'Tis the Season...

....for my annual dose of Christmas sickness. Almost every year for the past probably five years I have come down with a bad cold or flu once each year, either right before, during, or after Christmas. It is really a Christmas tradition to look forward to. The few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always exceptionally busy which means it's the perfect time to be stuck to your couch/pajamas/tea mug/kleenex box.

I am in need of a major holiday miracle to get over this one. This year Sean is in the midst of finals/his thesis, we are struggling to finish up Christmas shopping, and are looking forward to Miriam and Aaron visiting for a weekend right before we head to Michigan for the week of Christmas. We have big plans to show them all the best New York Christmas sites (the Rockefeller tree, the Union Square holiday market, skating in Bryant Park...) and Miriam and I have tickets to see the Nutcracker tomorrow night at Lincoln Center which I have been wanting to do since we moved to New York. I am trading in my festive beverages for Dayquil and Therefalu. Here's hoping it works!

Don't you just love New York in the fall?

Sometimes I make Sean watch sappy movies with me, (and by make I mean that he is completely willing most of the time). Recent classics have included You've Got Mail, with the best line ever "Don't you just love New York in the fall, makes me wanna buy school supplies," and Return to Me.

We had a wonderful time a few weeks ago when Miriam was in the city for work and stayed over for a long weekend, joined by my Mom and Aunt Dee. The weather was not ideal but we still explored a fair bit of Central Park, visited the World Trade Center Memorial, and the Museum of Modern Art. We also saw Matilda on Broadway (songs were stuck in my head for the rest of the month!) and took them to Blondies for a Saturday night MSU football game and the best waffle fries around.  On Sunday after Mom and Aunt Dee had to leave, and Sean had to study, Miriam and I walked around the new section of the Highline (so nice that this park is expanding!) and then I took her for her dream come true New York activity, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I have only walked from Manhattan to Brooklyn and I have to say the view was much more exciting the other way around! Fall really is the best time to visit New York.

October is also Sean's birthday month and we take birthdays very seriously in this family. Unfortunately I was in Atlanta for a quick work trip on his actual birthday but we made up for it by taking a weekend trip to Massachusetts to visit Jocelyn and Cory and finally enjoy some beautiful fall trees (the trees in New York take forever to change), hiking, and a corn maze which was Sean's favorite activity. Also, tried out the Amtrak quiet car on the way to MA and it was AMAZING. I am definitely doing that in the future.

So I am writing this super interesting blog post today because I have a random day off for Veteran's Day and I have grand plans to do nothing. Clean the apartment, maybe watch a movie, go to the park and pretend I have a puppy, you know big deal, staying in my pajamas until noon stuff. I needed this day and I am going to take full advantage!

xoxo,
Ruth

Tap, tap. Is this thing on?

I can't remember the last time I wrote a blog post and I have been meaning to! Summer really flew by this year, especially August. Sean and I actually took a two week vacation which was pure magic and I hope to repeat next summer. After a really wonderful and relaxing week in Michigan with our families, we flew back to New York and in search of a cheap/easy vacation, headed up to the Catskills for some hiking, kayaking, and doing absolutely nothing. Sean and I had both been busy in July, so we really needed that first week to get our heads out of the weeds of work/school, which made the second week all that much better.

At the end of August I headed to DC for a work trip to hang out with a bunch of political science nerds at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, and Sean joined me over Labor Day weekend. After some lovely weather during the week, the weekend was HOT but Sean and I forced ourselves to walk around the mall, visit the portrait gallery, and wave to the White House.

Now fall has started with a vengeance and I am really missing those Friday's off, but enjoying the cooler weather and obviously thrilled about the return of ALL THE FALL FOODS. Sean made some delicious pumpkin muffins last week and I forced us to roast an acorn squash. Despite Sean's protests that it is "too early," we are going all in this year.

So that's what we've been up to. I am recommitting myself to more consistent blogging! It's going to happen!

Over and out

Summertime

Here are some things I have done this June and July:

-Celebrated my birthday and Miriam and I received the same gift. Totally independent of each other, normally we DO talk to each other about every item we would love to have but this time we didn't.

-Spent a weekend in the ever lovely Finger Lakes and wine tasted to my hearts content. Also stopped at the Jimmy Johns in Ithaca one our way home as one does because it's basically the closest one to NYC. (Sprouts are back!!)

-Resurrected my summer iTunes playlist. Every year this is a fun exercise because there are gems on it from last summer that I have to decide whether to keep or delete and new songs to add. I believe this playlist was born in 2007 and it is excellent. (Sean thinks this is particularly ridiculous.)

-Learned a lot about places to rent cars from in Manhattan and spent many hours lamenting over why it is so much more expensive than if we could just get across the bridge to New Jersey.

-Speaking of rental cars, we drove up to Rhinebeck one of my favorite Hudson Valley towns for the day to hang out and go to a lovely engagement party for my dear high school friend Lindsay.

-Jocelyn and Cory visited. Big highlight was that everyone insisted on making Bailey's milkshakes. I can't complain, they were tasty. We also saw a lot of turtles in Central Park.

-Brooklyn! I finally went to the Brooklyn Museum and it was really wonderful. I also finally went to Brooklyn Brewery and it was not quite up to the hype.

There you have it. Summer in a nutshell. The weather has been pretty glorious. Yet to have a real heat wave and we are having mild success keeping our plants alive on the patio. The end.

Oh THIS is spring?!

I was looking back at my blog archive and realizing how sorely I have been neglecting my blog this year. Sincere apologies family and friends, I know you are beside yourself without weekly updates on what new recipe I tried or our latest favorite restaurant. I fully blame blogger and their photo limits on this one, it's not as much fun to blog without sharing lots of photos and I may just need to pay up. But in the meantime, here are some things that are happening:

-We have had a few solid days of 60-70 degrees, chilly in the shade, hot in the sun days. My allergies are going a little crazy. I am reminding myself that this is what spring actually feels like. Too bad it took until late May to get here, but at least it's not 85 every day yet.

-Peonies are here!!! They are my absolute favorite flower, why does the season have to be so short? They remind me of picking a bunch from the yard to take to my elementary school teachers on the last day of school. The only difference here is that I am paying $5 per stem and finding them at Fairway (that's basically the same as a backyard right?).

-It's also officially rosé season. I really got into these wines last summer and while I may have kept buying them through winter, I'm thrilled that it is now socially acceptable to order a glass at a restaurant or wine bar without the waiter looking at me like I am nuts.

-We are getting our little patio herb garden started again. So far we have basil and mint and lavender. We also finally bought a few new planters and some nice pillows for our chairs. It has made a big difference in how much time we want to spend out there.

-And the best news of all. Our local Trader Joe's is now carrying Oberon. I take this as proof that if you're patient enough, miracles do happen.

April things

April was a busy month and I am attempting to type this with quite a nasty cut on my finger from a kitchen knife. (There's a first time for everything but I can't say I enjoyed my first experience cutting myself while chopping. Sean came to the rescue with bandaids and ice cream). Please ignore the typos!

Callie was in NYC the first weekend of April and we had a lovely time shopping, eating out, and getting our nails done. All of my favorite things in one day. We went to Red Farm for lunch on the Upper West Side which is one of my favorites. For dinner we decided to venture downtown in the rain to an old favorite Cacio e Pepe where we ordered the obvious choice, Cacio e Pepe. And in true Sullivan fashion we all got our own desserts even though we were stuffed.

This month I also took quick work trips to Boston and Atlanta. The weather in Atlanta was much more appealing than Boston I have to say. Also the Atlanta airport is an interesting place. The mens and women's restrooms are designated with pink and blue. Nice, right?

But in GOOD news. Spring is finally happening in the city. It may have taken all of April to get here but the trees, tulips, and daffodils have been absolutely fabulous on the days it is warm enough to enjoy them. We are also slowly preparing our patio for spring, I have had "buy flowers and plants" on my to do list for about five weekends and I swear it is happening this weekend.

It's unfortunate that as the weather gets nicer I am increasingly busy at work and Sean is busy with the end of the semester. But it's finally been nice enough for me to start walking home through Central Park. I forgot just how lovely that is.

Antigua Guatemala

Well everyone, it is a balmy 26 degrees outside right now. Yesterday I nearly got blown over by 50 mph wind gusts while it was also freezing out, so that was pretty special. I know it's technically spring now but it sure feels like winter to me and I am still dragging out the puffy coat, scarves, gloves, and boots every single morning. Will I ever wear sandals again? Stay tuned.

I was so fortunate to escape the cold for a week and visit Antigua Gautemala with my Mom. We stayed for most of the week with some old work friends of hers who have a lovely home and were great tour guides. It is such a beautiful city and we had a wonderful time exploring, admiring the volcanoes, and learning a lot about the history and culture of the city. I have a work benefit that allows me to travel abroad and take a language class, and I am so glad I decided to take a Spanish class. Not only did it make the trip almost free, I had no idea how fun it could be to learn a language without any pressure. Spanish feels very easy to me (because of it's similarity to French) but I obviously have a lot to learn! Also it was great to start learning it while also being immersed in the language. I am trying to learn more now with the amazing DuoLingo app some of my coworkers recommended. 

I taught Mom the finer art of the selfie while we were wandering around some beautiful cathedral ruins. 

Enough Already

I think we can all agree that this winter has been long, and too cold, and just difficult. And New York hasn't even had it as bad as other parts of the country. Traipsing through freezing rain, avoiding huge slush puddles, thawing out my toes every time I come home, and paying a huge heating bill has gotten old very quickly. Yes, it's finally March so the end must be in sight...but it still "feels like six degrees" outside.

I tried many different methods to fight off the winter blues during February. I bought fresh flowers. I visited friends. We went out to dinner. We forced ourselves to take walks in snowstorms because the other option was staying inside all day. But then there were days I chose to stay inside all day. It was just a bit much, especially when you add in the sun setting before five p.m. Rough.

Last weekend Sean and I got a little break from the cold and went down to Nashville for a wedding. Neither of us had ever been so it was fun to explore. We had our fill of southern food and live music. The weather on Friday and Saturday was a little cloudy but in the mid 50-60s which felt pretty much like a miracle. We took a long stroll around Vanderbilt's campus and then to Centennial Park where there is a full size replica of the Parthenon. The wedding was for one of my old high school friends and despite not knowing really anyone else who attended, it was such a lovely and fun celebration and we had a great time. We also managed to have no issues getting back to NYC despite plenty of potential ice/snow storms in the area. Much to Sean's sadness we did not come home with any cowboy boots.

Next week I am sure it will warm up at least a little bit but I am excited to be leaving town for a real dose of warm weather in Guatemala. I am taking a Spanish class while my Mom does research for books and we are both very excited to explore a new place. Poor Sean will be stuck home studying, but that's the price you pay for being a grad student I suppose. :-)

January Things

Oh January. The worst month. This year has been a real treat with these regular below zero temperatures. Let's just say my big puffy might as well be a down comforter coat is getting a lot of credit while I wait at the bus stop trying not to lose any fingers or toes to frostbite. But there has been some good stuff.

Miriam came to visit for a weekend and we went to the Museum of Natural History on a very rainy day, ate our fill of oysters, instructed her on the finer points of Mario Kart, and visited my new favorite bagel place on the UWS Barney Greengrass. The kind waiter tried to inform Miriam and I that we "don't like lox" and must "have meant the nova salmon" when we ordered because the lox is too salty. Little does he know, salt is one of my food groups. It was delicious.

Over MLK weekend, Sean and I took a train to western Massachusetts to visit Jocelyn and Cory. We were rewarded for making it through the mess that is Penn Station on a Friday night with lots of beautiful snow, cheap movie tickets, and an epic 80s dance party.

In other important January news, we finally broke down yesterday and bought a space heater. Our little apartment has been trying so hard to stay warm but with super high ceilings and a poorly insulated patio door, it was losing the fight and we were freezing. The space heater has instantly improved things. We also got a humidifier to help with the dryness from the space heater so now they are both chugging along taking up plenty of valuable floor space. But absolutely worth it.

And now....two photos! I know, I really overdid it with the photos. The first is obvious. The second is Sean before he started throwing and rolling around in the snow in MA.

Intentions for a New Year

Travel to more places that I have never been. Last year I went to San Francisco and Philadelphia for the first time. This year I have personal trips to Nashville and Antigua, Guatemala in the works, along with potential work trips to Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Seattle. International travel has always been my favorite but I am beginning to see that visiting new cities and places in the United States can be a great experience too. Hoping to do a lot more of that this year!

Take more risks. In 2013 we took one big risk, moving to a new apartment in our dream neighborhood that made our bank accounts take a hit and wondering everyday if it was worth it. I also took some risks professionally that were stressful at the time and made me question if I was making the right decisions. But as with most risks that you think about carefully and decide to go ahead with, it was definitely worth it. In 2014 I hope to do more of this "careful" risk taking and keep moving forward with things that might seem a little scary but will ultimately be so worth doing.

Get back on the saving track. Sean and I have a fairly good rainy-day fund built up but moving this past year really made our savings take a hit. We have tried to maintain a small goal of $200 dollars each month going to savings (this is beyond what we each contribute to retirement accounts through work) but even that hasn't been happening recently. When it comes to saving money, I do believe even a small amount is better than nothing, and we can easily spend that $200 on two dinners out. So this is a pretty practical intention, to remind myself what needs to be done and keep working at it.

Unplug and explore activities that don't involve a screen. I fall into the trap like everyone else of keeping my phone glued to my side. I start my day at my computer, stare at my phone often on my commute, spend most of my work day in front of a computer, and come home to often watch a few episodes of a tv show. I have been intrigued by the idea of taking one day each week to unplug completely but am not quite there yet. I would like to take more dedicated time away from a screen to read/explore the neighborhood/sleep/try new recipes. You get the idea and it is obviously easier said than done but ultimately I think it would be good for my eyes and brain to take that break on a regular basis.

2014

2013 will henceforth be known as the year of the tiny apartment, or when I learned how much space/stuff I really need. Looking back, it was a pretty great year.

In January and February we did not hibernate as usual and instead were quite busy getting out and about even in blizzards. I thought a lot about moving and started trolling apartment listings.

In March we had a fun family weekend in Chicago and towards the end of the month started a real apartment hunt. In April I went to San Francisco for work and then we found our new apartment!

In May we went to every restaurant we loved in Astoria and felt sad about leaving our very first New York City apartment.

In June we were both very busy and we finally moved. I turned 26 and realized that there was now a Shake Shack within walking distance of my apartment. Sean assembled a lot of new furniture.

In July Miriam and Aaron came to visit and we struggled through two heat waves. We took a weekend trip to Philadelphia.

In August we took a long trip to Michigan and my Mom got married! Our new nephew Hudson was born and I showed his picture to anyone who would look. In the process of this trip I flew on standby for the first time (not by choice). Fun!

In September we visited Jocelyn and Cory for Labor Day weekend and then celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. I fell in love with New York City all over again, as one does in the fall.

October was mainly quiet, Michael visited and I tried to keep a Mum plant alive. Sean turned 27.

In November I wrote about hosting guests in a tiny apartment after Jocelyn and Cory spent the weekend with us. We went to Michigan for Thanksgiving and finally met Hudson who I proclaimed to be the best baby ever.

In December I went to Chinatown for the first time and we watched a ton of cheesy Christmas movies. We went to a bunch of holiday parties and back to Michigan for Christmas.

And now it's 2014!

At the start of 2013 I had some goals for the year of things I wanted to do/see in New York. They were:
-Go to a Mets or Yankees game.
-Explore more of Queens.
-Go to the Museum of Natural History.
-Take a trip somewhere on the East Coast that is easily reached from here.
-Eat at Franny's in Brooklyn.

We never really did get to explore more of Queens but that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. I also STILL have not been to the Museum of Natural History (I do not count the one night there for a work event) but am hoping to remedy that next weekend. Happy to report this year I did go to a Yankees game, we took a trip to Philadelphia using public transportation, and we ate at Franny's along with a ton of other great new restaurants. 

I have been thinking about resolutions and things I want to accomplish in 2014 but those ideas are not quite fully developed yet so they will have to wait for another day.