Sunday, December 28, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

drip drip drip


I sure hope Santa has some rain boots and an umbrella!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Home for the Holidays



I have been trying to get back here for a long time! Things kept coming up and keeping me in New York. I thought I would be able to come back over the summer... didn't make it. I thought I would be able to come in for a weekend in the fall to get some winter clothes... didn't happen. I thought I would be here at the beginning of December... gigs showed up and I stayed around. I even had a load of things fall on me that kept me from leaving the day I was planning. We didn't have snow in New York until I wanted to load up the car and we got a storm! But I am finally here and enjoying the space and the quiet. I will also have more time and the capability to do a little better with the blog. This is great!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

She's here!

Sorry for my absence, blog world. I don't have internet for my computer now, so I don't really have a way to do much blogging - especially if I want to include my pictures. :( I will be back to posting regularly as soon as I can find a good place to do it. I can't believe I am in a place where I can't even pick up a wireless signal! Well... I can pick up a signal, but they are all secure connections. I don't think I have ever been in a place with so many secure networks. Usually there is at least one that is wide open for public use, but not over here. So sad.
Today is a rainy, wet day in NYC. I hear that people have snow all over the place - even in random places like Texas! What is up with that? Well, no snow here yet. Last weekend I saw a few flurries, but they were mixed with rain and quickly went away. And that's all we've had! No snowmen in the park for me.
The gloomy outdoors seems like a perfect time for me to stay inside and do some practicing... maybe read one of the books I have started and not finished. If I had some ingredients maybe I would do some cooking too! I guess I could venture out to a grocery store. I would like to do laundry, but I don't think dragging my clothes through the rain would be the best idea for them. I could just stand outside and clean them off in the rain... or not.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy
Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey. Mine was great and it is now putting me to sleep.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

BRRR

It has gotten COLD! Somehow I think this might be a long winter for me, seeing as it just started. Maybe I need to be a snow-bird and head south. I was not built for cold temperatures and cutting wind. You can keep it!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Queen of Queens

In typical Megan fashion.... pretty soon I will be moving out of the apartment I have been staying in. I have been here for several months - definitely the longest time in one place since I moved to New York. This evening I thought I would get a head start on my packing, but, no... I ran into a little problem.


Meet Isabella: the cat I have been taking care of since August. This kitty has to be in the center of whatever is going on. If that means getting IN the box I am packing, she will do it. Not only does she have to be the center of the universe, but I have never seen such a cat that lives up to the "curiosity killed the cat" saying. If a drawer is open, she is looking in, if the closet door is open, she is going in. I have actually had to pull her out of the refrigerator because I opened the door and she wanted to see what was going on in there! And she does not care if I want to close the door/drawer/whatever. Things must happen in her own time. Which is why she is now napping in the box I was packing and I am now blogging. I even put more clothes in on top of her and she didn't flinch. Maybe she wants to go with me? What a cat.

Monday, November 10, 2008

How many guys does it take?

I end up eating out quite a bit. Probably more than I should. Well, definitely more than I should. I like eating out, but it can get expensive (especially in New York) and after a while it can loose its "excitement". There is one place that I frequent for a good burger. That is Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I always love a nice "little cheeseburger" with crunchy lettuce, tomato, and grilled mushrooms. They also have really good fries at Five Guys. You can get them regular or Cajun style. I tend to go regular because they have a lot of flavor and are so hot and yummy, but the cajun is great if you are bored and want to spice it up a bit.
I first met up with Five Guys in Washington DC. I think that is where they originated. I didn't go there that often, but always enjoyed when I did. After moving to New York it took a while to find out that there were also Five Guy locations here. I didn't know that Five Guys was a wide-spread as it actually is. Lucky for me, there is a location just a few blocks from where I work. So on days when I don't bring my lunch and I have to stay at the office later than I expected I LOVE to run over and grab a burger and fries.
I guess one of my favorite things about this place (besides the good food AND the free peanuts while you wait) is the fact that they don't have a HUGE menu with a million different options. They serve burgers, hot dogs, and fries. You can get a big burger or a little burger. You can have cheese and/or bacon. You can add a bunch of toppings, but the bottom line is always the same. Burgers. I like this. I think so many places try to have too many options and, frankly, they just stress me out. I like to keep it simple. The store is very simple, easily recognizable, and consistently good. I like it. Here is a picture of me about to dig into a burger. See, don't I look happy? Long live Five Guys!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

time for a change


I just drug myself and my high fever over to the polling site. Hit it lucky with no lines and an easy time. Glad to be a part of this historic election.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

a touch of nostalgia

Recently, I downloaded Picasa and have been using it to organize and edit the photos on my computer. The way they are in the program, I can view my entire library and simply scroll down to see all of the pictures I have. Doing that is almost like taking a trip in a time machine, going back through the days, months, and years. Granted, I have only been using a digital camera for a little over four years and a lot of those pictures are no longer on my computer, but it is amazing to see everything that has taken place during that relatively short amount of time. I love to take pictures and I love to look back at them. One of my favorite things to do is to look back at pictures. I like to do that on the blog too... look back at old entries to remember what I was doing before...see where life has taken me.

In a way looking at the old pictures is sad because I am reminded of friends that I don't get to see very often and I remember friendships that are no longer there for whatever reason. Situations change - that is a part of life - but looking back at all the fun times makes me miss all of the friends and great times I have had. On the other hand, seeing the many "hats" I have worn, experiences I have had, places I have visited and great times I have had in the past four years makes me appreciate all of them and encourages me to be excited for the future, which will surely be filled with many more wonderful moments. I think we all struggle with appreciating and living the moment when we are in it. We take the small things for granted and don't always enjoy what we have now. When I look back, I see how beautiful life really is and although I know I can't go back and live those moments again I am warned to enjoy what I have now and to appreciate the people in my life today. Cherish the memories, enjoy today, and look forward to the future...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Time to breath, please.

Oh my - I am such a blog slacker. Sorry to those who check regularly for the lack of updates. I am much too busy for my own good these days. I have been working a lot and between that, taking care of Kitty, practicing, and having a little fun in the mix I don't have much time for anything else! I have also been getting a little worn down with the city and the business lately. I long for one of those relaxing days I had last year that included some shopping, sweets, and coffee. I don't see many of those anymore! Seems I either have nothing going on or I am running around like a crazy person.
Speaking of crazy people... I have been thinking lately that I should start posting stories about crazy people I come across in the city. This is really such a unique place that you can see something absolutely bizarre at any given moment. Depending on your mood this could be completely annoying or quite funny. Sometimes things get so ridiculous that when I take a step back I realize how funny they are. One example: the people who, on a totally sardine-like packed train, demand their own personal space. Last week, during morning rush hour, this man (who was actually able to enjoy one of the coveted seats!) started yelling at these two women who were standing (practically) overtop of him. (The trains get VERY crowded in the morning.) Anyway, this gentleman informs the women that they are invading his space and not allowing him to sleep because their newspapers are too close to him. Umm....what kind of princess gets extra space to sleep during rush hour??? The women were intellectual and did not scream back at him, but let him know that his demands were absurd. The kicker for me was when the man told them to move away because "this is America". Now what in the world does America have to do with anything? Besides, I have news for people who think that New York is the definition of America. It's not. If you want your space, move out of the city and buy a car.
Most loony incidents that I could write about happen in the subway. You get all sorts in there. The other half probably happen in my workplace. Maybe I will share some of those on another day. So many crazies...so little time.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

finding foliage

I love fall and missed it so much when I was living in the south. It just isn't the same down there. I am realizing it just isn't the same in this city either. The first sign of fall was cooler weather, but then it got gloomy and rainy. That's not the fall I am looking for!!! The weather did warm back up and it's been pretty nice the past week or so, but I want COLOR. I guess there just aren't enough trees here to give much color. So sad. I remember some really nice colors from last year, but that's what you get from those West Virginia hills. Maybe it is still early? Please tell me that the rest of the country is not colorful and beautiful. Oh well. I searched high and low and was able to find some orange in Brooklyn. It will have to suffice.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

another sunset


Tel Aviv, Israel - August 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

food, glorious food

*sniff sniff*
I am still not feeling well. I would say that about half the people I know in New York also have (or have had) this same cold, so at least I know I will get through it. I think it should be wrapping up tonight and I will feel much better tomorrow.... I hope! With all of the soup, tea, juice, and vitamins I have been taking I don't know how any germ stands a chance in me, but this guy is fighting back pretty hard.
I thought maybe it would help for me to think happy thoughts, so I present you with a collage of happy thoughts: food from Israel.


Right there in the middle I am stuffing my face with falafel while taking a break in Jerusalem Old City. Doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait, it does.... check out that hummus to the right of me. Yummm-y. And the cute latte on the other side? Love it.
On the top row I have a cart of bread and a bunch of nuts for sale at one of the small spice/nut markets. And in the right corner is an Israeli specialty I got in Jaffe (which happens to be the port where Jonah caught a ride...check out Jonah 1:3). We went to this bakery that I HAD TO go to and tried this zatar-spiced toasted bread. This bakery is super famous and you walk up and order outside at a counter. The hummus is also from a super famous, hole-in-the-wall, wait in line for the real thing kind of place in Jaffa.
Moving on... the bottom left picture is from the aformentioned place where we began the meal with 20 different salads. This is a picture of some of the salads before we completely destroyed everything on the table. The place is called El Babour and if you are ever in Israel, I HIGHLY recommend going. I also highly recommend NOT eating the day before. I, on the other hand, ate a HUGE dinner the night before and a breakfast that was "not too shabby." But the food was so amazing and such an experience that I muscled up and took it in. The portions were huge and relatively inexpensive and the chef is basically a celebrity. Love it.
Wow, I get so worked up on each picture I don't think I will ever get through it all. The next is some more fresh fruit growing on the kibbutz. Last, but definitely not least, we have a desert spread of borekas and rugelach - delicious pastries filled with cheeses and chocolates.
Enough talk - time to eat!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Soup and sick since Sunday

I made my first soup of the season! One of my favorite thing about that chill hitting the air is that I can bring out the pot and start throwing together some soups!
Unfortunately, this sudden change to soup must have confused my body and cursed myself. See, I eat a lot of soup when I am sick and once I made soup my body must have thought it was supposed to be sick, so here I am: sniffing and sneezing while drinking tea by the gallon.
Anyway, it's just a cold so I will survive.

The first soup of the season was Curried Lentil Soup, which was quick and easy to throw together. That's the way I like it... especially when it turns out to be yummy as well.

2 tablespoon veg. oil
2 cups chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup dried lentils
1 can garbanzo beans
3 3/4 cup water
1 can veg or chicken broth
1 tablespoon peeled grated ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tspn. coriander
1/2 tspn. dried crushed red pepper
1/2 tspn. curry powder
1 cup seeded, chopped tomato
1/4 tspn. salt
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream

Basically you just saute the onion and garlic in the oil until they are nice and tender (about 5 minutes). Then add the lentils and ingredients through the curry powder. I used dried ginger because that's what I had. In general I cut the size in half for dried instead of fresh, but that still seemed like a lot, so I didn't use that much. I also took it easy with the red pepper because I was a little scared. Anyway - bring all that to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let her do her thing for about 25-35 minutes until the lentils are tender.
Next, stir in the tomatoes and salt.
Dish it out into some bowls and top with a dollop of Daisy.
There you go! Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Back to the Music

It's Opening Niiiiight!!!!

I've been working at Carnegie Hall since May. At first I got to see several concerts for free - which was my favorite part of the job. Well, summer came and the season ended. We had a couple of JVC Jazz things that came through in early summer, but it's been pretty dry since then. Actually, completely dry. Drought kind of dry. They were doing some renovations on the building, so nobody was there except the workers and of course us in the rat-race of marketing/sales, etc...

Anyway - I am excited because tonight the season opens! From now until next summer the hall will be "alive, with the sound of music." Tonight I am going to hear the San Fransisco Symphony with a bunch of all-stars like Yo-Yo Ma performing a concert of music by Leonard Bernstein. Bring it on.

I did get a little preview of music seasons starting yesterday. Last night I saw half of a concert in Bryant Park. Musicians from the NY Philharmonic played the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. This is the last year for the principal clarinetist of the philharmonic, so they are featuring him. Not only is this his final year, but it is also his 60th year. SIXTY years with the orchestra. Wow. He was appointed when he was only 19 years old by Bernstein himself. What a life. Anyway, after hearing some clarinet I jetted back to Carnegie Hall to hear a solo violin recital by Philippe Quint. This guy left his Stradavarius violin in a Newark cab a while back. Ooops! Luckily he got it back and gave comp tickets to last nights performance to the driver who returned the instrument and his family. The encore was even dedicated to the cabbie. What a story! The performance was really nice. Solo violin music can be so fun and flashy, plus this guy added a touch of Russian schmooze, which I tend to fall for, so fun was had. Hearing all of this great music makes me itch to practice. That's definitely not a bad thing.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

cats



stray cats in israel

Friday, September 19, 2008

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Thursday, September 4, 2008

coffee culture

It should be expected that I would soon write about one of my favorite things...coffee!!! Coffee is universal. No matter where on the globe you go, you will be able to have a cup of it. Let me tell you something about the coffee in Israel. They have different kinds of coffees that they use. For coffee at home, they tend to go with instant coffee. They don't really do the drip/filter thing that we do here in America. When ordering coffee out it is common to get a latte/cappuccino or to have Turkish coffee. Iced coffee is also popular, but it is more of a frozen drink which is very very sweet. Small bakeries scatter the streets with their delicious deserts sitting in front, beckoning to all passer-by's. Because of this, Israel is a place where one needs a lot of will-power to walk down a street.
They use a lot of breads and chocolates, but pastries soaked in honey are also popular. While in Jerusalem's Old City, we had to stop for a "power-up" and tried some baklava and these other little deserts that I don't know the name for. Basically, they are little balls of dough, about the size of grapes, fried and soaked in honey. Ronen's family that was with us said that those reminded them of when they were children, because that is the kind of deserts that mothers and grandmothers made for them in Romania. It is interesting to compare that to the deserts that I think of as my "comfort food" such as gingerbread men and chocolate chip cookies.
Anyway, while in a new place, I must try as many new things as I can. Paired with a dark, sludge-like cup of Turkish coffee...what a treat it was.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Yerushalayim

While in Israel, we stayed in a town near Tel Aviv, but, as I mentioned before, we did quite a bit of traveling. We were able to spend three days in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a beautiful place mixing new with old...REALLY old. Ronen's father and his father's cousin went with us on our second time into the Old City. They are both knowledgeable about the city and its history. Especially his cousin, who was practically a private tour guide for us. His stories were amazing as he walked with us from the Mount of Olives (bottom picture) where he told us the history of Israel and all of its conquerors into the city walls where we walked the Via Dolorosa (side picture) and experienced all the stories of Christianity's beginnings. It was really unbelievable to be standing in places that are so important to so many people. Places that have been fought for over and over throughout history. We were so lucky to be with somebody who could point to something and actually know what it was and where it was from. On my own, I'm sure I would have walked right past a lot of this stuff without even knowing it! There are so many layers of history there that it would take years to get it all!

Of course, we couldn't spend all the time studying history. Too much at once can cause an overload or brain malfunction - especially in the kind of heat we were facing. (If you are planning to travel to Israel, try to do it in a month besides August!) So we had to spend a little time doing fun things like coffee, deserts, shopping, and camel riding.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

the traveler returns

I am back from a wonderful trip to Israel. I was able to see SO MANY things while I was there. I was lucky to be staying with Ronen's family, who were extremely kind and helpful. Since they let us use their car, we were able to drive around to different areas of the country and see different places. I saw things that were older than anything I had ever seen before and experienced places that I had imagined in my mind from the stories I heard since I was a young child. And the food....oh, yes, the food. Non.Stop. I have now eaten at at least two of the "top 5" Israeli hummus places, tried 20 Arabic salads in one meals, eaten dates from the tree, and tried an enormous amount of the breads and cheeses Israel has to offer. Actually, I probably haven't scratched the surface - but I can only do so much damage in 2 1/2 weeks!
We got back to New York last night, after staying up the night before and random sleeping on the plane. Exhaustion quickly set in and the fight against jet lag is a continuing process. I think I am doing a pretty good job. My coffee makers are standing by to help keep me awake when my eyes start feeling strong hits of gravity.


A quick description of the pictures (I'll go top to bottom, left to right - unlike the right to left I've been trying to learn my entire trip).
1. Flowers overlooking Haifa from Ba'hai Center - very overcast day or you would be able to see the Mediterranean sea in the background.
2. Outside a small church in Tabgha, marking place where Jesus fed multitudes from loaf and fishes
3. Overlooking Sea of Galilee
4. Walking in, not on the Sea of Galilee
5. Dates growing on a tree in Kibbutz Gesher
6. Floating in the Dead Sea
7. Jerusalem
8. Garden Tomb, Jerusalem
9. Camel in the desert

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Shalom!

Greetings from Israel!

I am having a wonderful time here, although I haven't had much time to write on my blog. I have so many stories and pictures - so hopefully one day (probably after I am back home) I will share them here. I have had trips around the country, seeing so many amazing sights and eating, eating, and more eating of wonderful food. I think if there is a place on earth that I could gain some weight... this would be it.
Also I must send a Happy Birthday to my blogs biggest fan. Happy Birthday Mama Honey! I am so confused with time zones that maybe it is still the birthday somewhere on this planet. Who knows. I am probably late - but I will call it "extending the celebration".
Well - love to all and I hope to write and share my stories soon.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

leaving on a jetplane

For those of you who don't know, I am about to leave the country for a couple of weeks!  I am very excited and a little nervous.  I am leaving later today and I still have some packing to do for my big vacation.  Not only have I had this trip coming up, but I moved to a different apartment over the past few days - so I have been very busy.  When I do things, I like to do them all, I guess!
I don't know exactly what my internet situation will be, but most likely my next post, which happens to be my 100th post on this blog, will be from Israel.
 I am looking forward to seeing the sacred sites of Jerusalem as well as relax on the beautiful beaches of Tel Aviv.  Until next time, Shalom!
 

Sunday, August 10, 2008

another one bites the dust


Sadly, I didn't get to try any potatoes, but I was there!


Monday, August 4, 2008

beastly sightings

One thing that we saw quite a few of in Yellowstone Park was Bison (aka Buffalo). The first one that we saw happened to be strolling down the main road through the park. Yes, the bison was the one strolling down the road. Cars pulled over, out of the way, and he walked right on past. He didn't seem to mind the people at all. He knew it was his territory and I think it probably gave him a little ego boost to feel like he was being attacked by the paparazzi. Shutters were snapping left and right. Here he comes:


And there he goes:

These are pretty massive animals, as you can see in comparison to the cars. The park even supplied us with a flier warning that "Many visitors have been gored by buffalo. They can weigh 2000 pounds and sprint 30 mph." I had that in mind as I took those pictures from INSIDE that car. Karen, on the other hand, who was a runner back in the day, took her chances and got some great pictures from outside the vehicle.
Here is another buffalo that we saw. He was not such an attention hog. He stayed a bit away from the road and snacked on some grass. Nice buffalo, he was.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Home (not) On the Range

After quite a long day, I arrived at my apartment in New York late this afternoon. I should not complain. My original flight was supposed to leave Montana around 7 at night, arriving tomorrow morning somewhere in the 6:00 hour. The rest of the family was leaving at 6AM and I had to go to the airport with them - so I smiled and begged and forked over some money and got on a flight this morning. Whew - I was not wanting to sit in that little airport for over 12 hours. Not my top choice of how to spend a day. But I took back my Monday and busted my way back to the east coast.

Seeing as I took over 500 pictures on the trip, I have plenty to blog about. Hopefully I will stay focused and share many of those pictures and stories over the next week. As long as the New York busy-bee monster doesn't pull me under.

As I was browsing through my pictures this evening, the following picture stood out to me.
This picture seems so relaxing after a long day. When I look at it I can almost feel the warmth of the sun as it lowers to the horizon. The light is calming and the air is clean. I played around with cropping the picture a few different ways which also made nice pictures, but I like the little bug flying away to the left. I had to leave it as it was. Enjoy this one and stay tuned for more stories from the trip!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Wild Wild West

I am in Montana! Met up with the family yesterday after a powerless night with little sleep and a long day in flight. Today we drifted over to Yellowstone National Park. I made my first venture into Wyoming, so I will have to update my "states visited" map.



We are planning on seeing Old Faithful gyser tomorrow, but I did see a lot of spewing and bubbling heat today. The first hydrothermal activity that we experienced kind of reminded me of a natural hot tub. The water was HOT! Make some coffee out of that thing!





Thursday, July 10, 2008

Running?

Am I completely out of my mind? I think I may be. Sure, there are several reasons why someone may venture to call me a little crazy, but most recently it is because I have started "running". Maybe I should give myself some credit and really call in running, but I'm not quite there yet. Where did this new thing come from? Well - I think I am hanging out with the wrong kind of people. Bad influences - encouraging something like this.

Well, I bought myself some running shoes and a couple of running outfits thinking that would turn me into a runner. I must admit - those shoes are pretty nice. They feel like I am walking on little clouds compared to the nonsupporting shoes I wear most of the time. At first they almost felt like little trampolines pushing me along....of course that feeling quickly went away.

I live close to a track, so that is where the running incidents took place. I like the track so I can monitor my distance (or lack thereof). There is also a pretty nice view of Manhattan across the river from the track. I kind of like that. The first time I went running I did a little over 2 miles. I was super impressed that I made it that far. I thought surely I would die after the first lap. My body is not used to physical activity - unless you count shopping and fast walking on the sidewalks. This run left me with some pretty nice leg cramps. What is that saying about no pain, no gain? I was gaining, let me tell you.
Second attempt: was pushed to "up the anty" but that didn't happen. I barely clocked in my two miles before I could think of nothing more than WALKING back to my apartment and ordering a big pizza... which I did. :)
The legs are feeling better now and maybe I will get out there one more time this week. We'll see. I guess it would be nice to get some use out of my new shoes! Baby steps, right???

Thursday, June 26, 2008

what a view...


This picture jumped out at me today. It was taken in the summer of 2006, when I visited Alaska for the first time with Brian. This is from the beautiful Alyeska Ski Resort. Such amazing views from the top of the mountain. I especially enjoyed the old, rusty-looking ski lift, resting in the summer. Such a peaceful place.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

twisted tree tuesday

I really like this tree in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I love how it twists out. This picture was taken before the leaves and flowers were really in bloom. I wonder how it looks now?

Monday, June 16, 2008

What's in a name???

I am up too late, doing random things on my computer. Okay - I've actually spent the past hour or so looking online for apartments. Definitely NOT my most favorite thing to do. If anyone out there knows of an amazing, beautiful, inexpensive apartment at a great location in New York City (Brooklyn included), please let me know ASAP! Thanks!
Since my brain is turned to mush from the apartment hunt I decided to do something random, like see how many people in the US have my name. Low and behold, howmanyofme.com can tell me something like that!

HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
7
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Tada!!! This site also tells me that my first name, the 292nd most popular name, is 99.9% female. Okay -- I'd like to meet that .1% male with my name. Hmmm....
I did the search on my immediate family names too. Out of all of us Mom is the only one that doesn't have a few duplicates running around out there somewhere. In fact, she is one of a kind: an original. How cool is that?
Go see how many people you share your name with!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Way out West!

Next week Dave is coming for a visit! I am really looking forward to hanging out with him because I have not seen him in about a year! I hate that part of growing up and making friends in so many different places. We get spread out and rarely get to see each other. On the other hand, it makes it nice when I have a chance to travel because I have good friends scattered about, so I always have someone to go visit.
Last year Dave took me to California. It was my first time to California and we had a wonderful time. I got to see his family, meet his friends, and see some friends that we had not seen in a while. Here is a picture of us at Yosemite National Park by a huge uprooted tree.

And here I am under a tree called the "clothespin". You can't see the top of the tree in the picture because the tree is HUGE. But can't you see how it got its name?

Yosemite was so beautiful. I love seeing all the wonderful parks and sights across the country. Even Frisson, my traveling penguin, wanted get a slice of the photo action!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

skyline

Here is a picture I took of the city when Stacy was here. It was taken very near where I lived before in Long Island City. I took Stacy over there to see the beautiful skyline at night. She thought the park at the river was nice and romantic. I think she would have preferred someone else being there with her besides me, but I did the best I could. :)

Friday, June 6, 2008

A Treat for the Tastebuds

I am getting in trouble for not posting often enough on this blog, so I am going to try to do better! I do have a billion pictures and they all have a story, so I should just go with that. I may have breaks in my posting, but at least I have stuck with it for this long. I would definitely have made it past "B" in my alphabet! :)
On to more serious matters... cake. Cheesecake. When Stacy was here we tried to do all things "New York" and she said she could not leave before we had some of that world-famous New York Cheesecake. It was her last night here and we had not managed to get any, so we made a special trip into midtown in search of the perfect slice.
We had gone to the Stage Deli on 7th Avenue for a pastrami sandwich one afternoon. I work in this area and it was easy for us to meet there. The sandwiches are piled high and served with a pickle on the side. We eyeballed the mountainous cheesecakes that day, but decided the mile-high pastrami was filling enough for that day. I digress... we are talking about cheesecake, not pastrami....
So... this trip back into midtown... we went into several delis in the area looking for the perfect cake and we were drawn back into the Stage Deli.
The other places looked wonderful, but there was something about that place that pulled us back in. We settled on the strawberry - split three ways. Three ways, you ask??? Yes. This is a serious slice - enough to satisfy three. Actually, more than just satisfy. It was enough to STUFF three. Just look at it!
It was so rich and creamy. I'd call it a "quintessential" ending to a New York trip...whatever that means. Yes, we finished the whole thing, and we were a few very happy people. No, we did not lick the plate. Not that we didn't think about it...

Monday, June 2, 2008

Random and the City

Unfortunately, Stacy had to leave a few days ago, but we had so much fun while she was here. We almost ran ourselves to death, but we saw a LOT of the sites around the city and had a blast doing so. We saw lots of random things. That's what you get in NYC: random things. You NEVER know what you are going to see.

On our first full day, we went to Rockefeller Center and saw that area, including the NBC studios and the plaza where they always report the weather on the Today Show. It looked pretty bare during the day - lacking the wall to wall tourists proclaiming their birthdays and greetings to their mothers back in their home states on colorful signs. Anyway, Stacy and I slipped into the magnificent Saint Patrick's Cathedral to admire the architecture and then slipped into several stores to dodge some raindrops. We ended up in Bergdorf Goodman by Central Park trying on shoes that cost more than my monthly rent. By the way, these Manolo Blahniks were in the clearance section! I was afraid I was going to be kicked out of the store just for trying them on! Especially when Stacy pulled out her camera and started taking pictures of the price tags!!! After seeing a $4,000 dress I didn't feel so bad buying a new dress at Old Navy later on.

We needed a break after all this excitement, so we relaxed for a bit in the park. The park is always a good place to see something random. We started our park adventure with a statue of Lady Liberty. People like to dress up and pretend they are statues in this city. Some stand perfectly still, others, like this one, want to be a photo op, while other (as we saw later) pretend the are mechanical and move slowly - like those mechanical dolls in shop windows at Christmas. Needless to say, they all want money. Actually - we saw TWO lady liberties. Memorial Day was earlier that week, so maybe we were still celebrating...

We had too many adventures for one blog post, so I will have to continue our exciting story some other day. I will leave you with the knowledge that even the animals are strange in New York. For example, why exactly did these ducks prefer to be in the water like this??? Bottoms up!!