Swimming Upstream

Every morning I walk up 3rd Avenue to go to work. Most of the walk uptown consists of trying to jaywalk across as many streets as possible, narrowly avoiding collisions and aggressive drivers with New Jersey license plates. The further uptown I get, the streets get crowded with far too many people who haven't mastered the skill of walking -- how hard is it to walk in a straight line when on a cell phone? -- and jaywalking becomes less and less possible as the traffic gets increasingly packed. Then I round the corner at 42nd Street for my favourite and last part of the journey, which I've dubbed "swimming upstream." There's a subway exit between 3rd and Lexington and in the early morning hours, a flood of people emerge and walk in the opposite direction from me towards their offices. This is the last and final act before making it into my building and taking refuge in the peace and solace of my desk for the remainder of my day. I push past the densely packed, quickly moving crowd, every morning darting out of the way of the masses, and every morning without fail getting nearly knocked off my course by a particularly pushy squat woman or mammoth power suited male, against whom I now make subtle efforts to push back. Every morning when I round the corner I envision myself as a little salmon who is trying to make its way upstream, which may or may not be a fitting metaphor for the job I have upstairs in the big building round the corner. Either way, it's fun.

Parental Visit

Last Monday, my parents arrived in town for a few days. We met for dinner at Penelope, where I learned that my sister will indeed be moving to Australia in August and that we'll (hopefully) be spending Christmas with her down under in Sydney. Meaning that I get to visit two countries that begin with the letter 'A' in one single year! I couldn't be more excited for my sister to have the opportunity to live abroad for a while, and certainly plenty excited that it means I have the opportunity to visit!

Tuesday we had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the ABCs, then Wednesday at Pete's Tavern in Gramercy. Thursday we got together with one of my mom's sisters and her (boy)friend at Atlantic Grill on the Upper East Side, where I got to indulge in a truly decadent amount of yummy sushi followed by chocolate fondue. But the best part of it all was knowing that I was taking Friday off ... yay! It was my first real day off since starting work in January, not including a much-needed sick day once during the winter. My parents came by my apartment at 11 am, and we headed off to the Met where we saw two fascinating exhibitions, one on Barcelona and modernity, from Gaudí to Dalí, and the other on Venice and Islam. Then we took a leisurely stroll through Central Park, stopping periodically on park benches to take in the idyllic Friday afternoon scene.























Then we headed over to the Upper West Side to meet one of my mother's brothers and his wife, my Aunt Yin, and my cousins, Will and Tom, along with my sister, at at Chinese restaurant, Hunan Park. Apparently, my uncle ate there at least once a week and had their food delivered for the fifteen years he lived on the Upper West Side, which I believed when the manager came over to give his regards.


My sister, probably speaking about baseball, with Tom and Will.




My mother, Aunt Yin and Uncle Dave.


My cousin Will.


I got Will to do a "pouty face" as has been the trend of my photography as of late.


I even got my dad to do one.


My mother pontificates.

Then we walked down the street for an ice cream.









Then it was back to the hotel for an hour where we hung out and talked, before my sister and I went our separate ways for the evening. All in all, a super swell visit ... hope they come back again soon!

Well, now I know what your parents were doing on Labor Day

I haven't been up to much over the last few weeks, other than working all the time and attending what seems like an endless stream of birthday parties. Let's start at the beginning.

Sarah had a really nice birthday dinner at Stanton Social in the East Village. In addition to the food being simply scrumptious, we realised as we were getting up from our table that none other than Mr. Austin Powers himself, Mike Myers, was seated in the booth next to us! We played it cool however and graciously did not approach him.


Sarah and Gaby.


Sarah and the World's Smallest Birthday Cupcake™. Also know as: how a New York restaurant stays in business.



That Friday, it was Ellie's birthday, so I joined her at a bar in the ... East ... Village. (Noticing a trend?)








I don't know if I have a skin disease that only shows up on film, but I have looked at myself in the mirror a lot since this night and can't detect the peculiar beige colour that's on my chest in this photo! Très weird.



Saturday I awoke to one of the loveliest days in New York since last year, and rang Ellie to see if she wanted to take a stroll through the park. She did! After a bad decision to walk up 5th Avenue to meet her and a trip into F.A.O. Schwartz to use the bathroom, we were on our way, joining the throngs of people who had thought the same thing we had.


















We discovered this awesome group of people who get together in the park every Saturday for a roller disco!






I was entranced by these pretty pink flowers.






Ellie, not awkward at all. :-)

The next night was Sarah's birthday party at 3 Steps. I baked her a cake.








Cristina.




I demonstrate the effects of receiving too many drink tickets.



The next Friday, I stayed in because I had Major Plans to paint my bedroom the next day with Catherine. So I changed the seafoam green walls (pretty, but badly scuffed and full of holes) to a pretty, soothing blue, reoriented my bed so I have a little bit more room to walk around, and even bought new white curtains for the window and closet so it all feels neat and put together. After painting, I headed over to Catherine's where we ordered in burritos, drank beer, and watched Caddyshack. Then, Danny G, who I hadn't seen since the last ad school-filled birthday night, came over, and we set off for Anne's birthday party at Bubble Lounge.


Danny and Anna.


Danny, right before bursting into "Heyo!"


The lone photo I have of Anne from her birthday ... sorry, Anne!

This past week has been filled with my parents' visit from California; more photos of lovely springtime New York soon to come ... xo