Postcard from California

Dear New York,

You are a City of superlatives and contradictions. The most vibrant and the darkest, the most challenging and the most convenient, the most beautiful and the ugliest, the most affluent and the most impoverished, the most artistic and the most efficient, the east and the west, hope and despair - clustered into neighborhoods, reflecting the world. New York you are all of these things.

Thank you for opening your doors to me. Your doors, your cellars, your elevators, your stairwells, your turnstiles, your taxis. I have come to love your vibrating quality - the way the ground shakes with traffic and subways; the way the air buzzes with voices, electricity and opportunity.

Your textures are endless. The sights, smells, sounds and architecture are layered with seasons into unique and powerful moments. Little snapshots of life. I loved the texture of Madison Square Park at lunch time, and an unannounced summer rain storm as I walk down Broadway, and the blur of lights on a late night cab ride.

Manhattan you are a beautiful and messy collision of humanity. You are the whole world crammed onto one little island.

Thank you for allowing me to be a member of the eclectic teeming masses soaking up your ambiance.

I will miss you dearly.

with love,
Sara

The End

The End

Goodbye Party - 8th Ward

If I ever shows signs of doubting that I am immensely loved by the most wonderful people in the world, will someone please hit me over the head? And then show me these pictures?

Jane and Kristen and Sarah (Who got sick! SAD!) also threw me a going away party. It was beautiful. They are beautiful. I feel loved. Like, a lot.

Mmm. Yummy food.

Autumn, Kristen, Rustin, me, Adrienne, Jane...

I couldn't believe how many people showed up...

The marvelous Miss Jane Madsen...

The delightful Miss Kristen Robinson and Miss Malia Poai...

I'm just a little ball of love right now.

Wandering, Episode 4: Flatware Skyscrapers

Fishs Eddy is one of my favorite funky stores in the city: http://www.fishseddy.com/

And this is the display in one of their windows...


I totally want to make a Chrysler building out of forks now.

Goodbye O'Flaherty's!

Melissa is the best. She just is.

On Friday night she organized a little goodbye get together and O'Flaherty's. Because where else would I be on a Friday night?

We hung out, played pool, listened to Murphy sing, and had a generally fantastic time.

Thank you lady.


Brooke came! And brought Kevin...


All of my favorite Aussie's. Randall, Sarah, me and Niels...

Aw Murph...

Me and Niels, at the pool table. Where else?

Melissa's decorations...

I'll miss you guys too. XOXO.

US Open

Well, there was a bit of rain and wind on Thursday night, but we got to see two sets of the men's quarterfinals of the US Open.

Flushing Meadows, Arther Ashe Stadium...


The bracket board. We got to see them come out and post the results from the Del Potro match that finished just as we got there...

Inside Arthur Ashe...

Federer has been doing well...

Me and Niels. Note the fleece jacket. It was cold.

Wish you could have been there Dad.

Wandering, Episode 3: Ditch the lightning rod

Fall is here. It's been in the 60's this week and yesterday it started raining.

Every trash can I passed in midtown had three broken and mangled umbrellas tangled up inside of it.

Wandering, Episode 2: Movie Set

You would not believe how many movies and shows are being filmed in New York on any given day.

Since I've been wandering during the days, I've passed probably half a dozen trailer convoys camped out on some side street in midtown.

This one was the best though...

Fake snow. It was 80 degrees and humid.

Wandering, Episode 1: Washington Square Park

One of the things that makes life in the concrete jungle bearable are the parks. My personal favorite is Riverside Park, which runs down the west side along the Hudson.

Washington Square Park is right on the east edge of the West Village, next to NYU. It is well known for the arch and for attracting a more electic crowd than some of the other parks. It is one of the places that you are guaranteed to find street performers and usually a hippie petition signing or demonstration of some kind.

I don't get down to the Village often, but that's what wanderings are for...

A suprising amount of green...


They finally finished construction and opened the fountain again...

Case in point... The kids sitting in the bottom left of the picture had a sign up that said, "Come sit with us!"... And the crowd gathered under the arch are watching a barber shop quartet...

Yankees History

Night #2 of the Final Week New York Fest: Yankees Game.

4th row from the grass, history making, home run hitting Yankees Game... to be exact.

Practically ON the field...

This close to Mark Teixeira...

Jeter, up to bat...

Matches Lou Gehrig's Hits Record...

The Captain...

Jorge Posada (Hip hip... Jorge!) came on and hit a home run to win the game.

BEST GAME EVER.

In The Heights

Not being one to waste time or opportunity, I had a full schedule of New York Amazing-ness planned for my last week in New York City.

Starting with the one Broadway show that I've been dying to see since I got here that I still haven't seen yet... In The Heights.

It's about a community in Washington Heights, which is a neighborhood at the top top top most part of Manhattan Island, above Harlem, west of the Bronx. Alot of the songs are hip hop based rather than show-tunes-y. The story is beautiful and hopeful and inspiring. Great jokes, good dancing, very good acting.

Oh, and thanks to Melissa, we were in the 4th row. Of the orchestra section. AMAZING SEATS.

Ah, Broadway, I will miss you.

Wandering: Prologue

Last week I completed my job with Time Warner. So THIS week, I've had my days all to myself with relatively little else to do. The sense of freedom went straight to my head. It was divine.

In the morning I would wake up and go over the "To Do" List... and as you can imagine, it is quite a list... and then map out a route for my errands. (Getting around in this city takes some time.)This would go well for the first hour or so, but eventually my errand running would devolve into a contented, wandering stroll through one of the neighborhoods in Manhattan.

On one of these occasions I sat and ate pizza in the square and watched the pidgeons and the people.

On another, I watched them put up the tents for Fashion Week.

On another, I got caught in the rain.

Basically, I fell in love with New York all over again. Fantastic timing.

Joke of the Week

Q: What is the only thing that can make New Yorkers look both ways?

A: The US Open.

Stanton Social/Goodbye Office Girls

There aren't many women who work in IT. So the few of us there are have formed a rather strong bond. So in a celebration of fond farewell and female solidarity, Brooke, Melissa and I had dinner this week at a restaurant I've been wanting to try for ages.

Stanton Social: http://thestantonsocial.com/

At this restaurant, you don't order an entree, you just order a half dozen little plates and pass them around. Although the problem here is that once you have tasted the amazing food on the little plate, you are less inclined to pass it to the person next to you and would much rather keep it all to yourself.

We had blue crabcake corndogs, red sea bass tacos, french onion soup dumplings, bacon and apple and brie quesadillas... Each was delicious and then the next was more delicious.

Of course, Brooke, who seems to have connections EVERYWHERE, knew the owner and head chef and he came out to visit our table and chat and then sent us dessert. Which just made the whole experience that much more fabulous.

We ate fabulous food, chatted about office antics and had a lovely evening.

Me, Melissa and Brooke at Stanton Social.

Petty Fest 2009

If you know me at all, you can imagine my reaction when I discovered that the Bowery Ballroom would be holding an event called Petty Fest.

I put it on my calendar, recruited a sidekick and bought tickets two months in advance.

This week the day of the much-anticipated Petty Fest finally arrived. And I went. And it was good.

Kheaven agreed to attend to make sure that I didn't get out of control. I even threatened him into smiling for a picture instead of trying to look stoic and cool.


And here is a little bit of Petty Fest, from me to you...

And I WON'T BACK DOWN, No I won't... back... down.

Such Sweet Sorrow

I'm moving back to California.

I love New York, and I've been really, really happy here. But I also feel like I've accomplished what I came here to do, and its time to move on to the next step in my life... I'm just surprised that the next step is back on the West Coast. I really thought I was here to stay. But that shows what I know about the direction of my life. I'm happier when I relinquish control to the supernal and magnanimous higher power anyhow, so I'm not fighting it.

California feels like home, but New York has shaped who I've become. I hope the change has been for the better. I think that it has.

I have discovered yet again that change is difficult. Even when you want it, even when you're ready for it... change is difficult. I am literally aching to move on, to feel like I'm progressing towards something, but I can feel my heart bruising as I try to pry it from the grip of the City and the people here that I've fallen in love with.

I have been very very happy here.

Mortality

I saw a dead body on the way to work this morning.

As I passed Madison Ave while walking down 23rd St I noticed a slight commotion with yellow caution tape and an emergency vehicle with flashing lights. This is not out of the ordinary, so I didn't take much notice until I saw the "Medical Examiner" lettering on the side of the vehicle and noticed the human form on the park bench covered in a white sheet.

That park is not too far from a methodone clinic, and it isn't rare to see some seriously tweaked out people along the benches at the edge of the park. This leads me to believe it was a drug related death rather than foul play. But still.

This was one New York experience that I didn't need to have.

Top Hats and Tiaras

Yes, my friends totally threw a party called "Top Hats and Tiaras," and yes everyone showed up in pearls and party dresses and bowties and it was fantastic. There were cupcakes and balloons and it was like stepping into a super-classy and slighty modernized version of the 50's.. but with better dance music.

Me and Roommate Sarah. And some balloons...

John Lennon/Rock&Roll

John was never my favorite Beatle. I always thought he was too much of a hippie, and I was way too Miss Capitalist Corporate America to put up with that. But seeing his exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo melted my attitude somewhat.

First of all, the Rock Annex is awesome. The video that they play when you walk in is SO good. It makes you want to dance and laugh and go to rock concerts and love music for the rest of your life. And then as you wander the halls looking at the lyric notebooks, tricked out jackets, bashed up guitars and signed albums listening to the music you just marvel. Marvel at the volume of the music produced and at the power of the music that rose to the top and the way that music has shaped and interacted with and expressed the issues of each generation. And spectacularly, how you can connect with so many different types of music from so many eras.

Geez, that stuff is great.

But back to Mr. Lennon...

So this exhibit in particular was in fact designed by Yoko Ono, and it focuses on John's years in New York City. At the time he and Yoko were pursuing art and their political agenda. And it's true, they were total hippies, but they had some big ideas about the sanctity of life and they pursued their ideals with a vengeance. I can respect that.

Coolest parts of the exhibit:

1) The white phone on the wall with the plaque next to it that read, "If the phone rings, answer it. It's Yoko Ono." I waited for the phone to ring, but no such luck.

2) The glasses that John was wearing when he was shot. Covered in blood. Haunting but poignant.

3) The brown bag of bloody clothes that the police delivered to Yoko afterwards. Again, haunting but poignant.

John on a rooftop in the village...


Whatever my personal opinion of his politics and practices, no denying the man was genius and he changed the world.

Calvary Baptist Church

On my way to work this morning I passed the Calvary Baptist Church on 57th St. The inscription over the door read:

"We Preach Christ Crucified, Risen, and Coming Again."

I thought that was cool.

The settlers give it passion

"There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. […] Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion."

-E.B. White, Here is New York

Evoke your best

"You come to New York to find the ambience that will evoke your best. You do not necessarily know precisely what that might be, but you come to New York to discover it."

-Dr. James Hillman

Bowlmor Lanes

In my life I have had two notable, but un-remarkable experiences with bowling.

Firstly... I once went bowling with my uncle (four years older) and a bunch of his friends. I did so poorly that they nicknamed me Gutter Kid. And it stuck. But I didn't mind because they were cute older boys and I was getting attention. I was easy to please at 12. It wasn't glamorous, but it was fun.

Secondly... Occoasionally after class on Thursday nights during my MBA program, a bunch of us would go to the dive-bar-bowling-alley called Empire Bowl. We would decompress, sing karaoke, bowl and rehash our favorite moments from class. It was dive-y and murky but all we wanted was a place to kick back that didn't close at 10 pm. And we were satisfied.

But leave it to New York to make bowling classy.

Friday, Niels suggested that we get out and go bowling. Or "ten-pin bowling" as he referred to it in his Australian accent. So we made our way through the rain (yes, it was raining AGAIN) to Union Square, and up the elevator to Bowlmor Lanes.

Bowlmor is famous for its celebrity clientele, full bar, big TV screens and bowling-alley-meets-lounge-club atmosphere. It was seriously cool. Sadly, the cool factor did not improve my performance and Niels felt it appropriate to revive my former nick-name. Gee thanks.

Nonetheless, it was great fun and another memory for the books.