The World's Biggest Backyard

New Yorkers live in apartments.

You can dress them up, give them fancy names likes lofts, or townhouses, or penthouses or studios... But really, we all just live in apartments.

And apartments are great. They have great views, roof access, doorman, elevator (sometimes). And they enable all of the millions of people on this island to all live stacked up on top of each other.

The one thing that apartments don't have, however, is backyards... Unless you do in fact live in the Penthouse and are the proud and rare owner of a private rooftop garden... So in other words, unless you are a billionaire trust fund baby.

And I am not a billionaire trust fund baby.

However! As I was walking through Central Park on Saturday, where the Great Lawn and the Pinetum were packed, I then realised that Central Park is the ginormous communal backyard for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

And the second any decent weather hits, what do we do? Play in the backyard. And since last Saturday had more than decent weather, play time it was.

The Great Lawn, the Turtle Pond and the back of the Delacorte Theatre from the top of Belvedere Castle...


Ever the turtles came out for the sun...


Niels and me, storming the castle...


This makes me want to write a whole new verse for, "Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime?"

Strauss Park

I will NEVER get to know all of New York. Never. It's impossible.

Yesterday, I discovered an amazing little park on Broadway between 106th and 107th... That's two blocks from my house. TWO BLOCKS. I had never noticed it before, or certainly never noted it long enough to contemplate walking through it.

This time, as I was crossing lo6th, I looked up, cocked my head to the side and thought, "Well huh..."

What I found, was Strauss Park, and it's lovely...

Can I just reiterate again that it is impossible to get bored in this City if you have even an ounce of your wits about you? Well it is.

Lunch in Madison Square Park

One of the best things about the precise location of my workplace is its proximity to a charming little place called Madison Square Park.

Madison Square Park is home to the famous Shake Shack, a children's playground, a dog run, a pond, and several of the City's boldest squirrels.

We discovered to boldness of these squirrels one day when Melissa and I were eating our sandwhiches on a bench and a squirrel actually snuck up behind Melissa and tried to make a grab for her sandwich. She was so startled when she saw it out of the corner of her eye that she jumped off of the bench. In her defense, it was a particularly disturbing squirrel, with all manner of evil thoughts lurking behind its beady eyes.

But I digress...

The weather being what it is these days, I was able to convince my team to grab Chipotle (Mmmmm) and join me in the park for lunch. So I took the opportunity to photograph them without their knowledge for the general amusement and information of the Blogosphere...

Tony (left) and Thomas (right)...

Thomas and Melissa...

Everett is harder to catch off guard, but he doesn't mind...

Just another day in the life.

Perfect Saturday

It was a gorgeous day... and I've come to appreciate those in New York, where they don't happen very often.

After wandering around the city, taking a stroll through Tiffany's, down 5th Ave, I texted Melissa and she met me at L'Arte del Gelato in the West Village. (As previously mentioned, several times before, L'Arte is AMAZING.)

Then we walked west to the river and discovered Hudson River Park, which extends out over the river on a long pier, with views of downtown, Jersey and Lady Liberty.

Melissa and me...

After the park, I headed uptown where Jeff and James were throwing a Rock Band on the Roof party, where we did, in fact, play Rock Band on their rooftop.

Great day.

Birthdays Happen

I was less than enthused about my birthday this year, to be perfectly honest. The idea of aging has ceased to appeal to me and being downright annoyed that I had to add another year to my official age, I was sort of hoping my birthday would pass unnoticed... almost like it wasn't happening.

Sadly, there are far to many wonderful, loving people in this world for anything like THAT to happen. So I ended up celebrating several times instead.

Roommate Sarah made me an Aurora cake!

The cake deserves another close up...

Dinner at Calle Ocho with Sarah, Andrea, Me, Jane and Melissa...

Melissa somehow procured the world's most giant cupcake...

Flowers...

Flowers...

And FAMILY! (Happily my actual birthday was spent at home with my FAVORITE people.)


So much for passing unnoticed. And yes, I feel incredibly blessed and loved.

Street Fairs

Street Fairs are back! And I love them. They are all the same, of course... The same stalls of pashminas, hot dogs, funnel cake, trinkets, jewelry... But I still get excited when I see them. Maybe its the excitement of having the street closed down and strolling down the middle of Broadway when I would have otherwise been relegated to the sidewalk.

Cheesy or not, just another one of those things that I love about the City.

Hands on New York Day

New York City is chock full of service organizations. Tons of them. Soup kitchens, shelters, after school programs, pet rescue, good will... tons.

And it gives you a little more faith in humanity that people in the City feel so compelled to reach out and help one another. The largest service organization in the city is New York Cares, and once a year they host a Spring city clean up day, called Hands on New York. Since service and community are a big part of my belief system, and since my parents taught me that there's nothing like manual labor on a Saturday morning to start your weekend off right... I signed up to do my part.

It was the first really warm day of the year. 78 and sunny. Heavenly.

Although, I must admit, 8:30 is earlier than I usually like to be out and about on a Saturday. But 8:30 it was when I showed up down on 21st street and climbed into my assigned yellow school bus.**

(**A brief side note: When is the last time I rode in a yellow school bus??? Probably my last away soccer game of my junior year of high school... that's right, 10 years ago. Can I just say what an odd experience it was? Odd, yet nostalgic. I just can't seem to get over how small everything looked.)

So we boarded our bus and were transported to Pelham Bay Park, in the Brox, where we got to paint (! - When you get assigned to a city cleanup project, don't you always hope that you get to do something fun like painting? Rather than weeding? Anyway, I was excited) the wall that ran along the boardwalk.

Jane gets ready to paint...


Before...


After...


We had a blast. I got paint EVERYWHERE, but it was a good day.

Jane, Siobahn, and me...

Good times... no joke.

Rory Gilmore

I saw Alexis Bledel walking down 23rd street the other day, right in front of my office between Park and Lexington.

I was two steps past her before I realized why the skinny girl with blue eyes looked vaguely familiar... and I saw the girl walking next to me turn around and furrow her eyebrows.

Then she and I looked at each other...

"Yep."

"That was her."

Smile.