i swear i'm moving to the Virgin Islands... or Florida

Well folks, it snowed.... again!  I feel like each week the forecast in the city, or in the Northeast for that matter goes as follows:

Monday: freeze your butt off- does not matter the temperature, it will be cold...
Tuesday: 25 inches of heavy, wet snow- which means blinding visibility, a miserable commute and bad driving
Wednesday: Hell walking to work, getting to work, getting out of your house to start the journey to work, sitting at work with wet shoes...
Thursday: Nurse sore shoulders from shoveling, snow melts, sun appears for an hour- THE SUN!!!
Friday: Temperature decides to warm up- wooo heat wave! 2 inches of snow melts (23 inches left)
Saturday: -10 below with a windchill of -25...  you will question if you still have fingers, toes and a nose that doesn't look like Rudolph's...
Sunday- umm hello?? is this the northeast or antarctica?
Monday- well look at that, we're back at freezing our butts off....

...and you know what, just for kicks, the weather channel will throw another predicted 25 inches to you on Tuesday, and for some reason this winter, they haven't been wrong yet.... Damn improved technology.

Well that was exhausting- hot chocolate anyone?

Well see for yourself- this is exactly what the city looks like after mother nature bears down all night with howling winds, thunder AND lightning! Yes, you heard correctly- we had a snow storm, with thunder and lightning.  Maybe the thunder scared the plows away because they certainly were not out today- must have scared my landlord too because my sidewalk wasn't plowed either!

Mimi- you might get your wish!  I might be coming to visit you in Florida... forever.  I'll even eat the gluten free bread and leave mine here in Brooklyn!

busy busy... where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been over a week since I have written on here, but with the busy schedule, the cold weather, and the fact that I don't have internet in my apartment, I guess I'm falling behind!

So let's see, what I have done since I have posted last?  Well besides the temperature dropping to a mere 7 degrees, and more exploring with my new camera, it's pretty much been the same as it always is. Oh and I tried a blood orange- they're delicious and colorful!

I read a new book; Open; An Autobiography by Andre Agassi, which in my opinion, if you are an Agassi fan or just a fan of tennis, by all means read it!  It was fantastic!! Not to mention the fact that this year he is being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame! Sorry- guess I'm in a tennis mood with the Australian Open being on!  When the times match up, that's all I've been watching!!!

Last weekend, I traveled to midtown to check out PJ Clarke's and Lincoln Center.  A delicious restaurant, that Agassi had written about in his book.  Their focus is mainly on good burgers and delicious seafood! Yum!

Bryant Park's very frozen fountain

rockefeller center flags

Lincoln Center; home of the NYC Ballet, Met Opera and Julliard School of Music

Lincoln Center

lunch at PJ Clarke's

menu from PJ Clarke's

This week was pretty uneventful in terms of getting out and seeing the city.  Last night I actually met up with Robyn in Park Slope for dinner at a place called Bogota Latin Bistro.  The restaurant was great; good spanish music, heavy influence on Colombian culture and phenomenal food!  I had some strawberry sangria and a traditional Columbian soup called Ajiaco.  Ajiaco is more like a stew, but it's pretty much a chicken and potato soup with a big hunk of corn on the cob in the middle.  It's made with 3 different kinds of potatoes and Columbian herbs and spices.  On the side it's comes with a mild cream, capers, cilantro and avocado for a refreshing, tasty addition and it also comes with a big serving of white rice to dunk into the delicious broth! It was the perfect, warm meal for a cold winter night!

Bogota Latin Bistro; Park Slope

I'll keep you all posted and updated on the week to come!! Hope you are all staying warm!!

a new addition

You guessed it- my new camera came in on Thursday and since then I've been on a picture taking rampage.  I've literally been taking pictures of everything in sight.  Here's a preview of some of the images I captured this past weekend.

Bar 4 in Park Slope

brook-vin, park slope's wine bar

7th Ave subway station in Park Slope

i love the colors here

the remnants of christmas

Grand Army Plaza, Park Slope

Farmer's Market in BK

The Pavillion- Park Slope's Movie theatre

dusting of ice

Bryant Park fountain & tree

all the pretty horses... Bryant Park Carousel

NY Public Library

Bryant Park tree all lit up in the snow!

fall in the city

It's safe to say that fall and especially the month of October is one of my favorite times of the year.  If it were a perfect world, I would have the rest of the year be like the months of June-August and I would keep October just the way it is.  Fall in NYC is a little different than in New England.  For one, I don't care where you're from or what kind of trees you have, but the leaves changing in New England are unlike any other place in the world. I don't exactly have access to tons of trees in the city, but Central Park will have to do.  And, as I sat and thought of Halloween costumes last week, I began to wonder where in the world do the kids living in the city go trick or treating?  It's kind of hard to ring the bell of an apartment complex and there aren't many houses- when I find out, which I'm still trying to do, I will have to let you know! Overall, I would say my fall experience is pretty complete.  I attended the art festival and got a nice bag of my kettle corn, I've drank enough apple cider and eaten enough apples to turn into one, I've baked cookies and made homemade soup, I've sampled everything pumpkin flavored from lattes to scones, I carved a pumpkin and had seasoned pumpkin seeds, and even got to visit Zack during a college's best time of year!  And, as of last night, I was even able to watch my favorite Halloween movie: Hocus Pocus!  I swear that movie never gets old; reminds me of the times my brother and I would watch it everyday when we got home from school living in North Providence!  As my favorite month comes to a close, my last thing to do is dress up and go out for Halloween... any costume ideas would be much appreciated!!

Trees are finally changing in Park Slope!

my secret spot

This weekend, my roommate and I discovered our new secret spot; our roof.  We didn't realize that the narrow ladder leading up to the ceiling led to a latch that would be unlocked- how lucky!  We have one of the best views in Brooklyn, of course that might just be my biased opinion, but take a look for yourself...

 all of Manhattan laid out before you....

a glimpse down prospect avenue....

so amazing!!

Now is my opinion biased...? or is my view amazing?? 

park slope magic

Park Slope, my neighborhood, is truly an amazing place.

Take for example this afternoon; I'm wandering around the neighborhood with my macbook looking for a new coffee shop and I stumble upon the Red Horse Cafe on 6th Avenue nestled in the heart of Park Slope. Walk in, order a chai tea latte and what do you know, no more than 10 minutes later, a fiddler band assembles and begins to play!!

Just another Sunday afternoon in Park Slope!