blogging from my blackberry at the airport!

this is so cool! I'm on my way to CA for the holidays. Last minute Xmas shopping was crazy....but I want to bring a little of NYC to all 23 members of my extended family. I did reasonably well but not perfect. The last minute shopping meant missing the free admission day to the Frick museum (it was their 75th anniversary) and that pained me a twinge as I love free admissions but before leaving town I had a chance to see the play Lombardi with Dan Luria and Judith Light. I was able to get a complimentary ticket. It was very well done. The audience seemed to made up of Greenbay Packer fans on vacation in NYC. I took the Super Shuttle to the airport and wound up getting a great tour of the city at night since he had to pick up several people after me. It was great and a nice send off. This city really doesn't sleep. Lots of people out at 4am and clubs still going strong. I had to wait for about 30 minutes in my apt lobby til the shuttle got there and wound up talking with the night concierge. He had some great stories about the building being haunted and people being dead in their apts for days before being found due to the stench of decaying flesh, couples found naked having sex on the pool table in the shared rec room, people coming in drunk in the wee hours and being loud, obnoxious and aggressive or destructive! I saw two drunk couples coming in at 3am as I waited! it was quite a conversation! All this going on as slumber on the 39th floor.  i gave the staff their gift cards yesterday and they seem pleased so guess we did okay with the amounts we gave. Whew!!

Nerd Alert!!!

So today I did a most wonderful thing. I got my New York Public Library card at the Main Library. I feel like it is one of my most prized possessions now. The main branch of the NYPL is so incredibly beautiful. I LOVE libraries and the main branch of the NYPL is the MOTHER of all libraries. When I asked about applying for a card, the man asked me what I would do with it.  I told him I just moved to NYC, lived nearby, and left a job as an Associate Professor at the University of Washington. He then said, "Oh yes, you can apply for one."  Not sure what he would have said if I had said anything otherwise. I would hate to have been denied a library card. I almost peed in my pants walking around the library it's so magnificent. I was pretty much in ecstacy while walking around there. Here are a few pics to share .....The Lions names are Patience and Fortitude.

Isn't it truely inspiring? I look forward to visiting it often and spending time in the reading room. If you too LOVE libraries, check out this link for more info on it....http://www.nypl.org/

I then went on to see some of the holiday store windows and Christmas lights along 5th Avenue, Park Avenue and Madison Avenue.........BTW, did you know that the despite there being a Duane Reade or Rite Aid drugstore pretty much on every other corner of Manhattan, there is not one to be found on the tony Avenues of 5th, Park, or Madison.  Guess Cartier, Barney's, Tiffany, Saks, Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Prada, Fendi, Dior, etc can't be rubbing elbows with the likes of Duane Reade and Rite Aid. Interesting.

I took a few snaps of the decorations to share with you all.......Lord and Taylor had some revolving Christmas scenes in their windows and Barney's was doing a satire on Celebrity Chefs and Holiday Foodie celebrations.  The street scenes are just a VERY SMALL sampling of all the lights and decorations that are all over the city.

Happy Holidays!

So far loving the winter here

I have to say that I am really enjoying the winter here so far. It's been relatively mild, in the 30's and 40's, no snow yet, some rain but nothing like the PNW that is getting drenched with the Pineapple Express front.  When the rain and the wind do whip it together, it's really fantastic to view from our highrise windows. There are so many more sunny clear days here in NYC than Seattle. What a luxury that is. I expect it may get really cold and miserable in the next couple of months, but even then, if the sun is shining it will make the biggest difference. I really love all the hats, coats, ear muffs, scarves, gloves, and boots people don for the winter weather. It so marks the winter season in a way I've not really experienced before. Just had to put that out there. Off to see the Holiday themed windows.....

Time to get back on track!!

Okay, so it was a great visit with my niece, her husband and their baby. Some details to follow. First a few interesting new observations and doings related to being a New Yorker. We just put together our Christmas gift cards to our apartment building staff--all 17 of them!!  This is new to us to as first time apartment dwellers with an apartment manager, 4 concierges, 3 doormen, 3 handymen, and 6 porters. We aren't even sure who these porters are and what they do! I mean really WHO ARE THEY AND WTF? (Pardon my language) It doesn't come cheap to live in a high rise that's for sure. We got some good advice from Bob's colleagues and we hope we gave the right amounts to each. Guess if we get snubbed in the new year by the apartment staff we will know that perhaps we didn't give what is considered standard. It's really hard to know how much to give these people.

Second, Bob and I now realize we have a whole range of emotions as reactions to the numbers on the elevator panel. Because we live on the 39th floor, it's a bit of ride to get up to our place and down to the lobby. We are clearly excited and happy when we want to go down and see that there is an elevator situated above our floor poised to go down, bummed when there isn't. And truely bummed when on occasion the elevator goes past our floor without stopping for some strange reason or we just miss an elevator going up from the lobby. We are so easily conditioned. Okay so we aren't as devastated or overjoyed as I may have indicated above but clearly we are not neutral for sure.

With my famly visiting, we took a really great boat cruise around the mid to lower Manhattan Island from West Midtown to to East Midtown. We went under 3 bridges and very close to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was by NYWaterway Tours and our guide was hugely informative throughout the 90 minute boat tour. I would highly recommend this to natives and visitors alike. I expect it will be on my activity list for those who come to visit us. One of the more interesting tidbits shared by our guide is the empty Pier 54 at the end of 14th street on the Hudson River. It is left empty as a tribute to those who died on the Titantic. It was the pier that the Titanic was to dock in after crossing the Atlantic.  We all know what happened with that story. There is a memorial there to those who died in the sinking. That story was very touching to me as it says a lot about New York City. Space, especially in that part of town is at a premium. Yet, they've kept it empty for almost 100 years (centennial anniversary in April 14, 2012). It gave me goosebumps to hear the story.   Our guide also informed us that when visiting the United Nations Headquarters and grounds, you leave the US and enter international borders. That seems kind of cool. It's on my list of places to see for sure, just haven't gotten there yet.

We went Saturday to see PeeWee Herman on Broadway. It was SO FUN!! Definitely recommend it as a wonderful diversion to the seriousness of our current times. What a great comeback for Paul Reubens, the audience just poured out the love to him and he was very grateful for everyone's enthusiasm and joy for what he gives with his creativity and mirth. We also went to see the movie Black Swan with Natalie Portman. Wild and confusing and absorbing and beautiful. Go see it!

Here's a picture of my grandniece, you can see why I was so distracted and failed to make any entries.

It was so lovely to have my family visit. Despite the weather being in the 30's and being on an infant's schedule, we got around quite a bit and saw alot in the 6 days they were here. There were lots of firsts for Claire (plane, boat, subway, taxi, ferris wheel, picture with Santa, shuttle bus).  She took it all well, even her first picture with Santa. Which brings me to Macy's picture with Santa set up. It's amazing and a must see if you are in NYC. If going through that display doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will! The effort and detail that went into that display is unparalleled to anything I've see before. It starts with a "ride" on the magic train that takes you to the North Pole and then the line zig zags for quite a while before getting to Santa. There are so many displays and visual stimulation to keep the kids busy and happy for the long line to Santa. It was very fun and Santa was great with Claire.

Chelsea Market was a festive stop and Eataly was pretty outrageous with the hundreds of choices for pastas of all shapes and sizes, fresh and packaged, same for meats, cheeses, oils, and all things Italy. Here are few pics though they don't really do either Chelsea Market or Eataly justice--both are so much more, bigger, better than what can be captured with my new little point and shoot camera. I will try to get better with the camera as time goes on.



I've got a lot of places to go this week before I leave town Friday morning. I still want to see the store windows at Saks, Barney's, Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylors and need to do some Christmas shopping though it will be crazy in the stores no doubt. When I get back from CA after Christmas, Bob and I are going to see the Last Supper exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory. Check out this link, it sounds pretty fantastic. We didn't get to Milan when we were in Italy in 2000 so this will be a wonderful treat.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/arts/design/03greenaway.html

We also have tickets to A Little Night Music with Bernadette Peters for the New Year weekend. We are hoping to see the ball drop in NY Times Square from the vantage of a window up in the Morgan Stanley building. Bob is going to investigate the possibility. If not from there, we may venture into the actual mob craziness. We will see. Enough for tonight. Ciao!