I Feel Like A Vampire

Maybe they ought to switch Halloween to December up here in the Northeast because it seems to be a ripe time for vampires. When I wake up, there is a smidgen of light peeking through my building windows. Off I trot to school in the light, but as a leave school, even at 3:45, the sun is setting. At 4:15, it's completely dark. Not dusky friends, pitch dark. Should I eat dinner or have an after school snack?
It's craziness this 9 hours of sunlight I am seeing each day! I never quite feel like the sun is out shining brightly either. It's always in-between rising and setting. During this point in the year, I never know whether to set up a coffin or a Christmas tree!?

Looking forward to warmer, sunnier days when I am cruising with my family over Christmas break in the Caribbean. I will tell the sun then how much I appreciate it's warmth, light, and cheery face each day! Until then, it's viles of blood and classic black capes for me.

Ear Assaults

I have been thinking about noises quite a bit lately. There is no doubt that in NYC I hear a multitude of sounds each day, and night for that matter. Trash trucks at all hours, sirens, more sirens, car honks people moving about in my apt building, rain falling onto my window AC, and I consequently have bought a white noise machine to whisk me off to sleep each night by drowning it out.

However, there are some sounds one can't avoid. Just today I was walking from the shuttle to the 2 train in Times Square. As I made that 30 sec walk, I experienced five assaults on my eardrum. They were: a rock band jamming, a Santa ringing his bell, a man literally shouting about Jesus to me, another man shoving a flyer in my face, and the all too familiar sound of a train screeching to a halt. I needed a drink by the time I reached 72nd street.

Another intriguing sound is the radiators in NYC apartments. They are in a league of their own when it comes to heating devices. Mine sounds like crickets, it's just like camping in the summer. All I need is some mallows to fire up. However, mine is a melody compared to my boyfriend's radiator. His sounds like someone is coming through the wall with a jackhammer. The sound is somewhat like a hammering on metal pipes. It makes the typical steaming and hissing sound like an absolute symphony. Apparently, this is a common problem among apt dwellers. Click here for a sound bite of the noise:http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/noise/steam-hammer-season-noisy-radiators-pipes-005805

All these noises are a bit crazy but they are just part of this wonderful city's charm!

I love this little monkey staying warm next to a radiator. Hopefully, it's not a loud one! :)

Veggin' Out

Apparently I have been veggin' out lately because it's been more than a month since I blogged. Geez, sorry about that! The fall has been a bit of a blur. It's almost Turkey day? How did that happen?

Speaking of turkey, I have been doing some serious listening on my subway rides to a book called "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Forre. And let me tell you, learning about the ways factory farms raise and abuse animals, the environment, workers, and even the consumer has been eye opening. It's not easy to listen to fun facts about chickens getting drug through electric shock baths half alive while you're trying to remember to switch trains. Whew, little stressful!

I know what you're thinking. Ugh yeah yeah, got it Katie, heard it and don't want to know one more thing about it. I know, I didn't either. It took me a few months to get up the courage to read this book that my sweet friend Elodie suggested to me. But I did and it confirmed many a concern I had at a young age about McDonalds Chicken nuggets. Its really shocking that all these horrible things are happening to the meat we are consuming everyday, and no one is talking about it.

So I am officially a vegetarian. Its big, I know. But I am ready, and it really only means I can eat everything, except meat. I have already survived a BLT party with success! So don't worry about me! In the mean time, if you have any good veggie recipes, send them my way, please!!

Fun Factory Farm Fact: 99% of meat sold in the US comes from a factory farm, even when it says "farm raised" or "antibiotic free." Don't let that fool you.

I won't turn this into a crazy, meat-eater hating blog. Promise.

Sandie Spirit

I found that I am on a two week lapse of happenings, so two weekends ago was the Hampton's Half Marathon. My good friends, Susanna & Jay, from high school cross country, and I decided to have a little reunion! It had been 9 years since we all ran together at Amarillo High School, home of the Sandies. (Yes, that is a frightening tornado of sand above, very intimidating figure.) So we ventured out on the Long Island highway on Friday evening. After a few hours of stand still traffic and catching up, we arrived in Riverhead. The next day, we awoke to the soothing sounds of Jay's alarm at 5:45 am! We put on our matching outfits and ventured through East Hampton to our race location.

"We're running together, we declared." "Just think of it as a long fun run," Susanna said. The gun went off and the "fun run" began. Let me confess that I had only run 10 miles at the peak of my training, which had pretty much ended two weeks before the race because school was back in again. So...off we went to try to run 9 minute mile pace and beat two hours. "Ha, a lofty goal, I will be running by myself by mile six," I thought. And when mile six came, I was feeling the 8:45 min/mile pace. Susanna & Jay were the most encouraging race partners one could ever ask for! Susie even ran ahead EVERY mile to take a picture of Jay and I. It's interesting to watch the progression of those pictures, a little more tired each time.

I hit the wall several times, and thankfully, to my partners, kept running. They never left me, even after many encouragements from me to run on ahead so I could lay down and play dead. Such sweet friends! We all finished under 2 hours! My time was 1 hour, 59 min, 57 sec. On the dot!

We headed back to the city to celebrate our run with naps, cuban food, and an early bedtime. Susanna literally laid her head down at the bar, so we called it a night! What a sweet weekend with friends that I couldn't hold any more dear! So thankful for running memories past and present with them!

mile 1, feeling good!

mile 9, not so peppy anymore

finishers!

all cleaned up after the race

original plans for the house, written on a linen scroll

obsessed with these floors!

This Old House

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting my boyfriend's friends, Dave & Liz and their twins, in Massachusetts. They live in a small town, population 5000, in the middle of the state. We arrived really late Friday night and when I awoke, it was fall. For reals fall. Changing leaves, crisp temperatures, and the smell of pine in the air.

As I lay in bed, I began to take in my surroundings from a somewhat hazy climb into my bed the night before. I saw a beautiful study, filled with light that danced off original wall paper, and two french sliding doors. Above me was a multi-domed light fixture that must have been original to the house.

I began to hear stirrings above me and the little feet of their 2-year old twins, Will & Ted. They came down for Cheerios and toast while the guys got Liz & I giant chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins from the bakery down the road. I began to wonder around the house and realize I was not staying in a new one. Everything was so beautiful and old and authentic. We took a tour of the two story house complete with two attics and a basement, which holds a twenty foot well, original to the late 1800s when the house was built. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. It's hard to describe it's magnificence with words.

After the tour, we went apple picking, toured a colonial village, and headed for home. There we feasted on apple pie (with cheese & icecream), hamburgers, & sweet potato fries. It was wonderful! The next day, we woke up for more pie and then took a walk through this gorgeous New England town. It was a memorable weekend and a great way to begin fall.

old fashioned pantry, maybe my favorite room

original wall paper

love the light here

apple pie perfection

Only in New York...

After a relaxing and wonderful Labor Day weekend of lounging at the beach and watching the US Open, I had a rough start to the week. It began on Monday evening after my guest had gone home, and I had cleaned up and was resting before the first day of school the following day. I was lazily reading on my bed when out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. A bed bug. Yes, the bug that all urban dwellers dread worse than the smell of August garbage or spotting a rat on the street. I knew immediately it was a bed bug because there are pictures of those little monsters plastered all over the subway warning us.

I quickly picked up said bug and put him in a tupperware container and then inside a gallon ziplock. I called my boyfriend, freaking out as usual about bugs, and explained the harrowing situation. He calmly instructed me to look under my mattress, inside the sheets, ect. I checked and saw nothing. Could it be that this was a rogue bed bug? I guess I would know in the morning. "Don't worry he said, they don't come out until they sense a warm body." Very comforting thought.

I went to sleep, itching already, dreaming about bugs and awoke pleasantly to find not a bite at all. No sign of bugs under my mattress or in my sheets. I went to school after checking the freezer where I had stashed said bug to kill it dead, which I did. Everyday last week, I checked for bugs and still have not seen another one. Maybe, just maybe, I escaped the beagle smelling bed bug dog...hopefully. I will keep you informed.

The next night, I awoke at 4 am to the sounds of my passionate neighbors. Not pleasant, but not unheard of in pre-war apartments with thin walls. Whatever, I put my pillow over my head and drifted back to sleep. Then, I heard a banging noise outside my window and opened my eyes to see a man standing outside my window on the fire escape. (This is one of my biggest fears that someone will break in and kill me or rob me from that window, even though I keep it locked tight.) My heart started beating a million miles an hour, I grabbed my phone to call 911, flipped on my light, and heard a loud banging sound and laughing into my adjoining apartment. Yes friends, that was my crazy neighbors, having sex on my fire escape at 4 am. After my heart slowed down, I sort of chuckled at how strange and yet typical these things are in this crazy city.

Hopefully my nights will settle back down this week! :)

U.S. Preppy

This past weekend my sweet friend, Megan Frazee, came to visit for the long weekend. We had a blast! Being a foodie herself, we checked out the Green Market in Union Square and bought beautiful things for dinner. We made fried goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms, no words for how fun those were to make and eat! Then we had an heirloom tomato & fresh basil pasta dish to accompany. Fresh peaches, pretty flowers and tasty pretzels were all enjoyed from that little market of goodness!

Then, the next day we went to the US Open @ Arthur Ash stadium. (This is what I set out to write about, but got sidetracked by those squash blossom memories.) The US Open was my first ever tennis match to watch and it was quite delightful! Reading "Open" by Andre Agassi is as close as I got to the pros before.

Here are some of my take away points on the evening:
-There are preppy guys EVERYWHERE! I have never seen so many popped collars and Sperrys in one place. Girls, if you're looking for a date, I have got a killer recommendation for you.
-It's a very calm crowd, no enthusiastic chanting in tennis. You can hear the generators in the stadium, its so quiet! If it gets too loud, the ref says, "thank you, thank you" aka shut up! -Preppy sponsors: Want water? Have an Evian! Want ice-cream? Ben & Jerry's is there to serve you. Want a souvenir t-shirt? The Ralph Lauren store is open for biz.
-It took me two years of tennis lessons and a U.S. Open match to understand how they score that silly game!

Great weekend of eating & preppy sports!

US Open!

Chinese food in Flushing before the match...very authentic!

Time to go home...