Three Years

This month Sean and I celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. I love anniversaries because they are our own personal holiday. And they give us an excuse to do fun things that we might not have done otherwise (like spend a weekend in Union Square, or go to Hawaii). This year was not terribly exciting. We are saving our pennies for exorbitant holiday flights and Sean has started class again. As usual I spent our anniversary lamenting over the fact that we still haven't put together a wedding album and wishing we had hired a wedding videographer. These are always productive hours. And then I think we watched the Office on Netflix.

We did use our anniversary as an excuse to go out for a nice dinner last weekend. We tried a new to us restaurant on the Upper West Side, Dovetail. It's hidden on 77th street just next to the Shake Shack and we had never noticed it before. I agree with a lot of the reviews which said this is such an underrated restaurant in New York. Walking in feels like entering someone's apartment building, but we were pleasantly surprised by the interior and the service was excellent. They have a vegetable tasting menu (which I appreciate, since being a vegetarian often limits my ability to order the chef's tasting menu) and it was delicious. I was stuffed by the end even though it was spread out over two hours. It was a very fun evening and I'm sure we will be back for special occasions in the future.

This past week we went to the opening night of the New York City Ballet's Swan Lake at Lincoln Center. We billed this as an anniversary present to ourselves because we have both wanted to see Swan Lake for a long time and it is always always sold out before we even think to buy tickets. We got the cheapest tickets possible. Really, there is such a thing as the nosebleed seats at ballets. I was still able to enjoy the ballet once I got over my fear of heights. This time Sean did not fall asleep (as he did when I took him to his first ballet) and we both loved the music and the final scenes which were in a word, epic. Also it was so nice to be able to walk down to Lincoln Center and quickly walk home afterwards. I really am loving the Upper West Side.

Here's an oldie but a goodie from our honeymoon, and cheers to many more happy years!

Fall and a love letter to New York City

Can you believe it is already September? Summer seemed to go by very quickly this year. And now the weather is really cooling off which makes it feel like fall, despite my attitude that fall doesn't officially begin until September 22. I am sad to see summer end but am looking forward to sweaters, boots, and pumpkins. And hunting down some cider doughnuts at a farmer's market.

We spent Labor Day weekend in Massachusetts visiting Jocelyn and Cory in their new home. Turns out the middle of MA has some very cute college towns! Unfortunately the weather was horrible so we were cooped up inside but that gave us plenty of time to play Yahtzee and Euchre and watch episodes of the Office together. Also Sean and I conquered cheap East Coast travel yet again by taking the Metro North and then a short leg of Amtrak saving ourselves over $100 dollars in train costs. When you're used to the Midwest, it's easy to forget that there are other travel options beyond cars and Amtrak.

Jocelyn and Cory have purchased a two bedroom/two bathroom condo and wow is it spacious compared with our apartment. It's easy for me to wish we had more space, maybe a backyard, and a car, when we spend time outside of NYC. I can't pretend that I'm not jealous of friends who pay 1/4 of the rent I do in other parts of the country and don't go out for dinner thinking 7 dollars for a beer is a deal. But then I am walking through Central Park on my way home from work or our flight path takes us over Manhattan before landing at LGA and I just feel lucky to be living here.

Despite my strong wish to move to New York after college, when we actually moved here it took me quite a while to adjust. I needed at least six months to get an understanding of the geography of the city and it's only now I can finally say I a strong command of the different boroughs and neighborhoods and all the public transit options for getting there. There has been some adjusting with our new neighborhood (still need a reliable dry cleaner...) but all in all New York just feels like home. A loud, stinky home that sometimes you need to escape, but ultimately you love and are excited to come home to.

This city has given me so many amazing cultural and culinary experiences, wonderful friendships, and work opportunities I would be unlikely to find other places. I love the food, the parks, the busy streets, the buildings, and the bridges. Happy three year anniversary, New York, I think I love you.