Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

Last night, I spent about an hour trying to figure out what to do today. There are still about 8 (probably more) museums that I would like to go to. When I looked up the museums I wanted to go to, I found out when a lot of them are free or pay what you want, so I think I'll plan around that in the future. So I had narrowed it down to a couple museum choices, when the news mentioned today was the gay pride parade. I of course have no problem with gay people, but rather I try to avoid large masses of people in general (lesson learned after my encounter with the Puerto Rico parade)....so I figured I'd avoid the museums because most of them are along 5th ave, where the parade was supposed to go.
I decided to head to some flea markets in Chelsea. I guess they're not what they used to be thanks to ginormous condos being built and taking up the lots they used to be in. The best one was actually in a parking garage. I really really wanted to buy (and nearly did buy) an old white gold ring with a large oval citrine....but I held back. It was cheap! I may at some point regret not buying it....
At one point, I was walking to the subway station, and walked in front of the New Amsterdam theater, where Mary Poppins is. People were standing in line for tickets, so I figured I'd see if there were any $30 tickets available (I had seen online such cheap tickets existed). What do you know, I got a ticket!!! So that's what I did this afternoon, and it was fabulous! I always loved the movie, and the musical was just as good (or at least close). So at least I saw one Broadway show this summer.
Oh, funny story. While I was waiting for the show to start, I thought I would go down to Magnolia Bakery for a cupcake (on Erikka's recommendation). But, when I tried to get off the subway, I had to stand in line to walk up to the street - it was so crowded because I ended up right on the parade route. Figures. So I just turned around and rode back uptown, rather than trying to fight through a sweaty crowd for a cupcake.
I'm sad tomorrow is Monday, but starting another week means I'm another one closer to coming back home.

A Saturday in Brooklyn

Thank God for the weekend. Even though I still haven't worked a full week (haha) I was still ready to not work for a couple of days. This week at work I researched the history of automobiles, fact checked a short blurb about morning glory clouds (rare wave-light clouds in Australia that pilots surf on), and finished this space image thing I had been working on. I've resigned myself to the realization that I probably won't be getting any writing experience. Which sucks. But I digress.....
So today I went to Brooklyn. My goal was to get to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens before noon...there is no admission fee before noon. However, it took forever to get there on the train...and I was walking in the gates right at noon. But, they still were letting people in for free, woohoo! So I walked around the gardens there. It was nice, but I think I'm just really spoiled from spending so much time at MoBot....
I walked around there for awhile, and found this overlook walk with lots of shady benches. It was nice and breezy so I decided to sit down for awhile and knit and enjoy the day.
Next I walked right around the corner to the Brooklyn Museum. I didn't know anything about it except that it was a cool Beaux Arts building, but I figured what the hell. The Brooklyn Museum kicked the ass of the Queens Museum of Art....the main exhibit right now is some japanimation stuff that I didn't pay to see. An exhibit I did see was by Ghada Amer....very interesting embroidery on canvas contrasting images of Disney princess and porn. I've never seen art like it, that's for sure. The highlight was the decorative arts area. They had a beautiful Stickley desk, and of course my favorite, a pair of Tiffany glass windows.
I asked a guy at the museum if there was anywhere close with an area of interesting shopping, so he sent me to 7th Ave in Park Slope. I didn't wander a whole lot, but I found a knitting shop where I once again bought sock yarn. By this time it was getting later, and I decided to go ahead home, so I got on the train. By the time the train surface to cross whatever bridge I crossed back into Manhattan (maybe the Manhattan bridge?) it was absolutely pouring....to the extent that I could hardly see the Brooklyn Bridge right next to the bridge I was on. I was grateful to already be on the train.
There are still other things I'd like to do in Brooklyn, but they will require more planning...I want to tour the Brooklyn Brewery, and look around Prospect Park some more. But I intend to go see Beth Orton for free at the park in 2 weeks, so maybe that will be another Brooklyn Saturday.
Now I'm home, guess I'm going to make dinner and watch my Netflix dvd (27 dresses) and sock knitting.



The lily ponds and conservatory at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.



Overlooking the gardens from the spot I sat to knit. There were people getting wedding pictures taken in the rose garden.




Brooklyn Museum. It was a pretty cool looking building, but they had built this crazy ugly modern entrance below the pretty Beaux Arts facade....what were they thinking?




Tiffany glass, part 1 of 2. I sat on the floor to take this, and people probably thought I was crazy. This was just beautiful...the way the glass was layered in the waterfall part actually made it look like running water. My blurry suppressed flash picture hardly does it justice.





Tiffany glass, part 2 of 2. Both of these windows were originally in some church in Brooklyn. I like how this one makes it actually seem like light is shining through the trees. Did I mention I like Tiffany glass?

Trip to the Late Show

Today was an exciting day. I had won a ticket to go to the taping of the Late Show with David Letterman, which I never thought would be possible and it was a chance I couldn't pass up. I headed to the Ed Sullivan theater at 2:00 like I was instructed. For awhile I just stood in a line on the sidewalk. At one point we heard all these really loud motorcycles, and I realized there was a motorcade of bikers ushering Motley Crue (riding on the back of a convertible) to the theater.....I tried to pull my camera out of my purse and caught them a bit before they turned the corner. I think they'll show footage tonight of them driving down Broadway though.
I talked a bit with people in line with me - it ended up the people right next to me were from St. Louis and are actually lawyers for Wash U. Small world. They chatted up one of the Late Show staffers and she gave them special tickets - they ended up in the front row. Dave comes out to the audience to hand a bag of "Martian ice" out - the people he hands it to are these Wash U lawyers. Crazy.
I ended up in the 5th row, right in the center of the theater. I had on an orange shirt, and actually there were two guys in the two rows right in front of me also wearing orange, so maybe you'll see me on tv (hopefully none of my coworkers do....). At one point, Dave checks to see where the Martian ice is in the audience, and the guy almost directly in front of me had it and holds it up - so when he holds up the bag of ice, I'm in the row right behind him, directly to your left (or his right).
The show itself was pretty good and entertaining. I think Dave was disappointed in us as an audience, he acted like we weren't laughing enough.....oh well. The guests were Charlize Theron, Richard Belzer, and Motley Crue. Charlize Theron wasn't that funny or interesting, but she's gorgeous. I had never heard of Richard Belzer, but he looked familiar....he's a comic and he and Dave just talked about George Carlin the whole time. Motley Crue was pretty lame. It was funny cause they had these trashy silver-painted girls sitting on the stage, and after they were done playing their song, Dave came to shake hands and stuff. One girl was on the top of a pretty tall speaker, and Dave almost tried to help her to jump off, but I think he decided that was a bad idea based on her very very short skirt. It just was funny and akward looking. And if you were wondering if it was really true, the Ed Sullivan Theater is cold. Most of the staffers had on coats the whole time.
So, my visit to the Late Show made for a very entertaining day. I'm glad I can say I went there once. Now I'll have to stay up til 12:30 to see if I'm on tv....I think the show will be slightly less entertaining the second time around.


The marquee outside the Ed Sullivan Theater.





Motley Crue rode down Broadway surrounded by scary biker dudes.....I have no idea who exactly was on the car (Kevin said Tommy Lee is the drummer? Maybe it was him) But I pulled my camera out in time to catch this.

It was a great wedding, but I hate Delta Airlines

The title says it all, but I will still tell you a bit more about my weekend (I apologize ahead of time if it turns into a rant).
Friday I was supposed to fly out of LaGuardia at 8:50am, which should have put me in Richmond VA by 10:30. Kevin had spent Thursday evening at my sister's house in North Carolina so he could meet me at the airport early, so by the time I was at the airport he was already on his way to pick me up. Well, apparently a window was broken out of the plane I was supposed to be on, so for awhile they talked about just canceling my flight, but they ended up bringing in another plane from JFK. So I just watched the screen all morning, with the expected departure time getting later and later, while my carotid artery was about to burst out of my neck. Anyway, we finally left LGA about 12:30, and I landed in Richmond about 1:30. So Kevin just drove around in circles for about 3 hours waiting for me. It sucks getting stuck at airports, but it especially sucks having something annoying happen twice in a row (after all, it had only been 2.5 weeks since I spent the night at Reagan airport), AND it sucked getting hours whittled away from the only weekend I would see Kevin until August.
We had planned to go wine tasting in VA Friday, but since my flight was so late, we really didn't have time. We met up with Erikka for her 'bachelorette' party in downtown Charlottesville, so we got to catch up with Erikka, Katrina and Brad, and Anna and we met her boyfriend Peter. Eventually, Vince, Erika, and Amy showed up as well and the U of I contingent had finally made it.
Saturday we decided to go ahead and try to at least go wine tasting at the winery where Erikka's now-husband Brian works (although obviously he wasn't working his wedding day). It was kind of out of the way, but it was beautiful driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. So we tasted all of their wines, which were all pretty decent, but I especially liked their dry gewurztraminer (Kevin, that bottle better still be there when I get home :). We bought a bottle of wine to drink, and went outside to picnic and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery. Right after we got outside, Anna and Peter showed up too....so we ended up picnicking with them, which was nice.
Eventually we had to head to the wedding, which was kind of in bu-fu.....Thankfully I had stolen a book from the hotel room (which I returned of course) and found a map that got us to the church in Faber. The wedding went off without a hitch and the reception was right down the road. The highlight of the reception was the microbrew we had - I think it was from Blue Mountain Brewery or something, but it was very good. So we danced and had a good time. Erikka even added 'The Luckiest' to her playlist and so Kevin and I actually danced too....of course while I bawled on his shoulder. But anyway.
After the reception, we headed to Erikka and Brian's favorite microbrewery in C-ville, South Street Brewery. We were pretty tired from the long day, and Kevin's impending 12 hr drive home the next morning, so we only stayed for an hour and a couple beers long.... I like that place though.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Kevin wanted to leave by 8, but thankfully he was feeling tired and lazy, so I think he actually left about 9:30 (he ended up getting back in like 10.5 hours...damn him for not staying longer). He just dropped me off at the downtown mall, and then Katrina and Brad were going to take me back to the airport in Richmond (I love them! That is a boring, not short drive!). My flight wasn't til 5:30, so we were going to go to a botanical garden on the way. Shortly after we started driving that way, I got an automated phone call saying my flight had been canceled, that I had been re-booked on the next flight to LGA - leaving at 11:00am monday, going through Cincinatti, and arriving back to LGA at 4:00pm. I don't think so. Of course, this convenient automated message didn't give me a phone number to contact Delta airlines....so I called people until my dad found a phone number for me on the internet. The first person I talked to was only able to book me on a 6:30am Monday flight to JFK....again not something I wanted to do. This agent did tell me there were 2 flights leaving richmond that afternoon though, but that they were full. So after I hung up with her, I called back to talk to a different agent, who put me on a 5:00pm flight to JFK. Phew. She also told me that my first flight had been canceled due to 'forecasted weather in New York.' If the airline industry is actually planning based on forecasts, I think we have our problem. I think they probably just canceled it because it wasn't full, and they of course don't care who has to be where when. So we went on to the botanical garden, which was really nice. I took lots of nice pictures, only one of which I'll bore you with below. Then Katrina and Brad dropped me off at the airport, where I was fully anticipating another canceled flight. I guess the weather had been a little bad in NY, and so the air traffic was bad. My flight ended up leaving about 7:30. After what I had been through the last 2 times, this didn't seem bad at all to me. I realize this is probably the airline industry's goal - make everyone's travel so miserable, that when its moderately miserable then they feel lucky. The silver lining was that I ended up in a first class seat, which I had never been before. So even before the flight took off, the stewardess asked if I wanted something to drink. I ended up getting three glasses of wine....maybe she could tell I was stressed and depressed and I needed it. So I was nice and toasted by the time the flight landed in NY....unfortunately I was at JFK instead of LGA (which is practically in my backyard). So I had to figure out how to get home, which took another hour or so, but I made it!!!
Does anyone else want to come visit me so I have something to look forward to other than coming home? Its just not fair that the only fun things I knew of were so soon in my time here.....

College roomies at Erikka's bachelorette party




Me and my very missed hubby




Kevin and I at Afton Mountain Vineyards. There are some vines behind us to the left.




First kiss for Mr. and Mrs. Goff




Katrina giving her toast




Their first dance. I can't remember the name of the artist that played at the reception or the song she sang, but I liked it a lot.





The roomies spiffed up.




Mr. and Mrs. Goff relax at the brewery after their reception. Sadly, this was the best picture I got of the two of them (not that its a bad picture, just that I didn't get a good posed one).




One of the gardens at the botanical garden in Richmond. I don't remember what the place was called, cause it was named after some guy. I was impressed though.

A Long Week

I'm trying to remember what I did this week. Hmmmm. Here's a few highlights.
Tuesday - After work, I forced myself to do laundry. There's a laundromat close to my place, thankfully, but it still was a pain. I bought 5 more pairs of underwear though, so I might only have to do laundry 2 more times, if I'm lucky.
Wednesday - I went to see Maria Taylor at a place called the Knitting Factory. I went by myself, which is something I've never done before. It was kind of boring...the venue was really dark, so even if I had wanted to try and meet someone else, it was just too dark to saunter up to a person you didn't know and start a conversation. Oh well. Maria was great, and the artists that opened for her were good too. Johnathan Rice I liked a lot, I might have to buy some of his music sometime. The song he sang that I liked the most though is not on any of his albums. Damnit! I bought a ticket to see another show, Joshua Radin, at the end of July.....I love him and I've never seen him live. Otherwise I think I'll go without heading to concerts by myself.
Thursday - I did nearly nothing at work all day. Then around 4, my editor came by telling me about something I could do, but he said he'd have to send me an email with a list of things I needed to photocopy. He didn't send the email immediately, and I went to look for him and his office door was closed, so I thought he might have left. Then about 5 I tried one last time to see if he was there....he was, and he sent me the email. Then I made copies until 8:00 cause I won't be in tomorrow....
Big news!!! I'm going to the taping of David Letterman on Tuesday! I had filled out an online form for tickets thinking it would never happen. Someone called, and I had to answer a trivia question correctly....I just had to describe the 'Great Moments in Presedential Speeches' bit....which thankfully I was able to do. So I'm going to Letterman! I think the guests are Charlize Theron and Motley Crue. I'm really looking forward to going.
Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Richmond VA for my friend Erikka's wedding in Charlottesville. Kevin drove out to my sister Jenny's today in NC, and then he's picking me up at the airport, and then we're going wine tasting for the day before the bachelorette party in the evening. I can't wait to see Kevin, but I'm also looking forward to seeing my college friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Woohoo, weddings!

Address

Not much to report. Last night I didn't sleep at all because a smoke detector in the hallway of the building was beeping to replace the batteries. It was still beeping when I got home from work today, so I climbed up on a chair to take the battery out....I just set it on the floor. So hopefully I'll sleep tonight. The only other interesting thing was that I think today was the first day I didn't sweat disgustingly. Yay! Otherwise, I'm just sad tonight cause everyone is at the opening night of the Muny. I'm at home by myself without cable, missing the first episode of Weeds. Not fair.
And the whole reason I posted anyway (yes I realize all of the above is really boring):
My address is:
Julie Thole, c/o Mary Kelley
30-84 34th St, Apt 3B
Astoria NY, 11103

Weekend with Jackie

Jackie and I really hit the town this weekend, trying to see as much as possible. Saturday we intended to start our day by catching the end of the taping of the Today show....we were a bit slow, so we missed it, but oh well. We ended up walking down 'Diamond Row' - one long block where tons of diamond wholesalers are located. We looked at lots of huge diamonds - I think the only price tag we saw was for $178,000...and we saw diamonds way bigger than the one with that price!!! Then we shopped from Rockefeller Plaza on up to Central Park. We grabbed lunch from a deli and then found a shady spot in the park to eat lunch, and then walked around awhile.
Next we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of my favorite places in NYC. Right when we were ready to leave, it started pouring rain. Of course. So we stayed at the museum awhile longer, trying to caffeinate and rest our feet. While we sat there, we did a bit of people-watching. The most entertaining person we saw was a little girl eating with her family. On her plate she had turkey cubes, tofu cubes, corn, and SIX hardboiled eggs. Other than the fact that it was hilarious that that was her meal, it was funny that her family thought nothing of it. She also ate her eggs very funny - she basically scraped the whites off on her teeth, eating slowly, and leaving behind the yolk (I can only imagine how much cholesterol there would have been in 6 yolks!!). Great entertainment.
We left awhile later when the rain let up, and we headed to Grand Central Station cause that's one of my favorite buildings. Then we headed closer to Union Square with the intention of doing more bargain hunting. One of Jackie's friends who lives in the city had told us to go to Nordstrom, so that's what we were looking for. Of course it started pouring rain again, and we had no idea where we were going....so we both tried to call anyone we could think of to look it up on the internet. Finally one of her friends found out for us that there isn't a Nordstrom in Manhattan. Interesting. We decided to go ahead and eat dinner at a place right by where we were standing under a scaffolding trying to keep dry. It was a wine bar called 'Wined Up'. When we got in, there wasn't hardly anyone there, and our waiter was awesome. After awhile, he came over to us, apologizing profusely, asking if we could move to another table - apparently the one we sat at (in the still empty restaurant) was reserved for a group. So we moved. We just had some bread and cheese, hummus and pita, and some crazy pumpkin-filled hush puppies, along with our bottle of wine. Our waiter gave us two more glasses of wine on the house as well for making us move to a different table. Worked for us!
Today we slept a bit later, and then went into the city again specifically to go to a Old Navy (I've got a gift card I've been trying unsuccessfully to spend) and a Nine West store (Jackie needs new black heels). So we went back to the SoHo area and did just a bit of shopping. We headed back to Astoria for lunch, and we ate at a fun looking Greek place right by my apartment. It was very good, the only thing was that we sat outside and everyone was smoking....and the service was kind of slow considering we were in a hurry - both the result of being in a neighborhood dominated by Europeans I guess. We took some baklava to go (I'm looking forward to eating mine in a bit here) and then we went back to my apartment to get Jackie's suitcase, and went back to the main drag to get her a cab to the airport. It took a little bit - I had no idea if there would be enough cabs around for her to get one or not - and this was like 3:00 and her flight was at 3:55! I guess she got there in perfect time though, phew.
After she left I went back into the city to buy a bag I had considered buying yesterday. Yes, I know, I'm a dork. I just needed something bigger than the one purse I had brought here with me, and it was a good deal. So now I'm just hanging out at the apartment for the rest of the day. I should do laundry but it looked a little busy at the laundromat - I think I'll go Tues or Wed night. Unfortunately, something is wrong with the cable, and I don't know how to fix it. I hope Mary will know how to fix it when she gets back from Portland on Tuesday. Until then, she has a few seasons of Friends on DVD that I will watch.....works for me!
5 days til I get to see Kevin!!! Too bad he can't bring Satchel to Erikka's wedding.


30 Rockefeller Plaza....I love all the Art Deco motifs!!



This design was in the concrete on the stairs down to Bethesda Fountain - I just loved all the flowers and leaves.



I was going to take a picture myself of Jackie and I at Bethesda Fountain - then some woman walked by, grabbed my camera, and took a picture for us. Thanks!!!



The Temple of Dendur at the Met....one of my favorite areas. Egypt gave this to the US as a gift in 1967 or so, and Nixon (I think?) decided to give it to the Met.



Design on the top of a column of the Temple of Dendur.



The Met has a roof garden, and right now they have Jeff Koons' work on display, including this crazy 'balloon dog'.



This Tiffany window was the only Tiffany glass on display...they are renovating the American wing, so most of it was closed :(



Another picture of my favorite skyscraper.

TGIF!!!!!!!!!

The rest of the week at work went fine, I guess. I got more random things to do, which seem like busy work mostly, but hey, as long as I'm doing something. I also had an editor that looks like Patrick Dempsey ask me to do some research for him, so that was exciting. Today I went in early (so 9 instead of 10) because I knew Jackie would get to the city noon-ish....and of course, my editor wanted to talk to me about the stuff I've had done since Tuesday right when it was almost noon. Our meeting was fine, he said nothing too bad or too good, but I've got a lot more work to do. By the time I got back to my desk, Jackie had called to say she was waiting outside, so I just left work at 12:30....I'll just work my butt off on Monday.
So first Jackie and I went to the line for tkts, the day-of-show Broadway tickets that are discounted. Unfortunately, the cheapest tickets were like $66....so I guess I'm not going to any shows this summer unless my roommate gets some for free (which she expects will happen sometime). Then we shopped in SoHo, walked to the Brooklyn Bridge, rode the Staten Island Ferry so we could take pictures of the Statue of Liberty, and finally we ate dinner at a pizza place called Luzzo's in the East Village. Very good. Now its off to bed.
Oh wait! Jackie saw my furry little friend (aka a mouse) today. I missed it.




Brooklyn Bridge




Me and Jackie at the Brooklyn Bridge - her version of this picture is much better....




Statue of Liberty at sunset




I thought this building looked really cool looking up the side of it.

More from the office of Discover magazine....

I've successfully made it through day 3 of my internship. I don't want to be too negative, because I'm sure things will get better as I figure out what is going on. But anyway, yesterday I basically talked to NO ONE all day long. I said hi to my editor, and met another intern I hadn't met, but that was it. I spent the day working on the project the executive editor had called me into his office about, and it was at least interesting, although I had no idea if I was doing what he had in mind. But I figured I'd at least finish what I had started before showing it to him. So on to today. Today was a bit better because there was an intern lunch. I guess this is going to happen every week.....woohoo, free food! They plan these intern lunches for different people to come in to talk to us about what they do, so today the photo editor talked to us. It was interesting. I also met all of the other interns, of which I think there are a total of seven, including myself. I talked to another intern for awhile today too, and asked if the office is just always really quiet, and she said that it is. So I guess I'll have to get used to it. Anyway, I finished the project I was working on, at least to the extent that I had understood my directions. So I showed it to my editor, thinking that was safer than going to the Executive editor with my work without any input. He just quickly told me it looked like a good start, but that he had something a little different in mind, and that the three of us (me, my editor, and the executive editor) could sit down and talk about it. Sounds good I said. That was 2:00, and I never saw him again all day. So I did various time-wasting things for the afternoon. Not too interesting. But it can only get better, right?
After work, I thought I would head to Macy's again and see if I could find any bargains. I figure I've got nothing to do for the rest of the day, so there's no reason to hurry home. Much to my dismay, Macy's was EVEN BUSIER than it had been on Sunday, when it was so busy I couldn't stand it. So then I went home.
Anyway, I'm skipping over the highlight of the week so far. Last night I met up with Jackie and some of her co-workers who are in Newark, NJ this week. She wanted to go to some Italian place in Times Square that she had been to before. So after work, I headed to Times Square to join the crowds in the record-setting heat. I just walked around for about an hour until Jackie finally called saying they were there. Then, the plan was to walk until Jackie recognized the street this Italian restaurant with no name might be on. So we walked for quite a while. In the gross, people touching me all the time, sweaty crowds. Did I mention I don't care much for Times Square? We finally found the restaurant, and in the end I got a free meal and the left overs (food for at least 3 more meals!!) so I'm definitely not complaining.


Just a random picture of Times Square.




Me and Jackie posing just off Broadway, to avoid being trampled by the crowd.

In all of the times I had ever been to New York, I always thought it was an amazing place to visit, but that I could never live there. Now I can vouch for that. Unfortunately, I still have a ways to go......

One Down, 43 To Go

Today was my first day at work. Nothing too exciting to report. I spent most of the day reading back issues of Discover. I was supposed to read 2 years worth, and I'm nearly done. It was pretty entertaining though, they write about a wide variety of stuff. I didn't bring my lunch, just assuming people would go out or something, but from what I could figure either no one eats lunch or they all eat quietly in their cube. Thankfully, I had a bag of pretzels in my bag or I wouldn't have made it through the day. So I just read all day. At one point, my editor told me a bit about something I would be helping him with....its a broad newsstand-only issue about the universe, so I guess I'm just supposed to think about it and give him my ideas about how to organize it. Then another editor called me into his office to give me something else to work on - I will be putting together a piece for the October issue comparing the first images we had of planets from like the 60s/70s with the newer fantastical images we get from the hardware that's up in space today. He told me about it, and I just sat there saying 'uh huh, uh huh' he asked me 'Oh, I guess I should ask you what your background is' so I told him plant biology. Then he said something like 'I guess you're more familiar with plants than planets'....so we might have a crash course in planetary science later this week. So basically I have things to work on with no specific idea about how to do anything. This could be interesting.....
So I sat there reading until 6:30 cause it seemed like everyone else was still there, and then my editor came by and told me to go home....so I guess people there typically work 10-6. When I got home, my roommate was actually around, I think for the first evening since I've been here. And I think there was evidence that she had eaten for the first time too. She told me about her $240 hair cut/coloring (!!!!!) and then made me watch Legally Blond - a reality show on MTV. One of her good friends is on the show, so that makes it kind of intriguing....but its mostly a bunch of really annoying girls.
In other news, I get to see my sister Jackie tomorrow night!!! She is working in Newark NJ this week, so she'll come to the city and we'll meet for dinner. Then she's actually going to spend the weekend with me too. Woohoo!

Critters

Remember how I said my roommate had almost no food in the apartment? Well, most of the food she did have was in the fridge, including boxes of cereal, which seemed crazy. She explained to me that cockroaches are a problem, so any food that can be climbed into should be kept in the fridge. I had bought a loaf of bread at the grocery store the other day, but i figured roaches can't get into a bag tied shut like that. But, today when I decided to make a sandwich for lunch, it was obvious that a much larger, furrier critter had munched his way into my bread. Thankfully he didn't go too far - I only had to throw away two pieces of bread.



Today my goal was a bit of shopping. I had a gift card and a coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I'm also dying for a slightly larger bag - my bag is way too full with my umbrella, ipod, phone, camera, water, guidebook, magazine, wallet etc. So I headed down to Macy's in Herald Square thinking I'd just go from there and see what I could find. The city was crazy - everywhere I looked there were people with Puerto Rico flags. Eventually I discovered a parade on 5th Ave, which I can only assume was some sort of Puerto Rican thing. After wandering around Herald Square for awhile without finding anything I needed to buy, I headed up to Tiffany's, my favorite place in the world where I was guaranteed not to buy anything. So gazing at all the sparkly diamonds was the highlight of the day. They must have a secret way of lighting the cases, because I've never seen diamonds sparkle like that.
After sweating my butt off, I came back to my apartment, where I have spent the rest of the day knitting and finishing the last season of SATC. Thank God for HBO on Demand.
A few photos from today:

The beautiful Empire State Building



The New York Public Library. I've never seen it before, so I found it today. Unfortunately, part of the building was covered with this ugly mesh stuff. Then, the doors were locked...so I guess its closed on Sundays. I'll have to go again sometimes because the inside looks amazing in the pictures I've seen.



My favorite building in NYC (as far as I know) - the Chrysler Building.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

I was almost tempted to stay home today. I'm just a little exhausted from going non-stop for the last week. But, after a lazy morning, I figured I should do something. After all, I won't be here that long. So I googled Tiffany glass in NYC...one of my specific quests for the summer is to find as much Tiffany glass as I can. So, I discovered there is a Tiffany Glass exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art. The QMA is in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, where there were World's Fairs in 1939-40 and 1964-65. The QMA itself is in the only building remaining from the 1939 fair.

One thing you might have seen before that is in this park is the Unisphere, a big stainless steel globe that was built for the 1964 fair. I remember seeing it from the plane the first time I flew into NYC in 2001. So I was interested in seeing it for real. Much to my disappointment, the fountains that surround the Unisphere were dry....as were the reflecting pools and other water holding things throughout the park. It just looked kind of depressing.

So the QMA wasn't much to write home about.....the building was pretty ghetto, and there wasn't really any art there except for the Tiffany glass. BUT the Tiffany glass was beautiful, so I didn't mind. Basically the only other thing at the museum was an exhibit talking about the two World's Fairs that had been in the park. I am interested in history and World's Fairs in general, so that was interesting as well. Also, there was a very large panorama of NYC that was installed for the '64 fair. It was built on a scale with 1"=100ft (the Empire State Building was 15" tall)...so that was huge and interesting. All in all, it was a worthwhile trip.

Then I headed back to my apartment, stopping by the produce stand on the corner to get something to make for dinner, and then to the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine (my plan for the evening is to drink some wine and remind myself what happened in the final season of SATC before I see the movie). I walked around the grocery store a few times, never seeing wine on the shelves. There was beer, so I was looking at that thinking maybe I could buy some interesting beer - I enjoyed the Brooklyn lager I had with dinner last night, so that was an option. Then I finally noticed 2 racks of things that looked like wine. But the label said 'wine product.' What the hell does that mean? I was scared, and remembered seeing a liquor store, so off I went. Now I know that in NY, grocery stores can only sell beer, and liquor stores can only sell liquor and wine. Good to know.
The Unisphere - Built for the 1964 Worlds Fair, this sculpture is supposed to have fountains spraying around it, but the pool of water was dry and being used as a skate park for skateboarders.



Looking across a dry reflecting pool towards the Unisphere.



This thing looked really weird and I had no idea what it was until I read about the history of the World's fairs that had been here. This was built for the '64 fair, and was part of the State of New York exhibit. There are 3 observation platforms that people could ride up and overlook the park, but now they are rusting steel and concrete.




This was my favorite piece of Tiffany glass I saw - a wisteria lamp.

Pizza in Brooklyn

Last night I accompanied Wendy and her friend Amanda for their weekly Friday night pizza excursion. From what I gathered, they regularly go to pizza places all around the city with the goal of finding the best pizza in the city. Lucky for me, their destination for last night was Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn. Grimaldi's is located practically under the Brooklyn Bridge, and was actually rated #1 for pizza in a Zagat survey. While Wendy and Amanda waited in a line that spread halfway down the block, I walked down the street to take in some fabulous views of lower Manhattan. The pizza was very good (we actually ate one pizza and ordered another that we couldn't finish). I was also glad to have ventured into Brooklyn for my first time (I think).


Looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge.




Looking towards lower Manhattan from Brooklyn.




The Empire State Building in the distance, seen underneath the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.




After dinner, we walked down to the river again. This was my best attempt at a picture without a flash....

NYC, finally!

After my miserable night at the airport, I was on the 8am flight and I was in a cab on my way to my apartment by 9:15. Once I got there, I finally got to meet Mary, my roommate for the summer. From what I can tell so far, I am lucky - she seems great and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. She is an actress, and works at a restaurant in Times Square that is owned (in part) by Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. This place is frequented by celebs, and Mary has an opinion about just about anyone you ask her about.....
I spent the day napping, unpacking, and waiting for my friend's sister Wendy to call me. Wendy lives in the same neighborhood I'm living in (Astoria, Queens) and she had my keys to the apartment since I was supposed to get in Wednesday evening while Mary was at work. I met up with Wendy, and she showed me around the neighborhood a bit. Apparently, Astoria (or maybe Queens in general?) is the most diverse place in the country - there are people from anywhere and everywhere to the extent that there is no majority of any kind of people.
Today, I bought some groceries....there is almost no food in the apartment....I'm not sure if Mary doesn't eat (she is an actress after all) or if she just eats elsewhere. Then I hopped on the subway to figure out where I will be going to work on Monday. I took the subway to Union Square (maybe 35 minutes?) and my office is about a block away. Sweet! I can see the Empire State Building just up the 5th Ave from my building.
Once I found where I would need to go next week, I just wandered more or less aimlessly. Among the things I saw were the house from the Cosby show, the first building that ever had an elevator, a mice dying in a mouse trap on the sidewalk (where did that come from??), and various other things in the Village/SoHo area. One of my goals for the summer was to buy a pair of silver shoes to wear in my sister's wedding, and I already achieved that goal. I also bought a pair of Havaianas (flip flops that I've always seen in InStyle magazine), some sock yarn, and a book.....a very successful day. I also had my first celebrity sighting, I think. I saw a guy that I think was Gael Garcia Bernal, who was in the Motorcycle Diaries and The Science of Sleep.

Pictures - I have attempted to figure this out a bit more, but hopefully I'll figure it out as I go along.


This is looking up 5th Ave from my office, you can see the Empire State Building in the Background.

















This is the entrance to the building where I'll be working, 90 5th Ave.
















This is the famous arch in Washington Square Park....it was recently restored and the whole park is a construction area.


















This one's for you dad - I was walking through the Village and saw a firetruck being backed into the firehouse on a teeny tiny street.
















This is the apartment building where I'm living in Astoria. Not much to look at from the outside.


















Here's my bedroom - I am more or less surprised at the size of the apartment - its not too small at all. I love that Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' is on the wall - it makes me feel at home.

Hello DC!

Before beginning my internship in NYC, I had to go to Washington DC for an orientation with all of the other AAAS fellows. Having never been to DC, this sounded good to me. I arrived at the hotel with no problem, dropped off my bags, and within minutes was taking pictures of the White House. While our orientation took up a bit of every day, I still had a lot of time to see some sights. My favorites included seeing the Hope Diamond and the other gems at the American Natural History Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery/American Gallery of Art.

Wednesday I left the hotel and took a cab to Reagan airport for my flight to NYC. Right after I got there, it started thunderstorming and more or less didn't stop until about 11pm. Lucky me, my flight was canceled and I spent the night at the airport. Oh the misery.

Note - I am not figuring out how to post pictures and put them where I want to....anyway, the pictures are the Hope diamond, the White House with snipers on top (there was some fancy party going on), Washington Monument and reflection pool, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument again.