Madison Square Eats

Yesterday I wore a rain coat. Well, I consciously chose a long jacket that was water-resistant, anyway. And aside from a few sprinkles on a lunchtime walk, it didn't rain at all. But, I couldn't be too upset, because it still felt lingeringly warm and made for a great evening outside, which had been in the cards all day.

After work I headed down to meet a friend I hadn't seen since about February or March at Madison Square Park (which is NOT Madison Square Garden, and I feel legally obligated to make this distinction) just across from the Flatiron building, an iconic favorite of mine, right after the Chrysler Building. (Also, when I googled images of "Flatiron", this also came up. Ha.)

Madison Square Eats was in full swing, a few-weeks long outdoor food fair of some local vendor foods, desserts and drinks. Naturally we found ourselves at a small bartop of a local brewery's stand and partook of the seasonal pumpkin ale which, might I add, was quite delish. And the poor confused environment was so pleasant! It was gray and breezy, but huffy and warm, if a little moist. It was bustling and crowded and there were big bright string-lighted bulbs across the tops and the hustle of the streets sounding outside as a low din under the music playing and everyone talking and laughing and calling to the vendors over other peoples' heads. I was even able to take my jacket off and have the wind on my shoulders and enjoy what I'm sure is one of the final few nice outdoor evenings of 2012 here. Having a beer outdoors is apparently too much to ask for in this country, so I drink up every opportunity I can get. So this was me last night in the outdoor air with my beer:

After this, we walked down 5th Avenue to a Thai restaurant (where I had basil fried rice with vegetables) and on the way passed this little number in a shop window. Statement, much? Loves it!!

After Thai, we went down past Union Square for gelato before getting the sweaty 6 train uptown. I am not an East Sider. The East Side is completely foreign to me, as is the East Side subway line, the green lines 4, 5 and 6 trains. However, now that I live off of the crosstown 7 train, I can take virtually any train at all, because it will intersect with the 7 at some point on 42nd Street, but taking the 4, 5 or 6 still feels weird and I am just not a fan. For absolutely no logical reason at all.

I stumbled home and forgot to brush my teeth before bed and then lost my keys (as I noticed this morning), because I placed them on the shelf in my closet? Still made it to work earlier than usual, which means only about 15 minutes late. Old habits die hard.

First Day of Autumn

And all I can think is...

Courtesy of one Miss Jayna

Stop Me (If You Think You've Heard This One Before)

I have two things on my mind lately: 1. That F*%*^$(&(@#(*&$ Half Marathon, and 2. Rock Band. I would like to humble myself and profusely apologize to Staten Island and her Half Marathon, because it is becoming more apparent that I grossly underestimated the severity and necessity of real training for this. (Read: Following schedules and not jump the gun or over-train, icing and and resting, and having appropriate shoes and equipment, etc.) I am legitimately worried about this thing due to my current runners-knee knee injuries.

This is me when I think about the marathon:

And this is the Staten Island Half Marathon when she thinks about me:

The bottom line is that I will go, and I will walk or run or doggie paddle as far as I can go, but I just can't promise that I'm not going to hail a taxi cab at some point with my joints in the shape that they are. The good news is that I think I can console myself to the point of saying that whatever I can run this one, I will shave off the next one (if applicable). For instance: If I have to cop out at 8 miles, I will sign up for another half and run 5.1 miles before calling it quits and laughing in the faces of the rest of the runners. I hope it doesn't come to that, but never say never.

Secondly, I love my new home. I often think about what a great apartment, living space, bedroom (with my own bathroom!) and roommates that I have. It's almost inconceivable. And then you go and throw Rock Band into that mix and I'm all like:

 

On Tuesday I finally went out with one of my roommates' to his trivia league at a pretty decent bar in Astoria called Raven's Head Pub. Super fun! Met some new people and we even all collected a decent 2nd place, whose winnings entailed a round of beers, which I didn't exactly need at that point but I worked for that prize! Afterwards, roommate and I walked back to the apartment and we were still pretty hyped up so we decided to play Rock Band. Unfortunately the other roomie had work, but fortunately our living room has a door so we plugged in and turned it up and he played guitar and I sang until almost 1am! And we were KILLING it, I was getting 100%'s left and right, even on EXPERT level.

I know, I KNOW, I should be launching my singing career already. What am I waiting for? SOON, young padawans. It's so great to love where I live and have cool roommates and friends. Guess it had just been a little while. Oh, and was pleasantly surprised that The Smiths are on Rock Band 3. What genius do they have on staff who added that? It's Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before which seemed like a random choice but on second singing thought, it's super catchy and fun! Naturally I slayed it, and couldn't stop listening to it today.



I was detained, I was restrained. I broke my spleen, and broke my knee, and then he really laced into me! Friday night in out-patients... who said I'd lied to her? Oh who said I lied? Because I never, I never! Stop me, oh, stop me. Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before. Nothing's changed, I still love you, oh I still love you... only slightly (only slightly!) less than I used to.

Blustery Sort of Day

Aside from the relative warmth, today is the definition of a blustery sort of day. The sky is gray and ominous, the wind is gusty and watery, and the leaves are littering the ground and making a mad dash in every direction.

It sucks. I hate waking to tumultuous weather that in college you would have just slept through under the covers and listened to the radio and pretended like you were going to use the extra time to be wrapped in a blanket in the living room with your roommates drinking coffee and studying. Now with a 9-5 it's like you don't get paid if you don't show up or something, so you have to drag yourself up and turn on the side light cause it's so dim outside, and carry an umbrella and wear boots for the first time of the season. I did not sign onto this! I want to speak to my consulate! Not to mention, my knees are killing me and I even had to defer to the elliptical machine today rather than the track because I am falling apart at the joints.

So there are two ways to deal with this: ride the subway all melancholy-like and be super annoyed and depressed because you're supplementing it with songs like Radiohead (Exhibit A):



Orrrrr you can find more upbeat but still-gray-feeling complementary alternatives while your music is on shuffle as you're leaving the gym, walking back to your dreaded desk (Exhibit B):



I don't really advocate one over the other, I freely did both today. But I really hate days like this.

It's Always A Good Time

Happy Monday to the world after a fabulous weekend. Friday night dancing and drinks (I tried a tequila-ginger ale for the first time, and ended up speaking in a British accent for the longest time and therefore winning a round from my cohorts) and even woke up like a sunflower in the summertime on Saturday in time for my race! I have to say though, I was dragging my feet to leave, I could tell I was scared and trying to avoid the whole thing a little bit.

It takes foreverrrrrr to get to Coney Island. I started freaking out a little bit towards the end there. Thank goodness the train always clears out, because I changed my shoes, wrapped my ankle and toes and stretched for the last few stops. I got there with literally just enough time to pin my bib on and get in line.

I was nervous. It was weird! A totally new thing, I had no idea what to expect or what to do, and I was all alone. There were lots of people who were doing it solo, but I felt like the only fish out of water who had no idea what to do. Then it was time to go and I... just went. I had music on and I just ran and ran and ran, and I have to say, that it was beeeeeeeeautiful. It was a perfect morning, an autumn edge in the air, piercing blue sky, the sound of the rumbling boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean sparkling to the side, it really beat running the stupid track.

When I crossed the finish line I felt like jumping up and down and wanted to turn around and ask if anyone just saw that?! But there was no one there, so I just got my medal and banana and went to the side to stretch and cool down, look at the water and Instagram/text everyone I knew, especially my running "mentor", my coworker here who got me into the half.


What can I say? It was bright.

My results were even sent to me that day

I hung out in Coney Island for the afternoon. I went to the Irish Fair and made some friends, had some beers and listened to the live music. Before leaving I got a Nathan's hot dog, cause I did travel like an hour and a half to get out there in the first place, and then an iced coffee at the train station for good measure. I took the Q train which runs on the Manhattan Bridge coming back into the city, and this was the great view on the splendid day



When i got home, I wasn't feeling particularly active, but I was revved up. So I put on music and I rearranged two walls of my room. This included taking off bedding and mattresses, dismantling my desk, dragging carefully across the hardwood, assembling and reassembling, hanging and stepping back, re-hangig and adjusting, then cleaning sweeping dusting before showering and finally calling it a day.

On Sunday I was in Central Park for 4 hours, which was great with the cooling weather and all the buzz of activity going on, then picked up some groceries and made it home in time for the second half of the Chargers game only to see that apparently their game wasn't good enough to put on because the stupid Jets were playing. I'm so happy they lost because I HATE the Jets!! It always bothers me on the Wonder Years that Kevin regularly wears a green jacket with the Jets logo on it... so rude!

And today is just Monday. I can't stop listening to this song though, it's an instant feel-good'er.



But I watched the SNL from last Saturday with Seth MacFarlane, I LOVE HIM!!! And the episode's not half bad either.

Emergency 5k

Remember how my summer was so busy I was looking forward to having free weekends to sleep in and do whatever I felt like doing? Well I have that laid out ahead of me this weekend and when I stopped to think about it, it sounded awful! If I don't have something out there, it's hard for me to ever leave my apartment, and the thought of just lazing around was not appealing to me for some reason. I've been very stir crazy and twitchy lately and seem to do better filling my free time so I can't stop to think too much.

And THAT'S how I found myself registered for my first race ever! Not that I'll be racing. But I'll be running a 5k at the Great Irish Fair in Brooklyn tomorrow. Which will be interesting considering I have outing plans immediately after work today in midtown that include classy lounges and sassy dance floors. But I can sleep when I'm dead.

My mission tomorrow will be threefold:

1. To run for Ronnie on his bday
2. To celebrate my newest brand new baby cousin Izaak Patrick*
3. To bring honor to my family



*The newest addition to the family, and the first baby of my fab cousin Cherisse. Welcome to the world Izaak, may you inherit an affinity for Uncle Carl's at the appropriate time, and all the class of the Shaffer side!

P.S. HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

For Jayna

This girl is lucky to be getting anything from me considering that she A) Moved away from me to North Carolina, and B) Is currently on the shores of the faraway and exotic land of the 51st state of Puerto Rico while I am slaving away in a freezing office. STILL, it's her birthday today and I miss having her in NYC so much, she deserved a specialized announcement from me. She was my best girl in New York before she done went and turned into Miss Real Housewife of Raleigh. (This is like, the only picture we have together that I could find?? How is that possible?!)



And, sorry the terrorists ruined it, but I'll also have to take this September 11th to say that I'll never forget, and the World Trade Center tribute beams are on bright and strong, even seen here from Columbia way uptown.



Aaaaand...! I'm coming to Raleigh!! See you in two weeks Jayna!!

Autumn is Here

It's fall! I'm normally OCD about waiting until the 21st or 22nd or whatever the calendar says, but it is unmistakenly autumn here. Today was the first real day of chilly weather. I brought a sweater thinking I would be keeping it in my purse, but I actually needed it! It's crisp and breezy and beautiful. And the fall in New York is still magical in a new way to me... it still has a different feeling, and it's for good. There's no going back to summertime once it turns. I have a lot of memories of Montreal with this weather this year. I would love to go back again this year.

But fall! My favorite season! In New York City! Sweaters and scarves and orange leaves and pumpkin spices and Starbucks red cups and getting ready for CHRISTMASTIME. I feel the need to really capitalize on every day since I feel so busy. Namely, spending my evenings running. Another 6 miles tonight! Actually, 6.25. I thought I would give myself a break and only run 5 but couldn't resist. I plan to get up to 7 this week. We'll see how that goes.

Here are some fall pictures to make everything feel fuzzy inside.









And I'm watching the Chargers game and realizing that Rivers is a complete moron. Does anyone have his number so I can text him and tell him what to do? Wait! TOUCHDOWN! Literally just now. I hate having to stay up until 10:15pm for a kickoff. One way the East Coast is inferior to the West.

Around Boston, Or, The Best Weekend Ever

I now want to share the about my fabulous trip to Boston over Labor Day. Though it was the end of my summertime trips, it felt like a great pinnacle and crowning finish. I just LOVE Boston, I can't get over it! And I had spent so much time going south to the mid-Atlantic sites of North Carolina, Philadelphia, DC and Baltimore, that I had neglected visiting Chrishon in Boston for far too long. I felt completely renewed coming back up to the capital of New England. And what's more, since Chrishon and I had both done a fair amount of exploring in the inner city already, we decided to venture out to some sites just outside of it.

Bright and early on Saturday morning I was blazing out of the city on a bus north, getting into Boston's South Station in the very early afternoon. First order or business was a big, big deal for me. I saw the movie Little Women with Winona Ryder when it came out in theatres in 1994 (which would make me 8 years old at the time?) and then read the first book. And then the second book. And then saw the 1933 version with Katharine Hepburn, and the 1949 version with Elizabeth Taylor, and then read books about the author, Louisa May Alcott, and then re-read Little Women over and over again. So naturally, I hoped one day I could visit her Concord, Massachusetts home where she lived, and wrote, and based the book on. And that one day became September 1, 2012.







Thanks to Chrishon for driving us and taking the tour through the house, which was both surreal and beautiful, and it was also next to Nathaniel Hawthorne's house, or maybe it was Ralph Waldo Emerson's. I was really only concerned with the Alcott's at the time. After this, we were starving, so we found the town and stopped in for pizza, after which, we ventured to the ice cream store next door because honestly who doesn't love ice cream? The place seemed unusually busy for such a small town, but we soon found out why. Their sizes were kiddie, small, medium, and large, and I opted for just a small oreo-coffee flavor in a cone and was basically given the carton of ice cream turned upside on the cone so that I had to ask for a cup to support it and be able to finish it! SO. DELICIOUS.



Chris and I took our ice creams en route to our walk around Walden Pond, which was made famous by Henry David Thoreau, who wrote a book of his life there where he lived for 2 years in a cabin he built himself.





Now, blame me or blame the education system, but I only learned of Walden from South Park. There is an episode with a national essay-writing contest that Cartman wins, much to the chagrin of Wendy, who sneaks into the school after hours to read his winning essay, only to find out that all he did was turn in a copy of Thoreau's Walden. So I have known of it for awhile.

After that came rest and prep at Chrishon's place before we dolled ourselves up for a night on the town in Boston's Quincy Market neighborhood. First off, we didn't have to pay for parking, we found a great free spot on the street nearby our destination. We found the Purple Shamrock and moseyed on in without a problem, only to later see the bouncers collecting covers from everyone. How did we avoid this and why?? The world may never know. The night was great. The bar had a really poppin dance floor, even if the DJ was addicted to the '90s music for some unknown reason, and met a fairly awesome dance partner for the tail end of the night, before Chris and I took ourselves back to her place after having closed the bar down.

The next day was an excursion to Salem! If you didn't know it as the location of the Salem Witch Trials, you couldn't leave without figuring it out. It's a small little village along the Boston Harbor, and anything and everything that could maintain a picture of a witch or a witch in the name, does. There were girls in witch costumes posing for pictures, witch stores, and psychics. It was very, very overkill. BUT, they did take it to a level that I liked and had a Harry Potter store that even sold BUTTERBEER. What gets better than that?



Here are some images from around Salem









We had lunch in the area (I had fresh cod fish and chips... om nom nom) and we took a walk along the harbor, down a little jetty where there were some sort of replicas and educational tools from the colonial days... I think? I don't know, we just used them as photo props!











And near the witch village... Chris' drink from lunch is catching up to her



That evening we spent at a routine spot of ours, Lansdowne across the street from Fenway Park, (again, didn't have to pay for parking!) and sleeping in right nice on Monday, until (my favorite!) walk to the nearby Mexican restaurant Margaritas along the Charles River, outside in the sunlight watching the ducks and rowers, before more ice cream (mwa ha ha!) and relaxing until it was time to catch my bus from South Station.

It's always so super hard to leave Boston, I love it a million times over, and it's always so nice to escape Manhattan and to be in the welcome home of a familiar face!

Six Miles

I ran six miles yesterday. S-I-X-M-I-L-E-S. This is the most I've ever done at one time in my life. It was surreal. And really, quite difficult. I think I was half delirious at the end. There was a huge mental difference between running on my lunch break and saying "Whatever I can get done in the next 45 minutes is fine by me" to saying "However long it takes, I'm running six miles tonight" and that probably didn't help. I planned a longer stretching period, but I also felt myself dragging my feet to finish the stretching and get on the track. Below is an abbreviated transcript of my mental thoughts during the process:

Okay, here we go.
See? This isn't so bad.
You've already done this, just keep going.
Just one mile at a time.
Oy, stop thinking about it.
I wonder if that tall guy is an undergrad...
TWO MILES?! THAT'S IT?!
Oh my gosh, screw this, maybe I'll just run 4 miles tonight
This sucks this sucks this sucks
Just... get... to... three...
Halfway there. Only halfway?! I'm never going to finish this
Fine self, you can walk a mile, just keep moving
This is way too slow. The more I run, the sooner this will be over
My legs are rocks.
What difference does it make? Just go. This really isn't so bad.
That's it. I'm getting off the track now.
Okay no, I'm not THAT tired.
Four! Okay, 2/3 the way there... get to five and we'll see.
I've watched like 7 cycles of runners on this track with me. Guess we know who the real champion is.
You can stop at five! Just walk a little, then run the last laps until five.
Is this thing for real? Did I survive to five? Okay, go to six. Walk it if you have to, just GET TO SIX.
I'm dying. I'm actually dying.
No I'm not. I'm psyching myself out. I don't even feel that bad.
Now who let this joker in? Get outta the way, this is the jogging lane!
I'm closer than I've ever been!
That entire yoga class is come and gone now and I'm still running in circles like a hamster.
So. Close.
Run 3 laps! Walk the last! You're there!
Why doesn't this thing say 6 miles yet?!? UGH!!!
This guy again. Well, whoever falls behind gets left behind.
SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU JUST DID SIX MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After which I fell over the water fountain and slurped up what felt like the sweetest nectar I had tasted in years. Then sitting on the locker room bench for like 15 minutes before attempting to open my locker. My legs were sore. I felt like I had ran off an infinity amount of calories. Six miles worth of constant moving. But I had this to show for it



And yes I am sore today but guess what? Not nearly as much as I thought I would be. Now to think that I still have to double this amount for the marathon. But somehow, I feel so empowered by that six miles, I'm not sure I actually expected to achieve it, but I did. And somehow 6 miles doesn't seem that far to run anymore. And if I just add another mile tomorrow...? I'll probably drop down dead. At least I'll have burnt a substantial amount of calories.

THE FEAR.

Is summer really over?? It's only the Tuesday after Labor Day and there are already forecasts for thunderstorms and downpours here in New York City. BUT, as predicted, the summers of the Summer Olympics and my best and most eventful summers ever, and I was not disappointed this year! From Memorial Day to Labor Day, I had a jampacked whirlwind of a life this season. The Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Coney Island Mermaid Festival, moving from Harlem, Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, West Virginia, Anja visiting from Germany, venturing to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Key West, Cousin Bobby visiting from Seattle, dad and Kathleen and the US Open, San Francisco and Northern California wine country for Katie's wedding and the NorCal outpost colony of cousins, all the tiptop way to Boston and beyond this past weekend.

I KNOW what you're thinking. How can I have been training for a marathon during that time? The answer is that... I haven't really. I've been managing to squeeze it in occasionally here and there but the last time I acted suited up and went out was Saturday, August 11 when I went running in the hot side streets of Monte Sereno, CA. I now, officially, have THE FEAR. I have JUST over a month to get in shape for 13.1 miles of Staten Island. HOW will this happen when all I've done is run just over 3 miles of a track on my lunch break?? I just don't know!! Buuuut I have THE FEAR, which is a great motivator, and it starts now! Or it did... I hit the track today and didn't seem to lose much, ran a solid mile and a half in about 12 minutes before stopping to walk a few laps and took up again for the rest of my time.

I am STILL wondering what on Earth I was thinking when I signed up for this.