Full Swing

It's the end of July, we're on the other side of a brutal heat wave and I'm two days away from an entire week on the New Jersey Shore with my family. 

I haven't made any more progress on my list, but I did get to go out of town over 4th of July weekend.  

We drove 3 hours north of the city to the Catskills to stay with a friend and her husband on their land.

It's just far enough out of the city so that you feel removed from the hectic energy, but close enough that a city mouse like me isn't totally afraid.

I felt like Marie Antoinette, gathering wild strawberries, while right over the next hill you could just make out the sounds of the highway.  Our friends were the most gracious hosts, serving foie gras and champagne by the fire and Brittany salted butter and French press coffee for breakfast.

Last weekend I finally put my toes in the sand and, get this, we picked up our car!  That's right, a car.  Just think of all the adventures we'll be having now!

So, I'm off on vacation and much needed quality time with my family.  It's the first time since I was 16 that we've taken a vacation together and I cannot wait.  It's going to be so much fun!

I'll check in once in a while. Catch you on the flip side.

Not That Far From Home

Last week I got to cross something off my list!  That didn't take long, did it?

Just a 30 minute train ride puts us smack in the middle of the largest Chinatown in New York City.

It's amazing to me that I can be somewhere that feels so utterly foreign so close to home.

There produce I don't recognize and signs I can read, but there is for sure some food that I want to eat!

Biang! is the latest in the small empire created by Xi'an Famous Foods.  I first ate there in the food court at the Flushing Mall, but this the first retaurant with waiter service.  The food is just as good and the atmosphere very pleasant!  We had the famous Cumin Lamb Noodles and fiddlehead fern salad.  Both were amazing.

Then, just a little bit further down Main Street is the Queens Botanical Garden.  It's rather small, but very charming and if you pause a minute in the little grove of trees, it completely possible to forget you're in New York City at all.

It's free on Sundays from 4-6pm.  I'm thinking it's the perfect place to have a little picnic.  That is if this rain ever lets up!

What about you? Cross anything off your Summer To Do List? Go any place exotic this weekend?  Eat anything delicious?

Dog Days

Summer is in full swing now and I owe you guys a list!

I don't have very ambitious plans for this summer.  There's a wedding to attend in July and a week planned at the Jersey Shore with my family.  Other than that, I just want to take in the best NYC (mostly Queens) has to offer.

Maybe this is the year I finally get to the Jazz Age Lawn Party.

Since I live in Queens, the Met's are my adopted baseball team.  I really want to see a game.

And also in Queens, is the U.S. Open for tennis.  The Man and I have been talking about going for years.

Maybe the Queens Botanical Gardens and a lunch date here.

I've also been trying to eat here for almost a year.  Maybe this summer?

And certainly I have to get back out to Rockaway Beach, at least for a fish taco!

What are you hoping to do this summer?

You thought I forgot?

It's Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end to summer, and I have two items to check off my list!

First was the P.S. 1 summer warm up. I was about to throw in the towel on this one when I received an invitation to my friend's birthday. He and his wife live in LIC and they started the evening off here, at P.S. 1.

I guess the party really gets started after dark, but we went around 4pm and the courtyard was full of young people and families, young children frolicking in the wading pools. The museum is open and you can buy a beer and wander around. It was fun and there was an incredible vibe from the crowd - relaxed and engaged at the same time. Maybe I'll try to go more often next summer.

The big news, however, is that I finally finished my quilt!!!! I knew that by putting it on my list and giving myself a deadline, I would buckle down and get it done.



It's far from perfect. I didn't really know what I was doing. Many of the lines are crooked and some of the squares don't quite line up, but it's just as I imagined it would be.

I can honestly say that I've never been more excited/satisfied with anything I've ever made. Never. When I took it out of the dryer- all fluffy and puckered up like a quilt should be - I giggled. I actually laughed out loud. And I clutched it to my heart and grinned like a fool all the way home from the laundromat.


Not a bad way to (unofficially) end the summer. Not at all.

Epic Bike Ride of 2010

It was more like an Epic Weekend, which started with a trip to Jacob Riis Park in Rockaway, Queens. Constructed on the site of one of the first US naval air stations, the park was designed in 1936 by innovative Park Commissioner Robert Moses, who had also created Jones Beach in 1929 further east on Long Island. Moses envisioned Riis Park as a Jones Beach for poor immigrants, a destination accessible by public transportation and closer to the city. In 1972, Jacob Riis Park was transferred to the control of the National Park Service.

It was a really quick car ride, but if there is a ferry which takes you there from Manhattan, which I think would be fun. ( I do love ferries!) It was quiet there, and lovely. I haven't been to any beaches in NYC other than Coney Island and this Riis Park was sooooo different! I highly recommend going if you can't leave the city for the weekend and are feeling the sirens' call.

The next day we set out to ride our bikes to Coney Island. It was to be about 8 miles each way, with two very specific stops on the agenda.
First up, Di Fara's Pizza.

There's a lot of hype surrounding Di Fara's, which is attributed to, in my opinion, many variables: it's out-of-the-way location, it's weird hours, and the fact that only the venerable 80-year-old Dominic makes the pies. We got there at 12:25 and there was already a line forming. We waited patiently and ordered two slices and paid $10.
Yep, $10.

For the price and the trip, not really worth it. And I've eaten a lot of pizza in NYC. A lot. But it's just my opinion and you have the right to form your own, so travel to Avenue J at your own risk.

The journey continued all the way to Coney Island. I've been there two times so far this summer, and, God help me, I love it there. I can't quite tell you why. I feel like I'm being transported in place and time. Like I've entered a time warp or a worm hole and come out the other side somewhere completely other than New York. (It's the same way I feel about South Beach, which inspires the same kind of confused reactions from my friends. What can I say?)

We roamed the boardwalk and watched some crazy kids dive off the pier, while quiet older couples fished and picnic-ed. Having finally worked off the pizza it was on to the main event. That's right, people. I was back for tacos.

YUMMMMM. Doesn't that look amazing?! Having been twice now I would recommend the spicy pork, but not the steak. I would definitely have the chicken if I were to go again. Which I will.

We sat in the Plaza Mexico and listened to the canciones and fantasized that we were somewhere else, though the cries from the Cyclone reminded us that we were, in fact, not. Then it was time to go and work off those tacos on the ride home, which always seems shorter, doesn't it? On the way home we got caught in the rain - a good, soaking, mid-summer rain - and laughed the whole way.

Epic, indeed.

Independence Day

It's high summer and, I won't lie to you. I usually spend all summer long hiding out in super air-conditioned movie theaters watching big budget block buster movies.

For me, it's the perfect storm of escapism. I get to spend 2+ hours in air conditioning for about $10 and I retreat into some mindless entertainment.

This weekend, though, I've already seen The A-Team and Inception is still 2 weeks away, so I went to see Cyrus.

It was really fresh and darkly funny (I was the only one laughing at some points) and filled with supremely talented people.

It was so lovely, actually I may re-evaluate my summer regiment of action and special effects.

Happy Independence Day!

I can hardly believe that today is September 1st! The last two weeks have just flown by!

This speeding up of time is partially due to how busy I've been. In the last two weekends, I've had 3 photo shoots! I'm exhausted, but happy to be doing something creative.

The photos are some of my favorite from my collaboration with photographer Kat Teutsch. They are exactly what I was hoping for when we started out. Isn't that amazing when that happens?!