I LOVE NY

There are many, many days that I lose track of the wonder that is New York City.

Last night, while sitting in Central Park at the Delacort Theatre watching an odd production of The Bacchae, a breeze blew through the audience. It caressed and cooled my cheek and sent me briefly into the deep part of my mind where I store the memories of all the things that I love. And what did it pluck from my personal Pensieve for me to observe? My love of the city - my love of that moment. My love of sitting in the landmark of Central Park, watching remarkable actors perform a Greek tragedy. I felt immersed in a memory, which was in fact just reality, as I looked up and around and realized what an amazing life I have. Where else in the world??? These are not average actors; these are incredibly gifted actors doing incredibly challenging work for almost no money. And they do it for the challenge and for the prestige.* I love New York City.

I often dream of a house with a yard for a garden and a grill and a big tree for climbing.

I often dream of driving myself to work.

I often dream of a garage to store my bike and my drill and to use to accumulate more tools to do work on my house.

I cannot have those things in Manhattan; it's just not built that way. But when I finally am able to obtain them, I will miss living inside this incredibly vibrant city. I will miss walking through Central Park to the farmer's market on the West Side. I will miss living inside the biggest theatre town in the US.

I love New York.

*(Amazing that theatre is now considered prestigious, after studying its historical roots.)

I am currently infatuated with love.

BASEBALL

Yesterday Geoff and I took our nephew to a New Britain Rock Cats game. They, as we learned on our way to the game, are a part of the Minnesota Twins franchise. I don't know much about the Minnesota Twins except that I think Kirby Puckett played for them at some point.

A minor league (I think that's what it was...) baseball game is kind of a wonderful outing. The tickets are cheap (the expensive seats are $12, the cheap seats are $5), the players are friendly and willing to sign any child's baseball or t-shirt or lunchbox, the food is more reasonably priced than at a major league game (though $3.75 for a snow cone is still outrageous), and people just seem to be having a great time. And best of all you get to watch pretty decent baseball.

Of course when it's 90 degrees and you're sitting in the blazing sun with a 7 year old there's not a chance in hell that you're making it to the end of the game. Try the end of the 5th inning...

SLOW FOOD

Tonight the Edible Garden event at the NYBG is "Slow Food" hosted by Josh Viertel. I'm so psyched to listen to this guy talk about the slow food movement. I don't know much about it, but I do know that I like to eat, I know I like to eat locally prepared food, and I know I like food that has been made with care more than food that has been prepared at McDonalds.

Plus there are bound to be samples and music and loveliness all around - what more can a girl ask for???

Running late. Is it because I don't really want to go? Maybe. Probably.

Definitely.

THANK YOU

Today I send a thank you out to everyone I have ever known in the world. Whether you have brought me pain or joy I thank you.

Without you I would not be me. And I like me.

BDAY WEEKEND

A weekend like that just experienced by me is a reminder of life's simple pleasures:

• beef jerky
• grilled vegetables
• grilled steak
• grilled anything
• meteor showers
• a sky full of stars
• deer on the lawn
• bunnies
• a ceiling fan
• cucumbers
• farmer's markets
• river rafting
• waterfalls
• beer in a can
• bats in the sky
• ice cream cake
• fireworks

Even more amazing than all of these simple pleasures is the pleasure and privilege of amazingly generous friends who might as well be family. Thank you for your awesomeness, and your love.

I am blessed.

BDAY

One of the loveliest parts of Facebook is that you get so many birthday wishes, from people who would otherwise never know that it was your birthday.

You even get birthday wishes before it's your birthday! Which makes the celebration of your birthday even longer.

I like that. :)

GROWING UP

I absolutely love having dinner with friends. It's just one more sign of getting older I suppose, but I prefer having a good dinner with a bottle of wine to drinking at a bar anyday of the week.

My freshly 18 year old sister and her 21 year old boyfriend visited us for about a week recently. I do not think I have ever felt as old as when hanging out with them. I guess I haven't realized that I have been turning into an adult every day. I still wear jeans to work! I still watch The Simpsons! I don't even clean my apartment every week! Not that any of these habits need to change in order for me to become adult (though I'm trying to get better about the cleaning...). Which is my point I guess.

I have, without noticing, turned into an adult who likes to cook and wants a garden and just might want to raise a family and certainly prefers lectures about nutrition to partying.

I have replaced pb & j on white bread (crusts cut off please) with turkey, avocado and sprouts on whole wheat bread, hold the mayo please.

I have replaced white russians with white wine.

I have replaced messing around with friends on the subway with reading a book on the subway.

I have replaced laying out in Central Park with a daily application of sunscreen.

I have replaced bedtime at 2am with bedtime at 10:30pm.

But I am still me.

I'm still the same person who, at 18, was never going to have children, would never stop staying up until midnight, who would always listen to NWA, who would never forget what it was like to be a kid.

I was bold and confident in myself at 14, 16, 18, even 21. I am still bold and confident in myself, though from a very different perspective.

As a teenager I screamed at my mom in a fit of angst that adults just don't understand what it is like to be young. I told her that I thought a piece of their brain dries up and disappears - the piece that remembers what it feels like to be a kid. I told her I would never lose that part of my brain. She said, "Okay; we'll see."

Hmmm.

I guess mother's are indeed always right.

What do you do when you don't feel like doing anything?

Just keep going. And doing. Whether you want to or not. It's kind of the only thing to do.

BOAT BASIN

I highly recommend lunch/dinner at the 79th Street Boat Basin. It's one of the most unique restaurants in New York City, and the burgers are always yummy. I was there yesterday, and, if the sun comes out, might very well be there again today.

I also recommend that you get off the subway 2 stops earlier than necessary and walk along Riverside Park on your way to eat at the Boat Basin. Thinking happens freely when walking along this beautiful park, and that's a very nice thing on a lazy, burger eating afternoon.

WHAT TO DO

We don't always do what we set out to do.

But if we are willing we will always end up doing what we were meant to do.

SOME DAYS

Some days are better than others. Some are worse. All are just days though, and they all do end.

MARKETS

I discovered an amazing sheet of paper from Greenmarket NYC that lists all of the markets in the city and their days/hours of operation. Yesterday I stopped at the 97th and Columbus market where I picked up two beautiful tomatoes for a caprese salad and a lemon cucumber, which is a veggie I'd never seen. I'm psyched to taste it.

Today, after my li'l sis and her beau arrive, we're going to the ever-famous Union Square market. I hope to find another yummy something that I've never had before. These markets are a very special treat in New York - what other city offers a farmer's market everyday of the week - often times in multiple locations?

It's trade-offs like this one that make it okay to live in this jungle of concrete.