Today is a Good Day. Officially.

One way to identify a New York woman is to look at her computer history. Other than 10am visits to the Momofuku website and noon visits to Gilt Groupe's homepage, one can undoubtedly find the first-of-the-month visits to Susan Miller's monthly predictions. Despite our multicultural differences and religious disbeliefs (as well as blatant intolerance for fluff), New Yorkers have somehow enabled astrology to explain the unexplainable, legitimize the illogical, and create a world of candy where concrete once stood. Somehow, silently and unanimously, New York women have bowed to the mercy of Susan Miller's predictions.

I am one of those women. 2010 looks to be a positive year for me. Mercury is going to spin out of retrograde (finally!) and it looks like my luck just might turn in terms of career, love, money..... (shit, that's the trifecta of life, right? yesssss) More specifically, Feb. 27th is supposed to be the best darned day of my year. And guess what, it's good for you, too. And you. And you. And you, over there. By my calculations, if 2010 is a good year, and the 27th is the best day out of the year, then shoot- isn't today supposed to be like, the best day of our lives?! That's a lot of pressure.

I'm not going to buy myself an entire bodega's worth of lotto tickets or anything. In fact, I think I'm going to wake up late, have some oatmeal, stick with my original plans for the afternoon, and then tag along with LF at night to a party in Red Hook. Astrology, like love and like bowling, is one of those things where in order for the situation to turn out good- to turn out as "planned"- one can't possibly focus on the end. The more you think about bowling a strike, the more you're gonna gutter that big ol' ball of yours.

So, drink a beer, loosen up, and granny-chuck your way to a ten pin victory. Cheers to the day!

New York Doormen

NY Times has a cute (albeit, short) little photo piece on New York Doormen and their uniforms. I wish they had the time (or budget) to scout out more!

Interesting tidbit: Starting wage for these guys are $30,000-$40,000. Plus another $10k after overtime and bonuses!!!

Pizza and beer pairing

No, not papa john's and bud light. Pshaw, you think I would even dare post such a thing?

This Saturday, Jim Lahey (of Sullivan Street and no-knead bread fame) is hosting a pizza and beer pairing at his beloved restaurant, Co. Prounounced, "Company". I love pairings, food and drink especially, plus it usually indulges my preference of tasting a little bit of everything. And really there's something so magical about two people, each so knowledgeable about their own specific craft, coming together and creating beautiful yummiful harmony. Cue Hallelujah music.

Do I sound like a food freak yet?

The beer part of the pairing is brought to you by the lovely people over at Six Point Ales. Six Point, for all you Westcoasters, is a local Brooklyn brewery (woot woot Red Hook) that was born not to long ago, in 2004. They make some pretty kick ass local brews that can be found throughout the city, and you all know how I'm a fan of all things local. Not to mention, their website is stellar.

I have a prior engagement (DC's birthday! hooray!) but you can bet that if it weren't her, I would be in Chelsea on Saturday.

It's $35, pretty phenomenal for an afternoon of pizza and beer. Location, time, and RSVP info here.

Kandinsky @ Guggenheim

Cannot WAIT to check out the show.  Our friend Roberta Smith gives it a very respectable review.

Sabado Gigante

I've been meaning to write about Saturday for the entire week, but just kept putting it off. I just meant to brag about what a deliciously funtastic day I had.

After brunch with Tanya and her family, I strolled around the West Village for hours, listening to an Etta James station programmed into my Pandora Mobile. It was the first time I've let myself wander, get lost, and end up walking around in circles, since I first arrived in New York. I bought my first peach of the season at the Abingdon Sq. farmers market (and oh what a fine peach it was), walked by the cheesy 14th St. street fair, stepped into the WVil Branch of the NY Public Library and read some books on calligraphy (nerdalert), checked out the public pool, and walked by Little Owl no less than five times (I don't think I'm exaggerating).

Finally I was able to cajole a friend into hanging out with me, and we decided to go for 3pm Saturday afternoon drinks at Cabrito. For anyone who is thinking of getting drinks on a fine weekend afternoon, I highly recommend it. The place was empty, the bartenders were friendly (from California, so duh), it was temperate (VERY important in NY summers), and the drinks were tasty. I would also recommend with going with a cool friend like I did, but that's up to you.

Cabrito

Mexican fare

50 Carmine Street

NY NY 10014

Image via Eater

oh yeah, it's summer

Currently 10:40pm, 80°F and 70% humidity. Thank god air conditioners were invented.

summer time fun

still no interwebz at home. I realized, after not having internet access at my fingertips for a few days, that I spend a heckuva lot of time online, and that there's not much to do at home without it.

Luckily it's summer in New York.

I know, I know, technically it's summer in many places in the world, but summer in New York is special, unlike any summer anywhere else. How do I describe it? The city becomes an ultra-lively activity-driven place on the weekdays and the weeknights, and then slows down to a perfect strolling pace on the weekends. Lots of out-of towners parade through midtown, walking far too slow for anyone's good, and all the hipsters and yuppies alike come out of their hipster yuppie holes to bask in grassy ditches in Parks. Outdoor seating is set up at every other restaurant, free shows and movies and markets are offered throughout the each borough, and any mode of transportation can be taken on Fridays to get OUT of the city. Oh, and the magic word to get people to come to your party: ROOFTOP. It's like a strange mix of summer vacation and summer camp and summer projects rolled into two months worth of sun (well, this year it's more thunderstorms than sun) and humidity and friends. It's my third summer here - yikes! - and though this seasonal city-wide celebration has become quite familiar, there is a difference this year in that now I am unemployed. All the better! Also for some reason my friends have suddenly become cooler this year, more adventurous, more available to eat see hear do new things.

So what kind of "things" can one do in New York in the upcoming weeks? I, for one, am going to try to make it out to a Hudson River Flick next week. Maybe pick up some picnic fare at the Chelsea Market and watch the sun set over the Hudson. Lots of park frolicking, including NY Phil's summer series in Central Park next Tuesday and Friday (which reminds me, I should check out the much discussed Anne Hathaway in Shakespeare in the Park). There are market market markets galore in Brooklyn each weekend this summer....and something's going on between the South Street Seaport and LIC that I need to explore too. Free Dirty Projectors concert in Wburg next Sunday, and then a yoga party the Saturday after that at the studio - a yoga class choreographed to music by The Beatles. whoa, am I becoming too much of a granola nut now with all this enthusiastic yoga chatter? Sorry.

***image taken last summer from Madison Square Park looking towards the Empire State Building

Karma Payment Plan

Life is giving it to me straight today, for reals. I think it's karma putting me in check, saying to me "Hey, you had a super great excellent time this weekend, but remember, you are unemployed and can't live like you are retired and have been working your whole life".

After a great weekend in Maine, I am back to real life. Today I woke up late and missed opening the yoga studio on time...BIG no-no. Then our internet in the apartment, which has been down all weekend, still hasn't been fixed (I am sitting in a cafe down the street, doing "work" on the computer, college style). I opened a letter from the IRS telling me that my 2007 taxes were filed incorrectly and that according to calculations, I OWE $500. You'd think they'd let that go, huh? While at the cafe this afternoon I discovered that my battery charger for my Powerbook stopped working. Had to go into the city and spend a superfluous $85 at the Apple store to buy a new one...

yuck. It's just been one of those days...

Karma Payment Plan is a really great song I used to listen to all the time by Modest Mouse....

I'm so high

Hi friendsies. I've been busy being sick this weekend, but managed to get out of the house to do a few not-sick activities.

View from the Highline onto 16th Street

Got a chance to check out The Highline last week. I know all New Yorkers are blogging/posting/twittering about this, but for those of you non-New Yorkers (or New Yorkers who have their heads up their arses) The Highline is a magical place. Well, sorta. The Highline is the newest multi-million dollar park renovation project supported by a special committee along with NYC's department of parks and recreation. The project aimed to transform a stretch of what used to be an elevated rail used to lift dangerous freight trains up and down the city's Westside to a large pedestrian-only park area. Though only partially complete, the eventual project will span a mile-and-a-half, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District all the way to 34th Street. I thought they did a beautiful job reconstructing the old railways, loved the landscaping, the views of the city, and how they left little bits of the track exposed here and there. It really is great to see the city preserving and re-invigorating spaces like this. It was gorgeous during the day, and can't wait to see it at night!

Learn to Communicate....

Going to swing by this opening tonight. See you there?

Buttons!

I went to the button store today;

Tender Buttons

143 East 62nd Street

NYC 10021

Also, I thought this was funny-

When I did a google search for "Tender Buttons", this little 1994 article from the Times about beans came up.