Brooklyn

View from the hotel room that Eric's Mom and Bill stayed in at the Marriott in Downtown Brooklyn.

unrequited hate

Seriously! How is it almost October and I am sitting here at my desk scratching at my feet, legs, and arms like a meth fiend? I hate hate hate mosquitoes and since the screens don’t make a perfect fit to the windows in the kitchen and living room they get in and I am constantly plagued with the little fuckers biting me all night long in my sleep. And would you think they would ever consider biting Eric so that he can share in my misery…nope. Not even a nibble. So incredibly unfair!

a double wide

Monday morning, time to get back in to it. But I had a good weekend, long and very full but it was well enjoyed.

Friday- I stepped out of work a little early to run some errands I had been meaning to get to for a while. Seriously nothing glamorous just swinging by the old faithful shops (loemans, old navy, tj maxx, Filenes basement) to stock up on some essentials for the fall weather (i.e. socks and tights, but I ended up with an extra shirt and dress but nothing too outrageous) then I met up with Cate and headed up to midtown to The trailer park lounge for her birthday dinner. Think about a trailer park themed restaurant in NYC, it was a fairly kitsch experience. Unfortunately with the later reservations and even later arrivals for a few of the party goers I was so hungry when I finally got my sloppy joes (veggie style) and tater-tots that I literally inhaled every last thing on my plate leading to a uncomfortable feeling of heavy food stuck in my stomach for the rest of the evening. After that I headed to the Brooklyn social club in my neighborhood to meet up with Caitlin since her birthday was also Friday. I was a pretty low-key night, it was nice to see people at both events but I was happy to get into my bed to get some sleep.

Saturday – I got out of bed 10 minutes before the class at the gym started. Ran out of the door and got there just in time. Came home to some fabulous muenster and greyer cheesy eggs and potatoes for breakfast from Eric, unfortunately after breakfast Eric go hit with something that just left him feeling awful for the rest of the day. I met up with Cate and Kirsten to give Cate her birthday gift and then headed out to Union Square to visit a co worker who has just finished writing a book (picture) and was at an event at a wine store located right behind Virgin record store in union square.
I just stopped by for a quick hello and then headed off to whole foods to get Eric some chicken soup. He is always so good about cooking me veggie soup with pasta when I am feeling under the weather I figured I should treat him to the same to help him feel better. Although I did realize that I have no idea how to cook chicken soup since I haven’t cooked chicken pretty much ever. So in an effort to get something as close to home made I figured that whole foods was the best bet. So Eric spent the day and that night on my couch while I did a good amount of running around. On the way home I ran in to my little brother on the F train, I assumed one day this would happen since we both live off of the line now (I am Carroll st stop and he is 3 stops from that at 7th ave). It is a little weird that he’s all growed up doing his thing but its nice to be close.

Saturday night- after a good hour and a half nap I got up and pulled it together to meet Kirsten and attend a supper club with her in Williamsburg. Eric was originally supposed to come with us but after he had been taken over by the plague both Kirsten and I decided to be each other’s dates and head up. It was really the coolest thing; I definitely want to go back. They have room to sit about 25 people and they are very all inclusive with what you pay (about $50 but you can get your moneys worth with a 4 course meal and extras) We did have to step out after the 3rd course though to make it in time for Cates birthday party. But I would definitely go back any time given the opportunity. Plus the space they live in is amazing, they even have this beautiful chandelier in the “dining room” which was originally made to be in one of the real world houses but was rejected by mtv and given back to the artist that made it. She hung it in the apartment and then when she left asked the people moving in to please keep and take good care of it. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen (I wish wish I had brought my camera…maybe WHEN I go to another supper club I’ll snap a picture). But the arms of the chandelier hold a metal bunny at the end (yes, bunny like the animal) and the lights on the fixture are all from the rabbit’s tails (fitted with light bulbs). It’s stunning. We headed out from Williamsburg to this place Hi_Fi where the “white trash themed “birthday party was happening.


I did my best with a budwiser/nascar shirt I had won off of eBay and took to it with a pair of scissors and came out with a pretty clever masterpiece which I paired with some high cut jean shorts. I think it was a success based on the compliments I got. That made me happy. Lots of high school friends and college friends and a late night home.

Sunday-Since Eric had been sick and gone to bed at 9 pm the night before he was up and walking around at 9 am Sunday morning. So I peeled myself off of the sheets and go up to go to the farmers market with him and run some errands. We got home and I made us some French toast for breakfast and Eric attempted a apple crisp (but he is a non-recipe follower so I think that some of the measurements weren’t right and the usage of light brown sugar could have been a factor) but the apple crisp ended up in the garbage can, at least the apt smelled wonderful. I did some arranging around the house and then decided we needed to get out for at least a little bit, so we sauntered over to court street and went to the amc united artists theater just past Atlantic ave and watch resident evil. Well Eric watched the movie, I caught maybe 1/2 of the movie and spent the rest of the time with my hand covering my eyes. We headed home and Eric made an awesome dinner of pumpkin soup (the pumpkin was a farmers market purchase), Brussels sprouts, and mushroom risotto. With that we spent a quiet evening with our home cooked meal and Bret Michael’s Rock of love, now if that doesn’t spell out a perfect Sunday evening I don’t know what does.

This week is just going to be quiet since again the money is tight and it would be good to keep trying to get into the gym schedule. Few plans here and there but nothing hectic at all.

you got a what...how long you had that problem

Things have been kinda nuts in the past few days personally, it's really nice to have Eric be a constant person with a sane personality to end my day with. If i didn't have it i think i would already be on my way to the loony bin.

Science Class

Vintage German Educational Charts that were illustrated in the 1950s and 60s.
They were produced by a company that has been producing scientifically accurate educational charts since 1929.Their charts are printed in six to ten colors by hand toensure vibrant color and intricate detail.

Over the weekend Eric and I spent time with his Mom and her husband Bill as well as Eric's brother Steve and his lady Julia. After an intense weekend of going out and seeing sights and eating way to much food we were walking down Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn on our way back from an exciting trip to Target and we stopped into this industrial/Vintage store. It was like a throw back to being in science class in elementary/middle school (probably further than that but my little Delmar's schools liked to keep their educational tools on the vintage side since the budget was always in question). Aside from the black topped Science Class "Lab Tables" we saw these awesome pull down charts. Do you remember those at the top of the black board?! There was always at least the map along of North America with a bunch of spindles of other bit and pieces of learning. I loved those, and have very fond memories of the edges of the tearing since someone (i.e. 8 year old kids) would not understand that if you pulled a paper chart down from the top as hard as you could then the result would be that the area where it was attached to the wooden dowel would not fair very well. We saw these Science charts (pictured) and thought they would be the coolest addition to the apt. We inquired with the sales associate how much one of these beautiful charts would be (there was one of a mouse and one of a fish we that we took a particular interest to) she came back to us with the price tag: $400-600. Right, thanks but no thanks. Then we started to take a look at the tags attached to everything and slowly realized that even if we pawned everything we owned... we would still not have enough to buy a lamp desk. (did i mention it was an old vintage rusty lamp desk which was probably found in an abandoned factory) so we left with a heavy heart that our pretty find would not be taken home and proudly displayed. Then Eric got the idea to check ebay. We found the same posters/charts (but not the same animals- which is really the only think that is holding us back from ordering them- i would much rather hang something that we are both interested in rather than just anything on the wall) well we found them on ebay for a whopping price of $50.00. Are you serious, this made me want to go back to the store and slap the lady for having the nerve to try to up sell these things like that. I hope people are smart enough to just ebay it and not support that lunacy for apartment style.

During our search I did come across the coolest thing ever that i have already decided I am putting it on my birthday/christmas list:

It's a natural bone pigeon skeleton. This specimen has been expertly prepared and bleached. The specimen is mounted in a natural pose. All the critical parts are numbered to make identification simple. A key card is included. This specimen is mounted on an attractive lucite base with a sealed clear acrylic cover. The pharyngeal bones are removed and mounted separately for closer examination.

Friday fun-day

The week is over already. Sorry I wasn't updating too much. My week consisted of going to the gym every day (except last night which was dinner at my favorite neighborhood restaurant with Eric's mom who is in town from FL.) and feeling a little under the weather at the end of this week. But i am doing what i can to muster enough energy for.....

Only in NYC

Only in New York City do you walk by the Armani Exchange store in Soho on your way to meet your friend Danielle who is in town visiting from Atlanta and see nearly naked men standing in a window and dancing on a podium in store. Definitely took me by surprise and made me laugh at the women pushing each other out of the view point of the window so that their friend could photograph them standing with the hotties. Hotties is a relative term. Although these gentlemen did take very good care of their physique I was not so much interested and this I was fairly correct in assuming that they would not take much interest in my gender, I mean seriously they were standing in the window for the Armani store…its kind of a given. Hey I will admit a little eye candy didn’t hurt anyone.


Met up with Erin Nicole and Danielle and went to get a quick bite at Dukes, I guess even if you move down to Atl you miss the greasey NYC deli/ cafeteria. We headed to local 138 and realized that was a huge mistake with the huge amount of people that were there enjoying their Friday afternoon after work and end of week drink…or drinks. So we headed to fat baby further into the les and just hung out there for a bit, It was awesome to see Danielle and a lot of people I met through her that I never see much of until she is in town. Met a friend of hers from Cali and realized she works with a friend of mine from college at the Bliss offices. Small world. Had a quiet Friday, headed home at 9 ish to make birthday cupcakes for my brother’s birthday bbq being held in Prospect Park Saturday afternoon. I was in bed at 11:30 on a Friday night…getting wild in my old age!

[today is his actual birthday, happy birthday steve!]

Saturday I got up and met Danielle and a few people at Counter for vegan brunch. It was tasty, I enjoy going there but I don’t think I would classify it as my fav. I think they could do a lot better with what they put out. The Country basket and the spreads are delicious, but the frittata I had left me a little less than satisfied although I did feel heavy with grease after eating it. I don't think that is what you should feel after brunch. Then I headed out ASAP to get home and slap some cupcakes with some frosting, coconut and a raspberry topping then to dash off to Park Slope and meet up with Steve. The BBQ was a lot of fun. I was glad however that Kristen was my date since Eric was at work, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it much if someone on my own level wasn’t around.

[ Lemon with Vanilla Frosting, coconut and a raspberry...not to shabby if i do say so myself ]

We stopped by 2nd street and picked up Eric from work and them went home to paint ourselves pretty. When I first moved to NYC I used to go out all the time, probably too much of the time but I was young and bounced back a lot quicker than I do now. Caitlin and I used to head out Misshapes with her friend Alexis. It was always fun to go dancing but I think as I progressed in getting settled in NYC I went less and less and then eventually I realized I hadn’t gone in almost 2 years. I think I just took up different interests and also got less overwhelmed and intrigued by “new york nightlife”. Around the time I stopped going was when the press for the party sky rocked. It was very cool to see, so this past Saturday was the last party (also book release and fashion week). SO I dusted off whatever I could to blend in enough to look the part and Kristen and I met up with Alexis and Caitlin one more time to indulge in hipster-dom and hang out. I don’t know if it changed in the two year since I went or if I have change so much, but I was a little disappointed. Sure I had a great time but the amount of people was too much to deal with and the fact that you couldn’t dance without getting into a near fight was pretty depressing…who fights at a hipster dance party anyway. I am glad I went but absolutely get the feeling that it was time for the party to end. It used to be amazing so I’ll do my best to stick with the Luke and Leroy memories. “Well back in my day…”

Sunday was quiet; we had some eggs and cheesy bread for breakfast. It was really nice to just spend the day with Eric and doing little things here and there. We tried the new organic raw place on Court and got smoothies, we went to the farmers market, checked to see if I won the lottery (guess what, I didn’t) and then made some Potato Au Gratin with 2 cheeses, truffle butter, and parsley crème-fresh (after we made this I decided that if was going to eat that I would have to do something to balance it so I went running for a half and hour). We met up with bob and had a wonderful BBQ with Kirsten. Phil and Cate came home from their trips (cate was in Boston for a week and Phil in Germany), caught up and hear about the trips. Then went home and watched the tivo’ed Bret Michaels Rock of Love (sick sick dirty habit, but I promise you that if you can get through 2 episodes you’ll be hooked, its worse than hard drugs) and went to bed.

Eric keeps sending me pictures of the Maldives…its not fair! If I had the resources I would go home and pack tonight. Unfortunately the highlight of my night will be trying not to vomit during spinning class tonight. Maybe I should buy another lottery ticket tonight and try my chances. I mean someone has to win…why can’t it be me then I would be set to go anywhere and time. That would be the life.


And one last thing...cause he is too adorable. I love Murphy dogs!

Brick City

Some days I am very nostalgic for how things were when I was in college.

15-love

Us Open in Madison Square Park on my lunch break today.

Hello you are a genius!

Solid chocolate replicas of Megalodon Shark's teeth!

Ok, honestly I am not a big fan of chocolate…its too sweet. I don’t mind a bit here or there but I am far from the person who craves it at all, but these are incredible!In case you were interested, the megalodon, well actually Carcharodon megalodon was a giant prehistoric shark that probably lived between about 16 to 1.6 million years ago. It is the biggest known carnivorous fish to have ever lived. It was the predecessor to the modern day great white shark. I was scared shitless to be swimming in the ocean (well more in the cage) last December with 10-12 feet great white sharks off Dyer Island in Cape Town, South Africa. I don’t think I would ever step foot on a boat knowing that there was carbon copy something out there like a great white shark but only about 3/4 times its size! There are computer generated spot son youtube that gives you the perspective of cage diving with a Megalodon. Its insane. On Sunday night, Eric and I had sat down to watch the movie; Megaldon (2004).The CGI on the Youtube.com piece was light years better than the movie. It was pretty bad but fun to watch. When we were upstate we did come across Jaws 2 for $6.99 so I think that was a Karmic balance for the hour and a half spent on Megalodon the movie. From the little bit of research I did to provide some illustrations to this entry I have found that I need to add Shark Attack 3:Megalodon (2002).


Oil...the quest for it is unrelenting. The search for new reserves of the 'black gold' never-ends and leading the search is Nexecon Petroleum and its flagship-the largest drilling and refining platform ever constructed-'Colossus" located in the freezing North Atlantic waters off the coast of Greenland. 'Colossus' will drill deeper than any rig ever has, a fact that gratifies Nexecon CEO, Peter Brazier, but that has geologists the world over up in arms, concerned that delicate ocean floor fault lines could be disturbed with catastrophic effects. Skeptical news reporter Christen Giddings and her cameraman Jake Thompson are invited by Braziera to document the safety of 'Colossus.' The powerful drill tears through the seabed, striking a rich oil deposit. As the drill penetrates further, it ruptures a fissure that reveals a second 'mirror' ocean that has existed beneath ours for millions of years. An ocean teeming with prehistoric life. As the choking oil posions the water, the frenzied creatures swarm for the surface. Colossus buckles under the onslaught. Brazier, Christen, and a team of engineers descend in Colossus' glass elevator to assess the damage and come face to face with the most powerful oceanic predator that ever lived. Carcharodon Megalodon. The giant ancestor of the Great White Shark. This eleven-ton 'killing machine' quickly stakes its territory in the waters surrounding Colossus with disasterous and horrific consequences, destroying and devouring anything in its path. Now fate will pull them together as they wager their changes of survival against the most fearsome creature that ever dominated the ocean, and pit the technology and machinery of man against beast. Megalodon...sixty feet of prehistoric terror. Written by KLange

Family

Nana (my grandmother), My Mom, Uncle Graham, Aunt De, and Grandad

Happy Birthday Mom

It was my mom’s birthday over the weekend, so we packed up my brothers little black golf and headed upstate to spend sometime with her. Eric made he a roast with mashed potatoes and broccoli (I had some tofu dogs since I didn’t want to make him got he extra step and make something completely different for me, but the potatoes and broccolis were delicious!)

We headed back to NYC early Sunday after lunch at my favorite Indian restaurant in the world, Shalimar. I have found Chennai Gardens which is so continentally located right next to my office and has a very reasonable lunch special /buffet every day. But I still have not found an equivalent to my baingan bartha anywhere else in the city, even abroad. I remember being in London and hearing that they had a good knack for the Indian cuisine, but it was unable to come anywhere near a match. I have found some good dishes but nothing can compare. Every time I dine there it takes me back to the good old days where I would find myself at a table in Shalimar probably 4-5 times a week, granted this was before my metabolism caught up with me (I think the influx of that much cream and ghee now would have disastrous effects on my waist line). I was that customer who didn’t even receive a menu; they just automatically knew what we wanted. There are three restaurants in Albany NY that will have a huge place in my heart; Shalimar, Bombers, and Ichiban. Even though the quality of food at Bombers has changed quiet a bit since I first started going almost 10 years ago, I still believe there is no other burrito joint that can beat it, but that might just be total nostalgia talking.

Well we headed back in to the city and met up with Kristen for a bit and headed home to sleeeep in! It probably an awful thing to say but the fact that I got to stay in bed while Eric had to go to work was the absolute best! Even though on his way out he told me that Murphy had requested that I walk him instead of Eric that morning, but it was a small price to pay to be able to roll out of bed at the late hour of 10:30…ah-mazing. I just did some little things around the apartment, you know like clean the brown stains from the coffee pot and replace the moldy plastic lining on the shower curtain in the bathroom. East River Park in Williamsburg

Then I met up with Kristen and Cate and headed up to the East River Park in Williamsburg for some BBQ time with Kristen’s friend Danielle. It was perfect, I just perched on the bench and relaxed. Headed out a little early to meet Christine for dinner at Caravan of Dreams, a Vegan and raw restaurant in the lower east side. We chatted about her getting ready to run the marathon then I headed home to watch a movie and pass out, Tuesday was near impossible to get through. How come it’s so hard to come back to the workweek after even one day off?

Time to get back to spin class tonight, with the weekend and a busy closing last week it has been almost a full week since I have submitted myself to the pain of sprinting after 45 minute of uphill peddling. Why do I do this to myself again?