hard for the money. :-( In addition to the great food and great company, Katie got to babysit one of the cutest babies ever and she had all of us going gaga over her. It was a lovely night - so grateful for those girls!

A belated Happy Valentine's and Galentine's Day to you!!

Nemo Aftermath

Well Nemo came and went without hitting NYC too badly. We didn't lose power and I think our area only got about a foot of snow. Not too shabby.

So on Sunday, we decided to celebrate JP's birthday (insert hoots and hollers here) by going sledding in Central Park! Your response to that might be, "Oh, you have sleds?" and my answer would be, "No, we in fact do not own sleds." We had no plan, we just went up to our friends' apartment near the top of the park and we brainstormed what to use...we debated finding trash can lids somewhere, we debated using a cookie sheet (and even measured against our butts), we even debated wrapped our bums and legs in saran wrap...finally someone gasped and shouted, "THE AIR MATTRESSES!"

Our sleds were born.

We blew up two twin sized air mattresses and lugged them across the street and through the park until we got to a great hill. Along the way almost everyone we passed made comments about our ingenuity because we are awesome. And they worked really well too!

It was a lovely day.

                         

The above is video of the

Anniversaries and Weddings

I fell off the internet grid there for a while. First I celebrated my second wedding anniversary, then we traveled to Georgia for my brother Micah's wedding. Needless to say, I didn't have much time for the online world.

I was again amazed at how emotional I felt on the day of our anniversary. It fell on a Wednesday, which meant I already had the day off. This year the traditional wedding gift was cotton so I got JP some underwear and socks. I know it sounds boring, but he asked for them so there you go. He got me some flannel pillowcases with snowflakes on them and I was completely thrilled with them. 

That evening we headed into the city for dinner at our favorite spot in midtown. It's called Trattoria Trecolori, an Italian restaurant (obviously). It's the perfect size, it always feels quiet, it has romantic candlelight, and the service is excellent. Not to mention the food is out of this world and not overpriced. We've eaten there for lots of special occasions over the past 3 years and have come to think of it as "our" spot. Afterward, we went to see the play Peter and the Starcatcher, which was a Christmas gift from my aunt Carla. Overall, we had an excellent anniversary. 

Of course we had to take our traditional picture in front of the statue where we got engaged. I'm so happy I chose to marry JP and move to NYC - three years later, I wouldn't change a thing.

And now onto another marriage milestone: my little brother Micah got married!! He married his girlfriend Golden in a beautiful ceremony at Henderson Village (in Georgia). This is one of the times I hate living far away from my family - it's hard to try and get to know someone on my random and busy trips home. Regardless, I've really enjoyed getting to know Golden - she's beautiful and caring, a total sweetheart. She and Micah really fit well together and I'm so happy for them. Also, her dress was to die for. Congrats to the Jordans!

There were several months where I didn't blog at all. Between May and January, to be precise. So stay tuned to hear about other major milestones that happened during my absence.

Random update with lots of pictures.

I spent the majority of my day reading someone's entire blog, which made me realize it's been a while since I posted on mine...which made me realize how much I stay home on my days off. That's not really a bad thing. For one, we've been attempting to save a little money here and there (which is really hard, in case you're unaware) and now that I work really long days 4 days a week, it's harder to feel like leaving the apartment if I don't have to go to work. Also, we seem to have crossed that line from tourist to resident...we've seen a ton of the city (though not all there is to see - sometimes I think that's impossible) and we're not dying to get out and explore anymore.

We may be going through a boring stage at the moment, but that doesn't mean our lives are void of excitement. Here's an update on a few things in case my Facebook and Twitter aren't enough for you.

First of all, I'm extremely disappointed in NYC's winter weather this year. We had zero snowstorms. Zero. There were a couple of flurries (it's strange to think that back in Georgia these flurries would have seemed like blizzards), but the snow never stuck around and there wasn't enough to build a snowman. Fingers crossed for more snow next year (and also for a mild summer, though I doubt it will help)! This is probably the most snow we got all winter.

In February, Colby (my best friend/twin) and David visited for a long weekend. Colby and I worked hard at making JP and David best friends. They like each other, but "best friends" is still a work in progress. However, the most important part is that David proposed (to Colby, not to JP)! It was very exciting and I am super excited to fly to Georgia for her wedding the first weekend in May. I also took on the task of planning a bridal shower from afar, which has been interesting. But thanks to Pinterest, I have an awesome theme of glitter and will be making lots of fun things to decorate with. And thanks to my aunt Carla, Party Planner Extraordinaire, for helping me! I'm sure I'll have an entire blog post dedicated to her shower/wedding coming soon.

Top row from left to right: Our attempt at forcing them into BFF status by sitting them next to each for a game of LOTR Risk; the game board; Colby and me. Bottom row: Meeting a unicorn; proof of engagement; riding an orca into battle. 

Next up, we went upstate for one of my best friend's baby shower. I've known Brittany for...7 years? We became friends halfway through college, were roommates for a short of time, took a road trip to Disney World our senior year, I got her a job with me at my ophthalmology office after we graduated, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. She is so special to me and it's so wild to be able to witness all of these huge life-changing events. Anyway, she's an adorable little pregnant lady and I had so much fun catching up with her and her husband Paul and getting excited about their future baby boy! 

Also in February, I started experimenting with hairstyles, specifically ways to curl it. Random note.

In March our friend Jen came back to NYC for a visit. We had a fabulous night out with her and our other friends, Molly and Katie, and this amazing picture came to be.

My in-laws also made quick visits so that they could see my brother-in-law in Carrie, the musical.

Our next visitor was Lisa, my bestie (or occasionally referred to as my beastie). She decided to pop up for a visit at the last minute, which is always exciting. We visited several of the routine places most people want to go, but we did actually go to a couple of new places too, the WTC Memorial and the New York Public Library.

And last but not least, Colby and David announced that Colby is pregnant! It wasn't exactly in the plans, but they're both very excited. And JP and I were thrilled and honored to be asked to be the baby's godparents. I so look forward to watching them become parents and hopefully having lots of chances to spoil that child. Colby was trying to decide how to announce it in a non-cliche way, and I suggested they do something they're very familiar with - a video. To be specific, turn it into a movie trailer. JP did the voice over for it and Colby had me record myself saying some lines and they did their thing and it ended up being really amazing. I love watching it. Enjoy!

First Anniversary (cont'd)

Just in case you guys were wondering, our day was perfect.

I was taken by surprise by how emotional I was from the moment I woke up...I just felt overwhelmed by my happiness and the fact that somehow I'd just been allowed to spend an entire year married to the love of my life. I couldn't help but laugh at myself when I started crying as I snuggled up to JP and wished him a happy anniversary.

We went ahead and exchanged gifts before we even got out of bed. We'd decided that we would give each other the traditional anniversary gifts each year. (Everyone knows the 25th anniversary gift is silver and the 50th is gold, but there are others for years 1-15, then for every fifth year after that. You can view the traditional and modern lists here, and we went the traditional route.) So the first year is paper. JP made me a couple of origami hearts and painted them, plus an origami heart-lined picture frame that we plan to put on the fridge once we get some magnetic strips. I made him a "love jar" (although I didn't have any jars sitting around, so I used a Valentine's Day drink mixer) where I cut up pieces of paper that have things I love about him written on them so he can take one out and read one whenever he wants.

















After that, we spent the day being lazy. We'd just bought the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game (we LOVE the Lego games) so we played that all day. Then that evening we got dressed up and went to our favorite Italian restaurant in Times Square.  Of course we had to visit the statue of George M Cohan in the middle of Times Square where we got engaged. It was nice since the tourists are all gone now. :-)

All in all, it was a very lovely day.

Kayaking? In NYC?

Yes, that's right. Today I went kayaking in NYC. My friend Molly has been wanting to go so we went. JP and I were running a little late (of course) so by the time we got to the pier Molly and my other friend Katie had already gone out once. I was a little turned off to the idea by how soaked they were from the waist down, but I ended up doing it anyway since I did drag myself out of the apartment just for that reason.

So there are 3 (I believe) piers along the Hudson River where free kayaking is offered. We went to Riverside Park on 72nd St. Also, there's a long pier nearby for people to go hang out on that I'm really glad to know is there. It's a pretty gorgeous place to just chill and enjoy being next to the water. And there's a cafe that serves snacks, meals, beer, coffee...pretty great. But I digress. Back to free kayaking...

All you have to do is sign a waiver that will last you the year (you don't have to sign one every time you go), put on a life jacket, and you're good to go. If you have stuff you don't want getting wet (i.e. your purse, your phone, your wallet), they have lockers you can use that are also free. The kayaks aren't legit kayaks, because they're open. You're not tucking your legs inside something, so it's a lot safer if you've never gotten into a real kayak before.

Now, you'll definitely get your backside wet. There's no escaping it. I'd recommend wearing something besides denim - something that will dry quickly. But unless you're purposely slinging water everywhere because you think it's fun (and as long as you don't try really hard to flip your kayak), you can probably tuck your phone or camera into the front of your life jacket so you can take pictures...or text people to make them jealous.

So if you're bored and broke on a nice day, this can be something fun to do. I did have fun, but I must admit I got kind of bored with it. You have to stay within the set boundaries so that you don't end up down the river and out into the ocean. I'm used to being on a fast moving river where the scenery is constantly changing. Here, I just rode around in circles and got excited the couple of times waves came in. Otherwise...eh.

Ultimately, I'd go again. It's something different to do, especially if you're wanting to escape being in the city. And once again...it's FREE. That's a major draw. And when you're with good people, it will always be fun.

The Blanks at Highline Ballroom

My most recent escapade in NYC involved seeing a band called The Blanks. Have you ever watched the show Scrubs? Remember Ted's a cappella band? They are a real band and they've existed since before Scrubs. Oh yeah, and also, they're amazing.

Me with Sam Lloyd (Ted, from Scrubs)

The concert was at Highline Ballroom. If you're ever in NYC (or you live in NYC and enjoy going to events here) you should definitely try to attend something at this venue. There are two levels, the bottom level easily converted to a dance floor. But for this night, there were tables set up downstairs, just like upstairs. We were in close quarters with other tables (and in some instances, strangers were seated together), but it somehow still felt intimate.

JP and me with The Blanks

The menu definitely has some pricey items, but luckily they also have some cheaper stuff to choose from. We went with a bunch of "small bites," small portions of food for $5 apiece. Two chicken tacos, a cheese plate, coconut shrimp, and spring rolls. And all DELICIOUS.  Beware though...if you want water, specify you don't want it in a bottle. And if you order a Coke, refills are not free. There IS a full bar though.

And now I leave with a video. It's The Blanks singing Superman, by Lazlo Bane, theme from Scrubs. For more videos from the concert, visit my YouTube channel.

Firsts.

I recently had a first time experience.

Well a couple of first time experiences. First, I went to Magnolia Bakery with my friend Kaitlin. I had some vanilla bean cheesecake. It was very good, but it didn't beat cheesecake from Junior's!

So anyway, afterward I got back on the subway. I was over on the west side, an area I'm NEVER in. But as I walked onto the train and headed to sit down, I heard my name! I looked around and there was Katie, a girl I knew through my friend Molly. We couldn't believe running into each other - I mean think about how many things have to line up for that to happen! There are so many different cars, so many different lines...crazy.

I like it when New York shrinks...just a little.