Beaver Island Trip

1st Anniversary

It's been 10 days since my last post. Oops! I've been busy.

Sean and I (actually just Sean) forgot to take a camera with us for our anniversary celebration. Therefore, no great photos of the fun weekend we had in NYC.

Since we don't have vacation time left and we are both sick of the airport, we decided that for our anniversary we should just stay in a nice hotel and relax. We stayed at the W Hotel in Union Square and Sean got us a nice room on the 20th floor with a great view of downtown. The room was actually very large which is always nice for New York hotel rooms. I made Sean keep the price a secret from me. There are some things I would rather not know, even if the money is all coming from the same place.

We had a delicious dinner Friday night at the Union Square Cafe which is apparently a NYC institution that we knew nothing about. The food was delicious, our server helped us pick a great bottle of wine and after the salad and pasta we even had room for dessert. I'd love to come back!


Saturday we took a long walk to the west side to try a brunch place recommended by a coworker, Cookshop. The food was great (I had the hueavos rancheros) but the best part was the bloody mary. I am always wary of ordering them in restaurants because they can't compare to the homemade version, but these were perfect. After brunch, we took a walk along the High Line park which Sean has been begging me to do for ages. It's a park that's been made out of an abandoned above ground railroad and it was actually quite nice. I've heard it can get crowded though so the fact that it was a cloudy/threatening to rain day probably made it more enjoyable.


On Saturday we also enjoyed some TV marathons and a shoe shopping trip, then had dinner in the jazz room at the Blue Water Grill. I'd been wanting to try it for a while and it did not dissapoint. The food, from the suhsi to the sea bass to the chocolate chip cookies to go was excellent and the jazz room in the basement provided a romantic space with live music where the tables were not crowded together and you could hear yourself talking. We enjoyed some champagne and a wonderful evening. I'd love to come back, Sean not so much considering the focus is seafood, but he's coming around to different fishes.


(Are kissing photos no longer cute after you're married? Sorry!)

Sunday night thanks to a gift from Mom, we went out and bought some champagne, ordered thai and watched Mad Men on Netflix. It's our latest obsession and we're now on Season 4. The photos are all from then, when I decided we couldn't have our first anniversary without photos!

A toast

Here's to many more years of marriage that are much, much happier than the first one was.

Reflections on Marriage Part 1

The top played song in my itunes library is the song we had our first dance to at our wedding reception, David Gray "The One I Love".

Sean thought this was too cute. I was just surprised it wasn't a Coldplay song.

Harvest Astoria CSA

This Wednesday one of my coworkers who also lives in Astoria asked me to do her a favor and pick up her CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share for her this week since neither she or her boyfriend could make it. We had previously talked about how close I live to the pick-up location so it was an easy sell. Also, she said I could keep whatever I wanted so long as she got her eggs and milk which was really all she needed that week. I was easily convinced that this was a good idea since I've always wanted to try a CSA out but didn't realize there were any so easily accessible.

Fridge full of vegetables!

After getting home from work, I checked the address, Sean and I grabbed some reuseable bags and headed out the door. We were thrilled when we realized the pick up location is the church that is literally at the end of our block (I knew it was close, but not THAT close!). When we arrived we signed in, then picked out our veggies. It took about 15 minutes and we headed home with 3 bags full of food. This week it was squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, greens, napa cabbage, watermelon, and carrots, but the offering changes often.

Mixing a salad with all the great veggies. I only added chickpeas.

It seems like there are some unique aspects to Harvest Astoria. First the share sizes are meant to feed 2-3 people so they are smaller than what other CSAs may offer. Second, you get to select and weigh your own produce. While this takes a little longer and some people might see it as a negative, it helps keep costs down and I can definitely see the perks to choosing your own tomatoes and squashes etc. depending on what you like and what you plan to do with them.


While I was making this delicious salad with all the veggies, I sighed heavily several times thinking about how much I wish I could just pick up amazing organic veggies every week. We are determined to try to get in on this for next summer. It's around $350 for the summer. Can't wait!

One year anniversary

(Spring break Senior year, my first time in NYC. No idea that in a few years I would be walking by here everyday to and from work.)

Today is a special anniversary. No it's not Sean and I's anniversary, but it is our anniversary with New York City. One year ago we rented a large truck, bought some new Ikea furniture and drove to New York. We'd made the drive before a few times before, but it took much longer in that Budget truck. We had a horrible meal at Red Lobster. We listened to 80's and 90's music on radio stations that kept going in and out in the mountains. We stopped for the night in a little PA town and Sean locked the keys in the truck. Luckily Triple A came through in the morning. But only after Sean scratched my brand new blackberry leading to an epic two hours of not-talking-to-avoid-fighting part of our trip.

(Visiting for 4th of July, 2009)

We were really excited when we finally made it to New York. We were less excited to drive the truck across Manhattan with signs threatening everywhere that there was construction and low height clearances. Somehow we made it to Astoria in one piece and found our apartment on roads that we can now easily navigate. The truck made it in one piece too, although the big frame holding Ansel Adams, did not. It was HOT and we didn't have a shower curtain rod to make taking a cold shower convenient. Luckily we had Jocelyn and Cory to help us move and let us stay overnight in their somewhat air conditioned apartment. When Sean had to return the truck at 6am the next morning, he managed to break off the mirror just as he finally found a parking spot. The extra insurance we bought was worth it!

(Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2009)

Now that we're very settled into our apartment, with actual stuff hanging on the walls, a carpet, curtains, and pots and pans hanging in the kitchen it feels much more like home than it did a year ago when we only had a tiny AC unit in the bedroom, no couch, and no internet. We have successfully found the good restaurants around us, the best places for late night snacks, and most importantly the best bagels. While we might not always stay in this apartment, or this neighborhood, we're happy to be staying for at least another year.

I gotta say, I love living in New York. It took a little while to grow on me. It's dirty, there's garbage on the streets and open spaces are hard to come by, but I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else right now.

(Aww look, we used to think riding the subway was fun.)

Now I hope I can remember that tomorrow morning when I'm on the train and somebody's hand keeps slowly creeping down the pole and bumping into mine...

Hurricane Watch

What a week it's been for New York City. First we felt the earthquake in VA which was a big shock for some people, especially those higher up in buildings. I felt our building move a bit, but I'm only the fourth floor so it was minimal. We all thought we were getting dizzy/fainting then realized the lights were swinging.

Now we're preparing for the possibly extreme threat of Hurricane Irene. You can never know how great the impact is going to be until it actually happens so this city is taking a lot of precautions. Some of which, like shutting down all public transit at noon tomorrow, seem like overkill. Luckily, our apartment is outside of the evacuation zone in Astoria on the East River, so we will not need to leave if an evacuation is ordered. However, I might end up spending the weekend at work, given that there's a need for "all hands on deck" and we have already opened evacuation centers and will be opening shelters as preparedness measures so that if people need somewhere to go, we will be ready. Right now, there's probably nobody there, but the Red Cross is nothing if not prepared.

It is definitely an interesting time to be working at the Red Cross and seeing first hand the kind of planning that goes into major weather events!