a new york city cab ride

a saturday night conversation with a cab driver...

sharing a cab home from chinatown with my friend brian. we are so very turned around. and confused of our exact whereabouts.

umm....where are we?!?

our friendly cabbie lets us know -- this is centre street! that's the criminal courthouse. behind it, the civil and supreme courts.

oh! i know where we are. i had jury duty in that building...i think.

somehow our conversation turns to the brooklyn courthouse...and how we are kind of ridiculous manhattanites who rarely venture outside of manhattan. guilty.

laughter from the front seat --
there's a whole world outside manhattan! you're missing out! at least tell me you've been to astoria, to the beer garden...

hah! oh the beer garden? yes yes, we've deeeefinitely been there.

then brian leaves us. and me and the friendly cabbie continue uptown. we decide that 10th ave is probably the best route at this time of night. i mention how i'm so glad it's not raining...

oh don't say anything about the rain, no more rain! and this winter has been terrible!

i know! i've only been her 5 years, but this winter...ugh. it's like the winter that won't end.

well i've lived here about 50 years and this is still one of the worst i've seen in a very long time.

he chuckles...my 5 winters are laughable to him! he continues how he is planning to golf on monday and tuesday, it's supposed to be sunny. i go on about how i'm going to the yankees game on wednesday night, so i'd really like for there to be no more rain...

so are you a yankees fan? i like the mets myself.

oh...uhhh...if i had to pick one, i guess so. i'm from texas. so i grew up watching the rangers and the cowboys with my dad.

i'm a cowboys fan! i grew up watching joe nameth and roger staubach back then, so you know, the cowboys were the team. and jerry jones makes it hard sometimes, but i'm a diehard fan. imagine? a cowboys fan in new york? hah!

haha, i think i respect you more for that!

i'll be a mets and cowboys fan till i die!

i find this hilarious. never have i ever met a new yorker that cheers for any texas team. much less the cowboys...around here, the giants, jets, yankees and mets rule all. this is turning out to be quite the entertaining cab ride!

so you've lived in new york for 5 years, huh?

yes, almost 5 years now. in june.

i wouldn't have guessed, i don't hear much of a southern drawl from you...

hah, nahhh. i grew up in the suburbs. not much of an accent. but i still say "y'all!"

...and i just realized that i said "forgetaboudit!" that's about as new york as it gets!

i tell him about how i thought i'd only be here a year, yet here i am, 5 years later, still in the city, still happy. he tells me he's from queens, lived here all his life --

my dad worked for the airline...pan am, you know? in the 40s and 50s...so we traveled a lot. i've been all over europe, south america, mexico, south africa, the carribbean. but there's no where else like new york. it just has such an energy about it. it's really a spectacular city.

well said friendly cabbie, very well said indeed. oh how i love it here.

Return to the South!

Two weeks ago we had a lil party at 9A.

We affectionately named it -- Return to the South! -- because as of March, all 4 roommates at 9A are born and bred southern gals. Reason enough for celebration!

Roommate Lindsay Ann is from Alabama, and she went to school at Alabama. Hannah is from Dallas, she went to Auburn. And new roommate Bethany is also from Alabama, and went school in North Carolina. 2 Alabama girls, 2 Dallas girls. Party necessary! (And I know what you're thinking, and no, we don't discuss college football around here. The fall is a tense tense time at 9A.)

Like any true southern-themed soiree, we had an assortment of our favorite southern treats, including, but not limited to, the following -- Sweet Tea Vodka & Lemonade, several different kinds of "Coke" (because all soda = Coke in the south, duh), Queso, Southern Caviar (I first got the recipe from Jamie and it's ALWAYS a crowd pleaser!), Deviled Eggs, personal servings of baked Mac & Cheese, Krispy Kreme, Oatmeal Creme Pies, and you better believe we had some Fried Chicken! All the way from Obama Fried Chicken in Harlem.

In a word -- Awesome.

It also happened to MONSOON that Saturday night. Not just rain, but torrential downpour, impossible to stay dry, difficult to persuade yourself to leave your apartment kind of rain. Ohsoinconvenient.

Despite the best efforts of the weather, we hosted a full apartment of friends. Quite successfully I might add!

The gals of 9A!
Lindsay Ann, Bethany, Me and Hannah

Sam and Shannon and Marc came ALLLLL the way uptown to visit! Yay!

Me and Caroline -- Why does it feel like an eternity since she was my roomie?!?

And last, but not least, Michelle was in town!

My friend Michelle -- Current Little Rock resident, former New Yorker, Columbia graduate, 3x New York Marathon runner -- was in town for a long weekend visit. It worked out that she was able to come to our party. And then she got up and ran a 4 mile race on Sunday morning. Because she's crazy. Sigh. Some things never change.

At the end of the night, all our country music had been played, there was very little food left, a fridge full of beer, a sink of melty ice and some tired cowboy boots.

A Southern Success!

A Princess Birthday

This is the Birthday Princess. Lil Miss Sloan. Presh.

Last Tuesday, April 12th was my cutie niece's 3rd birthday. I just happened to book a spontaneous trip to Texas the weekend earlier for some bday celebrating. After making the trip down for her 1st birthday, and attending her 2nd birthday via texts, pics and phone calls with Les, ohmygoodness, was I glad to be there for the 3rd!

We had dinner at Matt's, our fave TexMex joint in Lakewood. Followed by cake and presents and fun at my brother's house.

LJ: Hi pretty girl! I'm so happy to see you!
Sloan: La La, I am having a princess birthday.
LJ: Oh are you? That's my favorite kind of birthday!

Yes. This was off to a brilliant start. Princesses and Birthdays? And my fave TexMex? With my fam? Good. Very good.

Back at home, the fun begins. She's ready for her cake!

Just so much excitement!
"Cheeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeee"

Making a Birthday Wish!

And then it was time for the presents.
"What in the world is this?!?"

Oh! Princess lipstick! I'll put this on now.

A Belle costume!

A storybook recorded just for her by Grandbuddy and Nai Nai.

Here's the pink flowery bracelet I thought she needed. Along with an assortment of other necessary pink clothing items.

Look Mom! Flowers!

Oh just laying out her new dress from Le Le with the jellies for the full effect.


Just taking a lil rest after the pressies were all opened. Holding tight to her fluffy new dog and new light-up princess wand.

There were also princess noise makers. Priceless.

But the most entertainment of the evening came with a costume change.

Belle showed up. With her light-up crown and necklace. Rings, gloves and of course a purse for her lipstick.

She was the happiest birthday princess.

"I will be Belle and you will be Gaston. Ok?"

Tell me she's not the prettiest lil 3 year old you've ever seen!

Happy happy 3rd birthday Sloanie!

And then last weekend, I received the below sassy photo from my sister-in-law.

That's one of the pretty pink dresses I gave her for her bday. And the pretty pink ballet flats I knew she'd love. Check out those sunglasses. Isn't she just soooo stylish?!

In case it's not clear, I adore her. :)

happy tuesday!

this morning i walked into my cubie area at work and was greeted by these pretty flowers! courtesy of cubemate ryan.

ryan claims that our cubie area is the best of all cubie areas.
because we are fun and we have flowers. we win.

i was so distracted by the pretty flowers on the cabinet between our cubies, that i didn't even notice the pretty flowers he also put on our desks!

ohmygosh! talk about knowing how to make a girl smile! just put pretty gerber daisies on her desk!

mine is pink. naturally.

we like springtime here in nyc. and are desperately wishing it would be here to stay. sadly on this rainy and chilly tuesday, springtime feels very very far away.
ryan and i are also attempting to grow forget-me-nots. so far we have 3 lil sprouts.

we're well on our way to spring!

DC with the Doherty's

Visiting DC has been at the top of my "Things to do now that I live in the Northeast" list for almost 5 years now. So when Bethany's sister Stephanie and her boyfriend were in DC for a few months this spring, we decided we just HAD to go visit them.

Reasons B and Steph are the perfect first-time-to-DC buddies for me...

1) They are DC pros. Their mom grew up just outside of DC. And their grandparents had a house on the beach in Delaware. Which equals lots of summer visits to the area and lots of entertaining DC stories to share.
2) They both have the same nerdy appreciation for history as I do. I didn't feel bad making them visit the monuments with me. Even though they have seen everything about a million times.
3) They are silly and giggly and they pose for pictures with me. No one else I'd rather spend the weekend with!

The Lincoln Memorial

Sad that they are renovating the Reflection Pool and it was drained.
But you still get the idea. Think...Forest Gump.
No? Ok.
Then think MLK Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech. Better?

Us with Mr. Lincoln. He is large.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall

This one is very very cool.

The Korean War Memorial

World War II Memorial

There's a marble sign for every state.

So naturally, we took our pictures at every state of importance.

Who says Seattle girls can't love Texas like a born and bred Texan can?
Froggies vs Longhorns. I'm outnumbered.

Washington Monument

Up close at the Washington Monument.
I couldn't resist getting a lil artistic with this one.

View of the Capitol.

Of course I was fascinated by the architecture.
So old! Surrounded by so much new! And with such character!

Pennsylvania Avenue. I hear it's famous or something.

The White House.

"Look, there's a guy on the roof...with a gun..."
Blank stares and silence from my 'friends.'
"Oh. I guess there's always someone on the roof with a gun, huh? Right."

Won't lie, I thought it'd be bigger...

Protesters. We have those in New York too.

Turns out, monument touring is quite exhausting.
And we needed a coffee break. Lucky for us, Starbucks' birthday celebration = free birthday treats with our lattes. YUM!

On Sunday Steph took us to Eastern Market. It was a gorgeous springy day.
We browsed the flea market, the shops, the neighborhood. Munched on a bag of sweet-n-spicy kettle corn popcorn. Admired the cutie houses along the blocks. And purchased handfuls of adorable note cards from the $1 card lady.

On Monday morning, we got up VERY early in the morning to take a VERY early bus back to Manhattan. Steph's travel pack of healthy snacks + treats + DDP's sure did make the VERY early bus ride a lil bit more bearable.

:)

And I leave you with these last 2 photos of me and my DC buddies.
I think they perfectly sum up our weekend. No words necessary.

Thanks for hosting Steph! Had a blast!
And cheers to more DC adventures SOON!