Today we headed over to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The place was packed, but unfortunately the peak bloom hasn't quite hit. A few of the trees were getting there, but the esplanade will probably reach its prime next week.
- I just read that the Claremont Riding Academy is closing on Sunday. I loved that place growing up, and I remember one summer when I wasn't at summer camp in August, I took riding lessons there a couple times a week. They say the reason they're closing is that the park is too crowded for the horses these days, which I guess is a good thing, but its sad that we can't all just get along.
- David Halberstam died yesterday. I was introduced to him by my cousin, who is a high school history teacher, while writing a term paper on McCarthyism in my junior year of high school. I loved his book, The Fifties, which I have probably not read more than 20 pages of. I used to keep it by my bedside and open it at random and read a few pages at a time.
- Last Friday, Sam and I stumbled upon Graziella's, a pizza place in our neighborhood that I'd heard at some of the best pizza in the area but had never been to since I don't remember ever knowing where it was. Turns out its on Vanderbilt, between Dekalb and Willoughby, and its pretty tasty brick oven pizza. It had this odd suburban feel to it, though, which I soon realized was partly due to the screaming kids at a few tables away (seriously, what are your kids still doing up and out at 10pm?), but mostly due to the huge amount of space the restaurant occupied. There was so much room between the tables, which isn't something I'm used to in NYC. Can't wait to go back when the roof deck is open.
- The photos above are from about a month ago, when they were installing the sod grass on the Bryant Park lawn. The guy running the show saw me taking photos and asked if I would take his picture too, to get the name of the company in. First time a stranger has ever asked me to take their photo. It was cute. And on a related note, there was an interesting story on Bryant Park in the City Section of the Times last Sunday. Check it out.
A few weeks ago, I wandered through Target to use the bathroom and got sucked in to the women's clothing department. See, this is what happens when my husband is not with me to curb my shopping ways. I just wanted to look, since the stuff always looks cute in passing, but I like to save up the time I subject Sam to my browsing for more important shopping ventures. So anyway, I stopped, and some some cute skirts and reasonably priced button down tops, as well as a few tank tops that are good for layering. The skirts fit horrendously, but the tops look cute, so I decide to get them. I am in need to button down tops and those ruffly things that seem to be all the rage are not for me.
In hindsight, I know now that I should not have inspected the loose thread. When I pulled on the loose thread sticking out from my middle button, I did not think about the consequences, namely that said button may fall off. Which it did. And it is now in my pocket. Instead of doing its job keeping my shirt shut so that my midriff isn't on display for my office. Did I mention this is the first time I'm wearing the shirt? And so the age old cliche you get what you pay for is proven once again.
In an unrelated note, my mom asked me on the phone last night "So what size storm is this?" According to the NY Times, 7.46 inches fell in Central Park yesterday. According to the New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual, that would put yesterday's storm just around the 100-year storm level. So I guess that makes all the fuss right on target for once. Not that I would know. The extent of my contact with the outdoors yesterday was emptying a bowl collecting the leaks around the door to our deck.
There is no better incentive to clean up your apartment then when you have guests come over, and this weekend was no different. Saturday after some swimming and a leisurely brunch of tasty matzoh brei (oh how I love thee - so much I even eat you occasionally during the other 51 weeks of the year, though mainly if we happen to be out of bread for toast), there was a few hours of serious cleaning action going on. I even mopped! I haven't done that in about a year (there's a reason we shell out the dough for someone to do it for us). It really isn't that bad when you only do it once a year. Though I did realize we probably need a new mop. Then it was off to prep a easy roast chicken and potatoes, and relax once Sam's aunt and cousin came over.
We had a nice leisurely dinner and then headed over to The Brooklyn Museum for First Saturday, and mainly to check out the movie. We were lucky that it wasn't sold out, despite getting there after 7:30, when they distribute tickets. But maybe we weren't that lucky. Because halfway through the film, the movie seemed to skip back to a scene from 1/2 an hour earlier. It turns out that the museum was sent two copies of the first two reels. It may have been for the best - the movie was good, but we were all a bit confused as to what was going on, since the sound was a bit screwy and we could only hear half the dialogue. A few months back, something similar happened where there was a power outage in the projection room, so they couldn't even start the film. I guess that is what you get when its free.
I was in New Hampshire for work on Wednesday, and the flight back reminded me why I hate small planes. Sure, the views of the city were nice, but the ride was pretty bumpy and the descent into Laguardia was horrible. And the stop and go traffic on the BQE coming home didn't do wonders to settle my stomach. I warned the cab driver that I could see the traffic from plane, but did he listen? Of course not.
And the second picture? That was a reward for staying late on Friday. That and a tasty dinner at Loulou.