Beth's Visit ( 4.26.07 - 4.30.07 )

(Molly Post)

Beth is one of my friends from Fordham. We lived in the same hall Freshman Year, which is how we met. Sophomore Year, we lived together. Unfortunately, Beth has had a rough few years struggling with a chronic illness. However, she's doing tons better! :)

Beth's visit was the first she had made in a year and a half. The difference between the two was night and day. She arrived Thursday evening, and Cody picked her up at Penn Station. Luckily, they didn't have any problems finding each other - it was Cody's first visit to Penn Station and he had never met Beth before! Thursday evening, Beth prepared a wonderful gluten free dinner for us. (She is gluten free for health reasons).

Friday evening, Erica, Beth, and I went out to dinner for Amber's birthday.

After dinner at Blockheads, a mexican restaurant, we called it an early evening while everyone else went out to the bars. We were saving our energy for the next day! Saturday, we went to a puppy store near our apartment. Beth and I are both puppy-lovers, so we enjoyed playing with the dogs for over an hour.

After the puppy store, we went to lunch at a sushi place, which all of us except Erica enjoyed (sorry Erica!). While we were on our way to get a post-lunch treat, gelato and sorbet, Cody called to tell us he was on his lunch break. So we met him in the park in the middle of Park Avenue for some dancing. Cody even figured out how to make the timer on my camera work!

Then, we got our sorbet and gelato and ate it while strolling around the park.

Saturday evening, Amber came over, we made a big family-style dinner, and played poker. Beth and Cody decided to team up against the rest of us and named themselves "Team Body." We had quite a few laughs...

On Sunday, we ventured downtown to the West Village to a gluten free restaurant called Risotteria. The food was extremely tasty, as was the gluten free beer (we had to try gluten free beer!).

From there, we walked across the city to a gluten free bakery. We got tons of cupcakes. On our walk, we discovered a park with a bike-riding polo game.

The weekend was wonderful and it was so good to see Beth doing so well. She has already planned her next trip back this August. I guess she had a good time! :)

Spring sweeps the city ( 4.22.07 )

(note: from now on we will be trying to stay as currant as possible, all the while we will also be filling in our past. Please peruse the past postings to see if any new info has been logged. We are doing this because we feel you may want to know what we are doing now. Enjoy)

This past weekend was amazing out in the city, mid to high 7o's with just a calm breeze. Everyone was out, and we were no exception. Since it was Molly's weekend, she chose to walk west across Central Park over to the Hudson river and Riverside Park. We were then to stroll down to a place called "Boat Basin".

The pictures turned out great and kind of speak for themselves. Of course I will let you know what is what.

This is the small park that was constructed in the middle of Park Avenue (look back to one of my first posts to see what it looked like last summer). It is not yet in full bloom, as you can tell by the sticks in the foreground, but it is a really cool little spot.

This is 95th between Madison and 5th. Molly says that even the trees know they have to look nice for the rich people. It is a very cool street. Just down the hill to the right is my store.

Fun fact for the day: Now that I'm my bosses chauffeur, when I go and get their cars at night, I try and park right where that black mini van is, but almost always I drive down the street and park illegally in front of a hydrant.

This is what passes for a garden in the city. We have one around the trees in front of our house as well, but it only has sticks and dog doo. Maybe I will do something about that.

This was a quiet part of the park, you could almost find a green space to sit! It was great none the less.


Once we crossed the park we stopped by Vintage NY's Broadway shop for a chat with my friend Gary, he's the manager up there. Soon he will be losing his laundry money to me on the pool tables, but for now we just talked about jobs and rent. A very common topic in the city. When we left Molly spotted this street fair just up Broadway. There was all sorts of stuff on sale, records, wood carvings, underwear?, and of course food.

We had our first ears of grilled corn for the season. There was a picture of me, but it looked more like I was about to gnaw off my hand. What can I say, I was hungry!

Wood Carvings.

After a few blocks of the fair we had seen what they had to offer, so we headed over to Riverside park. Riverside is on the west side overlooking the Hudson river, just inside the West Side Highway. So of course the whole time you are walking there is traffic booming by, but what the hell, a walk is a walk. The city is redoing a lot of the park so it was covered with torn up blacktop and blue tarps, but this was a nice little section.

Oh yea, lookin sharp! On a bench, by a tree.

Ahh, the best part of a long walk is a frosty giggly pop. Boat Basin is in the middle of a traffic round-a-bout, but amazingly enough you don't hear the traffic. There is a large circle of concrete benches with a raised island of tables in the middle. On one side of the circle there is an area that is under the road that is the actual restaurant. It sounds strange, but it was very cool, and popular. At 4:30 there was an hour and a half wait. We opted for concrete benches and sunshine. Wear your sunscreen!

After beers and people watching, we made the long trek home. We figure we walked about five miles, and we were tired. This was the last shot of the day, looking over the great reservoir in Central Park. That big black building there is Mount Sinai Hospital and right next to that is home.

I have to admit that up to this point, this was by far the best weekend out in the city that I may have had since I've moved here. All the elements for a good time for me were there. Outdoors, friends, beer, fresh air (sort of), corn, and crazy people (ever present). If the rest of the summer is like this, I will be a happy little camper.

The Metropolitian vs. The Nor'easter ( 4.15.07)

(Molly Post)

By April, we were really enjoying our Sunday adventures. Despite the fact that a terrible Nor'easter was blowing across New York, we decided we couldn't be kept indoors. We bundled up in our most waterproof gear and decided to walk down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We only had to walk about 10 blocks...how wet could we get? We soon found we could get VERY wet. Rain was coming down in buckets and Park Avenue looked more like a river than a street.

By the time we reached the Met, every inch of our bodies were completely soaked, despite waterproof shoes, raincoats, and umbrellas. We went to a "Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797" Exhibit (Fitting considering the walk over the streets were running with water). It was pretty cool. Since Venice had been a trading hub of the Mediterranean, Islam influence was pretty strong, and the exhibit showed its influence on the Arts.

After about an hour, when the feeling of wet feet was becoming unbearable, we decided to head back home to our warm (and dry) apartment. The Nor'easter definitely slowed us up, but it did not beat us...we did stay inside for the rest of the afternoon though.

Easter at Heidelberg ( 4.8.07 )

(Molly Post)

For Easter Sunday, we didn't have any special plans. It was a sunny day, so we decided to wander around our neighborhood and maybe go to the park. We took a stroll down Madison and found a little deli to grab a cup of coffee. It turned out the sun was deciving - it actually started to snow. So after we finished our coffee, we decided a walk in the park wasn't a great idea...but going to Heidelberg for a German beer was!

A little old woman, who we guessed was the owner, was bartending for the day. The bar was decorated for Easter and even had free hard-boilded decorated eggs for customers. Cody and I had a few. The bench in the window had heated seats, so we sat there and people watched for a few hours enjoying the warmth and beer while watching it snow outside.

That was our Easter...maybe nothing "new" this Sunday, but still a fun day.

Florida in March

(Molly Post)

The day after my birthday, I had to fly to Orlando for a business trip. I spent the first half of the week working at a wireless conference, but my Mom joined me half-way through the trip. After the conference ended, she and I switched hotels from Universal Studios (that NBCU was paying for) to Disney World!

We went to Epcot Thursday afternoon, as soon as my work stuff ended. We had a fun time going from country to country in the World Showcase, trying something new in each place. There were topiaries of Disney characters all over the park - we took a picture of nearly all of them, but one of my favorites is below. My mom and I also got someone to take a picture of us with "Paris" in the background, one of our favorite spots in the park.

The next morning, we woke up very early to go to Magic Kingdom. We wanted to get through most of the park by midday so we could drive down to Naples sooner (my dad and Lily were waiting for us there). As we waited in line for the teacups, Disney employees came around to give everyone free mouse ears (promoted Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams").

By about 2 PM, after we had gone on most of the rides in the park, we got on the road for Naples. I had a wonderful few days at our house there, relaxing, going out for meals with my parents, and playing with Lily. Isn't she cute!?

Molly's gets older as we eat pizza ( 3.25.07 )

(Molly Post)

For my birthday, it was Cody's Sunday. I told him I didn't care what we did as long as we made it to Lombardi's, this great pizza place in SoHo (actually, the first pizza place in the US). So we decided to go downtown and wander around SoHo for the day. Nothing special, just a quite day for the two of us. We went to Lombardi's for lunch, then froze as we walked north on the Bowery to Union Square. We went to DSW for some shoe shopping.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay downtown for too long. I had to get home to pack for a business trip that I left for around 5 AM the next morning. Cody made me a nice dinner that evening and even though it sounds lame, it was a very wonderful birthday.

X marks the spot! Mr. Lee's Neighborhood ( 3.23.07 )

(Molly Post)

Sometime in February, a sign appeared outside our building stating that a new NBC Pilot was looking for a location to film and our block was exactly what the producers and Spike Lee, the director, were looking for. Cody and I immediately thought it was a scam: person poses as NBC Producer, comes into your apartment to view the space, robs you. A few weeks go by and we see another sign outside the building informing us that NBC will be filming the Pilot on our street from 9 PM - 12 AM one evening the next week! Turns out the inquiry was legit and someone else took NBC up on their offer.

On the night of the shoot, a huge crew began to set up. Our entire block was shut down, huge trucks were set up as dressing rooms/staging areas, and a huge white screen was set up across from our building to reflect light down the block. For the first time, Cody and I decided to brave the fire escape to get a better view of the action. We crawled out of our window with a beer and watched NBC and Spike Lee shoot a scene from their pilot for the next hour or so.

This is looking from our apartment towards Park Avenue. These were the set up trucks.

This is the light screen that was directly across from our apartment.

Spike Lee

This is looking from our apartment towards Lexington Avenue. The scene involved a bunch of cop cars pulling up to an apartment building and a lot of people filling inside. They got it in about 3 takes. Will be interesting to see if our building makes it into the Pilot!

The Village for Dinner ( 3.18.07 )

(Molly Post)

The day after St. Patrick's Day is typically one of rest and recovery, but Cody and I had dinner plans with Rob and Celia that had been postponed several times over a few weeks. So we dragged ourselves down to the Village for what proved to be a lovely evening and a home cooked meal.

When we arrived, we found Rob and Celia had prepared a wonderful dinner for us. We had empanadas stuffed with spinach and cheese (and probably a bunch of other stuff Celia "forgot" to mention so I would try them), and Edamame for appetizers. For dinner, Celia made a wonderful chicken/tomato dish - it was so good. Finally, we finished off the meal with sorbet and these delicious chocolates Rob had to hide when he bought them so Celia wouldn't eat them all before we arrived. I understood why he had to hide them, because they were very tasty!

The lovely hosts:

It was the perfect end to a very fun weekend.

Greatest Holiday of the Year ( 3.17.07 )

St. Patrick's Day.

Cody and I woke up at 8 AM, eager to start our day. At 10 AM, the Irish vs. Italy Rugby game was playing at Kinsale, but figured we should be there by 9:30 at the latest to get a seat. We were wrong, you had to get there by 8:30 on St. Patty's to get a seat! We arrived around 9:15, and luckily were able to steal the corner at one end of the bar. While we didn't have seats, we at least had a place to stand at the bar (as opposed to 3 rows of people back from the bar, which is what most people had to deal with). Brian joined us first, apparently eager to start his day o' drinking.

Amber joined us as well around 10:30, and we enjoyed a nice standing Irish breakfast. We were all decked out in everything green, though my hat was the best accessory (Cody stole it from his wine shop, and I, naturally, stole it from him).

After the rugby game (Ireland won by 40+ points), Cody, Amber, and I got ourselves ready to go to midtown to join in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with Fordham. Brian, having walked in it during High School, didn't want to walk in it again. Being March, it was damn cold. We had to wait for nearly 2 hours at Fordham's starting point before we were allowed to begin marching. While waiting, we met a lot of fun people, enjoyed a pint in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, and got to watch an Irish marching band practice.

The parade runs up 5th Avenue from 42nd Street - 86th Street (about 2 miles). The below is a picture looking up 5th Avenue about half way through the parade.

After the parade is when the party got started. We went to 1st Avenue to meet up with Brian and a bunch of other friends. We stayed here for an hour or so before making our way across town to meet up with Brian's brother, Greg, and his fiance. We found them at a bar on the West Side (no idea where or what it is called). Some of Greg's friends came and joined us as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Irish beer and eating bar food at a little window table at this bar. Below are two pictures inside and in front of this bar.

As the evening drew on, we went to another pub across the street for dinner and more beers. Around 8 PM, I had reached my limit. Cody and I took a cab home and fell asleep at 9 PM, exhausted.

The below picture, taken outside of Kinsale Tavern at 11:30 AM, pretty much sums up our day.

Natural History and a Visit from Molly's Mother ( 3.11.07 )

By the middle of March we were really starting to get into this Sunday thing. Even though it was still cold out we made up our minds to make a day of our trip to the Natural History Museum. Rather than riding the subways, we walked across the park over to the west side and down to 79th street. Having visited Dinosaur National Monument out in Western Colorado an untold amount of times when I was a kid, this was a trip that I was looking forward to.

New York's Natural History Museum dates back to 1869 when the building was actually over on the East side of Central Park. In 1874 the Museum moved over to the West side and it started growing right away. It is now a huge collection of buildings with a lot of artifacts. I just wish they would dust some of the stuffed animals every once in a while.

Yea its cold out, there is some ice on the edges of the Great Reservoir. You may also recognize the building in the background. It was in Ghostbusters.

These are some of the fine displays, a Monkey, Water Buffalo, and some sort of small fat dog/cat. Like I said, they could use a dusting every once in a while, but they are still cool.

In the Teddy Roosevelt building, in front of the dinosaur.

(Molly)
After the History Museum, we went across town to grab a bite to eat and wait for my mom to arrive. She met us at the restaurant and we went shopping (of course). Cody was a very good sport. He found a corner to sit in for 30 minutes while my mother and I bought me two spring suits for work. That evening, we made our way downtown to a little Italian restaurant, Piccolo Angelo. I had to make the reservation 3 weeks in advance, but it was worth it. The food was great and the place felt a lot like being in Italy. Below is a picture of my mom and me.

A few selected links:

Natural History Museum

http://www.amnh.org/home/?src=toolbar

Dinosaur National Monument

http://www.nps.gov/dino/