Mitch and Alex Kelly

Update from Mitch

2011-06-02T21:49:00.004-04:00

First of all, New York is getting warm, so I am looking forward to coming back to Seattle for a respite. I don't do well in the heat. It's my opinion that Seattle has some of the best weather of anywhere in the world, not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter, and to spend a week where I was raised and away from the NYC heat will not be taken for granted. Even with this, the thing I'm looking forward to the most is seeing my family: sitting by the lake at my parent's house reading a good book, eating a delicious dinner paired with a select wine with Susan and Terry (maybe a hike as well?), seeing fireworks on Whidbey Island with Gordon, Jean, and the rest, and giving each person in Rae's family a giant huge. Being so far from everyone, I miss all of these things that most people get to do on a regular basis.
I haven't gone into depth about my new job, and for good reason: I love it, but it's exhausting. I spend all day thinking about the copy I need to write or drafting emails that need to properly phrased, so the last thing that I want to do after I get home is sit down to a computer and write. I think it's my background in retail that causes me to get restless and encourages me to walk and spend considerable time on my feet when I have the time. The second reason I haven't told anyone about my job is that I get nervous about over sharing, especially on a website; I don't want anything to come back and cause trouble for me. Honestly, they're always keeping tabs on me and my actions. For instance, the moment I type the full name of my company my bosses will be alerted by Google Alerts with a hyperlink to this website, and I want to keep this private.

Some of the books I've read recently, since I know that's what's on most of your minds, are: The Book Thief, Misery, Tabloid City, Fall of Giants, End the Fed, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Then We Came to the End. I've omitted a couple of books that I didn't care for, but all of these have some appeal and I can recommend them without faking excitement. However, if you're looking for my favorites from this list they are The Book Thief and Misery. Awesome books. I've also been listening to a lot books, but I'll save that for a later time.

I miss you all, and I can't wait to visit. I actually keep a blog of my own; I don't think that it fits the parameters of what Alex and I want from this blog. If you want to visit it, please check it out: http://mitchkelly.tumblr.com/

Lots of love,

Mitch

Playing @ the brooklyn botanical gardens

2011-03-01T17:00:00.010-05:00

we spent some time yesterday playing in the brooklyn botanical gardens

mitch is so funny. this is what happens when i tell him to make sure his shadow stays out of the picture.

the lilly pads are normally my favorite - but i've never seen them frozen over like that

mitch said: "let's do the ianashley pose!"

"Okay!" i respond enthusiastically.

haircuts! i have bangs!

2011-02-08T16:05:00.003-05:00

oh. my. goodness!

i've been seriously debating sweep bangs for a couple months. i broke down and made the appointment last week for today. super fun

i got home and mitch decided it was time for a haircut for him too. he got out his razor and started shaving it all off. it always shocks me when he decides to do that. i got to help this time though and finnish it.

superbowl. what a dissapointment.

2011-02-08T15:46:00.005-05:00

okay so i just have to say: go seahawks! they made it way farther than anybody thought was possible and broke down barriers. HOWEVER - i had not disillusioned myself into thinking they actually had a chance at making it to the superbowl. i was rooting for it to be the Bears vs Jets. i felt good about rooting for either team. but no.

stealers vs packers

lousy. absolutely lousy. the stealers are my least favorite team in the NFL. and packers? i have no feelings about the packers bad or good. so when the jets and bears both fell out of the running - i was having serious regrets about making superbowl plans so early on... to new jersey - to watch a game i didn't care about... thank god for good company.

we watched it with a couple of die hard packer fans (via Milwaukee)

Happy New Years! (way way belated)

2011-02-08T15:35:00.003-05:00

we spent new year's in south slope watching dick clarks new years live in times square.

i got all dressed up. something sparkly and my grandma's fur coat. it was fun to walk through the neighborhood and watch all the people heading to parties and to the train. some people were WAY dressed up and having a tough time with the snow. it was a fun night though. we drank champagne and i kissed my husband at midnight.

playing in the snow

2011-02-08T14:28:00.002-05:00

winter wonderland in the slope

2010-12-28T12:27:00.016-05:00

walking in a winterland!

that's what i did yesterday... except i didn't make a snowman - i just did laundry and stuff.

this is the veiw from our front door {well not our front door door - but the door to the outside of the building - this is what we see when we step outside}

and this is what we see if we look right... super pretty right

this is looking at our block from the other corner

our building. from across the street - SO MUCH SNOW!

7th ave was pretty well plowed - some of the sidestreets however {like all of them} were not. it was so cool because there were groups of people walking around with snow shovels and guarding streets - helping people dig their cars out and young men helping little old ladies cross the street. store keepers are all out shoveling the side walk and EVERYBODY's out - it's like a party - kids sleding down the street and resourceful shoppers using sleds to transport their groceries. people letting people pass and saying "excuse me" and "thank you" and everybody is being neighborly... I LOVE IT!!!

me in front of the laundry mat

it was cold but the wind was the worst! it hits your face and in some of the pictures it looks like it's snowing... but it's not it snowed ALL DAY sunday... but not at all yesterday - just fluries

we got icicles on our kitchen window. so exciting! i heart icicles

i got snow boots yesterday. REAL snow boots - not just ones that are cute but not really functional in NY snow {mitch is so proud} they are so nice. and though they are ugly... i think they are kinda cute too. but more than that they are waterproof and warm and have AMAZING traction! i love them

see: they have this super smart technology in the grips - when the temp drops the rubber grips freeze so you get better traction. cool huh

merry christmas!

2010-12-26T17:53:00.004-05:00

merry christmas everyone! i hoped you all had a beautiful holiday

the north face

2010-12-26T17:51:00.002-05:00

mitch is working at the North Face in SoHo. he loves it times 2!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T12:55:00.012-04:00

Me and mitch love love LOVE halloween! pumkins and costumes and treats oh my!

park slope gets CRAZY for halloween. thousands of trick or treaters and so many people on the streets and a parade and everything.

this year we went to the Brown's annual Halloween Mac & Cheese party. it was so fun. you didn't have to dress up but more than half did. good times and we tried some stellar mac&cheese.

Brock and Audrey came as a cow and a cowgirl.

mitch came as dracula/an old fashion vampire {not one of those "fake" vampires from twilight or true blood - he needed people to know that} and i came as Hermione Granger from harry potter.
mitch got some crap for not being harry potter from some people but he had so much fun being a vampire {he likes the scary part of halloween} and we've never gone as a "couple" for halloween we were newsies one year together but that's it. we will someday though. we're looking forward to being mary poppins and burt - but it will take more than 3 days and $30 to prepare. so for now we went as dracula and hermione because mitch just finnished salems lot and i'm making my way through the harry potter books.

audrey said we needed a picture of mitch biting my neck: so here it is

note my books. i came so prepared: history of wizardry and witchcraft, potions, and tranfiguration {with prof. McGonagall}

matt brown as the sweedish chef

The Pretty Parts of Redhook

2010-10-17T19:58:00.013-04:00

we finally found it!

we were told Redhook was pretty {the place-not the brewery-which is now in new york-ish} but we didn't believe them. we tried to find it numerous times... just to end up at ikea {which is fine} but we wanted to see the cute shops and the waterfront and the broken down trolly...

well we found it! we went to the redhook harvest festival and got lost trying to find it and in the process... ENDED UP IN THE PRETTY PART OF REDHOOK!! i was so happy - you don't even know! i'm still so happy!

so know we know: all the cute cafes, wine shops and boutiques are on Van Bront ave. and all the side streets off of Von Bront are little cobble stone roads. i want to live on coffey street. and if you just walk down von bront, do you know where you end up? the waterfront! it's a beautiful thing.

pretty cool huh

so we made it to the Redhook community farm where the harvest festival was... and decided it would have been alot better if it wasn't across the street from IKEA. but it was still fun. full of families and hipsters and urbanites oh my.

i got corn on the cob from RICE. it comes covered with mayo and cheese and something else but i wasn't brave enough for that so i got it plain. it was sooo good and sweet. Rice is a very hip place- lots of tofu and unrecognizable things on their menu. i got matches from them too {ps: i'm a pyromaniac now - goodbye to the girl who was afraid of fire - hello to the one that just likes to watch things burn}

the farm has chickens on it. my favorite one was the one that looked like a monarch butterfly - i couldn't pet it though because only four people were aloud in the coop at once... and kids get dibs {they don't put that on the sign though} and there were bunnies too.

we shared some cider. it was sooo good! mitch said it's,

"the best cider i can recall - but i can't commit to the best cider ever"

i don't know the cider was pretty good - it had chunks of apple in it and everything - but mitch made a really really really good cider when we were living in Ballard {that's my top pick} and i think even the cider we had at the apple orchard was better.

we are now officially cider connoisseurs. check it.

leaving Redhook and heading back to the slope we met up with drew and anna at Pacific Standard to catch the Cal game. i had an alternate agenda - i wanted to play settlers of catan - and i figured i could wait out the game {what?! it's not like they're the cougs and football can be boring if you don't care}

but the game was going so badly {they were playing USC - it wasn't going to go good} so we got to play settlers WHILE the game was going on. ROCK ON! super fantastic.

a piece of the country

2010-10-12T16:48:00.020-04:00

welcome to upstate new york! it's amazing how the scenery changes by getting a couple hours out of the city.

we had a fall church retreat that we went to. yay camping!

we went to this really cool orchard. and we u-picked our own apples.

we saw pretty berries; but we didn't eat them - they could have been poisonous. we ate LOTS of apples though. we had to taste them to make sure they were okay you know... plus ron said it was alright- and ron's good with rules - he wouldn't have said that if it were illegal.

after apple picking and apple eating we headed back to the shop area for hot cider {delicious} and famous apple cider doughnuts

the doughnuts were AMAZING. they came out

hot hot hot

and delicious... sooo delicious! best doughnuts ever - there was a big line but they were totally worth the wait. the line was so huge because they couldn't make them fast enough to keep up with the orders. and you were limited to 1 1/2 dozen per person. we shared a half dozen between the four of us {we were all super good - because we could have eaten sooo much more till we were sick!}

we weren't really "roughing it" per say... but we were fully prepared to. the camp sight had cabins and a mowed lawn and real bathrooms {i appreciate that} but we were all caught off guard when the temperature hit 21 degrees saturday night. i was very fortunate because mitch got me a sleeping bag that is for 20 degree weather so i was set. and we all hung out by the campfire.

one of the guys has this stellar star gazing set up. so we went stargazing - it was alot colder away from the campfire but totally worth it. we saw jupiter and the for moons circling around it {pretty wild} and the milky way galaxy and the 7 sisters {andromida} and this cool constellation mitch discovered called alexandria. {he's pretty sweet to me}

we don't see stars here at all. when we went to montauk it was the first time we'd {okay just me - because mitch has been back to seattle} seen stars since moving to NYC.

when you wake up in a tent at 8am it is VERY bright

mitch loves camping

the next day we went to a harvest festival. it was so disappointing though- it was more like a farmers market. the best part: maple drop candies.

last day of camp

Cale comes to town!

2010-10-12T14:59:00.044-04:00

Cale {mitch's brother} came to town last week. it was so great to see him and hang out. we've misssed him alot.

mitch had to work for a couple of hours so i showed Cale the neighborhood. we went to prospect park and the brooklyn botanical gardens.

there were these really cool stick huts that were a new edition to the gardens

the bonzai garden:

the rainforest:

the cactus garden!

ouch!

so... i know it doesn't look like it- but this is a pomogranite tree.

crazy right!?

Cale's happy on the inside

Cale texts his girlfriend michelle about how much fun he's having

we met up with mitch and headed into the city. starting with central park and made our way down town. rockefellar center and st. patricks cathedral.

it's a super beautiful church.

We hit up TOYS"R"US times square style

me and optomus. we're buds. he comes to park slope sometimes. mitch saw him first. but i've seen him too. he doesn't look like optomus prime... he looks like a tricked out garbage truck... but when we see him we know - it's totally him

mitch with the lego empire state building - it's so crazy - the whole thing is made out of lego!

and you just KNOW we had to show cale the statue of liberty! {we had less than 24hours and cale wanted to see times square more than anything else}

the empire state building from bryant park

the empire state building from the corner across

the empire state building from right in front of it looking up:

it was super pretty that night.

then we headed further down to the flat iron building.

gotta check out the shake shack across the street at madison square park. it's famous for it's line.

making art

mitch LOVES this picture. he says this is what people look like when they drink milkshakes. i disagree. i think this is why people believe we came from monkeys... but i'm a good sport.

the Pitman Painters

2010-10-04T13:43:00.007-04:00

last night me and mitch went to see the Pitman Painters.

it opens today - it's this play based on a true story about these miners in the UK who have never seen art but decide they want to take an art appreciation class to discover what it "means".

it was a really beautiful play and well done.

me and mitch anxiously awaiting the play {we didn't know anything about it going into it}

the theater on 47th and 8th where we saw the show:

mitch had me jump in...

oh wait! gotta get the boots!

i love the fact that it's finally cooled down. don't get me wrong - i'm a summer girl through and through... but i have come to REALLY love the fall. yesterday i actually needed a coat! it was super great. sweater weather's here for sure and i'm glad

mitch and i have an agreement: because i don't normally watch scary movies, but i'll watch them in october because of halloween and everything... but this year he's reading scary stories aloud too. right now we're reading "sleepy hollow" curled up with a hot cup of tea {soon to be cocoa} did you know sleepy hollow is a real place? yeah! it's in upstate new york. do i hear "day trip...." maybe, we'll see. if we go i'll take lots of pictures i promise.

H a p p y O c t o b e r !

Quiz Night

2010-09-27T15:17:00.008-04:00

Our New Favorite Bar: PACIFIC STANDARD

so this bar called pacific standard was brought to our attention by our friends drew and anna. drew's from cali and went to school with mitch in pullman. go cougs! so what makes this bar so cool? they show pac10 games {their hard to find in NYC} and they have good beer on draft {most places have blonds and heffs with MAYBE one IPA} we are talking 17 beers on tap including like 6 IPAs and browns and stouts and meads... whoa. so mitch went to watch the CAL game with drew and anna on saturday and i met up at the end after work {they are VERY intense about Cal} and we decided to come back the next night for Pub Quiz.

so we were warned that it's CRAZY hard. the bartender said to bring the smartest people we know. {we didn't we just brought ourselves} boo

Drew and Justin "acting natural"

okay - so here's how it works: 4 rounds - 10 questions each plus a bonus beer tasting round. round one: tough {definition of "tough": loosers of the Nobel that should have won} yeah - bad. mitch however, dominated. round 2 was oxymorons. round 3 was general and i FINNALY got one! what was Kirsten Dunst's first critically acclaimed film? the boys didn't know - but i did. interview with a vampire. yep, i did more than just drink my great divide 14th anniversary IPA... i contributed. i also knew one in round 4. and i helped with the beer tasting bonus round. super fun. repeat for sure!

DUMBO

2010-09-27T14:27:00.011-04:00

and no, not the elephant.

we went to dumbo {Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass} yesterday for their arts bonanza extravaganza! and boy was it!

i thought it would be street fair{y} but it wasn't - so much better

there was a dance festival going on in the new brooklyn bridge park.

we stayed and watched 4 performances.

i couldn't choose between these 2 - mitch said to put them both in - so i did

one of the galleries was taken over by a maze made out of boxes - cardboard boxes - stacked on top of one another. we tried to do it... but we ended up exiting out of the entrance. woops.

we went into all sorts of galleries and warehouses and places that weren't galleries but were trasformed for the weekend.

the best was this boxing gym with a couple rings and punching bags hanging all over the place and it was filled with art. paintings of boxers and boxing events and photographs... so cool.

there was also this cool spot called Smack Mellon that provides studio spaces. there was one photographer that shot slide film with a manual advance and created these panarama images in slides... the artist was there and was talking about how he does it by manualy advancing the film while moving the camera in the other direction - his stuff is wild - you can see it at www.kwabenaslaughter.com if you're interested.

me and mitch can't wait to come back. there's a theater we want to go to that's in a warehouse called st. ann's warehouse theater that looks way cool.

this is a jazz club - we want to come back here too. we signed up on there e-mail list so they're going to send us 2 tickets to an upcoming show - cool cool

2 year anniversary

2010-09-27T11:41:00.029-04:00

September 20th

for our 2 year anniversary we ran away to montauk for a couple days. its at the very tip of long island. we took the train out {the Long Island Railroad - also known as the LIRR} it's suposed to be a 4 hour ride {we packed LOADS of reading material - that mitch carried}

so we went to church on sunday morning of the 19th and then made our way to the atlantic pacific terminal to catch our train to Jamaica {ps: so NOT a tropical island} and transfer to a montauk bound train. so far so good. we got on our first train and we start moving {this is at about 12:30pm} and the ticket guy comes through to punch our tickets... he looks at our tickets and looks at us "do you know when you catch your transfer?" he asks us with a concerned edge... "no" we respond without a care in the world. the next train for montauk leaves at 9:30pm we quickly dicovered - 9 hours from now... hmmm.

i love my husband. he was so cool as a cucumber and was just like no worries. he got into his phone and looked for a quicker way to get there {which we/he - i was reading} couldn't find. so he called the owner of the B&B we booked to let him know we would be getting in at around 12:30 {which was fine} and we slowly made our way there.

when we ventured out of the train station at Jamaica to get food we were bombarded. people were trying to sell cab rides like guys on canal street sell rolex and prada - way scetch - we stepped out and we here low wispers "taxitaxitaxitaxitaxi"

the best stop was Babylon

it was a cute little town with a small lake and we got to sit and watch the sun set

we were reminded of some thing quite critical on our journey: WE ARE BAD PACKERS - and bad is being nice. i think once upon a time mitch was a good packer - and i think that he's still a good packer at heart... but i bring out the bad packer in mitch. for a 2 day trip we were both carrying 3 bags a piece: we each had a duffle, i had a messanger bag and our toiletries bag, and mitch had nice clothes for dinner in a hanging bag and was super sweet to carry a bag containing 10 magazines {3 were september issues - i know, i'm a horrible person} 4 books and my camera - it was heavier then the duffles... maybe combined... horrible. we each brought 4 pairs of shoes... i don't know what we were thinking...

we promised each other we would work on the packing thing...

the adventure was still good - it just would have been a lot easier and more fun without being hindered by all of our stuff. and as far as it taking 9 hours... as weird as it sounds - it was FUN - it was all part of the adventure

once it got dark we grabbed pizza by the slice - mine was amazing - it was a BBQ chicken with bacon.... yumyum. and then before we knew it we were at the babylon station waiting for our next train!

we got to the B&B at about 12:30 as scheduled and woke up early the next morning to enjoy the day. happy anniversary to us!

the Bed & Breakfast that we stayed at was the Sunrise Guest House. it was super cute!

this is where we ate our continental breakfast - with our killer veiw

N A T U R E

&

w i l d l i f e

the rock/sand formation from the water was so cool. mitch climbed up and posed for me

okay. so we were warned before we left brooklyn, and by some of the other guests at the b&B, that the water is dangerous now. the waves are too close together which makes for VERY dangerous surfing conditions {good thing we weren't planning on surfing} and the under current was crazy strong. we discovered this to be true - and were SUPER careful

"Look at this one- it's gonna be good!"

yep

totally got knocked over - it was so crazy - for some of it i had to hold on to mitch or i got carried away. i felt very safe though. mitch has life guard training and is fully certified. plus: he has zero body fat and doesn't float - he was my anchor... as in life really...

mitch went back for some shade when i layed out in the sun for a little while longer. i love me some sun and beach.

we had an amazing dinner at the surfside inn and enjoyed a bottle of champaign in the hot tub.

Life is SO good

and then the next day we headed back home

Fashion Show

2010-09-13T21:58:00.006-04:00

Malan Breton's Spring 2011 collection

Today: cheryl, tessa, and myself went to see Malan's show.

we got there and were assigned to standing room.

standing room? ha! i don't think so.

cheryl encouraged me to take my place with the other photographers at the end of the runway... while they went to fight for some seats.

they got seats. i shot the whole show from the end of the runway without a press pass. and we all left with goodie bags. it was awesome.

photos from the show can be found at alexandriak.com {that's right - they're already posted}

FASHION'S NIGHT OUT

2010-09-13T17:54:00.020-04:00

FASHION'S NIGHT OUT. wow.

it's this big event { party } that takes place throughout the city. big names you've heard of {macy's, bloomingdales, lord and taylor... to name a few} and small boutiques {like alice&olivia} participate and hold parties and a percentage of the profits go to charity.

so i went to Lord&Taylors. it was so crazy! they have 10 floors. and they had at least one event going on on every floor. i was greeted with a key that made me eligible for prizes and a glass of pink champagne - delightful!

if you started on the 10th floor and worked your way down the first people you would meet after stepping off the escelator would be the new york jets' cheerleaders.

{what i think is funny: is that with 10 floors, floors 2-7 are women's clothing, floor 8 is under construction, floor 9 is for kids, and then there's floor 10 for the men- the main floor has accessories, which in all fairness, include ties}

this is the remains of the shoot that was going on on the 3rd or 4th floor - i couldn't get in when it was actually exciting because it was surrounded by models that were all over 6 feet tall in mini dresses

each floor had a DJ. this one was playing Britney Spears' Circus {at least she was when i took the picture}

the following is not something i'm proud of- but it happened none the less.

INTRODUCING: my shameful paparazzi moment with Nigel Barker

in my defense: i did go to Lord&Taylors in hopes of passing my card off to him and telling him what a super great assistant i would make... but it didn't quite work out the way it did in my head prior... whatcha gonna do {shrugs}

mitch didn't attend fashions night out with me. and for the most part i think he was pretty happy about it. when i was waiting in line to see if my key unlocked the box to win yankee tickets there was a couple behind me- the guy was bribing the girl to leave by buying her a dress... i thought about how much fun mitch would be having... and decided that he was having alot more fun at home reading and working on his resume. i know he was hoping i'd win either the iPad or the yankee's tickets... but i didn't. and when he heard i got free champagne and VanLeuens ice cream and they had sliders too... i think he would have liked that part.

on the way to the subway

across the street from bryant park

Carmen

2010-09-07T19:12:00.008-04:00

last night we met up with a group of people to see carmen. it was so cool. it's part of the opera's summer series outside - and they project it onto the building. it was super fun

NOTE: the mercedes benz fashion week 2010 signs and the lights that are all set up for thursday...

augest 13th

2010-09-07T19:00:00.002-04:00

a quarter of a century!

my 25th birthday

it was amazing!

we took the long island rail road out to long beach and spent the day out there.

the atlantic ocean kicks mad butt and a half!

the waves are amazing and suprisingly, it's not cold

4th of july

2010-09-07T16:01:00.031-04:00

yeah yeah i know it's septeber

i also know it's been forever and a day since our last blog...

and we had a REALLY super 4th of july. so i figured: "hey! why not share it?"

we took the ferry to govenors island

the line was crazy long! but we moved through it in like an hour and a half which wasn't too bad i guess.

at one point- there were some teenage girls that tried to cut in front of us when we were only one ferry away from getting on. mitch totally called them out and was like, "you know the line starts way back there, right" and one of them tried to play dumb and one of them pretended they were there the whole time, and one was like - do you really care? can we please go in front of you. and mitch was like "i don't care but you have to check with EVERYONE behind us too because you're cutting them all. and the guy behind us was like no- its not okay and everyone around us had our back and told them to go to the back of the line and everyone told mitch how great it was that he said something and the people behind us joked that we had been staring at the back of there heads for over an hour and that there's no way could have mistaken them.

mitch was the hero

the govenor's island ferry terminal is very old and very cool looking- way fun

and we're off!

when we arrived on govenors island i hit mission mode

our whole purpose of going was to see the band she and him

it was a free concert and the only let so many people in... i was very anxious. mitch had to tell me to settle down. so we explored the island for all of 10 minutes and got in line. we had to get wrist bands to get in. and then we had to get wrist bands to show we are over 21. but we got in without a hitch and settled into the "beach"

this was the group that went on before she and him but i don't remember their name

enter: she&him

she&him were winding down so we started making our way back to the ferry

we could still hear them playing the whole time we were in line and most of it we could see the stage too

and then we were on the boat...and we could STILL hear them!

they fit ALOT of people on that boat

we watched she&him leave the stage...

...and then wait for their encore.

they got it! they sang an american classic and an old school chuck berry

then they stopped and our ferry left

oh! and mitch got mr. softie when we got back to battery park

happy belated indipendence day everybody!

go team usa!

2010-06-25T10:45:00.009-04:00

wednesday we went to watch the world cup usa game at the black horse pub. our friend ji invited us {that's her spot for all the world cup} the game started at 10 and we showed up just after...the place was packed.
we made our way through the crowd in search of ji. we ran into another friend half way in who said ji had texted him that she was in the back {or front}

we made it. and it was a GREAT game. very exciting ending. the whole place was going crazy the last 90 seconds {well the half that was watching the us game - the front half was watching the england game - i don't know if they went crazy... we were in the opposite end} but yeah, everyone went crazy: screaming and jumping up and down - beer went EVERYWHERE. down our backs and in our hair... but nobody cared... we won!

we made it on channel 12 - we got the link but can't veiw it beause we don't have cable, but if you want to give it a shot the link is: www.news12.com/mytown/main.jsp and click " BK World Cup Fans Celebrate U.S Victory" the daily news was there covering too and we got photographed but don't know if they were used

Playing in the Park

2010-06-25T10:35:00.006-04:00

tuesday me and mitch spent the day at the park. playing Frisbee and reading and soaking up the sun

we were visited by a couple bumble bees {all friendly}

what to get in before seattle...

2010-06-17T20:53:00.017-04:00

last day. last couple hours! and we still haven't done prospect park or ate a new york bagel or drank gorilla coffee... got to do it!

so we did get bagles {and some of us got coffee} and ate breakfast in the park.

PROSPECT PARK

watching the swan and her swan babies {is it ducklines?}

a pretty waterfall

the boathouse

BROOKLYN BOTANICAL GARDENS
{free on tuesday ~ score!}

roses are in bloom - bonus

the bag drag to the subway

safe travels

Happy Monday!

2010-06-17T20:07:00.029-04:00

monday june 14th

happy monday!
happy bike ride central park day!
happy katz deli day!
happy grom gelato!

we biked central park!

it's been 10 years since i was on a bike! mitch consulted me on how changing gears worked on the way there. it was good after the first little bit -everyone was really nice about me slowing them down in the beginning and wendy even switched bikes with me because she thought the one she had would be easier. it was.

strawberry fields forever

KATZ deli!
in search of a pastrami sandwich for nancy

where harry met sally and sally ah ah ah ooh yes oh... faked it

we saw the naked cowboy in times square and my mom wanted a picture

but he wanted pictures with her too

peter luger's for dinner

best steak in brooklyn

terry joins us in spirit

in our matching brooklyn industry hoodies

Sunday Brunch

2010-06-17T19:39:00.012-04:00

sunday june 13th

the ladies did the brooklyn bus tour and got off at Grand Army Plaza which is our neighborhood. me and mitch wanted to be sure to be there when their bus stopped, and then their bus had unexpected stops so they arrived later than expected but mitch was stoked because there was a espn truck playing the world cup game.

me and my mom went out to sunday brunch at Sette where we ate amazing food and sipped on belinis on the patio.

then we caught a matinée showing of "another part of the forest" it's a play by Lillian Nelson. it's being put on off broadway on 46th street between 9th and 10th. it was sooo good. we waited around a little after the show a little bit- we saw all of the actors leave... but who we were really waiting for came out after all of them. we were waiting for the ASM {assistant stage manager} he's the best! his name is mitch kelly and he was totally worth the wait!

we walked over the brooklyn bridge!
amazing! so so so amazing!

it was a really nice night. warm, a little muggy, but nice.

the last time my mom was in ny was in 82. and it's changed alot since then, one thing that's changed is that there are cops EVERYWHERE.

so she got a picture with 2 of them

harlem shuffle

2010-06-17T19:24:00.007-04:00

that's a dance right?

saturday june 12th

we went to harlem. it was sooo cool. i can't wait to go back.

this church is in the process of being built. it started in the 1800's with an estimated finnish time of 2012. there's a really cool park too. i think it was off of broadway... i'm going back

we saw grant's tomb too - it looks like it belongs in DC {the place- not the comics}

we went to the spotted pig for lunch. they're supposed to have the best burgers in manhattan - they were. so good. and they came with these amazing shoe string fries that had rosemary and garlic slices. we were all on a treasure hunt for the garlic chips... mmmm

the spotted pig is on greenwich st. there's a greenwich st and a greenwich ave

i had to work on saturday night but the ladies had fun without me

DOWNTOWN

2010-06-17T18:23:00.032-04:00

friday june 11th

this was a very FULL day. we started bright and early down at battery park. walked up to ground zero down to wall street and across to liberty island and over to ellis island and that's all before lunch!

my mom rubbed the bulls balls for good luck

nancy and wendy didn't -

- but nancy had the forsight to buy liberty tickets with a specific time (it was like the speed line at disney world) - very VERY lucky

i've rubbed the bull's balls before... i didn't need to do it again

a snack:

LIBERTY ISLAND!

the view out

lady liberty herself - but not by herself

my mom's new york baseball cap find

onward to ellis island

ELLIS ISLAND!

with audio!

back to battery park where we met up with mitch and went to lombardi's for lunch (first pizza place EVER) mitch went to work and we wandered SoHo. {no pictures - at least, not on my camera}

we decided to do the bus tours and started with the night loop. we got on in times square and headed downtown

"you'll stay up till this dump shines... like the top of the Chrysler building!"
~from Annie

the flat iron building {it's mitch's favorite}

over manhattan bridge... looking at the brooklyn bridge {my favorite}

and then back over the manhattan bridge

worn out

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

from JFK to Orso

2010-06-17T12:17:00.005-04:00

thursday june 10th

my mom, nancy, and wendy flew in to jfk last thursday for a visit. we had a blast and a half. they took a very long subway ride from jfk to mid-town (holding for train traffic ahead) and made it just in time for our 8 o'clock reservations. it was the perfect way to end a day of travel for them: calming atmosphere, good wine, friendly faces, fresh mozzarella, bianca salad, tuna tartare, stuffed quail, softshell crabs, seabass, chocolate ganache bread pudding, and panino.... mmmmm my mouth is watering

an overdue post

2010-06-17T10:33:00.067-04:00

so kevin came to visit in the beginning of may and we never posted the fun pictures. so here they are:

better late than never...

CENTRAL PARK ZOO

polar bear!

turtles!

pirana.... snap snap

mitch always like the snakes and reptiles

and it was the first time i could look at them and not get creeped out. i actually thought they were beautiful creatures.

the boys all had a good time. they were pretty funny. Brendan, Kevin and Mitch have all known each other a long time.

GO YANKEES?

seats from the old yankee stadium

mitch and kevin head butt a yankee

me and brendan don't

brendan takes a conference call.

mitch and kevin goof off.

grabbing soft serve ice cream from McD's across the street from the stadium.

brendan's still in a meeting

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART:

how mitch talked kevin into coming here i don't even know. kevin's not big on art. he came to NYC because his wife jamie was going to florida to see her sister in a play and kevin didn't want to go so he came to visit mitch and brendan instead (Brendan lives in new jersey) but we did have a lot of fun at the met, and we were all glad we went. kevin liked the egyptian exibit (half is in the met and half is in kyro, egypt.) and the weapon and arms exibit.

hot dogs for lunch

the boys pose with herculese

on the roof exibit. a bamboo structure

THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

we jumped from the met to the museum of natural history just in time to take advantage of the last hour being free. mitch likes to remind everyone about the documentary that was filmed here featuring ben stiller (son of Brooklynite Jerry Stiller) we wished all the security guards good luck on our way out - did you know everything comes to life when the sun goes down?

kevin had us in giggle fits pretending to be t-rex

Date Night...One magical date night (oh, and Easter)

2010-04-15T21:32:00.025-04:00

I know that I (Mitch) haven't posted anything in a long time, so you don't normally get to hear things from my point of view. However, tonight Alex had a wonderful idea: she would post the pictures if I wrote the blog entry. I gladly accepted this idea. This will be the first collaborative blog post that we have ever done. Yippee!

So, what's new with me? I read a lot; I just finished a book titled Wild at Heart. It is about how Christian men should behave, with integrity and daring. I enjoyed it a lot, because so often I am afraid of my harsher, more "wild" side. This book focuses on the fact that this heart with these desires and tendencies are a gift and not something to be ashamed of. I don't want anyone thinking that this book allows for brutishness or misogyny, because it doesn't. He talks about sin and how we sinfully use the heart that God gives men. I think it's an imperative book for someone who thinks that male Christianity is about being "kind" and forsaking any passion within your soul, plus it's an empowering book. The author's wife wrote a book called Captivated, which was a gift a gave to Alex on Easter. I look forward to hearing about what she thinks about it.

This brings to mind Easter. One of my favorite things to do is celebrate life with Alex, and the best example of celebrating life is by making the holidays more festive, though I tend to point out all the pagan rituals associated with our Christian holidays: a Christmas tree, Easter eggs, that sort of thing. Anyway, we each received an Easter basket, mine with books and gum and hers with headphones and a movie. Then we feasted. We went over to some friends' apartment and ate a late brunch. They have this beautiful house with a garden area in the back (I know, a garden area in the back of an apartment located in Brooklyn, but it happens). We then went to Ji's house for an early dinner. She's Korean. If you know anything about Korean food, you definitely know how spicy it can be. Fabulous! Well, it's fabulous for me; Alex thought that it was too spicy. It was great having a community for this special holiday, the most important holiday in the Christian calendar, though we missed our families very much.

Jump ahead a little to tonight. It's been a long time since Alex and I have has a really special date, making this all the more beautiful. It's not that we don't do dates; we just end up watching a movie or something easy to plan like that. Tonight started out that way: the plan was to go see Clash of the Titans in the theatre. I have been very excited to see this movie since the previews proclaimed its coming, like John the Baptist. Needless to say, people have been saying negative things about it, so maybe it's not the savior from the recent sleuth of bad movies that have been coming out recently that I thought it would be. Anyway, we missed the show time by about ten minutes, so we decided to walk around in the park. It was a gorgeous evening, and the temperature was perfect, for me. I was tired from a day of crazy people at work, so I quickly sat down. Alex, seeing that she had time, told me to go squat by a tree, so she could take my picture.

I acquiesced, though extremely tired, and what followed was a photo extravaganza.

I took about half the pictures, Alex took the other half.

I even had her explain to me how to manually control the shutter and aperture, so I could take more artsy pictures (notice how I say pictures and not photos, implying that the former is more reputable than the later, though I have no real knowledge of this subject). We want to share them with you all, so you can appreciate our talent. Enjoy.

A couple of things to note about today: Earlier, Alex took Evan Hernandez's, a friend from high school, head shots. He currently works for this start up production company that is trying to adapt the way actors audition to fit the current technological advances, by supplying actors with video "head shots" instead of relying on just their pictures. Alex then did some production photos that they may use for their website. All in all, a very successful day for my love.

Before we entered the park tonight, I spied a car that reminded me of the Ghostbuster's. I think that you'll all agree. They're uncannily alike.

mitch gives himself a haircut

2010-04-07T11:04:00.006-04:00

mitch gave himself a haircut on monday. i was at work at the time, so mitch took pictures on a timer to share it with me. i'll share them with you.

the before:

the after:

Happy Easter!

2010-04-07T10:42:00.008-04:00

happy Easter everybody! hope you had a good one, we did

..."why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen!"...
Luke 24:5-6

Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T00:58:00.009-04:00

on tuesday we colored and died easter eggs. it was so fun we had to run out to the store to get more eggs!

see, beautiful eggs!

then we went to group and had another mini party for mr. mitch

M A R C H 2 9 1 9 8 4

2010-04-03T00:20:00.007-04:00

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y M I T C H !

B I R T H D A Y B R E A K F A S T !

waffles {homemade buttermilk waffles} mimosas, rosemary red potato hashbrowns, and turkey bacon

mmmm... delicious! x2

breakfast in brooklyn then off to Hoboken, New Jersey to Brendan's apartment for old school nintendo mike tyson punch out!

the Nintendo council was damaged in the move - damaged beyond an expert engineer's repair skills. sadness. but wait! like everythings on line now... voila mike tyson punch out via the computer!

so... we don't need to go into the results of the game and who now carries the title... it's mitch's birthday so he's a winner no matter what happens.

we grabbed ruebens and pickles at carnegie deli for a late lunch early diner and wandered around central park, met up with Evan and headed back to brooklyn for sake and tapas... or at least thats what we would have done if anything was open...

"the city that never sleeps"

what the beastie boys don't tell you is that when there's

"no sleep till brooklyn!"

they plan on going to bed early when they get there.

we did go to a fun little bar that had pac man and even i played.

when we got home mitch was going to blow out a candle in his dean and deluca chocolate peanut butter cupcake. i told him to make a wish, he said:

"i already have everything i want"

and then he put out the flame with his bare fingers.

it was a big year for mitch, and he accomplished many goals {moved to NY, had an internship with a literary agency, saw 7 broadway shows and 1 off broadway show, became a member of a church, maintained his weight (he's a hottie)...and that's just to name a FEW of the things he set out to accomplish and did!} and he's made 26 new goals for this next year. he's an amazing man.

side note: for those who were disapointed at the lack of pictures of me, i tried to bring out my camera as little as possible so there weren't many pictures period. but i will let you know that i was super cute and i rocked my skinny jeans with cowboy boots and a from brooklyn to hati t-shirt with a navy cardigan and a fatty belt that doesn't go through the loops, sporting pigtales and a grey hat.

nothing but blue skies

2010-03-23T00:15:00.015-04:00

HAPPY SPRING EVERYBODY!
WITH OUR LOVE

..............................................................................

finally shooting

2010-02-25T11:53:00.012-05:00

well last week the day finally came.. i finally pulled out my camera {the d1 not the rebel} and shot something! cheryl modeled for me and i went to B&H and had a tripod adventure, you don't cary anything around the store so you hand it to someone and it goes on a track that's above you and you get it at the very end.

i picked a very sturdy used bogan {it's so beautiful i even included a photo.

and i ordered lights {4ft florescence with cord and exposed bulb- they're snazy too}

and mitch helped my take just about everything but the bed out of our bedroom and got it all studified! so here's a sneak peek at raw unedited faves from my shoot last wednesday

welcome to the randomness

2010-02-25T11:23:00.014-05:00

oh my goodness so i have so much to say! i've been waiting for mitch to post because he's had so much to talk about. {his stuff is way more exciting then mine right now} so if you're interested you should call him up and bug him about it.

lets start with 2 or 3 weeks ago when we had the blizard...

this is the view from stepping outside of our apartment.

this is the view across from the co-op

as you can see it is open- mitch was even working that day on beer squad stocking- there were others there stocking. the shelves were far from bare... we didn't go hungry

after his work shift at the co-op i met mitch there and we did some shopping. this is us walking home

we came across this outside of our apartment walking home from work... random

last night we went to see Miracle Worker. it was so amazing! it was at circle in the square theater and they do theater in the round which was fun and is hard to find. Abigail Breslin starred as Helen Keller and the whole show was pretty incredible. all the sets dropped in and out form the top and the lighting was cool. it was funnier than i thought it would be- there was a crazy amount of comic relief that i wasn't expecting. Alison Pil played the governess and she was a highlight for both me and mitch, she was so incredible and i imdb {ed} her and recognize her from alot of film stuff too.

next week we're seeing the behanding of spokane. it takes place in ireland and ends up in spokane, wa. Christopher Walkin is supposed to be amazing and it's supposedly really dark but fantastic and i'm stoked {yeah for comped tickets}

we didn't start the fire

2010-02-03T18:37:00.010-05:00

"we didn't start the fire
it was always burning
since the world's been turning
we didn't start the fire
no we didn't light it
but we tried to fight it"

-Billy Joel {New Yorker}

ps: it's been added to our playlist just for you - so check it out

okay... so maybe we started one tiny kitchen fire that was absolutely 100% contained in the pan with baking soda and a lid on stand by... but that's what you get with gas stoves and brandy right?

to those who are worried about mitch and myself in the brooklyn fires that you read about: we are fine, i promise and we actually hadn't even heard about it. two days ago mitch saw a fire in our subway stop... but nothing major

here are my words of comfort: we have renters insurance, we have a fire escape and we have a fire station 2 1/2 blocks away, and we have and amazing God.

{thanks to all the firefighters in the family by the way}

we joined the co-op 2 weeks ago - we LOVE it

it's been so super fabulous i don't think i can even put it into words! but part of the whole co-op is that you have to work ya know... so i had my first work shift today. it's 2 hours and 45 minutes every four weeks. i'm on an "A" week - i did it on purpose because i wanted to be on the A team. score! i'm in stocking and receiving and i rocked it! i was outside for most of it i did manual labor and felt like a big burly man! it was so great! i actually had a really great time, we unloaded a truck with these rollers where someone sends it down. i was in charge of stopping the big boxes because there's a big gap in the rollers and someone has to move it {we take up the whole sidewalk and so have to have a gap to let people through} so i stopped boxes and smiled at people in the neighborhood as i waved them through - it was cold but fun.

mitch is on beer squad. he starts next tuesday, i'm sure he'll tell you all about it

this is our gym - we love it

mitch took me to see the flat iron district- we've been there before because we went to the shake shack in the park last summer but didn't notice this building - crazy that we didn't notice - it is WAY cool

I learned a very valuable lesson

2010-01-23T23:16:00.004-05:00

I learned something today: to keep my goddamn mouth shut. I think that the book of James says something about how wild our tongues can be, though I might be taking that out of context.

Flat Iron Distrct

2010-01-23T22:56:00.001-05:00

I had the best day on Thursday. Well, that is if I take the following criteria into consideration: all activities with Alex aren’t included (all of them rank among the very best); and I only mean within moving to New York. Thursday was the final day of my internship, a very sad thing, but it marks my ascent into a paid position. So, here it is in a nutshell: I woke up and went to FinePrint; read 50 pages of something for Janet Reid (a fabulous literary agent); and lunch in the Flat Iron District.

So, I should fill you in on the particulars. Brendan , a man I admire very much, is an editor with St. Martin’s Press, a division of MacMillan Publishing. We worked very close together during my internship, and he taught me a lot about the industry. While I was happy as a clam reading Janet’s manuscript, he called to see if I wanted to grab lunch near the Flat Iron Building. Now, I don’t know if you know what the Flat Iron Building is, but it’s what they shot for the exterior of The Daily Bugle in the Spider-Man movies. This was something else for me. Spider-Man! Can you believe it? I thought that the building was probably a structure made of clay to resemble what they showed in the comic books, but I was totally wrong.

So, Brendan and I grabbed lunch at a place near his new work and chatted. I was really unaware of his past. He used to be an executive at Miramax, which I knew, but the details of his departure from that world were always clouded. Anyway, he answered my many questions about who he was and what he did; it was great.

During lunch, he said something about creationism (he’s not a fan, and I don’t blame him). I did something that surprised me, I came out with my conviction and stood by it with my resolve. For those of you who don’t know my beliefs, I am nervous about unquestionable belief and that includes religion and everything else. I just don’t think that you should accept things as fact and leave it at that; I don’t want other people to be doing my thinking. I don’t know much about science, but I do know that they’re academic bullies who tend to make others feel inferior or weak. The point is that, though I didn’t go into particulars, I did say that I love Jesus and, by association, everyone else.

After lunch, I got to go into the elevators of the Flat Iron Building and ascended several stories. It was great. The elevators were gorgeous. Once at the top, I saw the awesome view. We talked of job possibilities, and I left feeling much better about my future (nothing was promised, but I feel like I have a possible future in film, theatre, or publishing). I left the Flat Iron Building and descended into the subway station to come home for Barnes & Noble.

It was a day of wonder: the end of something great and the beginning of something even better.

By the way, the pictures provided are from the internet and were not taken by me.

birthday coffee and redhook {the place not the beer}

2010-01-22T12:40:00.026-05:00

Hello hello everybody! me and mitch had a delightful morning. we grabbed coffee at gorilla coffee {it's the best coffee in our neighborhood and the best coffee i've had in NY period} and we had a nice little walk in the park per someone's 50th birthday request.

so we toasted with a maple latte for me {they are the greatest! with real vermont maple syrup} and a drip coffee for mitch {there drip coffee is amazing too, it's what we brew at home now. we even have a bean punch card- score!}

welcome to prospect park! it's a beautiful day! check out my killer lens flare!

oooh and my boots!

walking in a very non winter wonderland

mitch says this is john travolta... but he's not doing it again...

this is my handsome husband

GO COUGS! we have cougars in park slope

so we walked through the park and came out of the entrance on 4th and walked to barnes and noble... which is where he is now, working. he's a good little worker and just finished his internship yesterday. we're both very excited for what's coming next for him but don't know what it is yet. we're celebrating tonight with a good dinner and a great bottle of wine that i won at work. it's a kerner, i don't normally like white's as much as red, but this ones different. it's a big fatty white that lingers on your tongue for what seems like forever and has these delicious peach notes...mmm....delicious! plus we just joined the co-op so we'll have extra good food for not as much. and we joined the gym- life is so good!

Sunday we went to Red Hook for an adventure. we went in search of the pretty part that's rumored to be there... but couldn't find it. these girls from church offered to be our tour guides but we don't have their number {they live there} we walked in the

rain and didn't see a single other person. it's very industrial where we were - like bushwick but not as busy {we don't like bushwick} mitch took a step {just ONE step} in the wrong direction and these loudspeakers went off all around us:

"step away! you are trespassing. this is private property"

that's when we decided to stop exploring and just go to ikea.

ikea's so great right? i don't know why we still go there. everytime we go we get in a fight. we stress eachother out or our expectations don't match... we both get upset. then we go get meatballs and everything is okay and we always leave on the same page and happy and stronger i guess. that's pretty cool- ikea brings people together {after they rip them apart} i've talked to a couple people and they fight with their significant others in ikea too. that should be the next poll {i'll see what i can do}

us waiting for the subway at 9th and Smith mitch is carrying the duvet covers we purchased i'm carrying the chocolate {he's stronger then i am}

this is the view from the station. beautiful. on a clear day you can see manhattan. if you look closely you can see the city all misty and ghostlike it's there. it just makes me smile

*side note* in several photos mitch is photographed holding two coffees. to those who are concerned, mitch doesn't order 2 coffees, he doesn't have a problem or condition. he is double fisting because he's a gentleman and a sweetheart and a great sport and i like to hold my camera with two hands

thank you

Things are changin'

2010-01-15T23:49:00.000-05:00

So what if I'm bored, and I change everything about our blog? It still has the same pictures and posts. If you all decide that we should change it back, I will acquiesce. In the meantime, I want to accentuate some of the things that I've added. First of all, there is a poll, so that we know how you enjoy reading our posts. The second thing is that I've added a playlist. These are songs that I have been listening to recently, and I wanted to share them with you. You are able to pick specific songs and turn it off when it becomes distracting. Whatever you want. I'm sure that Alex will either tell me to change everything back when she gets home or have fun in the experiment herself by adding songs and posting her opinions on my decisions. We'll see what happens.

Saying Goodbye

2010-01-13T00:53:00.001-05:00

so with a final few hours together me and my dad hit up a VERY abandoned Coney Island on a very beautiful monday morning.

we saw the Atlantic Ocean

we saw the cyclone... but we didn't ride it

we ate Nathan's famous hot dogs

and then we came back to park slope

my dad said this photo is the epitome of his street direction confusion
this is my block

we went to penn station and said goodbye. it was a great visit. now i'm back at work i'm not sure what big neighborhood or city adventure mitch and i have planned next but i'm sure you'll hear all about it.

oh! i take it back! we are going to explore red hook {the neighborhood, not the beer} we've been to ikea there but there's supposed to be a pretty water front and abandoned trolly car...

...be writing all about it soon

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

2010-01-12T23:03:00.000-05:00

i'm just joking, there was nothing bloody about our sunday January 3rd 2010. in fact, it was pretty great. we went into the city early and then came back for a late brunch... but starting at the beginning...

so we started and Bryant Park, i love Bryant Park, and the tree was still up and isn't it beautiful? and the ice skating was going on and this was all at 9am {maybe 10, but it was morning}

behind bryant park is the most beautiful library you've ever seen.

we've been taking ALOT of pictures. my sweet husband has been a very good sport.

which way to the empire state building?

isn't it killer when sometimes you just have to look up?

we went to macy's... and proceeded to play in there windows... and their wooden escelators

we went to B&H Photo.
We were overwhelmed.
And then we left

ground zero is pretty intense. it reminds me how small the world is

there's this church and cemetery, right across the street from ground zero. it's really old. george washington got sworn into office there back in the day and it provided a place for the firefighters to go to catch a short nap on 9/11 it's now a memorial like tribute on the inside

walking down to wall street

the New York Stock Exchange:

mitch said:

"You're supposed to rub the bull's balls for good luck"

i didn't believe him.

mind you, the wall street bull is a tourist attraction {i mean, WE saw it as a priority...but so did many others} so there were others waiting there turn to take pictures. A teacher yelled to me:

"i'm on a feild trip with a bunch of 8th graders, you have to touch it's balls! it's good luck!"

so i did

and the crowds cheered

my dad, however....

had ZERO problems with it

we're number 1!

we went to battery park once more in search of purses

this is my dad with a "shopping bag" of "totally legit" purses i've been enjoying mine thoroughly

we came back and had a killer brunch at Sette {it's my FAVORITE spot for bunch} and then did church and then got pizza from across the street... and that's the day boys and girls

happy saturday!

2010-01-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

we made an early start to our day- this was the coldest day out of all the ones when my dad was here. we were going to walk across the booklyn bridge but decided against it. so cold. so we grabbed gorilla coffee and headed to mid town, all three of us.
so we were headed to the highline {it's this cool park that is on raised old train tracks} is that a naked lady in the window? nope just a mannequin.

we made it to the highline!

we walked to the end of the highline- over chelsea and into the meat packing district. the meatpacking district is super cool because the fronts of the shops just look cool and all of the roads are cobble stone.

moving on into the village...

"welcome to the jungle"

mitch pointed out this sign. we all thought it was funny... in case you can't see the huge mc d's, there's a sign letting you know it's a block away... craziness!

the film forum is this famous small theater with apparently really uptight, overly serious movie goers {you don't want to make any noise or crinkle paper in this joint}

welcome to SOHO!

me {the little new yorker} in front of the DKNY store in soho... gotta love it. have i told any of you how much i LOVE new york? hey- i heart new york!

Where are we?!

DISCLAIMER: the above picture was posed and is not in fact taken out of reality. we do not REALLY stand out on city corners with giant maps looking like tourists

ah yes... so where are we you ask.. we are on canal street! canal street is very exciting! you walk down crowded streets and here people in hushed voices repeating phrases like "rolex" and "coach" and you can score a burberry cashmere scarf for $7 {me and my dad now have matching ones} they are totally legit! okay, so they aren't really burberry, they are made in scotland, but the label says it's 100% cashmere and it's soft and i really don't care. if you ask my dad he'll use words like "totally legit" when describing them.

so leaving canal street we went in search of the subway and the boys consulted the map. i know that this photo looks posed with mitch pointing one way and my dad looking the other way... but it's not, and yes, it was quite funny.

this was taken at battery park which over looks the statue of liberty- we were cold and getting tired and didn't stay too long. this statue is particularly cool because it used to be at the twin towers, survived, and got relocated here at battery park. it has a flame that's always burning.

for dinner we went to franny's. it's this killer pizza place on flatbush in brooklyn. we've never been but have been wanting to. so there's this big rival between chicago pizza and new york pizza... i'm putting my vote towards ny, by a landslide, there is NO debate for me. mitch's favorite pizza is seattle pizza {Tutta Bella pizza is his favorite he says} but that is ny pizza, so point for ny. however, he does like chicago pizza because you're full in three bites... point one for chicago. i don't know if my dad's ever had chicago pizza, but i do know that he liked ny pizza so much that we had pizza sunday night too... so point 3 for ny! that's 3 to 1 with mitch voting twice {i let him because he's always so black and white and hardly ever diplomatic, so him stating positive points for each is major, and pizza's a serious issue}

after dinner we walked up flatbush to the brooklyn museum of art {me and mitch go almost every first saturday of the month because it's fun and free and fabulous and festive and frivolous {okay, maybe not frivolous, but i was on a F***ing roll okay} so we went to the museum {our treat}

so when you walk in the lobby there's live music {because it's the first saturday, it's not normally like that} and the whole lobby is littered with Rodin sculptures. like, real Rodin sculptures, bronze that he touched and now sit in a museum in brooklyn... it still trips me out a little when i go in there.

there's this cool exibit that ends this month that's called "who shot rock and roll" and it's all photographs. i figured there'd be a lot of ani lebowitz, cuz, she DiD shoot rock and roll... and was pleasantly surprised to find only a couple that she did. it was pretty crazy, there was a theme of youth in all of the pictures, and i had never seen some of these musicians looking so young- it was also cool to see that most of them were shot in NY. the one that stopped us in our tracks were these black and white portraits of the beatles... they were just beautiful... and we checked who the photographer was and saw that it was avadon, which gave us this whole new appreciation for it. i mean, avadon is the genius fashion photographer...it was totally stellar fantastic!

me and my dad in the kitchen in our matching scarves

New Years Day! woohoo 2010

2010-01-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

the ball has dropped ladies and gentlemen!

happy 2010! so we watched mitch head off to work to make time and a half {he's a worker bee} and bounded into times square {we figured we'd be okay the day after} it was actually pretty cool - and i'm not normally a times square fan {it's my mannhattan square exception} but it wasn't very busy, most people were staying in on the afternoon of the first, and there was still confetti on the ground.

it always makes me smile to see the police department in times square. reason number one: i feel safe, it's surrounded by cops, all of times square is surrounded by cops. reason number two: it's a block away from the subway. and reason number three: the lights flash, you can't not look at it and it's sooo time square and the only other place it could be like that is vegas.

walking away from broadway... down 46th and passing the theaters

...towards restaurant row {it's the 46th street between 8th and 9th ave}

which is where i work!

moving north we headed towards rockerfeller plaza and all that jazz. all the christmas decorations and stuff is still up. my dad was just as disappointed with the tree as we were. i would show the picture but you can take our word for it- it would just hurt your eyes a little- it looks better in the movies.
we're showing him the bryant park christmas tree tomarrow - it's way better, we both blogged about it

this its the anthropology across from the famous skating rink and tree. see, NYC isn't as crowded as you think :)

these are my favorite windows in all of new york right now. they're at bergorfs and have an alice in wonderland theme. each window has a quote from the Lewis Carrol book and it's just cool

movin' on to central park...

this is the dakota. it's beautiful huh. does it feel a little like england on central park west? raise your hand if you've ever heard of this guy called john lennon!

"strawberry feilds forever.."

i think this is the cutest church. i love the red doors. me and mitch have passed it before and then saw ghostbusters and it's in the movie. fun new york fact.

me and my dad waited in line at the world famous {everything in new york is world famous, i mean at least says it is} Carnigei's Deli a block away from carnegie hall. and let me just say: it's the best rueben i've ever had but it's three meals so find someone to share it with. Oh! and absolutely killer pickles! mmmmm so good!

we made a quick pop in at moma and saw a killer lobby display and then started back towards time square to head back to brooklyn. passing the diamond district {i know you would NEVER know it} and into the subway we go.

we went out to the Loki Lounge in Brooklyn

and continued to have a martini too many

taking a couple asprin and and a glass of water before bed

New Years Eve in NYC

2010-01-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

so my dad came into town to kick it with us for new years and see the city and hang out. we had a blast! we did so much and took a bazilion and a half pictures that i want to share but there's so much so i'm breaking it down day by day { my brilliant husband's suggestion - i'm better with small events, events being of the singular kind }

welcome to new years eve! the first thing i learned: don't do times square.

"no REAL new yorker does times square"

which i took with a grain of salt because i like being a tourist in this city sometimes. but then i started hearing stories like you have to basically camp out in times square all day if you want to see the ball drop and you can't leave and you can't bring alcohol in. the straw that broke it down for me though was that people are crammed in shoulder to shoulder and you have to pea in the street. no thank you. the veteran's come in adult diapers. that didn't sound like fun to us. { you'll just have to keep reading to find out what we really did }

so my dad got into penn station and i brought him back to brooklyn. we got some news about my grandmother { see: previous post } and we headed back to manhattan to drink a toast to her. on our way to the subway we made a side trip to be paparazzi at Barnes and Noble - there's the cutest guy working there who's name is mitch kelly and a photo of him is worth top dollar.
we took the subway to washington sqare park {it was snowing and beautiful} and made a slow walk towards union square {there's lots of squares here, and they're all good} we walked past NYU and the the forbes building and ended up at the coffee shop for happy hour. i love the coffee shop, it's full of pretty people, models, and model wannabees are tending bar and doing catwalks to the tables and loud music is blasting it's fun. so we bellied up to the bar and ordered this drink that's cousin of the mohito, it's some brazilian liquor with muddled lime and sugar {it's amazing}

the picture i've includes of the coffee shop is the inside of the bar but i stole it from the internet and in reality it's a lot darker on the inside.

this was taken a block away from the coffee shop and not stolen off the internet

so we left the coffee shop and got noise makers from a street stand and headed back home

we met up with mitch and ate dinner and drank champaign and proseco and then went to prospect park for the most amazing fireworks i've ever seen!

Ruth Thomson

2010-01-10T20:14:00.000-05:00

i recently lost my grandmother, lose isn't the right word though, because i feel that she lost all of us first.

i feel entirely blessed for the time i had with her when i was living with her and jean, and gained priceless memories that i will cherish forever. but it hurt my heart when she was suffering and woke up scared in the middle of the night and didn't know where or when she was.

so i celebrate her life and what an incredible women she was and the love she had and the joy i have that she has life after death and is in a far better place.

Reasons that my grandmother rocks my world: { in no particular order }

* i'll never play dominos or old maid without thinking of her
* nobody plays "mary had a little lamb" on the piano like she did
* she sang "jesus loves me"
* her mac and cheese and of course her bread and the fact that she never made me eat chilli
* she had a spoon collection but she let us eat our cereal (great grains) with it
* nobody can sing "happy birthday" as good as she can
* the way she claps her hands
* for red shoes and red purses
* for all the stories that she had but never shared - there's so much to know and i'm hoping to hear more
* the way she sang "bum bum bum" when she'd dance with me and clap
* because she was always so playful with me
* because she loved my purple sweat pants that said P.I.N.K. on the butt
* because she talked to furniture "move you dumb thing!"
* because she called me honey girl
* her spirit
* once we made the worst spread ever - it was hardly edible - i was little and we got the recipe out of a mickey mouse coloring book, it had peanut butter and plain yogurt and i don't remember what else and we mixed it up in her mixer and ate it. we agreed it was bad, but man did we have fun doing it
* her sugar pea patch
* the love that she gave out and SO much more