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!!