"Where you go, I go."

Our initial plans for living in New York included staying there for five years and then finding a place where "we could grow old" and be close to our grandkids.   Five years flew by and we found ourselves agreeing to stay another year which turned into eighteen months.  There wasn't a day that I regretted that decision.  Early in June of this year,  after Paul had decided to retire from corporate life, Harvard called and offered him a teaching position at the Business School.  This had been a life long dream of his and was an exciting opportunity.  Returning to Boston for a third time seemed like a good plan.  I had always felt like I had left unfinished business in Boston.

We called the realtor who assured us that the market in New York is very slow during the summer and we shouldn't expect to sell our apartment until well after the Jewish Holidays in September.  Since the condo was in excellent condition and didn't need much work to prepare it for market, we decided to list it for a couple of weeks in July to see if we got any bites and then take it off the market until Rosh Hashanah.   We had purchased a home in Belmont and Paul could set up shop there and I would commute back and forth until the NYC condo sold.  Long story short, we had two offers in two weeks and accepted one offer and end of story.  Not having to leave the condo "staged" for future buyers we decided to pack up and leave, giving us only a week to say our good-byes.

My first farewell was with my older gentlemen friends who greeted me everyday on my way to and from the gym.  We hugged and they assured me that if Paul ever grew tired of me, they were ready to take me on.  Nice to have a back-up plan.  I then stopped in to see Mr. Tom who had been our dry cleaner for the past six years.  He was behind the counter when I walked in and I said I had come to say good-bye.  He immediately walked around the counter put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Miss Jan, is this move a good thing for you?"  When I told him of Paul's teaching job at HBS, Tom thought for a minute and said, "Oh, Harvard, now that is a very good thing."   We both cried as we shared a last hug.  Mr. Tom had sat by his window on Amsterdam and had seen me pass by sometimes multiple times in a day.  He had seen me dressed up, he had seen me in by work clothes, he had seen me with friends, and best of all, he had seen me with our children and grandchildren.  He had watched my life from his seat behind the counter,  and I knew I had been watched over.

We left many dear friends in the city, too many to name, but the best thing about friends is that you get to take them wherever you go.  They have touched our lives and will remain in our hearts forever.

There wasn't much time to say good-bye to my favorite neighborhoods or favorite places. Fortunately Paul and I had had the last round up on the carousel a few weeks before. We had ridden our bikes to the Ididor and Ida Straus memorial on Broadway Avenue. There is a beautiful small park in their memory. They were aboard the Titantic when it sunk. Isidor was offered a place on the lifeboat with his wife, but he refused when there were still women and children still needing to be rescued. Ida refused to leave her husband saying, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Her words were witnessed by several in lifeboat #8 and they were last seen standing arm and arm on the deck of the sinking ship. Such a romantic story and one we discovered one day as we were walking home from some errands. It was one of my favorite discoveries in our neighborhood.

The day we left, the doormen and porters lined up for hugs and we all said a tearful good-bye. We had shared a lot over the past 6 1/2 years. They will miss me for the Scooby Snacks and cookies I made for them every so often, but they will miss Paul because in their words, "he was like a father figure to them."

I still remember arriving in New York and wondering if I could ever learn to live there. I didn't know how to grocery shop there, carry dinner to families who needed a meal, transport items from Home Depot that were cumbersome, gather in enough supplies for expected house guests, find a repairman I could trust. I didn't know if I could learn to drive in the city. Turns out, I learned how to do all of these things and I loved it.

This will be my last post on Janhattan.  I am not sure I will begin a blog for Boston---Jassachusetts just doesn't have the same ring to it as Janhattan.  I loved living in New York  and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think to myself, " I can't believe I live in New York!"  Paul knew it was going to be hard for me to leave the city and offered to keep our apartment there so we could return for visits.  While I know he was serious, I knew that didn't make any economic sense.   And it was time to leave.  We have other adventures waiting for us.  I can't wait to discover what they might be.  

 And to my sweet husband who has taken me to some amazing places, "where you go, I go."  

Up a Steep and Very Narrow Stairway

Some of you may recognize this line from a song in "A Chorus Line".   It is the song a young girl sings about her passion for the ballet and the chorus goes like this:

"Up a steep and very narrow stairway 
To the voice like a metronome
Up a steep and very narrow stairway 
It wasn't paradise, it wasn't paradise,
It wasn't paradise, but it was home."

I am not sure I have found my home, but I did enter that steep and narrow stairway to Steps on Broadway.  This is a dance studio in our neighborhood that is frequented by dancers of all abilities who are looking to hone their talent.  I was looking to find mine.  I have started in the absolute beginner's tap class.  Just putting on tap shoes is an amazing experience.  Paul gave mine to me for Christmas and the only place I could try them out was in the garbage room.  It was still a thrill.

Last week I attended a class and was the first to arrive.  Four young men arrived shortly thereafter and then halfway through class, another woman showed up.  She had to be 75 and could barely walk.  But she had on her tap shoes and just shuffled around the room.  She couldn't even begin to keep up but she was home.

We learned many beginning steps and then the instructor had us put them all together so we had about a 16 count routine.  Then the last ten minutes of class we got in a circle and just followed the instructor around the room doing whatever he did.  At one point it was so joyful, I just wanted to shout out, "I am tapping!"   I am still very clumsy and awkward so it doesn't feel like home, but it does feel like paradise.  

Neighborhood just got better

A year after we moved to New York the 2008 financial crisis hit and many stores in our neighborhood went out of business.   It has been exciting to see many of the empty store fronts return with viable businesses and what is more viable than a bakery?!  This little bakery is just one block from the house and sits next door to the Pinkberry which sits alongside the Starbucks, which sits next to the vegetarian place, which sits next to a small pizza place that makes a pretty good slice of white, which sits next to McDonalds.  Not fine dining, but a few choices when you want something easy and quick.  We actually don't frequent the McDonalds anymore.  We took Henry there and he threw up all night.  Seems like a pretty good reason never to return.  I stopped in for the "soft opening" of the Paris Baguette and was hoping for a baguette.  Turns out it is mostly croissants, turnovers, sliced breads, and sandwiches.  Maybe with the "hard opening" they will have the baguettes as long as your arm that you can slather with butter and eat all by yourself.

I'm back

I didn't really go anywhere, but I wanted to start blogging again.  My intent when I first started blogging was to capture all of the wonderful events and happenings in the city.  And that worked for a long time, but real life kind took over and while I hate to admit it,  happenings in the city didn't seem quite as unique to me anymore.  It was hard to know what to blog about.  I also didn't blog about one of the most important things to me and that is my family, unless they came to New York and we did New York things.  This new attempt at blogging will be less about just New York things and more about my real life.
Since moving to New York some pretty remarkable things have happened to our family.  Our youngest daughter got married and seven more grandchildren have been added to the mix with one more coming to us in July.   We have had four graduations, three from graduate school and one undergraduate.  One family moved from Charlotte to Denver, another family from Ann Arbor to Seattle, another family moved from Salt Lake City to Austin, and still another family recently moved from Austin to Portland.  That means we have children living in some of the greatest cities in the country---Denver, Portland, Seattle and Austin.
It has been my goal to visit every family, every quarter.  This means that sometimes a family will come to New York and sometimes I will fly out to see them.   I have managed to keep up the schedule and it has helped create wonderful memories with the grand children.
While we have been true to our pledge to do something every month that you can only do in New York, it has actually become more difficult as we have allowed "real life" determine our schedules.  Sometimes our unique New York thing might be as simple as walking to Levain bakery for a chocolate chip walnut cookie, or walking across a new path in Central Park, or finding a one of a kind shop in SoHo.  I think I have mentioned it before, but we have magnificent city views from our apartment and everyday, depending on the weather, how the sunlight hits a building, or how full the moon is, or how hard the wind is blowing, something unique can be seen on a daily basis by just looking out the windows.  Sometimes balloons float by and we are 29 stories above ground.
Let the 2014 blogging begin!

New York State of Mind

Someone asked me if Paul and I had managed to keep our pledge to do at least one unique New York event every month.  We have actually been pretty true to our commitment to take advantage of all the city has to offer.  Last night we walked along the Hudson River on the greenway----you can't do that just anywhere.   In the last few months we have attended a couple of Broadway shows, supported the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, I hosted several women for lunch including an artist who goes by the name of "ultra violet/Isabelle Dufresne" (google her sometime, she is fascinating;  and I could only have met her in NYC), visited Grand Central Station for it's 100th anniversary, took three of our grandsons to the American History Museum, shopped at the Brooklyn Flea Market, taken advantage of riding the Carousel in Central Park several times,

and so much more!  We have now been in the city over five years and it never gets old.  I discover new things everyday as I wonder around doing my errands and exploring.  I am sorry if I sound sappy (and alliterative) but I do love this amazing city.

Cabin Fever

I am not sure the photo is clear enough to give you the feeling of what we saw on one of the first nice days of spring.  This is Memorial Day weekend 2013 and after a rather harsh winter and many rainy spring days, we had a beautiful day in the city.   You can tell everyone had spring fever and cabin fever because they were sitting toe to toe in Sheep's Meadow on this first really beautiful day of Spring.

Human Nature

Paul has asked me a couple of times if I have seen the Stonehenge looking exhibit at Rock Center, but I haven't been down in that neck of the woods for a while.  Today I happened to be running some errands and had to cross through Rock Center and sure enough, there were nine, 16-20 foot human shaped stone figures that really did resemble Stonehenge.  It is an exhibit by the Swiss-born artist Ugo Rondinone.   The exhibit is titled "Human Nature" and I have been wondering all day why.  I guess that will give me something to think about over the next little while.  

Two Weeks Notice

Have you seen the movie with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant?   Her life's work is to save neighborhoods from being destroyed by developers and the movie is a romantic comedy about her efforts to do this.   Well, I channeled Sandra Bullock the other night when I spoke to our Community Board 7 (CB7)  for the upper west side.  The Department of Education has proposed tearing down the school (PS 199) right next door to us and rebuilding it with the school on the bottom and a residential tower (30-50 stories) on the top.  Kudos to the Department of Education for a creative way to have a world class school built and maintained without any cost to the city.  It really is pretty clever.  However, their cleverness would deeply impact our building.  We would lose our views of Central Park, three years of construction mess would be a nightmare on our relatively quiet street, and quite frankly it would have a huge impact on the property values of our building.  There are lots of other reasons it wouldn't be a good thing and I felt  our voices needed to be heard.   The first thing that irritated me about this is that the Department of Education had already solicited plans from developers and because of some crazy statute, they were not obligated to notify the neighborhood association about their plans.  The plans were randomly discovered by some parents and word got filtered down through the school and then eventually to us.  My new friends in the building (about 12 of us) decided to attend the CB7 meeting and express our feelings about the project.  Fortunately the CB7 members were similarly distressed over the proposal so I thought I was off the hook and wouldn't have to get up and plead our case.  My friend had different ideas and kind of shamed me into speaking to the board and about 100 other people who were attending the meeting.  My friend spoke first and very eloquently asking questions about the process and how much influence we could yield as a neighborhood on the Department of Education.  You are only given two minutes so she finished and I stood to speak.  I had written something out and it was a list of my concerns if the proposal moved forward.  Apparently I touched a few hearts because after I finished speaking everyone started clapping.   Can I just say that for a few brief seconds I felt like a star. Had they carried me out on their shoulders, I wouldn't have felt better.  The applause has died down, but I am fired up now and will lie down in front of the first bulldozer that arrives to tear down our precious PS 199.!

Once you see the picture, you have to vote for Paul as the most thoughtful, clever gift giver of all time.  This is what I saw when I entered the living room Christmas morning-- my very own subway sign!  Please plan to make a stop if ever you find yourself on the Janhattan line. 

Swinging, Swinging, All the Day

There is a fortress at 66th & Park Avenue called the Park Avenue Armory.  It originally served as the headquarters and administrative building for the 7th New York Militia Regiment, known as the Silk Stocking Regiment due to the disproportionate number of its members who were part of the city's social elite. The building is known for detailed interior rooms that are furnished with ornamental woodwork, marble and stained glass depictions of moderately disapproved behavior.   The armory has been leased by a non-profit cultural organization as a center for unconventional works in the performing and visual arts, while maintaining and restoring the historic aspects of the building. 
Okay, enough history lesson now for the fun part.  One of the art exhibits in the armory that Paul and I visited over the holidays was the Swings exhibit.  The photo could not possibly capture the amazing experience nor can I adequately describe the sensation of swinging on this huge swing all the while watching this huge white piece of fabric swaying in the middle of the armory as if it were a floating, puffy cloud.  The swings, hooked up by ropes and pulleys were the engine that moved the fabric.  Trust me, this was a fabulous experience.  I think I may have drooled while swinging----and who doesn't? 

Hurrican Relief

While I was wringing my hands wondering how people would ever clean up the mess left by Sandy, others were springing into action.  It didn't take long to get word out that our stake would be volunteering in the Rockaways for two weekends.  The family wards were assigned to go on Saturday and the singles wards would meet for a brief Sacrament meeting and head out on Sundays.  We were instructed to wear work shoes and bring gloves and our own lunch and water.  Because Paul is the Bishop of the Lincoln Square YSA Ward, I decided to serve with them on Sunday.  It was about a 90 minute ride on the D train to school buses and then to our destination in the Rockaways.  Missionaries had been working in the area since the storm and had identified hundreds of homeowners who wanted our help.  We divided into groups of ten and were give two addresses.  At the first home, all we did was carry furniture and appliances from the backyard to the curb.  The second home had been flooded and as the waters receded, tons of sand mixed with oil had been deposited on their driveway.  While some of our team mucked out the basement of the home, the rest of us scraped and swept the driveway.  It was a gooey mess, but we finally got enough of the sand off to hose it down.  With dish detergent and lots of brooms, we were able to clean up the driveway and left the homeowners with a little hope of returning to a new normal.  Having finished our assignments we found another home that had been flooded and started tearing out the basement.  This home had been flooded up past the 1st floor.  We tore out soaking wet wallboard and insulation and hauled it to the street.  Let me stop here and say that this is what is called "mucking out."  The full time missionaries have been mucking out four days a week for the past three weeks.    While destruction is more in my strike zone than rebuilding, this is heavy and difficult work.  Everything had to be ripped out from the floor to the ceiling including the ceiling.  We came home tired and soaked and satisfied.  The people were so grateful for our help.  While we got to come home and have a hot shower, most of the people we helped were still living in their homes without power and running water and no heat.  And yet, many seemed very positive and hopeful and grateful.  The second week was much like the first week except that the water had drained out of the walls and insulation so it wasn't quite as difficult.  We totally gutted a woman's house.  As we were cleaning out the cupboards it was amazing to see how high the water had come up during the storm.  The dishes in the cupboard above the sink were filled with water!
As we walked through the neighborhood we were greeted by many other volunteers from local church groups.  And many people had come on their own just looking for a way to help.  One food truck owner from Chicago drove his food truck to Coney Island and parked for three days serving free hot food to anyone who was in need.   There are countless stories like this of people who didn't wait to be asked;  they just came and did their part to relieve the suffering of so many. 

Sandy Arrived

Bobby Roberts sings "Big Sandy" in contrast to Terry Allen's "Little Sandy."  "Sandy Here on Earth" was song by John Fahey but who can forget Carlene Carter's "Too Bad About Sandy?"  However so many New Yorkers are singing the song from Grease, "Sandy my darlin, you hurt me so bad, you know it's true....."   Sandy did hit and she left her mark.  Many will be figuring out how to rebuild, clean-up, or move on.  The relief effort continues and not surprisingly there are so many willing volunteers.
Watching a news conference the other night, Mayor Bloomberg said, "We'll get through this, we're New Yorkers!"  I turned to Paul and mentioned that the mayor's remarks made me a little bit teary eyed and it obviously had the same affect on Paul as he was caught wiping away tears.  In unison we called out, "we're New Yorkers!"  I like the sound of that. 
 I need to give a big shout out to so many friends and family who contacted us during the Hurricane named Sandy.  She struck on October 29-30, and Paul and I didn't feel a thing.  Paul was in Hong Kong and I was in Austin.  We were following the news closely because we have many family members,  dear friends and colleagues who were in harm's way.  We were grateful to get reports that all had survived although trees were down and power was out.  Some still do not have power and this is November 6. 
Paul arrived home Thursday after the storm and enjoyed a 21/2 hour ride home from the airport.  Traffic was obviously crazy and the entrance to the Triboro Bridge was down to one lane because they were doing checks on cars to make sure at least three people were in each car.  If not, you were turned away.  (Didn't apply to livery cars or taxis).  My trip home the next day was another story.  I arrived in 30 minutes because people couldn't get gas and just weren't on the roads.  It remained this way right through the weekend. 
We walked through Central Park on Saturday and found many large trees that had fallen during the storm and countless branches.  Interestingly enough, the buildings in our neighborhood that have decks and large trees on the decks, appear to have no damage.  The trees are still swaying in the breeze.  Go figure.
In an earlier post I mentioned our adventure on Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn.  The photo shows how dangerously close the water came to damaging this beautiful landmark. 

Sandy has left us, but we're not singing "why, why, why;" we're saying "we'll get through this, we're New Yorkers!"

Columbus (has his) Day

That's right.  I am writing this on Columbus Day.  Recent books about Columbus don't shed as positive light on him as did our Social Studies teachers, but I will leave my opinions on that topic for another day.    There is a 20 foot statue of Columbus atop a column in Columbus Circle which is probably about 70 feet tall all together.  Recently as part of a public arts project, the artist Tatzu Nishi created an apartment around the Columbus statue so that the public could "discover" Columbus up close and personal.  We walked up six flights of stairs that were part of the scaffolding around the column and entered a fully furnished apartment.  The television is  playing CNN News, magazines are available for reading while sitting on the sofas and Columbus is atop a coffee table in the middle of the room.   The windows provide spectacular views of Central Park and Central Park South.    We had so much fun looking at the finer parts of the statue (made of marble, by the way) which cannot be scene from the street level.  Just another fun thing to do in New York. 

Remembering

I'll never forget where I was and I am sure that you never will either.  I had just come home from my run in Austin, TX and turned on the news and heard Katie Couric say, "we have just been informed that an airplane has struck one of the towers in the World Trade Center."  The video made it appear as if it were just a small plane and perhaps the result of a pilot losing control.  It wasn't long before we understood the true cause and that it was no accident.  We remained glued to the television news that day and cried as we discovered the extent of the lives lost and the lives changed that day.  Little did we understand what it would mean to all of us and how it would change the world.
It has been interesting to talk to those who were in the city when all of this occurred and the changes they have felt as a result.  Each person has mentioned that it changed the way New Yorkers treated each other.  People became much nicer and neighbors reached out to each other in a way they hadn't before.  It is reassuring to know that out of tragedy, positive changes can also occur.

New York City has created some beautiful ways to remember  9/11 and honor those who died.  At dusk on 9/11 a tower of light that extends hundreds of feet into the air is lit and it stays on all night and slowly fades as the sun comes up.  This photo was taken from our bedroom window and you can barely make out the "pillar of light" that lit up our room that night and helped us remember.

Lottery Winners!

Every summer the outdoor Delacorte Theater in Central Park puts on a Shakespeare play and one musical.  Each show runs for about two weeks.  This is a public theater which means that most of the tickets are free---for a price.  The price you have to pay is that you must stand in line the day of the show to get your tickets.  Most people begin lining up about 4:00 a.m. and tickets are distributed at 1:00 p.m. for that evening's performance.  There is also a virtual lottery and you can sign up each day and hope that you win which gives you two tickets for that evening's performance.  I have signed up for the virtual lottery almost every day for the four summers we have been here and never won.  Last year we wanted to see Al Pacino in "Merchant of Venice" but ended up paying for tickets when they produced it in a theater on Broadway in the Fall.  It was fabulous.  This year we wanted to see the musical "Into the Woods" starring Amy Adams.  I signed up for the lottery each day and each day got the memo "Thank you for entering the virtual lottery.  Unfortunatley blah, blah, blah...."   So I set aside my Wednesday to join the others standing in line.  On the Monday previous to that I signed up for the lottery out of force of habit and at 1:00 I saw the magical words "Congratulations, you have won two ticket for tonight's performance of Into the Woods."  As luck would have it, Paul didn't have to work late and it was a spectacular summer night.  I like to even say there was a hint of fall in the air.  Paul met me at the theater and we were guided to our fabulous seats on the aisle and about 10 rows up.  It doesn't really get any better than that.  The show was really well done and as is often the case with Sondheim, the music and themes in the show are quite haunting.  The lyrics are worth reading because you can't catch every joke and every poignant thought because it moves so fast. 
Another thing we really enjoyed about the whole experience was that it felt so much like we were watching this show with our neighbors.  Not many tourists spend the time waiting in line all day to get tickets, so you really do get mostly local people in the theater and there was just a nice feeling.  It really did feel like we were part of a community.   We all felt like winners. 
(PS--No picture taking allowed! Sorry)

Two bucks to pony up

I think I have mentioned how much Paul and I enjoy riding the carousel in Central Park.  I know it's been a bad day when Paul asks if I'll meet him at the Carousel after work.   After just one ride and about 30 minutes of listening to the calliope music he is ready to cast away all cares and worries.  We'll  ride the carousel even when we are feeling good-----things just get better.

Saturday we decided to take a quick trip to Brooklyn to check out a new carousel that had recently been renovated.  Jane's carousel, as it is called, was built in 1922 and purchased in 1984 by Jane Walentas and her husband.  Jane spent the next 25 years restoring the carousel to it's original condition in her DUMBO art studio.  And it is a beauty.  An architect designed a glass enclosure that surrounds the carousel and that allows the riders a clear view of the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge,  and the skyline of Manhattan.  The setting is just stunning.   One caution however:  if you weight 255 pounds or more, you have to ride the pony's that don't go up and down.  Believe me, it's worth the weight loss. 

From Swan Lake to Coney Island

It was quite the cultural journey I made from watching the ballet at Lincoln Center to the hot dog eating contest on Coney Island.  I can't really compare the two events except to say that history was made at both events.  The ballet was simply beautiful and little did I know that I would be witnessing history that night when Angel Corella danced his last dance and retired from the ballet.   Angel came out for a curtain call and the audience went wild.  Flowers were thrown on stage and then for about 20 minutes, former dance partners, directors, family members, etc. came on stage and placed bouquets of flowers at his feet.  It was quite emotional actually. 
And now for the hot dog eating contest on Coney Island.  Of course you have to cheer for Joey Chestnut who finished first with 68 hot dogs in ten minutes, but the real surprise was the victory for Sonya Thomas aka "the Black Widow."  She bested her record by eating 45 hot dogs in 10 minutes and thus history was made.  It was also interesting to learn that she only weighed 100 pounds.  She clearly doesn't keep those hot dogs down for very long.

I will attend the ballet again.   And while I enjoyed the spectacle of the hot dog eating contest, I think "one and done" works for that.  It's just another example of how you can find anything you want in this great city. 

Wild Parrots in Brooklyn

Adam Gopnik wrote a book titled Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York which I read soon after arriving in the city.  Each chapter tells another story about living in New York.  One of the chapters included a story of a parrot colony in Brooklyn that was about 30 years old.  These birds had initially been obtained as pets but eventually escaped their cages.  I guess two or three birds gathered and settled into a tree near the Brooklyn Community College in Flatbush.  Surprisingly, the birds adapted to the climate and stayed year round and even multiplied.  I was curious and wanted to see if the parrots were still there.  A good friend with a sense of adventure and two very cute children agreed to accompany me on this adventure.  I bought a five pound bag of parrot food and we hopped on the subway and began our adventure.  We arrived at the campus only to be told that the parrots hadn't been spotted for several years, but we weren't going to let that stop us.  We walked around the soccer field of the campus and found a wonderful woman tending her garden in the community garden.  We asked her about the parrots and she exclaimed, "they are finally coming back."  Apparently the university had been doing construction and had disturbed the parrots' nests and they had left the neighborhood.  However, this sweet woman showed us where the parrots had begun building their nests again, high up in the lights of the soccer field.  We hurriedly walked over by the light pole and the kids sprinkled the parrot food all over the sidewalk.   We stood to one side and waited patiently, hoping that the dried seeds, apples, mangoes, and oranges would attract them.  Within just a few minutes three parrots flew down and began to squawk and nibble at the food.  Their cries brought other birds from their nests and for several minutes we had the pleasure of watching these cute, green parrots fly from their nests, to the top of buildings, to other parts of the neighborhood carrying with them the good news that there was a picnic down on the sidewalk. 

Every community has something unique waiting to be discovered or shared.  And I have just barely scratched the surface of this great city,  which means I have lots of adventures ahead of me. 

...on the Hudson River Line....

We are coming up on four years of living in our apartment.  Unlike most New Yorkers, we found our apartment in just three days of hunting.  The interior was not finished but the minute we stepped in and saw the views from the living room we were sold.  The following photos will provide the evidence of why it never gets old living here. 

A curious mind

I bought some heavy cream at the Trader Joes today and was asked by the enthusiastic checker, "whatchu you gonna make with that heavy cream?"  When I said au gratin potatoes she just nodded her head and then replied, "Did you know you can make butter with heavy cream?"  When I nodded my head she said, "One day I decided to look up the recipe for butter.  I don't know why, I was just curious how it was made.  And do you know the recipe for butter is just heavy cream?  I said to myself, 'Girl, you have to give that a try."  So I put it in a jar and shook it up and I had myself some creamy butter.  It was amazin!"  You just can't walk away without a smile on your face after a conversation like that.  Thanks Trader Joes' checker for making my day.