NYC Part Deux

Soooo...day two of my brief sojourn in Manhattan began at around 10:00 in the morning. Luckily, Abby didn't have to go into work for the rest of the weekend which guaranteed that Lis and I could at least be spared countless wasted hours on the subway. Since we weren't able to get tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway, and we'd already toured one art museum, today was dubbed "wander-around-and-shop" day. We grabbed some pastries for breakfast and our first stop was the CO Bigelow's Apothecary, which was full of fun things like jasmin mint toothpaste and this perfume that I will probably always regret not buying because it had the most heavenly fragrance. I've already tried to look for it - argh!

We then headed over to Union Square, meandering through a Farmer's Market on the way. I bought Adam a t-shirt, we enjoyed sampling apple cider, and slowly made our way to the Strand Bookstore, which is the home of 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books. Needless to say we enjoyed our time there. My sister would probably disappear in this store never to be found again. For the sake of her children, I won't ever encourage her to go.


As we were walking, I saw this building that had a hole in the middle of it with smoke coming out. I asked Abby what it was and her answer was, "I think it's art, actually." She couldn't remember what the concept was for it so I did some research later and apparently it is called, Metronome. It's a public artwall, and it's supposed to symbolize the intangibility of time. It does seem rather intangible.....

The next stop was another one of Abby's favorite stores - I can't remember the name, but it was chalk full of old-school candy such as atomic fireballs and these "gourmet" lollypops that I remember classmate of mine selling in high school for fundraisers. If I hadn't already indulged in pastries and an order of sweet potato french fries, I probably would have loaded up in the name of nostalgia. I settled for taking a photo.


We eventually ended up eating panini's at a fun restaurant on the lower east side and heading to Soho where some more serious shopping ensued. I've come to a realization that my pictures aren't all that exciting - mainly street scenes in the neighborhoods we went to, but I love all of the different building facades and just the feel of the city as you walk around.


At this point of the day, Lis and I were beat. Our feet weren't as tough as Abby's NY feet, who by the way, walked around in heels while Lis and I wore the most comfortable walking shoes we had. We discussed walking to see the Brooklyn Bridge, which probably would have been really cool to see and in the end called it quits for a siesta back at the apartment to rest up before going to dinner. Abby suggested this Japanese restaurant, Ippudo, where you can get ramen. All this time, I've been thinking that ramen is the cheap food you buy when you're in college! My bowl was (insert Japanese word for delicious, here)!


We capped off our evening by going to a piano bar to meet some of Abby's friends from grad school. Picture, a super crowded bar, with a piano in the middle and tables all around. There were two men and one sassy lady who would alternate serving drinks and singing numbers like, Son of a Preacher Man and Love Will Keep Us Together while the drunken patrons (except us) sang along with them. We sang ourselves hoarse, and I'm quasi-serious about pursuing a career in piano bar singing - I'm pretty sure that my Son of a Preacher Man was better than Natalie's. Just sayin'...

NYC Trip Part One...

This is for you, Dad:

Atom's birthday present to me was trip to New York City with Lis to visit our dear friend, Abby. This is why I really like him. It was our first time apart since we got married, and it was so hard to leave! We sat on the couch before going to the airport and both of us cried like I was going away for a year. Do you think our children will be dramatic at all? Luckily, I was only going away for three days and four nights (counting the red-eye flight), and so we put on a brave face and if you'd seen us part at the airport, you would have thought we were old hats at the whole saying goodbye thing. So, the trip begins....

with a torturous flight that left at midnight, Salt Lake time, and was due to arrive at JFK at 6:15 AM. I am not one of those people who can sleep on an airplane. I think I might have dozed off for a good 7 minutes, and that was about it. We arrived at JFK on-time. Our bags were miraculously the first ones out at the baggage claim and before we knew it, we were in a cab on the way to Abby's apartment. I fell in love with her neighborhood in Greenwich Village with all of its old buildings:


After we crashed for a couple of hours, Lis and I got ready to meet Abby for lunch in the financial district. Abby left us very detailed instructions regarding how to get to the subway and which lines to take. One thing we neglected to take into to consideration: the lines travel both ways. We knew we should be heading downtown, but we neglected to check which train we were getting on and ended up on the upper west side instead if downtown. It took about another half hour to remedy that mistake but eventually we made it. We walked along Wall Street and saw about a million people taking pictures by the stock exchange, and some fun old ships along the water front, but we didn't linger too long. We had decided to go to see the art collection at the Frick mansion. It's a smaller art museum, but with a very eclectic collection. First, we had to get there. It took about an hour longer than planned, and a brief foray into Harlem, but eventually we made it. (We didn't tell Abby about our trip to Harlem - too embarrassed.) The museum was amazing! I partcularly enjoyed the Whistler paintings in the last room that we walked through. Here's one of my favorites:

I finally mastered the subway map on the way back downtown (no small feat in my mind), and we made it to the apartment with no problems. We went to dinner at a Spanish restaurant where they only serve tapas, or appetizers. We tried about a dozen different tapas ranging from grilled quail to pork empanadas. It was fantastic, and after we rolled ourselves home, we promptly hit the sack. Stay tuned (if you care) for Day Two...

Hail to the Chief...

So, probably like many of you, Atom and I have been absolutely fascinated as we’ve watched the presidential campaigns unfold this year. We can’t get enough of it. We talk about it all of the time when we’re together. I’ve always been interested in politics. Those of you who know me well know that when I was 11 years old, I read a biography about our 41st president - George Herbert Walker Bush, and I loved it. Since that time, I felt a certain kinship with him. I have t-shirts, commemorative coins, photos, newspaper clippings and an autograph. I need to make sure you know that every single item was given to me from someone who knew that I really liked him, and are not the results of my own endeavors! No crazy people here, okay? When he lost his re-election campaign in 1992, I still remember walking into the kitchen the next morning and asking my mom whether he had been re-elected. When she told me no, my heart sank, I was so disappointed! My fascination didn’t end there – I’ve read at least a little bit about every American president, although I can’t say I remember very much about some of them (William Henry Harrison – my mind is blank). My favorites? I would say John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and George H W Bush (duh). I have a profound respect for that office, and the demands of such a position.

I received a forwarded email from a co-worker recently with images of suffragettes such as Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul who fought so hard to give women the right to vote. I’m so grateful for strong, intelligent women who have made my life so much easier through their struggles. I feel like I come from a long line of them myself!

Since this is my blog, and consequently my opportunity to share my voice, I’d like to encourage everyone to not only vote, but to get educated about the different candidates and their positions. Don’t rely on forwards or political commentators, do your own research. Below are two links to get you started, if you haven’t already. I like the CNN one because it’s easy to navigate, but I also tried to find one not affiliated with a news organization – it seems pretty unbiased, but I could be wrong. There are probably better ones than these, and if you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Googling a candidate’s name and then going to their campaign website is also a good place to start. Happy hunting!

http://www.issues2000.org/Issues.htm

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/