Spring at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

One cherry tree in bloom = everyone lined up with their cell phones out. 

Spring Break: Brattleboro, VT!

This year, I didn't actually get a spring break, because Columbia and Pace University's breaks didn't line up for the first time in three years (boo). Even so, I got a couple of three-day weekends, and Ari happened to get a random gig in Vermont playing a private ski club, so we decided to make a mini vacation out of it, continuing our tradition of spending spring break in a colder place than New York City.

We booked a hotel (Holiday Inn Express, baby!) in Brattleboro, and spent most of our free time exploring the cute main street area. Our first night we had dinner at a restaurant called Duo, which was pretty good.

My cocktail was called "The Cloud" and Ari's was called "The Mountaineer." 

The next morning, we went hiking in Madame Sherri Forest, which has a pretty cool namesake. Our bartender from the night before had actually recommended it, when we asked about what we should do in the area. 

Madame Sherri was actually French, and she was a costumer for the Ziegfeld Follies who retired up in the woods of New Hampshire and reportedly threw wild parties. The remnants of her house are still there.

Ari and I just saw the movie The Witch, and this reminded us of that setting. Creepy. 

Indian Pond

Remnants of Madame Sherri's "castle." 

We only had the early part of the afternoon free, and then we had to drive to The Hermitage Club for Ari to do rehearsal for the show that evening. The club was so swanky! Hardly anyone was there because it was such a warm winter, so there was barely any snow to ski in. 

View out the window while waiting for the band to finish rehearsing. 

The highlight of the night was definitely the free dinner that we got before the show (I got to eat it too, even though I wasn't part of the band). It was a full menu with appetizers, mains, side dishes, and dessert. I got lobster mac n cheese (I couldn't resist). Ari had salmon with roasted mushrooms and onion rings. 

I got a s'mores sundae which was AMAZING. 

 

Then they did the gig! It was a cabaret act with four musicians and a singer. A good show, but sadly not so many people in attendance, again because it just wasn't great skiing weather to begin with. 

I was amused by the cliched antler chandeliers. 

The next morning, we went for another quicker hike in Fort Dummer State Park. It had a nice view of the Connecticut River.

Our last activity in Brattleboro was a visit to Hermit Thrush Brewery, which makes mostly sour IPAs. Ari and I are not really fans of that type of beer, but these were actually REALLY good. 

Before we drove back to New York, we stopped in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts to visit Ari's cousin Rosa, her husband Dominic, and their baby, Rocco. 

Rocco was adorable and let me read him a couple books. 

And then we drove back to the city! A good three-day spring break! 

Oscars Tonight!

I'm pretty excited to watch the Oscars tonight, because

1. I'm going to watch them with a bunch of people who are pretty much as excited as I am
2. I've actually seen ALL the Best Picture nominees, for the first time in my life!

I agree with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign to get more diverse people involved in every aspect of movie production, but I also agree that the real issue starts outside the Oscars, with the choices of movie executives and casting directors. In most ways, the Oscars nominees are just reflecting what is being put out there. Even so, I am happy to hear that the Academy is going to push through some apparently aggressive changes in its membership to increase the number of women and people of color. Here's hoping Oscars 2017 has a noticeable increase in diversity, and that it keeps going up from then on.

And now, MY choices for the winners for 2016 Oscars.

Best Picture: 
#1 choice: Spotlight
2. Brooklyn
3. The Big Short
4. Bridge of Spies
5. The Martian
6. Room
7. Mad Max
8. The Revenant - The Revenant is favored to win. Obviously, I am not so supportive of that.

I haven't seen all the performances for the rest of these categories, so I'm just picking based on what I've seen.

Best Actor: Matt Damon?
I don't really have a strong favorite here. I think Leo DiCaprio is great, but doesn't NEED an Oscar the way everyone says he does. It's not like he's close to the end of his career. The guy is 41 for crying out loud! And I am thankful that it looks like Redmayne will not win for The Danish Girl. That performance was not great.

Best Actress: Any of them
Really, I have seen all of these performances, and they are all amazing. I'm happy for any of them.

Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance
I REALLY liked him in Bridge of Spies. Apparently Stallone is favored to win from Creed, but I haven't seen that movie yet!

Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara
This is the one that I feel most strongly about in the acting awards, because Mara's performance in Carol basically convinced me that she is a good actress (I didn't really like her in previous movies like The Social Network or Side Effects). I don't think she's going to win though; the buzz is mainly for Alicia Vikander. I really like Vikander too! I just liked Mara's performance more.

Edited the day after the Oscars to add: YAY! Two of my top choices (Spotlight and Mark Rylance) won!!! Hooray for minor upsets!! 

image via

You know how when you finish reading a really good book

...you keep forgetting you finished it, because you were so deeply engrossed in it?

I'm going through that period of withdrawal after finishing Bring Up the Bodies. Take me back to 16th century England!!

On this, the day of (OK, a few days after) my birthday

I meant to write a post on my birthday (6 days ago) reflecting on the past year and making goals for the next year. I didn't do that, obviously. Mainly because eating pizza and gelato took priority after I got home from work on Friday.

I am now 31 and weirdly feel like I should be more of an adult than ever. I am officially out of my twenties. This is the year when there aren't really any more milestones coming up, right? Until...I get to join AARP?

Anyway, these are the things I want to focus on more in the next year of my life. They don't change that much from year to year, but it makes me feel more productive to write them down once in a while. These are listed in a rough order of importance to me.

1. Spend as much time as possible with people I love -- friends and family members.
2. Show the people I love that I love them (remember their birthdays, hug them, say "I love you" to them, etc.)
3. Be compassionate. Try to be nice to everyone. *
4. Try to keep listening to new music (apparently most people stop listening to new music at about age 32...I'm almost there).
5. Keep traveling, but don't feel obligated to make "big" trips. New cities, new states.

Those are the top five. I have a couple more, but I don't think they're quite interesting enough to post (e.g. do my taxes before April). Let's see how this year goes. I am optimistic.

------------------------

*I listened to the Death, Sex, & Money podcast on my birthday and heard the wonderfully frank Lucinda Williams talking about her father's poem, "Compassion."

Compassion

by Miller Williams

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, 

bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign 

of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on

down there where the spirit meets the bone. 

Snow dump

As many people are probably aware, the east coast got a LOT of snow yesterday. Brooklyn was no exception. 

Ari and I walked around Prospect Park during Peak Blizzard for about 15 minutes before deciding we'd had enough. Then we bought some necessities at the local grocery store (which was surprisingly crowded) and spent the rest of the day indoors, cooking comfort food (tomato soup, challah) and watching movies (Ex Machina and Parks and Rec). 

Snow selfie! (Snelfie)

Ari pretends to hitchhike in the park. 

This morning, Ari had to leave early to play church (a gig he has every Sunday), and had to call Uber to take him to the closest working subway station, since trains aren't running from our closest stop. 

I got to sleep in and wake up to the sound of melting snow dripping on our windowsill. Seymour also enjoyed the pretty view from my pillow. 

This afternoon, I went for another longer walk today in the park. It was so pretty! 

Another snelfie.

I guess we'll all be back to the grind tomorrow, but it's been a pretty magical weekend.

Back from Cuba!

And too tired to post about it right now. BUT in the meantime, while I wait till tomorrow to upload and edit down all of the many photos I took, I am excited about all the membership cards that came in the mail while I was gone (I was out of town from December 13 through January 9). Thanks to my ID NYC, I've gotten free memberships to all these places (and a couple more that don't have cards)! 

If anyone wants to visit me, 2016 would be a good year to do it, since I can probably get you in for free to a lot of stuff! 

Happy New Year!

We went to see Star Wars in IMAX 3D at Grauman's Chinese and it was TOTALLY worth it.

 

 Then we got a drink at a random  bar in the area (the only one without a cover or a line) and took this picture right before midnight. 

Here's to a great 2016! 

December on the Best Coast

Hey! I'm home for the holidays! Here are some pics to document my time here so far. (I'm here till January 3rd, when we leave for CUBA!) I feel it important to note that I have mainly spent my days:
1. jogging
2. going to yoga with my mom for FREE because the gym is free if you are a family member of someone who has a Foothill Gym membership
3. working out at the gym for FREE because of reason listed previously
4. eating lots and lots of food and chocolates

Part I: Local stuff

First morning in Monrovia. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

You're not living in LA unless you eat chia seed pudding for breakfast (courtesy of Leah). I thought they were pretty gross. It's oatmeal for me from now on. 

Special trip to Eggslut in downtown LA, the trendy eatery that bases every menu item on local, organic eggs. It was really good! But I felt kind of sick afterwards...

...perhaps because I had a sundae about 5 minutes after eating the cheesy egg sandwich? 

Chai in the afternoon light.

Part II: Weekend trip to the Bay Area, visiting Janelle, Erika (not pictured, sadly), Jessica, and Anja

View from Janelle's window in San Francisco.

Driving to get Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast.

Janelle's wacky dog, Margot.

Bonding with John Mayer (the scruffy guy in my lap) and Margot. They both barked at me for about the first hour of my visit (no kidding), and then warmed up to me, as you can see. 

Met up with Jessica for Ethiopian lunch at Enssaro in Oakland. 

Walked around beautiful Lake Merritt

Lots of egrets in the lake!

Awesome welcome sign at Anja's apartment. We've lived in all of those places at the same time. 

Beautiful sunset walk around Cesar Chavez Park.

The Golden Gate Bridge is in the distance there!

On the morning before I drove back to LA, we went for a nice walk around these redwood trees (not sure where this hike was, exactly).

 Part III: Home again 

This is my favorite photo from the last two days. Cosmo sitting under the Christmas tree like a he's a lil PRESENT. 

Stuck at the airport

Supposed to be in LA right about now, but our plane had electrical problems (?) and had to make an emergency landing in Chicago. A meal voucher compelled me to buy dinner at the only place in the terminal (other than Starbucks): McDonald's! 

Yaaay fish filet and a chicken salad that I will pick the chicken out of. 

Good mail day

Came home from a long day of work to find: a pin I ordered online from Black Friday (in the pink envelope), makeup samples, a Xmas card with beautiful lettering from dear Hannah, and an advertisement for Fun Home (a show I hope to see in 2016). Hooray!

P.S. Tomorrow's my last day of teaching for 2015!!

Cat Quirks

Everyone who has lived with a pet knows how each one has its own unique quirks (It's part of what makes life so fun with a pet). Well, the cat we have now adopted -- Seymour -- has the quirk of basically acting like my conscience (or like a small whiny child) when I've been sleeping too long. In my experience, most cats will curl up in bed with me if I sleep in, on my stomach or by my head. Not Seymour. He literally just sits by the side of the bed and meows at me until you get up. And it's not because he wants to be fed (Ari has usually fed him earlier, since he works early on Saturdays). It seems he only wants me to get up because he's bored. Which, I guess, is a valid reason.  

Magical Prospect Park

Looking extra magical in the rainy fog this evening.

Hooray for T-Day!

Ari and I had a 6-day break for Thanksgiving this year! Wednesday - Monday. Here are a few pictures of how we spent it. (Not pictured: Intense shopping at DSW [I think the four of us bought 7 pairs of shoes?!])

First, we took an Amtrak train from NYC to Pittsburgh. It was cheaper than flying, and I managed to convince Ari it'd be easier, since we only had to take one train to get to the Amtrak station, and then his parents would pick us up in Pittsburgh. 

But then a freight train stalled in Lancaster, so we had to get off the train in Harrisburg and hang out for three hours while they organized buses to take us farther down the track to re-board a new train. Blerg. 

Once we finally got on the buses, they took us to the train and had us enter the train directly from the tracks. Exciting! And also pretty frustrating that the process took so long. It was supposed to be a 9-hour trip, but ended up taking 12 hours. In the end, though, we didn't get too upset about it. I mean, we had enough time to watch Kill Bill vol. 1 AND vol. 2 on my laptop! (I liked Vol. 2 significantly better than Vol. 1, but it's definitely not in my top 20 favorite movies or anything.)

Boarding the train from the tracks. 

We sent this text to Ari's parents to let them know we were back on the train, finally!

On Thanksgiving morning, we walked around Mill Creek Park (essentially Ari's parents' backyard) with some family and friends. 

We went to a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Ari's uncle's house, and came back to the house to find the power shut off on the whole street. We enjoyed lighting all the candles and hanging out in the soft glow for about an hour before the power came back on. 

Friday, we went to downtown Youngstown to take the little kids to Oh Wow, a kids museum. It was actually pretty cool for adults too... 

Walking around downtown. Ari was very popular with the young'uns. 

On Saturday morning, the kids (and their parents) had to leave, but not without covering Ari with stickers and climbing all over him. 

We went out for Chinese food and I got annoyed at the poor grammar on the fortune cookie fortunes. 

We introduced Ellyanna's boyfriend, Adam (Far right) to the famous Handel's ice cream (a Youngstown institution).

On the last full day in town (Sunday), we drove to the botanical gardens, which were...not so botanical. They were mostly brown. But we got a pretty new of Glacier Lake.

And today we flew home (only a 1-hour flight) with no delays or problems. Back to work tomorrow. But only for two weeks before I fly to California for Christmas!